AslAm RAisAni’s inept gov’t sent pAcking, goveRnoR’s Rule imposed in BAlochistAn pm sAys goveRnoR mAgsi empoweRed to summon AssistAnce of Any lAw enfoRcement Agency, including ARmy

QUETTA/ISLAMABADAGENCIES/TAYYAB HUSSAIN

Prime minister raja PervezAshraf on Sunday nightdissolved the provincialgovernment of Nawab Aslamraisani and decided to

impose Governor’s rule in Balochistanfollowing strong protests by the

minority Shia community across thecountry, particularly in Quetta, where alarge number of Hazara Shias have beenprotesting since Friday along withbodies of 85 victims of the twinbombings that struck the provincialcapital’s Alamdar road. Per reports, the Governor’s rule has beenimposed under Article 234 according towhich the decision will remain in force

for two months, after which the federalgovernment will have to get it ratifiedfrom both Houses of parliament. Theannouncement to this effect was madeduring a late night visit by Prime ministerAshraf to the sit-in organised by theHazara Shias. According to reports, Chiefminister Aslam raisani and his entirecabinet were opposed to the idea ofimposition of Governor’s rule in the

province and had instead offered an in-house change. However, muttahidaQaumi movement chief Altaf Hussain,Awami National Party chief AsfandyarWali and Pakistan muslim League-Quaidleader Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain hadurged the prime minister to imposegovernor’s rule in Balochistan.Addressing the Hazara Shia leaders,Prime minister Ashraf said the

government was concerned about thesituation in Balochistan and was sorry forthe human losses suffered by the minoritycommunity. He said the entire provincialcabinet had been sacked with immediateeffect and Governor magsi had beendirected to ensure law and order in theprovince at all costs.

CoNtINuEd oN PAgE 04

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Jimmy Savile spent ‘every waking minute’ thinking about abusing boys and girls Aaron Swartz suicide: Reddit co-founder dead at 26

Magsi summons BAsession tomorrowQUETTA: Balochistan Governor Sardar ZulfiqarKhan magsi has summoned a meeting of theBalochistan Assembly tomorrow (Tuesday). Aspokesman for the Balochistan Assembly aid thesession of the House had been summoned on theadvise of Cm Nawab Aslam raisani to debate therecent carnage in Quetta that killed 116 Hazara Shias.The horrendous act had forced the victimised Hazaraclan to announce a three-day mourning and theprotesters have refused to bury the dead until theirdemands were met. The protesters demand animmediate dissolution of the provincial assembly andhanding over of the city to the army. ONlINE

Snowfall, rain disrupt roadlinks in northern areas MANSEHRA/SKARDU: Populations in upper partsof the country continue to suffer due to the intensecold weather and disruption of land andcommunication links caused by intermittent rainsand snowfall in mountainous regions. According todetails, upper parts of the country includingmalakand, malam Jabba, Kalam, Chitral, Skardu,Ghizer, Diamer and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK)received scattered rain and snowfall during the past24 hours. Thousands of people including students,tourists, patients and public servants remainedstranded as avalanches and mudslides disconnecteddifferent far flung areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa(KP), Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) and AJK besides creatingshortage of fuel, food items and medicines. Thestranded population was also facing problems inservice of various cellular companies. The profiteersand hoarders taking advantage of the situation,increased prices of LPG, firewood and foodcommodities, adding further to the hardships of thepeople. The stranded population demanded theconcerned authorities to clear the roads so that theycould travel to main towns to get edibles, fuel andmedicines. Tourists, students and public servantsstranded in various cut-off areas also appealed to thegovernment to help them leave for their respectivedestinations. meanwhile, Pakistan meteorologicalDepartment (PmD) has predicted cold and dryweather in most parts of the country during the nextfew days. However, cloudy weather in GB and AJKbesides light rain and snowfall in upper parts of thecountry would continue during the next 24 hours.During the past 24 hours, lowest temperature of -12°Cwas recorded in Skardu while minimum temperaturerecorded in Parachinar was -10°C, Astore, -8°C,Darosh, Quetta and Hunza -7°C, Qalat, Chitral, -6°C,Dalbandin, Dir and malam Jabba -5°C. INP

Quetta IED blast kills childQUETTA: A blast killed a child and injured anotherperson on Brewery road on Saturday night, police said.Police Deputy inspector General (DiG) Wazir KhanNasar said unknown persons planted an improvisedexplosive device (ieD) near an internet cafe on Breweryroad. “The blast killed a pedestrian child and injuredanother person,” he said. Nasar said the blast causeddamage to the internet cafe and other nearby shops.Brewery road is almost five km to the west of Alamdarroad, where thousands of Shia Hazaras are currentlystaging a sit-in to protest deaths of their communitymembers. This incident happened two days after a seriesof blasts that killed around 116 people in Quetta. INP

NEW DELHI AGENCIES

Flag meeting between commanders of Pakistan Army andindia forces in Poonch at 1pm today (monday) as tensionprevailed between the two countries after violation ofceasefire on LoC by the indian Army.

Pakistan will reportedly strongly protest againstkilling of its two soldiers by indian Army at flag meeting,according to reports. According to indian media reports,Pakistan has agreed to hold the flag meeting only after re-peated requests from india and its army to de-escalatetension along the Line of Control (LoC). On Saturdaynight, indian and Pakistani troops traded heavy gunfirealong the LoC in Poonch sector after the movement of agroup of suspected infiltrators was detected, in fresh es-calation of tension. earlier on Saturday, the indian gov-ernment said it would not buckle to “wild calls for revengeand reaction” over the alleged killing and beheading oftwo indian soldiers by Pakistani troops. Border tensionsbetween india and Pakistan have risen sharply since the

January 6 death of a Pakistani soldier in firing by indianforces along the LoC. Two days later, Pakistani soldiersallegedly killed and beheaded two indian soldiers in themendhar sector in Poonch district. in Poonch district ofJammu and Kashmir, the civil society appealed to thegovernments of india and Pakistan to restore peace andrespect the 2003 ceasefire agreement.

Imran Khanjoins Hazara sit-in, demands governor’s rule

QUETTASTAFF REPORT

Pakistan Tehreek-e-insaf (PTi) Chairman imran Khan on Sundaysaid the government had failed to provide protection to its peopleand demanded governor rule in the troubled province ofBalochistan. Khan who arrived in Quetta on Sunday morning,expressed solidarity with the Hazara Community, protesting atAlamdar road along with the dead bodies of their loved ones killedin Thursday’s devastating blasts. Khan met the victims at Alamdarroad soon after arriving in the provincial capital and expressed his

grief and sorrow over the deaths of dozens of people ofthe Shia community. While talking to the grieving

families, Khan said the whole country was with themand demanded removal of Balochistan governmentand imposition of governor rule in the province.Khan said the government of Aslam raisani hadfailed to protect life and property of its citizens andshould give up its right to rule. Later taking tomedia, the PTi chairman demanded governor rulein the province saying the government had failed toprovide security to the people of the province. Hesaid the PTi was with the oppressed people, addingthat justice should be provided to victims. “The

murderers do not deserve to be calledmuslims,” he said. Khan said the rulers

were busy in minting moneyand had no concern withthe country’s situation.Khan wasaccompanied byJaved Hashimi,

Jahangir Tareen,Fauzia Kasuriand other PTileaders in hisvisit to Quetta.

SHO, militantkilled in fireexchange

SWABIINP

Two persons including amilitant and a Station HousingOfficer (SHO) were killed in anexchange of fire whenunknown gunmen attacked apolice van late Saturday night.According to details, unknownarmed men sprayed bullets ata mobile van of Chotta Lahorepolice station while it was on aroutine patrol in itsjurisdiction.As a result of the attack, theSHO was injured while anattacker was killed in police’sretaliatory fire. Otheraccomplices of the deceasedattacker managed to flee.The injured police official wasshifted to a hospital where hesuccumbed to his wounds.

Pakistan agrees to holdflag meeting with Indiag Pakistan to strongly protest against killing of two soldiers by Indian Army

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eDItorIAlStooping to new lows:

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Apathy and indifference among us.

Kamran Rehmat says;Howzat?: Apparently, the romance is on the rocks again.

Mariam Shafqat Goraya says;

Of genuine change and fake noise: Our fault tolerance confounds me.

Arif Ansar says;Threat within and without: Why is Pakistan igniting now?

ArtS & entertAInment

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ISlAmAbAD

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Kylie quits singing to concentrate on acting long march, change of govt will not promise revival Thirimanne guides Sri lanka to resounding win

ISLAMABADANwER ABBAS

THe federal governmenthas turned islamabadinto a fortress asTehreek-e-minhajulQuran leader Dr

Tahirul Qadri has started his longmarch from Lahore on Sunday.

interior minister rehmanmalik visited Blue Area and moni-tored security arrangements andcontainers installed on roads toblock the marchers from reachingred Zone.

Talking to reporters, maliksaid Dr Qadri was trying to delaythe upcoming polls, adding thatthe long march was an effort to de-rail democratic system.

Warning Qadri not to breachlaw, he said that rule of law wouldbe maintained and no violatorswould be tolerated, adding that itwas the government’s prime re-sponsibility to protect the lives andproperty of the people in islam-abad.

referring to Dr Qadri’s charterof demand, malik said that the dis-solution of election Commission ofPakistan means a delay of anothersix months in the general elec-tions.

“i request Qadri not to test thepatience of the government as wellas the nation,” malik said.

The minister maintained thatthe democratic system would pre-vail in the country and Dr Qadri’sagenda for derailing the systemwould not be successful.

“if Qadri was conversant withthe constitution spirit, he shouldnot have talked in such a mannerwhich is extra-constitutional.Qadri should not mislead the na-tion,” mailk added.

He said that the long marchparticipants would be asked tostage a sit-in at Faisal Avenue –between the Stock exchange andSaudi Pak towers – whereas theycould park their cars in F-9 Park.

“However they will not be per-mitted to cross the Saudi-Paktower,” he said.

To a question, he said that fiveterrorists have been arrested fromKarachi who were planning to at-tack the marchers.

The federal government hascalled in 10,000 security person-nel from Punjab, KhyberPakhtunkhwa and Azad Jammuand Kashmir. As many as 5,000rangers and army officials are onhigh alert. Stay and dine arrange-ments have made for the troops inthe Sports Complex.

CCTV cameras have been in-stalled from Faizabad to red Zone.

Sources told Pakistan Todaythat the government had directedthe Pakistan Telecom Authority tosuspend mobile services in thetwin cities from monday (today) toprevent any untoward incident.

Police and other law enforcershave sealed the red Zone by plac-ing containers, cement blocks andbarbed wire closing every road andstreet leading to the zone Presi-dency, the Prime minister’s Secre-tariat, the Supreme Court and theDiplomatic enclave.

Sources said that law enforcershave been provided with ammuni-tion, rubber bullets and tear-gasshells.

A source in the Finance min-istry said the interior ministry hadrequested to provide rs 250 mil-lion to the islamabad chief com-missioner, adding that rs 50million worth ammunition hasbeen provided to the law en-forcers.

roads adjacent to the Quaid-e-Azam University have been closed.The Federal Directorate of educa-tion and private schools associa-tions have issued directions tokeep all educational institutions,colleges and universities closed onmonday (today).

The Quaid-e-Azam Universitywill stay closed today (monday)where as international islamicUniversity (iiU) has issued a noti-fication cancelling all examina-tions scheduled to be held betweenJanuray13 and January 15.

On the other hand, hundredsof Tehreek minhajul Quran work-ers have already reached the twincities.

The federal government is alsoworried about Shia protest campsin rawalpindi and islamabad, asthousands of mourners took tostreets to protest against Quettakillings.

Around 4,000 protesters arepresent at Faizabad camp. A ma-jority of them are workers of themajlis Wahdatul muslimeen – aShia party which has already an-nounced to support Dr Qadri’slong march.

islAmABAd tuRnedinto foRtRess Aslong mARch stARts

NEW DELHI INP

indian Air Force Chief NAK Browne’s assertionthat india has a few strings in its bow couldstem from confidence in tactics the air force de-veloped in operations along the Line of Control(LoC) during the 1999 Kargil war.

Use of air power had never before been at-tempted at heights of 14,000 to 18,000 feet andiAF’s attacks by destroying supply lines anddumps gave it a lot of encouragement.

According to indian media reports, iAF’srapid innovation after initial setbacks to refittop-end fighters with laser-guided bombs andevolve tactics to evade deadly shoulder firedsurface-to-air missiles during the two-monthwar waged between late may and July 1999 isnow a fully fleshed doctrine.

Forced to deal with small targets, includingdugout clusters barely visible against an icyblack and white background, due to strict in-structions not to cross the LoC resulted in iAFworking out strategies without the option oftargeting bases in Azad Kashmir. iAF gotaround tough odds by placing GPS devices incockpits, fitting mirage 2000 fighters with laserweapons, upgrading guidance systems bombsand taking recourse to steeper dives that testedthe skills of pilots in mig 21, 23 and 27 aircraft.

A voluminous Carnegie endowment paperpublished in September 2012 offers what seemlike prophetic insights in the context of today’sthreats and Browne’s robust response may in-dicate that the iAF has learnt its Kargil lessonswell.

After the Kargil war, indian experts at eliteinstitutions like the Tactics and Air Combat De-

velopment establishment at Jamnagarplanned for scenarios dealing with limited en-gagements requiring a rapid and inventive re-sponse to violations along the LoC. The reportssaid iAF is now prepared for a “high intensity,high stakes” conflict that can run on formonths, the Carnegie paper suggests, addingthat india’s overwhelming conventional forcepreponderance is a factor that Pakistan and itsbacker China need to keep in mind.

The Kargil war saw india reassess implica-tions of the nuclear deterrent possessed by bothnations that did not - and may not in the futureas well - make conventional war obsolete. Thismeans proxy war is not the only scenario shortof war. The reports revealed that use of airpower to hit terror camps was discussed by thecabinet committee on security after the 26/11strikes with then iAF chief Fali Homi major

favouring the option which, however, did notfind favour with the political leadership.

During the Kargil war, Pak Air Force fight-ers did not attempt to cross the LoC to the aidof troops under iAF attacks. Although some in-stances of aggressive manoeuvres, even “lock-ons”, were reported, no clash that could haveexpanded the war’s scope happened. The pos-sibility of Pakistan adopting a higher risk cal-culus or a misjudgment of the other’s thresholdcan lead to a wider conflict and indian plannershave kept in mind a scenario where iAF willhave to battle for air dominance with its Pak-istani counterpart. Not breaching the LoC in1999 paid rich dividends but the iAF and armyhave both realised the need for closer meshingof tactics and strategy as they plan for conven-tional wars along the northern borders withPakistan and China, the reports concluded.

MAIDAN SHAR/KABULAGENCIES

At least eight civilians were killed in a blast followingan operation carried out by Afghan forces and theNATO-led coalition troops in eastern Afghanprovince of Wardak overnight, said a provincial gov-ernment spokesman on Sunday.

“initial reports said eight civilians were killedin the blast inside a mosque in Hassankhael area ofSyedabad district in the early hours of Sunday,”spokesman Shahidullah Shahid said, adding “Thevictims were recovering bodies of militants num-bered three to four, who took shelter in the mosqueand were killed by joint forces in an operation hoursearlier”. He said the blast might have been causedby explosive materials attached to a suicide vest

used by the militants.“more details will be released to the media as ap-

propriate,” he said. meanwhile, a police official whodeclined to be named said more than 13 civilians hadbeen killed in the incident in the province, located 35km to the west of Kabul.

However, resident Abdul Ghaffar said the coali-tion troops conducted a raid on a mosque where wor-shippers were offering morning prayers.

The foreign forces also fired at rescue workerswho were retrieving dead bodies and injured per-sons from the debris, he said, claiming 15 civilianswere killed.

But the international Security Assistance Force(iSAF) insisted several armed insurgents werekilled “after” they attacked Afghan and coalition se-curity force in Syedabad.

g malik says Dr Qadri trying to derail democratic systemg warns Qadri not to test patience of government and nationg Security officials seal red Zone by placing containers, cement blocks g federal govt also worried about Shia protest camps in twin cities

Kargil strategy behind IAF chief’s tough talk: Indian media

At least 8 civilians killed in NATO-led

operation in eastern Afghanistan

QUETTA: The sit-in demonstration

of Hazara Shias continued at

Alamdar Road on Sunday, three

days after twin bombings killed at

least 116 Shias. ONLINE

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NEW DELHIONlINE

iN a case similar tothe gang-rape of amedical student inNew Delhi, a 29-year-old woman

was allegedly gang-raped byseven persons inGurdaspur, Punjab.The victim was on her wayto her village in Ghukla-which falls underKahnuwan police station-ina bus when the driver andconductor kidnapped herand took her to anundisclosed location wherethey, along with fiveaccomplices, gang-rapedher on Saturday night,Gurdaspur SeniorSuperintendent of Police(SSP) raj Jeet Singh toldreporters.He said five of the seven

accused had been arrestedwhile two others, who areyet to be identified, werestill absconding. Based onthe interrogation of the fiveaccused, efforts wereunderway to arrest theremaining persons, headded.The victim, in hercomplaint, said she wascoming back from herparent’s village in Jagatpurin a bus when the driver,Daler Singh, did not stopthe vehicle at the bus standin Ghukla.Her request to theconductor, ravi, to ask thedriver to stop the bus wentunnoticed, she said.They took her to a placenear Gurdaspur, where fiveof the duo’s friends joinedthem and gang-raped thewoman in a house, thepolice official said.

The driver dumped thevictim at a place near hervillage in the morning, hesaid. The woman first wentto her house and then cameto the police station to fileher complaint, he added.A case of rape under section376 of the indian PenalCode was registered againstthe seven accused, Singhsaid.The five arrested have beenidentified as Daler Singh,ravi, Jaswinder Singh,Jagpreet Singh and SatwantSingh, he said.Teams have been have beenformed to nab theabsconding men, the SSPsaid.The woman would be sentfor medical examination,the police said, adding theaccused had confessed totheir crime duringpreliminary interrogation.

coLoMBoINP

Sri Lankan Presidentmahinda rajapaksa onSunday sacked the country’sfirst female Chief JusticeShirani Bandarnayake afterratifying her impeachmentby parliament, which heldher guilty of corruption,notwithstanding widespreadprotests by lawyers andothers. Bandaranayake, 54,was served a notice orderingher to quit her post, two daysafter the parliamentoverwhelmingly voted toimpeach her, deepening astandoff between thejudiciary and the

government. The notice wasserved on the chief justice“informing her of theremoval from the post”,officials were quoted assaying by local media. Theimpeachment of

Bandaranayake had earlierbeen ruled asunconstitutional by courtsand a finding by theparliamentary committeethat found her “guilty” hadbeen quashed. Theimpeachment of the chiefjustice went ahead despitecalls by rights groups,citizens, clergy and lawyerswho asked the governmentnot to do so. Theparliamentary committee onDecember 8, 2012, had ruledthat Bandaranayake wasguilty of three of the 14charges in the impeachmentproceedings against hermoved by the ruling UPFAcoalition legislators. The

three charges were offinancial impropriety basedon non-declaration of assetsand conflict of interest in acase involving a failedinvestment company.Bandaranayake denied allthe charges against her. OnDecember 6, she stormedout of the impeachmenthearing in parliament,saying she would not begiven a fair trial. She alsoclaimed verbal abuse by thegovernment members of theparliamentary committee.On Friday, the parliamentvoted 155 to 49 to dismissBandaranayake, whoserecent rulings had goneagainst the government.

Tahirul Qadri’s

Strict security measures have beenadopted in Punjab. All the roads tothe capital have been blocked andcontainers are placed. earlier,preparations continued through thenight as TmQ activists placedbanners and loudspeakers on trucks,buses and other vehicles. PunjabPolice had made strict securityarrangements for the participantsacross the province. Over 10,000police officials have been deployedalong the route of the long march.Senior police officers were presentwhen the march left for islamabad.The departure, which was scheduledat 9am was delayed until Zohrprayers. Qadri blamed localauthorities for the delay and said hehad to make other arrangementsafter the vehicles were impoundedby the Punjab government. A largenumber of people gatheredoutside minhajul Quraninternational central office toparticipate in the long march.

He said the Frontier Corps had beenempowered to carry out operationsagainst terrorists and the federalgovernment would not allow furtherbloodletting in the violence strickenprovince. Ashraf also promisedmonetary compensation to theaffected Hazara families beforeJanuary 31 and employment to thefamily members of those killed inviolent incidents. The Hazara leaderspresent during the meeting repeatedtheir demand of army deployment inQuetta, to which the prime ministersaid Governor magsi was nowempowered to summon assistancefrom any agency he deemedappropriate. Chief of the Hazaratribe, Sardar Saadat Ali Hazara

expressed confidence in the primeminister’s announcement regardingGovernor’s rule, but said theprotesting Hazaras would bury theirdead when the government notifiesGovernor magsi’s appointment aschief executive of the province in themorning. earlier in the day, havingexplored all available options, the topleadership of the country mulledvarious options including an in-house change in BalochistanAssembly because the politicaldispensation did not want to imposeGovernor’s rule in Balochistan dueto crucial legal implications thatcould delay elections in the provinceby six months, while the militaryleadership was also unwilling todeploy forces in the terrorism-hit cityof Quetta, Pakistan Today learnt

through reliable sources. Aninformed source in the rulingPakistan People’s Party (PPP) toldPakistan Today that the law experts ofthe government had warned againstthe legal implications of imposition ofGovernor’s rule in Balochistan whichmight cause an imminent delay inholding of elections in the province forat least six months. The source addedthat the army leadership had alsoexpressed its reluctance to deploytroops in Quetta, as this move mayhave negative implications for thearmy leadership. “The armydeployment would provide the Balochnationalists and separatist groups anopportunity to propagate against thearmy. if attacked by the terrorists, thearmy would call in air cover to takeaction against the militants. Anysupport from Pakistan Air Force(PAF) may lead to media criticismagainst army and the hawkish mediaand Baloch nationalists would be ableto draw a false picture that an army

action was being conducted in theprovince,” said the source.PPP, PML-Q LAwMAKERSfoR iN-HoUSE cHANgE:Some of the vocal lawmakers of thePPP and PmL-Q had also urgedPresident Asif Zardari to sendraisani, the Balochistan Policeinspector-general (iG) and theFrontier Constabulary BalochistaniG packing, a source in the PPP said.“in a joint letter addressed toPresident Asif Ali Zardari, PublicAccounts Committee ChairmanNadeem Afzal Gondal, Adviser toPrime minister mustafa NawazKhokhar, Adviser to Prime ministerFawwad Chaudhry, Special Assistantto Prime minister Ahmed Yar Herajand minister for Professional andTechnical Training Shaikh WaqasAkram expressed grave concern overthe situation in Balochistan with aparticular focus on Quetta and calledfor adopting a democratic solution tothe problem”.

blasts kill two; injure

several in Kurram,

Khyber agencies

KURRAM AGENcY/pARAcHINARAGENCIES

A tribesman, Ali Nabbi,was killed and eightothers injured in a bombblast targeting apassenger vehicle inLower Kurram Agency onSunday. According topolitical administration,the miscreants detonatedthe bomb with the help ofremote controlled device,targeting a bus when itreached Khuwarkille. Theinjured were rushed to thehospital. The coach wasen route to Peshawr fromParachinar. The KhasadarForce rushed to the spotand cordoned off the area.meanwhile in anotherterror activity, a man waskilled and several otherswounded in a blast atBazar Zakah Khel ofKhyber Agency. Officialssaid the bomb wasplanted at a roadside;however the target of theblast was unknown.

WASHINGToN NNI

With the war inAfghanistan winding downafter 11 years, US PresidentBarack Obama has said thatthe time is right for US forcesto let Afghans maintain secu-rity in the country.

in a radio and internetaddress, Obama said hewould announce the nextphase of drawdown in thecoming months. Afghan pres-ident Hamid Karzai was inWashington the past fourdays for extensive discussionswith top American officials.Their talks, which focused ona transition in security andeconomy, presidential elec-tions in Afghanistan and rec-onciliation with the Taliban,appeared to have narroweddifferences between the twocountries.

Obama announced “asupport role” for Americanand NATO forces inAfghanistan starting this

spring instead of this sum-mer, setting himself on trackto wind down faster a costlyand unpopular war. He alsowon a pledge of help from hisAfghan counterpart HamidKarzai in pushing for legalimmunity for expected Amer-ican residual forces inAfghanistan after 2014 whenmost coalition troops exit.

Second largest muslim congregationends in bangladesh

DHAKANNI

The first phase of the secondlargest annual muslimcongregation, after Haj,ended in Bangladesh onSunday afternoon withmillions of devotees fromhome and abroad praying toAllah for global peace,prosperity and fraternalharmony in the ‘Akherimunajat’ or concludingprayer. The congregationvenue and its adjoiningareas reverberated with theword ‘’Amin” repeatedlyuttered by devotees raisingtheir hands together in theprayer. The grand prayer,led by renowned islamicscholar Zobayerul Hasanfrom india, at thecongregation known asBiswa ijtema on the bank ofthe Turag river at Tongi,some 25 km north of Dhaka,also sought divine blessingsand welfare of all mankind.The first phase of Bishwaijtema began on Friday aftermorning prayers withreligious sermons for thedevotees, seeking worldpeace for the muslimummah. A large number ofpilgrims from over 100countries includingAustralia, Belgium, Brazil,Canada, China, France, Fiji,Finland, Germany, india,indonesia, Japan, Kuwait,Kenya, the maldives,malaysia, russia, Singapore,Saudi Arabia, Sudan, SriLanka, USA, UK and Yemenattended the first phase ofthe congregation.

Another womangang-raped byseven men in India

‘high time afghanstake over security’

Sri lanka’s first female chief justice sacked

KARACHI: People block Malir Railway crossing on Sunday as they protest the killing of Shias in Quetta on Thursday. PPI

CoNtINuEd fRoM PAgE 24

CoNtINuEd fRoM PAgE 01

SpEcIAL coRRESpoNDENTwASHINGTON

Washington’s future policytowards Pakistan should takeinto account factors thatmotivate islamabad’s securityconsiderations and actionsand a stable Afghanistan isimportant to Pakistan’s ownstability, said formercommander of the US andNATO forces in AfghanistanGeneral Stanley mcChrystal,on Sunday. Appearing on anAmerican TV talk show,mcChrystal, who led coalitionforces in Afghanistan until2010, also said the US policytowards the region shouldfocus on long-term stability of

the region. Specifically askedabout the US policy towardsPakistan, mcChrystal said, “ithink that it is our long termstrategy that we have to betalking about, what makesPakistan act the way they do,their relationship with india,the issue over places likeKashmir, what motivates theirthinking, what is the directionof Pakistani actions. Part ofthat is impacted by what we doin the future in Afghanistan. ibelieve a stable Afghanistan isimportant to Pakistan and ithink it is important to theregion.” He stressed thatcrafting a policy towardsAfghanistan essentially is aquestion of regional stability.

delIveranCe

Future US policy on Pakistanshould look at its security considerations: Gen mcChrystal

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ISlAMABAD: Activists of Civil Society and Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party stage a protest against killing of Shia Muslims in Quetta twin blast, at Super Market on Sunday. ONLINE

cnG stationsreopen

RAWALpINDIINP

Citizens of the twin cities breathed a sigh ofrelief as around 100 CNG stations reopenedon Sunday after being closed for more than19 consecutive days. A large number of public and private vehi-cles rushed to get fuel, and long queues wereseen outside CNG stations. Citizens have expressed relief over the re-opening of gas filling stations and said theyhad been restricted to their homes due tothe high price and non-availability of petrol.They urged the government and authoritiesto ensure a smooth supply of CNG.The decision to reopen CNG stations inrawalpindi was announced by the All Pak-istan CNG Association (APCNGA) chairmanafter the filling stations’ owners received astay order from the court against the stop-page of their business.

IHc cJ constitutes fourbenches for next week

ISLAMABADAPP

islamabad High Court (iHC) Chief Justiceiqbal Hameed-ur-rehman has constituted adivision and three single Benches to hearover 200 cases during the next week, start-ing from monday (January 14). The single Benches will comprise the chiefjustice, Justice riaz Ahmad Khan and Jus-tice muhammad Anwar Khan Kasi. The divi-sion bench will comprise the chief justiceand Justice muhammad Anwar Khan Kasi.

Pbc to observemourning day today

ISLAMABADONlINE

The Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) on Sundayappealed to members of the legal fraternityand bar associations all over the country toobserve a ‘mourning Day’ for the Quetta car-nage on monday (today).The council severely criticised the govern-ment functionaries for failure to address thegrievances and demands of families affectedin the Quetta blasts.The body urged members of the legal frater-nity not to appear in courts, and express sol-idarity with the bereaved families.They also requested the federal governmentto dismiss the government of Balochistanand bring the culprits to justice.

emergencyimposedin hospitals

ISLAMABADINP

An emergency situation has been declaredin all major state-run health facilities in-cluding the Pakistan institute of medicalSciences (PimS) and Polyclinic Hospital, inthe wake of the long march. Under the emergency plan, holidays for doc-tors and paramedics have been cancelled tillJanuary 18. Hospital administrations havemade dining and lodging arrangements fordoctors and other staff members in the hos-pital for 48 hours. The number of beds in emergency depart-ments and other wards has been increasedin order to deal with any untoward situationduring the march

rescue 1122 to provideemergency cover tolong marchers

RAWALpINDIAPP

The Punjab emergency Service, rescue1122, will provide emergency cover to thelong march on January 14, with 8 fullyequipped ambulances, 12 fire trucks, threerescue and recovery vehicles and two waterbowsers. Holidays for these rescue teams have beencancelled, and special emergency dutieshave been assigned to them. Key points atGujjar Khan, Koral Chowk and Faizabadhave been established to provide swift coverto people in case of an emergency.rescue District emergency Officer Dr Abdurrahman said the rescuers will be on duty toprovide swift response, but citizens are re-quested to dial 1122 for timely responsefrom the emergency service and give way toemergency vehicles, so they can provide ef-fective emergency medical cover in case ofan untoward incident.

ISlAMABAD: A crane is being used to place containers to seal the Red Zone as security has been tightened due to long march of Tehreek-e-Minhajul Quran. ONLINE

ISLAMABADSTAFF REPORT

STriNGeNT securitymeasures have beentaken to avoid any unto-ward incidents on the oc-

casion of the long march today(monday). The red Zone has beencompletely sealed by placing con-tainers and barbed wire, and dig-ging trenches at various entrypoints and other spots in the fed-eral capital. The situation in thetwin cities will also be monitoredvia aerial surveillance.

Around 22,500 law enforce-ment personnel have been de-ployed in the two cities. Theislamabad Police, rangers and FCwill be positioned in key areas. Ad-ditional forces from KP and Azad

Kashmir also reached islamabadon Sunday. These forces will guardvarious entry and exit points Kash-mir Highway and red Zone. TheArmy has also sealed certain areasof the red Zone.

CCTV cameras have been in-stalled along Faizabad and redZone to assist law enforcementagencies in nabbing criminal ele-ments. The police and paramilitaryforces have been provided withteargas shells, rubber bullets andarms worth rs 50 million to stopprotestors from charging towardsthe capital.

Security personnel have placedcontainers and dug trenches allaround the red Zone to preventprotestors from entering the highsecurity area. The police said theyhad dug trenches because protes-

tors normally drove their vehicleson green belts and medians if theysaw containers blocking the mainroads.

An official said the security ofthe diplomatic community was toppriority and around 3,000 securitypersonnel had been deployedaround the Diplomatic enclave.

minhaj ul Quran Chief Tahir ulQadri’s ‘million-man long march’to the capital has spread a wave offear and apprehension in the capi-tal city. Law enforcement agenciesin the country have taken strictmeasures to ensure the protestorswill not enter the capital city, andrescue teams have been deployedto take charge in the case of anemergency. meanwhile, residentshave cleared off streets that nowlook deserted.

sealed!

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monday, 14 Janurary, 2013

06 Islamabad

RAWALpINDIAPP

THe illegal practice ofdecanting Liquefied Pe-troleum Gas (LPG) hasbeen rampant in the city

due to a shortage of gas and CNG. Due to the unavailability of

gas and low gas pressure, LPGcylinders are in high demand, do-mestically and commercially. Thishas caused illegal LPG refillingshops to mushroom in every nookand corner of the city.

illegal outlets have been oper-ating unchecked in Tench Bhatta,People’s Colony, Dhoke Syedian,raja Bazaar, Committee Chowk,Bunni, rehmandabad, Sadiqabad,Dhoke Hussu, Chungi No-22,Dhari, Lalkurti and many otherareas. Decanting, that is transfer-

ring LPG from one cylinder to an-other, has been declared illegalbecause the fuel has potential toignite at the slightest spark andcause an explosion, said a citizen.

This risk has not deterred ille-gal commercial distributors, whohave set up outlets in residentialareas and put lives at risk.

many rickshaws, taxis and vanowners have converted to LPG be-cause it is more efficient and eco-nomical. Citizens also use thesecylinders without knowledge ofthe fact that a faulty cylindercould explode at any time.

Selling gas without a licence isstrictly prohibited and only autore-fuelling stations are allowed tosell LPG to automotives. LPG out-lets also have to follow varioussafety procedures but these rulesare openly being violated.

Illegal LPGrefilling goesunchecked

RAwAlPINDI: Activists of Majlis-e-wahdat-e-Muslimeen and Shia community stage a protest against Quetta twin blasts which targeted Shias, near Faizabad flyover. ONLINE

ISLAMABADAPP

A new study has revealed that exces-sive use of sugary beverages can in-crease the risk of high bloodpressure.

A report by the American HeartAssociation stated that peopleshould not drink more than three355ml cans of soda a week. ProfessorPaul elliott, a senior author of thestudy, said, "everyone knows thatconsuming too much salt can lead tohigh blood pressure, but this studyhas revealed that excessive sugar in-take can lead to high blood pressureproblems as well.”

High blood pressure is a majorcause of cardiovascular disease. Aperson with a blood pressure level of135mmHg over 85mmHg is twice aslikely to have a heart attack orstroke, compared to someone whoseblood pressure is around 115mmHgover 75mmHg. The study revealed

that people who consumed excessivesalt as well as sugar had the highestchances of developing high bloodpressure.

The British Heart Foundation(BHF) said that more research wasneeded to understand the relation-ship between sugar and blood pres-sure.

BHF Senior Dietician VictoriaTaylor said it was best to avoid sug-ary drinks because they added extracalories that could lead to obesity, amajor risk factor for heart disease.

Blood Pressure AssociationChairman Professor Graham mac-Gregor said, "This is another nail inthe coffin for soft drinks. Not only dothey make you obese, but they couldalso raise blood pressure."

A spokesman for the British SoftDrinks Association said, "Soft drinksare safe to drink, but like all foodand drink, should be consumed inmoderation as part of a balanceddiet."

conducive environmentmust to fosterculture of innovations,says DIce chairman

ISLAMABADAPP

There is a need to ensure a conducive environ-ment and cooperation by the industry, academiaand the government to foster a culture of innova-tion in Pakistan. These views were expressed byDistinguished innovations, Collaboration andentrepreneurship (DiCe) Foundation ChairmanDr Khursheed Qureshi while talking to PTV. Hesaid that he had remained associated with DiCein the US so he could make free software brandsavailable for third world countries. He said hehad considered this opportunity best for thecountry, and he had brought this technologyhome to Pakistan. “i began DiCe, which is abranding foundation and a non-profit platformto foster the culture of innovation", he said. Hesaid a $11 million grant had been utilised for theprogramme with the active cooperation of thePakistan Higher education Commission (HeC),and they had channelized and disseminated soft-ware in 5 universities so far. He said these in-novations would bring about a revolution thatshould be part of all educational institutes, astheir response is quite positive. He hoped forlong term positive results and suggested theseuniversities to hold exhibitions and workshops atthe end of every month. He said he had been as-sociated with 23 universities where he foundhighly competitive students. "Students can bringabout a revolution of innovation based on imagi-nation" he said. He appreciated the hard effortsof students, who he said, had full potential for in-novation. He said the HeC had developed asearch oriented environment in academia thatwas playing a significant role in the field of inno-vation", he added. He said DiCe would be opento all educational disciplines including health,engineering, physical science, arts and humani-ties. He said they had invited wide participationand their innovations were very attractive.

Pedestrian bridge overZPI opened for public

ISLAMABADAPP

The Capital Development Authority (CDA) hasconstructed a much-needed pedestrian bridge atthe Zero Point on Faisal Avenue, but users havebeen reluctant to use the facility. roofed by a redcanopy, the bridge has stairs and an almost com-plete ramp to facilitate bikers. The CDA hadawarded the contract of the bridge's installationto the Heavy mechanical Complex for rs 18 mil-lion. The bridge lies between two residential sec-tors, G-7 and G-8, and several government andprivate offices. it also has massive pedestrianmovement that crosses the 10th lane Avenue.Several hit-and-run accidents in the past haveclaimed lives on this road. However, despite thenew facility of an overhead bridge, pedestrianscould be seen snaking through busy traffic in-stead of taking the safer route. Bikers could alsobe seen taking U-turns from broken medians onthe road, instead of using the specified U-turn afew feet away. "motorcyclists suddenly appearon the road from the median or walkways and wehave to immediately swerve our vehicles to avoidhitting them,” said a motorist.

mAb Programmerevived in Pakistan

ISLAMABADAPP

UNeSCO's man and Biosphere (mAB) programmehas been revived in Pakistan due to the joint effortsof the Pakistan Science Foundation (PSF), min-istry of Science and Technology (moST) and UN-eSCO. The mAB is an intergovernmentalprogramme aimed to set a scientific base for theimprovement of the relationship between peopleand their environment. mAB’s first meeting washeld at moST and was chaired by mAB NationalChairman Akhlaq Ahmed Tarar. The meeting wasattended by 23 members from provincial forestand wildlife departments, the ministry of ClimateChange, moST, UNeSCO, PSF, Pakistan museumof Natural History (PmNH), international Unionfor Conservation of Nature (iUCN) and WorldWildlife Fund (WWF). The federal secretary ap-preciated PSF Chairman Dr manzoor Soomro’s ef-forts for reviving the mAB programme andenabling the National mAB Committee to functionafter a long period of dormancy.

RAWALpINDIAPP

Potohar town has been beset withencroachments, as shopkeepers andvendors have occupied most foot-paths and open spaces in the area,causing traffic stoppages and prob-lems for pedestrians.

encroachers have set up stallsall over Potohar Town, includingAdiala road, Dhamial road, Chakriroad, morgah, misrial road, KotahKalan, Dhama more and severalother areas.

Handcart bazaars have been es-tablished in several areas. These en-croachers have slowly been edgingtowards the centre of the road,causing traffic jams and general

congestion.Chakri road, which is nearly

120 feet wide, has been shrinking inbreadth due to these encroach-ments. Adiala road, Dhamial road,morgah and Kota Kalan have alsobecome congested. These localitiesare administered by the PotoharTown TmA. The authorities havepreviously carried out anti-en-croachment drives in the past, butto no avail.

Traffic jams have become acommon occurrence on these roadsas shopkeepers have occupied themon both sides. The accompanyingnoise and air pollution has alsoirked motorists and residents ofthese areas.

A visitor to Adiala road said the

authorities should launch a compre-hensive drive to remove encroach-ments from the area which shouldbe followed by strict monitoring sothe road cannot be encroachedagain.

Faisal, a resident of Dhamialroad, said encroachers have occu-pied both sides of the road and leftno space for car parking. He saidauthority staff members only visitthe area in the morning to removeencroachments, but as soon as theyleave, encroachers set up their stallsagain.

"The authorities should come upwith an effective strategy and offi-cials should pay surprise visits atdifferent times to remove encroach-ments," he said.

Arif, another resident of thearea, said apart from traffic jamsthey also suffered from noise pollu-tion.

Goods displayed on the roadand outside shops must be confis-cated and encroachers should befined, said another resident.

Citizens have urged the TmA totake strict action against shopkeep-ers, vendors and fruit and vegetablehandcart owners who have beencreating hurdles in the smooth flowof traffic.

encroachment in different local-ities has become a nuisance, notonly for motorists but also for resi-dents of these areas, while the au-thorities have been paying littleattention towards the problem.

Encroachments on the rise in Potohar town

Excessive sugarconsumption leads tohigh blood pressure

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Islamabad

ISLAMABADNNI

i SLAmABAD Women's Cham-ber of Commerce and industry(iWCCi) on Sunday said thelong march or the attempts

made for change of government willnot guarantee economic revival, in-stead, positive and unpopular deci-sions will prove more beneficial tothe country.

iWCCi President Farida rashidwhile speaking to businesswomensaid the government and oppositionwere not concerned with economicrevival, as they were only pushingforward their own agendas whichwere leading the country towards adebt repayment default.

The Pakistan Peoples Party(PPP) led government had not doneanything to prevent the economicmeltdown and instead their activitieshave bled the economy white, shesaid. Other political parties have yetto suggest a concrete framework ofpolicies to improve the overallgrowth rate and to ensure that all re-gions and segments of society reapedthe benefits of a booming economy,she added.

She said that the incumbent gov-ernment had utilised all their ener-gies to promote the country’s elitewhich had yet again disappointedthe masses, frustrated the businesscommunity and had left the econ-omy in a state where it was gaspingfor breath. rulers intentionallyavoided economic reforms despite

insistence of friendly countries andthe country’s business community,while it had developed a habit of re-lying on false figures, tall claims andflowery statements which amountedto nothing in the end, she added.

She further said that the presentcrises emerged out of mismanage-ment and had snatched jobs frommillions of people, while it alsocompromised the ability of tensof millions of wageearners to providesustenance to theirfamilies.

Farida saidthat the govern-ment had missedno opportunity topromote the inter-ests of the rural andurban elitesat the ex-pense of thepoor thathad resulted inan internally weakcountry living off a frac-tured social fabric.

She also said that the welfare offeudal nobility remained the mainfocus of the government dominatedby politicians belonging to the feudalclass which had resultantly given riseto many problems, adding thatprices of land had also increased100percent in the villages alone.

Prosperity of the urban popula-tion and business community re-mained confined to the statementsgiven by government functionaries

that had frustrated the businesscommunity to an extent that theywere shifting their businesses over-seas, she added.

rejecting the claim that the rul-ing party was too busy defendingdemocracy to focus on putting theeconomy back on track, she said that

it was not possible that the rulershad failed in all unenthusiastic at-tempts to provide relief to the

masses but were success-ful in all their initia-tives that supported

the mighty andwealthy class.

Furthermore,the iWCCi presi-

dent said that em-ployment chances

in the job mar-ket remainedbleak whileall experi-

enced peoplewere acting like

political gimmickson the part of the federal

or provincial governments, addingthat such a situation in turn trig-gered street crimes, terrorism andalso multiplied the number of chil-dren on streets. All we saw was in-creased food and energy insecurity,lack of shelter and sanitation, dis-eases, and desperation which gaverise to serious crimes like violence,lawlessness, theft, robberies, andfraud in the country, she observed.

Lack of electricity and gas, andthe reign of lawlessness have forced

many industries to either shut downor operate below capacity, she said.exports were stagnating while im-ports were rising, exchange rate andreserves were depreciating and thebalance of payments situation couldinvite external debt default at anytime, she added.

moreover, Farida said that allpublic sector enterprises were beinglooted, inter-agency debt was on therise, the rate of investment and sav-ings had touched the lowest levelwhile reckless borrowings by thegovernment continued unchecked.

The State Bank of Pakistan wasbusy in printing currency notes to fi-nance the government’s wasteful ex-penditures which amounted toproviding support for efforts whichwere meant to drive the country to-wards bankruptcy and destruction,she noted. She said that in the ab-sence of any land reforms, absenteelandowners continued to take awaylarge share of untaxed income to bespent on fulfilling the requirementsof a lavish lifestyle, while leaving thepoor farmers high and dry.

Terming all the official statisticsas window-dressing and an effort tohide the government’s mismanage-ment, corruption and exploitation,Farida said that the economy hadbeen brought to the brink of bank-ruptcy, while the government andopposition were yet to seriouslyconsider the issue of economic re-vival, knowing that the economywas very sick and would die if ig-nored any further.

Women’s take on Economy long march, change of govtwill not promise revival

ISlAMABAD: Policemen sitting along the green belt near the Red zone as security has been tightened ahead of the long march. ONLINE

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monday, 14 January, 2013

News

BAMAKoAGENCIES

FreNCH fighter jets continuedbombing islamist rebels in malifor a third day on Sunday as Parissent more troops into the capitalBamako, awaiting the arrival of a

West African force to dislodge al Qaeda-linked insurgents from the country’s north.

French Defence minister Jean-Yves LeDrian said France’s dramatic interventionon Friday to bomb a convoy of heavilyarmed islamist fighters sweeping south-wards had stopped them from seizing mali’scapital Bamako within days.

Western countries fear islamists coulduse mali as a base for attacks on the West,

forming a link with al Qaeda militants inYemen, Somalia and North Africa.

Le Drian said former colonial powerFrance was carrying out continuous bomb-ing raids against the alliance of rebel groups,which seized the country’s vast desert northin April. “There are raids going on now: therewere some last night, and there will be moretomorrow,” Le Drian told French television.“The president is totally determined that wemust eradicate these terrorists who threatenthe security of mali, our own country and eu-rope.” residents said French aircraft bombedthe northern town of Gao, and a malian rebelspokesman said they bombed targets in thetowns of Lere and Douentza.

Le Drian said France was deploying afurther contingent of 80 soldiers to mali on

Sunday, bring the total to 550 soldiers , splitbetween Bamako and the town of mopti,some 500 km (300 miles) north. State-of-the-art rafale fighter jets would be dis-patched to reinforce the operation onSunday, he said.

Bamako itself was calm on Sunday, withthe sun streaking through the dust envelop-ing the city as the seasonal Harmattan windblew from the Sahara. Some cars drovearound with French flags draped from thewindows to celebrate Paris’s intervention.

Hours after opening one front against alQaeda-linked islamists, France mounted acommando raid to free a French hostage inSomalia held by al Shabaab militants alliedto al Qaeda, but failed to stop him beingkilled along with a French commando.

A French pilot was killed on Fridaywhen rebels in mali shot down his heli-copter. President Francois Hollande hasmade it clear that France’s aim in mali isto support the deployment of a WestAfrican mission to retake the north, en-dorsed by the United Nations, the euro-pean Union and the United States.

The 15-nation West African bloceCOWAS convened a summit for Satur-day in ivory Coast to discuss the militarycampaign. With Paris pressing WestAfrican nations to deploy troops quickly,ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara,who holds the rotating eCOWAS chair-manship, has kick-started the operation todeploy some 3,300 African soldiers.

Ouattara was himself installed in power

with French military backing in 2011 after abrief civil war triggered by former presidentLaurent Gbagbo’s refusal to step aside afterlosing a late 2010 election.

“The troops will start arriving in Bamakotoday and tomorrow,” Ali Coulibaly, ivoryCoast’s African integration minister, said.“They will be convoyed to the front at Se-vare.” Hollande’s intervention in mali couldendanger eight French nationals being heldby islamists in the Sahara. A spokesman forone of mali’s rebel groups, Ansar Dine, saidon Saturday there would be repercussions.“There are consequences, not only for Frenchhostages, but also for all French citizens,wherever they find themselves in the muslimworld,” Sanda Ould Boumama said. “Thehostages are facing death.”

FRANCE CONTINUES BOMBING MALI REBELS, SENDS MORE TROOPS

UNITED NATIoNSAPP

more than 2,000 people - mostly mus-lims - have fled myanmar’s northernrakhine state on boats run by smug-glers putting their lives at risk, the UNrefugee agency has said, warning thatthe situation of those displaced by theviolence in rakhine grows more des-perate every day.

At a news briefing in Geneva, aspokesperson for the Office of the UNHigh Commissioner for refugees(UNHCr), Adrian edwards, noted thatthe final destination of the boats is un-certain, although they are believed tobe heading to other countries in South-east Asia, according to a news releaseissued at UN Headquarters in NewYork. “it is unclear how many actuallymake it to their final destinations,where they often risk arrest, detentionand possible refoulement through de-portation to myanmar,” edwards said,referring to the international custom-ary law principle of non-refoulement,which guards against the return of peo-ple to countries where, for example,they might be subjected to torture.

“UNHCr continues to seek accessto individuals arriving by boat who arearrested and detained by governmentauthorities,” edwards added.

Several waves of clashes betweenethnic rakhine Buddhists and ro-hingya muslims - the first of which oc-curred in June last year - have left115,000 people displaced, as well asmore than 100 dead, according to UNestimates. UNHCr fears that morepeople will undertake the dangerousjourney from the Bay of Bengal if thereis no imminent end to the violence.

The number of those displaced thismonth adds to an estimated 13,000people who left from the Bay of Bengalon smugglers’ boats in 2012.

At least 485 people are believed tohave died or remain missing in four re-ported boat accidents last year. How-ever, edwards highlighted that the realdeath toll could be much higher.

many of the people fleeing aremuslims from rakhine state andrefugees who have been living inBangladesh.

While most appear to be men trav-elling alone, edwards said there are in-creasing numbers of women and

children among smuggled passengers,signalling growing desperation andlack of prospects.

The spokesperson said the UNrefugee agency has asked for access tonewly-arrived people from myanmar inThailand and malaysia, where it seeksto secure their release if they have beendetained.

in Bangladesh, some 30,000refugees are being hosted in twocamps, but many more are living inmakeshift sites and among the localcommunities.

UNHCr is also calling on countriesin the region to maintain open bordersand ensure humane treatment of peo-ple seeking asylum from myanmar orelsewhere, and reiterated its readinessto support States in assisting refugees.

in addition, the UN agency is ap-pealing to shipmasters to rescue boatsin distress. “We applaud recent govern-ment actions to allow for the disem-barkation of people rescued bycommercial vessels in the Bay of Bengaland call upon all States in the region toact in a spirit of generosity and flexibil-ity should similar situations arise in thefuture,” edwards said.

Over 2,000 people flee Myanmarfollowing latest bout of violence: UN

cARAcAS: The brother of Hugo Chavezhas denied that the ailing Venezuelanpresident is in coma, saying the Venezue-lan leader is responding well to cancertreatment in Cuba and makingprogress on a daily basis. “reportsthat the president is in a coma andthat the family is discussing end-ing life support, are totally false,”Adan Chavez, governor of thestate of Barinas, said in a state-ment Saturday. He “continues torespond well to his medical careand to make daily progress in hisrecovery.” Chavez, whoseOPeC-member nation controlsthe world’s largest proven oil

reserves, has beenout of the publiceye since un-dergoing sur-gery inHavana onDecember 11.it is thefourth suchoperation inthe 18months sincehis condition wasmade pub-lic. APP

ISraelI Pmorders dismantling ofPalestinian activists’ tents

JERUSALEMNNI

israeli Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahuhas ordered security forces to evacuateimmediately the Palestinians who have

gathered in the controversial area nearJerusalem, according to a statement issued

from Prime minister’s Bureau. Thestatement said Netanyahu would ask

High Court to withdraw theinjunction which is delayingthe evacuation. Until theHigh Court responds to the

eviction, the primeminister ordered to closeroads to this area in orderto prevent gatherings.Under this circumstance,the area has beendeclared by the israeli

side as a closedmilitary zone. OnFriday, somePalestinian activistsinstalled dozens oftents betweenmaale Adumimand Jerusalem,challenging asix-week-old

israeli decisionto buildthousands of

houses forJewish settlers.NNI

SYDNEYAPP

A top Australian research observatory home to sev-eral global telescopes was under threat from wild-fires Sunday as hot weather and lightning stormsstoked scores of new blazes.

The rural Fire Service (rFS) of New SouthWales, Australia’s most populous state, issued anemergency warning for an out-of-control fire rag-ing towards the Siding Spring Observatory, a re-mote global research facility. “About a dozenisolated properties at mt Woorut, including SidingSpring Observatory, may come under threat,” therFS said. “Police are evacuating the area. Firefight-ers and waterbombing aircraft are on scene.”

Siding Spring, a mountain-top site in the War-rumbungle ranges about 500 kilometres (310miles) north-west of Sydney, houses 10 operatingtelescopes run by Australian, Polish, British, Ko-rean and American researchers. Administered bythe Australian National University’s researchschool of astronomy and astrophysics, SidingSpring is the nation’s top optical and infrared ob-servatory and one of the top facilities of its kind inthe world. Large parts of Australia have swelteredunder extreme heat in the past week, sparking hun-dreds of wildfires that have destroyed more than100 homes. The rFS said lightning storms startedabout 40 new fires overnight, fanned by strongwinds, though most were in remote areas and nota threat to properties.

Russia calls for ‘transitionprocess’ in SyriaMoScow: russia has called for thelaunch of a political transition process inSyria, a day after peace envoy LakhdarBrahimi met with diplomats from moscowand Washington in a bid to resolve thenearly two-year-old conflict. But moscowalso reiterated its long-held position thatonly Syrians themselves could decidetheir fate without outside interference.“in our opinion, the priority task is toimmediately stop any violence andbloodshed as well as provide Syriansincluding internally displaced personsand refugees with humanitarian aid,” therussian Foreign ministry said in astatement. APP

Fuel pipeline catches fire,explodes in NigeriaLAgoS: A pipeline in south westernNigeria has caught fire and exploded in anincident believed to be caused by thievesseeking to steal petrol, but the number ofcasualties was unclear, officials saidSaturday. The fire began late Friday on apipeline operated by state oil firm NNPCwhich transports petrol in Ogun state, saidibrahim Farinloye of the Nationalemergency management Agency.Authorities have since shut down thepipeline, but rescuers have not yet beenable to access the site to determine if therewere casualties, he said. “NemA and NNPCwish to confirm that there was an explosionfrom the pipeline in the area,” Farinloyesaid. “When the report reached us, weimmediately shut down the flow tosuffocate supplies to the fire to enable us toput out the fire easily.” APP

chAveznot in coma,responding wellto treatment

Fire threatens topAustralian telescope site

WEST BAnk: Palestinians alongwith Israeli and foreign activists wave Palestinian flags shouting

slogans during a gathering at an outpost named Bab al-Shams (‘Gate of the Sun’). ONLINE

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monday, 14 January, 2013

News09

ISLAMABADANwER ABBAS

AS many as 216 political par-ties have been registered withthe election Commission ofPakistan (eCP) to contest up-coming general elections

against 342 seats in the National Assem-bly, Pakistan Today has learnt.

Commenting on the registration ofthe parties, eCP Secretary ishtiakAhmad Khan said that on an average 15new political parties sought registrationevery month. Although forming an asso-ciation is a fundamental right somestandards would have to be set to checkmushroom growth of parties, he said

As a result of a big increase in thenumber of political parties, the commis-sion has fallen short of election symbolsas the registered parties have outnum-bered the available symbols. in 2008elections, 147 symbols were used, withanother 34 symbols approved by thePresidency and deletion of eight, as pro-posed by the eCP, the number of sym-

bols has risen to 173. Decades after whenthe Communist Party of Pakistan wasbanned in July 1954 on charges of plot-ting to overthrow then government andcrackdown against its leadershipthroughout the country, now once againthe eCP has registered the party, led byits Central Chairman engineer JameelAhmad malik. The party is registeredunder the Article 17 of the constitution.

As per eCP, 114 of 216 registered po-litical parties are likely to miss comingpolls, as they failed to hold the intra-party elections. The eCP had alreadysaid that political parties failing to sub-mit certificates of intra-party electionsand statements of accounts would not beallowed to contest upcoming generalelections. The recently issued list by thecommission says that the country’smajor political parties like the PakistanPeople’s Party (PPP), the PakistanTehreek-e-insaf (PTi), Pakistan muslimLeague-Quaid-i-Azam (PmL-Q), thePakistan muslim League-Functional(PmL-F), the Jamhoori Watan Party(JWP) and the muttahida majlis-e-Amal

(mmA) are among the leading partiesthat have yet to hold intra-party elec-tions and submit the relevant docu-ments to the eCP.

As per its rules, the ruling PPP isbound to hold intra-party elections afterevery two years, however, it failed tohold intra-party elections since 2006. inDecember last year, the eCP said thatelection symbols would not be allottedto the parties which failed to furnish thedetails of their accounts and proof ofintra-party elections and thus those par-ties would be barred from taking part inthe polls. The media reports say that thePmL-Q held intra-party elections in2009, the muttahida Qaumi movement(mQm) and Jamaat-e-islami held intra-party elections in 2012 and the PmL-Ndid so last year, while the PTi is sched-uled to hold the intra-party elections inPunjab by January 19 as it has an-nounced to complete the exercise priorto the general elections.

Article 14 of the Political PartiesOrder 2002 says, “A political party shallbe eligible to obtain an election symbol

to contest the elections on submission ofcertificates and statements under Arti-cles 12 and 13, which call for submissionof related documents.” According to theorder, when any political party or a com-bination of political parties collectivelycontravenes the provisions of Articles 12and 13, it shall not be entitled to obtaina symbol for election. The ruling PPPwith Bilawal Bhutto Zardari as its chair-man does not exist in the eyes of law asit is not registered with the eCP and can-not contest the 2013 elections and maycontest the election with the nomencla-ture of the PPP-Parliamentarians (PPP-P) led by makhdoom Amin Fahim, as itdid in 2002 and 2008. The party had gotregistered with the eCP as PPP-P priorto the 2002 election because the PPPthen headed by Benazir Bhutto was in-eligible to qualify for registration due toits chairperson’s absence from Pakistan.The government of Pervez musharrafhad made it mandatory that the chief ofa party seeking registration with the eCPto qualify for contesting election shouldbe present in Pakistan.

MoNIToRING DESK

Commander Peter Spindler, the head ofinquiry for the Jimmy Savile case, hassaid that Savile had spent “every wakingminute” of his life thinking about abusingchildren and had even used the final edi-tion of the BBC’s Top of the Pops to com-mit sex offences.

He said that Savile had “groomed anation” and preyed on 450 victims, agedbetween eight and 47, over a 54-year pe-riod. Almost a fifth of his victims wereboys.

A metropolitan Police report givingthe findings of Operation Yewtree, the in-vestigation into Savile’s offendinglaunched after an iTV documentary ex-posed his paedophilia last year, said that450 people had made complaints to thepolice. To date 214 offences have beenidentified across 28 police force areas.They include 126 indecent acts and 34rapes.

Savile was “hiding in plain sight”during his offending, which began in

1955, says the 37-page Giving Victims aVoice report.

The report says there is no evidencethat Savile was part of a pedophile ring,though he could have been part of an “in-formal network”.

Detective Superintendent DavidGray, the leading investigator, said, “Hespent every minute of every day thinkingabout it. He is programmed to think andact in that way. He only picked the mostvulnerable, the ones least likely to speakout against him.” Savile preyed on 450victims, aged between eight and 47, overa 54-year period. Almost a fifth of his vic-tims were boys.

One of the most striking figures inthe report relates to the number of chil-dren under 10 who were abused by Sav-ile. A total of 18 girls and 10 boys underthe age of 10 were abused by Savile, with23 girls and 15 boys aged 10 to 13.

Savile’s earliest reported offence wasin manchester in 1955. He went on tosexually abuse children at the BBC from1965 to 2006 at Leeds General infirmary,

where he volunteered as a porter, from1965 to 1995; at Stoke mandeville Hospi-tal, where he was also a porter, from 1965to 1988, and at Duncroft School between1970 and 1978.

Other offences were committed atBroadmoor secure hospital, where hehad his own room, at his holiday cottageat Glencoe in the Highlands and in hismobile home.

Savile was investigated by police fivetimes while he was still alive - by the metin the 1980s and in 2003, by Surrey Po-lice from 2007 to 2009, by Sussex Policein 2008 and by Jersey Police in 2008, butnone of them resulted in charges. TheCrown Prosecution Service has today re-leased a separate report into its reasonsfor deciding not to press charges.

The report suggests that part of thereason Savile was never caught was be-cause at the time he was most active, “po-lice investigation of such crimes wasmore basic and lacked the specialistskills, knowledge and the collaborativeapproach of later years”.

Jimmy Savile spent ‘every waking minute’thinking about abusing boys and girls

ECP registers 216 politicalparties for upcoming polls

Immigration isBritish society’sbiggest problem

LoNDoNMAJID KHATTAK

immigration is viewed by people as the biggest issuefacing British society, a new survey taking stock ofthe country’s state reveals. According to the latestsurvey by UK-based think tank British Future, Onein three people believes tension between immigrantsand people born in the UK is the major cause ofdivision, while well over half regard it as one of thetop three causes. Over the past two decades, bothimmigration and emigration have increased tohistorically high levels, with those entering thecountry exceeding those leaving by more than100,000 in every year since 1998. The survey report,State of the Nation: Where is Bittersweet BritainHeading, also suggests the country is, at heart,tolerant of those who come to its shores. respect forthe law, for the freedom of speech of others, and anability to speak english were seen as the three mostessential traits of a Briton, according to the surveyof 2,515 people aged between 16 and 75. These werethe top criteria across all ages and social classes.While one in four thinks being born in UK isimportant to being British, two-thirds of peoplebelieve the welfare state should be open to thoseborn abroad who have contributed to society andplay by the rules. Sunder Katwala, director of BritishFuture, said the survey highlighted a nationalanxiety about immigration to which nationalpoliticians needed to respond. However, he alsonoted that the results suggested that when peoplethought about their local areas, there was lessconcern. While 30 percent placed immigration firstwhen thinking about tensions facing British societyas a whole, only 19 percent chose it as the mostdivisive issue in their own area. There was also verylittle correlation between the geographicaldistribution of immigrants and the levels of concern.immigration was regarded as the most divisive issuefor 19 percent of people in north-east england and20% in Wales – where the 2011 census shows one in20 people were born abroad – and for 20 percent ofLondoners, where immigrants make up one in threeof the population. Katwala said, “People areobviously very anxious about immigration. But i wasstruck by how much higher it was as a nationalrather than a local tension. That to me suggests thatmanaging local tensions is obviously very important,but it is probably not the answer entirely becausepeople have this national-level concern.” in furtherfindings, the National Health Service (NHS)emerged as the institution that made nearly half (45percent) of people feel most proud to be British,ahead of the armed forces, Great Britain’s Olympicteam and the royal family. Nearly three in four (72percent) said the NHS was a symbol of “what isgreat about Britain and we must do everything wecan to maintain it”. British Future’s report notes,“The NHS played a key part in the Olympics openingceremony that – to many people’s surprise – leftthem feeling here was a Britain that couldconfidently combine the best aspects of itstraditional and modern culture.”

Offensive capabilitiesagainst China?

NEW DELHI INP

The indian Army has come up with a fresh proposal for thenew mountain strike corps, apart from two “independent”infantry and armoured brigades each, to plug operationalgaps along the LAC (line of actual control) as well as toacquire “some offensive capabilities” against China. The raising of the new formations will cost around rs81,000 crore, spread primarily over the 12th plan period(2012-17), with a little spillover into the 13th Plan ifnecessary, say sources. “The approved 12th Army Plan, as part of the LTiPP (long-term integrated perspective plan), already caters rs62,000 crore for the corps. The army is now asking foranother rs 19,000 crore,” said a source. With additional armoured regiments and infantry unitsbased in Ladakh, Sikkim and Uttarakhand, the newmountain corps (around 40,000 soldiers) will for the firsttime give india the capability to also launch a counter-offensive into TAr (Tibet Autonomous region) in theevent of a Chinese attack, say sources. As with the development of the over 5,000-km Agni-V and3,500-km Agni-iV ballistic missiles coupled with theongoing progressive deployment of Sukhoi-30mKifighters, spy drones, helicopters and missile squadrons inthe northeast, the overall aim is to have “strategicdeterrence” in place to dissuade China from embarking onany “misadventure”.

QUETTA:

PTI Chair-

man Imran

Khan ad-

dresses

protesters

at Alamdar

Road on

Sunday. INP

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Comment10

monday, 14 January, 2013

Arif NizamiEditor

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

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

Email: editorial@pakistantoday.com.pk

Dedicated to the legacy of the late Hameed Nizami

Apathy and indifference among us

Stooping to new lows

What the country is going through right now can, in no way,be termed as workable, much less an ideal situation forpower transition. it’s not that terrorism is the onlyscourge that has ever struck us. Sectarianism, violent

sectarianism on that, ruled the roost way before the advent of Talibanand Al-Qaeda phenomenon. And with the withdrawal of US forces fromthe neighbouring Afghanistan drawing close, sectarianism, a problemthat had slid behind the much larger issue of international terrorism,will surely stick its ugly head up again, as we are witnessing right now.

Politically, the bloodbath of a particular sect won’t help inmaintaining democratic credentials that we crave so much. With 86innocent Shias killed and their families refusing to bury them, thegovernment not taking any action in addressing their grievances showsthe apathetic character that the government and law enforcementagencies have become synonymous to. Prime minister raja PervaizAshraf, even though he took his time in reaching Quetta, has refused tosee any representative of the protestors, rejecting their demands.

The demands that the protesters have put forth pose a dilemma forthe government and the army alike. The provincial government, lackingcredibility and trust of both the politicians and the public, has provento be toothless against the terrorists, militants and nationalists. Thefederal government is reluctant in accepting their demands as it wouldbe tantamount to inviting the military in political affairs, which thegovernment and most of the politicians in the opposition have beenvocal against in the past five years. The military sees this situation as achance to prove how incompetent politicians are, to which ironically thepoliticians are actually helping a great deal. The military won’t interferein the mess created by the civilian setup, unless it absolutely has to.

Publically, the incident has moved thousands of people who havegathered for sit-ins in different cities in a display of solidarity with theQuetta incident victims. Social media is abuzz, print and electronicmedia seem hyperactive, still there appears to be no attempt atpacifying the protesters, as no credible step has been taken to bring theculprits to justice of this barbarous act. instead what they seem to bemore interested in is how to stop a religious cleric from reachingislamabad. Understandably, Tahirul Qadri’s million march does pose asecurity threat; he has a following, a huge one. Add to this hismisleading ideology and one can imagine how easily this powder-keg ofa situation can blow up to huge proportions.

mass murders cannot be ignored because they happen to acommunity that we don’t belong to. Appeasing the victims’ familieswith hollow promises is not going to help; only concrete steps can abatetheir pain. The short-term solution requires a crackdown on sectarianmilitant organisations, intelligence data on whom can be accessed fromthe security and intelligence agencies; while the long-term solutionrequires a change in mindset and more inclusive education, particularlyreligious education, which promotes harmony, peace and trust.

We have epitomised the notionof ‘charity begins at home’. Weare winning over the world

with peace and secret islamic formulaand obviously, we start with killingShias and Ahmadis first. The way we’vemanaged to refuse to budge even aninch in the midst of extreme violenceand killings, makes us the most tolerantnation of all. it takes a great deal of ‘tol-

erance’ to simply change the channeland move on to discuss how lecherousthat new indian song is, or better droolat Turkish soaps and later on fret overdegrading moral standards.

For every serious matter being dis-cussed we always have more pertinentissues, ‘more-serious-issues-that-should-have-been-discussed-first’ logicready at our disposal. Just when theHazara massacre protest escalated intoits second day and the bodies started todecompose, i came across a status up-date calling for ‘real jazba to bringabout genuine change as social mediaoutrage won’t work’.

The real ‘jazba’, i suppose, will onlyset in when the grieved Hazaras will fi-nally decide to bury their loved ones be-cause the rest of us were too busysharing pictures of ourselves with thesame pose for the umpteenth time.

We will manage to churn out realjazba only when non-serious and loud-mouthed circus orchestrators suddenlydecide to bestow their imported politi-cal guidance from Canada, without anyagenda that makes sense to the rest ofus – the earthquakes-tsunami-drone

deprived lot.The real fun and genuine patriotism

will only come out loud if tension onLoC escalates and Pakistan army an-nounces how it has been busy teachinglessons to Hindu lunatics at one handand trotting nuclear arsenals on theother hand. Only then, our ‘actualchange’ seeking patriots will care tospeak out through status updates andtrumpeting hollow jingoism.

Or here is an even better deal. Pa-tiently wait for next Gaza-israel war be-cause ‘genuine’ mouth foaming andswearing is only meant for israel and its‘jooish’ lobby. Till then, keep on shame-lessly ignoring the fact that some 87Hazaras ( errr…hazara kon?) have beenkilled in one blow. Till then how aboutlaughing off at memes from groups like‘shugal mella’?

Amongst those who have refused tobudge is our very own dent less mili-tary. Asking for army to step in is simi-lar to asking TTP, the overseer ofsmaller terrorist organisations, to takecharge. The comparison may soundover the top but let us not forget howthe army, in 1988, under Gen Zia-ul-

Haq’s leadership, had let a laskharheaded by their very own Osama binLadin pass through checkpoints whichled to killings of around 700 Shias inGilgit. The usual response pattern is todismiss Shia-Sunni rifts as work ofirani intelligence agencies, which inturn exempts misery and death of inno-cent civilians on political grounds.Therefore, army taking over charge willmean nothing more than change in theposting patterns of the military.

The very military that is asked toprotect the civilians can’t afford to wagea crackdown on hardcore Sunni terror-ist outfits and lose its secret allies (ter-rorist organisations) in the midst ofpopular demands for negotiations. everincreasing support for negotiations it-self is a manifestation of the fact thatnow the establishment’s allies inBalochistan are influential enough totrade power and violence on theirterms. Perhaps the success of this pol-icy shift can be evaluated by TTP’s lat-est announcement that they will notattack Pakistan Army, for now.

Talking of army’s role, how can weforget that it’s the same establishment

that still chose to keep the status of anentire province merely as a buffer areawith Balochis as guinea pigs? it hasbeen repeatedly criticised for disap-pearing citizens just like that and per-petuating human rights violationswithout being answerable to anyone.

Not to mention the role of everflourishing apologentia and televengal-ists which, at the end of the day servesas a buffer for anti-extremist senti-ments by explaining how these killingsshould not be taken as humanitariancrisis but merely a political rift createdby various intelligence agencies acrossthe border.

As hopeless as it sounds, if militaryand civilian establishment are seriousabout tackling the issue, they shouldstart with a major policy shift with re-gards to Balochistan instead of appeas-ing the Taliban. Unfortunately, at themoment, the proposition sounds as far-fetched as those measly commenda-tions given by the authorities.

The writer is a political satirist. She can be reached atmariam.goraya@hotmail.com

Of genuine change and fake noise

in this space last week, Waqqas mirnarrated an interesting account ofhis sojourn to New Delhi for thelast of three ODis that concludedrecently. As a sometime Delhi res-

ident, i can vouch for the spectator fareand it aint pretty for a Pakistani visitor.

But first to the series. At the outset, letme say that nothing could be more wel-come than the revival of bilaterals. in anideal world, nothing would interrupt,much less stop, the absorbing spectaclethat an average indo-Pak encounter bringsbut then we don’t live in an ideal world.

To start with, it took an arduously longtime for india to separate cricket from theusual bickering that the two neighboursget locked into from time to time. To besure, india had good reason to be miffedover the mumbai episode, but what wasinexplicable was its contradictory ap-proach to sporting contact with Pakistan.

While refusing to engage in bilaterals,india continued to contest against Pak-istan in international cricket tournaments— ostensibly, because bunking an iCC tiein a multi-nation setting would entailpunitive action.

The inconsistency was also evident inhow india continued to compete againstits old neighbour in other sporting disci-plines even as it resorted to select engage-ment in cricket. There was little questionof an iCC intervention given how toothlessthe governing body is — a reality that be-comes even more pronounced beforeindia’s financial muscle.

india relented only after the pitch re-dounded completely to its advantage. Con-trary to its posturing, the Pakistan CricketBoard was ready to accept any deal it gotfrom its counterpart for a re-engagement.

This is why the Board of Control forCricket in india slotted in a puny seriesand that, too, during a Christmas break forthe visiting english team!

Furthermore, the BCCi refused toshare a penny with the PCB even thoughthis was not exactly a home series and Pak-

istan Cricket has suffered immeasurablyfor lack of international cricket at home.

Conveniently, forsaken in the bargainwas how india had already twice madeshort work of the iCC Future Tour Pro-gramme by not touring Pakistan.

But that is the nature of the beast. Asin international geopolitics, might ispretty much right in cricket as well. There-fore, blaming india for our ills would servelittle purpose; realistically speaking, weinvited it on ourselves by sleeping on thejob when the Sri Lankan team defied theodds to tour Pakistan in 2009.

But there’s only so much a friendlyneighbour could do — the Lankans bravedpressure from their mighty neighbours tobe here. They even gave Pakistan a criticallead in the terrorist attack case but thenexcused themselves from taking the probeany further in the interest of keeping itsfragile peace.

But i digress. it is against this back-drop that the indo-Pak series took place.my information is that the Pakistani play-ers were under strict instructions to staycool no matter what happened on the field.

The ishant Sharma-Kamran Akmal in-cident in the first T20 was a heat-of-the-moment action where the Pakistan keeperwas, in fact, provoked. However, the keeperwas spoken to sternly, resulting in a swiftkiss-and-make up with the lanky pacer.

Small wonder that Younus Khan alsotook an atrocious lbw verdict in one of theODis on the chin. in the last ODi, NasirJamshed and Shoaib malik were also donein but again, in keeping with the script,didn’t react at all.

regardless, the Pakistani playersproved themselves great ambassadorseven as they defied the form book to reg-ister an emphatic victory in the ODi seriesbesides standing on par in the T20s. Fewhad given them a chance of competing

against the indian batting powerhouse inits back alley even as an equal.

While the visitors returned with theirreputations enhanced, the hosts were leftwith a lot to reflect upon, not in the least,the future of a string of key players.

it all started with the rather surprisingdecision by Sachin Tendulkar to retirefrom ODis on the eve of a challenging se-ries. it betrayed a certain lack of confi-dence, a result perhaps, of a lean run byhis standards. The move contradicted thenorm about players wanting to go out witha farewell sheen before home fans.

The overriding failure of the indianbatsmen, save for m S Dhoni, perhaps, ex-plains why Sachin’s “premature” decisionmay, in fact, have been calculated. if thePakistanis had not imploded in the lastODi, Dhoni may have lost his captaincyand some of the others their places.

However, the series ended on a sour notewhen the indian media reported the BCCihad mixed the drinks to have Dhoni declaredman of the match twice — against the run ofplay — in a bid to save his captaincy.

Having said that it is still a fragile ship.The same holds for indo-Pak relationshipas well. The recent skirmishes across theLoC have led to a war of words with someparticularly nasty exchanges on the indianelectronic media.

in one instance, Arnab Goswami, thefiery editor-in-chief and presenter of TimesNow TV channel, crossed all limits to tell aPakistani panelist he should not forget “thelesson we taught to Pakistan in 1971”. TrPsyes, but is it the only game in town?

Fortunately, the two foreign ministershave exercised restraint. Hope they can stopthe cricket bilaterals going on ice again.

The writer is Editor, Pique magazine.He may be reached atkaamyabi@gmail.com

Howzat?Apparently, the romance is on the rocks again

Our fault tolerance confounds me

By Mariam Shafqat Goraya

Monday MusingsBy Kamran Rehmat

LHR 14-01-2013_Layout 1 1/14/2013 5:40 AM Page 10

‘the Pakistan that I see’i would like to add to the opinion by

Zarminay Haq in her letter of 3 Januaryand Amjad H mirza in his contribution‘The Pakistan that I see’ on same pageson 5 January.

Question is, why was Pakistancreated? Why thousands of muslimsscarified their lives to have a separatehomeland of their own? They wanted apiece of land where they could liveaccording to the principles of islam andenjoy all the rights which they deservedas human beings, because they weredeprived of these opportunities underthe British and the Hindus.

When they achieved their goal, theythought they would get basic facilitiesand their necessities would be fulfilledwithout any questions. Justice wouldrule the country. The evils like bribery,corruption, favouritism, usury and prej-udices would find no place in the coun-try. But alas, all the expectations andhopes were washed away by the leadersthat came after our founding fathers.

The dictators disguised themselvesunder the cover of democrats and thedemocrats played the role of dictators.excluding few, majority had their ownaxe to grind. Their arrival had been fora short period of time but the taste torule intoxicated them to such an extentthat even a decade was not enough tosatiate their appetite.

Some of them were killed, exiled foryears, put behind the bars, but thedesire to rule did not diminish as nowtheir offspring came forward to fill theirinto their shoes.

Why is it so? it is because thepeople of this country are unique.These people have many qualities,including too little retention of memoryand no endurance. They are so simplethat if someone robs them and thengives them back a little, they raiseslogans in favour of such persons. it islot easier to make them happy. They areso innocent that they can neitherrecognise the true faces behind themasks nor they have the ability to readbetween the lines.

These characteristics urge everyoneso extensively that the men living inforeign palaces with all the facilities

become restless and return to rule overus again. When would we get rid ofthese qualities is an even bitterquestion? But my advice is to get rid ofthese qualities as soon as possible forthe sake of this country.

MUHAMMAD MASOOD ALAMKhushab

Pak-India relationsThe recent cease fire violations on

the indo-Pak LoC, where the indians aremaking unnecessary hue and cry due toour army’s tit for tat action, isunderstood. They have a habit ofcreating an alarming situation, even ifthey are at a fault. What is notunderstood is our passive and veryappeasing attitude towards india. Arewe under any misunderstanding as tothe indian malafide intentions? Timeand again they have exhibited scorn andhostility when it comes to living inpeace. They have planned to dry up theindus and other rivers. They are creatingtrouble in Balochistan by a proxy war.They want to use us as their market thusdepleting our meagre foreign exchangeand cripple our industries.

Still, we take them as our would-befriends. This is height of naivety on ourpart. if we forego our passive attitude,the indians will come down to theirknees. Few things can be donestraightaway to give them animmediate dose. These could be: Nomore mFN status to india; only tradewith them on equal/bilateral basis; stopimporting all indian movies; stop theappearance/hiring of indianmodels/actresses in our ads forthwith;and other actions can also beconsidered /debated in the parliament.

RASHID MAQSOODLahore

corruption encoremy nephew in Karachi had to get a

power of attorney registered at Cliftonregistry. He was asked to pay a bribe ofrs 60,000. On refusal, he was told thathis documents had errors. He asked allpresent in that room and everyoneconfirmed that they had to payamounts between rs 20,000-100,000to get their lawful jobs done.Alternately, the registration is refusedon one pretext or another.

What i state is a common practicein registrar offices at Clifton and DHA.Further, the amount is shared right tothe minister’s level. So if this is howyou treat a citizen, why must people notgo for the suggestions made by DrQadri? remove the existing leadershipbefore creating a new one.

DR SOHAIL KIRMANIOntario, Canada

Comment 11

monday, 14 January, 2013

Editor’s mailSend your letters to: Letters to

Editor, Pakistan Today, 4-ShaareyFatima Jinnah, Lahore, Pakistan

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

Letters should be addressed to Pakistan Today exclusively

With the carnage of Quetta andSwat in perspective, a ques-tion that pops up is: at a time

when the US is withdrawing fromAfghanistan, why is Pakistan settingoff? At a juncture, when elections arejust around the corner, why has TahirulQadri decided to launch a long march?most importantly, what has causedPakistan’s military to change its threatperception after more than a decadefighting the war on terror?

There always were two main inter-pretations on what will happen once USwithdraws from Afghanistan.

One of these schools proclaimedthat once NATO forces pull out, themotivation for Afghan Taliban willwither away, and things will move backto normal. The same holds true for thePakistani and Punjabi Taliban residingin FATA and other parts of Pakistan.This has been a key position of nation-alists and conservative elements (Salafiand Deobandi) in Pakistan. Politicalparties such as the Pakistan’s Tehreek-e-insaf (PTi) has consistently favoureda political solution to the Afghan quag-mire that has spilled over in to thecountry. This approach and conceptu-alisation to Pakistan’s present political,economic and security challenges alsoholds that the threat Pakistan faces isprimarily external that desires to trig-ger a civil war within the country.

The other school believes that onceNATO troops depart from Afghanistan,islamist forces will get stronger, andthis will reinforce similar elements onthe Pakistani side of the border. Thesegroups include TTP and other looselyaffiliated sectarian militants, includingindian focused jihadists. This stance ispopular among the liberal elements

and ethnic minorities of Pakistan thathave repeatedly felt the brunt of deadlyand brutal extremist’s onslaught. Justlike US, india and Afghanistan, thisconstruct stipulates the threat Pakistanis facing mostly internal not external.

While Afghanistan reconciliation isin the works, NATO efforts are also un-derway to counter the risk posed byPakistan-based extremists to the re-gion and beyond. For these efforts towork, however, it has required the ac-quiescence of Pakistan’s military. inthis regard, the US has carried out along campaign convincing the nationthe danger it faces is not from outside,but from elements within the countrythat are also targeting NATO forces inAfghanistan. The unrelenting lobbyinghas now produced results, with Pak-istan assured of its role in the Afghanreconciliation, and Pakistan-india tiesnormalising, its military announced achange in its threat perception. Barelya week later, however, Pakistan-indiatensions are on the rise due to inci-dents on the LoC.

Coincidentally, shift in Pakistan’sthreat perception is accompanied by anincrease in drone strikes in FATAagainst both good and bad Taliban. An-other evidence of the policy shift wasthe elimination of mullah Nazir forwhich, other than the customary, therewas no strong reaction from the Pak-istan’s side. During his meeting withKarzai in Washington, PresidentObama stated that there was growingrecognition of the risk posed by the ex-tremists to Pakistan. Obviously, the ex-tremists sense this transformation andwill attempt to preempt it. The upsurgeof deadly attacks across Pakistan, espe-cially in Peshawar, Swat and Quetta,appear to be a part of this. Far frompublic awareness and media attention,a dangerous stage in Pakistan’s historymay have commenced.

With the war on terror transition-ing to a smarter and economical phase,President Obama also declared recentlythe Afghan dilemma could not be re-solved without Pakistan’s cooperation.2013 could prove to be a pivotal yearfor the nation with the elections to beheld soon. At the time of the writing ofthis piece, Tahirul Qadri’s long marchwas still on. There is a big questionmark about the timing of this rally withelections around the corner. moreover,one cannot overlook the link betweenthe next phase in Afghanistan and whocomes to power in Pakistan.

The design of the long march may

be to circumvent the nationalists fromsignificantly impacting the politics ofPakistan after the elections. in Poli-Tact’s assessment, a coalition of nation-alist and conservative islamic elements,otherwise, is highly probable in thecoming elections. These forces arestrongly opposed to Pakistan’s involve-ment in the war against terror anddrone strikes. Qadri’s long march couldchange this scenario and move the elec-tion results towards an alliance of lib-eral and moderate islamists(Sufi-Barelvi) as the country takes onthe groups posing the internal threat.

The thrust of this maneuver mayhave been to prevent an egypt likescenario playing out in nuclear-armedPakistan. it’s feared in egypt that theextremist islamists will eventuallyoutmaneuver the moderate islamiststo take a hold at the helms of power,the ultimate nightmare for the secu-rity perception of israel. The lessonfrom egypt is once such elements geta hold of power, it is extremely diffi-cult to dislodge them. The Gulf statesare also weary of muslim Brother-hood’s attempt to export Arab Springto their countries. The risks of such ascenario playing out in Pakistan aretoo high to be ignored.

The leaders of Jamaat-e-islami (Ji)in Pakistan travelled to egypt in June2011 for a four-day visit at the invita-tion of the chief of ikhwannul mus-limoon, Dr muhammad Badei.According to media reports, both sidesagreed to closer cooperation betweenislamic movements in different parts ofthe world. Such linkages and contactsare probably being closely watched.

For long-time, Western policieshave been driven by the threat of is-lamists taking over Pakistan’s nuclearweapons. moreover, if Pakistan was todistance itself from the war on terror,NATO’s emerging strategy would be en-dangered at a delicate stage – when thealliance is eager to exit Afghanistan. ina nutshell, as NATO withdraws, itwants Pakistan to take on the fightagainst extremist and militant elementswithin the country. Without politicaland public consensus, however, thisscenario can lead to increased polarisa-tion and towards a dreadful and deadlyprospect of a civil war.

The writer is chief analyst atPoliTact, a Washington based futuristadvisory firm (www.PoliTact.com andhttp:twitter.com/politact) and can bereached at aansar@politact.com

Threat within and withoutwhy is Pakistan igniting now?

By Arif Ansar

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12

i Love New Year brings the unique pairing of SunnyDeol and Kangana ranaut on the silver screen for thefirst time. Sunny fans will get to see their favouriteactor in a romantic film after a hiatus. (Deol was lastseen in Yamla Pagla Deewana). Director duo radhikarao and Vinay Sapru who only had Sunny Deol andKangana ranaut in mind for this film, share theirthoughts. "The film required a 42 year old man who isnot settled in life and how his world changes when hemeets someone who is his opposite. The film is setagainst the backdrop of New York on New Year's eveand the story is about how this man (Sunny Deol) fallsin love with Kangana and events unfold. The story isabout standardization and how due to it things unfold.For us, New York was the epitome of standardization.it's the generation of mc Donalds, malls, gadgets andmultiplexes. You see this in every part of the worldnow. So Sunny sir was the perfect choice. He's techsavvy, very up to date on what's happening aroundand a gadget freak! He has all the latest applicationson his phone. During shoot, he would show us and wewould be amazed. He's tuned in with today'sgeneration", say the two. Adding, "We've knownKangana for a long time. She's a homely, soft spokenand a romantic girl. We always kept her in mind whilewriting the script". NEws DEsk

As An ActRess, you hAve to Be veRy diplomAtic

AmriTA will be seen playing a journalistin Singh Sahab - The Great. About her ex-perience, she says, "i did a lot of research

and watched many news channels to pick up a re-porter's mannerisms, language and dressing style."And what is her opinion about the profession nowafter having played the character onscreen, weask? "i like the power that comes along with thisprofession, which is fascinating. As an actress, youdon't have that. You have to watch your words andbe diplomatic all the time. But being a mediaper-son, one can be more upfront. After getting toknow about this profession closely, i'm in awe ofjournalists," Amrita says, adding, "if i weren't anactress, i would have ventured into the field of ad-vertising or marketing. my father owns an adver-tising agency. it is a part of my personality. i amgood at marketing and promoting products."

on delhi gAng RApe

AFTer hearingabout the Delhigang rape case, the

actress says she is scared totravel alone. "i don't thinkany city in this country issafe for women. The gov-ernment hasn't made anyadequate plans and are nottaking any measures tosafeguard women. Ofcourse, i don't travel bylocal trains or cabs, but myfriends do, which is scary.Seeing the plight of womenthese days, i'm scared totravel alone. After the Delhiincident, i also read about arussian dancer being at-tacked and molested by afew men in mumbai. it is anational shame that womencan't walk around freely inthis country," Amrita says.

i Am A destiny's child

AmriTA, who gotnoticed after fea-turing in a coffee

ad, says she had alwayswanted to be an actress. "iwanted to act in films sincei was a little girl. i did notshare it with my parents,nor did i formally train my-self in the field of acting anddancing. in my early teens,i happened to audition for aTV commercial and thereon featured in several ads,which eventually led meinto films. i am a destiny'schild. i would watch Srideviand madhubala onscreenand try to emulate them,"Amrita shares, adding, "Buti lead a very simple life andi'm constantly in touch withmy friends and family. Thishelps me stay grounded."

looking foR mR peRfect

THe pretty ac-tress hasn'tbeen linked

with any of her co-starslately and is not heardto be dating anyone.What are the qualitiesshe looks for in her mrright? "For me, anideal man would beone who knows how tomake a woman laugh.He has to have a goodsense of humour. Also,i get attracted to a per-son's eyes. it is trulysaid that eyes lead tothe soul. Actors likeDev Anand and rajKapoor used to ro-mance women withtheir eyes,"Also, i getattracted to a person'seyes. Amrita says.

l IKE all other celebs who've come to Bhopal,Amrita Rao too can't stop gushing about thecity's beauty. She might be here for the first time,

but the petite actress says she's already fallen in lovewith Bhopal. "It was love at first sight for me. I instantlyfell in love with this beautiful city of lakes. There issomething about Bhopal that draws your attention to it.The rustic feel and serenity of the place has bowled meover. I would love to visit Bharat Bhavan sometime. Therich culture of the city is fascinating. I keep asking aboutall the places we drive past to my driver while going tothe set. If time permits, I would love to explore Bhopalfurther," Amrita says. TcOURTESy TOI

i'm giving up the diet:gwyneth pAltRowGwyneth Paltrow has revealed that instead ofgoing on a detox, she will be eating pasta andcheese this January. The 40-year-old actress,who is known for her macrobiotic diet andhealthy living, has decided to avoid diet thismonth, the Telegraph reported.The Oscar-winning star, who is married to singer Chrismartin, admitted that she can't stay on dietfor now and would like to continue with herpasta and cheese, but perhaps be moremindful of ingredients. The 'Sliding Doors'actor declined to reveal why she is spurningher usual January programme, but said thatshe may start up with it sometime later in theyear. NEws DEsk

BRAdley coopeR to tAkemom As dAte to oscARsBradley Cooper, who has been linked to reneeZellweger, Olivia Wilde and Jennifer Lopez inthe past, has revealed that his plus-one to theAcademy Awards is none other than motherGloria. The 38-year-old actor told e!News thatwhen he started the profession, his mom toldhim that if he ever gets nominated she wouldbe his date, Us Weekly reported. Cooperreceived a coveted nod for Best Actor duringOscar nominations announcement for his turnas former teacher Pat in 'Silver LiningsPlaybook'.The 38-year-old actor told e!Newsthat when he started the profession, his momtold him that if he ever gets nominated shewould be his date.NEws DEsk

dAughteR's hAndscRiBBle lucky chARmBen Affleck, who unexpectedly missed out on anOscar nomination for Best Director on Thursday,has found a lucky charm in his daughter's handscribble. The 40-year-old director stunnedHollywood insiders, critics, peers and fans after hefailed to make it to the nomination in the categoryfor his movie 'Argo'. A few hours later, the 'Good WillHunting' star was again left shocked when he wasnamed Best Director at the Critics' Choice Awards inSanta monica, California and he credited hisdaughters hand scribble as his lucky charm, theDaily express reported. Affleck believed he hasfound a good luck charm courtesy of his daughter,who scribbled 'Ben' on the back of her dad's hand ashe left home to attend the awards show. NEws DEsk

Indian cinemaintegrates people,says amitabhmegastar Amitabh Bachchan is upset howindian cinema is being "accused of variousfaults". Defending the same, he says it is thelone entity in the world that integrates peopleunder one roof. "many people have criticisedindian cinema and accused it of various faultsand frailties that we have, but i do believe thatwhen we sit inside a cinema hall to watch a film,we never ask the caste, the creed and the colouror the religion of the person who is sitting nextto me (us)," said Amitabh. He spoke at thevaledictory function of a conference oninternational Commerce and management atUniversity of mumbai, which has bestowedupon a special honour on him for his

contribution to cinema.The veteran says films

are a rare mediumwhich binds people

from all over. "Weenjoy the samejokes, we enjoythe same music,we cry at thesame emotionsand i do feel thatthere are very few

institutions left inthis world that can

say or claim of thiskind of integration

that exists inside thecinema hall.

"Therefore, i feel thatthe cinema today is one

entity that is left in thisworld, which under one roofintegrates people, rather

than divides them, aswe can see

happening sooften and

almosteveryday,"he added.NEws DEsk

sunny & kAngAnA's film BAsed on stAndARdisAtion

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13

on the ‘giRl who got Bin lAden’jessica chastainhad aremarkableyear in 2011 —bursting ontothe scene withan oscar-nominated rolein the help —and didn’t slowdown in 2012.she tops off abusy year witha oscar-nominated turnin zero darkthirty, in widerelease jan. 11.she plays maya,a ciA operativebased on a realperson,dedicated tofollowing thelead that wouldeventuallyguide agents toosama binladen. maya isprofessionallyunemotional,but that doesn’tmean chastaindidn’t bringstrong feelingsto the part. theactress spoke totime aboutwhat shelearned alongthe way.

the mAking of zeRo dARk thiRty wAs topsecRet. wAs theRe Anything in pARticulARthAt wAs ReAlly hARd to keep secRet BefoRethe movie wAs scReened?it’s hard not to talk about the part iwas playing. i wanted to scream itfrom the rooftops that there was awoman that really should beacknowledged and celebrated. Thewonderful thing about making thismovie is, because she’s an undercoverCiA agent who can’t get credit for thewonderful work she did, in a way it’slike thanking her and giving her creditanonymously.

do you hope she sees the movie?Yeah. Absolutely.

how did you feel ABout the fAct thAt she’s RefeRRed to As A “giRl” despite whAt she’s doing?That line at the very end of the movie,where you’ve seen her for close to adecade, the sacrifices she’s made, theservitude of this mission, and sheidentifies the body and the guy says“100%” — and, for me, i was like, Yes,finally, someone is 100% [sure] likemaya — and then he says “the girlconfirmed it.” right in the momentwhere you think she’s going to getcredit, he doesn’t even use her name.even at the end of the film aftereverything she’s accomplished, she’s stillreferred to as the girl. i don’t think that’sa mistake in the writing, but also i don’t

think that’s a mistake in hisresearch. i imagine that

when [mark Boal] waslearning about her, shewas probably referred toas “the girl.”

it’s so inteResting thAttheRe’s so little of mAyA’speRsonAl life in the movie.

weRe youR ideAs ABout heRBAckgRound just thepRoduct of youR

imAginAtion, oR did youdiscuss it with

kAthRyn BigelowAnd mARk BoAl?There’s littleabout herpersonal lifebecause thereal womandid not have apersonal life.However, ihad to createwhere i camefrom, and yousee little cluesin the movieof a personallife, of ashadow ofwho m ayawas beforethis. You seea screensaver, yousee inislamabadthere’s a

drawing made by a child hanging inher room, so there are little bits of thepersonal that have been added thatcome from my imagination that wentalong the lines of “this kind of makessense with who this woman could havebeen.” i had to know as an actor wheream i coming from and where am igoing. You can’t end the movie and notknow where you started.

how did you BAlAnce, in coming up with thAtBAckstoRy, Being “the giRl” And Also Being A“killeR”?i love that scene, because they’retalking about “isn’t she young?” and hesays that in D.C. she’s known as thekiller. if you take each scene, there areso many clues about who this womanis. She’s known in D.C. She’s recruitedright out of high school. All that saysshe’s never been in an environmentlike this before, but also it means she’sreally good at what she does backhome. is she going to find her wayhere? it also says she’s younger thanthey’ve ever really gone before, so whydid they send her out? What does shehave that makes her a rock star in thefield? every scene in the movie hadlittle clues like that.

i heARd you BRought pRop pictuRes ofteRRoRists home with you to get inchARActeR. weRe theRe otheR wAys in whichyou BRought mAyA home duRing the filming?i guess the idea of being cut off fromfriends and family. i didn’t go allmethod and tell my family, “i’m notgoing to talk to you guys for sixmonths.” i think that’s a bit extremefor me to do; i don’t imagine everdoing that. But it was a very lonelyexistence. i’m someone that has avery close relationship with myfriends and family, so to be so faraway from everyone and to be in thatpart of the world where if i would goto a restaurant with three actors fromthe film in a very nice hotel inAmman, Jordan, which is supposedto be pretty liberal, they wouldn’t giveme a menu — all of that kind of thingreally fed the fire of what maya wasliving in. i know when i left, it waslike, back in America, what is goingon, what do i do now?

whAt wAs the Biggest souRce of cultuReshock when you cAme BAck?What i found is how clean everythingis. You know that scene where you firstsee maya go into her office and there’sthat dust? That was something we justdiscovered. We were in an area —Chandigarh in india, about three hoursfrom Pakistan by driving — andeverything is dusty, no matter whatyou do. i kept trying to clean the area,and it would get another layer of dust.You can see in the film that we didn’tmake this movie in the United States.even the dust, it changes the lighting.hAve you felt As suRe ABout something AsmAyA does ABout heR leAd?i was sure i was going to be an actorwhen i was a kid. At 8 years old i waslike, “i’m an actor,” and people go,“O.K., yeah, i used to want to be aballerina.” it’s like, You’re not listeningto me, but i’m right. i did feel thatabout acting. And i was right!

you’ve sAid thAt you spent A long time ReAdingABout the wAR on teRRoR As ReseARch. whichBook would you Recommend most?The Looming Tower. That book isincredible. it’s not just about Osamabin Laden. everything that led to9/11. And then what i found to be themost helpful book was michaelScheuer’s book on Osama bin Laden.There was so much about him that ihad no idea of.

Anything pARticulARly suRpRising?i was shocked by how generous binLaden was financially with people.Whenever they needed money, hewould give it to them. in the book it

talked about him as a child. He wouldbe in a taxi and the driver would be

listening to music that he found tobe inappropriate for his sister,

so he would demand theyturn the music off. This is

all information mayawould have known

about him.

Actress Anne hathaway and her husband Adam shulmancelebrated her oscar nomination by screaming andcrying. the 30-year-old received a Best supportingActress nomination for playing fantine in " lesmiserables". "i was just in bed and i was watching tv andthey said my name. he was screaming louder than me! ithink we might have scared the dog. i cried a lot and hehugged me and we kissed. it was really sweet,"eonline.com quoted hathaway as saying. NEWS DESK

Anne hAthAwAy

Kylie quits singing to concentrate on actingkylie Minogue, who recently ended her relationship withTerry Blamey - who launched her into showbusiness -has called a halt to her music career just days after theend of celebrations of her 25th year as a singer. The 44-year-old singer shocked her friends by splitting from herlong-term manager Terry Blamey, who helped launchher into showbusiness when she was 19. It is claimedthat the Aussie was upset over tensions betweenTerry and her dad, the Mirror reported. She hasnow decided to concentrate on acting for theforeseeable future and take a break frommusic. According to a source close to her,kylie's decision to stop recording for thetime being and part company with Terryhas come as a massive shock. Ever sincethe singer broke into the charts in the80s, Terry has been the manbehind the scenes. But nowkylie wants to pull backfrom the pressures thatcome with a musiccareer, the sourceadded. NEWS DESK

News Desk

Katie Price, who called ofher engagement toArgentine model LeandroPenna just 11 weeks ago,has revealed that she is nowbetrothed to stripper KieranHayler. The 34-year-oldmodel told the Sun onSunday that she hadsecretly accepted the 25-year-old's proposal overdinner on Christmasfollowing a whirlwindromance, the Daily mailreported.The former wife of cagefighter Alex reid'sengagement comes just amonth after the couple wentpublic with their romance.The duo had confirmed thatthey were dating by postingphotos of them kissing ontheir respective Twitterpages.

hoBBit fAllsvictim tovideo piRAcy

The Hobbit: AnUnexpected Journey, whichcost an estimated 663 milliondollars to make and has beendubbed the most expensivemovie ever produced, wasput up for free and illegal,download by a website. Thewebsite offered 230 versionsof Peter Jacksons movie onthe net on Saturday,Stuff.co.nz reported. Oneuser uploaded two versionsof The Hobbit: AnUnexpected Journey and bySaturday, downloads of thefilm from the personsaccount had topped 180,000.The uploader wrote that theyhad spent time trying to ridthe supplied clip of a series ofwatermarks, which wereadded to preview copies in abid to reduce the risk ofpiracy. Some of thewatermarks were numbers,but others included codewhich appeared randomly onscreen in 20 spots, whichwere difficult to spot if notlooking for. NEws DEsk

kAtie pRiceengAged to stRippeR

TcOURTESy TIMES

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14Infotainment

monday, 14 January, 2013

john walker lindh winsprison prayer suit

AN American convicted of fighting alongsidethe Taliban must be allowed to pray daily ina group with other muslim inmates at his

high-security prison in indiana, a federal judgeruled yesterday. Barring John Walker Lindh and hisfellow muslims from engaging in daily group ritualprayer violates a 1993 law that bans the governmentfrom curtailing religious speech without showing acompelling interest, wrote US District Judge Janemagnus-Stinson. The judge blocked the prison fromenforcing its ban on daily group prayer, but shenoted that her ruling does not prohibit the prisonfrom taking less restrictive security measures.Group prayers had been allowed once a week and onhigh holy days such as ramadan or Christmas in theprison unit where Lindh was housed, theCommunications management Unit in Terre Haute.But at other times, inmates had to pray alone intheir cells. Lindh said that didn’t meet the Koran’srequirements, and that the Hanbali school of islamto which he adheres requires him to pray daily withother muslims. The prison, which maintains the groupprayers are a security risk, might appeal. NEwS DESK

Family quarrels add intrigueto lottery winner’s deathin the week since news surfaced that aChicago man was poisoned to death withcyanide just before he was to collect a lotterypayout, surprising details about his convo-luted family saga have trickled out daily.

Urooj Khan's widow and siblings foughtfor months over the businessman's estate,including the lottery check. His father-in-lawowed tens of thousands of dollars in taxes.His 17-year-old daughter from a previousmarriage had moved out of her stepmom'shome and into his sister's after his death.Then his ex-wife came forward, announcingin anguish that she hadn't seen her daughterin more than a decade and hadn't evenknown she was still in the U.S.

The slowly emerging family backstoryand ever-expanding cast of characters haveadded layers of intrigue to a baffling case inwhich authorities have revealed little andeveryone is wondering: Who did it?

The victim's relatives hint at family

squabbles. And Khan's wife, Shabana Ansari,has endured clutches of reporters outside thefamily home and business, asking evenwhether it was a lamb or beef curry dinnershe made for Khan on the night he died.

Khan seemed to be living the Americandream. He had come to the U.S. from hishome in Hyderabad, india, in 1989, settingup several dry-cleaning businesses and buy-ing into some real-estate investments.

Despite having foresworn gambling aftera pilgrimage to mecca in 2010, Khan boughta ticket in June. He jumped "two feet in theair" and shouted, "i hit a million," he recalledat a lottery ceremony later that month.

He said winning the lottery meant every-thing to him and that he planned to use hiswinnings to pay off mortgages, expand hisbusiness and donate to St. Jude's Children'sresearch Hospital. He was just days from re-ceiving his winnings when he died beforedawn on July 20. NEwS DESK

nearly half of planet’sfood ends up in the trash

Anew report out outlines the “staggering”amount of food wasted around the globe eachyear: as much as 50% of what’s produced.

The UK’s institution of mechanical engineersestimates that between 1.3 billion and 2.2 billion tonsof the 4.4 billion tons produced each year “neverreaches a human stomach.” it lays the blame on arange of factors, from perfectly edible crops rejectedby supermarkets because they fail to meet cosmeticappearance standards to overly strict sell-by dates,reports the Guardian. America’s love of couponingprobably doesn’t help, either: The report also targetssales that encourage consumers to buy multiples of agiven product; the perishable ones often meet atrash-can fate. in the case of third-world anddeveloping countries, inefficient harvesting andstorage contribute to the figure. And waste begetswaste: As much as 550 billion cubic meters of wateris used on crops that end up in the trash. NEwS DESK

Aaron swartz suicide: Reddit co-founder dead at 26

reDDiT co-founder and internet activistAaron Swartz committed suicide in NewYork on Friday, miT’s The Tech reports.

Swartz’s death was confirmed to the newspaper byhis uncle, michael Wolf, and attorney, elliot r.Peters. Swartz co-founded Demand Progress, whichplayed a key role in the fight against SOPA. He wasalso a co-founder of the Progressive ChangeCampaign Committee. Swartz was charged in July2011 with felony hacking, accused of stealing millionsof documents from online research outlet JSTOr.Swartz pled not guilty in September 2012, but wasstill facing a possible prison sentence, ZDNet reports.Demand Progress’s executive director wrote in 2011,“it’s like trying to put someone in jail for allegedlychecking too many books out of the library.” NEwS DESK

man mauled by Bronx zootiger pleads not guilty

Aman who jumped into a tiger den at theBronx Zoo and was mauled by a 400-poundanimal told police, “everyone makes

choices,” a court complaint says.David Villalobos, 25, of mahopac, was arraignedFriday in a Bronx courthouse and pleaded notguilty to trespassing charges. On September 21,Villalobos jumped from a monorail train that toursthe zoo’s Wild Asia exhibit. He cleared a 16-foot-high fence and was attacked and dragged by aSiberian tiger named Bashuta.Villalobos suffered bites on his arms, legs,shoulders and back. He also had a broken rightshoulder, right rib, right ankle and pelvis and acollapsed lung. in the complaint, police Sgt. Petermonopoli says that when Villalobos was asked whyhe jumped, he said, “everyone makes choices andwe have our reasons in life why we do things.”He told another investigator, “i was testing mynatural fear, you would not understand,” thecomplaint says. “it is a spiritual thing, i wanted tobe at one with the tiger.”Villalobos was alone with the tiger for about 10minutes before he was rescued by workers whoused a fire extinguisher to chase the animal away.Zoo director Jim Breheny said at the time, “Thetiger did nothing wrong. ... somebody wasdeliberately trying to endanger themselves.”Breheny would not comment Friday on whetherthe tiger was still at the zoo or whether any safetyprocedures had been changed since the attack.Villalobos’ attorney, Corey Sokoler, would notcomment directly on the case but described hisclient as “a very intelligent young man.”“He knows and i know this is a very interestinghuman interest story and people have a lot ofquestions,” Sokoler said. Villalobos returns tocourt march 12. NEwS DESK

Afederal advisory panel hasdelivered its assessmenton climate change, and it’snot pretty. expect hottertemperatures and more

“extreme weather events” across theUS in coming decades, says thepanel of 240 scientists and other ex-perts, reports the Hill.

“These changes are part of thepattern of global climate change,which is primarily driven by humanactivity,” says the draft report of theNational Climate Assessment. Somehighlights of the report include:

It’s a problem now“Climate change, once considered

an issue for a distant future, has movedfirmly into the present,” says the re-port. “Americans are noticing changesall around them. Summers are longerand hotter, and periods of extremeheat last longer than any living Amer-ican has ever experienced. Winters aregenerally shorter and warmer.”

Severe weather“Certain types of weather events

have become more frequent and/orintense, including heat waves, heavydownpours, and, in some regions,floods and droughts. Sea level is ris-ing, oceans are becoming moreacidic, and glaciers and arctic sea iceare melting.”

How much hotter?most of the US will be 2 to 4

degrees Fahrenheit hotter over thecoming decades, says the report.Under current emissions,temperatures could rise a

staggering 5 to 10 degrees by 2100.The report does not make rec-

ommendations on how to fix things,notes the LA Times, but environ-mentalists and their legislative back-ers hope the forecast will prompt theWhite House to move.

“The findings in the report are athree-alarm fire,” says Democraticcongressman Henry Waxman. Thelast assessment came out in 2009,and “evidence for a changing climatehas strengthened considerably”since then, say the authors, reportsNPr. NEwS DESK

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monday, 14 January, 2013

ADELAIDEESPNCRICINFO

Sri Lanka’s coach GrahamFord expected far betterfrom his men after an abjectdisplay in the first ODi, andin Adelaide they duly deliv-

ered. A highly disciplined bowling en-semble laid bare Australian frailtyagainst the seaming ball before LahiruThirimanne anchored a comfortablechase on a tacky pitch in the secondmatch of the series at Adelaide Oval.

The visitors lost Upul Tharanga in thefirst over of their chase but were largelyuntroubled thereafter, as the surfaceeased after earlier offering helpful seammovement for Sri Lanka’s bowlers. Thir-imanne reached a deserved century bycutting Xavier Doherty backward of pointfor the winning runs with eight wicketsand 59 balls to spare, having been accom-panied for much of the pursuit by an un-characteristically reserved TillakaratneDilshan.

Particular praise was also due toNuwan Kulasekara and Angelo mathews,who took the new balls and set Australiaon the defensive by moving the ball justenough through the air and off the seam,while keeping the runs down. Lasith ma-linga and Thisara Perera then followed upwith wickets of their own. Named in placeof the injured Dinesh Chandimal, thedebut gloveman Kushal Perera keptwicket neatly and held four catches.

Besides their problems with seamfriendly conditions reminiscent of eng-land, Australia were discomforted furtherby Brad Haddin’s struggles with an ap-parent hamstring strain, which began toaffect him during the latter stages of arearguard innings of 50 and then forceda regular dialogue with the team physioAlex Kountouris in the early overs of theevening session. eventually Haddin sur-rendered to the injury, leaving PhillipHughes to take up duties as Australia’smakeshift gloveman for the second timethis summer. The hosts can expect theirteam to be significantly reinforced whenthe national selector John inveraritynames the squad for the next two

matches of the series, having started wellin melbourne but fallen away badly inAdelaide.

After Tharanga’s early departure to aClint mcKay delivery angled across him,Dilshan and Thirimanne played withgood sense and shot selection. Dilshanhad one LBW appeal by Doherty referredto the third umpire, but the television ev-idence proved too marginal for an over-turned verdict.SMART STATS: Sri lanka’s win is their 15th against

Australia in ODIs played in Australia. Seven of their

15 wins have come in matches played since Novem-

ber 2010.

g The eight-wicket win is level with Sri lanka’s

best performance against Australia in ODI chases.

Three of their four eight-wicket wins have come in

ODIs in Australia.

g The number of balls remaining after the win (59)

is the second-highest for Sri lanka in ODIs against

Australia played in Australia. The highest is 101 in

Sydney in 2012. lahiru Thirimanne’s century is only

the fifth by a Sri lankan batsman in a chase against

Australia (second in Adelaide). Aravinda de Silva has

scored two centuries in chases.

g The 137-run stand between Thirimanne and

Tillakaratne Dilshan is the second-highest second-

wicket partnership for Sri lanka against Australia.

The highest is 163 between Sanath Jayasuriya and

Kumar Sangakkara in Sydney in 2006.

They were not to be separated untilonly a further 34 runs were required. Bythat point Australia had lost Haddin andalso the bowling of the debutant Kanerichardson, who followed up a first ballduck with the bat by suffering the ig-nominy of being drummed out of the bowl-ing attack for repeatedly running on thepitch in his follow through. it is a problemthat will require some technical work tocorrect.

The first indication that Australia werenot at their sharpest came in the openingover when Aaron Finch clipped the ballstraight to square leg and set off for a single- Phillip Hughes would have been out byyards had the ball found stumps or wicket-keeper. Fortunate there, Finch was to beout for his second low score in as manymatches and again fell to a tentative stroke,pushing mathews to short cover after hehad nudged Ajantha mendis into the wick-etkeeper’s gloves at the mCG.

Hughes struggled to find the fluencyhe had managed while making a centuryon debut, and was pinned in front of thestumps by Kulasekara, wasting Australia’sonly review on a ball that pitched in lineand would have taken middle and off.David Hussey and George Bailey brieflysteadied the innings in a stand of 39, butthe stand-in captain’s fortunate stay, punc-tuated by numerous edges, was endedwhen he pulled malinga to midwicketwhere Thirimanne held a decent catch.

Steve Smith, brought in for UsmanKhawaja, hinted at fluency during hisbrief stay but drove loosely at a Perera de-

livery that seamed back into him and wastaken behind. To this point Hussey hadlooked the most composed of the bats-men, but his run out in another mix-upand a neat mathews leg cutter to removeGlenn maxwell, put Australia in deeptrouble.

Cutting and Haddin resisted for 15overs and 57 runs, the former showingglimpses of the batting skill he haddemonstrated for Queensland over thepast two summers. eventually malinga’space and unique angle drew an edge fromCutting, and next ball his fellow debutantrichardson was flummoxed by a dipping

slower ball and pinned LBW.Clint mcKay averted the hat-trick but

then fell victim to a decision overturnedfor reasons known only to the third um-pire richard Kettleborough, for replaysshowed no solid evidence of an edge be-hind from Perera’s bowling, and HotSpotwas no more revealing.

The last man Doherty’s arrival movedHaddin to swing a mighty six into themembers Stand. He picked out mid-wicket when trying to repeat the shotfrom mendis, leaving the hosts with asorry total that would quickly prove to beinadequate.

Thirimanne guides Sri Lanka to resounding winAUSTRAlIA

AJ Finch c BMAJ Mendis b Mathews 4

PJ Hughes lbw b Kulasekara 3

GJ Bailey* c Thirimanne b Malinga 26

DJ Hussey run out (Dilshan) 29

SPD Smith c †MDKJ Perera b NlTC Perera 8

GJ Maxwell c †MDKJ Perera b Mathews 8

BJ Haddin† c Thirimanne b BAw Mendis 50

BCJ Cutting c †MDKJ Perera b Malinga 27

Kw Richardson lbw b Malinga 0

CJ McKay c †MDKJ Perera b NlTC Perera 4

XJ Doherty not out 5

EXTRAS (b 1, lb 1, w 4) 6

TOTAl 170

FAll OF wICKETS 1-7 (Finch, 3.3 ov), 2-12 (Hughes, 6.6 ov), 3-

51 (Bailey, 16.4 ov), 4-60 (Smith, 19.1 ov), 5-82 (Hussey, 23.5 ov),

6-83 (Maxwell, 24.1 ov), 7-140 (Cutting, 39.2 ov), 8-140

(Richardson, 39.3 ov), 9-146 (McKay, 41.5 ov), 10-170 (Haddin,

46.5 ov)

BOwlING

KMDN Kulasekara 9-0-24-1, AD Mathews 10-1-24-2,

NlTC Perera 9-0-40-2, Sl Malinga 9-0-32-3, BAw Mendis 7.5-

0-41-1, BMAJ Mendis 2-0-7-0

SRI lANKA

wU Tharanga c †Haddin b McKay 0

TM Dilshan c Maxwell b Cutting 51

HDRl Thirimanne not out 102

MDKJ Perera† not out 14

EXTRAS (lb 3, w 2) 5

TOTAl 172

DID NOT BAT DPMD Jayawardene*, AD Mathews, BMAJ Mendis,

NlTC Perera, KMDN Kulasekara, Sl Malinga, BAw Mendis

FAll OF wICKETS 1-0 (Tharanga, 0.3 ov), 2-137 (Dilshan, 33.4 ov)

BOwlING

CJ McKay 10-0-43-1, Kw Richardson 6-3-15-0, BCJ Cutting 10-

0-42-1, XJ Doherty 7-0-34-0, SPD Smith 4-0-16-0, GJ Maxwell

3.1-0-19-0

Match details

Toss Sri lanka, who chose to field

Series 5-match series level 1-1

ODI debuts BCJ Cutting and Kw Richardson (Australia); MDKJ

Perera (Sri lanka)

Player of the match HDRl Thirimanne (Sri lanka)

Umpires M Erasmus (South Africa) and SD Fry

TV umpire RA Kettleborough (England)

Match referee J Srinath (India)

Reserve umpire PR Reiffel

SCOREBOARD

former Indiaallrounder Surtidies at 76

SpoRTS DESK

Former india all-rounder rusi Surti,76, died this morn-ing in mumbai. TheQueensland, Aus-tralia-based Surtihad been put on lifesupport in hospitalafter scans revealedhe had suffered amassive stroke.

Surti, often called the “poor man’s GarrySobers”, played 26 Tests for india from1960 to 1969 before settling in Australia. Herepresented Queensland 35 times in theSheffield Shield and also played for Gujaratand rajasthan in the ranji Trophy.A sound left-hand batsman, a left-armbowler who could bowl either medium-paceor spin and an outstanding fielder, Surtirendered valuable service to indian cricketalmost throughout the 1960s. He scored1263 Test runs at an average of 28.70 and ahighest score of 99 while also taking 42wickets at 46.71.Having debuted against Pakistan in mum-bai, Surti peaked on the tour of Australiaand New Zealand in 1967-68. in the eightTests he was the most successful run-getterwith 688 runs at 45.50 and also picked up22 wickets. in the fourth and final Testagainst New Zealand at Auckland, he wasout for 99 which remained his highest Testscore. Back home, Surti played two moreTests against New Zealand and one againstAustralia in 1969-70.

SpoRTS DESK

Henry Williams, the former SouthAfrica bowler who was involved in theHansie Cronje match-fixing case, hasadmitted he was never offered a specificamount of money to fix games but hadtold a different story to the King Com-mission in 2000. Williams was bannedfor six months after the investigationbut did not play for South Africa again.

At the inquiry, Williams testifiedthat he had been offered US$ 15,000from his captain Cronje to concedemore than 50 runs in his 10 overs in thefifth ODi between South Africa andindia in Nagpur. The same amount ofmoney had been offered to HerschelleGibbs to score less than 20 runs. How-ever, while speaking to eSPNcricinfoduring the practice match between theSouth African invitation Xi and theNew Zealanders in Paarl two weeks ago,Williams claimed that no such detailswere discussed. instead Cronje hadjoked with Gibbs and him, according toWilliams, who said they were later con-vinced to pad up their stories for theKing Commission.

in the match in question, Williamsinjured his shoulder and only bowled 11balls while Gibbs scored 74, and neitherreceived any money. Williams admittedto being afraid of what might have hap-pened to him and that he thinks therewas a lot of pressure to produce a moredetailed story to prove Cronje’s guilt. “it

was serious then, and after that ithought, alright, life must go on: it can’tstop,” he said. “But at that particularmoment there was fear.

“When we testified to our lawyerswhat the story really was, they came upwith a threat that we could be prosecutedfor doing something like this. So itmeans we actually lied to our lawyers,who had to tell another story to get tosomebody. i believe that was to get toCronje and whoever was involved in this.

“i had never been in a court before.

We gave our Senior Counsel the story.We had to come back and testify to theKing commission - a different story. idon’t know if we were forced to lie to getto somebody else. i’m still confusedtoday. “When people ask me i will tellthem the truth. i’ll say, ‘That’s what isaid to my lawyers; what really hap-pened’. Then, to the King commission,a different story. i don’t know why, be-cause we were forced by the prosecu-tion. i didn’t know what the hell washappening, what can happen to me. Soi came up with a different story.”

The version of the story Williamssaid is true was never heard by the KingCommission, but he did expand on thedetails of what happened, almost 13years later. “By the time i was in theshower [the morning of the Nagpurmatch], i heard Cronje in the roomspeaking to Herschelle but i don’t knowwhat they are talking about.

“When i put my shirt over my head,he [Cronje] said, ‘Hey, let’s throw thisgame’. i said, ‘Ja, let’s throw this game’.Because now he’s smiling with me andi’m smiling with him - if you’re going tobullshit me i’m going to bullshit you, sofine. There was nothing involved.

“At lunchtime, he [Cronje] came tome and said, ‘We scored too many runs’.i looked at him and said, ‘What do youmean?’ He said, ‘Guys, the deal is off’. isaid, ‘So what?’ He never spoke to usabout money - you’re going to get thisand you must go for that.”

witness says he told fixinginquiry ‘different story’

former Sri lankawicketkeeper deAlwis dies at 52

SpoRTS DESK

Former Sri Lanka wicketkeeper Guy deAlwis, 52, died on Saturday night after abattle with cancer. De Alwis is the fourth*Test cricketer from Sri Lanka to passaway after Sritharan Jeganathan, Anuraranasinghe and roshan Guneratne.He represented Sri Lanka in 11 Tests and31 ODis from 1983 to 1988. De Alwistopped his country’s batting averages inthe 1983 World Cup with 167 runs at55.66, including unbeaten half-centuriesagainst Pakistan and england.“When Guy felt pain in his stomach inthe first week of November (2012) he un-derwent a biopsy test. it was then re-vealed that he had cancer in hispancreas,” said Ken, de Alwis’ brother.“The doctors said it was too late to doanything. Arjuna (ranatunga) came tohis help and through him we managed toseek ayurvedic treatment. He was undertreatment till his death.”De Alwis, who like ranatunga, played forthe Sinhalese Sports Club, served in SriLanka Cricket’s interim committeeheaded by the former captain in 2008.He was also a former chairman of selec-tors and secretary.“Guy was not only a committed cricketerbut a person who fought for justice,”ranatunga said. “As a selector he was notafraid to pick players on merit. As an ad-ministrator he was strongly against cor-ruption and went to a great extent to tryand eliminate it. He was one of the bestwicketkeepers produced by Sri Lanka.”

LHR 14-01-2013_Layout 1 1/14/2013 5:41 AM Page 16

Sports 16

monday, 14 January, 2013

LAHoRE STAFF REPORT

One of the world’s leading spinners SaeedAjmal on Saturday night was given a spe-cial prize for being the Best Bowler of theYear at the PCB First Annual Awards heldat a local hotel.

Ajmal accepted his Trophy from ZakaAshraf and iCC CeO David richardson.

Ajmal said: “Around the cricketingworld, Pakistan over the years has beenknown for its bowling attack. To benamed the best for the year from such aspecial group… for me this is an out ofthis world. it took me 16 years to reach at

this point in my life. i donate all the prizemoney to my newly inaugurated academyin Faisalabad.”

Ajmal was among the 18 players andofficials who were awarded trophies andcash prizes for their outstanding per-formance in the first-even awards con-ducted by the PCB.

Ajaml was not only given the specialaward but was also declared the bestbowler of T20, ODis and Tests.

each winner was given gets rs200,000 cash prize with the trophy whileAjmal as gets the Special Prize for theBest Bowler of the year with cash awardof rs 1,500,000.

Ajmal wins special Prize for Best Bowler of the Year

lAHore: Saeed Ajmal, who won Special Prize for the best bowler of the year, gets his trophy from Zaka Ashraf and David richardson. sTAFF PHOTO

Curator of the Year: Haji Mohammad Bashir

Umpire of the Year: Ahsan Raza

Deaf Cricketer of the Year: Mohammad Shakeel

Blind Cricketer of the Year: Mohammad Jamil

woman Cricketer of the Year: Sana Mir

Most Valuable Domestic Bowler: Zulfiqar Babar

Most Valuable Domestic Batsman: Haris Sohail

Emerging Player of the Year: Junaid Khan

T 20 (Int) Bowler of the Year: Saeed Ajmal

T 20 (Int) Batsman of the Year: Nasir Jamshed

ODI Bowler of the Year: Saeed Ajmal

ODI Batsman of the Year: Nasir Jamshed

Test Bowler of the Year: Saeed Ajmal

Test Batsman of the Year: Azhar Ali

Player of the Year: Mohammad Hafeez

life Time Achievement Award: Hanif Mohammad

life Time Achievement Award: Imtiaz Ahmed

Special Prize for Best Bowler of the Year: Saeed Ajmal

list of all PCB First Annual Awards

LAHoRESTAFF REPORT

in the Shezan international-backed 2ndQuaid-e-Azam Open Golf Championshipcontested at the Lahore Gymkhana GolfCourse over 54 holes, matloob Ahmed ofGarrison Golf Club emerged as the titlewinner after successfully curbing thecharge of champions like m. munir (UFone) and Shabbir iqbal (islamabad) .Throughout the final round matloobAhmed remained a champion in commandand it was only for a few moments in thefinal go that munir looked like taking overfrom the ultimate winner but steady andconsistently classy play won the day andthe occasion for matloob. He ended thechampionship with an aggregate score of205, eleven under par as against a score of208 by m. munir. matloob looked like achampion delighted with his own perform-ance and when he putted the final 18thhole, and stated: “i consider myself a veryfortunate man today as i have won theQuaid Title”. He further said that theGymkhana Golf Course was in great shapeand the perfect roll on the greens certainlywent to my advantage.

The Top Position holders were mat-loon Ahmed (U Fone) 66+68+71=205;

mohammed munir (islamabad)66+70+72=208; Shabbir iqbal (islam-abad) 73+68+70=211; Kamran Shafiq(Gymkhana) 73+68+72=213; imdadHussian (Garrison) 70+70+76=216; m.Safdar Khan (Gujranwala)69+73+75=217. in the amateur sectionthe gross winner was Salman Jehangirwhile Asma Afzal Shami emerged as thetop lady, stunning Ghazala Yasmin andplaying steadily to appear as a maturegolfer of substance. Other results; LadiesSection; Shahzadi Gulfam, 1st Net;Sameea Javed Ali, 2nd Net; Tehminarashid, 3rd Net; mrs. Asma Afzal Shami,1st Gross; Ghazala Yasmee, 2nd Gross;

Nushmiya Sukhera, 3rd Gross. results; Vetrans Section; Javed A.

Zia, 1st Net; raja m. Nazir, 2nd Net;Javed Hameed, 3rd Net; Col. Abdul Ghaf-far, 1st Gross; Brig (r) Farooq A. Khan,2nd Gross; maj (r) U. D. Najmi, 3rdGross.

results; Seniors Section; Asad Niaz,1st Net; m Shafique Bhatti, 2nd Net; ish-faq Khalid, 3rd Net; Lt. Col Asif mehdi,1st Gross; Javed A Khan, 2nd Gross;Abdul Qayyum rashid, 3rd Gross.

results; Amateurs Section; UsmanSaleem Cheema, 1st Net; Dr. Arshadmehmood, 2nd Net; Hamza mansoor,3rd Net; Salman Jehangir, 1st Gross;rabin Bagh, 2nd Gross; muhammadrahman, 3rd Gross. Amongs the SeniorProfessionals, Shoukat Ali acheived thefirst position followed by Ghulam Nabi,manzoor Ahmed and Asghar Ali, all at thesecond position. At the conclusion of thechampionship the prizes were awarded bymuneer Nawaz, Chairman Shezan inter-naitonal, in a grand prize distribution cer-emony attended by m. S. Jaujua, WaseemA. mehmood, mian misbah-ur-rehman,Amer mehmood, Agha Pervez, mian Per-vez Bhandara . parlimentarian ArifaParvez and a large number of participat-ing golfers.

poRT ELIZABETH

wATLiNG and Brown-lie have battled wellin the last session ofthe day and they willonly wish there was-

n’t so much time left in this Test beforepressing it for a draw. But things couldhave gone worse after those two wicketsin successive balls off Kleinveldt. Onlymunro to come after this so these two willhave to extend their concentration andhard work on monday. NZ still behind by247 at the close ofplay on Sunday.

earlier, New Zealand battled to 64 fortwo in their follow-on innings, still 340runs behind South Africa, at tea on thethird day of the second test at St. George’sPark on Sunday.

The tourists showed far more deter-mination with the bat than they had intheir first innings when they subsided to121 all out in reply to the top-rankedhosts’s 525-8 declared.

martin Guptill held the second in-nings together with 40 not out off 101balls while Dean Brownlie had yet toscore when the tea break arrived.

Left-arm spinner robin Petersoncaptured the two wickets to fall duringthe session when he trapped BrendonmcCullum (11) leg-before to leave NewZealand on 40 for one before he bowled

Kane Williamson (11) just before thebreak with a delivery that kept low.

Peterson’s figures of two for 12 offeight overs made him the pick of thevastly talented Proteas attack.

The morning session had belonged tospeedster Dale Steyn, the world’s top-ranked bowler, who claimed five for 17 off13 overs to bundle New Zealand out 30minutes before lunch, at that stage trail-ing South Africa by 404 runs.

BJ Watling provided the one shininglight for the tourists in their first dig ashis battling 63 off 87 balls with 13 foursadded some gloss to the innings.

New Zealand began the day on a par-lous 47 for six and the pair of Watling andDoug Bracewell (7) added 14 runs to theovernight total before the right-handedBracewell prodded at a Steyn delivery tosend an outside edge through to keeperDe Villiers.

Steyn struck again one run later whenhe trapped the left-handed Neil Wagner(0) leg-before with an in-swinging deliv-ery.

The 29-year-old Steyn was not doneyet and in his next over he bowled JeetanPatel (0) after the batsman backed awayfrom a good length delivery.

Steyn enjoyed a wonderful morningas he claimed his 19th five-wicket haul intests as he sent down a spell that pro-duced figures of 5-3-3-3.

Watling and Trent Boult (17 not out)then provided some late resistance with alast-wicket stand that produced 59 runs,a New Zealand record 10th-wicket part-nership against South Africa beating the57 scored by Simon Doull and richard de

Groen scored in Johannesburg during the1994/95 season.

The aggressive Watling was the lastman out, caught at first slip off the bowl-ing of paceman morne morkel.

South Africa hold a 1-0 series lead.

Matloob clinches Quaid Open Golf titlePAf-rising Sun liftGarrison Polo cup

LAHoRESTAFF REPORT

The combined team of PAF and rising Sunclinched the Lahore Garrison Polo Cup-2013 here at the Fortress Stadium on sunnySunday evening. For the title the rising Sun quartet with 6-5win defeated one of the strong opponentsNewage comprising seasoned Shah ShamylAlam who was supported by Haye brothers- Bilal and Usman. But if Shamyl was thebane of the losing side, the Sun rose due tothe guile of Tiwanas with Ahmed Ali beingthe top scorer having scored three goals andAtif Yar Tiwana getting two while the lastand the winning goal came from Sqn LdrFahad Bin Hadeed. Adnan Jalil Azam andBilal Haye shared one goals each whileUsman Haye scored two and Shamyl al-though managed one but was the man be-hind the remaining four for Newage.Umpires of the final were Lt Col ( r) AsifZahoor and Lt Col Nauman Wasif Ali. in thesubsidiary final, ravi Autos left GuardsGroup totally off guard with 4-3 marginwin. raja Samiullah scored two goals, Kam-ran Noorud Din and Umair Shah sharedone each, while for Guard Group, Lt Col (r )Asif Zahoor scored all the three goals.

lDfA announcesplayers transferdate

LAHoRESTAFF REPORT

The Lahore Football Associationhas intimated all the football clubsto get the registration by January31 and transfer of players by June30. At one time registration fee of rs1500 will be paid at 500 each toDFA, PFA/rFA and PFF by all thenew clubs at the time of registra-tion while the transfer of playersregistration form is to be completedby the Football Clubs for register-ing. each year a transfer windowfor all players will be opened forClubs to another Club with transferfee Club to Clubs rs 100, foreignplayer for club rs. 500/-Clubs are requested to meet thedead line and send the filled inregistration Forms of the FootballClubs and the transfer of playersfor registration.

New Zealand fight to prolong S Africa test

South Africa first innings 525 for eight declared (F. Du

Plessis 137, H. Amla 110, D. Elgar 103 not out)

New Zealand innings

M. Guptill c Petersen b Steyn 1

B. McCullum c Kallis b Peterson 13

K. williamson c Smith b Steyn 4

D. Brownlie c De Villiers b Kleinveldt 10

D. Flynn lbw b Kleinveldt 0

BJ watling c Smith b Morkel 63

C. Munro c Elgar b Peterson 0

D. Bracewell c De Villiers b Steyn 7

N. wagner lbw b Steyn 0

J. Patel b Steyn 0

T. Boult not out 17

Extras (lb 5, w 1) 6

Total (all out; 44.4 overs ) 121

Fall of wickets: 1-2, 2-8, 3-27, 4-27, 5-39, 6-39, 7-61, 8-62,

9-62, 10-121

Bowling: Steyn 13-5-17-5 (1w), Morkel 12.4-6-26-1, Kleinveldt 11-

3-53-2, Peterson 7-2-20-2, Kallis 1-1-0-0.

New Zealand second innings

M. Guptill b Kleinveldt 48

B. McCullum lbw b Peterson 11

K. williamson b Peterson 11

D. Brownlie not out 0

DR Flynn c de Villiers b Kleinveldt 0

BJ watling not out 41

Extras(lb 1, w 1) 2

Total (4 wickets; 67 overs) 157

To bat DAJ Bracewell, C Munro, JS Patel, TA Boult, N wagner

Fall of wickets 1-40 (McCullum, 20.2 ov), 2-64 (williamson,

30.4 ov), 3-84 (Guptill, 39.3 ov), 4-84 (Flynn, 39.4 ov)

Bowling: Dw Steyn13-1-41-0, M Morkel 13-4-32-0, RK Kleinveldt

12-8-31-2, RJ Peterson 20-11-29-2, JH Kallis 5-3-8-0, GC Smith

1-0-10-0, AN Petersen 3-0-

5-0

Toss South Africa, who chose to bat

Test debut C Munro (New Zealand) Player of the match tba

Umpires HDPK Dharmasena (Sri lanka) and IJ Gould (England)

TV umpire RJ Tucker (Australia) Match referee DC Boon

(Australia) Reserve umpire JD Cloete

SCOREBOARD

LHR 14-01-2013_Layout 1 1/14/2013 5:41 AM Page 17

nene to leavePSG for Qatariside al-Gharafa

pARISAGENCIES

Forward Nene is set to leave Frenchclub Paris St Germain for Qatari clubal-Gharafa, the Brazilian said on Sun-day. The 31-year-old, who was theleague’s joint top-scorer last seasonwith 21 goals and helped PSG finishsecond, has been at odds with coachCarlo Ancelotti for weeks and has notplayed competitively for more than amonth.“i found an agreement with al-Gharafa,” Nene told French channelTF1. “it has been difficult because iwas still dreaming to play for Braziland meet up with my family,” addedNene, who was close to signing forBrazilian side Santos last week.According to media reports Nene willsign an 11 million euro ($14.68 mil-lion) 18-month deal.“Things like that only happen once ina lifetime. i don’t know if people willunderstand ... i just thought about myfuture and secured it for my family,”he said. Nene has played 79 leaguegames and scored 36 goals for PSGbut only featured in nine leaguematches this season. Ancelottidropped him out of the squad afterthe player struck the roof of thedugout with his hand and argued withcoaching staff during the ChampionsLeague home win against Porto lastmonth.

Guardiola to take manchestercity job

LoNDoNAGENCIES

Former Barcelona coach Pep Guardi-ola will replace roberto mancini asmanager of english champions man-chester City in the summer, the Sunon Sunday claimed.Guardiola, 41, said last monday hewas ready to return to coaching afterstepping down from the Barcelonajob at the end of last season havingguided them to 14 trophies in his fouryears in charge, including two Cham-pions League titles.The Sun on Sunday claims Guardiolawill opt for City over Chelsea becausehe sees the Abu Dhabi-owned side asbeing the more likely to challenge foreuropean honours despite the Lon-don side having won the ChampionsLeague last season.mancini, who has won an FA Cup andthe Premier League titles in his timeat the club, is set to pay for his failureto guide the expensively-assembledside into the Champions Leagueknockout stages on two occasions.“it is 100 per cent certain thatGuardiola is going to City this sum-mer,” a high level source in Spanishfootball told the paper.

lambert won’t panic over villa crisis

SpoRTS DESK

Aston Villa manager Paul Lambertsays he will not press the panic but-ton - but statistics would suggest hehas every right to after his sideslipped into the Barclays PremierLeague bottom three. Villa can rightlypoint to a controversial penalty - con-verted by rickie Lambert - leading totheir downfall in the 1-0 home rever-sal against fellow strugglersSouthampton but their malaise goesmuch deeper than referee markHalsey awarding a spot-kick againstVilla defender enda Stevens for achallenge on Jay rodriguez when nocontact was made. Lambert said:“You can’t panic. There’s a long, longway to go. There will be loads oftwists and turns in this whole thing.”

Sports17

monday, 14 January, 2013

SCotlANd’S SCottJamieson leads in durban

DURBANAGENCIES

VOlVO GOlF CHAMPIONS lEADERBOARD (54 HOlES):

-15: S Jamieson (Sco) -10: T Jaidee (Tha), J Quesne (Fra), l Oosthuizen

-8: P Harrington (Ire), F Molinari (Ita) -7: D willett (Eng), P lawrie (Sco),

S lowry (Ire) Selected others: -4 M Hoey (NI), -4 P Casey (Eng), -4 R

Ramsey (Sco), -2 D Clarke (NI), -2 R Rock (Eng)

Scott Jamieson will take a five-stroke lead into thefinal round of the Volvo Golf Champions event in Dur-ban.

The Scot carded a four-under-par third round of 68for a total of 15 under, five clear of Louis Oosthuizen,Thongchai Jaidee and Julien Quesne.

Oosthuizen held a one-shot overnight lead, butwent to the turn in 40 and needed three birdies inthe next four holes to reignite his hopes.

Lorry Lowryireland’s Shane Lowry almost won himself a

lorry on the final green. That is the prize for ahole-in-one on the par four. His drive kicked offthe bank of a bunker and was rolling towards thehole, but pulled up four feet short in the wet con-ditions

Padraig Harrington and Francesco molinari sittwo back on eight under.

But 29-year-old Jamieson, who cameinto the tournament as a member ofthe world’s top 100 for the firsttime - at 100th, is thefirm favourite forvictory at the

european Tour’sopening event of 2013.

The Glaswegian is part ofthe winners-only 33-man fieldthanks to his victory at December’sNelson mandela Championship,also staged in Durban.

His main threats are 2010 Openchampion Oosthuizen, Thailand’s

Jaidee and Quesne of France after theywent round in 67, 73 and 74 respectively.

Oosthuizen’s poor front nine saw his lead eroded andJaidee was the first to take advantage, going three clearwith birdies at the second and third.

But the Thai took six at the long eighth whereasJamieson hit a brilliant second shot to five feet and madeit for eagle.

That three-shot swing brought him level and hemoved three in front by chipping in from 25 yards at the11th, making a 12-foot putt on the next and then leavinghimself a tap-in at the 339-yard 13th.

The gap became four when Jaidee missed a short putton the 16th as heavy rain returned and he also bogeyedthe 273-yard 18th.

Jamieson dropped a shot on the 17th after missingthe green, but chipped close at the last to pick up a fur-ther stroke.

Joint fifth are ireland’s Harrington (67) and ital-ian ryder Cup player Francesco molinari

(68), but Open champion ernie els is10 adrift after a 71.

Gardiner becomesfirst Aboriginalplayer on PGA tour

SpoRTS DESK

in a tournament where other PGA Tourrookies have been stealing the head-lines through the first two rounds, itmay be easy for Scott Gardiner to be-come lost in the shuffle.But Gardiner, who begins the thirdround of the Sony Open in Hawaii tiedfor ninth, is making history with everyshot at Waialae as the first player ofAboriginal descent to ever have full sta-tus on the PGA Tour.Born to an Aboriginal mother and aScottish father, the 36-year-old toiledfor several years on the Web.com Tourwith multiple close calls - 30th on theseason-long money list in 2007 and2009, 26th in 2010 - before crackingthe top 25 for the first time in 2012, fin-ishing 14th. As he embarks on his firstseason on the PGA Tour, Gardiner iseager to embrace the status of rolemodel for his fans back home in Aus-tralia.“Golf has become more popular the last10-15 years with Tiger Woods bringing

attention to the game and in turnmore Aboriginal people are aware ofit,” Gardiner told Australian Golf Di-gest before the 2013 season began.

“Hopefully i can help inspire a fewothers to go for a career in golf and ihope i can be a role model.”Like tournament leaders russell Henleyand Scott Langley, Gardiner is gettinghis maiden season off to a hot start inHonolulu. After opening with a 2-under68 Thursday, he made only one paracross his final 10 holes Friday, astretch that included seven birdies andan eagle, en route to a 6-under 64. en-tering the weekend at 8-under 132, Gar-diner finds himself six shots off thepace and in position to earn a solid pay-day in his first event. even before theseason began, he was aware that a hotstart would be vital to his success dur-ing a shortened 2013 campaign.“i have to make sure i get into the sea-son early and do what i know i am ca-pable of doing,” .

StAmforD brIDGe: Players try to gain

possession of the ball in match between chelsea

and Stoke city. chelsea won the match 4-0.

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Don’t write us off:mcDermott

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reading manager Brian mcDermottwarned the rest of the Barclays Pre-mier League not to write his side offafter their dramatic comeback victoryover West Brom.The Baggies had been in cruise con-trol after Belgian international strikerromelu Lukaku had put them 2-0 up.reading appeared down and out butthey conjured a remarkable finish tothe game with three goals in the lastnine minutes from Jimmy Kebe,Adam Le Fondre and Pavel Pogreb-nyak.The result leaves reading three pointsoff safety and mcDermott believes theteams directly above them - includingnext weekend’s opponents Newcastle -will be nervously looking over theirshoulders. “i think so. We are onegame, or three points, from the teamabove us,” mcDermott said.“People automatically wrote QPr andreading off. We have been written offfor ages, since we won promotion. itis nothing new to me. Since i got thejob we have always been written off.“But we got that first goal and yousaw a side that showed real belief andcharacter. That is a game that will godown in lot of peoples’ memories.”After a run of seven successive de-feats, reading have pieced togethertwo wins and a draw from their lastfour games in the league. And it hascome about with a change of approachfrom mcDermott.“i have learned a lot about this divi-sion in the last four months,” he said.“it is an incredible division. Some-times you can’t be gung-ho, you can’tgo for it like a boxer because you willget knocked out.“That is what happened to us early onin the season.“You set the team up the best way youpossibly can, you stay in the game andif you can win it late on, you win itlate on.“You have to (contain teams). it’s acase of staying in the game. We can’tgive away goals in the first half.”

Arthur attacks critics of rotationADELAIDEAGENCIES

Australia’s coach mickey Arthurhas rounded on critics of the nationalteam’s management of fast bowlers,taking particularly sharp aim at thecontention that the selection panel isletting sports science make its deci-sions regarding who to choose.

in a prolonged rebuttal of publicand media views that there is confusionif not chaos around Australian team se-lection, Arthur revealed that a majorfactor behind mitchell Starc’s with-drawal from the Boxing Day Test teamwas to avoid the flaring of a long-termankle problem that will eventually re-quire surgery and an extended lay-offfrom the game.

He also confirmed that michaelClarke, matthew Wade and DavidWarner would return to the ODi team

for the secondphase ofmatches in Bris-bane and Sydneyon Friday andSunday, andclarified thatUsman Khawajawas dropped forSteve Smithunder a pre-de-fined plan togive each bats-man one game.Australia havebeen widely crit-icised by formerplayers and sec-tions of the public for fielding a “B-team” in the first two matches of theseries, but Arthur went to considerablelengths to explain the intricacies of se-lection.

“We’re veryclear on who thebest team is andwho the best at-tack is,” Arthursaid followingAustralia’s de-feat in the sec-ond ODi inAdelaide. “i’vebeen really an-noyed and frus-trated by some ofthe articles thathave been goingaround. For meit’s commonsense. Common

sense prevails when we pick teams. Wecertainly don’t pick teams not to winany cricket games for Australia. everytime we pick a team we’re giving guysopportunities and picking what we

think is the best side possible to go outand do the job and win.

“it’s either very naive or just a littlebit stubborn that people don’t under-stand what we’re doing. The examplei’ve used is Black Caviar. When he runsa horse race, if they don’t feel he’s100% right they don’t release him.We’ve done that with our bowlers, andover the year we’ve had three examplesof quick bowlers basically rested, andthat is all.

“ryan Harris in the West indies,mitchell Starc on Boxing Day and PeterSiddle at Perth. That’s the only time wehave rested quick bowlers, and we’vedone that simply because we thinkthey’re at risk. We want to play ourguys all the time. With the amount ofcricket we play these day’s it is impos-sible to keep the guys on the park inevery single game. So we would nothave a quick bowler at risk.”

Giggs to decide on new contractafter season

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ryan Giggs will decide whether tosign another one-year contract withmanchester United at the end of theseason, potentially extending his top-flight career into his 40s. The 39-year-old, the most decorated player inPremier League history, has made 16appearances for United this season inall competitions as Sir Alex Fergusoncarefully manages the veteran play-maker.But he demonstrated he still has theability to change the course ofmatches with the long looping passthat set up robin van Persie’s dra-matic late equaliser at West Ham inthe 2-2 FA Cup third round draw lastweek.Giggs, 12 times a Premier League win-ner, has signed a succession of one-year deals with United since movinginto his mid-30s, and told the SundayPeople he will consider signing onagain this summer. “i will see how ifeel and see how i am contributing,and then i will sit down and talk tothe manager,” Giggs said. “i am coolwith that. i am enjoying my footballat the moment, but the end of the sea-son is a few months away and younever know what will happen.“i have to contribute as well as enjoy-ing both training and playing.”Giggs credited Ferguson with manag-ing his fitness to allow him to play on.“in a way i suppose i get an easierride than some of the younger lads,and that’s because the manager recog-nises i have different needs at thispoint,” he said. “But don’t get mewrong, my fitness has to be spot on,otherwise i just couldn’t competewith the rest of the guys either intraining or during matches.”

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RAFAeL Benitez believesChelsea have improvedunder his stewardshipafter watching his sidehammer Stoke 4-0 at

the Britannia Stadium.The Spaniard was feeling the heat

from fans again after back-to-backhome defeats - in the Premier Leagueagainst bottom side QPr and in theCapital One Cup semi-final first legagainst Swansea on Wednesday.

Benitez is still not accepted bymany of the Chelsea fans following theunpopular sacking of roberto Di mat-teo in November, but he insists the sideis in rude health.

“The team is doing well, the playersare happy,” said the interim manager.

“The players are training really welland you can see that they’re trying toperform. All the staff are doing a greatjob so the atmosphere in the side is re-ally good.

“When we play the games we can-not control what’s going on outside thepitch but we’ll try to do our best on thepitch and hopefully it will be easier.

“We cannot every week be thinkingcrisis, not crisis. We’re scoring moregoals than in the past, we’re concedinghalf of the goals that the team has con-ceded in the past.

“That means we have more balanceand that is the way to sustain the per-

formance of the team at this level.”Stoke more than matched Chelsea

during the first half and it looked likethey would reach half-time all squareuntil Jonathan Walters powered aheader into his own net in injury time.

it was the striker’s 100th PremierLeague appearance but it was emphat-ically not his day.

in the 62nd minute he repeated thetrick with another header past AsmirBegovic, and Chelsea made it threegoals in 11 minutes through a penaltyfrom Frank Lampard - who is nowwithin eight goals of Bobby Tambling’sclub record - and a long-range strikefrom eden Hazard.

To cap off Walters’ nightmare dayhe missed a penalty in injury time afterbeing felled by John Terry, who madehis first appearance since suffering aknee injury two months ago as a 79th-minute substitute.

The result marked the end ofStoke’s long unbeaten Premier Leaguerun at the Britannia Stadium, whichstretched back to February, and Ben-itez praised the way his players han-dled the occasion.

He said: “i thought it was a difficultgame, especially in the first half. Weknew it would be tough, Tony Pulis isdoing a great job so we knew it could bephysical and intense, and we wereready for that.

“The (first) goal changed things alittle bit because they had to go for-

ward, they left more space. my playersshowed great character and quality atthe same time.

“We tried to explain to some of theplayers who didn’t know what theycould find here. We analysed what wehad to do and their response was reallygood.”

Benitez again stuck with one upfront, but this time opted for Demba Baover Fernando Torres, with theSpaniard having to make do with 20minutes as a substitute.

“i think it’s important to have thesetwo good players available,” said Ben-itez. “We’re doing well with one upfront but we can use both if it’s neces-sary.”

Stoke manager Pulis felt the score-line was harsh on his side and was un-happy with referee Andre marriner’sdecision to award a penalty to Chelseaafter robert Huth was deemed to havefouled Juan mata. it was Stoke’s worsthome defeat since their promotion tothe Premier League in 2008, and Pulissaid: “We’re disappointed. Obviouslythe second goal kills us.

“The goals that we conceded werepoor. i’m really disappointed with thepenalty as well. i know robert’s got hishand on his shoulder but mata’s legsjust collapse and i think it’s soft.

“i don’t think that was a 4-0. it’svery hard to take because i don’t thinkthe lads deserve to be on the back of a4-0 defeat for that performance.”

Breaking grand slam duckdrives Murray’s confidence

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ANDY murray believes his US Open tri-umph has enabled him to focus on his tar-gets for 2013 with a new inner calm.

murray finally made his grand slambreakthrough at Flushing meadows inSeptember with a five-set final victoryover world number one Novak Djokovicto silence those who questioned whetherhe possessed the ability and mentalstrength to land one of the game’s biggestprizes. And the Scot admits his successStateside means he can now approach thenew season, starting at the AustralianOpen, with renewed vigour.

He said: “i always felt like i was hav-ing to prove something every time i wenton the court because i hadn’t won a slam.

“even when i won a masters Series,people still asked me always about theslams. “So it’s nice not to have to worryabout that anymore. “i think it will helpme throughout the rest of the year on tourbecause i won’t be worrying and thinkingabout the slams all the time. i can focus

on all the events that i’m entered in.”murray has reached the final in mel-

bourne twice and last year was ousted byDjokovic at the last-four stage in anotherfive-set thriller. it was a match which the25-year-old claims he took a lot from ashe sets out on another grand slam cam-paign Down Under.

“i want to try to take the extra step inall the grand slams if i can,” he added.

“i learnt a lot from last year’s semi-final. it was a very important match forme in the context of my year.

“i got over that loss a lot quicker thani had some of my previous slam losses. ifelt like i played well and there was some-thing i could really take away from it.”

Those two clashes with Djokovic in2012 added weight to the theory that thepair are setting out on what could turninto an epic rivalry.

With roger Federer the wrong side of30 and rafael Nadal’s continuing injuryproblems - the Spaniard is not presenthere - it seems to pave the way for murrayand Djokovic to fight it out over the nextfew years. The two men go back a longway and murray admits he has great re-spect for the Serbian.

“We get on well,” he said.“Never in any matches have i had any

problems with him, or in practice. We’venever had any issues with each other thewhole time we’ve been on the tour.

Chelsea are playing betterfootball under me: Benitez

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monday, 14 January, 2013Published by Arif Nizami at Plot No 79, Sector 24, Korangi Industrial Area Karachi. Editor: Arif Nizami

Qadri a phony:rehman malik

ISLAMABADAGENCIES

Federal minister for interior rehmanmalik on Sunday said Tehreek minhajulQuran (TmQ) chief Dr Tahirul Qadri hadbecome the biggest liar in the country andhad acquired the title of Sheikhul islam byspeaking lies and taking advantage of peo-ple for fulfilling his dreams. He said thelies of the TmQ chief will soon be exposedin the shape of a White Paper. malik saidthe purpose of Qadri’s long march was toderail the democratic system and an effortto postpone the upcoming general elec-tions. He said there is complete democracyin the country‚ which will continue to flour-ish despite attempts by certain elements toderail the democratic process. While talk-ing to media personnel after reviewing se-curity arrangements for the long march,the minister said the democratic systemwould prevail in the country and Qadri’sagenda for derailing the system would notbe successful. referring to Qadri’s charterof demand, malik said the dissolution ofelection commission meant a delay of an-other six months in holding of elections. “ifQadri is well versed with the constitution’sspirit, he should not have talked in such anextra-constitutional manner,” said malikadding that Qadri should not mislead thenation. responding to a query, he said fiveterrorists were arrested from Karachi whohad planned to attack Qadri’s long march.He said the security of islamabad residentswould be ensured during the long march,adding that no one could be allowed to vio-late the law. He said an area has been fixedfor the participants of the march and strictaction will be taken if the participantsswelled out of that area. malik said hisstatement regarding terrorist attacks onthe long march was based on intelligencereports; therefore‚ Qadri should not put thelives of innocent people at risk. The federalminister asked Dr Qadri to stop negativepropaganda against the federal and Pun-jab governments. He termed Qadri’s alle-gations, in which he alleged that trencheshad been dug in islamabad, contrary tothe truth. “Dr Tahirul Qadri should provehis allegations otherwise he should goback to Canada where his foreign leadersare keen to listen to his achievements,” hesaid. malik alleged that Dr Qadri came toPakistan to become an unconstitutionalprime minister. He said the nation hadseen Dr Qadri’s real face. He said it wouldbe better for Dr Qadri to get a medicalcheckup which had become necessary forhim. The interior minister announced areward of rs 5 million for anyone whoproduces concrete information to provingthat Qadri had received foreign fundingfor the march.

QUETTA/ KARAcHI/ISLAMABADSHAHZADA ZUlFIQAR/AGENCIES

A complete shutter-down strike wasobserved in Quetta on Sunday againstQuetta bombings, as protesters took tostreets in other cities, including Karachi,Hyderabad, Lahore, multan, islamabad,interior Sindh, Gilgit and Skardu tomourn the killing of 115 Shias. The Shia Ulema Council also announceda countrywide protest on monday(today). The Pakhtunkhwa milli Awami Party(PkmAP) had given the strike call tocondemn the bombings at Bacha KhanChowk and Alamdar road, Quetta. Thestrike was also supported by otherpolitical and religious parties.Shopping plazas, business centres,markets and shops on Jinnah road,Shahra-e-iqbal, Liaqat Bazaar, Princeroad, Abdul Sattar road, Breweryroad, Double road, Sirki road andother areas remained closed throughoutthe day.Traffic flow remained thin on the roadswhile police and FC patrolled the city to

avert any untoward incident. However,no untoward incident was reported fromany part of the city. Hazara community members areprotesting for the past 43 hours againsttwin bombings that killed over 100people on Alamdar road. Families ofvictims of the blasts refused to bury thedead and continued protest along withcoffins for the third consecutive day.Separately, leaders of different politicalparties visited the Hazara DemocraticParty’s (HDP) strike camp in Quetta andexpressed their solidarity with the partyleaders. HDP President Abdul Khaliq Hazarascolded the Balochistan government andlaw enforcers for what he termed theirincompetency to arrest terroristsinvolved in Shia killing.He said that 900 Hazara communitymembers had been killed and thousandswere wounded in sectarian attacks inthe city over the past four years. He saidthat the government and law-enforcement agencies were not seriousin arresting terrorists.The HDP chief regretted that attacks on

Hazara community were beingcommitted everyday but none of culpritshad been arrested so far. Separately, National Party (NP)President Dr Abdul malik Baloch visitedthe strike camps of the majlis Wahdat-e-muslimeen and the HDP andexpressed solidarity with the Hazaracommunity.Dr Baloch expressed his sympathieswith the aggrieved families and stronglycondemned the Shia killing. earlier, Pakistan-Tehreek-e-insaf (PTi)Chairman imran Khan along withparty’s senior leaders Javed Hashmi andJahangir Tareen reached Quetta’sAlamdar road to express solidarity withthe protesters.A day of mourning was observed inKarachi on a call given by the muttahidaQaumi movement (mQm). All marketsand businesses were closed in severalareas of the city and traffic remainedsparse on the roads. The majlisWahdatul muslimeen (mWm) had alsotaken rallies in various parts of the city.Pakistan People`s Party-ShaheedBhutto Chairwoman Ghinwa Bhutto

also joined the protests in Karachi’sNumaish area.Protests were also held outside BilawalHouse in Clifton. The Shia Ulema Council held protests inKarachi’s malir, Drigh road and StarGate areas near the railway trackscausing the suspension of railway trafficto and from the city.The Pakistan Bar Council announced anation-wide strike for monday insolidarity with the protesters and saidthat lawyers would not appear in thecourts.Shops and markets in Badin, TandoBago, matli, Golarchi, Talhar and othertowns were closed on the joint call ofdifferent political and religious parties.EjEcTED:in Lahore, PmL-N leaders SardarZulfikar Khosa, Saad rafique andZaeem Qadri were forced out of the sit-in by protesters when they arrivedoutside the Punjab Governor’s House tojoin the protests.The PmL-N leaders were forced intotheir cars and ejected out of the sit in area.

pESHAWARSHAMIM SHAHID

AS many as 18 security per-sonnel were killed and an-other 21 were injuredafter militants attackedtwo convoys with impro-

vised explosive devices in razmak andCharsadda areas on Sunday.

An official at miranshah head-quarters said that condition of severalinjured soldiers was stated to be indanger. He said the convoy was on itsway from miranshah to razmak.When the convoy reached at Ga-

reeyom area of Tehsil Dosali it was hitby the ieD. Two vehicles were com-pletely destroyed in the explosion.The official so far confirmed 14 deathsand 21 injuries. The injured and bod-ies were airlifted to miranshah andBannu’s Combined military Hospital.No one has claimed responsibility forthe attack so far.

On every Sunday, contingents ofsecurity forces are shifted from oneto another place via North Waziris-tan. The administration imposes cur-few in this regard. On January 13,pamphlets were distributed in mi-ranshah and other parts of North

Waziristan. The pamphlets carriedinfo about a peace agreement be-tween the government and militants.meanwhile, as many as four securitypersonnel were injured when a con-voy came under ieD attack inCharsadda. The injured includedthree army officials and one policeofficial. Separately, seven peoplewere injured when a passenger buswas blown up with an ieD nearSadda Town in Kurram Agency. ThePeshawar-bound vehicle was carry-ing 20 passengers, including womenand children. The injured were latershifted to a nearby hospital.

Tahirul Qadri’s‘democracymarch’ begins

LAHoRE AGENCIES

The long march, described by Dr TahirulQadri as the ‘democracy march’, began fromLahore on Sunday. “it is a march fordemocracy, it is a march against looters andplunderers ruling in islamabad and Lahore, itis a march against the evil forces, it is a marchagainst those exploiting poor people, it is amarch against the oppressors, the corruptsand the persecutors of the weak and poor, whowould insha Allah be wiped out forever,” saidDr Qadri prior to departing for the march. Hesaid the protest would continue until theremoval of “Yazeedi forces” even if it takes 100days. Dr Qadri said that the march was aimedat establishing genuine democracy and rule oflaw. in his diatribe, Dr Qadri accused thePunjab government of harassing TmQworkers and impounding vehicles rented forthe march. He said that his security vehicleswere also snatched by the provincialgovernment and all the cities were blocked. “itis a march to topple Yazeedi empire, i declarethe march as a democracy march, it is a marchfor the people sobbing in Quetta with overhundred bodies,” Qadri said. He demandedthat the federal government dissolve theBalochistan government, adding that hewanted to listen the news of dissolution beforereaching islamabad for its failure to protectlives of people. He asked the defenders of thecountry to take serious notice of the incidentsof terrorism in the country. A special bombproof truck was prepared to transport theTmQ chief which was equipped with all basicfacilities. Prior to this the TmQ leader said thegovernment in an effort to stop the march hadplaced tankers filed with acid in the federalcapital and had dug ditches filled withexplosives. He also claimed that thegovernment had seized their vehicles andarrested workers. The TmQ chief said that theadministration had impounded a largenumber of vehicles rented by his party for themarchers. He said 25,000 buses were hiredfor the participants, 20 for the media, and 10for his own security, but they all have beenimpounded. He vowed to reach islamabad atany cost and bring a revolution for changingthe destiny of the country and rule of law andconstitution. He was confident that world’shistoric march would return after theachievement of its objective. earlier a largenumber of people, including women, gatheredat TmQ markaz in Lahore as they prepared forlong-march on islamabad. He demandeddissolution of Balochistan Assembly over it’sfailure to live up to it’s responsibilities ofprotecting rights of the masses.

18 security personnelkilled in IED attacksg IED attack injures seven bus passengers in kurram Agency

CoUnTrY moUrnS ShIa KIllInGS g protesters take to streets across the country g thrash ppp leaders sharjeel memon, mir mazharul haq in karachig mQm observes mourning day in karachi g pml-n leaders thrown out of protest camp in lahore

lAHORE: Religious leader Tahirul Qadri

flashes victory after talks with reporters

before the start of long march. INP

CoNtINuEd oN PAgE 04

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