e-paper pakistantoday 26th february, 2012

islamabad — peshawar edition Sunday, 26 February, 2012 Rabi-ul-Sani 3, 1433Rs22.00 Vol ii no 240 22 pages

LAHORENAUMAN TASLEEM

Hameed Nizami was one of the best jour-nalists ever produced by Pakistan and hasan immortal place in the history of Pak-istani journalism.

He played an important role in thePakistan movement and Mohammad AliJinnah highly appreciated his efforts.Facing the Hindu press bravely by found-ing the Nawa-e-Waqt newspaper, heplayed a pivotal role in defining and rep-resenting the sentiments of the Muslimsof the sub-continent.

These views were expressed by thespeakers on at a function arranged on the50th death anniversary of Hameed Nizamion saturday. Hameed Nizami MemorialSociety and Awan-e-Iqbal jointly arrangedthe programme.

Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid(PML-Q) chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hus-sain presided over the function and Fed-eral Minister Samina Khalid Ghurki wasthe chief guest. Famous writers, anchors,and columnists like Mujeeb ur RehmanShami, Hamid Mir, Sajad Mir, orya Maq-bool Jan, Jahangir Badar and AllamaIqbal’s grandson Waleed Iqbal spoke onthe occasion. A large number of students,

political workers and the general publicattended the function.

Speaking on the occasion, Editor Pak-istan Today Arif Nizami said that nowpress enjoys a lot of freedom but duringthe time of Hameed Nizami, the press wasnot as free as it is today.

Hameed Nizami sacrificed his life

while fighting against the martial law ofAyub Khan, he said. “It is unfortunate thatthe newspaper founded by HameedNizami is hurling negative propagandaagainst me,” Arif Nizami said.

Shujaat appreciated the efforts ren-dered by Hameed Nizami for Pakistan andsaid that journalism is incomplete without

mentioning him. “Hameed Nizami was ajournalist par excellence and waged astruggle for the cause of freedom of expres-sion,” Shujaat said.

While giving a solution of the Balochis-tan issue, he said that President AsifZardari should travel abroad to meet theBaloch leaders. He said that Mushahid

Hussain’s report on Balochistan should befollowed, as in this way law and order ofthat province could be restored. oryaMaqbool Jan said that Hameed Nizamiwas a torchbearer of truth and if he wouldhave been alive today, he would have giventhe right solution to the Balochistan issue.He said that media should play its role insolving the Baloch dilemma.

Lahore Press Club President SarmadBashir read the speech of Nazir Naji, whocould not come due to ill health.

In his speech, Naji said that we cantackle the menace of terrorism by follow-ing the ideology of Hameed Nizami, whoactively fought against the aggression ofthe dictators.

RemembeRing the pioneeR

‘hameed Nizami, a journalist par excellence’

TWo men were killed and atleast three others were injuredin aerial firing and clashes atpolling stations, as by-electionswere held on Saturday on six

National Assembly and four provincial as-sembly seats, two each in Punjab and Sindh.

The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) haswon the most seats: two each in the Nationaland provincial assemblies. The PakistanMuslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) succeededin getting one National Assembly and twoprovincial assembly seats, whereas PML-Functional (PML-F) and the Awami Na-tional Party (ANP) bagged one seat each. Anindependent candidate from Kasur also se-cured his place in the national legislature.

Although tight security arrangementshad been promised for the by-polls, gun tot-

ing mobs of rival candidates were seen atvarious polling stations across the country.Incidents of aerial firing claimed two lives,both at the hands of the supporters of rulingpolitical parties, the PPP and ANP. A privateTV channel reported that a man was killedin Multan due to aerial firing by the support-ers of PPP candidate and the prime minis-ter’s son Ali Moosa Gilani, who won from theNA-148 constituency. The injured man latersuccumbed to bullet wounds. Gilani took acomprehensive lead with 60,000 votes overhis opponent Ghaffar Dogar, a PML-N can-didate, who got 28,000 votes.

According to our reporter, one personwas killed in Mardan when ANP workersopened fire after their candidate Himayatul-lah Mayar was announced victorious fromNA-9. Policemen were present at the scene,but showed reluctance to take action againstMayar’s supporters. Mayar won the electionwith 30,566 votes against Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) candidate MaulanaShuja Mulk, who received 10,713 votes.Women were reported to have been blockedfrom casting votes at certain polling stations,including the ones in Mianwali.

At least three people were injured in Mi-anwali and Mardan as rival groups clashedat polling stations.

Incidents of violence were reported fromNA-140 Kasur (Punjab), PP-44 Mianwali(Punjab) and NA-168 Vehari (Punjab),

ISLAMABADSTAFF REPORT

Assuring the nation that there is nothreat to the country, Prime MinisterYousaf Raza Gilani said on Saturdaythat the government was in theprocess of identifying the stakeholderswho would be taken on board beforesummoning the All Parties Conference(APC) on Balochistan.

Talking to journalists at the PrimeMinister’s House, Gilani said, “We arein the process to identify the stake-holders who would be taken on board.The Baloch are pro-Pakistan and na-tionalists. First we will address the

issue of mutilated bodies in theprovince, then we will consult them(Baloch) at the APC or whatever otherforum they wanted to discuss and re-solve the issue.”

The prime minister said a commit-tee had been constituted to contact thecountry’s political leadership to con-vene the APC on the issue. Gilani saidhe would meet the Balochistan gover-nor and chief minister “very soon” todiscuss ways to engage all the stake-holders in the consultations. The primeminister said the benefits of the Aghaz-e-Haqooq-e-Balochistan Package could

By-polls marredby violence, irregularities

Crocker complains

of militant havens

in PakistanWASHINGTON

AFP

The US ambassador to Afghanistan sent atop-secret cable to Washington lastmonth warning that the existence ofenemy havens in Pakistan was placing theUS strategy in Afghanistan in jeopardy,The Washington Post reported late Fri-day. Citing unnamed US officials, thenewspaper said that the cable, written byAmbassador Ryan Crocker, amounted toan admission that US efforts to curtail ac-tivities in Pakistan by the Haqqani net-work, a key Taliban ally, were failing.Pakistan’s relationship with the United

No threat to Pakistan, assures prime ministerg Gilani says govt identifying stakeholders for APC on Balochistan

Continued on page 04Continued on page 04Continued on page 04

Continued on page 04

MULTAN: A Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz female activist, Sultana Shaheen argues with Pakistan People’s Party candidate

Liaqat Dogar over bogus voters’ list during the by-election on Saturday. INP

MULTAN: Ali Musa Gilani celebrates his

victory in the NA-148 by-election.

LAHORE: Distinguished speakers listen to a speech during the annual Hameed Nizami Day at the Aiwan-e-Iqbal on Saturday. StAff Photo

g PM’s son makes his way to NA with huge margin

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02Sunday, 26 February 2012

News

today’s

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ISLAMABAD

Story on Page 08

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CArTooN

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Where rights are not rife Firdous brushes aside media curb speculations

Blown up rail tracks repaired,

train service startedKARACHI/ISLAMABAD: Around 18 blasts damaged railway tracksat different places across Sindh on Saturday but were repaired and trainservices started after a couple of hours, officials said. After restorationof tracks, trains held back at Karachi stations have been were sent to theirdestinations. No casualties were reported in the explosions. Accordingto sources, 12 small blasts hit railway tracks at Karachi, Hyderabad,Sukkur, Nawabshah, Khairpur and Mirpur Mathilo. No group claimedresponsibility for the blasts. Sindh Home Minister Manzoor Wasan saidthat the killing of Benazir Bhutto had increased the sense of deprivationin the province and railways blasts were its outcome. AGENcIES

DPC to hold APC on

Balochistan on 27th: SaeedQUETTA: An All Parties Conference (APC) on Balochistan will be heldin Quetta on February 27 by the Difa-e-Pakistan Council (DPC),outlawed Jamaatud Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed said on Saturday.Talking to journalists, he said that the entire political leadership of thecountry was invited to the APC, including PTI Chairman Imran Khan,PML-N President Nawaz Sharif, PML-Q President Senator ChaudhryShujaat Hussain, ANP President Asfand Yar Wali and Baloch leaders.Saeed said that the APC will discuss alleged American, Indian and Israeliintervention in Balochistan and the situation created by the US Congressresolution on Balochistan. He said that special recommendations will begiven to resolve the issues facing the province. ONLINE

PPP-backed Shehram Sarwar

wins LHCBA election

LAHoRE: Shehram Sarwar Ch, supported by friends’ alliance offormer SCBA president Asma Jahangir and PPP lawyers, was electedpresident of the Lahore High Court bar Association (LHCBA)defeating his rival Muhammad Aslam Butter of pro-judiciaryProfessional Group led by Hamid Khan. He was successful with a clearlead of 555 votes as Shehram secured 3284 votes against his rivalcontester Mr Butter who bagged only 2729 votes. While PML- Nsupported candidate for the slot of bar’s President, Shafqat MahmoodChohan remained 3rd in the race with 2175 votes. The candidatesbacked by Asma and PPP government have already won control ofPunjab bar council (PBC) Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) inthe recently held elections and the LHCBA is the last election whichhas also gone to PPP lawyers backed by Asma, Governor Punjab LatifKhosa and the PLF leadership. However, on the seat of Vice President,Hafeez Ur Rehman, won with 5760 and the losing candidate AfzaalAzeem Pahat got 2391 in the one on one contest. The winner, Hafeez,was backed by professional group. Sardar Akbar Dogar was electedsecretary of the bar by knocking out his rival Rana Awais Tauseefsecuring 5398, and 2770 respectively. Rahila Anjum Minhas waselected on the seat of secretary finance with 2748 votes defeatingSheikh Faisal Zaheer who got 2013. JAMALUDDIN JAMALI

$500m corruptionin PIA, says PTI


The tale of corruption in PIA continues with signingof an agreement to purchase five 777 Boeing aircraftfor $1.5 billion, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI)Information Secretary Shafqat Mehmood said onSaturday. He said that the entire process wascorrectly questioned by the TransparencyInternational, which believed that $500 millionkickbacks were taken in the deal. According to it, anexorbitant price of $300 million was agreed upon,which was around 50 percent higher than themarket price. Corruption by the PIA managementwith support of its political masters was also visiblefrom the fact that this deal was never advertisedand PPRA rules were not followed, Mehmood said.The PTI information secretary said that inordinatehurry in finalising the purchase was also visible. In21 short days, the deal was finalised, which wasunprecedented in aviation history, he said.Mehmood said that purchase of new aircraft had togo through a lengthy process of approvals,including working out details of configuration,testing under extreme weather conditions,particularly summers and compatibility with theexisting repair and maintenance facilities. The PTIleader said that special attention was paid to issuessuch as conformity with the existing fleet tominimise overhead costs. None of this was done,which in itself was a testimony to corruption, hesaid. The deal was rushed through to take hugekickbacks, Mehmood said, adding that theleadership of a country whose economy was inserious downturn, whose revenues were so low thatit was effectively bankrupt, continued with itsmassive corruption.

QuETTASHAHzADA zULFIqAR

Amidst information about the release of tenBaloch missing persons by the intelligence agen-cies, Nasrullah Baloch, Chairman Voice forBaloch Missing Persons has confirmed that fourmissing persons had reached their homes lastnight.

Nasrullah Baloch told the reporters on Sat-urday that personnel of intelligence agencieswhisked away four persons, all the resident ofMakran during the last one year from differentareas and were released last night. They all havereached their homes. He said that they includedMohammad son of Haji Gul Jan resident ofMand of Kachh district, Mohammad HaneefBaloch, a resident of Mand, Majid Baloch ofBuleda and Ali Johar alias Ali Baba, the residentof the coastal town of Pasni. He said that Ali Babawas picked up along with other persons includingBSo-Azada leader Ilyas Nazar whose bullet rid-dled body was found from Murgha, near Turbatlast year.

VBMP Chairman said that his group hadbeen struggling for the release of hundreds ofBaloch missing persons. He demanded for therelease of all persons confined in the agencies

torture cells while further calling for action to betaken against the responsible ones. He said thatthe Voice would continue its protest till the ac-ceptance of their demands.

He also appealed to international humanrights organisations to take notice of humanrights violations particularly enforced disappear-ances in Balochistan. Ten ‘missing’ Balochs re-turn home: security officials

INP adds: Ten Baloch political activists, whowere termed missing by their families, have re-turned home, security officials said on Saturday.

There was contradiction in exact number ofpersons returning home as security forces put thefigure at 10, while Nasarullah Baloch - Chairmanof Baloch Voice for Missing People - put the fig-ure at four. Mohammad Gul, Mohammad Hanif,Majid Baloch and Johar Ali returned to theirhomes in Turbat, Buladan and Pasni, accordingto Nasrullah Baloch.

The missing persons returned during thelast five days and 200 people are now missingin the province, security officials said. Contra-dicting the statement, Baloch said that thou-sands of men are still missing. Several casesrelated to the ‘missing persons’ are being heardin courts across the country, including theSupreme Court of Pakistan.

10 missing Balochs return home Balach Marri’s

house razed,

claims BNVQuETTA

STAFF REPORT

Baloch National Voice, a separatistgroup, claimed that residence of slainBaloch leader Balach Marri was razed tothe ground on Saturday by pro-government people backed by securityforces. In a statement, BNV condemnedthe incident saying that the house wasoccupied by armed men supported by theBalochistan CM and intelligenceagencies. It said that the armed menrazed the house completely and warnedthat the responsible people would have toface the consequences. The statementsaid that it was against Baloch traditionto storm into someone’s house anddestroy it completely. Governmentofficials said that no one informed themabout the incident and action would betaken if someone lodged a complaint.

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03Sunday, 26 February 2012

NewsCoMMeNTThe silver lining

Articles on Page 12-13

Inching towards understanding

crime in PunjabComplacency and micromanaging

Humayun Gauhar says:

Iqbal Haider says:The Indo-Pak peace: National security vs welfare state

M J Akbar says:Revenge of the provinces: Congress couldn’t get its act together

ForeIGN NewS

Story on Page 17

ArTS & eNTerTAINMeNT

Story on Page 14

SPorTSPcB keeps Misbah as captain for Asia cup

Story on Page 18

clinton pledges US help for Tunisia reforms ‘Heroine’ loses her lines

The tyranny of history: How our servile attitude has led us to nowhere


INTERIoR Minister Rehman Malik,Saturday clarified that the govern-ment could not withdraw casesagainst Baloch leaders where a thirdparty was involved in it.

“only political cases against Baloch leaderswould be quashed, while those filed by a thirdparty cannot be withdrawn and hence wouldremain intact,” he told media after a meetingwith Balochistan Chief Minister, Nawab AslamKhan Raisani. He said his meeting with Raisaniremained fruitful and various issues of nationalinterest came under discussion.

Rehman Malik said withdrawal of politicalcases against Baloch leaders was in accor-dance with Aghaz-e-Haqooq-e-BalochistanPackage. He agreed that in the past Balochis-tan remained neglected but pointed out thatsoon after coming into power, the PPP-led

government took various steps for the devel-opment of the province. He said during themeeting, Chief Minister Balochistan de-manded more jobs for his province addingthat the federal government would createmore job opportunities for the people ofBalochistan. He said Balochistan Chief Minis-ter had asked to declare Gwadar port a ‘freeport’ adding, “It will be better for the region.” INP ADDS: Interior Minister Rehman Malikhas said that he is trying to contact the Balochleadership. Talking to the media, RehmanMalik said that orders have also been issuedto write a letter to Interpol for the arrest offormer president Pervez Musharraf.

Malik stirred the political scene by sayingearly this week that the government is willingto quash cases against all Baloch leaders livingin exile abroad.

However, Shahzain Bugti set out 10-pointdemands for restoring peace in the province.His demands included calling off the All Par-

ties Conference (APC) and arrest of Musharrafin the Bugti murder case. Meanwhile, Interiorministry has written to DG FIA to contact In-terpol for issuing red warrants of Musharraf.

The interior ministry has written to Direc-tor General (DG) of FIA regarding contactingInterpol for issuing red warrants of formerPresident Pervez Musharraf, for his trail in Be-nazir Bhutto murder case.

The DG-FIA has been directed to completeall legal formalities regarding ensuring the is-suance of red alert warrants for PervezMusharraf within three days. Sources havealso informed that Rehman Malik had alsospecifically stressed on officials to keep himupdated about the issue on a daily basis.

It is pertinent to note that former Presi-dent Musharraf has been declared a pro-claimed offender, and government has beendirected to take adequate steps to ensureMusharraf’s return back home for his trail inBenazir murder case.

‘Cases against Baloch leadersinvolving third party to stay’g Interior minister says Interpol contacted to issue red warrants for Musharraf

NEWS DESK

US House Foreign Affairs Committeemember Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), wholaunched a Congressional resolution call-ing for self-determination for Balochis-tan, has denied that the CentralIntelligence Agency (CIA) was behind theresolution.

“The purpose of the resolution was tocreate a much-needed dialogue aboutPakistan and Balochistan, and that’swhat it’s done, so that’s very nice,” hesaid in an interview with “The Cable”.

“It’s important to get over that phasewhere people are going ballistic and startgetting serious discussion about an issuethat’s been ignored but shouldn’t be ig-nored.”

According to the US magazine inter-view, Rohrabacher said the Balochistanissue and the human rights violationsthere have been ignored in Washingtonout of a fear of offending the Pakistani es-tablishment, but that strategy isn’t work-

ing. “It’s one of those issues that’s been

ignored as to not upset the Pakistanis be-cause they are fragile friends,” he said.“Well, they’re not fragile friends, they arehard-core, two-faced enemies of theUnited States.”

In fact, the discovery that osama binLaden was hiding for years in the Pak-istani military town of Abbottabad wasdirect motivation for his Balochistan ini-tiative, he said during the interview.

“What made me really determined toget involved to the point where I was will-ing to author resolutions like this waswhen osama bin Laden was discoveredin an area which made it clear that Pak-istanis had for eight years taken billionsin U.S. foreign aid while giving safehaven to the monster that slaughtered3,000 Americans on 9/11,” he said. “Atthat point I felt, no more walking on eggshells around Pakistan.”

“I can see why the prime minister ofPakistan wouldn’t fully understand why

people in various countries — especiallyelected officials — are free to comment onany policies they see fit in any countrythey see fit,” Rohrabacher said. “That’swhat freedom is all about, but perhapsthat’s why they don’t understand it.”

To a question, Rohrabacher deniedhe introduced the resolution on the be-hest of CIA to pressurize Pakistan.

“Anyone who believes that is totallyout of touch with reality,” Rohrabacherresponded. “I’ve had no discussions withanyone in the CIA about this whatsoeverand my guess is that if I did, they wouldbe doing somersaults trying to preventme from doing this.”

In fact, he didn’t even bother to con-fer with the obama administration aboutthe resolution at all, he said, and has notheard from any administration officials.

“It was my resolution and not theirs,”he said of the administration. “Unlike ourfriends in Pakistan, they understand thatin a democracy people elected to the leg-islative branch have the right to propose

any legislation they want. I can see whythe Pakistani government wouldn’t un-derstand that.”

Rohrabacher compared the struggleof the people of Balochistan to the strug-gle of the American colonies against theBritish Empire. “Like in the UnitedStates, where we gave a declaration of in-dependence, we have a right to a countryseparate from Great Britain. That’s whatself-determination is,” he said.

Beyond Balochistan, Rohrabacher’stop priority is preventing Pakistan frominfluencing the Afghanistan reconcilia-tion talks to the benefit of the Taliban. Hepromises to fight giving US aid to Pak-istan if that’s the case.

“The most important thing now is notto permit Pakistan to think they can doanything they want and there will neverbe any repercussions and they can sidewith any enemy of the West and stillthink we’re going to pour money intotheir pockets,” he said. “That ain’t gonnahappen.”

US Congressman denies CIA behind Balochistan resolution

revival of NATo suppliesunacceptable: HashmiISLAMABAD: Tehreek-e-Insaf leader Javed Hashmiwarned of protests till the ouster of the government ifNATo supplies were restored through any route, Geo Newsreported on Saturday. Addressing a protest demonstrationstaged here at Parade Avenue, Hashmi said drone strikesbegan in Musharraf era and continued till today. In spite ofbeing in power, the government in the past four years evenfailed to rectify the mistakes committed in Musharraf’srule, he regretted. The PTI leader also lamented thatalthough the Parliament had passed a resolution againstdrone attacks, the same could not be stopped. “Restorationof NATo supplies, whether through land or air routes, willnot be acceptable,” he asserted. MONITORING DESk

LAHORESTAFF REPORT

In a gory incident, 70-year old man MuhammadArshad and his four years old granddaughterKhadija were murdered in their home in GardenTown police precincts on Saturday. Police hasshifted the dead bodies to the Jinnah Hospitalmorgue for autopsy and started investigations.

According to details, Adnan, son of Muham-mad Arshad and father of Khadija, a resident ofAbu Bakar Block in Garden Town and an em-ployee of State Bank, left home for grocery shop-ping around noon, after which some unidentifiedpeople jumped inside the house from the backwall. The invaders killed Arshad and his grand-daughter by smacking their heads with a sharp

object and left the scene.DIG operations and SP Model Town circle

reached the place after being informed andforensic experts collected samples from crimescene. Police said nothing had been stolen fromhome and it was suspected that murder mighthave had been a result of a rivalry. However, thecause remains a mystery. SoDoMISED: Two men were held forsodomising a ten-year old boy, Yasir, a residentof China Scheme Gujjar Pura, in Shalimar policestation on Saturday. According to details, the vic-tim worked at a carpenter’s shop. Three personskidnapped him on Saturday when he reached hisworkplace and took him to an abandoned placein China Scheme. The accused left the young boyin state of unconsciousness after sodomising him

and escaped. Upon getting information, the vic-tim’s father Ali Sher lodged a complaint. Policearrested two suspects Tanvir and Abdul Latif andare on the hunt for a third fellow.DEAD BoDIES: Two dead bodies including ofa newborn were found from different places inthe provincial capital on Saturday. According todetails, a middle aged man was found dead inBhatti Gate police precincts. Police shifted thebody to morgue after locals spotted the body.Bhatti gate Police officials said the deceased ap-peared to be a drug addict, and had not beenidentified as yet. Moreover, a newborn’s deadbody was found from an empty plot of RizwanTown in Factory Area police precincts. Police hasinstigated a case against unidentified persons onmurder charges.

Intruders smash heads of 70-year-old,his granddaughter in Lahore

MULTAN: Women stand in a queue to cast their votes

during the by-election in NA 148 on Saturday. oNLINE

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Sunday, 26 February, 2012

HYDERABAD: Rangers personnel stand guard as railway employees repair a portion of a track blown away by a bomb on Saturday. oNLINE

KABuLAGENcIES

NATo’s topcommander inAfghanistan,General JohnAllen, said on

Saturday he was recalling allstaff working at ministriesin the Afghan capital aftertwo American officers wereshot dead inside the InteriorMinistry.

“For obvious force pro-tection reasons, I have alsotaken immediate measuresto recall all other ISAF per-sonnel working in ministriesin and around Kabul,” Allensaid in a statement.

Separately, the Penta-gon decried as “unaccept-able” the killing of two USmilitary advisers in Kabuland called on Afghan au-thorities to better protectcoalition forces and curtailraging violence. “This act isunacceptable, and the UScondemns it in the strongestpossible terms,” said De-fense Secretary Leon

Panetta’s spokesman GeorgeLittle. The two Americans,working as International Se-curity Assistance Force offi-cers in the NATo coalition,were in the interior ministrywhen “an individual” turnedhis weapon against the pair,NATo said, without givingfurther details.

Taliban claimed respon-sibility for the shooting, say-ing it was in revenge for theburning of the Holy Quranat a US-run military base —an incident that forced USPresident Barack obama toapologise to the Afghan peo-ple. Little said Afghan De-fence Minister Abdul RahimWardak telephoned Panettaon Saturday and “apologisedfor today’s incident” and of-fered condolences to familymembers of those killed.

Panetta urged Wardakand “the Afghan govern-ment to take decisive actionto protect coalition forcesand curtail the violence inAfghanistan after a chal-lenging week in the coun-try,” Little said. Wardak also

assured his American coun-terpart that Afghan Presi-dent Hamid Karzai “wasassembling the religiousleaders, parliamentarians,justices of the SupremeCourt, and other seniorAfghan officials to take ur-gent steps to do so,” thespokesman added.

The minister also“pledged his complete coop-eration in investigatingtoday’s tragedy and in takingstronger measures to protectISAF personnel,” Little said.“The United States remainsdedicated to working withthe Afghan people againstthe common threat of violentextremism and to build anAfghanistan that can secureand govern itself.”

Four Afghans were shotdead by Afghan securityforces as demonstratorscame out to the streets onSaturday, with an attemptby protesters to bombard aUN compound in the northin reaction to burning of theHoly Quran by NATotroops.

NATO recalls staffin Kabul ministriesafter officer deaths

not trickle down effectively tothe masses because of fragilelaw and order situation in theprovince. He said it was thegovernment’s duty to removethe grievances of Baloch peo-ple. on a question that the USwas interfering in Pakistan’saffairs, Gilani said it (US) hadalready clarified that the Con-gress resolution had nothingto do with the US administra-tion’s policy, therefore theresolution should not be

given much importance.He said that Pakistan’s de-

fence was strong and there wasno threat to the country. Theprime minister said that hewas scheduled to receive theShalimar Express at MultanRailway Station, but cancelledhis visit to avoid allegations ofinfluencing the by-polls beingcontested by his son.

To a question on extend-ing the services of the chiefs ofthe Pakistan Air Force and theInter-Services Intelligence

(ISI), the prime minister said,“It is a continuing process andonly time will determine it.”He said the government hadtaken short-term, mid-termand long-term measures toovercome the energy crisis.“We want to materialise theMoU with Qatar to overcomeenergy shortage as soon aspossible”, he added.

on Afghanistan, Gilanisaid the whole world was con-vinced that military optionwas not a solution to the

problem. “It requires recon-ciliation; that’s why we haveappealed to all the stakehold-ers to make the peace processin Afghanistan a success.Afghan President HamidKarzai has asked us to use ourgood offices in resolving theissue,” he said, adding, “Wedon’t want to interfere inAfghanistan ... we want astronger Afghanistan. It is inthe interest of Pakistan.”

To a question, Gilani saidthe government was bound to

comply with the recommen-dations of the Defence Coor-dination Committee (DCC),which had asked the govern-ment to get Shamsi airbasevacated from the US and sus-pend NATo supply routes.He said Pakistan wantedgood relations with the USbased on mutual respect.

To a question on sum-moning the joint session ofthe parliament, the primeminister said it would besummoned after the Senate

elections so that the ‘newcomers’ could discuss the rec-ommendations of the parlia-mentary committee onnational security vis-à-visnew terms of engagementwith the US and NATo. To aquestion that the governmentwanted to bring new laws tocurb media freedom, Gilanisaid, “We are not Musharraf.”He also dispelled the impres-sion that passage of 20thAmendment was the outcomeof a deal.

No threat to Pakistan, assures GilaniContinued FRom page 1

Sajjad Mir said that HameedNizami was the truespokesman of Muslim Leagueand it was the reason why heopposed Liaquat Ali Khan.“Nizami was inspired byQuaid-e-Azam and nevercompromised on expressingthe truth,” he said.

Waleed Iqbal said thatQuaid-e-Azam lauded the ef-forts of Hameed Nizami.While quoting the example ofSaleem Shehzad, he said thatnow it is the duty of politi-cians to protect the journal-ists for writing the truth.

Hamid Mir said that ifHameed Nizami had notfought against dictators thenthere would have been nodemocracy in Pakistan. He saidthat Nizami participated in thestruggle for Pakistan throughjournalism and created aware-ness amongst the masses. Hesaid that Nawab Akbar Bugtivoted in favour of Pakistan buthe was killed. He said that nowmedia is being barred for high-lighting the Balochistan issuebut we will not accept it. Mirsaid that some forces are con-spiring against media and wewill fight against them.

Mujeeb ur RehmanShami said that HameedNizami was son of an ordinaryperson but he made his namethrough hard work. “Nizamiactively participated in thePakistan movement andQuaid-e-Azam wanted tomake him member of theWorking Committee of Mus-lim League but he (Nizami)preferred journalism,” he said,adding it is a dilemma thatPakistan was created in thename of democracy but dicta-tors ran it. “The army couldnot take Kashmir but it con-quered its own country many

times,” Shami said, adding wehave to overcome every prob-lem amicably through talks.He urged the media to not re-sort to cheap publicity stuntsonly to gain attention.“Hameed Nizami never sup-ported vulgarity for gettingpublic attention rather he wasthe pioneer of morality injournalism,” he added.

Senator Jahangir Badarsaid that only a few journalistsachieved such a landmark,which Hameed Nizamiachieved. “Hameed Nizamiwillingly endured hardshipsinflicted on him by detractors

of the mission of the Quaid.Yet he continued to propa-gate, in his daily writings, thelogic and the purpose under-lying the creation of a separatestate for the Muslims of thesub-continent,” Badr added.

Samina Khalid Ghurkisaid that Hameed Nizami re-mained very close to Quaid-e-Azam. She said that Nizamibravely faced the Hindu pressat that time and rightly advo-cated the voices of Muslims ofthe sub-continent. She saidthat the principles of Nizamiare a beacon of light for thejournalists and our society.

‘hameed Nizami, a journalist par excellence’Continued FRom page 1

States drastically deterioratedlast year over the covertAmerican raid that killedosama bin Laden and US airstrikes that killed 24 Pak-istani soldiers along theAfghan border.

The administration ofPresident Barack obamaplans to end combat opera-tions in Afghanistan by 2014.

In past years, US militaryofficials have argued that thebest defence against Pakistaninsurgent sanctuaries was astronger Afghan army andgovernment, the newspaper

report said. But with the USdrawdown looming, the needto directly address the sanc-tuaries seems more urgent.

“The sanctuaries are adeal-killer for the strategy,”The Post quoted a senior de-fence official as saying.

The Haqqani network isresponsible for some of thelarger and more dramatic at-tacks on Kabul, including oneon the US Embassy last year,the paper said.

The group’s patriarch,Jalaluddin Haqqani, was aprominent fighter in the CIA-backed effort to expel the So-

viets from Afghanistan in the1980s.

He has relinquished con-trol to his son, Sirajuddin,who carries a $5 million USbounty on his head and runsday-to-day operations fromthe network’s Pakistani basein Miran Shah, the papersaid. The location has giventhe Haqqani leadership ameasure of protection, ac-cording to The Post. The CIAhas refrained from launchingmissiles at known Haqqanitargets, out of concern forcivilian casualties and thebacklash that could ensue.

Crocker complains of militantContinued FRom page 1

Four killed inmortar attackPESHAwAR: Fourmembers of a familywere killed and twoothers injured when ahouse was hit by mortarshells at Akakhel area ofBara in the KhyberAgency on Saturday. Thekilled included a mother,her two daughters andson. According to details,house of Ali Zakhakhelwas hit by several mortarshells. Various portionsof the house were razedto the ground andalmost all residentswere buried under thedebris. STAFF REPORT

NA-9 Mardan (KP). Votingin Vehari and Mardan couldnot be resumed after theclashes.

Law and order situationalso remained tense in PS-57Badin where armed menmoved freely in pollingbooths. Bogus voting contin-ued unchecked in NA-155,Rahim Yar Khan, where peo-ple cast votes on expiredidentity cards and even theirphotocopies.

An independent candi-date Malik Rashid got 45,974votes, whereas his opponent,another independent candi-

date, Azimuddin got 45,672votes in NA-140 Kasur. PPPcandidate Sardar Sarwarcame in third with 17,000votes.

The PPP made its way inNA-168 Vihari, where itscandidate Natasha Daultanawon the elections with70,551 votes, whereas heropponent Bilal Akbar ofPML-N received 46,636votes. PML-F candidateMustafa Mehmood bagged75,162 votes against his op-ponent, an independent can-didate, Tariq Chohan, whoobtained 7,211 votes fromNA-195, Rahim Yar Khan.

on the Sindh Assemblyseat PS-53, PPP candidateWaheeda Shah got 27,000votes against her opponentMushtaq Ali, an independentcandidate, who got 12,000votes. From PS-57, Badin,PPP candidate HusnainMirza, who is the son of for-mer Sindh home ministerZulfiqar Mirza, won with40,551 votes over his rivalPapu Shah, who managed toget only 7,983 votes.

on Punjab Assemblyseat PP-18, Attock, PML-Ncandidate Malik Azam Khanwon with 34,108 votes. Hisrival, an independent candi-

date, Amanat Khan got24,450 votes.

PML-N’s Adil AbdullahRokhari won the PP-44 seatfrom Mianwali with 45,670votes, whereas his opponentTariq Masood Kundi (inde-pendent) obtained 36,070votes.

Meanwhile, the PPP hasaccused the PMLN-led Pun-jab government of riggingthe by-polls in the province.opposition Leader in Pun-jab Assembly Raja Riaz al-leged that PML-N workersinterfered in the pollingprocess “out of fear of los-ing to the PPP”.

By-polls marred by violence, IrregularitiesConstituency Successful Party Votes Runner up Party Votes

NA-9 Mardan Himayat Ullah Mayar ANP 30566 Shuja-ul-Mulk JUI(F) ------

NA-48 Tariq Rashid PML-N 38,176 Malik Liaqat Dogar (PPP) 27,760

NA-140 Kasur Malik Rashid Independent 45974 Azim-ud-Din (I) 45672

NA-148 Multan-I Ali Musa Gilani PPP 60000 Ghafar Dogar PML(N) 28000

NA-168 Vihari Natasha Daultana PPP 70551 Bilal Akbar PML(N) 46636

NA-195 RY Khan Mustafa Mehmood PML(F) 75162 Tariq Chuhan (I) 7211

PP 18 Attock Malik Azam Khan PMLN 34108 Amanat Khan (I) 24450

PP-44 Mianwali Adil Abdullah Rokhari PMLN 45670 Tariq Masood Kundi ---- 36070

PS-53 Sindh Waheeda Shah PPP 27000 Mushtaq Ali (I) 12000

PS-57 Badin Husnain Mirza PPP 40551 Papu Shah (I) 7983

Continued FRom page 1

41 Syrian civilianskilled ahead ofreferendum

DAMASCuSAFP

Syrian forces killed at least 41civilians on Saturday’s eve of areferendum on a new constitutioncalled by the regime in the face ofan 11-month uprising, as the RedCross failed to agree a deal toevacuate wounded Westernjournalists. Embattled PresidentBashar al-Assad’s forces resumedshelling the Baba Amr district ofHoms after an apparent pause toallow in relief teams, more thanthree weeks into a deadly assaulton rebels in Syria’s third largestcity. They also attacked elsewhere,killing at least 41 civiliansnationwide, including 19 inHoms, said the Britain-basedSyrian observatory for HumanRights. And 16 soldiers andsecurity force members died inexplosions and clashes withrebels. Police also fired on ademonstration of some 4,000people in Aleppo city’s Sayef al-Dawla district, at the funeral of acivilian killed on Friday. In Homs,the International Committee ofthe Red Cross (ICRC) said it hadbeen in talks to resumeevacuations from Baba Amrwhere two wounded Westernjournalists are trapped along withthe bodies of two others killed onWednesday.

ISB 26-02-2012_Layout 1 2/26/2012 3:23 AM

05Sunday, 26 February, 2012

NewsIjaz hatchingconspiracy onsomeone else’sdirection: Asma

LAHOREAGENcIES

US national Mansoor Ijaz is hatching aconspiracy against the federal governmenton someone else’s direction, renownedhuman rights activist Asma Jahangir said onSaturday. Talking to journalists after castingher vote in the Lahore High Court BarAssociation (LHCBA) elections, she said thatno one could trust Ijaz, as some people wereusing him against the federal government toachieve their motives and everybody knewhis past character against Pakistan. Asmasaid that state institutions should workwithin limits to strengthen the country anda conflict between the federal governmentand judiciary should be avoided. Theformer SCBA president lamented that thefederal and provincial governments couldnot meet the expectations of the people.She said that annual polls in barassociations across the country werestrengthening democracy in bars.

India taken off wHo polio list in major milestoneNEw DELHI: India was taken off a list of polio endemic countries by the World Healthorganisation on Saturday, marking a massive victory for health workers battling the cripplingdisease. “This gives us hope that we can finally eradicate polio not only from India but from theface of the earth,” Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said. The announcement leaves just threecountries with endemic polio — Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria. India, which last reported afresh polio case more than 12 months ago, now will have to remain polio free for the next twoyears to be judged to have eradicated the disease, WHo representative in India Natela Menabdesaid. “The government of India has coordinated a massive effort to rid our country of the terriblescourge of polio that has scarred the lives of thousands of thousand of children in India,” Singhtold a polio summit in New Delhi. But “the real credit” for India’s success in tackling polio goes tothe volunteers who repeatedly vaccinated children, he said. They visited slums and railwaystations, construction sites and bus stops, using all means of transport to reach even the most far-flung corners of one of the world’s most crowded and impoverished countries. The success of theeffort shows that “team work pays,” Singh said. Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said hereceived a letter stating that the “WHo has taken India’s name off the list of polio endemiccountries in view of the remarkable progress that we have made during the past one year.” AFP

ISLAMABADAPP

FEDERAL Information andBroadcasting Minister DrFirdous Ashiq Awan Satur-day said, “The governmentdes not intend to curb

media freedom as democracy andmedia independence go hand inhand.”

In a statement, she said the gov-ernment wanted to empower mediato strengthen democracy. Mediawithout law and democracy withoutmedia freedom could not flourish,she added.

The Pakistan People’s Party(PPP) government strongly believedin freedom of expression and media,but the freedom must be coupledwith responsibility and in conformitywith societal norms, she said. “Thecredit of lifting curbs on media im-posed by the previous dictatorialregime goes to the present govern-ment,” she observed.

Brushing aside the impressioncreated by a news item regarding theimposition of sanctions on media, shesaid the Pakistan Electronic MediaRegulatory Authority (PEMRA) hadalways framed laws to facilitatemedia but not to put curbs on themedia freedom.

She said the government was in

constant liaison with the stakehold-ers concerned before making or for-mulating any policy, law orregulations.

There is not a single clause in theproposed content regulations thatcould be presumed anti-media. Allthe media rules and regulations ei-ther framed or amended had been inconsultation with the stakeholders,so the government could not curb ormuzzle the media which was its owncreation and for which the PEMRA

had been given the mandate to flour-ish, the minister said.

“The government witnesses hueand cry from civil society and stake-holders on daily basis whereby thePEMRA is criticised for not discharg-ing its functions adequately. on thecontrary, whenever it takes initiativesin the interest of public, country ormedia itself, accusations of mediacurbs are levelled against the govern-ment and the PEMRA,” she observed.

She said it was unfortunate thateach and every step of the govern-ment was perceived negative andpropagated as arbitrary sanctions onmedia.

“It is never appreciated that thepresent democratic government hasbeen the biggest proponent of self-regulation and the massive spurt ofelectronic media that the country haswitnessed today is the result of thegovernment’s media-friendly poli-cies.

“Policies are adopted and imple-mented by the licensees on their ownand the PEMRA or the governmenthas never intervened in the freedomof media,” the minister claimed. Shesaid there was no harm if the requestwas made to media to ensure bal-anced, objective and unbiased con-verge and to preserve the sanctity ofreligions, sects, ethical values, moral-ity and decency.

qUETTA: People enjoy a fight between roosters in the suburbs of the provincial capital on Saturday. oNLINE

Firdous brushes asidemedia curb speculations

TANDO MuHAMMAD KHANNNI

Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) candi-date Waheeda Shah lost her temperwhile at a polling station of PS-53,and beat the polling staff on Satur-day.

Waheeda alleged the pollingstaff of rigging the election, andslapped the female staff in the facewith policemen and voters amongthe onlookers.

The district returning officer su-pervising the election and the sta-tion house officer (SHo) of local

police were also present inside thepolling station when the incidenttook place.

Talking to reporters, Waheedaalleged that the polling staff allowedcasting of fake votes. “This made melose my temper and I hit the staff,”she admitted, but added that “it wasonly a slap”.

She also acknowledged her mis-take, saying, “It was my mistake thatI hit the staff.”

Meanwhile, Sindh Chief ElectionCommissioner Sono Khan Balochsaid that he had telephoned the re-turning officer concerned, and had

sought details of the incident. Hesaid that action would be taken on awritten complaint.

Tando Muhammad Khan SeniorSuperintendent of Police (SSP)Muhammad Ali Baloch said the po-lice were looking into the matter. Hesaid he had not seen the TV footageshowing Waheeda hitting thepolling staff, but added that hewould take action if any one lodgeda complaint against the PPP candi-date.

He said that anyone who inter-fered with the official business couldface imprisonment for a year.

PPP candidate slaps polling staff

ISB 26-02-2012_Layout 1 2/26/2012 3:23 AM


News

ISLAMABADPRESS RELEASE

Credible international organisations in-cluding the World Bank and the ADB hastermed various initiatives of the BenazirIncome Support Programme (BISP) a mile-stone in providing relief to underprivilegedand uplift the lives of the poor strata of thepopulation.

They have appreciated the fact that theprogramme, besides attaining global ap-preciation for transparent and efficientmechanisms it has adopted, has attainedseveral achievements regarding poverty al-leviation.

Besides others, conducting first evernation-wide targeting survey is beingtermed unprecedented. The survey wasstarted in october 2010 in all districts ofthe country, including AJK and Gilgit-Baltistan. Thus, as a result of the transpar-ent and efficient mechanisms adopted bythe BISP, the programme has emerged asfirst ever such initiative in the social sectorof the country, which has gained supportand trust of various prestigious interna-

tional organisations.It is being expected that the number of

registered beneficiary families of BISPwould rise up to seven million eventually.

With regard to eradication of poverty,the BISP has taken numerous innovativesteps besides provision of regular incomesupport to beneficiary families. UnderWaseela-e-Rozgar scheme of the BISP, onemember from each registered beneficiaryfamily would be imparted modern techni-cal/vocational training to be able to findbetter income generation opportunities.

Likewise, Waseela-e-Haq scheme isproving to be a huge success in invokingthe trend of entrepreneurship among theunderprivileged segments of society.

The other initiatives includingWaseela-e-Rozgar, Waseela-e-Sahat andWaseela-e-Taleem as well as introductionof the state of the art technology basedmechanisms to facilitate beneficiary fami-lies have also been termed instrumentaland of higher significance pertain topoverty alleviation as well as socio-eco-nomic empowerment of women and eco-nomically deprived segments of society.

Socio-economic rehabilitationthrough BISP

LAHOREAGENcIES

AMEER Jamaat e Islami, Pakistan,Syed Munawar Hasan has said thatthe PPP government has inflictedmaximum harm to the workers andlabourers during the last four years.

Addressing the central executive of the Na-tional Labour Federation (NLF) at Moghulpuraon Saturday he said that thousands of factoriesand industrial units had been closed due to loadshedding of electricity and gas rendering mil-lions of workers unemployed. Spiraling pricesand unemployment has pushedthe workers and their families towards starva-tion, he added.

JI Naib Ameer, Sirajul Haq newly electedNLF President Shamsur Rahman Swati and NLFSecretary General, Abdur Razzaq Abbasi alsospoke on the occasion. Syed Munawar Hasansaid that leading national institutions includingPIA, Railways, Pakistan Steel Mills and WAPDAhad been destroyed due to corruption and mis-management and there was no effort on the gov-

ernment level to save them.Syed Munawar Hasan urged the masses to

rise against the corrupt and incompetent rulersand warned that if the rulers were allowed moretime, the situation would get out of control.

He said the foremost responsibility of ademocratic government was to protect the lifeand property of the masses and provide themthe basic necessities of life. But on the otherhand, he said, the PPP led government wassnatching every facility from the masses and ex-ploiting them in the worst manner. The prices ofelectricity, gas and PoL are rising every weekthat is harming the purchasing power of the peo-ple. Basic items, such as flour, sugar, pulses hesaid have become unaffordable.

He condemned the government’s move togrant Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status toIndia. It was a paradox, he said, that while Indiahas been hatching conspiracies against Pakistan,the rulers have decided to grant MFN status tothe country. He said the rulers were under USpressure on this score but such a move would es-tablish India’s supremacy in the region and ruinPakistan’s economy and agriculture both.

Inflation pushing people

towards starvation: JI chief

war against terror

hampering polio

eradication drive: BijaraniNEW DELHI

APP

Terming the War against Terror as a major obstacle inPakistan’s polio eradication drive, particularly in areasbordering Afghanistan, Inter-Provincial CoordinationMinister Hazar Bijarani on Saturday invited planners andmanagers from all over the world to assist in curbing thismenace. He was addressing a session of the Polio Summit2012 “Seeking Polio Free World-Progress and the wayforward.” “one major obstacle is Pakistan’s fight againstterror, which has made a number of areas in KhyberPakhtunkhwa and Balochistan bordering Afghanistan ashighly volatile. Resultantly it is not possible for healthworkers and vaccinators to reach all children in all areas toadminister polio drops to them,” he said. Indian PrimeMinister Manmohan Singh inaugurated the summit, whichwas jointly organised by the Ministry of Health and FamilyWelfare, Government of India and Rotary International.Bijarani said that Pakistan was one of the four endemiccountries, which were seriously engaged in a relentlessstruggle to fight this crippling disease, adding that India,which was one of the most populous countries, had done amarvelous job by bringing the number of polio cases to zeroduring last year. “We are doing our best to follow its (Indian)footprints and rid Pakistan of polio”, he said, adding thatthere were multiple factors, which were creating hurdles inthe way of Pakistan’s Polio Eradication effort.

ISLAMABADINP

Senior PPP leader Senator LashkariRaisani, said on Saturday that the disgrun-tled people of Balochistan sitting in cavescould not trust Interior Minister, RehmanMalik as he never speaks the truth.

“I don’t trust Rehman Malik as he haslied to me several times,” Lashkari Raisanisaid. “Then how can the estranged peopleliving in caves trust Rehman Malik,” hequestioned.

The PPP leader said the interior minis-ter was not an authority, and he simply

wanted talks by exerting psychologicalpressure, which would not work. “RehmanMalik is a habitual liar,” he went on to say.

He said the people of Balochistan hadrejected the All Parties Conference calledby the prime minister. He said the problemof Balochistan could be resolved if seriousefforts were made towards this end.

Raisani said the government will haveto assure the Balochis that they will begiven full rights that are at par with therights of the other provinces. “The Balochisalso feel that they had rented their house tosomeone, but the tenant later became theowner of their house,” he said.

Rehman Malik is a habitual

liar: Lashkari Raisani

FILE PHOTO

ISB 26-02-2012_Layout 1 2/26/2012 3:23 AM

‘spying foR diplomats’



THE government is takingkeen interest in the promo-tion of housing sector andintends to introduce invest-ment-friendly policies in

this sector to overcome accommodationproblems in the country.

This was announced by National As-sembly Deputy Speaker Faisal KarimKundi while inaugurating a three-daybuilding material exhibition organisedby Institute of Architects Pakistan (IAP)at a local hotel. He said the housing sec-tor was playing an important role in gen-erating economic activities in thecountry besides providing jobs to mil-lions of people. He further said provisionof shelter to shelterless people was top

priority of the present democratic setupin the country. Kundi said that public-private partnership was necessary toovercome accommodation problems. Hestressed the need to introduce low-casthousing units so that it could be easilyaffordable for the masses.

The NA deputy speaker appreciatedthe efforts of Institute of Architects Pak-istan management for organising the ex-hibition. He said that such events wouldpromote local industry and young talentwhile also simultaneously providing aplatform to the members of the buildingtrade to display their products. It wouldalso give them the opportunity to interactwith the architectural community, interiordesigners, developers and other allied con-struction professional all over the country.

The deputy speaker also visited dif-ferent stalls installed by various compa-

nies working in manufacturingbuilding material and tookkeen interest in the products.

Earlier, the IAP chair-man briefed the deputyspeaker that the IAP had or-ganised many such exhibi-tions in the past in whichleading national and interna-tional architects, investors,landscape designers, engineersand people from all walks of lifehad taken keen interest and en-thusiastically participated. He saidvarious national and internationalcompanies were taking part in thisthree-day exhibition and displayingtheir latest innovations re-garding architecturedesigning andengineering.

g NA deputy speaker inaugurates building material exhibition

Defence lawyer

seeks record

from FIARAWALPINDI

STAFF REPORT

Expressing doubts over the statement ofa police constable who claimed topresent multiple evidence to Lahore forchemical examination, the defencelawyers on Saturday requested the courtto direct the FIA to produce record ofthe Benazir Bhutto murder case. ATC No 1 Judge Shahid Raffique onSaturday resumed hearing of the case.The defense lawyers also pleaded thecourt to bar the government fromissuing distorted statements regardingthe high-profile case outside the court.Rao Abdur Raheem, defense lawyer, inhis written application requested thecourt to direct the FIA to produce recordbefore the court.on this, the court adjourned the haring till March 3, 2012, and directedthe FIA to produce its investigationreport before the court on the next dateof hearing.The lawyers pleaded that statement ofpolice constable was not made part ofthe FIA investigation report. Therefore,he asked the court to order the FIA toprovide the file to the court as it fearedthat investigation agency could temperthe record.

Pemra warnscable operators


The Pakistan Electronic MediaRegulatory Authority (PEMRA) hasissued a final warning to all cableoperators in the country toimmediately stop distributing TVchannels which are otherwise illegal orproscribed by the authority. Accordingto a press release issued here onSaturday, the Pemra warned that nochannel other than a Pemra license-holder would be let distributed oncable TV networks. It further warned that action againstviolation of rules would pave way forPemra license-holder channels ondistribution networks which werehitherto being ignored as most of spacewas presently occupied by theunauthorised foreign channels thusleaving no space for license-holderchannels on distribution networks. The statement said the Pemra hadissued a list of eligible channelscontaining 89 Pakistani channels and26 foreign channels registered with theauthority. The cable operators have,however, the liberty to choose channelsfrom amongst the eligible list whileputting in front the subscriber’s choicebut no channel other than thepermissible list of Pemra would beallowed. Besides, the cable operatorsare also bound to relay nationalbroadcaster (PTV) channels which aremandatory under the PEMRA law. Inthis recent bid, the statement added,the Pemra enforcement team startedraiding number of cable TV operatorsacross the country and all those foundviolating Pemra orders faced severeconsequences. The Pemra resolved thatsuch actions would continue till thesanity creep into the electronic media.The Pemra says that media freedommust be coupled with socialresponsibility, ethics and generallyaccepted standards of decency andmorality. The freedom does notconstitute unbridled freedom puttingthe repute of nation and institutions atstake, it added.

ISLAMABAD: Security officials stand high alert in front of the Parliament House. NNI

ISLAMABADkASHIF ABBASI

The Islamabad district judge on Satur-day sent six security guards, who werearrested from Red Zone on charges ofspying for diplomats, to Adiala Jail on14-day judicial remand.

on Saturday, Secretariat Police pro-duced the accused before the court ofCivil Judge Usman Ali Awan who sent allthe accused on 14-day judicial remand.

The police arrested six securityguards on Friday who were deputed atCanadian and Australian High Commis-sions on the charges of providing infor-

mation to diplomats about the relativesof missing persons’ camp in front of theParliament House. They were seen talk-ing to missing persons’ families and thenmaking calls through mobile phones totheir ‘bosses’. Their interaction withmissing persons’ families and their keeninterest in them alerted the officials ofintelligence agencies who started vigi-lance and finally found them involved insharing information with someone.

The officials of intelligence agenciesasked the police to proceed against thesuspects. on this, the police approachedthe suspects and interrogated them onthe spot for their activities, however, the

guards failed to satisfy them.Later, the police shifted the accused

to Secretariat Police Station and regis-tered an FIR under section 124/120.

Talking to Pakistan Today, police in-vestigators told that during investiga-tions it was established that guards weretrapped by the diplomats. They deputedthem at Parade Ground as part of secu-rity arrangements for the houses underthe use of high commission located out-side the diplomatic enclave.

During investigations, they revealedthat they provided information to thediplomats regarding missing persons andtheir future strategy. However, they

shared information just to inform thediplomats about the security situation onthe roads so that they could move easily,they further said. The detained guardswere identified as Aurangzeb, SaeedAhmed, Munawar Hussain, Abdul Qay-oom, Ghazanfar Ali and Wazir Hussain.They are associated with two private secu-rity companies. A senior police officer toldPakistan Today that Islamabad policehave decided to write a letter to the inte-rior ministry for cancellation of licenses ofthe said security companies. He said ap-parently guards were seen innocent buttheir companies did not train them whiledeputing them with the embassies.

Six guards sent on judicial remand

Investment-friendly housing

policies to be adopted: Kundi

bb muRdeR case

ISB 26-02-2012_Layout 1 2/26/2012 3:23 AM

08 Sunday, 26 February, 2012

Islamabad

Low

High

MoNDAy TueSDAy weDNeSDAy19°C I 09°C 19°C I 07°C 20°C I 09°C

PrAyer TIMINGSFajr Sunrise zuhr Asr Maghrib Isha

06:00 07:02 13:30 16:00 on sunset 19:00

CITy DIreCTory

PoLICe eMerGeNCy 15

AMBuLANCe 115

reSCue 1122

HILAL-e-AHMer 9250488

eDHI FouNDATIoN 2827844

BoMB DISPoSAL 9270698

FIre BrIGADe CeNTre 16

CIVIL DeFeNCe 9262830

eMerGeNCy HeLP

HoSPITALS

BLooD BANK

PIMS BLooD BANK 9261272

PoLy CLINIC BLooD BANK 9209123

CoMPLAINT

wAPDA 111-000-118

SuI GAS 1199

rAILwAyS

CITy STATIoN (eNquIry) 117

reSerVATIoN 9273614

rAILwAy PoLICe 1333

AIrPorT

FLIGHT eNquIry 114

PIA reSerVATIoN 111-786-786

CoLLeGeS / uNIVerSITIeS

INTerNATIoNAL ISLAMIC uNIVerSITy 9260765

BAHrIA uNIVerSITy 9260002

NuML 9257677

quAID-e-AzAM uNIVerSITy 90642098

ArID AGrICuLTure uNIVerSITy 9290151

FJwu 9273235

rIPHA INTerNATIoNAL uNIVerSITy 111510510

NCA rAwALPINDI 5770423

PuNJAB LAw CoLLeGe 4421347

MAHrooF INT 2222920

PIMS 9261170

PoLy CLINIC 9218300

CDA 9221334

SHIFA INTerNATIoNAL 4603666

ALI 4444435

DISTrICT HqS 5556311-14

uLTrASoNIC CLINIC 2824862

HoLy FAMILy 9290319

Kuch Khaas got talent!

we're looking for talent all over the capital and rawalpindi.Come show us what you've got! Any talent! CrITerIA: 1.No age barrier - As long as one has talent regardless ofage. If you wish to participate in this competition, pleaseemail the following information to [email protected] we will contact you for auditions.

dRumming ciRcle

DATe AND TIMe: 05:00 PM, weeKLy eVeNTVeNue: THe CeNTre For ArTS AND CuLTure

our drumming circle is a (free!) ongoingevent and is held every Friday from 5 to 6p.m.we are having a great time, and want toshare the good time with you! ourdrumming circle has children ...

PArTLy CLouDy

weATHer uPDATeS

18°C

painting exhibition

Tanzara Gallery takes pleasure in presenting thework of internationally acclaimed artist Jamal Ahmed.Long established as one of Bangladesh’s leadingpainters, he is in a class of artists now recognizedworldwide. extensively exhibited in Bangladesh andabroad, Jamal’s work has a distinct flair which setshim apart from the work of his contemporaries.

DATe: FeB 24 - MAr 03, 2012VeNue: TANzArA ArT GALLery, ISLAMABAD

DATe AND TIMe: FrIDAy, FeB 24, 2012, AT 6:30 PMVeNue: KuCH KHAAS

10°CISLAMABAD

SALMAN ABBAS

IT has been statedquite often that it isthe state’s responsi-bility to provide fun-damental rights to

every individual, including‘roti’, ‘kapra’ and ‘makaan’(food, cloth and shelter),however, the state is strug-gling in fulfilling its prom-ises.

The government’s indif-ferent attitude towards themiddle-lower class is exem-plified by the fact it has notintroduced any solid laws toprotect the rights of peoplewith disabilities.

Pakistan has a significantpopulation of disabled peoplewho fight for their rightswhile facing discrimination,abuse and poverty.

Nisar Muhammad, 65, isone such disabled person,who has been struggling toget help from the governmentaid through its charity organ-isation, Pakistan Bait-ul-Maal (PBM)

While talking to PakistanToday, he said he lost hisright hand nine years ago,when it was crushed while hewas operating a bulldozer.

Nisar said: “After the fate-ful incident, I was forced toleave work. I appealed to thegovernment authorities togrant financial assistance as Iam the primary provider formy family. I also have toarrange enough money to getmy daughters married.”

He has been waiting forgovernment assistance formany years now, but PBMhas failed to help him be-cause of its poor managementand discriminatory attitude.

Nisar, who has threedaughters, is now confrontedby a number of challengesthat he has been fightingagainst.

He has been working as aporter in the H/9 weeklybazaar for the last sixmonths. He says that despiterepeatedly visiting the PBMoffice, the organisation seemsto have turned a deaf ear tohis pleas. “I prefer to workrather than beg to feed myfamily. Before my accident Iearned more than one thou-sand daily, but now I onlymake three or four hundredrupees during the three daysthe weekly bazaar is open,”he said.

Expressing his disap-pointment, Nisar said he hadnot asked the government forhelp when he was healthy. “Ireally need financial assis-tance now, but have been ig-nored because I do not havereferences through which Ican approach the PBM.”

Nisar sets an example forothers as he works despite hisdisability. Many shoppers atthe weekly bazaar hire him asan expression of sympathy.

“This old man shows thatno one should bow before thetroubles of life but continueto struggle against them,”said Junaid Kamal, a shopperat the bazaar.

At a time when inflationhas skyrocketed and unem-ployment is increasing, thesituation for handicappedpeople has become more dif-ficult. The government and anumber of NGos in the pri-vate sector claim that they areworking for the disabled, butlooking at Nisar the claimsseem ring false.

People with disabilities

are entitled to equal access toeducation, employment,equal rights to parenthood,property ownership, politicalrights and legal representa-tion. Presently, there is no in-ternationally bindingconvention specifically de-voted to the rights of peoplewith disabilities. A treaty onthe rights and dignity of peo-ple with disabilities wouldcreate legally binding humanrights obligations specific tothe needs and situation ofpeople with disabilities.

A human rights perspec-tive towards disability re-quires society, and especiallygovernments, to actively pro-mote the conditions for all in-dividuals to fully realise theirrights. “Reasonable accom-

modation” (the necessarymodifications without a dis-proportionate burden) mustbe made to ensure personswith disabilities the enjoy-ment of all human rights andfundamental freedoms.

However, many believethat there is a great need acountry like Pakistan to in-troduce some laws for theprotection of disabled andstrict action must be takenagainst those who ignoretheir rights. If the govern-ment does so, it will be help-ful for them to get their rightseasily, for instance if govern-ment authorities directed theofficials of the state-run char-ity organisations to facilitatethe disabled, Nisar could getthe help he deserves.

Where rights are not rife g 65-year old man narrates his struggle as government fails to provide financial assistance

ISB 26-02-2012_Layout 1 2/26/2012 3:23 AM

ISLAMABAD: An eye-catching and beautiful view of the sunset in the capital. INP

PNrA issues operating

licence to Chashma

Power Plant ISLAMABAD

PRESS RELEASE

Chairman Pakistan Nuclear RegulatoryAuthority (PNRA) granted the operatingLicense to Chairman Pakistan AtomicEnergy Commission (PAEC), for theoperation of Chashma Nuclear PowerPlant Unit– 2 (C-2), which is a 325 MWeNuclear Power Plant constructed atChashma in District Mianwali. Thelicense was granted at a simple butimpressive ceremony held at PNRAheadquarters at Islamabad today. Theimportant prerequisites that preceded thegrant of the operating license includedprovision of a construction license inMarch 2006, issuance of fuel load permitin December 2010 and provision of gridconnection on 15 March last year. Theceremony was presided over by Dr IshfaqAhmad, Senior Advisor to PlanningCommission of Pakistan, who is alsoformer Chairman PAEC and a pioneer ofnuclear power program in Pakistan. MrJamshed Azim Hashmi, former ChairmanPNRA and Mr Pervez Butt, FormerChairman PAEC, were also present alongwith other distinguished guests.Chashma C-2 Plant has an improveddesign over its earlier version called C-1,which has been operating safely for thelast ten years with good safety andperformance record. Its availability factoris above 95%, which is higher than anypower plant in Pakistan. Furthermore, theoperation of C-1 plant has no adverseeffect on the environment. In theimproved C-2 Plant, several designimprovements have been made on thebasis of national and internationaloperating experience feedback. This planthas better immunity against severeaccident situations including naturaldisasters such as the recent Fukushimaaccident. Through its regulatory review,assessment and inspections regime, PNRAhas ensured safety during all phasesincluding siting, design, construction,installation and operation of the Plant.The Plant site is safe from natural as wellas man-made hazards, the design is robustand is based on proven technology.Furthermore, the construction,installation and commissioning isconducted as per international standards.It has also been ensured that the operationwould not pose any additional radiationrisk to environment and general public.PNRA sought the services of internationalexperts during the process, including thosefrom the International Atomic EnergyAgency (IAEA). The grant of operatingLicense to C-2 Plant depicts that throughits immaculate regulatory process, PNRAis fully satisfied about the safe operation ofthe Plant.

First-ever multi-design red carpet outlet launched

ISLAMABADMAHTAB BASHIR

THE concept of multi-design outlets hastaken a new move in the country asthere has been a rapid growth in citiesand stores over the past few years. Cap-ital Isloo has also got a new look with a

number of cafes, stores, new hangouts as well as thebranded stores.

Young business women Ayesha and Wardahlaunched a multi designer store and kids’ outlet atUnited Bakery Building’s top floor of Super MarketF-6. Using top fashion Model Natasha Hussain(Natty) as their brand ambassador on the red carpet,they showcased a grand presence of socialites andstylish Isloo people who came in full force to con-gratulate them and take a view of the new sprawlingplace. They hired Rezz Aly Shah of Rezz PR andEvents for the launching of their store. Rezz isknown for his PR skills and eye for fashion and de-liver up beat and fashionable events.

‘Store No 18’ offers a variety of women’s appareland accessories under a one-stop-shop concept. Asmany as six local and international fashion designershave gathered under one roof for the convenience ofshoppers. Zara, Debenhams, Marks & Spencer,H&M, New Look and Mango are the leading brandnames that have put a variety of products includinggarments for women, men and children and a com-

plete range of home textiles.Ayesha and Wardah were excited about the

grand launch. “Previously we have been running thestore at a smaller scale but we felt pressing need toexpand it as the demand was getting bigger from

clients. We extended our store with separate sectionsfor women, men and kids like a proper one stop so-lution, said Ayesha, the co-owner.

The outlet would cater to the needs of upper andmiddle-income classes accustomed to buying foreign

products. “No 18 is a channel where internationalmarket’s top designers can reach out to the generalpublic with their latest fashions all under a singleroof,” Wardah said.

She said the idea was to offer a huge retail splashin the heart of capital. “I believe the retail fashionbusiness is grossly under-developed and often neg-lected,” she said, adding the capital might have fewmulti-brand outlets but they were offering localproducts whereas No.18 had brought an amalgama-tion of national and international designers forwomen, men and kids.

While talking to this scribe, Super ModelNatasha Hussain said: “It is a brilliant move since Idon’t think Islamabad has any other place thatboasts so many international names under one roof,”she said, adding full marks to Ayesha and Wardahfor introducing national and international brandunder a single roof.

Talking on the occasion, event organiser RezzAly Shah said: “It is always good to see new placesopening up and making Islamabad a proper cosmo-politan capital of Pakistan, and we at Rezz PR try tochip in by promoting all the new things doing the redcarpet events.” “I have found a lot of things and I re-ally like and appreciate this idea of Ayesha and War-dah to bring local fashion of Lahore and Karachi andinternational brands at Islamabad for the very firsttime,” said Lalarukh Farooq, a customer at the inau-gural ceremony of the outlet.

ISLAMABADAPP

ALLAMA Iqbal open Uni-versity (AIoU) has startedadmissions for semesterspring 2012 from Matricto MA/MSc level pro-

grammes and the last date for submis-sion of admission forms is Monday.

The computerized admission formshave been sent to all the continuing stu-dents across the country.

Any student who did not receive theadmission form so far can download thesame form from the AIoU websitewww.aiou.edu.pk or obtain from thenearest Regional/Co-ordination office ofthe University, Director Admissions,

AIoU Syed Zia-ul-Hasnain said on Sat-urday.

The fee can be deposited in any des-ignated bank branch by putting roll/reg-istration numbers and mobile numbertill due date to avoid late fee charges, hesaid. The admission forms and prospec-tuses for all programmes offered inSpring Semester can be obtained fromthe sale points at main campus, regionalcampuses and coordinating offices allover the country.

He said that admission forms with re-quired fee can be submitted at the nation-wide branches of First Women Bank,Bank Alfalah, Allied Bank and the desig-nated branches of National Bank of Pak-istan and Habib Bank Ltd, fee in shape ofbank draft/pay order will not be accepted.

Director Admissions informed thatMSc in Mass Communication, Environ-mental Design, Mathematics, Sociology,Physics, Statistics, Chemistry andForestry Extension are being offered.

The admission of MBA, M.Com, 4-years BS Programmes in Microbiologyand Chemistry, Commonwealth ofLearning NBA/MPA, MA in Distance &Non-Formal Education, SecondaryTeacher Education, Educational Plan-ning & Management,Special Education,Library and Information Sciences andTeaching of English as a Foreign Lan-guage (TEFL) while MEd in Distance,Non-Formal and Continuing Education,Secondary Teacher’s Education, ScienceEducation and Special Education arebeing offered.

In Postgraduate Diploma, Environ-mental Design, Educational Planningand Management, Mass Communica-tion, Teaching English as a Foreign Lan-guage (TEFL), Computer Science andYouth in Development Work are in-cluded.

In Bachelor Programmes, BA,BCom, BLIS and Mass Communicationwhile in Teacher Training Programme,ATTC and PTC are being offered.

The admissions of FA, ICom, FSc(Pre-Engineering), FSc (Pre-Medical),Matric, Dars-e-Nizami, CertificateCourses (Duration 06 months), Agricul-tural Courses (Duration 06 months),open Tech Courses and Short Terms Ed-ucational Programmes are also being of-fered in the Semester Spring this year.

AIOU spring semester admissionsto continue till Monday

g one-stop-shop offers national and international brands


Islamabad

ISB 26-02-2012_Layout 1 2/26/2012 3:23 AM

Colonoscopy cuts colon cancer death risk: study ISLAMABAD

ONLINE

Millions of people have endured acolonoscopy, believing the dreaded exammay help keep them from dying of coloncancer. For the first time, a major studyoffers clear evidence that it does.

Removing precancerous growthsspotted during the test can cut the risk ofdying from colon cancer in half, the studysuggests. Doctors have long assumed abenefit, but research hasn’t shown beforethat removing polyps would improve sur-vival - the key measure of any cancerscreening’s worth.

Some people skip the test because ofthe unpleasant steps needed to get readyfor it. “Sure, it’s a pain in the neck. Peoplecomplain to me all the time, ‘It’s horrible.It’s terrible,’” said Dr Sidney Winawer, agastroenterologist at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York whohelped lead the study. “But look at the al-ternative.”

A second study in Europe found thatcolonoscopies did a better job of findingpolyps than another common screeningtool — tests that look for blood in stool.Both studies were published in Thurs-day’s New England Journal of Medicine.

Colorectal cancer is the second lead-ing cause of cancer death in the UnitedStates and the fourth worldwide. Morethan 143,000 new cases of cancers of thecolon or rectum are expected in the U.S.this year and nearly 52,000 people willdie from it, according to the AmericanCancer Society.

Deaths from colorectal cancer havebeen declining for more than twodecades, mostly because of screening in-cluding colonoscopies and other tests, theorganization says. People of average riskof colon cancer ages 50 to 75 should getscreened, but only about half in the USdo. A government-appointed panel of ex-perts recommends one of three methods:annual stool blood tests; a sigmoidoscopy(scope exam of the lower bowel) every

five years, plus stool tests every threeyears; or a colonoscopy once a decade.

In a colonoscopy, a thin, flexible tubewith a tiny camera is guided through thelarge intestine. Growths can be snippedoff and checked for cancer. Patients aresedated, but many dread the test becauseit requires patients to eat a modified dietand drink solutions the day before toclear out the bowel. It usually costs morethan $1,000, compared with a $20 stooltest. Researchers at Sloan-Kettering pre-viously showed that removing polypsduring colonoscopy can prevent coloncancer from developing, but it was notclear whether it saved lives.

The new study followed 2,602 pa-tients who had precancerous growths re-moved during colonoscopies for anaverage of 15 years. Their risk of dyingfrom colon cancer was 53 percent lowerthan what would be expected among asimilar group in the general population -12 patients followed in the study died,versus 25 estimated deaths in the general

population. The study was not a random-ized trial that’s the gold standard in med-ical research. But Robert Smith, directorof screening at the American Cancer So-ciety, said it’s the first direct evidencethat removing polyps can reduce the riskof colon cancer death.

“There’s no question that these arefindings that we can take to the bank,” saidSmith, who had no role in the research.The National Cancer Institute and severalcancer organizations paid for the study.

Government and private cancergroups also funded the second study inthe journal, led by researchers in Spain.About 53,000 participants were given acolonoscopy or a stool blood test. Bothtests found similar numbers of colon can-cer cases — about 30 in each group.

However, colonoscopies found ad-vanced growths in twice as many people- 514 versus 231 of those given the stooltest. Colonoscopy also found 10 timesmore people with less serious growthsthan the stool test did.

Neither test proved very appealing —only a quarter of patients offered acolonoscopy had one. Similarly, only athird agreed to the offered stool test.

The Spanish study is continuing andsimilar research in the US and Norwaythat began recently is looking at the long-term impacts of colonoscopy.

Stephen Raquet, of Mount Kisco, NY,finds the test reassuring even if thepreparation is unpleasant. He had hisfirst colonoscopy 13 years ago at age 41,earlier than usual because of a family his-tory of colon cancer.

The sudden death of his 45-year-oldsister from the disease prompted Raquetto get checked out. He had a precancer-ous growth removed at Memorial Sloan-Kettering in 1999, and has had the testevery three years since.

During his last appointment fourmonths ago, doctors said he can comeback in five years. “It’s given me peace ofmind,” said the 54-year-old business ex-ecutive.

ISLAMABADkASHIF ABBASI

SoME unidentified peopleburnt a camp set up by thefamilies of missing persons.The camp, set up in front ofthe Parliament house to

protest against the forced disappearanceof a large number of people, was guttedon Saturday morning, police said.

However, no major loss was re-

ported as the protesters managed to ex-tinguish the fire. According to details,dozens of missing persons’ families wereresiding in the camp since the last sev-eral days, to press the authorities for therelease of their family members. Many ofthe protesters had gone to offer Fajarprayers, when the camp was set on fire.

Talking to Pakistan Today, Defenceof Human Rights Chairperson AmnaMasood Janjua said, “The fire destroyedfive blankets, four quilts and partially

damaged the tents,” she said. She added that the people who

started the fire also sounded the alarm,alerting the people. The protesters thenextinguished the fire and while the cul-prits managed to flee from the scene.

When asked who could be behind theincident, Amna Janjua said, “Those whoare unhappy with us for putting up a protestcamp are responsible. It was a warningagainst continuing with the protest.”

Later, Defence of Human Rights

lodged an FIR with the Secretariat PoliceStation against unknown people. Secre-tariat SHo Inspector Hakim Khan saidthe police is investigating the matter.

It is relevant to note here that theSecretariat Police had arrested a retiredarmy officer on Wednesday on the com-plaint of missing persons’ families. Theofficer, later, identified as Capt (Retd)Shuaibullah Cheema had allegedly im-personated as a representative of a sen-sitive intelligence agency.

researchers

spot genes

behind macular

degenerationISLAMABAD

ONLINE

New research has identified morethan 50 genes that can predict age-related macular degeneration, one of the leading causes ofblindness worldwide.Eyes with age-related maculardegeneration (AMD) were especiallylikely to have an over expression of20 of these genes, according toresearchers from the University ofCalifornia Santa Barbara (UCSB), theUniversity of Iowa and the Universityof Utah John Moran Eye Center.Macular degeneration causes a lossof central vision and can lead toblindness. The study was publishedin the journal Genome Medicine.“Not only are these genes able toidentify people with clinicallyrecognized AMD and distinguishbetween different advanced types,some of these genes appear to beassociated with preclinical stages ofAMD,” Dr. Monte Radeke, one of thestudy’s lead authors and an assistantresearch scientist at UCSB’s Centerfor the Study of MacularDegeneration, said in a journal newsrelease. “This suggests that they maybe involved in key processes thatdrive the disease.” Researchers useda human donor-eye repository toidentify differences in geneexpression in people with AMD andthose with normal eyes. They foundthat genes expressed below and inthe retina, thought to be involved ininflammatory and immune responseand wound healing, were overexpressed in eyes with AMD. Radekesaid better understanding of AMD’sgenetic basis may help in the searchfor treatments, which currently arevery limited. “Now that we know theidentity and function of many of thegenes involved in the disease, we canstart to look among them to developnew diagnostic methods,” he said.“And we can look for new targets forthe development of treatments for allforms of AMD.”

Attempt to steal

blood bags from

PIMS foiledISLAMABAD

STAFF REPORT

A scavenger boy was arrested whileattempting to steal 200 blood bags fromPakistan Institute of Medical Sciences(PIMS) while PIMS Executive DirectorProf Dr Mehmood Jamal constituted athree-member committee to investigatethe incident. According to the hospitalsources, a boy was found involved inattempting to steal over 200 blood bagsand platelets Saturday morning. He wasarrested by security officials of thehospital and handed over to police forfurther investigation. The sources saidthat taking immediate action, PIMSExecutive Director Dr Mehmood Jamalconstituted a three-member committeeto investigate the issue. When contacted, PIMS spokesman DrZulfiqar Ghauri said that he had heardabout the incident. “The boy who wasactually a scavenger was collectinggarbage also attempted to steal theblood bags,” he added. Dr Ghauri saidsecurity personnel monitored everyindividual entering the hospitalpremises. “According to myinformation, the number of bloodbottles of 200 is not correct and hasbeen exaggerated,” he said. The PIMSspokesman confirmed the incident andsaid that the PIMS executive directorhad formed an inquiry committee toprobe the incident.

People opposeradio tax

ISLAMABADONLINE

People in the twin cities have rejectedthe proposed radio tax, saying thegovernment wants to put extra burdenon them and hide its bad governance. They said if this horrible tax wasimplemented, they would take to thestreets. According to a survey conductedby online, 80 out of 100 people stronglyrejected the suggestion and asked as towhy the government was putting burdenon the common man. They also stated that the governmentwas responsible for devastating RadioPakistan. They demanded thegovernment make this organisation aprofitable by removing the corruptadministration. Liaquat Ali, Meran Bux, Javed Baloch,Ansar Sultan, Ilyas, Mukhtar Hussain,Haji Sultan and others stated that thegovernment had earlier included PTVlicence fee in electricity bills, and nowthe radio tax would not be acceptable.Some of them expressed their opinionthat if the government was serious insaving the state institutions, it mustsave Pakistan Railways first.

Missing persons’ families camp gutted

ISLAMABAD: An elderly woman and her minor daughter carry firewood. oNLINE


Islamabad

ISB 26-02-2012_Layout 1 2/26/2012 3:23 AM

Around four years have passed of the tenure of our so-called incumbent people-friendly government. But the roti,kapra aur makan, the basic slogan of the Pakistan PeoplesParty (PPP), still does not appear to have been put into prac-tice anywhere.

The people of Pakistan, the poor masses, are gettingpoorer day by day due to government’s unique policies, thepolicies that make the living difficult and coping with the

price-hike a task that can never be achieved successfully.Zardari and Co is always busy spending huge amount of

money, influence and various positions to please their allies,like MQM, PML(Q) and ANP, almost all the times from thenational exchequer, hurting public sector development andabusing taxpayers’ money.

KAINAT FATIMALahore

Editor’s mail 11Sunday, 26 February, 2012

what a novel tax!Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation

(PBC) commonly known as Radio Pak-istan is facing deep financial crisis and ison the verge of closure. Information Sec-retary Taimoor Azmat has categoricallysaid that government was not in a posi-tion to provide financial support to PBC.According to him, the PBC would have toexplore other sources of income to be-come self-reliant.

To keep the state-run institutionalive, head of PBC has come up with anovel idea of levying radio tax on mobilephone users. Earlier, the governmentlevied television license fee and addedthe same in electricity bills. Interestingly,license fee was added in electricity billsof mosques, churches, temples and onthose poor people who did not own tele-vision sets.

With the decision of charging twopercent radio tax on mobile users onevery recharge, people with mobilephone sets that do not have radio in itare perplexed. Religious head of themosque of my locality was asking me theother day if he too will have to pay radiotax whereas he never tunes into anyradio stations.

The PBC head is asking for tax frommobile phone users whereas FM stationsare available on mobile phone sets. Ihave not come across a mobile phone setthat tunes into "Radio Pakistan". Is PBCjustified in asking for tax?

Tomorrow, if the local governmentruns short of funds for making roads,will it ask the people walking on theroads to pay a 'walking tax' to be fol-lowed by a ‘breathing tax’ etc?

M RAFIQUE ZAKARIAKarachi

Thar coal misadventure?Sania Safdar in her letter published

in February 25 issue laments that thegovernment diverted funds to buy offthe Senators when these funds couldhave been used to develop Thar coalproject.

The government has already com-mitted US$ 115 million (nearly Rs 10 bil-lion), and most of the allocation hasbeen spent, on a Quixotic adventure ofunderground gasification of Thar coal.

Whether millions are spent to satisfypoliticians through financing of theirpork-barrel projects, whether millionsare spent on pomp and pageantry to sat-isfy ego of top leaders, or whether pump-ing billions to satisfy a nuclear scientist'slust to become a jack-of-all, the fact isthat Pakistan is getting nowhere. FBRcan only collect less than Rs 2000 billionrevenue from the blood, sweat and tearsof taxpayers, and then the governmentsquanders it away as if there is no to-morrow.

Thar gasification misadventure mustbe immediately axed otherwise billionsmore would be spent needlessly, inflowof foreign direct investment in Tharwould be jeopardised, and people likethe nuclear Dr Strangelove and his co-terie will be planning to destroy someother natural resource somewhere elsein Pakistan. The doctor should stick tonuclear bombs and missiles and let ex-perts manage coal and other minerals.Please.

MAJYD AZIZKarachi

Fair by-elections?What purpose does Election Com-

mission serve when you see images ofgross irregularities during by-electionsconducted in various parts of country on25 February? A lady candidate physicallybeating up staff deputed by ElectionCommission was shown by major televi-sion stations, and armed hooligans wereshown harassing common citizens out-side polling stations while police stoodby. In Mardan, so called followers ofparty which professes itself to be party ofthe man known as Frontier Gandhi, wereshown firing automatic weapons in air,within premises of party office.

As if this was not enough a supporterof our democratically elected PM's son,contesting for a seat in Multan, was seenon television networks firing in jubila-tion. If this is an indicator of how cominggeneral elections will be conducted, thanmay God Almighty have mercy upon us!All these election results should be can-celled and those guilty of crimes commit-ted and shown by major televisionchannels must be given exemplary pun-ishments. You cannot expect governmentservants deputed for election duty tostand up and ensure conduct of fair polls,if the EC and law enforcement agenciesare to behave in the shameful mannerthat they did.

MALIK TARIQ ALILahore

The changing face of PTIA lot seems to have changed, in con-

tent and perhaps even in terms of objec-tives of Imran Khan and hisTehreek-e-Insaf. For a man who has al-ways claimed to be an advocate for socialjustice, transparency and ethics, it isstrange that he welcomes all sorts of op-portunists, some with criminal records tohis party. Is he not aware of a man fromLahore, involved in land mafia scamswith connivance of Musharraf’s formerDG Rangers Punjab, or the controversialoxford educated former foreign ministerand Zardari cabinet Chairman PlanningCommission, whose rice export familyconcern was involved in heroin smug-gling during BB's second tenure?

This incident was reported in printmedia when instead of exporter, the localcourier company manager was wronglyimplicated by customs at Karachi andthereafter the matter was hushed up.Has he forgotten about the BBC docu-mentary which implicated sons of a for-mer president in illegal car smuggling ofstolen vehicles across the Pak-Iran bor-der? Can IK explain how it is kosher thatthe education business house cartel, whobenefitted from dole-outs of railway andstate land and championed US interven-tion in Afghanistan, Lal Masjid massacreand drone attacks in his capacity asMusharraf’s foreign minister has becomeclean when he switches over to his party?

Imran Khan wants to reopen YounusHabib funding of sensitive agencies in-volved three decades ago in aiding politi-cal parties, while he himself seems to bea beneficiary of big business and evensame agencies. After all who is paying forall these chartered jets, bullet proof carsetc? The PTI today seems to be a partydominated by all those who have fewthings in common, like switching politi-cal parties at convenience and calls forSeraiki province. Is this party becomingan ethnic nationalist party that has be-come friendly with another such partybased in Urban Sindh, which Imran tillfew months ago defined as a fascist ter-rorist mafia?

GULL ZAMANPeshawar

The true agenda of DPCAlthough Difa-e-Pakistan Council

(DPC) leaders claim that it was not a po-litical coalition but on the other side itsleaders has clarified that Difa-e-PakistanCouncil was not temporary organisation.They also announced complete supportfor those fighting in ‘occupied Kashmir’as well as the Taliban in Afghanistan. Be-sides dispersing anti US and anti Indiansentiments through their speeches andcampaigns at public level, these partiesare bluntly threatening the government,media for grave consequences because oftheir policies and activities.

one speaker ordered “break the legsof any ‘whore’ who went to India to singand act in films”, while other claimed if“DPC’s ongoing activities weren’t givenfull coverage he will turn Karachi in tograveyard” according to one assumptionDoP is united to gain political momen-tum but according to other assumptionDPC platform is being used to convey es-tablishment thinking to US and India.

Difa-e-Pakistan is openly challenging thestate institutions and its policy towardsanti state elements.

The extremist and Taliban’s ideologyhad become ban in Pakistan after start-ing of the operations against militantgroups. Unfortunately, today the mindsetholding and supporting Taliban’s ideol-ogy is out for the defence of Pakistan andthe state and concerned authorities re-main silent. Difa-e-Pakistan Council istaking full opportunity of the vacuumand free space available for the propaga-tion of its so called agenda in the name ofIslam and Sharia and trying to revive oldnarrative of state.

It will be early to predict whether thegovernment will allow banned leaders toraise their message once again duringtheir scheduled visit to Quetta or haltthem like Islamabad rally? In this sce-nario important questions are beingraised by analysts, various sections ofmedia and society.

If establishment is not backing Difa-e-Pakistan Council and political govern-ment is not afraid then why both stateinstitutions and concerned wings are in-active and not willing to counter ongoinganti state agenda? Where is counterstrategy of state against militants andwho is making it? What message we aresending to our neighbours and whole in-ternational community which is alreadyblaming us and alleging us of supportingterrorist.

Today, the whole world is looking to-wards Pakistan as a major game player inthe war against terrorism. Instead of al-lowing parties like the Difa-e-PakistanCouncil to propagate anti state agenda ,our policy makers should come forwardand make a new foundation for peaceand stability.

our foreign policy should be made bythe consensus of the military and civilianadministration, not dictated by this emo-tional party that is suggesting the im-

practical option of isolation. We shouldpreserve our sovereignty but simultane-ously also align ourselves with the inter-national community’s stance on the waron terror to counter the criticism levelledagainst us by the world.

There is a need to review policy andstrategy to stabilize country, besides de-ployment of forces and conducting oper-ations in areas under militant’s control,proper planning and procedures shouldbe designed to abolish and counter antistate mindset and thinking like Difa-e-Pakistan and others.

our academia and media can playmajor role to take Pakistan out of dangerand save the future of our coming gener-ations and if the policy makers and maininstitutions will not take positive initia-tive the current situation will lead thecountry towards another disaster andisolation for our coming generations.

HUMAIRA KANWALIslamabad

A people-friendly government?

Government schoolsIt is quite disappointing to note here

that more than 70 percent of all schoolsand colleges in the Sindh province do nothave basic facilities of drinking water andtoilets, and even if they are found some-where, these exist in a pitiable condition.Shockingly many girl schools and col-leges, even in big cities and towns, don’thave proper toilets. Even in my homedistrict Larkano, more than 80 percentschools and colleges do not have properdrinking water and toilet facilities. Somuch so, all primary schools in this ill-fated district are deprived of this funda-mental human right.

It is quite pleasing to note here thatin some schools, a few kind-hearted eld-ers of the community and education-friendly teachers have providedtemporary toilets for the girl students butpast rulers and the policymakers wasted

the state resources ruthlessly and shame-lessly over cosmetic measures and pro-grammes.

However, the president is appealedto direct the concerned provincial de-partments to build proper drinking waterand toilet facilities, particularly for girlsin all government schools at the earliest.

HASHIM ABROIslamabd

Dispute and solutionThe Balochistan dispute is worsening

with the passage of time. There is no se-cret that the US and India are backingthe Baloch rebel leaders. Unfortunately,our government is paying no heed to thisserious matter. They are taking it lightly.

To resolve this dispute, we shouldanalyse the true facts about Balochistan’smutiny. The government must invite allBaloch leaders and inquire about their

grievances. If their demands are relate to the

people of Balochistan, the governmentshould address them immediately. Thegovernment should also conduct a com-prehensive survey to ask the people di-rectly about their demands. Thegovernment should increase the budgetand resolve the Baloch people’s issues onpriority basis. Policy making is the func-tion of the government, it should be peo-ple friendly.

The role of law enforcing agencieshas become controversial. They shouldfollow the government’s instructions in-stead of initiating their own steps. Theyshould also produce the missing personsbefore the court and refrain from pickingup people illegally. only by taking con-crete and practical steps can we saveBalochistan.

TARIQ HUSAIN KHANKarachi

Send your letters to: Letters to Editor, Pakistan Today, 4-Shaarey Fatima Jinnah, Lahore, Pakistan. Fax: +92-42-36298302. E-mail: [email protected]. Letters should be addressed to Pakistan Today exclusively.

The government is under very heavypressure for the ‘good deeds’ it has doneand claiming former President PervezMusharraf responsible for BenazirBhutto murder case is nothing but a di-versionary tactics to keep the people busyand to sidetrack the main issues.

Benazir Bhutto's security was the re-sponsibility of the provincial governmentand not of president of Pakistan. If at allquestions are to be asked they should beasked from the provincial administra-tion.

To put the record straight GenMusharraf had advised Benazir Bhutto toreturn Pakistan after general electionsfor security reasons, and it was also part

of NRo deal. However, she changed herplans and the result is before us. Had shetaken the advice of General (Retd)Musharraf she would have been rulingthe country but it is a sad chapter of thehistory now.

The interior minister is advised notto make the country a laughing stock bymaking such statements as this is notgoing to help him or the government. Hemust answer questions posed by themedia about the security of BenazirBhutto instead of accusing the formerpresident who took oath to the ministersafter the general elections. Who was giv-ing him the protocol of head of state for along time? If we start issuing red war-

rants on such murders, then no head ofstate will be safe.

The fact of the matter is time is run-ning short and these gimmicks instead ofhelping would further aggravate the mat-ters. The country is passing through themost critical moments in its history anddemands better sense of proportion andsense of responsibility instead of repeat-ing old rhetoric.

Why are we so ignorant about thechanged environment? You cannot avertdangers by shutting your eyes. We arevery vulnerable, we are at war within ourown country. The situation is gettingworse day by day.

Recent damage to railway tracks by

planting IEDs at different places in Sindhshould be taken seriously. If not con-trolled immediately, it could end up in adisaster beyond imagination.

It appears that our politicians aretaking everything lightly and think thatby issuing statements they can affect thechange. Clouds of uncertainty are gettingdeeper and deeper endangering thesafety of common man who is otherwisehard pressed. This situation soon will beout of control and it is feared there willbe total breakdown of law and order thatwould ultimately result in total anarchyand that is what our enemies want.

LT COL (R) MUKHTAR AHMED BUTTKarachi

Irresponsible statement?

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Comment12Sunday, 26 February, 2012

Arif NizamiEditor

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

Web: www.pakistantoday.com.pk Email: [email protected]

Dedicated to the legacy of the late Hameed Nizami

Complacency and micromanaging

Crime in Punjab

The Punjab government’s failure to curb risingcrime rate in the province has resulted in a lowercourt issuing arrest warrants of 500 policeofficials for not complying with the orders of the

Supreme Court pertaining to the production of prosecutionwitnesses and case records.

The action was taken a day after a two-member benchof the apex court headed by Chief Justice IftikharMuhammad Chaudhry took a serious notice of the abysmalperformance of the Punjab police and the prosecutiondepartment. IGP Haji Habibur Rehman was snubbed bythe court when he tried to convince it that he had assumedthe charge only three days ago and had already issuedshow-cause notices to the delinquent police officials.

There is no doubt that there has been no proper checkon the subordinate judiciary to clear a huge backlog ofcases pending before various courts all over the province.But delay in submission of case records, challans as well asprosecution witnesses in the courts is mainly caused bywidespread corruption in the police department at thelower level.

Apart from other factors, one of the reasons for thedeteriorating law and order situation in the country’slargest province is complacency of the police force. Duringthe last three years, the crime rate in the Punjab has risenby 21 percent with the crime wave having swept across theprovincial capital. There are news reports indicating thatthere has been a phenomenal rise in the incidents ofkidnapping for ransom in Lahore over the past fewmonths.

Punjab Chief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif, whodoesn’t tire of claiming credit for having changed thedecadent thana culture, needs to put in place an effectivesystem to contain the rising crime rate in the province.This can be done if he stops micromanaging the things andfully empowers the top police administration to appointofficers on the basis of their professional competencerather than their loyalty to the ruling political leadership.

Inching towards understanding

The silver lining

After the hard talk during Karzai’s Islamabad visitlast week, PM Gilani’s statement comes asnothing short of a game changer in the context ofthe Afghan reconciliation. In the wake of the

trilateral summit Khar had called the request by Karzai tobring the Taliban to the negotiating table as ‘preposterous’.Behind-the-scenes moves, meanwhile, have led to themelting of the snow. Gilani has agreed to actively help theKarzai government by issuing a public call to all Afghanmilitant groups, including the Taliban and Hezb-e-Islami,to enter into direct negotiations in the framework of anintra-Afghan reconciliation process. Keeping in viewGilani’s meeting with the CJCS and DG ISI and reportedlya telephonic conversation with the CoAS earlier in the day,his stance enjoys the backing of the military establishment.

The incident of burning of the Holy Quran at Bagrambase has given rise to an unprecedented furore against theUS and the Nato forces, thus creating doubts abut thefuture of a negotiated settlement with the militants. Thishas created new problems for the US as well as the Karzaigovernment. Gilani’s statement should provide somecomfort to both as it puts life into the reconciliationprocess. The stand has been welcomed by the Hezb-e-Islami.

The invitation for talks comes a day after the meetingbetween Clinton and Khar in London which constitutes thefirst step towards the thawing of relations frozen sinceNovember when US air strikes killed 24 Pakistani soldiers.Clinton hit the nail by maintaining that while ups anddowns are normal in relations between friendly countries,the ties between the US and Pakistan are simply tooimportant to turn our backs on. There is an urgent need toremove some of the main irritants that keep the potboiling. Hopefully the expected apology from the US overSalala killings would come within the next few weeks. onealso hopes that the dispute over the drone attacks would beresolved keeping in view the dire need for cooperationbetween the two countries against terrorism.

the tyranny of history

With the US-Pakistan rela-tionship in turmoil, andhopefully resetting itselfto a healthier, more equi-table and less dependent

one, our usual conventional lack of wis-dom has it that America has painted itselfinto a corner by making us no longer de-pendent on it while remaining dependenton us to get it out of Afghanistan. It’s neverquite that simple.

No matter how great the political, eco-nomic and financial decline of the mostpowerful country in history, it will still re-main the most powerful for some time yet,a huge market, and most importantly, pos-sessor of the greatest knowledge bank. Itwould be foolhardy to have an adversarialrelationship with it, forget no relationshipat all, but it takes two to tango. It is mootwhether America is a worse dancer or weare.

America’s scientific and technologicaladvancement is greater than most peopleimagine. This knowledge it has used in cer-tain areas, some good some bad. A goodone that springs to mind is medicine, par-ticularly surgery, including its advancedtools. Another is the Internet, which hasmade communications so easy and quickthat the post office, already out of fashion,will soon go out of business altogether. Ithas opened vast information and knowl-edge banks for all peoples of the world forvirtually free, a most admirable achieve-ment indeed. But at the same time, the In-ternet’s social pages being spawned havealso become the most modern weapon sofar, for it conquers hearts and colonisesminds and keeps people constantly taggedand under watch. How many young peopledo you run into from the boondocks thatstudy in local schools and have never evenbeen to Karachi, let alone to America,speaking with comical American accents?

The worst areas that knowledge hasbeen used for are making weaponry. It hasbeen so since the advent of Man. Americais compelled to do this, and also start wars,to feed its vast military-industrial complexthat is the engine of its economy. It stilllives in the outdated paradigm that theonly way to gain economic advantage is byestablishing hegemony over the world.Time to shift this paradigm, and onlyAmerica has the wherewithal to do this. Ittried by shifting to ‘consensual hegemony’rather than European-style coercive hege-mony, but when it became the sole super-

power it went hyper and fell back on coer-cive hegemony like a rooster goes for hensafter being caged for a time.

It’s not easy to change because gainingeconomic advantage emanates from thatmost primeval instinct of man – survival.America has given more money to theworld than any country before, but it failedto win hearts, minds and admiration be-cause of its shrill bullying that is part of itspersonality. The much-acclaimed book,‘The Ugly American’, described this shrillbullying.

America’s societal advancement (as in-deed the advancement of the entire world)is comparatively far less, particularly itseconomic and financial systems, whichwere dynamic once but have since becomestatic and exploitative. So has its politicalsystem that at one time produced ad-mirable leaders but is today spewing outthe sort of leadership we have before us.This is where America has taken a self-in-flicted beating, reinforcing the notion thatthe very powerful cannot be beaten fromthe outside but fall from within because ofinevitable decadence and hubris and theend of dynamism. Dynamism is lost whenpeople think that, “We have arrived andnothing and nobody can challenge us so wedon’t need to change.” This mindset leadsto a certain kind of mental lethargy thatmakes one stick to the tried and tested thatworked for a while but is now worn outand stale and so is failing.

People and the world change con-stantly, so what was credible once is nolonger even plausible. Though no longer a‘neocon’, US hubris was reflected in thetitle of Francis Fukuyama’s book, ‘The Endof History and the Last Man’ that waspublished after the collapse of the SovietUnion. ‘End of History’ says it all. How canone even contemplate such an outlandishnotion unless one is completely zoned outin the throes of intellectual hubris andmental lethargy? So long as there is timeand dialectics, history will never end.

We romantic Pakistanis never got onething straight: there is no such thing as‘friend’ in relations between states, onlytemporary allies in a common cause thatserves all parties. The minute that causeceases or ceases to be common, the al-liance either ends or its intensity de-creases. For one state to expect acontinuing special privileged relationshipand preferential treatment from anotherbecause at one time they were allies in aparticular endeavour doesn’t make sense.The problem is that for us alliances aremore like romances that don’t cease be-cause we live in that fool’s paradise thatwas especially made for one-way roman-tics. Which is why America cannot under-stand why we keep on dredging up ourcommon history. In the sense of romance,history for us doesn’t end. We remainmired in it. We should know that when al-liances end another history begins.

We Pakistanis suffer from the courtierculture of India’s princely past – please theprince and many vistas will open up. Butcourtier culture becomes decadent andcontrary when it is thrown into a contem-porary milieu – trying to live in the past

and the present at the same time. When wetry and treat America like the potentate ofa princely state it gets befuddled, unliketheir European cousins who themselvescome from a courtier culture and which isone reason why they remained our mastersfor so long.

The courtier culture also keeps usmired in western political constructs forthey were our last princes. That begs thequestion: what is the eastern political con-struct, or a modern Muslim one for thatmatter, that we could fall back on after 90years of colonisation? While one can makefumbling assertions about some Muslimconstruct or the other, we will find nothingin the present that suits the times. I knowabout Turkey. our last political constructwas dynastic rule, which still prevails inmost Arab countries regardless of whattitle potentates bestow on themselves, andin our own political culture of the subcon-tinent where we have political dynasties.That is how backward we are. The onlyeastern country to have forged a distinctand modern political system of its own isChina.

We remain stuck in ended histories,like our undoubtedly great Muslim past(“Muslims have a great past but no fu-ture”) or our past favours to the US – whatwe did for it in Afghanistan or by openingour door to China. What America cannotunderstand is why we didn’t insist onlarger pieces of flesh at the time: YahyaKhan’s servile statement to Nixon comesto mind when after his famous China visitNixon asked what he could do for Pak-istan. our portly general-president repliedin a haze: “It was good to be of service, sir”.

We think that such talk will put us ona pedestal and we will get more in returnthan even what America had in mind. Thatcould have happened with the ‘Nabob ofBoogaland’ in the 19th century, but nolonger. our mentality is that if we stake aclaim to greater benefits in a particularjoint venture, we are ‘selling’ ourselves.This sort of thinking comes from thecourtier-courtesan mentality that has notleft us, even though princely states andfiefdoms have. Today’s world is ruthlessand no place for any goody two shoes.

Pakistan and America have more thanone thing in common. one is that we areboth expert gravediggers – of our owngraves. What we consider self-interest isself-destruction. In bombing countries tosmithereens and occupying them for awhile, America might cause regimechange, but by destroying their infrastruc-ture and slaughtering thousands of peoplethey turn angry mobs into nations, causingthemselves greater harm. What wethought would be good for us by joiningthe ‘war on terror’ because it would helprid us of terrorism in our own country hasboomeranged: today large chunks of ourpeople feel disenfranchised and disheart-ened with Pakistan and terrorism has in-creased the world over. Don’t be sad:learn.

The writer is a political analyst. He can be contacted [email protected]

By Humayun Gauhar

How our servile attitude has led us to nowhere

The two terrorist acts that occurred on consecutive daysin Peshawar and its surrounding areas have made acommon man uncertain. A car bomb at a bus stand on

Kohat road caused 13 lives lost and injuries to more than 50others whereas four policemen including two officers werekilled and five injured when three suicide bombers made anattempt to occupy a police station inside a congested localityof Peshawar city.

officials believe that the suicide bombers were trying toeither blow up the three-storey building or make hostage allof its occupants. More than 350 policemen were present in-side the building during the attack. But policemen, guardingthe building and present there offered a courageous resist-ance and foiled the attempt of suicide bombers.

The four policemen, who embraced martyrdom, deserveappreciation. Such sacrifices should be remembered forever

as they are a milestone in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s history.on one hand, frequent acts of terror have resulted in cre-

ating panic amongst common man but they have also madealert, on the other hand, the law enforcing agencies of theirresponsibilities. Soon after the attack on police station at Pe-shawar, Inspector General of KP Police has chaired a highlevel meeting whereas a plan was devised to combat the situ-ation that has erupted with the latest terrorism acts.

No one can neglect the fact that KP Police is renderingtremendous sacrifices in war on terror. Winning such a warcould become easy if the common man realies his responsi-bilities of extending support to the police force. The terroristgroups enjoy links and support within the population, there-fore, the public needs to help in pinpointing such elements,which could enable the law enforcing agencies in foiling suchterrorism attempts.

– Translated from the original Pashto by ShamimShahid

Terrorist acts in PeshawarDaily Khabroona

Regional Press

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Comment 13Sunday, 26 February, 2012

How did relations be-tween SamajwadiParty and Congress

descend, within the space ofhalf a campaign, from flirta-tion barely disguised by aLucknow burqa and hints ofbetrothal to the acrimony ofan imminent divorce?

Invective is a jadedweapon: too dull to wound theenemy, and terribly sharpwhen it inflicts self-injury, asit mostly does. But ridiculescores a flesh wound when-ever backed by reason. TheSamajwadi heir apparent,Akhilesh Yadav, has just dis-covered the pleasures of lam-poon; significantly his firstand only target is RahulGandhi. Congress can, if itwants to, shrug off Yadav’sjibe that Rahul began hiscampaign by rolling up hissleeves, continued by tearingup a simulated Samajwadimanifesto, and will possiblyend by jumping off thepodium in the last act of suchfaux dramatics. But it shouldworry about the fact that theaudience is laughing. Nothingdisperses the claim ofcharisma more easily thanlaughter. Incidentally, what-ever happened to the rolledsleeves? They seem to havedisappeared.

It takes time to recognisea political pattern, but 45years is probably enough toshade out the exceptions thatprove the rule.

Precisely 45 years ago, inthe elections of 1967, Con-gress began to cede large sec-tions of India to regionalparties. Its nadir came in1967, 1977 and for much ofthe 1990s, when it teetered inDelhi and disappeared fromAmritsar to Calcutta. The high

points were 1971-72, whenMrs Indira Gandhi injectedthe elixir of ideology, and1984-85, when her martyr-dom brought spectacular elec-toral rewards. But theCongress never recovered thecertainty of office that hadbeen its historical privilegebetween 1952 and 1967.

Mrs Gandhi’s legacy is ev-ident in those forgotten cor-ners of the mind that stillshape voter behaviour. Shebelieved in a strong Centre,and subservient state govern-ments that could be dismissedby a stroke of an imperiouspen through the application ofArticle 356. Regional partiesfought back, as they are doingnow, under the banner of afederal constitution. Thevoter, who wants, logically, astrong Centre as well as astrong state, began to trustthe Congress for Delhi, andother parties for theprovinces. Even the success ofAtal Bihari Vajpayee’s NDAcoalition has not fully erasedthe memory of that disastercalled Janata rule between1977 and 1980. The voter israrely wrong, and Congresscontinues to prove him rightin the provinces: UPA 2 is intatters, but the only govern-ments in a deeper hole areCongress governments in Ra-jasthan, Andhra Pradesh andGoa.

The Congress has such aweak reputation in states thatit has been unable to exploitfractious splits in regionalparties, which is akin to miss-ing a penalty. Instead, such aregional split has delayed oreven aborted a Congress re-vival. In Tamil Nadu, the Con-gress would have been electedwhen people became tired ofDMK’s mercurial ways. In-stead, its splinter Anna DMKbecame the successor, and re-mains so 25 years afterfounder M G Ramachan-dran’s death.

In Bihar, Lalu Yadav andNitish Kumar lived, albeit un-comfortably, within the sameparty. Lalu captured Bihar,and had a wonderful run.When his ego-and-caste in-flated bubble was finallypunctured, it was Nitish whowon Patna, not the Congress.

Nitish promises to keep theCongress out of office in Biharfor even longer than Lalu did.

In Bengal, the regionalforce, the Left, did not split,but the Congress did. onceagain, when the Left col-lapsed, the voter trusted Ma-mata Banerjee as thealternative, not the Congress.Maharashtra has seen a fur-ther variation. Congress andits breakaway bit, SharadPawar’s NCP, set aside theirinternal bitterness to makesuccessful common causeagainst the Shiv Sena-BJPcombine. Now, when their al-liance is beginning to fray, itis the Congress which hastaken the greater drubbing ascompared to NCP. Check thelatest local government re-sults.

In Uttar Pradesh, Con-gress collapsed 22 years ago.Mulayam Singh Yadav andBJP took turns in office.When voters became tired ofthese two, they did not seekout Congress but went to afourth force, Mayawati. It isan interesting thought: WouldCongress have had a chancein the current Punjab elec-tions if a second Akali Dal hademerged and consolidated it-self?

Rahul Gandhi’s advisersare blessed with enthusiasm;maybe this is why a soberreading of the past eludesthem. I have no idea whetherthe Congress is going to dowell or badly, but it was riskyto turn the UP poll into thespringboard for a Rahul polevault. It is embarrassing if youhuff and you puff and then gothrough under the bar.

Bookies have a better feelfor ground reality than as-trologers or journalists. onFebruary 21, they were offer-ing even bets on these figures:120-130 seats for SP; 100-110for BSP; 80-90 for BJP; and50-60 for Congress. If this istrue, then the past still hassome claim on the present.

The columnist is editor ofThe Sunday Guardian, pub-lished from Delhi, India onSunday, published from Lon-don and Editorial Director,India Today and HeadlinesToday.

Third EyeBy M J Akbar

congress couldn’t get its act together

Revenge of the provincesNational security vs welfare state

the Indo-Pak peace

Should the priority and focus ofthe state be national security orthe security and welfare of the

people who live in it? This is an issue,which is being debated particularly inPakistan and in other South Asiancountries.

I belong to the school of thoughtwhich believes that social welfareshould not be compromised by na-tional security considerations. Nodoubt, territorial integrity and stabil-ity within the states and from inter-state conflicts must be secured, butthe paramount consideration ought tobe the social welfare of the people. Ifsocial welfare is not secured then thepeople tend to secure their economicinterest in other countries.

Regrettably, in India and Pak-istan our budget allocation prioritieshave remained riveted on defencesector. If we cannot afford to makesuch huge allocations for the defense,we readily indulge in borrowings inbillions of dollars, which makes ourfuture generations also heavily in-debted. This obviously results in neg-lect of the social sector. Thesearguments constitute simple commonsense but unfortunately certainvested interests and the establish-ments of our countries, which thriveon promotion of hatred and conflicts,reject such simple logic and reason-ing.

The prudent and advisable poli-cies to secure both national securityand social welfare of the people, is tostrike warm, cordial relations and co-operation in all sphere, with ourneighboring countries, rather thanplacing reliance on distantly locatedUSA or the western block. China, inmy opinion, appears to be more trust-worthy neighbour to secure not onlydefence but also equitable economicdevelopments.

Last year in July a conference washeld in China to discuss ways andmeans to promote collaboration be-tween China and SAARC through en-hanced people to people exchanges. It

is obvious from the very decision tohold this Conference in China thatboth the government and its thinktanks are equally desirous of promot-ing more close and cordial relationswith the SAARC countries. Greatercooperation and closer ties of theSAARC countries with China, in myopinion would not only serve our na-tional security concerns but also en-able us to give greater priority andallocation to the social sector, whichis the craving need of the oppressedpeople of the entire South Asia region.

It is very heartening to note thatin the post-Cold War era, both Con-gress and BJP of India have wiselypursued a consistent policy of recon-ciliation and engagement with China.The past prime ministers of these par-ties and other leaders of India haverepeatedly expressed that “India hadno wish to hold China as an enemy ora threat”. They reinforced the desireto establish friendly relations withChina. At no point has the diplomaticengagement between India and Chinaceased. Even the 1998 nuclear tests byIndia did not cause any harm toIndia’s policy and relations withChina. To my knowledge, India hasalso succeeded in making some of theterritorial adjustments with China.Lately, the economic ties betweenIndia and China have attained newheights, perhaps China is the biggesttrading partner of India.

on the other hand, China is themost trusted ally and strategic part-ner of Pakistan for close to fivedecades. China, being the commondenominator between India and Pak-istan, is well placed to play a signifi-cant role in promoting cordialrelations, peace and progress not onlybetween our three countries but alsoin the entire South Asia region.China’s high profile in the economicinteractions at both bilateral and re-gional levels has most favourable im-plications for the region as a whole.

It is necessary to highlight a mostportent threat to our security, that ofterrorism. It is not only destroyingpeace and security of both India andPakistan, but also harming trust andconfidence between the two. Thoseterrorists, who were involved in oneof the worst tragedies of 26/11 inMumbai, or in the terrorist attack onParliament in Delhi on 13th Decem-ber 2001 or in the commission of thesame barbaric acts of terrorism everyother week in all nooks and cornersof Pakistan, are enemies of Pakistanand equally of India. Pakistan in par-ticular, is the worst victim of religious

extremist terrorist organisations. Ac-cording to unofficial sources since2002, more than 7,000 members ofour military and paramilitary forcesand police have sacrificed their pre-cious lives in confronting these ter-rorists while more than 70,000innocent citizens in various part ofour country have died in innumer-able attacks by the terrorists duringthe same period.

The imperatives of the foreignpolicy of both India and Pakistanmust be focused on the principles ofpeaceful coexistence and economiccollaboration and to put an end to theblame game strategy and the hatepropaganda by state or non-state ele-ments against each other.

I am mindful of the fact that theissue of Kashmir is a serious bone ofcontention between India and Pak-istan. However, this dispute shouldnot be allowed to prevent, forever cor-dial relations between our two coun-tries. I have been urging and pleadingfor over a decade that one of the vi-able, realistic and pragmatic solutionsfor resolving the Kashmir dispute, atleast for the time being and withoutprejudice to the respective stand ofthe two countries on Kashmir, is tode-facto accept the line of controlwith some adjustment as the interna-tional border.

In my view, this is also the spiritand objective of the Shimla Agree-ment of 1972. The aforesaid acknowl-edgement must, however, be followedby a treaty between India and Pak-istan containing firm and sincerecommitments a) That both the coun-tries must discourage and prevent ag-gressive actions, militancy orterrorism or policy of blame gameagainst each other; and b) Border be-tween the two countries and betweenthe two Kashmirs should be openedto the people at large with free access,free trade, exchange of cultural activ-ities, academics, intellectual groups,sports events, free access to the elec-tronic and print media etc.

I would also like to highlight theincalculable dividends that we candraw by establishment of peace, har-mony, open borders, environment oftrust, cooperation and collaborationbetween the SAARC countries andwith China will usher a new era ofprosperity and peace.

The writer is a senior advocate ofthe Supreme Court, a former Sena-tor, Attorney General and FederalMinister. He may be contacted [email protected]

by Iqbal Haider

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‘heroine’ birthdayShahid’s four-day

bash

14 Sunday, 26 February, 2012

in limelight

PARIS REUTERS

BLACK-AND-WHITE silentmovie ‘The Artist’ scoopedup six Cesar awards,including best film and bestactress in France's annual

version of the Academy Awards, furtherraising French hopes it could do well atthe oscars this weekend. A misty-eyedflashback to late 1920s Hollywood, theFrench-made film has proved anunexpected international success, baggingseven British BAFTA awards earlier thismonth, including best film, and a GoldenGlobe before that. It won best director forMichel Hazanavicius at the 37th Cesarceremony and best actress for BereniceBejo, who utters no words out loud as sheplays a young actress starting out as silentcinema falls out of fashion and is replacedby “talkies.” “This is a film that started outat the very bottom, it's a film nobodywanted to make, and now we are right atthe top. It's a beautiful story,”Hazanavicius said receiving his prize.Argentine-born Bejo, who plays thebeguiling Peppy Miller, admitted tearfullythat she had desperately wanting to win.

Co-star Jean Dujardin, whose debonairrendition of a silent movie icon has wonhim Best Actor at Cannes, a BAFTA, aGolden Globe and an oscar nomination,was passed over for the best actor Cesar,which went instead to omar Sy in‘Intouchables.’ Sy plays a rough-spokenbut loveable delinquent from the deprivedParis suburbs who by accident ends up asa live-in carer to a quadriplegic aristocratin a touching comedy that has been asmash hit in France with some 19 millionadmissions. Based on a true story sparkedby a paragliding accident, it plays ondeep-rooted racial and class barriers inFrance. “This is a gigantic buzz. I feel likea crazy guy,” Sy, one of France's mostpopular black actors and best known forhis TV comedy roles, said. Winners ofCesar awards receive oscar-like trophiessculpted by Cesar Baldaccini, the artistthey are named after. Dujardin is seen aswell-placed for the best actor oscar onSunday, with ‘The Artist,’ a critics' darlingthroughout this award season, nominatedfor 10 Academy Awards. He would be thefirst French-born actor to win the oscarfor a lead role. Highly acclaimed Iranianfamily drama ‘A Separation’ was awardedthe Cesar for best foreign film.

Angelina Jolie writes foreword for Billy Bob thornton's memoir

LOS ANGELEScBS

Angelina Jolie and her ex-husband BillyBob Thornton have reunited for his tell-all memoir titled ‘The Billy Bob Tapes: ACave Full of Ghosts,’ due out this May.Jolie has written the foreword to 56-year-old ‘Sling Blade’ director's book. It is de-scribed as, “spinning colorful tales of(Thornton's) modest (to say the least)Southern upbringing, his bizarre phobias,his life, his loves (including his heart-breakingly brief marriage to fellow oscarwinner Angelina Jolie), and, of course,his movie career.” Jolie and Thorntonwere married from 2000 to 2003. Thecouple drew media attention when theyadmitted to wearing each others' blood invials around their necks. Now, Jolie hassix children with her current partnerBrad Pitt, who recently said in an inter-view that Jolie is still a “bad girl” but it'snot for “public consumption.”

The Artist scoops

six Frenchfilm awards

loses her linesMUMBAI: Madhur Bhadarkar’s ‘Heroine’ has met with yet anotherroadblock. while the filmmaker had once lost his leading lady(Aishwarya rai Bachchan) for the project (saved later by KareenaKapoor), this time around, he has lost the film’s dialogues.writer Niranjan Iyengar, who was visiting his good friend KaranJohar, realised that his laptop had been stolen from his carparked under KJo’s office. The writer panicked and went straightto the police. Iyengar said: “All the dialogues of ‘Heroine’ werestored in my laptop. I have lodged a FIr. Let’s hope I get it backbut I think that the chances are slim.” Iyengar had been visitinghis friend Karan Johar to plan their itinerary for the Jammu andKashmir schedule of KJo’s directorial ‘Student of The year’.However, with the script of Heroine stolen, the writer will not beable to accompany the crew on their trip up north. “I generallygo on the sets of most of my films, but I can’t do that now,” hesaid. His major concern now is to re-write the dialogues forBhandarkar’s project. “Now I need to be on the set of ‘Heroine’and rewrite the dialogues. I don’t have the entire backup. I hademailed a chunk of it to Madhur, so that part is retained. Butnow, the remaining will have to be quickly rewritten,” saidIyengar. Bhandarkar said, “Iyengar has consented to be on theset of ‘Heroine’. I am very thankful to him. whatever happenedis very unfortunate.” when asked whether he will be able torecreate the very lines, Iyengar said, “Those lines are in myhead. There is no reference point, though.” AGENcIES

MUMBAI: Some may say turning 30isn't all that great. But add a year to it,and Shahid Kapoor will tell you how toturn 31 in style. The actor, who is busycelebrating his 31st birthday in Goa,has once again proved that boys inBollywood, do know how to have allthe fun. while Atul Kasbekar has beenbusy uploading pictures of thebirthday boy on his social networkingprofile calling them#ShahidGoanCrazy, a tabloid has foundout what is really going on at the fourday and three night long bash inMorjim beach. The actor, who took offto the party destination a couple ofdays before his birthday on February25, will be returning to Mumbai onFebruary 28. Shahid is not the onlyone who is having a ball. He has alsoplanned a big bash for his closefriends from school and the Hindi filmindustry. In fact, he had even askedthe DJ to play at a stretch from 9 amin the morning to 3 am the next day.And that's not all. Shahid had eveninstructed his manager to ask all theguests about their food and beveragepreferences. This, despite Shahid beinga teetotaler himself. The guest listincluded Kunal Kohli, Siddharth Anand,Siddharth Malhotra, Mubina rattonsey,Anjali Lavania, photographer AtulKasbekar, who had been clicking hispictures and of course his new foundbuddy Nargis Fakhri. AGENcIES

As coming-of-age film ‘London ParisNew york’ closes in on its release; thefilm is receiving an unprecedentedresponse as leads Ali zafar and Aditirao Hydari kick off their city tours topromote the film, starting with theIndian city and youth metropolis-Pune. Promising to bring the wit backinto Bollywood's romantic comedies,‘London Paris New york’ starring Alizafar and Aditi rao Hydari , mirrors the3 states of love set in an internationalscenario ,and also marks the directorialdebut of Anu Menon. The students at alocal college were the first to receivean unplugged live performance from Aliand Aditi both of whom have sung inthe film. As a token of appreciation theyoungsters also prepared a special AVfor the film, leaving the duooverwhelmed. The next pit stop was apress conference at a popular mall,where the team spoke about the filmat length and interacted with thecrowds that had gathered in numbersto catch a glimpse of the stars. on theoccasion Ali said: “LPNy is a hatke lovestory with a lot of romance and greatmusic. our experience from the film, Ibelieve, is different from those whohave done similar films in the past.The characters are different, the storyis different. This is our way of telling alove story of today's time and age.”‘London Paris New york’ will release on2nd March. NEWS DESk

PArIS: Jean Dujardin at the 37th Cesar Awards. AfP

PArIS: ‘The Artist’ director and screenwriter

Michel Hazanavicius and actress Berenice Bejo

pose with their trophy at the 37th Cesar Awards. AfP

BeVerLy HILLS: Meryl Streep presents Iranian director

Ashgar Farhadi, from the film ‘A Separation’ with the

certificate of nomination during the 84th Academy Awards

Foreign Language Film Award Directors reception. AfP

MeXICo: elton John performs at a special

concert entitled ‘By Peace in Mexico’. AfP

CoLoMBo: Pakistani models display a creation at the annual

Colombo fashion week in which designers from Sri Lankan,

India, Pakistan and Palestine were among the dozens of fashion

designers that displayed their work at the three day event. AfP

ISB 26-02-2012_Layout 1 2/26/2012 3:24 AM

FAISALABADPR

Chester Bernard, the pre-mier local brand for men'sshirts, has crossed yet an-other milestone in its rapidgrowth. The Karachi-basedlabel which was previouslyonly available in Lahoreand Karachi, has nowopened a store in SitaraMall in Faisalabad. Theshop located on the firstfloor (shop no # 35-36) hasan extensive display ofshirts, ties, pocket squaresand cuff links. on the samefloor are other well knownbrands such as HubLeather, Nike, Labels,Mothercare, JafferJees andmore. “We are delighted tobe opening up in Faisal-abad,” said Faraz Salehjee,Creative director of ChesterBernard. "I think Faisal-abad is rapidly becomingPakistan's fourth largestcity and I think a brand likeChester Bernard definitelyhas a market here.”“Chester Bernard is a com-

plete design house,” saidTaimur Khan, “Faisalabadis a great market for a high-end fashion and design out-let such as ChesterBernard.” Eager shopperswalked through the shop allday long, admiring the fin-ishing of the shirts and thevast variety of ties available.Chester Bernard prides it-self on having something tosuit everyone's taste when itcomes to formal shirts andties. Their most popular de-signs are the Limited SportsCollection and Police Col-lection among other severalLimited Editions. The man-agement of the Sitara Mall,arguably the most elite andposh of Faisalabad’s malls,was delighted at the arrivalof Chester Bernard in theirmall. “It is an eventful mo-ment to express my feelingson the opening of an exclu-sive men's wear boutique atSitara Mall,” said the Direc-tor of the mall, HaseebAhmad, “Indeed its openingwill make Faisalabadis lookmore smart and elegent.”

15Gerard Butler completes rehabstint

LOS ANGELESAGENcIES

He spent themajority of lastfall filming inthe big waves-now GerardButler has done his best to cleanhimself up. The Scottishsuperstar has been quietlyundergoing rehabilitationtreatment at a rehabilitationcentre for the last three weeks,and was released from thefacility recently. The star's repdidn't directly address reportsthat Butler checked himself intothe celeb-friendly centre to fendoff an increasing dependence onprescription painkillers.Instead, his publicist would onlyconfirm that he has finished hisstint. “Gerard has completed asuccessful course of treatmentand has returned home in goodhealth,” the rep said. Last year,Butler had a headline-grabbingunderwater scare on the set of‘of Men and Mavericks’ that lefthim banged up. That actor hasnever been shy about discussinghis sobriety issues in the past,notably his heavy drinking,which he has since given up.

cranberries find new ‘chemistry’ after 9-yearbreak

PARISAFP

Tired of non-stop touring andhurting for inspiration, TheCranberries hung up theirguitars in 2003. Nine years on,the Irish rockers say thechemistry came right back fortheir new album ‘Roses’. Thequartet shot to fame in the1990s with hits like ‘Linger’ and‘Zombie’ lifted by the powerfulvoice of singer Doloreso'Riordan. By 2003, two yearsafter releasing their album‘Wake Up and Smell the Coffee’,they had hit a dead end. Theywent their separate ways.‘Roses’, the album born of theirrecent recording sessions, isinstantly recognisable as thework of The Cranberries, withsoft, airy melodies backing upo'Riordan's distinctive voice. “Ithink this breathing comes fromthe fact we have a chemistry,which came back immediately,”said drummer Fergal Lawler.

NEWS DESK

All activities skidded to a halt, warsover the remote control were forgotten,commitments were sidelined and er-rands postponed as the entire familygathered to watch the modern day phe-nomenon that redefined the meaningof Saturday night. Yes, nothing definescult status as ‘Humsafar’ does. Di-rected by Sarmad Sultan Khoosat, andbased on the novel of the same nameby Farhat Ishtiaq, ‘Humsafar’ hastaken the entire country by storm. Thecaptivating story and crackling chem-istry between the two leads-FawadAfzal Khan (Ashar) and Mahira Khan,(Khirad) made the drama’s popularitysky-rocket. Throw in jealous forces andsuperb acting and you get a show thathas trumped every other show in termsof viewership. For the uninitiated, thestory revolves around Ashar and Khi-rad who marry each other against their

wishes but later develop a strong bondthat is shattered thanks to Ashar’smom. If social networking sites are anyindication, the ‘Humsafar’ Facebookpage now boasts more than 15, 000likes. Facebook, Twitter and other so-cial networking sites witness a phe-nomenal number of statutes andphotos dedicated to the serial, espe-cially on Saturday night. So what ex-actly has led to the drama’s immensepopularity? one would be the excep-tional acting by all the artists involved.For Pakistani viewers, for whom slap-stick humour and often repeated storylines had become a signature of localdramas, ‘Humsafar’ has given thempowerful acting that is strongly sup-ported by the excellent script.

It is not unnecessarily stretchedout and does not have the characterswearing loud make-up or clothes. Thesoundtrack is another factor. Qurat-ul-Ain Baloch (or QB as she is popu-larly called), has lend her powerfulvocals to the title song. Add qualitypoetry and composing and you have asong that tops everyone’s playlists. As‘Humsafar’ aired its last episode lastnight, more than a few people wereseen lamenting the end of the show,while many more say nothing can re-place ‘Humsafar’ as their favourite. Sohere’s to the roller-coaster ride thatmade us laugh and cry, hate and loveright alongside Ashar and Khirad.

humming the ‘humsafar’ tune

What Might George Clooney

Wear to the oscars?LOS ANGELES

AGENcIES

Unlike hisother nomi-nees, you canpretty muchexpect whatG e o r g eC l o o n e ymight wear to the oscars.While Brad Pitt has changedup his red carpet look oftenover the years, and Gary old-man has hardly settled on hisown signature style, Clooneyis always there with pure,consistent class: An Armanituxedo, tailored just so, verydark wool-usually alongsidepeak lapels and a bow tie-as itshould be for this sort of cer-emony. Lately, though,Clooney's been questioninghis own bachelor-for-life sta-tus (thanks to Stacy Keibler)and, on a more stylistic note,switching up his eveninggame in small ways. At the

orange British Academy FilmAwards, he walked the carpetin a fantastic topcoat; at theSAG awards, he swapped hisusual routine for a shawl col-lar tuxedo worn with a stan-dard necktie. And in closerrelation to the AcademyAwards, he showed up to thenominee luncheon wearing asmart grey suit with an 80s-style cut that reminded us ofhis ‘ocean's Eleven’ casino-wheeling days. That last oneis a day look, to be certain,and we're predicting that ‘TheDescendants’ star will use Theoscars, as he has for yearsnow, to show up and show offin a peak lapel tuxedo withthe perfect finishing touches.Though, it would be nice if hewere to pull that shawl collarthat he's been wearing latelyout from his closet. Perhaps,this time, he could up his owngame by wearing that withone of those bow ties heknows how to knot so well.

LOS ANGELESAGENcIES

WHITNEY Houstonis at the centre ofa bizarre suicidemystery after shewas reportedly

seen covered in blood hours beforeher death. The tragic diva, 48, wasspotted with her arms slashed beforebingeing on drugs and booze. Asource said she had cut herself witha razor blade in the toilet of a LosAngeles nightclub after seeing heron-off lover Ray J, 31, chatting toanother woman. Just 48 hours latershe was found slumped in the bathof her suite at the Beverly Hiltonhotel, surrounded by bottles of tran-quillisers. Houston had stumbledout of the trendy Tru Hollywoodclub cut and bleeding after spendinghours downing champagne and

tequila. Just before leaving thenightspot she had a furious row withUS ‘X Factor’ finalist Stacy Francis,42, for chatting to singer Ray J. “Shewas like a wild animal, screaming atme not to go near her man and call-ing me a bitch,” Francis said. “Whit-ney was totally drunk and the sightof Ray J talking to another womanpushed her over the edge,” an in-sider said. “She flew into a completerage, went into the bathroom of theclub and tried to slit her wrists. Itwas a real cry for help and probablya bit of attention seeking, as the cutswere not that deep. But they werebad enough to leave her bleedingand in a mess. There was blood allover her,” the insider added. Thepop-star’s devastated daughterBobbi Kristina, 18, is feared to besuicidal after downing drink andprescription pills after her mother’sdeath on February 11.

eyewitness blames Saif, Ali Zafar, Aditi

charm the youngsters

tough schedules for Abhishek BachchanMUMBAI: Abhishek Bachchan is going through toughschedules. even as Amitabh Bachchan returnedhome from the hospital, his maternal grandmotherIndira Bhaduri is now said to be in another hospital,giving him two major reasons to stay put inMumbai. These days, the actor is shooting out ofMumbai, in wai for rohit Shetty’s ‘Bol Bachchan’. Healso likes to be by his elders' side, so his scheduleis under tremendous pressure. “every day Abhishekcommutes between wai and Mumbai. He leavesearly morning for wai, packs up shooting byevening, drives back. It’s a good five hours drive. Herushes home to see his father and then his Nani inhospital before heading home to catch a fewmoments with his daughter and wife (in that ordernowadays). If he's lucky he catches Baby Bachchanawake for a bit,” said a source. without much sleep,Abhishek returns to wai early morning. But he sailsthrough the shoot of the comedy film. “Laughter isthe last thing on Abhishek's mind. But he's goingthrough the comic scenes with Ajay Devgn with do-or-die determination,” the source added. Ajay isgoing out of his way to accommodate Abhishek'spacked schedule. “He waits without a murmur forAbhishek to get ready. He's even offered topostpone the shooting until things get normal atthe Bachchans'. But Abhishek insists on carryingon,” said the source. AGeNCIeS

MUMBAI: The Saif-Sharma brawl saga has beenwitnessing new twists and turns every day, andfrom what’s the latest, an eyewitness has comeup with his own version of the incident. Theeyewitness has blamed Saif for starting the fight,saying that the actor was the one who provokedIqbal Sharma and punched him. According towhat had been claimed by actor Saif Ali Khansome time back, there were two sides of thestory of the brawl between him and IqbalSharma, a South African businessman. However,from what has been learnt from an eyewitnessaccount, Saif’s claims appear to be false. one ofthe employees of the wasabi restaurant at TheTaj, where the fight between Saif and Sharmatook place, in a statement given to the police hassaid that the former was the first to provoke andpunch the latter. Taj Hotel’s wasabi restaurant inColaba was a witness to the entire fiasco, anddespite several different versions of the storydoing the rounds, Saif seems to be the one whowas at the crux of it all. However, the actualverdict from the police is still awaited. ActorSalman Khan and his family have supported Saif.At the place inside the restaurant where the brawlensued, no video cameras were installed. But thestatement from the eyewitness has changedthings, according to sources. AGENcIES

says he was the first to provoke

Chester Bernard opens new flagship

Whitney houston committed

suicide?

ISB 26-02-2012_Layout 1 2/26/2012 3:24 AM

Sunday, 26 January, 2012

16 Foreign News

SANAAAFP

Asuicide bomber blew up avehicle outside a presiden-tial palace in southeasternYemen Saturday, killing 26elite troops and overshad-

owing the swearing in of the first newpresident in Sanaa since 1978.

A military official said the bombing inthe Hadramawt provincial capitalMukalla bore the hallmark of Al-Qaeda,as Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi pledged aftertaking the oath to succeed veteran strong-man Ali Abdullah Saleh that he wouldpress the battle against the jihadists.

Militants loyal to Al-Qaeda have ex-ploited the decline in central govern-

ment control that accompanied 10months of deadly unrest that led up toSaleh’s agreement to cede power toseize large swathes of southern andeastern Yemen.

“A pick-up truck driven by a suicidebomber exploded at the entrance of thepresidential palace in Mukalla,” the mil-itary official said. He said the attack“carries the fingerprints of Al-Qaeda,”adding that the bomber “could be Mo-hammed al-Sayari,” a Saudi originallyfrom Hadramawt.

“The bodies of 20 soldiers weretaken to the mortuary and there aremany others wounded,” said a medic atMukalla’s Ibn Sina hospital.

Another medic said later that “sixothers have died of their wounds.”

The military source said no high-ranking officials were in the palacewhen the bomber struck.

The palace is guarded by troops ofthe elite Republican Guard, who areunder the command of Saleh’s sonAhmed and who played a key role inthe veteran strongman’s deadly crack-down on the uprising against his rulebefore finally signing November’stransfer of power deal.

In an address to the nation straightafter being sworn in to succeed Saleh,Hadi vowed to press the fight againstAl-Qaeda and restore security across hisimpoverished nation, ancestral home-land of slain jihadist leader osama binLaden. “It is a patriotic and religiousduty to continue the battle against Al-

Qaeda,” the new president said.“If we don’t restore security, the

only outcome will be chaos.”Hadi said he had the political legit-

imacy to meet the huge challenges fac-ing the country after winningoverwhelming endorsement in a Tues-day election in which his name was theonly one on the ballot paper.

He vowed to “turn a new page in thebuilding of a new Yemen which unitesall its citizens.”

official results released late Fridaygave Hadi 99.8 percent of valid votescast in the election in which turnoutreached 60 percent nationwide.

But in a sign of the country’s di-visions, the turnout was by no meansuniform.

COLOMBOAFP

Nearly 8,000 people, including 550 chil-dren below the age of 10, were killed in SriLanka’s war-torn north during a final offen-sive to crush Tamil rebels, the census de-partment said Saturday.

Another 6,350 people went missingafter government forces finally crushed theseparatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam(LTTE) in May 2009, the department saidin an 80-page report.

The figures are in stark contrast to esti-mates by international rights groups, whichsay up to 40,000 civilians perished in thefinal months of the civil war and have heav-ily criticised Sri Lanka’s treatment of civil-

ians. The census report said 6,858 peoplewere killed in the first five months of 2009when fighting peaked just before the mili-tary claimed victory in its no-holds-barredoffensive. The census did not cover securityforces killed in the war zone, but the mili-tary had previously said 6,000 personnelwere killed in the final stages of the war.

The department had carried out thecensus between June and August last year,but disclosed the figures only over theweekend. There was no immediate com-ment from international rights groups tothe latest Sri Lankan census report.

The report described the 7,934 deathsin the Northern Province in 2009 as beingdue to “extraordinary circumstances”, butdid not identify those responsible or

whether Tiger combatants were includedin the statistics.

Much of the deaths occurred at a timewhen civilians were ordered to move intowhat was supposed to be a “no fire zone” asthe military tightened its grip on the terri-tory controlled by the rebels. About a fifth ofthose killed in the first five months of 2009were below the age of 19 years, according tothe census department which said 552 chil-dren below the age of 10 years and another952 between 10 and 19 years were killed.

The numbers appear to confirm fearsexpressed by UNICEF at the time that hun-dreds of children were caught up in theconflict and had been killed.

UNICEF had also documented thecases of 7,000 children who had been re-

cruited by the Tamil Tigers, some of whomsurrendered to security forces when thefighting drew to a close in 2009.

More than 330,000 ethnic Tamil civil-ians were displaced by the fighting andwere initially housed in internment campswhich were eventually dismantled underintense international pressure.

The census department also said thatthe number of people killed in the Tamil-dominated northern province was 22,329between 2005 and 2009 when a Norwe-gian-brokered truce began to unravel andfighting escalated. Colombo has long main-tained that its military should not be heldculpable for any civilian deaths during thefighting, blaming the Tigers for using non-combatants as human shields.

west has ‘hegemonistic

ambitions’ in

Syria: XinhuaBEIJING

AFP

Chinese state media on Sat-urday accused the US andEurope of “harbouring hege-monistic ambitions” in Syria,after Western and Arab na-tions ratcheted up pressureon Bashar al-Assad at ameeting in Tunisia. In acommentary Beijing’s offi-cial Xinhua news agency saidthat “most of the Arab coun-tries have begun to realisethat the United States andEurope are hiding a daggerbehind a smile”.“In other words, while they ap-pear to be acting out of hu-manitarian concern, they areactually harbouring hege-monistic ambitions,” it said.Xinhua claimed that theFriends of Syria conference —which was boycotted by bothChina and Russia — “con-cluded with a consensus onavoiding a militarisation of theconflict in Syria”.But the meeting of more than60 foreign ministers saw callsfor Arab peacekeepers to in-tervene and for the oppositionto be armed, as well as a USwarning that Assad would paya heavy price for defying in-ternational will.

Syrian securityforces kill 16civilians

BEIRuTAFP

Regime forces killed at 16 civilians in Syriaon Saturday, as they shelled a rebel strong-hold for the 22nd straight day and openedfire in Hama and Aleppo, where thousandswere rallying, monitors said.The shelling of the neighbourhood of BabaAmr began at first light, the Syrian obser-vatory for Human Rights said, as sporadicexplosions were heard in other areas of thecentral city. Four civilians were killed inBaba Amr and other Homs neighbour-hoods, as security forces also opened fireon the neighbourhoods of Khaldiyeh andHamidiyeh, in the city centre, the Britain-based observatory said. opposition groupLocal Coordination Committees said secu-rity forces fired mortars at Khaldiyeh.Meanwhile, security forces shot dead sixpeople, including a woman and a girl, asthey clashed with defected troops in theAleppo provincial town of Ezaz, the obser-vatory said. Police also opened fire to dis-perse a demonstration of some 4,000people who took to the street in the neigh-bourhood of Sayef al-Dawla, in Aleppo, forthe funeral of a civilian killed on Friday,the observatory said. A local activist, whorequested anonymity, also told AFP thatthousands were taking part in the protest.No casualties were reported so far.Six civilians, including two girls, died whentroops stormed the villages of Maarazafand Al-Majdel, in the central province ofHama, the observatory said.

KANOAFP

Suspected Boko Haram Islamists razed a police station and killed14 people, whose charred bodies were found, in an overnight raidin Nigeria’s northeastern city of Gombe, witnesses said Saturday.The city was put under lockdown, with no residents allowed toleave their homes, after the gun and bomb assaults where attack-ers also tried to break into a prison in a botched attempt to freeinmates, witnesses and local radio said.

Boko Haram, responsible for a wave of recent raids in north-ern and central Nigeria, have repeatedly claimed its members arebeing illegally held in state prisons and demanded their release.Many of Boko Haram’s recent attacks have targeted the police.

Suspected members of the group also gunned down five wor-shippers inside a mosque on Friday as evening prayers ended in

Kano, Nigeria’s second largest city.Later in Kano explosions were heard. Residents said gunmen

stole a car belonging to the country’s electoral commission, butit appeared to have stalled a few hundred metres (yards) later,and they blew it up. Boko Haram’s violent campaign has inten-sified in recent months and on Thursday Nigeria’s top militarychief said the group had formed links with Al-Qaeda’s northAfrica branch, known as Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.

“I have seen at least 14 burnt bodies in and around the policestation,” a witness in Gombe said on condition of anonymity.

He said he counted 10 bodies inside the police building,adding the victims could be policemen, while four others werefound dead in a burned out car outside the station.

“At a roundabout between the police station and the prisonthere was a car that was burned out with all its four occupants.It’s not clear who they were,” he added.

Deadly blast overshadows Yemen leader swearing-in

8,000 killed in last year of Sri Lanka war: census

Raid by Islamists on Nigeria police kills 14

LONDON: A protester of the ‘Occupy London Stock Exchange’ demonstration rests in the early morning sunshine among tents outside St. Paul’s cathedral on Saturday. AfP

uS spies find nohard evidence Iranbuilding bomb

WASHINGTONAFP

US intelligence analysts continue to believethere is no hard evidence that Iran has de-cided to build a nuclear bomb, The NewYork Times reported Saturday. Citing unnamed US officials, the newspa-per said the latest assessments by US spyagencies are broadly consistent with a2007 intelligence finding that concludedthat Iran had abandoned its nuclearweapons program. The officials said thatassessment was largely reaffirmed in a2010 National Intelligence Estimate, andthat it remains the consensus view ofAmerica’s 16 intelligence agencies, the re-port said. The report came after the Inter-national Atomic Energy Agency warnedthat it continued to have “serious concernsregarding possible military dimensions toIran’s nuclear program.” The Times saidthere was no dispute among American, Is-raeli and European intelligence officialsthat Iran had been enriching nuclear fueland developing some necessary infrastruc-ture to become a nuclear power. But the Central Intelligence Agency andother intelligence agencies believe thatIran has yet to decide whether to resume aparallel program to design a nuclear war-head — a program they believe was essen-tially halted in 2003, the paper noted.

g 26 elite troops killed in suicide car bombing outside presidential palace

ISB 26-02-2012_Layout 1 2/26/2012 3:24 AM

Foreign News 17Sunday, 26 January, 2012

Four dead in Afghan protests,UN complex attacked

KuNDuZAFP

RoCK-THRoWING pro-testers attacked a UNcompound, clashed withpolice and set tyres alightin Afghanistan Saturday,

as a fifth day of protests over the burn-ing of Korans left four dead.

Dozens were also injured as vio-lence rocked the northern city of Kun-duz, where the UN compound wasattacked, in unrest that raised the deathtoll from the protests to 28, accordingto an AFP tally.

Columns of smoke hung over the cityas demonstrators set tyres and trafficbooths alight, witnesses said. There werefresh protests in five different Afghanprovinces Saturday over the burning ofthe Islamic holy book — which prisonersallegedly used to pass messages — at theUS airbase at Bagram near Kabul.

In Mihtarlam, in the centralprovince of Laghman, protesters suf-

fered gunshot wounds. The worst violence was in Kun-

duz, where thousands attempted tostorm the UN complex but failed toget in when police fired into thecrowd at around 2:00 pm (0930GMT), according to an AFP corre-spondent at the scene. officers had sofar managed to stop the crowd fromentering the compound, policespokesman Sarwar Husaini told AFP,adding that reinforcements werebeing sent to protect the premises.

A UN spokeswoman confirmed theattack but refused to say how many UNstaff were on site at the time.

Sahad Mokhtar, head of the publichealth department in Kunduz, said:“The report we have so far from hospi-tals is four killed, 56 wounded intoday’s demonstrations.”

The Koran burning has inflamedanti-Western sentiment alreadysmouldering in Afghanistan overabuses by US-led foreign troops, suchas the release last month of a video

showing US Marines urinating on thecorpses of dead Afghans.

Denise Jeanmonod, a spokes-woman for UNAMA, the United Na-tions’ mission in Afghanistan,confirmed the Kunduz incident, sayingthat the organisation was “assessingthe situation at the scene.”

But she refused to give further de-tails “for the security of staff” at thecompound, or to say how many peo-ple were there.

In Mihtarlam, hospital officialstold AFP 15 protesters had beenbrought in with gunshot wounds.

Rallies elsewhere in Afghanistanwere largely peaceful, however, au-thorities said.

A demonstrator in Mihtarlam,named only as Abdullah, put thecrowd there at “around 2,000” andsaid: “The protesters turned violentand were throwing stones at the gov-ernor’s palace.

2 NATo staff killedin Kabul shooting

KABuLAFP

Two American members of the NAToforce in Afghanistan were shot deadwithin the interior ministry in KabulSaturday, military and governmentsources said, as anti-US protestsraged for a fifth day. “Initial reportsindicate an individual turned hisweapon against International SecurityAssistance Force service members inKabul City today, killing two servicemembers,” NATo said in a statement,without giving further details.A government source told AFP thetwo men were American advisors andthat they were shot within the Afghaninterior ministry in Kabul by a mem-ber of the Afghan police. “There was ashooting inside the command andcontrol centre of the interior ministryand two Americans have been killed,”the source told AFP, requestinganonymity. Some reports said theshooting was a result of a “verbalclash”. The shooting came on the fifthday of anti-US protests acrossAfghanistan over the burning of Koransat an American-run military base, but itwas not immediately clear whether theministry shooting was related to thedemonstrations.

TuNISAFP

US Secretary of State Hillary Clintonpledged Saturday that Washingtonwould help Tunisia rebuild its econ-omy and cement democracy, as thecradle of the Arab Spring struggleswith reforms.

Clinton met Tunisian PresidentMoncef Marzouki as she continued atour that will also take her to Algeria andMorocco following a global meeting onSyria in Tunis that ratcheted up pressureon the regime of Bashar al-Assad.

“I come with a very specific andcommitted statement of support aboutthe political and economic reforms thatare occurring here,” Clinton said afterthe talks with Marzouki.

“The political side of the revolutionis going quite well,” she said.“I am a verystrong champion for Tunisian democ-racy and what has been accomplishedhere.... The challenge is how to ensurethe economic development of Tunisiamatches the political development.”

At the start of the talks she alsopraised Friday’s “Friends of Syria” meet-ing of more than 60 foreign ministers forbringing new pressure to bear onAssad’s regime.

“It was quite a successful confer-ence and a great credit to Tunisia,and your words and the prime minis-ter’s leadership were a very strongsignal,” she said.

Washington is keen to supportTunisia’s democratic progress and eco-nomic success, hoping it will set an ex-ample for other countries in the regionthat have toppled autocratic rulers orare undergoing popular uprisings.

Tunisia, where mass protests oustedstrongman Zine El Abidine Ben Ali earlylast year, launched the Arab Spring andinspired similar movements in Egypt,Libya, Syria and elsewhere.

Authorities in Tunisia, which electeda moderate Islamist government in oc-tober, are struggling to deal with unem-ployment levels of nearly 20 percent andcontinuing political tensions followingthe revolution.

kUNDUz: Afghan demonstrators carry a wounded man as they protest against quran desecration on Saturday. AfP

Clinton pledges US help for Tunisia reformsuS bolsters defenses

in Strait of HormuzWASHINGTON

AFP

The Pentagon has notified US lawmak-ers of plans to bolster US defenses inand around the Strait of Hormuz to beprepared for a military response againstIran, a report said Friday. New mine-detection and clearing equipment aswell as improved surveillance capabili-ties are part of the planned build-up,said the Wall Street Journal, citing de-fense officials briefed on the requests.The Pentagon also wants to modifyship weapons systems to best dealwith Iranian attack boats in theStrait, said the report.The moves highlight efforts to boostUS military capabilities amid height-ened tension with Iran and rising spec-ulation of a strike from Israel overIran’s nuclear program. The UnitedStates, France, Britain and Germanyaccuse Iran of seeking to build a nu-clear bomb, but Tehran says its nu-clear drive is peaceful.

KABUL: Six Afghan army soldiers were killed and 16 wounded in westernAfghanistan on Saturday when a Taliban bomb exploded as the troops attemptedto defuse it, the defence ministry said. The incident happened in the insurgency-hitMuqur district of western Badghis province, Afghan defence ministry spokesmanDawlat Waziri told AFP. “Six soldiers were killed and 16 others injured when theTaliban improvised explosive device (IED) went off prematurely,” Waziri said. Tal-iban IEDs have become increasingly sophisticated and have killed and maimedthousands of Afghan and international soldiers, as well as civilians. AFP

Marchers target Putin’s

city ahead of voteSAINT PETERSBuRG

AFP

Russian protest leader Alexei Navalnyled thousands through the streets ofVladimir Putin’s native city Saturdayin protest against his likely return tothe Kremlin in March 4 polls. Thedemonstration was called a day beforethousands more hoped to link handsaround Moscow in a poignant show offrustration with the ex-KGB spy’s deci-sion to seek a third presidential termafter dominating Russia for 12 years.“The event on March 4 cannot becalled an election,” Navalny told re-porters before heading to the centralMoscow Station depot in Saint Peters-burg for the march. “People should benot looking at it as an election but asan opportunity to create as muchstress for the authorities as possible ...by voting for anyone but Putin,”Navalny said. Thousands then snakedtheir way along the city’s scenic em-bankments chanting “Russia withoutPutin” and “Putin is a thief” — a chantthat would have been unimaginablejust months ago — while police heli-copters circled overhead. The 35-year-old Navalny has gained prominenceamong Russia’s Internet-savvy youthfor waging a tireless web campaign toexpose state corruption.

six afghan soldiers die trying to defuse bomb

ISB 26-02-2012_Layout 1 2/26/2012 3:24 AM


Gul, lettinghis performancedo the talking

WELLINGTONAFP

South African captain AB de Villiers com-piled a superb century to lead his side to aneasy six wicket win over New Zealand inthe opening one-day international at West-pac Stadium on Saturday. De Villiers, indeft touch, was not out for 106 with Faf duPlessis on 66 as South Africa overhauledNew Zealand's 253 for nine with 28 ballsto spare. on a ground with a history offavouring the side batting second, NewZealand captain Brendon McCullum wonthe toss, elected to bat first and never seri-ously threatened from there as his batsmenfailed to gain momentum.

Although the target was not immense,South Africa wavered at the start of theirinnings with Hashim Amla (8), GraemeSmith (9) and Jacques Kallis (13) falling inquick succession to be 35 for three by the10th over. But from there de Villiers stead-ied the run chase and they slowly andsurely reeled in the New Zealand total al-though the South African captain playeddown the comprehensive nature of the win.

"We did really well in the field to restrictthem to 250. They had a couple of partner-ships going but they didn't extend them andwe kept picking up wickets at the righttimes," he said. "I thought I constructed myinnings quite well which was important inthe conditions on this pitch. "We finished

up with a win but, feet on the ground, wehave two more big games to come" McCul-lum said he had "no regrets" about battingfirst but "they kept picking up wickets at reg-ular times against us and we couldn't getthat partnership we needed. The way ABcame out certainly took the game away fromus." De Villiers combined with JP Duminy

(46) in a 90-run stand for the fourth wicketwhich was broken when Rob Nicol tossed upa full delivery and was rewarded with a sim-ple caught and bowled opportunity.

South Africa were then 125 for four inthe 31st over when Faf de Plessis joined hisskipper and they dismantled the NewZealand bowling attack with apparent

ease, compiling 129 runs over the next 14overs. They poked and prodded for singleswhen the field was spread and then effort-lessly found the boundary when the field-ers were brought in. De Villiers came to thewicket in the fifth over with South Africa at17 for two and faced 151 balls for his 106which included three fours and four sixes.

He reached his century with a singleoff Doug Bracewell at the start of the44th over and du Plessis marked the oc-casion with a six and two fours off thenext three balls. Du Plessis' 66 in 72 ballsincluded nine fours and a six. The NewZealand innings was built around a 79-run stand by McCullum and KaneWilliamson for the third wicket after thehosts had started slowly, creeping to 75for two in the first 20 overs.

The next 75 runs took less than 13overs but the loss of McCullum, and thequick departure of big-hitting Jesse Ryder(6) soon after put the brakes on the NewZealand charge. McCullum had a charmedlife and was saved three times by televi-sion replays on his way to 56 off 67 balls.

Williamson, who was content to lookfor the singles, appeared intent on bat-ting through the innings and reached his55 in 69 balls when he had an uncharac-teristic slash at Lonwabo Tsotsobe andwas caught behind. opener Rob Nicolmade 30 while James Franklin added 32in the middle of the innings.

South Africa cruise to victory on de Villiers ton

NEW zEALAND

R. Nicol c kallis b Peterson 30

M. Guptill c de Villiers b Tsotsobe 7

B. Mccullum c Peterson b kallis 56

k. Williamson c de Villiers b Tsotsobe 55

J. Ryder c Smith b kallis 6

J. Franklin c Amla b M. Morkel 32

A. Ellis b Steyn 20

N. Mccullum b M. Morkel 15

D. Bracewell st de Villiers b Peterson 0

k. Mills not out 4

T. Southee not out 4

EXTRAS (b 4, lb 10, w 7, nb 3) 24

TOTAL (9 wickets; 50 overs) 253

Fall of wickets: 1-25 (Guptill), 2-58 (Nicol), 3-137 (B. Mccullum),

4-153 (Ryder), 5-194 (Williamson), 6-211 (Franklin), 7-230 (Ellis),

8-234 (Bracewell), 9-249 (N. Mccullum)

BOWLING: Tsotsobe 10-1-41-2 (3nb, 1w), M. Morkel 9-0-49-2

(2w), Steyn 9-0-37-1 (2w), Peterson 10-1-45-2 (1w), Duminy 5-

0-22-0, kallis 7-0-45-2 (1w)

SOUTH AFRIcA

H. Amla b Southee 8

G. Smith c Ryder b Mills 9

J. kallis c Williamson b Bracewell 13

JP Duminy c & b Nicol 46

AB de Villiers not out 106

F. du Plessis not out 66

EXTRAS (lb 1, w 5) 6

TOTAL (4 wickets; 45.2 overs) 254

Fall of wickets 1-17 (Amla), 2-17 (Smith), 3-35 (kallis), 4-125

(Duminy)

BOWLING: Mills 7-0-27-1, Southee 10-0-64-1 (2w), Bracewell 10-

1-61-1, N. Mccullum 7-0-25-0, Nicol 5-0-43-1, Ellis 5-0-26-0,

Franklin 1-0-5-0, Williamson 0.2-0-2-0 (1w)

South Africa won by six wickets

Toss: New zealand

Umpires: chris Gaffaney (NzL), Richard Illingworth (ENG)

TV umpire: Aleem Dar (PAk)

Match referee: Roshan Mahanama (SRI).

ScOREBOARD

weLLINGToN: AB de Villiers celebrates hiscentury during the first one-day Internationalagainst New zealand. AfP

weLLINGToN: rob Nicol takes the catch ofJean-Paul Duminy during the first one-dayInternational at westpac Stadium. AfP

LAHORE STAFF REPORT

THE Pakistan CricketBoard has no plans tostrip Misbah-ul-Haq ofthe captaincy in any for-mat of the sport in the

near future, in the wake of oDI serieswhitewash against England. "Misbah isgoing to be retained as captain for theAsia Cup and they are no immediateplans to sack him as captain of the one-day or T20 squads," a senior official ofthe board said. He also ruled out anymajor overhaul in the national selectioncommittee before the Asia Cup.

"All this talk about Misbah beingreplaced as captain for limited overscricket is not correct. So far he is cap-tain for all three formats and thisissue is not even on the agenda of the

Governing board meeting that is dueto be held on March 1," the officialsaid. He said the perform-ance of the team, captainor selection committeewas not on the agendaof the Governingboard which wouldmostly deal withpassing the auditedbudget report of lastfiscal year, release offunds for under con-struction projects andthe Woolfe report on thegovernance of the Interna-tional Cricket Council. "If anymember wants to discussthe team performanceor related issuethat can bedone but it is

not on the agenda," the official said.He said reports that the national se-

lection committee would bechanged after the England

series were not correct."only the coaching staffwill be changed beforethe Asia Cup that is de-

cided. The rest willremain the same.Then it is up to the

Chairman of theboard to decide what

he wants to do afterthe Asia Cup," the

official said.

PCB keeps Misbah ascaptain for Asia Cup

LAHORESTAFF REPORT

Former Pakistan manager and coach In-tikhan Alam has revealed that DaveWhatmore will be confirmed as coach ofthe national team on his arrival here inthe first week of March.

“Whatmore will be confirmed asPakistan's new coach in March,” saidAlam. Alam chaired a committee put to-gether by the Pakistan Cricket Board tofind a new coach after Waqar Younisquit the role last year.

Mohsin Khan has been leading thePakistan team since, with spectacularsuccess, inflicting defeats on Sri Lankaand England at Test level. Mohsin willlikely return to his previous role as a se-lector, allowing Sri Lankan Whatmore totake up his new position.

Alam was quoted by PakPassion:"Dav Whatmore will arrive in earlyMarch to sign his contract.

Alam who was Head Coach for boththe 1992 World Cup win in Australia andthe Twenty20 World Cup win in Eng-land feels that the appointment of What-more will mark the launch of exciting

times for Pakistan cricket. "I can't giveyou the exact date yet as that has notbeen verified, but everything is in placefor him to take over with his first assign-ment being the Asia Cup in Bangladesh."Whatmore has a proven record and I

feel that his appointment will be an ex-citing one for the Pakistan cricket team."The team under Misbah-ul-Haq's as-tute leadership have gelled and contin-ued to show great signs of improvementover the last year or so. "I feel that

Whatmore will add more professional-ism to an already improving team andwill take this team to greater heights."

Australian Dav Whatmore will arrivein Pakistan in early March to be formallyannounced as the head coach of Pak-istan's cricket team with the Asia Cup inBangladesh being his first assignment.

Alam further confirmed that JulienFountain will arrive in Pakistan to takeover as the fielding coach after his cur-rent assignment with Dhaka in theBangladesh Premier League.

“Fountain who has previouslyworked for the PCB will arrive in Pak-istan straight from Bangladesh wherehe is working with the Dhaka Gladia-tors. our fielding continues to troubleus and I hope that in Fountain we willhave someone who can address thisissue that has troubled Pakistan cricketfor a long time.”

Alam refused to confirm the lengthof the contracts for either Whatmoreor Fountain, but PakPassion under-stands that Whatmore had requested atwo year contract from the PakistanCricket Board, as well as a say in selec-tion matters.

PCB to questionbanned pacer Aamir

LAHORESTAFF REPORT

Pakistan cricket authorities plan to questionbanned pace bowler Mohammad Aamir fol-lowing his return home on Sunday fromBritain after serving a jail sentence for cor-ruption. Aamir, 19, was released fromprison this month after serving a three-month sentence for his role in a spot-fixingscandal during the 2010 test against Eng-land at Lord's. He had been banned for fiveyears by the International Cricket Council(ICC). "obviously we will be meeting him tofind out the root cause of the spot-fixingissue in Pakistan cricket," Pakistan CricketBoard chief operating officer SubhanAhmad reported to have said. "We will talkto him to find out how and why he got in-volved in this corruption. Initially he wasnot very honest with us so we need to askhim questions. We also want to discuss hisrehabilitation with him." Aamir and histeam mates Salman Butt and MohammadAsif were banned by the ICC last year for ar-ranging for deliberate no-balls to be deliv-ered in the Lord's test. Butt and Asif are stillserving jail sentences. Meanwhile, formerPakistan captain Imran Khan believes thatconvicted spot-fixer Aamir should be re-called to the Pakistan side as soon as hisban has been served. Aamir was recently re-leased from a juvenile detention centre afterhe pleaded guilty to spot-fixing charges, butstill has most of his five-year ban fromcricket to serve. He has appealed to the ICCagainst the length of the sentence and indi-cated a desire to resume his cricket as soonas possible. Having shown remorse for hisactions - something which Salman Butt andMohammad Asif failed to do - Aamir de-serves to be welcomed back by Pakistan, ac-cording to Khan. "I would have him back,"Khan said during an interview on the BBC'sTMS show. "He didn't lie. He was straight-forward. He said, 'Look, I did this, it was amistake, and I ask for forgiveness'. "And fora 19-year-old, yes, I would forgive him. "Myheart has always gone out to Aamir becausehe was one of the best young talents I'veseen. But at least he pleaded guilty straightaway and said 'I've made a mistake'.

Pakistan searches forvenue for Australia oDIs

KARACHIAFP

Pakistan are looking for a suitable venue tostage their one-day series against Australialater this year, an official said Saturday.Pakistan have been forced to play theirhome series at the neutral venues of UnitedArab Emirates, New Zealand and Englandsince international cricket was halted intheir country after attacks on the Sri Lankanteam bus in 2009. The terrorists attacks inLahore, which left seven Sri Lankan playersand their assistant coach injured and killedeight people, suspended all internationalcricket in Pakistan. Even before the attacksPakistan had been a 'no go' zone for inter-national teams since the 9-11 attacks on theUnited States which sparked security fearsin and around Pakistan. Australia have nottoured Pakistan since 1998, forcing them toplay in Sri Lanka and Sharjah (2002) and inEngland in 2010. They have five one-daymatches scheduled for August this year andPCB chief operating officer Subhan Ahmadsaid three venues were under consideration.

PCB to confirm Whatmore as coach next week

Page 20

ISB 26-02-2012_Layout 1 2/26/2012 3:25 AM

Sports 19Sunday, 26 February, 2012

LAHORESTAFF REPORT

The 1st ICAP Golf Tournament conductedby the Institute of Chartered Accountantsof Pakistan concluded at the par 72,Royal Palm Golf Course yesterday.

After 18 holes of competitive golfand though the contenders for top prizeswere as many as 119, the ultimate winnerin gross section turned out to be SameerIftikhar, a three handicapper whoemerged with the best gross score of theday, a four over par 76 and therebypicked up the winners trophy from Sar-dar Latif Khosa, Governor Punjab. Dur-ing this prestigious corporate event,Sameer's nearest challenger was omerSalamat, who ended the 18 holes fightwith a score similar to that of Sameerbut Sameer won because of a betterscore on the back nine leaving Salamat a

little distraught as he had to be contentwith the runners up prize. In this cate-gory Sardar Murad came third. In thehandicap category 1-12, the winners innet category were Abdullah Sharif, firstwith a score of net 69, Faisal Ali Malik,second with a net 70 and Nasir Irshad,third with a net 72.

Amongst the Chartered Accountantscategory, the top performers were Mo-htisham Aftab (3rd net), Ibne Hassan(2nd net), Waheed Aslam (1st net) andAnjum A. Sheikh (3rd gross), Ale Imran(2nd gross), and Mian M. Saleem (1stgross). As for the other prize winners thenearest to the pin prizes were won by Ab-dullah Sharif, Brig Arshed Abbasi andHamid Sharif. The longest drive was hitby omer Salamt and most accurate driveby Haris Nasir. Maximum birdies werescored by Shoaib Bokhari.

Another event for contestants in the

handicap category 13-18 was also heldand the performers in this category areSaeedul Haseeb (3rd net), KhurramMazhar (2nd net), Irfan Ali (1st net),Faisal Hassan (3rd gross), Shahid Karim(2nd gross), and Dr Ahmed Faizan (1stgross).

on the occasion of the prize givingceremony, a lucky draw was held for thecaddies also and 10 lucky ones weregiven bicycles by the Governor Punjab,Sardar Latif Khosa and Rashid RehmanMir, President ICAP and Haji M. Yousafof ICAP. Haji Yousaf stated that this golftournament was an initiative on the partof ICAP to promote corporate golf. Alsopresent at the concluding ceremony wereRamzan Sheikh, Lt Gen (r) MuhammedTariq, Naeem Sheikh, Pervez Qureshi,Ronda Ehsan of CIDA, Col (r) JamilKhalid, Ziaur Rehman and a large num-ber of participating golfers.

Sameer Iftikhar wins 1st ICAP Golf Tournament

India facingmust-win oDIagainst Australia

SYDNEYAFP

India must beat Australia in Sunday's one-day international in Sydney to retain anyhope of reaching the tri-series finals, andthey must do it while denying claims ofchanging room unrest. The World Cupchampions are four points adrift of second-placed Australia ahead of two crucial oDIs inthree days. It is likely they will have to winboth if they are to play in next month's best-of-three finals. India have slipped behindafter back-to-back losses to Sri Lanka andAustralia following their tie with Sri Lanka inAdelaide on February 14. If India lose onSunday they will fall at least eight points be-hind Australia and will need a bonus-point(five points) win over Sri Lanka in their lastmatch next Tuesday to Hobart to have anychance of reaching the March 4-8 final se-ries. India's big showdown comes after In-dian media reported differences betweencaptain M.S. Dhoni and two senior batsmen,Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir, andthe continuing slump in form of Sachin Ten-dulkar. Dhoni, who was suspended fromIndia's 51-run loss to Sri Lanka in Brisbanelast Tuesday denied Saturday there was anyrift within the team over the rotation policyof the opening batting positions. "Will playlike a unit against Australia," said Dhoni,adding that the team was looking forward tobuilding momentum after their recent losses.All-rounder Irfan Pathan also downplayedtalk of differences in the team. "Everyone isworking hard. There is no difference of opin-ion in the team," he told reporters on Satur-day. "I have been hearing things, but it'snothing like that. Things are pretty good."It's a matter of winning big games. oncewe start winning the big games, thesethings are going to vanish," he said. Thereis concern over the form of Tendulkar, thegreatest run-scorer in oDIs and strugglingin his pursuit of his elusive 100th interna-tional century during the tour of Australia.

IC sports extravaganza ends

LAHoRE: The three-day sports festival of Islamia College Rail-way Road concluded here at the college ground on Saturday. Maj® Zubai Qayyum Butt was the chief guest of the final proceed-ing that included 100 metres race, tug or war between PrincipalXI ad Chief Guest XI, staff race and the old boys race. ProfAmjad Ali Shakir was also present on the occasion. Later chiefguest of the prize distribution ceremony Khawaja SalmanRafique, MPA, gave the prizes to the winners and the principalpresented a momento to the chief guest. STAFF REPORT

LAHore: A view of the chatti race at Islamia College railway road. StAff Photo

LAHORESTAFF REPORT

on the final day of Inter-district sports com-petitions, different competitions concluded atvarious venues of the province.

In the university boys’ karate final competi-tions, 48 kg: Waqas of Superior University gotfirst position. In 55 kg: Ayaz of University ofCentral Punjab while in 55+ kg: Shahid of Supe-rior University got first position. In athletics uni-versity female final, 100, 400 and 800: Sehrishof Punjab University excelled brilliantly.

In 200m, javelin throw and shot-put: Sobiaof Punjab University, 1500m: Naseem Akhtarof PU, long jump: Nighat won the titles. In foot-ball final, Punjab University beat University ofSouth Asia 3-1. Umair scored one goal whileShahbaz scored two goals to win the match.

In volleyball boys final, Lahore Universitybeat GC University 3-1 with a score of 25-19,25-19, 22-25, 25-16. In the blind cricket final,Aziz Jahan Begum Trust for Deaf scored 53

runs in 5 overs in while Hajvery Center forBlind are playing the second innings.

Meanwhile, Sports Board Punjab hasplanned to facilitate people to get online reg-istration for marathon, cycling, family fun runearlier at the nearest kiosks. For this purposestalls are placed at different routes for generalpublic in which Liberty Market Roundabout,Regal Chowk Naqi Market, Moon MarketIqbal Town, Allah Hu Chowk Roundabout,Shadman Market, Mughalpura Chowk, BarketMarket and Anarkali entrance.

For the students’ convenience, the kiosksare placed at educational institutes includingKinnaird College, Lahore College, Home Eco-nomics College, FC College, GC University,Punjab University, Islamia College CivilLines, MAo College, UET, LUMS, UCP,UMT, Superior University, Comsats Univer-sity and Lahore University. Besides theabove, mobile floats will be do the round atvarious route of the city for the awarenessand attraction of the general public.

LAHore: Prize winners of the 1st ICAP Golf Tournament with Sardar Latif Khosa, GovernorPunjab and Haji Mohammed yousaf of ICAP at the royal Palm Golf Tournament. StAff Photo

LAHore: Lahore university and Punjab university players in action during the Inter-universityVolleyball match of the Sports Festival. StAff Photo

Inter-district Sports festivalcompetitions conclude

Army win NationalInter-dept Baseball opener

LAHORESTAFF REPORT

Defending champions Army defeated Police 6-3 on the first day ofthe first Shaheed Kamran National Inter-departmental BaseballChampionship at the UCP ground here on Saturday. The matchlasted three hours and ended in the 9thinnings. Mohammad Arifgave Army first run in the first innings while Police failed to score.No run was made in the next two innings by either sides. In thefourth innings, both Army and Police earned two runs as Army led4-3. While Mohammad Arshad and Iftikhar scored one run each forArmy while Nasir Adeeb and Muzaffar Hussain scored one runapiece for Police. Again no run was made in the 5th innings. Armyagain scored two more runs through Iftikhar and Arshad to build upthe lead to 5-2. In the next innings Arif added his second run, whilePolice again failed to make any addition. In the 9th innings Policemade their third run through Ahsan Beg but only to lose the match6-3. Wapda will meet Army in the second match on Sunday. Secre-tary Pakistan Federation Baseball Khawar Shah inaugurated thechampionship, which is named to Shaheed Kamran, who was base-ball player from Army and lost his life in the war against terrorisms.Syed Fakhar Ali Shah Director Tournment told that Mr. ShuakatJaved President Pakistan Federation Baseball and Vice PresidentPakistan olympics Association will be the chief guest on final dayand Brig Iqtidar will be among the guests.

National u-19 soccer camp begins LAHORE

STAFF REPORT

The Pakistan Football Federation has called 20 incumbents of PakistanUnder-19 football players have assembled at the Punjab Stadium on Sat-urday for a training camp. The camp has been called under the PFF FastTrack Programme to keep the young footballers in shape under whichoutfits of different age-groups will undergo training at regular intervalsthroughout the year. The young team will take part in forthcoming KPTNational Challenge Cup 2012 starting from March 10 to 23 at KPT Foot-ball Stadium, Karachi. The top teams of the country will take part in thismega event. The camp trainees: Muzammil Hussain (WAPDA), SaqibHanif (KESC), Tanveer Mumtaz (Faisalabad Youth Centre), SharamBabar (SSGC), Aamir Anwar (ZTBL), Mohsin Ali (Navy), Amir Saddique(NBP), Muhammad Rafiq ( Muslim FC), Junaid Qadir (KPT), BilawalRehman (KRL), Saadullah (KRL), Sher Muhammad (NBP), Muham-mad Bilal (Navy), Saddam Hussain (PIA), Muhammad Riaz (KESC),Muhammad osman Mohkum (PAF), Naveed Ahmed (Navy), AbdulSalam (Karachi), Salah-Ud-Din (PTV) and Noman Ashraf (Wohaib FC).The officials of training camp are Shahzad Anwar (coach), MuhammadHabib (team anager) and Nadeem Abdul Rehman (goalkeeper Coach).

DuBAIAFP

JoNNY Bairstow hit amaiden half-century andpaceman Steven Finn tookthree wickets to guide Eng-

land to a comfortable 38-run win inthe second Twenty20 internationalagainst Pakistan on Saturday.Bairstow's 60 off 46 balls, studdedwith two sixes and five boundaries,helped England recover from a pre-carious 79-4 to post a challenging150-7 before Finn claimed 3-30 tobowl Pakistan out for 112 in 18.2overs at Dubai Stadium.

England's victory levelled theTwenty20 series and set up an in-triguing third and final match in AbuDhabi on Monday. Pakistan were offto a disastrous start as Finn had Mo-hammad Hafeez (nought) caught off

the second ball of the innings andthen removed a threatening UmarAkmal (19 off 12). Pakistan were dealtfurther crucial blows when Awais(six), Asad (one) and Shoaib Malik(12) were out, leaving half the side

back in the pavilion for just 50. Afridi(25) lifted the tempo with two bound-aries and a six off Samit Patel, taking17 off the left-arm spinner's 12th over,but England hit back by dismissingMisbah (13) at the other end.

England level T20 series

DuBAI: Steven Finn celebrates withteammates after dismissingMohammad Hafeez. AfP

ENGLAND

k. Pietersen c Gul b Ajmal 17

c. kieswetter c Gul b Afridi 31

R. Bopara lbw b Gul 1

E. Morgan lbw b Hafeez 9

J. Bairstow not out 60

S. Patel run out 13

J. Buttler b Gul 7

S. Broad b cheema 2

G. Swann not out 2

EXTRAS: (lb5, w3) 8

TOTAL: (for seven wickets) 150

Fall of wickets: 1-35 (Pietersen), 2-38 (Bopara), 3-49

(Morgan), 4-79 (kieswetter), 5-118 (Patel), 6-132

(Buttler), 7-137 (Broad).

BOWLING: Hafeez 4-0-25-1 (w1), cheema 4-0-31-1

(w2), Ajmal 4-0-20-1, Gul 4-0-31-2, Afridi 3-0-28-1,

Malik 1-0-10-0

PAkISTAN

Mohammad Hafeez c Pietersen b Finn 0

Awais zia c Dernbach b Broad 6

Asad Shafiq c and b Dernbach 1

Umar Akmal c Morgan b Finn 19

Shoaib Malik c Bairstow b Swann 12

Misbah-ul Haq c Bairstow b Swann 13

Shahid Afridi c Morgan b Broad 25

Hammad Azam c Buttler b Bopara 21

Umar Gul c kieswetter b Finn 10

Saeed Ajmal run out 0

Aizaz cheema not out 0

Extras: (nb1, w4) 5

Total: (in 18.2 overs) 112

Fall of wickets: 1-0 (Hafeez), 2-2 (Shafiq), 3-30

(Umar), 4-32 (zia), 5-50 (Malik), 6-74 (Misbah), 7-98

(Azam), 8-111 (Gul), 9-111 (Ajmal), 10-112 (Afridi)

BOWLING: Finn 4-0-30-3, Dernbach 3-0-13-1 (w3),

Broad 3.2-0-12-2, Swann 4-0-17-2, Bopara 3-0-23-1,

Patel 1-0-17-0

Result: England won by 38 runs. Toss: England.

ScOREBOARD

ISB 26-02-2012_Layout 1 2/26/2012 3:25 AM

dubai open

Sports20Sunday, 26 February, 2012

IS there a better, more hard workingand unassuming workhorse of a fastbowler than our very own Umar Gul?He has been carrying one half of thePakistan new ball load for the past

several years with a consistency and poisethat could only have been polished in thecrucible of English County cricket.

In Pakistan's Twenty20 against Eng-land, it was Gul who stepped into the breachto quell the hemorrhage of runs broughtabout by Kevin Pietersen against the inex-perienced Junaid Khan. Gul is a genuinelyfast bowler and has the ability to controlline and length at express pace, somethingonly the best of the best are capable of. Amodest soft spoken man, he lets his per-formance on the field do the talking. Sucha refreshing change from the self-styledgreats that we have been afflicted with inthe recent past, Umar Gul is certainly asource of pride for Pakistan cricket.

This was a satisfying win for Pakistanafter the ignominy of the oDIs. The oDImindset is quite different from that of theTest. In a Test match, a spinner has time towork the batsman out. He can apply closein fielders that the batsman is only tooaware of. In the oDIs the spinner has to bein the run saving mode and the luxury offlight has to be dispensed with to a greatextent. Thus the delicate balance betweenthe spinner and the batter is tilted ever soslightly, but enough to make the difference.The relative ineffectiveness of the spinnersallowed Alastair Cook and Pietersen to re-gain the form that they had been searchingfor and consecutive hundreds by both wereenough to make the difference.

DHONI’S REMARKS RELEVANT TO PAKISTANMahinder Singh Dhoni is never one to

hold back on his words and his statementregarding the fielding abilities of India’saging trio of Sehwag, Tendulkar andGambhir was quite significant. Dhoni has

recently stated that India cannot afford toplay all three batters because they leak anaverage of 20 runs an innings. Twenty runsan inning amount to four overs of batting,something any side can ill afford.

This is especially relevant to Pakistanbecause many of our players are hesitant todive headlong for the ball to save bound-aries. A boundary saved could be worth tworuns. This lack of fielding commitmentcould be because our selectors do not lay asmuch emphasis on fielding as a specialty, sothe fielders concentrate more on their onefield of expertise and do not wish to injurethemselves by doing something crazy whilefielding. In Australia, for example, the selec-tors look for the player to be outstanding intwo aspects of the game, be it batting andbowling, batting and fielding or bowling andfielding. If the same criterion was applied toour team, many of our greats would nothave been able to get into the side.

It is simple math. Every run saved isone run less to be made, so if a side saves20 runs more than the other, they have anextra four overs cushion when they bat.That is why Jonty Rhodes was gold dust forthe South Africans. He hardly ever misseda catch; in fact he created catches fromnowhere. He then stopped a slew of runsin the point-gully region. So, if he was av-eraging 30 while batting in oDIs, he wasworth well over fifty an innings to his side.

This is an aspect that should not be lostto our selectors when they make their de-cisions. At the moment all our fieldsmenare capable but there is no one who standsout, someone who can electrify the sidewith his inspirational work. These fieldinginstincts are developed very early in acricketer’s career and are difficult to instillonce the incorrect mindset is developed.Whoever gets the Pakistan coach’s jobwould be well advised to do his oDI sumsand focus on this vital aspect.

PUNTER, IRRESISTIBLE IN HIS POMPThe Triangular series in Australia is

beginning to pick up steam. The Sri

Lankans are beginning to play some ef-fective cricket and have had the measureof the Australians and the Indians. Theymay be the one team from South Asiawho show total commitment while field-ing. Perhaps it is because their groundsare less hard and their grass softer andmore lush than their other regionalcounterparts. But commitment is a stateof mind and the Sri Lankans certainlyhave that. They have left the absence ofMuralitharan well behind and are play-ing some excellent cricket.

The curtain is slowly coming downon the stellar career of Ricky Ponting,with announcement by selector John In-verarity that he was being dropped fromthe Australian oDI side. Ponting hasbeen cited as being the best Australianbatsman since Donald Bradman. Fewwould argue with that, although SteveWaugh or Neil Harvey might also comeinto the reckoning.

In his pomp, Ricky was simply thebest. once he got through the initial fewovers where he could be caught outreaching for the ball, Ponting was simplyirresistible. His pull shot off even thefastest bowlers was one of the all timegreat strokes in cricket. What set Punterapart from his peers Lara and Tendulkarwas that he was a superlative fielder, al-most in the same league as Rhodes. Noone hit the stumps with the accuracy andregularity as he did. His catching wasalso safe and sure.

In recent years, as the edge comes ofhis reflexes and eyes, he has lost the in-fallibility of his pull shot. There havebeen a run of low scores. But it should beremembered that Ponting’ last Test in-nings was a double hundred. There arenot too many Test matches ahead forAustralia and Ponting has expressed adesire to tour England in 2013. That tourwould depend on Ricky’s performancesin the series against the West Indies andSouth Africa. But till then retirementfrom Test cricket is entirely Punter’s call.

ALI AKBAR

SportS thiS Week

thetriangular

series inaustralia is

beginningto pick

up steam

Gul,letting hisperformancedo the talking

DuBAIAFP

CARoLINE Wozniacki's hopes of re-gaining the world number one rank-ing took another blow when her

defence of the Dubai open title ended in thesemi-finals on Friday. Wozniacki lost the topspot after an Australian open quarter-finaldefeat last month. She then fell at the firsthurdle in Doha, and on Friday failed to cap-italise on a 4-2 second set lead against un-seeded German Julia Goerges and wasbeaten 7-6 (7/3), 7-5. Despite this there wasalso plenty of evidence why the world num-ber 19 from Germany had beaten her betterknown Danish opponent in both their lasttwo meetings. Goerges, who will facePoland's Agnieszka Radwanska in Satur-day's final, hit the ball with great power, es-pecially on the forehand, and was preparedto risk errors to apply pressure.

Had Wozniacki been more confident shemight have held on to her serve in the sev-enth game of the second set and perhaps ex-tended the match to a decider. Instead shechose to dispute the Hawkeye replay deci-sion which consigned her to 30-40 -- a futileif emotionally understandable responsewhich both indicated and heightened herfrustration. Mostly Wozniacki used a slowerpace and changes of pace and direction, aswell her impressive mobility to contain theGoerges bombardment, but she was notquite consistent enough to make the policywork. "Today was just a day where you try,you try, you try, and it just doesn't work. Youknow, you have some of these days some-times," said Wozniacki, who will also defendtitle-holder’s points at her next tournament,in Indian Wells the week after next.

"overall, I think I played some goodmatches. I can take some positives from it,"she said, referring principally to her quarter-final win over Ana Ivanovic, another formerworld number one. Goerges was thrilledwith her win. "When you see the draw younever expect to get to the final," she said ofsomething she had only achieved three timespreviously. "It’s amazing to be in the finaland to beat Caro again. I just tried to stay ag-gressive and play my kind of game."

Goerges has enterprisngly taken advan-tage of a top half minus the injured worldnumber one Victoria Azarenka, and whichquickly lost the sixth-seeded semi-injuredMarion Bartoli, beaten by Peng Shuai ofChina in the first round. Goerges will playthe in-form Radwanska, who has only lost toAzarenka this year and will climb one place

to world number five if she takes the title.The rising 22-year-old from Krakow

overcame former world number one JelenaJankovic 6-2, 2-6, 6-0 in a topsy-turvymatch in which Radwanska started and fin-ished the more patient and controlled player.

Jankovic tried hard to impose her newmore attacking emphasis upon an opponentwho defends, contains and counter-attacksvery well, but the Serb could only make itwork in the middle of the match. Radwanskaremained calm through that period of pres-sure although she admitted to finishing tiredafter a contest of one hour and 43 minutesin which she did plenty of running.

She also admitted to having had argu-ments with her father Robert, who last yearalleged that she needed "a psychiatrist, apsychologist, something like that," and withwhom she has parted as a coach.

DuBAI: Julia Goerges of Germany reacts afterbeating defending champion Caroline wozniackiat their wTA Dubai open semi-final. AfP

DuBAI: Denmark's Caroline wozniackiserves to Julia Goerges of Germany duringtheir wTA Dubai open semi-final. AfP

Goergessends Wozniacki

crashing out

MEMPHIS: Top seeded American JohnIsner was sent crashing out of the ATP andWTA Memphis open after losing to Aus-trian Jurgen Melzer 6-3, 7-6 (8/6) in aquarter-final match Friday. Isner, whohammered 48 aces in his first two matchesin Memphis, fired 11 aces against Melzer inthe 81 minute match at the $1.1 million in-door hardcourt tournament at The RacquetClub of Memphis. Besides Melzer, hard-serving Canadian Milos Raonic, CzechRadek Stepanek and Benjamin Becker ofGermany also reached the semis on Friday.In the tie break, Melzer had a double faultto hand Isner a set point, but the Austrianbattled back to win the final three points ofthe set. Isner, who is ranked 13th in theworld, also had two double faults and wonjust 67 percent of his first-serve points.Melzer won 80 percent of his first-servepoints, had seven aces and saved both of hisbreak point chances. Third seeded Stepanekalso cruised into the semis surviving a first-set tie break then dominating the second setto beat Sam Querrey 7-6 (7/5), 6-0.Stepanek will face Melzer in the semis. AFP

Top seedisner out

Memphis open

ISB 26-02-2012_Layout 1 2/26/2012 3:26 AM

Sports 21Sunday, 26 February, 2012

IN a sequel of last week’s ‘Fluctuat-ing Fortunes’ we take a look at theevents in the Middle East, as Eng-land riposte with swagger and pull

off a whitewash of their own, with Pak-istan coming back in the T20s. Alsounder discussion is the title race in LaLiga, and after presenting the unpre-dictable world of Phil Mickelson in FF1last week, FF2 looks at the disintegratingworld of a certain Tiger Woods.

RETORTING TO THE RETORT

After England’s oDI whitewash, inreply to Pakistan’s greenwash, the fans,media and former greats (read; could playa bit in their day and now whine at everyopportunity) duly pulled out their knivesand cannons to fire relentless blitzkriegs ofcastigation towards the national cricketside – the team that had only a few daysback conjured up the greatest test triumphin the nation’s history. While we were con-vincingly out-cooked in the oDI series, thecriticism bombarded at the team was com-pletely un-called for. No one likes to bebageled in a series – refer to Ian Botham’scommentary or Bob Willis’ column afterthe test series for further evidence – butone should always draw a line before de-moralising a team that has been on theright track for the good part of a year. Yes,the oDI series has come as a jolt, but as faras long term prospects and the bigger pic-ture are concerned, there is no doubt thatthe team in going in the right direction.

This piece is being scribed before theculmination of last night’s T20 match, and

whatever the result might have been Pak-istan’s triumph on Thursday has ensuredthat the pendulum continues to swing be-tween England and Pakistan in the gulf. Itwas 2007 all over again, as three of thefour men who laid the foundation ofPakistan being a T20 powerhouse– Umar Gul, Shoaib Malik andMisbah-ul-Haq (the fourthbeing Shahid Afridi) –came to the fore. UmarGul delivering in theclutch in T20s hasbecome a customof sorts, and fewwould argue againsthim being the best fastbowler – if not the best bowler – inthe shortest format of the game.

Customarily, ever since hiscomeback, Shoaib Malik con-tributes as much to Pakistanibatting as the on field um-pires’ lightmeter or the adver-tisement hoardings behindthe boundary line. However,that innings on Thursdaywas crucial – albeit ugly –in ensuring that Pakistanreached a defendabletotal. Shoaib Malikseems to have hadundue backing of hiscaptain over the re-cent past, but it is ex-actly because of thatsort of a ruggedknock in crunchtime that hecan sermon.

Malik needs to retrace consistencyin his batting now to furthervindicate that trust; for, we arecompletely devoid of a similarbatsman, who can slug it out,

rotate the strike andhas the potential to

up the ante

as well – evidently, hehas the widest gamut

of gears in our batting.Also, as much as youmight love to hate him,Shoaib Malik was themind behind Pakistan’s

world-beating exploits inT20s in and around the

first World Cup in 2007,which laid the foundation for

our triumph in 2009.

REAL ON THE UP

The Big Two in Spain still haveten points between them, as away tests

at Rayo Vallecano and Atletico awaitReal Madrid and Barcelona respectively.As discussed last week, it is Barcelona’saway form that has resulted in the gap be-tween the two sides increasing – especiallyaround the time of their World Club Cham-pionship triumph. And now it seems that

despite firmly being under Barcelona’sdomination – both over the league and intheir head to head – in the recent past, thependulum of league glory might finallyswing towards the Spanish capital.

Meanwhile, a Leo Messi inspiredBarcelona completely dismantled Valen-cia – a team in the third position – 5-1 lastSunday, to further elucidate the gapingdisparity between the top twoand the rest. La Liga con-tinues to cement itself asa duopoly; and withan annual two-horsederby being servedup in Spain, it ishard to see anytitle-winning pen-dulums swinging inthe direction of thechasing pack anytimesoon. The matters areskewed in the toptwo’s favour to suchan extent this season– and over the re-cent seasons – thata draw for eitherside is perceived asbeing akin to a de-feat in the titlerace. And this isexactly why de-spite having thetop two play-ers, top twoteams, possi-bly top twom a n a g e r sand all the

technical quality in the world La Liga failsto live up as a competitive spectacle.

All the same, La Liga’s competitivenesswould be the last thing on the mind of JoseMourinho at the moment as he continuesto plot his way through the labyrinth ofleague glory, with the final line prettymuch in sight. And also after their 1-0 tri-umph in Moscow in the Champions Leagueround of 16 first leg, and watching Barcabeat Leverkusen in Germany, the safemoney is on these two locking horns in Eu-rope’s premier club competition as well.For, it’s difficult to see either of them beingbeaten by anyone but each other.

THE TIGER THAT WAS

Here’s a question: when was the lasttime you saw Tiger Woods’ putting beingas abysmal as it was in the AccentureMatch Play in the second round on Fri-day? Yes, the last weekend is a just re-sponse; but what the question impliedwas before Tiger bear-hugged this pro-tracted downward spiral of his in 2010.As the tournament – that the formerworld number one has won three times– continued without him being in thethird round, the Arizona desert was stillechoing with horror from his missedfive-footer on the 18th green. And de-spite Woods being out of contention, hisflat-stick misery continues to hog thelimelight in golf talks.

Yes, it is absolutely unrealistic to ex-pect a golfer – even someone with un-precedented golfing wherewithal, likeTiger – to go through his entire careerwithout having any putting problems. ButTiger Woods has made a career – one ofthe most illustrious in the history of sports,at that – out of flaunting the unrealisticand pulling off the unimaginable. Andwhat makes the scenario even more worri-some for Tiger is that not only was putting

his bread and butter inhis heyday, golfing ex-perts opine that put-ting is the first thingto go before the cur-tain begins to

stealthily draw on a ca-reer. The stroke hasbeen Woods Achilles’heel – who thoughtthat we’d be sayingthis one day – eversince his abysmalputting in the 9thhole on Sunday at

Augusta last April,that blew off his chance

of a fifth green jacket.And now with Tiger’s

stutters continu-ing, the pendu-lum of golfingsupremacy that

has been fluctuat-ing between Lee

Westwood, MartinKaymer and Luke

Donald might finallyrest with Rory McIlroy,

who has the chance of be-coming the top ranked golfplayer with a triumph atAccenture Match Play.

Showcasing theswinging pendulum in thePakistan-Englandseries, La Liga and theworld of golf

KuNWAR KHuLDuNE SHAHID

ALL BASeS CoVereD

IT is funny that this current United lot of David deGea, Phil Jones, Chris Smalling, Fabio da Silvaand Rafael da Silva are regularly being touted as

the next big things in the world of football; however,when you put them together what you get is an acci-dent waiting to happen. This was vindicated in theshambolic defensive display on Thursday against Ajax,and barring the generosity of the visitors, United couldhave easily found themselves dumped out of the lowertier of European club competition as well. Granted RioFerdinand and Patrice Evra weren’t there, but theyhaven’t exactly been at their best this season, now havethey? United’s defensive struggle is the primary reasonwhy the defending English champions had to bear theearly exit in the UEFA Champions League.

Starting off with De Gea; he might be a topdrawer shot stopper, but his handling of crossesmust surely disturb Alex Ferguson’s blood pressure.His tendency to flap at aerial balls, when catchingthem is the easier – and the logical – option, meansthat once the opposition bombard in the balls fromthe flanks, United’s defensive mix becomes the hubof uncertainty. Then there are the Da Silva twins;Fabio comes across as the more steady of the two-possibly because of being a few seconds older – buthe is still not the finished article in terms of defen-sive solidity. Fabio can be labeled as being two-footed but more often than not he is found to prefer

his right foot – always a setback for the flank posi-tions. Rafael is a headless chicken of the Theo Wal-cott breed, and while he is a menace going forward,he is also a menace going back – both for different

teams of course. He is also a walking red card, espe-cially when he gets booked early on in the game, asUnited found out against Munich in the ChampionsLeague a couple of seasons back. And more often

than not his card inviting tackling is found to be inthe opposition’s half with unnecessary challenges.

Jones and Smalling have been the ones talked upby Alex Ferguson and the media as well, and are thefuture Englandcenter-back partnership – possiblythe present as well. However, the duo isn’t quite asstable as you’d want them to be. Phil Jones has beenpraised left, right and center for his performance inhis debut season for United, with both United andEnglish captaincy being considered as a matter of‘when’ not ‘if’. But, Jones has had his off days – quitea few of them actually – and has been found wantingdealing with aerial balls. His versatility has meantthat he has been played all over the pitch, but thathas also ensured that he hasn’t managed to trace sta-bility and hence hasn’t fulfilled the immense poten-tial that he undoubtedly has. He has been more of asecond coming of John o’Shea than say Steve Bruceor Bryan Robson as he has been peddled.

Smalling possibly has looked the most sure atthe back, from the current United crop, and canmove forward with ease and efficiency as well. Butagain, being thrown around in different positionshas hindered his progress through the course of theseason. There is Johnny Evans as well, who occa-sionally resembles a competent defender, only toshowcase the contrary at the crucial moments. AlexFerguson needs to identify the best position of hisyoung breed, and stop mixing and matching, if hewants the current crop to fulfill their potential andfor his club to move forward and not behind.

Manchester United’s defence is an accident waiting to happen

J.K WALI

Comment

ISB 26-02-2012_Layout 1 2/26/2012 3:26 AM

Sunday, 26 February, 2012 22

Published by Arif Nizami for Nawa Media Corporation (Pvt) Ltd at Plot # 7, Al-Baber Centre, F/8 Markaz, Islamabad. Editor: Arif Nizami, Executive Editor: Sarmad Bashir, Resident Editor: Rana Qaisar

ISLAMABADSHAIq HUSSAIN

As Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilaniappealed to the Taliban and other mili-tant groups in Afghanistan to partici-pate in the intra-Afghan reconciliationprocess on Friday, Pakistan has plainlyconveyed it to the Afghan governmentand the obama administration that itcould “facilitate” their peace talks withvarious Afghan insurgent groups, butwould not become a “guarantor” for thesuccess of such negotiations.

It is for the first time that Pakistanhas called on the Afghan Taliban to startpeace talks with the government ofPresident Hamid Karzai, and to manyobservers it is a clear indication of amajor policy shift on part of Pakistan.

“No doubt, the prime minister’sstatement is an important developmentand it shows clearly that Pakistan iswilling to play the role of a facilitator inthe ongoing reconciliation process in

Afghanistan. However, at the same timePakistan has also made it clear to theAfghan government as well as theUnited States that it could use its ‘goodoffices’ to facilitate the talks, but wouldnot play the role of a guarantor, whichis to ensure that the talks would suc-ceed,” said a Pakistani diplomat here onSaturday seeking anonymity.

He said Pakistan could facilitate theAfghan government as well as the USauthorities to have access to variousTaliban groups, but to ask it to play therole of a guarantor would be asking for“too much”, as the Taliban could not beinfluenced to that extent. “They (Tal-iban) are not under the control of Is-lamabad as it is falsely assumed andthey make their own independent deci-sions,” he said.

The Taliban have already set uptheir office in Qatar for dialogue withthe United States as they announced amonth or so ago and they have alsobeen engaged in initial talks with the

US authorities and that too for the re-lease of their prisoners, who are inAmerican detention.

The Afghan government, however,is finding it difficult to reach out to thetop leadership of the Taliban for talkson its own after being left out by theUnited States in talks with the militantsin Qatar.

Another Pakistani official, whencontacted, said that talks with the Tal-iban would be a long drawn exercisewhether it was with the US or with theKarzai government, as there were diffi-cult issues to be sorted out such as theform and nature of future ruling setupin Kabul and the share of the Taliban.

“It will be a very hard dialogue withthe Taliban no matter if it’s being doneby Kabul or Washington, and to play therole of a guarantor on part of Pakistanwould not be a wise step and that’s whyit is most likely that Islamabad will nottake any such responsibility, at least notat such at an early stage,” he said.

ISLAMABADONLINE

Hundreds of tribesmen kicked off here on Sat-urday protests and a two-day sit-in against USdrone attacks outside the Parliament House.

The tribesmen, most of them belonging toNorth Waziristan Agency, arrived in Islam-abad to convey their resentments to the Pak-istani authorities and the world against theattacks,” an anti-drone attack campaignerfrom North Waziristan, Karim Khan, who losthis son in one of US drone attacks, told online.The protesters from the tribal areas were ac-companied by the workers of various politicalparties including PML-Q, JI, PTI, JUI as wellas workers of NGos and HR organisations be-sides a large number of other people.

The protesters carrying banners inscribedwith anti-drone attack slogans and appeal forstopping it gathered in D-Square outside theparliament. They were chanting slogans - ‘thefriend of America is traitor’.

Later on, the sit-in was addressed by lead-ers of protestors Karim Khan and former JIAmir Qazi Hussain Ahmad, PML-Q leaderAjmal Wazir and PTI senior leader JavaidHashmi. The speakers said the US drone at-tacks on the tribal people were being carriedout by the covert consent of Pakistani author-ities. They demanded of the government totake concrete steps for protecting its people bystopping the attacks.

one of the protestors said that protestswould continue across the country till theend of attacks. After a lull of about twomonths, the CIA-supported drone attackswere resumed in January.

Earlier on Thursday, a protest rally wasstaged against the drones in Miranshah,while the tribal people had also launched aprotest last year.

So far 288 drone strikes have been carriedout in the various locations of the tribal areasand over 2,700 people including militant lead-ers had lost life in the attacks.

Drone strikes were halted in November2011 after Nato forces killed 24 Pakistani sol-diers in the Salala incident. Shamsi Airfieldwas evacuated of the Americans and it wastaken over by the Pakistanis the next month.The incident prompted an approximately two-month stop in drone strikes, which were re-sumed on January 10, 2012.

Pakistan had stated times and again thatattacks were counterproductive and createdproblems in the war on terror. However, theCIA controlled attacks continued unabated.

The issue of drone attacks was raised by

Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar in hermeeting in London with US Secretary of StateHillary Clinton. However, no change is ex-pected as it is not for the first time that theissue was discussed.

Meanwhile, Hundreds of people hailingfrom South Waziristan staged a protestdemonstration against the restoration of Natosupply. The parade avenue was filled withhundred of protestors carrying placards,posters and banners against the US as well asPakistani government.

An anti-drone campaigner namely AyeshaGulala Wazir said that more than 1,350 peoplehave lost their lives in the drones out of which1,000 belonged to South Waziristan.

“The United Nations (UN) didn’t givemandate to anyone to breach the sovereigntyof an independent state,” she stated. She saidthat number of innocent women, children andelders lost their lives in drone attacks. She saidnational and especially international mediaprojected wrong picture of tribal people thatthey (tribal) are savages, who like violence andbrutality. “The case was not like that, tribaldidn’t like violence in the area but they wantpeace and progress,” she added.

She further said there was still no engi-neering university, medical college and otherfacilities in the Federally AdministeredTribal Areas (Fata).

taliban claimdowning a droneMIRANSHAH: A US drone may havecrashed on Saturday in North Waziristan, in-telligence officials said while the Talibanclaimed that they had shot it down. The Tal-iban led by Hafiz Gul Bahadur said they hadcollected wreckage of the destroyed droneand would provide its pictures to the mediaon Sunday. Security officials, however, saidthey did not know what caused the drone tocrash. “A drone aircraft was seen going downin Machikhel and flames were seen,” an intel-ligence official said. “We don’t know whatcaused it to go down. We are investigating.”Another official said the drone had gonedown in an area controlled by militants,about 30 kilometres from the Afghan border.“The local Taliban have the wreckage,” hesaid. Separately, a US official denied Talibanclaims that militants shot down the dronebut declined further comment. REUTERS

PESHAWARSHAMIM SHAHID

The multi-storey compound of AlQaeda’s former chief osama BinLaden in Bilal Town, Abbottabad wasdemolished with the help of heavymachinery late on Saturday night.

The compound, situated nearthe Pakistan armed forces trainingacademy at Kakul was demolishedunder the supervision of local ad-ministration with collaboration ofarmed forces.

According to details, soon afterdusk a heavy contingent of armed

forces and police cordoned off thecompound.

All routes and streets connect-ing Bilal Town with the rest of Ab-bottabad were blocked for vehiclesand pedestrians as well. More than400 personnel of the armed forces,police and Frontier Constabularywere deployed around the com-pound blocking all routes andstreets leading to the house.

With the help of bulldozers,tractors and other machineries, themulti-storey compound was demol-ished in a period of around twohours. There are no further detailsregarding the belongings of osamabin Laden.

According to official documents,4,200 square yards of land was pur-chased for construction of thehouse sometime in 2004. The housewas constructed over 1,800 squareyards whereas the rest of the areawas used as a courtyard and garden.

So far the authorities are tight-lipped about the reason behind thedemolition of the compound but itis believed that the government wastroubled by frequent visits of for-eigners, especially media squads tocapture images and videos of thecompound. A few days back, the lawenforcement agencies detained twoforeign journalists who were takingpictures of the building.

Tribesmen protestagainst drones,NATO supply

no guarantee afghan talks willsucceed, us and Kabul told

Bin Laden’S Lair demoLiShed

ISLAMABAD: Tribesmen hold up a placard of alleged drone strike victims during a protest on Saturday against US drone

attacks in the tribal region.AfP

FILE PHOTO

ISB 26-02-2012_Layout 1 2/26/2012 3:26 AM

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