Karachi edition pakistantoday.com.pk wednesday, 22 february, 2012 rabi-ul-awal 29, 1433rs15.00 vol ii no 236 22 pages

GOVT PUTS THE ONUS OF BB’S MURDER ON

KARACHIismAil DilAwAr

FORMeR president and

army chief Pervez

Musharraf has been in-

dicted along with the mili-

tants from al Qaeda and

Federally Administered Tribal Areas

(FATA), as the federal government

on Tuesday briefed lawmakers in

the Sindh Assembly about the find-

ings of a Joint Investigation Team

(JIT) probing the assassination of

the country’s twice-elected prime

minister Benazir Bhutto.

Also named were the “elements of

establishment”, local jihadi

groups, some police officials and

the “forces” who, the federal gov-

ernment said, felt threatened by

the democratic leader, who re-

turned to Pakistan in 2007 despite

being warned by her well-wishers,

including Afghan President Hamid

Karzai and US Secretary of State

Condoleezza Rice.

A video clip played in the assembly

showed that all of the suicide

bombers, aging from 12 to 15

years, were being trained by “Qari

Hussain Masood” in Kotaki area of

South Waziristan. They were all

Pakistanis and were registered

with NADRA, the JIT report said

adding that some of the bombers,

shown offering prayers wearing

Sindhi caps, were influenced by

the “Lashkar-e-Jhangvi”.

The provincial legislators were told

that five of the accused of Be-

nazir’s murder were students of

the Jamia Darul Uloom Haqqania, a

seminary run by Jamiat Ulema-e-

Islam-S leader Maulana Samiul

Haq in Akora Khattak, a town of

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Musharraf,

Baitullah Mehsud, Maulvi Faqueer

Muhammad, Maulvi Fazlullah,

Rawalpindi City Police Officer Saud

Aziz, SSP Khurram Shehzad Haider,

Ibadur Rehman, Saeedur Rehman,

Muhammad Rafaqat, Husnain Gul,

Sher Zaman, Aitzaz Shah, Rasheed

Ahmed alias Turabi, Nadir Khan,

The accuseddenies chargeReacting to the interior

minister’s briefing in Sindh

Assembly regarding the Benazir

Bhutto case on Tuesday, former

president Pervez Musharraf

strongly denied his involvement

in the assassination of the

former prime minister.

Talking to reporters, Musharraf

said he had informed Benazir

about the threats to her life

before the first attack.

Musharraf said he had met

Benazir twice in Dubai, but did

not speak to her after October

18. “Rehman Malik was not

present in those meetings,”

Musharraf added. He said

providing security to Benazir

was the responsibility of the

provincial government and her

principal security was being

handled by PPP workers. AgEncIES

g Interior minister briefs lawmakers in Sindh Assembly about findingsof Joint Investigation Team g Says former president will be arrested andbrought back to the country through Interpol ‘anytime soon’

ISLAMABAD TAhir niAz

Both the fate of the government and thecredibility of the star witness in thememo scandal, Mansoor Ijaz, depend onwhat is being described as a make-or-break statement he is likely to record be-fore the memo commission from thePakistani High Commission (PHC) Lon-don via video link today (Wednesday).

Ijaz would lose credibility if unable toperform at this critical juncture while thegovernment’s fate is also partially linkedwith the outcome of the key statement.

All is set to record the statement ofIjaz but keeping in view his ‘somersaults’so far, it still remains a valid questionwhether he would appear before thecommission today.

Zahid Bukhari, the counsel for Hu-sain Haqqani, when contacted told Pak-istan Today that he received his passportfrom the UK embassy at 2pm on Tues-day. “It was impossible for me to reachLondon in time,” he said.

He said he had written a letter to thememo commission secretary on Febru-ary 15, seeking his help for getting visa.“But even after the all out efforts of theForeign Office and the attorney general,I was able to get my passport back onTuesday,” he said.

Asked if he would object to Ijaz’s

statement when he would not be there tocross-examine him, he said, “I will askthe commission to record the statementper law and that he should be given op-portunity of cross-examining.”

With all technical arrangements inplace, memo commission already inLondon and Bukhari ‘unable’ to proceedabroad for cross-questioning Ijaz,Wednesday’s hearing would also set thefuture course of proceedings.

The government has made all nec-essary arrangements for recording Ijaz’s

statement with LCD screens installed atthe Islamabad High Court (IHC) andPHC London.

The commission would meet at theIHC at 2pm and proceed further into theprobe pertaining to the memo allegedlywritten on the advice of Haqqani and de-livered to the top US military officials.

During the last hearing, the commis-sion had decided to record Ijaz’s state-ment from London via video link after hedeclined to visit Pakistan due to securityconcerns. The commission had allowedthe respective counsels to be present ei-ther at the Islamabad High Court or PHCLondon for cross-questioning Ijaz. How-ever, Bukhari was unable to proceedabroad due to delay in getting visa.

Having denied the charges leveledby Ijaz, Haqqani has so far been unableto produce his two official Blackberrysets before the commission, which theinquiry tribunal believed were vital partof the evidence to establish link and itsnature between Haqqani and Ijaz.

In a statement made before the com-mission, Haqqani said the Blackberrysets were missing since he left the US.He had also declined to waive his privacyrights with the Research in Motion(RIM) so that no one else could obtaindata from the Canadian-based company

ISLAMABAD/ABBOTTABAD/QUETTA/FAISALABADAgencies

Citizens across the country on Tuesday tookto the streets against prolonged power out-ages and gas shortage that have badly dis-rupted routine activities.

Hundreds of traders and citizens took tothe streets in Islamabad, Abbottabad,Quetta, Peshawar, Gujar Khan and othercities of the country, demanding the govern-ment ensure uninterrupted supply of gasand electricity. The protesters carried ban-ners and placards inscribed with slogans de-manding an end to unscheduled loadshedding and exclusion of additionalcharges from monthly electricity bills in thename of fuel adjustment costs.

Addressing the protesters, the speakerscriticised the federal and provincial gov-ernments and power companies for failingto overcome the power crisis.

They said the government did nothingin the past four years to deal with the en-ergy crisis except paper work and makingtall claims, due to which countrymen weresuffering adversely.

The speakers said political leadershipdid not get time to think about the miseriesof masses as they were busy in protectingpersonal and party interests.

They said they received electricity for

only a few hours during the day but PEPCOsent bills of thousands of rupees in thename of fuel adjustments.

They warned that if the alarming situationwas not addressed, they would be left with nochoice but to attack power companies’ officesand force the closure of WAPDA offices.

Trader representatives said trade andindustrial sector had been ruined due toload shedding.

The traders and labourers said theywould be forced to commit suicide alongwith their children if the situation re-mained as it is.

Meanwhile, Pakistan Electric PowerCompany (PEPCO) officials said almost 17power houses were shut down across thecountry resulting in a shortfall of6,000MW of electricity.

They said the total production of elec-tricity in the country stood at 8,500MWdue to suspension of fuel supply by thePakistan State Oil (PSO).

On Monday, the shortfall of electricityproduction had reached 5,500MW, result-ing in load shedding of almost 10 hours inurban areas and of about 18 hours in ruralareas of the country.

Sources said the shortfall occurred dueto disputes over payments between thePSO and PEPCO, which owed Rs 26 billionto the oil company.

Countrywide protestsagainst power outagesg Traders, labourers warn of collective suicideg Power shortfall reaches 6,000MW

Ijaz likely to record his statementbefore memo commission todayg BlackBerry makers refuse to release telephonic record g UK issues visa to Hussain Haqqani’s counsel

analysts say briefing inComplete | page 04

govt playing on own turf | page 03

Continued on page 04

Continued on page 04

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02wednesday, 22 February 2012

News

Today’s

LookQuick

lAhoRE

Story on Page 07

NEwS

Story on Page 05

CARtooN

Page 13

‘call me, sc, and i will tell you the truth’ 20th Amendment was a matter of ‘muk muka’: imran Khan

ISLAMABADmAsooD rehmAn

HE A R I N G a plea seek-ing direction to theElection Commissionof Pakistan to fix aspecific amount of ex-

penditure to be made by politicalparties during election campaigns sothat ordinary citizens could also con-test the election, the Supreme Courton Tuesday re-issued notices to 26political parties directing them tosubmit their concise statements overthe matter by February 29.

A three-member bench of JusticeMian Shakirullah Jan, Justice AnwarZaheer Jamali and Justice TariqParvez was hearing petitions filed byPakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI)chairman Imran Khan and Pakistan

Workers’ Party against existence ofpolluted electoral rolls and seekingelection reforms.

Abid Hasan Monto, counsel forWorkers’ Party, had made 26 politi-cal parties, including the PakistanPeople’s Party, Pakistan MuslimLeague-Nawaz, PML-Quaid, PTI,Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam and AwamiNational Party, respondents in thepetition.

He requested the court to directthe ECP to take tangible measure forfair and free polls in the country.

During the hearing, the court ob-served that a system should be de-vised so that an ordinary personcould also contest the election, as itwas impossible in the present sys-tem.

During the hearing, leaders ofsome political parties were present in

the court.Haji Adeel of the ANP said he

would raise the issue in the centralcommittee of the party, which woulddecide on it, but some time wasneeded. Jamaat-e-Islami CentralSecretary Parliamentary Affairs Sai-fullah Gondal said he had receivedthe notice yesterday (Monday), thushe could not prepare a reply.

He also sought time to file areply.

The bench, therefore, again is-sued notices to all parties and di-rected them to file their reply beforethe next date of hearing.

An officer of the Election Com-mission of Pakistan told the courtthat the joint secretary was busy in ameeting, thus he could not turn up.

Justice Tariq Parvez expressedannoyance, saying “It was a mockery

of the court as instead of appearingbefore the court, the joint secretarywas busy in meetings.”

Regarding 28 parliamentarianselected in by-polls when the ECP wasincomplete per the 18th Amendment,the court observed that as the matterof the 20thAmendment was under-process, it would decide the caseafter receiving the final gazette onFebruary 29, 2012.

Naseer Bhutta appeared on be-half of some candidates who were de-clared successful when the ElectionCommission was incomplete. He saidboth Houses of parliament hadpassed the 20th Amendment andnow it would be sent to the presidentfor signature. After the president’sapproval it would become law.

The court later adjourned pro-ceedings until February 29.

Why not limit campaign spending,SC asks political parties...againg Reissues notices to 26 political parties over petition g Political leaders, ECP ask for more time

frienDlY speAKers: national Assembly speaker Dr fehmida mirza receives indian lok sabha speaker meira Kumar at the

parliament house on Tuesday. ONLINE

PM forms 13-membercommittee onBalochistan APCISLaMaBaD: Prime Minister (PM)Yousuf Raza Gilani on Tuesday formulateda committee of lawmakers to decide dateof All Parties Conference on Balochistanissue. Sources said the committee includesMian Manzoor Watto, Arbab Aalmgir,Makhdum Shuhab Uddin, Ayat Ullah Dur-rani, Syed Khursheed Shah, Raza Rabani,Jahangir Badar, Raja Pervez Ashraf, NazarMuhammad Gondal, Samsam Bukhari,Changez Jamali, Nayyar Bukhkari andothers. Besides fixing the APC date, thebody will consult political leadership onthe Balochistan issue to find out how to re-store peace in the restive province. Mean-while, Pakistan Peoples Party’s centralInformation Secretary Qamar ZamanKaira called on PM Gilani in the PM HouseTuesday and discussed the APC. online

N-pact with India toget 5-year extensionISLaMaBaD: Pakistan on Tuesday an-nounced that it had agreed to extend a vitalagreement with India on reducing the riskfrom accidents related to nuclear weaponsfor another five years. “Pursuant to the un-derstanding reached during the sixth roundof Pakistan-India Expert level talks on Nu-clear Confidence Building Measures(CBMs), held in Islamabad on 27 December2011, the two sides have agreed to extendthe validity of the “Agreement on Reducingthe Risk from Accidents Relating to NuclearWeapons” for another five years, with effectfrom 21 February 2012,” said a foreign officestatement. It said, “The agreement had en-tered into force on 21 February 2007 for aninitial duration of five years. It aims at re-ducing the risk from accidents related to nu-clear weapons.” sTAff reporT

Boy drowns in canalwhile saving brotherLahore: A 17-year-old boy drowned inthe canal while trying to rescue his elderbrother in the Batapur Police area onTuesday. According to details, Jabir, 20, andAmir, 17, residents of the Mehmood Bootiarea were cutting branches from trees at thecanal bank to make miswak (chewing sticksfor oral hygiene) when Jabir slipped into thecanal. Amir dived into the canal to save hisdrowning brother, but was drowned in theattempt. Local residents informed therescue officials, who rescued Jabir and tookhim to a hospital where his condition isstated to be critical. Rescue officials howeverfailed to find any trace of Amir despite 10-hour long efforts. They suspended theoperation and will resume the search today(Wednesday). sTAff reporT

PPP suspends Punjabinformation secy’smembershipLahore: The PPP on Tuesdaysuspended the basic party member-ship of Punjab information secre-tary Dr Fakharuddin Chaudhry.Talking to Pakistan Today, PPPPunjab General Secretary Samiul-lah Khan said that Fakhar’s mem-bership was suspended due to hismeeting with PML-N MNA HamzaShahbaz Sharif. Sami said thatFakhar could file an appeal to thePPP co-chairman against his sus-pension, adding that the office-bearer violated the party discipline.sTAff reporT

Shan Gul appointedPunjab AAGLahore: Punjab government hasappointed Muhammad Shan Gul asadditional advocate general onTuesday. He is the youngest additionaladvocate general Punjab at the age of38. Earlier, there was bar of 40 yearswhich was waived. The post of AAG didnot exist earlier and a special seat hadto be created on administrativegrounds. sTAff reporT

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03wednesday, 22 February 2012

NewsCoMMENtplaying with fire

Articles on Page 12-13

Why allow DPC a freehand?

The 20thThe government has taken a good step.

Dr hasan Askari says:

Ali Aftab saeed says:

FoREIGN NEwS

Story on Page 18

ARtS & ENtERtAINMENt

Story on Page 14

SPoRtS

Story on Page 18

syrian forces pound homs as protests spread in Damascus Arif lohar appreciates huge response from indian fans

Neighbours first: Regional cooperation must be a priority.

Satratan: To the more important issues then.

harris bin muawar says:A game called Snake: How we have started to devour ourselves.

seamers help sri lanka beat india in oDi

Benazir Bhutto murder case – the govern-ment goes official with nothing new butleaving more questions to be answered. Ago-getting team, led by Interior MinisterRehman Malik, on Tuesday briefed theSindh assembly on the progress into the in-vestigation of former prime minister andchairperson of Pakistan People’s Party(PPP) Benazir Bhutto’s murder.

Understandably, the briefing wasarranged following the provincial assem-bly’s resolution to apprise the membersabout the progress made to not only exposethe culprits but also arrest them. Havinglistened to the lead investigator and anemotionally-charged Rehman Malik, oneconcludes that it was an old story repeat-edly told but the significance of its timingwas certainly politically important – we arein the election year.

Why such a briefing has not beenarranged for the members of the NationalAssembly? Answer: The Sindh assemblyhad passed a resolution for the briefing tothe members. Are the PPP members in theNational Assembly not interested in know-ing what progress has been made in themurder case of their leader? Answer: Theymust be. Then, why it was Sindh assemblyand not the National Assembly? Answer:Because, the PPP members of the NationalAssembly did not seek such a briefing.

No. It’s because the PPP relates itself toSindh more than any other part of thecountry – the Sindh card remains itsstrength. Another reason of not organizingsuch a hi-tech briefing with multi-media bythe investigators for its National Assemblymembers was because the PPP does nothave a majority in the lower house of par-liament where the members from other po-litical parties, particularly somepro-Musharraf PML-Q ones, would surelyask poignantly pungent questions – it wasnot the PPP’s turf.

So the choice was rightfully Sindh as-sembly. Though some members did ask acouple of questions which continue to bog-gle the minds of many, the Speaker tact-fully called it a day to avoid any tantrumsbeing thrown. The most pointed questionwas: Why the autopsy was not conducted?Rehman Malik and the investigators com-fortably put the blame on to the police offi-cers. The nation was, however, told thatAsif Ali Zardari, the husband of BenazirBhutto, had disallowed the medical exami-nation of his wife’s dead body.

The information in the briefing was notnew as it had already been reported in mediain bits and pieces but it was holistic and forthe first time official by the PPP government.Rehman Malik claimed that former Presi-dent Pervez Musharraf would be broughtback home, through the Interpol, to stand inthe dock and answer the questions. It’s amere rhetoric for political consumption.

If anything revealing is expected, it willbe the statement of Brigadier Javed IqbalCheema, former spokesman of the InteriorMinistry, before the court. He is the manwho had first officially appeared beforemedia to give details of the December 27,2007, ghastly incident. The investigatorsclaimed Brigadier Cheema had told themthat what he had said before the media wasthe information given to him by an“agency” and this decision was taken at ameeting chaired by Pervez Musharraf.

As for the killers of Benazir Bhutto,their names still remain unnamed. A con-spiracy to kill Benazir Bhutto and its link-age with the TTP were what the briefingwas all about. Asif Ali Zardari, who is nowthe president of the country, is husbandof the former prime minister and father ofher children as well. He has always saidthat he knows who had killed his wife. Forall the three reasons, one cannot say thathe does not know as to who had killed her.But he remains tight-lipped. RehmanMalik, however, dissociated himself frombeing part or in-charge of BeanzirBhutto’s security detail – the briefingserved his purpose, at least.

Playing on own turfCoMMENt

rAnA qAisAr

gUJRAnWALAsTAff reporT

HER cries for justice are still un-heard. Zahidan Bibi still awaitsher 22 year-old son, allegedlyabducted by intelligence agen-cies from Gujranwala two

months ago. Authorities concerned remainedheedless to the cries of weeping mother.

Witnesses report Khawar Mahmood, 22,son of Muhammad Arif, a garment sales manwas abducted by plainclothesmen two monthsago from Gujranwala hotel without priorwarning. An eyewitness, requestinganonymity, said, “Ten people in plainclothesarrived at the hotel at around 3 am on Decem-ber 3 2011 and took Khawar with them with-out naming the reason. They showed theirservice cards which revealed they were fromthe Inter Service Intelligence (ISI).”

“We are residents of Muhammad PuraSialkot and my son Khawar used to work ina garments store as sales man,” Khawar’s

mother Zahidan Bibi said, “Two monthsago, on Friday December 3, I called mysons’ mobile upon which he said he waswith friends and return in the morning.Since then, he is missing.”

She said that she visited Gujranwalahotel to trace her missing son on 24 Decem-ber, where the hotel owner told her that earlyon Saturday 10-12 people came and tookKhawar with them forcefully. She said thathotel staff revealed that upon inquiry thepeople in plainclothes showed their ISI iden-tity cards. She said, “On 17 February 2012, Ireported the incident in the Kotwali policestation but no one heard my plea.” She saidthat she had knocked at every door but foundno light. She said, “I even traveled to Islam-abad to seek help to recover my missing sonbut my efforts went in vain.”

Khawar’s brother Babar said, “We re-ported the case in Kotwali police station butno action was taken. No one wants to recoverour missing brother. We fear they will kill ourbrother and we are helpless.”

One mOre missing persOn

‘Two months ago,the ISI took my son’g Gujranwala mother struggling to find her missing son

QUETTAshAhzADA zulfiqAr

Trader Zohib Bhora, belonging to the fa-mous business Bhora family of Quetta,was killed in broad day light on Tuesdaywhile resisting his kidnapping.

According to police, Zohib, owner ofMeelak Hall, was on his way to his officewhen some armed men, in a SUV, inter-cepted him near the post office at MissionRoad. Three armed men came out of thevehicle and tried to force Zohib to sit in thecar. The businessman resisted on which

the assailants shot him, killing him on thespot, and fled. Zohab was son of HajiSadiq Bhora, who was kidnapped a decadeago, and after remaining captive for twoyears, was released after payment of ran-som. Zohib’s killing sent shock waves inthe city and business community.

Separately, three people, includingtwo women were killed in Pishin andBolan in firing incidents. Police said thatMuhammad Afzal killed his wife andmother-in-law in Pishin, and fled. Accord-ing to police, the incident was result of adomestic dispute.

Also on Tuesday, two labourers diedof suffocation and another fell uncon-scious after their room was filled withsmoke in Zhob. According to details,Tawos Badini along with his two room-mates, who were working at a private con-struction company, fell asleep withoutswitching off the generator at Mir AlikhelRoad. Resultantly, the generator devel-oped some fault and the room was filledwith smoke. Two people, including Tawos,were suffocated to death while anotherman Nazeebullah fell unconscious andshifted to Quetta.

Trader gunned down in Quetta

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wednesday, 22 February, 2012

Abdullah Saddam, FaizMuhammad, Saeed Bilal,Ikramullah, Nasrullah, AbdulRehman and a mysterious“Maulvi Sahab” have eitherbeen killed or are being ab-sconders in Benazir’s murdercase.

Of the above accused,Rafaqat, Husnain, Zaman,Aitzaz and Rasheed Ahmedare presently confined in theCentral Prison of Adiyala andfacing a trial in an anti-ter-rorism court. The two policeofficers, Aziz and Khurram,are on bail, while formerarmy chief Musharraf was de-clared a “proclaimed of-fender” by the trial court.

“Five of the accused werestudents of Jamia Haqqania.I don’t say Maulana SamiulHaque is involved, but Iwould request all religiousleaders running seminaries to

ensure such incidents don’trecur,” Interior MinisterRehman Malik said during,as Law Minister Ayaz Soomrocalled it, a “special meeting”of the Sindh Assembly onTuesday.

With Sindh’s lawmakersdemanding an investigationand arrest of all military andpolice officers suspected orinvolved in the murder of Be-nazir, the interior ministersaid Musharraf and militantsled by Baitullah Mehsudeliminated the PPP leaderfrom the political scene con-sidering her a threat.

“Musharraf, in the pres-ence of Mark Siegel, hadthreatened Benazir that if youcome to Pakistan before elec-tions you would be responsi-ble for the consequences,” theinterior minister said. “Iwould not be responsible for

your security,” Malik quotedthen president Musharraf aswarning Benazir.

Musharraf had been chal-laned in the BB’s murder casefor “deliberately” denyingVVIP security to Benazir, as-sisting terrorists to carry outa successful attack despite re-peated requests for Benazir’ssecurity, threatening Benazirnot to come to Pakistan be-fore elections, linking her se-curity to the state of theirmutual relationship and or-dering a press conference (ofBrigadier (r) Cheema) thatprejudiced and hampered theinvestigation of the case.

The self-exiled formerpresident (Musharraf), Maliksaid, would be arrested andbrought back to the countrythrough Interpol anytimesoon.

The interior minister said

Benazir was also on the hit-list of the militants for herpost-return statement that nostate within a state could betolerated.

“The conspiracy (to killBenazir) was hatched by Bait-ullah Mehsud from Makeen.We knew that but could notpreviously declare this forwant of solid proof that wehave in hand now and arebased on forensic methods ofinvestigation,” the interiorminister said.

The interior minister dis-pelled the impression thatBenazir Bhutto had ever en-dorsed the National Reconcil-iation Ordinance (NRO).

In fact, she had been con-stantly demanding the for-mation of a “truthcommission”, he said.

Khalid Qureshi, the JIThead, told the House that

then Punjab government’smeasures like the washing ofthe crime scene, failure of thepolice to carry out post-mortem and press conferenceof Brigadier (r) Cheema hadcreated a lot of doubts andcontroversies.

Further, Qureshi said theyear 2007 was when the men-ace of terrorism was on itspeak after the formation ofTehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan(TTP) in December 2004when 27 militant groups fromseven tribal agencies and 24districts of KP had reorgan-ised under the umbrella ofTTP. “Some 500 percent in-crease was seen in terroristattacks during 2007 after theterrorists reorganised,” hesaid.

He said the suicidebombers had used a newmethod called Mechanical

Triggering Mechanism in theLiaquat Park attack. In thismethod, Qureshi said, the“strikers’ sleeves” and not theremote control was used toexplode the bomber.

While the investigatorsand present governmentwere blaming the Musharraf-led government for providinginadequate security to thePPP leader, one of the slidesin the presentation read thatthe government had on “se-curity grounds” turned downin November 2007 the PPP’srequest for holding a publicmeeting at Liaquat Bagh.

Marvi Rashdi of thePML-F asked Malik to ex-plain his then responsibilitiesas well as why the PPP wascurrently sharing the govern-ment with the people (PML-Q) then ruling Punjab.

“My duty was to coordi-

nate between the governmentand Benazir and I was not re-sponsible for her physical se-curity,” he replied. Theinterior minister, however,ducked the second query ofPML-F legislator.

The PPP-led coalition gov-ernment seems to have de-cided to wind up the chapter ofBenazir’s murder case as theinterior minister told reportersat Sindh Chief Minister Housethat: “With regard to hold anenquiry on Benazir’s assassi-nation, necessary enquiry hasbeen completed and all ele-ments and persons, who wereinvolved in the conspiracy,have been exposed.” Conclud-ing the presentation, JIT headQureshi told the House thatthe next hearing of the trialcourt was due on February 25and that the case was expectedto be decided “very soon”.

Government blames Musharraf Continued from page 1

President Karzai alsobriefed Gilani about hismeetings with Pakistan’s po-litical leaders and termedthese very encouraging andconstructive.

He also apprised theprime minister about histelephonic conversationwith US President BarackObama after his return toKabul from Islamabad. Hetook Gilani into confidenceabout his conversation withthe US president.

Karzai underscored Pak-istan’s importance for thepeace process inAfghanistan and reiteratedhis request for Pakistan’s as-sistance to the reconciliationprocess. teLephoNIC CoNver-SatIoN: Earlier, Obama

talked to Karzai about theAfghan-led reconciliationmoves following the trilat-eral talks in Pakistan, theWhite House said.

The telephone conversa-tion also followed Karzai’sassertion in a newspaper in-terview last week that hisgovernment was involved intalks with the Taliban, bothwith and without the US.

“They discussed regionalsupport for Afghan-led rec-onciliation, the Afghanistan-Pakistan-Iran trilateralmeetings last week in Islam-abad, and other strategic is-sues of mutual concern,” theWhite House said in a state-ment.

“They agreed to speakagain soon to remain closelyaligned as both countriescontinue our efforts to

achieve common goals, andwork to forge a long-termpartnership,” it said. The USState Department also wel-comed the Afghan presi-dent’s offer of talks with theTaliban, saying people in thewar-torn country needed totake the lead in reconcilia-tion efforts.

“We have been gratifiedto see President Karzaispeaking out publicly insupport of Afghan-to-Afghan reconciliation,”State Department spokes-woman Victoria Nuland toldreporters. “Our goal is towork ourselves out of a job...because when we get to thepoint where it’s Afghans andAfghans talking to eachother, then we’ll really havea true reconciliationprocess,” she said.

Pakistan supports Afghan led talksContinued from page 22

Ijaz likely to

record statement

pertaining to electronic com-munication occurred duringa specific period of time be-tween the two main charac-ters of the memocontroversy, Haqqani andIjaz. On the other hand, RIMalso has declined to providecommunication data to thegovernment as was desiredbe the commission, saying itcould not share it with any-one else unless Haqqaniwaived his privacy rights. Ona number of occasions duringthe previous hearings, thecommission doubted thatboth the government andHaqqani were not cooperat-ing with it and using delayingtactics to make it hard for itto get to the bottom of thescandal. The commission onvarious occasions also ad-monished Interior MinisterRehman Malik, Interior Sec-retary Khawaja SiddiqueAkbar, Foreign SecretarySalman Bashir and DeputyAttorney General Tariq Mah-mood Jehangiri for not coop-erating with the commissionand complying with its or-ders in true letter and spirit.

Continued from page 1

ISLAMABADsTAff reporT

Apetition wasfiled with theSupreme Courton Tuesdayseeking initia-

tion of contempt of court pro-ceedings againstInter-Services Public Rela-tions (ISPR) Director GeneralMaj Gen Athar Abbas for hisalleged interference in a sub-judice matter involving illegalcustody of 11 missing prison-

ers of Adiyala Jail, four ofwhich have died.

The petition was filed byTariq Asad, counsel for miss-ing prisoners, under Article204 of the constitution readwith Sections 3 and 4 of Con-tempt of Court Ordinance,2003, making the ISPR DG asrespondent.

The petitioner prayed thecourt to initiate contemptproceedings against the re-spondent for his interferenceand prejudice towards theprocess of law in the course of

under adjudication judicialproceedings in missing pris-oners’ case.

He said four missing pris-oners died under mysteriouscircumstances during their il-legal confinement by the spyagencies. However, he saidafter repeated orders of thecourt, when the remainingseven missing prisoners wereproduced before the court onFebruary 13, 2012, the courthad directed Attorney GeneralMaulvi Anwarul Haq and RajaMuhammad Irshad, counsel

for Inter-Services Intelligence(ISI) and Military Intelligence,to procure record to satisfy thecourt about their detentionprior to January 26, 2012 andalso as to whether they wereproceeded again under anyprovision of law and if so,what was the result. Similarly,he said the KhyberPakhtunkhwa (KP) chief sec-retary was also directed to col-lect the relevant record tosatisfy the court that underwhat circumstances the de-tainees were allowed to be ad-

mitted in Internment Centreat Parachinar by the intern-ment authority, who is the KPgovernor, because such an ac-tion could only be takenthrough an order passed byapplying judicial mind, asmentioned in the regulations.

He said the court hadpointed out that there wereproforma, required to be filledin, before admitting the per-sons in the Internment Center.He said the court had sought allthe relevant record and fixedthe case for March 1, 2012.

SC moved against ISPR DG forinterfering in sub-judice matter

ISLAMABADsTAff reporT

In order to work together forthe support of flood-affectedpeople in Sindh and Balochis-tan, the Pakistan governmentand the United Nations onTuesday launched the Floods2011 Early Recovery Frame-work, seeking US$440 millionfor the restoration of liveli-hoods, support for food secu-rity, basic social services,shelter, community infrastruc-ture, health, nutrition, waterand sanitation.

“We highly appreciate theunflinching support and assis-tance provided by the interna-tional community to the peopleof Pakistan, during these test-ing times. The United Nations

agencies, foreign governments,donors, national and interna-tional NGOs, and private phi-lanthropists all worked jointlywith the national and provin-cial disaster management au-thorities and other relevantgovernment agencies, respond-ing to immense needs in the af-fected areas,” said Advisor toPM on Finance, Revenue, Eco-nomic Affairs, Statistics andPlanning and Development DrAbdul Hafeez Shaikh.

During the early recoveryphase, the government, theUnited Nations and its partnerswill support communities by en-gaging in planning and exploringsolutions to reduce the devastat-ing impact of the 2011 floods andhelping communities to quicklyreturn to a normal life.

UN, Pakistan launch Floods2011 Recovery Framework

LAHOREYAsir hAbib

The Sharifs appear to be introuble over the controversialparty reorganisation process,as PML-N senior leaderNaeem Mir has challenged allappointments to variousparty offices in Punjab withthe Election Commission ofPakistan (ECP), calling thema severe violation of theparty’s constitution and thePolitical Parties Act.

Mir, former PML-N Pun-jab additional informationsecretary, Lahore finance sec-retary and general secretary(trader wing), submitted aletter to the ECP asking it totake immediate action by an-nulling all illegal appoint-ments on offices of the

PML-N president, generalsecretary and others, as noneof them went through the dueelection procedure.

The letter sent to the ECPhas stirred up a storm withinthe PML-N circles.

The party has already suf-fered setbacks in the form ofJaved Hashmi InamullahNiazi and Sir Anjam Khan’sdeparture.

“The current resentmenton part of another seniorleader is a bombshell for theparty and has finally provento be a crack in the Sharifs’armour,” source in the PML-N central secretariat said.

It was the second timethat Mir, once a close friendof newly-elected senator Zul-fiqar Khosa, threw down thegauntlet against the Sharifs to

get his due right as a memberof the party Central GeneralCouncil, the source added.

He had parted ways withthe PML-N on December 26,2011 after getting disgruntledby the treatment meted out tohim by MNA Hamza Shah-baz, son of Punjab Chief Min-ister Shahbaz Sharif.

Mir had sent copies of hisresignation to the party chief,Shahbaz, Zulfikar Khosa,Ashfaq Sarwar and MNASaad Rafique.

The resignation lettersaid, “I gave 16 years to theparty but what arrogantHamza Shahbaz did to me inthe last four years is unbear-able.” He had said that theCM’s son used to keep himand others standing outsidehis office for hours.

Senior PML-N leader moves ECP

against intra-party irregularities

g Naeem Mir claims appointments made to party offices inPunjab violation of party’s constitution, Political Parties Act

PIA orders fiveBoeing 777sWaShINGtoN/QUetta: US aircraft manufacturerBoeing announced on Mon-day that Pakistan Interna-tional Airlines has orderedfive of its 777-300ER long-range passenger jets worthnearly $1.5 billion with anoption for five more. QUetta fLIGht CaN-CeLLeD: All PIA domesticand one international flightswere cancelled on Tuesdayas runway on Quetta inter-national airport could notbe cleared from the Karachiflight which had burst itstwo tyres while landing onMonday. Afp/sTAff reporT

hina calls on UKinvestors toinvest in PakistanLoNDoN: Foreign MinisterHina Rabbani Khar calledupon British entrepreneurson Tuesday to continue withtheir business plans in Pak-istan while the federal gov-ernment is always keen toencourage and facilitate in-ternational investors andbusinesses. The foreign min-ister co-chaired a businessroundtable with AlistairBurt, British minister ofstate for foreign & common-wealth office. Hina called onBritish Minister of State forTrade and Investment LordGreen and thanked theBritish government for sup-porting Pakistan in the EUfor tariff concession proposalthat was approved in theWTO. The FM also called onBritish Home MinisterTheresa May.hINa to Meet CLIN-toN IN LoNDoN: ForeignMinister Hina Rabbani Kharsaid on Tuesday that shewould meet US Secretary ofState Hillary Clinton atThursday’s London meetingon Somalia to discuss thestrained ties between Wash-ington and Islamabad. mAJiD KhATTAK/Afp

KARAcHIonline

Defence and political analystson Tuesday denounced Inte-rior Minister Rehman Malik’sbriefing on Benazir Bhuttomurder case in teh Sindh As-sembly as “a bundle of con-tradictions”.

Renowned defence ana-lyst Ikram Sehgal said Malik’sbriefing was in itself a contra-diction, considering thatMalik took no action against

the very Interior Ministry/ in-telligence team that refusedVIP security for Benazir, andit continued to serve for twoyears under Malik’s author-ity. Sehgal also expresseddeep mystification over grantof job extension to former in-terior secretary Kamal Shahby Malik, despite Shah’s fail-ure to protect Benazir.

Another noted analystMujeebur Rehman Shamiwas stunned by Malik’s por-trayal of Baitullah Mehsud’s

connivance with then presi-dent Pervez Musharraf in Be-nazir’s murder, wonderinghow would Malik prove hispoint in a court of law.

Senior journalist and ana-lyst, Arif Nizami said Malik’sbriefing was “incomplete”, andsaid it was a vain effort by thePPP to pacify the voters as thegeneral elections were drawingnear. Dr Hassan Askari saidthe government still had to doa lot regarding the investiga-tions into the case.

Malik’s briefing on Benazir

murder case widely shunned

NADRA employeesobserve strikeISLaMaBaD: Work atNADRA offices came to astandstill with employees ob-serving a strike across re-gions for the secondconsecutive day on Tuesdayfor their long standing de-mand of regularisation, cre-ating problems for parentswho were desperate to get B-Forms of their childrenahead of school admissions.Around five months ago, In-terior Minister SenatorRehman Malik had assuredthe employees that theirservices would be regularisedbut no concrete steps weretaken in this regard. Work atNADRA Headquarters, Is-lamabad was continuing dueto pressure from the topmanagement. sTAff reporT

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News

fireworKs AT The forT: The launch of the 7th cholistan Desert rally was marked by a stunning fireworks at fort Derawar. MURTAZA ALI

ISLAMABADsTAff reporT

PTI Chairman Imran Khanon Tuesday criticised the20th Amendment and itspassage through the Na-tional Assembly and the

Senate.He said it was an example of

horse trading and “muk muka” (bar-gaining), once again proving that themain opposition party, the PML-Ncontinues to play out the farce ofbeing opposition in the centre.

Khan said the release of Rs 366.1million in five hours for Senators toget the 20th Amendment passedthrough the Senate, was a bad reflec-tion on the country’s legislators.

He said that while money was notthe development in Balochistan orprovide common citizens relief in fueland utility prices, money was readilyavailable for bribery.

He said the 20th Amendment wasa fraud on the Constitution since itcondones elections carried out

against the provisions of the Consti-tution. He said that first the govern-ment commits a violation of theConstitution, then it brings a consti-tutional amendment to condone thewrongdoing.

The Chairman PTI further addedthat the 20th Amendment also con-

dones the existence of bogus voterssince the elections it seeks to regu-larise had the participation of thebogus voters identified by theSupreme Court of Pakistan.

On the issue of a caretaker gov-ernment, Khan objected that the 20thAmendment is stacked up against thePTI.

He said that the appointment ofthe caretaker prime minister/chiefministers was in the hands of the par-tisan and biased PrimeMinister/Chief Ministers and Leaderof the Opposition which will not allowfor a level playing field for other par-ties.

He said that the matter was madeworse by the fact that the ElectionCommission itself will be based onthe choice of partisan parties, ratherthan a consultation of all registeredpolitical parties.

He said it was strange that theElection Commission was given thefinal authority to choose a caretakerprime minister/chief minister, apractice not replicated elsewhere.

g PtI chief claims Rs 366.1m given to senators meant a ‘buy out’g Says all registered parties should appoint caretaker government

20th Amendment was a matterof ‘muk muka’: Imran Khan

PESHAWARsTAff reporT

Security forces opened fire on a peacefulprotest after the February 17 suicide at-tack in Parachinar and several protestorswere shot dead, Turi Bangash tribal eld-ers from Parachinar in Kurram Agencysaid on Tuesday.

Addressing a press conference onTuesday, they condemned the suicideattack in the agency on February 17and termed it failure of the political

administration.They said that the suicide attack

had made the atmosphere of Parachi-nar tense again after peace had beenmaintained in the agency since a bombblast in 2008.

Jamia Shaheed Allama OrganiserAbid Hussain Shakri, Allama Arif Hus-sain al Hussaini, ISO Peshawar Divi-sion President Saqib Bangash, TuriBangash Supreme Council PresidentHaji Gulab Hussain Turi, Imamia JargaKP General Secretary Muzaffar Akhun-

zada spoke on the occasion. They said the agencies’ youth had

voluntarily formed a Peace CommitteePasdaraan (PCP), who search peoplethemselves at all entrance and exit pointsto Parachinar which had created thepeace between 2008 to 2012.

They said that after the 2011 peaceagreement, PCP had vacated all self-es-tablished check-posts on the condition ofprotection to them in the agency andwelcomed security forces with hope.

They expressed regret that the main

road towards Parachinar had been closedfor Turi Bangash tribes for four yearswhile militants and other miscreants useit at whim. They said the Turi Bangashhad sacrificed of 1,500 people and 5,000injured by resisting the militants in theagency. “We not only defended our peo-ple but also our country,” they said.

After the suicide attack, they saidthat residents of the agency were holdinga peaceful protest after the blast but se-curity forces opened firing on them andseveral demonstrators were shot dead.

‘Security forces shot dead protestors’

‘SC should take

suo motu of BoK’s

privatisation’PESHAWAR

sTAff reporT

The Supreme Court (SC) should take suomotu notice of the proposed privatisationof the Bank of Khyber (BoK), as theKhyber Pakhtunkhwa government wantsto receive kickbacks in the deal, PML-Nleader Fareed Tofan said on Tuesday.Holding a press conference at thePeshawar Press Club, he said that theBoK was a profitable institution. “Despitethe fact that the provincial financeminister said that the BoK was a money-making institution, the govt wants toprivatise it for corruption,” Tofan said.The PML-N leader said that railways, PIAand steel mills, which were in a crisis,should be privatised instead of the BoK.He said that silence of Pakhtun leadersMehmood Achakzai and Aftab Sherpaoon the issue was deplorable, adding thatall political parties should come outagainst the proposed privatisation. Heaccused the ANP of being involved inmassive corruption.

PM briefed on BISE’sSkill DevelopmentProgramme

ISLAMABADsTAff reporT

Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilanion Tuesday chaired a meeting of theBenazir Income Support Programme(BISP) at the PM’s House, in which hewas briefed about the Skill Developmentand Youth Employment Programme.The PM directed officers to coordinateefforts of skill development initiativesand scale up the training programme tobenefit a large number of youth to findemployment opportunities in aproductive manner. Gilani also stressedupon the need for different governmentdepartments to avoid overlappingactivities to ensure that programmeswere run in a cost effective and efficientmanner. It was also decided that thetraining programme should takedemand conditions into view so thatskilled people could be absorbed in thelabour market both domestically andoverseas. BISP Chairperson FarzanaRaja said that 150,000 youth will begiven technical training under theWaseela-e-Rozgar Scheme. The mainfeature of the scheme was to imparttraining to 150,000 youth both men andwomen, through government andprivate institutions to get them out ofthe vicious circle of poverty. BISP plansto achieve its goals though a set ofrelationship with institutions, bothpublic and private, all over the country.Earlier, Farzana briefed Gilani aboutvarious BISP initiatives and theirpositive impacts on socio-economicbetterment of millions of beneficiaryfamilies. She told the PM that BISP wasall set to launch health insurance andWaseela-e-Taleem Programme toprovide basic health and qualityeducation facilities to the beneficiaryfamilies.

NA panel asks EADto utilise foreignscholarships funds

IslamabadsTAff reporT

The National Assembly Standing Committeeon Human Rights on Tuesday expresseddissatisfaction over attitude of the EconomicAffairs Division (EAD), saying that foreignscholarship funds were not utilised andlapsed in the division. It asked thedepartment concerned to utilise the fundsfor students of war-affected areas. Chairingthe meeting, MNA Riaz Fatyana said thatPakistan being a welfare state failed toprovide higher education to its citizens ataffordable expenditures and it had becomevery difficult for people to get highereducation both at private and public sectoruniversities. The committee said that on theone side, people were unable to get highereducation and on the other side, the EADlapsed scholarship funds, as it could notpublicise the matter properly so thatdeserving people might apply for it. Thecommittee also expressed concern that thegovernment had allocated meager andnegligible amounts for higher education. Italso directed EAD to arrange a donorconference for generation of funds, whichmight be utilised for education of studentsbelonging to war-affected areas ofParachinar and FATA.

tarin denies sayingBISP ‘politicallymotivated’

PRESS RELEASE

Shaukat Tarin, who is on the board of theBenazir Income Support Programme(BISP), categorically denied on Tuesdaysome news reports that quoted himsuggesting that the BISP was politicallymotivated. Tarin, a former finance minister,said in a press release that the BISP was animportant initiative that had helped alleviatepoverty in Pakistan. If the programmecontinues to be administered properly, andkept clear of political motivation, the BISPwill grow further and have an even biggerimpact on poverty alleviation in the country,the press release added.

parachinar attack aftermath

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ISLAMABADsTAff reporT

ExPRESSING concern overthe list of 20 lawyers beingproposed for appointmentas judges of the Lahore HighCourt (LHC), the Pakistan

Bar Council (PBC) on Tuesday resolvedthat if such recommendations materi-alised, it will amount to violation of thelaw as laid down in the Al-Jehad case.

In its meeting, the PBC’s executivecommittee passed two resolutions, rais-ing serious questions regarding the ap-pointment of judges to the Lahore HighCourt and Sindh High Court. The meet-ing was presided over by committeechairman Asrarul Haq Mian.

On a point by Mian Abbas Ahmed,the PBC’s executive committee ex-pressed concern over a news that ap-peared in the press in respect of the listof 20 lawyers being proposed for ap-pointment as LHC judges.

He pointed out that a majority of the

said lawyers, except a few, appeared tobe non-practicing and the committeewas of the view that if such recommen-dations materialised, it will amount toviolation of the law as laid down in theAl-Jehad case.

The PBC committee proposed thatnominees/representatives of bar coun-cils in the Judicial Commission of Pak-istan should be consulted by theconcerned chief justices of the HighCourts in the process of preparation andinitiation of lists of recommendedlawyers for appointment as judges, be-fore the same were forwarded to andplaced before the Judicial Commissionof Pakistan.

The committee further resolved thatthe present strength of judges in almostall high courts was meagre and badly af-fected the dispensation of justice, be-sides causing great hardships to theordinary litigants.

Passing another resolution, the PBCexecutive committee expressed its dis-may with the situation prevailing in the

Sindh High Court where more than halfof the sanctioned posts of judges waslying vacant, resulting not only piling upof pending cases but also causing mis-trust and distress among the litigants.

The committee requested the au-thorities concerned to take immediatesteps to accelerate the appointment ofjudges of the Sindh High Court, so as tocomplete its sanctioned strength andhoped that in that pursuit, the chief jus-tice of the Sindh High Court and Judi-cial Commission of Pakistan (JCP)would take into consideration the senti-ments and aspirations of the legal fra-ternity and ensure appointment ofcompetent, honest and professionallawyers as judges of the high court bygiving due and meaningful share to thelawyers of interior Sindh as well.

The PBC’s executive committee hasalready unanimously expressed dissat-isfaction over the present JCP proce-dure regarding the appointment ofjudges and declared the process non-transparent.

PBC concerned over names of 20lawyers proposed as LHC judges

Additional incentives to Diamer-

Basha Dam Project affectees

Lahorepr

In a major departure from the existingpractice in land acquisition and resettle-ment, WAPDA has decided to provide tem-porary housing facilities to all familieswhose lands have been acquired in ThoreValley for construction of the DiamerBasha Dam.

The provision of temporary accommo-dation, in accordance with the weather re-quirements of the area, was in addition tothe full payment for the land and establish-ment of permanent townships in five years.WAPDA, during its recent meeting, tookthis decision, which would benefit 131 fam-ilies whose lands have been acquired for es-tablishing of WAPDA’s offices and

residential structures. This momentous de-cision would on one hand provide adequateshelter to the affectees and be in line withthe ‘Safeguard Policies’ of donors.

The amount was to be paid to each fam-ily for construction of alternate accommo-dation consisting of a bedroom along withtoilet and would be released in three install-ments. The first installment through chequewould be delivered within 10 days. WAPDAalso decided to provide free medical cover-age through an ambulance and doctors tonot only the affected families but also to far-flung villages of Diamer. It was also decidedthat a poultry scheme for women would belaunched besides establishing veterinarycamps in the area. In order to facilitate localresidents, pony tracks would also be devel-oped in the valley.

nEW YORKAfp

At least 46 journalists were killed in 2011,with Pakistan the deadliest country for thesecond year running, a rights group said onTuesday.

The New York-based Committee toProtect Journalists said deaths during dan-gerous assignments — such as coveringstreet protests — reached the highest levelon record in 2011 as the Arab uprisingsdominated the headlines.

Seven deaths were reported in Pak-istan, followed by five each in Iraq, whereattacks have continued despite the USwithdrawal, and Libya, where a popular re-volt against strongman Moamar Gaddafiescalated into a NATO-backed war.

“Seventeen journalists died while ondangerous assignments, many of themwhile covering the chaotic and violent con-frontations between authorities and pro-testers during the uprisings that swept theArab world,” the report said.

Photojournalists and camera operatorsaccounted for 40 percent of fatalities, morethan twice the proportion CPJ has docu-mented since it began keeping records in1992.

The group also reported an increase inthe deaths of Internet journalists, who“rarely appeared on CPJ’s death toll before2008.” CPJ said it was still investigatinganother 35 deaths in 2011 that may havebeen work-related.

Forty-four journalists were killed in2010, according to the group.

At least 46 journalists killed

in 2011, 7 in Pakistan

PESHAWARAfp

The Taliban’s decision to talk to the USis stirring up tensions with al Qaeda asthe Afghan militia comes under pres-sure to dump its terror allies in thename of peace.

Times are hard for al Qaeda inAfghanistan and Pakistan. The networkhas been weakened significantly by USdrone strikes on its hideouts, last May’skilling of founder Osama bin Laden andby finances drying up.

And since the Afghan Taliban de-clared themselves in favour of talks withthe United States in Qatar that could helpend a decade of war in Afghanistan, alQaeda has felt increasingly abandoned inits fight against the West.

As far as it’s concerned, talking to theAmericans is treason.

“Al Qaeda blames us. They tell us‘why are you letting us down, as wehelped you when you were down?’” anAfghan Taliban official told AFP.

“We’re not happy with the Dohaprocess,” a source close to al Qaeda con-firmed to AFP. “We want the war to con-

tinue in Afghanistan and Pakistan.”After taking power in 1996, the Tal-

iban regime allowed al Qaeda to base it-self in Afghanistan, taking advantage offierce codes of hospitality and alliancesmade during the 1980s jihad against theSoviets in Afghanistan.

But the alliance cost the Taliban dear.They refused to hand over bin Laden tothe Americans after the September 11,2001 attacks, the United States invadedand their regime collapsed within weeks.

The Americans ruled out any negoti-ations and the Taliban fled across theborder into Pakistan’s lawless tribal belt,where they found support among alQaeda fighters, giving birth to a newstage in their relationship.

Al Qaeda strengthened its linkswith Pakistani extremist groups, in-cluding the umbrella Tehreek-e-Tal-iban Pakistan (TTP), which pledgedallegiance and in 2007 launched abloody insurgency against the US-al-lied government in Islamabad.

In Afghanistan, the conflict onlyworsened, making it increasingly evi-dent that there could be no militaryvictory for anyone.

Talk of peace stirs up

Qaeda-Taliban tensions

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Making a difference with

sewing machinesUNESCo-funded project launched

07

Debris is being removed at the Kati Pahari on tuesday where a landslide injured two people. ONLINE

KARAcHIimDAD soomro

The names of candidates recommended bythe provincial government for appoint-ment as judges in the Sindh High Court(SHC) are likely to be disregarded in themeeting of the Judicial Commission onFebruary 25, Pakistan Today has learnt.

The Chief Justice of Supreme Court ofPakistan Justice Iftikhar MuhammadChaudry has convened a meeting of theJudicial Commission for appointment ofjudges in the SHC on February 25 in Is-lamabad.

There are 28 positions of judges va-cant in the SHC as only 12 judges areworking on the reserved 40 positions.

The Sindh government had recom-mended the names of 27 lawyers, includ-ing four former sacked SHC judgesGhulam Dastgir Shahani, Safdar Bhutto,Ismail Bhutto and Iqbal Mahar, membersof the People’s Lawyers Forum and somecandidates believed to have close ties withpolitical high-ups.

Eight names including six districtand sessions judges – SHC RegistrarAbdul Rasool Memon, Naimat AllahKhuro, Muhammad Sadiq Bhatti, Faiz

Rasool Rashdi, Ashraf Jahan and AbdulMalik Gadi – and two senior lawyersNadeem Akhtar and Muhammad ShafiSiddiqui were also suggested for the postof SHC judges.

The Judicial Commission’s meetingwill be chaired by the Chief Justice ofPakistan while Federal Law MinisterMaula Bux Chandio, Attorney GeneralMaulvi Anwarul Haq, SHC Chief JusticeMushir Alam, senior SHC judge MaqboolBaqar, Sindh Bar Council representativeLala Yasin Babar and Sindh Law Minis-ter Ayaz Soomro will also participate inthe meeting.

No room for govt’s boys in SHC?■ lawyers recommended by Sindh government for appointment as high court

judges likely to be disregarded in Judicial Commission meeting

Word ‘rural’ ticks off

MQM; text amended

KARAcHIAfTAb chAnnA

With the apex court hearing the missingpersons’ case, the federal and provincialauthorities have failed to ascertain theexact number of persons missing in theSindh province as the Interior Ministryputs the number at 54 but the provincialadministration claims only 16 are miss-ing, Pakistan Today has learnt.

According to federal governmentfigures, the total number of missing per-sons – allegedly picked up by secret lawenforcement agencies – from Sindh,Balochistan, Punjab and KhyberPakhtunkhwa stands at 416, with at least54 belonging to Sindh. However, theSindh Home Department puts the num-ber at 16.

In October 2009, the Interior Min-istry had forwarded to the Sindh HomeDepartment a list containing the namesof 16 “missing” people for tracing themout. Interestingly, the list also men-tioned the names of people who wereliving free, such as Jeay Sindh QaumiMahaz (JSQM) leader Dr Safdar Sarkiand Karachi resident Zeeshan Jalil, whowas earlier imprisoned in the AdialaJail, sources told Pakistan Today.

“In January 2010, the Interior Min-istry again forwarded a list of missingpersons from Sindh but this time thenumber of these people stood at 54,” thesources said.

Then Home secretary, Arif Khan, inreaction to the mistake by higher au-thorities and ensuring strict compliancewith the Supreme Court directives,

wrote a letter to the Interior Ministrypinpointing at the apathy of the author-ities concerned.

The Sindh Home Department alsorequested the Interior Ministry and theNational Crisis and Management Cell(NCMC) to forward another verified andaccurate list so that the early recovery ofthe missing persons could be ensured.“However, the provincial authorities arestill waiting for the fresh list from theCentre,” the sources added.

As per the Interior Ministry direc-tives, the Sindh government was sup-posed to publish a detailed list of allmissing persons in leading newspapersso that proper information including thewhereabouts of these people can be as-certained but no advertisements havebeen published so far.

The people who were allegedlypicked up from various parts of theSindh province include Abdul KarimMehmood (missing since June 12,2003); Ghulam Rabbani and his brotherAhmed Ghulam Rabbani (September 11,2002); Ali Muhammad (May 4, 2004);Qari Muhammad Aslam, Rana Asif andAyaz Baladi (June 26, 2006); Jahangir(March 13, 2005); Abdul Raheem,Muhammad Israr (October 10, 2006);Mustafa Azeem (September 13, 2006);Abdul Sattar Hakro (November 10,2005); Chetan Kumar (July 12, 2006);GM Bhagat (September 9, 2006); Ghu-lam Shabir Soomro (October 18, 2005);Gul Mohammad (November 18, 2005);Gulzar Lone (May 23, 2006); and HafizKhan Mohammad Chang (missing sinceSeptember 2004).

KARAcHIismAil DilAwAr

SENSING covert “mischief” onpart of then Pakistan MuslimLeague-Quaid (PML-Q)-ledprovincial government, theSindh government on Tuesday

constituted a committee to probe intothe twin suicide blasts at Karsaz on Oc-tober 18, 2007, which resulted in thedeath of over 170 Pakistan People’sParty (PPP) supporters who had gath-ered to welcome their slain leader Be-nazir Bhutto.

Formed by the chief minister, thespecial committee would carry out a de-tailed investigation into the Karsaztragedy. “The committee will submit itsreport with four weeks,” Federal Inte-rior Minister Rehman Malik told re-porters at the Sindh Chief Minister’sHouse.

Earlier, while briefing the Sindh As-sembly on the headways in Benazir’smurder case, Malik had called on theSindh chief minister to form an investi-gation team to probe the Karsaz tragedyand the federation is ready to provideevery possible help.

Recalling the incidents of the tragicday, the interior minister said he had re-ceived a phone call from the provincialauthorities, saying no vehicular move-

ment would be allowed to Benazir onher departure from the Karachi airport.“I then contacted the Muttahida QaumiMovement leadership which assured meof full support and gave the go-ahead.”

Malik also claimed to have seen anunidentified “bearded man” filming Be-nazir’s rally. “I asked the security to ap-prehend the man who was filming therally from a tree but he fled,” he said.

He also recalled that at one point ofthe rally a child was being handed overto the “kind-hearted” PPP chief, “but onsecurity grounds I asked the people tokeep away the kid, who later explodedhimself.”

“A policeman sitting in a mobile wasasked to hold the child until the terroristbrings his motorcycle,” Malik said. “Thesecond blast took place after the childhad exploded in the police van.”

Recalling that when Benazir had ex-pressed concern on streetlights goingoff, Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shahsaid the PPP leader sent in the rear por-tion of the special truck.

“After the twin blasts, the party waspreoccupied with looking for the deadand injured and it was the next day’s af-ternoon, when Benazir asked them tolodge an FIR of the incident at Ba-hadurabad police station,” he added.

“Within two hours [of the blasts], thecrime scene was hosed down which was

an unprecedented swift action,” theleader of the House said. “The way ourFIR was lodged indicated some mischief.”

“The Bahdurabad police had alreadylodged the FIR without consulting him[Shah] or PPP members who were onthat truck when the blasts occurred,” anofficial statement from Chief Minister’sHouse stated.

Terming investigations carried outby the then government “tainted”, thechief minister said that despite assur-ances no security was provided to thePPP chief.

Shah’s remarks were in response toPPP lawmaker Humera Alwani’s earlierstatement drawing the investigators to-wards the statement of then Sindh chiefminister Dr Ghulam Arbab Rahim, whohad said “the cheers of the PPP workerswould turn into cries in the evening”.

When Pakistan Muslim League-Functional lawmaker Nusrat Seher Ab-basi questioned the reliability of theJoint Investigation Team (JIT) probesans post-mortem of the deceased, theinterior minister pointed finger at the“police” and “administration”.

More legislators, Rafique Engineer,Sassui Palijo, Mujadid Isran and JamSaifullah Dharejo, also raised variousquestions pertaining to Benazir’s mur-der and results of the JIT findingstherein.

KARACHI: A brief but heated argumenttook place in the Sindh Assembly on Tues-day when Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)lawmakers introduced a resolution, whichits coalition partner, the Muttahida QaumiMovement (MQM), believed carried word-ing based on a rural-urban divide.

“This Assembly resolves and recom-mends to the Government of Sindh to ensurethat [the] Karachi University establishes atleast two campuses in [the] rural districts ofSindh,” read the draft tabled out-of-turn byPPP’s Dr Ahmed Ali Shah.

Commenting on the resolution, Dr Shahsaid the University of Karachi was so con-gested that it denies admission to many stu-dents from the interior parts of Sindh. TheMPA said setting up new KU campuseswould attract the people of the province to-wards higher education.

His party fellows Bachal Shah and Dr Sat-tar Rajpar were quick to back the resolution.

But the word “rural” did not go downwell with their coalition partner and theMQM’s parliamentary leader Sardar Ahmedopposed the resolution saying the party doesnot believe in a rural-urban divide and thedraft would open a Pandora’s Box.

Health Minister Dr Sagheer Ahmed saidthe impression that in Karachi, the doors ofeducation for students from interior Sindhare closed, is wrong.

“Despite doing everything for thisprovince, we are being accused of suchthings. Please get these words expungedfrom the assembly’s record,” the MQM law-maker demanded. He said it is well-knownas to which party has the public’s mandatein Karachi. “We are a coalition party,” he re-

minded the PPP legislators.Dr Sagheer said he was opposed to the

wording, and not the resolution itself.Senior Education Minister Pir Mazharul

Haq reminded the House that passing a res-olution will not make the universities act ac-cordingly, as this is only possible byamending their respective acts.

The situation, however, was defusedwhen Speaker Nisar Khuhro asked for anamended resolution, which he read later on,with the word “rural” replaced with thenames of two districts, Naushehro Ferozeand Tharparkar.

Earlier, Law Minister Ayaz Soomro andPakistan Muslim League-Quaid lawmakerShehryar Maher exchanged barbs when theformer criticised the latter, National Peo-ple’s Party’s Arif Jatoi and Pakistan MuslimLeague-Functional’s Jam Madad Ali fortheir media statements against him.

Soomro said these lawmakers, who arepart of a special committee, violated assem-bly rules when they made public the pro-ceedings of the body’s meetings.

The speaker intervened and concludedthe debate by saying revealing the mattersdiscussed during the committee’s meetingsshould not have been leaked to the press asthis leaves a negative impression.

Irrigation Minister Jam SaifullahDharejo responded to supplementary queriesof the members during the question hour.

The speaker prorogued the House foran indefinite period, but asked lawmak-ers to stay for a detailed briefing by theJoint Investigation Team and InteriorMinister Rehman Malik that lasted for al-most two hours. ismAil DilAwAr

Hey did they forget something?

Yes, the Karsaz blasts■ Sindh government forms special committee to carry out detailed

investigation into the oct 18, 2007 tragedy

54 or 16? how many are‘missing’ in Sindh■ Interior Ministry, home Department yet to

determine the exact number of people missing

in the province

RESOLUTION FOR KU CAMPUSES IN INTERIOR SINDH

KHI 22-02-2012_Layout 1 2/22/2012 3:08 AM Page 7

karachi08PakistaN today

wednesday, 22 February, 2012

Pakistan Navy adds 2 modified P3Cs to its fleet

KARAcHIsTAff reporT

THE Sindh High Court (SHC)directed the Election Com-mission of Pakistan (ECP) onTuesday to submit the com-plete record of electoral lists

of Badin provincial assembly con-stituency PS-57 today (Wednesday),

The seat was vacated due to the res-ignation of former Sindh home minis-ter Dr Zulfiqar Mirza.

The SHC division bench includingJustice Maqbool Baqar and JusticeNisar Muhammad Shaikh ordered theECP to present the record of voter listsof 2007 and 2012 on a petition filed byformer Sindh minister Syed Ali Bux

Shah alias Papoo Shah, a candidatecontesting the upcoming by-poll.

Shah’s counsel Advocate Abdul Mu-jeeb Pirzada argued before the courtthat according to the Supreme Courtdecision, elections should be conductedthrough transparent electoral lists, butthe ECP had changed the computerisedelectoral lists by old manual lists. “Ac-cording to laws, no changes could bemade after the announcement of elec-tion schedule and neither new voterscan be entered in the lists nor anyomitted, but the names of recom-mendee and secondier are omittedfrom the list,” he said.

Advocate Anwar Mansoor Khan, thecounsel of Shah’s rival candidate Has-nain Mirza, contended that the

Supreme Court had ordered to conductthe next general elections through com-puterised lists not any by-elections.

The petitioner had submitted thatpre-poling rigging has started for theupcoming by-election in Badin district,as around 19,000 votes were cancelledon the government’s wish.

In his petition, Shah quoted theSection 10, Electoral Act 1974, accord-ing to which in case of cancellation andadmission of new votes, consent maybe taken from the people of the con-stituency. “However, in Badin neitherany consent nor any objection or advicewas taken from the people,” he stated.

In another case, the same divisionalbench directed the Sindh governmentto either pay the salaries and al-

lowances of the employees of districtjudiciary equivalent to the high court’semployees or file a petition against theSHC order.

The court in its order stated that ifthe decision is not followed, theprovincial chief secretary and fi-nance secretary must explain theposition in the court.

‘Provincial powerpolicy to be announced soon’

KARAcHIApp

A power policy for Sindh will be announced soon and adetailed report on Thar coal is expected in the next twomonths, provincial Information and Electric PowerMinister Shazia Marri said on Tuesday. She was talkingto the media at the inauguration of 9th ITIF Asia 2012at the Karachi Expo Centre. “The power policy willoffer incentives to foreign investors and opportunitiesfor skilled Pakistanis,” she remarked. Paying rich trib-utes to scientist Dr Samar Mubarakmand, she said hisefforts are commendable and he has played an impor-tant role in making the Thar coal project a result-ori-ented venture. Marri said small hydel power projects oftwo megawatts can be installed at the run of canals inSindh to produce electricity for villages and run tubewells. She also stressed the need for conducting stud-ies on wind mills for production of power. Respondingto a question, she said Iran is cooperating with Pak-istan in the energy sector and providing help in over-coming the current energy crisis.

two bodies foundKARAcHI

sTAff reporT

Police found two bodies in separate areas of the city onTuesday. The body of an alleged criminal was found inMadina Colony, FB Area, within the jurisdiction of theFB Industrial Area police station. The police identifiedthe body as that of 30-year-old Imran, a man with acriminal record and wanted by the Baloch Colony policein several cases of murder and street crime. They saidthe victim was a resident of Junejo Town in Mehmood-abad. He was visiting FB Area to meet with another al-leged criminal named Tariq. Separately, the body of ayouth was found in C-1 Area graveyard of Liaquatabad.The Super Market SHO said the body was six days oldand the hands of the victim were tied with a rope. Theidentity of the deceased could not be ascertained by thetime this report was filed.

Submit PS-57 voters’ lists, SHC tells ECP

with a glum look on his face, a boy stands at a second-hand clothes stall in Machhar Colony. IMRAN ALI

KARAcHI sTAff reporT

The second batch of two modified P3C aircraft wasinducted into the Pakistan Navy fleet at the NavalAviation Base on Tuesday.

The aircraft modified with latest avionics, sen-sors are part of US assistance being provided to thePakistan Navy under the Foreign Military Fundingprogramme.

The Pakistan Navy is to receive six such aircraftfrom the US in batches of two each. The first batchwas inducted into Pakistan Navy in 2010.

The aircraft has extended surveillance capabilitywhich will help the Pakistan Navy maintain requisitevigil in our vital area of interest in North ArabianSea. The area regarded as an important trade and en-ergy corridor for the global economy, is home to in-tense maritime activity both legal and illegal andthus warrants continuous guard.

In an induction ceremony, chief guest Vice Admi-ral M Zakaullah welcomed the addition of the air-craft, which will significantly add to the combatpotential of the Pakistan Navy fleet. The ceremonywas attended by a large number of serving and re-tired Pakistan Navy personnel.

KHI 22-02-2012_Layout 1 2/22/2012 3:08 AM Page 8

Administrator suspendsexecutive engineer

KARAcHIsTAff reporT

Karachi Metropolitan Corpo-ration (KMC) AdministratorMuhammad Hussain Syedsuspended KDA Wing Ko-rangi Division Executive En-gineer Abdul Jabbar Mangifor being negligent in his du-ties. According to a press re-lease, HRM Senior DirectorNajmuddin Sikandar was di-rected to take the disciplinaryaction against him. The ad-ministrator said any negli-gence while dischargingduties will not be tolerated.

karachi 09PakistaN today

wednesday, 22 February, 2012

KMC to assist in organising ofAalmi Mushaira

‘loyal’ NADRA employees paid in cash

KARAcHIsTAff reporT

NADRA Sindh General Manager Brig (retd) Zahid Hussaindistributed cash awards to those authority’s employees,who did not join their colleague’s protest for permanentstatus. Encouraging the employees, Hussain said it is theprime objective of NADRA to serve the nation, but somepeople with vested interests want to achieve personal bene-fits by disrupting services. “The employees have provedthat they are not part of any strike and committed towardsfacilitating citizens,” he added The general manager as-sured the employees that the NADRA management is try-ing its resolve their issues because they have played a keyrole in transforming the authority into renowned organisa-tion of the world.

Making a difference withsewing machines■ UNESCo-funded project for ‘livelihood recovery’ and promotion of handicraft industry

launched at Keenjhar lake

3,222 milk sellersfined Rs 2.4m forovercharging

KARAcHIsTAff reporT

Fines, collectively coming up Rs 2.4 million, have been im-posed on 3,222 milk sellers for overcharging consumers,during an ongoing drive against the profiteering. This wasdisclosed by focal person Zahid Hussain at a meetingchaired by City Commissioner Roshan Ali Shah. AdditionalCommissioner Abdul Wahab Memon, Deputy Commis-sioner South Mustafa Jamal Qazi, Deputy CommissionerEast Qazi Jan Mohammad, Deputy Commissioner CentralDr Syed Saifur Rehman and Deputy Commissioner WestGhanwar Leghari also attended the meeting. The partici-pants of the meeting were informed that 3,222 milk sellerswere fined for overcharging citizens in the five districts ofthe city. Speaking on the occasion, the commissionerstressed the need to accelerate the drive and warned that nonegligence would be tolerated in this regard. He also in-structed the five deputy commissioners to ensure milk issold at fixed rates and violators dealt with sternly.

KARAcHIsTAff reporT

Aproject titled“Promoting Cul-tural Industriesfor LivelihoodRecovery in

Sindh” was launched at aceremony held at KeenjharLake on Tuesday.

The project is a jointventure of the provincialTourism Department andUNESCO, under which 46manual sewing machinesand two electric sewing ma-chines along with 40 toolkits were distributed amongthe female residents ofthree union councils ofThatta - Makli, Sonda andJhirk.

Besides this, Rs 50,000were also provided for dis-bursement among 100 arti-sans of the area – Rs 500for each of them.

Speaking on the occa-

sion, provincial TourismMinister Mohammad AliMalkani said the empower-ment of women is amongthe top priorities of the gov-ernment so that an egalitar-ian society can beestablished.

“The project has beendesigned for the revival ofthe livelihood of the peoplein poverty-hit areas throughhandicrafts,” he added.

The minister said theprovision of sewing ma-chines to the women frompoor families is aimed atimproving the lifestyle ofthese families and in thisregard, the role of UNESCOin helping the governmentis significant.

“After getting thesesewing machines, thesewomen will not only get an al-ternative to earn extra money,but the handcrafts and home-made embroidery will also bepromoted,” he noted.

“Fisherfolk face finan-cial hardships duringscarcity of water when

there is no catch and theprovincial governmentplans to start various proj-

ects to extend support tothe poor and enable themto earn more.”

KARAcHIsTAff reporT

The Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC)will assist in the organising of the AalmiMushaira on March 22, City AdministratorMuhammad Hussain Syed assured a delegationof the Saknan-e-Shehr-e-Quaid Mushaira Com-mittee on Tuesday.

The convener of Aalmi Mushaira Committee,Azhar Abbas Hashmi, former federal ministerSafwanullah, Afzal Siddiqui, Saif-ur-Rehman Gi-rami, Rizwan Siddiqui, Ali Hassan Sajid, Muham-mad Rehan Khan and Khurshid Shah werepresent on the occasion.

“Mushairas are part of our cultural traditionsand they provide an opportunity to promote ourlanguage,” said Syed.

Later, while reviewing the arrangements forthe mushaira, the administrator issued variousdirectives including levelling of ground at thevenue of event, fumigation and arrangement fordrinking water, mobile bathrooms, fire tendersand deputation of city wardens for security.

He said the KMC will hold a reception to ho-nour poets participating in the mushaira and alsocooperate in the publication of selected poetrypresented at the event.

On the occasion, he also became a member ofthe organising committee by paying Rs 6,000.

Visitors select books at an exhibition at taimooria library on tuesday. ONLINE

nOticeNotice U/S 361 of Companies ordinance 1984,It is notified that M/s Dynavis (Private) limitedhas passed the following special resolution on20, February 2012 for the purpose of membersvoluntary winding up of the company:

1.the Company be wound up voluntary.2.Mr. Shaikh Muhammad Mukhtar S/oS.M.Deen of 12th floor, Kawish Crown Plaza,D.A.C.S. main Shahrah-e-Faisal, Karachi, hasbeen appointed as liquidator of the com-pany at honorary services.

By the board of Directors Dynavis (Private) limited.Dated : 20-2-2012Place: KarachiIkram ul-Majeed Sehgal (Chief Executive)

KHI 22-02-2012_Layout 1 2/22/2012 3:08 AM Page 9

KARAcHIzofeen ebrAhim

IF the way to a man’s heart isthrough his stomach, then thepath to peace between Indiaand Pakistan may lie in thecommonalities in their cul-

tures and cuisines.So when Poppy Agha, a

renowned Pakistani chef, was re-cently served up kebabs made ofokra (lady’s finger) and biryani(rice), followed by firni (dessert),the misgivings she had about Indiamelted away.

“I was brought up in a very pa-triotic household with the usual Pak-istani stereotypes in my mindtowards India. This feeling has nowchanged completely,” she tells me

from the Indian capital of NewDelhi, where she has gone to takepart in a reality show on food.

“You don’t have to think poorlyof Indians to be a patriotic Pak-istani!” said Agha, who runs a pro-fessional culinary institute inPakistan, ladling out aromatic de-lights to entice the judges.

The Indian television channelNDTV Good Times, through itscookery show ‘Foodistan’, has di-verted South Asia’s archenemies

away from a nuclear race by pittingchefs against each other to a gru-elling “cross border cook off”.

The 26-part series has 16 profes-sional chefs, eight from each side ofthe border, who show what the “twomost culturally rich and fascinatingcountries” in Asia can do with theirrespective cuisines.

“Cookery can be a terrific friend-ship builder,” said Pervez Hoodb-hoy, a Pakistani physicist and peaceactivist. “It can transcend manmadeboundaries.”

And that is exactly what the pro-gramme producers are hoping toachieve.

In an e-mail exchange, SmeetaChakrabarti, chief of NDTVLifestyle, told me: “India and Pak-istan have many common passions

such as music, cricket and, yes, fab-ulous food. The boundaries are justpolitical, and the reality is that inmany ways, the people of the twocountries live and think in a similarfashion.”

“I wish the real wars were over,”said Vir Sanghvi, an Indian judge onthe programme. “But, until we canbe sure of that, the best way of en-suring peace is for our people to in-teract with each other in arenas suchas Foodistan,” he told me.

Pakistan and India havefought three wars since independ-ence from Britain in 1947 and atraumatic partition on the basis ofreligion. Their relationship sincethen has resembled a roller-coaster with moments of under-standing punctuating hostilitiesover the possession of theprovince of Kashmir.

Mani Shankar Aiyar, an In-dian diplomat turned politician,told a roomful of Pakistanis thatboth nations had a choice to ei-ther continue living in “simmer-ing hostility” or engageproactively and prosper. He said90 percent of the people on eitherside of the border did not nursegrudges from a dark past.

Aiyar, who was invited by the

Jinnah Institute, an Islamabad-based think tank, to speak on‘India and Pakistan: Retrospectand Prospect’ said: “History mayhave divided us but geographybinds us.”

In India, Agha learnt to developmenus in different ways, but she toldme that she gained much more at apersonal level. “I have met somegreat people I can call friends,” shedeclares.

Zohra Yusuf, a Pakistani rights

activist, believes that “any kind ofcontact, even a highly competitiveone” can contribute to a better un-derstanding in the long run.

“While passions may be in-flamed, during a tense cricketmatch, for example, face-to-face in-teractions helps remove prejudicesabout the ‘other’ to a great extent,”she told me.

In spite of hurdles thrown in byofficialdom on both sides, such asdenial of visas, requirements forvisitors to report to police stationsand restrictions on travel, people-to-people contacts seem to findtheir own way.

Thus, India’s tennis star SaniaMirza could marry Pakistani crick-eter Shoaib Malik, or the tennis duoof Indian Rohan Bopana and Pak-istani Aisamul Haq Qureshi couldget together to start a movementcalled ‘Stop War Start Tennis’.

A Pakistani media house hasjoined hands with the Times of Indiadaily newspaper in a campaigncalled ‘Aman ki Asha’ (‘Hoping forPeace’) that, over the last two years,has relentlessly promoted peace ef-forts.

Aman ki Asha’s success dependson a plan to begin anew with thenext generation of Indians and Pak-istanis and get them to take the re-sponsibility for “shedding thebaggage of history”.

Stark facts such as the $250 mil-lion daily expense in maintaining anelectrified, barbed fence with flood-lights and security equipment alongthe border are thrown at young par-ticipants.

The success of the Aman ki Ashainitiative can be gauged by the factthat it was unaffected by the publicacrimony generated during the diffi-cult period after the terrorist attackon Mumbai in November 2008, car-ried out by a group of armed Pak-istanis.

If anything, the peace show hasbeen gaining ground. In 2010,‘Chhote Ustad’ (‘Little Master’), amusic reality show for young Pak-istani and Indian singing and danc-ing talent, run by the Star Plus TVchannel, turned into a huge hit onboth sides of the border.

Rouhan Abbas, one of the Pak-istani winners, returned home witha medal, a trophy, the prize moneyas well as a basketful of memories.He still misses the bonhomie thatdeveloped with young Indian partic-ipants at the show.

“The notion that India was ourenemy was fixed in my mind, since Iwas little; that was completelyerased after our Indian hostsshowed us love and warmth,” Abbastold me.

There has, of late, been a defi-nite thawing of the relations be-tween the two neighbours, riding onthe cultural front: enough for Indiato slip down to third position amongPakistan’s enemies, after the UnitedStates and Israel.

Shows like Foodistan can spreadthe message of brotherhood, saysChakrabarti. “If you see participantsfrom both sides and unless you aretold you wouldn’t be able to tell whois from which side of the border,”she said.

“Because of travel and visa re-strictions, we don’t know enoughabout each others’ cuisine and cul-ture,” she said, adding that showslike Foodistan can help bridgethat gap.

karachiPakistaN today

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Food heals historic hostility

VAlenTine weeK

Akbar Hafeez’s Valentine weekexhibition until February 22 at theGrandeur art gallery. Call35860744 for more information.

ART EXHIBITIOnUnTIL FEBRUARY 22VEnUE: gRAnDEUR

sips from A broKen TeAcup

‘The 1971 Diaries: Sips from aBroken Teacup’ with Raihana AHasan at The 2nd Floor. Call35389033 for more information.

cOnVERSATIOnOn FEBRUARY 24 AT 07:00 PMVEnUE: T2F 2.0

10wednesday, 22 February, 2012

Poppy Agha, Pakistani chef on the ‘Foodistan’ reality tV show. NDTV

group show

A group exhibition from February23 to 29 at the Grandeur artgallery. Call 35435744 for moreinformation.

ART EXHIBITIOnSTARTS FEBRUARY 23 AT 05:00 PMVEnUE: gRAnDEUR

KHI 22-02-2012_Layout 1 2/22/2012 3:08 AM Page 10

This is with reference to Hashim Bin Rashid’s article “Theprice of Baloch blood” published in Pakistan Today on 19 Feb-ruary 2012.

The writer has rightly highlighted the worsening conditionsin Balochistan. But the pertinent question is who is really re-sponsible for the present condition? Tribal Sardars are the realculprits here who consider that they are born to rule, whomthey have kept illiterate and poor. They have made them believethat after Allah, Sardar is their benefactor. Sardars never al-

lowed infrastructure development in areas under their control.Sardars have been governing Balochistan and representing

their people in Senate and National Assembly, enjoying all po-litical and financial power. I believe Sardars have major role inBalochistan’s insurgency. If Sardars have no any role in all this,then the federal government and the establishment are respon-sible for the agony of the Baloch?

S T HUSSAINLahore

Editor’s mail 11wednesday, 22 February, 2012

Secure prisonsIsrael's ambassador to Honduras,

Eliau Lopes has said that he planned tomeet with Honduran President Lobo topresent a proposal by an Israeli companyto build four modern, safe, high-securityprisons. Lopes said the cost of the projectis high but "it can be achieved with inter-national aid. We are talking about facili-ties where no one will escape, wherethere won't be fires," he said.This offercame in the backdrop of 16 February firein a Honduran jail wherein over 350 in-mates were burned or suffocated todeath. Lopes may not only offer the tech-nical expertise and assistance but alsosomething to be added to the Honduras’penal code – how to keep opponents be-hind bars without getting blamed forconstitutional non-compliance.

Khader Adnan was picked up by theIsraeli forces in a night-time raid in WestBank; he is being detained without anycharge or trial under ‘administrative de-tention’ – a legal cover from British colo-nial period to suppress the Palestinians.Khader has not accepted Israel’s right todetain him without any charge or trial –he has gone on hunger strike for over lasttwo months to highlight the gross viola-tion of human rights in the beacon ofdemocracy in the Middle East. He is oneof 307 Palestinians, including 27 mem-bers of Palestinian Legislative Council,who are behind bars under this blanket(il)legal cover.

Adnan is being joined by hundredmore Palestinians in his hunger strike,but where are the UN human rightswatchdogs – why are they silent? Theirtactical silence is obvious when theirboss, UN Sectary General Ban ki-Moon,himself refused to meet any Palestinianprisoners’ families during his last visit toGaza; he however met Gilad Shalit’s fam-ily several times. In short, Lopes canteach the world how to detain one’s op-ponents for indefinite period of timewithout a fear of any voices coming outor a protest/riot disturbing the businessas usual of the ruling elites. But for surefor that you need a good backer – may bea policeman of the unipolar world.

MASOOD KHANJubail, Saudi Arabia

An alarming situationEvery year large sums of money are

consumed on smoking though it is highlyinjurious to health. What is alarming isthe fact that more and more teenagersare taking to smoking. Teenage being themore enjoyable time of life offers all de-lights though they can be positive or neg-ative. Teens do smoke first to experienceits taste on occasion or at their get to-gethers. This experimental smokinggradually becomes a habit. Although theyknow it is dangerous to them, they do itas a challenge. This habit makes themaddict. Another reason could be tensionand nervousness. When teens lose tem-pers they start smoking to keep them-selves busy. Usually teens lose controlwhen their wishes are ignored by theirparents .They want to reduce their tem-porary tension and hence resort to smok-ing. A scientific reason is also involved inattracting young people to smoking:nicotine in cigarettes arouses part of thebrain that deals with emotions. As thetime passes, smoker’s life becomes mis-erable and shortened.

ARIHA ATIQKarachi

Some serious questionsOur country is presently facing a ju-

dicial crisis. Like me, millions of peopleare worried about the present situationand being a common people, they asksome legal questions in order to knowthe situation better. Hope some juristswould guide us.

If President Asif Ali Zardari enjoysfull immunity under the prevailing con-stitution, why is he not being allowed toavail it? All the heads of states through-out the world enjoy full immunity, howcome Pakistan has exception?

There is no mandatory requirementin the constitution to go to the SupremeCourt to avail such immunity. Why issuch an impression being created here?In USA and other countries, apex judgesare not allowed to watch TV programmesbut here our judges are not only watch-ing the TV programmes regularly but arealso frequently referring to such pro-grammes during their court proceedings.Why? In some cases, the apex courtjudges have reportedly acted on the pre-sumption being made by TV anchors thatlater proved having no footings. Why?

MOHAMMAD KHAN SIALKarachi

Musharraf and oBlRecently, it has been reported that an

ex-security chief in Pakistan has accusedformer President Pervez Musharraf ofknowing bin Laden’s hideout and sayingnothing. In an article for American newswebsite The Daily Beast, former CentralIntelligence Agency official Bruce Riedelquoted former director-general of the ISILt Gen (retd) Ziauddin Khwaja as sayingthat Musharraf “knew Bin Laden was inAbbottabad”. This report is another pieceof the campaign that targets Musharrafwithout any proof and is only aimed atcausing mischief. The source of the arti-cle is not trustworthy as he had enmitywith Musharraf. The writer also seems tobe particularly biased against Musharrafas he wrote an article last year calling forthe former president to be accountablefor the OBL saga.

Since this article was published twothings have happened: Ziauddin Khwajahas categorically denied that he made theallegations and said that he was mis-quoted in the article. Secondly, formerIntelligence Bureau (IB) DG Ijaz Shah isfiling a defamation suit against the ex-ISIchief for alleging that he provided theOBL hideout. Both these rebuttals renderthe article by Bruce Riedel bare andmeaningless. The issue is not newswor-thy anymore. If Musharraf knew in histime that OBL was in Pakistan, then thecurrent government should also haveknown and should be held accountable.Bruce Reidel also says that the formerpresident should be questioned the nexttime he visits the USA and fails to realisethat the former president is highly re-spected in America.

The country does not need to wasteits time in non-issues; it is our involve-ment in the past conflicts that hindersour ability to move forward. Statementsthat somehow regularly come up andpique public interest are not in nationalinterest and should not be paid any heed.

MASOOMA IMRANKarachi

Act nowIsn't it very intriguing to note that

the US who had been interfering in theseparation movement in Balochistan hasnow directly started supporting thishideous movement? The US along withthe Indians, the UK and of course withthe courtesy of Mr Karzai, have been in-volved in this activity since Musharraf’sdays. The previous dictator and the pres-ent democratic rulers are all behavinglike an ostrich and due to reasons betterknown to them have been silent specta-tors.

Since the last over two years, the APCto solve this political problem was notconvened due to our could-not-care-lessattitude. Why? Did the rulers, includingthe previous setup, not dare to come upwith a solution due to US pressure? Arewe too worried not to annoy the US evenat the cost of our province? The impor-tance of Balochistan – geographic as wellas geological, is known to the entireworld. Please, act now before it's too late.

RASHID MAQSOODLahore

Civil paralysis threatening BalochistanNow it is clear that foreign agencies,

western and US media are poised toprove that China intends to occupy Bal-cohistan’s natural resources and Pak-istan’s security forces are involved inkillings and abductions at the behest ofBeijing.

This is absolutely not the case. Onone side if we look at the friendship ofAmerica, we see not a single mega devel-opment project has ever been launched,funded or even supported by Washingtonnor the multinational companies in thecorporate sector across America or Eu-rope. Yes, they have progressed only inone sector ie, the ruthlessly stepped updiplomatic and media propaganda.

On the contrary, China has not onlydeveloped a wide infrastructure in allareas of Pakistan, particularly Balochis-tan including the building of pivotal

Gwadar Port project, all aimed at facili-tating the nation to stand on its own feet.The government at Centre has con-tributed far less than what the armedforces are doing in terms of the uplift ofBalochistan and changing their lot.Chamalang Education Programme, SuiEducation City, Balochistan and GwadarInstitutes of Technical Education, KassaHills Marble Project and the enhance-ment of security forces are praiseworthysteps taken by the military in relation toBalochistan.

It is the time that the Pakistan gov-ernment should take steps in removingand rectifying the common people ofBalochistan. In this regard, appreciablegesture has been shown when PrimeMinister Gilani renewed commitment tohold talks with the angry Baloch andpromised to implement all matters de-

cided in Aghaz-e-Haqooq-e-Balochistanin true letter and spirit. President Zardariexpressed determination to strengthenthe federation on the death anniversaryof Ms Benazir Bhutto.

If we join hands now, the Americanand Indian dream of capturing the regionwould not succeed because Pakistan,China, Russia, Iran, and Central Asianstates are well aware of their hegemonicdesign but there is a definite need of tak-ing proactive measures against such ma-licious plans.

The government should take firmsteps in handling the issue intelligently.The media, instead of blindly singing tothe Western media’s tunes, needs to un-mask real faces of so-called nationalistleaders and others who are playing in thehands of adversary.

Our top political and military brass

should sit together and evolve a consen-sus strategy to fight the battle first in-stead of discussing petty issues. Thepolitical leadership in Balochistan, civiladministration and bureaucracy has vir-tually stopped playing their due role,which has given space to the anti-state el-ements.

It is near paralysis of the civil dispen-sation that has actually led to threateningBalochistan. That’s why the FC has tocome forward, that too under the provin-cial government’s orders, but under thecircumstances it is proving to be counter-productive. Our top most priority mustbe to block the enemy’s moves, detertheir nefarious designs and thwart anykind of aggression to rip apart the coun-try.

MARYA MUFTYLahore

Through the wrong end of the scope

A rebuttalApropos letter entitled “Hidden

billing” by Jibran Syed (Karachi) pub-lished in Pakistan Today on 21 February,the claims and assertions made againstPTCL by the writer are not correct. Fol-lowing a thorough investigation into hisclaims, PTCL has found that correct serv-ice information was provided to him bythe PTCL Helpline 1236.

As per PTCL’s periodically releasedpublic marketing notifications, all callsmade on Sundays are free of cost apartfrom the free minutes provided on se-lected packages only. PTCL’s Double Im-pact Package was activated on October18, 2011, on Mr. Syed’s number 021-34989218 according to the followingterms: Double-Play 1Mb @Rs 1,499 with750 On-Net voice minutes, as per offi-cially announced package, which can alsobe seen at PTCL’s website.

According to PTCL’s records, MrSyed has used 1,950 minutes against 750free minutes available on his package.Hence, he was charged for the additionalbillable 1,200 minutes. Thus, and as perPTCL’s billing record, the local callcharges have been correctly billed to MrSyed. Furthermore, PTCL has found norecord in its systems of any calls madefrom Mr Syed’s claimed landline or mo-bile numbers. It is absolutely incorrect,baseless and malicious to claim thatPTCL Helpline 1236 gives “misleading”information to “misguide” its valuablecustomers.

As the leading telecom company ofPakistan, PTCL is committed to provid-ing seamless, friendly and transparentservices to all its valuable customersspread nationwide. Complete informa-tion about all its services and products isavailable for customer’s information on

24-hour basis through PTCL’s Helpline1236 as well as PTCL website:www.ptcl.com.pk.

AMMARA DURRANIGM, POCC, PTCL, Islamabad

Is this free media?As media holds a very responsible

position in making and shaping people’sopinions, it needs to be handled verycarefully. It can make people believewhat it actually wants them to believeand this is what makes it a powerful toolchanging people’s thought process, be-liefs and even choices of life. Unfortu-nately, our media has always been underthe surveillance of either the foreignplayers or the political biases. Be it a civilbureaucracy or the military rule of Pak-istan, every leader has utilised media asan instrument to achieve his/her politicalagenda. The notion of free media ismeant to promote a sense of nationalism,but not to foster the seeds of violence andextremism in the society. Most privateTV channels cover political stories anddisputes among different sects while un-dermining the broadcast of the positiveaspects of it. Is this the liberal notion ofmedia that we desire? This is indeed thedilemma of our country which is not tobe simply overlooked.

This partiality of the media coveragemostly respites in the ownership struc-tures of Pakistani media and the domi-nance of state and non-state actors. Itputs more responsibility on our govern-ment to make certain laws which ensurethe screening of those news and eventswhich serve the national interests ratherthan vested interests of regional players.

Indisputably, we want free but an im-partial media in Pakistan. But labelling ita ‘free’ media doesn’t make it one. Maya

Khan’s raid on the parks in Karachi is arecent instance for that matter. This un-doubtedly depicts the immaturity andunprofessional functioning of our Pak-istani media. Is this what freedom ofmedia supposed is to be? Liberalisingmedia doesn’t mean to exploit people’sintegrity and to infringe the private mat-ters of the citizens. Our local media mustobserve a certain code of conduct anddisplay civic attitude while broadcastingany news or event on the TV screen.

GUL-I-HINA SHAHZADLUMS, Lahore

Cost of 20th amendmentThe Senate has passed the 20th

amendment bill after the governmentdistributed Rs 360 million among 60Senators as goodwill gesture for theirsupport. This report shows that themoney was distributed in the name of de-velopment funds but there appears to beno strings attached to this hefty amount.Would this money be deposited in thepersonal bank accounts of the Senatorsto be spent at their whims or would it bespent under some overseeing arrange-ments? It has not been clarified for thepeople.

On the outset, it smacks to be a caseof law of necessity which ought to betaken notice of by the Supreme Courtwhich has buried the so-called law of ne-cessity forever. The broad smiles of PPPand PML(N), as also of PML(Q) legisla-tors, display a joyous feeling of “mukmuka” which may not be to the benefit ofpeople at large who are aghast at thisopen show of frivolous expenditure ofstate money at the hands of public repre-sentatives.

DR MUHAMMAD YAQOOB BHATTILahore

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

KHI 22-02-2012_Layout 1 2/22/2012 3:08 AM Page 11

comment12wednesday, 22 February, 2012

Arif NizamiEditor

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

Web: www.pakistantoday.com.pk Email: editorial@pakistantoday.com.pk

Dedicated to the legacy of the late Hameed Nizami

Another impressive show

the 20th

And the Senate finally passes the 20thamendment. It was a near unanimous votewith only the JI voting against theamendment; the Jamaat’s days in the Upper

House are numbered since they will go out upon thecompletion of the Senate elections so the vote couldhave been unanimous were it held some days later.

With the passage of the bill, a more trustworthymechanism for caretaker setups in elections will beadopted. Haters will hate, of course, with out-of-parliament parties like the PTI and, soon, the JI, makingclaims that the government and opposition havearranged for interim setups more suited to them. Otherthan that – politics will be politics – the 20thamendment is yet another proof of the fact that ourparliamentarians can work together in evolving aconsensus on all issues. It wasn’t all smooth sailing; it isnever supposed to be. In the Senate, for instance, theANP, undoubtedly the most steadfast ally of the PPPgovernment, had plenty of reservations. Thereservations of opposition parties, then, could beunderstandable. But they were resolved. Legislation ingeneral and constitutional amendments in particular area slow, measured dance that involve many concessionson all sides. The PPP’s inclusive policy might have beennecessitated by its woefully low numbers in the Housebut, giving credit where it is due, it hasn’t done too bad ajob at it.

On another note, it appears that the bill’s passagethrough the Senate was also made possible by certainperks and privileges to the members of the UpperHouse. If only a same level of dedication for other affairsof the state.

And without any check too

Playing with fire

Despite the earlier assurances that bannedoutfits will not be allowed to hold a rally inIslamabad, the DPC, which also includesseveral organisations of the sort, held a public

meeting and took out a march in the federal capital. Asan understanding between the relevant quarters, threeleaders of banned groups were disallowed to enter thecity. Lesser leaders of the outfits, however, spoke on theoccasion. What is more the crowd mostly comprised theactivists of these groups working under different names.

Almost every speaker called for jihad against the USwhich was accused of interfering in Balochistan through“American terrorists”. Instead of realising that the riseof militancy in the province was in the main the outcomeof decades of neglect and use of military force, killing ofNawab Aklbar Bugti, forced disappearances andcustodial killings, the US was accused of supporting thesecessionists in the province. The speakers also warnedthat if Nato supplies were allowed, sit-ins will be held allover the country. What is more, the protestors would useforce to stop the Nato tankers. Threats of violence camealso from former DG ISI Hameed Gul who said in hisspeech that their (DPC’s) protests would turn violent ifthe government did not change course. The issue of theresumption of Nato supplies is on the Parliament’sagenda which alone is qualified to take a decision overthe matter. Threats of the sort are tantamount todictating to the Parliament. Some of the speakersmaintained that they would not allow the Parliament togive India MFN status.

The government has to discourage the trend ofsettling issues of national importance by recourse toforce. The establishment needs to ponder over theimplications of the stand taken by the DPC leaders. Ifmoves of the sort are not discouraged at the initial stage,they can go out of hand and push the country intoanarchy, as several examples from the past indicate. Theestablishment must not allow the pursuit of short termgoals to jeopardise the long term interests of thecountry. While freedom of speech is guaranteed underthe constitution, incitement to violence constitutes acriminal offence. There is a need to rein in the preachersof violence before it is too late.

Neighbours first

Pakistan and its neighbouring statesoften emphasise the need of pro-moting regional cooperation.Though some regional cooperationorganisations exist in the region, co-

operation among these states has generallybeen weak and limited. Some of these statesentertain distrust about one another and theygenerally have more active relationship withthe states outside the region.

The latest attempt to adopt a shared ap-proach to the problems of the region was madeby Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan on February17 when President Hamid Karzai, PresidentMahmoud Ahmedinejad and President Asif AliZardari held a tripartite meeting in Islamabad.

The three leaders were euphoric in ex-pressing their strong desire to work with oneanother on regional and bilateral maters. Theyagreed to cooperate for stabilising the situationin Afghanistan as the US/NATO troops with-draw from there. Pakistan and Iran were keento reduce the role of the US in the region. How-ever, Afghanistan was cautious in taking a clearposition on this issue, although President

Karzai said that the distance be-tween Kabul and Islamabad wasless than the distance betweenKabul and Washington, imply-ing that Afghanistan and Pak-istan could engage incooperative interaction.

Karzai has been successfulin getting the support of Iranand Pakistan for his bid to enterinto negotiations with theAfghan Taliban. He wants Pak-istan to encourage the AfghanTaliban leaders to resume dia-logue with his government. Healso met with some leaders ofPakistani Islamic parties andthe PML(N) in order to seektheir support for this purpose.Pakistan and Afghanistan alsodiscussed the measures to re-move operational problems inAfghanistan’s transit-tradethrough Pakistani territory andPakistan’s port of Karachi. Pak-istan also explored the optionof its trade with Central Asianstates through Afghanistan’sland route.

The three leaders agreedthat they would not allow theirterritory to be used against one

another. Pakistan specifically assured Iran thatit would not allow the use of its facilities forAmerican attack on Iran. The presidents of Iranand Pakistan affirmed their strong desire to ex-pand their bilateral trade and Iran reiterated itscommitment to supply gas to Pakistan. It maybe mentioned that Iran has also offered to sell1000MW electricity to Pakistan to help Pak-istan to cope with energy shortages.

Pakistan’s President Zardari declared thatPakistan would complete the gas pipeline proj-ect. The US wants Pakistan to abandon thisproject and it is willing to support an alternategas pipeline from Turkmenistan viaAfghanistan. Pakistan wants to get gas fromboth sources.

It is a positive development that Iran,Afghanistan and Pakistan want to work to-gether for addressing the regional problems.They had two similar meetings in the past butno significant change came in their policiesafter the first them. However, now these coun-tries have realised that they will have to worktogether if the region is to be stabilised and therole of outside powers is to be reduced in theregion. It is a feeling that unless they work to-gether their problems are not going to be re-solved.

Each leader wants to demonstrate auton-omy from the US. Hamid Karzai is somewhatperturbed by the US’ effort to engage theAfghan Taliban in Qatar because of the fear ofbeing left out. He is worried that the US maynot enter into an arrangement with someAfghan Taliban groups that would exclude himfrom the post-withdrawal political set up inKabul. Therefore, he has sought the support ofthe government of Pakistan and the leaders ofPakistan’s Islamic parties for facilitating hisgovernment’s dialogue with the Afghan Tal-iban. If he succeeds in initiating a meaningfuldialogue with the Afghan Taliban, he can showto the Americans that he continues to be an ac-tive player and that he can build expanded sup-port for his government.

Iran has its reasons to cultivate the neigh-bouring states. This helps Iran to demonstratethat it can pursue dynamic foreign policy de-spite persistent US efforts to isolate it. Iran ispaying attention to strengthen its economic re-lations with Turkey, Iraq, Pakistan,Afghanistan and India. It is keen to provide gasand electricity to Pakistan.

Pakistan also wants to reduce its relianceon the West, especially the US. It wants tobroaden the scope of its foreign policy by pay-ing more attention to non-Western countries.

In addition to China, it is attempting to expandits relations with Russia, Central Asian states,Iran, Turkey and India. It also wants to help theKarzai government to broaden its support baseby bringing the Taliban in its fold.

These considerations have led the leadersof Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan to make anumber of decisions for improving mutual co-operation. However, the main challenge is howto turn these commitments into concrete stepsto actually work together and help each other.

In the past, these countries often distrustedone another for one reason or another. Fromtime to time, Iran criticised Pakistan with ref-erence to Jundullah’s terrorist activities andIran’s reservations about Pakistan’s relationswith the US. Similarly, distrust manifested inthe Pakistan-Afghanistan relations on the issueof cross-border movement of Taliban betweenthese countries. It is difficult to suggest if thesecountries have overcome their old biases.

Pakistan and Afghan officials met sepa-rately on the sidelines of the tripartite confer-ence to discuss their bilateral issues. Thismeeting exposed differences between the twocountries. The Afghan leaders continue to holdPakistan responsible for almost all violence inAfghanistan, arguing that the Taliban have“safe-havens” in Pakistan and that its securityforces should take action against all of them. Atthe same time, they want Pakistan to facilitatetheir dialogue with the Taliban. It also refusesto accommodate Pakistan complaint that agood number of Pakistani Taliban groups op-erate from Afghanistan, especially thoseknocked out of Swat/Malakand and SouthWaziristan. The Afghan government does notrecognise contradictions in their demands onPakistan.

Pakistan faces serious financial constraintsfor constructing the pipeline in Pakistani terri-tory in order to get Iranian gas. As the US is op-posed to this project, Pakistan cannot getfunding from the World Bank or the Asian De-velopment Bank. It will have to generate re-sources from within or from elsewhere. Asimilar funding problem exists for erectingtransmission lines to get electricity from Iran.

The tripartite Afghanistan-Iran-Pakistanconference was a commendable developmentbut we will have to wait and see if these coun-tries can adopt meaningful and concrete stepsto change the regional strategic and politicallandscape.

The writer is an independent politicaland defence analyst.

politics of regional cooperation

By Dr Hasan Askari Rizvi

It wasn’t at all a lethargic week. Meta lot of deadlines and couldn’t readenough to have material to write

an entire article on a certain some-thing. Secondly, there was this guiltthat I named my article on 9 leftovermeals ‘naulakha,’ whereas I am toldit’s called Nauratan, which sounds in-accurate too because of Mughal-e-Azam’s nine gems or number ofentertainers. Naulakha is what JiaPradha seeks desperately from Amitabin Sharabi. Well, here’s another im-provisation: a satratan or satrangafor you or Gurumatta, if u r a Sikh.1. I don’t know if it is patriotism that

makes me think that Pakistani teamwas better than England’s or is it thehatred for the British colonisers todigest they are the number oneteam. Whatever the case, being aPakistani, one just can't help resista conspiracy theory after losing a se-ries. My lifelong experience of tapeball cricket makes me an expert oncricket too and I smell a rat. UmarAkmal didn’t perform till Adnanwas given a spot. The team heldback perhaps wanting Afridi to re-

gain the crown in the shorter ver-sion of the game. I hope it is wrongbut it would lend weight to my mis-givings if we see the charge chang-ing hands.

2. Mansoor Ijaz had a rehearsal ses-sion for his statement. The wholeepisode appears to be a TED Talkmore than a statement in theSupreme Court. In most probabilityhis deposition will either lack suffi-cient proof or Zahid Bukhari willchallenge it for hearing it in his ab-sence. There must be technical de-tails to it of which I am unaware butwhich the common eye will notmiss. The more SC jumps into it, thegreater the suspicions it will raise.

3. The news of Meera’s engagementcame as a breath of fresh air beforethe news channels went berserkwith it. Tickers broke the tiniest de-tails of their relationship followedby videos and pictures. Investigativereporters set a new standard thatday. Not only do I now know allabout the past of the lucky guy andthe circumstances of their bond butthat his father is a much marriedman too.

4. NATO has been allowed to resumeair supply for perishable items indeference to divine orders. They arebeing flown on ‘humanitariangrounds’, said Ahmed Mukhtar.Funny that many insist the supplychain was not discontinued even fora single day after Salala. Mukhtar’sstatement pacifies the religiousgroup and parliament takes theblame. The real operators get awayScot free.

5. Air force takes a page out of thearmy’s book…not that it was notdealing in real estate already. Tak-ing a cue from Fauji cornflakes toFauji Kalaf (starch), they havestarted assembling PACPADS, acopy of iPad in a factory that pro-duces J-17 Thunder fighter jets withChinese help. The manufacturer isa Hong Kong company. The ques-tion about how much the venturecost shall forever remain unan-swered. It is priced at $200,cheaper than iPad or Galaxy Tab.But, would it be able to competewith Chinese tablets that are lessthan $200 and are already availablein Pakistan?

6. I recently applied for a US partner-ship programme for journalists andsince the documents were supposedto be posted on a PO Box, all the pri-vate and fancy courier services re-fused to be of any help. I learnt thatday that GPO charges only Rs 35 todeliver the same, besides fleecingpeople with overcharged car tokens.They also confirmed that it takes 24hours and gave me a computerisedslip. I have been thinking: A fewmore accessible post offices andthey can wipe out their deficit andpoor reputation.

7. As for the Balochistan Congres-sional Resolution, I hope Sethisahib is right and it is just a stunt byan insane man who’s had a lobot-omy. It has made the early resolu-tion of the Salala aftermath, alreadya done thing, of mending fences, abit difficult. The possibility of fairelections in the troubled province

has received a severe setback.I was told by many friends that my

phone was tapped. They believed it be-cause of a certain tick tick sound thatcomes right at the start of the call andafter a while at fixed intervals. OnlyAllah knows the truth besides thecompetent bugging authority. How-ever, being tapped boosts the ego forsome reason. It can be life saving toobecause everybody then knows I amneither an agent nor an Ahmedia. (Allthe divine verses pasted on the door bymy old fashioned mom won’t be help-ful because for all the prohibitions,Ahmedi mothers may be doing thesame).

Last Monday, after coming backfrom KLF way past midnight, some-how a guy crossed the locked maingate and started banging the door ofmy house. I have this tendency ofchickening out at times where courageis needed. That was one chickeningmoment and I didn’t open the door.Verbal invectives were communicatedthrough the door and a glass windowbefore he left. He would have beenvery disappointed, if he was a dacoit,and had broken in because I am theonly valuable thing in the house. Hewould’ve been extremely disappointedif he was a mullah to find out that I amnot an Ahmedi. If it was just a warn-ing, I stand warned, if they tell mewhat I am to avoid. I can be dealt withanywhere since I’m out most of thetime. Terrorising the whole family likethis is foul play.

The writer is a member of theband Beygairat Brigade.

By Ali Aftab Saeed

Satratan

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comment 13wednesday, 22 February, 2012

playing against yourself

A game called Snake

At the core of Pakistan’s most popularmobile phone game Snake is a para-dox: we are constantly manoeuvring

to seek rewards that will make our livesharder.

Since the release of Nokia’s compact andsturdy 3310 mobile phone in 2000, we havebeen waiting for trains, wives, work andelectricity playing Snake. We kill free timeplaying a game that mimics our lives untilwe are back in a socially or economicallyproductive situation.

We would once spend that free timesleeping. “Lahoris are always sleeping,” co-median Amanullah Khan said in one of hisroutines. “Some in their shops, others on thestreet, one on the tonga, another in the park.One has missed his stop and is fighting withthe bus driver, ‘Why didn’t you wake me up?’And when you ask them, ‘What do you do?’,they reply with a grin: ‘Nothing!’” Amanul-lah, Lahore’s most awesome cultural critic,was very popular in the 1990s. Since then,times have changed for many of us.

Innovation and creativity have oftenbeen associated with spare time. Many inPakistan would argue their Indus Valley an-cestors had the time to think about philoso-phy, mathematics and town-planning whenmany Europeans were hunting and gather-

ing because they had surplusagricultural produce.

While modernity madefree time possible, it also tookit away very soon. Most of uswho live in a postindustrialurban Pakistan are employedin the services, developmentand information sectors, andare part of a flexible cellularworkforce that works morehours a week than medievalpeasants. When we are not atwork, we are available on themobile phone and on email.We are a temporary work-force and constantly fearbeing fired. And that is whywe want to be productive.

But like in the gameSnake, the more we work andthe better we get at the repet-itive tasks we are asked toperform, the faster our life be-comes and the harder it is toavoid hitting the walls or ourown tail. Collapse is in-evitable. We can only fend itoff for a finite period of time.The longer we avoid it, theharder it gets. And if duringthat routine, we do end upwith spare time, we “kill” itplaying Snake.

The game is believed to have evolvedfrom the 1976 arcade hit Blockade. Twoyears after its release, Atari developed aspin-off titled Surround. Sears sold the samegame under the name Chase. The firstknown personal computer version of thegame was developed in 1978 and was calledWorm. A post-1980 MS DOS version wascalled Nibbles. The evolution of the name isalso fascinating.

Nokia design engineer Teneli Armantodeveloped a mobile phone version in 1997and his employer embedded it in 350 mil-lion devices to make it the most widely dis-tributed game in the history of mobilephones. The other two Nokia games thatcame out in 1997 were Logic and Memory.The names of both were in line with the pro-ductivity paradigm. Why was Snake calledSnake?

In 2010, YouTube embedded a secretversion of Snake in its video player. It can beunlocked by pausing the video and pressingthe up and left arrow keys simultaneously onthe keyboard.

Teneli Armanto has said he had initially“wanted to take advantage of the infraredlink in the Nokia 6110 – a first at that time –which would allow people to play againsteach other.”

But as another popular office game indi-cates, we are only playing against ourselves.

Set in the year 2010, Tuboflex is adystopia that many of us live in. The simpleflash game begins with this introduction:

"The need of mobility has grown to ex-cess since the first years of the millennium.Nowadays, all the social guaranties and thebureaucracy of the traditional flexiblestaffing solutions are no more sustainable,because a single worker could be useful fordifferent factories during the very same day.That's why Tuboflex Inc, the world's leadingHuman Resources Services organization,created a complex tube system that makes itpossible to dislocate employees in real time,depending on the demand."

“The repetitive and often mechanisedwork speeds up as the player progressesthrough the different workplace settings,which include a McDonald's drive-throughwindow, Santa Claus putting smiles on thefaces of children (an instance of affectivelabour), assembly-line drilling, an officeworker with a computer and a box handlerat a shipping warehouse,” Rita Raley saysabout Tuboflex in her book Tactical Gam-ing. “But all attempts to play end with thecentral character begging on the street.”

The writer is a media and culture criticand works at The Friday Times. He tweets@paagalinsaan and gets email atharris@nyu.edu

A reality check

Iran’s nuclear ambitions

man bites DogBy Harris Bin Munawar

In several write-ups in thisspace the undersigned hasconsistently pleaded for Iran’s

right to acquire peaceful nucleartechnology. This right is under-written by the NPT and enshrinedin the International Atomic En-ergy Agency (IAEA) Statute, theso-called nuclear watchdog. Infact to describe the Agency as a“watchdog” is a misinterpretationof its original mandate.

Prevention of the acquisitionand development of nuclearweapons by non-nuclear states,popularly seen as its principalfunction, was not the cause of itsfounding. Its genesis lay in Presi-dent Eisenhower’s vision of“atoms for peace”, to harness themiracle of nuclear science to liftthe downtrodden masses of thenewly liberated colonies from theclutches of poverty. Nuclear tech-nology has several useful applica-tions in power generation, healthand agriculture, amongst others.The composition of the IAEA,which included a sizeable techni-cal cooperation department, re-flected mankind’s expectationsfrom this body.

The Agency’s role as a watch-dog was supplemental to the coreobjective of promoting peacefulnuclear applications. With this inview a Verification Division wascreated in the Agency to ensurethat the technology made avail-able for developmental purposeswas not diverted for military uses.It was within this framework thatnuclear power plants were sup-plied to several non-nuclear coun-tries, including India andPakistan.

Accordingly, Iran’s right to ac-quire peaceful nuclear technologyis based in law and cannot bequestioned. The issue, however,was complicated by the clandes-

tine nature of the programme.This might draw the argumentthat India, Israel and Pakistanalso operate, or operated, clandes-tine nuclear programmes, so whynot Iran.

The explanation lies in the factthat as non-NPT states these threehad the freedom to allow inspec-tions of only those facilities whichoperate under IAEA auspices, forinstance in our case, the powerplants at Karachi and Chashmaand a research reactor at Pinstech.Iran, by virtue of being an NPTstate, is treaty bound to place itsentire nuclear infrastructure, ma-terial and plans under IAEApurview. It is contractually obli-gated to accept full scope Agencysafeguards which include timelyaccess by IAEA inspectors to allsites, storage facilities and instal-lations. It is here that its conflictwith the international communityarises.

It can be said with some con-fidence that the Western world,out of concern for Israel’s securityand its own regional interests, willnever allow Iran to acquire nu-clear weapons. Their concern doesnot stem so much from a possiblenuclear attack against Israel asthat would invite the most devas-tating reprisals.

The Iranians are astuteenough to recognise the incalcu-lable implications of first use. Inthe Western calculus, a nuclearIran will radically alter the strate-gic configuration in the MiddleEast and severely erode Israel’spower monopoly in the region. Itwould further empower Hamasand Hezbollah, Iran’s acknowl-edged allies on the Middle East-ern chessboard, enablingstronger resistance to Israelidepredations in the West Bankand Gaza. The freehand which Is-rael presently enjoys in its deal-ings with the Palestinians will becurtailed.

The Saudis and other Gulfstates have their own set of appre-hensions. Apart from the histori-cal antipathy spawned by thesectarian rift, these states saddledwith restive Shia populations,would feel a lot more vulnerable ina nuclearised neighbourhood. Theprospect of a nuclear armed Iransitting atop the Straits of Hormuzlends a measure of understanding

for their concerns. Little surprisethen that the Saudis have volun-teered to augment their produc-tion by two million barrels tocompensate the importers of Iran-ian crude once the embargo hitswith full force in July this year.

Iran’s other neighbours,Turkey and Pakistan would haveno interest in Iran acquiring nu-clear weapons. Turkey has seriousdifferences with Iran, particularlyon the Syrian crisis whereas Pak-istan, already under tremendouspressure in respect to its own nu-clear program, cannot afford toempathise with another gate-crasher to the nuclear club, espe-cially when Iran had allegedlybeen a beneficiary of its nuclearexpertise.

Recently, Iranian officialshave signaled their government’sreadiness to revive the stalled ne-gotiations. This is a salutary devel-opment but its success hinges onthe willingness of both sides toearnestly seek common ground.Iran would have to convince its in-terlocutors with concrete and ver-ifiable actions that it is not in thebusiness of bomb making. TheWestern powers, on the otherhand, would need to modulatetheir demands to demonstraterecognition of Iran’s right to ben-efit from peaceful uses of nuclearenergy.

The argument that Iran’s vastenergy reserves disqualify it fromdeveloping nuclear power is falla-cious and suggestive of malafideintent. If the objective is to pursuea solution within the ambit of thelaw, on the virtues of which ourWestern friends never tire of ser-monising, then that law must beapplied without discrimination.

It would be helpful if the Ira-nians desist from hurling theirtrademark threats against Israeland Washington moves decisivelyto pressurise Israel to pursue apeaceful settlement with thePalestinians. Given the peculiari-ties of Iran’s domestic politics andthe queer dynamics of an Ameri-can election year, this might beasking too much.

The writer is Pakistan’s for-mer Ambassador to the UnitedNations and European Union. Hecan be contacted at shauka-tumer@hotmail.com

By Shaukat Umer

KHI 22-02-2012_Layout 1 2/22/2012 3:08 AM Page 13

mumbAi: the wait is finally over. Newparents, actors Aishwarya Rai and AbhishekBachchan have finally decided on a name fortheir baby girl. And daddy Abhishek hasassured that the name will be revealed soon.there has been much speculation about BetiB’s name and how she looks. Rumoursstated that oprah winfrey would reveal BetiB’s new name and her photos on her newchat show. there were also rumours that thelittle one has been named Aaliya. Putting allspeculations to rest, Abhishek stated thatthey have indeed zeroed in on a name and itis not Aaliya. At a forum, where the actorwas a guest speaker, Abhishek said, “we’vegot a name, and I’ll announce it very soon,but in terms of releasing a photograph youknow… if people see her in everyday lifethat’s fine by me, but I just think releasingthe photograph is a very pompous thing todo. we don’t believe in any ceremony interms of naamkaran.” Sources close to thefamily say that the Bachchans will reveal thename once Amitabh Bachchan returns homefrom hospital. So perhaps, we can expectSenior Bachchan to reveal the name of thenew member of his family. Agencies

14 wednesday, 22 February, 2012

IN LIMELIGHT

nEWS DESK

ONE of the living legends ofPakistan, Punjabi folksinger Arif Lohar has cre-ated a niche for himself inthe international global

music. He recently toured India and wasspotted in Delhi where he was also invitedto perform at a private wedding function.In an interview detailing his visit acrossthe border, Arif said: “This is my fourthtour to India and second visit to Delhi. It'sa very short trip and I have too manyplans in mind. Whenever I have visitedIndia I have always carried back homegood memories.” Arif who usually singsSufi songs and qawwalis with native in-

strument chimta said emotionally: “I havemy own distinctive style. I feel that everyartist should have their own signature. Ifeel proud that Pakistani artists havemade a mark globally, be it India orabroad and that they have now reached apoint where they are recognised the worldover. I feel very happy when people recog-nise me as ‘Dum gutgoo’ singer. I think mysufi kalaam became popular at a timewhen it was needed most.” Arif who hassung a song for the upcoming Bollywoodmovie ‘Agent Vinod’ shared his experiencesaying: “Honestly speaking I was very ex-cited when I was offered to sing in a Bol-lywood movie. It felt good to know thatpeople appreciate my style and want tohear more of it. Bollywood has been ex-ploring lot of artists from Pakistan likeAtif Aslam , Rahat Fateh Ali, Ali Zafar andmany others and I feel proud when Iwatch them.” Surprisingly, Arif who isknown for his rocking performances atlive concerts was offered to perform at anightclub in Delhi. So did he agree to doit? He confesses: “I enjoy doing live showsmore. Frankly, I have never tried perform-ing at any discos or nightclubs. But I re-alised as an artist it is always good toexperiment. Arif finally agreed to performat one of Delhi's famous nightclub. “I didnot realise I have so many fans here. Thiswas my first time experience to perform ata nightclub. I didn't have a clue where tostart and when to end my song. The crowdsang and danced to my performance,which went on for three hours. I don’tthink I’ll shy away from performing atclubs anymore.” Besides singing, Arif hasalso acted in films. “I have also acted infilms but I feel more comfortable as asinger before the audience. I like to berecognised more as a singer than anactor.” Unlike other artists, Arif has hisown style statement. “People have appre-ciated my get up-black dress, silver locketand long hairdo and chimta in hand.”

Club Caramel launches ‘Deewana’nEWS DESK

Adnan Sarwar and Kiran Chaudhry ofClub Caramel launched their brand newsong ‘Deewana’ in collaboration withSamsung Galaxy Series at the WorldFashion Café in Lahore. The launch wasan exciting party that kicked off with thepremiere of the video for ‘Deewana’.Many singers and socialites also gathered

at the venue including Yousaf Rizvi, DJShahrukh, Syed Farhad Humayun,famous singer Ali Azmat, Jamal Rahman,fashion designers Maria B., KamiarRokni and many others. The launch eventwas made more exciting by a liveperformance by Adnan and Kiran whosang their songs ‘Zindagi’ and the latestrelease ‘Deewana’. The PR of the launchwas handled by Lotus.

mumbAi: Apparently, Sanjayleela Bhansali isn’t too happywith his protégé Sonam Kapoor.the lady who debuted in his‘Saawariya’ four years ago hasalways held the director in highregard despite her first filmbeing universally criticised. thistime her mistake was speakingtoo much too soon. Sonamwent head and confidentlyannounced that she was theleading lady in Sanjay leelaBhansali’s next film at a timewhen even he had not evenfinalized the details. IncidentallySanjay hates revealing his plansbefore everything is in place.Perhaps he is still bitter aboutthe ‘Bajirao Mastani’ experiencewhere he had announcedintentions to make the film withSalman and Kareena but theproject never really took off.whatever be the reason, Sanjaywas angry with Sonam fortalking about the film. And hegot back in the only way hecould-he announced publiclythat he had gone ahead andsigned Kareena Kapoor as thelead. well if only Sonam paidequal attention to herstatements as she does to herfashion, perhaps she would havemore films in her kitty. Agencies

We’ve got a name 3 Khans for the last 3 ‘Dhooms’

Arif Lohar appreciates huge

from Indian fans

response

for the baby, says dad Abhishek

mumbAi: The first film made JohnAbraham one of the most sought afteranti-heroes of recent times. The second,made us want to fall in love with thehunky thief hrithik roshan. And now, thethird, promises to make Aamir Khan thenew bad man in bollywood. Yrf's mostpopular franchise ‘Dhoom’, has becomebigger with every part. And if you thoughtafter Aamir Khan and Katrina Kaif, itcouldn't get any bigger, think again. it isreported that Aditya chopra has alreadychalked out plans for ‘Dhoom 4’ and‘Dhoom 5’. And 'surprising' is too mild aword to describe Adi chopra's big plans.Adi plans to wrap up the franchise withthe fifth part and has already decided tocast salman Khan in the fourth part andnone other than his good friend and Yrf

favourite shah rukh Khan in the fifth.however, Abhishek bachchan and udaychopra will continue to play theirrespective roles of inspector Jai Dixit andAli. A source said: “salman Khan wantedto work in a stylish action film. And Adihad discussed the possibility of ‘Dhoom4’ with him. salman had agreed. That'show they ended up working on ‘ek ThaTiger’. The script of ‘Dhoom 4’ is alreadylocked. The final draft is in process.”however, work on the fifth part that willstar srK is still to begin. “Adi has hishands full with Yash chopra's directorialat the moment. Adi wants to end theDhoom franchise with its fifth part. Theplans for the last two parts are currentlybeing kept under wraps,” added thesource. Agencies

NEw yoRK: Beyonce attends the basketball game between

the New york Knicks and the New Jersey Nets. AFP

hollywooD: Stacy Keibler, Anna Kendrick, Amy Adams, Shailene woodley pose on thered carpet at the Vanity Fair and Juice Couture ‘Vanities’ 20th Anniversary event. AFP

ColoMBo: Sonu Nigam arrives for his tour of Sri lanka,

where he will perform some of his popular hits. AFP

KHI 22-02-2012_Layout 1 2/22/2012 3:10 AM Page 14

15Antonio banderas to play Picasso in movie

LOS AngELESAgencies

Antonio Banderas isto play PabloPicasso in upcomingfilm ‘33 Days’, basedon the period whenthe Spanish artistproduced hismasterpiece Guernica. Banderas told aSpanish newspaper that Picasso“deserves a lot of respect. I was bornfour blocks from where he was born.”‘33 Days’ refers to the time Picasso spenton the Guernica mural. The famouspainting captured the artist's responseto the destruction of the Basque town ofGuernica in 1937 during the SpanishCivil War. Banderas said Picasso was “acharacter that has pursued me for a longtime”. Variety reports the film will alsofocus on Picasso's relationship with hislover, French artist Dora Maar.Banderas is no stranger to art biopics,having appeared in a film about the lifeof Frida Kahlo in 2002 opposite SalmaHayek and Alfred Molina.

Test tube hamburgers to be on the menu this year

VAncOUVERAgencies

By generating strips of meat from stemcells, researchers believe they can createa product that is identical to a realburger. The process of culturing theartificial meat in the lab is so labouriousthat the finished product, expected toarrive in eight months' time, will costabout £220,000. But researchers expectthat after producing their first pattythey will be able to scale up the processto create affordable artificial meatproducts. Mass-producing beef, pork,chicken and lamb in the lab couldsatisfy the growing global demand formeat and dramatically reduce the harmthat farming does to the environment.Prof Mark Post of Maastricht Universityin the Netherlands had grown smallstrips of muscle tissue from cow cellsand calf serum, bringing the firstartificial burger a step closer. Thework is being financed by anonymousand extremely wealthy benefactor whoProf Post claims is a household namewith a reputation for “turningeverything into gold”. Prof Post plansto ask Heston Blumenthal to cook themeat, and the anonymous financer willdecide who to invite to eat it.

meera robbed of rs 2m worthengagement gift

nEWS DESK

Film actor Meera was robbed of awrist-watch worth two million rupeeswhich she had purchased as anengagement gift for her fiancé NaveedShahzad. The actor stated the watchhad been stolen from her house inLahore. Meera wanted to give Shahzadthe watch on their engagement. Theywill get married by the end of this year.The police speculated the theft was an“inside job”. Meera recently announcedher retirement from the Pakistani filmindustry, after her parents on Sundayaccepted the proposal of airlinecaptain, Naveed Shehzad. Meera saidthat she wants to work a newreputation for herself by working withproductions outside the Lollywoodcircle. She also returned Rs 50 lacsworth of advance she had receivedfrom producers she was supposed towork with. According to Meera, shedoes not want to be associated withLollywood anymore and now will workwith different production houses otherthan Lollywood. Meera also says thatReema Khan and Veena Malik havecopied her as Reema Khan startedproduction after Meera did whereasVeena Malik went to Bollywoodfollowing her example. Meera will soonbe seen in upcoming Bollywood film ‘5Ghantey mein 5 Crore’.

ufone uthrecords 2.0returns!

nEWS DESK

In keeping with the brands' consistentcommitment to the youth of Pakistan,Ufone brings another season of theirpioneering Ufone Uth Records, version2.0. Starting 25 February, Ufone UthRecords 2.0 will air their first episode onsocial media networks and acrossleading television channels, recappingthe journey of season one's artists andbands: Jumbo Jutt, Yasir and Jawadwith Wali, Usman Riaz, Natasha Ejaz,Ather Sani and RamLal. Ufone UthRecords 2.0 is led by distinguishedmusician and producer Louis J Pinto,more popularly known as Gumby andhas been directed by the acclaimeddirector Zeeshan Parwez. Ufone UthRecords 2.0 airs nationwide with its firstcelebratory episode recapping seasonone, on February 25, on all leadingchannels and social media networks.

Sanjay Leela Bhansali

upset with Sonam

mumbAi: Even though she was borninto the first family of the hindi film industry,success didn’t come easy to Kareena Kapoor.After having laboured hard to grab the topspot in Bollywood, Bebo wouldn’t wantanyone to compare her with anyone. theKapoor girl who is currently busy shooting forMadhur Bhandarkar’s ambitious project,‘heroine’ has clarified that the film is nowhere close to Vidya Balan’s ‘the DirtyPicture’. ‘heroine’ is the story of a veryambitious actress Mahi Khanna, who tastessuper stardom and eventually plunges intodeep misery. So in order to prevent peoplefrom assuming that it’s another ‘Dirty Picture’,Bebo cleared the air. Addressing reporters at apress conference recently, Bebo said, “thereare absolutely no similarities between thetwo films.” Kareena said that ‘the DirtyPicture’ was a film based on the life of a reallife sex-symbol, who ruled the south Indianfilm industry in the 1980s. But in ‘heroine’,Kareena plays a fictitious character. looks like‘heroine’ Kareena hates getting ‘Dirty’. Agencies

‘Heroine’ isn’t another ‘Dirty Picture’: Kareena

loNDoN: BoxerAmir Khan

arrives for theBurberryProrsum

london 2012Autumn/winter

show atlondon Fashion

week. AFP

loNDoN: Amodel presents

a creationduring the Mcq

AlexanderMcqueen

london 2012Autumn/winter

collectionshow at

london Fashionweek. AFP

loS ANGElES: AshtonKutcher watches the

game between the losAngeles lakers and the

Portland trail Blazers. AFP

Rihanna, Chris Brown reunite on two remixes

LOS AngELESAgencies

WE werea l r e a d ytrying towrap ourh e a d s

around the news that ChrisBrown would lend his voiceto Rihanna's ‘BirthdayCake’ remix, but the singershave managed to blow ourminds a little bit more. OnMonday the former couple(who are rumoured to beseeing each other in secret)both released remixes fea-turing each others vocals. Itwas known that Brown wasthe “shocking” addition to‘Birthday Cake’ that pro-ducers promised, but moresurprising was hearing Ri-hanna singing on Brown'sremix for ‘Turn Up TheMusic’. The songs dropped

simultaneously and could-n't have been released at amore opportune time.Brown has been a hot topicin the media this past weekafter he shot back at criticslike country singer MirandaLambert, who were upset tosee him honoured and per-forming at last week'sGrammy Awards. Lambert,and other celebrities, spokeout against the music in-dustry officially welcomingBrown back into its good

graces for the first timesince he brutally assaultedRihanna in 2009. Though‘RIP Chris Brown’ startedtrending on Twitter afterthe 22-year-old singerwrote that winning aGrammy was the “ultimateF**k OFF,” his career issomehow still alive. Al-though many aren't readyto forgive Brown, theremixes are proof that Ri-hanna certainly has. The24-year-old singer seems tohave extended an olivebranch to Brown and per-haps her heart as well.Hearing Rihanna sing onBrown's song the words, ‘Ilove you baby,’ and Chrissinging on ‘Birthday Cake’:“Been a long time, I've beenmissing your body,” onlyfurther fuels rumours thetwo have being seeing eachother in secret.

LoS aNGeLeS: Dresses and jewellery worn byWhitney Houston will be included at a celebrityauction in Los Angeles in late March, it wasannounced on Monday, a day after the pop diva waslaid to rest. “In a rare twist of fate,” several itemsfrom her musical career and movie appearanceswill be available, “as if the pop legend wasdetermined to keep her presence alive,” saidcelebrity auction house Julien's Auctions.Included will be a black velvet dress with metallicsilver ribbon with an estimated asking price of$1,000-$2,000 and faux pearl drop earringsworn by Houston in the hit 1992 movie ‘TheBodyguard,’ expected to fetch $600-$800.

“Other items include jewellery and costumesfrom Houston's appearance in film and onstage,” the auction house said a written

statement. Houston was found dead onFebruary 11 at the age of 48, sold more than 170million records during a nearly three-decade career,but she fought a long and public battle againstsubstance abuse while trying to keep herperforming talent alive. Speculation has raged sinceher death that the singer may have succumbed to alethal cocktail of prescription drugs and alcohol,though official results from her autopsy may not bemade public for several weeks. Afp

Whitney Houston dresses, jewellery to be auctioned

KHI 22-02-2012_Layout 1 2/22/2012 3:11 AM Page 15

wednesday, 22 February, 2012

16 Foreign News

DAMAScUSAfp

SYRIAN forces on Tuesdayblitzed the flashpoint city ofHoms and opened fire to dis-perse daring protesters in thecapital, monitors said, as the

Red Cross sought ways to deliver aid toafflicted areas.

The escalation comes as Russia, a keyally of President Bashar al-Assad’sregime, said it will boycott an interna-tional conference in Tunis this weekaimed at seeking political change in Syria,while China refused to commit.

It also comes ahead of the weekendreferendum on a new constitution thatcould end nearly five decades of rule byAssad’s Baath party, in a bid by Damas-cus to fend off pressure for regime

change. Despite a plea by activists onMonday to allow women and children toflee Homs’s besieged neighbourhoodBaba Amr, troop reinforcements weresent to the outskirts of the restive city,which residents say has been assaulted byregime forces for 18 straight days.

Activists fear they are preparing tostorm its defiant neighbourhoods.

The Syrian Observatory for HumanRights said a military convoy of 56 vehi-cles, including tanks and personnel carri-ers, were seen on Tuesday travelling onthe highway from Damascus, near thetown of Qarah, 70 kilometres (38 miles)south of Homs. The Britain-based moni-toring group said 16 people, includingthree children, died in “intensiveshelling” that targeted Baba Amr onTuesday, with the Khaldiyeh and Karmal-Zaytoun districts also blasted.

Another seven civilians, including achild, were reportedly killed by gunfire inother parts of the country.

Homs-based activist Hadi Abdullahof the General Commission of the Syrian-Revolution, who had earlier voiced fearsof an imminent ground attack againstBaba Amr area, told AFP that “large rein-forcements were heading to Homs.”

“We counted at least 150 shells crash-ing in Baba Amr within two hours thismorning. We gave up counting afterwards,”he said. Omar Shaker, another activist inBaba Amr, told AFP that the neighbour-hood had “no electricity, nor fuel,” and that“snipers have hit water tanks,” renderingthe situation “bad beyond imagination.”AFP was not able to verify the reporteddeath toll nor the reports of shelling as for-eign reporters are given only limited accesswithin the country.

Meanwhile, businessman MahmudRamadan, whose brother Ahmed is amember of the opposition Syrian Na-tional Council, was shot dead on Mondayin Aleppo, according to the Observatoryand SANA state news agency. AlthoughSANA said Ramadan was killed by a “ter-rorist group”, the Observatory said thathe was pro-regime, an accusation that hisbrother dismissed as “defamation,” in atelephone interview with AFP.

In the capital, the Observatory re-ported that Syrian security forces openedfire overnight to disperse a demonstra-tion, as daring protests spread in thestronghold of President Bashar al-Assad’sregime.

Security forces opened fire at demon-strators who took to the streets in thecapital’s Al-Hajar Al-Aswad neighbour-hood, it said.

China won’tcommit toFriends ofSyria meeting

BEIJIngAfp

China on Tuesday refused to commit toattend an international conference in Tunisthis week after Russia said it would boycottthe meeting aimed at seeking political changein Syria. The Friends of Syria group will meetfor the first time on Friday after beingcreated in response to a joint veto by Chinaand Russia of a UN Security Councilresolution condemning a bloody crackdownon protests in Syria. The group is backed bymembers of the European Union as well assome Arab nations and the United States.“China has received the relevant invitation,”Chinese foreign ministry spokesman HongLei told a regular briefing. “The Chinese sideis currently researching the function,mechanism and other aspects of themeeting.” Russia said Tuesday it would notattend because the meeting only supportedthe Syrian opposition’s cause, meaning “theinterests of the majority of the Syrianpopulation, which supports the authorities,will not be represented”. Representativesfrom the Syrian National Council (SNC) andother opposition groups will also be at themeeting, Tunisian Foreign Minister RafikAbdessalem said Monday, reversing anearlier position that the SNC would not beinvited. China and Russia have faced abarrage of international criticism forblocking the latest UN Security Councilresolution on Syria, including from Arabnations with which Beijing normally hasgood ties. Beijing has repeatedly defended itsdecision and Hong said Tuesday that Chinawas “willing to play a constructive role withall sides for the peaceful resolution of theSyrian crisis”. An influential Chinesenewspaper on Monday also warned thatWestern support for Syrian rebels couldtrigger civil war in the violence-hit nation.Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Zhai Jun lastweek travelled to Damascus for talks withPresident Bashar al-Assad during which hecalled for all sides to stop the violence and forelections to go ahead. But Zhai, whose visitcoincided with some of the worst violence todate in the flashpoint central city of Homs,said Beijing opposed armed intervention andforced “regime change” in Syria.

Dozens escapeMexico prison after massacre

MOnTERREYAfp

Thirty members of a feared Mexican drugcartel were on the loose Tuesday after dozensof rival gang members were killed in a prisonmassacre apparently organized with the aid ofauthorities. The massacre early Sunday, inwhich 44 inmates were stabbed orbludgeoned to death, was apparently a grislysmokescreen planned to aid the escape,according to officials, who said nine wardenshad confessed to taking part in the plot. Theescaped prisoners were all fromthe Zetas drug gang, while those killed wereall from the rival Gulf cartel. The two crimesyndicates have been locked in a bloody turfbattle since their alliance broke down in 2010.The massacre on Sunday in the Apodacaprison, an overcrowded facility 30 kilometers(18 miles) north of Monterrey, the statecapital of Nuevo Leon, was among thedeadliest incidents in years in Mexico’snotoriously violent prisons. “Nine of the 18(detained) guards said they were activelyinvolved in the escape,” state securityspokesman Jorge Domene said late Monday,calling it a “betrayal of public officials whoallied themselves with the criminals.” He saidthe other nine guards and three senior prisonofficials were still being questioned. Theescape took place between 1:00 am and 1:30am (0700-0730 GMT) Sunday, followed bythe attack on the inmates, which lastedaround an hour and a half, until prisonofficials called for reinforcements, Domenesaid. Rodrigo Medina, governor of NuevoLeon, had earlier released names andpictures of the fugitives, and posted rewardsof up to 10 million pesos ($775,000) forinformation leading to their capture.

BEIJIngAfp

An explosion at a steel plant in north-eastern China killed 13 people and in-jured another 17, a company officialsaid Tuesday, in the latest industrial ac-cident to hit the country.

The blast happened late Mondaywhen a 10-metre (33-feet) wide moldexploded at the plant owned by state-run Angang Heavy Machinery inLiaoning province’s Anshan city, aspokesman for parent companyAnsteel Group said.

“The rescue work just finished.The bodies of the three missingworkers have been found and nowthe local work safety bureau is work-ing on the cause of the accident,”Song Jiachen told AFP. The 17 in-jured had been taken to hospital fortreatment, the official xinhua newsagency said, citing local officials, andsix of these suffered burns on morethan 65 percent of their bodies andwere still critical. The other 11 whowere hurt in the accident were in astable condition, it added.

Workplace accidents are commonin China, where bosses frequently ig-nore safety rules in the quest for higher

profits. Nearly 50,000 people died inwork-related accidents in the first ninemonths of 2011, down 16 percent from

the the same period in 2010, figuresfrom the State Administration of WorkSafety show.

Myanmar toconsider ASEANpoll monitorsYaNGoN: Myanmar has promisedto “seriously consider” allowingSoutheast Asian observers for by-elections marking the opposition’sreturn to mainstream politics, theASEAN regional bloc said Tuesday.The April 1 polls, which will seeNobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyistand for a seat in parliament for thefirst time, are viewed as a key test ofthe military-backed government’scommitment to budding reforms.The Association of Southeast AsianNations (ASEAN) said in a statementthat Myanmar President Thein Seinmade the pledge to its visitingSecretary-General Surin Pitsuwanduring talks in the capitalNaypyidaw. “We will seriouslyconsider having observers fromASEAN ... during the April elections,”Thein Sein was quoted as saying. A2010 election which swept the army’spolitical allies to power was marredby widespread complaints of cheatingand intimidation. Foreign electionobservers and international mediawere not allowed into the country forthat vote, which was denounced bySuu Kyi’s opposition party andWestern powers as lackinglegitimacy. AFP

A Tibetan monk performs during a religious ceremony, known as "Da gui" or beating ghost, to celebrate the upcoming Tibetan new Year which starts on february 22 at

Yonghegong lama Temple . The ceremony is held annually as it is believed to expel evil spirits from the monastery. REUTERS

China factory blast kills 13,injures 17

Syrian forces pound Homs asprotests spread in Damascus

investigators check the damaged steel casting workshop owned by state-runAngang heavy machinery after an explosion that killed 13 people. AFP

g 16 people, including three children die in ‘intensive shelling’

KHI 22-02-2012_Layout 1 2/22/2012 3:11 AM Page 16

Foreign News 17wednesday, 22 February, 2012

SAnAAAfp

YEMENIS cast their ballots inlarge numbers Tuesday tomark the end of President AliAbdullah Saleh’s hardlinerule, in a poll marred by

clashes in the south and a Shiite rebelboycott in the north.

Men and women lined up in separatequeues even before polling stationsopened their doors in Sanaa at 8:00 am(0500 GMT), waiting to cast their votesfor the only name on the ballot: Vice Pres-ident Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi.

“Today is the real fall of Ali AbdullahSaleh,” said 25-year-old college studentAbdullah Ali after casting his vote at acrowded Sanaa University polling stationnear Change Square, the focal point oflast year’s mass protests demandingSaleh’s ouster. “This is victory day forYemen,” he said. Women also came outin strength in the capital Tuesday. “Wewere surprised at the large number ofwomen present even before polling sta-tions opened,” said Abir Afifi, who is incharge of a female polling booth.

The Arab world’s first female Nobelpeace laureate, Tawakkul Karman, hailedTuesday’s poll as a “day of celebration”for Yemenis. Karman told AFP the votemarked the “end to despotism and op-pression” that has marked Saleh’s 33years at the helm. In a word of caution,

however, she urged Hadi “to work foryoung people who took to the streets ayear ago ... If their goals are not achieved,Yemen’s youths will force him out just asthey did Saleh.” Hadi cast his ballot amidcheers and applause at a far more secludedpolling station near his home in the capi-tal. “This is a historic day for Yemen ... wewill put the past behind us and turn a newpage on which we will write a new future,”said Hadi, who according to close aideswas surrounded by heavy security becauseof threats to his life. Polling day in Yemenhowever reflected the deep divisions andlong-standing conflicts that still plague the

Arab world’s poorest country.Despite the bolstered security

throughout the south, violence, not vot-ing, characterised the day.

At least four people were killed, in-cluding a child, and dozens of otherswounded in vote-related violence onTuesday, medics and security officialssaid. In Aden, Yemen’s main southerncity, smaller crowds were seen heading tothe polls in the neighbourhoods of KhorMaksar and Crater, an AFP correspon-dent there reported.

The violence however kept thousandsmore away. In Aden medics said a 10-

year-old child was killed when militantsfrom the separatist Southern Movementtraded gunfire with police near the elec-tion commission headquarters. In a sep-arate incident, Southern Movementgunmen killed a policeman and woundedtwo others, security officials said. In Lahijprovince, a protester was killed and twoothers were wounded in clashes betweenhardline factions of the Southern Move-ment and security forces, activists fromthe movement said.

Southern separatists, who say theelection fails to meet their aspirations forautonomy or southern independence,have boycotted the poll and hardlinersfrom the group had called for a day of“civil disobedience” to prevent the vote.In the Shiite rebel strongholds of thenorth, many polling stations were eitherdeserted or closed.

The rebels who have fought six warswith Saleh’s regime since 2004, boy-cotted the election. According to a secu-rity official, only one polling station in thenorthern town of Saada was open.

Hadi, himself a southerner, pledgedon Sunday to address the concerns of theseparatists and rebels, saying that “dia-logue and only dialogue” can resolvethese long-standing conflicts. Yemen’snew president will rule for an interimtwo-year period, after which presidentialand parliamentary elections will be held,a condition of the Gulf-brokered transi-tion deal signed by Saleh in November.

MOnITORIng DESK

Over the past few years, Syrian first ladyAsma al-Assad has had the kind of press cov-erage that would make even the most com-posed dictator’s wife blush. “Young,glamorous and very chic – the freshest andmost magnetic of first ladies”, drooled USVogue of the London-born former bankerlast March, just as the first reports of violentclashes between Syrian protesters and policestarted to surface.

According to an article published in theAustralian Financial Review, Mrs al-Assadhas “pushed for economic liberation in hercountry and encouraged women to go out towork” before approvingly dissecting herwardrobe. To the UK Sun, she is “the sexyBrit bringing Syria in from the cold”, whileFrench Elle crowned her the best-dressed

woman in politics in 2008, sighing “du chic,du chic, et encore du chic.” But apparentlyMrs al-Assad is more than just a “killer IQ”with model looks and a charitable soul. She’salso loyal – impossibly loyal, you might say.

Earlier this month, Mrs al-Assad’s officeemailed the London Times to declare hersupport for her embattled husband, Presi-dent Bashar al-Assad, whose crackdown onthe anti-government protests is now esti-mated to have resulted in 5,000 Syriandeaths and many thousands of arbitrary ar-rests, often involving torture.

But she is also, apparently, supportingthe people being cracked down upon, “bridg-ing gaps and encouraging dialogue. She lis-tens to and comforts the victims of theviolence,” the email explains. After years ofsoft-selling the Syrian regime to the westernmedia, perhaps it’s not surprising that Mrs

al-Assad has decided to speak up once again.It’s just amazing that anyone is still listening.

Syria is a one-party state where criticismof the al-Assad family is banned. Its economyis weak and, with an equality ranking of 124thof the 135 countries listed in the Gender GapReport, so are its women. But until very re-cently, the president’s well-spoken, Chanel-clad wife has been free to talk about“encouraging empowerment in civil society”through her NGO, and the press have lappedit up. When she tells an interviewer she, herhusband and three children run their house-hold on a voting system to decide “what wewant and where”, the irony appears to becompletely lost. President Bashar had poten-tial to be a reformer when he first came topower, but the Syrian state has been stagnantand censorious for years. However, Mrs al-Assad has an English accent, a degree from a

well-respected western university and awardrobe full of high-end European brands.

She looks and sounds like she belongs onthe world stage next to Carla Bruni andMichelle Obama, discussing citizen empow-erment and swapping fashion tips. (As an in-terviewer admitted in a profile of anotherwesternised Arab first wife, Queen Rania ofJordan, “I can look at Rania … and not makeassumptions. But, as a Western woman, I domake assumptions when a faceless woman ishidden under a niqab or burka.”)

Despite appearances, some commenta-tors question how much agency Mrs al-Assadreally has. “I doubt she feels she has any con-trol or would ultimately have much influenceover what her husband is doing,” Syrian ex-pert Andrew Tabler told CNN. Very few auto-crats’ wives defy their husbands’ rule, and Mrsal-Assad in particular has been described by

Tabler and others as naïve or unworldly –genuinely convinced that NGOs and civil so-ciety will turn her country around. But can awoman with a tertiary education and a for-mer career at JP Morgan, whose Syrian par-ents chose to settle outside their homecountry and under British democracy, reallybe excused for explicitly supporting violentrepression on the basis of childish naivety?And if she can, why do major broadcasterslike Sky News give her the freedom to makestatements like “What we are trying to do ismake sure the progress we are making acrossthe country is inclusive to everybody or asmany people as possible, whether it is eco-nomic, political or social”?

The uprisings of the past year acrossthe Middle East may have reduced Mrs al-Assad’s stock as a B-grade celebrity. Butrather than just giving her wardrobe a restfrom scrutiny, perhaps we should try usingthe energy to examine instead what partshe, and other wives of autocrats like her,really play in the governments they so pub-licly represent.

Nigeria stepsup securityafter marketattack killed 30

KAnOAfp

Security forces patrolled an extensivemarket in Nigeria’s northeastern cityof Maiduguri on Tuesday where an as-sault by suspected Islamists killedsome 30 people, vendors and residentssaid. Gunmen believed to be membersof the Islamist sect Boko Haram onMonday afternoon stormed the fishsection of Baga market and sprayedstallholders and vendors with bullets,traders said. The market opened onTuesday but security forces shut allentry gates except one directly over-looking a police station. “Most tradersin this section of the market have notopened largely out of mourning fortheir colleagues killed in the attacks ofyesterday. We have lost many col-leagues,” Bunu Ahmad said on thephone. Witnesses and medics saidsome 30 people died when the gunmenopened fire and set off bombs insidethe market, in what appeared to be aretaliatory attack for the arrest of asuspected Islamist inside the marketlast week. The military denied therewere any civilian victims, saying it shoteight of the attackers.

Italy sends topdiplomat to Indiain shootings row

ROMEAfp

Giulio Terzi will visit next week amid anescalating row over two Italian soldiersarrested for killing two Indian fishermen.Junior foreign minister Staffan De Mistura will“continue on a political level the action so farcarried out by a delegation of experts from theItalian foreign, defence and justice ministries,”the foreign ministry said in a note. “MinisterTerzi will visit personally next Tuesday,” thenote said. The foreign ministry also said thatIndian police had taken “coercive” and“unilateral” action when it escorted the twosoldiers off the oil tanker where they weredeployed as security guards and arrestedthem on Sunday. The soldiers, MassimilianoLatorre and Salvatore Girone, members of theelite San Marco Marine regiment, were onboard the tanker to guard against piracy andItaly has said they mistook the fishermen forpirates. The tanker was sailing fromSingapore to Egypt when the incident tookplace. A magistrate in the town of Kollam insouthern Indian state of Kerala on Mondayremanded the two in custody for two weeks asa murder investigation continues. The ship isbeing held in the port of Kochi. Italianauthorities insist that the men should not beprosecuted in India as the tanker, the EnricaLexie, was flying under an Italian flag ininternational waters when the shootingocurred on Wednesday off southern India.

bAgrAm: An Afghan demonstrator holds a half-burnt copy of islamic religious text, allegedly set on fire by us soldiers. AFP

Syrian first lady Asma al-Assad in Beirut

Yemenis vote as Saleh’s 33-year rule endsg Election marks the ‘end to despotism and oppression’ that has marked Saleh’s 33 years at the helm

The Arab world’s first female nobel peace laureate, Tawakkul Karman, flashes the V for

victory sign and shows her ink-stained thumb after casting her vote. AFP

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Page 20

wednesday, 22 February, 2012

Jankovic determined to getback on top of the world

BRISBAnEAfp

AN outstanding display ofseam bowling from NuwanKulasekara and ThisaraPerera helped Sri Lankabeat India by 51 runs in

their one-day international tri-seriesmatch in Brisbane Tuesday.

After Sri Lanka scored 289-6, man ofthe match Kulasekara took 3-40 and Per-era 4-37 as India were bowled out for 238in 45.1 overs, their second loss in threedays following their defeat by Australia atthe Gabba on Sunday.

Sri Lanka, who beat Australia in Syd-ney last Friday, moved into second on thetri-series points table following the winand are now on 11 points, three behindthe Australians and one ahead of India.

"We played a pretty good game," SriLankan captain Mahela Jayawardenesaid. "But we made a few mistakes withsome dropped catches and we probablyshould have been able to push for a bonuspoint win.

"We were put under pressure in cer-tain situations but I thought our boys didreally well -- they bowled really well, theycreated opportunities with the new ball."

"We picked up wickets again (withthe new ball), which is great and it waspretty much a complete game apart fromthe dropped catches," he added.

Jayawardene won the toss and choseto bat on a hot and humid Brisbane after-noon and his batsmen were always on topof the Indian bowling attack.

Lahiru Thirimanne scored a quick-fire 62 in the middle of the order and big-hitting Angelo Mathews smashed 49 notout from 37 balls as the Sri Lankansblasted 91 runs off the last 10 overs.

Off-spinner Ravi Ashwin was the pickof the Indian bowlers with 2-50 while leftarm seamer Irfan Pathan took 2-54.

The Indian run chase began badlywith skipper Virender Sehwag and SachinTendulkar both falling early and anyhopes of overtaking the Sri Lanka totalwere dashed as they kept losing wicketsat crucial moments.

Virat Kohli was dropped twice by Di-nesh Chandimal on his way to 66, once on

14 and the second on 32, with the onlyother real contribution coming fromPathan, who powered his way to 47 from34 deliveries to ensure Sri Lanka missedout on the bonus point win.

India's big run chase got off to theworst possible start when they lost Sehwagin the second ball off the innings, caughtat third man going after a short ball out-side off stump from Lasith Malinga.

Fellow opener Tendulkar, still looking

his elusive 100th international century,looked in superb touch as he raced to 22at a run a ball until he shouldered arms toKulasekara, only for the ball to hit the in-side edge of his bat and cannon into offstump. Gautam Gambhir then took up thechallenge but he too perished meekly aftera promising start, gliding the impressiveKulasekera to Perera in the gully.

"We didn't bowl well in the final 10overs, and we didn't bat well," Sehwag

said. "The way Sachin and Gambhirplayed in the beginning, I thought wecould get a good start but we lost threewickets early."

India were looking shaky at 54-3 butKohli and Suresh Raina dug in and slowlybegan to increase the run rate againstsome tight Sri Lankan bowling.

The pair put on 92 before Raina wasout, chipping a simple catch off FarveezMaharoof to Thirimanne for 32, leaving

the Indians 146-4 from 31 overs. Any hope of overhauling the Sri

Lankans disappeared when Kohli wascramped by Perera and his attemptedpull shot went straight to Kulasekara atmid-on. Pathan offered resistance but hekept losing partners and was last man outwhen Perera took a superb caught andbowled chance to wrap up the Indian in-nings. "We didn't have a good start to thistournament and we had to come backstrongly, which we have done," Jayawar-dene said. "We've played some consistentcricket even though we lost those first fewgames and now we are trying to finishgames off well."

Seamers help Sri Lanka beat India in ODIsri lAnKA

m. Jayawardene c sehwag b pathan 45

T. Dilshan c patel b Ashwin 51

K. sangakkara c Tendulkar b Yadav 8

D. chandimal b pathan 38

l. Thirimanne c raina b Ashwin 62

A. mathews not out 49

T. perera b raina 10

f. maharoof not out 4

eXTrAs (w18 nb1, lb2, b1) 22

ToTAl (for six wickets; 50 overs) 289

fall of wickets: 1-95 (Jayawardene), 2-104 (Dilshan), 3-124

(sangakkara), 4-195 (chandimal) 5-244 (Thirimanne) 6-265 (perera)

bowling: Vinay Kumar 8-1-48-0 (1nb), pathan 10-0-54-2 (4w),

Yadav 8-0-58-1 (2w), Jadeja 10-0-43-0 (1w), Ashwin 10-0-50-

2 (4w), sehwag 2-0-9-0, raina 1-0-10-1 (1w), Kohli 1-0-14-0 (6w)

inDiA

s. Tendulkar b Kulasekara 22

V. sehwag c Kulasekara b malinga 0

g. gambhir c perera b Kulasekara 29

V. Kohli c Kulasekara b perera 66

s. raina c Thirimanne b maharoof 32

r. Jadeja b Kulasekara 17

i. pathan c & b perera 47

p. patel c malinga b perera 4

r. Ashwin c sangakkara b malinga 5

r. Vinay Kumar c (sub) b perera 0

u. Yadav not out 0

eXTrAs (w9 lb7) 16

ToTAl (for 10 wickets: 45.1 overs) 238

fall of wickets: 1-0 (sehwag), 2-38 (Tendulkar), 3-54 (gambhir)

4-146 (raina) 5-172 (Kohli), 6-191 (Jadeja), 7-215 (patel) 8-232

(Ashwin), 9-233 (Vinay Kumar), 10-238 (pathan)

bowling: malinga 8-0-55-2 (2w), Kulasekara 9-0-40-3 (4w),

maharoof 10-1-52-1, mathews 4-0-12-0, perera 7.1-0-37-4 (2w),

herath 7-0-35-0 (1w)

result: sri lanka won by 51 runs

Toss: sri lanka

man of the match: nuwan Kulasekara (sri)

umpires: billy bowden (nzl) and paul reiffel (Aus)

TV umpire: steve Davis(Aus)

match referee: chris broad (eng))

sTAnDings

(games, wins, losses, tied, points):

Australia 5, 3, 2, 0, 14

sri lanka 5, 2, 2, 1, 11

india 6, 2, 3, 1, 10

scoreboArD

SYDnEYAfp

World Cup-winning skipper Ricky Ponting, cricket's sec-ond-highest one-day scorer, vowed Tuesday to fight onin Australia's Test team despite being dumped from thelimited-overs side. Ponting said he had been informedby selectors that he did not fit into their plans for theone-day team, but despite speculation about his future,stressed that he would not be retiring from the five-daygame. "I will continue playing Test cricket and I'll con-tinue playing for Tasmania as well," Ponting told a newsconference at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

"I think I proved to everyone and myself that I amstill capable of dominating Test cricket as I did in the lastTest series against India."

Ponting's ODI sacking comes less than a month afterhis commanding role in Australia's 4-0 clean sweep ofthe home Test series against India, when he scored 544runs at 108.80 with two centuries and three 50s.

His dumping also came just a day after he led Aus-tralia to a crushing 110-run ODI win over India in Bris-bane as stand-in captain for the injured Michael Clarke.

Chief selector John Inverarity on Monday saidPonting had been dropped because of a lack of form afterjust 18 runs in five knocks in the tri-series against Indiaand Sri Lanka. "John made it very clear to me yesterdaythe direction they are heading with the one-day teamand that I am not part of their plans," said Ponting.

"I have no bitterness at all about what's happened,"he said, adding that "I totally understand" why the se-lectors were looking to rebuild the team for the nextWorld Cup. Cricket Australia chief executive JamesSutherland said Ponting would be remembered as pos-sibly the nation's best ever limited-overs player.

"I think his career is incomparable in one-daycricket," he told reporters.

"I just can't think of a player that has made a greatercontribution and been a better one-day cricketer, partic-ularly in the big moments." Former Test stars Matthew

Hayden and Darren Lehmann both expressed disap-pointment at his demise. Ex-opener Hayden tweeted:"Ricky Ponting's omission from the National 1 Day sideis an outrage!" while Lehmann called him "an absolutechampion". The 37-year-old veteran of 375 ODIs spreadover 17 years said even though he was no longer beingconsidered for one-day selection, he would look to ex-tend his 162-Test career in the West Indies in April.

Ponting, who ranks second only to India's SachinTendulkar with the most ODI runs (13,704), said he re-mained highly motivated.

"The passion for me in international cricket has notdied or changed and I've made it clear right through thisAustralian summer that I still don't see a finish line asfar as my international career is concerned," he said.

Ponting was defiant that he will finish his illustriousplaying career on his own terms and not be discarded byselectors. "I am backing myself to finish the game andfinish on a high," he said. "I don't want to finish on a lowand I'll make theright decision at theright time. There'sno doubt aboutthat." His big tasknow will be to ade-quately preparehimself for Testcricket, with inter-national one-dayersno longer an option.

"The thing that Ithought about mostyesterday was how Iwas going to man-age my time and tobe well prepared forevery Test matchthat I play for the re-mainder of my ca-reer," he said.

SYDnEYAfp

Ricky Ponting, who declared his 17-year one-day inter-national innings over on Tuesday after being cut looseby Australia's selectors, ranks among the greatest everin the limited-over form of the game.

The 37-year-old, who conceded that he has playedhis 375th and last ODI, said he intended to continueplaying Test cricket after selectors told him he was nolonger in their plans for Australia's one-day team.

"I have no bitterness at all about what's happened,"Ponting told a news conference, adding that "I totallyunderstand" why the selectors were looking to rebuildthe team for the next World Cup. Ponting, a three-timeWorld Cup winner and twice as captain, ranks secondonly to India's Sachin Tendulkar with most runs inODIs. Since his limited-overs debut in 1995, Ponting, orPunter as he is nicknamed, has accumulated 13,704 at

42.03 with 30 cen-turies. His brilliantfielding netted him160 catches.

He ranks fourthall-time in the num-ber of ODI appear-ances behindTendulkar, SanathJayasuriya and Inza-mam-ul-Haq and isthe only non-Asianinside the top 10,with preceding Aus-tralian skipper SteveWaugh next at 11thwith 325 games.

Ponting led Aus-tralia to two WorldCup triumphs andhis 34-match un-

beaten run in the tournament as skipper ended whenPakistan beat Australia in last year's competition inColombo. He quit as Test and one-day captain soonafter, making way for his deputy Michael Clarke, butmade the risky decision to continue in both teamsagainst the advice of some prominent figures, notablyWaugh. Once Ponting chose to battle on, he ran the riskof having the decision on his future in the ODI teamtaken out of his hands.

That fateful day came on Monday when selectorsaxed him from the team after a lean trot in the tri-seriesagainst India and Sri Lanka.

Born the eldest of four children in the working classTasmanian suburb of Mowbray, Ponting was influencedto play cricket by his uncle Greg Campbell, who playedTests for Australia in 1989 and 1990.

Ponting went on to make his state debut at 17, theyoungest to represent Tasmania in the domesticSheffield Shield competition, before he made his inter-national one-day debut aged 20 in 1995.

He only scored one against South Africa in his firstmatch but went on to become one of cricket's batting ti-tans, with his Test debut coming 10 months later in De-cember against Sri Lanka in Perth. Ponting had a rockybeginning in the public eye and was banned for threematches in 1999 by the (then) Australian Cricket Boardfollowing an early morning brawl in a Sydney bar.

He had been disciplined for an off-field incident pre-viously. A contrite Ponting, with a blackened eye, gave apress conference the next day to apologise for his behav-iour, but he matured into a valued mentor in the Aus-tralian team over time. His fierce competitiveness alsobrought him trouble and he was reprimanded by the In-ternational Cricket Council for damaging a dressingroom television in an angry reaction to being run outagainst Zimbabwe at last year's World Cup in India.Married with two children, he is known as a campaigneragainst cancer and established The Ponting Foundationwith his wife Rianna to raise money for young Aus-tralians afflicted by the disease.

Ponting to bat on in Tests Trailblazing ODI career

BRISBANE: Sri lankan bowler Nuwan Kulasekara (2nd-R) celebrates with teammates after taking the wicket of India's Ravindra Jadeja while (R)

India's Virat Kohli leaves the field after being dismissed during the one-day International against Sri lanka. AFP

KHI 22-02-2012_Layout 1 2/22/2012 3:11 AM Page 18

england avenge test whitewash

sports 19wednesday, 22 February, 2012

British cyclist Emilyecstatic about hertravel to Pakistan

LAHOREsTAff reporT

British cyclist Emily Chappell, who is ona world tour on cycle, was accorded awarm reception on her arrival in the cityon Tuesday. The officials of the Pakistan Cycling Fed-eration, President Munawar Baser ledthe welcome reception. Emily, who started her world journey inDecember last year, reached Pakistan viaTurkey and Iran and will be completingher world trip in four years. “I am elated upon reaching Pakistan andpeople here are very nice. I have notfaced any kind of problem on reachinghere. “I have come to Pakistan despite negativefeedback from different quarters. Al-though I don’t carry any special missionin the world tour but the main purpose ofthe journey is to promote peace,” shemaintained. Emil will return back to Britain aftertraveling to America, North America andSouth Africa. Later a souvenir was pre-sented to the British cyclist.

Mazzini gets BBJPipes to win

LAHOREsTAff reporT

Gerardo Mazzini got BBJ Pipes a slendermargin win on the opening day of theEnterprise Punjab Cup Polo Tournament2012 when they edged aside Nestle byhalf a goal margin here at the LahorePolo Club ground on Tuesday. Mazzani cracked five goals while AhmedAli Tiwana got one in BBJ Pipes six goalsto five and a half win over fighting Nes-tle, which also had half a goal handicap. From the losing side Shah Qubilai Alamhit in three goals while Raja Samiullahand Hamza Mawaz Khan shared onegoals each from the losing side. Umpires for the match were SimonMclaren Tosh and James Harper. Punjab Cup sees top polo players placedin various teams in action in the weeklong event which promises to producehigh quality polo for lovers of the game.Irfan Ali Hyder, President Lahore PoloClub said: “The Punjab Polo Cup isbeing held in collaboration with an up-coming and unique corporate lifestylevenue, The Enterprise, A project ofRaaziq Group.” Tariq Mehmood, Vice President RaaziqGroup said: “We are pleased to bring TheEnterprise Punjab Polo Cup 2012 to thefans and to play our role as a socially re-sponsible company.

haris, Ayub crackcenturies for Punjab

LAHOREsTAff reporT

Punjab on Tuesday extended its lead overSindh on day four for the five-day FaysalBank Pentangular Cup (First Class) 2011-12final here at the Gaddai Stdaium. Resuming its innings at 30 for no loss,Punjab went on to score 267 runs for six in74 overs. Haris Sohail and MohamamdAyub led Punjab charge by hitting cen-turies Haris made 150 runs while Ayub got123. As the wicket of Ayub fell the day wascalled off ad Muhammad Zohaib was bat-ting at 36 at the other end. Tabish Khanand Tanveer Ahmed were the Sindh’s suc-cessful bowlers who took two wicketseach. scores: Punjab 496 in 155.2 overs: (Aamir Sajjad 252, 462

balls, 32x4s, Usman Salahuddin 57, 141 balls, 5x4s, taufeeq

Umer 51, 93 balls, 7x4, Raza hasan 36, 59 balls, 4x4s, 1x6,

Danish Kaneria 6-160, Faraz Ahmed 2-116) and 2nd innings

367-6 in 74 overs:(haris Sohail 150, 140 balls, 24x4s, 3x6s,

Muhammad Ayub 123, 153 balls, 15x4s, Muhammad Zohaib

36*, 63 balls, 4x4s, taufeeq Umer 26, 44 balls, 5x4s,tabish

Khan 2-98, tanveer Ahmed 2-58) v Sindh 235 in 63.1 overs:

(Faraz Ahmed 48, 100 balls, 10x4s, Fahad Iqbal 44, 95 balls,

7x4s, Ali Asad 33*, 72 balls, 4x4s, Sarfraz Ahmed 24, 49

balls, 3x4s, Muhammad Khalil 5-73, Bilawal Bhatti 4-79)

overnight Score: Punjab 30-0 in 5.5 overs

toss: Punjab, Umpires: Shakeel Khan & Rasheed Bhatti; Ref-

eree: Musaddaq Rasool; Scorer: Najmus Saeed.

U-21 Girls National hockeyfrom April 25

LAHOREsTAff reporT

The 2ND U-21 Girls National HockeyChampionship will be played at NationalHockey Stadium, Lahore from April 25 toMay 5. The Punjab Women Hockey As-sociation will organise the event on be-half of the Pakistan Hockey FederationWomen’s Wing.An official of the Pakistan Hockey Feder-ation said that the championship willserve as a source to spot talent and alsowidens the base from where a strong andformidable side would be prepared andgroomed for the 6th Women’s JuniorAsia Cup to be played in Bangkok fromJune 29 to Jul 8.The championship will be played by twoteams each from Punjab and Sindh whileone team each from KPK, Balochistan,Islamabad, Railways, Pakistan Boards,WAPDA and Army.

Pakistan hiresIranian judo coach

ISLAMABADsTAff reporT

The Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) has ac-quired the services of Sajjad Kazemi,Iranian Judo Coach for a period of oneyear in consultation with the PakistanJudo Federation. The PSB will pay a sum of US$ 1500 permonth and economy class return airticket. The foreign coach will train thePakistan judo teams for participation in12th South Asian Games scheduled to beheld in India as well as conduct the localcoaches clinics. The coach is likely to arrive in Pakistanduring the first week of March ad thetraining camp would be established with14-male and 14-female players on arrivalof the foreign coach. Pakistan won threegold, three silver and one bronze medalsin the 11th South Asian Games held atDhaka, Bangladesh from January 29 toFebruary 9, 2010.

S PERVEz QAISER

Ricky Ponting, who led Australia totwo World Cup triumphs in 2003and 2007, retired from one-daycricket but will continue to play inTest matches.

The 37-year-old made the an-nouncement a day after he wasdropped from the squad for the on-going tri-series but said he wouldcontinue to play in Tests.

Ponting registered five consecu-tive single-digit scores for the firsttime, and his subsequent axing fromthe squad almost guarantees an endto his career in one-dayers.

Second only to Sachin Tendulkarin the number of ODI runs — in 375ODIs he has accumulated 13,704 atan average of 42.03 — Ponting saidat a press conference that he did notexpect to play one-day cricket forAustralia again.

For the majority of his career,Ponting played at No.3 and endedwith the most runs and centuries(29) at that pivotal position. Througha 16-year career, he maintained ahigh level of consistency in one-day-ers and scored over 1000 runs in acalendar year six times. Although hescored nearly 63% of his runs in thefirst innings (8630 runs with 22 cen-

turies) at an average of 42.09, he wasnot too far behind in chases scoringat an average of 41.93 with eight cen-turies. Ponting’s record of 32 man-of-the-match awards puts him thirdon the list of players with the mostmatch awards in one-day Interna-tionals.BrILIaNt WorLD CUpreCorD: Ponting reserved his bestquite often for the crucial games andnowhere was this more evident thanin the World Cup. He started his glit-tering run in World Cups with 102against West Indies in Jaipur onMarch 4, in the 1996 World Cup buthad a slightly disappointing 1999World Cup in England where hescored just one half-century. How-ever, as the 2003 World Cup inSouth Africa, he scored two centuriesin the tournament leading Australiato their second consecutive triumph.In the final at the Wanderers in Jo-hannesburg, after a sedate start tohis innings, he switched gears andput the game beyond India’s reachwith an outstanding unbeaten 140,which included a record eight sixes.Fittingly, he ended his World Cup ca-reer with another vital century (104),though Australia lost the match toIndia in Ahmedabad on March 24,2011.

LeaDING aUStraLIa to thetop: Ponting took over from SteveWaugh as Australia’s captain in One-day Internationals following Aus-tralia’s failure to qualify for thetri-series finals in 2001-02. In hisfirst series as captain, Ponting ledAustralia to a 5-1 win in SouthAfrica. After their win in the tri-se-ries at home in 2002-03, Australiaembarked on a record winning streakof 21 matches between January 2003and May 2003.

Not only did Ponting finish asthe most successful captain in ODIs(165 wins), he also became only thesecond player after Clive Lloyd tolead his team to two World Cup winsand also featured in four World Cupfinals. Under his leadership, Aus-tralia extended their dominance tothe Champions Trophy, a tourna-ment in which they had previouslystruggled.

Only Ponting and Allan Borderfinished with more than 100 wins inODIs as captains but Ponting’s winpercentage of 71.73 was far higherthan that of Allan Border (60.11).Australia’s win-loss ratio underPonting (71.47) is only matched bySouth Africa’s under Hansie Cronje,although the latter captained in 92fewer matches.

ricKY ponTing in one DAYersType m i n.o runs AVg h.s s/r 100 50 0

in Australia 154 151 12 5521 39.71 134* 79.85 14 32 10

outside Australia 221 214 27 8183 43.75 164 80.76 16 50 10

Total 375 365 39 13704 42.03 164 80.39 30 82 20

winning cause 262 254 36 10726 49.20 145 82.45 25 69 11

losing cause 96 96 2 2658 28.27 164 74.24 5 12 7

Tied matches 5 5 - 86 17.20 39 61.87 - - 1

no result 12 10 1 234 26.00 65 73.35 - 1 1

fiVe besT inningsruns min balls 4s 6s opponent Venue Date

164 154 105 13 9 south Africa Johannesburg 12-03-2006

145 189 158 18 1 zimbabwe Delhi 11-04-1998

141* 170 127 10 5 new zealand napier 05-03-2005

140* 138 121 4 8 india Johannesburg 23-03-2003

134* 198 133 10 2 new zealand hobart 20-12-2007

siX besT YeArsYear m i n.o runs AVg h.s s/r 100 50 0

2007 27 24 6 1424 79.11 134* 91.69 5 8 -

2009 29 29 1 1198 42.78 126 81.11 2 9 -

2005 29 28 2 1191 45.80 141* 84.05 3 8 2

1998 24 24 2 1166 53.00 145 76.91 3 6 -

2003 34 31 6 1154 46.16 140* 81.67 5 4 -

1999 32 32 6 1038 39.92 87* 67.44 - 5 1

Ponting carries exciting one-dayer career

DUBAI Afp

KEVIN Pietersen hit hissecond successive centuryto help a resurgent Eng-land beat Pakistan by fourwickets in the fourth and

final day-night international here on Tues-day for a 4-0 whitewash.

The 31-year-old right-hander held theinnings together during his 153-ball career-best 130 -- his ninth one-day hundred -- tohelp England chase down a 238-run targetin 49.2 overs at Dubai Stadium.

Pietersen helped England recover from68-4 with a 109-run stand for the fifthwicket with Craig Kieswetter (43) to main-tain his team's domination in the series inwhich they won the first match by 130 runs,second by 20 and the third by nine wickets.

By virtue of this win England overtookPakistan at number five and pushed theirrivals to sixth in the ICC (InternationalCricket Council) one-day rankings and par-tially made up for their 3-0 loss in the pre-ceding three-Test series. Pietersen hitJunaid Khan for a six and took a single inthe next over to reach his hundred off 136balls and finished with 12 fours and twosixes. His previous best of 116 came againstSouth Africa at Centurion in 2005.

Pietersen had lost his opening partnerAlastair Cook -- who hit back-to-back hun-dreds and 80 in the first three matches --off the second ball of the innings to pace-man Khan for four.

Jonathan Trott (15), Eoin Morgan (15)and debutant Jos Butler fell in the space of18 runs before the Pietersen-Kieswetterstand lifted them from 68-4 to 177-5.

When Kieswetter was run out, Englandstill needed 61 but Samit Patel (17 not out)in the company of Pietersen brought Eng-

land within two runs of the win whenPietersen fell to Saeed Ajmal. Tim Bresnanhit the winning boundary.

Pakistan promised more than whatthey made after half-centuries by AsadShafiq and Azhar Ali but were pegged backin the final overs with paceman Jade Dern-bach taking a career-best 4-45.

Shafiq made a 78-ball 65 for his sixthone-day fifty while Ali notched a 89-ball 58for his first to help lift Pakistan from theearly loss of opener Mohammad Hafeez(one) after they elected to bat. Skipper Mis-bah-ul Haq chipped in with a 52-ball 46which included one four and a six.

Shafiq, who hit six boundaries, repaired

the early loss during his second wicketstand of 111 with Ali but England peggedback Pakistan when Bresnan dismissedShafiq off an inside edge and debutant left-arm spinner Danny Briggs accounted forUmar Akmal, who made 12. Dernbach hadAli caught off a miscued drive by Morgan toleave Pakistan at 144-4 in the 34th over.

Pietersen carves Pakistan’s downfall pAKisTAn

mohammad hafeez c Kieswetter b Dernbach 1

Azhar Ali c morgan b Dernbach 58

Aaad shafiq b bresnan 65

umar Akmal c Dernbach b briggs 12

shoaib malik lbw b briggs 23

misbah-ul haq c Trott b Dernbach 46

shahid Afridi c bresnan b finn 9

Adnan Akmal run out 2

Abdul rehman c Trott b finn 12

saeed Ajmal b Dernbach 1

Junaid Khan not out 0

eXTrAs: (b1, lb4, w3) 8

ToTAl: 237

fall of wickets: 1-1 (hafeez), 2-112 (shafiq), 3-135 (umar), 4-

144 (Ali), 5-202 (malik), 6-215 (Afridi), 7-220 (Adnan), 8-233

(rehman), 9-237 (misbah).

bowling: finn 10-0-42-2, Dernbach 10-0-45-4, bresnan 9-

0-47-1, briggs 10-0-39-2 (w1), pietersen 1-0-4-0 (w1), patel

10-0-55-0 (w1)

overs: 50

englAnD

A. cook lbw b Khan 4

K. pietersen c rehman b Ajmal 130

J. Trott c hafeez b rehman 15

e. morgan lbw b Ajmal 15

J. butler c Ali b Ajmal 0

c. Kieswetter run out 43

s. patel not out 17

T. bresnan not out 4

eXTrAs: (lb3, w10) 13

ToTAl: (for six wickets) 241

fall of wickets: 1-4 (cook), 2-50 (Trott), 3-68 (morgan), 4-68

(butler), 5-177 (Kieswetter), 6-236 (pietersen).

bowling: Khan 9.2-0-53-1 (w2), rehman 10-0-31-1, Ajmal 10-

0-62-3 (w7), Afridi 10-0-54-0 (w1), hafeez 10-0-38-0

overs: 49.2

result: england won by four wickets to take series 4-0.

Toss: pakistan

umpires: Kumara Dharmasena (sri) and zameer haider

(pAK)

Tv umpire: simon Taufel (Aus)

match referee: Jeff crowe (nzl).

scoreboArD

KHI 22-02-2012_Layout 1 2/22/2012 3:11 AM Page 19

sports20wednesday, 22 February, 2012

Golden Eagles beatokara in SeniorVeteran Cricket

LAHOREsTAff reporT

Golden Eagles Lahore beat Okara Veteranby 4 wickets in the 14th National SeniorVeteran Cricket Cup match played atGymkhana Ground Okara. Okara Veteran batting first 210/8 after 30overs. Adnan Amjad 64, Shahid 37,Muhammad Hafeez 26 & Amer Toseef 18runs not out. Naveed Sufi 3/33, AhmadShohab 2/32, Khawaja Basharat 1/29, AsifMehmood 1/38 & Muhammad Zahid 1/30wickets. In reply Golden Eagles 211/6 after30 overs. Ali Rafi 61, Karamat Ali 49,Muhammad Zahid 20 & MuhammadZubair 34 runs not out. Ejaz 1/8, AmerToseef 1/36, Muhammad Hafeez 1/18 &Faraz Ali 1/65 wickets.In the second match Gujrat Veteran beatGray Veterans. Gujrat made 168/8 in 30overs. Mateen Meer 50, Aziz Baig 24 &Nisar Ahmad 53 runs not out. Ejaz Ali4/21, Jaleel Ahmad 3/36, Rana Hassan2/30 & Nadeem Shahid 1/32 wickets. Inreply Grays veteran 157 all out 29.5 overs.Ejaz Ali 40, Imran Khan 25, MuhammadAzeem 19 & Gulzar Ahmad 17 runs.Muhammad Shahid 3/14, Baidar Bakht3/39, Shahid Ali 2/17, Sagheer Ahmad1/35 & Muhammad Ilyas 1/22 wickets.Tassadaq Jamal, Ansar Mehmood umpire& Abdul Hameed was the scorer.

Punjab badmintonforms women wing

LAHOREsTAff reporT

The Punjab Badminton Association has de-cided to form associations at district levelto lift the sport at the grass root level. Anexecutive committee meeting of PunjabBadminton Association was held hereunder the chairmanship of Shahraiz Ab-dullah Khan Rokhri, President PunjabBadminton Association. All the DistrictBadminton Association were asked to com-plete the necessary documents. Mean-while, the meeting also decided to form awomen wing of Punjab Badminton andMrs Zeenat Aamer Hayyat Khan Rokhriwas nominated as executive member of theassociation and president of women wingof Punjab. They also announced the hold-ing of the Aamer Hayyat Khan RokhriRanking Badminton Tournament in thelast week March at Lahore, which will beparticipated by all the affiliated units of thePakistan Badminton Federation.

Book launchingLAHORE

sTAff reporT

The formal launching of Pakistan's acetennis star Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi willbe held on February 22 at Karachi. The book titled "Lesson Learnt From theTennis Tour" will be launched at a cere-mony at the Indus Valley School inClifton Karachi at 4 PM.

Klitschko eager to 'punish' Chisora in the ringBERLIn

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World heavyweight champion Vitali Kl-itschko wants to grant Dereck Chisora a re-match to 'punish' the British fighter for hisbrawl in Munich with David Haye, but hismanager has blocked the idea.

Klitschko defended his WBC heavy-weight title on Saturday night with a unani-mous win over Chisora, but in the post-fightpress conference, the Brit traded blows andinsults with compatriot and former cham-pion David Haye. Both Chisora, 28, andHaye, 31, are under investigation by Germanpolice, who have said the pair could bothface prison sentences or fines. Pending thepolice investigation, Chisora has had part ofhis fight purse withheld.

Having seen Chisora leave the pressconference stage to confront Haye, who wasworking at the fight as a pundit, Klitschko

was shocked to hear the pair trade insultsand blows with Chisora shouting that hewanted to "shoot" Haye.

After Chisora slapped him in the face atthe pre-fight weigh-in, then spat water in theface of his brother Wladimir just before thetitle bout, Vitali Klitschko has said he is ap-palled by Chisora's behaviour.

"In spirit, I have no need for revenge,but my ego tells me that this man deservesreal punishment. I want to knock him out inthe ring," the Ukrainian champion told Ger-man daily Die Welt. Klitschko, 40, damagedhis left shoulder in the fight and will take upto eight weeks off, but his managementmoved quickly on Tuesday to pour coldwater on any rematch plans.

"A rematch is absolutely inconceivableand won't happen," Klitschko's managerBernd Boente told SID, an AFP subsidiary.

"Of course, Vitali has been affected emo-tionally, but a fight is not up for discussion

and we will not offer Chisora a further plat-form." Boente pointed to Chisora's hearingbefore the British Boxing Board of Controlhearing in London on March 14 -- when hecould face a life ban -- as well as Klitschko'sshoulder injury. "The hearing takes place inLondon next month when he (Chisora) willbe banned for between nine to 12 months,"said Boente. "In addition, he will fall out ofthe WBC's top 15 rankings and will have tofight his way back up.

"Vitali now needs six to seven weeks oftreatment and rehabilitation in Hamburgand Kiev. Then we'll see."

Chisora also faces being unable to fighthere as Thomas Puetz, the president of Ger-many's Professional Boxers (BdB) Federa-tion, has said he wants to see the Britbanned and on Sunday he branded Chisoraa 'public menace'.

Both Chisora and Haye issued apologieson Monday, but the fall-out from their well-

documented brawl is likely to last sometime. Chisora was detained and questionedby Munich police on Sunday before being re-leased while Haye flew back to Britain beforepolice could speak to him. Klitschko saysChisora has tarnish boxing and he was a be-mused by-stander as events unfolded.

"I saw it all from the stage, I thought Iwas in some kind of film," said Klitschko.

"Sooner or later in life a man gets hisjust punishment. "You can't behave like thatas an athlete or as a normal person.

"This was lower than low, I thought itwas a play act and just for show, but thenI realised that it wasn't. "He must be sickin the head, when you think of all he hasdone.

"The slap in the face, he spat atWladimir in the ring, then he fought at thepress conference and threatened to shootsomeone. "How can anyone behave likethat? It's unbelievable, I can't believe it.

DUBAIAfp

FORMER world numberone Jelena Jankovic hereon Monday made it clearthat she has not given uphope of regaining her for-

mer status after making a winningstart in the city of her adopted home.The extrovert Serbian overcame PetraCetkovska, the Paris-based Czech, 6-2, 6-2 to reach the second round ofthe WTA Dubai Open, where she oncereached the final. Jankovic was ingood form both on and off the court,hitting ground strokes with goodrhythm despite the cold conditions,describing her injury problems insome detail, and not missing an op-portunity for humour. "I don't knowwhat's happened to the weatherhere," she said. "I love it here. But itwas very cold and it was windy outthere, and it's been a bit crazy with thedust too. "I have been eating kilos ofdust when I've been training. It's notthe same as some of the desserts!"

Jankovic also moved fairly well,which was a little surprising since shesuffered an injury at the Fed Cup twoweeks ago which required heavybandaging to her left thigh. "I had afive point five centimetre tear in the

muscle, and now it's only a centime-tre," she claimed. "So that's good."

Getting fully fit and remaining sois the key to her climbing from hercurrent world ranking of 14 to chal-lenge for the top spot again, she ac-knowledged with some force. "I wish,"she said. "It's my biggest wish. Butsometimes there are things you can'tcontrol." How far she has controlledher latest ailment, and how likely sheis to reach her allotted seeding placein the quarter-finals may be testedmore rigorously by her next oppo-nent, Flavia Pennetta.

The Italian won 6-3, 6-3 againstAnabel Medina Garrigues of Spain,perhaps buoyed by the memory of her

conquest here last year of VictoriaAzarenka, now the world number one.Earlier Wimbledon champion PetraKvitova's hope of challenging for theworld number one spot took anotherblow when she was forced to retirefrom her second tournament in a row.The fierce-hitting left-hander from theCzech republic decided that she hadnot recovered sufficiently from a virusto take her place in the draw as secondseed. Kvitova also withdrew from lastweek's Qatar Open in Doha. It meansthat there will be a delay in the nextepisode in her rivalry with Azarenka,whom she has beaten in their last fourmeetings, and had been seeded tomeet in Saturday's final.

peer pulls off anotherdiplomatic coupDUBaI: Shahar Peer, the first Israeli female athleteto compete in the United Arab Emirates, is makinganother piece of diplomatic history here this week.Peer caused a political tremor two years ago when,after much wrangling and fiercely strict securityarrangements, she was eventually allowed to enterthe Dubai Open. Her admission was preceded by aconvoluted refusal to grant her a UAE visa in 2009;this year, by stunning contrast, Peer has actuallybeen invited to take part in the tournament. Theoffer indicates that her courage, persistence and in-spirational on-court efforts, have become regarded asvaluable pioneering ingredients in Arab-Israeli rela-tions. The invite came through a wild card entry, aWomen's Tennis Association (WTA) regulationwhich permits tournaments to seek competitors whoare unable to gain automatic acceptance through ahigh world ranking. "I think it's an amazing ges-ture," Peer said. "It's not something that you justthink is going to come naturally. So it's an overcome[sic] for them and I really appreciate it," she added,meaning that there were obstacles to overcome be-fore the decision could be made. Amongst them arethe organisation of living, changing and dining facili-ties separate from other players, a designated andprotected outside court for all Peer's matches, body-guards, and, in the past at least, snipers hidden instrategic locations. Afp

MoNtMElÓ: Mclaren Mercedes' British driver lewis hamilton

drives during a training session at Catalunya's Racetrack. AFP

Jankovic vows to get back on top

KHI 22-02-2012_Layout 1 2/22/2012 3:11 AM Page 20

sports 21wednesday, 22 February, 2012

watch it Live

ESPNWestern Australia v New South Wales08:43

Dodig, Young advance at Memphis tennisMEMPHIS

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Croatia's Ivan Dodig and American Don-ald Young both had solids starts at theRegions Morgan Keegan Championshipsby winning their first round matches onMonday.

Dodig hammered 19 aces as he ral-lied to beat eighth-seeded BernardTomic of Australia 5-7, 6-4, 7-6 (10-8) atthe $1.1 million men's and women'sevent at the Racquet Club of Memphis.

Young needed two hours and 23minutes to defeat Bulgaria's Grigor Dim-itrov 7-6 (7/4), 4-6, 7-6 (8/6). The 22-year-old Young won despite finishingwith just one ace and seven doublefaults. Dimitrov had six aces and won 67percent of his first serve points but com-mitted six double faults in a sloppilyplayed match. Young will next play the

winner of a contest between top-seededAmerican John Isner and Gilles Mullerof Luxembourg.

Dodig will face either Denis Istomin

or Jurgen Melzer. Istomin reached thefinal of the San Jose Open last week.

No. 2 seed Andy Roddick is chasinghis fourth title at the event. He beat

Canada's Milos Raonic in last year's final7-6 (9/7), 6-7 (11/13), 7-5.

Raonic will be seeking his secondtitle in as many weeks after winning inSan Jose on Sunday.

Fourth seeded Raonic, who wasnamed the ATP Tour's Newcomer of theYear, is also trying to win his third titleof 2012. He opened his season by cap-turing the Chennai crown in New Delhi,India.

Raonic faces Ernests Gulbis of Latviain his first round match.

On the women's side, third seededCzech Lucie Hradecka dominated AnnaTatishvili 6-3, 6-1 and fourth seeded Ma-rina Erakovic of New Zealand came frombehind to beat Sloane Stephens of theUS 4-6, 6-0, 6-1 in first round matches.

Former champions of this event in-clude Bjorn Borg, Jimmy Connors andAndre Agassi.

lahore wheel Chair Marathon on March 18Lahore: The Lahore Wheel ChairMarathon which was scheduled to beheld on March 11 will now be held onMarch 18. The Punjab Olympic Association in col-laboration with Punjab Paralympics As-sociation is organizing marathon thatwill start from Liberty Round About at10 am towards Main Market where themarathon will return back to LibertyRound About the finish point. Khawaja Idris Haider, secretary PbOA,said that a handsome cash prize will beawarded to the first three position hold-ers of the marathon. He also hoped thatChief Minister Punjab will be the chiefguest of the occasion and give away theprizes to the winners.Last date of entry in the race is March 1and entry will not be entertained afterthe given date, he added.He further said that the participants willbe provided boarding and lodging forone night who must reach Lahore onMarch 17 evening. sTAff reporT

PFF names U-14camp trainees ISLaMaBaD: The Pakistan FootballFederation has called Pakistan’s 37 U-14football players for a camp trainingstarting at the in Jinnah Sports Com-plex, Islamabad from February 22. The players will prepare for participa-tion in the AFC U-14 Football Festival tobe held at Jinnah Sports Stadium in Is-lamabad from April 3 to 17.The probables of the training camp are:AID 27 Karachi Zone B: Shoaib, Usma,Adnan Ashraf, Faisal Hussain, Safir,AID 27 Karachi Zone A: Junaid Ahmed,Sindh: Nasir, Salman, Zain-ul-A biden,Saeed Babar, Munir, Shahzeb, JunaidJaved, Karam Hussain, AID 27 QuettaZone: Hafeez, Shakeel Ahmed, MajeedKhan, Faraiz, AID 27 Faislabad/Sar-godha Zone:Shahbaz, Ishtiaq Mushtaq,Shoaib Nisar, Shanoo, IFA: Luqman,Shehryar Malik, Hussain Mehmood,AID 27 Lahore Zone: Rashid Khan,Abdul Qadir Khan, Zohaib, AID 27 Pe-shawar Zone: Owais, AID 27 ChamanZone: Wali Khan, Gilgit: Waqar, KPK:Danish, Punjab: Ali Raza, Yamin,Muhammad Yasin, Farrukh, Usman.The officials of training camp are Has-san Baloch (Coach), Najeeb Ullah Najmi(Assistant Coach), Zahid Taj (Goal-keeper Coach) and Dr. Kamran Mehdi(Physio). sTAff reporT

University of Central Punjab win

LAHOREsTAff reporT

University of Central Punjab won the AllPakistan Intervarsity Basketball Champi-onship 2010-11 held at Hameedi Hallunder the aegis of N.U.S.T University Is-lamabad. UCP defeated University of La-hore with 61 points. University of Lahoregot 49 points. University of Central Pun-jab Players Waqas, Zohair, Naveed, Aqib,Asar and Rameez played exceptionallywell. Prof. Sohail Afzal, Executive Direc-tor, Punjab Group of Colleges congratu-lated the team players and gave them cashprizes. He also appreciated DirectorSports, Mr. Arshad Sattar and Coach Mr.Muzmmal Mahmood on this achievement.

Sports Festival fourthphase from 22nd

LAHOREsTAff reporT

The Punjab Sports Festival 2012 hasnow moved into its fourth phase ofInter-district level competitions.The 13 events including cricket, hockey,basketball, volleyball, karate, weightlift-ing, taekwondo, football, kabaddi,wrestling, badminton and athletics aregoing to start from February 22 to 25throughout the province. The cash prizeof Rs 24,73,000 will be distributedamong the winning teams while the par-ticipants will be the general public,male, female school, colleges and uni-versities. The grand opening of the divi-sional level competitions of this megaevent will be held on February 28 forwhich the rehearsal is going to startfrom February 25 at the NationalHockey Stadium here.

open National Rankingtennis from 27th

LAHOREsTAff reporT

The 24th Chenab Club Open NationalRanking Tennis Tournament will startat Chenab Club Faisalabad from Febru-ary 27 to March 4. Secretary PunjabLawn Tennis Association K Bakhashsaid that this national level event will becontested in men singles, doubles, uder-14, under-18, ladies, eterans doubles 45and 55 age categories. He further statedthat the event is being held under theauspices of the PLTA and it will be fol-lowed by another three national leveltournaments at Lahore, Rehim YarKhan and Bahawalpur. He said that last date of entry in Faisal-abad event is February 26.

Records expected to fallat new Olympic track

LOnDOnAfp

TRACK cycling could be setfor an Olympic boostwhen a host of worldrecords are expected tofall at London's new state

of the art velodrome.After four days of racing at the

final World Cup event of the season,an official Olympic test event, onlytwo world records were set in Lon-don's east end last weekend.

Yet that number is expected to in-crease significantly as intense rivalryand the 'curing' of the wooden boardscovering the largely oval 250-metretrack come into play this August.

On Friday Anna Meares andKaarle McCulloch set a new worldmark of 32.828sec in the two-lapteam sprint, a time beaten in the finalby Great Britain's Victoria Pendletonand Jess Varnish, who clocked32.754.

In another women's event, the12-lap team pursuit, it was more ofthe same.

After Australia's three-womenteam had set a new record of3:19.164, Britain went onto win the final in anew time of3:18.148.

The Inter-national Cy-cling Union(UCI) sanc-tions worldrecords in atotal of 12track events,eight of whichare on theOlympic pro-gramme. Arguably themost coveted record to hold inOlympic track is in the team pursuit.

On Sunday, the Australian quartetof Jack Bobridge, Rohan Dennis,Alexander Edmondson and MichaelHepburn scorched to 3:54 -- thethird-fastest time recorded for the4km event -- to beat Britain, andthreaten the world record of 3:53.314

the Brits set on their way to Olympicgold in Beijing four years ago.

Experts estimate that teams willhave to clock around 3:50 to winOlympic gold in the 4km men's event.

Bobridge, the world record holderin the non-Olympic event of the indi-vidual pursuit (4:10.532), says that isa near certainty.

"It's only a new track, and forthe track to be that fastalready, with itbeing so new, isa good signof things toc o m e , "B o -b r i d g et o l dAFP.

" G i v eit another

six monthsfor the boards

to cure and a bitmore racing on it, and

come the Games there willbe pretty good times for sure."

For American pursuit specialist SarahHammer the London velodrome isparticularly kind to pursuiters.

"Obviously it's very round, a goodpursuiters track... one you can keepfull gas on all the way around," saidHammer, who hopes the reputation ofthe women's team pursuit event ben-efits in London.

"We're a new event, it's thrillingthat we get to do it as women. I wouldexpect and hope we have the samehigh achievement for the times."

Specialists in the speed eventsmeanwhile were happy with thechance to test their tactics on thesteep banking and home straights ofthe velodrome -- made from 56km of

sustainably-sourced Siberianpine and some 350,000

nails.Jason Kenny isbattling British

teammate SirChris Hoy forthe soles p r i n t e r ' sspot avail-

able in theevent at the

Games, and said:"A lot of tracks we've

been racing on havequite longer (home)

straights, and whenyou're in a matchsprint and leadingout and trying toovertake someone itdoes change the char-

acteristics of the raceand you just have to

race accordingly."It's just a learning

curve really. It's been reallygood to get on the track and expe-

rience some fast racing ahead of theOlympics." Kenny was recentlyawarded the sprint world title afterFrance's Gregory Bauge was strippedof the rainbow jersey for a doping rulemisdemeanour.

In London both riders are sure torepresent their respective countries inthe team sprint, an event in whichBritain are Olympic champions andFrance are world champions.

"It's a nice track," Bauge told AFPafter his team took silver behind Ger-many on Saturday.

"It feels really good to ride onand with the atmosphere and theheat, plus a little medal motivationfrom us, I think we can go muchfaster in London."

Semis line-up decided in National Ranking TennisKARAcHI

sTAff reporT

Aqeel Khan, Nomi Qamer, Yasir Khanand Jilal Khan hae moved to the semi-final of the I.C Trophy National Rank-ing Tenis Tournament being playedhere at the Karachi Gymkhana courts.

Apart from Nomi, all the top threeseeded played won their matches instraight sets while Nomi after losingthe first set bonced back to win thethree-set match against Abid Mushtaq.

In the ladies singles, Saba Aziz,Maheen Dada, Iman Qureshi and SaraMansoor completed the semi-finalsline-up.

reSULtS: Mens singles quarterfinals: Aqeel Khan beat Zuhair Raza6-0,6-0, Nomi Qamer beat AbidMushtaq 2-6,6-4,7-5, Yasir Khan beatKhurram Nazir 6-2,6-4, Jalil beatUsman Rafiq 6-2, 6-3

Ladies singles quarters: Saba Azizbeat Hajra 6-0, 6-0, Maheen Dadabeat Wania Khan 6-0. 6-1, Iman

Qureshi beat Urooj Iltifat 6-0, 6-0,Sara Mansoor beat Rubina Masum 4-0 rtd

Under 18 quarters: ,Adil Koharibeat Malik Hamza 6-4, 6-1, TalhaZubair beat Haseeb Yaqoob 6-4, 1-6,7-5, Go Mazher beat Saad Noor 7-5, 6-2

Under 14 quarters: Nafil kalimbeat marib malik 6-1,6-0, JalaluddinBaber beat Shahzil 6-1, 6-4, DawerRehan w/o Hasan Farooq, M. Razabeat nazif 7-5,5-1 rtd.

KHI 22-02-2012_Layout 1 2/22/2012 3:11 AM Page 21

wednesday, 22 February, 2012 22

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

cAnBERRA/KAnDAHAR reuTers

Afghan President Hamid Karzai said hisgovernment talks to the Taliban every daythrough intermediaries, according to an in-terview by Australia’s SBS television forbroadcast on Tuesday.

“We talk to the Taliban every day. Wewere talking to them just a few days agosomewhere around this region,” Karzai saidin an interview taped a week ago in Kabulwith SBS, adding his contact with thegroup’s one-eyed leader Mullah Omar wasthrough indirect means.

“(But) not personally,” Karzai saidwhen asked if he had spoken with Omar. “Imean not directly, person to person. Butthrough intermediaries, yes.” Karzai andmany Western analysts say the reclusiveleader is based in Quetta.

Karzai also stressed that peace talkswith the Taliban are key to regional stabilityand bringing peace as well to Pakistan.

“It’s no longer Afghanistan that’s the sub-

ject of conversation, or the issue. It’s Pakistanas well. It’s peace in Pakistan as well. It’s stabil-ity in Pakistan as well,” he said. The interviewwas recorded before Karzai’s visit to Islam-abad last week, where he upset Pakistan byasking for access to Afghan Taliban leadersbelonging to the so-called Quetta Shura.

Karzai said he was also keen to work to-gether with Islamabad to help advancepeace talks with the Taliban. “We as theAfghan people and government are willingto help Pakistan work for peace inAfghanistan and work for peace in Pakistan,together,” Karzai said, adding thatAfghanistan was making progress on secu-rity in the eleventh year of a costly war, localand foreign support for which is souring.

He said the Taliban would not return topower in a total capacity. “I don’t think theTaliban will ever come back to takeAfghanistan, no,” he said. “Two years ago Iwould have been uncertain and unwilling togive you an answer as firm as I do today.The Afghan people will not go back to thenothing of 10 years ago.”

Meanwhile, a group of Afghan officialsfrom Kandahar has left Afghanistan forQuetta to meet Taliban commanders thereand discuss peace efforts, the head of theprovincial peace council said on Tuesday.

“We have been in contact with mid-level Taliban commanders in Quetta forsome time. In the last 10 days, our peacecouncil delegation have gone to Quettathree times in twos and threes,” Kandaharpeace council head Ata Mohammad Ah-madi told Reuters.

ISLAMABAD mAsooD rehmAn

The Supreme Court will exhibit today(Wednesday) the documentary evidence sub-mitted by Attorney General Maulvi AnwarulHaq, being a prosecutor, to establish thatPrime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani committedcontempt by flouting the court orders passedin the National Reconciliation Ordinance(NRO) case’ judgement and afterwards.

A seven-member special bench headed byJustice Nasirul Mulk and comprising JusticeAsif Saeed Khosa, Justice Sarmad Jalal Os-many, Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan, Justice IjazAhmed Chaudhry, Justice Gulzar Ahmed andJustice Muhammad Ather Saeed, will examinethe authenticity of the documentary evidencein the open court. The attorney general and adeputy attorney general will appear before thebench on notice.

Earlier on February 13, the Supreme Courthad indicted the prime minister for contemptof court, after he had pleaded not guilty to thecharge. In its charge sheet against Gilani, thecourt had declared that the prime ministerhad willfully flouted, disregarded and dis-obeyed the Supreme Court orders, passed inthe NRO case, for writing a letter to the foreignauthorities to revive money laundering casesagainst President Asif Ali Zardari.

On February 16, the attorney general, whois acting as prosecutor, had submitted in theSupreme Court a 469-page documentary evi-dence to prove that Gilani had committed con-

tempt by flouting the court’s December 16,2009 judgement and its consequent orders inthe NRO case.

The documentary evidence contained 43documents/points to establish that Gilani hadrepeatedly flouted the court orders and com-mitted contempt. All the courts’ orders passedin the NRO judgement and later in the NROimplementation case were also submitted inthe documentary evidences. However, no ex-clusive document had been submitted.

Barrister Aitzaz Ahsen, counsel for Gi-lani, is likely to file the documents from thedefence side today and a list of witnessesalong with their statements in the case onFebruary 27 and the court will regularly hearthe case on February 28.

According to attorney general, there wasno need to mention or produce witnesses inthe apex court, as the evidence itself had thestatus of witnesses. He opined that a witnesswas not usually required when the case wasof a civil nature. He said the proceedings ofthe NRO case were of civil in nature, but thecourt had directed him to act as a prosecutorunder Order 27, Rule 7, of the Supreme CourtRules, 1980, which was applicable in criminalcontempt of court.

He explained that under Order 27, Rules7, the law comes into action when the courtor judges are ridiculed or proceedings areblocked intentionally. The attorney generalis likely to contend before the bench todaythat his appointing to work as prosecutorwas not applicable.

BAgRAMAfp

Protesters hurling petrol bombs andfiring slingshots besieged the largestUS-run military base in Afghanistanon Tuesday, furious over reports thatNATO troops burned copies of theHoly Quran.

The enraged crowd shouted “Deathto Americans” and “Death to infidels”as guards at Bagram airbase, north ofKabul, responded by firing rubber bul-lets from a watchtower, said an AFPphotographer, who was hit in the neck.

Hundreds of other peopleprotested in the Afghan capital as secu-rity forces dispatched reinforcementsin a bid to stop the demonstrationsfrom spiralling out of control in thefiercely conservative Islamic country.The US commander in Afghanistan,General John Allen, apologised and or-dered an investigation into a reportthat troops “improperly disposed of alarge number of Islamic religious ma-terials which included Qurans”. “I offermy sincere apologies for any offencethis may have caused, to the presidentof Afghanistan, the government of theIslamic Republic of Afghanistan, andmost importantly, to the noble people

of Afghanistan,” he said.He did not mention how the reli-

gious materials had been disposed of,but an AFP photographer was shownpartly-burnt copies of the Quran said tohave been saved from destruction byAfghan workers within the base. Allen’sremarkably candid statement, appar-ently aimed at damage limitation aftersimilar incidents led to violence and at-tacks on foreigners, was played repeat-edly on Afghan television.

Allegations that NATO troops atBagram had set fire to copies of theholy book were first reported byAfghans working at the base, a seniorgovernment official said.

A local police official said morethan 2,000 people were demonstratingoutside the sprawling US-run Bagrambase at one stage. The AFP photogra-pher saw at least seven protesters hit byrubber bullets, some of them bleeding.

Sediq Sediqqi, an Afghan InteriorMinistry spokesman, said Afghan se-curity forces brought the demonstra-tion under control and that by lateafternoon it was over. He said oneyoung protester had been wounded,but had no further details. Anotherprotest by about 500 people thatbroke out in the Pul-e-charkhi district

of Kabul not far from major NATObases on the Jalalabad road, was alsoover, police spokesman Ashamat Es-tanakzai told AFP.

Last April, 10 people were killedand dozens of others were injuredduring days of unrest unleashed bythe burning of a Holy Quran by Amer-ican pastor Terry Jones in Florida.

Allen’s statement reflected con-cern over the impact of the latest inci-dent in the country, where US troopshave been fighting against a Talibaninsurgency for more than 10 years andsupporting President Hamid Karzai’sgovernment.

“I have ordered an investigationinto a report I received during the nightthat ISAF personnel at Bagram Airbaseimproperly disposed of a large numberof Islamic religious materials which in-cluded Qurans,” he said.

“When we learned of these actions,we immediately intervened andstopped them. The materials recoveredwill be properly handled by appropriatereligious authorities. We are thor-oughly investigating the incident andwe are taking steps to ensure this doesnot ever happen again. I assure you —I promise you — this was NOT inten-tional in any way.”

Karzai speaks to Taliban every day: report

ISLAMABAD/WASHIngTOnsTAff reporT/Afp

Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani onTuesday assured Afghan PresidentHamid Karzai that Pakistan wouldwholeheartedly support peace process inAfghanistan, which was Afghan-ownedand Afghan-led.“The Afghan president telephoned PrimeMinister Gilani and thanked him for thehospitality extended to him during hisrecent visit to Pakistan in connection withthe trilateral meeting,” a statement by thePrime Minister’s House said.The Afghan president also expressedgratitude for the bilateral and trilateralmeetings in Islamabad.

g Afghan officials say to meet Taliban in PakistanPakistan supports Afghan-owned,Afghan-led peace process: Gilani

SC to exhibit documentary evidencein PM contempt case today

Afghans protest Holy Quranburning by NATO troops

ISLaMaBaD: A second batch of two modified P3Caircraft was inducted into the Pakistan Navy Fleet at NavalAviation Base in Karachi on Tuesday. A Pakistan Navystatement said the aircraft modified with latestavionics/sensors were part of US assistance being providedto Pakistan Navy under FMF (Foreign Military Funding)programme. Pakistan Navy is to receive a total of six suchaircraft from US in batches of two each. The first batch wasinducted into Pakistan Navy in 2010. “The aircraft hasextended surveillance capability which will help Pakistan

Navy maintain requisite vigil in our vital area of interestingNorth Arabian Sea. The area regarded as an importanttrade and energy corridor for the global economy, is hometo intense maritime activity both legal and illegal and thuswarrants continuous guard,” the statement said. Speakingat the induction ceremony, Chief Guest Vice Admiral MZakaullah welcomed the addition of P3C aircraft whichwould significantly add to the combat potential of PakistanNavy Fleet. The ceremony was attended by a large numberof serving and retired Pakistan Navy personnel. STAFF REPORT

navy gets twO mOdified p3c aircraft

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