PAGE | 04 PAGE | 04

Global famine if India,Pakistan unleashnukes: study

SC should not insist onwriting letter, shouldacquit PM, says Aitzaz

Ponting answers critics with run landmark

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Lahore edition Wednesday, 25 april, 2012 Jamadi-ul-Sani 3, 1433Rs 15.00 Vol ii no 298 22 pages

ISLAMABADMaSOOd rEhMan

THe Supreme Court on Tuesday re-served its verdict in the contempt ofcourt proceedings against PrimeMinister Yousaf Raza Gilani untilThursday (tomorrow) and directed

him to personally appear before it tomorrowto hear the verdict.

A seven-member special bench of JusticeNasirul Mulk, Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa,Justice Sarmad Jalal Osmany, Justice ejazAfzal Khan, Justice Ijaz Ahmed Chaudhry,Justice Gulzar Ahmed and Justice Muham-mad Ather Saeed, after hearing prosecutor At-torney General Irfan Qadir and PM’s counselAitzaz Ahsan, reserved its verdict.

The court fixed April 26 to announce theverdict and also summoned the prime minis-ter in person. In his arguments, Irfan Qadircontended before the court that no law ad-dressing the contempt of court existed in thecountry. “No sentence can be announcedunder the existing contempt ordinance 2003as it was not adopted by parliament,” IrfanQadir contented. He said contempt of courtordinance was promulgated in July 2003 andexpired in December 2003.

Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa, however,reminded Irfan Qadir that under the same or-dinance, the court had given several judgments.Justice Sarmad Jalal Osmany asked the prose-cutor as to whether those judgments, givenunder the contempt ordinance, were wrong.Irfan Qadir, however, stated that the court was

assisted wrongly in those judgments.Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa also ob-

served that even if there was no law available,Article 204 was there. He said the Contemptof Court Ordinance 2003 was given protectionunder Article 270. Qadir, however, asked thecourt to show restrain and save the institu-tions from collision.

About the court’s 2010 verdict in the NROimplementation case, he said the court an-nounced its 300-page ruling against 8,000people without hearing them, whereas it putforward only few paras for implementation.

Justice Nasirul Mulk then observed that ifthere were just a few paras, why had the gov-ernment claimed implementing most of theverdict. The prosecutor then said the courtwas misguided. He said the government madefalse claims to this effect and the court’s ver-dict was not implemented.

“I will point out the sectors where the ver-dict was not implemented,” he stated, addingthat conflict among the institutions wasagainst the national interest and avoiding suchconflicts was his responsibility. He suggestedthe court to avoid hearing political cases.

Qadir said such matters should be takenin their actual context and not emotionally.The AG said it was the prosecution’s duty toensure that no one innocent was penalised.During the hearing, he contended that a sec-tion of the media was misreporting details ofthe case and was creating misunderstandingsbetween the government and the judiciary.

PM’s contempt verdict tomorrowg SC asks Gilani to make personal appearance in court tohear the verdict g AG asks bench to show restraint, saysno evidence found of pM committing contempt of court

LahOrE: a security personnel inspects the scene of a bombing at the Lahore railway Station on Tuesday. STAff phoTo

LAHOREShafiq Sharif

Two people were killed and 58 othersinjured when a bomb exploded at theLahore Railway Station on Tuesday,police officials and rescue workers said.

However, other reports claimedthat the explosion resulted in injuries to70 people, including men and women.

The banned Lashkar-e-Balochistanclaimed responsibility for the attackand its spokesman Long Khan Balochsaid the attack was in retaliation todead bodies being dumped acrossBalochistan, targeted killing of Balochelders and torching of Baloch womenin Dera Bugti, Online reported.

The organization warned that if thetrend of targeting Baloch citizens con-

tinued, their next target would beRawalpindi and Islamabad.

Those killed in the railway stationblast were identified as Railways Policeconstable Idrees and a porter namedMuhammad Boota.

The explosion occurred at around6:39pm when Boota and other porterswere hauling the luggage of a passen-ger. As he approached the office ofBusiness Train located at platformnumber 2, the explosives packed in abag exploded, killing Boota instantly.Constable Idrees, who was standingclose by, also sustained multiple in-juries and was killed on the spot. Zafar,the owner of a canteen who receivedminor injuries, told Pakistan Today

g Two killed in LahoreRailway Station blast

g Banned Lashkar-e-Balochistan claimsresponsibility

g Around 17 CCTVcameras, scannersinstalled at stationwere out of order Continued on page 04Continued on page 04

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02Wednesday, 25 April, 2012

News

Today’s

LookQuick

LAHoRE

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nEWS

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CARToon

Page 13

The trend that has no end india, Pakistan talks ‘very positive’ and ‘encouraging’: Ban Ki-moon

SHC stays ECP’s verdict against

Wahida Shah, cancels by-polls in PS 53HYDERABAD: The Sindh High Court Hyderabad Bench onTuesday set aside The election Commission of Pakistan’s decisionof disqualifying PPP candidate Waheeda Shah, who won by-election from PS-53 Tando Muhammad Khan constituency. Atwo-member SHC bench of Justice Aqil Abbasin and Justice NisarSheikh heard a petition moved by Wahida, who had beendisqualified by the eCP for two years for torturing a pollingoffice. The eCP had also announced by-poll in PS-53 on May 26.During the hearing Wahida’s counsel Haider Imam Rizviappeared before the court and gave arguments against the eCPdecision. Upon this, the court issued notice to the eCP and otherpersons concerned to appear before the court on May 15 and alsoordered the cancellation of by-polls in the constituency. inP

Shahbaz complains to PM about

excessive load shedding LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif on Tuesdaytelephoned Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and expressedconcern over excessive load shedding in Punjab. He also demandedthe prime minister implement the recommendations of the energyConference held in Lahore recently. Shahbaz expressed his concernthat the people of Punjab had been facing acute difficulties due toprolonged and unscheduled power outages, adding that the entireindustry had collapsed and the businessmen community was facinglosses of millions of rupees. OnLinE

Shumaila Rana rejoins

Punjab AssemblyISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader ShumailaRana, who was allegedly involved in a credit card scandal, hasrejoined the Punjab Provincial Assembly on a reserved seat. She hadto resign from the provincial assembly seat in 2009, when one of herfemale friends accused her of stealing and using her credit card. OnTuesday, the election Commission of Pakistan declared Shumaila asa returned candidate on a seat reserved for provincial assembly ofPunjab. A senior official of the eCP told Pakistan Today thatShumaila had resigned from her seat in 2009 after the credit cardscandal. Later, a court had cleared her of the charges. Meanwhile,the eCP also declared PML-N candidates Shaheen Shafiq and SeemaMohiuddin Jameeli returned candidates on seats reserved forwomen in the National Assembly. These two seats were vacated byMamoona Hashmi and Nuzhat Amir Sadiq. STaff rEPOrT

Ready to face trial in drug

scam: Musa Gilani ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani’s son Ali Musasaid on Tuesday he was ready to face trial in a case of allegedirregularities in the import of a large amount of the controlled drugephedrine. Ali Musa cut short his honeymoon in South Africa andreturned to Pakistan on Saturday after being named as an accused inthe case by the Anti-Narcotics Force. “I am waiting for the ANF callto appear before investigators to record my statement,” he told a TVchannel. “During my stay abroad, I heard baseless news that I hadescaped and would not return to the country. However, I tried mybest to return home so that I can appear before the Supreme Courtand ANF to plead my case,” he said. Ali Musa said he was innocentand had nothing to do with the scam that occurred in 2010. “There isa single line in a report presented by the former director general ofhealth in which my name is mentioned. OnLinE

Terrorists killed inencounter identifiedas Lashkar-e-Jhangvispokesman, activist

QUETTAShahZada ZULfiqar

One of the two terrorists killed in a police encounterin the Western Bypass area of Quetta on Monday, wasidentified as Hafiz Wazir alias Ali Sher Haidri. Wazirwas the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi spokesman, which hadclaimed the responsibility for killing hundreds of ShiaMuslims in Quetta. The Lashkar-e- Jhangvi alsoadmitted that its spokesman had been killed. According to the police, Wazir was the son of DostMuhammad and was a resident of Machh in the BolanDistrict some 60 Km away from Quetta. The policealso seized cell phones which had the numbers ofmedia organisations and journalists whom Wazirused to call to claim the responsibility for killing theShias. The other terrorist was identified as HafizNaseer Raisani, son of Nasrullah. A resident ofDalbandin, Hafiz Naseer was on the CID police’s mostwanted list. Hafiz Naseer was identified by his uncle,while two brothers, who are constables in the police,identified the dead body of Wazir. DIG OperationsQazi Abdul Wahid confirmed the identity of both theterrorists, saying a reward had been offered forinformation about Hafiz Naseer. The police wascarrying out DNA tests on both the bodies to establishtheir identities and samples had already beendispatched to Islamabad for this purpose. Anti-Terrorism Force commandoes had killed the twoterrorists in an encounter on Monday, after theyopened fire on police personnel. A police commandowas also injured in the crossfire. The police found sixpistols that included two 9 mm pistols normally usedby the terrorists in target killing, Russian-made handgrenades, six fake vehicle registration number platesand ammunition.

KARACHIaaMir MaJEEd

Police have arrested a serial killer, whokilled a number of women after subjectingthem to rape, from Soldier Bazaar on Tues-day. Per reports, the police raided a house lo-cated in Soldier Bazaar and arrested RafiqueSoomro, who is said to be involved in themurders of several women. Talking to Pakistan Today, the InvestigationOfficer (IO) of a murdered woman Nasreen,whose body parts were found in plastic bagsfrom Soldier Bazaar, Jamshaid Quarters,Guru Mandir and MA Jinnah Road inMarch, said the police traced a cell-phonenumber to reach the serial killer. “We started investigation when we foundpieces of a woman from different parts ofMazar-e-Quaid in March, he said, addingthat the police sent the body pieces for post-mortem. He said the autopsy report of the

body pieces confirmed that the parts were ofthe same woman. “In the meanwhile, wefound some body pieces of another womanin plastic bags from the same areas in April,he said, adding that the identity of the sec-ond victim woman could not be ascertainedas yet. “During investigation, it was revealed thatthe serial killer used Nasreen’s cell-phone 16days after her murder,” he said, adding that

the police traced the calls to RafiqueSoomro. During investigation, Rafique confessed thathe had killed several women. Rafique toldpolice that he and his friend Iqbal picked upwomen from different areas of the city andkilled them after subjecting them to rape.Rafique said that they used to cut the bodiesinto pieces and disposed off the parts in dif-ferent areas to avoid arrest.According to the IO, Rafique and Iqbal wererickshaw drivers and claimed during inter-rogation that they were killing the women tostop the spread of vulgarity in society. They also told police that they used to killtheir victims on the 9th of every month. Ap-parently, the killers were following the plotof an Indian film released last year. Jamshaid Quarters DSP Qaiser said that theserial killer has confessed to killing only twowomen in March and April. He said that themurderer belongs to Sukkur and was alsosuspected of killing some women there.

Serial killer nabbed in Karachi

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03Wednesday, 25 April, 2012

NewsCoMMEnTKarachi’s turf war

Articles on Page 12-13

No end in sight

Staying poorNecessary versus necessary

dr hasan askari rizvi says:

ali aftab Saeed says:

foREiGn nEWS

Story on Page 17

ARTS & EnTERTAinMEnT

Story on Page 14

SPoRTS

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Sarkozy, hollande step up battle to woo french far right ahsan Khan makes Bollywood debut

Conflicts and more conflicts: Fissures that go deep

No dearth of mirth: It would be sad if it wasn’t funnyKuldip nayar says:Crime and no punishment: With great power comes great impunity

Yousuf out to revive career

ISLAMABADaPP

PRIMe Minister Yousaf RazaGilani on Tuesday said thegovernment had decided tohold local bodies polls in thefederal capital.

Addressing the participants of 96thNational Management Course at PrimeMinister House here, the prime ministersaid, “I have decided to hold local bodyelections in Islamabad.”

A mayor will head the local govern-ment in the Federal Capital like those incities like Istanbul and Dhaka, he added.He said the establishment of local gov-ernments improved governance. But it isunfortunate that the provincial govern-ments still have to hold local body elec-tions, he added.

The Prime Minister said in democ-racy, the mandate of people should be ac-cepted, and they had given a splitmandate which led to formation of acoalition government and “we have tolive with it”.

He said his government continued

with the policy of reconciliation whichshould be taken as a strength and not asa weakness.

He said the present parliamentpassed more than 100 laws and amend-ments which was a far better record thenthan of a past government with even two-third majority. “The policy of reconcilia-tion and taking decisions with collectivewisdom is working. We will have to workin coalitions. If we accept this, we will beable to move forward,” he noted.

The PM said the democratic govern-ment was committed to the vision of Pak-istan being a progressive, federal,democratic, pluralistic, moderate andpeaceful country.

The 1973 Constitution was a greatachievement of the Pakistan People’sParty under the charismatic leadership ofQuaid-i-Awam Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, headded.

He said the fundamental spirit of thisconstitution was that all national policieshave to be people-centric.the provisionsof Chapters 1 & 2 of Part-II pertain to theFundamental Rights and Principles ofPolicy, which explain the vision of Pak-

istan, he added. “There is no denying the fact that the

Constitution of 1973 has been instrumen-tal in keeping the federation intact afterthe debacle of Dhaka in 1971.”IMpORt Of gAS, ELEctRIcItYfROM IRAn tOp pRIORItY: PrimeMinister Yousaf Raza Gilani on Tuesdaysaid that his top priority was expeditiousimplementation of Pak-Iran gas pipelineand import of electricity agreements.

Talking to Iranian Ambassador toPakistan Alireza Haghinghian who paid acourtesy call on the prime minister, Gi-lani said he would direct Minister of Statefor Foreign Affairs Nawabzada MalikAmad Khan to follow the implementationof agreements concluded between Pak-istan and Iran.

The prime minister said that he hadextremely useful meeting with IranianPresident Mahmoud Ahmadinejad dur-ing his visit to Islamabad to take part intrilateral meeting.

He said Iran and Pakistan were hav-ing excellent multi-dimensional cooper-ation in the fields of trade, infrastructure,energy and culture.

PM announces holding of localbodies elections in Islamabad

KARACHISTaff rEPOrT

President Asif Zardari unveiled a two-pronged strategy on Tuesday, to maintainlasting peace in Lyari, a political strongholdof the ruling Pakistan People’s Party whichhas gained notoriety as one of the city’s mostvolatile neighbourhoods.

The president was chairing a high-levelmeeting of law enforcement agencies (LeAs)and elected representatives and office bear-ers of the PPP from Lyari at Bilawal House.

President’s Spokesman Senator Farhat-ullah Babar said the president said peace willbe restored in Lyari through the use of forceas well as political means.

While the criminal elements will be dealtwith an iron fist, the development-relatedproblems of the masses will also be ad-

dressed, the spokesman said.Calling upon the PPP workers not to

take the law into their own hands, the presi-dent was quoted to have said the situation inLyari will be resolved without favouring any-one. The president directed the law enforcersto take to task the miscreants, irrespective oftheir political affiliation.

A day earlier on Monday, PresidentZardari chaired a meeting of the coalitionparties in Sindh at the Bilawal House andobserved that lawlessness and targetedkillings in the city could come to an end if thethree political parties, PPP, MQM and ANP,joined hands. He also gave directions for theformation of a body comprising of represen-tatives from the three political parties to haveconstant liaison with the Sindh Home Min-ister and Chief Minister.

The president also asked the Chief Min-

ister Sindh that the Rangers and FC be di-rected to assist the police in the maintenanceof law and order in Lyari.

The meeting reviewed progress on vari-ous developmental projects in Lyari, includ-ing the Lyari Development Package, the

Shaheed Benazir Bhutto University Lyari,Lyari Medical College, development of KakriGround and the construction of Lea MarketFlyover.

Senator Faisal Raza Abidi, NabeelGabol, Kousar Aamir, Khalil Hoth, Siyal

and Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim AliShah attended the meeting. Meanwhile,the presidential spokesman said PresidentZardari also signed the Intellectual Prop-erty Rights (IP) Ordinance 2012 on Tues-day on the advice of Prime Minister YusafRaza Gilani. The ordinance, the spokesmansaid, was signed as it had expired lastmonth. The Intellectual Property RightsBill is still pending in the parliament for itsconsent, he said. The world observes April26th every year as the International Intel-lectual Property Day to highlight how theIP system was contributing to the develop-ment of business and technological inno-vation across the globe. The Intellectualproperty rights involve rights to protecttrademarks, patents, copyrights, industrialdesigns, plant breeder rights, traditionalknowledge and folklore.

president unveils two-pronged strategy to curb Lyari violence

SC adjourns Awan’s indictment until ThursdayISLAMABAD

inP

The Supreme Court on Tuesday deferred the indictment of former lawminister Babar Awan till Thursday, April 26 in a contempt of court case. Atwo-member bench of the apex court, comprising of Justice ejaz Afzal Khanand Justice Athar Saeed, resumed the hearing to frame contempt chargesagainst Babar Awan for his media jibe against the judiciary. On April 10,Awan had tendered an apology to the court, especially to Justice Asif SaeedKhosa against whom he had launched a tirade by openly attacking him forbeing the brother of Tariq Saeed Khosa. Tuesday’s proceeding wasadjourned due to the absence of Awan’s attorney Ali Zafar from the court.Awan was present in the court but avoided giving statements in the absenceof his attorney. He requested the Supreme Court to adjourn the hearing.

KARACHI: Renowned philanthropist Abdul Sattar Edhi on Tuesday

began a fund-raising campaign to gather money to pay ransom to

Somali pirates for the release of Pakistani hostages. onLine

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04Wednesday, 25 April, 2012

News

that the explosion tookplace 10 minutes after thearrival of Awami expressfrom Karachi.

“There were hues andcries and a state of chaosafter the blast. No onecould really tell what hadhappened. We just saw aflash of light and heard ahuge explosion that rockedthe railway station,” Zafarsaid.

A railways staffer im-mediately informed police

officials and rescue workersafter which a heavy contin-gent of Railways Police, La-hore Police, Bomb DisposalSquad, rescue workers,edhi Foundation and CivilDefence reached the crimescene.

According to Rescue1122, 56 injured patients,include 13 women and 43men, were provided med-ical aid at Mayo Hospital,seven were given first aid atGanga Ram Hospital whiletwo were shifted to Services

Hospital. Rescue 1122 director

general said only five pa-tients at Mayo Hospitalwere critical.

Meanwhile, the LahorePolice and Counter-Terror-ism Department (CTD) col-lected circumstantialevidence, including piecesof explosives, ball bearingsand samples of blood fromthe crime scene.

CTD SSP Azmat SaeedGondal said around 5kgs ofexplosives were used in the

blast. “The bomb wasplanted in a bag,” Azmatsaid, adding that porterMuhammad Boota wasprobably shifting the lug-gage to some place on di-rections of an unidentifiedpassenger.

He said they wouldrecord the statement of in-jured porters who werewith Boota at the time inorder to identify the pas-senger.

“We are not sure if theterrorist wanted to carry

out the activity at the Rail-way Station or somewhereelse, because the explosiontook place when the explo-sive material got pressed,” aBDS expert said on condi-tion of anonymity.

He said they have notfound evidence of anytimed device or remote con-trol from the crime scene.

The Lahore Police saidthe incident was a securitylapse.

Capital City Police Offi-cer Aslam Tareen said none

of around 17 CCTV camerasinstalled at the Railway Sta-tion were functional,adding that the scanners in-stalled at the station werealso out of order.

However, Railways Po-lice said they had put inplace maximum securitymeasures and had for-warded several letters toauthorities in order to getsecurity cameras and scan-ners installed at the stationrepaired, but their requestshad fallen on deaf ears.

Railways Police Inspec-tor General Syed Ibne Hus-sain said they had startedinvestigation and wouldleave no stone unturned tosecure the Lahore RailwayStation and get to the cul-prits. A case was registeredby Railways Police underSections 302, 7ATA, ¾ ex-plosive Act and 127.

The investigation isbeing carried out under thesupervision of RailwaysDIG Muneer Ahmed Chishtiand SSP Dr Shehzad Aslam.

Terror eyesContinued fRom page 1

KaBUL: afghan President hamid Karzai receives a gift from australian Governor General quentin Bryce during a meeting at the presidential palace on Tuesday. Afp

Referring to Section 8 (2),he said the court could re-lease orders to stop suchreporting.

He said some reportshad mentioned Chief Jus-tice Iftikhar MuhammadChaudhry as saying that“robbers had been madeministers”.

Qadir said such a state-ment could not be attrib-uted to the chief justice,adding that such media re-ports were creating pres-sure in the case and weretrying to influence thecourt’s proceedings.

Justice Sarmad JalalOsmany asked the AG if hethought the court wasbeing influenced. Qadirthen said even if the courtwas not getting influenced,he found the statementsoffensive. He again prayedthe court to take actionagainst such misleadingreports. He said ever sincehe was made prosecutor inthe case, he was presentinghis arguments independ-ently, without getting in-fluenced from anyone.

He said there was no

evidence which couldprove that the PM commit-ted contempt of court andthe charge sheet againstthe PM was baseless.

The AG said the PMwould not write a letter tothe Swiss authorities forreopening graft casesagainst President Asif AliZardari. He said, in casethe letter was written, eventhen the closed caseswould not be reopened.

Qadir said the SupremeCourt had not directly or-dered Prime Minister Gi-lani to write a letter to theSwiss authorities, addingthat the court had taken inits own hands all affairs ofNAB. He added that thecourt should not ignore thefact that NAB had the au-thority to file an appealagainst the NRO case.

Justice Nasirul Mulkthen noted that the reviewplea against the NRO ver-dict had already been de-cided, thus no furtherappeal could be filed.Qadir said when former at-torney general MalikMuhammad Qayyum hadwritten a letter for closing

Swiss cases, the NRO wasin force at that time.

Justice Asif SaeedKhan Khosa noted thatMalik Qayyum’s letter hadled to the closure of Swisscases. The prosecutor saidthere was no justificationof NAB chairman’s letterwithout the prior permis-sion of the law secretary.

Concluding his argu-ments, he said under Arti-cle 248, the prime ministerenjoyed immunity fromcourt proceedings. He saidthe court should show ju-dicial restraint and with-draw the case against thePM.

In his rebutting argu-ments, PM’s counsel AitzazAhsan said the hearing ofcontempt case (criminalcase) and NRO implemen-tation case by the samebench created confusion.

He said the court ver-dict, with regard to writingof letter to Swiss, shouldbe implemented, but afterAsif Ali Zardari left the of-fice of president, addingthat writing the letterwould cause irreparableloss to the federation.

pM’s contemptContinued fRom page 1

CHICAGOafP

MORe than abillion peoplearound theworld wouldface starva-

tion if India and Pakistan un-leash nuclear weapons —even if that war is regionallylimited, a study releasedTuesday warned.

That’s because the deadlyand polluting weapons wouldcause major worldwide cli-mate disruption that woulddramatically drive down foodproduction in China, theUnited States and other coun-tries. “The grim prospect ofnuclear famine requires a fun-damental change in our think-ing about nuclear weapons,”

said study author Dr. IraHelfand of the InternationalPhysicians for the Preventionof Nuclear War.

“The new evidence thateven the relatively small nu-clear arsenals of countriessuch as India and Pakistancould cause long lasting, globaldamage to the earth’s ecosys-tems and threaten hundreds ofmillions of already malnour-ished people demands that ac-tion be taken,” Helfand said ina statement. “The needless andpreventable deaths of one bil-lion people over a decadewould be a disaster unprece-dented in human history. Itwould not cause the extinctionof the human race, but itwould bring an end to moderncivilization as we know it.”

The study, set to be pub-

lished in the peer-reviewedjournal Climate Change, wasreleased at the World Summitof Nobel Laureates in Chicago.

It found that corn produc-tion in the United Stateswould decline by an averageof 10 percent for an entiredecade and soybean produc-tion would drop by about 10percent, with the most severedecline occurring five yearsafter the nuclear war. It alsodetermined that rice produc-tion in China would drop byan average of 21 percent forthe first four years and 10 per-cent for the next six years. Theresulting increase in foodprices and agricultural short-falls would almost certainlylead to panic and hoarding onan international scale, furtherreducing access to food.

Global famine ifIndia and Pakistanunleash nukes: study

SC should not

insist on writing

letter, should

acquit PM: Aitzaz

ISLAMABADSTaff rEPOrT

Aitzaz Ahsan, the lawyer forPrime Minister Yousaf RazaGilani in the contempt case,on Tuesday said the SupremeCourt should not insist onwriting a letter to Swissauthorities for reopeninggraft cases against PresidentAsif Ali Zardari. Talking toreporters at the SupremeCourt, he said the courtshould also absolve the primeminister from the contemptcharge leveled against him.To queries, he said: “I willinform the PM about thecourt’s April 24 orders that he(PM) should ensure hispresence before the court onApril 26 and he, God willing,would come to the court,”Aitzaz said. He said he washopeful that the judges wouldacquit his client, adding thatthe court should not insist onwriting to Swiss authorities asthat would undermine thefederation. Aitzaz said thepresident symbolized thefederation and was also thearmed forces’ supremecommander. “This is why,while Asif Ali Zardari is thepresident, the court should notinsist on writing the letter andabsolve the prime ministerfrom the contempt chargeleveled against him,” Aitzazsaid. He said Attorney GeneralIrfan Qadir, who is also theprosecutor in the contemptcase, had agreed that accordingto the current record, nocontempt of court case couldbe made out against Gilani.

Two Bhoja Airplanes banned forgeneral flights

ISLAMABADOnLinE

The Civil Aviation Authority(CAA) on Tuesday bannedBhoja Air planes from generalflights after finding some ofthe planes unfit to fly. TheCAA had started inspection ofpassenger aircrafts operatedby private airlines on Mondayafter the fatal crash inIslamabad. According to aprivate television channel,CAA Airworthiness Instructorcancelled the AirworthinessCertificate for two flights ofBhoja Airlines headed toIslamabad via Lahore fromKarachi. “During inspectionthe planes were found unfit tofly or in objectionableconditions and couldn’t obtainmandatory certificate werebanned for general flights bothdomestic and international.

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05Wednesday, 25 April, 2012

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UNITED NATIONSOnLinE

TeRMING as “very positive”and “encouraging” recent ef-forts by India and Pakistanto normalise their relations,UN chief Ban Ki-moon

hoped the two neighbours will continuethe dialogue process and play a greaterrole for peace, security and harmony inthe region.

“India and Pakistan are very impor-tant countries not only in the region butin world politics. They both have a greatrole to play for peace, security and har-mony in the region,” Ban told PTI herein an interview.

The UN chief, who will leave for athree-day visit to India tomorrow, wel-comed the “very positive movement” be-tween the two countries to improvetrade ties.

Ban was also appreciative of Pak-istan President Asif Ali Zardari’s privatevisit to India earlier this month and hismeeting with Prime Minister Manmo-han Singh.

“I welcome the recent movement,very positive movement between the twocountries, the exchange (between) theleadership and engaging in addressing

all pending issues through dialogue atthe highest level. This is quite encourag-ing,” Ban said.

“I hope such dialogue will continueto first of all improve the bilateral rela-tions and contribute further to regionaland international peace and security,”he added.

The peace process between Indiaand Pakistan was resumed last year aftera gap of two years in the aftermath of the

terror attacks in Mumbai in 2008. Addressing the issue of terrorism,

Ban said the whole world has beenstruggling to fight against internationalterrorism. India is “no exception” sincethe country has been targetted by terror-ists, he added.

Ban, however, welcomed the “verystrong commitment” and “determinedwill” shown by the Indian government tofight terrorism and also support theUnited Nations’ global strategy againstterrorism. The strategy provides a broadframework on how the internationalcommunity can work together at the na-tional, regional and international level tocombat terrorism, Ban said, adding thataddressing the problem of terrorism andprotecting human lives should be given“first and foremost consideration” by na-tions.

On India’s successful test-fire of its‘Agni V’ missile last week, Ban said hehas “taken note” of the reactions andconcerns raised by countries in the re-gion, including China over the missilelaunch. Ban pointed out that there arerelevant UNSC resolutions on missilesand use of nuclear weapons.

“I would encourage India to pursuebilateral and multilateral dialogues withnuclear weapon possessing states in a

non-discriminatory and a transparentmanner. This threat posed by the nu-clear issues should be discussed veryclosely with nuclear weapons states.These are very important issues,” hesaid.

Responding to a question on the2014 troop withdrawal fromAfghanistan, Ban said while some coun-tries have “accelerated the pace” to pullback from the war-torn country, due at-tention and political policy considera-tion is required to ensure that transfer ofthe security responsibility to the Afghansis accompanied with Afghan national se-curity forces being strengthened in theircapacity to address their own security.

“The security and developmentagenda should be promoted hand inhand,” he said.

Ban also noted that as the foreigntroops prepare to withdraw fromAfghanistan, it is important that thereshould be some reconciliation amongthe different ethnic groups inAfghanistan.

“These groups should fully cooperateand reconcile. In this regard, the UN hasbeen trying to support and facilitate theAfghan government’s dialogue with theTaliban for the reconciliation process,”he said.

India, Pakistan talks ‘very positive’and ‘encouraging’: Ban Ki-moon

iSLaMaBad: a man disinfects the Bhoja air Boeing crash site on Tuesday. inp

UNITED NATIONSinP

Pakistan has called on the UN SecurityCouncil to hold Israel accountable forits continued defiance of internationalefforts to bring about a just settlementof the Middle east dispute.

“Flying in the face of the interna-tional community’s will, Israel contin-ues to implement policies in defianceof international law to undermine thebasis of the two-state solution,” Am-bassador Raza Bashir Tarar, the actingPakistani Permanent representative tothe UN, told the Security Council.

“Its (Israel’s) efforts to redraw themap of Palestine by continuing the il-legal settlement activity, the continuedpersecution of Palestinians and reluc-

tance to accept the 1967 borders as thebasis for negotiations, is taking the re-gion to a state akin to a powder keg,”he said in a debate on the Middle eastsituation.

The Pakistani envoy supportedPalestinians’ right to self-determina-tion, as well as the creation of an inde-pendent fact-finding mission in theOccupied Palestinian Territories, in-cluding east Jerusalem.

He noted that Secretary-GeneralBan Ki-moon’s February visit to the re-gion was a “timely initiative” thatwould help refocus international atten-tion on the festering dispute.

Tarar strongly condemned theApril 4th announcement of new ten-ders for over 1,100 Jewish settlementsin east Jerusalem, whose mayor also

announced measures that would effec-tively divide that city.

Those actions represented majorroadblocks to peace, he said.

For its part, the Security Councilshould help create the conditions forrestarting the peace process, the Pak-istani envoy said.

Pakistan will continue to engageother Security Council members to en-courage a council visit to the occupiedterritories.

He pointed out that more than4,700 Palestinians languished in Is-raeli prisons and that the internationalcommunity should force the occupyingpower to amend its ways.

Israel’s blockade of Gaza was di-minishing the economic prospects ofthat area. Still Palestine had proved it

was ready to take its place among thecommunity of nations, he said.

Pakistan supported lasting peacefor all Middle easterners, as laid out inthe Madrid Terms of Reference and theArab League Initiative. Progress onSyria, Israel and the Syria-Lebanonborder area was also essential and hecalled on Israel to withdraw from theSyrian Golan.

“The region is in turmoil, and theArab Spring cannot and would notbloom fully without fulfillment of thelegitimate aspirations of the Pales-tinian people,” the Pakistani envoysaid. “Benign neglect, inaction, com-plicity with oppression or apathy willonly discredit the advocates of peaceand strengthen the narrative of ex-tremists.”

Pakistan seeks action against Israelfor defying Middle East peace bids

Miscreants blow up

two gas pipelines

in Dera BugtiQUETTA

inP

Unidentified miscreants blasted two 16-inch diameter gas pipelines in differentareas of Balochistan on Tuesday,suspending gas supply to purificationplants. According to sources, unknownmilitants had planted explosives on gaspipelines in different areas of Pir Koh andDera Bugti, which exploded early Tuesdaymorning. Rescue teams and Sui gasauthorities reached the sites of the blastsand started efforts to repair the damagedpipelines. The blasts led to a suspensionin the supply of gas to purification plantsand domestic consumers in differentareas of Balochistan and Sindh.However, the supply was restored withinfive hours, after the damaged portion ofthe gas pipelines was replaced.

Hundreds protestin Sweden againstShi’a Muslims’killing in Pakistan

STOCKHOLMinP

Hundreds of protesters, includingSwedish human rights activists, held aprotest demonstration in Malmo,Sweden, on Monday against the massacreof innocent Shi’a Muslims in Quetta.They were holding banners and placardsinscribed with slogans asking thePakistani government to take actionagainst the killers and to provide securityto the Hazara community. Speakerscondemned the continued killings of Shi’aMuslims, calling it genocide anddemanded that the Pakistani governmenttake action against the sectarianterrorists. They also demanded theinternational community and humanrights organisations to pressurise thePakistani government to launch anoperation against the killers of Shi’aMuslims. Diasporas from the Hazaracommunity are organising protestdemonstrations worldwide from April 20-30 in front of Pakistani embassies and theoffices of human rights organisations toraise their voices against the genocide ofHazaras in Quetta.

Hafiz Saeed

refuses to stay

away from rallies

ISLAMABADOnLinE

Jamatud Dawa chief Hafiz MuhammadSaeed has rejected the governmentrestrictions on attending the public ralliesand taking part in other activities, andannounced to address Difah-e-Pakistancouncil rallies. Talking to reporters onTuesday, Hafiz Saeed said Pakistan’sgovernment is under pressure from USadministration due to which it was usingdifferent tactics to impose curbs onDifah-e-Pakistan Council. Meanwhile,Punjab government spokesman, SenatorPervez Rashid has showed ignorance ofdirectives to Saeed.

LHR 25-04-2012_Layout 1 4/25/2012 2:53 AM Page 5

06Wednesday, 25 April, 2012

News

raWaLPindi: residents fill their water coolers at a public tube-well. inp

SIALKOTarif MEhMOOd ShEiKh

PU N J A B Chief MinisterShahbaz Sharif on Tuesdaystrongly criticised the fed-eral government, accusingit of targeting Punjab by

continuing unbearable forced loadshedding of electricity.

Addressing a meeting of the Sialkotbusiness community held at the SialkotChamber of Commerce and Industry(SCCI) after distributing laptops amongstudents, Shahbaz said the federal gov-ernment was still targeting Punjab de-spite clear cut directions of the PrimeMinister Yousaf Raza Gilani passed inthe energy conference held in Lahore.

SCCI President Naeem AnwarQureshi, MNA Khawaja MuhammadAsif and representatives of Sialkot’s allmain trade bodies were present.

The CM said considering the globalimportance of Sialkot, there was a direneed to establish a development au-thority for Sialkot, announcing the im-mediate establishment of the SialkotDevelopment Authority (SDA) forsocio-economic and human develop-ment of the city.

Shahbaz also announced to provideas many as 50 air-conditioned publictransport buses for launching advancedpublic transport service in Sialkot, be-sides announcing the establishment ofjournalists’ colonies in all districts ofPunjab.

He also promised to remove hur-dles in the way of an early start of con-struction of Khawaja MuhammadSafdar Medical College in Sialkot.

The CM also assured the Sialkotbusiness community of allocating Rs500 million in the upcoming fiscalbudget of Punjab for the uplift ofSialkot.

Shahbaz said Punjab had sufferedfrom a great financial and economicalloss of Rs 300 billion last year due toforced load shedding across theprovince.

He again urged the Center to ensureequitable load shedding of electricityacross the country.

The CM asked the federal govern-ment to speed up the pace of a trans-parent probe into the Bhoja Airlineplane crash and bring the inquiry re-port before the nation. He said the ju-dicial commission which wasconstituted to probe into the air crashwas “less judicial and more commis-sion”. He said “Ali Baba and his 40thieves” had ruined national economy,besides weakening the country in every

aspect and making it isolated in theworld. “They are plunderers, they arekillers of the aspirations of the people,”he said.

earlier, almost all PML-N MNAs,MPAs and local leaders and workers(uninvited guests) were barred fromentering the SCCI auditorium.

SCCI officials said the venue was al-ready packed with specially invitedpeople, that is why a large number ofPML-N leaders and workers, who hadcome uninvited, were asked to leave thevenue.

Centre still targeting Punjab: Shahbazg Punjab CM says air crash probe team more ‘commission’ and less judicial

WASHINGTONinP

Hard-won stability in Afghanistan’s Hel-mand province is undermined by thePakistan Army’s failure to help stem theflow of arms coming into the area anddrugs going out, a US general said.

“everything is good, but it’s not irre-versible,” Marine Corps Major GeneralJohn Toolan said in an interview inWashington after appearing before theAtlantic Council, a policy researchgroup. He ended a one-year tour last

month as the commander in charge ofthe NATO coalition’s southwestern re-gional command responsible for Hel-mand. Toolan’s prognosis highlights therisks as the U.S.-led coalition turns itsattention to eastern Afghanistan andprepares to withdraw more forces thisyear.

With reductions planned by othercountries in the 50-nation coalition,about 108,000 personnel will be leftuntil a next round of cuts. The numberof U.S. Marines in Helmand is due todrop to 7,000 by October from about

20,000 now, Toolan said in the inter-view. “We need to maintain the pres-sure,” Toolan told the Atlantic Councilaudience. “The insurgency in the southis the greatest threat to the governmentof Afghanistan.”

The guerrillas known as the Haqqaninetwork, who mainly operate in thecountry’s east from havens across thePakistani border, have received atten-tion beyond their potential longer- termimpact on Afghanistan, Toolan said. TheHaqqanis mainly operate to maintainthemselves rather than to achieve any

grander designs, he said.“I know for a fact that drugs are

moving out through Pakistan and lethalaid is coming in on a regular basis,”Toolan told the Atlantic Council. “I havehad no support from 12th Corps,” thePakistan Army unit in charge of the areaacross the border, he said.

He said he tried to organize meet-ings with the corps to discuss the issue.“There always seemed to be somethingthat interfered,” he said.

“Unfortunately, from my perspectiveas a tactical commander in Regional

Command Southwest, I have had no sup-port” from the Pakistani brigades in thearea, he added.

A spokesman for Pakistan’s embassyin Washington, Nadeem Hotiana, saidcoordination on common threats has oc-curred in regular three-way talks amongborder officials from his country,Afghanistan and the coalition led by theNorth Atlantic Treaty Organization.

“There are certain trilateral meetingswhere such issues can be discussed,” Ho-tiana said in an interview, declining tocomment further.

Afghan stability undermined by pakistan: US general

US commits

to Afghan

security in new

pact: officialKABUL

afP

The United States has committed toensuring Afghanistan’s security for atleast 10 years after most of its troopspull out in 2014, the Afghan deputyforeign minister said Tuesday.“That is a very important aspect ofthis relationship,” Jawed Ludin saidin response to a question about USmilitary commitment in a draftstrategic partnership pact agreed onSunday.But the agreement should not be seenby neighbouring countries as a threatto their own security and would be “aforce for good for the whole region”,Ludin told a group of foreignjournalists.“We have made it very clear in thisdocument that this can’t be usedagainst a third country and this willnot affect the security ofAfghanistan’s neighbours,” he said.The full text of the document, whichstill has to be signed by US PresidentBarack Obama and his Afghancounterpart Hamid Karzai, has notbeen released and a US embassyspokesman said Tuesday detailswould not be discussed before it wasfinal.Afghanistan holds a strategic positionin the region, neighbouring Iran,Pakistan and China as well as threeformer Soviet states, and Ludin said itwanted to build relations throughoutthe region. “We would like to show tothis neighbourhood that Afghanistanis a positive — and can be an evenmore positive — force for peace andstability in this region and theyshould see (the pact) as such,” hesaid.“That’s our vision, but the nation hashad bad experiences — we needguarantees, we need to be able to bestrong at the same time.”The problems and challenges in theregion, including terrorism, wouldcontinue to be present and the pactwith the US was the surest way ofensuring Afghanistan’s security, hesaid.NATO has some 130,000 US-ledtroops in Afghanistan helping Karzai’sgovernment fight a decade-longinsurgency by hardline TalibanIslamists who were toppled frompower in a 2001 invasion after the9/11 attacks on New York andWashington.But they are due to pull out by theend of 2014, and the pact does notcover the crucial issue of the numberor status of any US troops remainingin Afghanistan.That is due to be dealt with in aseparate status of forces agreementexpected to be signed within a year,Ludin said, adding that it was likely tobe the subject of “complex”negotiations.In Iraq, Washington pulled out all itstroops, leaving no residual force, afterfailing to get Baghdad to grant itssoldiers immunity from prosecutionin local courts.

LHR 25-04-2012_Layout 1 4/25/2012 2:53 AM Page 6

Wednesday, 25 April, 2012

illegal slaughterhousesin the line of CdGL’s fire

PAGE 07

LAHORETaJWar aWan

tHe blast at the Railway Station, that killed 2and injured over a 100, is the first of 2012, ayear that was being considered by many tomark the end to terrorism and the death ofinnocents in Pakistan.

Pakistan Today meets people at the blast site, those whoare not just another statistic and would live with thetrauma of their close encounter with death in the years tocome. Noman, 5, cries after being separated from his mother inthe stampede that ensued. Irum, five of whose family members got injured, wails indespair as her siblings and parents are wheeled away to ahospital for treatment. Muhammad Hamid says he fell unconscious afterhearing the blast and when he woke up, he was injuredand on a hospital bed.Mai, waiting to be released from Mayo Hospital, tellsPakistan Today that the blast happened at 6:45pm andshe was to leave for Hyderabad at 7. Muhammad Boota and Baba Siddque did not live to telltheir stories.

Photos by Nadeem Ijaz and Murtaza Ali

The trend that has no end

With state functionaries failing to curbterrorism, the toll of these attacks arenot just the dead but also the injuredthat live to tell the tale

LHR 25-04-2012_Layout 1 4/25/2012 2:53 AM Page 7

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Lahore

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Illegal slaughterhouses inthe line of CDGL’s fire

LAHOREYaSir haBiB

tHe days of illegal slaughterhousesare numbered as the City DistrictGovernment Lahore (CDGL) haslaunched a massive crackdownagainst them to purge the city of ir-

regular abattoirs. These slaughterhouses distribute the meat of

dead animals as well as watered meat (both mut-ton and beef), in the provincial metropolis

The crackdown came after a long period ofinactivity of the CDGL that helped the slaughter-houses to mushroom in the city.

Around 600,000 kilogrammes (kg) of meatis consumed in Lahore every day and around200,000 goats or sheep and 20,000 buffaloes orcows are slaughtered every month to supply160,000 kg of beef and 140,000 kg of muttondaily. Numerous raids were conducted on Tues-day on unlawful private slaughterhouses in dif-ferent localities. Various teams, constituted on

the direction of DCO Lahore Noor-ul-AminMenghal, conducted 85 raids on suspected sitesand registered 21 cases against butchers in dif-ferent police stations. The teams also imposedfines of Rs 20,000 on butchers in this regard.

The DCO told Pakistan Today that the CDGLwill eradicate illegal slaughter houses.

Sources in the DCO office told PakistanToday that according to rough estimates, around200 illegal slaughterhouses were operatingwithin the city and its suburbs.

“Butchers are generally not aware of properslaughtering techniques that cause loss of meatand its by-products. Animals are slaughtered inplaces which are frequently polluted with blood,intestinal contents and effluents. These are notwell protected against insects and germs,” headded. He said that meat produced under suchconditions quickly deteriorated due to bacterialinfections and could cause food poisoning.

In the absence of inspections, he said meatfrom sick or parasite infected animals may wellbe a vector for spreading diseases, affecting

human beings as well as other animals.Live Stock Department official Gazanfar

Murad said the slaughtered meat was trans-ported to retailers’ through horse-driven carts,auto rickshaws, or pickup trucks. In the case ofsmall ruminants, butchers take the meat on footto the shops located nearby, he added.

“According to the West Pakistan SlaughterControl Act 1963, the slaughtering of small andlarge ruminants should be strictly by undertakenin recognised places with ante-and-post-mortemveterinary inspection,” he added.

He said the Punjab Local Government Ordi-nance also directed that the TMAs were man-dated to manage, operate, maintain and improvethe municipal infrastructure and services, espe-cially the construction, management, operation,improvement and maintenance of slaughterhouses. He stated that the TMAs did not botherto follow the rules.

Later, in compliance with the orders of PunjabChief Minister Shahbaz Sharif the Punjab Agricul-ture and Meat Company (PAMCO), had succeededin establishing a modern slaughterhouse and meatprocessing plant worth Rs1.30 billion at ShahpurKanjran in collaboration with Iran closing its oldslaughter house at Kot Kamboh.

After this, the CDGL assigned the PAMCO torun all the slaughterhouses of the city to ensurethe provision of quality, cheap and hygienic meatto the citizens. An agreement was signed be-tween the PAMCO, the CDGL and the TMAs afew months back.

According to the details of the agreement,the PAMCO will shift the load of all the oldslaughterhouses to the newly built Lahore MeatComplex in different phases.

The old slaughterhouses will then be con-verted to wholesale centres for the sale of meatafter the necessary repair and cleanliness meas-ures were taken. The delivery of meat from newslaughterhouses to old slaughterhouses will bedone free of cost by the PAMCO.

It was also agreed that the slaughtering feewill be reduced as compared to the earlier ratesto keep the prices of meat under control.

g 85 raids conducted, 200 more slaughterhouses identified

LHR 25-04-2012_Layout 1 4/25/2012 2:53 AM Page 8

09Wednesday, 25 April, 2012

Lahore

LAHORETariq aLi

Aseries of crashes, starting from AirBlue to leased Russian Cargofreighter and Bhoja Air raisesmany question and the most tragicand shocking of them is “Who will

regulate the regulator?”, when it is stuffed witheither incompetent, or corrupt cronies and ad-ministratively under control of a controversialminister with an equally more questionable bu-reaucracy that dominates this ministry.

Why should CAA have told lies about the col-lapsed left landing gear of Shaheen Air’s Boeing737 at Karachi Airport on April 22 and try tocover it up by mis-stating facts that tyres hadburst. Does CAA understand the importance ofits credibility, which once eroded can shatterconfidence of the travelling public, whose taxesand revenues it survives upon and whose sole in-

terest it is supposed to safeguard.It is the responsibility of CAA to grant an Air

Operator’s Certificate (AOC) only after all re-quirements has been met.

For instance, all passengers travelling on PIAare insured through a local company with Lon-don Underwriters group of insurance companies,which is an internationally reputed aviation con-sortium. Were the emergency doors equippedwith emergency chutes on this Shaheen Air air-craft serviceable and accessible and their stafftrained for mandatory emergency evacuationwithin 90 seconds that is required by Interna-tional Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO)? Anactive runway at Karachi International Airport,which houses offices of DGCA and its top heavy,politically appointed executive corridor, was shutdown for over eight hours, causing inconven-ience to thousands of passengers whose flightswere diverted to alternate airports and millionsof rupees worth fuel wasted.

Proper compensation to heirs of 146 passen-gers of Air Blue A321 that crashed on June 28,2010 is withheld because Accident InvestigationReport is not conclusive, since passenger insur-ance cover hikes up if the Airline Operator or Reg-ulator is found guilty of committing any lapses.

Why did CAA lie in case of Shaheen Air col-lapsed landing gear structure? It hardly takes 30minutes to replace burst tyres and not eighthours. A burst tyre on landing is not an emer-gency but an abnormality, because these tyres aredesigned to deflate in case of hard landings or ex-traordinary high brakes application by the pilotor malfunction of anti-skid system on landing.

It was a ‘conflict of interest’ which played avital role when CAA dominated by retired orserving PAF officers granted an AOC to ShaheenAir, than exclusively owned by Shaheen Foun-dation to operate an obsolete series of Boeing737-200 aircrafts.

It was Shaheen Air whose Boeing 737 landinggear collapsed on landing at Karachi and yet nei-ther the airline, nor Control Tower and CAA or-dered an emergency evacuation, which as perICAO laws should be completed within 90 sec-onds. The primary purpose of installing severaldoors equipped with emergency chutes mannedby trained cabin crew is to assist in emergencyevacuation in case of an accident or incident.

Who will regulate the regulator?

Lahore dCO noor ul ameen Mengal administers polio drops to

a child to mark the start of polio drive. STAff phoTo

g With no checks and balances on the CAA, it is hard to expect any improvement

LHR 25-04-2012_Layout 1 4/25/2012 2:53 AM Page 9

10Wednesday, 25 April, 2012

Lahore

CinEMA fiLM TiMECinE STAR TiTAniC 01:30 PMPH: 35157462 HoUSEfULL2 05:00 PM

WRATH of THE TiTAnS 08:00 PMHoUSEfULL2 10:00 PMHoUSEfULL2 01:00 AM

CinE GoLD HoUSEfULL2 12:00 PMPH: 35340000 HoUSEfULL2 3:00 PM

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HoUSEfULL2 6:00 PMWRATH of THE TiTAnS 09:00 PMWRATH of THE TiTAnS 11:00 PM

Sozo GoLD HoUSEfULL2 01:30 PMPH: 36674271 HoUSEfULL2 04:30 PM

HoUSEfULL2 07: 30 PMHoUSEfULL2 10: 30 PM

LAHORESTaff rEPOrT

pUNJAB Inspector GeneralPolice Habib-ur-Rehmansaved his skin on Tuesday inthe Lahore High Court byassuring Chief Justice

Azmat Saeed that promotions will only begranted to eight Deputy Superintendentsof Police (DSPs) in compliance with thecourt’s orders.

The LHC CJ was hearing contemptpetitions filed by eight DSPs who weredenied promotion to the rank of SPs de-spite the orders passed by the SupremeCourt. The chief justice expressed his dis-pleasure over the non-compliance of thecourt’s order and the behaviour of the po-lice and had summoned the IG to explainhis position before the court charged himwith contempt of court. The IG assuredthe court that the court’s orders will car-ried out by Tuesday evening.

The chief justice also directed the IGto submit a compliance report in thecourt within a week and to publish theseniority list of the police officers.

The petitions had been moved in thecourt by Faisalabad Traffic Police DSPMariam Naheed and Sheikhupura PoliceDSP Aslam Niazi. Their counsel had sub-mitted that the officials’ department wasnot promoting them over the objectionthat they did not have the required two-year field work experience.

Arif Rasheed and others had also fileda petition submitting that they were dueto be promoted to the rank of SPs sincethe past many years but the department’sofficials had stalled their promotions. pUnJAB gOVt SnUBBED fOR gIV-Ing ‘WROng StAtEMEntS: LHC CJAzmat Saeed on Tuesday summoned Pun-jab education secretary on April 30 after agovernment law officer gave a wrongstatement during the last hearing.

The officer had said legislation is

being passed in the assembly for the pro-vision of free education to children agedbetween five to 16 years.

However, the chief justice was toldon Tuesday, by the counsel for the educa-tion department, that the government isyet to provide free education to school-going children and that legislation maybe made in this regard.

Surprised at the contradiction, the CJdemanded an explanation, at which thecounsel said the deputy advocate generalgave the statement by mistake as he wasnot aware of the factual position of thematter. On this, the chief justice repri-manded the counsel and strictly criticisedthe deputy advocate general for mislead-ing the court. The CJ also remarked onthe government’s performance, sayingthat if the government was not seriousabout education, it could not be seriouson any other matter.

The CJ summoned the education sec-retary on April 20th and directed the

deputy advocate general to give a writtenexplanation about the statement hemade. The court was hearing a petitionfiled by Muhammad Azhar Siddique,against the non-implementation of Arti-cle 25-A of the constitution which prom-ises free education to children of 5 to 16years of age.

The petitioner said neither the fed-eral nor provincial government hastaken any steps for the implementationof the article as June 2011is the deadlinefor its implementation. He said variouseducation systems are in place in thecountry that offer different syllabi andteaching methodologies, creating classdivisions. He said education has becomea lucrative business due to the negli-gence of the government.cHIEf SEcREtARY SUMMOnED:Lahore High Court Chief Justice SheikhAzmat Saeed on Tuesday summoned thePunjab Chief Secretary and Irrigation Sec-retary on April 30 on a contempt petition.

The chief justice passed the orders ona plea filed by Sultan Ahmad, a researchofficer in the irrigation department, fornot forwarding his promotion case to theprovincial selection board despite thecourt’s orders.

earlier, the petitioner’s counsel hadsubmitted that on April 6, the LHC chiefjustice had disposed of a plea by the peti-tioner for his promotion from grade 18 to19 after a deputy secretary assured thecourt that the matter will be placed be-fore the provincial selection board withinfive days. The counsel submitted that de-spite the assurance given before thecourt, the matter had not been placed be-fore the selection board.

He requested the court to initiatecontempt proceedings against the re-spondents, including the Punjab chiefsecretary and irrigation secretary.

The chief justice, after hearing the ar-guments summoned the chief secretaryand the secretary irrigation.

KEMU, fatimid

foundation conduct

blood donation campLAHORE

STaff rEPOrT

King edward Medical University students, incollaboration with the Fatimid Foundation, conducted ablood donation camp in the library hall of the universityfor the Thalassemia patients on Monday. A large numberof KeMU students participated in the camp whichremained open for many hours. The camp was arrangedto create awareness among students and people for theThalassemia patients of the Fatimid Foundation. A walkwas also organised as a part of the awareness campaignin the community with the hope to eradicate thedevastating blood borne disease. KeMU acting Vice-Chancellor Prof Asad Aslam also participated in theevent along with other senior professors of the varsity.

Railways GM not too

pleased with Business

Express train’s lossesLAHORE

STaff rEPOrT

Pakistan Railways General Manager Naeem Malik onTuesday took a stern notice of the losses suffered by theBusiness express train which has started its service fromLahore. According to Railways sources, the generalmanager expressed serious concerns over default to tuneof Rs11 crore incurred in operation of Business trainrunning on Lahore-Karachi junction. The sources addedthat the GM also set up a three-member committee ofadditional general managers and ordered to submit areport within a week. The Business express train haslaunched its services with collaboration of private sector.

IG saves his skin in DSPs promotion case

LAHORESTaff rEPOrT

The Italian Ambassador to Pakistan VincenzoPrati has said the Italian government is ready tosupport Pakistan in the technical and mechanicalsectors whenever their assistance is required.

He was addressing a press conference at theRavi Automobile Ltd, a company of Ravi Pak-istan. “We want to support Pakistan’s develop-ment process, especially on the mechanicalsector, which is the strength of Italy,” he said,adding that Italy is well aware of the potential ofPakistan’s two-wheeler market and is ready tocontribute to the development of this sector.

He said that the prospects of Pakistan’s econ-

omy were very attractive despite the crisis.“We are impressed by the quality of manufactur-

ing at Ravi Motorcycle’s manufacturing facilities,”the ambassador said after having visited differentmanufacturing facilities of Ravi Pakistan. He be-lieved that Ravi Piaggio Strom 125, the motorcyclemanufactured by Ravi Automobile, in collaborationwith Piaggio Italy, was the real successor of Vespa,the Italian brand that dominated two-wheeler mar-ket in Pakistan for more than five decades.

Appreciating the efforts of the Punjab chiefminister for the promotion of bilateral economicrelations of Italy and Pakistan, he said ShahbazSharif was very keen to enhance the trade rela-tions between the two countries and sought Ital-ian cooperation in this regard.

Italian embassy Head of economic and Com-mercial Office and First Secretary Dr FedericoBianchi also accompanied the ambassador dur-ing the visit. He said the Piaagio group had al-ready focused on Asia and had startedmanufacturing in China, India and Vietnam andthat Italy is trading with Pakistan in many sec-tors, including technology and garments.

Ravi Pakistan Director Fahad Iqbal thankedthe Italian ambassador and first secretary fortheir visit. He emphasised that Pakistan’s rela-tions with Italy are vital for the economic growthof the country. The ambassador and first secre-tary visited different manufacturing facilities ofRavi Pakistan and were briefed on the operationsof the Ravi group companies.

LAHORE STaff rEPOrT

The Punjab University launched thegolden jubilee edition of its annualmagazine ‘Mahver’ on Tuesday.

Veteran literary personalities ofthe PU alumni were invited for thelaunching ceremony of magazineheld at the PU New Campus.

Senior analyst Orya MaqboolJan, renowned poet Amjad IslamAmjad, Safdar Saleem Syal, DrKhalid Hummayun, Iftikhar Feroz,Saleem Mansoor Khalid and a largenumber of students participated inthe event. PU Vice-Chancellor DrMujahid Kamran congratulated theeditorial board of ‘Mahver’ for theirhard work on the golden jubileenumber. The magazine is a compi-lation of writings selected from theissues of the magazine published inlast fifty years.

He advised the Mahver team toensure the regularity of the magazinefor the coming years as there was alapse of several years between the

two magazines. Orya Maqbool Jansaid in the 5,000-year old history ofmankind, no nation educated in aforeign language had progressed.

He said unfortunately, our lan-guage had been snatched from us.

He said our educational institu-tions were not treating Urdu languageproperly and reminded that the doorsof knowledge were first opened by theMuslims. Maqbool stated that theBritish translated knowledge into theenglish language to educate their na-tion in their own language. AmjadIslam Amjad, who also served as theeditor of ‘Mahver’ in 1967, said suchjournals and ceremonies added to thebeauty of educational institutions.

Safdar Saleem Syal, the first editorof ‘Mahver’, said man could be recog-nised by his behaviour and etiquettesand not by his knowledge. SaleemMansoor Khalid, the editor of themagazine in 1977, said the purpose ofpublishing ‘Mahver’ was to polish andpromote the creations of students andthat the regular publication of themagazine will be ensured.

Italy extends help in technical sectors

pU launches golden jubileeedition of annual magazine

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Editor’s mail 11Wednesday, 25 April, 2012

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.

Beggary: a nuisanceI would like to draw the attention to-

wards a serious matter of begging as aprofession. The Pakistani beggar is not apauper but a well-paid professional. Beg-gary is an offence in Pakistan as it is inevery other civilized country, yet here itis allowed to be a thriving profession. Wesee beggars everywhere: we see then innarrow streets, public highways, outsideluxurious hotels, on railway platforms,inside trains, outside mosques, in frontof law courts etc. We see them singly orin groups.

Why are these lawless people allowedto move about freely? Why is no effortmade to stop them from being a publicnuisance and danger? There are threereasons. First, beggary is a very well-or-ganised and widespread profession. It isan evil far too big for any ordinary rem-edy. It cannot be removed easily as themost cunning criminal brains are behindit. Among beggars there are thieves, rob-bers, kidnappers, spies, killers and so on.They are not afraid of the law.

Secondly, the municipal, police andgovernment authorities are not quite de-termined in their anti-beggar campaign.They just put up notices and stick upposters and issue warnings to alms-givers. They appear to be weak, helplessand inactive.

Thirdly, the people are ignorant,emotional and superstitious. They do notunderstand the dangers of giving alms tobeggars. The government must take animmediate action to control them.

SANA SARFARAZKarachi

Brain drainAt present, craze of moving and set-

tling abroad has become quite commonin our society, especially among youth.The basic reasons are: better and brightfuture, acquiring higher-education in animproved manner, more desirable jobopportunities, stable political conditionand above all, fanciness of living in apeaceful environment. Furthermore, thecrave to be a part of a developed and ad-vanced society has also played a vitalrole.

This is all happening because in Pak-istan there is no proper utilisation of ca-pabilities, in addition to the lack ofavailability of opportunities. We are ac-tually losing our assets in such way thatour talented and skilled people are mi-grating towards industrialised societies.

Need for an appropriate action is se-riously required by the government to fa-cilitate such brains with suitableresources so that people can utilise theirtalents and abilities within the country.

RABIA M ABIDKarachi

our prioritiesAs a nation our priorities are deeply

segregated where the interests are morepersonalised for political affiliationswhere anything that happens on a na-tional scale is not able to strike a chord.A worker of any political party is mur-dered and the entire metropolis is shutdown repeatedly incurring loss of millionin the economy of the state.

On the other hand, national tragedyof soldiers of Siachen and the plane crashvictims do not even earn a momentoussilence.

Opting for more provinces is the lastthing that we need since the already mar-ginalised nation needs to be brought to-gether and even if events of suchcalamities do not bring them togetherthen God knows what will.

HANIYA JAVEDKarachi

Broadcast media and publicMedia has always played a vital role

in our lives. One cannot deny that televi-sion has brought a remarkable change tothe world of media, especially when itcomes to news media. People can nowhave an access to the latest happenings inall parts of the world. If you talk aboutPakistani news media, one cannot helpbut question if the news channels areoverstepping their boundaries for thesake of publicity or just doing their job.

It has been noted that when an inci-dent occurs in which one or more livesare lost, the reporters take no notice ofthe condition that the friends and family

of the victim are in, and interview themabout how it makes them feel that theirloved one is no longer in the world. Theiract of going into the homes of the victimis utterly inappropriate.

Let’s shed some light on the incidentof Bhoja Air Crash on the 20th of April2012. The insensitivity that the newschannels showed towards the families ofthe victims was vicious.

It was wrong of them to follow peoplewho were present at Karachi airport try-ing to confirm if their loved ones were inthe plane that has crashed with cameras,showing the families of the deceased live

on TV who were mourning in grief andfainting in the anguish and shock ofloved ones tragic death.

It is the job of the news channels toinform people about what, where andwhen happened and other details regard-ing an event. But our news channels aredoing a lot more than their jobs. In therace of being the first channel to showcertain clips, details and interviews, theyforget the meaning of privacy and showno consideration for the feelings of thepublic.

The viewership does not only includeadults, when children, women or people

who have been through the same kind oftragedies in past watch such things, it af-fects their minds in a negative way. Newschannels must realise the harm that theiractions cause to the minds of the viewersand must put a stop to it.

They should respect the emotionsand privacy of the public instead of dis-playing them for the sake of the rankingof their news channels. If news channelsrefuse to be responsible, then our gov-ernment should take an action to put astop to it.

PARWARSHA ARSHAD MIRZAKarachi

rising street crimesIt is highly regretted that purse and mobile snatching inci-

dents are on the rise. This is highway robbery that occurs in thestreets and busy business areas. These are not paltry theft butthe victims lose valuables worth hundreds of thousands of ru-pees. Such an incident has recently happened to a lady MPA aswell.

This is the second time that she has been robbed by thievesin this manner. She is a courageous and daring lady but theseviolent incidents are nerve wrecking.

Police takes no action against these thieves and it has be-

come a widespread menace for the citizens. Security guardsmust be deployed outside shopping areas and dark alleys toavoid such incidents. It is quite unusual to go through this kindof experience twice. One needs to be more careful in the future.

It is okay to lose one’s valuables to avoid risk to one’s life.No one’s life and property is safe these days. Police authoritiesneeds to be more alert in safeguarding citizen’s life liberty andpursuit of happiness.

JAVAID BASHIRLahore

Libraries in PakistanI want to share my opinion that a li-

brary is a place where people can enjoytheir time reading for leisure. Also, stu-dents can benefit from libraries becausewith power outages at their peak duringexaminations, they can study there in-stead of waiting for electricity to comeback and who want to read many booksin their sphere time.

These advantages are no doubt help-ful but they will only aid people if li-braries are constructed or least of all theconstructed ones maintained. With lessthan 15 libraries in a city like Karachi,people, especially students, suffer as theyare unable to find libraries good enoughto be visited. The ones maintained are farfrom the reach of the lower middle classwhile the rest are not functioning the waythey should.

It is my humble request to the re-spected authorities to take notice of thisissue and build well equipped libraries sothat the public can benefit from them.

S ZEHRAKarachi

Another national tragedyThat another plane has crashed – in

eerily similar circumstances – on thesame flight route of Karachi to Islam-abad, in less than two years means thatsomething is seriously wrong with theCivil Aviation Authority (CAA) and how itregulates airline travel in Pakistan.

The CAA needs to be held account-able, not because it is yet to release theinvestigation report into the Airbluetragedy. What is needed is an independ-ent authority to investigate all planecrashes, much like the National Trans-portation Safety Board in America, wherethe airline regulator, the Federal AviationAdministration, does not carry out suchprobes.

This is crucial because when the CAAlaunches a probe into an air crash, thereis a clear conflict of interest because byextension, it is also investigating its ownperformance as an airline industry regu-lator.

MUHAMMAD JALALKarachi

End disputesThe border between Sudan and South

Sudan is again buzzing with artillery fire,aerial bombardment and soldiers march.Both sides are blaming each other forbreaking the uneasy peace between thesetwo nations which used to be one peoplein near past.

If the leaders of these povertystricken countries are any sincere to thepeople they claim to represent, then theyhave few role models to choose from –how bloody was the breakup of Yu-goslavia (still the conflict has not dieddown after two decades) and how peace-ful was the division of Czechoslovakiainto two independent states.

For last six decades, India and Pak-istan are maintaining armies beyondtheir real strategic needs, on the pretextof a border conflict from the 1947 parti-tion time – Kashmir. By this they are de-priving millions of their own people ofeducation, health care, clean water and adecent life.

If Omar Bashir and Silva Kiir want togo for bad role model, can anyone stopthem? Perhaps it’s time for the UN andneighbouring countries to come forwardto avoid an unnecessary conflict whichmay divide the region on religiousgrounds. There are already signs of sucha divide as Uganda appears to be takingsides with South Sudan.

Both Khartoum and Juba need to un-derstand that war is no solution for theborder conflict; they need to sit acrossthe table to negotiate a win-win solution.

Time is running out for both. War is theminimum misery this region needs whichis already engulfed with droughts,poverty, civil wars, diamonds wars, eth-nic and tribal violence. Let’s hope thatbetter sense will prevail!

MASOOD KHANJubail, Saudi Arabia

Custom lawsPakistan’s auto parts industry is se-

verely affected and the country is losingvaluable revenue due to various malprac-tices of importers of auto parts andsmugglers who work in collusion withunscrupulous customs and tax officials.

Under the existing customs rules,auto parts classification is one of themajor issues that affect auto parts im-ports since duty is calculated on the basisof weight rather than value. This createswide disparity in the valuation of im-ported parts and the net result is thatlocal auto parts manufacturers lose theircompetitiveness.

The government is also losing hugevolumes in sales tax as a large number ofauto parts wholesellers and retailers arenot registered and do not generate salesinvoices. This encourages open sales ofsmuggled and illegally imported autoparts in the market thus creating a cleardisadvantage for locally produced or gen-uinely imported auto parts.

In most cases auto parts of inferiorquality are also imported through mis-declaration, which when used in the au-tomobiles, badly affect the reliability ofthese vehicles and are a safety hazard forthe users.

It is imperative for the government ofstrictly enforce customs rules and stopsmuggling of auto parts to protect thelocal auto parts industry and ensuresafety of automobile users in our country.

SYED OVAIS AKHTARKarachi

PM and Supreme CourtPrime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gi-

lani while addressing a large public rallyat the ground breaking ceremony of theBenazir Shaheed bridge at villageChachran Sharif in R Y Khan has sent avery clear message to the world, includ-ing the Supreme Court of Pakistan andChief Justice Iftikhar MuhammadChaudhry, that he will accept the gallowsbut won’t abandon Bhutto and Benazir’smission. In other words, he will not obeyany orders and won't implement any ver-dicts of Supreme Court.

The ball is in SC’s court now. ChiefJustice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhrywill now have to make sure that his courteither comes out with strong evidencesagainst President Asif Ali Zardari, PrimeMinister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani and hissons to punish the real culprits 'immedi-ately' or let all these people live in peacewho are alleged culprits.

M RAFIQUE ZAKARIAKarachi

neighbourly reservationsRussia highlights what Pakistan has

been doing for very long now regardingthe fallout of the ‘artificial withdrawal’ oftroops from Afghanistan.

Termed as one great reason thatraises concern is the inherent inability ofthe Afghan forces to take over the secu-rity responsibilities and maintain somesemblance of normality and acceptabil-ity. Since security has always been a sorepoint, it’s surprising that nothing sub-stantial has been done to enhance its ef-ficiency.

Despite being provided by colossalsums of money by the US in aid, andhaving been trained for quite some timeby the Indian security forces inAfghanistan, what apparent change hasbeen viewed in the security situation sofar? While harbouring similar reserva-tions, Pakistan too had extended its sup-port by offering to enhance the Afghansecurity machinery, but had been re-jected outrightly. Who does a lawless andinsecure Afghanistan aid?

Surely not the neighbours! Pakistanin relevance has more to worry as itshares a long porous border withAfghanistan that has a direct impactupon its tribal areas. Already a height-ened spate of violence in recent days inPakistan can be attributed to this ob-scure US policy in Afghanistan.

Apart from this, the Afghan govern-ment’s puerile responses to issues of sig-nificance and its corrupt unmendableways of governance are far from desired.Something, that compels even the US,despite its significance, to excludeAfghanistan from the momentous task ofreconciling with the Taliban. It is timethat the Afghans wake up to take controlof their own affairs, to start managingthemselves and governing their own peo-ple according to their own requirements.Only then will peace return toAfghanistan and the reservations of theneighbours start to fade eventually.

LUBNA HAMEEDRawalpindi

Lahore blastWould be statement of Rehman

Malik after Lahore blast: Shahbaz Sharifis responsible!

KAINAT FATIMALahore

CnG kits in busesI read news that Pakistani aviation

authorities have begun an inspection ofall passenger planes operated by privateairlines. It is not a new thing in Pakistanas there have been many cases when atragic incident happens and after thatconcerned authorities look into the mat-ter and start examining it.

A different kind of inspection inKarachi is also needed which is the in-spection of public transport busses whichhave installed CNG kits (but still chargefares at diesel prices). These CNG kitsare very dangerous and are like bombsbecause they explode because of any rea-son.

Concerned authorities must look intothis matter and should order an exami-nation of all those buses which have in-stalled CNG kits.

MUBASHIR MAHMOODKarachi

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Comment12Wednesday, 25 April, 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

necessary versus necessary

Staying poor

African countries are poor, we are told by developmenteconomists, because they are poor. The tautology isnot meant to be facetious; it is meant to describe asituation where the vicious circle of lack of

opportunities doesn’t let a sustainable enabling environmentbe created for more people to be dragged out of poverty. Adinfinitum.

Poverty abounds in Asia as well, the south being noexception. But market forces, demographic changes,liberalisation of trade policy and the increase in theinternational prices of food have led to a measure of prosperity;one that leads to that most overused of terms: trickle down ofwealth. No, the Gini coefficient in the country is what it is. Butwealth has been created. And there are people from all strataseeking upward mobility that are spending for it.

But many more cannot spend enough and even those whocan are not able to do much. The state hasn’t caught up withthe challenges of the times. It cannot provide all the servicesthat a society requires. Were that to be rectified in areas likehealth and education, the immense potential of our populationcould be unlocked and accompanying it, some prosperity.

But in recent times, Pakistan has been faced with a scourgethat dwarfs previous problems: the scourge of terrorism.Granted, things never were too peachy on the law and orderfront, but terror and in certain parts of the country, war-lordism, has held sway. Since the state’s primary responsibility,by all accounts, is the monopolisation of violence, spending onlaw and order increased. In fact, some would argue we are notspending nearly enough. Not on the army, mind you, but oncivil armed forces like the police.

As a result, in KP, public works projects have been stalledin favour of spending on law and order. The same would, andshould, apply to Balochistan, where, even if the state wisens upthis very day and engages in a political solution, the situationwould still get worse before it gets better. The time bomb thatis Punjab is inevitably going to head towards a military/policeoperation against the extremist groups present there. expect tosee a diversion there as well.

Pakistan spent Rs 260 per person on health last year. Asopposed to the Rs 485 per person spent on law and order.education, public works and economic development will alsotake a backseat, ensuring the perpetuation of the status quo onthe development front.

no end in sight

Karachi’s turf war

For four years, extortion and killings have gone on inKarachi. Several visits by the president, primeminister, and interior minister aimed at restoringpeace and respect for the law have failed to achieve

anything except an occasional temporary lull. Will the lectureimparted to coalition partners on Tuesday by Zardari achieveanything more than that? Many think the situation is not likelyto change as long as political parties continue to makeunprincipled alliances to achieve short terms gains.

What one sees happening is a continuous turf war betweenthe three allies in the ruling coalition which has encouraged thesectarian outfits also to pursue their nefarious agenda. Therider by the president “If the three political parties join hands”,only indicates a realisation that the allies remain divided asbefore. The gross failure on the part of the ruling coalition torestore peace has led some to conclude that the coalition is infact a part rather than a solution of the problem. What RehmanMalik has said about the PPP, MQM and ANP being allinvolved in extortion would further strengthen the perception.

Soon after the meeting, two of the partners gave vent totheir particular grievances indicating the gulf that continues todivide them and underlining the fact that sharp politicaldifferences are the real cause behind violence. An MQMspokesman told reporters that his party demanded immediateholding of the local body elections. President of Sindh ANPmaintained on the other hand that peace could not beestablished in the city till fresh constituencies are made on thebasis of a new census. This, however, is no more on thegovernment’s agenda. The president wants the coordinationcommittee comprising the representatives of the three allies toget those apprehended identified and their political linkspublicised on media. Most people who read newspapersalready know which party introduced extortion in Karachi orinitiated violence in politics. Lists of target killers have beenpublished along with their party affiliation. Another list of thesort would hardly change the situation on ground. If anythingcan, it would be a decision to pursue political goals peacefully.But are the allies willing to do now what they have shunned sofar?

Conflicts and more conflicts

Pakistan faces multiple domes-tic conflicts that weaken Pak-istan as a nation-state,compromising its capacity tofunction effectively within its

territorial limits and making it difficult toproject itself positively at the global level.It is becoming increasing problematic forPakistani state and society to fulfil its ob-ligations towards its citizenry and the in-ternational community.

Two societal problems are undermin-ing societal coherence and political andeconomic stability in Pakistan. Theseproblems are ethnic violence and reli-gious-sectarian divide.

ethnic conflict has manifested in itsugliest form in Karachi where killings ofinnocent people by unidentified killershave become a routine affair. The provin-cial government is unable to control thesituation partly because it lacks the pro-fessional capacity to cope with violenceand partly because its machinery has alsobeen affected by ethnic polarisation. Theadministrative machinery is not alwaysin a position to function as a coherentand determined non-partisan adminis-trative machine.

ethnic polarisation in urban Sindh,especially in Karachi, has become sodeep-rooted that the whole political dis-course and the suggested solutions forthe trouble have become ethicised. TheUrdu-speaking leadership projects itselfas victim of aggression by other commu-nities, especially the Pashtuns orPakhtuns who are accused of causing vi-olence in Karachi against the Urdu-speaking populace. They are oftendescribed with several negative adjec-tives. This campaign is spearheaded bythe MQM whose leaders periodicallyname some ANP activists as the terror-

ists. Similarly, they also accusethe PPP activists in the Lyariarea as the source of terrorismand blame a section of the PPPleadership, mainly withSindhi-speaking background,of patronising these elements.

The MQM faces a host ofcharge for disturbing peaceand harmony in Karachi andengaging in violence againstthe Pashtun population andthe PPP activists. The ANPleadership is quite blunt incriticizing the MQM and holdsits activists as the sole cause ofviolence in Karachi. Similarly,the PPP leaders criticise theMQM for violence in Karachi.

These conflicting narra-tives of what is happening inKarachi are indicative of frag-mentation of the society onethnic lines. each group hascreated an exclusive narrativethat blames the rival ethnicgroup for conflict and violence.each ethnic group holds firmlyto its partisan narrative as thefinal truth and it wonders whyothers cannot see this “truth”.

Islamic-sectarianism af-fects the psyche in a similar di-

visive manner. The violent manifestationof sectarianism can be seen in Quettawhere the Shia-Hazara people are themain target of violent attacks by hard linegroups with Wahabi-Deoband traditions.Some organisations have claimed re-sponsibility for killings in Quetta. Re-cently, Gilgit-Baltistan experienced bittersectarian violence, leading to impositionof curfew and summoning of the armytroops to restore law and order. The Kur-ram Agency has also experienced bittersectarian violence for over a decade.

From time to time, the incidents ofsectarian killings are reported fromKarachi and occasionally from otherparts of the country. There are occasionalincidents of violence among the hardliner madrassah based Deobandi-Wa-habi and Barelvi groups or fights takeplace for control of mosques.

The growing ethnic and religious-sectarian conflicts are dangerous trendsthat need to be discouraged at the officialand non-official levels. The people atlarge criticise both trends at the theoret-ical level. even the groups that are knownfor pursuing ethnic and sectarian agendaalso condemn these trends. However,these people and groups do not considertheir actions as promoting ethnic or sec-tarianism. They claim that they stand forthe truth and justice for their communityand that they only respond when the rivalgroup uses violence against their follow-ers. The major problem for this mindsetis that the truth of one community isfalsehood for other community. There ishardly any shared truth.

There are people, especially withstrong religious orientations, who denythe existence of the evil of sectarianismby providing all kind of historical andother explanations that have caused sec-tarian conflict in Pakistan.

No doubt that criminal elements usethe labels of ethnic and sectarian entitiesto cover up their activities. They becomeactivists in such organisations or avail ofthe confusion caused by sectarian or eth-nic violence to pursue their criminalagendas that may include land grabbing,material gains or political competition orstruggle for establishing or protecting do-main of control.

Nevertheless, the divisive trendsbased on ethnicity and sectarianism can-not be denied. Criminal or anti-social el-ements as well as foreign adversariescannot exploit the situation if these prob-

lems do not exist in the society. These di-vides are exploited but anti-social ele-ments or foreign adversaries cannottotally manufacture such divisive trendsand sustain them as a motivating forcefor violent activity.

Any ideology, worldly or religious,taken to its extreme, creates intoleranceand societal conflict. In Pakistan, thestate joined societal groups to promoteIslamic orthodoxy and militancy in the1980s. Religious orthodoxy and conser-vatism was bound to bolster sectarian ordenominational identities because of thetendency to view Islam from one’s de-nominational identity and interpretation.Some of them adopt hardline and intol-erance towards those who do not sharetheir religious perspective. Similarly, thegreater emphasis on ethnicity as a politi-cal tool began in the mid1980s, althoughone could trace its roots to the earlier pe-riod. This caused the fragmentation ofthe society and weakened nationwide po-litical networking and activities.

In Pakistan, the notion of citizenshipof a nation-state has been underminedthrough state education and the media,going back to the 1980s. The madrassahswere already doing it but, from the mid-1980s the state education also empha-sised the notion of being Muslim ratherthan citizen of Pakistan. This sharpenednot only the division between Muslimand non-Muslim but also increased reli-gious-sectarian consciousness.

The current fragmentation of Pak-istani society can be slowly checked byencouraging socio-political alignmentsand groupings that cut across ethnic andsectarian divides. This needs to be donein the areas that experience ethnic or sec-tarian violence from time to time.

The prominent and known personal-ities of different ethnic groups or sectar-ian identities should create joint groupsand visit together the communities thatare affected by violence. Such joint visitsby leaders of all communities will con-tribute positively to reducing ethnic orsectarian violence. Joint inter-communaland inter-sect efforts by the known andestablished leadership can help to healthe divide. The basis of interaction andappeal for peace should be citizenship ofPakistan rather than religion, sect, eth-nicity, region or any other identity.

The writer is an independent politi-cal and defence analyst.

fissures that go deep

By Dr Hasan Askari Rizvi

With the start of strikes against Afghanistan in the nameof the war on terror, any chance and hope for peacein the region were dashed. The US actions, one after

the other, backfired and contributed more to instability and vi-olence in the war-torn region than contributing to peace andstability. It is because the land of Afghanistan has proved to bearea of defeat for the allied forces.

The US was here in Afghanistan with an aim of seeking per-manent bases in the country but it seems that it will not be ableto fulfil this aim as it is facing interminable losses on all frontsin Afghanistan and its ailing economy will be hard-pressed tosustain any kind of prolonged military presence in the country.This is why they want to cut their losses and run now. The proofis in the fact that the Americans are seeking talks with the Tal-iban for peace and have duly opened an office at Qatar for thesame purpose.

The question is whether the plan to have a military presence

in Afghanistan by the US has yielded any result or has the USrealised the mistake it committed in plunging into the regionwithout thinking the entire thing through.

Pakistan should be praised for the role it has played in thelarger interest of the region. Not only has Pakistan hosted mil-lions of homeless Afghans for decades, it has also ceaselesslycontinued with its efforts for lasting peace in the region throughcooperation with regional and global stakeholders.

The talks intended for peace in the region among variousstakeholders cannot shun the importance of Pakistan to thewhole process. But in the ultimate analysis, it is the Afghanswho must have a solution of their liking. A solution that hasbeen manufactured to cater to the interest of other stakeholdersand powers will not sit well with the Afghans and will bedoomed to fail from the start, as history has proved. Thus, theprocess must ensure that the Afghans are freely able to decidewhat is best for them.

– Translated from the original Pashto by Abdur RaufKhattak

Afghanistan for AfghansDaily Pashtun Post

regional Press

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Comment 13Wednesday, 25 April, 2012

it would be sad if it wasn’t funny

no dearth of mirth

Asense of humour, likephilosophy, may notsuffice to avert diffi-

culties that befall individualsand nations, but it can go along way toward makingthem somewhat bearable.Whatever else one may sayabout Pakistanis – and theyhave more than their fairshare of weaknesses – youcan’t criticise them for a lackof sense of humour. One lookat one week’s – any week’s –newspapers should beenough to dispel any doubtsyou may have in this regard.The following is a samplefrom last week – top tennews reports that cracked meup:

1. Bannu Jail Break:Prisoners’ names placed onECL. Bad news for the ab-sconders: no Bahamasbound flights via Genevanow. Quite a few amongstthe general public havefound this hilarious however,with one summing it up thus:“Also check new inductees inPTI since the jail break.”

2. PIA flight departs one-hour earlier than the giventime. The pilot tried to nullifythe age old dictum that deathhas a certain time. He playedwith time since the planesaren’t safe these days.

Time and tide wait fornone;

Why should we wait forthem then?

3. Reema & Meera Cud-dle at The Red Carpet ofPFDC Sunsilk Fashion Week2012. even though it waswork that brought them to-gether, the rivals didn’t letthe opportunity of showinggood bonding go begging.Meera was even philosophi-cal when she communicated

this deep thought: “A film ac-tress’s value declines whenshe gets married.”

4. Dr FakharuddinChaudhry bids farewell toPML(N), rejoins PPP. ThePML(N) was overjoyed whenthe doctor joined them buthe has now left it and hasgone back to PPP, citingShahbaz Sharif’s mental de-ficiency as one of the rea-sons. A damning diagnosisfrom the good doctor, al-though if personal businessempire is anything to go by,Shahbaz is anything butmentally deficient!

5. Dr. Firdous AshiqAwan former federal minis-ter of information has said

that her new portfolio of na-tional regulation and serv-ices suits her nature and sheis very happy after this an-nouncement and change ofportfolio. Is there any end tothe list of PM Gilani’s tal-ents? So he is an expert ca-reer counsellor as well, wellversed in people’s natures,psyches, etc.

6. Shorten your honey-moon and present yourselffor the investigation: PM’sadvice to his son. The PMknows that there is potentialfor many more honeymoons.But, as a keen student of his-tory, he also knows there’s atime to love and a time tohate, a time for war and atime for peace.

7. Rs 33 crore spent byCM in Lahore for ironbridges to cross road byfoot. Who on earth climbs allthose stairs and crosses theroad through those bridgesin Lahore? Does this, by anychance, have anything to dowith the small family

foundry?8. Osama’s widow wants

asylum in UK. She’d like tomeet Royal Family. Techni-cally speaking, Mrs Osama isa Yemeni and has no busi-ness in this article celebrat-ing Pakistanis’ sense ofhumour. The fact that shestill makes it is warranted bythree reasons. One, she does-n’t want to go back to Yemen– that’s a very Pakistani sen-timent. Two, she has lived afairly long time in Pakistanand that should count forsomething. Three, the abilityto express the sentiment ofwanting to meet the royalfamily with a straight face, onthe part of somebody who

not too long ago wanted a“warrior husband” is again avery Pakistani characteristic.

9. Haroon ur Rasheed in-formed the nation in his arti-cle on April 17 that bothpolitical parties had agreedon a property dealer’s namefor the caretaker prime min-ister. Is he, by any chance, re-ferring to the guy who is alsorumoured to be constructingCOAS’s retirement house,and who is rumoured to bebehind closure of the racingcase in which 5 people diedand one was injured? If so,Mr Rasheed should haveshared the joke with the na-tion by naming the propertydealer. This nation appreci-ates humour.

10. “Adliya Meri DostHai”: PM Gilani. This onetakes the cake, or the biscuit,or whatever is at stake. Waita minute – is he talkingabout Adeela?

The writer is a member ofthe band Beygairat Brigade.

By Ali Aftab Saeed

With great power comes great impunity

Crime and no punishment

“Conspiracy is establishedas all those who gath-ered were Hindus with

intention to kill Muslims anddamage their property. Theygathered on Friday and chargedtowards homes of the Muslimsfully aware of the face that it wasFriday and all people would be intheir respective homes. Theyknew that the victims keep grassand tobacco in house, so as perplan they threw petrol andkerosene first.”

This is what the judge hassaid pronouncing the life sen-tence to 18 people in the Gulbergcase, one of the major relating tothe massacre in Gujarat 10 yearsago. As many as 23 Muslims wereburnt alive. Yet the BhartiyaJanata Party (BJP) leaders saythat there is no “legal evidence”against state chief ministerNarendra Modi. How can therebe any when his government haschanged all records and files toremove even a shred of evidenceagainst him?

The Rajiv Gandhi govern-ment did the same thing whenmore than 3,000 Sikhs were mas-sacred in Delhi in 1984. evenFIRs were changed. When a po-litical party in power decides tosave the guilty, it goes to any ille-gal limit to ensure that nothingincriminating is found on recordagainst them. Both the Congressand the BJP are most to blamebut several regional parties toospare no effort to fudge reports.It all depends on whether the es-tablishment wants to save theguilty.

After having thoroughlycleansed all official papers, theBJP can safely say that there is“no legal evidence” against Modi.Still some convictions have takenplace. Regretfully, it has taken 10years to get some meaningful jus-

tice in Gujarat. It is another mat-ter, however reprehensible, thatthe Special Investigation Team(SIT), appointed by the SupremeCourt to look into cases like theGulberg, has given Modi a cleanchit. Still the fact remains thateshan Jaffery, a former CongressMP, was burnt alive along withthose who had taken shelter athis house.

The judge who pronouncedthe judgment says: “The objectiveof this punishment is to remindthe accused that their crime wasnot in their welfare or of the soci-ety.” Why did SIT not take intoconsideration the affidavit filedby senior Gujarat police officerSanjiv Bhatt is baffling. He hasgone on record as saying thatModi had instructed bureaucratsand police officers to allow Hin-dus “to vent their anger” and he(Bhatt) was present at the meet-ing where Modi said so. Amicuscuriae Raju Ramachandran toohas highlighted Bhatt’s testimonyin his report to the SupremeCourt.

Bhatt has been suspended forhaving made the statement andhe and his family are being con-stantly harassed by the authori-ties. He has filed a complaintagainst this to the police but withno redress. It is not difficult toimagine the situation in Gujaratwhere Modi rules like a dictatorand sees to it that the truth re-mains suppressed. State homeminister Hiren Pandey whobegan to spill the beans wasbumped off. His family has ac-cused Modi and feels helpless ingetting justice.

The BJP and Modi are sadlymistaken if they believe that hissins can be washed away by onemotivated report or the other.even after a decade, the tragedyis fresh in the nation’s mind andpractically every day there issome reference to his complicityin a discussion or writing. Some-thing or the other crops up to re-mind the people of the Gujaratpogrom. Still the BJP continuesto project him as a prime minis-terial candidate in the next gen-eral election in 2014.

Similarly, the 1984 massacreof Sikhs remains fresh in thememory of the nation, althoughPrime Minister Manmohan Singhhas offered apologies in parlia-

ment. Wounds are still raw andthe country saw how the Sikhcommunity rose, in the absenceof justice against of the 1984 per-petrators, to protest against thedate fixed for the hanging of Bal-winder Singh who had killed for-mer chief minister Beant Singh.

The dismal life that close rel-atives of those killed and up-rooted lead does not allow thewounds to heal. It is still worsewhen the culprits are seen roam-ing about feely. There is no rem-edy other than an exemplarypunishment to the guilty andthose who conspired to committhe crime. Not only Modi, thereare many other BJP leaders whowere involved in the massacre ofGujarat. They too have to be pun-ished so that the message goesaround that anyone, howeverpowerful, will not escape justice.

I do not know what willemerge from the Gujarat tragedy.Will there be an exposure of sys-tem which was subverted to blessthe planned killings? I found aconspiracy in the case of theSikhs’ massacre. Since the centrewas itself involved I saw it puttinga gloss over the system. Still somereports came near to pointing afinger at them. But the Congressgovernment destroyed those re-ports.

Gujarat too has seen the mur-der of truth. When the people arebrainwashed, they do not riseagainst injustice. The SovietUnion is an example. It was nosurprise that Rajiv Gandhi won amassive victory after the 1984massacre. It should not havecome as a shock that Modi wonthe state election soon after theGujarat killings. He may do itagain in the state election at theend of this year.

Hatred consumes people andthey live in that kind of passiontill something happens – the rev-elation of the truth – to awakenthem. The truth has yet to comeout either about the massacre ofSikhs at Delhi or of the Muslimsat Gujarat. I am confident thatthe truth will prevail some day asit happened at the Truth and Rec-onciliation Commission in SouthAfrica to tell the full story ofapartheid.

The writer is a senior Indianjournalist.

Border CrossingsBy Kuldip Nayar

is there any end to the list of

PM Gilani’s talents? So he is an

expert career counsellor as

well, well versed in people’s

natures, psyches.

LHR 25-04-2012_Layout 1 4/25/2012 2:53 AM Page 13

14 Wednesday, 25 April, 2012

NEWS DESK

Well known Pakistani TV actor AhsanKhan who walked the ramp at the PanteneBridal Couture Week 2012 on Day 1looked all royal in a traditional sherwaniand red turban. He said, “I have walkedthe ramp several times and it is always a

joy to dress up differently.” Talk about hisentry in Bollywood movies and he says, “Ihave been getting offers from Bollywood.In fact, I have signed a Bollywood moviedirected by Deepti Naval. The film shootshould begin soon.” He adds, “I metDeepti in a show in America. She lovedmy performance and walked to me andasked whether I would be interested to doa Bollywood movie. For a moment I wasshocked and then instantly I smiled andtold a yes to her.” So what does he thinkabout Pakistani actors being part of Bol-lywood movies and he says, “It's a greatplatform for any Pakistani artist to per-form in India. I think it's refreshing to seeBollywood movies including Pakistani ac-tors. The change is a welcome. Hopefully,this will help us to bridge the gap betweenboth the nations. The cultural exchange isa great move and hope we get to see moreartists from India also coming to Pak-istan.” He continues, “We feel proud whenwe see Indian fan followers for our artistsand actors. It's a huge motivation and en-couragement for us.” So when does heplan to visit India? “I should be in Indiasoon for the shooting of my movie.”

Ahsan Khan makes Bollywood debut

NASHVILLECBS

T HIS year's lead-ing CMT MusicAward nomineeshave two thingsin common:

They're all women andthey are all blonde. Under-wood earned five nomina-tions, Lambert has four asa solo artist and as part ofher trio Pistol Annies, andSwift led a contingent of

stars earning three nomi-nations apiece for the 11thannual video awards show.Other artists with threenominations include JasonAldean, Lady Antebellum,Rascal Flatts, Blake Shel-ton, Thompson Squareand The Civil Wars. Un-derwood's ‘Good Girl’ andher ‘Remind Me’ collabo-ration with Brad Paisley,Lambert's ‘Over You’ andSwift's collaboration withThe Civil Wars on ‘TheHunger Games’ sound-track entry ‘Safe andSound’ are among the 10nominees for top-honourvideo of the year. Under-wood also is up for femalevideo, CMT performanceand collaborative video ofthe year. Lambert is up forfemale video as a soloartist and for group videoand breakthrough videofor ‘Hell on Heels’ with herfriends Angaleena Presleyand Ashley Monroe in Pis-

tol Annies. Other video ofthe year nominees includeAldean's ‘Dirt Road An-them’, Kenny Chesney's‘You and Tequila’ withGrace Potter, Toby Keith's‘Red Solo Cup’, Lady Ante-bellum's ‘We Owned theNight’, Rascal Flatts' ‘easy’with Natasha Bedingfieldand Shelton's ‘God GaveMe You’. Fan voting for theawards begins Monday onthe network's website. Theshow will air on June 6.

MUMBai: The world calls him a perfectionist,but Aamir Khan who is all set to scorch thesmall screen with his show ‘Satyamev Jayate’is pretty nervous about his debut TV venture. in a candid interview, Aamir said, “yes,excited and nervous. But when i saynervous, it’s not the TRPs that i’m talkingabout, you know. That doesn’t matter. Whatmatters is doing justice to the opportunitythat i’ve got in reaching out to so manypeople, finding that emotional connect withthem and touching their lives in some way.That will accomplish what the show setsout to do. i am just telling stories ofcommon people, with them and throughthem.” on being asked about his son Azadwho is barely five months old, Aamir saidthat his youngest child helps him inmaintaining an emotional balance.Aamir said, “The show though extremelyenriching to me as an individual, has beenmentally draining too. But Azad has helpedme tremendously in maintaining anemotional balance, he’s a really sweet child.Azad was born of a surrogate mother inDecember last year as Aamir’s second wifeKiran underwent a miscarriage. Hence Azadis very special to the actor. He said, “WhenJunaid (son from first wife Reena) was born,i think i was more hands-on. i had workedonly for 30-40 days in a year and was withReena throughout. But now i sometimeshave to smuggle in from Azad’s nap time tospend time with him. But he’s very specialand so every moment spent with him andKiran is precious.” aGEnCiES

1 ChiCAgO: Sean Penn listens as formerRussian President mikhail gorbachev

speaks with students as part of the WorldSummit of nobel Peace laureates. AFP

2 neW YORK: michelle Williams attendsthe ‘take this Waltz’ premiere during the

2012 tribeca Film Festival. AFP

3 neW YORK: Co-Founder of the tribecaFilm Festival Robert De niro attends the

Bloomberg Panel & Reception during the2012 tribeca Film Festival. AFP

4 lOnDOn: Zac efron and taylor Schillingarrive at the european premiere of their

film ‘the lucky One’. AFP

5 lOS AngeleS: John Cusack at thepremiere of his film ‘the Raven’. ReuteRS

6 neW YORK: Cast member Dame JudiDench attends the film premiere of ‘the

Best exotic marigold hotel’. ReuteRS

7 SingAPORe: Anil Kapoor and BipashaBasu at a media event to announce the

venue of the international indian FilmAcademy (iiFA) Weekend and Awards. ReuteRS

in limelight

LOndOn: Rihanna’s father has divulged that shehad a childhood obsession with WhitneyHouston- who drowned in the bath while highon cocaine in february. “She used to loveWhitney. Robyn would always sing along to iWill Always Love you,” the Sun quoted Rihanna’sdad Ronald fenty, 58, as saying. “She admiredWhitney because of her range, her voice, herappearance, her personality-everything. Sheloved Whitney so much she would be honouredto play her. i think she would accept in aheartbeat.” But fenty, a former crack addict,insisted that he hopes his daughter does notemulate her heroine too closely. And like the

tragic diva, who was 48 when she died,fears have grown over Rihanna’ssuspected drug use. This week Rihannawas accused of promoting drug useafter posting a picture on photo-sharing website instagram showing hersitting on her bodyguard’s shouldersand “cutting up” what looks like awhite powder on his head. The snap,taken at the Coachella music festival inCalifornia, triggered a barrage ofcriticism. With the similarities stackingup, it is unsurprising that Rihanna isbeing touted to play Houston on thebig screen. Also, Rihanna has confessedshe would love to take on the part.“That would be something i would haveto give my entire life to do because iwould want to really pull it off,” shesaid. aGEnCiES

MUMBai: After teaming up inmovies like ‘Raju Ban GayaGentleman’, ‘Darr’, ‘yes Boss’ and‘Duplicate’, popular onscreen duoShah Rukh Khan and Juhi Chawlawould soon recreate their magic ina television commercial. Scriptedand directed by Kabir Sadanand,the ad is a sequel to the lastedition of the Matrix forex TVcommercial. Set in a courtroom,the ad shows Shah Rukh as acriminal and Juhi as a judge. Theduo was last seen together in2008 film ‘Bhootnath’ and this issaid to be their first commercialtogether. Both of them becamebusiness partners withDreamz Unlimitedbefore Shah Rukh tookit over in 2004 andmade it Red ChilliesEntertainment. nowShah Rukh, Juhi and herhusband Jai Mehta areco-owners of indianPremier League (iPL)franchise Kolkata KnightRiders. Set to be airedsoon, the advertisementalso features cricketersBrett Lee, yusuf Pathanand BrendonMcCullum. aGEnCiES

LHR 25-04-2012_Layout 1 4/25/2012 2:54 AM Page 14

NEWS DESK

S i n g e rturned actorAli Zafarmade a rareappearancein Karachilast week-end. He wasspotted atthe PearlContinentalhotel, dinning at roof top hotelSakura relishing on some deli-cious sea food menu. Ali talkedabout his sudden visit toKarachi, "I have just comeback from India after perform-ing a show at Delhi for theLifestyle Pakistan show whichwas held last weekend. It wasa spectacular show and the au-dience response was over-whelming.” He continues, “Iwas back in Lahore and now inKarachi for two days to do ashoot for a commercial cam-paign.” Ali who seemed tohave put on some kilos said, “Ihave started exercising andtrying to put on some kilos formy next movie. I have just fin-ished the shoot of ‘ChashmeBaddoor’ and looking forward

to be back in India by the endof May for the shoot of my nextupcoming project.” Ask abouthis next movie and he says, “Itis an interesting story and Iwill co-star along with PrachiDesai and Chitrangdha Singh.”He adds, “I have been on strictdiet and exercise. The role inmy next upcoming film de-mands me to look fit andhence I have been followingsome exercise as instructed bymy fitness instructor. In themovie 'Chashme Baddoor' Ihad lost lot of kilos and nowI'm happy that I have got theopportunity to put in extrakilos." Ali who will be celebrat-ing his birthday next month on18th May shares his birthdayplans, "Frankly, so far Ihaven't planned my birthday.But hopefully I should be atthe Cannes film festival duringthat time." Next Ali is happy totake a break from work andspend some quality time withhis family. He says, "It’s al-ways a joy to be home with myfamily back in Lahore. In factthe other day, I went out withmy friends to taste local delica-cies at the new food street thathas opened up in Lahore."

LOS ANGELESaGEnCiES

Like many teen stars beforeher, Demi Lovato found herselfin a dark place as the result ofher monumental fame at sucha young age. But she provedthe cliché wrong by getting thehelp she needed, emerging re-vitalised. But Demi remembersthose dark times and is nowspeaking out in hopes of help-ing other young stars avoid thesame fate. In a new interview,Demi opens up about the pit-falls that led her to drugs-andthe shocking way she oftentimes came by the substances.“It's something I don't reallywant to talk about, (but) whatI can say is that I was de-pressed. I would come off stagein front of 18,000 people andI'd come crashing down andwould try to find a way torecreate that feeling, to stayup,” she says. Which wasn'ta difficult thing to do,according to thesinger. “Promotersgave me drugs andalcohol in restau-rants or clubs," shereveals. Sur-rounded by en-

ablers, Demi is thankful to thefew who forced her into rehabtwo years ago. "Being acelebrity can be dangerous.Nobody says 'no',” she said. Lo-vato, who has a history of beingbullied, has also suffered aneating disorder. She said sheisn’t over her body image is-sues, and said she wasn’t readyto start acting again. “I need tobe secure in my body before Igo back in front of the camera.Anyone in recovery from aneating disorder would find thattriggering, and I’m not ready,”she said.

MUMBai: it’s a known factthat Salman Khan was theone to have discovered theactor in Boney Kapoor’s sonArjun, who had initiallyplanned to turn a producer.The boy, who once weighedover 120 kilos, now sports aslim frame and looksfabulous in his upcomingflick ‘ishaqzaade’ all thanksto the ‘Dabangg’ superstarwho motivated him to shedhis flab and pursue actingas a career. But off late,Salman seems to havesome problem with Arjun.Surprisingly, Boney andSalman have been friendsfor long and have worked infilms like ‘no Entry’ and‘Wanted’. And apparentlywhen Boney wantedSalman to promote Arjun’s‘ishaqzaade’ on Twitter,Khan bluntly refused to doso. Wonder what has gonewrong with the two?Salman had also visited theKapoor household recentlypost the death of Boney’sfirst wife Mona and wasseen paying condolence tothe bereaved. Hope the twofriends sort out theirdifferences soon. aGEnCiES

15

MUMBai: four years after his romantic comedy‘Dostana’, Tarun Mansukhani has managed to crackthe plot of the sequel which is slated to roll mid-2012. ‘Dostana version 2.0’ will be shot across twocontinents and will be a far more aggressive play onthe original's gay versus-straight theme. JohnAbraham confirmed the news saying, “Tarun hasfinally got the plot in place. And we're all set.” Headded laughing, “i maintain Abhishek is my bestscreen-jodi. And i can't wait to get cosy with him onscreen.” So, audiences will once again get to watchthe antics of Abhishek and John as they reprise theirmock gay act in the sequel. "The film will be set inLondon and Punjab," the actor said. Meanwhile, asource close to the film said, "it is going to be farmore naughty and wicked. There will be lots ofjokes. innocuous fun will still be the key." Also, unlikethe Miami beaches featuredin ‘Dostana’, part two willunfold on terra firma. "nobeaches and sorry, no Johnin dangerously low-waistswimming trunks,” thesource added. Apparently,there's going to be animage reversal of sorts in‘Dostana 2’, with Johnappearing fully clothed andAbhishek possibly baring hischest. Meanwhile, a finalcall on who will be theleading lady will be takenonce KJo returns fromBangkok. aGEnCiES

Bolder ‘Dostana 2’ on the cards

Aniston sparks Greek wedding rumours

LOS ANGELESaGEnCiES

Jennifer Aniston is reportedly lookingfor the perfect hotel to host her weddingto Justin Theroux. The former‘FRIeNDS’ star, whose father was bornin Crete, is said to be preparing to gethitched on the Greek island this sum-mer. According to TMZ, Jennifer wasspotted checking out the elounda BeachHotel in coastal town Agios Nikolaos.The 43-year-old actress apparentlymentioned a July wedding as she inves-tigated the prices of ceremonies that thehotel offers. The full service - which in-cludes a ceremony at the hotel church,the bride's flowers, a bottle of champersand all the paperwork - amounts to avery reasonable 1,400 pounds. That in-cludes the decoration of the hotel carand everything. However, one of thehotel big wigs has said that Aniston has-n't settled on his hotel for the nuptialsas "she has connections on the otherside of the island as well."

Nida Azwer launches The White Label

NEWS DESK

Fashion designer Nida Azwer haslaunched her brand new prêt line, TheWhite Label, for the trendy woman wholoves to don affordable but chic clothes.The White Label prêt line containsmodern silhouettes in vibrant hues. Thefabric used is pure cotton with appeal-ing cuts and textures. The White Labelalso includes pieces of Nida Azwer’s sig-nature screen printing fabrics and arestocked at multi label boutique ONe byensemble at Dolmen City Karachi.

LOS ANGELESaGEnCiES

L INDSAY Lohan is set to playiconic screen legend elizabethTaylor in a new TV movie, Life-time Television said, confirmingwhat Lohan has claimed for weeks

as she forges ahead with her comeback fromlegal and personal troubles. Lohan, 25, isthe first name to be announced for Life-time’s original movie ‘Liz and Dick’, basedon the true story of Taylor’s passionate ro-mance with actor Richard Burton, whomshe married twice throughout her life. “Ihave always admired and had enormousrespect for elizabeth Taylor. She was notonly an incredible actress but an amazingwoman as well,” Lohan said in a statement,adding that she was “honoured” to play theicon. Taylor, widely recognised for beauty

and glamour, met Burton on the set of the1963 film ‘Cleopatra’, and thus began apassionate and tumultuous romance thatmade headlines worldwide as they marriedand divorced twice over the years. Lohanhad talked about her role in the TV movielast month in an interview, and she posteda picture of herself dressed as Taylor asher Twitter profile. But there had been noofficial confirmation from the networkuntil Monday. The ‘Mean Girls’ actresshas been striving to turn around her badgirl image in recent months after being inand out of jail, rehab and court since2007. She was released in March from al-most five years of formal probation stem-ming from a 2007 drunk driving andcocaine possession arrest. She recently re-turned to TV sketch comedy show ‘Satur-day Night Live’ and landed a guest spoton Fox’s hit TV musical comedy ‘Glee’.

Demi Lovato opens up about depression, eating disorders

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Wednesday, 25 April, 2012

16 Foreign News

DAMASCUSafP

Acar bomb on Tuesday rockedcentral Damascus, a dayafter nearly 60 were killedacross Syria despite a hard-won ceasefire and the up-

coming deployment of 300 UN peacemonitors.

Three people were wounded when theblast went off in the Marjeh district of thecapital, Syrian state television reported,blaming “terrorists”, the governmentterm for rebels. “An armed terroristgroup detonated the car bomb near theYelbugha complex in Marjeh, wounding

three people and causing damage tonearby buildings,” it said. State newsagency SANA said the bomb was placedunder the car of an unsuspecting man,who was among those hurt.

The blast came as the Syrian Observa-tory for Human Rights said violence acrossthe country killed 54 civilians and five sol-diers on Monday, despite the tenuousceasefire. Thirty-one of the civilians died ina government assault on the Arbaeenneighbourhood in the central city of Hamaand 13 others, including women and chil-dren, died in a mine blast in the village ofJarjanaz, in northwestern Idlib province.Video footage posted online by activistsshowed a street in Arbaeen with large

pools of blood and women weeping. Twoyoung girls were shown in one video cryingand holding up the picture of a man. “Thisis my father,” cries one girl. The violenceoccurred despite the April 12 ceasefire, andthe presence of an advance team of UNmonitors to implement the truce.

The Observatory said clashes also tookplace Tuesday in two suburbs of Damascusand gunfire was reported the town of Bosraal-Sham, in southern Daraa province. Thepersistent bloodshed 12 days into theceasefire has sparked growing criticismfrom opposition activists of the fledglingUN mission, which now numbers just 11observers out of a planned initial deploy-ment of 30. Neeraj Singh, a spokesman for

the advance team, said the observerswould be visiting different unspecified lo-cations on Tuesday. The monitors havetoured several protest hubs since their ar-rival in the country earlier this month, in-cluding the battered city of Homs, wheretwo of them set up base at the weekend.

During their visits, they have beengreeted by thousands of protesters de-manding the ouster of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime and the arming of the rebelFree Syrian Army. Despite scepticism overthe UN mission, UN chief Ban Ki-moon onMonday gave the go-ahead for the deploy-ment of 300 ceasefire monitors from nextweek. Ban insisted that the Assad govern-ment ensure the protection of the unarmed

observers and allow them to travel freelythroughout the country. On Monday, USPresident Barack Obama ordered newsanctions on Syria and Iran and the “digitalguns for hire” who help them oppress theirpeople with surveillance software andmonitoring technology. Obama announcedadditions to the pile of US sanctions al-ready faced by the two governments as partof a wider effort to crack down on humanrights abuses, atrocities and genocide. Themeasures will hit the two governments butalso companies that help create systemsthat track or monitor their people forkilling, torture or other abuses and preventindividuals involved from entering theUnited States.

OSLOafP

A security guard and an explosivesexpert described in court Tuesday themassive blast that rocked Oslo whenAnders Behring Breivik bombed agovernment building last July, killingeight people.

Tor Inge Kristoffersen, a guard inthe Norwegian capital’s governmentblock, told the court that on July 22he saw a white van park at the foot ofthe tower housing the offices ofLabour Prime Minister JensStoltenberg.

He said he was in the operationscentre in the basement of the buildingand was using surveillance cameraimages to check whether the van wasauthorised to be there. “When I waszooming in on the number plate, thecar exploded,” he testified, addingthat “half of the images disappearedfrom our screens because the camerashad been destroyed in the explosion.”“There was a huge roar. We were soclose that we did not hear a blast, buta roar, and we noticed the shockwavein the ceiling over us,” he said.

Kristoffersen, a former soldierwho served in the Middle east and inthe Balkans, continued to work in the

government district after the attacks,and said the area was like “a warzone.” In the weeks after the bombingand Breivik’s subsequent shootingmassacre on the nearby Utoeya island— where he killed another 69 people,mainly teens — many raisedquestions about how the right-wingextremist could have parked his vanso close to Norway’s political nervecentre. In his testimony, Kristoffersenstressed that long-overdueconstruction was under way to blockoff traffic in the street outside thegovernment building, but that in themeantime “illegal parking” wasfrequent in the area.

“We chased cars away from thereevery day,” he said. Svein OlavChristensen, a government explosivesexpert, meanwhile told the court thata reenactment and simulationsshowed that Breivik’s bomb had theenergy equivalent of between 400 and700 kilos (180-320 pounds) of TNT.“The main charge is easy to make,” hesaid, adding though that “thedetonator is more difficult.”

The 33-year-old confessed killerused fertiliser, diesel and aluminiumto make his 950-kilo bomb, whichkilled eight people working in thebuilding and passers-by and injured

dozens more. Stoltenberg, who wasworking from his official residencethat day, was not harmed in theattack. Breivik has said his twinattacks were “cruel but necessary” tostop the Labour Party’s “multiculturalexperiment” and halt the “Musliminvasion” of Norway and europe.

Police operation chief ThorLangli was also called to testifyTuesday and described the confusionthat followed the blast, withcontradictory messages suggestingthere were two suspects and possiblyother bombs ready to go off. “Ithought there was a connection,” hesaid about the moment when he wastold about the Utoeya shootingmassacre. “I could not conceive thatwe could be facing several guys likehim at the same time,” Langli said,turning towards the accused. Asduring the first six days of his trial,Breivik, who has confessed to thefacts but refused to plead guilty,showed no emotion when faced withdetails of his bloodbath. He has beencharged with “acts of terror” andfaces either 21 years in prison — asentence that could be extendedindefinitely if he is still considered athreat to society — or closedpsychiatric care, possibly for life.

Ukraine’s jailedex-pM goes onhunger strike

KHARKIVafP

Ukraine’s jailed ex-premier YuliaTymoshenko has been on a hunger strikefor the past five days to protest hertreatment and demand an end to politicalrepression, her lawyer said Tuesday. “YuliaTymoshenko began a hunger strike onFriday,” her lawyer Serhiy Vlasenko toldAFP after visiting Tymoshenko in theeastern city of Kharkiv where she has beenjailed since last year on abuse-of-officecharges. “It’s an unlimited hunger strike.She is calling for an end to politicalrepressions in Ukraine,” her lawyer said.The flamboyant but divisive 2004 OrangeRevolution leader was jailed for sevenyears for negotiating a gas deal with Russiawhile prime minister in 2009 that the newadministration says was against Ukraine’sinterests. Tymoshenko, 51, has complainedof ill health in jail and asked to havetreatment abroad. She began her hungerstrike after she said she was forcibly takento a local hospital on Friday evening. Herlawyer Vlasenko read out a statement inwhich Tymoshenko complained of beingbeaten by prison staff and dragged to anambulance against her will. “Three strongmen came up to my bed, threw a sheet onme and then started pulling me off the bedby force. In my pain and despair Idefended myself as I could, and I received... a strong blow in the stomach,”Tymoshenko said in the statement. “Theytied up my arms and legs and ... draggedme out in the sheet,” she said. “I thought itwas the last minutes of my life.” Herlawyer told journalists outside the prisonearlier that “her arms were covered withbruises and she had a large bruise on herstomach, which is still visible four daysafter it happened.”

israel legalises 3settler outposts,angering palestinians

JERUSALEMafP

Israel on Tuesday decided to legalise threesettler outposts in a move denounced by thePalestinians as a dismissive response to aletter from president Mahmud Abbas callingfor a settlement freeze. A ministerialcommittee has decided “to formalise the statusof three communities which were establishedin the 1990s,” the office of Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu said. The move sparkedan angry response from the Palestinians andfrom Israeli settlement watchdog Peace Now,which said it was the first time the governmenthad created new settlements since the 1990s.The three outposts — Bruchin, Rechelim andSansana — had no Israeli legal status sincethey were set up, but will now join the 120official settlements dotted across the occupiedWest Bank that are home to more than342,000 people. The Palestinian leadershipsaid the decision was “expected” and said itwas “the Israeli answer” to a letter from Abbasto Netanyahu, in which he laid out thePalestinian grievances over the collapse of thepeace process and outlined his demands forrestarting negotiations.

JErUSaLEM: Back dropped by the dome of the rock Mosque, an israeli

soldier adjusts a national flag with a black ribbon on the graves of fallen

soldiers at the Mount of Olives military cemetery in Jerusalem as the

country begins to mark Memorial day for fallen soldiers on Tuesday. Afp

Car bomb hits Damascus as more die in ‘ceasefire’

‘A huge roar’: witness, expertdescribe Breivik’s bomb

New Pentagon spyagency to focus on Iran, ChinaWASHIngtOn: The Pentagon is creating anew intelligence agency that will focus on Iranand China as it begins to pivot away from warzones in Iraq and Afghanistan, the New YorkTimes reported. The newspaper said lateMonday that the new Defense ClandestineService would make use of existing agents,authorities and assets and work closely with theCentral Intelligence Agency to track emergingthreats. “It will thicken our coverage across theboard,” it quoted a senior defense departmentofficial as saying. Case officers from the DefenseIntelligence Agency already secretly gatherintelligence outside of conventional battlezones, the Times said, and the latest movefurther cements cooperation between themilitary and the CIA. The new intelligenceservice is expected to grow “from severalhundred to several more hundred” agents in thecoming years by shifting personnel and fundingfrom existing assignments, the Times quotedthe official as saying. Defense officials did notimmediately respond to AFP requests forfurther information. The announcement of thenew agency comes a week after the Pentagonnominated Lieutenant General Michael Flynn— who previously served with the secretiveJoint Special Operations Command (JSOC) —to head military intelligence. The selection ofFlynn — who had been a strong critic of militaryintelligence when he served as the topintelligence officer in Afghanistan in 2010 —reflects the ascendancy of special forces inrecent years. Afp

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Foreign News 17Wednesday, 25 April, 2012

CairO: Egyptian school girls shout slogans as they drive past a demonstration in front of Saudi arabian embassy in Cairo on Tuesday, calling for the release of Egyptians

who have been detained in the kingdom, including ahmed al-Gizawi (portrait) who was arrested on april 17. Afp

Five terrorsuspects heldin Britain

LONDONafP

British police arrested five men Tuesday onsuspicion of terror offences in the town ofLuton, northwest of London, in pre-planned raids. The men, aged 35, 30, 24,23 and 21, were arrested “on suspicion ofthe commission, preparation or instigationof acts of terrorism,” Scotland Yard policeheadquarters said. They were arrested atfive residential addresses in Luton andwere taken to a central London policestation where they remain in custody. Thearrests by officers from the Counter-Terrorism Command were a part of apre-planned, intelligence-led operation,Scotland Yard said. The men were arrestedat houses in the Bury Park area, which hasbeen home to a large Muslim Pakistanicommunity since the 1970s. It is also hometo Luton Central Mosque, one of the firstpurpose-built mosques in Britain. The localBedfordshire Police force said the arrestswere made by unarmed officers. “Fullconsideration has been given to treatingthose arrested, and especially theirfamilies, with appropriate respect forcultural and religious identity as far as ispossible,” a spokeswoman said. Searchesare being carried out at the five houses andare expected to take at least a day. Thefamilies of those arrested have beenadvised to find alternative accommodation.“There is no danger to other nearbyresidents,” the spokeswoman said.

Sacked Yemengeneral finally quitspost: Un envoy

SANAAafP

Yemen’s sacked air force commander, who hasrefused to quit for weeks, on Tuesday left thepost he has held for nearly three decades, theUnited Nations envoy to Yemen said. “GeneralMohammed Saleh al-Ahmar has handed hisduties over to his successor,” Jamal Benomartold AFP. “I personally attended the handoverceremony.” On April 6, President AbdrabuhMansur Hadi issued a decree in which hesacked Ahmar, a half-brother of deposedpresident Ali Abdullah Saleh, as well as the ex-leader’s nephew General Tariq MohammedAbdullah Saleh, who heads the presidentialguard. Both generals had refused to quit, andAhmar’s loyalists even surrounded Sanaa’sairport and threatened to shoot down planes,forcing its closure for one day. The airport wasreopened after international and regionalpowers voiced support for Hadi, who mustrestructure the army based on a Gulf-brokereddeal that Yemen’s political parties have agreedupon. When asked if General TariqMohammed Abdullah Saleh had also agreed toquit, Benomar only responded by saying that“all of Hadi’s decisions are beingimplemented.” General Ahmar had refused tocomply with Hadi’s order to go unless thedefence minister and other senior officials alsostepped down.

BENTIUafP

SOUTH Sudan’s leader ac-cused Sudan of declaring waron Tuesday as Khartoum’sfighter jets bombed borderregions in defiance of inter-

national calls for restraint.Several people were wounded in a

multiple air strikes on the villages in theSouth’s oil-rich border regionsovernight, reaching around 25 kilome-tres (15 miles) from the frontline be-tween the rival armies. Salva Kiir, on avisit to Beijing where he met PresidentHu Jintao, said his “neighbour in Khar-toum has declared war on the Republicof South Sudan.”

Last week, Sudan’s President Omaral-Bashir threatened to crush the “insect”

government of the South, and said thetime for talks was over. Beijing — a keyally of Khartoum but also the main buyerof the South’s oil — has repeatedly calledfor an end to weeks of border fighting,which saw the South seize and hold thekey Heglig oil field from Sudanese troopsfor 10 days. Despite the South’s with-drawal from Heglig at the weekend, botharmies are reportedly reinforcing troopnumbers and digging into trenches alongtheir contested border.

Overnight Monday, bomber aircrafthit border villages in the South’s Unitystate following earlier air strikes on thestate capital Bentiu, governor TabanDeng said. “There are wounded peoplewho have been evacuated to Bentiu hos-pital, some of them are farmers, someare soldiers,” Deng told reporters inBentiu. Khartoum has repeatedly denied

it has launched air strikes on the South,but United Nations chief Ban Ki-moonon Monday deplored the cross-borderair raids, and called on both nations toprevent the fighting escalating further.

Kiir was pleading his case to Chi-nese authorities, but analysts said Bei-jing was unlikely to take sides andwould keep pushing for dialogue. Bor-der tensions are high, although Dengsaid that at present “with the exceptionof aerial bombardment, the front line isquiet.” However, Mac Paul, the South’sdeputy director of military intelligence,warned he had “information from oursources the Sudanese army is mobilis-ing for a push on Bentiu,” claims thatcould not be confirmed.

Bentiu lies at least 60 kilometres (40kilometres) from the frontline withSudan’s army, and large numbers of

Southern troops and tanks have movedinto the border zone to bolster defences.South Sudan has warned it will fightback if Sudan does not end its aerial at-tacks. “We cannot be sitting at the mercyof the Sudanese air force,” Deng added.

“If nothing is being done, for sure wewill retaliate... We are very serious aboutthis. We are not joking.” Southerners arefurious at what they see as internationalinaction against Khartoum, after theycomplied with the demands to withdraw.“We were asked to withdraw from Heg-lig: we did. They have been asked to stopthe aerial bombardment and incursionsinto South Sudan, they have not doneso,” Deng said. “We are capable of de-fending ourselves, including going backto Heglig ... I think you people shouldtake us seriously on this. The underdogcan also bite.”

Sudan bombs South, Kiirsays rival has ‘declared war’

PARISafP

Nicolas Sarkozy and Socialist rivalFrancois Hollande stepped up theirbattle Tuesday for the six million votesthat went to the far right in the firstround of France’s presidential election.

“It’s up to me to convince the Na-tional Front (FN) voters,” Hollandetold Liberation newspaper, arguingthat many of them were in fact left-wing and their support for the anti-immigrant, anti-eU party was aprotest vote. Hollande and the right-wing Sarkozy — who beat off eightother candidates in Sunday’s firstround — will now square off in a finalround on May 6 that opinion polls saythe Socialist will win. But both candi-

dates know their fate may rest in thehands of the 18 percent of voters whoplumped for National Front leaderMarine Le Pen, who wants to ditch theeuro and who rails against the “Is-lamisation” of France.

The election has laid bare deepFrench fears over globalisation, the eu-ropean debt crisis and austerity meas-ures aimed at stemming it, andnational identity. Hollande gave alengthy interview to Liberation to ex-plain that the massive FN vote was theexpression of “social anger” and that hehoped to be able to bring these millionsof disgruntled voters back to the main-stream. He said voters identifiedSarkozy with the european Union’sfree-market ideology and the austeritymeasures the bloc has imposed across

the continent to try and contain its lin-gering debt crisis. Hollande’s promisedalternative is to emphasise measuresfor growth to stem France’s rising un-employment, which now stands atnearly three million out of a populationof 65 million.

The Socialist was due to campaignlater Tuesday in Hirson in northernFrance, where he was to meet factoryworkers in a region where Le Pen gother second highest score in Sunday’sfirst round. Sarkozy has since Sundaystepped up the right-wing rhetoric hehas deployed during his campaign totry to woo FN voters. At a rally inLongjumeau in the Paris suburbs Tues-day, he hammered home the themes hehas pushed for months — protecting“the French way of life,” reducing im-

migration, and encouraging hard work.He said the FN’s first-round result,which shocked many in France andraised concerns across europe, was not“reprehensible” because Le Pen had theright to stand for office and was there-fore “compatible with the republic.”

“The FN vote must be understood,”he told supporters. His camp was defi-antly ignoring the opinion polls — onesurvey held after the first round saidHollande would beat Sarkozy by 54percent to 46 in the second round. “Theright again believes it can do it,” wasthe front-page headline of the pro-Sarkozy newspaper Le Figaro. The in-cumbent has announced plans to holda mass rally in Paris on May 1, the na-tional labour day holiday on which theNational Front every year holds a

march in Paris to honour the memoryof Joan of Arc. Le Pen has said that atthat march she will give her “opinion”to her supporters on whom to back inthe decisive second vote, but analystssay it is unlikely she will endorse eithercandidate. Gilbert Collard, head of theFN support committee, said Tuesdayhe believed “Marine Le Pen will proba-bly give an instruction to vote blank.”

Polls show that most far-rightsupporters prefer Sarkozy, but up toa quarter — mainly working-classvoters attracted by Le Pen’s protec-tionist trade policies — could switchto Hollande. Le Pen’s score on Sun-day was nearly double the 10.4 per-cent her father and former partyleader, Jean-Marie Le Pen, got whenhe stood in 2007.

Sarkozy, Hollande step up battle to woo French far right

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Wednesday, 25 april, 2012

Page 20

Stosur has winning start in Stuttgart

LAHORESTaff rEPOrT

FORMeR Pakistan middleorder batsman MuhammadYousuf has given fitness testin a bid to win back a placein the national team. Talking

to journalists, Yousuf said he had donewhat had been asked of him and the re-sults would be provided by the trainers.

“I am in contact with Dav What-more and the coaches suggestions willbe beneficial, ” he said.

Whatmore wants to strengthen themiddle order batting of the Pakistaniside before the impending Sri Lankatour by including some more seniorplayers.

Yousuf who has not played domesticand international cricket for the last oneand a half year has been practicing at theNational Cricket Academy under the su-pervision of Whatmore.

Saeed Ajmal, Mohammad Hafeez,Aijaz Cheema, Sohail Tanveer, UmarAkmal, Kamran Akmal, and fast bowlerMohammad Irfan also appeared for thefitness tests. Fitness tests for players in-cluded in the camp will also be heldphase-wise, later on.

Thereafter, Whatmore and fieldingcoach Julien Fountain will prepare a re-

port on the fitness of players and willsubmit a probable list of players for SriLanka tour to the national selectioncommittee.

He insisted that he could still com-pete at the highest level.

The 37-year-old played the last of his90 Tests against england at Lord's in2010 -- a match marred by the spot-fix-ing scandal involving three of his team-mates.

He has not been considered for se-lection in the last two years because hehas not played in domestic matches inPakistan, but he took part in a workoutled by new Pakistan coach Whatmore.

"I have given a fitness test and nowthe result is in the hands of PCB, "Yousuf told reporters outside the na-tional academy here. "I am ready to playfor my country and still have enoughcricket left in me."

Yousuf rose from a poor backgroundto become one of the most stylish bats-men Pakistan had ever produced,smashing 1, 788 Test runs in 2006 -- aworld record for a calendar year.

His career drifted after the PCBbanned him for an indefinite period inMarch 2010 following the disastroustour of Australia, which he captained.

The ban was overturned to allowYousuf a comeback on the 2010 englandtour, during which Salman Butt, Mo-hammad Asif and Mohammad Aamerwere charged and eventually jailed forarranging deliberate no-balls for money.

Yousuf, who has played 288 one-day and three Twenty20 internationals,said he has been playing regular cricketand wanted to feature in the englishcounty championship, though a dealwith Leicestershire fell through.

Whatmore said the fitness of all Pak-istani players will be assessed beforenext month's tour to Sri Lanka.

"The fitness test was designed togive everyone an idea where they standnow and after a prescription of work tore-test and see the improvement, " hesaid.

Pakistan play two Twenty20s, fiveone-day internationals and three Testson their tour of Sri Lanka from late Mayto mid-July.

Yousuf out to revive career

LAHORESTaff rEPOrT

The Pakistan Hockey Federation onTuesday picked the national junior teamfor participation in the 7th Men's JuniorAsia Cup.

The trials to select final lineup ofjunior hockey team were held at HockeyClub of Pakistan Stadium Karachi onApril 24. The National Selection Com-mittee observed the trials and after ap-proval of President PHF announced 18players for the event.

PLAYeRS: Mazhar Abbas, SyedKashif Shah (Vice-Capt), MuhammadKhalid, Aleem Bilal, MuhammadRizwan, Muhammad Tousiq, TasawwarAbbas, Kashif Javed, Zohaib Ashraf,Muhammad Irfan, Muhammad UmarBhutta (Capt), Muhammad Dilber, AliShan, Muhammad Suleman, Muham-mad Umair, Hafiz Umer Sardar,Muhammad Jaffar and Hafiz Rizwan Ali.

OFFICIALS: Rana Mujahid Ali(Manager/Head Coach), DanishKaleem, Anjum Saeed & AhmedAlam (Coaches), Asad Abbas Shah(Team Doctor) & Syed Abu ZarUmrao (Video-Analyst).

The team will leave for IPOH on26th April 2012. Revised Match Sched-ule is attached.

The Pakistan teamwhich will play China inits opening match onMay 4 will lockhorns againstIndia on May 6 inthe 7th Men'sJunior Asia Cupto be played inMalacca, Malaysiafrom May 3 to 13.

With the ap-proval of InternationalHockey Federation(FIH), the Asian Hockey

Federation has released match scheduleand Pakistan has been placedin pool B along with India,

China and Sri Lanka while PoolA have Korea, Malaysia, Iran

and Japan. Pakistan will open its cam-

paign against China on May 4 whileon the opening day (May 3) Koreawill play Japan and Malaysia will

take on Iran. Pakistan will beplaying ist second match

against India and looking atthe pools, the juniorgreens have a positivechance to reach the semi-finals of the tournament.

Schedule: Date, Match#, Pool,

Match Thu May 3, 01

A Korea v Japan,02 A, Malaysia v

Iran

Fri May 4, 03 B Pakistan v China,04 B India v Sri Lanka

Sat May 5, 05 A Japan v Iran, 06 A,Malaysia v Korea

Sun May 6, 07 B China v Sri Lanka,08, B India v Pakistan, 09 A Korea vIran

Mon May 7, 10 15h00 1 B China vIndia, 11 B Pakistan v Sri Lanka, 12 AJapan v Malaysia

Tue May 8, Rest Day Wed May 9, 13 05-08 3rd Pool A V

4th Pool B, 14 05-08 3rd Pool B v 4thPool A

Thu May 10, 15 01-04 1st Pool A v2nd Pool B, 16 01-04 1st Pool B v 2ndPool A

Fri May 11, Rest Day Sat May 12, 17 07-08 Loser Match

13 v Loser Match 14, 18 05-06 WinnerMatch 13 v Winner Match 14

Sun May 13, 19 03 – 04 LoserMatch 15 v Loser Match 16, 20 01 – 02Winner Match 15 v Winner Match 16.

Pakistan team named for Junior Asia Cup Hockey

younus wants

the captain's

arm-band againPESHAWARaGEnCiES

With the Pakistan Cricket Board(PCB) looking for younger legs totake over from Misbahul Haq as Pak-istan captain, experienced batsmanand former captain Younus Khan hasput his name in the hat to don thecaptain's arm-band once again, say-ing that he will consider the offer ifone is put forward by the PakistanCricket Board (PCB).Younus, who led Pakistan to the2009 World Twenty20 title as well asthe Champions Trophy semi-finallater that year, resigned from cap-taincy after the home series againstNew Zealand in the UAe, claiming hewas not getting support from theteam members. Since then, the 34-year old has declined offers to leadthe side, telling the authorities thathe wanted to focus on his batting.However, after questions beingraised over Misbah's captaincy in allthe three formats, Younus expresseddesire to share the responsibility.“I will definitely consider any suchoffer from the PCB, ” Younus told re-porters in Peshawar.Meanwhile, at 76 not out, Younuswants to play 100 Tests before hang-ing up his boots.“I will retire after playing 100 Tests,” said the batsmen. “But it all de-pends on my performance and fit-ness.”He also expressed disappointment atthe postponement of the Bangladeshtour and said the nation will have towithstand the miscreants.“even the ICC cannot do anything onthe revival of international cricket tillthe situation improves here.”While touring nations continue tostay away from the country, Younusurged the media to focus on domesticcricket in order to gain the interest ofthe masses and get them into it aswell. The former captain alsolamented the spot-fixing scandalwhich defamed the country's cricketand added that nobody had ever con-tacted him in this regard.

ROSEAUafP

Australian veteran Ricky Ponting answered ques-tions about his retirement in customary style as hebecame Test cricket's second-highest run-scorerin the third match against West Indies. The 37-year-old, who has repeatedly faced down calls to quit,overtook Rahul Dravid's 13,288 by the narrowest ofmargins -- a single run -- when he was out for 23on day one at Windsor Park, Roseau. The for-mer Australian captain, who compiled his13,289 in 165 matches, now trails onlyIndia's Sachin Tendulkar in the all-time list. The "Little Master" is on15,470. "My love for the game andpassion and desire to play and be suc-cessful hasn't changed," said Pontingon Sunday, the eve of the final Test,when asked if he was consideringquitting. "even when things werereally tough a few months ago, all Iwanted to do was try to give myselfthe best chance to be able to playwell again. "I felt I got there throughthe summer and I feel like I'm batting

really well at the moment. I've still got a few things Iwant to achieve and a few games of cricket I want tobe a part of and win for Australia. "As long as I feel Ican play a role winning games of cricket for AustraliaI'll continue to do it. I'm enjoying it as much as everand probably working harder than ever on my game."

Ponting had previously scored four, 14, sevenand 41 in the three-Test series, renewing ques-tions about his future. The World Cup-winner

was axed from Australia's one-day set-up inFebruary, despite roaring back from a

lean spell by averaging 108.80 in the 4-0 Test sweep of India. But he received

backing from captain MichaelClarke, who said runs had been

hard to come by on the Test tourwhich Australia lead 1-0. "He's

hitting the ball well, probablyhasn't got that big score thathe'd like but none of us have.Conditions haven't been great

for making big hundreds,"Clarke told www.cricinfo.com. "If youwanted to make runs here you had to batfor a hell of a long time, and need a bit ofluck as well along the way.

Taimoor appointedcaptain of AsiaPacific Golf Team‏

LAHORESTaff rEPOrT

The 2012 golf contest between the 12member Asia Pacific Golf Team and atwelve member europe Team will startfrom Wednesday, 25th April at the par72, Monte Rei Golf and Country ClubGolf Course in Portugal. A notable honor for Pakistan is thatTaimoor Hassan, a legendary golfer ofthe country and Secretary, PakistanGolf Federation has been nominated asnon playing Captain of the Asia PacificTeam, by the Asia Pacific Golf Confed-eration that looks after amateur golf inAsia, Australia and New Zealand. This three days international golf eventbetween teams from Asia Pacific andeurope was introduced in 1998 andeversince is held every two years,hosted alternately in Asia or europe.The last edition in 2010 scheduled forIndia was cancelled owing to the vol-canic ash eruptions in europe which re-stricted air travel. The current AsiaPacific Team led by Taimoor Hassan ofPakistan is strong indeed and com-prises the 2012 US Masters leading am-ateur, the Asia Amateur Champion, theAustralian Amateur Medalist, theWorld Universities Champion, the NewZealand Amateur Champion, the Chi-nese Amateur Champion, the AustralianMen’s Stroke Play Champion, Aus-tralian Boys Champion, Japan OpenLeading Amateur, Taiwanese Amateurchampion and Thailand Match PlayChampion. And the names of theseplayers are, Benjamin Campbell,Mathew Perry(New Zealand), Jake Hig-ginbottom, Cameron Smith(Australia),Chang Woo Lee, Soo Min Lee(Korea),Hideke Malsuyama, TaiherSato(Japan), SeenappaChikkarangappa, Khali HiteshiJoshi(India), Chien Yao Hung(ChineseTaipei), and Natipong Snithong(Thai-land). Team europe comprises of ThomasDelry(Belgium), Alan Dunbar(Ireland),Rhys enoch(Wales), Jack Hilute, BenTaylor(england), Daan Huizing, RobinKind(Netherlands), Moritz Lampert,Marcel Scneider(Germany), JonRahm(Spain), Robert Karlsson(Sweden)and Manuel Trappel(Austria). The nonplaying Captain of Team europe is An-drew B. Morgan of Wales. Current holders of the Sir MichaelBonnellack Trophy for which the con-tenders aim for, is held by europewhich they won in 2008. The MonteRei Golf Course, where this champi-onship starts today, is a world classgolf destination in Portugal. designedby Jack Nicklaus.

ponting answers criticswith run landmark

LHR 25-04-2012_Layout 1 4/25/2012 2:56 AM Page 18

Sports 19Wednesday, 25 April, 2012

Sehwag keeps Delhi Daredevils at No. 1PUNE

CriCinfO

DeLHI Daredevils strength-ened their reputation as theteam to beat in IPL 2012 andmarched to a convincing vic-tory over Pune Warriors at

the Subrata Roy Stadium, with four overs tospare. Warriors had won both previousmatches at their new home stadium but wereunable to collect a third success after postingtoo few runs with the bat despite a third-wicket stand of 145 between Manish Pandeyand Robin Uthappa. Warriors bowlers hadfew answers for Virender Sehwag and strug-gled to keep him quiet as they were unable tofind the right lines, despite a stern team talkby Allan Donald at the innings break. Theironly success came with the run-out of Ma-hela Jayawardene and wicket of KevinPietersen, who top-edged to mid-on. War-riors' batsmen were made to rue a slow startand an inability to get going despite plunder-ing 47 runs off the last four overs.

Irfan Pathan and Morne Morkel didearly damage to Warriors and removed JesseRyder and Sourav Ganguly in the first twoovers. Ryder was guilty of a lazy push in frontand was bowled by Irfan's second ball, whichkept low and snuck through him and Gan-guly sliced Morkel to third man. Warriors

were 2 for 2 and needed a quick recovery.Pandey and Uthappa put up a solid re-

sistance and balanced caution with the needto attack fairly well early on. Pandey openedthe boundary count with a confident pullover mid-on off Irfan and a superb drive onthe up off Umesh Yadav. Just as the pairstarted to break the shackles, Daredevilsleft-arm spin duo of Pawan Negi and Shah-baz Nadeem made sure they were restrainedagain. They gave away just 33 runs in the sixovers they bowled in tandem. Negi shouldalso have had the wicket of Pandey to hisname. Pandey hit a full ball straight to KevinPietersen at long-on but Pietersen seemedto think it would not carry to him and al-lowed it fall safely.

Nadeem also had a chance to claimPandey's wicket, when the batsmen hit a de-livery straight back to him in his final over.The ball was hit hard and Nadeem got hishands up in time but could not hold on. De-spite putting down both chances Pandey of-fered them, Daredevils were still able to keepa lid on Warriors. Pandey looked to go biggerin the last six overs and started by smackingIrfan for a four down the ground to reach hishalf-century off 40 balls. He could not getaway though, as Negi's final over kept thepressure on, although he too dropped a returncatch which would have sent Pandey back.

The only option was to target the quicks

at the end. Pandey used Umesh Yadav's extrapace to his advantage, hitting him over long-on and past third man while Uthappa triedthe same off Morkel. He inside-edged a yorkerfour four and smacked a ball to long-on beforescooping a ball over short fine leg to bring uphis half-century. Both batsmen played fineknocks but Sehwag's proved better.

Daredevils' captain started with a mix offortune and fury as he was involved in the mix-up which saw Jayawardene run out and insideedged Ashish Nehra for four. In betweenthose, he pulled Nehra in front of square toshow some measure of control and seized therest of it against Luke Wight. He helped a ballto fine leg for four and smashed a slower oneover long-on for six. He also won the battle ofthe captains when he too two boundaries offGanguly's only over. With Kevin Pietersen atthe other end, Sehwag took Daredevils halfwayto their target by the time the time out wascalled after seven overs. When Pietersen wascaught by Ryder for 27, Daredevils needed just36 more to win. Ross Taylor got some muchneeded time at the crease and accompaniedSehwag for the last rites. Sehwag continued topepper the boundary rope and won the matchwith a six over long-on to create some distancebetween Daredevils and their rivals at the topof the table.Scores: Delhi Daredevils 148 for 2 (Sehwag 87*) beat Pune

Warriors 146 for 2 (Pandey 80*) by eight wickets

Misbah to grace

intervarsity prize

ceremony LAHORE

STaff rEPOrT

The University of Management andTechnology (UMT), Lahore, is organ-izing the prize distribution ceremonyof the 8thUMT Cricket Challenge Tro-phy 2012 at its campus on March 25,2012. Captain of the Pakistani CricketTeam and University of Managementand Technology alumnus Misbah ulHaq will be the chief guest of the cere-mony. Khawaja Nadeem Ahmed, Pres-ident LCCA and CeO Shapes, and DrRiaz Ahmed, Resident Sports Physi-cian, National Cricket Academy, PCB,will be the guests of honor on this oc-casion.It may be noted that University ofManagement and Technology organizesthe Clash 20 Cricket Challenge Cham-pionship every year. Top teams fromeducational institutions of Lahorecompete in the event. University ofManagement and Technology cricketteam bagged this year’s trophy and isthe current champion.

Bank Alfalah off toa winning start LAHORE: Bank Alfalah made a winningstart in the LPC Polo Cup 2012 here onTuesday when it beat Waves and CoolPoint. Bank Alfalah score four goals and al-lowed Waves & Cool Point manage just twoin the given four chukker game. OmarAsjad Malhi and Agha Musa Ali Khanshared two goals each for the winning sidewhile Babar Monnoo scored both the losingteam goals. STaff rEPOrT

KC players honouredLAHORE: Kinnaid College on Tuesday ho-noured its top performing players and ath-letes with shields and trophies. According to Ms Moosheen, director sportsKC, all the outstanding players who broughthonours in basketball, cricket, table tennisathletics, hockey badminton, volleyball etcwere awarded. Deputy Speaker, Punjab Rana MashoodAhmad Khan was the chief guest of the cer-emony. Usman Anwar, director general Sports Pun-jab, Mrs Rana Mashood, Zakir Hussain,Saba Sadiq, Khawaja Imran NazirMsKausar Shah, Ms Attiya Mumtaz, MianJaved Ali and Dr Rukhsana David were alsopresent on the occasion. STaff rEPOrT

Wade ton drives resurgent AustraliaROSEAUaGEnCiES

Matthew Wade powered Australia backinto the match with his first Test centuryas West Indies struggled to finish off Aus-tralia's tail on the second morning in Do-minica. Australia added 116 to theirovernight total for the loss of their finalthree wickets, the last two taken by ShaneShillingford, who finished with 6 for 119as the Australians were eventually dis-missed for 338 less than ten minutes be-fore the scheduled lunch break.

earlier, Shane Shillingford cele-brated becoming the first Dominican toplay Test cricket in his home country instyle on Monday as the West Indies off-spinner took four Australian wickets onthe opening day of the third and finalTest at Windsor Park. Australia finishedthe day on 212 for seven, in some troubleafter winning the toss. They only need adraw to take the series having won thefirst Test in Barbados.

It was an unforgettable day for 29-year-old Shillingford as, getting bounceout of the pitch, he bowled an uninter-rupted spell of twenty-four overs and fin-ished with 4-77.

He claimed the scalps of DavidWarner (50), Ricky Ponting (23),Michael Clarke (24) and Mike Hussey

(10). "These guys are guys who once theyget in score a lot of runs. Getting theseguys out is a real honour for me," saidShillingford. "I normally get a goodamount of bounce but on the second orthird day. On the first day, especially withthe spin I got, it was a little surprising but(when) I started getting that I startedfeeling well." Shillingford could barelybelieve how the day had gone for him.

"I started off walking the guys ontothe field. The skipper told me to keep mycool, play my normal game and fromthere I started feeling better and all theexcitement came. "I've never got a five-wicket haul in Test cricket. Coming upagainst Australia, I have a chance to getone so it's definitely something I want do,especially playing at home."

The morning session yielded just theone wicket thanks to Ravi Rampaul.

On his return to the side after a boutof dengue fever and subsequently ashoulder injury, Rampaul's second deliv-ery came back into ed Cowan who didn'tplay a shot and the ball struck him on thepad trapping him lbw.

Warner and Watson prevented anymore wickets falling before lunch butwere hindered by an outfield whichslowed the ball down - only sixteenboundaries were hit during the day.

They put together a partnership of 83

before Watson struck a pull shot off Dar-ren Sammy in the air to backwardsquare-leg where Narsingh Deonarineran in and took the catch.

JAIPURCriCinfO

Tillakaratne Dilshan and AB de Villiershelped Royal Challengers Bangalore over-come a major disruption to their plans andsecure their fourth win of the season, bring-ing them level on points with the other topsides in the league. After Chris Gayle fell sickminutes before the match began and did notopen, Royal Challengers stagnated, scoringonly 67 for 3 by the 12th over, before de Vil-liers initiated the recovery during an aggres-sive partnership with Dilshan. FollowingGayle's dismissal for 4 - lbw to Brag Hogg'squicker delivery - de Villiers and Dilshanblitzed 122 in 8.2 overs, as the ball flew toand over the boundary through a combina-tion of inventive and orthodox shots. De Vil-liers launched five sixes, hitting 59 off 23balls, while Dilshan, who had scored only 38off his first 39, ended on 76 off 58 deliveries.They powered Royal Challengers to 189, atotal that seemed a pipe dream earlier.

During Royals' chase, Rahul Dravidplayed an innings similar to what Dilshanhad done for Royal Challengers. Dravidopened and scored steadily at one end, mo-toring to a half-century, while his partners

struggled at the other. The asking-rate wasrising rapidly, though, and left-arm spinnerKP Appanna, who was brought in for thisgame, broke Royals' chase. He dismissed thetop four Royals batsmen, beginning with thein-form Ajinkya Rahane and Owais Shah, tofinish with 4 for 19. While Dravid did a Dil-shan, no one did a de Villiers for Royals, andthe upshot was a 46-run defeat.

The impact de Villiers had on the matchwas immediate. After taking a three off hisfirst ball, he began the acceleration by hoistingoffspinner Ajit Chandila for consecutive sixesover midwicket in the 13th over. They werethe first sixes of Royal Challengers' innings.Though the next two overs had only a bound-ary each in them, de Villiers and Dilshan ranaggressively to increase the run flow. Dilshanthen broke free in the 16th over, lofting Sid-dharth Trivedi over the long-off boundary andpulling him for four through square leg. Hogg,who had troubled the earlier batsmen with hisleft-arm wrist spin, lost his line and length andwas punished for consecutive boundaries byDilshan. even Kevon Cooper, who bowledeconomically in his first two overs, suffered to-wards the end, de Villiers carting him over thestraight boundary before fishing out the re-verse-paddle through fine leg.

De Villiers, Dilshan sink Rajasthan

australia 1st innings

E. Cowan lbw b rampaul 1

d. Warner c Powell b Shillingford 50

S. Watson c deonarine b Sammy 41

r. Ponting c Sammy b Shillingford 23

M. Clarke c Barath b Shillingford 24

M. hussey c Sammy b Shillingford 10

MS Wade c Bravo b Shillingford 106

rJ harris c Baugh b roach 4

Ma Starc run out (Brathwaite/†Baugh) 35

BW hilfenhaus b Shillingford 19

nM Lyon not out 0

Extras (b 4, lb 6, w 3, nb 2) 15

Total (all out; 114.5 overs) 328

fall of wickets: 1-1 (Cowan, 1.2 ov), 2-84 (Watson, 39.5 ov),

3-105 (Warner, 45.3 ov), 4-142 (Ponting, 59.5 ov),5-157

(Clarke, 67.3 ov), 6-164 (hussey, 73.2 ov), 7-169 (harris, 76.2

ov), 8-226 (Starc, 94.2 ov), 9-328 (Wade, 114.3 ov),10-328

(hilfenhaus, 114.5 ov)

Bowling:

KaJ roach 23-5-72-1, r rampaul 24-6-65-1, dJG Sammy 21-

7-48-1, S Shillingford 42.5-9-119-6, n deonarine 4-0-14-0

West indies: darren Sammy (capt), adrian Barath, Kraigg

Brathwaite, Kieran Powell, darren Bravo, Shivnarine

Chanderpaul, narsingh deonarine, Carlton Baugh, Shane

Shillingford, Kemar roach, ravi rampaul

Toss: australia

Umpires: Marais Erasmus (rSa), Tony hill (nZL)

Third umpire: ian Gould (EnG)

Match referee: Jeff Crowe (nZL)

rOSEaU: West indies bowler Shane Shillingford (L) celebrates

with captain darren Sammy (r) after taking the wicket of

australian batsman Michael hussey, caught by Sammy.

SCOrEBOard

LHR 25-04-2012_Layout 1 4/25/2012 2:56 AM Page 19

Sports20Wednesday, 25 April, 2012

Punjab, KPK inRokhri Badmintonteam event final

LAHORESTaff rEPOrT

Punjab Greens and Khyber Pakhtunkhwateams reached the final of Men Teamevent of the 14th All Pakistan AamerHayat Khan Rokhri Badminton Champi-onship 2012. In the ladies team event,Punjab and Railway reach the Final.Punjab Green made a clean sweep againstRailway by defeating them by 3 – 0.In Men Doubles Nabeel and Akhtar ofRailways extended Shoaib and Azeem ofPunjab Green and lost in three sets by thescore of 21 – 19, 16 – 21, 18 – 21.In the second semi-finals, KhyberPakhtunkhwa upset Punjab White by thescore of 3 – 1. Only Anjum and Raja fromPunjab White won their doubles matchagainst Tahir and Masood of K.P by thescore of 21 – 17, 21 – 10.Results: Ladies singles: Javeria Tahir(Punjab) beat Arooj Sohail (Punjab) bythe score of 18 – 21, 21 – 15, 21 – 11.Amal Munib (Punjab) beat Anum (Sindh) bythe score of 21 – 4, 21 – 5. Arfa (K.P) beatSonia (Daska) by the score of 21 – 7, 21 -2.Sahrish Sheikh (DHA) beat Saba Mughal(Sindh) by the score of 21 – 9, 21 – 12.Mehmoona Ameer (Punjab) beat Javeria(FATA) by the score of 21 -7, 21 – 9.Bisma Idrees (Punjab) beat Musarat Gul(FATA) by the score of 21 -15, 21 – 10.Shumaila Sharif (Daska) beat Maryam(Sindh) by the score of 21 – 15, 21 – 18.Slama Sharif (Railway) beat Bushra (K.P)by the score of 21 – 9, 21 – 10.Ghazala Siddique (Punjab) beat MahnoorShahzad (Railway) by the score of 21 – 10,21 – 13.Sufia Mughal (Sindh) Ghazala Javed(Punjab) by the score of 24 – 22, 21 – 12.Zainab Ijaz (Punjab) beat Rahat AbdulRehman (Sindh) by the score of 21 – 15,21 – 13Men’s Double qualifying round will beplayed today at 9 am at Mayo GardenHall, Lahore and Men’s Single 1st and2nd Round will be played at New KhanBadminton Hall.

STUTTGART aGEnCiES

SAMANTHA Stosur carriedthe Fed Cup momentuminto the Porsche Grand Prixas the Australian breezed 6-2, 6-2 past Peng Shuai of

China in the tournament opener onTuesday.

The fifth-seeded Stosur took 59minutes for the first-round victory,wrapping up her fourth success in asmany meetings with the 25th-rankedPeng with a forehand winner.

Stosur, the reigning US Openchampion and Stuttgart finalist from2010, won two singles rubbers on the

weekend in the same arena for Aus-tralia's 3-2 against Germany in a FedCup playoff tie.

"It (the tournament) is a differentfeeling, but I am one of the lucky fewwho trained and played here lastweek," said Stosur. Due on court laterTuesday were French seven seed Mar-ion Bartoli, French Open champion LiNa of China and title-holder Julia Go-erges of Germany.

The top four seeds VictoriaAzarenka, Maria Sharapova, Petra Kvi-tova and Agnieszka Radwanska havefirst-round byes at the indoor claycourt tournament bringing togetherthe eight best players from this week'srankings.

PU dominate HECWomen Cycling

LAHORESTaff rEPOrT

Another three events were decided in theHeC Women Cycling Championship withPunjab University maintaining the top po-sition on Tuesday. On the second day chiefJudge of this championship was Qasir Sad-diq Bhatti.The Results:-10km indivisual road teamtime trial: Razia Punjab University28M:12S:16P, Mariya Lahore College Uni-versity 29M:14S:56P, Sidra Shaheed BazirBhattio University 32M:11S:86P, Anita Su-perior University 34M:28S:85P, Mariya Is-lamic Int. University Islamabad35m.40s:63p, Nageen Karachi University1m:40S:98p. 10 Km Road Scratch Race: Sidra PunjabUniversity, Razia Punjab University, AsiaLahore College University, Nida PunjabUniversity, Mehwish Punjab University,Maria Punjab University1km team sprint: Punjab University1M:37S:52P, Lahore College University1M:41S:69P, Shaheed Bazir Bhattio Uni-versity 2M:04S:16P, Islamic int. UniversityIslamabad 34M:28S:85P, Karachi Univer-sity 35M.40S:63P.Today the championship will conclude at12 PM at Cycling Velodrome with OneRoad Team Time trial and one Track event.

ilyas steers SajidMemorial to win

LAHORESTaff rEPOrT

Sajid Memo-rial CricketClub Lahoredefeated Pak-istan CricketClub Karachiby 5 wicketsin a friendlyfixture here atthe Dharam-pura CricketGround La-hore.Pakistan

Cricket Club Karachi, batting first, posted335 runs all out in the allotted 35 overs.Nabi Baksh was the top scorer with (103)runs and was ably assisted by Rauf Ali (85)and Zubair (78), Hasan Ilyas took 4-48Jamil Babar 3-53, and Babar Amin 2-58Sajid Memorial Cricket Club, in reply, wasachieving target in 33.4 overs for the 5wickets. Top Scorer Hasan Ilyas 123 runs,and was ably assisted by Nauman Sabir 70,Jamil Babar 66 runs. Pakistan Cricket ClubKarachi bowling Asad Hammad took 2-59and Kamran Sajid 2-62. Hasan Ilyas wasdeclared man of the match on his allrounder performance.

Pakistan rugby inelite world group

LAHORESTaff rEPOrT

The Pakistan Rugby Union joins the elitegroup of nations in the IRB world ranking. IRB Regional General Manger Jarrad Gal-lagher officially informed Pakistan RugbyUnion president Fawzi khawaja and con-gratulated PRU. He pointed out that theranking is given to only full members of theIRB and is given on the basis of gamesplayed and performance against other IRBfull members. This is another mile stone in PRU achieve-ments in the international rugby stage. Oncirculation of PRU inclusion PRU was con-gratulated by rugby unions. executivesfrom all over Asia. Only 14 teams out of 28in Asia are in the IRB ranking. Pakistan isranked 72 while India is ranked 77.Asian rugby governing Body ARFU SectaryGeneral Ross Mitchel also congratulatedPRU on the inclusion and applauded theefforts of PRU President and secretary. In there efforts Fawzi commented: “This isbig moment for PRU came after our effortsof the last few years.” Arif Saeed said: “The world would see howmuch rugby is played in Pakistan. Thisranking proves our efforts in this part ofthe world.”

BARCELONA: Spanish player

Rafael Nadal plays a shot in

front of the Sagrada Familia

to promote the Godo Tennis

Tournament. AFP

Stosur has winningstart in Stuttgart

Murray praisesNadal as best on clayBARcELOnA: The accolades contin-ued to rain down Monday on RafaelNadal after the Spaniard made tennishistory at the weekend by winning aneighth straight Monte Carlo title in beat-ing world number one Novak Djokovic6-3, 6-1. But with the king of clay nowturning his attention to lifting a seventhfrom eight attempts at the BarcelonaOpen, he's received an unexpectedmorale boost from his second-seededmain rival this week, Andy Murray."I don't think anyone can question thefact that Nadal is the best ever on clay,"said world number four Murray, wholearned his own dirt tennis in the Cata-lan capital as a teenager."You can never say 'never' but his eightin a row is a record that will certainly behard to break," said Murray, who hasplayed Barcelona twice (2005, 2006)but won just one match. He withdrew tolet an elbow injury heal in 2011.Nadal will aim to keep his focus thisweek. "I'm only concentrating on play-ing well here, this is one of the nicesttournaments of the year for me. That ismy challenge, not to become numberone again, I'm home and this is very spe-cial to me. I'm so comfortable here."Murray said he wants to start improvinghis own record at the Real Club deTenis, where he begins in the secondround against Ukrainian SergiyStakhovsky, who beat Russian evgenyDonskoy 6-2, 6-3 on Monday. afP

LHR 25-04-2012_Layout 1 4/25/2012 2:56 AM Page 20

Sports 21Wednesday, 25 April, 2012

watch it Live

GEO SUPERKings Punjab vsmumbai Indians03:30PMRoyal Challengers vsChennai Super King07:30PM

Pakistan women Ateam off to JapanLAHORE: The Pakistan Women-A CricketTeam leaves for Japan to take part in thePakistan-Japan 60th Anniversary CricketFestival. The Pakistan will play three T20matches against Japan National Team onApril 28, 29 and 30. The PCB Women Winghas already announced the following 14members Women Team for this tour:-Ayesha Qazi, Mariam Hassan Shah (C),Komal Feroze, Sidra Amin, Mahlaqa Man-soor, Maryum Shafique, Sidra Nawaz,Namra Imran, Sania Iqbal, Aliya Riaz,Sumaiya Siddiqui, Sana Gulzar (VC),Saima Maqsood, Zeba Manzoor.

Top ranked boxers innational C’ship semis LAHORE: Another four top boxers of thecountry have eased into the next round ofthe 34th Velo National Boxing Champi-onship winning their respective boutswithout difficulty as 11 fights were decidedtill date on Tuesday. Mohamamd Waseemof Wapda, Sajjad Ali of Army, Khawar Aliof Wapda and Asmat Ullah of Railwayswon their fights without any tough chal-lenge from their opponents. Results: 52 kgs: S.M Asif (Railways) beat Habib Ranges RSC

injured 2nd rd, Mohammad Waseem (Wapda) beat qadeer

Hussain islamabad RSc oC 1st rd, Hallar q HEC beat Akhtar

Ali KPK RSc inj 1st rd, Shoaib Sindh beat Segar Gul Balochis-

tan on points 16-13, 56 kgs: Mohammad Raza Railways beat

Mohibullah Police Rsc 1st rd, Sajjad Ali Army beat Moham-

mad Khan Punjab Ret 1st rd, naqeebullah beat Balochistan

Rt 1st rd, Asadullah HEc beat Mohammad Waheed fATA 9-4,

Khawar Ali Wapda beat Awais Khan KPK Rsc oc, 56 kgs:

Asmat Ullah Railways beat Shamsul Haq Punjab 12-6, Aamer

navy beat Sajid farman Rangers 17-5. STaff rEPOrT

LONDONafP

WIMBLeDON chiefshave increased thetotal prize money onoffer at the grass-courttournament to £16.1

million ($26m, 19.7 million euros) in a bidto satisfy calls for a fairer distribution ofthe wealth at grand slams.

There has been growing unrestamong players that too much of the prizemoney on offer at the four majors wentto the top stars, who rou-tinely reach the lucrativelater stages, at the ex-pense of the lowerranked competitors.

Late last year therewere suggestions that theissue could even promptstrike action whichwould threaten the sta-bility of the sport.

But All englandClub officials enteredinto talks with NovakDjokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federerand Andy Murray -- the top four in themen's rankings -- to debate the problemat the Indian Wells event earlier this year.

And Wimbledon has responded tothe big four's demands with a 10 percentincrease of £1.5 million on the 2011 totalprize money in a bid to ease the lowerplayers' complaints that the cost of livingon tour wasn't matched by the rewards onoffer at tournaments.

While the men's and women's singleschampions will now take home a chequefor £1.15 million, a £50,000 rise on 2011,it is the players who crash out earlier inthe tournament who benefit most from

the changes. An increase of 26 percent inprize money for first-round losers meansthey get £14,500 ($23,400, 17,800 euros)for just a few hours unsuccessful workcompared to £11,500 last year.

Second-round losers will get £23,125,a 14.9 percent rise, while third round de-feats are worth £38,785, an increase of13.1 percent. The daily allowance paid toplayers in the men's and women's maindraws have gone up from £170 to £200,while there is also a 21 percent rise for los-ers in the Wimbledon qualifying event.

The singles' runners-up will get

£575,000 andbeaten semi-f i n a l i s t s

e a r n

£287,500, bothminimal rises of 4.5 percent.

"Wimbledon continues to besuccessful and we are delighted toshare that success with the players by in-creasing total prize money by 10 percent,the largest increase since 1993," All eng-land Club chairman Phillip Brook said.

"At the same time we appreciate theneed to help players meet the rising costsassociated with professional tennis, so themajority of the record £1.5 million in-crease will be distributed to those who areknocked out in the early rounds of theChampionships."

Brook insists he was never concernedthat reigning Wimbledon champion

Djokovic and his fellow stars were at-tempting to bully the grand slams and heinstead praised them for raising an issuethat they could easily have ignored sincethey already hoover up much of the prizemoney. "There was never talk of (strike)action from players in any discussions Ihave had. We had very professional dis-cussions with all the parties and hopefullyit will be received well," Brook said.

"What we have in the top four playersis a group of young men who are very re-sponsible for all those around them.

"We didn't hear a request for moremoney for them, they wanted somethingdone for the sport as a whole and wererepresenting all the players, not justthemselves.

"It is a positive development. When Imet the players at Indian Wells we askedfor the opportunity to have meetings likethat on a regular basis. It can only be goodto have dialogue with them.

"We heard genuine concern from topplayers and tour management that thiswas an issue and we have reacted to

that."However, with early-roundlosers flying home richer

than previous years de-spite relatively unsuc-

c e s s f u ltournaments, Brook

had to fend off accu-sations that Wimble-

don was rewarding failure."I respect the comment, but for any-

body who is good enough in our sport tocome through qualifying or be a directentry it is an achievement of itself," hesaid.

"You only get that opportunity byhaving considerable success elsewhere onthe tour during the year."

Britain open olympicsagainst Senegal

LONDONafP

Host nation Great Britain will kick off theOlympic football tournament againstSenegal at Manchester United's Old Traf-ford ground on July 26 following the drawmade at Wembley here on Tuesday.

Senegal became the final men's teamto clinch their place in the tournamentwhen they beat Oman 2-0 in a playoff inCoventry, central england, on Monday.

Britain, who qualified as hosts, havealso been drawn alongside Uruguay andthe United Arab emirates in Group A.

Both Uruguay and Senegal could callon Premier League players -- Newcastlestrike duo Demba Ba and Papiss Cisse areboth Senegalese while Liverpool forwardLuis Suarez is from Uruguay.

The men's teams are made up ofunder-23 players with three over-age play-ers permitted per squad.

Brazil, tipped for gold in the absenceof title holders Argentina, were drawnagainst egypt, Belarus and New Zealand.

In all 16 teams in the men's event willbe split into four groups, with the top twofrom each qualifying for the quarter-finals.

Unlike most other Olympic events,which will take place in London, organis-ers have tried to make the football tourna-ment a truly British competition byspreading games around the country.

So as well as playing the UAe at Wem-bley on July 29, Pearce's men will also faceUruguay in the Welsh capital Cardiff onAugust 1.

Former england captain David Beck-ham, who played a leading role in the cam-paign to bring the Olympics to his homecity of London, could feature in the Britishteam as an over-age player in what is pri-marily an Under-23 tournament. "I'llknow a bit more about David Beckham'schances when I go to the States and seehim," Pearce said following the draw.

"He's been a great ambassador butthat's no guarantee he'll get in the squad.I'm picking on form and merit alone."

Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irishfootball chiefs remain adamantly opposed

to their players taking part in a BritishOlympic team, fearing it could be the firststep on the road to extinction as independ-ent football nations.

The squad may not reflect every homenation and celebrity but they will be thebest 18 players who have the best oppor-tunity to deliver a gold," said Pearce."That's my only criteria." Pearce, who inaddition to his regular beat as england'sUnder-21 manager is also in caretakercharge of the full national team with a per-manent successor to Fabio Capello still tobe appointed ahead of the upcoming euro2012, was coy about the draw.

"I think it's all to play for."Having spoken to a lot of players, I've

sensed a willingness to be a part of theOlympics. Clubs have to look after them-selves. "But for the great of Great Britain,everyone has to get behind this team."

In the women's tournament, Britainwill be up against female football super-power Brazil in their group phase.

Brazil's Marta is arguably the bestplayer in the women's game and GB coachHope Powell, the long-serving manager ofthe england side from which the bulk ofthe Olympic squad will be drawn, said: "Itwill be a great game against Brazil.

"They are the tough team in the group.They are always there or thereabouts inmajor tournaments."

Men's Tournament

Group A: Great Britain, Senegal, United Arab Emirates,

Uruguay

Group B: Mexico, South Korea, Gabon, Switzerland

Group C: Brazil, Egypt, Belarus, new zealand

Group D: Spain, Japan, Honduras, Morocco

note: The top two teams from each group go through to

the quarter-finals.

Women's Tournament

Group E: Great Britain, new zealand, Cameroon, Brazil

Group f: Japan, Canada, Sweden, South Africa

Group G: USA, france, Colombia, north Korea

note: The top two teams from each group and the two

best third-placed teams qualify for the quarter-finals.

Wimbledon responds to

calls to share the wealth

LHR 25-04-2012_Layout 1 4/25/2012 2:57 AM Page 21

Wednesday, 25 April, 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

g Delay in reopening ofnATo supply routes likely

ISLAMABADShaiq hUSSain

In response to a strong demand by Pak-istan, the US is hesitant to tender an un-conditional apology over the NATOairstrikes on Pakistani border posts thatkilled two dozen soldiers in November,which could cast a dark shadow on crucialtalks between President’s Obama Specialenvoy Marc Grossman and Pakistani lead-ership scheduled for tomorrow (Thursday)and may further delay the reopening ofNATO supply routes.

US Special Representative forAfghanistan and Pakistan Marc Grossmanis expected to arrive today (Wednesday) tohold talks with President Asif Ali Zardari,Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, For-eign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar andArmy Chief General Ashfaq Kayani.

On Thursday, Ambassador Grossmanwill participate in the ‘trilateral core group’meeting of US, Pakistan and Afghanistanat the Foreign Ministry.

The main purpose of Grossman’s visitand his talks with Pakistani leaders is to doaway with the deadlock between Islam-abad and Washington over the US apologyover the Salala attack and the reopening ofNATO supply routes.

The Obama administration was willing

to tender an apology last month overNATO airstrikes and the killing of 24 Pak-istani soldiers, but Islamabad asked it toput off this important move until the par-liamentary review of Pakistan-US ties wascompleted.

“However, the burning of copies ofholy Quran in Afghanistan and an apologyby President Obama to the Afghan govern-ment and people changed the whole situa-tion with American officials deciding not totender another apology in a short span offew weeks,” said a Pakistani diplomat,seeking anonymity.

He said since President Obama had tomake his re-election bid later this year, de-mocrats felt that a second public apologyin a matter of few days and weeks could se-

riously harm the incumbent president’selection’s campaign.

He, nonetheless, said that the USwould have to tender that apology as Pak-istan had made it clear that without thatmove by Washington, resumption ofNATO supplies would not be possible.

“Pakistan has given its list of demandsto US after the recent joint session of par-liament, which included an apology overattack on its border posts and halt to dronestrikes. If the US is not willing to stopdrone attacks, then what else it could giveto Pakistan except to tender an apologyover the Salala incident,” the diplomatsaid. Another Pakistani official said Am-bassador Grossman would also lead the USdelegation in talks at trilateral core group

meeting with Foreign Secretary Jalil AbbasJilani heading the Pakistani team and thedeputy foreign minister of Afghanistanrepresenting his country.

He said the core group meeting was animportant development in the context ofongoing reconciliation process between theUS, Afghan government and the Talibanand since it was being held after a longwhile owing to stalemate in Pakistan-USties so authorities in the three capitals at-tached great important to those talks.

“The important feature of core groupmeeting would be the talks on possiblerole that Pakistan could play in persuad-ing the Taliban to enter into meaningfulpeace talks with the United States,” theofficial said.

ISLAMABADSTaff rEPOrT

Rejecting an application filed by former ambas-sador to the US Husain Haqqani in which herequested the court to direct the memo com-mission to record his statement abroad viavideo link, the Supreme Court on Tuesday saidit was the prerogative of the commission to de-cide the mechanism of recording statements.

A 10-member special bench of the SupremeCourt headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muham-mad Chaudhry said in its order that, “The com-mission, without prejudice in case of anybody,may adopt a procedure for recording of state-ment in the interest of justice as desired by it.”At the onset of hearing, Asma Jahangir, counselfor Haqqani, pointed out that under the earlierorder of the apex court in the memo scandal,her client was not bound to record his state-ment in Pakistan and not from abroad.

She told the bench that the commissionturned down request of Haqqani to record state-ment through video link in London when hereached the same building from where Mansoorejaz was recording his statement through videoconferencing. She submitted that Haqqani’ fun-damental right was breached because he wasnot allowed to record statement through videolink, but Mansoor Ijaz was permitted to recordstatement through the video conference beforethe commission. Asma alleged that Haqqaniwas declared accused before trial of the case,saying she was only requesting the bench to ex-tend the same facility to her client which wasprovided to Mansoor Ijaz for recording thestatement from abroad. She categorically re-peated that a facility which was extended to analien in the case must be given to Haqqani as

well. The chief justice remarked that everybodywas out of danger when moving outside Islam-abad, saying the biggest protector was God, towhich Asma said if everybody in the country be-lieved the perception, then she would have noobjection to the presence of her client in Pak-istan. Justice Mian Saqib Nisar observed that ifHaqqani had been receiving threats during hisstay in Pakistan, was it possible for him to put arequest to record his statement abroad. Asmasaid that country’s establishment was powerfuland nobody could be spared from it. The benchinquired from the counsel for Haqqani if shewould raise any objection in case the court ob-served that the issue of recording the statementshould be tackled by the memo commission.

Asma submitted that she would not raise anyobjection. A petitioner in the case, Tariq Asad,appeared before the bench and read out the lastfour lines of the order of the apex court relatingto the memo commission on January 30, 2011and said there were crystal clear orders thatHaqqani was bound to return to Pakistan withinfour days when summoned. “In the past, every-body was taking the contempt of court matter se-riously but the situation is totally different now,as in the corridors of apex court people openlydiscuss contempt of court matters.” He alsonamed TV anchor Najam Sethi, who frequentlydiscussed contempt of court related matters inhis program. Justice Jawwad S Khawaja saidthe court conducted its proceedings under thelaw and had nothing to do with the discussionswhich were out of the law. Akram Sheikh, coun-sel for Mansoor Ijaz, contended that his clientand Haqqani’s situation was totally different inthe case, but the bench observed that the com-mission was competent to address all issues re-lating to the proceedings.

Taliban seek release of5 comrades in returnfor Shahbaz Taseer

Militants had earlierdemanded freedom

for 20 cohorts PESHAWAR

ShaMiM Shahid

After the escape of more than380 prisoners from the BannuCentral Jail recently, the Talibanhave made changes in theirdemands for releasing hostagesabducted from various parts ofPakistan, especially Lahore andPeshawar. Highly-placed sourcestold Pakistan Today that inreturn for former Punjab

governor Salmaan Taseer’s son Shahbaz Taseer, the Taliban havedemanded the release of five of their men. earlier, the Taliban haddemanded the release of 20 people, which was later cut down to 10,imprisoned in various parts of the country. The sources said the fivepeople being demanded by the militants in return for Shahbaz Taseerincluded three al Qaeda terrorists. The al Qaeda high commandassured Taliban militants of a huge amount of Rs 100 million in caseof success. The names of al Qaeda fugitives are yet to be ascertained,but the government has refused to release the demanded men.Similarly, the Taliban have also revised their demand in return forProf Ajmal Khan, vice chancellor of Islamia College University, whowas abducted in September 2010. earlier, besides a huge amount ofransom, the Taliban had also insisted on the release of 21 militantsimprisoned in various jails. Although the authorities concerned aretight-lipped, it was reported that a number of people demanded bythe Taliban in return for Prof Ajmal Khan included those whoescaped from Bannu Jail. On such grounds, the Taliban are onlyinsisting on payment of ransom. Recently, a Swiss couple abductedfrom Zhob in Balochistan in July 2011 got freedom after a massivepayment of $10 million. Ransom has become a major source ofrevenue for militants both in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Rs 9.5m takenin Karachibank heist;guard involved

KARACHISTaff rEPOrT

Six armed men succeeded in robbingover Rs 9.5 million rupees from aprivate bank at PeCHS Block 06 inthe jurisdiction of Tipu Sultan PoliceStation on Tuesday. Talking toPakistan Today, SHO Haji Sanaullahsaid that six robbers barged intoHabib Bank’s PeCHS branch ataround 9pm with the support ofsecurity guard Najaf Ali. Four ofthem guarded the doors, while theother two collected at gunpoint over9.5 million rupees from the cashierand strong room, he said, addingthat Najaf fled along with the othermen. He said the bank managerinformed the police and a partyrushed to the spot. He said thepolice had secured the CCTV footageof the crime. He said that sixrobbers arrived in a hi-roof and fledafter looting the bank. The SHOclaimed that the armed robbers tookthe guard with them to show that thebank staff were going to transfercash to the head office. He said thecase had been transferred to theSpecial Investigation Unit (SIU) anda first information report no 141/ 12under section 395 had been lodgedagainst Najaf Ali and sixunidentified robbers on thecomplaint of the bank manager lateon Tuesday night.

US hesitant to tender apology over NATO strike

SC rejects Haqqani’s

plea for video statement

LahOrE: residents of Shahdara block the road during a protest against load shedding on Tuesday. inp

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