Rs 17.00 Vol III No 235 19 Pages Karachi Edition Thursday, 21 February, 2013 Rabi us Sani 10, 1434

STORY ON PAGE 03

STORY ON PAGE 02

STORY ON PAGE 02

STORY ON PAGE 02

President vowsto increasetrade with Iran

STORY ON PAGE 03

PML-N rubbishesparliamentarycommittee’s report on newprovinces

STORY ON PAGE 03

STORY ON PAGE 02

‘FAIR TRIALACT’ SIGNEDINTO LAW

KHI 21-02-2013_Layout 1 2/21/2013 3:29 AM Page 1

NThursday, 21 February, 2013

02

newS

QUETTA SUO MOTU HEARING((

Jallianwala Bagh is a

shameful event in British

history. —David Cameron

QUETTASHAHZADA ZULFIQAR

AMID tears and cries, mem-bers of the Hazara commu-nity buried all 90 deadbodies in Hazara Towngraveyard four days after the

massive suicide bombing at Kirani Road. Hundreds of people‚ including

women and children attended the finalrites of the blast victims. “All dead bodieshave been buried,” Balochistan Shia Con-ference President Dawood Agha con-firmed. Prior to the burial‚ aggrievedprotesters at Hazara Town graveyardstarted aerial firing while the bodies werebeing buried. As a result of stampede thatensued, two persons were injured.

Angry mob pelted stones and openedfire at the vehicle of Quetta Deputy Com-missioner (DC) Mansoor Kakar. “The DCnarrowly escaped the firing,” said FayyazSumbal, the deputy inspector general(DIG) of police in Quetta.

The Frontier Corps (FC) and policepersonnel quickly retaliated, and dispersedthe enraged protesters with aerial firing.Security forces also cordoned off the

graveyard. More FC and police personnelwere sent into the area to maintain law andorder in the aftermath of the aerial firing.

The Hazara community staged a four-day sit-in to protest against the attack onFebruary 16. Women and children satunder open sky in freezing nights tomourn the deaths and to demand a tar-geted operation against the culprits. Sit-ins were also staged in major cities suchas Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad toshow solidarity with the victims. OnTuesday, a government delegation metShia leaders, who announced to call offthe protests. All roads, which remainedblocked due to the protests, were openedfor traffic on Wednesday. Similarly, sus-pended airport routes and railway trafficalso resumed in Karachi and other cities.

Despite a formal announcement byShia leaders to call off the sit-in, somehighly charged young men from the Haz-ara community were still staging a sit-inon the bypass area, the outskirts of Quetta.“We will not end the protest until our de-mands are met,” Muhammad Ali Hazara,one of the protesters said, adding that thefamily members of the Kirani Road vic-tims were not taken into confidence dur-

ing negotiations with the government.Meanwhile, Abdul Qayyum Changezi,

a central leader of the Quetta YakjehtiCouncil, said that the burial process was ini-tiated after permission from the heirs of thedead, as dialogue between the governmentand the Hazara community leaders con-cluded successfully. He said both the partieshad agreed that the army would carry out atargeted operation against banned organisa-tions in Quetta. “The people who were plac-ing hurdles in the burial process wereirrelevant persons,” Changezi said. Else-where in Islamabad, protesters gatheredoutside the Supreme Court, where the chiefjustice of Pakistan was hearing the suomotu case on the bombing. A parliamentarydelegation led by Information MinisterQamar Zaman Kaira told Shia leaders thatfour suspects had been killed and 170 othershad been arrested, adding that the FC andRangers had kicked off an operation againstthe militants. “The operation will go onuntil all culprits are nabbed,” Kaira added.

“All our demands have been met,”said Shia leader Amin Shaheedi. “Thegovernment has assured us that Quettawill be protected now and such incidentswill not be repeated.”

eliminate lJ or wewill, Malik tellsPunjab govt

ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister RehmanMalik on Wednesday blamed the Punjabgovernment for harbouring Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) militants and said he had di-rected the Punjab government to take sternaction against the outlawed outfit. Giving aspeech in the Senate, the interior ministersaid if the provincial government led byPakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N)would not take action against the militants,he would himself raid the hideouts. “Thecentral headquarters of Lashkar-e-Jhangviis in Punjab while their sub-headquartersare in Karachi,” he said, adding that almost30 terrorists belonging to LJ, Jaish Muham-mad and Sipah-e-Sahaba were arrested inKarachi. He stayed firm on his earlier state-ment of warning people of Karachi of moreviolence in the city, saying the miscreantswere planning to disrupt peace in the me-tropolis. Responding to question on theQuetta attack, he said the attacks were notcarried out by the Taliban, instead theywere carried out after a call from Switzer-land. “Al Qaeda, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi andBalochistan Liberation Army are united anddestabilising the province,” he added Malikadded that his ministry had sent three terroralerts to the provincial government beforethe Kirani Road attack. STAFF REPORT

ISLAMABADONLINE

The Supreme Court has rejected theBalochistan governor’s report on the mas-sacre of Hazara community in Quetta, andsummoned provincial home secretary, in-spector general of police, commandant ofthe Frontier Corps (FC), and the capital citypolice officer (CCPO) in Quetta.

On Wednesday, a three-member benchcomprising Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP)Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, JusticeKhilji Arif Hussain and Justice Azmat Saeedresumed the hearing of the suo motu case.

The court also asked the president andthe prime minister through the Cabinet Divi-sion secretary about the taken by them on thereports of intelligence agencies. The interiorsecretary said that the cabinet secretary wasbusy in the federal cabinet’s meeting how-ever he would answer the court’s query inperson. On the occasion, it was pleaded thatthe court may held in-camera proceedings ofthe case. The court turned down the request.

The CJP said that the masses were dyingand the rulers were blowing the trumpet ofease. “Had the government been vigilant,such incidents would not have occurred re-peatedly,” the CJP said, adding, “What replywould we give to the innocent small chil-dren, whose parents were lost due to the

government’s negligence.” Interior Secre-tary Khawaja Sadiq Akbar, CommanderShahbaz, defence secretary, director (legal)of the ministry of defence, and other seniorofficials were present in the court.

The secretaries of interior and defencepresented the reports of the Inter-Services In-telligence (ISI) and the Intelligence Bureau(IB) in the court. Commander Shahbaz toldthe court that the ISI had much earlier in-formed the provincial government about athreat of terrorism, and two checkposts hadbeen enhanced on Kirani Road due to its re-port. He said that there was scarcity of waterin the area, which the terrorists had exploitedby using a water tanker for transporting explo-sives. He said that hundreds of water tankstravel on the road every day to supply waterto the residents of the area. He said the inci-dent could have been averted if the security of-ficials had performed their duties better. “Thisis the main reason of security lapse, becausethe explosives-laden tanker could not bechecked and the tragedy occurred,” he added.

The defence ministry’s director told thecourt that the masterminds had been ar-rested. The chief justice asked him if it wasthe duty of the police and FC because anambulance had also been used in an act ofterrorism. He said the president and theprime minister should produce reports givento them by the intelligence agencies.

QUETTASHAHZADA ZULFIQAR

Condemning the recent Shia killing, theBalochistan Assembly lawmakers onWednesday said if the incident occurredduring their regime, they would have beenin “hot water”.

They alleged that former Balochistanchief minister Aslam Raisani’s governmentwas sacked on the directions of one corruptbureaucrat which was regrettable, addingthat innocent people were being killed inspite of the imposition of governor’s rule.

They said this while debating on a con-demnation resolution against the Hazara townincident during the BA session which metwith Speaker Matiullah Agha in the chair.

Former minister and leader of JUI-FAbdul Wasay, ANP leader Zamarak Khan,BNP-A leader Ahsan Shah and others de-nounced the Shia killing and said that exter-nal elements were active in Balochistan.“This is in fact a big tragedy and those re-sponsible should be brought to the book,”

they stressed. The house adopted the con-demnation resolution unanimously; how-ever, the lawmakers continued criticising theimposition of governor’s rule. CriticisingBalochistan Governor Zulfiqar Ali Magsi,Wasay said the governor was issuing merelystatements against failure of agencies, addingthat law and order situation of Balochistanwas being deteriorated through an interna-tional plan. He said that political and reli-gious parties had rendered sacrifices for thesake of democracy and led the movement butthey were being declared criminals.

The JUI-F leader said that they were alsosad over Hazara town incident, but in reactionraids were being conducted on religious sem-inaries, adding that there was not a single ter-rorist in seminaries. He said it was a wrongimpression that the seminaries were harbour-ing terrorists. During the session, the membersalso expressed their reservations on handingover Gwadar Port to China and stressed thatthey would only agree on agreements if thepeople of Balochistan were given equal status.They said they would raise voice for the legit-imate rights of the people of Balochistan. Sep-arately, former minister Ali Madad Jattakstrongly condemned his detention by theFrontier Corps and said that harassing electedrepresentatives of people was not a goodmove. He said that his house was raided whenthe governor’s rule was imposed, adding thatnow when the governor’s rule was being liftedthe same tactic was being used.

sc orders reporton loans writtenoff since 1972 tobe made public

ISLAMABADONLINE

The Supreme Court (SC) issued ordersfor making public the report preparedby a three-member commission led byJustice Syed Jamshed Ali regardingpersons who had had their loanswaived off since 1972. A three-member bench of the SC presided byChief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) IftikharMuhammad Chaudhry took up thecase for hearing on Wednesday.Names of important figures areexpected to be exposed once the reportis made public and disqualificationfrom general elections is likely forseveral politicians who might beconcerned parties under the report.Khawaja Siddiqui appeared in courtand said counsel for State Bank ofPakistan (SBP) Iqbal Haider hadpassed away and no new counsel hadbeen nominated by the bank in thecase, and therefore requested for moretime. The court said “we were to openthis report today and we will adjournthe hearing after opening the report.”The court directed amicus curiae toopen all boxes and present the inquiryreport worked out by a three-membercommission led by Justice JamshedAli before it. The amicus curiaeopened the report before the court andhanded volume No. 1 and 2 of thereport to the judges of the bench.

amid protests, Hazarasbury their dead

angry Protestersstart aerIal FIrIngdUrIng bUrIal,trIggerIng stamPede

mob Pelts stones at QUetta dePUtycommIssIoner’svehIcle

Protests across thecoUntry called oFF,lIFe retUrns tonormalcy

Baloch lawmakersquestion efficacy ofGovernor’s Rule

JUI-F leader saysgovernor Is only IssUIngstatements agaInstFaIlUre oF agencIes

ISI did its job, lawenforcement agenciesfailed to do theirs

‘Fair Trial acT’

signed inTo law

ISLAMABAD: President Asif AliZardari on Wednesday signed into lawthe “Fair Trial Act 2012”, whichauthorises the state to interceptprivate communications in order totrack suspected terrorists. Thelegislation allows security agencies tocollect evidence “by means of moderntechniques and devices” like wire-tapping and intercepting emails andSMS text messages that will beaccepted in a court in cases registeredunder five security-related laws.The billhad become controversial when humanrights groups and critics voicedconcerns that the legislation couldpose a threat to people’s privacy andbe misused against political opponents.The bill had already been passed bythe National Assembly in Decemberlast year, and the Senate earlier thismonth. STAFF REPORT

KHI 21-02-2013_Layout 1 2/21/2013 3:29 AM Page 2

newS N

03

Thursday, 21 February, 2013

Neither the Taliban contacted me

nor had I approached them for holding

dialogue. — JUI-F chief Fazlur Rehman

ISLAMABADINP

PRESIDENT Asif AliZardari on Wednesday reit-erated the government’scommitment to further bol-ster bilateral trade between

Pakistan and Iran by vigorously pursuingmega projects in all areas, particularlyenergy and trade.

Speaking with an Iranian delegationheaded by Iranian Oil Minister RostamGhasemi, the president highlighted Pak-istan’s energy needs and the steps takento meet them. Presidential SpokesmanSenator Farhatullah Babar said that dur-ing the meeting the president also calledfor greater connectivity between the twocountries, and stressed the need to moveforward on the “ECO Container Train”project. He said that regular operation ofthe ECO train would lend impetus tocargo and transit facilities between the

two countries. Zardari said that Pakistanwould welcome Iran’s technical and fi-nancial support for upgrading theQuetta-Taftan Railway track.

The president also called for im-proved visa facilitation, opening of newborder posts and removal of tariff andnon-tariff barriers for stepping up tradeand commerce. He also called for earlyfinalisation of the agreement to exportwheat to Iran. Expressing his deepestconcern over sectarian killings in thecountry, the president said, “Pakistantreats all its citizens equally,” addingthat the government was fully deter-mined to bring the perpetrators of thesecrimes to justice. He said that Pakistanwas examining the feasibility of startingspecial direct flights from Quetta andGilgit to Meshed.

He expressed satisfaction over the re-cent signing of the Security CooperationAgreement between Pakistan and Iran,saying that enhanced cooperation in bor-

der security would help in combating ter-rorism, cross-border crimes and drugtrafficking.

On the situation in Afghanistan,Zardari reiterated Pakistan’s support toan Afghan-led and Afghan-owned peaceprocess. He called for employing the col-lective strengths of Muslims and the needto shun violence. “We have to take con-trol of our own affairs and find our ownsolutions to the problems,” he added.JOB DONE: The Iranian minister alsocalled on Prime Minister Raja PervezAshraf at the Prime Minister’s Secretariatand discussed progress on the gaspipeline project. Ashraf termed the agree-ment on Pakistan-Iran Gas Pipeline as a“leap forward”.He thanked Iran for sup-plying electricity to Pakistan for meetingthe energy requirements of Gwadar.

The Iranian minister informed theprime minister that work regarding theIran-Pakistan Gas Pipeline on the Iranianside was complete.

PPP, PMl-Q decideto field jointcandidates inelections

ISLAMABADSTAFF REPORT

Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and PakistanMuslim League-Q (PML-Q) have decidedto field joint candidates in the generalelections. This was decided at a meetingbetween senior leaders of the two parties onWednesday. Per details, PML-Q and PPPleaders held a meeting at the residence ofPML-Q chief Shujaat Hussain duringwhich political strategy regarding theupcoming general elections was discussed.Detailed discussion on electoral allianceand the constituency-wise political situationwas discussed during the meeting. Leadersfrom both sides decided to bring jointelectoral candidates, attempting to enter thepolitical field with full force. Talking on theoccasion, Shujaat Hussain and Parvez Elahisaid this electoral alliance reflects a new erain national politics which will establish thetradition of moving together in politics.They said the alliance had established thatnational interest was over and abovepolitical rivalry explicitly claiming thattheir politics was solely based on nationalinterest. The PML-Q respresentativesincluded Shujaat Hussain, senior centralleader and Deputy Prime Minister ParvezElahi, Central Information SecretarySenator Kamil Ali Agha, Advisor to thePrime Minister for Industry MuhammadBasharat Raja, PML-Q Punjab GeneralSecretary Zaheeruddin Khan, MoonisElahi, Ahmad Yar Heraj, KhushroBakhtiar and Nasir Mahmud Gill. ThePPP delegation included PPP PunjabPresident Mian Manzur Ahmad Wattoo,Makhdoom Shahabuddin, NazarMuhammad Gondal, Tanvir Ashraf Kaira,Rana Farooq Saeed, Haji Nawaz Khokharand Haider Zaman Qureshi.

ISLAMABADSTAFF REPORT

With an aim to stop corrupt and taxevading politicians from taking part inelections, the Election Commission ofPakistan (ECP), in collaboration withthe State Bank, Federal Board of Rev-enue (FBR), National AccountabilityBureau (NAB) and the National Data-base and Registration Authority(NADRA), has evolved a mechanismfor electronic/online scrutiny of thenomination papers.

In a meeting held on Wednesdaywith Chief Election Commissioner(CEC) Fakhruddin G Ebrahim in thechair, it was agreed that a committeeunder the supervision of the directorgeneral of (DG) elections and includingofficials of the partner institutions,would assist the returning officers inthe scrutiny of candidates. The meetingwas also attended by State Bank Gov-ernor Yaseen Anwar, FBR ChairmanAli Arshad Hakeem and NADRAChairman Tariq Malik.

The FBR chairman told the meet-ing that the FBR would provide the de-tailed list of all tax defaulters to the ECPwithin the required time. Whereas,NAB’s representative assured the com-mission that the watchdog would pro-vide records of convicted politiciansand those who had singed a plea bar-gain. Per mechanism, the commission,after receiving nomination papers, willcrosscheck the details of candidates’ taxreturns, assets, corruption cases, detailsof foreign trips, family record, and de-tails of their offspring pursing educationabroad. After getting a complete pictureof the candidates, the ECP would makepublic all the information by puttingcandidates’ nomination papers on its of-ficial website. The ECP wants the gen-eral public to know the credentials ofthe contesting candidates.

This development may hit manysitting members of the parliament(MPs), as reportedly over 70 percent

sitting MPs are tax evaders and most ofthem do not even have their income taxnumber. Fifty-six lawmakers were senthome by the Supreme Court for sub-mitting fake degrees with their nomi-nation papers in the last generalelections, and once again they are flex-ing muscles to contest the upcomingelections. “In the upcoming generalelections, we will implement Articles62 and 63 of the constitution in true let-ter and spirit. We will not allow fakedegree holders, tax evaders and loandefaulters to become members of theparliament,” said ECP Secretary IshtiakAhmed Khan while speaking to re-porters. He said that in order to conductcredible elections, Articles 62 and 63 ofthe constitution envisage that each can-didate must fulfil the requirements ofthese articles. To a query, the secretarysaid that the time period given in theconstitution for the scrutiny of nomina-tion papers could only be changedthrough a constitutional amendment,adding that it was the responsibility ofthe parliament to make the amendment.

During the meeting, the CEC saidthat the cooperation of all departmentswas required so as to scrutinise the par-ticulars of prospective candidates, as towhether they fulfil the criteria men-tioned in Articles 62 and 63 of the con-stitution to become true representativesof the people or otherwise. State BankGovernor Yaseen Anwar endorsed theCEC’s view point and said that the SBPwould fully cooperate with the ECP.The FBR chairman said that they couldprovide the detailed list of all tax de-faulters to the ECP within the requiredtime. In the meeting, it was also de-cided that officers of the FBR would sitat the ECP and scrutinise the nomina-tion forms, and then send the same toreturning officers concerned for rejec-tion/acceptance of the nomination pa-pers. It was also agreed that the FBRwould make a sub-committee to workout the potential tax payers and providethat information to the ECP.

PMl-n rubbishesparliamentarycommittee’s reporton new provinces

ISLAMABAD: The Senate’s StandingCommittee on Law and Justice onWednesday approved with majoritythe parliamentary committee’s reportpertaining to the formation of a newprovince, despite opposition from thePakistan Muslim League-Nawaz. Themembers of the Senate standingcommittee met under thechairmanship of Mohammad KazimKhan to review the report recentlypresented by the parliamentarycommittee regarding the creation ofnew provinces. The committeeconsists of Law Minister Farooq Naik,Aitzaz Ahsan, Jehangir Badar,Farhatullah Babar, Raja Zafarul Haqand Zafar Ali Shah. During the sitting,the Pakistan People’s Party-ledmembers of the committee expressedtheir confidence and supported thereport, whereas members from thePML-N expressed their concerns,urging the members to not grantapproval to the report. Rejecting thereport, Senator Raja Zafarul Haq saidit was incomplete, asking othermembers not to introduce a hastydecision and to review the reportagain prior to any final decision.However, PPP Leader of the House inSenate Jehangir Badr stressed thatreport was detailed and coveredalmost all angles. Zafarul Haq said hisparty was against the creation of thenew provinces on ethnic basis and thereport reflected that ethnic groundswere prominent in creation of the newprovinces, which would cause a greatdamage to the nation. Badr said ifanything remained incomplete, itcould be reviewed later in the Senateand the members could re-correct itwith consultation, demanding thePML-N not to oppose the report. LawMinister Farooq Naik said theformation of a new province would bedone on administrative not ethnicbasis, adding that the constitution didnot prohibit the formation of newprovinces but an amendment wouldbe needed to Article 1. Senior PPPleader Senator Aitzaz Ahsan said anew province could not be formedunder the constitution and Article 239needed to be amended first. Headded that if a bill for the formationof a new province was presented inthe present scenario, it would bechallenged in court. ANwER AbbAS

sc rejects naB

chief’s request for

personal exemption

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court onWednesday rejected a verbal request ofNational Accountability Bureau (NAB)Chairman Admiral (r) Fasih Bukhari forgranting personal exemption in acontempt of court case against him. Athree-member bench comprising ChiefJustice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry,Justice Khilji Arif Hussain and JusticeSheikh Azmat Saeed deferredproceedings in the contempt caseagainst the NAB chairman until March14 because of a change in theformation of the bench. During theproceedings, the NAB chairmanappeared in person and requested thebench to grant him exemption as hehad been appearing before the courtfor the last three days and that he hadto look after the affairs of the bureau.However, the bench rejected his plea.The chief justice asked Bukhari’scounsel if the government hadconstituted a two-member commissionheaded by Justice (r) Nawaz Abbasi toprobe the issue of NAB chief’s letter, asthey had learnt it through newsreports. The counsel expressed hisignorance in this regard. However, theSC registrar said in a note that he hadcontacted the secretary for law andjustice, who rejected the news item,saying that they did not proceed onmedia speculations. APP

President vows toincrease trade with iran

eCP, FBR, SBP evolve mechanismfor e-scrutiny of nominations

KHI 21-02-2013_Layout 1 2/21/2013 3:30 AM Page 3

newSN

04

Thursday, 21 February, 2013

Before showing concern over Quetta, the MQM

should play their role in bringing an end to targeted

killings of Shias in Karachi. — Allama Amin Shaheedi

ISLAMABADSTAFF REPORT

UNvEILING the six-point “Educa-tion Emergency Policy” of the Pak-istan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI),Chairman Imran Khan on Wednes-

day vowed to introduce a uniform educa-tion system with one curriculum for all,provision of education in Urdu at primarylevels, increasing the education budget

from a current 2.1% to 5% of the GDP overits five-year term spending Rs 2.5 trillionon education; and recovering looted moneyfrom corrupt politicians which would be di-verted to education spending. Addressingparticipants at the launching ceremony ofthe ‘PTI Education Policy vision’, Khansaid the PTI government would declare an“education emergency” in the country assoon as it assumes power. He admitted itwould be an uphill task to implement it in

totality but said without this, the dream ofreal change cannot be materialised.

Khan said PTI considered education acritical subject and a pre-requisite for improv-ing the deteriorating plight of the country;hence, his party would introduce a new uni-form curriculum for education in the countryfor which, Khan said, PTI would make all-outefforts to bring madrassah students into themainstream. Khan said Urdu would be themedium of instruction at the primary level

with the objective to achieve equality and at-tain cultural and social harmony. Khan saidEnglish being an international language can-not be ignored, but it would be taught as asubject and not in a manner that reflected cul-tural imperialism because that triggered widecultural and societal divisions in the country.The PTI chief vowed de-politicising all edu-cational institutions and de-centralising edu-cation to the town level under whicheducation service delivery and its manage-

ment would be devolved to district and sub-district levels. Expressing confidence that thePTI’s tsunami had already triumphed in threeprovinces and would soon hit the fourth,Khan said it was a matter of few months “be-fore the tsunami will sweep away all corruptforces”. In FATA and Balochistan, he said, ed-ucational institutions had been dysfunctionalfor the past ten years due to which a wholegeneration had been deprived of education,which was a matter requiring urgent attention.

KARACHISTAFF REPORT

The Sindh Assembly onWednesday passed a unani-mous resolution requesting theSindh government to approachthe federal government for thearrest of those involved in theKirani Road bombing inQuetta, while hot words wereexchanged between treasuryand opposition benches overthe development budget.

According to media re-ports, the joint resolution wasmoved by Muttahida QaumiMovement (MQM) DeputyParliamentary Leader FaisalSabzwari, Pakistan People’sParty (PPP) member MujadidIsran, and Pakistan MuslimLeague-Functional (PML-F)leader Marvi Rashid.

During the debate, someMPAs demanded that Quettabe placed under the control ofthe armed forces. “Why areyou opposing the army’s de-ployment and have made it anissue of self-esteem?” PML-F leader Jam Madad Aliasked. “The civilian govern-ment has lost its writ in theprovince as innocent peopleare being killed. We demandthat the city’s control begiven to the armed forces for

a while until the situation re-turns to normal,” he added.

Deputy Speaker ShehlaRaza, who belongs to the rul-ing Pakistan People’s Party(PPP), said that the heirs ofthe blast victims had not de-manded the army’s deploy-ment, but were asking for atargeted action against theculprits with the help of thearmed forces.

On the other hand, theMPAs belonging to the PPPand the MQM called it a “con-spiracy” against the demo-cratic government and saidthat national, local and foreignhands were behind the inci-dents to defame Pakistan anddestabilise its economy. FISH MARKET: On theother hand, the assembly re-sembled a fish market, asmembers of the treasury andopposition benches ex-changed barbs over the dis-bursement of developmentbudget to MPAs, and callingtwo female MPAs from thePML-F “Benjamin sisters”,which sent the session into apandemonium due to the en-suing rhetoric attacks andcounterattacks between themembers of the treasury andopposition benches.

Opposition member Arif

Mustafa Jatoi, raising the de-velopment fund issue, passedderogatory remarks againstthe Chief Minister Qaim AliShah. He complained that theCM’s promise of giving Rs20 million development fundhad not yet been fulfilled,while the financial year wascoming to an end. He re-marked that the CM shouldbe ashamed.

Sindh Assembly SpeakerNisar Ahmad Khuhro re-torted, “Should he carry Rs 20million to your house?”

Provincial MinisterAyaz Soomro also stronglycriticised Arif Jatoi for hisremarks, saying, “It seemshe is drunk.”

This sparked a wave ofprotests as the oppositionmembers from the PML-F andthe National People’s Party(NPP) rose from their seatsand started shouting at themembers of the treasurybench. Jam Madad Ali sug-gested blood tests of all themembers. Ayaz Somroo onone occasion called thePML-F’s two female mem-bers “Benjamin sisters” andwondered about NusratSehar Abbasi’s possible stateof mind if she had beenmade the opposition leader.

ISLAMABADONLINE

Law Minister Farooq H Naeksaid the Election Commissionof Pakistan (ECP) has no rightto disgrace the Parliament.

Speaking on a point oforder raised by Leader of Op-position in National AssemblyChaudhry Nisar Ali Khan‚ thelaw minister said that the coun-try is at the verge of electionsand real work of the ECP willstart after announcement of theelection schedule. Naek saidECP while working within itsdomain must ensure free‚ fairand transparent elections andshould make no distinctionamong different parties intransacting its business. He saidthe ECP must revise the letterwritten to parliamentarians re-garding verification of their de-grees. Naek declared the ECP’sletter unconstitutional and saidthe commission violated Arti-

cle 218 of the constitution. Hedemanded ECP officials to takeback letters from the 250 par-liamentarians. Earlier‚ opposi-tion leader Chaudhry Nisar AliKhan said the ECP must writea letter to the concerned educa-tion institutions for verificationof the certificates and degreesso that the election could beheld in a smooth way. He saida parliamentary committeemust be constituted to negotiatewith the ECP on the issue ofverification of degrees. MQMleader Farooq Sattar said thosewho made the ECP powerfulwere now staging sit-ins infront of it. He demanded thatthe commission should checkdegrees of parliamentarians.He said if the ECP was made acontroversial institution, no onewould trust the fairness of elec-tions. He said verification ofvotes and re-demarcation ofconstituencies should not becarried out in one city only.

cameron‘ashamed’ forJallianwalaBagh massacrebut is not sorry

AMRITSARINP

Nearly 94 years after over 1,000Indian protesters were killed inJallianwalla Bagh during theBritish Raj, Prime MinisterDavid Cameron on Wednesdaydescribed the incident as“deeply shameful” but stoppedshort of a public apology. BritishPrime Minister Cameron, whowas the first democraticallyelected British Prime Minister tovisit the 1919 Jallianwala Baghmassacre site, kneeled downwhile paying tribute to martyrsand observed a one-minute si-lence with folded hands as amark of respect. Writing in thevisitor’s book of JallianwallaBagh, Cameron said, “This wasa deeply shameful act in Britishhistory, one that WinstonChurchill rightly described atthat time as monstrous. We mustnever forget what happened hereand we must ensure that the UKstands up for the right of peace-ful protests around the world.”

ECP has no right tohumiliate parliament: Naek

PTi unveils much awaited ‘education Policy Vision’

Sindh MPs united on actionagainst culprits of Quettablast, divided on budget

KHI 21-02-2013_Layout 1 2/21/2013 3:30 AM Page 4

KARACHI

kThursday, 21 February, 2013

05

Low

high

170CSunny

Weather updateS

280C

Fajr Sunrise Zuhr asr Maghrib Isha

5:45 7:01 12:46 4:03 6:30 7:47

FrIday Saturday Sunday

28°C I 16°C 28°C I 13°C 27°C I 14°C

PRAyER TImINgS

KARACHISTAFF REPORT

AS many asnine morepeople weregunned downand ninevehicles wereset ablaze in

different areas of the city here onWednesday.

In a family feud at DaudChowrangi, a man, Ismail, openedfire at his brother Saeed that left fourpeople including Saeed dead and fiveothers injured.

The deceased include vegetablevendor Shahjahan, shopkeeperArshad and an unidentified man.

As police approached the area toarrest Ismail, the local peoplebesieged them in an effort to take holdof the delinquent and beat him up.However, Rangers personnel rushedto the flashpoint and brought thesituation under control.

Ismail has been shifted to Landhipolice station. Meantime, anunidentified man was gunned down inAyub Goth, New Karachi.

Some unknown miscreantsopened fire at a car near Bhains

Colony killing Machine Tool FactoryMD Arshad and injuring his fellow,Kashif.

A 25-year man Safdar was shot todeath near an airport signal. In a firingincident in Gulshan-e-Bihar, OrangiTown, 28-year Tauqir Hussain was

killed and two others sustainedinjuries.

Some unidentified people torcheda passenger coach near People’sSecretariat on New MA Jinnah Roadand two other vehicles near Star Gateon Shahra-e-Faisal.

nine More dead, 5VeHicles TorcHed

one killed, 16 injured

in by-poll feud

SEHWAN SHARIF: One personwas killed and 16 others, includingtwo women, were injured in aclash between two rival groupsbelonging to PML-N and PPP invillage Lal Bux Jatoi near here onWednesday. Two groups of Jatoicommunity developed a disputeduring recent PS-73 by-electionsthat caused the clash. An armed-men group attacked their rivalswith arms killing Roshan Jatoi andinjuring 16 others including Kiran,Zoya, Ayaz Jatoi, Habibullah Jatoi,Abdul Razak Jatoi, AbdurRehman, Ali Sher, Mohammad Ali,Anwar Ali and Gulzar, Ali Nawaz,Mohammad Juman and AbbasJatoi. The Sehwan police rushed tothe scene and shifted the injured toTaluka Hospital. The condition offour injured was stated to beserious. They were later shifted toa Hyderabad hospital for treatment.Police have been deployed in thetroubled village to control thesituation. PPIMakhdoom

amin, altafcondemn deadlyJacobabad blastKARACHI : Governmentofficials and political leaderscondemned the deadly blast at areligious congregation inJacobabad that killed amongothers the grandson of SyedHussain Shah, the pir of QambarSharif.In an official statement issuedhere, Senior Minister forCommerce Makhdoom AminFahim termed the bombing at thereligious site of Saeen HussainShah as extremely unfortunate andexpressed sadness on the death ofSyed Shafiq Shah, the grandson ofpir of Qambar Sharif.The minister expressed grief andsorrow over the death of innocentpeople and sympathised withthose who were injured in theblast.In a separate statement, theMuttahida Qaumi Movement(MQM) chief Altaf Hussain alsocondemned the blast. He expressed his grief and sorrowon the death of Shafiq andwounding of several other personsin the blast. He extended hissympathies to the followers of PirHussain and prayed to theAlmighty Allah to bless the soulof Shafiq.The MQM chief demanded fromPresident Asif Zardari, PrimeMinister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf,Interior Minister Rehman Malik,Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ebadand Sindh Chief Minister QaimAli Shah to take serious notice ofthe blast in Jacobabad and bringthe perpetrators to justice at theearliest. STAFF REPORT

KARACHI: Routine life has resumed on Abdullah Haroon Road after the end of sit in demonstrations against Quetta blasts. ONLINE

KARACHISTAFF REPORT

The Water and Sewerage Board(KW&SB) has decided to establish adirectorate for Kachiabadi (slums) in ahigh-profile meeting held here onWednesday under the chair of KarachiWater and Sewerage Board ManagingDirector Misbahuddin Farid.

The directorate will complete thebio-data of 25 tax-net consumercategories and conduct community-

based surveys if needed. All the deputymanaging directors and other concernedofficers were also present in the meeting.The meeting was held to discussrecovery strategy from Kachiabadi(slums) and completion of category-wise tax-net bio-data. DMD PlanningMashkur-ul-Hasnain, DMD TechnicalServices Iftikhar Ahmed, DMD FinanceMairajuddin, DMD Revenue WaqarHashmi, Director Billing & Taxes AbdulGhaffar, Director Training TehseenManzar, zonal chiefs and otherconcerned officers were also present inthe meeting.

Since it was already established thatKW&SB prioritises localities on thebasis of bill recovery, areas paying 75

percent bills would be catered in the firstphase. This is not only to provide betterfacilities to the taxpaying consumers butalso to encourage defaulters. It was alsodecided in the meeting that alldepartments would work together toupgrade the infrastructure and ensurebetter provision of water and seweragefacilities to the citizens of Karachi.Besides establishing a directorate toensure better recovery from Kachiabadi(slums), the directorate was alsoassigned the task to complete the tax-netdata of 25 consumer categories -category A for residential consumers, Bfor commercial consumers, C forindustrial consumers, E for flats, F foragricultural consumers, G for

garden/nursery, H for colleges, I forschools, J for hospital, K for clinic, L formosques, M for imambargah, N formarriage halls, O for clubs, P for underconstruction buildings, Q for vacantplots, R for shops, S for thalla, T foroffices, U for dhobi ghat, v forrestaurants, X for high rises and Y forcattle ponds.

This would not only help KW&SBto identify the defaulters but also helpensure that consumers not currently onthe tax network are encouraged to jointhe tax network. If needed thedirectorate would also conductcommunity-based surveys to completethe bio-data and ensure better provisionof facilities to the citizens of Karachi.

Bringing consumers under the tax-netKWsb to set UPseParate dIrectorateFor KatchI abadIs

KHI 21-02-2013_Layout 1 2/21/2013 3:30 AM Page 5

KARACHIThursday, 21 February, 2013

06

k

KARACHI: A vendor walks on the beach early on Wednesday. INP

KARACHIAFTAb CHANNA

AS the special pow-ers provided tothe rangers is toexpire on Febru-ary 22nd, theSindh governmenthas extended the

period for another term of three monthswith the release of at least Rs 170 millionoutside the budget to maintain law andorder situation in the city, Pakistan Todayhas learnt.

The powers to the Rangers were

extended for three months on Novem-ber 8th last year and the same was ex-tended once again for a period of anadditional three more months. Addi-tional powers would be continuouslyextended to the paramilitary troopsuntil durable peace was restored in thecity, but the situation was worseningwith each passing day.

The special powers to Rangerswere being extended under Section vof the Anti-Terrorists Act 1997 and thepractice was being followed since Jan-uary 2010, sources in the home de-partment told Pakistan Today.

“Authorised officers of Rangers toexercise all powers of police under thecode and authorised them to cordonoff an area under control of terrorists,criminals, and retaliate, when firedupon, and shall arrest without warrantany person who has committed an actof terrorism or a scheduled offence,and in doing so are authorised to enterand search, without warrant, anypremises to make arrest, take posses-

sion of any property related to crime,fire-arm, weapon, explosive or anyother article used or likely to be usedin the commission of above scheduledoffence”, according to an official no-tification.

“Pakistan Rangers shall preventterrorism in the district and use neces-sary force to prevent commission ofacts of terrorism, take action againsttarget killers, Bhatta collectors andclear no-go-areas, if any,” it added.

Besides this, the Rangers had alsosought release of Rs 170 million out-side the budget allocation to carryoutuninterrupted actions against the crim-inals in the city. The amount would bereleased shortly after completion ofthe formalities, sources added.

Although, the performance of thelaw enforcement agencies in contain-ing lawlessness particularly, the tar-geted killings in the province could begauged with the worsening law andorder situation, billions of rupees werestill being spent on them. The Sindh

government spent Rs 31455.248 mil-lion and Rs 33333.289 million in thepast two years i.e. 2010-11 and 2011-12 respectively.

In 2010-11, the police was onlyprovided with new patrolling cars inthe metropolis, besides new luxuriousvehicles were purchased for the policehigh-ups. However, no pragmatic ef-forts could be seen on the ground toensure the safety and security ofhuman lives, the sources said.

And in the same period an amountof Rs 33333.289 million was spent onthe police against the estimatedamount of Rs 30,517.117 million. Lastyear, more than Rs 30368.152 millionwas spent on the police force.

Ironically, the heavy platoons ofthe rangers and FC used to get fundsof millions of rupees outside thebudget for controlling law and ordersituation in the metropolis. However,the amount allocated to them last yearwas Rs 1806.138 million, the sourcesdisclosed.

rangers’ power extendedfor three months

KARACHI STAFF REPORT

Dubbing the recent by-polls in Sindh asbeing rigged, the Sindh United Party (SUP)Chairman Jalal Mahmood Shah onWednesday said the widespread rigging had

exposed the inability of the Election Com-mission of Pakistan (ECP) to hold free andfair election in the country.

Talking to media persons at his resi-dence, the SUP chief said that expectingfrom the ECP to hold transparent electionin the whole country was a daunting task,

given its inability to check rigging in by-polls conducted for a couple of seats in theprovince.Shah’s statement came after Tues-day’s report of The Free and Fair ElectionNetwork (FAFEN) alleging the by-polls intwo constituencies in Sindh and one in Pun-jab on February 18th were rigged. In Sindh,by-elections were held in PS-73 (Jamshoro-Dadu) and PS-84 (Thatta-I). The SUP chiefarranged a special screening for journalistsbefore the briefing, of a video that showedthe irregularities allegedly committed by

the ruling Pakistan People’s (PPP).Shah accused the ruling party of break-

ing all previous records of election riggingon February 18th. He claimed that realelection had started well before its due dateon February 14th when the provincial gov-ernment had initiated uplift projects worthRs 161 million in the constituency. This, hesaid, was a sheer violation of the ECP’scode of conduct. Furthermore he said thePPP’s candidates in PS-72 and PS-84,namely Murad Ali Shah and Sadiq Memon,

had earlier resigned after failing to provethat they were not dual nationality holders.“Fielding dual nationals as election candi-dates is a clear violation of the SupremeCourt’s order,” he maintained. Shah said hewould hand the video evidence of shame-less rigging to the ECP, the staff of whichalong with the police had also connivedwith the riggers. Mahmood demanded thatarmy personnel should be deployed atevery polling station to make the forthcom-ing election fair and transparent.

normalcy returnsto KarachiKARACHI: Normal life was restored inKarachi and interior Sindh after the country-wide protest of Shia community ended late onTuesday following talks with the government.According to Media Reports, protests in sup-port of the Shiites in Quetta were held acrossthe country, with protestors blocking mainthoroughfares and rail tracks, burning tyres onroads which crippled life in Karachi and othercities. In the capital of Islamabad, protesters gatheredoutside the Supreme Court, where the power-ful chief justice has opened hearings into theviolence. A parliamentary delegation, led byInformation Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira,told the shia leaders in Quetta that four sus-pects had been killed and 170 people arrested,adding that FC and Rangers had kicked off anoperation against the militants. “The operationwill go on until all culprits are nabbed,” Kairasaid.“All our demands have been met,” said Shi’iteleader Amin Shaheedi. “The government hasassured us that Quetta will be protected nowand such incidents will not be repeated.” Inte-rior Minister Rehman Malik said the govern-ment had also replaced the provincial policechief and offered to heavily fortify the HazaraShi’ite enclave in Quetta. PPI

Partly cloudyweather predicted KARACHI: The Met office on Wednesdayforecast partly cloudy weather for Karachi onThursday with minimum temperatures rangingbetween 16-18 degrees Celsius.Partly cloudy weather with chances of lightrain was predicted for Hyderabad division andpartly cloudy weather with cool night for Mir-purkhas division, while Sukkur and Larkanadivisions could receive rain/thunderstorm at afew places.On Wednesday, the highest maximum temper-ature of 31.5 degrees Celsius was recorded atMithi and the lowest minimum of four degreesCelsius in Kalat. PPI

saira appointed asPMl-F joint secyKARACHI: Pakistan Muslim League (Func-tional) President Pir Sibghatullah ShahRashidi, Pir Pagaro, has appointed Ms SairaNaseer as joint secretary of ladies wing, PML-F. Saira has been associated with PML-F forthe last 10 years. She is founder member ofPML-F ladies wing. In 2003, she was ap-pointed as president of the ladies wing (Sindh).In 2009, she was picked up as member ofSindh council and member of central executivecommittee of the party. She said under theguidance of Pir Pagaro, she would make herbest efforts to strengthen the party. APP

Qaim condemnsblast in JacobabadKARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister SyedQaim Ali Shah has strongly condemned thebomb blast in a religious gathering in Jacob-abad. In a statement issued here on Wednes-day, the chief minister condemned theincident and prayed for early recovery of Pirof Qambar Sharif Syed Hussain ShahBukhari, who was also injured among othersin the bomb blast. The chief minister hasalso directed the deputy inspector generalpolice, Larkana, to arrest the culprits in-volved in the bomb blast. APP

Shameful start to election build-upecP’s abIlIty to hold FaIr electIon QUestIoned amId claIms oF rIggIng In by-Polls

rangers receIved rs 170m addItIonalFUnds to control laWand order sItUatIonbUt to no avaIl

KHI 21-02-2013_Layout 1 2/21/2013 3:30 AM Page 6

07

newSThursday, 21 February, 2013

N

Together we can face any challenges

as deep as the ocean and as high

as the sky. – Sonia Gandhi

MOSCOWAgENCIES

RUSSIA has urged thewarring sides in Syria tohalt their almost two-yearconflict and starttalks, warning that both

sides risk “mutual destruction.”Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s foreign

minister, said on Wednesday thatMoscow was working to encourage di-alogue between the rebels and theregime of president Bashar al-Assad.

“Neither side can allow itself to beton a military settlement as this is a pathto nowhere, a path to mutual destruc-tion,” he said, following a meeting ArabLeague chief Nabil el-Araby and othertop Arab diplomats.

Lavrov, who on Monday is due tohost Syrian foreign minister WalidMuallem for crucial talks, said: “There aresigns of positive tendencies, signs of ten-dencies for dialogue both from the side ofthe government and the opposition.”

But he said it was up to the twosides to decide what kind of dialoguemight take place and at what level.

“It is important that they do not come

out with any conditions for each other,and say that I am going to talk to this per-son but not that one,” Lavrov said.

Russia is also expecting a visit inMarch from opposition Syrian NationalCoalition leader Mouaz al-Khatib, whohas previously been unwilling to visitMoscow over its past support for theregime. “We are agreeing a date of avisit here by Mr Khatib, which willprobably happen at the start of March,”Lavrov said. He said the diplomacy wasaimed at “creating the conditions for thestart of direct dialogue” between theregime and opposition.FIgHTINg IN DAMASCuS AND

HOMS: The fighting in Syria, whichaccording to the UN has claimed 70,000lives since the conflict began in March2011, has escalated over the past fewdays as both sides press for a militaryadvantage.

Government fighter jets onWednesday launched air strikes on theDamascus suburb of Daraya and inten-sified artillery bombardment in severaltowns around the capital, just a day afterrebels claimed they fired mortar roundsat one of Assad’s palaces in the heart ofDamascus.

SOFIA AgENCIES

Bulgaria’s government resigned from officeafter nationwide protests against high elec-tricity prices, joining a long list of Euro-pean administrations felled by austeritymeasures. Prime Minister Boiko Borisovhad tried to calm protests by sacking his fi-nance minister, pledging to cut power pricesand punish foreign-owned companies, butthe measures failed to defuse discontent and

protests continued on Tuesday.Many Bulgarians are deeply unhappy

over high energy costs, power monopolies,low living standards and corruption inthe European Union’s poorest country.

At least 25 people were taken to hospitalafter protesters clashed with police lateon Tuesday. “I will not participate in a gov-ernment under which police are beating peo-ple,” Borisov said as he announcedhis resignation on Wednesday.

The spark for the protests was high elec-

tricity bills, after the government raisedprices by 13 percent last July. But itquickly spilled over into wider frustrationwith Borisov’s domineering manner and un-predictable decision making.

The premier did not say if a parliamen-tary election scheduled for July would nowbe brought forward. Borisov’s rightistGERB party is the dominant faction in par-liament but will not take part in talks to forma new government, Interior Minister TsvetanTsvetanov said.

ATHENSAgENCIES

Thousands of anti-austerity demonstratorstook to the streets of Athens on Wednesdayas unions staged a general strike to protest thegovernment’s spending cuts and tax hikes,which some predict will push unemploymentto a stunning 30 percent this year.

The 24-hour walkout disrupted flights,kept ferries and long-distance trains idle andcrippled public services.

It was the first general strike of the year,renewing confrontation between labor groupsand the conservative-led government that haspursued punishing austerity policies to cutdebt, a key condition imposed by interna-tional bailout creditors.

State schools and tax offices closeddown, public hospitals functioned on emer-gency staff, court cases were stalled aslawyers walked off the job, and even neigh-borhood street fruit and vegetable marketswere cancelled. Private doctors and dentists

also joined the strike.In Athens, several thousand members of

a Communist Party-affiliated labor unionmarched peacefully towards Parliament,while the main public and private sectorunions were planning a separate march laterWednesday. Previous protests have beenmarred by clashes between riot policeand masked youths armed with fire bombsand stones. Up to 3,000 police officers wereon duty for the street rallies.

Greece’s largest union, the General Con-federation of Greek Workers (GSEE), hascalled for the strike, arguing that the labourforce has been too badly weakened to payemergency taxes.

According to union researchers, two-thirds of employees in the hammered privatesector no longer receive regular pay.

Antonis Samaras, the country’s primeminister, has won praise from bailoutlenders for pushing through major cost-cutting measures after forming a three-party coalition last June.

TUNISAgENCIES

Tunisian Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali hasannounced his resignation at a news confer-ence in Tunis.

“I promised if my initiative did not suc-ceed I would resign as head of the govern-ment and this is what I am doing followingmy meeting with the president,” Jebali saidat the presidential palace.

“Today there is a great disappointmentamong the people and we must regain theirtrust and this resignation is a first step.”

An aide had hinted that Jebali might re-sign earlier on Tuesday, after the ruling En-nahda party rebuffed his plan to form anon-partisan cabinet to steer Tunisia througha crisis caused by the killing of leftwingpolitician Shokri Belaid.

Jebali, who had warned of chaos if hisplan fell through, made a last ditch effort topush for “another solution” and was due tomeet President Moncef Marzouki later in theafternoon. Jebali met the cabinet in the morn-ing to say goodbye and to ask them to “con-tinue to expedite current matters,” onegovernment member said.

Ennahda’s leader, Rachid Ghannouchi,had put forward his own proposal on Mondayfor a mixed government of politicians andtechnocrats and had said there was a consen-sus among political parties for Jebali to re-main prime minister.

Jebali did not rule out accepting if he wascharged by the president once more to forma new government, but he said any new cab-inet he would lead must be free from partisanhaggling, inclusive and charged primarilywith holding new elections.

rUssia warnsoF ‘MUTUaldesTrUcTion’in syria

Bulgaria’s government resigns amid protests

Greece hit by freshanti-austerity strike

Tunisian prime minister resigns

MADRID: An Iberia airline worker is carriedaway by riot police during a protest at Madrid-Barajas airport on Wednesday. AgENCIES

KHI 21-02-2013_Layout 1 2/21/2013 3:30 AM Page 7

newSNThursday, 21 February, 2013

08 Formation of new provinces would be

done on administrative, not ethnic basis.

— Law Minister Farooq Naek

ISLAMABADSTAFF REPORT

WHILE seeking mem-bership of the MissileTechnology ControlRegime (MTCR),Pakistan has asked the

group’s member states to recognise it asa nuclear weapon state.

Pakistan hosted a delegation of theMTCR at the Foreign Office here on Feb-ruary 18-19, 2013. The MTCR delegationwas led by its current chairman, Ambassa-dor Joerg Ranau of Germany, and includedthe two incoming chairs, AmbassadorCarlo Trezza of Italy and AmbassadorRoald Naess of Norway. The Pakistaniside was headed by Additional ForeignSecretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry.

The MTCR is a multilateral exportcontrol arrangement comprising 34 mem-bers. It is aimed at controlling the prolif-eration of missiles and related technologythrough the implementation of certain ex-port control guidelines. It was establishedin April 1987 by the United States,

Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japanand the United Kingdom. According to adiplomatic source, Pakistan, which iskeen to join the group, discussed the issuewith the visiting MTCR delegation. “Inorder to join the MTCR and other exportcontrol arrangements such as the NuclearSuppliers Group (NSG), Pakistan hassought the help of the United States andis also engaged with other members ofsuch global bodies,” according to thesource, who requested anonymity. Hesaid Pakistan also wanted the interna-tional community to recognise its statusas a nuclear weapon state, and conveyedthe message to the MTCR delegation.

According to a Foreign Office state-ment issued on Wednesday, the MTCRdelegation praised the steps taken by Pak-istan for bringing its export controls at parwith the best international standards. Bothsides exchanged views on a broad range ofissues and agreed to continue their interac-tion in future, the statement added. “On 12February 2013, Pakistan held talks with adelegation of the Australia Group (AG) inIslamabad led by the United Kingdom.

The AG is a forum of 40 industrialisedcountries that seeks to use licensing meas-ures to ensure that the exports of certainchemicals and biological agents are notused for the spread of chemical and bio-logical weapons,” the statement said.

Earlier, Pakistan held a trilateralmeeting with the chairmanship troika ofthe Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), ledby the United States. The meeting washosted by Turkey in Ankara on January23-24, 2013. The 47-member NSG worksto prevent the proliferation of nuclearweapons through implementation ofguidelines to control nuclear and nuclear-related exports. Pakistan also participatedfor the first time in an outreach meetingof the Wassenaar Arrangement (WA) onJune 15, 2012, in vienna. The WA is anexport control arrangement on conven-tional arms, and Pakistan looks forwardto further engagement with this group.

“These interactions are part of Pakistan’sconcerted effort to engage with internationalexport control regimes, in pursuance of thedirection received from the National Com-mand Authority (NCA) chaired by the prime

minister,” said the statement. The NCA, inits statement on July 14, 2011, had reiter-ated “Pakistan’s desire to constructivelycontribute to the realisation of a world freeof nuclear weapons and to the goals ofnon-proliferation on the basis of equalityand partnership with the international com-munity. Accordingly, Pakistan was keen tojoin the four international export controlarrangements.”

“Pakistan’s export control regime iscompatible with the guidelines of theMTCR, NSG and AG. Pakistan hopes todevelop a mutually beneficial relationshipwith all of these regimes, and would wel-come cooperation in the field of peacefuluses of nuclear energy, biology and chem-istry as well as space science and technol-ogy, with any member of these groups,while maintaining a nuclear deterrent inthe interest of regional peace and secu-rity,” the handout said. “Pakistan is beingviewed by the international community asa responsible nuclear weapon state that isfirmly committed to the non-proliferationof WMDs and their delivery systems ona non-discriminatory basis.”

Pakistan eyeing MTcr membership,recognition as nuclear power

ISLAMABADSTAFF REPORT

In an apparent attempt to get politicalmileage out of the recent consensus amongstakeholders on evolving a joint strategy forpeace, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F)on Wenesday decided to convene anotherAll Parties Conference (APC) on terrorismon February 28, Pakistan Today has learnt.

A source in the JUI-F told PakistanToday that the moot was being held to thecounter the success of the APC convenedby Awami National Party (ANP).

When contacted, the JUI-F SecretaryGeneral Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haidri

confirmed that his party was going to holdthe APC in which the Pakistan Tekreek-e-Insaf (PTI) would also be invited.

He said that the JUI-F had decided toconvene the APC on terrorism with the pur-pose of formulating a comprehensive andsolid strategy to do away with the scourgeof terrorism in the country.

He said that the JUI-F would invite allthe political and religious forces to the con-ference and so far several parties had beeninvited which showed their willingness inthis regard. “We will mull over the Tal-iban’s offer of talks and whether or not toaccept it. However, we want that the offershould be taken seriously, because the JUI-

F believes in resolution of the issue peace-fully”, Haidri added.

He said that all these steps were beingtaken to create a level-playing field for thenext general elections, so that all the polit-ical parties could carry out their election-eering without any fear.

Moreover, he said that the JUI-Fwanted a long-term solution to the problem.

“It is the right time when all politicaland religious parties should combine forcesso that peace could be restored in the coun-try,” he maintained.

Denying the reports about JUI-F chiefFazlur Rehman’s participation in any talkswith Taliban in Qatar, Haidri said that it

was merely propaganda, as he had goneQatar on the invitation of the JUI-F chapter.

Lashing out at his party senior col-league Hafiz Hussain Ahmed, Haidri saidthat he told lies to this effect for which hewas also reprimanded by the party leader-ship.

He said that all the political and reli-gious parties including the PTI would beinvited to the APC. Awami National Party(ANP), Pakhtunkhwa Milli AwamiParty (PMAP), BalochistanNational Awami Party,Paksitan People’ Party,Qaumi Wattan Party,JUP and Jamiat AhleHadith were for-mally contacted,which showedtheir willing-ness to par-ticipate inthe confer-ence, hesaid.

Fazl planning his own moot tocounter AnP’s APC

naB giVing cleancHiT To THeaccUsed: cJ ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice IftikharMuhammad Chaudhry on Wednesdayremarked that tax recovery is not beingmade despite court’s orders and the accusedare being given a “clean chit.” He gave theseremarks while presiding over a three-member bench of Supreme Court (SC)during the course of hearing of InternationalSecurity Assistance Force (ISAF) containerscase. Additional Prosecutor General NationalAccountability Bureau (NAB) Rana Zahidappeared on behalf of NAB while RanaShamim represented FBR in the court. Thecourt sought details of correspondencebetween the government and FBR withreference to constitution of tribunals underthe custom act. Additional ProsecutorGeneral NAB Rana Zahid presented ISAFcontainers report in the court while SCrejected this report. As per the NAB report,total number of ISAF containers were about34,078 while FBR report indicated thenumber of containers as 31,463. FBR toldthe court that a meeting was held as percourt’s orders and matter of missingcontainers was discussed at length. It wasdecided to file references against 7 clearingagents, FBR said. Loss to the tune of Rs 9.98billion was caused, FBR reported. The chiefjustice inquired as to how much amount wasrecovered. Rana Shamim informed thecourt that a sum of Rs 5.6 million had beenrecovered. The hearing of the case wasadjourned till Friday. ONLINE

nisar wriTesProTesT leTTerTo ecP ISLAMABAD:

National AssemblyLeader ofOppositionChaudry NisarAli Khan onWednesday, in aletter to theElectionCommission ofPakistan (ECP),registered his protestover the “highly objectionable letter” by theECP. According to details, Nisar wrote in theletter that the ECP should address and treatparliamentarians with respect instead ofmaligning their name and publiclyhumiliating them. The letter further said thatthe decision of the Supreme Court requiredECP to act against those accused ofcorruption and the SC had every right toverify their educational degree andcertificates. He wrote that the decision bythe Supreme Court did not permit the ECPpublicly humiliate the parliamentarians.Furthermore, he said that theparliamentarians should be addressed in aroper and civil manner without threateningthem with criminal cases. Nisar said in theletter that he had submitted his O and Alevel certificates to the ECP authoritiesbefore the 2002 election. INP

QUETTA: Activists of Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamat block the Quetta-Chaman higway during a protest against the arrest of their leaders on Wednesday. INP

KHI 21-02-2013_Layout 1 2/21/2013 3:30 AM Page 8

newS N

09

Thursday, 21 February, 2013

All political parties should make collective

efforts for eradication of terrorism from the

country. — Naveed Qamar

ISLAMABADTAyyAb HUSSAIN

THE initial investigation re-port into the award of landingrights to a private Tv chan-nel, Urdu One, has estab-lished the fact that the

landing rights licence was issued by Pak-istan Electronic Media Regulatory Author-ity (PEMRA) in violation of PEMRAordinance and even the basic criterion forthe said licence was not followed, PakistanToday has learnt.

Taking notice of a complaint submit-ted by United Producers Association(UPA) against the said channel, the SenateStanding Committee on Information andBroadcasting on Monday had directed fed-

eral secretary for information to launch aprobe into the alleged issuance of a boguslicence to the Dubai-based television chan-nel which had been given landing rights.

A source in the information ministryinformed told Pakistan Today that the re-port would be submitted to the SenateStanding Committee on Information andBroadcasting in a week’s time. The sourceadded that none of the directors of theUrdu One channel existed.

“Moreover, under the PEMRA Ordi-nance, landing rights could only beawarded to those channels which are onair. However, the initial investigation hasproved the allegation of UPA true as theDubai-based channel was awarded licencebefore even going on the airwave,” saidthe source, adding that even the directors

of the channel were not given securityclearance - a basic standard operating pro-cedure (SOP) mandatory for award of a li-cence.

Following the submission of the re-port, the source added, a complete turn-around in the PEMRA hierarchy waslikely as the new chairman, RashidChaudhry, was committed to upholdingthe rule of law to improve the functioningof the electronic media watchdog as gen-eral elections are nearing.

“The PEMRA report would furnish fi-nality that the channel was awarded abogus licence,” said the source, addingthat the channel was airing Turkish dramaswith Urdu dubbing. Director General Li-censing PEMRA Ashfaq Jumani had ap-prised the committee on Monday that the

channel showing Turkish dramas was is-sued a bogus licence. He said as pre-req-uisite, the channel had applied for landingrights showing the ownership of M/s Al-liance Media (FZLLC), UAE, having itsregistered office at Studio City in Dubaibut it was proved wrong. Senator Farhat-ullah Babar praised the statement of factsby Ashfaq Jumani and said that such up-right officers could overhaul any institu-tion.

PEMRA Chairman Rashid Chaudhryhad apprised the committee that the privatetelevision channel had obtained a stayorder from Sindh High Court after the au-thority issued a notice over violation ofrules. The committee also sought report onthe status of court case asking PEMRA todo the required against the channel.

PeMra issued licence to TVchannel in violation of law

LONDONmAJID KHATTAK

With the alarm bells already ringing forthe British government over the impactof Bulgarian and Romanian workers onthe country’s economy, a new finding

shows that these immigrants could benine times better off by moving to theUK next year.

The findings by the MigrationWatchthink-tank come amid deepening con-cern about the number of migrants whomay arrive after Britain’s borders and

labour market are open for Romanianand Bulgarian citizens in January 2014.

The report is based on minimumwage and benefit levels in Britain andeastern European countries, as well aspurchasing-power parity, providing anaccurate measure of living standards. Itfound a family of one worker with a de-pendent wife and two children wouldearn the equivalent of 70 pounds a weekon the minimum wage in Romania.

In England, where the minimumwage would be boosted by housing,council tax and child benefits, as wellas tax credits, the family’s incomewould be 543 pounds a week. Income

supplements in the form of working taxand child tax credits would provide thefamily with 152 pounds each week,more than double their income in Roma-nia.

Similarly, Bulgarian workers earn-ing the minimum wage with a familyand two children would take home 543pounds a week in the UK, comparedwith the equivalent of just 62 poundsback at home, an analysis by the cam-paign group found.

The MigrationWatch has estimatedthat 50,000 Romanians and Bulgarianswill come to Britain every year for fiveyears from 2014. Taking into account

the differences in the cost of living, thereport also found the economic incen-tives for Bulgarian and Romanian work-ers to move to the UK were about twicethose for Polish workers.

“With the success of the Polishworkers well known to them, it is hardto imagine that the UK would not provean attractive prospect,” the report said.“The financial incentives to migrate tothe UK from both Bulgaria and Roma-nia are very strong, much more so thanin the case of Poland.” Sir AndrewGreen, the pressure group’s chairman,added, “The wage differences turn outto be simply stunning.”

eU immigrants to earn nine times more in UKromanIans WIll get 152PoUnds each WeeK, morethan doUble theIrIncome In romanIa

thInK tanK says 50,000romanIans and bUlgarIansWIll come to brItaIn everyyear For FIve years From 2014

KP goVT BansinTeracTion wiTHForeign agencies PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa(KP) government on Wednesday bannedinteraction of all government departmentsand institutions with foreign agencies anddonors. According to a press release, theHome and Tribal Affairs Department tooknotice of an increasing trend ofinteraction of attached departments withforeign and local donors without priorapproval of the Home and Tribal AffairsDepartment. STAFF REPORT

ccP condeMnssHia genocideLAHORE: The Concerned Citizens ofPakistan (CCP) strongly condemn theongoing genocide of Hazaras in Quetta,and the recent target killing of Doctor AliHaider and his son Murtaza in Lahore.CCP is of the opinion that not only theFederal and provincial governments butall intelligence and law enforcing agenciesare responsible for this unacceptablelawlessness which is playing havoc withthe lives of citizens. Sheer negligence,poor intelligence or even collusion withrogue elements who wish to destabilizethe country and derail the democraticprocess, are perceived as the causes ofthe disastrous law and order situation.CCP demands that decisive action betaken against all banned terrorist andsectarian groups, who blatantly identifythemselves after each attack and yetoperate with impunity. Such anti-stateelements and the politicians who overtlyor covertly support them must be givenexemplary punishment. The citizens mustunite and ostracise those who preach orpractice sectarianism or encouragedeviations of the Rule of Law. PRESS

RELEASE

17 MiliTanTs Killed

in KHyBer, oraKzaiJAMRuD/HANgu: As many as 17militants were killed and many otherswere injured during a military offensive inKhyber and Orakzai agencies, officialsources said on Wednesday. According tosources, forces continued artillery shellingby jet fighters against the militant basesin Tirah Valley of Khyber Agency. Securityforces pounded hideouts of banned terroroutfits in Doh Toi area near Jamrud.Official sources claimed that ninemilitants were killed and several otherswere injured in the shelling. They saidthat a number of insurgent hideouts werebusted and a huge cache of arms andammunition were destroyed in theoperation. However, the human losescould not be verified from either militantsor local people. Meanwhile, eight militantswere killed after fighter jets poundedtheir hideouts near Hangu in upperOrakzai Agency. Sources said further thejetfighters blitzed four sanctuaries of themilitants in the area that continued forhalf an hour. Eight militants were killedand their three hideouts were destroyedin the air strikes, sources said. ONLINE

ISLAMABADINP

Prime MinisterRaja PervezAshraf onW e d n e s d a yurged media tohelp removemisunderstand-ings and build anatmosphere ofpeace and friendshipamong SAARC countries.

Addressing the South AsiaMedia Summit in Islamabad,Raja said the region needed peaceand economic development. Hesaid unresolved political disputeswere undermining the potential ofthe region to emerge as a robusteconomic grouping. He said re-sponsibility rested on the shoul-ders of the regional leaders toshow statesmanship and courageto resolve differences.

He said Pakistan attachedgreat importance to SAARC andhad fervently supported the prin-ciples and objectives of its char-ter.

“We believe that SAARC hasa great potential to become amodel of regional cooperation,”he said, adding that Pakistan hadplayed a vital role in this regardand was ready to go an extra-

mile.Raja said media

had become a softpower with the po-tential to embraceall aspects of thelives of nations.He said mediawas bulwark of

fundamental rightsand human liberties

and acted as a watch-dog against government

excesses. It should, how-ever, remain within limits ofmoral and professional ethics, so-cial values and adhere to the reg-ulatory mechanism in place lest itencourages chaos in the society.

He said media could enjoyfreedom only in a democratic dis-pensation and democracy couldflourish in an environment wheremedia was independent.

The PM said the PPP govern-ment had an abiding commitmentto freedom of expression. He saidmedia enjoyed complete freedomand is contributing to thestrengthening of democracy inthe country.

He said the governmentwould continue to protect mediafreedom and facilitate it in everypossible manner. He also praisedthe role played by APNS in pro-moting people-to-people contact.

PM urges media tohelp buildatmosphere of peacein SAARC region

PESHAWAR: An elderly man looks at the collapsed roof of his house at Chowk

Nasar Khan on Wednesday. INP

KHI 21-02-2013_Layout 1 2/21/2013 3:31 AM Page 9

IN what can only be described as"chutzpah", David Keyes, the Ex-ecutive Director of a group callingitself "Advancing Human Rights",penned "Palestine's Democracy

Deficit", a column that appeared earlier thisweek in The New York Times.

Keyes begins his piece decrying thePalestinian Authority's (PA) arrests, duringthe past few years, of activists who havebeen charged with criticising the leadership.That done, he gets on to his real goal—mak-ing it clear that the Palestinians are not part-ners for peace, are not ready for a state oftheir own, and should not receive US aid.

His words: "A good indicator of howcommitted a government is to upholdingpeace with its neighbours is its commitmentto protecting the human rights of its owncitizens. Nations that disregard the free-doms of their own people are not likely tocare much about maintaining peace withtheir historic enemies. Palestinian humanrights, in other words, are key to the peaceprocess... A positive first step would be link-ing Western economic aid to the PalestinianAuthority's respect for free speech. Humanrights, too often seen as a diversion from thepeace process, are in fact the secret to it."

Several observations must be made inresponse. First, there is the Bush/Sharanskyorigin of Keyes' thesis.

The rather bizarre notion that the Pales-tinians must first build a "practicing democ-racy based on tolerance and liberty" beforethey can have a state was first articulated byGeorge W. Bush in June of 2002. Back then,with Israeli-Palestinian tensions at a highpoint, the world waited for two monthswhile Bush was framing his approach torestoring peace-making efforts. A speechhad been written by State Department’sMiddle East experts, but at the last minutethe White House inserted its "democracyfirst" demand which instead of restartingthe peace process proved to be the "nail inits coffin".

How, I asked back then, could a people

under military occupation establish a func-tioning democracy, without any functioningeconomy and their people seething in angerat the daily humiliation they were forced toendure, the denials of their rights to move-ment, the restrictions on their ability to en-gage in commerce, and the loss of theirproperty and hopes all brought to them bytheir "democratic" neighbour?

State Department officials who hadworked on the initial drafts of the speechwere floored by the Bush insertions, whichwe later learned had come directly from thepresident after he had read a treatise ondemocracy by Natan Sharansky. Sharansky,the famed Soviet "refusnik" had left the So-viet Union for Israel in 1986. I rememberwell how when he arrived in Israel he ini-tially criticised that government's treatmentof Palestinians. After being scolded, henever raised the subject again. Instead Sha-ransky joined with hardliners to become acritic of all things Palestinian.

In this context it is useful to note thatKeyes for many years worked for NatanSharansky and refers to himself as a "Sha-ranskyite".

Then there is the organisation whichKeyes directs, Advancing Human Rights(AHR). AHR was the creation of Ben Bern-stein. Bernstein had earlier founded HumanRights Watch (HRW). But in 2009, Bern-stein resigned from HRW charging that ithad become too focused on criticising Is-rael. Two years later he launched AHRwhich, from a review of its website, criti-cises everyone in the Middle East but Israel.

I want to be clear. I cannot condone thePA's performance or its behaviour—and Ihave told them so. In the 1970s I foundedthe Palestine Human Rights Campaign(PHRC) which defended Palestinians whohad been tortured in Israeli prisons, held forprolonged periods under AdministrativeDetention (without being charged with anycrime), whose homes had been demolishedin acts of collective punishment, or who hadbeen illegally and summarily expelled fromthe territories and separated from their fam-ilies. We had formed the PHRC in 1976 be-cause back then no US human rights groupwould adopt Palestinian cases. Even amongthe more progressive groups, Palestinianswere a taboo topic. Some argued that itwould disturb their members or supportersif they took on these issues. Others ex-pressed the concern that if they embracedPalestinian cases and antagonised Israel,that would impede peace-making efforts!

In the mid-1990s, I was asked by theState Department to host a meeting for avisiting delegation of PA officials, one ofwhom had been an Administrative Detaineeduring the '80s. I assembled a group of in-dividuals who had signed a petition backthen to the Israeli occupation authorities

calling for his release. After criticising thePA's human rights record, we turned to thatformer prisoner and said "we defended yourrights when they were violated, don't forceus to turn against you because you are vio-lating human rights. Because we will". Andwe have.

At the same time, I am fully aware ofthe impossible conditions that have beenimposed on the Palestinians by a persistentand corrosive occupation. They have been,in effect, required by the Israelis and theUS, to manage the occupation and controltheir own people. Denied by the Israelis ofthe opportunity to grow their economy andproduce a vibrant private sector, the PA hasbecome dependent on the largess of othersto pay salaries for a bloated public sectorthat is, for too many Palestinian families,the only available source of income. Andfacing resistance from a restive population,it should have been expected that theywould behave as they have.

Testifying before the Senate ForeignRelations Committee in the mid-90's on theissue of the Palestinian economy, I wasasked by Senator Diane Feinstein whyArafat couldn't be more like Mandela orYeltsin. I responded that while those leadersassumed power over fully functioning sov-ereign states, in control of their economiesand borders, Arafat and the fledgling PA in-herited nothing but little captive "cantons"with no ability to import or export, no free-dom to move or grow, and still losing con-trol over more of their land toever-expanding settlements and a networkof Jewish-only roads. It would be inappro-priate, under these circumstances, I noted,to single out the victim for blame.

This in no way justifies the behaviourof the PA, but it puts the burden where it be-longs—on the occupation that continues tomaintain its demeaning control with no endin sight.

That said, I can agree with a few ofKeyes' observations in the passages citedabove. "Palestinian human rights... are thekey to the peace process" and "Humanrights, often seen as a diversion from thepeace process, are in fact the secret to it".Oh yes, and by the way, I agree with his ar-gument that economic and military aidshould be linked to human rights perform-ance. But I would insist that this mandateshould, of course, be applied to Israel, aswell. To suggest that Israel be exempt andnot held to account for its abuses of thehuman rights of a people it holds captive isthe definition of "chutzpah". However, I amnot holding my breath for either AHR or, forthat matter, the US Congress to measurehuman rights by one yardstick.

The writer is President of theArab-American Institute.

the definition of chutzpahCoMMenT

Arif NizamiEditor

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

Islamabad – Ph: 051-2287273 Fax: 051-2850505Web:www.pakistantoday.com.pk

Email: editorial@pakistantoday.com.pk

Dedicated to the legacy of the late Hameed Nizami

C

but only in order to put the house in ordernecessary though painful

Kishanganga project decision

BEING neighbours means there are bound to be instances where disputesarise whose solution should take nothing more than a mutually agreedupon formula. It saves time and helps keep in check any escalation in

hostility. That’s what the Indus Water Treaty was supposed to do for bothPakistan and India. However, a lack of timely action by Pakistan and India’stactic of keeping Pakistan in dark about the Kishanganga Hydroelectric Projectled them to International Court of Arbitration, which while recognising India’sright of using water has put a restriction on it not to use it more than a minimumflow level.

Hailing the decision to be a victory for Indian or Pakistan is not going tostop any more disputes on water. Both countries have benefited from thedecision and both have lost as well. Winning in a sense that Pakistan got itspoint of view accepted that India could not divert maximum water flow from arun-of-the-river project, and India that it was able to get its way with gettingapproved the diversion of minimum water flow. Losing, on the other hand, is amatter of perspective for India while for Pakistan it lies in its strategy on how itcontrols and monitors its rivers and how it gets India to comply with the IWT.

For Pakistan, the problem runs even deeper. It is not because it had a weakcase that it could not get the decision entirely in its favour, it was instead a lackof timely action that led to its failure in getting its viewpoint across. Well, thatand an incompetent crony who represented Pakistan at the ICA at The Hague.Under the IWT, both countries are allowed to build projects that do not hamperwater flow level approved under the treaty. But playing a classic move, NewDelhi kept Islamabad busy in the paperwork, proposals and discussions while itwent ahead with scores of projects, many of them on the rivers only Pakistanhad a right on. One such opportunity was missed when Musharraf hesitated anddid not build a dam on Neelum river in AJK, despite demands by media andopposition.

The utility of a treaty is only observed in its practicality. The IWT has beenseen by many as a lopsided one, if not entirely one-sided. India has takenadvantage of the treaty ever since it was put into effect. Pakistan being a lowriparian, it is naturally at a disadvantage. This makes it all the more importantthat it remains on its toes all the time regarding its water rights.

THE transition to a democratic culture is necessary albeit painful.Modern democracy cannot work in the absence of transparency, astrong legal system and rule of law. The ruling elite in Pakistan

however is the product of a culture of privilege and is used to an environmentcharacterised by opaqueness, arbitrary decision making and prevalence ofvague and flexible laws. Some of the proposals formulated by the ElectionCommission to ensure transparency and accountability may not, therefore, sitwell with the parliamentarians. It is time they began to learn to play accordingto the rules of the game. This is all the more important on account of anindependent EC, a free media and an assertive judiciary. Recently some of theparliamentarians have come under spotlight for possessing fake degrees,holding dual nationality in violation of the constitution and allegations of taxdodging. With the elections around the corner, they have a chance to improvethe image of the new legislature.

Most of the proposals prepared by the EC centre round financialtransparency which is not only the requirement of a democratic polity but alsothe economic system. Tax evasion by hiding the real incomes has become awidespread phenomenon leading to a very low tax-to-GDP ratio. Unless those atthe top pay full taxes and are not seen to be involved in financial scams, there islittle hope of any improvement below. The parliamentarians therefore need toset an example. Candidates will be required to supply information about sourcesof income and tax returns during the last three years. The information regardingproperty held inside the country and abroad will have to be more detailed thanbefore. They will also have to furnish details of their children studying abroadand expenses incurred on their education, foreign trips undertaken by themduring the period and the cost incurred. The detailed information is meant toensure that their expenses are in conformity with their declared incomes.

The proposals will be sent to the law department which will send them inthe form of a bill to the NA for necessary enactment. Thus it is theparliament which is to decide the fate of the proposals. While the 20thamendment has ensured the freedom and empowerment of the EC, thecommitment of the parliamentarians to a powerful EC is yet to be tested. Onehopes they will not resent the EC seeking information never demanded in thepast. They need to realise that by setting their house in order they would beuplifting their image.

both parties have won, and lost

Thursday, 21 February, 2013

10No, not rich. I am a poor man

with money, which is not the same

thing. –Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Blaming the victim

Metro Bus systemThis is in response to an article carried on these pages of

this newspaper a few days ago titled 'Metro bus a joy ride' byMr Hashim bin Rashid. Please note that the PunjabGovernment has implemented the project with the best ofintentions and after ensuring due diligence. The author has notonly made inaccurate assertions but also the article is clearlyriddled with factual errors. The basic tenor and argument of thearticle is misleading and smacks of bias. Similar aspersionswere cast on the Lahore-Islamabad Motorway (M-II). Buthistory is witness to the fact that it turned out to be a roaringsuccess and has stood the test of time and scrutiny. The PunjabGovernment is committed to making the Metro Bus System aresounding and long-term success. The political leadershipunder the able guidance of the chief minister has steered theprocess right through and remains resolute in keeping thingson track and take service delivery to a higher level. Thepurposefulness with which the entire initiative has beenapproached will help in addressing the teething problems andremoving the bottlenecks efficiently.

Spokesman,Government of the Punjab

Before it’s too lateSecretary Defence and Chairman PIA has approved a raise insalaries by 45 percent from Group 1 to 4 effective 1 Jan,2012.There is no doubt the increase was overdue but the questionarises was it an appropriate time to increase salaries when PIA

owes billions of rupees to PSO and CAA ? The increase at a timewhen PIA is facing delays in flights, cancellation of flights, air-crafts landing after take-off due to technical faults, poor passen-ger handling, growing complaints by stranded passengers, birdhits etc is not in a good taste. Travellers have started feelingwhether to travel by PIA or any other airline as reported in na-tional newspapers.

The chairman rightly deserves appreciation for this timelyincrease to overcome above issues as it will speed up in haltingoperations of national carrier. This is great feat when PIA is sink-ing. Three things stand out very clearly. Firstly, CAA is not per-forming its functions as a regulator and their air worthinessdepartment needs complete overhauling as to how faulty aircraftsare allowed to fly risking hundreds of lives. Secondly, there hasbeen upward trend in the bird hits causing damages to speciallyPIA aircrafts. CAA is responsible to ensure that no birds are seenin the funnel area while landing and taking off aircrafts. Thirdly,strict control over commercialisation around airports and ensur-ing that parameters spelt out for obtaining NOC are strictly fol-lowed.

PIA has accumulated losses over Rs 150 billion. PSO, themain supplier of fuel, has stopped supplies unless its dues arecleared. When private airlines can run in profit why can’t ournational carrier stand on its feet?

The only solution is major surgery. First and foremost is toban the union immediately for a period of two years. Secondly,reduce the employee’s strength to 50 percent and absorb in otherunits and finally appoint professionals to run this airline insteadof showering these high profile jobs to favourites. Time to wakeup before it is too late.

MUKHTAR AHMEDKarachi

Send your letters to: Letters to Editor, Pakistan Today, 4-Shaarey Fatima Jinnah, Lahore, Pakistan. Fax: +92-42-32535230 E-mail: letters@pakistantoday.com.pk Letters should be addressed to Pakistan Today exclusivelyEditor’s mail

washington watchDR JAmES J ZOgby

KHI 21-02-2013_Layout 1 2/21/2013 3:31 AM Page 10

TRAGEDY strikes our nation onceagain. It is almost as if we are not beingallowed to forget the trauma of a fewweeks ago when twin bombings in

Quetta led to hundreds dead and many others in-jured. This time, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) hasstruck again killing at least 80 people and injuring200 more, through a massive bombing at a marketin the Shia Hazara area of Quetta.

The game of chance that Pakistan has been in-dulged in for a long time has made this nation ofours forgetful. While people renew their bets withlife on a daily basis, they are gradually surrenderingtheir dynamic and tolerant history to the ages. Thefirst month of the year and the current one has notbeen a silent affair, but amidst this noise passedsilently the death anniversaries of three importantmen who at more or less the same time emergedwith what many would say blasphemous progres-sive ideas in the now restless Pakistani province ofKhyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK). Their mission wasthe same; to establish a vigorous, progressive, non-sectarian and tolerant society where the majorityand minority could live in harmony, while totallyexercising their rights in accordance with the lawof God, law of the country and law of the Pukhtuns.

Almost a month ago from now, Khan AbdulGhaffar Khan (Bacha Khan)’s death anniversarywas observed on 20th January, followed by thedeath anniversary of his illustrious son KhanAbdul Wali Khan on 26th January while 7th Feb-ruary was marked as the death anniversary ofrenowned Pukhto poet Ajmal Khattak, who dedi-cated his entire life to instigating lost souls into ac-tion through letters rather than the gun. Howeminent historians, researchers, writers, scholarsand journalists have painted these three personal-ities is of less concern here than their ideologies,their principled undertakings, their character andtheir humanist approach towards life, all in rele-vance with terrorism, sectarian violence and law-lessness that has played havoc with the lives ofinnocent people in these two months. Maybe wecan find answers to the problems being presentlyfaced by Pakistan from the deeds of these person-alities if we look closely enough.

As a young man Bacha Khan Baba understoodthe value of social activism and reform anddeemed both essential for the society in generaland the warlike Pukhtuns in particular. So in orderto fill the vacuum created by his own shortcom-ings, he helped start the education of others by es-tablishing independent schools which ultimatelyculminated in the founding of Khudai Khitmadgar(Servants of God) movement in the 1920s. Hewanted to make the Pukhtuns think by establishing

his movement, also known as Red Shirts, on thebeliefs of service to humanity and observance ofnon-violence which included ending blood feudsand refraining from instigating ethnic strife withinthe community, thus giving his people a distinctway of life, a different creed.

Bacha Baba repeated calls for social change,equitable distribution of land and religious har-mony threatened religious leaders and big land-lords, and he kept the threat alive by refusing tosurrender his ideology. His movement was refinedto be non-sectarian in outlook, so much so thatwhen Hindus and Sikhs were attacked in Peshawararound the time of partition, 10,000 Red Shirtspledged to protect their lives and properties. Largecommunities of Hindus and Sikhs had perma-nently settled in the Pukhtun territories because thesafety of their heads was guaranteed in the midstof the proud warrior nation.

The situation that Pakistan presently finds itselfin had been envisioned by Wali Khan Baba at atime when the Afghan Warwas being waged in the1980s. His political acumenand clarity of thought couldbe gauged from the fact thatwhile commenting on thethen on-going Soviet-AfghanWar, Wali Baba said,“Afghan War is strife, notJihad.” He summed up thecloseness of Pakistan and theTaliban by saying, “We aresitting on dynamite.” He didnot live long to see the dyna-mite explode in his own back-ground and in theneighbouring province ofBalochistan. Most impor-tantly, Wali Baba was verycritical of Osama bin Ladenand questioned the presenceof an Arab in Pukhtun terri-tory. He said that Osama had no other role there ex-cept to disturb the harmony of the region and tohurt the coming generations. And hurt he did.

Similarly, Ajmal Khattak Baba a staunchKhudai Khidmatgar and a progressive writerpreached humanism and mutual respect throughhis fiery poetry, while stirring his people into ac-tion against all injustices committed againstmankind with his famous “Cry of Honour”. He,through his writings, was very critical of thestate’s misguided policies which he vehementlydebated would lead to violence.

Presently, though, the Pukhtuns of Quettahave been exercising considerable restraint perthe teachings of Bacha Baba, Wali Baba andAjmal Baba and have so far refused to become a

party in the ongoing bloodbath. Amir Mateen inhis article “Enter the Pushtun-Baloch divide”,published last year in a renowned local Englishnewspaper, had acknowledged the role ofPukhtuns of Quetta as follows: “The peace ofQuetta has been largely maintained—or let’s saystalled from deteriorating further—because of thePushtuns. While everybody else has been at dag-gers drawn, the Pushtuns of Balochistan havestayed out. In fact, they have maintained the bal-ance of ethnic strife from tipping out completely.Most settlers and minorities have moved to Push-tun areas as they are relatively safer.” He furtheradds, “The Pushtuns have been provoked consid-erably. Many have been pressured to leave andbe killed in Baloch areas. Pushtun transportershave been attacked incessantly. But they have re-mained calm as a community and not contributedto the mayhem that exists all around Balochistan.So far, that is.” Therefore, the underlying prob-lem of Balochistan might not exactly be the

Pukhtun-Hazara animosity,as had been propagated bysome devious minds, exceptthat a handful from amongstour ranks sold their souls tothe devil and embarked onmischievous endeavoursunder the watchful eye of themilitary establishment.

If any one of the threemen discussed above werealive today they wouldhave spoken thus regardingthe unforgivable violenceinitiated against Hazaras:“I strongly condemn thekilling of Hazara Muslimsas every Pukhtun would.We share your pain andlosses because the samehad also been incurredupon us. Our elders had

been slaughtered, women dishonoured andchildren corrupted, in similar ways as you havebeen targeted. History would bear witness tothe fact that Pukhtuns are legendary defenders,and we would continue defending the lives offellow Muslims, Hindus, Christians and Sikhsas our mighty forefathers had done. Otherwise,history and Pukhtunwali would never forgiveus. But we have been unable to extend our tra-ditional protection to you as we ourselves havealso been left unprotected in the great gamethat has been continuing on our soil from along time. We, the Pukhtuns, are sorry for thetreatment that has been meted out to youthough the journey towards justice would be adaunting task for us both.”

lessons from Pukhtunwalihow bacha Khan, Wali Khan and ajmal Khattak’s teachings are relevant even today

KHAN bAbRAK yOUSAFZAI

CoMMenT CThursday, 21 February, 2013

Wali Baba was very criticalof Osama bin Laden and

questioned the presence ofan Arab in Pukhtun territory.

He said that Osama hadno other role there except

to disturb the harmonyof the region and to hurtthe coming generations.

11There is no subject so old that

something new cannot be said

about it. –Fyodor Dostoevsky

we areall dead

NO matter how heart wrenching the news might be, let’sjust admit for once that we as a nation are all dead inside.Dead rotten. Over the past one month, more than 200Shia Muslims have been killed in unfortunate sleights of

hand that nobody seems to be able to pinpoint.The government appears to have lost interest in the affairs of the

governed and is only bent upon telling coffins lying in streets that itsaved democracy and its much touted “beauty”, gave them the 18thamendment, the NFC Award, took up record legislation, promotedpolitics of reconciliation, strengthened parliament and furtheredfriendship with China.

And all of this gave us the fairytale life we always wanted.Tap water became crystal clear, the country started exporting ex-

cess electricity, several million jobs were created, commodity priceshit rock bottom; the country truly became the envy of every othercountry’s citizen and our interior ministry has since been flooded withmillions of applications concerning immigration requests to Pakistan.

All because democracy returned. All because we finally got tochoose the leaders who truly represented what we wished for deepinside. And the kind of people this nation elects is truly representativeof what we as a people actually are. We, morally, should cut the dia-tribe on what the rulers are up to, when we know ourselves that weare going to vote for the person who has most offences under his belt.

Why? Because he is a “survivor”, a remarkably “shrewd” manip-ulator, who had a new trick up his sleeve when the going got tough.That is what this nation calls remarkable and that is how it definesachievement.

When Shias were targeted last month on Alamdar Road, the gov-ernment took out it magician’s hat and out came the governor’s rule,a purported cure-all potion. But as everyone can see that the potionhad somehow expired and failed to cure the disease, the rulers havedevised another ingenious strategy: restore the Balochistan govern-ment. Fool me twice…

The reason cited was that the move was crucial to let the electoralprocess continue. B******T.

All this was happening while the Hazaras continued their sit-inwith bodies of victims in torrential rain. How bloody cold!

The subjects of these contemporary monarchs could not care less.As long as they can watch the genocide of their brethren several hun-dred kilometres away from the comfort of the sofa in their lounge, allappears to be well, still, a few sad nods of the head won’t cost a for-tune. We as a people are only left good for updating statuses on socialwebsites and holding candle light vigils. The anger is apparent, theconcern momentary; deep down, we are all heaving sighs of reliefthat it was not us. And then there are politicians who appease this deadnation by singing praises of how worthy, vibrant and ‘awake’ it is.

The first rule of conditioning a living being is reward on the rightthing and the rod on the wrong. Praising a child while he runs a keyalong somebody’s new car will certainly do no good.

That is what has happened to this nation. Those addressing theyouth at massive public rallies are seen extolling the young of thisnation. The very young, who on way to the very rally were one-wheel-ing on roads leading to the venue, making life hell for other com-muters and passing sleazy remarks at anyone they could. And theyarrive only to be told how they can change the country’s future.

Certainly, we would be one-wheeling and eve teasing our wayinto the future.

Nobody tells us what morons we have become. How lowlifes weactually are. Of how social media blabber and having the most friendson Facebook does not make us ‘alive’. But then again, we as a nationhave ceased to be audience of a higher identity since long. Our loy-alties are worth a qeemay wala nan and a juice pack.

Wonder why remarks by a US politician back in the day concern-ing the sale of our kin stirred up such a storm a long time ago. Com-mentators on media talk shows repeatedly pinned the blame of Quettamassacre on foreign hands, oblivious to the fact that a local, pro-scribed, organisation vehemently claims attacks on Shias. And yet theforeign hand does all evil in the land of the pure. Maybe true, but whydoes the foreign hand need to target just one community in one cityof the country. No one probably knows the answer to it.

But one thing is clear and written on the wall. Religion beingpractised by an individual is solely the prerogative of the practitionerand subject to scrutiny by only God himself. I, you and we are nobodyto play authority and judge anyone but ourselves.

Let’s just one-wheel and eve tease into our bright future. At leastwe’ll only kill our own self.

The writer is a staff member.

but let’s just one-wheel and eve teaseinto our bright future

mUHAmmAD AZAm bUTT

KHI 21-02-2013_Layout 1 2/21/2013 3:31 AM Page 11

The secret to staying young is to live

honestly, eat slowly, and lie about your

age. —Lucille Ball

ARTS

AThursday, 21 February, 2013

12

salMan KHanadds MUscle ToBroTHer’s TeaMIn Hyderabad for the Celebrity CricketLeague, Salman Khan watched from thesidelines as his brother Sohail’s team lostthe match, despite all the support fromhim and actress Chitrangda Singh, whojoined him in the loud cheering. Earliertoo, Sohail’s team had ended up loser inthe Kochi match. Upset over his brother’sdefeat, a second time, Salman suddenlyannounced that he was open to playingthe matches next year. His statementtook all those present by surprise. Manyin the industry were left wonderingwhether it was just a statement made atthe spur of the moment or whether itcarried a deeper meaning and purpose.TOI decided to investigate and this iswhat we found out. A source close to theactor said, “Salman has been extremelyupset that his brother’s team is not in‘winning mode’. He feels his presence willmake a huge difference to Sohail’s team.He thinks he can change the fortunes ofSohail’s men.” Salman even told his closefriends that since winning is a habit withhim (read: his recent blockbusters), hefeels the magic will rub onto his brother’steam as well. But hasn’t Salman beenadvised by his doctors not to indulge intoo much action due to his trigeminalneuralgia condition? “After his tripoverseas for treatment this year, Salmanshould be fully fit. The game is not

necessarily aboutone’s age; it’s allin the mind,” thesource said andadded,“Interestingly,

Salman’spresence will berather intimidating

to his opponents onthe field and Salman

knows this well.”NEwS DESK

ISLAMABAD: PakistanTelecommunication Company Limited(PTCL) has launched a new strategiccampaign enabling its customers to re-connect their closed landline connectionsby just paying 50% of the total PTCLoutstanding amount without anyadditional reconnection charges. ThePTCL “Reconnect Landline Link”campaign features a creative jingle ‘Comeon People, Come on People’, sung andperformed by Shahid Nazir knownworldwide as “One Pound Fish Man”, thatcreatively depicts the affordability andreliability of PTCL landline network. ThePakistani singer and internet sensation,

Shahid Nazir, acclaimedinternational fame

through his viral hit song ‘One PoundFish’. He has also featured in the UKbased international music show, X-Factor,and has recently signed a record deal withWarner Music (Warner Brothers). “PTCLbelieves in nurturing the local talent andthis initiative is a part of our broaderefforts towards creating opportunities forthe local talent to showcase theirabilities,” commented Furqan HabibQureshi, PTCL Senior Executive vicePresident (SEvP) Commercial. “Thestrategic campaign creatively portrays thesignificance ofPTCLlandlineandenablesour

customers to return into the fold of thelargest and most reliabletelecommunications network in thecountry”, he added further. PTCL hasbrought a paradigm shift in the telecomsector through its EvO wireless products,vfone, video Con and Smart Tv services.However PTCL landline remains thebackbone of the telecom and internetindustry of Pakistan and is still by farthe largest voice telephony network inthe country. PTCL landline also offersthe most affordable rates, enablingcustomers to make unlimited on-net callsacross the country for just Rs 250 permonth without any monthlyline rent. STAFF REPORT

PTCL ‘reconnect’ campaignfeatures Shahid nazir

Freida Pinto will play host to Hollywood’s glitteratias a run-up to the Oscars. She is hosting one ofthe pre-Oscar parties as part of the 14thinstallment of ‘Campaign Hollywood’, a week-long celebration leading up to the AcademyAwards. The event is an endeavour to highlightthe issue of the girl child and the importance oftheir education. Freida, along with a leadingmagazine, will direct the funds raised to the10 x 10, a campaign that furthers theeducation of girls around the world throughfilm and social media advocacy. Called DJNight with Freida Pinto, the evening, thatkickstarts on February 19 evening(February 20 India time) will feature aspecial performance by DJ AcE. Whencontacted, Freida Pinto’s spokespersonconfirmed the news and stated, “WhenFreida was approached to co-hostthe pre-Oscar party, she was morethan happy to align with them.She has always felt committedto this cause (supportingthe girl child) andwouldn’t miss out on thisopportunity.” NEwS DESK

Freida PinToto host the pre-Oscar party

Douglasto skip

oscarsActor Michael Douglas has decided not toaccompany his wife Catherine Zeta-Jones to theOscar ceremony because he wants to stay home

with their children Carys, nine, and Dylan, 12.“Catherine is attending the Academy Awards with

a family member, as Michael just doesn’t feel likegoing. Michael will stay at home with son Dylan and

daughter Carys, while Catherine will attend theceremony and the after parties with her pal,” a source

told radaronline.com “He has been very busy oflate, promoting his forthcoming biopic

‘Liberace’, as well as ringing theclosing bell at the New York StockExchange. But Catherine looksforward to the Oscars every year.She loves the glitz and glamour ofthe event and wouldn’t miss it forthe world,” added the source.The ceremony will take placehere Sunday at the DolbyTheatre. NEwS DESK

KHI 21-02-2013_Layout 1 2/21/2013 3:32 AM Page 12

Forty is the old age of youth;

fifty is the youth of old age.

— Victor Hugo

13ARTSThursday, 21 February, 2013

A

KIM KARDASHIAN � Thank you for the amazingtime Nigeria! I can’t wait tocome back soon!

RICHARD BRANSON I love learning & expectto keep learning until Idrop. Do you thinklearning ever stops?

HILARY DUFFLovely fans in London...Thank you for being sosweet xx big kisses

PAULO COELHONothing wrong withappearing to be a fool, ifwhat you are doing isintelligent

GISELE BUNDCHEN “The first step towardsgetting somewhere isdeciding that you´re notgoing to stay where youare.”

NOTABLE TWEETS

aaMir KHanblames patriarchal mindsetfor gender inequality

Bollywood actor Aamir Khan, who has beenat the forefront of a debate on genderequality, blamed the “patriarchalmindset” of people for the lesser statusof women in society. Aamir, whointeracted with students at a girl’scollege with visiting British PrimeMinister David Cameron in NewDelhi, said most of the queries from the

young women were related to the lowstatus of women in society and how they

can best use their education. “Thepatriarchal thinking is to blame for thestatus of women in society. We are all born

with it. The feeling that men are superior,” hetold reporters. “We have to deal with the

problem in a mature manner. We haveto stop first the girl child being killed,then we have to bring her at par withfacilities there for the male child,”he said. Asked whether he sawmovies as a medium to createawareness on the gender issue, hesaid: “Dealing with patriarchy isnot easy. It is a gradual process.You have to win people overthrough whatever medium youcan like — movies, culture andart”. Khan, who interacted withthe students for nearly 30minutes with Cameron, said thegirls had questions on how toget jobs inside and outside thecountry. On corruption, hesaid there was a need toeliminate corruption fromamongst ourselves since thesociety has corruption at alllevels. “Only then we canstop corrupt leaders frombeing elected,” he said.NEwS DESK

Theron hostsbirthdayparty for sonActress Charlize Theronreportedly hosted alow profile party forson Jackson’s firstbirthday. The partywas hosted at theactress’ HollywoodHills pad and did nothave more than 20guests, including herfriends and familymembers. The 37-year-old had also invitedsome Hollywoodactors like SandraBullock andChelsea Handler.“Sandra Bullockwas one of the firstguests to arrive withher son Louis. Asthey walked intothe party, theybumped intoChelsea Handlerwho had also justarrived in alimousine,”eonline.comquoted a source assaying. “They allwalked in togetherand headed for thebackyard wherechildren’s musicwas playing andkids wererunningaround,” thesourceadded.NEwS DESK

scarJoshows off‘engagement’ringScarlett Johansson sent the rumourmills spinning after she was seen withan eye-catching pear-shaped diamondring on her finger while she was outwalking with her French boyfriend onMonday. The 28-year-old actress wasbundled up for winter in a black coatand matching black jeans and heldhands with her journalist boyfriendRomain Dauriac while on a trip to anEast village tattoo parlour, the NewYork Daily News reported. Johanssonwas first spotted getting cuddly withDauriac mere weeks after she splitwith her boyfriend Nate Naylor inOctober. 30-year-old Dauriac hadaccompanied Johansson to her film‘Hitchcock’ premiere in New York onNovember18. NEwS

DESK

KHI 21-02-2013_Layout 1 2/21/2013 3:33 AM Page 13

aPPle saysHacKers inFecTedeMPloyee MacsApple says a small number ofemployee Macs at its offices wereinfected by malicious software, in anattack similar to the one Facebookacknowledged last week. In bothcases, computers were infectedthrough software downloaded from asite for software developers. Theattacks took advantage of flaws inOracle's Java plug-in for Webbrowsers. Neither company thinks theattackers gleaned any data from theattacks. The Java vulnerability is well-known, and Apple has taken measuresto disable the plug-in on all Macs. Itsays it would release an updatemalware removal tool to removeinfections. In January, the Departmentof Homeland Security recommendeddisabling Java in Web browsers toavoid hacking attacks. NEwS DESK

Texas woManBirTHs 2 seTs oFidenTical TwinsA Valentine's Day miracle? A Houstonmom brought two sets of identicaltwins into the world last week—aphenomenon with a one-in-70 millionchance of occurring naturally, doctorssay. Tressa and Manuel Montalvo usedno fertility drugs to conceive thechildren, they say; before catching athird heartbeat, they believed theywere going to have just one set oftwins. Instead, Ace, Blaine, Cash, andDylan (yes, alphabetical names) wereborn over the course of two minutes.Cash and Dylan arrived just oneminute after their brothers; thebabies ranged in weight from twopounds, 15 ounces, to three pounds,15 ounces. NEwS DESK

INFOTAINMENT

IThursday, 21 February, 2013

14 When the people fear the government, there

is tyranny. When the government fears the

people, there is liberty. — Thomas Jefferson

cosmos may be'inherently unstable'

Microsoft office 2013 license limitsone install per computerMicrosoft isn’t making it easy to up-grade to Office 2013. Even if you’vefigured out what programs you reallyneed in your Office suite and what yourbudget will tolerate (see this chart thatshows the different Office options), younow have to consider how many ma-chines you’ll want running the latestversion of Office.

It seems Microsoft quietly changedthe licensing terms in its Office 2013productivity suite so that you can nolonger install the software on more thanone device – ever. Adam Turner fromAustralia’s The Age newspaper first re-ported on the changes in the Office 2013End User Licensing Agreement, chroni-cling all the conflicting information hereceived from various Microsoft techni-cal support and public relations staffabout the updated language and foundthat retail copies of Office 2013 are nowsingle-license. This means you can onlyinstall it on one computer – similar to theway operating systems come pre-loadedon devices but exclude backup media.

What does this mean for con-

sumers? We spoke to DarrenShield, an attorney at the NewYork boutique intellectual prop-erty firm Zussman Law PLLC, tobetter understand the licensingterms in plain English. “The licenseagreement does limit license hold-ers to a single installation on a singledevice,” Shieldsaid.”Given thefallibility of hard-ware and the up-grade-ability ofPCs, it is unfortunatethat the new Office version limits usersto such a degree.”

In other words, for someone who’sbuying a brand new Windows 8 or MacOS computer and just needs to install Of-fice 2013, you can absolutely buy a sin-gle-PC copy of the software (OfficeHome & Student, Office Home & Busi-ness, or Office Professional 2013) and in-stall it onto that specific machine. Simple,right? Where it gets dicey is when youneed to re-install the software that youhave already legally purchased. Perhaps

you recently upgraded or repaired yourcomputer; for example, becauseyour hard drive was infectedwith a virus and you need to re-install everything, including

your operating system andsoftware like Office. It hap-

pens. The updatedlicensing termsdoes not make it

clear whether it al-lows you to re-in-stall your copy ofOffice 2013. After

all, your copy of the software’s activationcode is already linked to a computer, butone with new parts or a freshly re-in-stalled operating system may not count.Some users on Reddit have reported thatthey were able to call Microsoft’s techni-cal support staff to get their install codere-activated. Of course, it depends on whoyou speak to on the phone.

If you need the flexibility to run Of-fice on multiple computers at home,then the $99-a-year subscription-basedOffice 365 seems like a great deal be-

cause you can install the software on upto to 5 PCs or 4 Macs. Considering thateach single-license copy of Office 2013starts at $140 for the Office Home &Student edition, you’ll be spending $700for the office suite for all those PCs,compared to just $100 for an entireyear’s subscription to Office 365. Thequestion is: How long do you need tokeep giving your money to Microsoft sothat you can continue to use office toolsyou’ve already paid for? According toZDNet, if you’ve subscribed to Office365 for at least one year, you will havean opportunity to download your files soyou can at least open or print them fromyour computer. But you won’t be able toedit your documents unless you use anolder edition of Office, use one of thefree Office Web Apps on SkyDrive forbasic editing, or just re-subscribe to Of-fice 365. Microsoft basically wants tomake it as unpalatable as possible foryou to let your Office 365 subscriptionslide, so going for the subscription-based software could end up costing youmore hassle. NEwS DESK

SCIENTISTS say they maybe able to determine theeventual fate of the cosmosas they probe the proper-ties of the Higgs boson. A

concept known as vacuum instabilitycould result, billions of years fromnow, in a new universe opening up inthe present one and replacing it.

It all depends on some precisenumbers related to the Higgs that re-searchers are currently trying to pindown. A "Higgs-like" particle wasfirst seen at the Large Hadron Colliderlast year. Associated with an energyfield that pervades all space, the bosonhelps explain the existence of mass inthe cosmos. In other words, it under-pins the workings of all the matter wesee around us. Since detecting the par-ticle in their accelerator experiments,researchers at the Geneva lab and atrelated institutions around the worldhave begun to theorise on the Higgs'implications for physics.

One idea that it throws up is the pos-sibility of a cyclical universe, in whichevery so often all of space is renewed. "Itturns out there's a calculation you can doin our Standard Model of particlephysics, once you know the mass of theHiggs boson," explained Dr JosephLykken. "What happens is you get just aquantum fluctuation that makes a tinybubble of the vacuum the Universe re-ally wants to be in. And because it's alower-energy state, this bubble will thenexpand, basically at the speed of light,and sweep everything before it," theFermi National Accelerator Laboratory

theoretician told BBC News.It was not something we need

worry about, he said. The Sun and theEarth will be long gone by this time.Dr Lykken was speaking here inBoston at the annual meeting of theAmerican Association for the Ad-vancement of Science (AAAS). Hewas participating in a session that hadbeen organised to provide an update onthe Higgs investigation.

The boson was spotted in thewreckage resulting from proton parti-cle collisions in the LHC's giant accel-erator ring. Data gathered by twoindependent detectors observing thissubatomic debris determined the massof the Higgs to be about 126 gigaelec-tronvolts (Gev). That was fascinating,said Prof Chris Hill of Ohio State Uni-versity, because the number was rightin the region where the instabilityproblem became relevant.

"Before we knew, the Higgs couldhave been any mass over a very widerange. And what's amazing to me isthat out of all those possible massesfrom 114 to several hundred Gev, it'slanded at 126-ish where it's right onthe critical line, and now we have tomeasure it more precisely to find thefate of the Universe," he said.

Prof Hill himself is part of theCMS (Compact Muon Solenoid) Col-laboration at the LHC. This is one ofthe Higgs-hunting detectors, the otherbeing Atlas. Scientists have still to re-view about a third of the collision datain their possession. But they willlikely need much more information to

close the uncertainties that remain inthe measurement of the Higgs' massand its other properties. Indeed, untilthey do so, they are reluctant to defin-itively crown the boson, preferringoften to say just that they have founda "Higgs-like" particle.

Frustratingly, the LHC has nowbeen shut down to allow for a majorprogramme of repairs and upgrades.

"To be absolutely definitive, Ithink it's going to take a few yearsafter the LHC starts running again,which is in 2015," conceded DrHoward Gordon, from theBrookhaven National Laboratory andan Atlas Collaboration member.

"The LHC will be down for twoyears to do certain repairs, fix thesplices between the magnets, and todo maintenance and stuff. So, whenwe start running in 2015, we will beat a higher energy, which will meanwe'll get more data on the Higgs andother particles to open up a largerwindow of opportunity for discov-ery. But to dot all the I's and cross allthe T's, it will take a few moreyears." If the calculation on vacuuminstability stands up, it will revive anold idea that the Big Bang Universewe observe today is just the latestversion in a permanent cycle ofevents. "I think that idea is gettingmore and more traction," said DrLykken. "It's much easier to explaina lot of things if what we see is acycle. If I were to bet my own moneyon it, I'd bet the cyclic idea is right,"he told BBC News. NEwS DESK

goodBye HoTMail,Hello oUTlooK.coMSay farewell to a huge relic of the 1990s:Microsoft is shutting down Hotmail and"upgrading" Hotmail users to its just-launchedOutlook.com service. But don't worry, youdon't have to give up yourspicegurrrl1983@hotmail.com account;Hotmail users will be allowed to retain theiremail addresses and login info, but will seethe different Outlook interface when they login. "It’s not a light brand decision," says asenior Outlook.com director. "I don’t know ofany other company that has hundreds ofthousands of users and has changed thebrand name." So why do it? Microsoft is in theprocess of revamping almost all of itsproducts, from Windows to Office (and evenupdated its logo for the first time in aquarter-century). One major goal: Thecompany wants all products to utilize thecloud, so as it updated Outlook, it startedworking on an improved Webmail client.Hence Outlook.com, which currently has 60million users after a six-month beta test, theLos Angeles Times reports. NEwS DESK

MoM: coPs UsedFaceBooK To inForMoF son's deaTHAn Atlanta mother is peeved after whatsounds like a police outreach fail following herson's death. When Rickie Lamb, 30, was hitby a car and killed in late January, police sentword to his mother via Facebook, reports theAtlanta Journal-Constitution. One problemwith that is that message went into AnnaLamb-Creasey's "other" folder because itwasn't from a friend and lingered there for 20days. In the meantime, Lamb-Creasey wasfrantically searching for her son, who lay inthe morgue. The mystery finally ended whenLamb's sister got the same Facebookmessage, called the phone number, and wastold her brother was dead. Inexplicably, theFacebook messages came not from the policedepartment's account, but from the account ofsomeone named Misty Hancock, with animage of rapper TI. As a result, both womeninitially thought it was fake when they finallysaw it. Police, who can't explain the MistyHancock thing yet, say they tried conventionalmeans to inform the family. NEwS DESK

BaBy Born on FrozensTreeT declared dead, reViVesTwo alert police officers are credited withsaving the life of a baby girl who was wronglydeclared dead after being born outside infreezing temperatures in Toronto. The girl'smother had attempted to walk to a hospital intemperatures around zero Fahrenheit, but shedidn't make it and ended up giving birth on afrigid sidewalk, the Toronto Star reports.Hospital staff tried to revive the newborn, butshe was declared dead and covered with asheet. Two police officers waited with thebody for the coroner to arrive and afteralmost two hours, one of them spottedmovement under the sheet. The officer feltfor a pulse and alerted medical staff, whoconfirmed the baby was alive. NEwS DESK

KHI 21-02-2013_Layout 1 2/21/2013 3:33 AM Page 14

MUMBAIAgENCIES

SRI Lanka beating England and India; West Indiesbeating New Zealand and Australia. Womencricketers have been playing World Cups for the

past 40 years but such results were scarcely imaginable,even as late as the 2009 edition. For showing thattraditional powerhouses Australia, England and NewZealand can be beaten on the biggest stage by sides thathardly get to play them otherwise, this World Cup is awatershed in the spread of the women's game.

This tournament came amid increasing visibility forthe women after the ICC's commendable move to havethem and the men playing the World Twenty20 together,with the women's knockouts preceding the men's ontelevision. The cheers from the Premadasa crowd -growing every minute in anticipation of the men's final -for Jodie Fields and her Australian team after they wonthe tournament in Colombo were spontaneous andheartwarming. While the people of Mumbai were largelyignorant of or indifferent to the Women's World Cup, itwas their loss as they missed out on some fascinatingcricket. The women put up a spectacular displaythroughout - the power of Deandra Dottin and EshaniKaushalya, the swing of Anya Shrubsole, the aggressionof Katherine Brunt, the athleticism of Ellyse Perry, thetactics of Jodie Fields, the skill of Lisa Sthalekar, thetalent of Harmanpreet Kaur, the vivacity of Holly Ferling,the dominance of Suzie Bates and much more.

Sri Lanka and West Indies came out of nowhere andimpressed, but the old order showed staying power.Australia were outstanding right through, and Englandwould have probably given them a fight in the final, had

they not suffered two narrow losses. To West Indies'credit, they did a complete turnaround in the Super Six,winning all three games after suffering heavy defeats toIndia and England in the group stage. Hosts India werethe biggest disappointment of the tournament. Sri Lankaambushed them with the bat, and Mithali Raj's commentthat she had never expected Sri Lanka to make so manyruns said it all. New Zealand captain Bates, the Player ofthe Tournament, said that with teams such as West Indiesand Sri Lanka getting better and better, her team was in

danger of falling behind if more resources and toursweren't organised. Such a prognosis from one of theforemost players of the game should be taken note of, andnot only by New Zealand Cricket. All boards have toinvest more, and all teams have to play more. If ever theadministrators needed evidence that most of the majorteams can play consistently competitive women's cricket,this World Cup provided that. If the cricket communityis serious about women's cricket, it will have to put in themoney now. Looking at short-term or even medium-term

returns is no way to grow a product. In industries such asinsurance, companies take decades to break even. Thatdoes not mean the world lives without insurers.

The business acumen of India's administratorsmade the men's game the lucrative industry it is today.It is a cash cow in India, generating massive profitsfar beyond what is required to keep it growing. Inbusiness, a cash cow is used to finance and grow otheroperations of the same company. Will the BCCI dothe same for the Indian women's team? At themoment, it is not even a remote possibility. Justproviding your academies and grounds to the womenand paying them peanuts is apologetically insufficientinvestment. What is the use if they don't play most ofthe time? Twenty six ODIs in four years between the2009 and 2013 World Cups? MS Dhoni and his menplayed around five times that number. MerissaAguilleira and her West Indies women played closeto 40. No wonder India sank at the slightest hint ofpressure against England and Sri Lanka.

For all their potential, Sri Lanka and West Indies havea limited pool of players at or close to the top level. It isunderstood to be just about 50 women in Sri Lanka andthey will face a problem in the coming years when thelikes of Shashikala Siriwardene, Kaushalya and ChamaniSeneviratna depart. It is almost always a struggle for WestIndies when Stafanie Taylor and Dottin don't fire. Thereis no reason, especially after their World Cup heroics,why both sides have to wait for the next World Cup toplay the big opponents. There is also no reason, after afew stars have hopefully been created in this World Cup,why the world has to wait for the next World Cup to hearabout them again. A great like Mithali Raj might possiblynot even be around when the next one comes along. It ishere that the ICC needs to make its goal of a binding FTPfor the women's game come true sooner than later.Cricketers are supposed to play cricket, after all, and notlay dormant waiting for the big stage to be made availableonce in a while. There couldn't be a better time forwomen's cricket to be taken seriously by everyone,especially the administrators. It will be unfortunate if theworld keeps waiting for 2017.

the Women's World cUP Was memorablebecaUse the PoWerhoUses Were challengedby lesser teams, bUt the game needssIgnIFIcant Investment ImmedIately

Player oF the toUrnamentsUzIe bates saId her teamneeded to Play morematches to stay comPetItIve

srI lanKa WerePerhaPs the mostImProved team Inthe toUrnament

WOMEN'S WORLD CUP 2013(

(

SPoRTS

SThursday, 21 February, 2013

15Spanish doctor Eufemiano Fuentes gave me a schedule of

races, and performance-enhancing drug and he gave me

erythropoietin. – American cyclist Tyler Hamilton told the court

The most competitive World Cup

LAHORESTAFF REPORT

THE move to amend thePCB's constitution has beenmade in order to bring it inline with the ICC directives.

A report says that in the newconstitution sitting Chairman, Ashrafwill hold the post until 2017.

PCB chairman Zaka Ashraf willenjoy absolute power under therecently-amended constitution of thePakistan Cricket Board, the country'smedia has reported. The details of theamended constitution approved by chiefpatron Asif Zardari, are yet to be madepublic, but reports suggested that it willgive Ashraf unlimited powers.

The move to amend the PCB'sconstitution has been made in order tobring it in line with the ICC directives.A report says that in the new

constitution sitting Chairman, Ashrafwill hold the post until 2017.

The procedure for his selection willbe that the chief patron will nominate atwo-member committee to recommendAshraf's name, which will than beratified by the General Council

members, including representatives ofthe regional associations anddepartments.

"Basically, it will be a selection andnot an election. The chairman in thenew constitution also has completepowers to appoint the Chief OperatingOfficer, Chief Financial officer andtakes decisions on the captain, coachand team issues without seekingapproval from the General Council as isthe case in the existing constitution,"one report said.

It claimed that the new constitutionwill strengthen Ashraf's position in theboard. Until now the Patron in Chiefdirectly appointed the chairman of theboard without having to consult anyone.

Former players have beencriticising the system of governance inthe board for years now, with the iremainly directly towards the chairmanfor running a one-man show.

new constitution giveszaka sweeping powers

LAHORESTAFF REPORT

Whatmore, a former Australian Test playerwho took charge of the Pakistan team inMarch last year, is being blamed for beinga passive coach in complete contradictionto his reputation of being a hard task master.

Pakistan coach Dav Whatmore hascome under severe criticism after the team'ssuccessive defeats in the Test series inSouth Africa, with some in the cricketfraternity holding him responsible for thereverses. Whatmore, a former AustralianTest player who took charge of the Pakistanteam in March last year, is being blamed forbeing a passive coach in completecontradiction to his reputation of being ahard task master. The Australian wasdemanding during his tenure with the Sri

Lankan and Bangladesh team."Reports that are coming in from South

Africa confirm that even after some carelessapproach by batsmen and bowlers in thesecond Test in Cape Town, Whatmore hasnot bothered to have a talk with them andgive them a dressing down.

"Normally, in other teams when a teamperforms as badly as Pakistan, the coachminces no words in making it clear to theplayers what is required of them," a sourceclose to the Pakistan team said. Not onlyWhatmore but even bowling coach,Mohammad Akram and fielding coach,Julian Fountain are being blamed for notbeing tough enough with the players.Former Test players like Rashid Latif,Inzamam-ul-Haq and Mohsin Khan statedthat Whatmore has been a bigdisappointment. "The problem clearly

appears to be that Whatmore is not willingto do anything which goes against what theTest and T20 captains, Misbah-ul-Haq andMuhammad Hafeez or some other seniorplayers are thinking. He is not willing to takea stand on some issues or selection matters,"the team source said. Few months backwhen there were reports that Whatmore hadreported some players to the board for poorperformances, the PCB issued acontradiction quoting Whatmore as sayingthat he had no problems with the players.

"This is not the Whatmore everybodytalked about in the past. Even when he hadapplied for the Pakistan coaching positionin 2007 some senior board officials hadadvised then board chairman, Nasim Ashrafagainst hiring him as they had reports thathe had become very passive while dealingwith players," the source said.

whatmore in the line of fire

PcB instructsplayers to sendback families

LAHORESTAFF REPORT

The Pakistan Cricket Board has instructed itsnational team players to send back theirfamily members after suffering successivedefeats in the Test series in South Africa. ThePCB has issued instructions that the familiesof some seven to eight players, who are inSouth Africa, should return home by February26. The board had apparently allowed theplayers and coach Dav Whatmore to take theirfamilies to South Africa at the start of theseries. The report said after the two successivedefeats, the board is having second thoughtsand believes the presence of family membersis distracting the players. The report addedthat while Whatmore’s wife had returnedhome a few days back, the players havebeen told their families must return at theearliest. “The feeling is that having theirfamilies at the start of the tour the playersinstead of focusing on their game must havespent time worrying about their familiesand family issues,” the report said.

steyn, amla outfor Pakistan T20s

JOHANNESBURGAgENCIES

South Africa have retained Faf du Plessis ascaptain of their T20 squad for the two-matchcricket series against Pakistan starting onMarch 1 after AB de villiers asked not to beconsidered for the role. De villiers willremain in charge of the one-day international(ODI) set-up, giving South Africa differentskippers in all three formats of the game. DuPlessis was in charge for the 2-1 T20 seriesvictory over New Zealand last month.Cricket South Africa announced their squadsfor the shortened versions of the game onWednesday, with the side also set to take onPakistan in five ODI matches in March.“Handing Faf the T20 captaincy is anexciting option for us to explore ourleadership resources,” coach Gary Kirstensaid. “He showed a lot of potential duringthe series against New Zealand in both theT20 and ODI formats, and this will beanother great opportunity for him to work onhis role as a leader. “Having three captainsalso allows us to spread the resourcesamongst our three formats, with Graeme(Smith) and AB also providing the idealsupport in the Test and ODI formats.

KHI 21-02-2013_Layout 1 2/21/2013 3:34 AM Page 16

WILLINGTONAgENCIES

JAMES Anderson's five wicketsand Joe Root's career-bestunbeaten 79 helped England beatNew Zealand in the second one-

day international and level the series at 1-1.There was just one anxious passage of playfor the tourists when Ross Taylor (100) andBrendon McCullum (74) were transforminga previously ponderous home innings witha century stand in only 53 balls.

But Anderson, who had taken two new-ball wickets to augment his all-time Englandtally of 529 in international cricket, returnedto finish with five for 23 as New Zealandlost their last six for 26 runs. A resulting 269all out, after Alastair Cook had put them in,appeared vulnerable at this venue associatedwith high ODI totals. So it proved as Cook(78), Root and Jonathan Trott (65no) allpassed 50 to get the job done with eightwickets and more than two overs to spare.

Taylor, in his first significant inningssince his controversial sacking as captainlast year, had earlier rejoined forces with hissuccessor McCullum to devastating effect.

England's discomfort ended, though,when McCullum holed out to long-on offStuart Broad to provide telling respiteafter his blitz of nine fours and four sixesoff 36 deliveries. The more sedatestatistics of Taylor's 116-ball seventh ODI

hundred were evidence of necessary earlycaution in his fifth innings since returningto international cricket. He still managednine fours and his team's first six, andearned a standing ovation when he wasfinally ninth out - caught behind offAnderson in the penultimate over.

The barrage of sixes and boundaries atthe start of the last 10 overs was a startlingcontrast to the early part of New Zealand'sinnings, in which Anderson and Steven Finnexerted an iron grip. Finn demonstrated themerit of his new shortened run-up by

cranking up the pace to above 90mph, but itwas Anderson who was soon adding to histally again. BJ Watling - Anderson's solitary,milestone victim in England's defeat inHamilton - succumbed once more, undoneby away movement and edging low to Cookat slip. Anderson doubled up with the wicketof ODI debutant Hamish Rutherford, whosescoring options were so squeezed as to makehim obvious prey to any of the fast bowler'svariations. He duly mistimed haplessly intothe hands of Cook, who had purposelypositioned himself at short extra-cover. A

double-change, to Chris Woakes (three for68) and Broad, released the stranglehold asTaylor began to find his range.

win for Fcc,

lahore gymLAHoRE: FC.College and LahoreGymkhana Colts won their matchesrespectively in the Lahore SportsCricket League 2013. FC College beatAitchison All Star by 5 wickets at FCCollege ground here the other day.Aitchison All Star scored; 128/10 in 26overs. Maqsood Ali 40, Asim Nawaz 23and Hamad Nawaz 20. Nasir Ali took31/3, Zainul Abidin 12/2 and NaeemSultan 17/2. FC College 129/5 in 21.2overs. Allah Ditta 41, Asad Ullah 26.Kaleem 36/3 and Maqood Ali 12/1.Nasir Ali was declared man of thematch. Jamil Shah, Ashfaq Ahmed werethe umpires and Sajid Usman scorer.Second match Lahore Gymkhana Coltsbeat Servis Sale by 183 runs at theGymkhana ground here the other day.Lahore Gymkhana Colts scored 226/9in 30 overs. Quaid Khan 64, ZainMohsin 31, Hasim Islam 25 and HarisRamzan 25 runs were their main rungetters from Gymkhana Colts. Umerkhan 51/4 and M. Aurrangzeb 56/2.Servis Sale scored 43/10 in 15.3overs. Amir Khan 10 runs. GoharShah 11/3, Asfandyar 14/3, HarisRamzan 4/2 and Quaid Khan 7/2.Quaid Khan was decleared man of thematch. Liaquat Ali and Numan Khanwere the umpires and M.Rafiquescorer of the match. STAFF REPORT

albilal club

defeated dehli gym

LAHoRE: Albilal Club has defeatedDehli Gym by 4 wickets in the initialround of 28th M Yaseen AkhterMemoroial Cricket Event played atTownship Ground on wednesdayafternoon. Fine batting by ALi Razawas the main feature of the match.Scores: Dehli Gym 135/8 in 20 overs.Ali Raza 80, Rizwan Khan 13, Nabeel19. M Zahid 3/20, Waseem Azam2/22, Nasir Abbas 2/30, SajadHussain 1/32. Albilal Club 137/6 in18.3 overs. NAsir 38, HAroon 34,Ishfaq Ahmed 12, Talha Ijaz 19. MAsif 2/25, Umer Butt 2/16, M Abid1/25, Rizwan Khan 1/25. STAFF REPORT

SPoRTS SThursday, 21 February, 2013

16

LAHORE STAFF REPORT

The Pakistan Cricket Board has onWednesday brought in Shahid Afridi inthe T20 and ODI teams to ply againstSouth Africa.

The teams also includes ShoaibMalik, Kamran Akmal and Wahab Riaz.

Both the allrounders Afridi andMalik played in December in the drawnTwenty20 series against India but wereignored for the one-day series.

However, the selectors have turnedback to the old guns after Pakistan’sbatsmen struggled in the ongoing testseries against the Proteas. Pakistan trails2-0 in the three-test series with the lasttest beginning at Centurion from Friday.

Middle-order batsman Umar Akmal,who missed out on the test team, alsoreturns to give the struggling lineupsome impetus.

The players left out from the ODIsquad that went to India were AnwarAli, Azhar Ali, Haris Sohail andZulfiqar Babar. And Sohail Tanvir, who

was part of the team that had travelledto India, has been replaced by Wahab.

The Pakistan team will play twoT20 matches on March 1 at Kingsmead,

Durban and March 3 at SuperSportPark, Centurion and five ODIs series(March 10 at Chevrolet Park,Bloemfontein, March 15 at SuperSportPark, Centurion, March 17 at NewWanderers Stadium, Johannesburg,March 21 at Kingsmead, Durban, March24 at Willowmoore Park, Benoni).

The teams: T-20: Muhammad Hafeez

(Captain), Nasir Jamshed, Shoaib Malik,

Kamran Akmal (wicket-keeper), Umar

Akmal, Shahid Afridi, Saeed Ajmal, M

Irfan, Wahab Riaz, Umar Gul, Ahmad

Shahzad, Umer Amin, Zulfiqar Baber,

Asad Ali, Junaid Khan.

oDI: MisbahUl Haq (Captain),

Muhammad Hafeez, Nasir Jamshed,

Asad Shafiq, Younas Khan, Shoaib Malik,

Kamran Akmal(wicket-keeper), Umar

Akmal, Shahid Afridi, Saeed Ajmal, M.

Irfan, Junaid Khan, Wahab Riaz, Umer

Gul, Imran Farhat, Abdur Rehman.

Tour of South Africa: Afridi, Malik back in team

LAHORESTAFF REPORT

With a bilateral test series planned forMarch-April, the Pakistan HockeyFederation wants to enter into anagreement with Hockey India under whichthe party found to be defaulting will beliable to pay the other federation acompensation of USD 200,000 dollars.Reports quoting sources in the PHF havesaid that the federation has sent a draftcopy of the agreement to Hockey India forthe series. The PHF has proposed that theIndian hockey team first tour Pakistan,before they pay a return visit in April.

The PHF has, apparently, indicatedthat while it has confidence in HI, thesame does not apply for the Indiangovernment. "Basically, the PHF has saidthat while it has confidence in anyagreement with Hockey India, whichwants Pakistan to first play in India, it does

not feel the same way about thegovernment. It feels the Indiangovernment could well come up with anyreason for not permitting its team to go toPakistan," a source said. He said the PHF

now wanted the International HockeyFederation to be a third party in theagreement between the two federations toensure all clauses were met. "The PHF hasproposed a clause that in case any partyfails to fulfil its commitment for anyreason it will pay the other party acompensation of USD 200,000 (aroundtwo crore rupees)," the source said.

Hockey India secretary general,Narender Batra, visited Lahore lastDecember and signed a Memorandum ofUnderstanding with the PHF for thebilateral series, to be played on home andaway basis in March-April. The sourcesaid Batra had informed the PHF that itwould like the series to be held onschedule despite the recent tensionsbetween the two countries. The PHF isdesperate to play the bilateral series inMarch-April as it believes this couldallow it to earn handsome revenues andboost its dwindling coffers.

Tauseef club downyoung Prince club

LAHORESTAFF REPORT

Tauseef Club has entered into yhe 2ndround of 28th M Yaseen Akhter MemoroialCricket Event when they outplayed youngprince club by 41 runs played at Race Corseground on Wednesday Morining. Finebatting by shehzad mohayudin was themain feature of the match.SCoRES: Tauseef Club 147/4 in 20 overs.

Shehzad mohayudin 60(no), Zeeshan Butt 27,

Sher Baz Khan 28. Zeeshan Mughal 1/27,

Khizar 1/30, Ahsan 1/29, Umer 1/14. Young

Prince Club 106/8 in 20 overs. Sajid 14,

Husnain 12, Saleem 17, Khizar 10, Umair

23(no). Awais Manzoor 3/17, Sher Baz Khan

2/19, Ibrar Baig 2/25, Israr Baig 1/28.

win for rising star LAHORE

STAFF REPORT

Rising Star club has defeated DharampuraSports by 22 runs in the initial round of28th M Yaseen Akhter Memoroial CricketEvent played at Race Corse ground. SCoRES: Rising Star 186/7 in 20 overs. Arslan

Ahmed 58, Ali Nawaz 47, Abdul Muqeed 26,

Amir Butt 24. Kashif Shafi 2/29, Mohsin 1/27,

Kashif Aslam 1/21, Shahid 1/32. Dharamoura

Sports 164 all out in 19 overs. M Ashraf 39,

Irfan Zafar 22, Faheem 20, Dr Imran 20. Amir

Butt 2/21, Adnan MAlik 2/9 , Ghulam Shabir

2/47, Mohsin Mehmood 1/14, NAsir Sher 1/21.

ghulam Qadir win

LAHORESTAFF REPORT

Ghulam Qadir Memorial Club has wonthe match against Mozang Link Club by32 runs in 28th M Yaseen AkhterMemoroial Cricket Event at TownshipGround on Wednesday Morning. SCoRES: Ghulam Qadir Memorial Club 120 all

out. Rizwan Ahmed 36, Kamran Ahmed 19, Fida

Hussain 21, Syed Tasir 15, M Ashraf 11, Wsif 11,

Iftikhar 11. Murad Shahid 3/22. Adil Shah 3/17,

Noman Butt 2/6, Javaid 1/10. Mozang Link Club

88 all out. Mubarak ALi 25,Adnan Malik 18,

Noman 11. Zeeshan Haider 4/20, Kamran 2/20,

Iftikhar Maan 2/19,Rizwan Ahmed 1/19.

Fcc sports beginLAHORE

STAFF REPORT

The 126th Annual Athletics Championshipof Forman Christian College Lahore, startat the picturesque track of the College withtraditional fervor and enthusiasm .Theopening of the C’ship was performed by theRector, Dr. James A. Tebbe. Keeping in linewith the traditions of the College, theceremony started with March Past by theathletes, under their team banners, followedby opening declaration by the Rector.Afterwards, Mr. Azhar Iqbal, Captain of theAthletics Club, took the Olympic Oath onbehalf of all the participating athletes.During the Oath all participants raised theirright arms up in token thereof.

PHF wants to enter into anagreement with Hockey India

root records career-bestto sink new zealand

They are building a new project. A year ago they had experienced players.

Now they are a team with less experience but they are very eager. Perhaps

this makes them more dangerous. – Barcelona captain Carles Puyol

NEw ZEALAND

bJ watling c Cook b Anderson 7

H. Rutherford C Cook b Anderson 11

K. williamson b woakes 33

R. Taylor c buttler b Anderson 100

g. Elliott c bairstow b Finn 23

b. mcCullum c woakes b broad 74

J. Franklin c Root b woakes 1

N. mcCullum c buttler b Anderson 7

T. Southee b woakes 2

K. mills not out 3

T. boult c woakes b Anderson 1

Extras (lb-3, w-3, nb-1) 7

Total (all out, 48.5 overs) 269

Fall of wickets: 1-12 2-19 3-91 4-143 5-243 6-245 7-254 8-261

9-267

bowling: Anderson 9.5-2-34-5, Finn 10-1-33-1 (w-1), woakes

10-0-68-3, broad 9-0-69-1 (w-2, nb-1), Swann 10-0-62-0

ENgLAND

A. Cook c & b Southee 78

I. bell c Rutherford b williamson 44

J. Trott not out 65

J. Root not out 79

Extras (lb-1, w-3) 4

Total (for two wickets, 47.4 overs) 270

Did not bat: Eoin morgan, Jos buttler, Chris woakes, Stuart

broad, graeme Swann, Steven Finn, James Anderson

Fall of wickets: 1-89 2-149

bowling: mills 6.4-0-43-0, boult 9-1-55-0 (w-2), Franklin 5-0-

32-0, Southee 9-0-54-10, N. mcCullum 10-0-46-0, williamson

8-0-39-1 (w-1)

Result - England won by eight wickets

England won the toss and opted to field.

Previous result

Feb. 17 - New Zealand won by three wickets

Remaining one-day international fixtures

Feb. 23 - Eden Park, Auckland

SCOREbOARD

KHI 21-02-2013_Layout 1 2/21/2013 3:34 AM Page 17

DUBAIAgENCIES

Top seed victoria Azarenka has pulled outof this week's Dubai Duty Free TennisChampionships with a foot injury but allfour seeds progressed on Tuesday. All fourseeds safely progressed through to thesecond round of the Dubai Duty FreeTennis Championships but there was onenotable casualty with Azarenka'swithdrawal. Top seed Azarenka took hertally of career titles to 16 at the weekendwith victory over Serena Williams in theQatar Open final but she will not be ableto add to that in Dubai.

The recently-deposed world numberone, who is unbeaten in 2013, said: "Ithappened last week. I have been obviouslyplaying on it a lot, so going to a newtournament is too much to handle rightnow. "It keeps getting worse. It was an

unfortunate decision that I had to make,and obviously I'm very disappointed withthat.'' Despite her Qatar Open victory,Azarenka lost her world number oneranking to Williams yesterday and by

withdrawing from Dubai she is likely todrop further adrift of the American.Williams plays her second-round matchhere against Marion Bartoli tomorrowhaving received a first-round bye.

SPoRTSS

Thursday, 21 February, 2013

17We wanted to be offensive, but Porto wouldn't allow us. It is not just the fault

of the attacking players; when the team is not working it's down to everyone.

We would have to score an away goal. – Malaga manager Manuel Pellegrini

Injured Azarenka out of Dubai

istomin upsetsisner in Memphis

MEMPHISAgENCIES

Third seed John Isner was bundled out ofthe US National Indoor Championships inMemphis at the first opportunity, withDenis Istomin sealing a straight-sets victory.Isner was beaten 6-4 6-3 by his Uzbekistaniopponent, ranked number 63 in the word.There were three American winners on theday to make up for Isner's exit.Fourth seed and 2010 champion SamQuerrey defeated Colombian AlejandroFalla 6-3 6-3, James Blake edged FlorianMayer 4-6 6-3 6-2 and Michael Russell wasa 6-2 6-4 winner over Alex BogomolovJapan's Kei Nishikori, seeded fifth, defeatedIllya Marchenko 6-4 7-5 to reach thesecond round safely and will be joined byHolland's Igor Sijsling, who recorded animpressive 6-4 7-6(3) victory over JurgenMelzer. Feliciano Lopez was the finalwinner in the men's side of the draw,courtesy of a 4-6 6-3 6-4 result overBenjamin Becker. In the women's side ofthe competition, Lucie Hradecka was theonly seed to exit.

gasquet crashesout in Marseille

MARSEILLEAgENCIES

Fifth seed Richard Gasquet sufferedanother early tournament exit after beingbundled out of the first round of the Open13 in Marseille by Gilles Muller onTuesday. Frenchman Gasquet, the worldnumber 10, lost in the second round inRotterdam last week and was sent crashingagain on Tuesday by a player placed 60places below him in the ATP rankings.Muller fought back from a set down andthen 5-2 down in the decider to claim a 2-66-4 7-6 (7/5) victory, the Luxembourgplayer firing down 19 aces as he earned hisfirst tour-level win of the year.

PARISAgENCIES

Five years after last reigning at thetop of her sport, former FrenchOpen champion Ana Ivanovicinsists she still has what it takes toreclaim her former status.

When Ivanovic triumphed atRoland Garros in 2008 and becameworld number one, it seemed likewomen's tennis had anointed anatural successor to the all-conquering Williams sisters. But

having battled so hard to reach thesummit, Ivanovic's experience at thetop proved anything but permanent.

One year later, Ivanovic haddropped out of the world top 10, andwould ultimately fall as low as 65.Rather than building on her FrenchOpen win, she failed to reach thequarter-finals at any of the following17 Grand Slams - a run finallybroken when she finally reached thelast eight at the US Open late lastyear. But for the 25-year-oldIvanovic, that small improvement

has given her confidence that shestill has what it takes to mix it withthe best players in her sport.

Ivanovic said: "I've beenworking hard in the off-season andI want to put it together this year."Last year I felt I was in a positiona lot of times to do well and to comethrough deep into tournaments, butI never broke through. "I want to doit this year, but I understand it's aprocess. It's one thing saying I wantto get back there, but I want to getback there and do it time aftertime." The new season has startedrelatively well for Ivanovic, with arise back to 13 in the worldrankings, although she still needs toimprove if she is to finally earn herplace back in the world top 10.Ivanovic has reached the last 16 inboth the Qatar Open in Doha andthe Australian Open, losing eachtime to Agnieszka Radwanska, oneof the new generation of playerswho has emerged as a Grand Slamcontender in her absence.

Ivanovic eyes return to the top

Pistorius returnsto court forsecond day of trial

PRETORIAAgENCIES

Oscar Pistorius has returned to courtwhere his lawyers will continue their fightto keep the Para olympian, accused ofmurdering his girlfriend, out of prison. Hearrived at the court in Pretoria, SouthAfrica, in a police car with a blue blanketcovering his head. "Non-stop shouting"was heard coming from Blade RunnerOscar Pistorius' home before his girlfriendwas shot dead, his bail hearing was told onWednesday. Prosecutor Gerrie Nel said theprosecution team has a witness who heardthe shouting between 2am and 3am.

ssgc have openingday honour

LAHORESTAFF REPORT

Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) tooka confident start in the 60th edition ofthe national cycling championship afterwinning the only gold of the day here onWednesday at cycling velodrome.President, Pakistan Cycling Federation,Munawar Baseer , inaugurated the eventat a colourful ceremony and all the sixparticipating teams were introduced tohim . Secretary, PCF, Syed Azhar AliShah and officials of Punjab cyclingassociation were also present. NoorAlam of SSGC got gold medal in onekilometer individual time trial, andMohammad Sajid of Pak Army won theSilver and Awais Ali from Punjab wonthe bronze.

Mrdeza suprisesParmentier in Bogota

BoGoTA: Seventh seed Pauline Parmentier was knockedout by qualifier Tereza Mrdeza as the first round of theCopa Colsanitas continued in Bogota. That aside the seedsfared well. Third seed Lourdes Dominguez defeatedColombian Catalina Castano 3-6 6-2 6-1, while a secondhome player, Yuliana Lizarazo, went down 6-2 1-6 6-3 toLara Arruabarrena-Vecino. Italian pair Francesca Schiavoneand Flavia Pennetta, seeded fourth and fifth, both won inthree sets seeing off Sharon Fichman and AlexandraPanova respectively. AgENCIES

williams already in troubleover exhaust designSAN JoSE: Williams are currently seeking furtherclarification from the FIA with regard to acontroversial design on the new car that was onlylaunched on Tuesday. Prior to the start of thesecond pre-season test at Barcelona's Circuit deCatalunya, Williams took the wraps off theirFW35, but immediately walked into trouble. Motorsport's governing body, the FIA, have suggestedto Williams the design of the exit of their exhaustis illegal. Their car, like that of Caterham whohave also been warned, possesses vanes the FIAbelieve will illegally interfere with theaerodynamics of the car. Technical director MikeCoughlan has expressed his view the vane iswithin the FIA regulations. Coughlan said: "Forme, the Caterham one is really not allowed butours is okay. "If you look at ours, it's not a singlepiece - it's two pieces. "You're governed by totalaperture size and (the need for it to be) a singleaperture. "Ours is a single aperture joined by avery small slot, so it's actually two pieces."Williams and Caterham can continue to use theexhaust throughout the remaining seven days oftesting prior to the season-opening grand prix inAustralia on March 17. AgENCIES

KHI 21-02-2013_Layout 1 2/21/2013 3:34 AM Page 18

SPoRTS SThursday, 21 February, 2013

18

wAtCh It LIve

TEN SPORTSHockey League:Fiji v China01:30 PM

I had some injuries in 2010 and 2011 and kept

playing. But my confidence was gone. I felt

really bad during that spell. – Prom Meesawat.

TUCSONAgENCIES

ONE hundred majors andworld championships andnot one win - but LeeWestwood is hoping

number 101 might be different inTucson this week. England's formerworld number one finally appeared toget the hang of the Accenture MatchPlay Championship last year. Afterfailing to make it past the second roundon 11 previous visits to the eventWestwood reached the semi-finalsbefore losing to ex-stablemate RoryMcIlroy in what was billed at the timeas something of a needle match.

This time, seeded seventh,Westwood will face Northern Ireland'scurrent world number one only if bothreach Sunday's final - and Westwoodmight have to overcome Tiger Woods inthe last eight for that to happen. Heopens today against Rafael CabreraBello, the Spaniard who pushed himinto second place at last season's DubaiDesert Classic, while McIlroy starts

against former amateur team-mateShane Lowry and Woods against fellowAmerican Charles Howell.

An unusual incentive for Westwoodcomes on the domestic front. The 39-year-old moved with his family fromWorksop to Florida at the end of last

season and the switch from rentedaccommodation into their own home istaking place this week. "As well astrying to win a world championship myincentive is to stay as long as possible toget away from box unpacking and thetask of unwrapping things," he said.

Mayweatherannouncesguerrero bout

LONDONAgENCIES

Floyd Mayweather has confirmed he willnext face Mexican welterweight RobertGuerrero. The fight also clears the wayfor Sheffield fighter Kell Brook to re-organise his world title tilt clash withDevon Alexander. Earlier this month,unbeaten five-weight world championMayweather had hinted he was close toreaching an agreement to fight IBFwelterweight title holder Alexander. Itwas an announcement that came daysafter Alexander had pulled out of fightingmandatory challenger Brook, a bout thatwas supposed to take place this weekendbut was postponed for the second timewhen the American cited a bicep injury.Any hopes of the clash being re-arrangedwere in jeopardy thanks to Mayweather'sannouncement although the 35-year-oldseems to have had a change of heart. Hewill now square off against Guerrero -himself a three-weight world champion- on May 4 in his first fight onAmerican television network Showtimeinstead of HBO, which had followedthe 35-year-old for his entire career.Writing on his official Facebook andTwitter pages, Mayweather said: "Floyd"Money" Mayweather Inks Record-Breaking Deal With Showtime/CBS."The first mega-event is taking place onMay 4, 2013, when Mayweather willfight Robert Guerrero."

TEN SPORTSUEFA League:Lyon v Tottenham 11:00 PM

westwood eyes upturnof fortunes in Tucson

one Fc returns tosingapore in aprilSINGAPoRE: ONE Fighting ChampionshipTM (ONE FC) announced the BantamweightGrand Prix semi-final fights will be featuredas well as Former US Lightweight WorldChampion and more. The Championshipannounced that the Bantamweight GPsemis fights will be featured at KINGS &CHAMPIONS. The event will be held at Sin-gapore Indoor Stadium on April 5. AgENCIES

LONDONAgENCIES

Steven Burke has welcomed the return of EdClancy to the Great Britain men's team pursuitsquad for their opening day of the TrackCycling World Championships.

Following an experiment with the three-man, three-lap team sprint, Clancy has returnedto the familiar surroundings of the four-man,four-kilometre team pursuit, which is likely toheadline the opening day of competition at theMinsk Arena. "He was our captain for the lastfew years and it is always great to have him inthe team," Burke said.

"He is probably the best team pursuiter inthe world, so it gives us a big advantage andmore chance to win the World Championshipsthis year." Clancy, Olympic team pursuit

champion in 2008 and 2012, returned to thelonger discipline just two weeks ahead ofMinsk and has been selected in the line-upalongside fellow London gold medallist Burke,2012 world champion Andy Tennant and SamHarrison. Burke added: "He has got back intothe swing of things really well. He has been asimpressive as ever."

With Clancy riding in the team sprint andBurke absent, a young squad crashed inqualifying at November's Track World Cup inGlasgow. Harrison, who won a world bronzemedal in 2011 aged 18, and Tennant are thetwo survivors from that group, with JonDibben, who is 18, named as reserve for thefour-man event.

Burke welcomed the introduction of youngtalent, with Olympic champions GeraintThomas and Peter Kennaugh now fullyfocused on the road. Burke said: "It is more ofa development year. It gives us moreopportunity to try different things.

"It is the first year of the new Olympiccycle heading for Rio and we are not expectingtoo much really. "We are not expecting todefend that title, but we will give it a crack."

Other events on the opening day are thewomen's team sprint, featuring Becky Jamesand vicky Williamson, who has replaced theinjured Jess varnish in the team. Competitionin non-Olympic events includes Kian Emadiin the men's one-kilometre time-trial, butthere is no Briton entered in the women'sindividual pursuit.

Burke welcomesClancy’s return

rose predicts upsets in TucsonTUCSoN: Justin Rose's summary of thisweek's Accenture Match PlayChampionship should make Rory McIlroy,Tiger Woods, Luke Donald and LouisOosthuizen really nervous. The first worldchampionship of the season bringstogether the game's top 64 players, or inthis case 64 of the current top 68 with PhilMickelson and Brandt Snedeker not playingand Ireland's Shane Lowry - McIlroy's firstround opponent on Wednesday - havingdropped to 68th since qualifying by 0.0002ranking points. Fifth seed Rose said as helooked ahead to the most unpredictableweek of the golfing year: "If you look attennis the top four seeds seem to advanceto the semis at every grand slam. AgENCIES

KHI 21-02-2013_Layout 1 2/21/2013 3:35 AM Page 19

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

Thursday, 21 February, 2013

ISLAMABAD: PrimeMinister Raja Pervaiz Ashrafaddresses an inter-faithmoot on Wednesday.

ISLAMABADAPP

THE National Assembly on Wednes-day unanimously passed a bill tocurb terrorism financing and penal-ize those involved in this act by

confiscating, property and imposing fineand imprisonment.

The Anti-Terrorism (Amendment) Bill2013 moved to the House by Law MinisterFarooq H Naek further to amend anti-terror-ism act 1997 was not opposed by the oppo-sition as the Speaker described it anothersuccess of the parliament which will help pe-nalize the perpetrators of the heinous crime.

Under this bill, the federal government ora provincial government may, from time to

time, designate an officer of the government,by notification in the official gazette or directany other person to freeze, seize or detain anymoney or other property for a period of 15days, if there are reasonable grounds to be-lieve that it is a terrorist property, or it is prop-erty of person included in fourth schedule.

The bill provides that refusal to effectfreeze or seizure under this section withoutjust cause would be an offence under thisact and be liable on conviction of imprison-ment of up to five years or fine up to Rs500,000 or both. Furthermore, if illegal per-son commits an offence under sub section4 it shall be liable to fine worth Rs five mil-lion and every director , officer or employeeof such entity found guilty under sub sec-tion 4 shall be published in terms thereof.

The bill provides thatthe officer or person ef-fecting freeze orseizure shall withinforty eight hours of thefreeze or seizure, issuenotice thereof to allperson concerned withthe money or other prop-erty frozen seized andcause publication of notice inone English news paper and oneUrdu newspaper having wide circu-lation in the area. This bill also states that noprosecution, suit or other proceeding shalllie against the government, or other officeror person for anything done or intended tobe done in good faith to effect freeze or

seizure under this sec-tion. According to thebill the provision ofsub-section 1 to 5(as stated above)shall mutatis mutan-dis apply to a request

received by the fed-eral government from

a foreign government tofreeze , seize or detain a

terrorist property of a personincluded in the fourth schedule.

On passage of the bill, Naek said, this lawreiterates Pakistan’s resolve against terror-ism, help curb terrorism financing in thecountry and bring the country’s laws in con-formity with the international obligations.

ISLAMABADTAyyAb HUSSAIN

The federal cabinet on Wednesdaygrilled Adviser to Prime Minister DrAsim Hussain and OGRA ChairmanSaeed Ahmed Khan for their personalconflict over acquiring more andmore power and rejected a summaryof the Petroleum Ministry for placingOGRA under the control of the min-istry, Pakistan Today has learnt.

Recently, the chiefs of OGRAand the Petroleum Ministry have con-

stantly been at loggerheads overwhether the regulatory authorityshould fall under its purview, as DrAsim has time and again sought par-liament’s nod for putting OGRAunder his control. Last week, DrAsim and OGRA Chairman SaeedAhmad Khan exchanged harshwords during a meeting of a parlia-mentary committee on petroleum. Inits Wednesday meeting, the cabinetapproved the new Haj Policy andagreed in principle to issue licencesfor drilling of shell gas through com-

petitive open bidding. A source saidthe cabinet discussed a summary for-warded by the Petroleum Ministryseeking placement of OGRA underthe ministry, claiming that the author-ity had failed in serving the people atlarge and that the bosses of the author-ity were serving the purposes of some“foreign” elements. “The ministry inits summary also claimed that theOGRA had also always protected theinterests of oil companies rather thanlooking after the interests of the peo-ple of Pakistan,” said the source.

The source added that on theother hand, OGRA chairman SaeedAhmed Khan was of the view thatthe authority could not be placedunder the ministry and any such

step would be counterproductiveand violation of OGRA laws.

“Moreover, if the authority isplaced under the ministry, it would un-dermine its role. The OGRA chief de-scribed it as part of a campaign topunish the regulator for its refusal tocondone inefficiency and losses of gasutilities,” the source added. He said thecabinet members disapproved the pro-posal submitted by Dr Asim Hussainand said the authority would not beplaced under the ministry. “Some cab-inet members even challenged the in-tegrity of Dr Asim and termed themove to grab more power misuse ofauthority,” the source said, adding thatDr Asim had to defend his proposal. Amajority of cabinet members advised

Dr Asim to improve affairs of the min-istry where things were deterioratingand the country was facing shortage ofoil and gas reserves. Briefing media oncabinet’s decisions later, InformationMinister Qamar Zaman Kaira ex-pressed the confidence that explo-ration of shell gas would help meet thecountry’s growing gas needs. Kairasaid the details of the new Haj Policywould be announced by the ministerfor religious affairs today (Thursday).He‚ however‚ said the prime ministerasked ministries of religious affairsand defence to sort out the issue of Hajfares through consultations.KARACHI-HYDERABAD HIgH-

WAY: It approved conversion ofKarachi-Hyderabad Super Highway

into six-lane motorway and the con-tract would be given to FWO on singletender basis. The prime minister gaveinstructions for allocation of initialfunds to ensure immediate beginningof the work on the project.TERRORISM: Kaira said the primeminister offered condolences to thefamilies of the martyrs of the Quettabombing. “The fight against terror-ism is a national issue and nationalapproach is required for its resolution.Support and strength of all politicalleadership of the country is requiredfor addressing the grave situation.Pakistan continues to confront coura-geously the menace of terrorism andwe will continue to fight it until it iswiped out,” he added.

PM urgeslove andbrotherhoodto fosterpeace

ISLAMABADAPP

Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf onWednesday stressed the need for inter-faith harmony in the country,urging leaders of all faiths and religions to stand united and strive forpeace and security. He was addressing a conferenceorganised by the Ministry of NationalHarmony aimed at creating greaterunderstanding amongst people ofdifferent faiths. Prime Minister Ashraf referred to therecent incidents of terrorism in which alarge number of people were killed,saying “Lets come out of this perpetualsense of fear that haunts us all, andwhere no place is safe anymore.” He referred to the Hazaras as brothersand patriotic Pakistanis and said that theentire nation is deeply saddened due tothe plight of Hazaras in Quetta. The PMstated: “There can be no justification forthe murder of the innocent. Who canjustify the killings of a child, women ora man who are trying to earn a living?” PM Ashraf that said no one should takelaw into their hands as it renderssocieties lawless and chaotic. Heagreed that maintaining law and orderis the responsibility and an obligationof the government. The PM said that Pakistan cannot live inisolation and has to live in peace andtranquillity with its neighbours andviolent incidents inside the country spoilthe image of the polity internationally. The prime minister quoted poet AllamaMohammad Iqbal who in his versespointed that no matter what faith ahuman adheres to, they all wish to livein peace with others. The prime ministersaid that “let everyone follow whateverhe wishes and if there is a conflict, thenthey should follow the path of dialogue”. The prime minister urged all religiousleaders of all faiths to stand united andpreach the message of love and peaceacross the country because theyinfluence the masses and people listento them. The PM said that interfaith conferencewas a much-needed event to deliberateon an issue that has mutated into achallenge for the country. Minister for National Harmony PaulJacob Bhatti and Minister of StateAkram Masih Gill on the occasionstressed upon the leaders of all faiths tostrive hard to create a Pakistan, asenvisioned by Quaid-e-AzamMohammad Ali Jinnah.

altaf opposesdecision to endQuetta sit-in

KARACHIONLINE

Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chiefAltaf Hussain has criticised the decision toend the sit-in by Hazaras in Quetta despitethe demands having not been met, but Ma-jlis-e-Wahdatul Muslimeen (MWM) GeneralSecretary Allama Amin Shaheedi said theMQM chief should first play its role in bring-ing an end to targeted killings of Shias inKarachi. Addressing MQM’s Rabta Commit-tee earlier in the day, Altaf said several be-reaved families had been disappointed withthe decision to call off the protests. He saidthe “one-sided” move to end the sit-in wastantamount to hurting the Shias, adding thatsome elements were doing politics over thebodies of victims. Altaf noted that the parlia-mentary committee sent to Quetta by thegovernment to resolve the issues was an af-front to the bereaved families of Quetta car-nage that left 90 people dead. SHAHEEDI REACTS: On the otherhand, Shaheedi reacted in strong terms toAltaf Hussain’s criticism of ‘some Shia eld-ers’ who played a role in ending the Hazaracommunity’s sit-in. Irked by Altaf’s criti-cism, Shaheedi asked when had the MQMbecome the “well wisher” of the Shia com-munity, demanding the party leadership tofirst play its role in bringing an end to tar-geted killings of Shias in Karachi. He saidthe relatives of Quetta tragedy victims hadreposed confidence in the MWM.

JACOBABAD ONLINE

The grandson of the Pir of QamberSharif was killed and five others,including Pir Syed Hussain Shah,were injured on Wednesday when abomb went off near a rally in

Jacobabad, officials said. According to sources, the bombingoccurred at a gathering in GothAhmed Din Brohi.They said that the blast occurredsoon after Syed Hussain Shah, whohas millions of followers in Sindhand Balochistan, arrived at the site of

the gathering. The remotelydetonated bomb was placed in agarbage dump, they added.Police said Shafiq Hussain Shah,grandson of Syed Hussain Shah,succumbed to his injuries at ahospital, while the injured have beenshifted to a hospital in the district.

SHAHEEDI TELLSMQM CHIEF TO SORTKARACHI OUT FIRST

Cabinet rejects Dr Asim’s proposal to seek OGRA’s controlKaIra says FIght agaInst terrorIsm anatIonal IssUe and natIonal aPProach IsreQUIred For Its resolUtIon

Bomb kills grandson of Pir of Qamber Sharif

na passes law to penalizeterrorism financing

The law reiteratesPakistan’s resolve

against terrorism andwould bring thecountry’s laws in

conformity with theinternationalobligations

KHI 21-02-2013_Layout 1 2/21/2013 3:35 AM Page 20