ISLAMABADShAiQ huSSAin

The army has decided to court martialBrigadier Ali Khan and four other officers, whowere arrested last year for alleged ties withbanned extremist organisation Hizbut Tahrir.

Brigadier Khan and the other four serv-ing army officers were arrested last year onMay 6 on charges of having links to Hizb,which is said to be involved in activitiesaimed at overthrowing of what it believes isa pro-US Pakistani government. BrigadierKhan was serving at the General Headquar-

ters of the Pakistan Army when he was ar-rested. Khan’s family has denied the chargeslevelled against him. Khan’s lawyer, ColonelInam Rahim, had reportedly said after hisarrest that his client had claimed that he wasdetained for demanding that someonewithin the army must be held accountablefor the covert US raid that killed al Qaedachief Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad onMay 2, while keeping Pakistan in the dark.

A security official said on condition ofanonymity that Brig Khan was formally in-dicted last week and court martial proceed-ings against him would commence soon.

“Khan has been formally indicted and thesummary of evidence in support of thecharges levelled against him is also attachedwith the charge sheet,” he said. There hasbeen no confirmation or denial so far by theISPR as for the army’s decision to start courtmartial proceedings against Khan, but thesecurity official said Khan’s family had con-tacted a noted lawyer of court martial cases,Colonel (r) Muhammad Akram, to defendhim in the military court. “The chargesagainst Khan suggest that he was in contactwith Hizb, had meetings with its activistsand had assured them of his support to their

cause. He also allegedly tried to imposeHizb’s agenda in the GHQ and tried to winover some of his colleagues at the GHQ,” theofficial said. He said the other military offi-cials arrested with Khan and some activistsof Hizb would also have to face the courtmartial proceedings.

Hizbut Tahrir, which has beenbanned for being an extremist organisa-tion, has been reportedly involved in dis-tribution of pamphlets in different citiesthat called on army officers to establishan Islamic caliphate. It is also said to beinvolved in issuing appeals to the sol-

diers to rise against the leadership of thePakistan Army for keeping ties with theUnited States.

pakistantoday.com.pk sunday, 12 february, 2012 rabi-ul-awal 19, 1433rs22.00 Vol ii No 226 96 pages

JARANWALAAgencieS

PRIMe Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on Saturday saidPakistan People’s Party (PPP) workers had renderedenough sacrifices for the sake of democracy andparty and it was now their leaders’ turn to makesacrifices for the just cause. “PPP workers havenever sold themselves or gotten frightened,” he told

a public rally in Jaranwala. “I am proud of the devotion of theparty workers who remain steadfast and have rendered sacrificesfor strengthening the democratic process,” he added. Gilani saidPPP workers had rendered many sacrifices and the party was fullyaware of them and would remember them always.The prime minister said Benazir Bhutto struggled for thefreedom of media and judiciary and “we will keep serving thepeople per her manifesto, whether in or out of power”.He said the only politician who brought revolution in thecountry was Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. “Many politicians talk aboutrevolution, but ZA Bhutto was the only political leader whomade it happen,” he said. The prime minister said, “We willcontinue the politics of reconciliation introduced by BenazirBhutto and after the completion of five years, the PPP will gobefore the masses on the basis of its performance.” He said theprogress made during his tenure was unmatched by any otherregime. He said PPP was not a political party, but a movement,which had played an important role in the progress, prosperityand development of the country. Gilani said the PPP raised theslogan of Roti, Kapra and Makan and remained committed to it,adding that Benazir Bhutto came to Pakistan to launch amovement for the restoration of judiciary, give the people theirrights and fight against dictatorship. “We promise to remaincommitted to the vision, thoughts and ideas of Zulfikar Ali Bhuttoand Benazir Bhutto and carry forward their politics ofreconciliation,” he said. The prime minister said the PPP wouldcontinue the mission of serving the nation and people. “Today,every party is claiming to bring change and defeat all others. evensome are claiming to take many wickets on ‘one ball’, but thepeople have not given them any chance,” he said.The prime minister said the response of the people in PPP’spublic meetings was due to its achievements and measurestaken for the welfare of the people. earlier, Gilani inaugurated amega gas project worth Rs 710 million in Jaranwala. The projectwould ensure gas facility to about 200,000 people of 57 unioncouncil of Jaranwala tehsil. He also announced early completionof the gas supply project, roads’ construction and electricityprojects at a cost of Rs 10 billion. Regarding the demand todeclare Jaranawala a district, he said if all representatives of thearea agreed, he would ask the provincial government to take thedecision on priority basis. He also announced to set up an ITuniversity in Jaranwala and promised to take steps forestablishing an industrial zone in the area.

It is leaders’turn to makesacrifices, PMtells workersg Gilani says party will continue struggleper Benazir Bhutto’s manifesto

Dejected Shaikh won’ttake up advisory role

QUETTAShAhzAdA zulfiQAr

Personnel of Afghan borderforces intruded into Pakistaniterritory in the Qila Saifullah dis-trict, abducted three Pakistaninationals and killed them onAfghan soil, officials said on Sat-urday. According to reports, overtwo dozen personnel of Afghansecurity forces in two vehiclescrossed into Pakistani territorynear the Badini area of Qila Sai-fullah on Friday and took awaythree Pakistan nationals toAfghanistan. They later shot the

three men dead on Afghan soil.However, local tribesmen

said the Afghan forces raided ahouse owned by local tribal elderSadullah Kakar on the suspicionof harbouring the Taliban. Theysaid the Afghan forces took awaythree men, identified as Abdul-lah, Mohammad Din and Mo-hammad Sarwar Shabozai.Quoting sources across the bor-der, the tribesmen claimed thatall three Pakistanis were exe-cuted and their bodies had notbeen returned. They said effortswere being made at the triballevel to take possession of the

bodies. On the other hand,Balochistan Home and Tribal Af-fairs Secretary NaseebullahBazai said only two Pakistaniswere taken away by Afghanforces and killed. He said he hadinformed the Foreign Ministry aswell as the provincial high ups.Bazai said an immediate meetinghad been convened with theAfghan Consul General in Quettathrough the Foreign Ministry todiscuss the incident. He said theBalochistan government wouldregister a strong protest over theincident, as well as the violationof border by Afghan forces.

sBP keeps policy

rate unchangedTerming financing of country’s fiscal andexternal current account deficits as a basicchallenge, the central bank Saturday kept thediscount rate unchanged at the pre-2008level of 12 per cent to revive businessconfidence in the crises-hit country. StateBank, declared achievement of the budgetedRs1.952 trillion tax collection targets as“ambitious” and projected that the fiscaldeficit was difficult to be arrested at revisedtarget of 4.7 per cent and was likely to swellbeyond 5.5 per cent of the GDP by the end ofFY12. Citing provisional estimates, the centralbank said the fiscal deficit for H1-FY12, fromthe financing side, showed a deficit of Rs532billion or 2.5 per cent of GDP. Given that thefiscal deficit was always higher in the secondhalf of a fiscal year, at least by 0.5 per centduring the last 10 years, containing the FY12fiscal deficit close to the government’s revisedtarget would be difficult. The regulator saidgiven a steady flow of workers remittances,the external current account deficit isexpected to remain in the range of $3.5billion to $5.5 billion, or 1.5 to 2.4 per cent ofGDP, by end-June. “Central Board ofDirectors of State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) hasdecided to keep the per cent policy rateunchanged at 12 per cent,” Governor SBP,Yaseen Anwar, announced here at SBP whileunveiling the Monetary Policy Statement forthe next two months. Projecting thebackbreaking inflation (average) to remain indouble-digit, ranging from 11 to 12 per cent,for the current fiscal year, SBP governor saidthere were indications of underlyinginflationary pressures in the economy onaccount of non-food CPI items.

Brigadier, four others face court martial over Ht links

Afghan forces kill threein cross-border raid

KARACHI: After failing to secure a Pakistan People’s Party

Senate ticket from Sindh, former federal minister for

finance Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh has decided not to accept

the responsibility of adviser to prime minister offered to

him by the government. Sources close to Shaikh told

Pakistan Today on Saturday that the financial wizard was

disappointed by the decision of the committee formed to

decide about PPP candidates for the Senate from Sindh.

The final list of the PPP candidates from Sindh does not

include Shaikh’s name. The sources said the finance

minister had now decided to turn down the advisory role

offered by the government and leave for Dubai. QAzi ASif

dEtaiLEd story | paGE 21Not so upbEat GiLaNi sEEms rEady to facE coNtEmpt | paGE 04

Murree: A woman takes a photograph of her

family members as they pose with a snowman

after heavy snowfall in Murree on Saturday. reuters

Lahore Edition

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02Sunday, 12 February 2012

News

today’s

LookQuick

LAhORe

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NewS

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CARTOON

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‘india Show’ in lahore, anti-india in Karachi Sherry brings liberal charm, but faces slim chance for diplomatic thaw

ISLAMABADStAff report

PAKISTAN and Sri LankaSaturday signed threememorandums of under-standing (MoUs) to en-hance cooperation in

trade, technical education and media,and also agreed to increase the tradevolume to over $2 billion by 2015..

Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gi-lani and Sri Lankan PresidentMahinda Rajapaksa observed thesigning ceremony here at the PrimeMinister’s House along with themembers of their delegations.

The MoU seeking cooperation inmedia was signed by InformationMinister Firdous Aishaq Awan andSri Lanka’s Minister for external Af-

fairs Prof GL Peiris, whereas the MoUfor a credit of $200 million to in-crease Pakistan’s exports to Sri Lankawas signed by Peiris and Prime Min-ister’s Finance Adviser Dr AbdulHafeez Sheikh on behalf of their re-spective governments. The MoU forcooperation in technical educationwas signed by Ministry of Profes-sional and Technical education Sec-retary Qamar Zaman Chaudhry andSecretary to the Sri Lankan presidentLalith Weerathunga. Under the agree-ment to promote cooperation in media,both the countries will exchange newsstories, special programmes and publi-cations highlighting the historical, cul-tural and social aspects, and sports andliterature through radio, television andprint media. The two countries will alsoexplore avenues to jointly produce doc-

umentary films on topics of nationaland historical significance. Under theMoU, the two countries will also ex-change visits and training facilities ofthe TV, radio and print media journal-ists, media experts, media managersand trainees on reciprocal basis.Joint Statement: A jointstatement issued on the occasion saidthe two sides reached broad consen-sus on ways and means to furtherstrengthen their bilateral cooperationin a comprehensive manner and ontheir common endeavours to promotepeace and security in the region andthe world. Both sides agreed to holdfrequent summit level meetings, pro-mote parliamentary exchanges andenhance the process of consultations,cooperation and coordination be-tween their respective institutions.

Pakistan, Sri Lanka to increasetrade volume to $2 billiong Both countries sign three MoUs to enhance cooperation in trade, technicaleducation and media

ISLAMABADStAff report

The government on Saturday decided to changeits economic managers by replacing Finance Sec-retary Dr Waqar Masood Khan with economic Af-fairs Division Secretary Wajid Rana.

A source told Pakistan Today on Saturday thatthe finance secretary had been changed after theministry’s failure to improve the economic situa-tion, particularly after the end of the InternationalMonetary Fund (IMF)’s bailout package. The gov-ernment had brought a change in its economicteam in December 2010 with the hope that these

managers would improve the economy without thesupport of the IMF, which had offered another pro-gramme without which it had said the situation inPakistan would not improve. The Finance Ministryhad been presenting a rosy picture which was con-tradicted by the IMF’s reports on Pakistan’s econ-omy. Another source said various names werebeing considered for appointment as Federal Boardof Revenue (FBR) chairman after the retirement ofSalman Siddique. The source said on top was thename of Ali Arshad but a final decision was yet tobe made. Khan was appointed finance secretary forthe third time by transferring Siddique to the FBRas its chairman.

Wajid rana replaces Waqar

Masood as finance secretary

Respecting judiciary

essential for democracyLahore:

Respecting judicialdecisions andimplementingthem is essentialfor strengtheningdemocracy andstate institutions,PML-N PresidentNawaz Sharif saidon Saturday. In astatement, Nawazsaid that the entirenation was committed to ensureimplementation of judicial decisions andthe PML-N knew its responsibilities inthis regard. He said that an independentand strong judiciary was a solidfoundation for democracy and deviationfrom its decisions tantamount todestroying democracy’s foundation. ThePML-N president said that non-implementation of judicial decisions waslike digging a hole in the same boat,which was custodian of ensuring the safearrival of the national caravan to itsdestination. StAff report

MoNIToRINg DESk

Leaders of the Difa-e-Pakistan Councilhave vowed that they would stage a sit-in outside parliament on February 20if supplies to NATO forces inAfghanistan were resumed.

At a news conference on Saturday,the DPC leaders said restoration ofNATO supplies would be tantamountto mocking the national honour andsovereignty. They also said an all-partyconference (APC) on the Balochistanissue would be held on February 23.

Those who attended the newsbriefing included Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (S) chief Samiul Haque, Jamaat-

e-Islami chief Munawar Hassan,Jamiat Ulema Pakistan (JUP) chiefSahibzada Abu Al Khair MuhammadZubair, Jamaatud Dawa chief HafizSaeed and Ahl-e Sunnat Wal Jamaatchief Muhammad Ahmed Ludhyanvi.Haque said the DPC leaders had dis-cussed the country’s situation in detailand decided to keep the decision ofstaging a sit-in outside parliament onFebruary 20.

Political and religious parties inDPC would join the sit-in. He said DPCleaders’ conference would be held inIslamabad on February 19.

The DPC was extremely concernedover the Balochistan issue and taking

it up in the congress of the UnitedStates was a direct interference in Pak-istan’s internal affairs, he said, addingthat the statement issued by the USDefence Committee was provokingand serious.

JI chief Hassan said people hadwelcomed the DPC across the country,which manifested their trust. Thebiggest challenge in the country wasUS interference. He said the DPC’sagenda was clear that NATO supplyshould remain discontinued. NATOsupply via Pakistan’s air routes was amatter of grave concern and the DPCprotested vehemently on the state-ment of US ambassador.

Sit-in outside parliament on 20th if NATO supplies restored: DPC

Rahim elected PML-

Likeminded presidentISLAMABAD

StAff report

The Pakistan Muslim League (PML)-Likeminded onSaturday elected former Sindh chief minister ArbabGhulam Rahim as its new president, while HamidNasir Chattha retained his position as the party’schairman for a second term. The elections were heldin a meeting of the party’s General Council attendedby councillors from all four provinces. The meetingwas held was held under Senator Salim SaifullahKhan to elect new party leadership for the next threeyears. Outgoing PML-Likeminded presidentSenator Salim Saifullah has been elected as thechairman of the party’s Steering Committee after theposition was vacated by Khurshid Qasuri whodefected to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). In acountry where no one quits crucial party positions,Saifullah has set a rare example by giving way toArbab Ghulam Rahim at the end of his tenure. ThePML-Likeminded was set up in 2009 in reaction tothe re-election of PML-Quaid President ChaudhryShujaat Hussain for a second consecutive term inviolation of the party’s constitution. HumayunAkhtar Khan has been re-elected as the secretarygeneral of the party, while Kashmala Tariq waselected as information secretary.

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03Sunday, 12 February 2012

NewsCOMMeNTSelective efficiency?:

Articles on Page 12-13

The holy cows walk free.

Moving forward: Pakistani and Sri Lankan presidents meet.

humayun gauhar says:

Saad rasool says:

FOReIgN NewS

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ARTS & eNTeRTAINMeNT

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SPORTSpakistan to keep england in the spin

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defiant iran to present major n-projects ‘in days’ Ali zafar is the ‘superstar of tomorrow’

Who rules Pakistan?: America, but, of course.

Legality and martyrdom: Why the former when you could have the latter?

M J Akbar says:On Hong Kong: A unique phenomenon.

ISLAMABADMiAn AbrAr

PAKISTAN and Afghanistan arelikely to overcome the last hur-dle in the smooth execution ofthe newly-signed transit tradetreaty between both the neigh-

bouring countries within the next twoweeks by finalising details of the installa-tion of biometric system and tracking de-vices on transport units.

The Afghanistan Pakistan TransitTrade Agreement (APTTA) 2010 wassigned by both countries on October 28,2010. This agreement has replaced thetransit trade agreement of 1965. TheAPTTA was operationalised on June 12.

An official source said most of theprovisions under the agreement had beenimplemented but the installation of bio-metric system and tracking devices ontransport units. He said the Federal Bu-reau of Revenue (FBR) and the Ministryof Interior were sorting out the issues.

He said currently the FBR was in theprocess of selecting suitable firms formonitoring and tracking of transit cargo

across the country on a real time basis. Allthe required codal formalities had beencompleted and it was expected that thefirm, most suitable both technically andfinancially, would be mandated to operatethe tracking system, within two weekstime.

According to the source, the InteriorMinistry would soon hold a meeting withAfghan authorities in Kabul on the instal-lation of a compatible biometric system atTorkham and Chamman borders to re-solve the matter.

According to the provisions of theagreement, an insurance guarantee equalto the amount of import levies of Pakistanhad to be deposited by the importer withthe customs authorities for the clearanceof transit goods. However, the said provi-sion was suspended for three months, asinsurance companies in Pakistan werenot prepared to provide insurance guar-antees for the transit goods.

The new agreement is based on theprinciple of full reciprocity. Whatever fa-cility is extended by Pakistan toAfghanistan under the agreement, will bereciprocated by the Afghan side. No ex-

emption is granted except the suspensionof equipment of providing insuranceguarantee for three months. This hasbeen restored since October 13, 2011.

Various studies and reports high-lighted the limitations of the transit treatyof 1965. The APTTA was negotiated keep-ing in view the shortcomings of the previ-ous transit agreement, input receivedfrom public and private sectors stake-holders and best international practices.

The main concern for Pakistan wasthe issue of smuggling in the garb of tran-sit trade. The new transit treaty has ad-dressed this issue and the followingmeasures have been placed to prevent themisuse of the transit facility.

Under the plan, tracking device ontransport units would be installed and thecustoms-to-customs information wouldbe shared through data transfer of infor-mation technology and others.

The provision of financial guaranteesequal to the amount of import levies ofPakistan would be deposited by autho-rised brokers/custom clearing agents,which shall be released after the goodsexit the country.

Pakistan, Afghanistan edgecloser to smoother tradeg Vehicle tracking, biometric system for APTTA likely in next fortnightg Biometric system to be installed at Torkham, Chaman borders

India upholds 2003Mumbai bombersdeath penalty

MUMBAIAfp

An Indian court has uphelddeath sentences handed downto three people, including amarried couple, for plantingbombs that killed 52 inMumbai in 2003.The Bombay High Courtconfirmed the death penaltiesgiven to Sayed Anees, 46, hiswife Fehmida Sayed, 43, andAshrat Ansari, 32, on chargesof murder, criminalconspiracy and terrorism.“It is a rarest of rare case,deserving the extreme penalty.They are ordered to be hangedby neck till dead,” Justices AMKhanvilkar and PD Kode ruledon Friday.A lower court had condemnedthe three to death three yearsago for planting bombs in twotaxis that exploded in August2003 at Mumbai’s landmarkGateway of India and thebustling gold jewellery ZaveriBazaar market.All three convicts watched theBombay High Courtproceedings by a video linkfrom their jails. They plan toappeal against the judgmentto India’s Supreme Court.Police said the blasts wereplotted in Dubai by the three,who had links with thePakistan-based militant groupLashkar-e-Tayyaba (LT) andwanted to avenge the death ofMuslims during riots whichswept the western state ofGujarat in 2002.

Rs 50 million bounty for Domki’s murderersThe federal government announced Rs 50 million-bounty for a tip-off on murderers of BalochistanMPA Bakhtiar Domki, his wife and daughter, a private TV channel reported on Saturday. Interior Min-ister Senator Rehman Malik assured full confidentiality and safety for the informer. Monitoring deSK

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Sunday, 12 February, 2012

The protocol was accord-ing to the book, but themood in the Prime Minis-ter’s House on Saturdaywas somber with YousafRaza Gilani also not in hisusual humour as his bodylanguage was rickety andthe smile on the face of theembattled chief executiveof the country was visiblyhis public-posturing.

The occasion was aluncheon he hosted for SriLankan PresidentMahinda Rajapaksa. Allfour-star generals werepresent but the galaxy of agroup of politicians, oftenseen at the official resi-dence of the prime minis-ter, had disappeared inIslamabad’s misty politicalenvironment.

Understandably, poli-tics is all about advan-tages. The opportunistsread the writing on thewall, which, in this case, isunmistakable. It is quitepragmatic for them to stay

away from the man theyhad throughout been en-circling with the hope tofind slots in his cabinet orbe part of his kitchen-cab-inet – the rats are the firstto jump when the shipstarts sinking.

Though nothing can besaid with definite certaintyas to what would finallyhappen as the law will takeits own course with thechance of even a remotepossibility of the luckfavouring the prime minis-ter during the court pro-ceedings, the insiders saythat he is ready to face theconsequences of choosingto remain loyal to hisparty over the rule of law.

A senior politician,who is officially close tothe prime minister, how-ever, appeared optimistwhile informally sharinghis opinion with the argu-ment that President AsifAli Zardari had said that itwas the Pakistan People’sParty (PPP) which decidednot to write the letter.“And, the decisions of aparty can change,” he re-marked, suggesting that

the likelihood of the PPPreversing its decision andallowing the prime minis-ter to write the letter can-not be ruled out.

While the prime minis-ter still has a chance tostay in office if he bowsbefore the court of law andapologises for not imple-menting its orders, theapology is, however, not apanacea for the problemhe is faced with as nothingshort of writing a letter tothe foreign authoritieswould seemingly save himfrom the contemptcharges.

The federal ministerswho attended the lunch-eon were Mian ManzoorWatto, Dr Firdous AshiqAwan and Hina RabbaniKhar. Senator Haji Adeelrepresented the AwamiNational Party (ANP) andSenator Maulana AbdulGhafoor Haideri repre-sented the government’serstwhile ally JamiatUlema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F). The Muttahida QaumiMovement (MQM), even ifit sent its representative,was not conspicuously

represented.Notably present was

Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) PresidentChaudhry Shujaat Hus-sain, who, a source said,made his attendance notedfor not being discourteousto stay away and skip theevent at a time when thehost was faced with themost humbling situationof being convicted for dis-obeying the court. He satnext to the prime ministeron the main-table.

The absence of thehardcore PPP parliamen-tarians, who rubbed shoul-ders with the primeminister, was understand-able as with the fate of theprime minister likely to besealed, they would surelyhave started lobbying forthemselves to seize the op-portunity for the stop-gapPMship, though not fortoo long – still a life-timechance which otherwisemay not come in their po-litical career.

Whatever, the nextprime minister, in theevent of Yousaf Raza Gi-lani’s disqualification, will

most likely be from thePPP as the party cannotafford to hand over thegovernment to anyonefrom outside in the elec-tion year. It maybe somedark-horse as the presi-dent never shares hischoice with anyone beforetime, the name of SyedKhursheed Shah is beingquoted in the political cir-cles as next prime minis-ter.

Though he belongs toSindh with the president,Senate chairman and Na-tional Assembly speakeralso hailing from thatprovince, the position ofprime minister may alsogo to Sindh as the presi-dent does everything hisown way. The oppositionmay not oppose to Khur-sheed Shah’s nominationfor being an acceptable-to-all politician in the PPPbecause of his sagacity andseniority as a parliamen-tarian.

But whoever it is, itwill not be a smooth sailfor the next prime minis-ter. The letter has to bewritten and until the

Supreme Court reversesits decision, which doesnot seem possible, thenext prime minister willface a similar fate like thatof Yousaf Raza Gilani. Andthe president will certainlynot nominate anyone,who, he even slightly cogi-tates, will betray him.

The numbers-weakPPP may also find it diffi-cult to elect its prime min-ister in case any of itsallies, the PML-Q and par-ticularly the MQM, pullsout of the coalition if thepower that-be, as is beingwidely considered, plansso. In this scenario, a po-litical crisis may hit thecountry with the NationalAssembly being dissolved– a constitutional option.

Article 58(2) provides:“… the President may dis-solve the National Assem-bly in his discretionwhere, a vote of no-confi-dence having been passedagainst the Prime Minis-ter, no other member ofthe National Assemblycommands the confidenceof the majority of themembers of the National

Assembly in accordancewith the provisions of theConstitution, as ascer-tained in a session of theNational Assembly sum-moned for the purpose.”

The process for amember of the NationalAssembly to take a vote ofconfidence will involvehobnobbing with other po-litical parties at individualas well as the party levels.This may take consider-able time and in case themagic number of 172 is notachieved, the Article 58(2)will apply. The dissolutionof the National Assemblywill bring more time to thePPP to avoid writing theletter.

But there is no guar-antee that the caretakerprime minister will, if heis not a PPP nominee andits jayala, defy the courtorder like Yousaf Raza Gi-lani. It’s a catch-22 for thePPP. What political movethe president has in mind,however, remains to beseen with the PML-N alsoevaluating its options as amajor stakeholder in thepresent system.

Not so upbeat Gilani seems ready to face contemptSITUATIONeR

rAnA QAiSer

BHATTI MURDERCASE RESOLVED?

SHAHBAZ

While sources in the police have revealed that oneof the two alleged murderers of Shahbaz Bhattihave been arrested, the case remains to beshrouded in mystery over conflicting reportsclaiming that there are no eyewitness accountsand the lone whistleblower had concocted thestory in connection with the minister’s murder.

ISLAMABADStAff report

The alleged murderer of former minister forminorities’ affairs Shahbaz Bhatti has beenarrested. Sources in Islamabad police toldPakistan Today that two alleged killers Zia-ur-Rehman and Malik Abid had fled to

Dubai after killing Shahbaz Bhatti.Bhatti was killed on March 2, 2011 outside of his

residence in sector I/8 by unidentified gunmen. Later,the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban (TTP) had claimed re-sponsibility for the assassination.

They said that Interpol through Dubai policearrested one accused Zia-ur-Rehman while effortswere being made for the early arrest of the otheraccused. Interpol is the world’s largest Interna-tional police organisation, with 190 membercountries and assists member countries’ govern-ments to arrest criminals who have escapedabroad. Police sources said that for bringing backthe accused, Zia-ur-Rehman, a letter had beensent to the Interior Ministry.

They said after receiving formal request from theIslamabad police for shifting the accused from Dubaito Islamabad, the Interior Ministry has sent the sum-mary to the Ministry of Law for its opinion.

“Now we are waiting for Law Ministry’s opinion,once we have been given a green signal from the gov-ernment we will bring back the accused,” said a seniorpolice officer of Islamabad police on Saturday. earlier,on December 25, 2011 Interior Minister RehmanMalik while talking to media men in Islamabad heldthe banned Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) responsi-ble for the murder of Bhatti. “Bhatti’s assassins havebeen identified and that they belonged to the SSP. Thekillers fled to the Middle east after killing Bhatti whilethe government had issued ‘red warrants’ to bring theculprits back to Pakistan.” Malik had told the media,however, he did not disclose the name of the accused.

On the other hand, police sources said that an ac-cused Hafiz Nazar who was arrested in connectionwith Bhatti’s murder had disclosed the names of thesaid accused. Later, Hafiz Nazar was acquitted by AntiTerrorism Court (ATC) Rawalpindi, as police couldnot provide sufficient proof against him.

Over 10,000 Pakistaniskilled or gone missingdue to US-led war: reportiSLamaBaD: More than 10,000 Pakistani nation-als have either been killed or have gone missing as aresult of the US’ war on terror, Iranian state-run PressTV reported on Saturday. Since September 11, 2001,thousands of Pakistanis have been killed in incidentsof terrorism or have been abducted by intelligenceagencies. “Those violating the fundamental rights arereally a danger to all citizens. Anyone can be pickedup and be thrown into the detention centre. This isthe law, and nobody can question them. even the SC,I feel, is becoming helpless before them,” lawyer ofmissing nationals Tariq Asad said. Most of them wereacquitted by courts, but later illegally abducted by in-telligence agencies. To the disappointment of the peo-ple, the SC has delayed issuing orders against suchagencies, the report said. nni

govt’s ‘NATO-supply-route-

blocked’ claims fall flatMoNIToRINg DESk

Lofty claims of the government regarding the continuedblockade of NATO supply routes have fallen flat, assupplies to international forces stationed inAfghanistan continue through aerial routes under thegarb of civil cargo transportation. Geo News reportedthat the Civil Aviation Authority was aiding the dailytransfer of supplies to coalition forces in Afghanistanthrough at least six flights. Per details, a private cargocompany had received permission from the CAA fortransporting civil cargo to Afghanistan and thepermission was granted by an influential group of CAAofficials. The cargo transported had pledged not to flyweapons or other military equipment, but the realitywas in fact the opposite. The TV channel said the cargocompany had its office on the fifth floor of the JinnahTerminal at Karachi airport. The report said cargomeant for coalition forces was loaded in planes atSharjah airport. The authorities in UAe know where thecargo is headed but Pakistani authorities are notinformed of the actual cargo or its nature and it is onlytermed civil equipment meant for Afghanistan.

JArAnwAlA: prime Minister Yousaf raza gilani addresses a

public gathering on Saturday.

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05Sunday, 12 February, 2012

News

ISLAMABAD irfAn buKhAri

FRUSTRATeD with theslow-response from authori-ties concerned and facingfunctional overlapping fromtwo parliamentary panels, the

chairman and members of Special Parlia-mentary Committee on the All-PartiesConference (APC) asked the National As-sembly (NA) Speaker to merge the APCcommittee with the Parliamentary Com-mittee on National Security headed bySenator Raza Rabbani.

A source in the parliament told Pak-istan Today that most APC members, in-cluding chairman Raja Pervaiz Ashrafwere unwilling to run the parliamentarybody formed in November 2011 to over-see the implementation of joint resolu-tions of the parliament on nationalsecurity and the resolution passed onSeptember 30.

The source said, “The committee hasnot met for the last two-and-a-half monthsince its chairman Raja Pervaiz Ashrafand committee members find it hard toformulate an agenda for meeting.” Hesaid committee members from a number

of parliamentary parties had opined thatthe committee had no scope and couldnot be run parallel to ParliamentaryCommittee on National Security.

He said the committee chairman withconsent of members had officially askedthe speaker, to consider merging the spe-cial Parliamentary Committee on APCwith Parliamentary Committee on Na-tional Security to avoid overlaps.

The committee constituted after de-lays in mid-November 2011 under unan-imous resolution passed by an APChosted by Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gi-lani on September 29 in wake of US

threats to Pakistan to launch a militaryoffensive against the Haqqani network inNorth Waziristan. It was agreed that ‘aParliamentary Committee will be formedto oversee the implementation of earlierresolutions as well as this resolution andprogress on the same be made public onmonthly basis.’

Contrary to the spirit of the abovementioned clause which bounds the com-mittee to monitor progress on the imple-mentation of 13-point resolution, theparliamentary panel has failed to producea single report despite a lapse of a numberof months. Committee members include

MNAs Raja Pervez Ashraf (chairman),Sherry Rehman, Dr Ayatullah Durrani,Khawaja Mohammad Asif, Sardar MehtabAhmad Khan, Dr Attiya Inayatullah, SyedHaider Abbas Rizvi, Bushra Gohar,Maulana Attaur Rehman, Haji Khuda BuxRajar and Munir Khan Orakzai.

A committee member seekinganonymity said the constitution of thecommittee was itself against the spirit ofAPC resolution as only members of theNational Assembly were inducted into itwithout any Senate representation whilethe APC resolution had demanded a ‘par-liamentary committee’.

MoNIToRINg DESk

In both style and substance, Pakistan’snew Ambassador to the US SherryRehman was born to be a Washingtondiplomat and hostess, the WashingtonPost believes.

“She has a designer wardrobe, achestnut coif and camera-readymakeup. She also has a BA from Smith,a CV full of democratic credentials andthe articulate self-confidence of hercountry’s westernised elite,” it said in areport on Wednesday.

But Sherry’s arrival as the new am-bassador, a nuclear-armed, terrorist-plagued nation of 180 million, hascome at a time of unprecedented anti-American clamour among the Pak-istani public, which has beenincreasingly drawn to conservative Is-lamic values and infuriated by USdrone attacks and other perceived ag-gressions.

She landed in Washington at atime of deepening bilateral mistrust,marked by the covert US raid that killedOsama bin Laden, the shooting of twoPakistanis by a CIA contractor and,most recently, the November attack byUS forces in Afghanistan that killed 24Pakistani soldiers.

Ongoing tension between thesetwo formal allies in the war on terror-ism has plunged US-Pakistan relationsto their lowest point since the end of theCold War.

Moreover, the civilian administra-tion that appointed Rehman is deeplyunpopular, besieged by the courts andthe media, and under constant pressurefrom Pakistan’s powerful military es-tablishment, the report said. The crisis

has led to repeated rumours, so far un-realised, that the elected government isabout to fall. Sherry, 51, seems un-daunted. She learned the art of politicsat the side of Benazir Bhutto, Pakistan’slate prime minister.

Since taking up her post two weeksago, the new envoy has handled herchallenging portfolio with similar, pur-poseful charm. “You’ll have to airbrushout the circles under my eyes. I was upall night with a Pentagon crisis,” she re-marked cheerfully to a photographerlast week, posing for portraits in Pak-istan’s embassy, a hushed and imper-sonal marble fortress off ConnecticutAvenue in Northwest Washington.

The crisis in question had eruptedafter a stinging new comment on Pak-istan’s “double dealing” by DefenceSecretary Leon e Panetta, which Sherryspent hours attempting to spin lest itprovoke an apoplectic reaction fromher country’s easily offended generals.

Making her entry equally difficultare the tumultuous, intrigue-filled cir-cumstances that led to the sudden dis-missal of her predecessor, HusainHaqqani, in late November.

In an interview last week, Sherrywas careful not to criticise Haqqani, aone-man political operator who was

constantly tweeting, meeting and spin-ning in several directions at once. Butshe signalled that she intended to dothings differently, saying, “I am not asolo flier. I like to consult and to act in-stitutionally.” Asked what Pakistan’sarmy brass thought of her appoint-ment, she answered euphemistically.“The message I am getting is that every-one is able to work with me,” she said.“I come from a long tradition that isanti-establishment, but I am very clearthat here, I speak for one government.”

Sherry’s appointment has beenviewed as a breath of fresh air in Islam-abad and Washington. William Milam,a former US ambassador to Pakistan,described her as “tough and coura-geous”, and said she represented “thetraditional values of Jinnah’s Pakistan,tolerance and moderation”.

“We are in a process of strategicreset,” she said, speaking from an obvi-ously vetted script. “I feel strongly thatPakistan and the United States canhave a rational, constructive, pre-dictable and transparent relationship,but we have not had that in a sustainedway for too long. We need to lower ex-pectations and do business in agrounded way. We need a relationshipthat is invested with less emotion.”

PPP KP chapter irked over

Senate tickets distributionPEShAWAR

StAff report

The PPP Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chapter on Saturdayexpressed reservations over the proposed candidates to beawarded the party Senate tickets and demanded the partyleadership to revise the decision. Holding a pressconference at Peshawar Press Club, PPP KhyberPakhtunkhwa Information Secretary Syed Ayub Shah said,“Party loyalists’ and real assets of the party, which provedthemselves during dictatorship, were totally ignored andcertain influential blue-eyed people were given tickets”.He said that merit was not followed in awarding tickets,which created resentment among workers. Ayub said thatthose workers and leaders, who stood against Ziaul Haq’srule, were being ignored while taking decisions due towhich the party was weakening in the province. The PPPleader said that former interior minister Major General (r)Naseerullah Babar had immense services for the party buthis wife was not awarded the ticket while other stalwartssuch as Azam Afridi, Dost Muhammad and Afsarul Mulkwere also ignored. He criticised PPP ministers saying thatdespite being a coalition partner in the provincialgovernment, the party was ignored in distribution offunds, mega projects and jobs. Ayub said that the PPP hadits own vote bank in the province and it would not beallowed to function as a B team of the ANP.

Two abducted westerners

in TTP custodyDERA ISMAIL khAN

reuterS

Two Western aid workers kidnapped in January arebeing held by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP)near the border with Afghanistan, a senior militantcommander told Reuters on Saturday. Gunmen stormeda house in Multan on January 19 and drove away withtwo foreigners—one an Italian citizen and the otherbelieved to be a German. “The two NGO workers, whowere kidnapped in Multan nearly a month ago, are inour custody near the border. We haven’t made anydemands yet. They are in good health,” a senior Talibancommander said. Last month, a senior policeman saidthat the foreigners were being held for ransom. Criminalgangs often target foreign aid workers in hope ofsecuring large ransoms for their release.

Frustrated APC committee seeks merger with PCNSg Committee has not met in two and a half months g Members feel it cannot be run parallel to PCNS

Stop the bAloch genocide! Sindh progressive committee members chant slogans outside the hyderabad press club against the army operation in balochistan. ONLiNe

sherry brings liberal charm, but facesslim chance for diplomatic thawg washington Post likens new ambassador to US’ purposeful charm to Benazir Bhutto’s

LHR 12-02-2012_Layout 1 2/12/2012 2:16 AM Page 5

06Sunday, 12 February, 2012

News

SRINAgARAfp

PROTeSTeRS blocked amain highway in restive In-dian Kashmir on Saturdayafter a young man was shotdead by the army in what

military officials described as an “acci-dental” shooting.

The Indian army said Ashiq HussainRather, 22, was killed late Friday whena soldier accidentally fired his rifle as se-curity forces combed the area for mili-tants.

The killing occurred in the Bara-

mulla district of the scenic Kashmir val-ley.

“It was a case of the accidental dis-charge of a single bullet by a soldierwhich led to the unfortunate incident,”Lieutenant General S.A. Hasnain toldthe Press Trust of India.

“The deceased was innocent. In-quiries have been ordered,” he added.

Police used baton charges and tear-gas to disperse the protesters who wereblocking traffic along the main Kup-wara-Baramulla highway in IndianKashmir, according to media reports.

There are nearly a dozen Kashmirmilitant groups fighting for the divided

Muslim-majority region to become partof Pakistan and over 47,000 people havebeen killed since the outbreak of theseparatist insurgency in Kashmir in1989.

But militant violence has droppedsharply in Kashmir since India and Pak-istan, which each hold part of the Hi-malayan region and claim it in full,started a peace process in 2004.

The chief minister of Jammu andKashmir state, Omar Abdullah, said thegovernment would investigate thedeath. “We will ascertain the facts andany action will follow after that,” Abdul-lah told India’s NDTV channel.

PEShAWARStAff report

While civil society representatives and po-litical parties remain divided over the fu-ture administrative status of FederallyAdministrative Tribal Areas (FATA) but allunanimously demands for more reformsand giving due political and legal rights totribesmen.

The Human Rights Commission ofPakistan (HRCP) on Saturday arranged aconsultative workshop on existing situationof FATA in Peshawar.

In her key address before participants,Asma Jehangir backed the demand for giv-ing due political, legal and human rights totribesmen but she linked, “miseries andhardships of tribesmen to existing crises atIslamabad.” She observed that unless all

crises in Islamabad be resolved forever noone can ensure a peaceful atmosphere andstable political process in parts of the coun-try.

Asma said it was time for all those whobelieve in democracy, rule of law and su-premacy of parliament to come forward tofoiling all attempts against democracy inthe country. She said non-democraticrulers had always backed “status quo,” notonly in tribal region but throughout thecountry while each democratic governmentcontributed to the tribal belt. She hoped thestrengthening of the democratic processwill provide tribesmen rights.

earlier, participants offered their opin-ions on the FATA reforms: general frame-work, constitutional status andenforcement of fundamental rights, re-forms in the legal system and legislation,

governance and peace building. Despitedifferent approaches almost all partici-pants unanimously appreciated the presentgovernment for extending Political PartiesAct into Tribal Areas and allowing tribes-men the right to political activism.

They hoped that through political ac-tivism, tribesmen could be in a better posi-tion of building consensus amongst themabout the future status of tribal areas.

As it stands, a majority of the partici-pants endorsed the demand to give themrepresentation in the KhyberPukhtoonkhwa Assembly to pave the waysfor their induction into mainstream of pol-itics. However, certain tribal representa-tives, including Mian Muneer Aurakzaisaid such representation in the KP assem-bly can only be made with the consent oftribesmen.

Kashmir erupts in protestafter army shoots innocent

Squash player robbedSquash player Saad Shahid was robbedin Saddar area, a private TV channelreported on Saturday. Robbers tookShahid hostage at gunpoint and fled withhis valuables, including a cellular phone,Rs 20,000 in cash, an ATM card,passport and important documents. Thesportsman appealed to the robbers toreturn his passport, as he would not beable to get a new passport in three daysto participate in an international event.Monitoring deSK

No tax to be

allowed in

Malakand: Muqam

SWAThAroon SirAJ

We will not let anyone take anykind of tax from the Malakanddivision and will thwart any suchbid, Pakistan Muslim League–Quaid (PML-Q) KhyberPakthunkhwa (KP) President andDeputy Parliamentary Leaderengineer Amir Muqam said onSaturday. Addressing a publicgathering at Khawaza Khela,Muqam said rulers should beashamed of their inability toprovide relief to people – ratherthan putting further taxes on them.He said, “If the so-calledrepresentatives of Pakhtunsattempt to implement taxation inMalakand division forcibly, we willlaunch civil disobediencemovement under the PML-Q flag.”He said if they do not then themovement for the new provinces ofHazara and Malakand will be of noavail. ANP members MohammadAziz Khan. Tal hayat Khan, KakiKhan, Umar Khitab, Anwar ul haqand Ismail resigned on theoccasion to join PML-Q with partyworkers on the occasion.

ricKShAw rAllY: cng rickshaw drivers take out a protest rally to Karachi press club. ONLiNe

HrCP holds consultation over FAtA status

LAhoREStAff report

The PPP will decide the future course of ac-tion after the Supreme Court’s (SC) verdicton February 13, Federal Commerce Minis-ter Makhdoom Amin Fahim said on Satur-day. He was talking to journalists afterinaugural ceremony of The India Show atLahore expo Centre.

Fahim said that in a democratic setup,political decisions were made quickly andevery issue was resolved through delibera-tions. Talking about President Asif AliZardari, he said that the president had con-stitutional immunity. The minister saidthat parliament would complete its termand general elections would be held ontime, adding that he had read in a newspa-per that both the government and opposi-

tion would jointly decide about the a care-taker setup. The PPP leader said that thememo commission was working independ-ently. “If Mansoor Ijaz’s statement is somuch important, then he should come toPakistan to record his statement,” he said.Fahim said that Indian PM ManmohanSingh had assured him that India would re-move Pakistan’s reservations on the waterissue by the agreed principles. The ministersaid that PM Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani wasnot being removed and the party leadershipwould decide about it.He said that Pakistanand India had been trading a number ofproducts, adding that commerce secretariesof both countries had discussed each itemand gave approval. “We need to discuss thenegative list as well and every matter willbe reviewed and considered carefully,” thePPP leader said.

PPP to decide future course

of action after 13th: Fahim

LHR 12-02-2012_Layout 1 2/12/2012 2:16 AM Page 6

Sunday, 12 February, 2012

female abuse rampant as govt official

shush accusations

PAge 07

LAhoREStAff report

aS the aftershocks of factory collapseincident continue to be felt, the La-hore Development Authority in sus-pending two deputy directors andordering an enquiry against them

under the PeDA Act, has made its junior officersthe scapegoats to save the big wigs.

LDA DG Abdul Jabbar Shaheen summonedthe officers of Town Planning Branch, Metropoli-tan Planning Wing and Commercial Branch inPHA head office on Saturday.

He suspended Deputy Director TariqMehmood and Dawood Anjum Khan with imme-diate effect and ordered departmental probeagainst them.

Meanwhile, the Punjab government has con-stituted a committee that would present a reportafter which strict action would be taken againstthose responsible.

Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif alsopresided over a high level meeting regarding

Kharak factory incident on Saturday.Addressing the meeting, Sharif expressed his

sadness over the loss of lives in the tragedy. “We will pay Rs 5 lac and Rs 75,000 to the

families of the dead and the injured,” he said,adding that the compensations would be givenout in a day or two. He said the governmentwould also provide jobs to one per-son of each affected familyand a commit-tee had beenconstituted inthis regard also.He directed that com-plete survey be carriedout regarding the exist-ing industrial units in theresidential areas throughoutthe province and the process ofthis survey be completed at the ear-liest, adding that a ‘comprehensive’strategy would be evolved in light ofthe committee’s recommendations.

He said those responsible for the

incident would be awarded a deterrent punish-ment and if the officers of police, LDA or any otherdepartment were found involved, strict actionwould also be taken against them.

The victims of the incident also met the CM onSaturday. Member Provincial Assembly Zaib Jaf-fer, home secretary, RPO and Bahawalpur Com-missioner, Rahim Yar Khan DPO and DCO and

concerned officers werepresent on this occasion.

“We are grateful tothe government for pro-viding timely assistanceto us,” the victims said,

adding that the children ofthose who had died should

also be admitted to DaanishSchools.

Sharif also condoled withthe families of the victims of theKhanpur incident and assured

them of their full support, addingthat the government would pro-

vide full support to the victims.

News Desk

An “India Show” organised by the Federation of IndianChambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) kicked off inLahore on Saturday, as anti-India groups gathered inKarachi to hold a massive rally under the banner of Defenceof Pakistan, according to a Zee News report.

Nearly 150 Indian companies are exhibiting their prod-ucts at the show in Lahore. As part of the ‘India Show’, Com-merce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma will walk infrom the Wahga border on February 13, marking the firstever visit by an Indian commerce and industry minister toPakistan. Sharma will be accompanied by an 80-memberbusiness delegation that will visit Islamabad and Karachi tointeract with local businessmen.

But not far in Karachi, anti-India groups gathered underthe chairmanship of Maulana Samiul Haq, to plan an anti-India rally for today (Sunday). Prominent among them is

Hafiz Saeed of the Jamaatud Dawa and Laskhar-e-Tayyaba,the alleged mastermind of the Mumbai 26/11 attacks. Postersand banners for the February 12 rally in Karachi have alreadycome up. A JuD press release said: “Arrangements for theDifa-e-Pakistan conference are in full swing and central lead-ers of the Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) have reached Karachi inthis connection.” The group’s 10-point agenda includes “fullsupport to “fighting in Occupied Kashmir”.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) Chairman ImranKhan’s spokesperson has denied that he will take part in therally. Also part of this anti-India and anti-US grouping areformer officials of the Pakistan Defence Ministry, four stararmy generals and admirals. In an earlier rally, Samiul Haqhad said, “We will not let this government negotiate withIndia and the US who are the greatest enemies of Pakistan.”Politicians of the ruling party or the opposition in eitherSindh or Punjab rarely challenge the anti-India statementsfor fear of retribution from extremist elements.

LAhoREStAff report

A group of Indian and Pakistani doctorshave jointly performed a complicatedliving donour liver transplant procedureat the Sheikh Zayed Hospital for the firsttime in Pakistan on Saturday.

The living donor liver transplanta-tions ( LDLT) are “highly sensitive andcomplicated” surgical procedures as twolives - the donor and recipient - are atrisk, doctors said.

The joint operations were done by In-dian surgeon Subash Gupta, a seniortransplant doctor of Apollo Hospital inDelhi, and three of his colleagues and thethree-member Pakistani team of TariqBangash, Khawar Shahzad and Umer Ali.

“The joint venture of leading Indianand Pakistani transplant surgeons hasmade history by opening a new era of liv-ing-relative liver transplants in Pak-istan,” Bangish said.

The first liver transplant was per-formed on Khanum Maula and the liver

was donated by his close relative IrshadBibi while the second surgery was con-ducted on 45-year-old Abida Parveen andthe liver was donated by her 19-year-oldson. It took 12 hours for the surgeons tocomplete each sensitive procedure. Bothrecipients were brought to Shaikh ZayedHospital with complete liver failures.

The Indian doctors visited Pakistan toperform the transplants at the request ofthe Pakistani surgeons. Before their ar-rival, surgeons at Shaikh Zayed Hospitalfinalised arrangements for the sensitive

operations and prepared the donors andrecipients. The condition of all recipientsand donors was stable and they were keptunder observation in intensive care for 24hours. Consultants were put on high alertfor post-operative care of the patients for24 hours, a highly sensitive period for allwho undergo hours-long surgeries.

SZH chairman told the reporters thatmore than 200 patients had applied fortransplants in the future and requestedthe citizens to encourage philanthropyand organ donation in the society.

Don’t forget yourumbrellas!

LAhoREStAff report

According to weather experts, the citywould remain under the grip of sever coldand scattered rain showers in the coming24 hours. Rain and further drop inmercury are expected in the coming days.The representatives of met office said thetemperature of the city remained between2 to 4 Celsius in the evening and 10 to 14during the day on Saturday. According tothe office, more rain is expected in thecity. “It will remain partially clouded andthe city would witness short spells ofscattered rain for the coming 2 days,” ameteorologist said, adding that the windswould remain chilly also. Met officerssaid another westerly wave was headingtowards Pakistan and likely to enterBalochistan on Saturday evening/night.Under the influence of this weathersystem scattered rain with snowfall overthe hills is expected over north-eastBalochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, upperPunjab, Gilgit-Baltistan/Kashmir, Murreeand Galliyat is expected onSunday/Monday. The prevailing coldwave conditions in most parts of thecountry, particularly in Sindh are likely tosubside during the weekend.

Lahore Bar ‘lowers

its bar’NEWS DESk

Strong public reaction has emerged in theface of the ban imposed on drinks byShezan by the Lahore Bar Association ina 100-members ‘unanimous’ voting heldon Friday. Nadeem Gehla, tweeting onSaturday, said ‘Lahore Bar Associationbanned Ahmadi-owned Shezan drinks inbar premises however will enjoy Jewishowned McDonald and Pepsi.’ Anotherblogger, defending the LBA PresidentChaudhry Zulfiqar, said ‘the fact is that amajority resolution was passed by LahoreBar Association lawyers. I guess thepresident of the association did not havemuch to do with it.’ Another citizen,Ayesha Halam said, ‘Lahore BarAssociation lowers the bar yet again,votes to boycott Ahmadi productsdisgusting!!’ Subjecting the Lahore Barmembers of sever criticism, anothercitizen said, “Lahore Bar members werehigh on Muree Brewery drinks and werewatching mujra when PTI candidateZulfiqar won the elections, there’s a videoon Youtube, but Shezan is haram.”Sohaib Khan, offended by the decisionsaid, “It’s the epitome of illiteracycombined with bad business.” It ispertinent to mention here that in aninterview with an english daily, Zulfiqarhad said more bans on other productswould also follow.

More fire!

LAhoREStAff report

Fire broke out in a mobile phone shopsituated on the Hall Road and reducedelectronic items and other valuablesworth thousands of rupees to ashes,causing the locals to panic on Saturday. The fire, caused due to short a circuit,only a day after the fire accident at theNew Auriga Centre, raised a lot of alarmamongst the shopkeepers but wascontrolled in time. Rescue 1122 fire service reached thescene within minutes after beinginformed of the fire and extinguished itafter a hectic effort that continued forover two hours. Rescue 1122’s dailyincident report said the fire broke outat the shop of one Sheikh Younissituated in Usama Center at Hall Roaddue to short circuit when a welder wasbusy in his work in the shop. Thetraders of market demandedreinstallation of the electric wiresystem saying the short circuiting hadbecome an issue of real concern due tocontinuous incidents of fire. “We closeddown our shops and left the plaza afterwe heard the news on the TV,” saidRahim Khan, a shop owner in UsamaCentre, adding that he was grateful thatthe fire was controlled in time.

Indian, Pakistani surgeons performsuccessful liver transplant

‘You go,we stay’g LDA junior officials pay the

price as senior officials go

unscathed in factory tragedy

g CM assures victims of

government’s full support

‘india show’ in Lahore,anti-india in Karachi

LDA junior officers

LHR 12-02-2012_Layout 1 2/12/2012 2:16 AM Page 7

Low

high

110CMONDAY TUeSDAY weDNeSDAY17°C I 09°C 20°C I 09°C 18°C I 06°C

PRAYeR TIMINgSFajr Sunrise Zuhr Asr Maghrib Isha

05:26 06:47 12:17 15:23 17:47 19:09

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

letter to tAseer ii

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LAhoREMuzAffAr Ali

aMONG orphans, female orphansare most vulnerable to socialmonstrosities. However, Punjabgovernment, which touts itselfas champions of protecting their

rights, has merely two orphanages for millionsof female orphans. This underscores the factthat government is not walking its talk, so tospeak. even the orphanages reserved for fe-males, border on living hell due to escalatingincidents of sexual, emotional and physical as-saults, which still lie unreported. The facts di-vulge that female orphans, whether staying inorphanages or outside, are left high and dry bygovernment, social welfare department andeven Non-Government Organisations (NGOs).

According to Punjab Social Welfare De-partment (SWD), currently there are two fe-male Model Children Homes located inBahawalpur and Dera Ghazi Khan, which havea residing capacity of merely 100 inhabitants.The government’s negligence with regards tofemale orphans is revealed by the fact that thePunjab government has never established asingle female Model Children Home in thecapital metropolis and it does not have a futureplan for its establishment in the near future ei-ther. Pakistan Today learnt that these femaleorphanages are below the standard guidelinesset across the globe by the UNICeF. These fe-male orphanages lack common household ac-tivities and basic necessities when juxtaposedwith other homes. The orphanages are marredwith poor nutrition, absence of sufficient fe-male staff, untrained and unqualified staff,lack of central coordination with the SWD Di-rectorate, women and young girls crammed in

a single room, lack of psychological therapy,absence of character building measures duringtheir upbringing and no recreation facilities.The sources privy to Social Welfare Depart-ment Punjab told Pakistan Today that anotherbleak aspect of this picture is that these femaleModel Children Homes are overpopulated. Thedepartment was directed by the government toestablish orphanages with the maximum resid-ing capacity of 50 but more often than notthere are more than 80 female dwellers packedinside these buildings.

The sources further said that there was noindependent monitoring mechanism to checkabuses, allegedly being carried out against thefemale orphans as only Child Protection Bu-reau was assigned the duty to monitor thesemodel children homes.

The sources further said if any reportabout child abuse came to the notice of theconcerned authorities, orders were cabled tohush up the matter immediately.

Confirming the report, a lecturer of PunjabUniversity Social Welfare DepartmentMuhammad Arshad told this scribe that when-ever they interviewed these orphans for theirresearch work, either male or female, theyfound that these orphans were being abusedphysically, emotionally and sexually a lot oftimes. He said the families or acquaintanceswere not taking risk of leaving orphans at themercy of the government-run orphanages asthey preferred to send them to religious semi-naries or handed them over to the NGOs.

He said female orphanages run by NGOswere better than the government-run orphan-ages and in this regard SOS Children VillagesInternational’s work was remarkable, whichhas provided them with better accommodatingfacilities. When Social Welfare Department Di-

rector General Malik Muhammad Aslam wascontacted for comments in his directorate of-fice, he said he was not aware of the exactnumber of Model Children Homes across theprovince but he said he would have been in abetter position to tell about them after check-ing the figures. He said the Chief MinisterPunjab had allocated a reasonable amount toestablish more Model Children Homes to ac-commodate more orphans in the province andadded that there were no reported incidents ofchildren abuses in orphanages.

Punjab Social Welfare Department Assis-tant Director (Child Welfare) Afzal BashirMirza, said after devolution, all district offi-cers of social welfare departments came underthe supervision of District Coordination Offi-cers (DCOs) and no report was available on theexact number of female Model ChildrenHomes or about their dwellers. He said he wasnot authorised to comment on any allegedabuses. He further told that female ModelChildren Homes were being established in Gu-jranwala, Sialkot and Narowal. Social WelfareDepartment District Officer Rana Shahid, toldthis scribe that in Bahawalpur a male and fe-male Model Children Homes were being run byhis department and they were providing secu-rity to orphans and pick and drop service wasalso being provided to female orphans duringtheir school time.

He said besides education, vocationaltraining and medicines, two pairs of newclothes a year were also being provided to fe-male orphans. The Punjab government has al-located Rs35 million for the establishment ofnew orphanages in DG Khan, Sialkot, Narowal,Rawalpindi, Gujranwala and Sargodha and twomore female orphanages would be establishedin Gujranwala and Sialkot districts.

Female abuse rampant as govtofficial shush accusations g Merely two female orphanages in Punjab

g Orphanages devoid of basic facilities, below UNICeF standards

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09Sunday, 12 February, 2012

LahoreBritish Council, Chanan

Development pledge

support to youthLAhoRE

StAff report

Inspired by a strong desire for change in Pakistan, theBritish Council in collaboration with Chanan DevelopmentAssociation has pledged support to the agents of change,especially the youth of Pakistan, for a proactive role inpeace building and conflict resolution. In this regardChanan Development Association in support with BritishCouncil organised an interactive dialogue with a youthdelegation from england at its office. The topic of thediscussion was ‘Conflict Issues’ and youth. The dialoguewas meant to sketch the contemporary issues prevailing inthe country and how youth around the globe perceive it.Panellists included CDA executive Director MuhammadShahzad Khan and Raziq Fahim from College of YouthActivism. They emphasised on youth’s positive impact inthe developed countries where they represent and standfor Pakistan on any forum. It was discuss that the youthwas aware of all the conflicts which have surfaced over thepast decade. “Promotion of dialogue for peace-buildingthrough media and youth mobilisation in Pakistan” seeksto promote a participatory environment that can stimulateinformation flow while nurturing the youth’s involvementand strengthening state and civilian relationships saidMuhammad Shahzad Khan executive Director CDA.

Dead body found from Rohi drain

LAhoREStAff report

The corpse of Muhammad Faryad, 22, a resident of ChakJambra, was recovered dead from Rohi drain on Saturday.It has been reported that Faryad was kidnapped a weekago from Daroghawala. The body was spotted by a passer-by who informed the Hadyara Police, who removed thebody to the morgue for autopsy. According to local police,Faryad had come to Lahore to meet his relatives inDaroghawala a week ago but had mysteriously gonemissing from the area. The police official said that thebody was around four days old and that the victim wasshot dead and then thrown in the drain, he added. He saidthat they had informed the victim’s family and that furtherlegal action would be taken after their arrival.

Students, parents slam

Sheikh Zayed College for

unreasonable feeLAhoRE

StAff report

The Pakistan Medical Association has filed a writpetition in Lahore High Court through its JointSecretary Dr Salman Kazmi on the “unreasonable” feeof Rs 0.5 million being charged from medical studentsat Shiekh Zayed Medical College Lahore via AdvocateNoshab A Khan. Shiekh Zayed Medical College Lahoreis the only public medical college in Lahore under thefederal government, but is charging Rs 0.5 millionannual fee which is equal to the fees in private medicalcolleges. All other government medical colleges inLahore under the control of provincial government havearound Rs 14,000 to Rs 30,000 as the annual free. ThePMA has made the Cabinet Division Secretary andothers as respondents in the petition and requested thehonourable court to declare the astronomical fee asillegal and direct the authorities to decrease the fee inaccordance with the dues charged at other governmentmedical colleges. It is worth mentioning that the PMA’sdemand to reconsider the fee and make it equal togovernment sector was pending with the cabinetsecretary and cabinet division, who were reluctant totake a decision on the matter. A meeting of parents ofmedical students studying at the medical college hasbeen called on Sunday at PMA House as well.

Punjab govt transfers officialsLahore: The Punjab government has transferredand posted a few officials on Saturday and anotification has been issued in this regard. NaumanHafeez (PCS-18) DO(C) Gujrat has been transferredand posted as DO(HRM) Hafizabad. Malik TariqRaheem Gujranwala Regional Transport AuthoritySecretary has been transferred and posted as AttockDO (budget and finance). Khalid Mehmood (PSS-20)has been granted a two year leave. Gilgit-Baltistan ACMumtaz Hussain (DMG-17) has been requisitionedfrom the federal government and has been put on thedisposal of the Punjab government. StAff report

LAhoREStAff report

tHe Young Doctors Association(YDA) Punjab has announced aphased protest culminating in theshut down of the outpatient de-partment in city hospitals on

Wednesday. The announcement came in amedia briefing on Saturday in which YDA Pun-jab office bearers including President Dr HamidButt told reporters how the Punjab government

had “backed out” of its promise of restoring “in-nocent” doctors; especially senior cardiac sur-geon and PIC ex-CeO Professor Dr Azhar in thewake of the PIC drug incident which claimedmore than 100 lives.

The young doctors have issued a timeline fora protest in phases and threatened to expand thestrike from city hospitals to the entire province.As per details, in the first phase on Monday,young doctors will take out remonstrations onlyin Services Hospital and the PIC. They will holda demonstration on Jail Road with banners and

placards and block it to traffic from 11am to 1pm,while the protest will be expanded to all city hos-pitals in the next stage, with doctors coming outon roads outside their respective hospitals for acouple of hours.

On Wednesday, however, the OPD and in-door services will be suspended at the PIC whilean OPD shut down will be observed in othercity hospitals, a YDA spokesperson said, addingthat the after-effects of the strike would spreadto the entire province if their demands are notjustly met.

thAnKS, i AM full: A kite takes off after being fed at the ravi bridge. NAdeeM ijAz

YDA threatens to protest againstPunjab govt, issues timeline

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10Sunday, 12 February, 2012

The CHEHLUM of Syed ArshadHussain Gillani would be held afterNamaz-e -Zuhar on Sunday atHouse no 15, Lane no 1, Dev SamajRoad near Unique Bakery.

The CHEHLUM of WAPDA Financeex-director Rafi Ali would be held onhis resident 114/C-6 at noon onSunday. Rafi passed away onJanuary 7 due to cardiac attach. Hewas also a sportsman.

DeAR DePARTeD

Lahore

CINeMA FILM TIMeCINe STAR gALI gALI ChOR heI 02:00 PMPh: 35157462 SAFe hOUSe 04:30 PM

eK MAIN AUR eKe TU 06:30 PMSTAR wAR ePISODe 1 9:00 PMeK MAIN AUR eKe TU 11:15 AM

CINe gOLD eK MAIN AUR eKe TU 12:00 PMPh: 35340000 eK MAIN AUR eKe TU 3:00 PM

eK MAIN AUR eKe TU 6:00 PMeK MAIN AUR eKe TU 9:00 AMgALI gALI ChOR heI 12:00 AM

SOZO wORLD eK MAIN AUR eKe TU 12:00 PMPh: 36674271 gALI gALI ChOR heI 2:30 PM

eK MAIN AUR eKe TU 5:00 PMeK MAIN AUR eKe TU 8:00 PMeK MAIN AUR eKe TU 10:30 PM

SOZO gOLD gALI gALI ChOR heI 12:30 PMPh: 36674271 eK MAIN AUR eKe TU 03:00 PM

AgNeePATh 05: 30 PMAgNeePATh 08: 30 PMgALI gALI ChOR heI 11: 30 PM

Seven-day ‘Seerat’ exhibition

to start on MondayLAhoRE

StAff report

A seven-day exhibition titled ‘Understanding Seerat’with a presentation of Seerat books in global languagesat Darussalam, Lahore will start on Monday. Theexhibition is being arranged by Darussalam, a globalleader in publication of Islamic books and propagationof Islamic culture and values. The exhibition will be heldfrom 13th to 19th Feb at Main Showroom ofDarussalam, 36 Lower Mall, near Secretariat Lahore.Darussalam enjoys the honour of publishing more than50 books in various world languages on the subject ofSeerat. In the exhibition there will be models ofMadinah, Masjid-i-Nabawi and Ghazwat Nabawi as well.The models have been prepared in Madinah by aprofessor of Madinah University.

LCwU extends post-graduate

diploma dateLAhoRE

StAff report

Lahore College for Women University (LCWU) hasextended the date for admissions in Post-GraduateDiploma in Teaching (PGDT), an evening programmeoffered by the Department of education. Post-GraduateDiploma in Teaching is designed keeping in view therecent National education Policy (2009) statement andthe Punjab Government’s recruitment decision that allsecondary and higher secondary level (grade IX-XII)teachers are required to have 1-year post graduateteacher training/qualification after MA/M.Sc./BS(Four-year) degrees. Application forms can beobtained and submitted in Information Office LCWUtill 15th February 2012. The list of eligible candidateswill be displayed on 17th February 2012 along with thedate of interview.

Punjab govt under FReSh gunLAhoRE

StAff report

Secretary General Foundation for Rehabilitation andeducation of Special Children (FReSH) Ashba Kamranhas criticised the Punjab government for misusingfunds allocated for distribution of laptops amongstudents on political grounds. She said the PunjabChief Minister had not appointed a minister for Specialeducation and hence, nothing feasible was on thehorizon for the Punjab government until the ministryof Special education was devolved to the provincesunder the 18th amendment.

‘PIC medicines are usable’LAhoRE

StAff report

A spokesman of the Health Department has said that onthe instructions of Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif themedicines provided to the patients by PIC were sent toUK and Switzerland for analysis and it has been verifiedfrom the analysis reports of those laboratories as wellas Drug Testing Laboratories in Lahore that the tabletsAtenolol (Zafa Pharma Karachi), Solprin (Pharmawise,Lahore), Cardiovastin (Mega Pharmaceutical Lahore)and Corcont (Swiss Pharmaceutical, Karachi) are“usable” since no hazardous ingredients were found inthose medicines.

National Testing Service to hold LDA testLAhoRE

preSS releASe

National Testing Service (NTS) will conduct a test for recruitment of stenographers, sub-engineers as wellas Data entry Operators in the Lahore Development Authority on the 1st of April 2012 in Lahore only. Thelast date for submission of applications is 27th February 2012. Further details can be obtained from theNTS website www.nts.org.pk. LDA has invited applications from eligible candidates for recruitment on 68posts from grade 10 to 14. These jobs include 12 vacancies of office assistants, 20 posts of stenographers,eight jobs of sub-engineer (civil) and two each of sub-engineer electrical as well as mechanical besides 24posts of Data entry Operators. Meanwhile LDA has also invited applications for filling 19 posts of grade oneto seven by the 20th of February 2012. These jobs include three posts of junior clerks, two dispensers, oneline man, three naib qasids, three sanitary workers, two security guards, three maids and two watchmen.

LAhoRESAlAhudin SAfdAr

aS the Valentine’s season approaches, love-birds prepare to express their sentimentsand entrepreneurs plan to cash in on the op-portunity. Hotels, restaurants, cafes, giftshops, bakers, flower shops, cinemas, couri-

ers, beauty saloons and events managers, all swing in to fullbusiness activities with Valentine’s Day around the corner.

Special parties for celebrating “love” would start in theprovincial metropolis with other cities of the country andthe bookings are well and truly underway. The gift shopsare basking in red with the Valentine’s gifts.

The city and the internet seem to be flooded with spe-cial Valentine’s offers and event invitations reserved forcouples. People have started gearing up to make it a bigday this year with their partners.

Selection of dresses for the day and mulling over hairstyle options is the men’s problem nowadays while womenare busy getting the best deals out of beauty saloons tocaptivate their partners on the day. The social networkingwebsites are buzzing with the offers of discounted dealsfor Valentine’s shopping. Many brands, with their onlinefacades, have launched massive advertising campaigns forthe promotion of their special packages for the day. Suchparties’ passes are available for couples or groups only andthe price start from 5,000 per couple and escalate up to20,000. An event management group has advertised itsparty offers on Saturday night at an event database web-site however, the managers have kept the venue undis-closed unless one buys a pass for it. The advertisementoffers “an intoxicating evening of fun and romance onValentine’s Day” for Rs 7,000 a couple. The managerspromised the presence of notable celebrities from fashionindustry, an exhilarating ambience and music. The eventalso has lounges available for the groups. The arrival ofvalentines in mid of week has changed the schedule of par-ties and many of them are being arranged on the weekendbefore February 14. A four star hotel of Lahore is offeringa “Dinner, Dance and Romance” night for a couple on Rs6,000. Countless private parties are also thrown by thepeople all around. The hotel has also set a dress theme forthe party and participants are asked to wear black and red.The flower sellers have also stocked roses for the big dayto sell them at astronomical rates, and are busy employingdifferent techniques to keep the flowers fresh till the day.They have already upped the ante on flower rates. Courierservices offer delivery of Valentine’s gifts but like all othersthey too want their share in the pie and a red rose deliverycharges range between Rs 500 and Rs 1,000. Bouquets,Valentine’s cakes, perfumes and chocolates are also in thelist of gifts of many courier services.

Love in the air town as couplesfind excuses to splurge thousands

when, if not now? labourers, especially women and children, protest labour law violations that led to the tragic death of many in the Karak factory tradegy. MurtAzA ALi

LHR 12-02-2012_Layout 1 2/12/2012 2:16 AM Page 10

Editor’s mail 11Sunday, 12 February, 2012

One step at a timeFinally, the focal point of all major

players in Afghanistan has shifted frommilitary operation to the peace processand talks about ‘the talks’ are makingheadlines. Talks between the Taliban andthe Americans have begun while theKarzai government has taken an initia-tive on its own after being jilted by theAmericans to resume the reconciliationprocess that had been brought to a haltafter the killing of Burhanuddin Rabbani.Hopes of immediate success, however,would be premature as it may take theentire 2012 to just get aligned with theconcept of talking. But the fact that allstakeholders have shown a sign of ac-ceptance for the process is surely a posi-tive indicator and provides some hopefor the future.

This peace process would be morebeneficial if a piecemeal approach isadopted. Instead of waiting for US-ledmiracles for a peaceful end, the Afghansmust start taking responsibility of theirown affairs. By setting short-term achiev-able objectives, the Afghan governmentought to move towards a peaceful end tothe insurgency.

UMAR KHANLahore

Our Balochistan?According to a news report, the US

Congress is debating Balochistan situa-tion in a very negative light. It is verystrange because the dissenting Balochis-tan elements are actually receiving les-sons in anti-Pakistan rhetoric, rebellion,and anarchy in Afghanistan which is cur-rently under direct US control. It is veryunfortunate that since 1947 the US hasadopted a deceptive dual policy with re-gard to Pakistan. One is overt and thesecond covert. According to the first, itscivilian government and the think tankshave always cried themselves hoarse infavour of a liberal and a secular Pakistan.But as per its covert policy, its Pentagonphysically commandeered our country byseizing control of country’s powerful in-stitutions and through them engineeredour society and polity to use in its re-gional balance of power strategy.

The social and economic conditionsthat resulted from this negative interfer-ence threw us centuries back in time vir-tually into the Stone Age. The aim was topromote and use the prevailing ills of il-literacy including fanaticisms of themasses first against communism andthen in the worldwide scheme of terror-ism to secure control of the oil rich re-gion. With the US controlling the worldmonetary system and investment policiesof capitalism, they still have a death gripon our jugular vein and can throttle us atany moment. Therefore, it is very oddthat the Balochistan card should be usedso openly instead of the normal under-ground tactics. The apparent reasonseems to be not that they aim to have acontrol over the mineral resources ofBalochistan. The actual reason, of course,is to create more and more frustration inBaloch population by fanning their senseof loss of hold over their precious re-sources and thus incite them to insur-gency so that the Chinese and theRussians cannot use their influence withthe government of Pakistan to gain ac-cess to the Persian Gulf throughBalochistan.

KHADIM HUSSAINMuzaffargarh

Media and politicsAbout three months ago, NATO

troops attacked and killed 24 Pakistanisoldiers and injured 13 personnel in Pak-istani territory. This is one of the mostdisastrous events of friendly fire in thehistory of American-Pakistani relationssince 2001 and there is no evidence tosuggest that there had been a disagree-ment serious enough to warrant this.

According to Pakistan’s director gen-eral of military operations, NATO hadbeen informed that they were targetingPakistani posts but they continued tolaunch the offensive regardless.

A multitude of arguments are beingput forth by NATO justifying their side ofthe story ranging from them being pro-voked into the attack to them mistakenlyassuming that they were attacking ter-rorist posts.

NATO has been occupying theShamsi air base in Pakistan for a whilenow. Consequently, it is not surprisingthat the veracity of the later argument isbeing questioned by critics within theAmerican as well as the Pakistani admin-istrations.

The fact that NATO has not yet comeout with unequivocal clarification of theiractions has further confused this issue. Itis important to collectively condemnthese actions of the NATO to ensure anysuch incidents do not occur again.

MASHAL USMANLahore

A mega corruption caseIn May 2011, the top management of

PIMS wanted their people to be recruitedat the Liver Transplant Facility but theirproposal was turned down. All the induc-tions were made on merit, contrary tothe wishes and pressure of the adminis-tration. But the bad news is that on 8February 2012, there was a meeting ofPIMS officials chaired by eD PIMS, inwhich they have decided to fire all em-ployees and recruit their own people. An-other meeting has been called today byeD PIMS regarding this.

This is sheer injustice with the cur-rent working employees. For the sake ofnepotism he has engaged in unlawful andillegal steps. Within a day or two, the eDPIMS could declare all current recruit-ments null and void, despite the fact thatwe were inducted through legal, lawfuland proper channel. This he will do be-cause he wants to induct his own peoplein place of the current employees.

Hence, I appeal the SC and ChiefJustice of Pakistan to take suo motu no-tice of this matter. Prime Minister ofPakistan Syed Yousuf Raza Gilaniwanted to establish a liver transplant fa-cility in the capital and he started a proj-ect in this regard in June 2011. Hedirected all concerned officials to workon it on emergency basis.

I feel necessary to share with thepublic that this liver transplant project inPIMS, Islamabad is one of the mega proj-ects of our country but some corrupt offi-cials are actively engaged in engulfingfunds of the project which are around 14billions rupees.

It is very sad that media, judiciaryand all other well informed groups aresilent over this injustice. There weremore than enough funds to establish aseparate building within PIMS premisesfor this project. But nothing has beendone in this regard. eight months on andno development at all and misappropria-tions have been done by concerned au-thorities in terms of funds utilisation.Task assigned to officials of this projectby the Prime Minister has not been notbeen fulfilled. No body knows aboutfunds utilisation. No separate building,no development at all.

I'm afraid that after eating up all thefunds, the top officials of the projectwould say that funds were not enough toestablish a liver transplant facility in thecapital. Moreover, liver transplant de-partment employees are working withoutany pay for the last five months. Morethan half the employees have been forcedto quit their jobs. It is quite incrediblethat employees of a 14 billion rupeesproject are deprived of their salaries.

The Honourable Prime Ministershould look into this matter, after all thisis his project. Some corrupt officials wantthis project to fail and they have alreadydoen a lot to its funds.

DR SAIF UR REHMANIslamabad

Control of the red buttonThere is no doubt that a civilian

elected government should exercise ab-solute control on the military of anystate. So why is it that the successiveelected civilian governments have failedto control the military and take backfrom them the ownership of state secu-rity?

effectively asserting authority overthe army does not require increasing andenlarging operational and administrativecontrol over it. Nor is the dismissal ofarmy generals (both serving and retired)from positions of authority an effectivemethod of pursuing civilian supremacy.What, then, is the course of action that acivilian government must follow that en-sures civilian supremacy like in all otherdemocratic and welfare states of theworld and that the army acts as just anyother organ of the state and is used bythe civilians as an instrument of state

policy?The ‘centre of gravity’ of the owner-

ship of state security lies in the control ofnuclear weapons in the country. Thearmy continues to retain the ownershipof nuclear weapons because they are avital component and the final defensivemeasure against foreign aggression. Canthe army trust a civilian administrationto steer the country’s nuclear course?Can the army allow anyone else to havethe final say in an area considered to bevital to national security?

Can the supreme commander of ourarmed forces unilaterally decide to issuea statement on ‘no first use’ of nuclearweapons to reassure our adversary? Doesthis help army to trust civilian leadershipthat seems completely aloof from Pak-istan’s adopted first-strike nuclear doc-trine. Can the civilian leadershipunderstand the implication of three In-

dian strike Corps capability of rollingacross the international borders within72 to 96 hours of issue of orders of fullscale mobilisation? Is Pakistan’s firststrike nuclear doctrine not necessitatedby the capability of the Indian Army thatcannot be matched in its entirety onlythrough Pakistan army’s conventionalmeans and capability? Does the civilianleadership understand this?

The civilian leadership finds answersto all the social, economic, political andmilitary worries of Pakistan in mendingits relationship with India. The militaryand civilian leadership needs to togetherunderstand the dynamics and extent ofrelationship that Pakistan needs to pur-sue with India. Unless both are on onepage in understanding the manner andconditions under which Pakistan can co-exist with India, the ‘red line’ that dividesthe ownership of nuclear weapons will

continue to exist. Nuclear weapons are not weapons of

‘war fighting’ but ‘political weapons’ andhence they should be owned and con-trolled by the politicians (head of thegovernments). But can the civilian andmilitary leadership bridge their gaps inmatters of understanding national secu-rity? The army will eventually give up theownership of nuclear weapons to thecivilian leadership, but for that to happenthe ‘civilian leadership’ has to be seenand acknowledged by the complete na-tion as men and women of esteemed po-litical ability, courage and vision who canunderstand, evolve and implement ournational security policy. Those who can-not ably govern in peace time are lesslikely to stand up and take difficult deci-sions in times of crisis/war.

LT COL(R)MUHAMMAD ALI EHSANKarachi

no respite, Mr prime MinisterWhat the Supreme Court of Pakistan has done to the Prime

Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, by rejecting his revision plea,could have drastic repercussions for the democratic system.This in the face of an increasingly hostile-against-the-govern-ment military.

The judiciary has, on one hand, gone to great lengths toprobe into the memo case while on the other, it has not yetmade public an inquiry report into the May 2 raid.

AGHA AJLALLahore

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

On BalochistanWe may keep arguing who gave the

right to the US congress’ committee onforeign affairs to discuss the humanrights situation in Balochistan but thatwill not serve the main issue. Balochistanis facing a fourth mutiny in the last 60years; obviously it can’t be ignored as atrouble area for the army to take care of.

In the past, a number of committeesand commissions in Pakistan have delib-erated on the situation in Balochistanand come up with tons of proposals, onlyto eat dirt in the army’s and bureaucrats’offices.

The Human Rights Watch (HRW),while taking no position in the US con-gress hearing on demands pertaining toan independent Balochistan, has come upwith a number of recommendations. It isnecessary that this issue not be pushedunder the carpet. When the use of forcecouldn’t stop 52 percent of Pakistanis tobreak away from Pakistan in 1970 (cre-ation of Bangladesh), then how is it pos-sible that the army alone can find aneverlasting solution to Baloch grievances.

Without mincing words, the HRWcriticised all the parties including Balochnationalists and rebels who are involvedin the bloodshed and revenge practices.Therefore, regardless of Pakistani gov-ernment’s official stand on the US com-mittee meeting, HRW recommendationsshould be taken seriously to save thecountry from further disintegration.

The HRW recommendations are asfollows: 1) The Pakistani governmentshall not allow its forces to get involvedin extra-judicial killings and disappear-ance and illegal or undocumented deten-tions of Baloch nationalists. 2) The USshall threaten to severe contacts with thePakistan army, ISI, Frontier Constabu-lary (FC) who are allegedly blamed forkillings and disappearance of Baloch na-

tionalists. 3) The US funding/ training ofthose agencies shall be cut who are foundresponsible for human rights violation inBalochistan. 4) Baloch nationalists andrebels should stop attacks on civilians es-pecially on the non-Baloch population. 5)Attacks on teachers, professors (mostlyUrdu and Punjabi speaking) and educa-tional institutes should be stopped. 6)Baloch nationalist organisations shalltake action against their members whoare involved in killing of civilians.

Time is running out for the Pakistanigovernment for political manoeuvring.The hearing in the US committee showsthat the matter is getting internationalattention. It’s better if an internal matteris resolved internally by dialogue. Other-wise, the past is there as precedent.

MASOOD KHANSaudi Arabia

Signs of a thaw?This is apropos of the news item that

commander of the US Central Command,General James N Mattis, is scheduled tovisit Pakistan next week. During his visit,he will call on General Kayani to discussways to improve Pak-US relations thathad spiralled downward in the past year.

Despite the negative perceptions onboth sides, there is an acknowledgementat both ends that the US and Pakistanneed each other not only in the war onterror but also for other geo-political andsocio-economic reasons. For instance,because of Pakistan’s strategic location,Pakistan can be a safe conduit of CentralAsian resources to United States. This isjust one example of how the countriescan be of economic benefit to each other.

Today’s world demands that inter-state relations be designed to promotethe respective national interests of eachcountry. Unfortunately, this has not beenso in the sixty years of the difficult rela-

tionship with the United States. It hasbeen subjected more than often to mis-perceptions and emotionalism ratherthan a rational and pragmatic approach.

It all started with CIA operative Ray-mond Davis’s brazen killing of two Pak-istani nationals in broad day light inLahore. This episode was followed withviolation of its sovereignty when USMarines attacked a compound in Abbot-tabad to kill Osama Bin Laden. Thencame the fatal US/NATO air strike on aPakistani checkpost at Salala. All theseepisodes contributed to the inexorabledownward slide.

The US invasion of Afghanistan ex-posed the mediocrity of the Afghan-based US commanders and intelligenceofficials resulting in irreparable losses tothe US-led forces. The hawkish US de-fence secretary, Leon Panetta, put theblame on Pakistan for its strategic fail-ures in Afghanistan. Such accusationsbeing levied by functionaries of the USadministration on a partner in war onterror that has suffered the largest num-ber of casualties (both civilian and mili-tary) do not bode well in the context ofalready frayed US-Pakistan bilateral rela-tionship.

The US must remember that it wasPakistan that supported the US stance in1960 about shooting down of its U2 spyplane by Russians. It was also Pakistanthat facilitated a secret tour of HenryKissinger to China.

It was Pakistan again that stood as abulwark against Soviet expansion by sup-porting the Afghan ‘jihad’. It is time thatthe US reciprocate this long history ofloyalty by not jeopardising Pakistan’s in-terests and give it due status in theAfghan peace process and by establishingPak-US relations on mutually beneficialterms.

ENGINEER JAVED IQBALIslamabad

LHR 12-02-2012_Layout 1 2/12/2012 2:16 AM Page 11

Comment12Sunday, 12 February, 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: editorial@pakistantoday.com.pk

Dedicated to the legacy of the late Hameed Nizami

The Sri Lankan president in Islamabad

Moving forward

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s visit toPakistan has resulted in the two countriesagreeing to build a mutually beneficial economicand trade partnership, adding a new dimension to

their relationship which was earlier focused on defenceand security cooperation.

Both sides called for stepping up efforts to fully realisethe potential of Free Trade Agreement by enhancingbilateral trade to $2 billion mark over the next threeyears. In their meeting on Friday, President Zardari andhis Sri Lankan counterpart discussed a number of stepsfor increasing the volume of trade, including proposalsfor a currency swap arrangements and establishment ofdirect shipping service between the two countries.

President Zardari was right in that the currency swapproposal can go a long way in providing incentives tobusiness houses in Pakistan and Sri Lanka to activelyexplore and enhance business linkages using localcurrencies for trade. He also urged the businesscommunity and chambers of commerce of the twocountries to benefit from each other’s potential in financeand banking sector, science and technology, agricultureand other areas.

The Sri Lankan leadership acknowledges the supportextended by Pakistan in the past in curbing terrorism onits soil and is now eager to carry forward the mutualrelationship beyond defence and security needs. Bothsides expressed satisfaction on the level of cooperationthey have been demonstrating at various multilateralforums on important regional and global issues. It showsthe consistency and commonality of views they share.

There is no doubt that Islamabad and Colombo havealways stood together on matters concerning theirsecurity and have also enjoyed special bonds of affinity asrightly pointed out by Mr Zardari in his meeting with MrRajapaksa. It is, however, heartening to see the twoleaders focus more on bolstering bilateral trade whichindicates that they have realised that enhanced economiccooperation should remain a key theme of their foreignpolicy.

The quality of justice is not strained

Selective efficiency?

Bad governance during the civilian periods and thelonger military rules is behind myriads ofafflictions faced by the common man. Civiliangovernments have no doubt often failed to do

what was required of them. The claim that they could notfulfill their promises on account of the short shrifts givento them is somewhat weakened by the near five yeartenure of the present government. The greater betrayalhowever has been on the part of the military rulers whoenjoyed uninterrupted tenures, each extending to nearly adecade or more. Unlike politicians, they enjoyed theunstinted support of the all powerful security agencies.The courts endorsed the removal of elected governmentsand the imposition of martial laws. A whole chunk of thecountry separated under a military ruler but none of themilitary junta was held accountable. Courts remainedsilent when criminal negligence on the part of Zia-ul-Haqled to the loss of control over the strategic SiachenGlacier. Musharraf’s Kargil folly that caused huge militarycasualties was also ignored.

The presence of an independent judiciary providesone confidence that justice would be dispensed withoutdiscrimination. It is discomforting, however, when thecourts and judicial commissions are seen to be moreefficient as they deal with the perceived or real violationsof law by the politicians while being less so whenscrutinising those of the high and mighty in the non-political establishment. The energy displayed by thejudicial commission mandated to probe the memo case isreally fascinating. The commission is working extra hardto finish its assignment within the allotted time. Comparethis with the inefficiency of the judicial commission forthe recovery of missing persons. It took months toactivate the commission. Its subsequent performance wasabysmal. even the SC expressed dissatisfaction with thetype of investigation it was conducting.

There is a need to remove the perception that courtsand judicial commissions are slow in the movement ofcases involving the holy cows and highly efficient when itcomes to holding politicians accountable. If heads roll inone case, and the punishment reserved only for the smallfry in the other, justice will not be seen to have beendone.

Who rules Pakistan?

“Where is Pakistan going?”asked a lady of me inKarachi recently. “Whendo you think the govern-ment is going to change?

Who will form the next government?”“To arrive at honest answers,” I said, “We must

first detach ourselves from emotion and ask themost basic of questions and then face the answers,for they are unpleasant but undeniable truths.”

First: “Who is supposed to rule Pakistan?” An-swer: “The people are the true rulers of Pakistan,or should be, because they are the vicegerents ofGod. They are His vicegerents or Khalifa becausethey are the greatest of His creations, ashraf-ul-makhlooqat. He has, therefore, given them free willand devolved on them that quantum of His sover-eignty, as they need to run their affairs accordingto His tenets. It is a conditional and limited devo-lution, for the moment they lose sight of His tenetsthey lose His devolved sovereignty. God enjoins usin the Holy Quran that in times of distress, “Holdon to the rope of God and the rope of the People”.The ‘rope’ symbolises Man’s Covenant with Godand the people. It is not literally a rope that God istalking about. Rope is just symbolic, akin to an um-bilical cord that attaches us to our Creator and hu-manity. ‘The People’ is not a horde or mob buthumanity in all God’s glory.

One of God’s most important tenets is:1. Choose your leaders, which implies a demo-

cratic choice.2. Choose from amongst yourselves, and;3. Choose from amongst the best.We have lost sight of this tenet completely.1. We have adopted an electoral system that

functions in such a way that it causes people to au-tomatically and unwittingly elect their oppressorsas their representatives and leaders. What could beworse than the oppressed choosing their oppres-sors as their representatives?

2. Because the choices that people are pre-

sented with are largely from amongst the worstthey perforce choose from amongst the worst.

3. ‘Worser’, as Alice would say, we have beenelecting or appointing to public office those who arenot solely from amongst us but also those who oweallegiance to another country. “From amongst you”means from the Muslim ummah or nation at a timewhen there were no states made along modernwestern lines with demarcated boundaries, citizen-ship acts, passports and visas. The moment thatcame into play just over 200 years ago “fromamongst you” has to mean citizens of your stateand none other. Nationality, citizenship, patriotismand loyalty are not divisible.

Thus, we have done the opposite of what Godenjoined us to do. We don’t really ‘choose’ ourrulers but mostly vote for them like zombies; wedon’t always choose from amongst ourselves andwe most certainly do not choose from amongst thebest, a few exceptions notwithstanding. Whatchance do such a people have to either be ruled wellor to determine their destiny? What chance dosuch a people have of retaining their God-givensovereignty and not losing it to someone else? Sounder our present system what difference would achange of government make, however it is done?The people will continue to be poor; the countrywill remain bankrupt, we will remain dependentwhile the few that benefit from this corrupt systemand the iniquitous status quo that it begets will re-main rich and get richer and more powerful. AndGod’s tenet will continue to be violated wantonly.So, my dear lady, how the government changes,when it changes, what will replace it is of no con-sequence. Frankly my dear, you shouldn’t give adamn. Instead, you should concentrate not onchange of government but on change of this man-eating system to one which helps mankind and inwhich we can regain our lost sovereignty that theAlmighty devolved on us.

Which brings me to the next question, “Whorules Pakistan?” If you answer it honestly, you willhave a better idea of what is going to happen. Sorryto say, for it is painful, but if you have eyes, ears anda thinking brain, the undeniable truth is obvious:we have lost our sovereignty to America and it isAmerica that rules Pakistan – not the army as youwould like to hear nor the ‘elected’ governmentcomprising the parliament-legislature, the execu-tive and the judiciary. These institutions are but in-struments of the real ruler, just as our ‘la-de-daclass’ was an instrument of the British ruler. So itis America that will determine when this govern-ment goes and what the next one will be. Got it?

The majority of people are simple. A rally here,a demonstrative judge there, a loquacious lawyerelsewhere and a shrill media everywhere and theythink that deliverance is finally at hand, the mes-

siah has arrived, not realising that there is a mes-siah in each one of us if only we would let him out.

People are simple because they are vulnerable.They don’t know who their friends really are ortheir enemies. In their simplicity, they tend to gofor simplistic solutions. That leads them to treatingsymptoms rather than the malaise. They don’trecognise the malaise because, like the messiah, italso lies within, not without.

Most Pakistanis think that doing away withcorruption will sort out everything. Others imaginethat if you provide real justice all will be well. Yetothers believe that the answer is strict, ongoing ac-countability. They don’t realise that our deepmalaise is a collective colonised mentality that hasfostered a constitution that begets an alien, un-workable political system that causes the oppressedto elect their oppressors and protect an anti-peoplestatus quo.

The kafuffles that your see everywhere – armyversus executive, judiciary versus executive, judi-ciary versus parliament, everyone versus the media– are battles amongst the beneficiaries of the statusquo to protect their benefits or increase them. Ithas nothing to do with the people – poor, op-pressed, hungry, illiterate, jobless. They are noteven on the radar screen. They only appear as aninconvenient blip during an election in which thebattle is between their oppressors – who can foolhow many with hollow oratory and false promisesinto voting for them.

Where is Pakistan going? It is confused, alien-ated from itself, in search of identity, lost in a mazeof alien political and economic constructs. In itsconfusion it stumbles from crisis to crunch, catas-trophe to calamity, predicament to pusillanimityand lurches from ‘saviour’ to ‘saviour’ while re-maining in a state of perpetual mental colonisation.

We don’t understand that what Americameans by alliance is actually hegemony. America’soverarching doctrine is to cast the world in theimage that works for it. The world must be recon-figured to enhance America’s wealth and hege-mony and we must all go along happily. If we don’tbreak free of such a sinful relationship we willnever become self-reliant and rediscover our lostsovereignty. America’s god is money; our God isGod – or should be.

The lesson: never break a universal principleor tenet of God. Never go against human instinct,which is to be free for man is born free by God’sWill. Don’t side with occupiers and oppressors nomatter what the imagined short-term ‘benefits’.Better to suffer temporary harm, for in the end youwill come out on top. That is God’s promise.

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

By humayun gauhar

not the people

the ppp would rather go out in a blaze of glory

Legality and martyrdom

As the prime minister, onceagain, prepares to appear be-fore the Supreme Court to face

contempt charges, our nation has(characteristically) been engulfed in aflurry of speculations and doomsdayscenarios. Journalists, lawyers andpoliticians – from both sides of the isle– have taken definitive stances on theissue: one side, (sheepishly) defendingthe prime minister, is drumming themantra of judicial victimisation andpolitical martyrdom; the other hasconveniently taken the legal andmoral high-ground of upholding themajesty of law and verdict of theSupreme Court.

But the embroiling issue must beviewed through two distinct lenses:legal and political.

Viewed through a strictly legalprism, the issue is relatively straight-forward. There is no denying (even bythe prime minister’s camp) that theSupreme Court, having declared theNRO void ab initio, has explicitly di-

rected the government to write to theSwiss authorities. And the defense ofthe government stands on the weakfooting that in the absence of a defin-itive judgment by the apex court onthe ambit of Article 248 (presidentialimmunity), the prime minister is act-ing in good faith – relying on the ad-vice of the law ministry – to concludethat such a letter cannot be writtensince the president enjoys ‘completeimmunity’.

But all this talk of good faith andreliance on advice of the law ministrydoes not dilute the fact that the primeminister is willfully and admittedlydisregarding an order of the SupremeCourt which prima facie, under theConstitution and the Contempt ofCourt Ordinance 2003, amounts tocivil contempt, punishable by impris-onment of up to six months.

In the circumstances, theSupreme Court, vowing fidelity to ‘fiatjustitia, ruat coelum’ (let justice bedone though the heavens fall), couldhold the prime minister guilty of con-tempt, sentencing him to imprison-ment and consequently disqualifyinghim from his seat in the Parliamentper Article 63(1)(g) of the Constitu-tion. If so ruled, the prime ministercould seek review of the decision,which will probably be an exercise infutility since the ambit of review juris-diction is narrow, allowing only forcorrection of errors ‘floating on thesurface’ of the original judgment.

Carrying the argument forward,

the president may, under Article 45 ofthe Constitution, pardon and com-mute any sentence passed by theCourt. Such pardon, however, will notwash away the conviction itself, bar-ring the prime minister from contest-ing elections for at least five years. ThePPP government, in such a scenario,may opt to sacrifice the prime minis-ter, appointing some other person forthe job. This option may even buyenough time to roll through the polit-ically crucial Senate elections.

From a purely legal perspective, itseems extremely unlikely that the six-member bench of the Supreme Courtwill accept the prime minister’s argu-ment of complete presidential immu-nity under Article 248. Such a verdict,at the very least, would violate theprinciple of stare decisis and amountto overturning part of the full-courtjudgment rendered in the originalNRO case. Furthermore, such anorder would fall outside the purviewof the present bench, which has beenconstituted only to implement theNRO judgment and not to review it.

Much more complex is the politi-cal aspect of this issue. The authorityof law is a moral authority, which sel-dom has much bearing on politics. AsMachiavelli once said, politics has norelation to morals. And the PPP gov-ernment understands this fact. Hav-ing completed four years of its tenurewith nothing much to show for, thereseems to be virtually no political ad-vantage to writing a letter to Swiss au-

thorities. Not doing so, in fact, has twoclear and present advantages: one, itprotects the Co-Chairperson of theparty, and two, with their back againstthe wall and less then 12 months re-maining on the clock, it allows thePPP government to be judicially mar-tyred. In a society that values martyr-dom much more than principles, andcertainly more than legality – demon-strated by our roster of ‘heroes’ suchas Mumtaz Qadri and Ghazi AbdulRasheed – such a move could be amasterstroke for PPP going into thenext elections.

The sad part of this saga, how-ever, is that the opposition forcesseem to be rallying behind the Courtnot out of a desire to uphold the su-premacy of law (no such reaction wasshown in other instances of possiblecontempt, e.g. against the sugar-pro-ducing lobby when the judgment onfixing the price of sugar was blatantlydisregarded). They simply want to seetheir opponent fall. And this, too, is apolitical (not legal) desire.

Be that as it may, let us at leasthave the wisdom to accept that politi-cal aspirations, and not fidelity to law,is driving the passions and rhetoric ofall parties, coming into this electionyear.

The writer is a lawyer based inLahore. He has a Masters in Consti-tutional Law from Harvard LawSchool. He can be reached at:saad@post.harvard.edu

By Saad Rasool

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Comment 13Sunday, 12 February, 2012

is bread and brand enough for the mandarin?

On Hong Kong

Feudalism was spacious.Capitalism is priapic.Communism was dog-

matic. Democracy is, alas, abit chaotic.

The world’s postage stampfor capitalism, Hong Kong,keeps rising: my highrise is big-ger than yours. The pride of realestate is no longer a mansionsprawling around a mountainpeak, gated in faux colonialgold, but an officious perpendi-cular structure that does whatso many cousins across theworld merely claim but neverachieve. It scrapes the skies.

The dukes of this new roy-alty sit among the clouds. Fi-nance is not fond of metaphors.Its nose is hard. Its heart is im-mune to bleeding. Its eyes arebeady. But it does encourageego. It might count money witha microscope but purchases thesky with abandon.

Hong Kong was the secondcity of the British Raj. Calcuttawas the first and, as capital ofthe empire, fulcrum of its for-tunes. The worst mistake thatthe British made was to shiftthe epicentre of their authorityfrom Calcutta to Delhi in 1911.They actually reached Delhionly a decade-plus later; withintwo more decades an empirebuilt over two centuries wasgone. By 1947, the Britishseemed almost relieved to de-part, because they knew thatIndia was a responsibility asmuch as an occupation.

If Calcutta was a need,Hong Kong was a passion thatseemed beyond the logic of de-cline. I can only speculate onthe reasons. Perhaps Calcuttawas a mere capital, while HongKong was a club. The British

had to co-exist in Calcutta, atension which ratcheted up bythe decade as Indian aspirationbecame the unintended conse-quence of British education.But they could be aloof in HongKong, and manage its cosmo-politan needs through mecha-nisms so dear to the Britishsense of order, like elections tothe club committee.

India required a succes-sion of earls and viscountswho kept the front door openfor gentry and left an en-trance for tradesmen. India’sancien regime understood theuses of snobbery. But themainland Chinese mandarinhad no desire for social or anyother form of intercoursewith kilts and top hats whosold in currency and boughtin shares. Opium eateradopted a minimalist ap-proach to opium seller, evenwhile the slow poison in-duced both self-loathing andhatred for the foreign devil.China had once rejoiced inthe glories of a good emperor,and suffered the degradationsof a bad, but hallucinationwas new form of rule.

Mao Zedong resurrectedChina’s geography up to Tibetto the west, but was strangelycircumspect about a tiny is-land to the east. Mao’s ideol-ogy did not need Hong Kongbut, in a twist of history thatmight have left a corkscrewembarrassed, Mao’s succes-sor, Deng Xiaoping, did.

Deng saved China fromturning into a family businessand reinvented it instead as aCommunist corporation. Heshrewdly blindsided dogma byturning a mirror on prosper-ity. Hong Kong became a spur,not a slur. Deng opened thedoors when China’s per capitaincome was $300 and HongKong’s $10,000, and theworld changed.

Deng upturned Mao’srecipe of cadre and struggleinto meritocracy and stability.He set the theme for the newmandarin bureaucracy: popu-lar welfare before people’s will.He fashioned four spaces ofgraded reward. The dominantspace belonged to the man-

darin, a ruling elite with de-fined rules of promotion andstately lifestyle. Then came theheady set of state-protected en-trepreneurs granted privatesector joys of ownership, flashytoys and permissible levels ofcorruption.

A bedazzled middle class,which had watched its parentspunished and humiliated inthe cultural revolution, boughtinto this new social geometrywith amazement at its goodfortune. The last reservationwas a gradually expandingspace on the margin for thepoor. This formula’s successreinforced the deep mandarincontempt for democracy,which not only threw up anodd assortment of heroes andcrooks, but also had the temer-ity to threaten the divine man-darin right to rule.

Hong Kong, instead of of-fering a traditional kowtow toBeijing after the British de-parture, turned into a pluckyguardian of the fifth space,democracy. Beijing, whichhad assimilated capitalismwithout much fuss, is trou-bled, angered and fascinatedby Hong Kong’s continuingcommitment to oddities likefree speech. Patience is amandarin virtue. Beijing be-lieves it can whittle awaydemocracy in the same way itsabotaged Maoism, by retain-ing the shell but gutting thecontent. Pesky Hong Kong,however, will not surrender.You can hear democracy inthe spring of its step, or thechatter of its radio waves. Bei-jing depends on time. Buttime does not come dressed inguarantees. It is a foxy deliv-ery boy. You never know whatit might bring.

It seems strange to quotethe Bible in China, but we willfind out whether the man-darin can live by bread andbrand alone.

The columnist is editorof The Sunday Guardian,published from Delhi, Indiaon Sunday, published fromLondon and Editorial Direc-tor, India Today and Head-lines Today.

third eyeBy M J Akbar

Pakistani diplomats at the en-voys Conference in Islamabada couple of months back had

advocated more proactive engage-ment with Russia. Some promisingsigns of renewed engagement, in-cluding the recently concluded visitof Foreign Minister Hina RabbaniKhar to Russia, are visible. This visitalso signals to the US, Pakistan'sgreater activity within its Asianneighbourhood. Russia has, along-side China, become more assertive indemonstrating multi-polarity as op-posed to uni-polarity on the globalpower scene.

The overriding message of For-eign Minister Hina Rabbani’s jointpress conference with her Russiancounterpart Sergey Lavrov after talksin Moscow Wednesday was that thetwo countries are ready to expand andintensify political as well as economiccooperation as a step towards devel-oping a strategic partnership. The factthat the press conference addressedby the two foreign ministers was tele-cast live on the state and private TVchannels here underlined the impor-tance Pakistan attached to this visit.

While at the press conference noquestion was raised or any mentionmade about the prospects of cooper-ation in civil nuclear technology anddefence sector between the two coun-tries, such a possibility cannot beruled out. Understandably such coop-eration is often discussed on the quiet.

Pakistan and Russia have grow-ing convergence of interests bilater-ally and on issues of regional andinternational importance. Russia at-taches great importance to her rela-tions with Pakistan as it is mindful ofits significant role both in the regionand in the Islamic world as a whole.Last year in September when the twoforeign ministers met on the side-lines of the UN General Assemblysession in New York, Lavrov toldKhar that he was looking forward to

her visit to Moscow. A major international player,

being a permanent member of theUNSC and of the G-8, Russia’s cloutand influence has been considerablyenhanced in the last few years. Pak-istan considers Russia as an enginefor increased economic growth and afactor of peace and stability in theSCO region. Both the countries seemequally keen to broaden and diversifymutually advantageous cooperation,particularly in the energy sector. Pak-istan is now seriously looking towardsRussia to meet its energy require-ments and this was discussed inMoscow when the foreign ministerseparately met with the Russian Min-ister of energy during her visit.

While the Russian investors areinterested in investing in the Tharcoal project, Russia is also keen toparticipate in the Pakistan-Iran gaspipeline project. Moscow has alreadyindicated to Islamabad that it wantsits gas company Gazprom, the world’slargest gas company, to have a role inthe project. Pakistan has conveyedthat it would welcome Russian partic-ipation in this project. Russia’s readi-ness to participate in the energyprojects of Turkmenistan,Afghanistan, Pakistan and India aswell as Central Asia and South Asia1000 (CASA) is also significant andwelcomed by Pakistan as it faces anacute energy deficit.

Another good development isthat the two countries are now closeto firming up a MOU on the expan-sion and modernisation of the Pak-istan Steel Mills, a key stateenterprise.

There are tremendous opportu-nities for joint collaboration in variousprojects. Russia has expressed inter-est on several occasions in building onbusiness ties with Pakistani partnersin sectors such as oil and gas, rail-ways, power generation, agricultureand metallurgy. The two countrieshave also been discussing the possi-bility of developing rail links with Iranand other areas in the SCO regionfrom Pakistan. Russia had shownsome interest in Pakistan’s keennessto develop rail links to Central Asiafrom Gwadar.

Reaffirmation of Russian supportfor Pakistan’s request for full mem-bership of the Shanghai CooperationOrganisation (SCO) is another en-couraging sign. earlier on Russia hadbeen non-committal on this question.

Moscow re-established a politicaldialogue with Islamabad in February

2003 when President Musharraf vis-ited Russia. Notably in June 2005,Pakistan supported Russia’s bid forobserver status in the OIC and in turnRussia helped Pakistan obtain the ob-server status in the SCO.

Pakistan and Russia have had in-creasingly intensive interaction at thepolitical fora at various internationalsummits including the SCO. Bothhave shared similar positions on keyinternational issues, particularly onthe overall strengthening of the role ofthe UN and other international or-ganisations on the basis of the inter-national law. Moscow and Islamabadhave been cooperating in the UN andon key international issues such asIran, Iraq and the Middle east theyhave similar views. Both share theview on the need for a multi-polarworld and the centrality of the UNrole in the world affairs.

The common threats of terrorismand drugs have also compelled thetwo countries to strengthen securitycooperation. Russians have been con-cerned about the presence of Al-Qaeda elements and Taliban in theborder areas between Pakistan andAfghanistan and drug trafficking. Thegrowing presence of US and Natoforces in the region and Pakistan’s ac-tive cooperation with both had madeMoscow somewhat uneasy. However,Pakistan’s gradual distancing fromthe US has encouraged the Russianstowards closer cooperation.

While in the past few years therehave been regular contacts betweenthe two countries at the diplomaticand political levels and a frameworkfor consolidating economic coopera-tion has laid the basis of a strategicpartnership, practical follow-up stepshave yet to be taken, specifically toboost bilateral trade.

Russian investors who are virtu-ally knocking at Pakistan’s door now,may walk away discouraged by ourown problems. Therefore unless Pak-istan's slow moving bureaucratic ma-chine becomes more responsive anddomestic political turmoil settlesdown, this Russian initiative is un-likely to translate into any concretebenefits for Pakistan.

The writer is a senior journalistand has been a diplomatic corre-spondent for leading dailies. She wasan Alfred Friendly Press Fellow atThe Chicago Tribune in the US and aPress Fellow at Wolfson College,Cambridge, UK. She can be reachedvia email at qudssia@hotmail.com

cross currentsBy Qudssia Akhlaque

A move in the right direction

engaging russia

LHR 12-02-2012_Layout 1 2/12/2012 2:16 AM Page 13

SRK peeved over Hrithik’s commentson wife gauri KhanMuMbAi: Shah Rukh Khan, whorecently made headlines for slappingShirish Kunder, is now said to beannoyed with hrithik Roshan. KingKhan is reportedly upset with Dugguover his remarks about gauri Khansaying that that there wassomething afoot with her and thatshe was all set to give Bollywoodactresses stiff competition. Apartfrom that, the 46-year-old actor alsodidn’t like the fact that the ‘Krrish’star recommended him a book tohelp him quit smoking. The 38-year-old actor’s, whose latest film‘Agneepath’ proved to be verysuccessful at the box office, gushedon Twitter about Shah Rukh’s wife.“with the most beautiful andtalented girl in the world! Andhottest if I may add! gauri Khan!!!watch out world, she’s about toarrive,” he had tweeted. AgencieS

14 Sunday, 12 February, 2012

in limeligHt

LoS ANgELES reuterS

‘Jersey Shore’ star Snooki and CharlieSheen have topped a poll of nightmarecelebrity Valentine dates and few peoplewant to cuddle up with Ashton Kutcher onFebruary 14-at least, not on film. Accord-ing to a Valentine's Day survey by Yahoo'sOMG! website, 30 percent of men wouldrather be single than take Snooki, akaNicole Polizzi, out on Valentine's Day. Andnewly-single Kim Kardashian didn't domuch better, coming second in the night-mare female celebrity date survey of 2,001people. Charlie Sheen topped the women'schoice of bad Valentine's Day dates.

Kutcher, also newly-separated from his ac-tress wife Demi Moore, didn't do muchbetter. According to a separate Valentine'sDay survey on movie website Fandango,Kutcher was voted the worst romanticcomedy film actor. Sarah Jessica Parker of‘Sex and the City’ fame was voted worst ro-mantic comedy actress. Top of the moviesto avoid was Paris Hilton's 2008 effort‘The Hottie and the Nottie’, which wasvoted the worst romantic comedy of alltime on the Fandango survey. Dreamcelebrity dates for Valentine's Day had fewsurprises; George Clooney and JenniferAniston remain tops, while the most ro-mantic movie to see on the day for loverswas ‘The Notebook’ followed by ‘Titanic’.

Charlie sheen, Ashton Kutcher top nightmare celebrity dates

MuMbAi: Rajkumar hirani's directorial nexthas been perhaps one of the mostanticipated projects of recent times. In2009, the minute hirani was done with ‘3Idiots’, speculations regarding his nextproject began. And though what the directorhas in mind, as far as the story is concerned,is still unclear, he has surely found himself aleading lady. For hirani's next project ‘Peekay’,the filmmaker has chosen YRF favouriteAnushka Sharma. The actress' close friendconfirmed the news. A source close to theproject informed, “hirani and Anushka had acouple of meetings recently. hirani considersAnushka to be a very talented girl. he feelsshe has a lot of spunk.” According to thesource, Aamir Khan, who starred in hirani'slast film, may make a comeback as the malelead in the project. “That is almost final. Butlet's see. An official announcement withrespect to the male actor will be madesoon,” added the source. Talking about thehirani project, Anushka's friend added, “Thisis a very big step in Anushka's career. A fewmonths ago, she signed Vishal Bhardwaj's‘Matru Ki Bijli Ka Mandola’. Now, she is doing‘Munnabhai’ director hirani's next.” AgencieS

NEWS DESk

IT was a proud momentfor entire Pakistan lastnight when a once strug-gling-hotel-lobby-painterturned singer was offi-

cially declared the ‘Superstar ofTomorrow’ by Bollywood’s Star-dust Awards for the year 2011-2012 for his film ‘Mere Brother KiDulhan’. Ali Zafar, who reachedthe ceremony late because of aperformance on the same day atthe Kalagodha festival for the‘London Paris New York’ sound-track launch, was seen wearing anIsmail Farid outfit. His Stardustaward was received by Ali AbbasZafar, director of ‘Mere Brother KiDulhan’. He was nominated forStardust Award in Superstar ofTomorrow category along withfour other new actors includingJacky Bhagnani (‘F.A.L.T.U’), Chi-rag Paswan (‘Miley Naa MileyHum’), Rana Daggubati (‘DumMaro Dum’) and Prateik Babbar(‘Dhobi Gha’).This is yet anothermilestone achieved by Ali Zafar,the success story, who seemed ex-tremely excited to have thisaward. “I wanted to share thisnews with all,” a smiling Zafarsaid. Stardust Awards are one ofthe most prestigious Hindi movieawards sponsored by the Stardustmagazine. Some of the categoriesare decided by reader's choicewhile others by jury. The awardgiven to Ali Zafar in ‘Superstar ofTomorrow’ category falls in thelatter category. Ali Zafar debutedin Bollywood with ‘Tere BinLaden’ for which he has beennominated in almost all the Bolly-wood awards in the category ofbest debut, but the Stardust awardfor is his first Bollywood win.

Anushka is

Hirani’s lead Deepika Padukone sued for

quitting ‘Race 2’MuMbAi: Ramesh Taurani, producer of‘Race 2’, had earlier called DeepikaPadukone ‘unprofessional’ and her act ofquitting his film ‘unethical’. however, callingthe actress names has not been able tosatiate Taurani’s feeling of being let down.The filmmaker has gone all the way to filea complaint against Deepika with Cine &TV Artistes Association (CINTAA). DeepikaPadukone had shot for the film for six days,and then walked out of it. She has alsoreceived a message from CINTAA regardingthe complaint filed by Taurani. Speaking toa daily, a source close to Taurani hasrevealed, “he did not want to take such anextreme step. he waited for Deepika tochange her mind. But she was adamant.She was not interested in doing ‘Race 2’anymore. If Taurani has filed a complaintagainst Deepika and he has a contract, shewill have to honour the dates which shehad allotted to him. If she has given thesame dates to any other producer, shecannot shoot for the other project,” saidsenior producer Pahlaj Nihalani, inconversation with a daily. AgencieS

LOS ANgeLeS: Alicia Keys, Tony Bennett, Paul

McCartney and his wife Nancy Shevell, Randy Jackson,

Tom hanks and Rita wilson and Katy Perry arrive for

the 2012 MusiCares Person of the Year Tribute

honouring Paul McCartney as Person of the Year. AFP

AMRITSAR: Amir Khan poses with fans during

visit to a village on the outskirts of Amritsar. AFP

BeRLIN: Priyanka Chopra and Farhan Akhtar at a press

conference for ‘Don-The King is Back’ at the 62nd Berlinale. AFP

LHR 12-02-2012_Layout 1 2/12/2012 2:17 AM Page 14

LoS ANgELES reuterS

FANS and industry watchersalike breathed a sigh of relief asAdele sang a few verses of herhit song on a show. She wowedfans in her first public singing

outing since throat surgery in November,putting to rest fears that her distinctivehusky voice may have been damaged. Thesoulful British singer, 23, is due to makeher official performance comeback at theGrammy Awards on Sunday where she isexpected to take home an armful of trophiesfollowing the worldwide success of heralbum ‘21’. American TV viewers heard hersing three verses, a cappella, of her hit song‘Rolling In The Deep’. “Thank the musicgods that she sounds just as perfect as shedid before that haemorrhaged vocal chord,”wrote a music critic. HollywoodLife.comsaid Adele “sounds amazing”. Adele wasforced to cancel part of her U.S. tour lastyear because of persistent vocal problems.In November, she underwent laser surgeryto remove a haemorrhaged polyp on hervocal cords and was ordered to take twomonths of vocal rest. Organisers confirmedonly 10 days ago that she would be per-

forming at the Grammy Awards show inLos Angeles on Sunday, where she has sixnominations, including the coveted record,album and song of the year.

15

nicholas cage: ‘i don’t drink blood’

LoS ANgELES AgencieS

Nicolas Cage was put side by side withthe Civil War era picture that's beensweeping the Internet in conjunctionwith a theory that he is in fact a vampire.Cage acknowledged a resemblance, hedidn't see a flattering one. “How can I bepolite about this,” he said of the man inthe picture. “It's a somewhat sloweddown version of me.” Furthermore, heposited that the very existence of thepicture would seem to denounce thevampire theory. After all, it's commonknowledge that vampires' pictures can'tbe taken. “I don't drink blood and lasttime I looked in the mirror, I had areflection, so I'm not going with thevampire theory,” he concluded.

NEWS DESk

The Dark Room, Lahore'snewest and most happeningmulti brand store, has openedits doors today. The multi brandstore has a stellar line-up of de-signers ranging from Karachi'shottest star designer AishaAlam to Shahista Wahidi'sfavourite designer AfsheenMehboob to shoes and acces-sories by the well known BnbAccessories label. The DarkRoom is enviably located in AliTowers, next to McDonald's andSindbad. Adnan Zoraiz, theCeO of TDR, said: “I'm ex-tremely excited that we areopening the doors for sale todayand I look forward to helpingturn TDR into one of the mostsuccessful multi-brand stores inthe country.” The idea forlaunching a multi brand storecame to Adnan Zoraiz when hewas hunting for a multi-brandstore to stock his home-grownbrand of casual prêt titled‘Pharaoh's Closet’. “I realizedthat there was a huge dearth ofa place where new talent is pro-moted and encouraged,” hesaid. “Most multi brand stores

simply go for the name, ignor-ing the novelty and design valueof the brand.” The Dark Roomhas a number of unique and ex-citing features, such as theRookie Corner where new de-signers get a place for a weekonly to give them a taste of themarket. “The rookie corner ismy way of supporting strugglingdesigners and helping them outjust like I was helped out not toolong ago when I was a strugglingdesigner,” he said. Other uniqueventures at TDR are a cocktailrack which is inspired from afruit cocktail: this rack displayscollections from numerous de-signers on the same rack. UzmaHai, a Karachi based designer,is extremely excited about theprospect of exhibiting at TDR.“I have been wanting to ex-plore the Lahore market and Ithink this store is a great wayfor me to do it,” she said. An-other Karachi based designerAisha Alam is also looking for-ward to her first month atTDR. “I can't wait for the doorsto open and I feel that the kindof support and mileage TDR isoffering can't be matched byother multi brand stores.”

naomi watts looks forward to playingPrincess Diana in new filmLoS ANgELES

cbS

Naomi Wattssays it's an“honour” toplay the latePrincessDiana in‘Caught inFlight’, amovie aboutthe royal'sfinal twoyears. “It is such an honour to be ableto play this iconic role - Princess Dianawas loved across the world, and I lookforward to rising to the challenge ofplaying her on screen,” said the 43-year-old actress. This is not the firsttime Watts, an Australian actress, hasplayed a person from real life. Sheplayed outed CIA operative ValeriePlame in ‘Fair Game’ and J. edgarHoover's secretary, Helen Gandy, in‘J.edgar’. Watts, who was born inBritain but immigrated to Australia inher teens, will start work on theBritain-based production later thisyear. She is currently filming ‘TheGrandmothers’ in Australia withactress Robin Wright.

Through the first half, Shakun Batra’s romantic comedy ‘ek Main Aur ekk Tu’ follows anentirely predictable path-boy and girl meet, get drunk, get married and realise they don’twant to stay married. Circumstances dictate they must spend time together while waitingfor their marriage to get annulled. At the interval, one of them even has the “I’m in love”epiphany. Of course, you don’t mind the predictable storyline because there is zippydialogue, some great writing and the performances are in tune with all of the above. So far,so good. But we all know the second half is where it gets tricky. The second half of the filmis even better than the first, because it adds an element of unpredictability to the mix ofgreat dialogue, writing and acting- and what you have is a Bollywood rom-com that is funny,romantic and mature enough for today’s audiences. Imran Khan plays Rahul, a poor littlerich boy in Las Vegas, cowering from his overbearing parents and too “uptight” for his age,as a family friend tells him. he bumps into Riana Braganza, a scatter-brained, effervescenthair stylist, and on a drunken night out, the two getmarried. Of course, they wake up the next day with amassive hangover and the realisation they have made ahuge mistake. They apply for an annulment and sinceRiana is broke and doesn’t have a place to stay, shecamps at Rahul’s house. They hit it off, and he realiseshe’s in love. From this point on, Batra takes the path lesstravelled — there’s some good writing (by AyeshaDevitre and Batra himself) and the performances reallypick up. Kareena Kapoor is the star of the film. ImranKhan is the perfect foil to her energy, and together thetwo of them add that much needed ingredient to aromantic film-chemistry. If you are a sucker forromance, don’t miss this one. even if you aren’t, ‘ekMain Aur ekk Tu’ will be worth your while. newS deSK

‘ek main Aur ekk tu’: A rom-com that “gets” it

Adele wows with post-throat surgery song

The Dark Room

opens its doors

Jennifer Anistoncelebrates 43rd

birthday loS AngeleS: Some things justget better with age. Certaintabloid rumours are not one ofthem (enough already, right?).But Jennifer Aniston is. Thougheverybody's favourite erstwhile‘Friend’ never seems to have abad year, this last one willcertainly have to go down asone of her best. From choppingoff her locks into a decidedlynon-housewives 'do to starringin a couple box-officeblockbusters to getting evenmore loved up with beau JustinTheroux, 42 was one for thebooks. well, she turned the big4-3, and we can't wait to seewhat this year will bring:another trip down the aisle?Another hairstyle? Thepossibilities are endless. happybirthday, Jennifer! AgencieS

pakistani women far more beautiful than indians:

Shobhaa deNEWS DESk

Columnist Shobhaa De believes thatthere is no comparison betweenPakistani and Indian women when itcomes to beauty. The 64-year-old,who is presently attending the two-dayKarachi literature festival, said thatshe considers Pakistanis to be farprettier than Indians. The green-sariclad Shobhaa De also revealed that shehad already done quite a fair bit in hertime in Karachi – including a lunch atCafe Flo and shopping for lawn. “Ineed to get Multani plates but I can’tfind them. I’ve been told I can getthem from Itwar Bazaar,” she wasquoted as saying. She also spoke abouthow Indian socialites are rathercurious about how Pakistani women“put their outfits together” and the“long lines of the kurtas”.

BeRLIN: Angelina Jolie at

the screening of ‘In the

Land of Blood and honey’

at the 62nd Berlinale. AFP

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Sunday, 12 February, 2012

16 Foreign News

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SAUDI police exchanged firewith “masked gunmen” at aprotest in the Shiite-popu-lated east, killing one of them,state reported early Saturday,

in the second fatal clashes in the oil-richregion in 24 hours.

Activists contacted by AFP fromDubai said that Zuhair al-Said, 21, waskilled as security forces dispersed aprotest on Friday against the death of an-other Shiite demonstrator the previousday. “Security forces following an unau-thorised gathering in the (Shiite) town ofAl-Awamiya in Qatif district came underfire from masked gunmen,” the officialSPA news agency quoted a policespokesman as saying. Police “responded,sparking an exchange of fire that resulted

in the wounding of one of them, who diedlater.” An activist told AFP that Said was“shot dead by security forces as they dis-persed a protest against the killing of an-other man” on Thursday.

“eight armoured vehicles belongingto Saudi security forces intervened to dis-perse the protest,” the activist said. Muniral-Medani, also 21, died of his wounds onThursday after being shot by securityforces in the Al-Shwaika neighbourhoodof Qatif during a Shiite demonstration forreform in the ultra-conservative SunniMuslim kingdom, activists said.

Saudi authorities said that Medanitoo died in an exchange of fire betweensecurity forces and “masked men.”Demonstrators also took to the streets ofanother Qatif town — Al-Rabieya — onFriday to protest against Medani’s death,activists said. “Hundreds of demonstra-tors waved pictures of those killed and

detained as they condemned the shooting(by Saudi security forces) on peacefulprotests,” one activist told AFP.

Activists and witnesses said thatMedani’s death came when security forcesopened fire on a Shiite procession mark-ing the birthday of the Prophet Mo-hammed (PBUH) – a celebrationforbidden in Saudi Arabia — which turnedinto a demonstration for reform and therelease of Shiite detainees. Said’s deathraises to seven the number of protesterskilled since demonstrations erupted in theeastern Province last March. ProminentShiite cleric Sheikh Hasan al-Saffar criti-cised the use of force against protesterssaying: “This will not solve the problembut will only further complicate it,” in aspeech published on a Shiite websites.“Blood in Muslim states has becomecheap and human rights are violated asblood runs in several countries. Prisons

are filled with detainees and torture is stillpractised against prisoners in most Is-lamic states,” Saffar said. The region hasbeen rocked by a series of uprisings thatunseated autocracts in Tunisia, egypt andLibya in 2011. Yemen’s President Ali Ab-dullah Saleh is due to quit on February 21under a transfer of power deal while pres-sure is mounting on the Syrian regime toend its deadly crackdown on pro-democ-racy protest. The immediate trigger forthe protest movement among Saudi Shi-ites was a Saudi-led military interventionin neighbouring Bahrain to help its Sunnirulers crush Shiite-led pro-democracydemonstrations last March.

Activists say that Saudi authoritieshave arrested nearly 500 people since theprotests started. Many have been re-leased but dozens remain in custody,among them human rights activist Fadelal-Munasif and writer Nazir al-Majid.

romney vows‘new conservativeera’ if elected

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White House hopeful Mitt Romney haspromised to unite Republicans and defeatPresident Barack Obama in the “battle forthe soul of America” as officials in Maineprepared to unveil the results of partycaucuses on Saturday. Romney and hismain rivals for the nomination, formerHouse speaker Newt Gingrich andreligious conservative Rick Santorum, allmade the pilgrimage to the ConservativePolitical Action Conference here to courtthe Republican base and lay out theirplan to oust Obama in November. “Thiscountry we love is in jeopardy,” Romneytold a CPAC crowd of thousands Friday.“I am convinced that if we do our job, ifwe lead with conviction and integrity, thathistory will record the Obama presidencyas the last gasp of liberalism’s greatfailure and a turning point for a newconservative era.” The upcomingNovember election, he said, “really is abattle for the soul of America.” Romney’sbid to be the party’s 2012 standard-bearerhas been rattled by concern he cannotclose the deal with core conservatives, acharge that was highlighted this weekwhen he lost three nominating contests toSantorum. But former Massachusettsgovernor Romney sought to put asideonce and for all the lingering doubtsabout his credentials, saying “I was aseverely conservative Republicangovernor” who cut taxes, balanced thebudget and slashed costly governmentprograms. Romney has been accused ofbeing a flip-flopper on social issues suchas abortion, but on Friday he asserted hewould be a “pro-life presidency.”

Afghan roadsidebomb kills five policemen

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A roadside bomb hit a police vehicle onpatrol in southern Afghanistan, leaving fivepolicemen dead and one wounded, a seniorpolice official said Saturday. The bomb hitthe pickup truck in Trin Kot, the capital ofUruzgan province, late on Friday, seniorprovincial police officer Gulab Khan toldAFP. “Five policemen were killed and onewounded,” he said. There was noimmediate claim of responsibility for theattack, but roadside bombs are frequentlyplanted by Taliban insurgents fighting adecade-long war against NATO-led foreigntroops and Afghan government forces.Afghan police are particular targets for theinsurgents, as the country prepares to takeover full responsibility for security fromsome 130,000 foreign troops by 2014. OnFriday afternoon, a car was also hit by aroadside bomb in the Khinjak area of theprovincial capital of Uruzgan province,killing one person and wounding twoothers, according to police spokesmanFarid Ail. Southern Afghanistan remains akey battleground between the insurgentsand foreign forces despite a surge of UStroops in 2010 and 2011.

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Thousands of protestors massed inGreece under heavy police watch Sat-urday after the government approvedunpopular austerity cuts to get vitalrescue funds and avoid the “chaos” of adefault. More than 3,500 peoplestreamed to Syntagma Square inAthens on a second day of protests anda general strike, with hundreds of riotpolice standing guard following clashesthat erupted during the rallies on Fri-day. The defection-hit coalition govern-ment approved in the early hours onSaturday the painful belt-tighteningmeasures that the eU and the IMFhave demanded in return for a 130 bil-lion euro ($171 billion) rescue packagethat Athens needs to avoid default inMarch. “We are here to say no to whatthey want to impose on us,” saidSophia, a 38-year-old researcher, asother protestors held up a banner read-ing: “They Are Ruining Our Lives.”

The general strike brought publictransport to a halt in the Greek capi-tal, with no metro, bus or trolley serv-ices. In the northern city ofThessaloniki, police estimated a

crowd of some 4,000 at a similarprotest. As the cabinet debated themeasures on Friday, Prime MinisterLucas Papademos issued a sternwarning after six members of hiscoalition government resigned inprotest at the new cuts. “A disorderlydefault would plunge our country intoa disastrous adventure,” he told thecabinet. “It would create conditions ofuncontrolled economic chaos and so-cial explosion.” “Sooner or later,(Greece) would be led out of theeuro,” he warned. The remaining cab-inet members finally approved thedeal and the Athens News Agency(ANA) said parliament would vote onit on Sunday, with demonstrations ex-pected during the vote.

Greece was explicitly told by itseurozone partners this week that itmust agree to austerity measures inorder to secure the release of furtherloans under the 130 billion eurobailout pending since October. Greeceneeds the money to stave off bank-ruptcy on March 20, when Athensmust repay nearly 14.5 billion euros inmaturing debt. Three texts will be putto Sunday’s vote: measures to recapi-talise Greek banks, an authorisation

for Papademos and the finance minis-ter to sign the eurozone bailout, and abond swap with private creditors de-signed to wipe out around 100 billioneuros from Greece’s 350 billion eurodebt, ANA said.

Details of the austerity measureswill be included in a follow-up law tobe introduced in the next two weeks,the agency said. The measures, whichinclude slashing minimum wages andfacilitating layoffs, have sparked deepanger in a country where more than amillion people, or more than 20 per-cent of the workforce, are unem-ployed.The far-right LAOS party thatwas part of the coalition said it wouldnot support the further austerity cuts,and its four members in governmentquit. They were followed by the assis-tant foreign minister for european af-fairs, a socialist who accused the eUof “fixation” on a labour rights over-haul. Another socialist, a deputylabour minister, resigned Thursday.The government intends to appointreplacements after the measures areapproved by parliament on Sunday,state television NeT said. At least fivesocialist and conservative deputieshave declared their intention.

B’desh journalistcouple stabbedto deathDhaKa: Two prominent televisionjournalists in Bangladesh were brutallystabbed to death on Saturday at theirhome in the capital Dhaka, police said.The motive for the slaying of thehusband and wife who worked forprivate television was unknown, policesaid. They were killed early Saturday attheir apartment while their six-year-oldson was in another room, police said.The boy was unharmed. Policeidentified the slain couple as MeherunRuni and Sagar Sarwar. Runi, 33,worked as a reporter for Bangladesh’slargest private television station ATNBangla. Sarwar, 35, was a news editorfor Maasranga TV. “The couple wasstabbed to death sometime after Fridaymidnight,’ deputy police chief ImamHossain told AFP, adding thehusband’s hands and legs had beentied. “We are still clueless about whocommitted the crime. We havelaunched a probe,” Hossain said. “Theirbodies bore multiple stab wounds. Itwas a brutal killing.” The murders cameto light when the couple’s son called hisgrandmother and said that his parentswere lying on the floor. It was notknown whether the killings wererelated to their work. No valuableswere missing from the house. AFP

cAiro: egyptian students carry a mock coffin to commemorate a fellow student who was killed during the recent clashes and hold a portrait depicting a wounded

revolutionary protester as they protest against the military rulers of the country on Saturday. AFP

Protestors mass in Greeceafter cabinet ok’s debt deal

New clashes in eastern Saudi kill one

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Foreign News 17Sunday, 12 February, 2012

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aDeFIANT Iranian Presi-dent Mahmoud Ah-madinejad vowed Saturdayto inaugurate “importantnuclear projects” within

days and lashed out at Israel, saying the“story” of the Holocaust underpinningits existence had been “smashed”.

In a speech marking the anniver-sary of Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution,Ahmadinejad said his nation will“never yield” to Western sanctions andthreats of military action from Israeland the United States. A crowd of anestimated 30,000 people in Tehran’smain Azadi (Freedom) Square cheeredAhmadinejad’s words despite the win-ter weather. Many, including exuberanthigh school students, held aloft plac-ards declaring “Death to America” and“Death to Israel”. In pointed messagesaimed at those two arch-foes, Iranianofficials planted a full-scale model of aUS spy drone captured in December atan entrance to the square, and hostedon the stage the Hamas prime ministerof Gaza. Hamas “will never recognise

Israel,” Gaza leader Ismail Haniya toldthe crowd just before Ahmadinejadspoke. His remarks were likely to com-plicate efforts to form with rival partyFatah a Palestinian unity governmentin the face of strong opposition fromthe Jewish state, which views Hamas asa terrorist organisation armed by Iran.

Ahmadinejad gave no details aboutthe “important nuclear projects” aboutto be made public. However, the UNnuclear watchdog, the InternationalAtomic energy Agency (IAeA), has al-ready said Iran is enriching uranium to20 percent — a level significantly closerto military-grade 90 percent purity —at a mountain bunker near the Shiiteshrine city of Qom. And Iranian offi-cials have said that they will be insert-ing their first domestically made20-percent enriched fuel plate into aTehran research reactor by March.

Israel, voicing concerns that Irancould shield its nuclear programmefrom attack by the end of this year, hasmade comments suggesting it could im-minently launch air strikes against itslong-time enemy. The United States hasalso not ruled out military action. ButAhmadinejad rejected the pressure,

saying that, “if the language of bullyingand insult is used, the Iranian nationwill never yield.” He added: “The onlypath is to adhere to justice and the re-spect of Iran’s (nuclear) rights and toreturn to the negotiating table.”

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali AkbarSalehi, in comments carried by mediaon Saturday, said his country’s chiefnuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, hadwritten a reply to Ashton that “eitherhas been sent or is on the verge of beingsent.” Ahmadinejad used his speech toagain question the veracity of the Jew-ish Holocaust, which he has in the pastdismissed as a “myth”.

He claimed the United States andthe West had created “a story called theHolocaust” to create the Israeli state aspart of a plan “to dominate the world”.But, he said, “the Iranian nation withcourage and wisdom smashed this idolto free the people of the West (of itshold).” He urged Western nations tostop supporting Israel.

“Why do you link your fate withthis sham regime? Let Al-Quds(Jerusalem) and Palestine becomefree,” he said. “Democracy doesn’tcome out of the barrel of a gun.”

g Army general

gunned down outside

his damascus homeDAMASCUS

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Syrian armour moved on the protestcentre of Homs and a general wasgunned down in Damascus on Saturdayas the bloodshed showed no signs ofabating, even spilling over into Lebanon.The Syrian National Council (SNC) saidArab recognition of the opposition um-

brella group was imminent, ahead of keytalks in the egyptian capital on the cri-sis. In Aleppo, tensions escalated asPresident Bashar al-Assad’s forcesstepped up security after twin car bombskilled 28 people in Syria’s second city onFriday, activists said. Another four civil-ians were killed by shelling and heavymachinegun fire in Baba Amr, the maincentre of resistance in Homs, said theSyrian Observatory for Human Rights.Government forces have been waging awithering assault on the central city thathas killed more than 450 people in thepast week, rights groups say. Two civil-ians died in the southern town of Daraa,cradle of the revolt, and another waskilled in the Damascus district of Qabun,

the Observatory said, adding three secu-rity force members died elsewhere.

A general was gunned down outsidehis Damascus home, state media said. Ifconfirmed, it would be one of the mostbrazen attacks on the top brass in the cap-ital since the uprising erupted in Marchlast year. “An armed terrorist group thismorning assassinated brigadier generaland doctor, Issa al-Khawli, the director ofHamish hospital, outside his home in thedistrict of Ruknaddin,” the official SANAnews agency said. In Lebanon, two peopledied and 18 were wounded in fierceclashes betwee Sunni Muslims hostile toSyria’s regime and Alawites who supportit, a security official said.

“A Sunni and an Alawite were killed

and 18 people were wounded in clashesthat continued since Friday betweenpeople from the neighbourhoods ofJabal Mohsen and Bab al-Tebbaneh,” inthe northern city of Tripoli, he told AFP.The two sides were firing guns androcket-propelled grenades at each otherin the bloodiest clashes since June,when six people were killed in the wakeof demonstrations against Syria’s gov-ernment. Syrian state media blamed“terrorists” for Friday’s double car bombattacks on security posts in Aleppo,which killed at least 28 people andwounded 235. The rebel Free SyrianArmy accused the regime of launchingthe attacks in a bid to divert attentionfrom its bloody nationwide crackdown.

uK police arrest 8in Murdoch empire

bribery probeLoNDoN

Afp

British police on Saturday arrested fiveemployees of Rupert Murdoch’s tabloidThe Sun, a police officer, a member of thearmed forces and a defence ministryemployee in a bribery probe. The arrestsrepresented a dramatic widening of policeinvestigations into Murdoch’s Britishnewspaper empire, following the phonehacking scandal which led to the closureof the News of the World in July. “Theremit of Operation elveden has widenedto include the investigation of evidenceuncovered in relation to suspectedcorruption involving public officials whoare not police officers,” a Scotland Yardstatement said. Operation elveden wasset up last year in tandem with OperationWeeting, which is investigating the illegalhacking of mobile phone voicemails.Police said five men aged 45, 47, 50, 52and 68 were arrested in dawn raids attheir homes in London and nearby areason suspicion of corruption and of aidingand abetting misconduct in a publicoffice. In the first cases of their kind, aMinistry of Defence employee aged 39was arrested at her home in Wiltshire,southwest england, and a 36-year-oldman serving in the armed forces wasarrested in the same area. Both werearrested on suspicion of corruption,misconduct in a public office andconspiracy in relation to both offences. Apolice officer in the county of Surrey wasalso arrested on suspicion of corruptionand misconduct in a public office. Thehacking scandal erupted after it emergedthat the News of the World hadintercepted the voicemails of a murderedteenager from Surrey, Milly Dowler.Police said they were searching theirhome addresses and the offices of NewsInternational, the parent company of TheSun, in Wapping, east London. Thearrests were made following informationprovided to police by the Managementand Standards Committee set up byMurdoch’s US-based News Corporation,Scotland Yard said. News Corp.confirmed that the five men arrested wereemployees of The Sun and that it hadprovided the information. “NewsCorporation remains committed toensuring that unacceptable newsgathering practices by individuals in thepast will not be repeated and last summerauthorised the MSC to co-operate withthe relevant authorities,” it said. TheMinistry of Defence said it would notcomment on ongoing police.

thousands rallyagainst nuclearpower in Japan

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Thousands demonstrated in Tokyo onSaturday against nuclear power generation,11 months after a massive earthquake andtsunami sparked reactor meltdowns at theFukushima nuclear power plant.Kenzaburo Oe, the 1994 Nobel prize winnerfor literature, told a central rally at YoyogiPark, “Radioactive waste from nuclearpower plants will be borne by generationsto come.” “This must not be condoned byhuman beings. It is against ethics,” the 77-year-old novelist said. The rally wasattended by 12,000 people, according to itsorganisers. Police estimated the turnout ataround 7,000. The March 11 quake-tsunami disaster left more than 19,000dead or missing and sparked theFukushima crisis, the world’s worst nuclearaccident since the 1986 Chernobyl disaster,on Japan’s northeast coast. Tens ofthousands of people were forced from theirhomes around the plant, located some 220kilometres (140 miles) northeast of Tokyo,as radiation levels rocketed, with many notknowing when and if they will be allowedto return. The vast majority of Japan’s 54commercial nuclear reactors are offlinebecause popular opposition has preventedthem being restarted in the wake of theFukushima nuclear crisis. Japanese actorTaro Yamamoto, who has allegedly lostacting opportunities for his anti-nuclearadvocacy, told the rally: “Our country willcease to exist if there is another bigearthquake.” “To prevent our country fromceasing to exist, we shall not allow nuclearplants to be reactivated.”

thai student onhunger strike overroyal insult law

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A 20-year-old Thai student whose father hasbeen detained for ten months under thekingdom’s strict lese majeste laws began ahunger strike on Saturday in Bangkokagainst the controversial legislation. ActivistSomyot Prueaksakasemsuk, the formereditor of two now-defunct “Red Shirtmagazines, was arrested last April andcharged under article 112 of the Thai criminalcode over two articles deemed critical of theThai royals. His son Panitan, a law student,began his strike on Saturday afternoon infront of Bangkok’s criminal court, and wasset to fast for 112 hours to highlight the pointof law in question. His protest, which a fewdozen people came out to support, comesafter the seventh request for his father’s bailwas denied last month. “My hunger strike isto call for the right to bail and to showsociety the injustice on someone who wascharged with lese majeste,” he told AFPbefore starting the protest. He wore a whiteT-shirt with the message: “Give my dad theright to bail”. Lese majeste carries a penaltyof up to 15 years for each count and isdesigned to protect senior royals frominsult, but academics say it has beenpoliticised in recent years.

tehrAn: iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and palestinian hamas premier of gaza, ismail haniya flash the victory sign to the crowd during the 33rd anniversary of

the islamic revolution in Azadi Square on Saturday. AFP

syria armour moves on homs as violence spreads

Defiant Iran to presentmajor N-projects ‘in days’g Ahmadinejad says ‘story of the Holocaustunderpinning israel’s existence has been smashed’

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Sunday, 12 February, 2012

About controversiesand the ‘greenwash’

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PAKISTAN will once more de-pend on spin to maintaintheir dominance over eng-land when the teams meet ina four-match one-day series

starting here from Monday.Misbah-ul Haq's men blanked eng-

land 3-0 in the Tests series with off-spin-ner Saeed Ajmal finishing with 24wickets, left-armer Abdul Rehman taking19 and allrounder Mohammad Hafeezfive in a spin-dominated series.

Pakistan's spin repertoire will furtherbe boosted by allrounder Shahid Afridiwhose 5-36 helped Pakistan beatAfghanistan in a first-ever one-day betweenthe two countries in Sharjah on Friday.

even spinning allrounder ShoaibMalik, controversially included in thesquad despite failures in the last six one-day matches, will pose problems for eng-land who were routed 5-0 in India last year.

Pakistan captain Misbah acknowl-edged Afridi's heroics as leg-spinner.

"Afridi is a match winner," said Mis-bah of Afridi whose 338 wickets is nowthe second highest by a spinner behindSri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan (534)in one-day internationals.

"In the last three series in almost allmatches Afridi has been outstanding andundoubtedly he is one of the best bowlersin one day cricket," said Misbah, who has

won one-day series against Ireland, Zim-babwe, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh sincetaking over in June last year.

Misbah, however, seeks improvement

in his batting, especially in the top order."I always say that the main area we

need to improve is batting. Against eng-land if we can have batting consistency orif we can set very good targets then wehave the bowling to give our opponents a

tough time," said Misbah.england coach Andy Flower also

hoped his batting improves after strug-gling badly against Pakistan's spinners.

"This will be a really challenging se-ries for us. In our last one-day series insub-continental conditions, we lost badlyto India. The batsmen are lower in confi-dence after the Tests, so it will be a seri-ous challenge for us," said Flower.

"I expect better things from the bats-men, and I really expect to see us improvewith our knowledge and method of howto combat their spin," said Flower,adding that Kevin Pietersen will open thebatting.

Pietersen had a miserable Test series,managing just 67 runs.

"He's a very, very fine cricketer - verydangerous - and someone we'd like togive the option of facing as many balls aspossible in the limited-overs game. If hestays in long enough, he will win gamesfor us in that position."

James Anderson and Stuart Broad --who both missed the India one-day series-- will be on support for Tim Bresnan,Jade Dernbach and Steven Finn in pacewhile Samit Patel and Danny Briggs willassist Graeme Swann in spin.

The remaining three matches will beplayed in Abu Dhabi (February 15) and inDubai on Feruary 18 and 21.

Teams will also play three Twenty20internationals in Dubai (February 23 and25) and in Abu Dhabi (February 27).

Pakistan to keep England in the spin

Pakistan and England squads

Pakistan (from): Misbah-ul-Haq (cap-tain), Younis Khan, Shahid Afridi, Moham-mad Hafeez, Imran Farhat, Umar Akmal,Asad Shafiq, Adnan Akmal, Umar Gul,Junaid Khan, Aizaz Cheema, SaeedAjmal, Abdul Rehman, Wahab Riaz,Azhar Ali, Hammad Azam, Shoaib Malik.

England (from): Alastair Cook (cap-tain), James Anderson, Jonny Bairstow,Ravi Bopara, Tim Bresnan, Danny Briggs,Stuart Broad, Jos Buttler, Jade Dernbach,Steven Finn, Craig Kieswetter, Eoin Mor-gan, Samit Patel, Kevin Pietersen,Graeme Swann, Jonathan Trott

UmPirEs: Simon Taufel (AUS) andAhsan Raza (PAK)tv UmPirE: Kumara Dharmasena (SRI)match rEfErEE: Jeff Crowe (NZL)

ShARJAhAfp

Pakistan captain Misbah-ul Haq Satur-day praised the Afghan team's fightingspirit despite their loss in a one-day in-ternational to his side, saying they couldgive other teams a tough time.

Pakistan beat Afghanistan by sevenwickets in the first-ever one-day inter-national between the two countries hereon Friday.

Despite losing, Afghanistan put up aspirited show before a 15,000-strongcrowd, hitting six sixes in their 195 andtaking two early wickets when Pakistanbatted. Misbah said he was impressed byAfghanistan's performance.

"It was a good game. The way theAfghanistan team played I am really

happy. They have some really good, ex-citing cricketers," he said, adding it was"a good beginning" for the Afghan side.

Afghanistan earned one-day statusin 2009 and have since achieved severalmilestones, qualifying for the WorldTwenty20 in the Caribbean and finish-ing silver medallists in the Asian Gamesin China, both in 2010.

They also won the Inter-ContinentalCup, meant for associate teams, in 2010.

"I think Afghanistan can give toughtime to Zimbabwe, Bangladesh and evento better teams. It is all about experienceand if they play more cricket againstgood teams in the world, they are goingto improve."

Misbah said Afghanistan were adangerous limited over side.

"T20 or for one-day, this is a danger-

ous side. They can still improve and theyhave excellent fighting spirit. They putin a lot of effort in fielding."

Leg-spinner Shahid Afridi took 5-36which kept Afghanistan to 195, still agood total in Misbah's opinion.

Paceman Dawlat Zadran then dis-missed opener Mohammad Hafeez(eight) and Asad Shafiq (20) before You-nis Khan (70 not out) and Imran Farhat(52) saw Pakistan through in the 38thover.

"Their fast bowlers bowled really welland their batting start was very good. Ithink on this wicket batting was not easyand the score of 195 was really good be-cause even Sri Lanka had struggled onthis wicket last year," said Misbah.

"They have many positives to takefrom this game."

Afghanistan captain Nawroz Mangalsaid he was satisfied with his team's per-formance.

"Our start was very good. Unfortu-nately the middle order collapsed andthat prevented us from making a bigscore but we got two early wickets andoverall I am satisfied with my team'sperformance against a top side," saidMangal.

Mangal, 27, said there were severallessons for his team.

"We learned a lot from this game.The most significant thing which welearned from this game... is the maturityhow to play a one-day game, especiallyagainst a tougher side."

Afghanistan will play in the WorldTwenty20 qualifiers in the United Arabemirates next month.

Afghans' performance impresses Misbah

Islamabad, KarachiZone B in U-14Soccer semis

ISLAMABADStAff report

Islamabad and Karachi Zone B hasmoved to the semi-final of the NationalU-14 Football Championship-2012 onSaturday. In the first quarterfinal of theday Islamabad beat Nowshera Zone 2:0at the outer Jinnah Football Stadium, Is-lamabad, PakistanIslamabad got it goals through forwardHussnain Muhammod in the 22ndminute and forward Behlol in the 38thminute. In the second match of the day,Karachi Zone B beat Balochistan 3:1 atthe same venue. Karachi Zone B scorers were forwardsShahid who scored two goals in the 53rdand 73rd minutes while Safeer got thethird goal in the 51st minute.From the losing side Balochistan: Ham-mad scored in the 66th minute.

Nimbus claims $121m

damages from BCCIMUMBAIcricinfo

Nimbus Communications, whose con-tract holding television rights to cricketin India was terminated in December,has claimed damages of close to Rs. 600crores (approx. $121 million) from theBCCI in the arbitration process currentlyunder way, eSPNcricinfo has learned.Nimbus' claim rests mainly on two con-tentions: that the Indian team rested topplayers, contrary to the contract, andthat there was no India-Pakistan seriesas stipulated.Nimbus had secured the rights to Indiancricket for four years in January 2010, itssecond consecutive four-year deal withthe Indian board. The agreement wasvalued at approximately Rs. 2000 crore(then $436 million) for a minimum of 64international matches and 312 days ofdomestic cricket until 2014. The deal wasterminated after the BCCI claimed Nim-bus had defaulted on payments and thematter then went into arbitration.

Guptill steers New zealand to seven-wicket winAUCkLAND

Afp

Martin Guptill's continued domination ofthe Zimbabwe bowling steered NewZealand to a seven-wicket win with 19 ballsto spare in the opening Twenty20 match ateden Park Saturday. Guptill's imperious 91not out off 54 deliveries was the backboneof New Zealand's 160 for three, and alongwith Kane Williamson (48), they overtookZimbabwe's 159 for eight in the 17th over.

The New Zealand opener has seldombeen troubled by the Zimbabwe attack andhis 91 was his fifth successive half-centuryagainst the tourists following 51, 70, 77 and85 in the Test and three one-day interna-tionals. His partnership with Williamsonput on 137 for the third wicket after NewZealand made a shaky start to their runchase. In an eventful second over, the firsttwo deliveries from Kyle Jarvis were dis-patched to the boundary by Rob Nicol be-fore the bowler dismissed both Nicol andBrendon McCullum in two legitimate ballsseparated by a wide.

New Zealand were then in trouble attwo for 15 but Zimbabwe were unable tocash in on the pressure and it was to be an-other 15 others before they were able totake a third wicket. After 10 overs, NewZealand were 101 for two and the outcomewas already assured. There was no sign of

any respite for Zimbabwe in a nightmaretour where they have been thrashed in theone-off Test and three ODIs. Guptill racedahead hitting five fours and six sixes whilea more circumspect Williamson reached 48before he was run out taking an unneces-sary single when New Zealand were thenonly eight runs short of their target.

Two balls later and the game was overwith Guptill belting a six and a two leavingdebutant batsman Colin de Grandhommeto have a brief time in the middle and notface a ball. Jarvis was the only successfulZimbabwe bowler taking two for 32 afterhis side had won the toss and posted what

should have been a competitive 159 foreight. Hamilton Masakadza blasted 53 off36 balls at the top of the innings and eltonChigumbura finished off at the tail with 48off 24 deliveries to contribute the bulk ofthe Zimbabwe runs. Zimbabwe also had arocky start to their innings with BrendanTaylor bowled by New Zealand debutantMichael Bates for three in the second overand Forster Mutizwa followed in the nextover without scoring to be two for 16.

Bates, who also claimed Chigumbura inthe final over, finished his first internationalbowling spell with an impressive three for31 while Kyle Mills took two for 32.

ziMbAbwe

b. taylor b bates 3

h. Masakadza c franklin b williamson 53

f. Mutizwa c guptill b Mills 0

t. taibu c bracewell b n. Mccullum 27

M. waller c guptill b Mills 11

e. chigumbura c guptill b bates 48

S. Masakadza b hira 8

K. Meth not out 6

p. utseya c franklin b bates 0

r. price not out 0

eXtrAS (lb 1, w 1, nb 1) 3

totAl (8 wickets; 20 overs) 159

fall of wickets: 1-5 (taylor), 2-16 (Mutizwa), 3-78 (h.

Masakadza), 4-88 (taibu), 5-106 (waller), 6-135 (S. Masakadza),

7-156 (chigumbura), 8-157 (utseya)

bowling: Mills 4-0-32-2, bates 4-0-31-3, bracewell 4-0-47-0

(1nb), n. Mccullum 2-0-11-1, hira 4-0-22-1 (1w), nicol 1-0-9-0,

williamson 1-0-6-1

new zeAlAnd

r. nicol b Jarvis 12

M. guptill not out 91

b. Mccullum c chigumbura b Jarvis 0

K. williamson run out (S.Mazakadza) 48

c. de grandhomme not out 0

extras extras (b 0, lb 0, w 9, nb 0) 9

totAl (3 wickets; 16.5 overs) 160

fall of wickets: 1-14 (nicol), 2-15 (b. Mccullum), 3-152

(williamson)

bowling: Meth 4-0-34-0 (2w), Jarvis 3-0-32-2 (4w), S.

Masakadza 2.5-0-26-0 (2w), price 4-0-34-0, utseya 2-0-18-0

(1w), chigumbura 1-0-16-0

toss: zimbabwe

result: new zealand won by seven wickets

Man of the match: Martin guptill (nzl)

umpires: gary baxter (nzl), barry frost (nzl)

tV umpire: chris gaffaney (nzl)

Match referee: david boon (AuS)

ScoreboArd

AUCKLAND: New Zealand's Martin guptill

bats during the opening Twenty20 match

against Zimbabwe at eden Park. AFP

LHR 12-02-2012_Layout 1 2/12/2012 2:18 AM Page 18

Sports 19Sunday, 12 February, 2012

PARISAfp

ROGeR Federer slumped tohis first Davis Cup defeat innine years on Friday when hewas shocked 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7/4),6-2 by John Isner as the United

States opened up a 2-0 lead over Switzerland.World number three Federer, playing a WorldGroup first round tie for the first time in eightyears, saw his 15-match winning streak in thecompetition ended by the giant Isner on theindoor clay courts at Fribourg.

Isner secured victory with three returnwinners as the 32-time Davis Cup champi-ons moved closer to a quarter-final spot.

Federer insisted that he and StanislasWawrinka, the Olympic doubles champions,can still pull the tie around by winning Sat-urday's doubles against Mike Bryan andRyan Harrison. "I played a good match con-sidering the altitude and the fact that it wasmy first match on clay since the FrenchOpen," said Federer.

"It's a tough loss, but we are not downand out yet. Stan and I will pick ourselves upjust like we did at the Olympics." Isner de-scribed the win as the best of his career andgave credit to captain Jim Courier.

"The way I played today is the way Ineed to play in all my matches. I owe it toJim Courier -- he was on at me to hit all myshots. It's the win of my life," said Isner, whounleashed 85 winners.

Courier said Isner got his tactics justright against the 16-time Grand Slam titlewinner whose last Davis Cup singles losscame in 2003 when he was defeated by Aus-

tralia's Lleyton Hewitt in Melbourne."The mission was to go out there and

not allow an artist a canvas to work with,"said Courier.

earlier, Mardy Fish had defeatedWawrinka 6-2, 4-6, 4-6, 6-1, 9-7 in the open-ing rubber.

"There's something special about theDavis Cup. You just never give up," said Fish.

Defending champions Spain, who arewithout Rafael Nadal, were comfortablyplaced at 2-0 ahead of Kazakhstan in Oviedo.

Veteran Juan Carlos Ferrero clawed outa 6-1, 4-6, 7-6 (7/2), 4-6, 6-4 win overMikhail Kukushkin before Nicolas Almagrodefeated Andrey Golubev 6-3, 4-6, 6-1, 6-1.

Nadal is skipping the tournament toconcentrate on the Grand Slams as well asthe defence of his Olympic title.

World number one Novak Djokovic isalso absent from 2010 champions Serbia'stie in Nis against Sweden.

But he wasn't missed as Janko Tipsare-vic beat Filip Prpic 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 and ViktorTroicki saw off Michael Ryderstedt 6-4, 6-3,5-7, 6-3 for a 2-0 lead.

World number nine Tipsarevic had noproblems against an opponent ranked 1,417places below him while Ryderstedt, who re-placed long-term illness victim Robin Soder-ling, at least took a set off Troicki.

In Bamberg, last year's beaten finalists Ar-gentina put a foot in the quarter-finals whenthey opened up a 2-0 lead against Germany.

Juan Monaco beat Philipp Pet-zschner 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 before David Nal-bandian battled back to defeat FlorianMayer 2-6, 6-0, 6-1, 7-6 (7/5). In Hyogo,Ivo Karlovic fired 18 aces to claim a

straightforward 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 victory overAustralian Open quarter-finalist KeiNishikori as Croatia pulled level at 1-1with Japan who are back in the WorldGroup for the first time in 26 years.

Japanese number two Go Soeda hadearlier stormed back from two sets down tobeat Ivan Dodig 6-7 (3/7), 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, 7-5.

At Wiener Neustadt, Austria were 2-0

ahead of Russia with Jurgen Melzer claiminga 6-2, 6-7 (3/7), 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 win over IgorKunitsyn before Andreas Haider-Maurerbeat Alex Bogomolov 6-1, 6-4, 6-7 (1/7), 6-2.

The Czech Republic were 2-0 aheadagainst Italy in Ostrava after 33-year-oldRadek Stepanek defeated Andreas Seppi 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 and Tomas Berdych hadseen off Simone Bolelli 6-3, 4-6, 7-5, 6-2.

In Vancouver, Canada and Franceended the opening day level at 1-1. Jo-Wil-fried Tsonga gave the first point to Francewith a 6-1, 6-3, 6-3 victory over VasekPospisil. Rising Canadian star Milos Raonicthen knotted the tie with a 6-2, 6-4, 7-5 vic-tory over Julien Benneteau, who was a latesubstitute in singles for Gael Monfils, who isnursing a knee injury.

Federer crashes to shock Davis Cup defeat

hussey to

miss third ODISYDNEY

Afp

Australia on Saturday said Mike Husseywould be rested for their third game inthe tri-nation one-day international se-ries, with allrounder Mitchell Marshbrought into the squad.Australia go into Sunday's match againstIndia in Adelaide unbeaten, after victoryover Sri Lanka in Perth on Friday and anearlier win over India."Mike Hussey is to be rested and will nottravel with the squad to Adelaide whileBen Hilfenhaus has returned to Hobartand will not join the squad for tomor-row's match," Cricket Australia said.Western Australia's Marsh will join thesquad in Adelaide, it added.Australia have yet to name their squadfor the remaining games in the series,which continues until March 8.Australia: Michael Clarke (c), Dan Chris-tian, Xavier Doherty, Peter Forrest, RyanHarris, David Hussey, Mitchell Marsh,Clint McKay, Ricky Ponting, MitchellStarc, Matthew Wade, David Warner.

PARISAfp

Top seed Maria Sharapova crashed out of the WTA Paris Openin the quarter-finals on Friday after falling 6-4, 6-4 to Germanninth seed Angelique Kerber. Sharapova had breezed past Ker-ber in straight sets en route to the Australian Open final lastmonth but the 24-year-old exacted sweet revenge on the worldnumber three at a disbelieving Pierre de Coubertin indoorarena. "It was a tough day because my opponent played reallywell," admitted Sharapova. "I did have opportunities but I did-n't take them today. "I was up in both sets and I had breaks butshe played extremely well -- much better than I did, in any case."I wasn't as aggressive as I would have liked. She's someonewho also likes to go in and she has a good amount of power. Sheused that to her advantage more than I did." Kerber, the worldnumber 27, had never previously beaten a top-10 player. "It'samazing," she said. "It's my first top-five win. I knew before thematch that I had nothing to lose and my coach was telling me:

'If you want to win thismatch, you'll have to playyour best tennis.' "I tried todo that and I'm very happythat I beat her and I'm in thesemis." Playing in her firsttournament since losing to

Victoria Azarenka in the Mel-bourne final, Sharapova broke

Kerber's serve twice in the openingset, only for the German left-han-

der to break back on both occa-sions. Kerber, who reached the

semi-finals at last year's US Open, pro-duced some flashing groundstrokes to

go 5-4 up but the loss of the first set wasall Sharapova's doing.

LAhoREStAff report

The Punjab Sports Festival 2012 is gain-ing pace after every passing day andwords o praise are flowing in from MPsand other officials.

Rana Mashood, Deputy SpeakerPunjab Assembly visited Punjab Univer-sity Old Campus ground here and metthe players. He showed his satisfactionand pleasure over the organization ofthe mega event.

“I congratulate the Punjab Govern-ment on conducting this successfulsports festival 2012 which is basicallyaimed at creating a sports culture in theprovince and tap talented players at thegrass roots level” he added.

This kind of events had never beenconducted in the history of Pakistan and

such activities should be the part of so-ciety to create a healthy and active na-tion, he maintained and later distributedprizes among the winning teams ofTehsil level. MNA Bilal Yasin and MPAAjasim Shareef were also present on thisoccasion.

In Lahore Model Town, volleyballgirls competition was held between La-hore School Joher Town and Govern-ment Model Girls High School ModelTown. The Lahore School Joher Townwon 9-6 and 8-5. Sheeza Shokat hit thehighest score of 6 points. In GeneralPublic Cricket matches, UC 112 beat UC125 by 6 runs, Usman was declared theman of the match.

In athletics, boys schools partici-pated in all events in which Daniyalfrom Beaconhouse Garden Town wonthe 100 meter and 200 meter races

while Sarum was second in both theraces. Mohammad Shahbaz from Gov-ernment Boys High School Model Townwon 400 meter race, Sadiq Yusuf wassecond. Usman won the 800 meter racewhereas Waqas got second position.

In 1500 meter, Sabir Ali from Gov-ernment HS Manga Mandi was firstwhile Shahbaz second. Waqas o thesame school was the winner of longjump and Sarum Zulifqar from Beacon-house Garden Town won shotput.Salman Sani from Beaconhouse Defencegot the first position in javelin throw.

In Cantt/Shalamar, the final hockeymatch was conducted in which Govern-ment High School Jallomore beat Gov-ernment Ikhwan HS Burki 2-0.

In football matches, GovernmentSchool of Baghbanpura beat PunjabSchool 1-0, Government HS Jallomore

beat Muslim HS Lahore Cantt 5-0. Inthe final Government HS Jallomore out-played Government School Baghban-pura 4-0. In the General Publicbadminton,UC 22 beat UC 48 by 15-3,15-6 while in the doubles, the scorewas 15-13,15-14.

In cricket (General public), UC 55made 205 runs to beat UC 56 with 76runs. Ashraf was declared the man of thematch. In other match, UC 19 beat UC20 by 47 runs. Muneeb was the man ofthe match with 65 runs simultaneously.In boys schools cricket, Government HSMujahidabad beat Government HS GanjMughalpura by 13 runs. Amjad with 25runs was the man of the match. Govern-ment Muslim High School Lahore Canttdefeated Government HS Baghbanpuraby 1 run while Sagheer was declared thebest player of the match with 73 runs.

Punjab sports Festival gains momentum

LAhORe: The winners of different categories of the 1st Lahore hotel Junior Tennis Tournament with the chief guest at

the PLTA’s courts. Aiman qureshi won the under-14 girls title while Ahmed Babar took the under-18 crown. stAFF PHOtO

Sharapova stunned byKerber at Paris Open

injured zvonareva quits at PattayaPattaYa: Top seed VeraZvonareva was forced to retire fromthe Pattaya Open on Friday with aleft hip injury while Maria Kirilenkoreached the final beating bt SoranaCirstea. Kirilenko will now faceVania King in the final. Maria Kir-ilenko, the fourth Russian seed beatSorana Cirstea of Romania, who isseventh seed, 6-2, 5-7, 6-4.Zvonareva, the Russian, who wonthe title in 2009 and 2010, quit herquarter-final against seventh-seeded

Romanian Sorana Cirstea after win-ning the first set 6-2, losing the sec-ond set 6-4 and at 2-2 in the third.

But defending champion andthird-seeded Slovak Daniela Hantu-chova won a high-quality battleagainst American eighth seed VaniaKing, advancing 7-6 (9-7), 6-4.

Fourth-seeded Russian MariaKirilenko held off a strong first setchallenge from Thailand's TamarineTanasugarn before dominating thesecond to earn a 7-6 (7-2), 6-1 vic-

tory, and Taiwanese qualifier HsiehSu-Wei reached her first WTA Toursemi-final in more than 10 years asshe defeated India's Sania Mirza 7-5,6-3. "It started bothering me alreadyin the beginning of the first set, andit was getting worse and worse" saidZvonareva of her injury. "I was doingmy best, but it was too tough for meto push off from that leg and it wasvery difficult to focus on the game. "Idid everything I could but just could-n't continue anymore." Afp

DUBAI: Pakistan disabled cricketer Farhan Saeed

(L) delivers the ball during the T20 match against

england Disaballity team at the ICC global

Cricket Academy (ICC gCA) in Dubai Sports City.

Cricketers with disabilities from Pakistan and

england promise to defy all odds during their

ground-breaking series, hoping it could set

examples for such other people in life. AFP

FRIBOURg: world number three Roger Federer waves to supporters after losing against John Isner of the US during a Davis Cup game. AFP

LHR 12-02-2012_Layout 1 2/12/2012 2:19 AM Page 19

Sports20Sunday, 12 February, 2012

Pakistan’s “greenwash” over englandcannot be praised enough. It was not theextent of the victory, but, more impor-tantly, the way the Pakistan team wentabout their task. They were on the ropesin the second Test and proceeded calmly,to dismiss england for very little. Theywere then shot out for below a hundred,but such is the self belief in the players,that they remained unruffled and backedtheir abilities. In the second innings, thebatsmen showed admirable maturity totame the england bowling and build alead that was then defended by perhapsthe best spin attack on the circuit.

This mental and emotional resilience issomething that only the captain and to alesser extent, the management can nurture.A lot of the credit, therefore, goes to skipperMisbah ul Haq and coach Mohsin Khan.

It is also important for us to realizethat these good times are not never-end-ing, that there will be losses as surely asthe sun will come up in the morning. It ishow the team and the PCB react to thesefluctuations that will determine the longterm prospects of the team. It was, there-fore, discomfiting to hear the PCB chair-man taunt the Indian cricket team, sayingthat they were scared of playing Pakistan.With all due regards, these words smackof immaturity and jingoism and are bestnot repeated.

The PCB chairman would be advisedto listen to interviews of Federer, Nadalor Djokovic after one of their Grand Slamwins. They are humility personified andfull of gracious praise for their van-quished opponent. Not only is this easyon the eyes and ears, it also relieves pres-sure on themselves, a clever piece ofsports psychology. One hopes that thePCB does not have to eat its words in the

near future.The Pakistan team for the ODI series

against england has been announced byselector Mohammad Ilyas. His son in lawImran Farhat has been duly selected forboth T20 and ODIs. There have beentimes in Pakistan cricket when, if a selec-tor’s near relative was up for selection,the selector resigned from his position.The principle is that even if the selectordoes not have nepotistic tendencies, thereshould be no doubt about the fairness ofthe selection. The PCB will have to care-fully monitor these tendencies, becausethis can cause strife and low moraleamong the team members, no matter howclean the selection. One has not followedthe performances of Imran Farhat, butregardless, the selection is going to befood for controversy, something the teamcan scarcely abide.

The use of Performance enhancingDrugs in tennis has been highlighted inan advertisement on French TV Canal+channel. The ad features a caricature ofRafael Nadal driving a car and leaves noroom for doubt as to what it is implying.The Spanish Tennis Federation is nowsuing the TV company. earlier, Frenchlegend Yannick Noah had accused theSpanish athletes of using unfair means.The controversy seems to be heating upand could spin out of control. Alreadythere are rumours of one top Spanish ten-nis star who was tested positive for drugsbut was bailed out by the company thatsponsored his clothing. evidently, thecompany stood to lose so much over thescandal that they paid a huge fine and theplayer was told to ride out his suspensionby claiming an injury. It seems now thatother countries are challenging what is intheir view, an unfair ascendency of Span-ish players on the tennis scene. evidentlyall is not as calm and placid in the tennisworld as the ATP would have us believe.

Another controversy in tennis that is

rearing its head is that of the ranking sys-tem where players are ranked on theirone year performance and are under con-tinuous pressure to defend the pointsthat they had earned in a tournament theprevious year. For instance, if a playerreached the semi finals of the FrenchOpen last year, he would be defendingthose points this year. If he reached thesemis again this year, he would breakeven. If he lost in the first or secondround, the previous year’s points wouldbe lost and those earned this year would

take their place. The player’s rankingwould plummet. A group of players led byNadal, are trying for a two year perform-ance criterion. They feel that this wouldgive the players a little breathing room sothat they can miss some tournaments inorder to recover from injuries. Playersamong them, Roger Federer, oppose this,saying that there is no need to tinker witha system that is working. This has led toa rare public disagreement between Fed-erer and Nadal. Unfortunately, the topplayers are not addressing the plight of

the up and coming players who toil in theFutures and to a lesser extent the Chal-lenger circuits. The prize money in theFutures is so poor that even the winner ofthe event, at times, cannot make endsmeet. This area of tennis is the one thatneeds to be addressed the most and couldbe critical for its future health. Perhaps acertain small percentage could be takenfrom prize money from the major eventsand injected into the Futures circuit. Thetop players who make huge sums ofmoney, would not notice the difference.

About controversies and the ‘Greenwash’ALI AkBAR

The World This Week

The coming week has some scrumptioushumdingers in store for sports buffs in awide array of sports. england would look torecover from the mauling in the test series,to regain some self-esteem in the shorterformat against Pakistan, top faces fourth inLa Liga as Madrid vie to extend their leadat the top, the Champions League is backand there is a massive clash between thetop dogs in the east in the NBA.

out-Spinning englAnd AgAin

After the whitewash – green-wash,clean sweep or any other detergent re-lated pun that you care to sermon – of theenglish side, their maladroit approach tospin bowling was made pretty conspicu-ous. One feels that england never reallyrecovered from being out-spinned in thefirst session of the first test, and the meresight of one of our spinners sent a barrageof chills down the collective spine of theenglish batting. Hence, it seemed a no-brainer that Pakistan would once againbe counting on its spinning repertoire tooutdo england in the ODI series. CueShahid Khan Afridi.

While the ‘full sleeved’ demon SaeedAjmal would once again look to conjureup his haunting array of varieties to setthe stage for another Middle easternmassacre, it would be Shahid Afridi, whowould look to add to the english horror

tale, with his own bag of menace. Thenthere is Mohammed Hafeez and poten-tially Shoaib Malik as well with their offspin to add to the daunting duo. In fact,the way the english batsmen play spinbowling, we could even try out our legspinning duo of Imran Farhat andYounus Khan; and if the test series wasanything to go by, the english batsmenwould make them look like Shane Warneand Abdul Qadir respectively.

However, the fact that it’s a fresh se-ries and a new format, could give englandmuch needed confidence to start fromscratch and build up from there. The firstgame of any series is important, but thegame on Monday would be of paramountsignificance for england. A loss for Alas-tair Cook’s men would result in that re-pugnant sensation of déjà vu, and theymight find it hard to recover from that.The english selectors seem to havelearned a thing or two from the test seriescatastrophe and have looked to freshenup the squad with an influx of youth, forwhat they’d be hoping is a fresh start.Craig Kieswetter would join the skipperat the top of the order, with JonathanTrott, Kevin Pieterson and eoin Morganconstituting the core of their middleorder with Ravi Bopara at six and one ofJonathan Bairstow and Samit Patel bat-tling for the number seven slot. The bowl-ing lineup should be quiet similar fromthe english test squad, with Tim Bresnanlikely to join James Anderson, StuartBroad and Graeme Swann in the attack.

For Pakistan, the batting would againbe under the microscope, and the return ofAfridi, Umar Akmal and possibly ShoaibMalik would inject much needed aggres-sion in the middle order. Malik possiblyhas the most number of gears in our lineupand his inclusion in the middle order couldprovide the bridge between our anchorsand the lower order flamboyance, eventhough he is yet to trace any inkling of hisformer self ever since his return.

All in all, Pakistan look like thefavourites for the series, and if they winthe first ODI, the scoreline could be hum-

bling again for england.

reAl looK to eXtend leAd

even though Barcelona have a firmgrip over Real Madrid in terms of theirhead to head, it is the Madrid side whoseem to strengthening their control onthe La Liga trophy, especially after recentevents which has seen Jose Mourinho’sside extend their lead to seven points.With rumours of Jose Mourinho’s depar-ture from Madrid gaining momentum,Real would do well to focus on the chal-lenge at hand and ensure that they get thebetter of the only side barring Barcelonathat has beaten them this season.

Levante have had a stop start season,even though they find themselves in thetop four. Their current league position iscourtesy a breathtaking start to the season;but they are traversing a six game winlessrun, to vindicate the claim of them beingpatchy. Levante would be without JoseJavier Barkero and Juanlu Gomez todaywho are out injured and Xavi Torres is outas well; while Juanfran remains a doubt.The club from Valencia beat Real earlier onin the season, but pulling off a similar re-sult at the Santiago Bernabeu would benearly mission impossible, especially sincethey have had to bear an assortment of in-juries and exodus of key personnel eversince that momentous triumph and hencethe early season cohesion is long gone.

For Los Blancos Hamit Altintop couldbe out for a month, with Marcelo also re-maining on the sidelines. Nevertheless

Sami Khedira and Angel Di Maria couldreturn as Real Madrid continue their questof ending Barca’s hegemony over Spain.

MilAn fAceS tough tASK

The Champions League is back as thebusiness end of the tournament is underway.Four Round-of-16 clashes would be playedthis midweek and four the following week;and the pick of this week’s ties sees Arsenalvisit AC Milan for the first leg on Wednesday,with the other three matchups being Lyon vsAPOeL, Bayern Leverkusen vs Barcelonaand Zenit St Petersburg vs Benfica.

As far as AC Milan are concerned,they were on a purple patch prior to theDerby della Mandonnina, but theirwheels seem to have come off after that.Milan’s old guard is feeling the stress of astrenuous season already, and on currentform they would struggle against a youth-ful Arsenal team. even though Arsenal’sown mental fortitude has come underquestion many a time – something thatthey share with Milan as things stand –what is definitely not under question isthe permeation of exuberance within theArsenal ranks; and with the gaping dis-parity between the collective squad ages,Arsenal can run the Milan side absolutelyragged – both home and away.

With Antonia Cassano, AlbertoAquilani and Alexandre Pato all dealingwith a wide gamut of injuries, the attack-ing prowess has definitely been affected.Couple this with a shaky defence – whichonly has Thiago Silva as a genuinely

world beating presence, followingAlessandro Nesta’s injury enforced ab-sence – and things look bleak for theMilan giants ahead of Wednesday.

boSton chAllenge neXt for bullS

Much like the Milan-Arsenal matchup onWednesday, tonight’s Bulls-Celtics clash seesan age disparity between the sides; but onedoesn’t get the feeling that the ‘youngsters run-ning the oldies ragged’ façade comes into playin this one. Celtics are a very smart team, andwhen they realise that they can’t outpace ateam, they end up outthinking their opponentsmore often than not. Another thing Celticshave is that they peddle quintessential team-work and it’s never a one man show with them.And hence it comes as no massive surprisethat Boston are clicking as a unit this season.

Paul Pierce, easily one of the greatestsmall forwards of all time, looks healthy, RajonRondo is back from his injury layoff, KevinGarnett looks on song and then there is RayAllen who is having an extremely lucrativeyear. We’re talking about players who are inthe hall of fame and some of the greats overhere. And with so many really competent play-ers in the side, the opponents can’t go into thegame targeting a particular player to shutdown. The Bulls are in for a tough ride tonight.

Joakim Noah, Carlos Boozer, Derrickrose et all, know that they need to be at theirvery best in Boston tonight, if they reallywant to assert themselves as the top dogs inthe east, and throw out the gauntlet toMiami, and tell them that Chicago is vyingto go one better this year… at least.

Big games in store this weekg Pakistan take on england in ODIs, Real face Levante in La Liga, AC Milan host Arsenal and Bulls and Celtics lock horns in the NBA

kUNWAR khULDUNE ShAhID

ALL BASES COVERED

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Sports 21Sunday, 12 February, 2012

Ryan Giggs has signed a one-year contractextension, which would take the 38-year oldveteran into a 22nd year at Old Trafford, fol-lowing his debut in March 1991. When RyanGiggs signed his professional contract on29th November 1990, United’s goalkeepingprodigy David De Gea was merely 22 daysold; and it is these two players at the two ex-tremes of the age spectrum in the Unitedsquad who have been under the spotlight inrecent matches for a wide array of reasons.

We had run out of superlatives to de-scribe Giggs’ excellence and longevity a fewyears back, and now one can only sit backand applaud an absolutely unique footballerand realise that players of his kin and creedare becoming rarer as time moves on. In asense, the Welshman epitomises everything

that symbolises Man Utd’s trophy ladenyears, during which he has been an integralpart of the club’s setup. He has had theadaptability to change according to the fluc-tuating needs of his team and in synchronywith the evolving nature of the game. Thefact that he has retained his hunger and drivefor success after winning everything thatenglish football offers many a time, illus-trates the ethos of his club, and also demon-strated something that is criminally missingamongst the current seniors at Old Trafford.

38 years young, Ryan Giggs is quiteoften seen as the most creative spark forManchester United even in the present time;which shows his importance to the currentUnited side and the lack of similar ingenuityamongst his younger teammates. At an as-sist per 95 minutes in the BPL, Ryan Giggshas the best assist per minute ratio in theleague; hence, while the legs don’t allow therelentless marauding runs of a few years

back, the ball playing skills, passing, move-ment and crossing is second to none asUnited’s number 11 approaches the 40-yearold mark. Young players – and not only fromOld Trafford – can take a lesson or two incrossing from him; and a couple such poten-tial apprentices spring to mind, from the leftand right wing of Liverpool and Arsenal re-spectively. With United’s midfield marredwith injuries and incompetence, Giggs hasdone a marvelous job in the center of thepark to ensure that his side still finds the topof the league table well within their sights.

David De Gea was earmarked as edwinVan Der Saar’s successor, when more expe-rienced options were available in the mar-ket. A season of mixed performances hasmeant that the current goalkeeping scenariois reminiscent of the circus put on displayafter Peter Schmeichel retired in 1999. DeGea has failed to stamp himself as the num-ber 1 at Old Trafford, and after an abysmal

showing against Blackburn in late Decem-ber, it was Anders Lindegaard who sup-planted him as Fergie’s number 1. However,injuries to Lindegaard and Ben Amos havemeant that De Gea is once again in the spot-light, and his performance in the 3-3 drawagainst Chelsea summarised the Spaniard’sfirst year in the BPL – panic-stricken, withthe potential of being absolutely brilliant.

David De Gea’s decision making leavesa lot to be desired on many occasions, andwhen in the first ten minutes at Old Traffordhe chose to punch a ball, for which he couldhave run across to Cech’s goal and comeback to his own and still have enough timeto catch it, shows his lack of comfort in suchsituations. A lot of that is due to the fact thathe’s merely 21, which connotes that he stillhas to grow, both physically and mentally.21 is too young an age for goalkeepers toflaunt their best, and most of them don’treach their peak till the late 20s, when they

become mentally strong, and can cope withthe pressure of being in a position on thefootball pitch, where the smallest of mis-takes can cost their side the game.

Nevertheless, the Spaniard has fromtime to time also displayed why he is ratedso highly by pundits in Spanish football andby those at the managerial helm at Old Traf-ford. De Gea’s double save late on againstChelsea, from the Cahill shot and more as-toundingly that acrobatic effort from theMata free kick that looked bound for the topcorner for all money, shows the youngprodigy’s top drawer shot stopping skills.However, one needs a lot of mental fortitudeto be the goalkeeper at Old Trafford – as thelikes of Howard, Carrol, Bosnich, Taibi andBarthez found out – since there is so muchpressure resting on every game. De Geamight eventually become the complete pack-age and a world beating goal keeper, but he’sfar from being that at the moment.

LAhoREStAff report

After three keenly-contested and hardfought Tests, Pakistan and england shifttheir focus to the shorter version of the gamewhen they go head to head in the four-matchODI series with the incentive being a move-ment in the right direction on the RelianceICC ODI Championship table.

Fifth-ranked Pakistan is on 109 ratingspoints and leads sixth-ranked england byjust three ratings points.

If Pakistan sweeps the series, it will gainfour ratings points and will rise to 113 ratingspoints whereas england will slip to 101 rat-ings points by dropping five ratings points.However, if the series result is reversed, thenengland will rise to 111 ratings points whilePakistan will plunge to 104 ratings points.

While in case of a two-all draw, Pakistanwill drop one ratings points and england willretain its pre-series ratings, Pakistan willgain two ratings points and england will sur-render two ratings points if Misbah-ul-Haq’sside wins the series 3-1. In the scenario ofengland winning the series 3-1, AlastairCook’s men will gain three ratings pointswhile Pakistan will drop three ratings points.

With number-one side Australia, sec-ond-ranked India and fourth-ranked SriLanka currently involved in a three-nationseries in Australia, and seventh-ranked NewZealand set to host third-ranked SouthAfrica in the three-match ODI series from 25February-3 March, the overall rankings willonly be confirmed when the series in Aus-tralia concludes in the first week of March.

Meanwhile, in the Reliance ICC PlayerRankings, only Jonathan Trott of englandand Pakistan’s Umar Akmal figure inside thetop 20 of the Reliance ICC Player Rankingsfor ODI batsmen while five bowlers, includ-ing four spinners, from either side featureinside the top 20 of the Reliance ICC PlayerRankings for ODI bowlers.

Trott is sitting in fourth position with

India’s third-ranked Virat Kohli firmlywithin his sights while 10th-ranked Umar isin touching distance from Australia captainMichael Clarke who is in ninth spot. If Umarshows good form in the series, then he hasthe potential to break into the top five as hetrails an injured fifth-ranked Shane Watsonof Australia by 41 ratings points.

Batsmen sitting just outside the top 20include Misbah-ul-Haq (26th), eoin Mor-gan (28th), Alastair Cook (35th), YounusKhan (36th) and Shahid Afridi (37th) whilebatsmen hoping to improve their rankingsinclude Mohammad Hafeez (43rd) andKevin Pietersen (48th). The list is headedby South Africa’s Hashim Amla while hisODI captain AB de Villiers is 26 ratingspoints behind in second position. Spinnersdominate the bowlers with Saeed Ajmaland Mohammad Hafeez occupying the toptwo positions, england’s Graeme Swann infourth position, just 19 points behindHafeez, and Shahid Afridi is in 11th spot.The only fast bowler from either side insidethe top 20 is James Anderson in 16th posi-tion while sitting just outside the top 20 arePakistan’s Umar Gul (24th) and StuartBroad (29th).

In the Reliance ICC Player Rankings forODI all-rounders, Hafeez is occupying sec-ond spot while Shahid in in fourth position.england’s highest-ranked all-rounder is TimBresnan in 17th place. The player rankingswill be now updated on 22 February, a dayafter the fourth and last ODI between Pak-istan and england, and eighth match in thetriangular series in Australia between Indiaand Sri Lanka in Brisbane.Pakistan v england Series schedule:Feb 13: First ODI (d/n), Sheikh Zayed Sta-dium, Abu DhabiFeb 15: Second ODI (d/n), Sheikh ZayedStadium, Abu DhabiFeb 18: Third ODI (d/n), Dubai Interna-tional Cricket Stadium DubaiFeb 21: Fourth ODI (d/n), Dubai Interna-tional Cricket Stadium Dubai.

Pakistan nowaim to climb up the Odi ladder

g Ryan giggs has signed on for his 22nd year at Old Trafford, which is one year more than David De gea’s age

Scrutinising the age spectrum at Man United

J.k WALI

commenT

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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

22Sunday, 12 February, 2012

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