ISLAMABADShAIQ huSSAIn

After a five-month suspension, Pakistan andthe United States resumed formal bilateraltalks on Thursday, but could not make anyprogress in ending the ‘stalemate’ over theresumption of stalled NATO supplies owingto Washington’s refusal to offer an uncondi-tional public apology over the Novemberstrikes by its aircraft on Pakistani borderposts that killed 24 soldiers.

US Special Envoy for Pakistan andAfghanistan Marc Grossman, who landed inIslamabad on Wednesday evening in an ef-fort to mend the fractured ties, held formaltalks with Foreign Minister Hina RabbaniKhar, who was assisted by Foreign SecretaryJalil Abbas Jilani and other senior officialsof the Foreign Office.

Before the talks, the US envoy also hada vital meeting with Army Chief GeneralAshfaq Kayani in Rawalpindi, where like atthe Foreign Office talks, he asked for anearly restoration of NATO supplies, whichwere blocked by Islamabad in the wake ofNATO airstrikes. The Pakistani leadershiprefused to accept the US demand for restor-ing NATO supplies before a public apologyover the incident.

“The US official was plainly told that theObama administration must come up with apublic apology over airstrikes on Pakistanioutposts and killing of two dozen soldiers.Ambassador Grossman was non-committalon this demand by Pakistan’s civilian andmilitary leadership and hence the ‘deadlock’in relations couldn’t be done away with,”said a Pakistani official privy to Grossman’stalks at the Foreign Office and his meetingwith the army chief.

He said there was no settlement of theother contentious issue of drone strikes in

the Tribal Areas by CIA, with the US not ex-tending any assurance to stop the assaults inresponse to a demand by Pakistani authori-ties for cessation of the attacks by Americanspy planes. In an interview to a foreign wireservice, Foreign Minister Khar said the USwas not listening to Pakistani demands ofhalting drone attacks.

The official said, “Some proposals likereducing the number of drone strikes, defin-ing the targeted areas in the Tribal Areasand having intelligence input from Pakistanisecret agencies before the strikes were alsodiscussed but there was no understandingon the issue in Thursday’s talks,” the officialsaid. Nonetheless, he said Grossman wouldbe in Islamabad until today (Friday) andwould be having more meetings with Pak-istani officials, so efforts would be made toend the stalemate and move forward on con-flicting matters to resume full-fledgedcounter-terrorism cooperation. In Thurs-day’s talks, the Pakistani side also stressedon the need for ties on the basis of mutualrespect to each other sovereignty.

lahore Edition Jamadi-ul-Sani 5, 1433Friday, 27 April, 2012 Rs 15.00 Vol II No 300 22 Pages

ISLAMABADMASooD RehMAn

Aseven-member specialbench of the SupremeCourt on Thursdayconvicted Prime MinisterYousaf Raza Gilani of

committing contempt of court andimprisoned him until the rising ofthe court, which happened for lessthan a minute after the verdict wasannounced, making Gilani the firstprime minister in Pakistan’shistory of being found guilty ofcommitting contempt.The bench also referred to Article 63(1) (g) of the constitution, which maydisqualify Gilani from remaining inparliament, since he had brought“into ridicule the judiciary”.The bench of Justice Nasirul Mulk,Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa,Justice Sarmad Jalal Osmany,Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan, Justice Ijaz

Ahmed Chaudhry, Justice GulzarAhmed and Justice MuhammadAther Saeed, announced its shortorder reserved on April 24.“For reasons to be recorded later,the accused, Syed Yousaf RazaGilani, prime minister of Pakistanand chief executive of thefederation, is found guilty andconvicted of contempt of courtunder Article 204 (2) of theconstitution read with Section 3 ofthe Contempt of Court Ordinance2003, for willful flouting, disregardand disobedience of this court’sdirection contained in paragraph178 of the NRO judgment, after oursatisfaction that the contemptcommitted by him is substantiallydetrimental to the administrationof justice and tends to bring thiscourt and the judiciary of thiscountry into ridicule,” JusticeNasirul Mulk said.“As regards the sentence to bepassed against the convict, we note

that the findings and theconviction for contempt ofcourt are likely to entailsome seriousconsequences in terms ofArticle 63 (1) (g) of theConstitution, which maybe treated as mitigatingfactors towards thesentence to be passedagainst him. He is,therefore, punishedunder Article 5 ofthe Contempt ofCourt Ordinance2003 withimprisonment till therising of the courttoday”, the shortorder further said.

ISLAMABADStAFF RepoRt

Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan, the counsel forPrime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, onThursday said the scope of the SupremeCourt’s judgment against the PM was “be-yond the scope of charge sheet”, addingthat the charge sheet did not include thecharge of scandalizing the court.

He expressed these views while ad-dressing a joint press conference at thePM’s Secretariat along with InformationMinister Qamar Zaman Kaira and oth-ers. Aitzaz told reporters that the federalcabinet, allies and the prime ministerhad directed him to file an appeal againstthe court verdict.

He said a copy of the short order hadyet not been provided to the convict,which had surprised him. He deploredthe fact that the judgment was againstnormal practice, as in criminal cases, de-tailed judgments were delivered. He alsocriticized a section of the media that hesaid had “short-circuited” court proceed-ings. He said he felt sorry for the verdict,

but said it was an important day in thecountry’s political history. Aitzaz said thejudgement was in two parts - one partwas that the prime minister flouted thepara 178 of the court verdict in NRO casewhile the other part was related to the al-leged scandalizing of the judiciary.

He said when charges were framedagainst the PM on February 2, 2012,there was no mention of scandalizing thejudiciary and otherwise, he would havecontested these charges and would havesubmitted evidence against the charge.

“If it is proved that any member ofparliament scandalized or defamed thejudiciary, he/she might be disqualified.However, since this was not a chargeagainst the premier, no question arisesof his disqualification,” he asserted. Hesaid the PM was charged under one of-fence while he was convicted under twocharges, which was surprising for him.

“For the past three months, wehave been contesting charges of civiloffence while my client has been con-victed under criminal offence for whichhe was not convicted,” he maintained.

He also confronted the notion that theprime minister had been automaticallydisqualified after conviction and saidthat the speaker or chairman senatewould have to examine whether or notif any MP had been disqualified. “Sincethere is no charge mentioned in thecharge sheet against the prime minis-ter, the speaker would have to be con-vinced by legal experts whether or nota reference could be sent against thepremier. Speaker might seek guidancefrom amicus curies as this is the ver-dict of the highest court of the countryand therefore it should be taken seri-ously,” he added. Aitzaz said he alsowanted to raise these points with theseven-member bench and when thecourt was rising, he sought permissionto speak but he was not heard.

He said in his view, there was noquestion of disqualification for the primeminister. He said an appeal against thecourt judgement was continuation oforiginal trial and therefore the operationon the court judgement would be sus-pended with the filing of the appeal.Aitzaz expressed gratitude to the courtfor awarding minimum punishment tothe prime minister and said even if thepremier was handed down imprison-ment for six months, he would have ac-cepted the court verdict humbly. “Theprime minister was ready to go toAdiyala Jail and had even brought nec-essary luggage along with him,” he as-serted. Citing precedence from politicalhistory, Aitzaz said that former primeminister Nawaz Sharif had been con-victed by the apex court in year 2000 inthe plane hijacking case but the decisionwas overturned in year 2009 as the courtaccepted an appeal against its previousjudgement after nine years.

Minister for Information & Broad-casting Qamar Zaman Kaira rejectedthe notion that Prime Minister YousafRaza Gilani should resign on moralgrounds after the apex court verdictand said that the premier was not fac-ing moral charges and rather a legalbattle was going on.

Yousaf Raza Gilanimakes history bybecoming first PrimeMinister convicted of contempt

Pak-US talks fail tobreak the deadlock g US unwilling to offer public apology over NATO strikes in Mohmandg Grossman non-committal on end to US drone strikes

Aitzaz questions scope of SC verdict

ISLAMABAD: Aitzaz Ahsan and Federal Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira

arrive at the Supreme Court. online

CONTINuED ON PAgE 04

PICTuRE | PAgE 28

CONTINuED ON PAgE 04

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punjab and Iran are best friends: CM Military’s grip on foreign policy easing: Khar

PPP activists try to march towards CJP’s house in protest

ISLAMABADSALMAn ABBAS

The Supreme Court’s conviction of Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gi-lani of contempt of court sparks anger among the pro-governmentlawyers and Pakistan People’s Party’s workers who tried to marchtowards the residence of Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muham-mad Chaudhry.After the SC judgement, PPP MPA Nargis Faiz Malik along witharound 200 PPP workers staged a protest demonstration against thejudiciary. They also tried to go towards the resident of the CJP butpolice stopped them to do so after which they burnt tyres in front ofthe local hotel. Dozens of pro-government lawyer staged a protestdemonstration against the Supreme Court decision of convicting PMGilani of contempt of court. The protest was led by son of the governor of Punjab, AdvocateKhurram Latif Khosa while the lawyers from Rawalpindi and Multanalso participated in the demonstration.Meanwhile, the arrival of Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani beforethe seven-member bench of the Supreme Court on Thursday notonly appear to be a embarrassing for the premier, himself, but onceagain created a large number of problems for the litigants and com-muters who visits the red zone for their routine works. As Gilani had to appear before the court, the law enforcementagencies of the capital city sealed most of the roads leading to-wards the SC. “Only those who have special entry passes, to at-tend the contempt of court proceedings against Gilani, wereallowed to enter the SC premises and on the other hand people,who came their to appear in their own cases, also found it hard toenter the superior court premises.”

Protests in Punjab, Sindh after

SC verdict against GilaniKARACHI/MULTAN

AGenCIeS

The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) activists held protest demonstra-tions in different cities of the country in support of Prime MinisterYousaf Raza Gilani over the Supreme Court verdict in contempt ofcourt case. Hundreds of PPP workers including women and mem-bers of students organisations of the party, in Multan, RahimyarKhan, Kandhkot, Sukkur, Thatta, Gharo, Tando Muhammad Khan,Jaccobabad, Jamshoro, Nowsheroferoz and other cities of the threeprovinces staged pro-Gilani protests following the SC ruling againsthim. The protesters burnt tyres and blocked the main road near theHigh Court chowk in Multan. They stopped the Shalimar Express.Protests were also staged in interior Sindh. The protestors chantedslogans in favour of Gilani and the PPP leadership. They were of theview that the PPP had always been victimised through courts.Unknown armed men in Badin, Thatta, Nawabsah, Sukkur andsome other parts of Sindh resorted to aerial firing, forcing thetraders to shut their business.

ISLAMABAD: prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and other ppp leaders leave the SC premises after the court announced its verdict,

convicting Gilani of contempt on thursday. inP

LAHOREJAMALuDDIn JAMALI

LAWYERS of the People’s Lawyersforum (PLF) on Thursday shoutedfull-throated slogans against theSupreme Court at the Lahore HighCourt premises, expressing un-

flinching support for Prime Minister YousafRaza Gilani in the wake of apex court judgmentin the contempt case.

Slogans of “Jiyay Bhutto” echoed across theLHC compound while the pro-judiciary lawyersremained sitting at the bar. A large number ofpro-PPP lawyers gathered at the LHC and ex-pressed their rage against the anti-PPP judg-ment, invoking sympathies in the communityfor the prime minister. They managed to attracthuge media attention and made quite a goodshow of a protest and expressed full supportwith their prime minister.

Pro-judiciary lawyer, judicial activismpenal Chairman Muhammad Azhar Siddique,told reporters after the verdict that “we demandimmediate withdrawal of all protocols and priv-ileges for the PM for committing contempt of

Supreme Court”.Azhar said, “The PM is still de-fying court orders, he may be permanently dis-qualified from holding any office. NAB shouldimmediately start proceeding against him andhis family for investigating corruption charges.”

Talking to reporters, PPP lawyers called thejudgment another case of victimization by thejudiciary, refreshing the memory of ZA Bhutto.

Former Supreme Court Bar Associationpresident Asma Jehangir appeared on thescene and said there was no need to worry asthe prime minister’s disqualification was a longprocess. She said the PM’s disqualificationwould take a long time because the matterwould now be forwarded to the NA speaker andthen to the Election Commission and eventhen, nothing could be said about the outcomeof that process. Asma criticized the courts, say-ing the apex court should have pondered overhow they had damaged the image of Pakistanby the judgment.

She said Pakistan had become a countrywhich had a convicted prime minister thanksto the farsightedness of the judiciary, whichnever passed such verdicts against military dic-tators. She said, “I would have saluted the judi-

ciary thrice if it had passed similar verdictagainst any prime minister in the day of mili-tary rule.” To a question on disqualificationclause Article 63, she said everybody had itsown interpretation but the article was appliedwhen the court was ridiculed. However, primeminister did not adopt such an attitude thatridiculed the court, she said, adding that thePM appeared before the court and remainedsubmissive to the court.

“It is not a good tradition to disqualify theprime minister under Article 63,” she said,adding that if the same tradition continued,then no PM would survive in the future.

She said there was no prime minister whohad not faced charges, but in case of dictators,no one had the courage to ask them to leave.

To a question, she said it was a case be-yond moral limits as selectivity was observedon both sides. A pro-PPP member of the Pak-istan Bar Council, Ramzan Chaudhry, said theconstitution of Pakistan was silent on the pro-cedure for removal of prime minister exceptthrough a vote of no confidence, therefore, Gi-lani would remain in the office despite thesentence by the Supreme Court.

PPP lawyers, Asma Jahangirrant against SC verdict

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03Friday, 27 April, 2012

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The verdict has dismayed the PM.

Bad timing:Marc Grossman’s timing is not right.

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Bombs targeting newspapers kill at least 6 in nigeria Abhay, Sonam signal a truce

Changing face of the US: The US has changed a lot.

On ‘corruption’: The problem lies somewhere else.Mayank Austen Soofi says:Delhi’s stepwells: Delhi has many of them.

Razzaq off to greener shores

ISLAMABADStAFF RepoRt

Majority of noted constitutional experts onThursday said after the conviction in a contemptof court case, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilaniautomatically stood disqualified, therefore heshould immediately resign from his office.

Talking to Pakistan Today, former law min-ister and noted lawyer SM Zafar said since theSupreme Court had convicted Gilani for ridicul-ing the judiciary, he automatically stood dis-qualified. He said although the court did notgive its ruling under Article 63 (1) (g) of the con-stitution, “indirectly this article relates with theruling, thus the prime minister has lost his officeand stands disqualified”. He said under the rul-ing, Gilani was no more the prime minister con-stitutionally as well as morally, asdisqualification had attached with him. He how-ever said the primer had some time until theNational Speaker sent his matter of disqualifi-cation to the Election Commission of Pakistan.

He said now it depended on the premierwhether he got benefit of this time or resigns toavert further disgrace. He said it was better forthe premier to resign by moral courage. He saidthere was no justification that a convicted pre-mier was chief executive of a country having nu-clear capability. Senior lawyer Akram Sheikhsaid if the premier goes to any country, thatcountry would not make any accord with him,by keeping in view his position in his own coun-try. He said Gilani should neither cause a loss tothe country nor himself and should resign.

Commenting on the ruling, former

Supreme Court Bar Association’s (SCBA) pres-ident Asma Jahangir said this ruling neitherraised the prestige of the court nor the parlia-ment, instead created an ambiguity in the coun-try. She said this ruling had created anatmosphere of a long legal battle. She said thepremier could not automatically stand disqual-ified. She said proper procedure would have tobe adopted for his disqualification, which couldtake a long time. She said an appeal could alsobe filed against the conviction.

According to noted constitutional expertFakhruddin G Ebrahim, the premier stood dis-qualified after the conviction. He said the pre-mier should immediately resign without waitingfor proper procedure of disqualification. Whencontacted Justice (r) Wajihuddin Ahmed, hesaid just after the conviction, the premier auto-matically stood disqualified. He said appealcould be filed in this case. He said the benchwhich convicted the premier could not hear theappeal. He said for adjudication of appeal, an-other appellate bench would have to be consti-tuted. According to SCBA former presidentTariq Mehmood, after the conviction, the PMstood disqualified and he would have to quit.

According to noted lawyer Ikram Chaudhry,the Supreme Court had finally been left with nooption but to convict the Primer on the con-tempt charge after he had plainly told it onceagain that he would not obey even the specificdirection to write letter to Switzerland for re-opening money laundering cases against Presi-dent Asif Ali Zardari. He also said that after theconviction, Gilani stood disqualified and heshould quit in the best interest of the country.

Text of the two SC short orders in PMcontempt case

ISLAMABADonLIne

Following are text of the two SupremeCourt’s orders in the Contempt of Court caseagainst Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani.Order 1: For the reasons to be recordedlater the accused Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani,Prime Minister of Pakistan /Chief Executiveof the Federation, is found guilty of and con-victed for contempt of court under article204 (2) of the constitution of the Islamic re-public of Pakistan, 1973 read with Section 3of the contempt of court ordinance (Ordi-nance V of 2003) for willful flouting, disre-gard and disobedience of this court’sdirection contained in paragraph no 178 ofthe judgment in the case of Dr MubashirHasan vs federation of Pakistan (PLD 2010SC 265) after our satisfaction that the con-tempt committed by him is substantiallydetrimental to the administration of justiceand tends to brig this court and judiciary ofthis country into ridicule.As regards the sentence to be passed againstthe convict we note that the findings andconviction for contempt of court recordedabove are likely to entail some serious conse-quences in term of article 63 (1) (g) of theconstitution which may be treated as mitigat-ing factor towards the sentence to be passedagainst him. He is therefore, punished undersection 5 of the contempt of court ordinance(ordinance V of 2003) with the imprison-ment till the rising of the court today.Order 2: The respondent appeared in per-son along with his learned counsel. Theshort order passed in the matter of contemptof court was read out in the open court afterthat, the respondent/convict remained in thecustody of the court till his release upon ris-ing of the court for the day.

LAHOREonLIne

PAKISTAN MuslimLeague-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharifon Thursday saidPrime Minister Yousaf

Raza Gilani should step downfrom his position after being con-victed by the Supreme Court (SC).

Talking to a private TV chan-nel, Nawaz said the prime minis-ter should resign from his officeand pave way for a new electedprime minister.

“In light of the verdict, I thinkPM Gilani should resign immedi-ately rather than prolong theissue,” he said.

He said his party would nolonger accept him as the primeminister and the PPP shouldbring in a uncontroversial care-taker PM. He said if the PPP keptGilani as the PM, it would be tan-tamount to ridiculing the sanctityof parliament and the nation.

Nawaz said the governmentdid not spare any chance toridicule the court and its orders.“Whenever responsible and dedi-cated officers were appointed toinvestigate issues, they were re-placed by people of their ownchoice. The court verdict is basedon truth and reality. It must have

punished the prime minister witha heavy heart, but the prime min-ister himself is to be blamed,” hesaid.

“The prime minister himselfinvited this situation,” he added.

He said the coalition partnersalso played their role in increas-ing the political chaos in thecountry, which could not be ac-cepted.

The PML-N leader suggestedthe government to hold elections

immediately and appoint a neu-tral prime minister who wouldwrite the letter to Swiss authori-ties. “If the government is will-ing, the PMLN would support acaretaker setup for the federaland provincial governments.”

While commenting on SC’sstance, he said, “I fully believe theSupreme Court has the highmoral ground while the govern-ment is standing on the wrongside,” Nawaz said.

PM must resign after

SC’s judgement: ImranISLAMABAD

StAFF RepoRt

Hailing the Supreme Court’s decision of con-victing Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani in acontempt case, Pakistan Tehreek-e-InsafChairman Imran Khan on Thursday said theindependent judiciary had given a gift to thenation by indicting a powerful man.The PTI chairman said the PM should imme-diately resign after being convicted by theSupreme Court.He called on the prime minister to immedi-ately resign from office and reiterated thathow could the people be expected respect thejudiciary if the PM did not. Addressing a press conference, the PTI chiefsaid it was disappointing to see the coalitionmarch in step with the prime minister to theSupreme Court. They had not gone to thecourt to protect national interest but they allwanted to escape accountability. “They arewell aware that an accountability drive is initi-ated they will be caught in corruption cases.The coalition government is a corruptionunion which is hell bent to fill its own coffers.” Khan declared the PPP’s protests against thecourt’s decision a shameful act and said it wasa historic day for the courts when they in-dicted a powerful person. “It is the first time that the biggest robbers ofthe country have been brought to justicewhich is why they have all joined together. Icongratulate the entire nation and particularlythe lawyer community because their strugglefor an independent judiciary has paid offtoday.” During the press conference, Khanwas flanked by senior party leaders includingShah Mahmood Qureshi, Hamid Khan andSadaqat Abbasi. Khan said even though somegovernment collation partners were with thePTI in the struggle for restoration of judiciarybut now due to their support for the statusquo, they were standing with Gilani.

Gilani should stepdown, says Nawaz

Constitutional experts believe PM

stands disqualified after conviction

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04Friday, 27 April, 2012

News

ISLAMABAD tAhIR nIAZ

ZAHID Bukhari,the counsel forHusain Haqqanion Thursday saidhis client could

not trust the security to beprovided by the “followers ofthe memorandum” as he toldthe memo commission thathis client would not come toPakistan even if his applica-tion for video conferencingwas rejected.

“This (memo probe) allstarted after the ISI DGwished so and how could wetrust the security provided bythe agency,” he said. He wasof the view that the ISI pur-sued the memo scandal andthat his client could not trustthe security apparatus to beprovided by it.

Closing the side ofHaqqani’s evidence after hisrefusal to come to Pakistan,the memo commission askedHaqqani to let it know in

writing whether he had ap-plied for residence (citizen-ship) in any country and alsoprovide it details of utilisationof the secret fund in the year2011 as ambassador of thecountry in Washington DCthat will not be made public.

“Haqqani has told me incategorical terms that hewould not come to Pakistaneven if his application forvideo conferencing is rejectedby the commission. However,he would be available torecord his statement via videolink from Pakistan’s embassyin Washington DC,” he said.

Bukhari asked how couldthe government provide secu-rity to Haqqani when it couldnot save its own leader Be-nazir Bhutto and a sittinggovernor.

On the other hand, thedeputy attorney general toldthe commission that the gov-ernment was fully capable ofproviding fool-proof securityto the former ambassador.However, he said the govern-

ment had no intention of put-ting Haqqani on the ECL. Thecommission rejectedHaqqani’s application forvideo conferencing, however,did not summon him in per-son on the next date of hear-ing as May 3.

Bukhari was of the viewthat Haqqani felt threatenedin Pakistan and also couldnot travel due to his ailment.As Bukhari submitted a longlist of tweets and emails con-taining ‘threats’ to Haqqani,Justice Isa questioned howcould he presume that thethreats were emanatingfrom Pakistan.

Justice Isa observed thatHaqqani first expressedthreats at the hands of thesecurity agencies allegedlylinked with Mansoor Ijazand now was feeling threat-ened by the people on twit-ter. He said Haqqani neverexpressed any securitythreats to the Attorney Gen-eral Office.

Bukhari told the commis-

sion that Haqqani did notpossess any property in Pak-istan except a bank accountmaintained at the NationalBank of Pakistan MelodyBranch Islamabad with Rs150,000.

To a question regardingHaqqani’s application forAmerican citizenship,Bukhari did not reply in clearterms, saying he had noknowledge of it.

Casting doubts over theauthenticity of the medicalcertificates submitted byHaqqani before the commis-sion, Ijaz’s lawyer, AkramShaikh argued that Haqqanitraveled from London toWashington on March 18and added at that time ail-ment did not bar Haqqanifrom long travel. Bukharitold the commission that ashis client is not coming toPakistan under any circum-stances, it was better to eval-uate the material andevidence already on recordto reach the truth.

‘Followers’ of memo can’tbe trusted for Haqqani’ssecurity: lawyerg Says haqqani not coming to Pakistan under any circumstances

At a joint press conferencewith Foreign Secretary JalilAbbas Jilani later, Ambassa-dor Grossman avoided offer-ing an apology over NATOairstrikes, but expressed re-gret and sorrow over the as-sault. He again offeredcondolence on behalf of theUnited States over the inci-dent.

He said, “Efforts will bemade that such incidents donot happen in future as bothPakistan and the UnitedStates are partners in the waragainst terror and they havecommon enemy and needcommon strategy to fight thismenace.”

He said, “The US re-spects the sovereignty ofPakistan and is willing to im-prove its ties in all fields.” Hesaid the meeting with For-eign Minister Khar and otherPakistani leadership showedthe American intention toimprove Pakistan-US rela-

tions.He said, “Washington re-

spects the Pakistani parlia-mentary review on newcontours of relations and theseriousness with which it wascarried out.”

Grossman said after thecompletion of the parliamen-tary review, the task was howto move forward on advanc-ing the most important rela-tionship between the twocountries.

He said the US was readyfor talks on re-opening thesupply lines and clearingoutstanding payments toPakistan to meet the ex-penses of military operationsin its Tribal Areas to fight theTaliban and al Qaeda mili-tants.

“We are ready to get tothe work. We want to work toreopen the ground lines ofcommunication. We want todiscuss several outstandingclaims for the Coalition Sup-port Fund (CSF).”

Prime Minister Gilani stoodbefore the bench to hear theverdict in contempt case fornot implementing thecourt’s ruling in the Na-tional Reconciliation Ordi-nance (NRO) case andsmiled when the verdict wasread out in a packed court-room.

Under the constitution,anyone convicted of defam-ing or ridiculing the judici-ary is barred from being anMP, but legal experts say theprocess to disqualify Gilanicould be a lengthy one, in-volving the National Assem-bly speaker and the ElectionCommission of Pakistan.

Gilani is the longest-serving prime minister inthe history of Pakistan,where civilian governmentshave repeatedly been top-

pled by the country’s power-ful military, often with thesupport of the SupremeCourt, which critics allege isheavily politicized.

Corruption charges haveroutinely been used to tar-get those in power, or seek-ing to return to it.

The court issued con-tempt notice to the premierin February this year for hisrefusal to write a letter tothe Swiss authorities for re-opening graft cases againstPresident Asif Ali Zardari.

The prime minister ap-peared twice in the courtand maintained his inno-cence throughout, saying hehad done nothing againstthe rules of business.

Aitzaz Ahsan, the PM’scounsel, had argued that thebench was not eligible tohear the case as it had taken

suo motu notice of the caseitself. It was the first time inthe history of Pakistan thata prime minister appearedbefore the court thrice andwas convicted of contempt.

Article 63 (1) (g) statesthat: “A person shall be dis-qualified from being electedor chosen as, and frombeing, a member of the Ma-jlis-e-Shoora (Parliament),if he has been convicted by acourt of competent jurisdic-tion for propagating anyopinion, or acting in anymanner, prejudicial to theideology of Pakistan, or thesovereignty, integrity or se-curity of Pakistan, or moral-ity, or the maintenance of

public order, or the integrityor independence of the judi-ciary of Pakistan, or whichdefames or brings intoridicule the judiciary or theArmed Forces of Pakistan,unless a period of five yearshas elapsed since his re-lease.”

Gilani could face a max-imum sentence of sixmonths in prison, but thecourt ordered him to be “im-prisoned” until the rising ofthe court and he emergedshortly afterwards smilingand waving to supporters.

The case has been highlypolitically charged, withmembers of the governmentaccusing judges of over-

stepping their domain andtrying to bring down theprime minister and presi-dent a year before the ad-ministration would becomethe first in Pakistan to com-plete an elected term.

At 9am on Thursday,Sherwani-clad Prime Minis-ter Gilani entered the courtpremises on foot like a com-mon man in a hail of rosepetals surrounded by cabi-net ministers, coalition al-lies and hundreds of PPPloyalists. On the occasion‚the party workers alsoraised slogans in his favor.

At 9:45am, he left thecourt with the same self-as-surance, equanimity, sto-icism and protocol. Gilani isnow a convicted man and ispoised to lose his office. Theproceedings started at9:30am and lasted for less

than five minutes. Gilaniwas represented by AitzazAhsan. The bench left thecourtroom within 30 sec-onds of the ruling.

Just after the ruling,Aitzaz told reporters in abrief talk that he would filean appeal against the con-viction. Recently-appointedAttorney General IrfanQadir, who remained prose-cutor in the contempt casefor sometime, told reportersthat the verdict was “uncon-stitutional and unlawful”.

Gilani also remarkedon his way out of the court-room that the ruling was“inappropriate”.

To a query, he said hewill not accept a presiden-tial pardon. Gilani left thecourt amid a scrum ofjournalists and supportersfrom the PPP.

GUILTYCONTINuED FROm PAgE 1

The meeting appreciatedand thanked the allied par-ties in the coalition govern-ment for showing solidaritywith the prime minister andsignaling the unity of politi-cal forces.

Earlier, a meeting wasalso held with PPP coalitionpartners. The meetingpresided over by PresidentZardari and Prime MinisterYousuf Raza Gilani was at-tended by Chaudhry ShujaatHussain, Pervaz Elahi, Sen-ator Afrasiab Khattak, DrFarooq Sattar, SenatorBabar Ghouri, Senator Mir

Israrullah Zehri, Haji KhudaBaksh Rajar, Munir KhanOrakzai, Senator AbbasKhan Afridi, Syed Khur-sheed Shah, Raja PervaizAshraf, Syed Naveed Qamarand Farhatullah Babar.

The meeting congratu-lated Gilani for his stance indefending the constitution.

The president alsothanked the coalition part-ners for their support tostrengthen the political sys-tem and standing behind theprime minister.

Earlier, a special meet-ing of the federal cabinetdiscussed the situation at

length. The cabinet reposedfull confidence in the leader-ship of the prime minister.

Barrister Aitzaz Ahasand Attorney General IrfanQadir briefed the cabinet onthe court verdict and op-tions available with the PM.The meeting decided to waitfor the detailed verdict ofthe Supreme Court (SC) inthe contempt case.

It was decided that thecase was of political natureand there was no justifica-tion for Prime Minister Gi-lani to resign on moralgrounds.

Gilani was greeted by

his colleagues at the cabinetmeeting who thumped desksto express their support.The prime minister said thePPP had always stood by theconstitution and would con-tinue to do so. Prime Minis-ter Gilani said the NAspeaker had the authority todecide about the fate of pub-lic representatives. “Pak-istan’s future would havebeen different had law of ne-cessity not prevailed in thecase of Molvi Tameezud-din,” he observed.

He told the cabinetmembers that he had neverinsulted the courts.

Govt to challengeCONTINuED FROm PAgE 22

Nisar challenged the rulingparty to go to the people’scourt if they had no faith inPakistani, Swiss and Britishcourts. “Let’s announce thedate of the elections and go topeople’s court,” Nisardemanded. Speaker FehmidaMirza appeared upset over therumpus created by bothparties and advised them tomaintain the decorum of theHouse, as it could not be run ina way of disorder. Expressingdoubts over the intentions ofincumbent government, Nisarsaid that there was no need topoliticize the case and it couldnot be discussed in theparliament in such a way. Onthe criticism from treasurybenches over Raiwand palace,he challenged the governmentbenches if they had any doubtsthen go to the courts andregister cases against NawazSharif, Shahbaz Sharif . “Youare in the government. Go andprove them,” he added.Commenting on the policystatement given by FarooqH.Naik, Nisar expressed somereservations saying that someof the facts were not sharedwhich were not in favor ofYousaf Raza Gilani andZardari. “We are not happy atall that the prime minister hasbeen convicted, but thingswhich are the part of therecord should also be sharedwith masses,” he added.Actually it’s a matter ofcorruption of $60million sofacts behind it should beshared with masses, he said.

Oppositionlambastes

CONTINuED FROm PAgE 22

Pak-US talks failCONTINuED FROm PAgE 1

Muhammad SaleemChaudhry, former chairmanof the Punjab ServicesTribunal, passed away onThursday. His funeralprayer will be held today(Friday) at 2pm at MianiSahib, Bahawalpur Road.

DeAD DepARteD

With the Pakistan People’sParty (PPP) not at all inter-ested in letting the primeminister step down after theSC decision in contempt caseon Thursday, it appears as ifthe issue of the PM’s fate willlinger on for a while with allits consequences for the pres-ent political set-up, especiallywith the opposition taking adiametrically opposite posi-tion to the one adopted by thegovernment, raising the spec-tre of both crossing swords incoming days.

According to some legaland political experts, the ver-dict is not very clear as towhether the prime ministerstands disqualified after hisconviction until the rising ofthe court lasted for just 30seconds. To the experts, therewas likelihood that the issuewould ultimately end up inthe speaker’s court and thattoo after exhausting all legalremedies available to the gov-ernment starting with goingfor appeal against this deci-sion.

Sources maintained thatthese legal remedies wouldprovide the PPP governmentenough time to let the primeminister preside over the nextfederal budget or announce

election himself thereafter.Meanwhile, the opposi-

tion parties, both the PML-Nand PTI have committedthemselves too early in theday to an extreme positionthat surprised political lead-ers outside their parties.PML-N chief Nawaz Sharifannounced that for him Gi-lani was no more the primeminister, advising him in all‘sincerity’ to step downsooner than later in a damn-ing undertone. But thesewarnings had little bearing onthe PPP strategists who con-sider the decision ‘faulty’ onlegal ground.

In a message loud andclear from the PPP to take onthe judiciary, as if to showthat the verdict was not re-ceived well with the masses,the PPP workers and sup-porters took to the streets andresorted to violence in someareas in Sindh.

These diametrically op-posite positions adopted byboth the government and op-position are most likely toheat up the present politicalset up with all signs of thegovernment and oppositioncrossing swords in the com-ing days, causing political in-stability in the country. Theexperts expect a lot of politi-cal point scoring in the com-ing days, overshadowingeverything else that might

serve well to the interests ofthe PPP.

But analysts said the po-sition adopted by the opposi-tion would not be a big dealfor the government to handleor derail the government orthe chief executive himself.The experts expect an ex-change of firework playing topublic galleries and pointscoring between the govern-ment and opposition.

Politically speaking, theprime minister appeared tohave gained in stature afterthe court rolled out its judg-ment amid all suspense.

A political leader whowas present in the courtroomsaid that prime minister ap-peared in high spirit after thedecision. It seemed that thePPP leadership was relaxedas if for them it was no prob-lem whatever came their wayfrom SC.

“He survived over fouryears in the government. Yethe is being convicted towardsthe end in a case of politicalnature and not in any case ofcorruption,” commented asenior political figure in aspecial session of the cabinetthat took place after the SCverdict. The PPP’s allies as-sured the prime minister oftheir fullest support in thecoming days. This supportcould be vital for the future ofthe present setup.

Political wrangling sets

off after PM’s convictionNEWS ANAlySIS

nADeeM SYeD

ISLAMABAD: Ali Musa Gilani, son of Prime Minister YousafRaza Gilani on Thursday said he had no connection with theephedrine quota allotment case. Musa along with his counsel,Fawad Chaudhry, appeared before the investigation officer ofthe Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) with regards to the ephedrinequota case. Speaking to media representatives prior toappearing before the investigation officer, Musa deniedinvolvement in the respective case. He said investigation

should be carried out over the misuse of his phone in chemicalquota scandal. He reiterated he has no link with this allotmentscam. “I have no connection to this case… I am not anaccused… I will repeat the same statement before theinvestigation officer also,” Musa said. He said he had toappear before the investigating officer on April 30, but incompliance with the Supreme Court’s orders, he wasappearing before the officer on April 26. onLIne

Musa Gilani appears before AnF in drug case

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05Friday, 27 April, 2012

News

ISLAMABADReuteRS

PAKISTAN’S military, whichhas dominated the countryfor much of its turbulent his-tory, has less sway over for-eign policy, and a new power

equation is emerging within America’sstrategic ally, said the foreign minister.

Pakistan has been directly ruled bygenerals for more than half of its 64-yearhistory and indirectly for much of therest. The military has largely controlledforeign and security policies, and hastaken the lead in relations with Washing-ton. Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Kharsaid new dynamics were now taking holdin nuclear-armed Pakistan, one of themost unstable countries in the world.

“I want you to also understand thatthings have changed in Pakistan,” shetold Reuters in an interview.

“I think this overbearance of the roleof the military in the foreign policy ofPakistan is something which will recedeas time passes.”

Some may question Khar’s assess-ment of the military’s role in foreign af-fairs given the long dominance of thegenerals.

But the mere fact that she spokeopenly of such change may raise eye-

brows in the South Asian nation wherethe military is highly skilled at bothmounting coups and running a businessempire spanning everything from banksto bakeries.

The military lost all of the nation’swars with India, has been accused ofwidespread abuses by human rightsgroups, and has failed to break the backof al Qaeda-linked Taliban despite severaloffensives.

Still, many Pakistanis have tradition-ally viewed it as a far more effective insti-tution than civilian governments, whichhave failed to tackle a staggering array ofissues, from widespread poverty andchronic power cuts to suicide bombings.

But the military’s standing suffereddramatically after U.S. special forcesmounted a unilateral raid that killed alQaeda leader Osama bin Laden on Pak-istani soil in May last year.

Pakistan’s generals and their all-pow-erful Inter-Services Intelligence agencywere humiliated, and came under rarepublic criticism.

A NEW EQUILIBRIUMSince then, civilian leaders have

grown more defiant of the military, whichin the past has seized power throughcoups or heavily influenced policy frombehind the scenes.

“I think all institutions in Pakistan

are realizing that there is a place and rolefor every institution,” said Khar, 35, Pak-istan’s first woman foreign minister.

“And it is best to serve Pakistan’s in-terests that each of the institutions re-mains within the boundaries of the roleswhich are constitutionally defined. It’s anew sort of equilibrium.”

Khar, one of a number of risingwomen politicians in Pakistan, startedher political career with a party affiliatedwith former military ruler General PervezMusharraf, and eventually rose to juniorfinance minister.

She since switched to the ruling Pak-istan People’s Party (PPP), whose tieswith the military have been strained.

U.S.-educated Khar said the currentgovernment’s staying power in a countryprone to coups had given it sway androom to maneuver, on issues rangingfrom ties with the United States to tradewith arch-enemy India.

“As far as the new equilibrium ... youhave consistent four years of democracy,it’s the longest term a democratic govern-ments has had in Pakistan,” said Khar,who is from a political family in southernPunjab.

Khar pointed to the reaction to aNATO cross-border raid in Novemberthat killed 24 Pakistani soldiers andplunged relations with the United Statesto a low point as one sign that civilianleaders have a bigger say in policy.

A Pakistani parliamentary committeereviewed ties with Washington and de-manded a halt to U.S. drone aircraftstrikes, which U.S. officials see as a highlyeffective weapon against militants alongthe border with Afghanistan.

“It is not the first time that foreignpolicy has been discussed in parliament,”said Khar, in her modest Islamabad of-fice. “But is it not the first time that rela-tions with the United States and otherimportant countries were put on holduntil the parliament gave a green signal?”

Khar also said the government’s ap-proach to India suggested Pakistan’sdemocracy was becoming more robustand the military’s grip on policy had loos-ened.

In the face of some domestic opposi-tion, the Islamabad government last No-vember vowed to grant India mostfavored nation status, which will end re-strictions that require most products tomove via a third country.

The move was hailed by India and thetwo countries are now focused on resolv-ing economic issues before moving on tomore intractable problems such as thedisputed Himalayan region of Kashmir.

“Don’t underestimate the importanceof what this government did with tradewith India. Since 1965 there was no polit-ical or military government that couldopen up trade with India. And it was con-sidered a no-go area,” said Khar.

“And that to me shows, one the matu-rity of democracy, the maturity of views,and the maturity of the decision-makingexercise in Pakistan.”

Military’s grip on foreign policy easing: Khar

WASHINGTONAFp

US officials concluded in the 1980sthat Pakistan was lying about its nu-clear program but muted criticism dueto Islamabad’s support against the So-viets in Afghanistan, declassified doc-uments showed.

The memos to be released Thurs-day reveal some of the behind-the-scenes drama between the UnitedStates and Pakistan during RonaldReagan’s presidency, foreshadowingcurrent-day debates in the uneasy warpartnership.

The documents included an ac-count of a secret mission in June 1982by a US envoy who confronted Pak-istani military ruler Mohammed Ziaul-Haq with a letter from Reagan andsaid the United States had “incontro-vertible” proof that Pakistan was seek-ing nuclear weapons.

The emissary, veteran US diplo-mat and translator Vernon Walters,said that Zia was “extraordinarilycourteous, relaxed” and explainedthat he had no knowledge of nuclearweapons development but wouldcheck with his subordinates.

“Either he really does not know oris the most superb and patriotic liar Ihave ever met,” Walters wrote to theState Department.

The documents, some obtainedafter requests under the US Freedomof Information Act, were released tothe National Security Archive atGeorge Washington University, whichmade them available to AFP in ad-vance.

Pakistan tested an atomic bomb in1998 days after its arch-rival India.The United States banned assistanceto Pakistan in 1990 — soon after theSoviets left Afghanistan — after con-cluding that it was developing nuclearweapons.

But Reagan exempted Pakistanfrom a law requiring sanctions, namedafter then senator Larry Pressler, eventhough the memos said that officialsknew that the country was moving to-ward nuclear weapons.

The documents showed that theReagan administration was genuinelyconcerned about Pakistan’s nuclearprogram, fearing it would trigger in-stability, and repeatedly warned Ziathat Congress could cut off assistance.

“There is overwhelming evidence

that Zia has been breaking his assur-ances to us. We are absolutely confi-dent that our intelligence is genuineand accurate,” then secretary of stateGeorge Shultz wrote in a November1982 memo to Reagan.

But Shultz recalled the “essentialrole” played by Zia in Afghanistan,where US and Pakistani agents fun-neled weapons to Islamic guerrillaswho successfully fought a Soviet inva-sion.

“A rupture of our relationshipwould call into question a centraltenet of this administration’s foreignpolicy — strong support for ourfriends,” Shultz wrote, calling theAfghan effort “the most visible evi-dence of the US commitment tocounter Soviet military thrusts world-wide.”

The memos said that as far back as1982, US intelligence detected thatPakistani agents were seeking suspi-cious items from countries includingBelgium, Finland, Japan, Sweden andTurkey.

Years later, such efforts were dis-covered to be the work of scientistAbdul Qadeer Khan, the father of Pak-istan’s nuclear bomb. He is also ac-

cused of running a vast internationalblack market of nuclear goods.

One secret assessment said thatPakistan was already believed to haveenough for one nuclear weapon by Oc-tober 1985 with assistance fromChina.

The US memos acknowledged thatPakistan was unlikely to comply withUS pleas on its nuclear program inlight of its concern over India, withwhich Pakistan has fought three full-fledged wars since independence in1947. The documents said that theUnited States was also urging “re-straint” from India, which hadstrained relations with Washingtonduring the 1980s.

Despite the criticism of its nuclearprogram, the United States resumedassistance to Pakistan to the tune ofnearly $20 billion after it again of-fered support in Afghanistan follow-ing the September 11, 2001 attacks.

But relations have repeatedlyplunged into crisis due to the presenceof Osama bin Laden and other mili-tants on Pakistani soil and Islam-abad’s fears that US ties will againsour once troops leave Afghanistan in2014.

reagan envoy found Pakistan ‘superb liar’ on nukes: US memos

US warns

embassy staff for

upcoming Osama

anniversaryISLAMABAD

AFp

The US embassy in Islamabad onThursday banned its staff fromrestaurants and markets in the Pakistanicapital for several days either side of theanniversary of Osama bin Laden’s death.“Due to security concerns, the USembassy has restricted its employeesfrom going to restaurants and markets inIslamabad April 27 - May 5,” a warningon the embassy website said. “Werecommend that US citizens in Islamabadduring this period take similarprecautions.” A US official speaking oncondition of anonymity said the warningwas issued in response to informationabout a specific threat. But Pakistan’sdeputy interior minister Imtiaz SafdarWarraich told AFP he had no informationabout a threat.

Austria warns

of nuclear race

after India,

Pakistan testsVIENNA

AFp

Austria’s foreign minister on Thursdayslammed India and Pakistan’s recentmissile tests, insisting states’ continuedpursuit of nuclear weapons was “flatout irresponsible”. “The tests of anIndian long-range missile a week agoand of an intermediate-range missile byPakistan on Wednesday are unsettlingand suggest an intensifying arms raceon the subcontinent,” MichaelSpindelegger said in a statement. This“would not only be a threat to stabilityin Asia, but would also present a threatto global peace.” India last Thursdaytried out a new missile with a range ofover 5,000 kilometres (3,100 miles),and Pakistan followed on Wednesdayby test-firing an intermediate-rangeballistic missile of its own. Both havethe capability of carrying a nuclearweapon. “It is flat out irresponsiblethat the Sword of Damocles that isnuclear destruction still hangs abovehumanity,” Spindelegger said inunusually harsh tones.

QuettA: Activists of the Difa-e-pakistan Council shout anti-uS slogans on thursday against the reopening of the nAto supply route to Afghanistan. AFp

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06Friday, 27 April, 2012

News

RAWALpInDI: the railway station is deserted following a blast in Lahore two days ago and the presence of a 15-kg bomb on board a peshawar-bound train in Attock. online

ISLAMABADonLIne

THE Supreme Court onThursday deferred the fram-ing of contempt of courtcharges against former Lawminister Senator Babar

Awan till May 10.The decision was taken after the

court accepted the request of Ali Zafar,the counsel of the accused.

A two-member bench comprisingJustice Ejaz Afzal Khan and JusticeAthar Saeed put off the hearing after thebarrister said he should be given an op-portunity to challenge the reasons beforethe charges were framed.

The bench had resumed the hearingof a suo motu notice taken on BabarAwan’s address at a press conference

held in the Press Information Depart-ment on December 2nd.

On April 24th, the bench had an-nounced it had reserved judgment overframing the contempt charges by sayingthat it could not drop the proceedings atthat stage and announced that the sena-tor will be indicted on April 26th.

Barrister Zafar had contended thathis client had tendered a written apologywhich must be considered and the pro-ceedings for framing the contempt ofcourt charges should be dropped. He ar-gued that throughout the judicial historyof the country, it was observed that con-tempt proceedings were dropped after anapology was issued. He said there was nojudgment over the continuation of con-tempt under such circumstances andthat the court was bound to give detailedreasons in its order.

SC defers contempt case

indictment of Babar till May 10

NEWS DESK

On the fifth-floor balcony of an exclusiveapartment block in Karachi, Iqbal Amlaniglares out at what he calls his “million-dol-lar view”: the Arabian Sea lapping at ashoreline that includes nearby Cliftonbeach, where city dwellers wade in the shal-lows. “It used to be a million-dollar view,”he corrects himself.

Spoiling his vista are hundreds of fueltankers cluttering up the road outside hisblock and every other building nearby, saida report in the Guardian. The seafront roadalone is crammed with roughly 500 trucks,each capable of carrying 60,000 litres, dou-ble-parked bumper to bumper, on bothsides of a multi-lane road.

In total there are thought to be morethan 1,000 in and around Clifton, a neigh-bourhood usually associated with the coun-try’s most wealthy citizens.

Pashtun truck drivers from the north-west of the country began parking in thewell-heeled streets, a short drive fromKarachi’s port and oil terminal, in Novem-ber 2011last year when Islamabad bannedthe transport of NATO supplies through its

territory. The border closure was retalia-tion for the accidental killing by US forcesof 24 Pakistani soldiers. Although Pakistanhad previously closed the border in shorterprotests, no one had expected the ban todrag on for so long this time.

The drivers, many of whom are sinkinginto debt, are desperate to get back to workeven though some of the big Pakistani fuelsuppliers fear the once hugely lucrativeNATO logistics business will never recover.

For years Pakistan’s truck drivers pro-vided the vital fuels that powered almostevery aspect of NATO’s war effort inAfghanistan, from the diesel in the tanks ofarmoured vehicles to the fuel required forsquadrons of aircraft and the countless gen-erators powering air conditioners in austeremilitary bases. For months now the drivershave been idling away their time drinkingtea and playing games. “Every day we lookat the papers or go to the fuel company of-fice to ask when the border is going toopen,” says Arif Shah, a 26-year-old driverwho has been unable to pay five of the £345monthly installments to service the loan onhis tanker. It seemed like a good investmentwhen demand was growing rapidly on the

back of Barack Obama’s decision to sendadditional forces to Afghanistan for thesurge in 2009. Shah could make far moreon the month-long round trips to Bagramand Kandahar if he owned his own vehicle.One oil supplier estimates more than 2,000trucks have been added to Pakistan’s na-tional fleet in the past 10 years. “We stayhere because we keep being told it will justbe a week more, we just need to wait a littlelonger,” Shah said. “If we get back to workthen everything will be fine.” Hopes of theborder reopening rose, albeit slightly, on 12April when parliament unanimously passedlong-delayed recommendations that willgovern future relations with the US. Itbanned outright the transport of arms orammunition through Pakistani territory,but not food, fuel and other importantgoods.

However, the unpopular governmentof Asif Ali Zardari would almost certainlypay a high political price for resuming sup-plies in an election year, particularly as par-liament also called for a complete end tolethal strikes by unmanned US dronestrikes in Pakistan – something Americanofficials say will not happen.

Imran Khan, the former Test cricketerwho is now a leading opposition figure, hasdecried the move, predicting more suicidebombings by militants if the borders re-open. Amid such political uncertainty, oneleading Karachi oil contractor said he didnot expect supplies to resume until elec-tions were called and a non-political care-taker government was installed for threemonths before voting. “Even if it opens upagain we are never going to get the old mar-ket back because so much of the supplychain has moved to central Asia,” said TajAfridi, the owner of al-Haj, one of thelargest NATO contractors. He was referringto alternative routes the US has developedin recent years that pass through Russiaand the former Soviet republics onAfghanistan’s northern border. Thoseroutes, combined with some air freight,have allowed NATO to continue operationsunimpeded. But the cost of keeping troopssupplied has increased hugely in the last sixmonths. US military officials say it costs$17,000 to ship a container through thenorthern route, compared with $7,000through Pakistan.

“It’s more expensive, but it’s more reli-

able,” said Afridi. “NATO knows the Pak-istani government is not stable. They can-not guarantee the routes won’t close againeven if they open them.” A determinedcampaign by the Taliban to try to choke offNATO’s supplies by destroying trucks hasalso wrecked the profitability of the oncehighly lucrative business. Al-Haj did notmake any profit in 2011 because so manytrucks were destroyed by insurgents. Thecompany alone lost 20 trucks a month,while the industry as a whole lost twice thatnumber, an al-Haj executive said. Thetrucks are almost never attacked inAfghanistan. Instead gunmen armed withhomemade bombs, which they attach to theback of the tankers, target vehicles in a va-riety of locations inside Pakistan. The driv-ers are nearly always spared and insurgentshave enough information to distinguish be-tween trucks bearing NATO fuel and thosetaking supplies to private Afghan petrolpumps. The final problem for Pakistan’struckers is even more stark: by the end of2014 NATO’s combat mission will be over.Even with a residual force likely to remainin Afghanistan, demand for fuel will be afraction of what it once was.

NATO’s fuel-run truckers washed up on Karachi promenade

Former

extremists,

victims launch

social networkNEW YORK

AFp

Reformed one-time violent extremistsand their victims on Wednesdaylaunched a social network to halt theradicalization of youth and combat gangculture — with the backing of Internetgiant Google. Former extremists andsurvivors of their attacks can share theirexperiences via the Against ViolentExtremism network, presented in NewYork by a consortium including GoogleIdeas and the Institute for StrategicDialogue. “The goal is to create a globalmovement against extremism,” saidInstitute for Strategic Dialogue chiefexecutive Sasha Havlicek. Formerperpetrators of attacks and theirsurvivors “are powerful influencers inturning potential and existing extremistsaway from a violent path,” AgainstViolent Extremism (AVE) said on itswebsite. The network, which includesactivists, policymakers, entrepreneursand business leaders, proposes to allowonetime extremists from Pakistan todiscuss how to fight the scourge of terrorwith former gang members from ElSalvador. A driving force behind theplatform is “the belief that there arelessons to be learned between groupscombating different forms of extremism,from Islamism to the white powermovement,” according to the network’swebsite. The idea originated during theSummit Against Violent Extremismhosted in Dublin last year by GoogleIdeas, the company’s think tank that“convenes unorthodox stakeholders... toexplore the role that technology can playin tackling some of the toughest humanchallenges.” “It’s important to networkwith people from all of the world,” saidRobert Orell, a former member of a whitesupremacist movement in Sweden in the1990s who now works as director of anti-Nazi group Exit Sweden. The AVEplatform aims to rack up 500 memberswithin a year and twice that amount intwo years. By late Wednesday, it alreadycounted over 400 connections, including44 “formers” and 18 survivors. “We werevery surprised by how much everyonewanted to collaborate,” said YasminDolatabadi, principal at Google Ideas.The site provides a guide on how to run acharitable group, build a marketingcampaign, use social networks, host avirtual meeting and build a website.Users can upload short clips on AVE’sYouTube channel to start discussions. Anetwork map shows where members arelocated geographically, and the siteallows members to set their own privacysettings so they can control whatinformation they share about themselves.

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Friday, 27 April, 2012

LAHOREStAFF RepoRt

PUNJAB Chief MinisterShahbaz Sharif has saidthat Pakistan and Iranhave deep rootedfriendly relations and

there is unanimity of views betweenthe two countries on different issueswhile their people are bound togetherin strong bonds of love and brother-hood. He said bilateral ties betweenIran and Pakistan can be furtherstrengthened through promotion ofeconomic cooperation. He said thatPunjab government is fully encourag-ing foreign investment in the province.

He was talking to Iranian ConsulGeneral Hossein Baniasadi during ameeting on Thursday. Provincial Min-ister for Food Abdul Ghafoor, SpecialAssistant Zaeem Hussain Qadri, secre-taries of Agriculture, Livestock and Ir-rigation departments andrepresentatives of Punjab InvestmentBoard were also present on the occa-sion. The CM said Pakistan’s relationswith brotherly Islamic country of Iranspan over centuries and Iranian lan-guage and literature as well as cultureand civilization had left a deep impacton Pakistani society and social setup.

He said Pakistan’s national languageUrdu also owes a lot to Persian lan-guage. He said after independence in1947, Iran was the first country torecognise Pakistan at the diplomaticlevel and the long history of fraternalrelations between the two countries ismarked by love and sincerity betweenthe people of the two countries. Hesaid in order to benefit from the eco-nomic opportunities and expansion ofmodern technology it was essentialthat quality education should be pro-moted for preparing the youths to meetthe future challenges. He said Punjabgovernment was pursuing the policy ofmaximum investment in educationsector for developing human resourceon modern lines. He said this policywould result in availability of expertsto the country in different sectors.

The CM further said infrastructurewas being developed in Punjab withforeign cooperation and the work onmetro bus service project of interna-tional standard was being carried outexpeditiously. He said that the scope ofthis project of public importance willbe extended to other big cities of theprovince as well. He said a favourableenvironment for foreign investmentexists in Punjab and entrepreneurswere being provided necessary facili-

ties and guidance through Punjab In-vestment Board. He said all out facili-ties were being offered for foreigninvestment in energy, livestock, agri-culture, information technology andother sectors and Iranian investorsshould take full benefit of these oppor-tunities. He said a modern slaughter-house had been set up in Punjab andthe food requirements of Iranian peo-ple could be met through the fresh andhealthy halal meat packed under hy-gienic principles at the slaughterhouseequipped with modern technology andfacilities. Shahbaz further said publicwelfare projects were being completedexpeditiously in the province whichhad raised the living standard of thepeople and paved the way for rapideconomic development. He said ex-change of students, people and culturaldelegations would promote bilateralrelations between Iran and Pakistan.

Baniasadi while expressing his sat-isfaction over the strong relationshipbetween Punjab and Iran in differentsectors said economic cooperation be-tween the two countries will be furtherpromoted. He said president of TehranChambers of Commerce will visit La-hore in July to explore new possibili-ties of economic cooperation betweenPunjab and Iran.

LAHOREStAFF RepoRt

Lahore High Court Chief Justice Azmat Saeed has said thereis no gender discrimination in the judicial service and only

merit reigns supreme. “Judiciary or lawyers’ profession is

no more a men’s club. Women judgescan deliver more if they wereequipped with proper training of

mind and clarity of basic concepts cou-pled with interactive exposure,” he said.

The chief justice was talking to adelegation of faculty members and male

and female students of theHamayat-e-Islam Law Collegehere on Thursday at LHC.

In a judicial chitchat with thelaw students, the CJ encouragedthe females students by elaborat-ing that there were more scope forthem in future as compared totheir male colleagues becausethey were more focused.

“There is urgent need of judges as case ratio per judge is979 in the Punjab as compared to 235 in KhyberPakhtunkhwa and 242 in Sindh. We are going to double thestrength of judicial officers in 3 to 5 years in phases. It willnot be possible over night because required infrastructure isalso necessary for setting up courts,” the CJ said.

The CJ also said advocate community in Punjab was nei-ther overcrowded nor saturated stage and there is a room forhardworking and talented people. “There are 75,000 advo-cates in the Punjab but still there is great scope for competentones,” he said. He said profession of law was a full time jobthat spanned over at least 12 hours a day and was not a forcedlabour but was an interesting, enjoyable and innovative field.

He said a surgeon avoided operating on his near anddear ones however, there was a code of conduct and estab-lished ethics for this profession so the lawyers should per-form their professional obligations on the basis of facts ofthe case and not personal relationship with the client. Headvised the students not to opt for this profession for pow-ers or mere money-making. Rather they should always en-deavour for upholding the principles of law and fair play.He said that problems of 21st century could not be handledwith the system and process available in the 19th centuryso the NTS had been inducted to conduct tests on judges.

Punjab and Iran are best friends: CMSays Punjab ready to completely

satisfy Iran’s meat needs

‘Judiciary is no longer amen-only club’g lhC CJ says there is no gender discrimination in the judicial service g Asks female lawyers to brush up their skills for the upcoming overhaul in the judiciary

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LAHORE StAFF RepoRt

The Forman Christian (FC) CollegeHistory and English departmentsarranged a reading and discussionwith renowned Pakistani writer,Mohsin Hamid, the author of two

best-selling novels, ‘Moth Smoke’ and ‘The Reluc-tant Fundamentalist’.

Hamid read parts from both his novels forabout twenty minutes to a packed audience ofabout two hundred students and faculty from FCCollege, Punjab University, Lahore College forWomen and Kinnaird College.

The reading was followed by almost an hourof questions and discussion which brought out

several important themes and ideas which un-derlie Hamid’s work.

Answering a question about the creativeprocess, Hamid said at times the charactersseem to take control of a story, and the authorhas to change his initial ideas about the book.“The original idea and the final novel are rarelythe same,” Hamid said. In response to a ques-tion about a sequel to ‘The Reluctant Fundamen-talist’, Mohsin Hamid said: “You, the audience,are the sequel.” He argued that the author’s taskis to ignite the creative person in the reader, sothat they can internalise and contemplate on theissues raised in the novel.

Talking about his future plans, Hamid re-vealed that he has just completed the first draftof a new novel which should be in print early

next year. In the meantime, the film version of‘The Reluctant Fundamentalist’, directed byMira Nair and starring Kate Hudson and KieferSutherland is at the editing stage and is due tobe released next year.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Yaqoob KhanBangash from the History Department highlightedthe multifaceted nature of the novel. He said: “Thenovel is not just a literary endeavour. It is a polit-ical, social, and cultural act, and so has relevanceand implications for people in several ways.” FCCollege Dean of Humanities Dr Waseem Anwarthanked the author and said: “Mohsin’s presenceat FC has made a remarkable difference in termsof the common goal of all academic institutionsthat is to promote good readership along withgood authorship, locally as well as locally.”

A not-so-reluctant novelistg Mohsin hamid reads to packed audience at FC College

09Friday, 27 April, 2012

Lahore

LAHOREStAFF RepoRt

The Lahore Chambers of Commerce and Industry secondVintage Car Rally started from the Liberty Market and endedoutside the LCCI and provided Lahoris an opportunity towatch classic vehicles rolling in front of them on city roads. The participants were greeted throughout their route bypeople who had gathered along Gulberg’s Main Boulevard andJail Road in good numbers. There was Roll OB of 1936, RollsRoyce, Austin 10 of 1941, a Jeep of 1942, Humber Pullman of1949, Chevrolet Belair of 1957, Beetle, Mercedez Benz 1962,Willeys Jeep of 1952, Austin Princess of 1958, Impala 1964,Morris 1967, Mustang 1965, Chrysler 1966 and Fiat of 1959. AVolkswagon of 1978 was the `youngest’ vehicle taking part inthe rally. Immediate past president of the Lahore Chamberbrought his Chevrolet Belair of 1957. The rally showcasedsome of the country’s most important cars, making it alegendary event that drew great enthusiasm from participantsand spectators, who viewed these beauties at city roads. Member Punjab Assembly Mohsin Latif, President LCCI IrfanQaiser Sheikh, Senior Vice President Kashif Younis Meher,Vice President Saeeda Nazar, Lahore Shopping FestivalConvener Sheikh Mohammad Arshad and former LCCIpresidents and executive committee members welcomed theparticipants at Liberty. The chief executive of Trafco TrackingTahir Malik, the sponsor of the rally, was also present on theoccasion. The Member Punjab Assembly Mohsin Latif said onthe occasion the festival had given a lease of life to the residentsof the city who were looking for such beautiful functions. Hesaid the Punjab government would continue to support all suchevents aimed at strengthening the economy of the country.LCCI President Irfan Qaiser Sheikh said the vintage carsparticipating in the rally were actually an automotive heritageand needs to be celebrated. He said the rally was a part of theChambers continued efforts to preserve and present thevintage heritage of city. He said in a gathering of over fifty wellpreserved vintage automobiles is a living testimony of businesscommunity’s interest in preserving the glorious past. He saidthe rally marks the fourth day of Lahore Shopping Festival2012 and it has very successfully showed the best of theLahore. He said that the three-day Second Lahore Expo beinginaugurated by the Chief Minister on Friday (today) wouldhelp bring the real potential of Lahore into the limelight.

‘Old beauties’parade throughthe city

LAHOREStAFF RepoRt

The delegation of Pakistan MedicalAssociation (PMA) met the PunjabChief Minister Special Assistant forHealth Khawaja Salman Rafiqueand the Secretary Health PunjabArif Nadeem on Thursday to discussvarious issues regarding doctors.

The delegation led by its presi-dent Dr Muhammad TanveerAnwar met top health officials at thecommittee room of the civil secre-

tariat. The delegation comprised ofDr Izhar Ahmed, Dr Abrar Ashraf,Dr Ehsan ur Rehman, Dr SalmanKazmi, Dr Muhammad Saeed, DrFarhat Naz, Dr Sabahat Habib, DrRiaz Zulqurnain. The delegation ofPMA apprised the secretary aboutthe issues of regular services struc-ture of doctors, demand of pay raisefor doctors, issue of promotions inhigher grades including grade 21,appointment of 700 senior regis-trars and district specialist on regu-lar basis, appointments of vice

chancellors and principals in thePunjab health department and com-puterisation of the record of thePunjab health department.

Khawaja Salman Rafiq and Sec-retary Health assured the delegationthat all the record of health depart-ment will be computerised within thenext 3 months, all the appointmentsof principals/ vice chancellors in var-ious medical institutions of Punjabwill be done on the basis of senioritycum fitness, the issues of the promo-tions of doctors will be resolved on

top priority basis, the promotion ingrade 21 will also be done on senior-ity, the issues of the pay raise and theservice structure of doctors will alsobe resolved, regarding the regularisa-tion of the 700 senior registrars andspecialists the secretary health as-sured that the meeting of promotioncommittee made on the issue will bedone in this week. Secretary healthassured the doctors that in future thestack holder will be taken in confi-dence on all of upcoming issues inPunjab Health Department.

PMA delegation meets Rafique

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lhC tribunal summons Punjab health DG in spurious drugs case

LAHOREStAFF RepoRt

The Defective Drugs Enquiry Tribunal, comprising LahoreHigh Court Justice Ijaz-ul-Ahsan, issued notices onThursday to Punjab Health Director General Nasir AliCheema. Notices were also issued to Efroze ChemicalsLimited Human Resource Manager and Security InchargeMuhammad Razwan and officials Syed Razi Haider Kazmi,Muhammad Shoaib Ansari to appear before the tribunalon (Friday) at 10 am. During proceedingson Thursday, Efroze Chemicals Limited Supply ChainExecutive Syed Waqas Hussain and Store Officer SyedIftikhar Ahmad appeared before the tribunal. Theirstatements were recorded and they answered questionsraised by the tribunal. The tribunal is probing the matter toascertain the causes of deaths of the patients who wereadministered contaminated drugs and to determine if thecauses relate to the use of certain drugs. The tribunal alsoaims to fix responsibility and to make recommendations toprevent such incidents in the future.

LAHOREStAFF RepoRt

Punjab Agriculture and MeatCompany CEO and Live-stock Secretary HamidYaqoob Sheikh said onThursday that facilitatinglivestock farmers is a prior-ity for the government.

He was talking to veteri-nary doctors at the NRSP of-fice, during the secondtraining session arranged by

PAMCO under the Save theCalf and Lot Fattening pro-grammes.

He said the governmentis training veterinary doctorsto perform in a better wayand to make the livestocksector more profitable.

Yaqoob stated that pros-perous livestock farmerswere assurance of a prosper-ous Pakistan and that thepresent government had of-fered incentives to livestock

farmers to boost the sector. Punjab has the capacity

to export meat and its by-products along with meetinglocal demand, he added.

The two-day trainingwas attended by livestock of-ficers from across Punjab.

It was aimed at intro-ducing current trends in an-imal sciences and to trainthe officers about the propercare-giving techniques foranimals.

Bilquis College ofEducation holdsconvocation ceremony

CHAKLALA StAFF RepoRt

The Bilquis College ofEducation for Womenheld a convocationceremony for the MAEducation, MEd, BA andBEd courses at itsChaklala campus onThursday. Prime MinisterYousaf Raza Gilani’s wife,Begum Fauzia Gilani, wasthe chief guest at theoccasion, while AirCommodore (r) Dr IjazAhmad Malik and AirUniversity Islamabad vice-chancellor presided overthe ceremony. PakistanAir Force WomenAssociation (PAFWA)President Begum ShehlaTahir also attended theceremony. The chief guestawarded trophies, medalsand crests to the positionholders in variousdisciplines. The Quaid-e-Azam Trophy for the beststudent of the year waswon by Munazza Sadaf ofthe BA course.

lhC CJ strikes the

transfer-hammer on

four more judges

LAHOREStAFF RepoRt

Lahore High Court ChiefJustice AzmatSaeed issued transfer andposting orderson Thursday of four civiljudges cum judicialmagistrates.On Wednesday, the chiefjustice had issued noticesfor the transfer andposting of other civiljudges and 54 AdditionalDistrict and SessionJudges. According to anotification issued by theLahore High Court PRO,the four civil judgestransferred on Thursdayinclude Naveed Akhtar,who was transferred fromIslamabad to Arifwala,Raja Zahid Hussain,transferred from Lahoreto Pasrur, Zarfishan,transferred fromSheikupura to Gujranwalaand Shazia Munawar,transferred fromGujranwala toSheikupura. The officersshall assume charge oftheir new offices on orbefore May 2.

Government wants to improve livestock sector perfromance: Hamed

10Friday, 27 April, 2012

Lahore

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Send your letters to:Letters to Editor, Pakistan Today, 4-Shaarey Fatima Jinnah, Lahore, PakistanFax: +92-42-36298302E-mail: letters@pakistantoday.com.pk Letters may be edited for length and clarity.It would be appreciated if letters were ad-dressed to Pakistan Today exclusively.

Editor’s mail 11Friday, 27 April, 2012

Polio strikes backFrom tall claims of ‘total eradica-

tion’ to ‘shocking re-emergence’ of thedreadful disease ‘polio’, in Pakistan, itis indeed a complete U-turn. The mat-ter is not only grave but also challeng-ing. After decades of planning andheavy investment (both indigenousand foreign) Pakistan stands where itstood, several years ago, vis-à-vis itspolio eradication program.

This menacingly dangerous dis-ease which earlier crippled thousandsof children, across the length andbreadth of the country, with immeas-urable ferocity, seems to have struckback, once again, maliciously.

While Pakistan is facing scathingcriticism of the developed world forthe rising polio cases in the country,those at the helm in the governmentseem to be at loss to appreciate thegravity of the situation.

A comprehensive strategy to dealwith this grave problem, on war foot-ings, is the need of the hour. Reasonsfor re-emergence of polio in Pakistancould be many, but one very impor-tant reason is reluctance of parents togive polio drops to their children.

This is particularly true whenlooked at from the point of view ofover 70 percent of Pakistan’s unlet-tered population living in the ruralareas of the country. Ignorance vis-à-vis the polio eradication program, dueto illiteracy, is the main cause that iskeeping the rural parents away fromgiving polio drops to their children.

A question that arises is as to howthis grave problem should be ad-dressed, so that the polio eradicationprogram in the country could be madeeffective.

One very important element thatcomes to mind is immediate revital-ization of the inert country-wide polioeducation campaign.

Secondly, and most importantly, alaw making the use of polio dropscompulsory for children up to the ageof five should be framed by the gov-ernment, on priority basis, and putinto practice urgently.

An equally important element inthe given scenario is taking effectiveconfidence building measures to makethe polio eradication drive acceptableto the people without any fear. Thisparticular issue could be addressed byensuring:

(1) that the quality of the poliomedicine being dispensed is of topquality and

(2) that there is no ulterior motivebehind the polio eradication program,except welfare of the children. Sup-port from the international donors to-wards polio eradication program inPakistan has declined over the years.

To regain their confidence andsupport and to motivate the people topositively respond to the polio eradi-cation initiative of the government,tangible measures like the ones citedabove will have to be adopted withoutfurther loss of time.

M FAZAL ELAHILahore

Proposed income taxThe proposal to raise income tax

rates by almost six times in the nextbudget is bureaucratic move to raise rev-enue, something to be done to fulfil pay-ments to the IMF, without regard to thepaying ability of those who will suffer theimpact.

As those who will have the taxesraised for them will mostly be salariedpersons, the tax machinery has onceagain tried to get away with the expedi-ent of raising revenue by imposing fur-ther taxes on those already paying,rather than widening the tax net andbringing within it powerful interests whohave so far successfully avoided taxes,and which the government intends toallow to continue doing so. The assump-tion that people can pay multiples of ex-isting tax burdens is just no longer valid,but is contemptuous. The tax authoritiesgo for salaried persons, because collec-tion is easy, by deduction at source.

However, if this is the path chosen bythe government to cut its deficit, therewill be inevitable questions, particularlyabout vast agricultural incomes, whichremain tax-free, with those earning thoseincomes enjoying the commandingheights of the polity, including in the leg-islatures. There will also be queries abouthow the government spends money, withtaxpayers’ money being wasted on luxu-rious lifestyles for the ruling classeswhose number has grown with the ex-pansion of the cabinet.

Instead of burdening those who al-ready pay taxes, and who have had a veryrocky time of it because of recent infla-tion, the government should look tobringing in the tax net all those who donot pay because they enjoy tax-free in-comes as well as positions of power, andto reduce its own expenditures by properausterity measures. This has becomeparticularly important as the governmentis to face a general election in the comingyear. The government cannot afford to gointo it having raised tax rates. The in-crease will combine with other govern-ment failures, such as over energyloadshedding, inflation, crime increasesand foreign policy, to make the govern-ment’s task at the hustings very difficult.

MOHAMMAD FARREEDKarachi

Public transportPublic transportation all over the

world is seen as a safe and economic wayto move around. However, the storychanges when it comes to Pakistan as al-though most of the buses have now con-verted to CNG, the fare is still chargedfor diesel. Also the installed CNG kits arevery dangerous and are virtually time-bombs ready for explosions. CNG kits arenot the only problem. These buses aredecades old with uncomfortable restruc-tured seats and rusted window panes andalarmingly have no speedometer, tem-perature reader or fuel indicator. Thesebuses continue to cruise the streets with-out headlights or indicators and endan-ger the lives of not only the people insidethem, but also people travelling in theirown cars.

The officials in government need toinspect these buses on an urgent basis asalthough we know that life cannot beguaranteed, what we do know is preven-tion is better than cure.

ARFAH FAIQKarachi

Only we can end our miseriesThere is no denying the fact that we

as a nation-turned into a mob are mainlyresponsible for our problems and only wecan solve our problems, provided we takethe situation in our own control. Yet theglaring fact remains that the world col-laborators have joined hands with eachother to destabilize, denuclearize anddisregard Pakistan and they are actuallyresponsible for the bloodbath and accen-tuation of socio-politico-economic woesof this country. Without their active con-nivance, the allies couldn’t have suc-ceeded in inflaming so many regions andwreaking death and destruction at such awide scale.

Normality in relations may beachieved if, according to leading defenceanalyst, the US makes up Pakistan’s lossof $70 billion suffered in the US war onterror, compensates 100,000 dead andinjured in the war including those who

died or got injured by drones, stopsdrone war, provides civil nuclear technol-ogy to overcome energy crisis, apologizesfor Salala massacre, declares that it willrespect Pakistan’s sovereignty in futureand will not meddle in its internal affairs,agrees to treat Pakistan with respect, as-sures that it will facilitate resolution ofKashmir dispute and promises that it willnot let India to takeover security dutiesonce the ISAF departs fromAfghanistan.”

But the Americans seem in no moodto oblige on any of these areas of frictionsince it is feeling depressed and out ofsorts. It somehow considers Pakistan tobe partly if not wholly responsible for itsfailures in achieving its sinister designs.It is displeased with Pak Army and ISI asto why obstacles are being created in itsefforts to undermine Pakistan. It is nei-ther reconciling to the fact that it has lost

the war in Afghanistan, or over the defi-ance of Pakistan which had accepted itsdictates meekly for a decade. Closure ofNATO supply routes has forced the US toutilize six-time expensive northern net-work and that too for non-lethal items.The US is considering making use of sup-ply routes from China and air suppliesfrom India.

Closure of Shamsi airbase resulted insuspension of drone strikes for sometimebut after activating drone bases inAfghanistan and fine tuning ground in-telligence, strikes have been resumedsince January, although at a reducedscale.

Militancy in Orakzai, Kurram andKhyber agencies has increased, severalsuicide attacks have taken place in Khy-ber Pakhtunkhwa, target killings inKarachi and Balochistan are continuing,exiled Baloch sardars supported by their

patrons are spitting venom and rejectingreconciliation. Such anti-Pakistan activi-ties are not possible without provision offunds to the dissidents.

As long as funds are flowing in andweapons are supplied, there will be noletup in such anti-state acts. It is wishfulto assume that Pak-US relations will re-vert to normal after the parliamentary re-view, when strategic interests of the twoare at variance, drone war and covert warby Indo-US-Israeli nexus remain opera-tive and there is no let up in propagandawar. Those who believe that Americansare being defeated, might be true in theirown sense, but they must remember thateverything going to happen is in accor-dance with their calculations and the suf-ferings on Pakistan’s side seem to beinnumerably in store.

RABAIL IFTIKHAR CHEEMASialkot

pM’s contempt verdictThe Supreme Court of Pakistan has convicted the Prime

Minister in a contempt case. Now the PM should step down in-stead of holding on to the office. His resignation might save hisfuture in politics. Otherwise, he will be declared ineligible tocontest elections.

My humble suggestion for PPP is to keep patience in theirranks and implement the court’s order in letter and spirit. Timehas come to review the past wrong policies.

TARIQ HUSAIN KHANKarachi

It is unfortunate that America is pa-tronizing India and transferring nu-clear technology to it, contrary to itsown declared policy and ignoring thesimilar needs of other countries.

India’s recent 5000km-range Agni-V nuclear-warhead carrying missile’stest was not only endorsed by Washing-ton but got kudos ‘in the name of com-peting China in the region.’

Though world has not objected to it,but inside India there is strong resist-ance against it. As the renowned Indianjournalists, such as Kuldip Nayar,Jawed Naqvi, Praful Bidwai and AijazZaka Syed, has in their recently pub-lished articles pointed out that NewDelhi is suppressing resistance asIndia’s southern part is witnessing se-

vere anti-government protests.Thousands of fisher-folk, farmers,

traders and other resident surroundedthe KK-NPP, and organized massivedemos in Chettikulam, Idinthakarai &Kanyakumari. Over 300 senior citizenskept a day-long fast and wrote a letterto the Japanese PM requesting him notto open nuclear cooperation negotia-tions with India.

The Indian government is accusingthe movement of being supported byforeign organizations and is also tryingto whip up communal divide, playingthe communal card – by publicly stat-ing that it is the Christians who are op-posing the nuclear plant, while theHindus are suffering from power cuts.

The government is also resorting to

increased power cuts in the surround-ing area, to build up resentment amongthe general population against thestruggle and protest.

Fukushima like disasters if oc-curred in neighbouring India wouldcertainly affect the population in Pak-istan, and it must be a matter of con-cern for the inhabitants of subcontinentto raise a voice against it.

Thankfully, Pakistan has not a sin-gle complaint so far despite fears cre-ated by the terrorists and hostileforeign media, but keeping in view thegovernment should take measures inorder to avoid such mishaps within thecountry.

FARYAL F KHANGujrat

Life is a series of chronicle eventsand happenings and our age is an assetof our belongings, relations and peers.Our routine is very hectic and laboriousthat we feel even exhausted when werest back and spread our body on the of-fice chair or our bed.

It feels as we’ve topped a highestpeak today, and tomorrow there will beanother challenging day waiting for uswith a lot of work and boring routine;we never want to keep this thing goingwith us and wish to get rid of thispainstaking routine to enjoy our lives inpeace and luxury.

And finally, one day, we go for along holiday with our family and chil-dren, to enjoy, to get relax, to have funand to release all the tensions we feel inour daily life. This is what a person doesto keep life going until the final call.

We feel that God is sometimes un-fair with us. Many unanswerable ques-tions come to our minds; why am I not

given a lot of riches as others, why am Inot blessed with rule like our rulers,why don’t I enjoy the company of mychildren and family like others. We for-get all the blessings He gives us but re-member some deficits we bear.

He gives us everything but some-times He gives us something special, sospecial that we can’t even imagine – achild with some disability. The momenta couple takes the child in their hands afeeling of insecurity and perplexitycomes to their minds.

The fear of merciless world and theignorance of society make their heartssink in their chests and a never endinggloomy season starts in their life. After along and hard struggle some couplesmuster their courage up and start plan-ning the future of their child while oth-ers leave it to God or sometimes inworse conditions; they admit the childas a curse.

Situation becomes worse for the par-

ents who give birth to a child that looksnormal apparently, but after a couple ofyears they get shocking news that therechild is facing some mental disorder.They remain unable to understand thatwhy God has given them such a sur-prise. Believing the doctor is as hard asclimbing the Mount Everest. They startsearching for a messiah that can bringthem out of this intense problem. Theyroam around their whole circle to findthe solution to this problem but all invain. Finally, they decide to face theproblem.

Here, their life is contrary to the lifeof most of us; the life elaborated above.Here begins a new expedition every day.Life is not the same routine as it was be-fore. In simple words, the parents be-come special parents for their specialchild, worried for the kid every moment,caring for his needs every second, look-ing impatiently for some betterment inthe condition.

Losing hope and wining it again be-comes the routine of their life; trying tofind a way out but disappointment is theonly remedy.

Why a special child is only special tohis family? Why are we not there to takeit as our responsibility? Why we are soscared of this blessing of God? Simply,why can’t we serve an orange with a lotof apples?

Though the solution is not simplebut a first step should be taken now. In-stead of allocating separate resourcesfor such children we should provide fa-cilities in every school to facilitate thesechildren at grass root level. Instead ofcollecting ‘oranges’ from different placesto polish them at a single factory (spe-cial school) we should develop a systemthat can serve these oranges with a lot ofapples in a same unit (formal school);promote inclusive education.

ALI FAROOQLahore

Serving an orange with a lot of apples

A hostage future

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Comment12Friday, 27 April, 2012

Arif NizamiEditor

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

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

Dedicated to the legacy of the late Hameed Nizami

In comes the messenger

Bad timing

Ordinarily, Marc Grossman’s visit to the countrywould have been all over the airwaves. But, giventhe special circumstances that have emerged in thelast 24 hours (for readers living under a rock,

please refer to the editorial above), it didn’t get quite theviceregal coverage it usually gets. You could revive a deadman from suspended animation and it would appear as amere blip on Pakistani TV news cycles.

The visiting US special envoy for Afghanistan andPakistan, will, however, be circumspect when he looks at theemerging situation in the country. Regardless of how muchhe or his diplomatic corps huff and puff, tensions with mereAmericans are small fry now for the political dispensation inPakistan.

None of this is, however, meant to trivialise the gravity ofMr Grossman’s visit. He comes to Pakistan at a time ofstrained ties. He might be here to dip his toe in the water anddecide to throw his counterparts in the Pakistani diplomaticsetup a fig leaf by apologising completely andunconditionally for the Salala incident. Yes, the apologywhich our foreign minister used to repeat emphatically,“won’t be enough.”

In what is the first high-level delegation after the Salalaincident, Mr Grossman met with the army chief and though itwould be premature to conjecture on what transpired in thepow wow, it is assumed the American wants to smoothenthings out with the army. This is all bad form, of course, forthe government to allow him to meet the military leadership.Yes, their hands might be full, but this is something thatneeded pre-emption.

though we cannot afford to become a pariah state in thecomity of nations, it is also pertinent for the US to realisethat it needs Pakistan’s cooperation in the war on terror,specially now that the Isaf forces are working on an Americanwithdrawal from Afghanistan. The Pakistani deep state canuse its leverage with the Afghan Taliban and throw a spannerin the works faster than one can say Mullah Baradar.

This is going to be a tightrope walk. More than justgetting a good deal for the country, it is hoped that thepolitical government is able to have a say in the wholeprocess. A fat chance of that, given the current climate.

What next?

Verdict on the PM

The SC verdict has serious consequences for Gilanithough it is not likely to pose any immediate threatto the system. Gilani has been declared a contemner,ordered to be imprisoned till the rising of the court

i.e. for thirty seconds, and disqualified from being elected fora period of five years. As the short order does not denotifythe prime minister, this implies that he would continue to actas the PM, albeit a lame-duck one, for a minimum of fivemonths required for the disposal of his appeal and thecompletion of the process of disqualification in accordancewith Article 63 (1) and (2) of the constitution. The PM r canmeanwhile get the budget through and provide guidance inthe ongoing Pak-US talks which are of crucial importance.

The verdict has dismayed the PM and the PPP but it fallsshort of the expectations of his opponents who had hopedthat he would be given the maximum punishment and takenin handcuffs straight to jail. It remains to be seen whetherthe opposition is willing to allow Gilani to remain in office tillthe legal process is complete. Mian Nawaz Sharif has alreadysuggested that he no more recognises Gilani as PM. PTI chiefImran Khan maintains that Gilani has lost moral justificationto retain the office. Whether the opposition will confine itselfto simply putting on record their position without resortingto agitation to seek his urgent resignation remains anybody’sguess. Protests against the verdict have taken place in theinterior of Sindh and some of the towns in the Seraiki belt.This indicates an increase in polarisation if the two sides donot to arrest the process. In case both sides fail to discourageprotests, these could diminish whatever positive trends haveemerged in the economy while they may also reinforce themilitary’s declining role in policy making and as final arbiter.

There is a need on the PM’s part to dissuade the PPP fromprotests against the apex court’s decision. The opposition toowould do well to let the law take its course. While thesupremacy of law has to be maintained, the courts too needto consider how the law is applied without endangering thesystem which is the sole guardian of their independence.

The province of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa has long been suf-fering from the scourge of terrorism. The acts of terror-ism have not only taken many thousands of lives and

resulted in great material loss by damaging countless privateproperty and public infrastructure but they have also ensuredthat no investor, whether local or foreign, is willing to invest inthe region due to the security climate and pervasive terrorism.

The incumbent provincial government though has madeattempts to restore peace to the region by calling upon a tradi-tional tribal jirga. But it has not been shown any significantsupport by the central government in this regard. Conse-quently, these efforts have not bore much fruit and the inten-sity of terrorism has increased in certain areas..

The chief minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti has said time

and again that the provincial government is taking substantivesteps for the restoration of peace and has given priority to thecompletion of many developmental projects across theprovince. With the completion of these projects, the masseswould be better facilitated in various aspects of life than be-fore.

The CM said his government is not unaware of the prob-lems of the masses and is mindful of addressing the samethrough pursuing various developmental projects.

But it cannot be denied that all these efforts for develop-ment are doomed to fail until the menace of terrorism and mil-itancy is uprooted and peace is restored to the province. Nodevelopment project can help the masses if these problems per-sist.

– Translated from the original Pashto by Abdur RaufKhattak

No development without peaceDaily Pashtun Post

Regional press

Changing face of the US

In 1980s, America entered thethird century of her existence.This coincided with the Republi-can presidency of the conservativeRonald Reagan. Since then, the

American society, economy and politicshave gone through unprecedented trans-formations. Historically, the Americanshave been liberal in their outlook, how-ever, after Reagan, for the first time,more and more of them have begun toidentify themselves as conservatives.

This trend towards growing conser-vatism became quite visible in 2000,when the readership of anti-liberal pub-lications outnumbered that of the liberalones. A contemporary historian JohnLukacs in his classical work on the twen-tieth century America has highlighted atleast four major transformations sinceReagan that have had profound effectson the way power is being exercisedwithin and outside by the American es-tablishment

The first transformation has been inthe over-sizing of the civil bureaucracy,particularly the Foreign Service. ThoughReagan kept propagating about the evilsof the ‘Big Government’, the bureaucracyin foreign affairs, the presidency and theDefense Department kept inflating. Forexample, the number of personnel at-tached with the State and War depart-ments was much smaller before WorldWar II, when compared with the othergreat powers of the time but over theyears the staff employed in the US em-bassies multiplied tenfold.

The second transformation has beenin the domain of diplomacy.Traditionally, diplomacyhas been the forte of the ca-reer diplomats manning theState Department. For quitea while, it has been intrudedon by the spooks from intel-ligence. Now, it is the CIAthat administers the foreignrelations. As its head is ap-pointed by the president,therefore, it seldom dares todiffer from what the presi-dency wants to hear from it.

The US attack on Iraq isa typical example when theCIA ‘manufactured evi-dence’ about Saddam Hus-sein’s non-existent weaponsof mass destruction just be-cause President Bush had al-ready made up his mind tobring down Saddam, comewhat may. So, the Agencymeekly furnished him therequired ruse. While thepresidency has begun to relymore and more on the CIA,its performance has beenless than impressive as itfailed to foresee severalearth-shaking happeningssuch as the demolition of theBerlin Wall, the break-up ofthe Russian Empire in theEastern Europe and even

the 9/11. The third transformation has been

the dominance of the Defense Depart-ment over the State Department, whichwas initially the blue-eyed boy of theAmerican state. Again, this shift tookplace in the Reagan years but assumedwider proportions under PresidentGeorge W Bush, whose bellicose Secre-tary of Defense Donald Rumsfeldwielded much greater power over thesometimes hapless Secretary of StateColin Powell.

The fourth transformation has beenthe most dramatic of all. It has been themilitarisation of the American presi-dency, and by its extension, the militari-sation of the foreign policy. Even thoseUS presidents, who had had a militarybackground preferred to employ civilianmanners in words, voices and gesturesduring the discharge of their functions;certainly not Ronald Reagan, who, de-spite having no military service and hav-ing spent the World War II in theHollywood, showed “all the marks ofsomeone enjoying playing at soldier.” Itwas he, who started the practice of re-turning the military salute by raising hisright hand up to his bare head – a ges-ture that was unnecessarily adopted byhis successor presidents.

Notwithstanding the warningsounded by President Eisenhower aboutthe strangulating hold of the military in-dustrial complex over America, Reaganwent head-long on a vast armament pro-gram envisaging a six hundred ship-navy. As a result, the US defense budgetmore than doubled from $134 billion in1980 to $ 299.3 billion in 1990.

Intoxicated by the military might, itwas Reagan, who, first, started thebranding of US opponents as ‘evil’ withthe inherent belief that America was theepitome of ‘good’. No wonder, contro-versial expressions such as ‘the axis ofevil’ became common jargon for subse-quent presidents. Holding high the ‘flagof goodness’, America could, now, goafter the real or imaginary ‘demons’ and‘monsters’ in every nook and cranny of

the globe to uphold and spread the causeof ‘goodness’. In plain words, Americahad become the dictatress of the world.This was the danger against whom hadforewarned the greatest of America’sSecretaries of State, John QuincyAdams, in his July 4 speech in 1821:“America does not go abroad in search ofmonsters to destroy…[if so] she mightbecome the dictatress of the world. Shewould be no longer the ruler of her ownspirit.”

The spirit of America as reflected inits revolution, the war of independenceand the constitution was rooted in thebeautiful traditions of Enlightenment.Thus, it remained a great role model forthe whole world, for almost two cen-turies. Not so any more. About a centuryago, a great historian Jacob Burckhardhad prophetically observed: “The suddenchange from democracy will no longerresult in the rule of an individual – butin the rule of a military corporation. Andby it, methods will perhaps be used forwhich even the most terrible despotwould not have the heart.”

His fear has turned true in today’sAmerica. Now, the military corporationswith Pentagon as their chief patron rulethe roost. That is why, the Americanspirit has coarsened, as is evident fromunsavoury names of warplanes such as‘Predators’, ‘Raptors’, ‘Black hawks’ and‘Warthogs’. Moreover, due to the mili-tarisation of the presidency, the Ameri-can presidents, now, prefer to don thegarb of Commander-in-Chief than to bethe usual civilian presidents. Don’t bemistaken! Just recall Bush’s statementon the eve of his inauguration: “It’s greatto be the Commander-in-Chief of thisnation.” This remark was in sharp con-trast to other presidents such as Wash-ington, Lincoln, Wilson and Roosevelt,who governed America during its greatwars yet never called themselves theCommanders-in-Chief.

The writer is an academic and ajournalist. He can be reached atqizilbash2000@yahoo.com

A look at how thecountry has evolvedsince the ’80s

eye on historyBy Basharat Hussain Qizilbash

LHR 27-04-2012_Layout 1 4/27/2012 2:22 AM Page 12

Comment 13Friday, 27 April, 2012

Still cool

Delhi’s stepwellsthe problem is not what you think

on ‘corruption’H

ere in Delhi, the heat is oppressive. I’m ina special place. Down the stone stairs.Shade. The wet sari clinging to her skin,

Zeenat Begum is washing herself in cool water.The pool is covered with the yellow leaves ofkikar. “It’s my hamam,” says the elderly woman.Picking up her blouse from the steps, she says,“I’m a beggar and I bathe like a queen.”

Zeenat Begum’s hamam is Gandhak ki Baoli,Delhi’s oldest surviving stepwell. Because of itssulphur-rich water, said to have healing proper-ties for skin ailments, this baoli was used as a spa.Built by Sultan Altutmush in the 13th century, itis a beautiful otherworldly abyss close to theQutub Minar in south Delhi.

A water monument of sculptured columns andlattice walls, a baoli is a secret world linking lightto shade, earth to water. A flight of stone stairs,punctuated with landings with pavilions andchambers, leads to the bottom. In the monsoon,water comes up to the upper steps. In the dry sea-son, it recedes to the lower levels.

Novelist Anita Desai somewhere describedbaolis as “a profound world of myth, philosophy,belief, beauty, and understanding”.

Connected with well and groundwateraquifers, baolis were built to collect rainwaterduring the monsoons and allow people to accessthe receding water through the year. K K Muham-mad, superintending archaeologist of the Delhicircle of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI),describes baolis as air conditioners, “their cham-bers and passageways kept cool by the water”.“Baolis were also social networking sites,” saysJutta Jain-Neubauer, author of The Stepwells ofGujarat, the first book ever written on baolis,“where people gathered to escape hot afternoons.”

Unique to India, about 3,000 baolis were builtbetween the seventh and mid-

19th centuries, most in the aridregions of Rajasthan and Gujarat.“Baolis attained unsurpassedmonumentality and elaborate-ness in Gujarat alone,” says Jain-Neubauer, who lives in VasantKunj (south Delhi) and who isgetting ready to prepare a secondedition of her 1981 classic.

The baolis of Delhi standnowhere to those of Gujarat. Ded-icated to Hindu gods, stepwells inGujarat were lavishly carved.Delhi’s baolis date from a muchlater period and are less artistic.

The most neglected of thecity’s monuments, baolis tell of atime when men followed theirquest for water through meansmore gentle and humble. Then,men dug earth to reach water andnow, we steer the course of riversto force water to reach us Com-pared to dams that destroy natureand communities, baolis wereecologically friendly.”

At the turn of the last century,Delhi had more than 100 baolis.Today, many of them have cavedin or dried up owing to the declin-

ing water table. The number has shrunk to about15, according to the ASI.

The few baolis that remain accessible must bevisited in summer. Cold, damp and quiet, thesestepwells are an oasis of solitude, rare in thiscrowded, noisy, smoggy metropolis.

Delhi-wallahs gathered in baolis to flee fromsummer heat, academic-activist Sohail Hashmi, awalking encyclopaedia on the city, told me. Therethey lounged, slept, played chauser and pacheesiwith friends or smoked hookahs.

Today, the few who visit baolis go there eitherto meet their lovers, or to get away from the world.

Amid the business towers and residentialapartments of central Delhi, the 14th centuryAgrasen ki Baoli has its own fan club on Face-book. Flanked by niches, chambers and passage-ways, the 104 stone steps, descending into thewell’s dry depths, have three landings.

Although the baoli is dry, the air is cool evenat the peak of summer.

Until 2002, it had water. In the baoli’s lowerreaches, the sunlight fades. The gurgling sound ofhundreds of resident pigeons echoes off the stonewalls. Hidden in the various nooks and bays of thebaoli, the birds frequently fly out with a great flap-ping of wings.

Since a baoli is built below ground level, its ar-chitectural aesthetics can only be appreciatedonce you enter it. At Agrasen ki Baoli, the experi-ence is more intense because the steps of the baoliand the high-rises of Connaught Place present adramatic contrast: the 14th century joining the21st century in one straight line.

The high-rises, Muhammad says, are the rea-son why baolis cannot be restored to their originalself. “Multi-floor buildings claim more water andso the level of Delhi’s water table has plunged. Wecannot refill baolis with water.”

The baoli in the Sufi shrine of NizamuddinBasti is the only stepwell in Delhi to have an activeunderground spring that ensures a continuoussupply of fresh water. For centuries, pilgrimsstopped at the baoli to sip its blessed water. Foryears, the boys living in Nizamuddin Basti divedinto the baoli – especially when it was floodedwith monsoon rain – from the roofs, windows andledges of the surrounding houses and from the topof the baoli wall from the other side.

Over the decades, the water of Hazrat Niza-muddin’s baoli became toxic with decomposedmuck. In 2009, a renovation project undertakenby the Aga Khan Trust for Culture and ASI man-aged to reach the well’s foundation.

Today, the water looks clean. A new genera-tion of neighbourhood boys climbs on the roofs,jump into the water, swim and go back to theroofs to jump again.

It is late summer afternoon. The sun’s glare iswhite. The Rajon ki Baoli in the Mehrauli Archae-ological Park is empty. The well is dry. In her bookDelhi: A Thousand Years of Building, Lucy Peckcalls it “the prettiest baoli in Delhi”.

With 66 steps, the baoli’s top floor has a rowof arched niches, which are cool inside. There isno noise save that of aeroplanes preparing to landat the Indira Gandhi International Airport. Bringa novel, a flask of chilled water and it becomes aperfect place to while away a summer afternoon.

Delhi CallingBy Mayank Austen Soofi

The prevalence of corrup-tion, just like its historic-ity, cannot be under

stressed because as recentwork on the economy of thearmed forces has shown it islikely to exist in most publicinstitutions regardless of theirdemocratic or representativenature. It is the nature of dem-ocratic politics itself that thepublic sphere expands and re-ceives more attention in printand the electronic media but itis equally important to remindus of the fact that this is notspecific just to democracy ordemocratic rule but is equallypresent yet under-exposedduring times of authoritarianregimes.

What has concerned methe most in the endless discus-sions (read: rambling) on cor-ruption in our media is the waythat it has been treated as thisalien disease that needs to beeliminated almost as if it wasmore dangerous than cancerand as incurable as the com-mon cold. Some of the rectifi-cation schemes and termsrecently used in several op-edpieces include, ‘re-structuringinstitutional practices’, focus-ing on ‘good governance’, ‘re-thinking accountabilitymechanisms’ and so on and soforth. Well intentioned, nodoubt, but heavily reliant onthe premise that corruption isalien and harmful to the sys-tem of governance and publiclife, hence it has to be sepa-rated like some tumour andthrown away.

Whilst I generally agree tothe harmful effects of corrup-tion in so far as it induces lowlevels of efficiency, wastage ofscarce resources and promo-tion of incompetence in merit-based situations, I am moreconcerned with this fetish oftreating corruption as an alien

disease. If the premise of theirsolutions relies on the extrane-ous nature of the problem it-self, then the situation can bemade a lot more interestingand complex if the primary as-sumption is discarded and anew one is set in place, i.e. cor-ruption is not alien to the sys-tem, it is an inherent code ofpractice that has evolved overtime in certain parts of theworld, primarily from the ex-perience of the public realmundergoing certain forms ofsocial organisation and re-or-ganisation such as colonialism,kinship associational modesand a cultural continuity ofsorts that has synthesisedthese varying social experi-ences.

It is important to note thatthen the problem ceases to bean institutional plague butwhen in turn it becomes a so-cietal practice or norm, thesepretentious solutions seem tofall some light-years short ofaddressing the issue. In sim-pler terms, it is possible tonote that corruption refers toany practice that transgressesthe rational-bureaucraticframework of the publicsphere, i.e. my offering a bribeto a policeman and its subse-quent acceptance is a trans-gression because I am avoidingmy punishment for breakingsome legal-rational principle.What if the logic of bureau-cratic rationality is alien to mymode of thinking? What if Iwould rather just exploit hisinferior economic position togo scot-free or more com-monly my connectionsamongst his superiors or eventhe fact that we might hailfrom the same biraderi. Thepremise of rationality is a lotdifferent and the recognitionof the law is only there whilewe are breaking it, the lawstops being the code of con-duct in any subsequent frameof action.

Secondly, the acceptanceand acknowledgment of cor-ruption as sin is most oftenrhetoric employed by societyand in relevant and contextualpositions, almost every personfinds justification of any cor-rupt or illegal act that theymight commit. For example, apoliceman or a civil servant

taking a bribe justifies his ac-tions on the paucity of hiswages, the inflation of subsis-tence goods and the moraldegradation of his immediatesuperiors. The economicallyaffluent justify some forms ofcorruption as a necessity toavoid the rigors of our alreadyfailed system. Public represen-tatives see the misuse of publicvehicles as fringe benefits thatthey have earned due to thedemanding route taken bythem to get to this position ofprivilege.

From these two observa-tions on the notion of corrup-tion, it can be concluded(perhaps superficially) that therationality of action in the pub-lic sphere is unique withinpost-colonial contexts. This‘problem’ of corruption isprevalent in places where thecolonial experience of a cen-tralised bureaucratic legalframework has merged withnon-European modes of socialconduct. Where the au-tonomous citizen (or publicservant) is a citizen (or publicservant) along with a Rajput, aLahori, a Sunni, and a residentof some neighbourhood andtraces his past to some villageon the banks of the Chenab. Itis impossible to delineatewhich of these identities (andsubsequent rationality) is in-herently colonial, post-colonialand pre-colonial, and perhapsthat question does not need tobe answered.

What we are left with isnot just the simple problem ofremoving the tumour that iscorruption but with a largerquestion of somehow gather-ing such diverse identities intoan acceptable consensus undersome notion of law that wouldeither completely legitimisethose actions that we deem asbeing corrupt or perhaps getrid of the aforementioned ac-tions all together. It is quiteclear that these two skewedframeworks cannot co-existside by side as they have beentrying to do for such a longtime.

The writer blogs ath t t p : / / r e c y c l e d -thought.blogspot.com.Email himat umairjaved87@gmail.com, orsend a tweet @umairjav

By Umair Javed

LHR 27-04-2012_Layout 1 4/27/2012 2:22 AM Page 13

MuMBAI: Aamir Khan has provedthat he is indeed a man of words.The perfectionist made hispresence felt at a humble weddingceremony in Varanasi to keep up hiscommitment. rajeev, the groom,couldn’t believe his eyes as he couldnever in his dreams expect a starlike Aamir to grace his wedding. Itwas nothing less a miracle of sortsfor the son of auto-rickshaw driverramlakhan Paswan, whom Aamirhad met in December 2009. A dailyreported that ramlakhan, who alsoknown as Nathuni, had helpedAamir locate the house of hismaternal grandmother. As a tokenof thanks, Aamir later sent him air-tickets for Mumbai to attend thepremiere of ‘3 Idiots’. “Initially, Aamirhad assured to send his blessingsthrough a video CD, but recently heconfirmed that he would beattending the marriage function inperson,” Nathuni told a daily. ThePaswan family was certainly oncloud nine after hearing the newsof Aamir’s arrival. AGenCIeS

14 Friday, 27 April, 2012

When Aamir Khan attended rickshaw driver’s son’s wedding

After SRK, Big B, Hrithik might endorse a state MuMBAI: hrithik roshan-an actor parexcellence has been approached tobecome the brand ambassador of theIndian state of Maharashtra. Accordingto reports the state govt wants torope in hrithik to promote the stateand help sell the state’s beautifullocales to tourists. Sources confirmthat an agency hired by the govtapproached hrithik a few days ago tobecome the state’s brand ambassador.They had sent a mail to hrithik’s teamwhich was immediately forwarded tohim. however, given hrithik’s extremelybusy shooting schedule, the actor isyet to give his nod to the offer. It islearnt that the agencies are so keento welcome hrithik on board that theyhave planned to shoot a docu-flimwith him. A photo shoot has alsobeen planned. Although hrithik isbusy with the shooting of ‘Krrish 3’,sources close to the actor say that hethinks it is a big honour that has beenbestowed on him. Now, only time willtell if he would join the ranks of Big Band SrK, who promote Gujarat andBengal respectively. AGenCIeS

MuMBAI: Post their first film together-‘Aisha’, AbhayDeol and Sonam Kapoor didn’t really share the bestof the terms. Apparently, now the two seem to haveburied the hatchet. Buzz has it that Sonam andAbhay would be seen together in ‘Tanu Weds Manu’director Anand l rai’s ‘raanjhana’. Abhay has beenroped in for a small but significant role in the film,which marks the Bollywood debut of the South starrajnikanth’s son-in-law and ‘Kolavari Di’ sensation,

Dhanush. reportedly, Abhay had anunpleasant fallout with the actresswhile working in Sonam’s homeproduction ‘Aisha’. It was alleged thatAbhay showed disinterest in the rolehe played and wasn’t happy with thefilm, but Sonam was miffed more soafter Abhay had made someunflattering remarks about AnilKapoor. Not someone to take it lightly,Sonam reacted strongly against him.After their initial outburst, both theactors later claimed all was wellbetween them and that they wereopen to working together again. Asource informed that both the actorswill share screen space in the film.“All I can say is that they will comeface to face and their chemistry isamazing in the scene,” the sourcesaid. The source also added, “Abhaytook it up because it’s a beautiful roleand he loved it.” The film, which willbe shot in Benaras is expected to goon floor by the end of May. AGenCIeS

Abhay, Sonamsignal a truce

SOCIETY KARACHI: Cinnabon Pakistan launched a second outlet at Atrium Mall. PR

Abid, Rabiya and Aisha Alina and Sadia

Aamir, Asad, Sohaib, Salman, Shahana and Sidra

Nadya Hussain with guestsNazia Malik

WASHINGTONAGenCIeS

L ARRY Thomp-son, producer ofLindsay Lohan’supcoming biopic‘Liz and Dick’,

thinks that the actress ‘maybe the most insured actressthat ever walked on asoundstage’. This week,Lohan signed on to star inLifetime’s new film aboutElizabeth Taylor andRichard Burton’s turbulent,

ten-year relationship.Thompson asserted that heis confident that the trou-bled 25-year-old is morethan capable of stepping upto the plate to play the icon.Lindsay has a noble pur-pose,” Us weekly quotedThompson as telling E!News. “It’s not like she’sgoing to do a little job-theresponsibility of playingElizabeth Taylor is large.”

“Lindsay Lohan may bethe most insured actressthat ever walked on a

soundstage,” Thompsonadded. Lohan is ready foranother comeback, and shedoesn't care what thehaters think. Critics-mostnotably Rosie O'Donnell-have questioned her abilityto portray the late ElizabethTaylor in an upcoming Life-time TV biopic. Lohanlashed back at O'Donnell.“It's funny that someoneyou don't know at all cansay something so intrusiveand so knowing," she said.So what would Lindsay liketo say to her detractor?

"I don't think I need totell her anything," the 25-year-old starlet said. "Iknow that I'm great. Iknow that I know Liz Tay-lor very well, and I sharethe same makeup artistand the same hair stylist.We've worked with a lot ofthe same people." For herpart, the actress feels"lucky to be able to do thisrole" and wants "to hon-our (Elizabeth) the waythat she should be hon-oured because she helpeda lot of people in her life."As for Lindsay's onscreenlove interest? She said shehas someone in mind toplay Richard Burton, butshe doesn't want to jinx it.When one reporter sug-gested Gerard Butler forthe role, Lindsay mused,"I don't know if he woulddo that, but he actuallydoes remind me ofRichard a lot."

NEWS DESK

Cinnabon Pakistan launched a second outletat Atrium Mall, only a few weeks after thelaunch of their flagship store at DolmenClifton Mall, testament to the success of oneof the world’s most well known dessertbrands. The launch of the kiosk at AtriumMall was an extremely innovative event withlots of exciting and unique elements comingtogether to produce a truly unique launchexperience. Near the kiosk an Angry Bonsgame was being played out with Cinnanom

rolls and Chillata shaped bons. TheCinnabon kiosk was covered with a blackcurtain which was pulled up at the time ofrevealing of the kiosk, while the crowdcounted down and cheered the revealing.Dancers, hidden under the curtain, jumpedout the minute the curtain was pulled up, ex-citing the audience and keeping the energylevel high. An exciting blue carpet eventwas the highlight of the event with celebri-ties such as supermodel Nadya Hussain,TV morning show host Ayesha Omer andother actresses and actors in full attendance.

Another spot for a scrumptious treat

LHR 27-04-2012_Layout 1 4/27/2012 2:22 AM Page 14

Injured Al Pacino gets treatment on movie set

LOS ANGELESAGenCIeS

Veteran actor Al Pacino was treated bydoctors on the set of his new movie‘Stand Up Guys’ after he hurt his eye inan explosive gun-wielding scene. Thelegend has teamed up with fellow vet-eran star Christopher Walken for themovie, in which two ageing gangstersenjoy one last job. The pair filmed a gun-fight sequence on the streets here, withboth firing off fake pistols in front of thecameras Monday. But Pacino was leftwincing in pain after the scene wrapped,and medics had to wash out his eye withsolution. It's not known how the actorwas injured, reports contactmusic.com.

Lost Beatles video found after 48 years

LONDONAGenCIeS

A rare video footage of the Beatles’ firstfull concert in the US has finally beenfound after being untraceable for 48years. The 12-song concert-filmed at theWashington Coliseum in 1964-was theband’s first full US gig, and features per-formances of ‘She Loves You’ and ‘Twistand Shout’, BBC reported. It was origi-nally broadcast to two million Americancinema-goers in March 1964, a monthafter it was recorded. The footage thendisappeared. The lost video will now beincluded in a 92-minute documentary ti-tled ‘The Beatles: The Lost Concert’. Theoriginal master tapes have been restored.The first part of the film focuses on therise of Beatlemania in the US. It containscommentary from Chuck Berry, MarkRonson, Aerosmith pair Steven Tylerand Joe Perry and Albert Hammond Jr and Nick Valensi from The Strokes.

15

Impulsive John might get married to Priya next week

‘Rowdy Rathore’ to bring new treat for Pakistani action lovers

IT was one of the most apt ways of promotingthe film - Anil Kapoor and Ajay Devgn racedsuperfast luxury sports vehicles around the F1track at the Buddh International Circuit topromote their film ‘Tezz’. And ‘Tezz’ was exactlyhow they went around the track, their powerfulvehicles roaring deafeningly. It started with thetwo actors being briefed by FarhanVohra, racedirector and GM - Operations at the track,followed by a test drive in a Mercedes at thetrack. After ending that lap, the actors got intoa lamborghini each, with host and organiserManish yadav in the third. “Anil bhai is a reallyclose friend, so I organised this to help thempromote their film,” said Manish, adding thathe'd nudged Anil's lamborghini slightly frombehind with his, just to scare him. And away thethree went, making the stands echo with thesound of speed as thecars zoomed by. later,during the pressconference, when askedhow fast they went, Ajaysaid, “I never noticed!” Aniladded, “We must havetouched 260-270kmph. Itwas a fantastic experience,like an addiction.” Themovie is going to releaseon 27th April 2012 anddistributed by IMGC global.The Pr of the movie ishandled by EncyclomediaPr. neWS DeSK

NEWS DESK

The action movie lovers are infor a treat as ‘Wanted’ directorPrabhu Deva is directing an-other mass entertainer withfast-paced action. The film is‘Rowdy Rathore’, starring thedashing Akshay Kumar as acop. It is produced by SanjayLeela Bhansali. The movie‘Rowdy Rathore’ went onfloors last week, and with a di-rector like Prabhu Deva at thehelm of affairs, and actionfilms doing extremely well atthe box office, this film,too, is likely to carry a lotof expectations. And whynot, Akshay Kumar isback as a ‘khiladi’ after ahiatus, and he is evensporting a moustachelike Salman Khan andAjay Devgan. Accordingto director Sanjay LeelaBhansali, he wants to trysomething different and,as a filmmaker, move outof his comfort zone. Sohe decided to produce‘Rowdy Rathore’. Thefilm also stars SonakshiSinha in lead. This is Ak-shay and Sonakshi’s sec-ond film together after

‘Joker’. Talking about RowdyRathore, a source says: “Thedynamite combination of San-jal Leela Bhansali, AkshayKumar and Prabhu Deva callsfor a film that is aestheticallylarger than life packed withmind blowing stunts and im-pressive choreography. Thefilm has box-office successwritten all over it.” The movieis expected to release aroundmid 2012. The movie is dis-tributed in Pakistan by IMGCglobal and its PR is handled byEncyclomedia PR.

Kiran Mahmood

Aeysha Omer

Johansson skips out on ‘Iron Man 3’s Black Widow role

LOS ANGELESAGenCIeS

Looks like Scarlett Johanssonwon't be an Iron lady. RobertDowney Jr. already has hishands full with two gals, fol-lowing recent casting newsthat Jessica Chastain will bejoining Gwyneth Paltrow invying for the star's attentionin ‘Iron Man 3’. But is three acrowd? Possibly so, saysScarJo. The actress, whomemorably slinked her wayinto ‘Iron Man 2’ as catsuit-clad Black Widow, re-portedly tells ScreenRant that she will not bereturning for the block-buster franchise's thirdouting. Hear that? Thatwas the sound of a gazil-lion fanboys' heartssinking. Casting for theflick has been rampingup, and it's recentlyadded thespians like BenKingsley and GuyPearce, in addition toChastain. There's be noindication so far,though, that Johanssonwill be making a returnengagement. The ac-tress-who'll be unleash-

ing her killer Black Widowmoves in ‘The Avengers’,hints that she'd be more thatgame for a Black Widow spin-off. “I personally think there'san awesome Black Widowmovie in there, that is like akind of Bourne type of film,that would take the wholecomic book genre in a com-pletely different direction,”she said. “I've spoken to Mar-vel about it—there's so muchstory there to draw from. Ithink it would be totally awe-some,” she added.

MuMBAI: The man who is riding high on thesuccess of his first production venture ‘VickyDonor’, John Abraham has much to look forwardto this year. The actor has tasted success with‘housefull 2’ and ‘Vicky Donor’ this year and isnow thinking of settling down. John starteddating banker Priya runchal last year. In a candidinterview to a leading daily, John admitted that heknew Priya was ‘the one’ just two months afterhe started dating her. And now the couple isthinking of taking the next step forward. “Priyaand I have decided to get married this year,” saidthe hunk to the daily. John also rubbished rumoursthat they had already tied the knot in los Angelesfew months back and refuted claims that hestarted dating her while he was still with actressBipasha Basu. “I met Priya through a commonfriend, there was an instant connection. I can talkto her about anything. Ours is a very honestrelationship. We can tell each other everything.That’s a benchmark for a healthy relationship,”said John. So will it be big fat Bollywoodwedding? John said that the couple wanted asmall and a private affair. “I know it will be thisyear, but I don’t know when. I am a very impulsiveguy. So I might decide to get married next week.It’s possible that our wedding may have just 10people, if we include close family.” AGenCIeS

SARAJEVO CBS

I T'S official - AngelinaJolie is now a citizen ofSarajevo. Bosnia's capitalhas named the actress-di-rector its honorary citizen

in recognition of her directorialdebut ‘In the Land of Blood andHoney.’ A statement issued bycity's authorities said the citywas grateful to Jolie for preserv-ing the "truth about the war" inBosnia, through her movie,which was released late last

year. The spokeswoman for theSarajevo Canton, Lamija Bo-jadzic, said Wednesday it wasnot yet clear whether Jolie willattend a May 3 ceremony inSarajevo. The movie was doggedby controversy from the start.Jolie was denied permission tofilm in Bosnia until the govern-ment approved her script. Then,on the eve of its opening, thehead of a group of Serbs heldprisoner during Bosnia's 1992-1995 war called for the movie tobe banned in the Serb-run partof the country.

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Friday, 27 April, 2012

16 Foreign News

ABUJAAFp

BOMB blasts targeting newspa-per offices in Nigeria’s capitalAbuja and the northern city ofKaduna on Thursday killed atleast six people in the first such

attacks targeting the country’s news media.The explosion in the capital badly dam-

aged an office of national newspaper This-Day, one of the country’s most prominent,killing at least three people there, accordingto a rescue official who spoke on conditionof anonymity. Circumstances were unclear,but witnesses said it appeared a bomberhad driven toward the building through a

back gate. In Kaduna, one of the main citiesin the north, a bomb went off outside acomplex housing a number of newspaperoffices, including for ThisDay, and the at-tacker was said to have driven his car ontothe premises, with it later exploding. Policesaid a suspect in Kaduna was arrested andhe was suspected to be a member of Is-lamist group Boko Haram. A purportedspokesman for the Islamist group had re-cently made threats against newspapers,saying they were being used by authoritiesto publish stories against Boko Haram. De-tails of the explosions were sketchy, with aspokesman for the country’s NationalEmergency Management Agency saying theAbuja blast “occurred inside the premises

of national newspaper ThisDay.” He added that “a preliminary investi-

gation seems to indicate that the explosivedevice was planted somewhere within thepremises, not likely a case of suicide bomb-ing.” Later however, he said various infor-mation was emerging and he could not yetdraw any firm conclusion. Witnesses re-ported that it appeared a truck had forcedits way through the back gate to enter theprinting area. A ThisDay executive saidtwo security guards were killed and fivesupport staff wounded. A rescue officialspeaking on condition of anonymity con-firmed three dead, including the bomber.Damage could be seen to the printing pressand other areas.

JERUSALEMAFp

President Shimon Peres onThursday distanced himself fromthe Israeli premier’s comparisonbetween the Holocaust and thethreat posed by Iran’s nuclearprogramme.

“It’s not the same thing,” Perestold the Ynet website of YediotAharonot newspaper in aninterview for Israel’s independenceday. “Holocaust is one thing andIran is another. The comparison isout of place. But I’m not a literarycritic and the prime ministerexpressed his opinion on thematter,” he said.

In a speech last week to markthe Nazi Holocaust, Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu said: “Peoplewho refuse to see the Iranianthreat have learned nothing fromthe Shoah (Holocaust). “They areafraid to speak the truth, which istoday, as it was then, that there arepeople who want to annihilatemillions of Jews,” the hawkishprime minister said. “The truth isthat an Iran in possession ofnuclear arms is an existentialthreat to the State of Israel.”

Israel, the United States andmany other countries suspect Iranof using its civilian nuclearprogramme to mask an armsdrive, something Tehranvehemently denies. There has beengrowing concern the Jewish statemight carry out military strikes onIran in a bid to destroy, or at leastseverely disable, the nuclearprogramme. But Peres voicedconfidence the sanctions imposedon Iran by the internationalcommunity would prove aneffective deterrent.

“Every person can judge thisfor himself. I believe we canhandle the Iranian threat. TheUnited States leading and Europejoining (them) — it’s not just lipservice,” he said. “They, like us,cannot afford to have a nuclearIran and they want to stop it. Asfor Hitler, the world was asleepthen. This couldn’t happen today,the world has woken up,” he said.“Israel can defend itself but we arenot alone, and that’s a plus, not aminus. I believe what (USPresident Barack) Obama says.There is no need for saber-rattling,but there is a need to imposesanctions and political pressure.”

indian legendtendulkar offeredpolitical role

NEW DELHIAFp

India’s prime minister has put forwardbatting superstar Sachin Tendulkar formembership of the upper house ofparliament, reports said on Thursday.Prime Minister Manmohan Singh haswritten a letter to the presidentrecommending the cricketer be nominatedto the Rajya Sabha, the NDTV newschannel quoted sources as saying.Tendulkar, who turned 39 this week, wasin New Delhi to play an Indian PremierLeague match for the Mumbai Indiansagainst the Delhi Daredevils at the FerozShah Kotla stadium on Friday. Earlier onThursday, Tendulkar and his wife hadcalled on ruling Congress party presidentSonia Gandhi at her residence — a meetingdescribed as a “courtesy visit” by the localmedia. The vast majority of the 250 seatsin the upper house of India’s parliamentare filled by members elected by thelegislatures in their home states. But 12seats lie in the favour of the president andare normally awarded to people who haveexcelled in such fields as the arts, scienceand sport. Tendulkar’s name is among fourthat the government has recommended tothe president to fill seats currently lyingvacant, the Press Trust of India newsagency said. Tendulkar made hisinternational debut in 1989 and has playedmore Tests (188) and one-dayinternationals (463) than any other player

cheers, relief inSierra leone astaylor found guilty

FREETOWNAFp

Sierra Leoneans cheered or quietly letthe news sink in Thursday as ex-Liberianpresident Charles Taylor was convictedof aiding and abetting a terror campaignby rebels during their country’s 11-yearcivil war. Victims, leaders and civilsociety representatives packed theheadquarters of the Special Court forSierra Leone, a modern building in thelush, hilly capital, to watch on monitorsas the verdict unfolded in a courtroom inthe Dutch capital thousands of milesaway. Al Hadji Jusu Jarka, formerchairman of the amputees association,watched the nearly two-hour judgementstony-faced, using his prosthetic arms toclasp a handkerchief to wipe his face inthe heat. “I am happy ... I feel justice hasbeen done,” he said, after calmlylistening to judge Richard Lussickannounce Taylor was guilty of arming therebels who in 1999 hacked off first hisleft, then his right arm as he was pinnedto a mango tree. “We as victims expectthat Taylor will be given 100 years ormore in prison,” he added. Sentencingwill take place on May 30. While victimsquietly filed out of the courtroom,another hall packed with victims andtribal chiefs from around the countryerupted into cheers as they turned tocongratulate each other.

ABuJA: A firefighter stands in front of the premises of thisDay newspapers bombed by suicide bombers early on thursday. AfP

Bombs targeting newspapers kill at least 6 in Nigeria

Peres dismisses Holocaust,iran comparison

Worst week forCameron govt asproblems mount

LONDONAFp

David Cameron’s government is suffering theworst week of its two-year reign after Britainslipped back into recession and its integritywas called into question over links to RupertMurdoch’s empire. The surprise news on theeconomy — analysts had widely expectedmodest growth — capped a torrid few weeksfor the government of Cameron’sConservatives and their junior partners, theLiberal Democrats. The economic bombshellexploded as Cameron’s culture ministerJeremy Hunt was fighting for his job overrevelations the government had leakedinformation to Murdoch’s News Corp. over itsattempted takeover of pay-TV giant BSkyB.Hunt insists he acted properly over the now-abandoned bid and has vowed to prove it, butthe main opposition Labour party scentsblood and is calling for the Conservativeminister’s removal. While Labour’s barbsover the Murdoch links are tempered by thefact they also cosied up to the media baronwhen they were in power, Cameron must winthe more serious argument on the economy.After Wednesday’s announcement thatBritain was back in recession after a gap oftwo years, Cameron refused to accept that hisgovernment’s policy of deep cuts to publicspending to slash a record deficit werecrushing growth.

ABUJAAFp

An explosion at a newspaper office in theNigerian capital Abuja on Thursday thatkilled at least three people was a suicideattack, the chairman of the daily ThisDay’seditorial board said. “The suicide bombercame in a jeep,” Olusegun Adeniyi toldreporters at the scene. “(Security guards)opened the gate for them ... The guy drovein through the gate and rammed into thebuilding and exploded.” The two guardswere killed in the blast along with the

bomber, he said. Five support staff werewounded. “Fortunately the newsroom is abit far from the back of the building,” saidAdeniyi. “So all the people in thenewsroom ... are all safe.” The privatelyowned newspaper is one of Nigeria’s mostprominent and influential. It is based inthe economic capital Lagos, but has amajor operation in the capital Abuja.Another bomb attack at roughly the sametime in the northern city of Kadunatargeting a complex that also includes aThisDay office left at least three peopledead as well, making a total of six.

BlaSt waS SUicide attack

LHR 27-04-2012_Layout 1 4/27/2012 2:22 AM Page 16

Foreign News 17Friday, 27 April, 2012

KIeV: Victim of Chernobyl nuclear accident’s widows hold pictures of their late husbands in front of the Chernobyl victims memorial during a memorial ceremony on thursday. AfP

thousands ofNorwegiansgather to sing songBreivik hates

OSLOAFp

Tens of thousands of rose-wavingNorwegians gathered in central OsloThursday to deride mass murderer AndersBehring Breivik by singing a song he hates,viewing it as Marxist indoctrination.Some 40,000 people, according to police,massed in the rain at a square near theOslo district courthouse where Breivik ison trial for his July 22 attacks that killed77 people, to sing “Children of theRainbow” by Norwegian folk singerLillebjoern Nilsen. Inside the court, the33-year-old accused right-wing extremistsat listening without showing emotion topowerful testimony from survivors of hisbloodbath on the ninth day of his trial.Drawn by an Internet campaign, theprotestors streamed into YoungstorgetSquare wearing colourful raincoats andcarrying Norwegian flags and roses,which have come to represent Norway’speaceful response to the horrifyingattacks. The culture ministers of theNordic countries were also at the squareto participate, while other similar eventswere to take place across Norway. Nilsenled the chorus as the crowd, includingmany children who came with theirnursery and elementary schools, sangalong, waving roses in the air. Afterwardsthey walked slowly together, still singingthe song, to the courthouse to add theirroses to the piles of flowers already liningthe security barriers outside in memoryof Breivik’s victims. Breivik last Fridaytold the court that Nilsen was “a verygood example of a Marxist” who hadinfiltrated the cultural scene and that hissong was typical of the “brainwashing ofNorwegian pupils.” In reaction to hiscomments, two Norwegians launched aFacebook campaign calling on the publicto “reclaim the song” and sing it togethernear the courthouse. “I felt like he wastrampling on a song I grew up with andthat I sing to my child,” Lill Hjoennevaag,one of those who initiated the protest,told public television NRK. The song isan adaptation of US folk singer PeteSeeger’s “My Rainbow Race” and is verypopular in the Scandinavian country. Itschorus goes: “Together, we will live, eachsister and each brother, small children ofthe rainbow and a green earth.” Nilsenhas rejected Breivik’s interpretation ofthe song. “In fact, it’s not about people,it’s about protecting the environment,”he told daily Aftenposten. On July 22,2011, Breivik first set off a bomb neargovernment offices in Oslo, killing eightpeople, before going to nearby Utoeyaisland where he killed 69 people, mostlyteens, attending a Labour Party youthcamp. While he has confessed to carryingout the twin attacks, he refuses to pleadguilty, saying his attacks were “cruel butnecessary” to stop the ruling LabourParty’s “multicultural experiment” andthe “Muslim invasion” of Norway andEurope.On Thursday, he listenedemotionlessly as survivors of his Oslobombing told the court of theirexperience on July 22.

LONDONAFp

RUPERT Murdoch admittedThursday there was a“cover-up” over phonehacking at Britain’s Newsof the World tabloid but in-

sisted he and other executives at hismedia empire were kept in the dark.

In his second day as star witness at apress ethics inquiry in London, the NewsCorp. boss said he had “failed” by notsooner ordering an internal investigationinto the scale of wrongdoing at the paper.

“There’s no question in my mind that,maybe even the editor but certainly be-yond that, someone took charge of acover-up which we were victim to, and Iregret that,” the 81-year-old told theLeveson Inquiry. “I think the senior exec-utives were all... misinformed and

shielded from anything that was going onthere. And I do blame one or two peoplefor that, whom perhaps I shouldn’t namebecause for all I know they may be ar-rested yet.” The News of the World’s royaleditor and a private investigator werejailed in 2007 for phone hacking but theindustrial level of the practice at thepaper did not emerge until a new policeprobe was launched in January 2011.

Pressed by the judge leading the in-quiry, Brian Leveson, about why he did nottake further action over allegations againstone of his biggest-selling newspapers,Murdoch added: “I also have to say that Ifailed.” “It’s going to be a blot on my repu-tation for the rest of my life,” he said. Thescandal fully erupted in July last year whenit emerged the News of the World had ac-cessed the mobile phone voicemail mes-sages of Milly Dowler, a murdered Britishschoolgirl, sparking public outrage. Mur-

doch shut the Sunday tabloid when adver-tisers boycotted it and Prime MinisterDavid Cameron set up the Leveson Inquiryto probe the ethics of the press and its re-lations with politicians and police.

Asked why he closed it so suddenly,Murdoch replied: “I panicked. But I amglad I did”. He said he should have closedit “years ago” and replaced it with a Sun-day version of the Sun daily tabloid, as hedid this year. When pressed where thecover-up originated, the Australian-borntycoon said it was “from within the Newsof the World.” “There were one or twovery strong characters there who I thinkhad been there many, many, many yearsand were friends of the journalists,” hesaid. “The person I’m thinking of was afriend of the journalists, a drinking paland a clever lawyer... this person forbadepeople to go and report to Mrs Brooks orto James.” Murdoch said he had since

spent heavily on a clean-up at New York-based News Corp. which involved trawl-ing through 300 million emails, of whichtwo million received closer scrutiny. Heinsisted the firm had also looked at Mur-doch’s US and Australian newspapersand found no evidence of wrongdoing.

Murdoch further denied that he hadever discussed News Corp.’s bid for fullcontrol of British satellite broadcasterBSkyB with British culture minister JeremyHunt. Hunt’s special adviser, Adam Smith,resigned on Wednesday over claims that heleaked details to a News Corp. lobbyistabout the government’s view of its takeoverattempt. Murdoch abandoned the BSkyBbid when the hacking scandal blew up. Inthe first day of his long-awaited testimonyon Wednesday, Murdoch denied that hehad exerted a decades-long strangleholdover British politics, saying: “I’ve neverasked a prime minister for anything.”

Murdoch admits ‘cover-up’at News of the World

g Syria Opp wants UNmeet over hama ‘crimes’

ANKARAAFp

Turkey is considering everypossibility if the continuing violencein neighbouring Syria send tens ofthousands of refugees pouring acrossthe border, its foreign minister saidThursday.

“In the face of developments inSyria, we are taking intoconsideration any kind of possibilityin line with our national security andinterests,” Ahmet Davutoglu toldparliament during a briefing tolawmakers. “Planning what kind of

measures we will take if tens ofthousands of people end up on ourborder is a requirement of being a bigstate,” he said.

“This is not an intervention orwarmongering as some claim.” Theforeign minister did not specify whatmeasures his government would take,but the mass influx of refugees fleeingthe Syrian unrest has raised alarm inAnkara. Different scenarios are beingfloated by the media, including thesetting up of a buffer zone along theborder with Syria to protect refugeesbut opponents say such a measurewould be a declaration of war.

In response to criticism fromopposition parties, Davutoglu saidTurkey did not attempt to change theregime of any country in the region

including Syria. “It was not we whoinitiated the popular movement inSyria. We didn’t call on anybody torise up,” he said. “But we cannot andwill not remain silent to the masses’appeal for democracy.” Turkey, once astrong ally of Syria, broke withDamascus after Bashar al-Assad’sregime began cracking down ondissent in mid-March last year,sending waves of Syrian refugees intoTurkish territory.

Although some of the refugeeshave headed back to Syria followingDamascus’s promise to implementinternational mediator Kofi Annan’sceasefire plan, Turkey still hosts morethan 23,000 Syrians. “Peace andstability can be restored in Syria notwith the Baath regime but with a new

political system which takes itslegitimacy from the people,” saidDavutoglu. Syria’s main oppositiongroup called for an emergency UNSecurity Council meeting as itaccused regime forces of having killedmore than 100 people in the centralcity of Hama.

The appeal came as Russiaaccused rebels of terror attacks andFrance raised the prospect of militaryaction to halt violence in Syria, wherePresident Bashar al-Assad’s forceshave waged a bloody year-longcrackdown on dissent. “We are callingfor an emergency meeting of the UNSecurity Council so that it can issue aresolution to protect civilians inSyria,” the Syrian National Councilsaid in a statement. “Hama in recent

days, and following a visit by UNobservers, witnessed a series ofcrimes... that left more than 100people dead and hundreds woundedbecause of heavy shelling.

The Syrian Observatory forHuman Rights monitoring group saidregime shelling of a working-classdistrict of Hama killed at least 12people on Wednesday, but activistson the ground put the death toll ashigh as 68, including 16 children.State news agency SANA said at least16 people were killed, includingwomen and children, when a bombthat “terrorists” were setting up wentoff prematurely inside a house in thecity. At least 31 people werereportedly killed during shelling of adifferent neighbourhood on Monday.

turkey weighs every possibility if Syria violence continues

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Friday, 27 April, 2012

Page 21

Murray, raonic set upBarcelona battle

LAHOREStAFF RepoRt

THE presence of the out-of-favour Mohammad Yousufand Kamran Akmal at Na-tional Cricket Academy

(NCA) training sessions has incensedthe national selection committeewhich was reportedly not taken intoconfidence before the invitation washanded out to the duo.

Yousuf, who last played for Pak-istan in the 2010 Lord's Test againstEngland, is believed to have passedhis prime but underwent a fitness testbesides training regularly at the NCAunder the supervision of coach DavWhatmore. Similarly, Akmal, who hasnot been part of the team since hisbelow-par show in the 2011 WorldCup, was also part of the tests. It hasbeen learnt that the selection commit-tee has not invited the players to bepart of proceedings and is extremely

unhappy over the hype they are get-ting, including the prospects of theirreturn to the national squad. The se-

lectors are also unhappy with the im-pression that the selection committeeis showing interest on such players.

“Initially, these players came to theNCA to practice on their own,” the of-ficial told Our Sources. “Nobody canstop a national cricketer from trainingat the NCA. But now they've startedusing their aides to make hype abouttheir return to the squad. This isbeing done to bring the selectorsunder pressure. The selection com-mittee is also unhappy with What-more as it feels that the coach isgiving them undue importance.”

However, the official added that inorder to avoid undue controversy, theselectors have not protested so far.

“But there may be a rift when theteam is being selected and if thecoaches opt for these players. The se-lectors want players wishing to make itto the national squad to perform andshow their worth in domestic cricket toforce their selection rather than othertactics. The selectors feel recallingtried and tested players will disturbtheir plans of preparing young blood.”

LAHOREStAFF RepoRt

The 34th Velo National Boxing Championshipsbeing held here at the Punjab College Hall hasreached the final stage after all the national cham-pions eased into the title-fight round. Duda KhanBhutto, president Pakistan Boxing Federation wasthe chief guest of the day and witnessed the secondsession of the bouts.

On the fourth day of the championship therewas only one RSC O/C (referee stopped contestoutclass) and a knock out decisions and a walk overbut none of the boxers who entered into the ringretired. All the bouts were played till the last sec-ond and the decisions were made on points. And thonly bout that as closely-contested was betweenMohib Bacha of Police and Sheroz of Navy but thepolice boxer was the ultimate winner in the 49 kilocategory. In the same category Mohamamd Nau-man of Army downed Wapda’s Naqib Ullah.

The finals of the championship will be playedtoday (Friday) and the bouts will start at 3 pmwhile the medals ceremony will be held at around

6 pm when Provincial minister Mujtaba ShujaurRehman will make his presence as the chief guest.Syed Shahid Ali, President Punjab Olympics Asso-ciation will also be among the guests. the BoxeRS Who MADe to the FInAL: Mohib Barha Police

and Mohammad Nauman Army in 49kgs, Abdul Waheed PAF and

Mohamamd Waseem Wapda in 52kgs, Samiullah Navy and Ne-

matullah PAF in 56kgs, Kadir Khan Wapda and Nawaz Dad Army

in 60kg, Faisal Khan Army and Adnan PAF in 64kgs, Arshad hus-

sain PAF and Aamir Khan Wapda in 69kgs, Mirza Azam PAF and

Dur Mohammad Navy in 75kgs, Nadir Khan Navy and Ahmed Ali

Army in 81kgs, Moiz Khan hEC and riaz Ali Army beat in 91kgs,

Mir Waiz Wapda and Waqar Ali Army in 91-plus kgs,

eARLIeR, the BoxeRS Who ReACheD the SeMI-FInAL

AFteR BeAtInG theIR RIVALS ARe:

69KGS: Mohammad Afzal Police beat Shafique Islamabad ko

1st rd; Arshad h PAF beat Mohammad Zuber

Balochsitan on points 24-5; Tanveer Navy beat Fahim

rangers on pts 20-5; Aamir Khan Wapda beat

Zulqarnain Army on pts 16-5

75KGS: Zulqarnain hEC beat Javed Akhtar railways 12-11;

Mirza Azam PAF beat Nisar Ahmed Wapda 40-15;

Dur Mohammad Navy beat Tayab Usmani Islamabad

rsc OC 2nd rd; Atif Mahmood Amry beat Shahid

Khan Punjab 26-4

81KGS: Nadir Khan Navy beat Mudasar Punjab rsc oc 1st rd;

Asmatullah Balochistan beat Abijezi Khan hEC rsc Inj

1st rd; Ahmed Ali Army beat Noor Ali rangers rt 1st

rd; Mehmood PAF beat A Wasy KPK rsc Oc 2nd rd

91KGS: Amir hamza rangers beat Fazal Karim KPK rsc inj 1st

rd; Moiz Khan hEC beat Mohammad asif Balochsitan

rsc inj 1st rd; Qamar Amin PAF beat M Shoaib Wapda

on pts 28-10; riaz Ali Army beat Aziz Ahmed Navy 21-8

91+ KGS: Mir Waiz Wapda beat Mohamamd Ali railways rsc Oc

1st rd; Mohammad Qasim hEC beat Farman Ullah KPK

KO 1t rd; Waqar Ali Army beat Naeem Khan PAF rsc Oc

1st rd; Nehmatullah Navy beat yasir javed Sindh 13-6

ReSuLtS (SeMI-FInALS):

49KGS: Mohib Barha Police beat Sheroz Navy 18-16, Mohamamd

Nauman Army beat Naqeebullah Wapda 32-18

52KGS: Abdul Waheed PAF beat Attaullah Police 24-12, Mo-

hamamd Waseem Wapda beat hallar hEC 14-2

56KGS: Samiullah Navy beat Syed Israr Sindh 19-6, Nematullah

PAF beat Khawar Wapda 22-5

60KG: Kadir Khan Wapda beat Mohammad Ali Police 13-4,

Nawaz Dad Army beat Amar Navy 29-15

64KGS: Faisal Khan Army beat Sadullah Balochistan 18-10,

Adnan PAF beat Mohamamd Ali Navy 14-11

69KGS: Arshad hussain PAF beat Mohammad Afzal Police 26-

4, Aamir Khan Wapda beat Tanveer Navy 25-13

75KGS: Mirza Azam PAF beat Zulqarnain hEC 12-4, Dur Mo-

hammad Navy beat Atif Mahmood Amry 23-13

81KGS: Nadir Khan Navy beat Asmatullah Balochistan 22-5,

Ahmed Ali Army beat Mehmood PAF knock out

91KGS: Moiz Khan hEC beat Amir hamza rangers 16-11, riaz

Ali Army beat Qamar Amin PAF 23-16

91+ KGS: Mir Waiz Wapda beat Mohammad Qasim hEC rsc 1st

rd, Waqar Ali Army walk over Nehmatullah Navy.

Yousuf, Kamran presenceat camp irks selectors

lAhOrE: Duda Khan Bhutto, President Pakistan BoxingFederation and Mohammad yousuf Butt, secretary Punjabboxing during the 34th National Championship. STAff PHoTo

34th Velo National Boxing Championship finals today

LAHOREStAFF RepoRt

Out-of-favour Pakistan all-rounder Abdul Razzaq hasopted to pursue his interests in England after being over-looked since the series against Sri Lanka as well as for theongoing fitness tests in Lahore.

Razzaq will turn up for Leicestershire in the team'sTwenty20 campaign after having recovered from a shoul-der injury 'to an extent'. However, after being ignored bythe coaching panel, headed by Dav Whatmore, that is con-ducting training and the fitness tests, Razzaq has decidedto make this decision.

“I keep getting overlooked, maybe the authorities don'tlike me,” Razzaq told reporters while expressing his dis-appointment on being ignored. “I can't do anything aboutit because it's up to them, they select the team.”

Several players, including the 37-year-old MohammadYousuf and sidelined wicket-keeper Kamran Akmal, werepart of the camp held at the NCA, triggering talks of theirreturn to the national team.

Meanwhile, the all-rounder, who has played 265 One-Day Internationals and 46 Tests for Pakistan, said he wasready to play cricket again. “I'll definitely love to make areturn to the team like any other national cricketer. Myshoulder injury has improved and hopefully I'll attaincomplete fitness soon enough.”

However, the 32-year old, citing a lack of interest atthe Pakistan Cricket Board's (PCB) end, said he will fea-ture in the county season to keep himself fit. “I will playin the Twenty20 event for my team Leicestershire and forthat I will leave next month.”

While nursing the shoulder injury, Razzaq was em-broiled in a controversy as he participated in the

Bangladesh Premier League, leaving then chief selectorMohammad Illyas annoyed. Illyas claimed the all-roundershowed his unavailability for the national team due to theinjury ahead of the England ODIs but went on to play theleague.

However, Razzaq denied that this was the case, sayingthat he communicated to the official that he was unable todeliver a full quota of 10 overs due to the shoulder pain.

A senior PCB official also ruled out any disciplinary ac-tion against the all-rounder, saying inviting players forsuch initiatives are the discretion of the selection commit-tee and the coaching panel.

Vaughan saysStrauss criticism‘ridiculous’

LONDONAFp

Michael Vaughan haslabelled questioning ofAndrew Strauss's posi-tion as England Testcaptain "ridiculous".Opening batsmanStrauss has had his po-sition called into ques-tion by a run of justone hundred in his last50 Test innings, lead-ing to speculation

about the Middlesex left-hander's place inthe side ahead of next month's seriesopener against the West Indies at his Lord'shome ground. But former England captainVaughan told the ESPNcricinfo website: "Asa captain, it's ridiculous to talk aboutStrauss' position." However, Vaughan saidthe selectors could not wait indefinitely forStrauss to be back in the runs. "WhatStrauss needs now is a score. He needs a bigscore. "One hundred in 50 innings, heknows that; if he wasn't captain, he wouldbe under serious threat. "But there's moreto his position in the side when you're thecaptain. "If you're just judging someonepurely on stats, you forget what they bringto the side. As a captain you bring a lotmore to the side than the runs you score onthe pitch. "But there's no question that, inthe series against the West Indies, he needsa big score or that problem will get bigger."

Essex set for lifewithout Siddle

LONDONAFp

Australia fast bowlerPeter Siddle has beenruled out of Essex's do-mestic Twenty20 cam-paign because of injury,the English county con-firmed Thursday. Sid-dle had been due to joinEssex, based in Chelms-ford, east of London, forthe group stages in June and July. But Siddlereturned home early from Australia's tour ofthe West Indies with a back problem andhas been ordered to rest for a month beforebeginning a programme of rehabilitation.Essex coach Paul Grayson said: "We are verydisappointed Peter can't make it to Essexfollowing his injury. "We understand thatwhen we sign any overseas player that thereis a risk of an injury or international duty sowe now have to look at other options with aplan B for another overseas bowler."

Sachin offeredpolitical role

NEW DELHIAFp

India's prime minister has put forwardbatting superstar Sachin Tendulkar formembership of the upper house of parlia-ment, reports said on Thursday. PrimeMinister Manmohan Singh has written aletter to the president recommending thecricketer be nominated to the Rajya Sabha,the NDTV news channel quoted sources assaying. Tendulkar, who turned 39 thisweek, was in New Delhi to play an IndianPremier League match for the Mumbai In-dians against the Delhi Daredevils at theFeroz Shah Kotla stadium on Friday. Ear-lier on Thursday, Tendulkar and his wifehad called on ruling Congress party presi-dent Sonia Gandhi at her residence -- ameeting described as a "courtesy visit" bythe local media. The vast majority of the250 seats in the upper houseof India's parliament arefilled by members electedby the legislatures intheir home states. But 12seats lie in the favour ofthe president and arenormally awarded to peo-ple who have excelled insuch fields as the arts, sci-ence and sport.

Razzaq off to greener shores

LHR 27-04-2012_Layout 1 4/27/2012 2:23 AM Page 18

Sports 19Friday, 27 April, 2012

POA launchesits new website

LAHOREStAFF RepoRt

The Pakistan Olympic Associa-tion on Thursday launched itsnew website with an update in-formation of the nationalOlympic committee and its af-filiated sports federations. "It isa new chapter in country'ssports that we have developeda major source of informationsharing regarding Pakistan'ssports for our own people andsports lover around the globe,"said Lt Gen ® Syed Arif Hasan,President POA at a news con-ference to unveil the websiteafter Executive Committeemeeting of the POA on Thurs-day. Secretary POA Muahm-mad Khalid Mahmood andChairman committee ShoukatJaved which developed the sitewere also present on the occa-sion. POA Chief said that thewebsite which can be accessedat nocpakistan.org will caterthe need of information seek-ers about the happening insports in Pakistan. He praisedthe work done by Dr RizwanBasharat of Absorb Technolo-gies for developing the modernwebsite. Gen Arif said the sitewill become a source of rev-enue generation by getting theattention of sponsors and POAhas chalked out a plan to mar-ket it in a professional ways. Hesaid fund generation is vital tokeep the sports culture alivewith the continuation of ongo-ing sports activities and POA isfully committed to play its duerole in the overall developmentof sports in the country. Whilegiving details about the execu-tive committee meeting, POAPresident said ,the housefixed the dates of a numberof national sports event.

Bank Alfalah winlPC Polo Cup tie

LAHOREStAFF RepoRt

Bank Alfalah won its match of the LPC PoloCup 2012 against Black Horse Paints here atthe LPC’s ground on Thursday. Bank Alfalahdefeated Black Horse Paints 6-4 in a slowpaced match. The winning team got its goalsfrom Agha Musa Ali Khan, Hasnain Shah,Mudassar Khan and Omar Asjad Malhi whileMian Khurram Munir and Faisal Khokharshared two goals each from the losing side.

ludhyana Gymmarch to semi

LAHOREStAFF RepoRt

Ludhyana Gym has marched into the Semi-final of 27th Mohammad Yaseen AkhterMemorial Event when they outplayedWahdat Eaglets Club by 16 runs played atWahdat Eaglets ground on Thursday.SCoReS: ludhiyana Gym 178/8 in 20 overs. AdnanButt 77, Umer Siddiq 17, Waseem Zahoor 19, KhuramSiddiq 27, Ali Aslam 16(no). Qaiser Ashraf 2/37, M AliShah 2/33, Ali Tipu Sultan 4/23. Wahdat Eaglets 162/9in 20 overs. M Ali Shah 14, haris Nazar 25, Saqib Maq-sood 50, Farman Ali 23, Qaiser Ashraf 19. Faisal 2/26,Ali Aslam 2/33, Imran Ali 3/20, rizwan Wahi 1/17.

Punjab club, MT clubquarters on May 2

LAHOREStAFF RepoRt

The last quarter final of 9th M Siddique Me-morial cricket event between Punjab cluband Model Town club will be played onMay 2 at Model Town ground. The winnerwill face with Wahdat Eaglets in Semifinalwhile Shining club has already reachedin Final. The match will start at 1 PM.

Amar Cables beatTextile Tigers toclinch veterans title

LAHOREStAFF RepoRt

Amar cables beat Textile Tigers by sixwickets to win the First Lahore VeteranChampion Trophy here on Thursday atLCCA Cricket Ground. SCoReS: Textile Tigers batting first 239/9 after 30

overs. Muhammad riaz batting well 94, Asif Qureshi

50, Maqsood Ali 31, rizwan Nisar 25 & rehan rouf 21

runs. Amar Cables bowling Muhammad hafeez 4/44 &

Tariq rasheed 3/41 wickets. In reply Amar Cables

240/4 after 28.1 overs. Dastgeer Butt 58, Amer Ilyas

Butt 40, Ameer Akbar 36 and Zahid Umar 73 runs not

out. Asif Qureshi 2/52, Maqsood Ali 1/34 & rehan

rouf 1/48 wickets. Tournament Coordinator Javeed

Ashraf, Field Umpire Ahsan raza, Shozab raza, re-

serve Umpire Sagheer Ahmad, Third Umpire Qaisar

Waheed, Match referee Muhammad Anees, Azhar

hussain & Qasim Shafique was the scorer. End of the

match Chief Guest President lrCA Khawaja Nadeem

Ahmad gave away the winner trophy to Ameer Akbar.

runner up Trophy to rizwan Nisar. Man of the match

Zahid Umar, Best Batsman Dastgeer Butt, Player of

the tournament Dastgeer Butt, Best Bowler Tariq

rasheed, Best Wicket Keeper rafaqat Ali & Best

Fielder Ashfaq Aslam give away shields & prize money.

PVCA Chief Executive Nawab Ashiq hussain Qureshi,

SPM Chief Aizad hussain Syed, CEO Amar Cables

Amer Ilyas Butt, Cricketer promoter Salman Khan,

rizwan Nisar, Col. rafi Naseem, Syed Azhar Zaidi,

Manzoor Ilahi, Test cricketer first class cricketer &

large number of sports organizer on the occasion.

lAhOrE: Chief guest lrCA PresidentKhawaja Nadeem Ahmad gives away thewinner’s trophy to Ameer Akbar.

ROSEAUAFp

AUSTRALIA dismissedopener Adrian Barath fornought as West Indies suf-fered a miserable start to

their pursuit of 370 to win the third andfinal Test at Windsor Park on Thursday.After Australia had been bowled out for259 in their second innings to set WestIndies the sixth highest run chase inTest history, the home side failed to getthrough the seven overs to lunch un-scathed. Barath clipped a Ben Hilfen-haus delivery off his legs into the air andEd Cowan dived to his right to take afine catch in the third over.

Only two runs were scored beforelunch with Kraigg Brathwaite ending hisrun of three consecutive scoreless in-nings. Australia, who have alreadywrapped up the series, started the day on200 for six and looking determined tokeep the scoreboard ticking despite thedifficulty of scoring on the slow track.

Mike Hussey had taken his score to32 when off-spinner Shane Shillingfordfound the edge and skipper DarrenSammy took a neat catch around ankleheight at first slip. Mitchell Starc de-cided that the aerial route was the bestoption against Shillingford. The ballseemed to be either beating the edge orflying in the air off the bat towards theboundary as the pair duelled.

When Narsingh Deonarine came on,Ryan Harris tried to slog his second ballbut it took the top edge and went high inthe air where Carlton Baugh took it eas-ily in his gloves with the batsman onnine. Hilfenhaus, on six, then received abrute of a delivery from Shillingford thattook a big bounce off the wicket and hitthe splice of the bat. Brathwaite, at sillypoint, snared an excellent one-handed

catch. Just as Kemar Roach achieved inthe last Test in Trinidad, Shillingfordwas able to celebrate a 10-wicket haul inthe match, becoming the the first WestIndian spinner to achieve the feat sinceLance Gibbs in 1966.

Roach then came on for his firstbowl of the day and, coming around thewicket, beat Starc's bat and clipped thebails after the tail-ender had made 21.Earlier, Half-centuries from Ed Cowanand Ricky Ponting left Australia in con-trol at the end of the third day of thethird and final Test against the West In-dies here at Windsor Park on Wednes-

day. Australia finished the day on 200for six in their second innings and witha healthy lead of 310 runs in a matchthat they only need to draw to take theseries having won the opening Test.West Indies had looked to have got backinto the match having added some im-portant runs in the morning session be-fore being bowled out for 218 and thentook two quick wickets with DavidWarner going just before lunch and thedangerous Shane Watson just after theresumption. The hosts total owed muchas ever to a typically stubborn innings of68 by veteran Shivnarine Chanderpaul.

Barath falls as WIchase 370 to win

AuStRALIA 1St InnInGS: 328 (M. Wade 106, D. Warner 50;

S. Shillingford 6-119)

West Indies 1st innings 218 (S. Chanderpaul 68)

Australia 2nd innings (overnight 200 for six)

D. Warner c Chanderpaul b Roach 11

e. Cowan c Sammy b Deonarine 55

S. Watson c Sammy b Shillingford 5

R. ponting c Chanderpaul b Roach 57

M. Clarke c Bravo b Shillingford 25

M. hussey c Sammy b Shillingford 32

M. Wade lbw b Deonarine 4

R. harris c Baugh b Deonarine 9

M. Starc b Roach 21

B. hilfenhaus c Brathwaite b Shillingford 6

n. Lyon not out 12

extras (b8, lb9, w1, nb4) 22

total (all out; 85 overs) 259

Fall of wickets 1-17 (Warner), 2-25 (Watson), 3-112 (Cowan),

4-168 (ponting), 5-171 (Clarke), 6-196 (Wade), 7-220

(hussey), 8-230 (harris), 9-237 (hilfenhaus), 10-259 (Starc)

Bowling: Rampaul 9-1-37-0, Roach 13-2-40-3 (4nb, 1w),

Shillingford 39-7-100-4, Sammy 10-4-20-0, Deonarine 14-

1-45-3

WeSt InDIeS 2nD InnInGS

A. Barath c Cowan b hilfenhaus 0

K. Brathwaite not out 2

K. powell not out 0

extras 0

total (1 wicket; 7 overs) 2

to bat: Darren Bravo, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, narsingh

Deonarine, Darren Sammy (capt), Carlton Baugh, Ravi

Rampaul, Kemar Roach, Shane Shillingford

Fall of wickets: 1-0 (Barath)

Bowling: hilfenhaus 3-3-0-1, Starc 3-2-2-0, Lyon 1-1-0-0

toss: Australia, umpires: Marais erasmus (RSA), tony

hill (nZL), third umpire: Ian Gould (enG), Match referee:

Jeff Crowe (nZL).

SCoReBoARD

LHR 27-04-2012_Layout 1 4/27/2012 2:23 AM Page 19

Sports20Friday, 27 April, 2012

StuttgARt: Russia’s MariaSharapova returns the ball toFrance’s Alize Cornet duringtheir 2nd round match at theWtA Porsche grand Prix. aFP

lAhOrE: Captain Misbahul haq receives MBA Executive Degree from rector UMT Dr hasan Sohaib Murad.

National U-22Football kicks off

LAHOREStAFF RepoRt

The National U-22 Football Champion-2012 kicked off Thursday at Dring Foot-ball Stadium, Bahawalpur. The eventwhich is being participated by 12 teamswill conclude on May 6. In the openingday’s matches Balochistan took on PMCAthleco FC while KPK faced Muslim FC.The following teams are participating inthe National U-22 Football Champion-2012. The teams are Balochistan, KPT,PMC ATH FC, Sindh, National YouthTeam, Baloch FC (Noushki), Punjab,Army, Wohaib FC, KPK, DFA Ba-hawalpur and Muslim FC.It is pertinentto mention here that the main focus ofthis championship is to select/preparethe National U-22 team for AFC U-22Qualifier Round which will be held inMay-June 2012.The inaugural ceremony of was per-formed by Rana Mashood Ahmed Khan,Deputy Speaker Punjab during the thelast match between Sindh and Balochis-tan. On the occasion, Qasim Zia, Presi-dent PHF, Muhammad Asif Bajwa,Secretary General PHF, Usman Anwar,Director General Sports Board Punjab,Tournament Director Miss. ParveenSikandar Gill, and Arshad AliChawdhry, Member PHF SelectionCommittee were also present.On the opening day three matches wereplayed, results are as follows:- Punjab(C) beat Pak Board 4-1 (Full Time) 1-1(Half Time) Punjab (C): Maida Alam22nd minute (FG), Ayesha Yousaf 2Goals 42nd & 64th minutes (FG) &Kulsoom Munir 57th minute (FG). Pak.Board: Gulnaz Parveen 2nd minute(FG). WAPDA beat Punjab (W) 2-0(Full Time) 1-0 (Half Time) WAPDA:Iram 2 Goals 10th & 62nd minutes(FG). Sindh beat Balochistan 2-1 (FullTime) 0-1 (Half Time) Sindh: Sadaf39th minute (FG) & Shamza51stminute (FG). Balochistan: Rozena3rd minute (FG).

LAHOREStAFF RepoRt

Wajid Ali (Wapda), Shoaib Hafeez(Punjab), Shabbar Hussain (Wapda),Waqas Ahmed (Wapda) and Attique Ch(Wapda) moved into the quarter-finalsof the men’s singles of the 14th All Pak-istan Aamer Hayat Khan Rokhri Bad-minton Tournament 2012. In thewomen singles Palwasha Bashir, Arfa(K.P.K), Nida Sarwar(RLY),Mehmoona Ameer(Punb), Ghazala Sid-dique(Punb), Sofia Mughal(Sindh),Sara Muhamand, Bisma Idrees (Punjb)qualify in the Quarter Finals. On27thApril 2012 Women Quarter-Finalswill be played at 10:00 Am at New KhanBadminton Hall. Men’s Singles QuarterFinals will be played at 03:00 Pm atNew Khan Badminton Hall. After themen singles, men’s doubles matchesand Mixed Doubles matches will beplayed. Malik Saif-Ul-Maluk Khokhar(MPA) will be the Chief Guest of theQuarter Finals matches at 05:00 Pm.ReSuLt: Women Singles pre quarter: Pal-washa Bashir beat Javairia Tahir by the score of21-2, 21-8, Arfa beat Amal Muneeb by the scoreof 21-11, 21-17, Nida Sarwar (railway) beatSehrish Shaikh (lahore) by the score of 21-4, 21-14, Mehmoona Ameer (Punjab) beat Aqsa (K.P)by the score of 21-17, 21-11, Bisma Idrees (Pun-jab) beat Shumaila (Daska) by the score of 21-

16, 21-13, Ghazala Siddique (Punjab) beat SalmaSharif (railway) by the score of 21-10, 21-9, SofiaMughal (Sindh) beat Farnaz Iqbal (Sindh) by thescore of 21-10, 21—12, Sara Mohmand (NBP) beatZainab Ijaz (Punjab) by the score of 21-9, 21-13.Men Singles pre quarter: Wajid Ali (Wapda)beat P.A Nabeel (railway) by 21-11, 21-19,Shoaib hafeez (Punjab) beat Zafar Tasneem(Wapda) by 21-16, 17-21,21-19., Waqas AhmadCh (Wapda) beat Sabir hanif (Wapda) by 21-16,21-12., Shabbar hussain (Wapda) beat hayatUllah (KPK) by 21-13, 21-13, Attique beat IrfanSaeed by 14-21, 21-18, 21-9Men Singles 2nd round: Wajid Ali Ch (Wapda)beat Muhammad Ali (Sindh) by the score of 21-8,21-4, P.A. Nabeel (railway) beat Abdul rahman(Punjab) by the score of 23-21, 21-19¸Zafar Tas-neem (Wapda) beat haroon rehman (K.P) by thescore of 21-15, 21-14¸Shoaib hafeez (Punjab) beatAoun Abbas (Punjab) by the score of 21-19, 21-20,Waqas Ahmed (Wapda) beat raja hasnain (Pun-jab) by the score of 21- 13, 21- 13, Sabir hanif(NBP) beat Amir Saeed (Punjab) by the score of7-21, 21-14, 21-17¸Shabbar hussain (Wapda) beatAdil haseeb (Punjab) by the score of 21-15, 21-15¸Attique Ch beat Tahir Khan (K.P) by the scoreof 20-11, 20-11¸Irfan Saeed (Punjab) beat AdnanAziz (New Khan) by the score of 21-16, 21-12¸Sub-han Jamil (Punjab) beat Muhammad Masood(K.P) by the score of 16-21, 21-11, 21-15, Muham-mad Shahzad Mala (Wapda) beat Usman raza(New Khan) by the score of 11-21, 21-17, 23-21,Kashif Sulehri (NBP) beat Intikhab Akram (Pun-jab) by the score of 21-7, 29-27¸Ali NawabDil(Punjab) beat Nadeem Khan(K.P) by the scoreof 21-18, 21-19, hashir Bashir (Wapda) beathamad yasir (Punjab) by the score of 21-12, 21-13.

LAHOREStAFF RepoRt

The United States of America Cricket Asso-ciation has sorted the help of the PakistanCricket Board in the development of thesports in the states and the holding of dif-ferent events in the alien nation.

Newly-appointed Chief Executive Offi-cer of USA Cricket Association NabeelAhmed said while talking to journalists thatUSACA will seek cooperation from differentcricket boards including the PCB to lift thelevel of the game in America. The newlyelected CEO expressed his belief that notedcricket boards of the world can benefit fromthe cricket in USA where the passion of thegame developing among the youth.

"Now the things have changed inUSACA with some changes in the systemand we need to accelerate our efforts to dowhat could not be achieved in the past andit is only possible when other cricket boardshelp us in strengthening USA cricket byplaying cricket in our country and also ex-tend technical assistance," said Nabeel the

founder of Michigan based Great LakesCricket Conference and a diehard promoterof cricket for the last thirty years. "We havean ICC certified stadium in Florida whichcan host day and night matches and lastyear we hosted New Zealand and Sri LankaT-20 matches and this summer in JuneNew Zealand and West Indies will be play-ing two T-20 matches at the same venueand we are thankful to both the Boards forplaying in USA," he said.

"USCA is capable of hosting Pakistanin USA and we can explore avenues instaging Pakistan home series one-day orT-20 matches in USA as internationalcricket is at a deadlock at the moment inPakistan," he said. "USCA is expectingsame cooperation from the PCB to con-sider play in Florida. We would love tosee a triangular series between India,Pakistan and West Indies."

The CEO USACA was of the view thatthey can also seek the cooperation ofnoted cricket Boards on exchange ofcoaches to impart finer points of coachingto young American cricketers.

All Pakistan rokhriBadminton in quarters stage

USA cricket offers to hostPakistan home series

LHR 27-04-2012_Layout 1 4/27/2012 2:23 AM Page 20

Sports 21Friday, 27 April, 2012

watCh it LiVe

GEO SUPERIPL-5: Delhi Daredevilsv Mumbai Indians07:30PMTEN SPORTSThrid Test: West Indiesv Australia06:00PMSTUTTGART

AFp

WOMEN'S world numbertwo Maria Sharapovareached the quarter-fi-nals of Stuttgart's WTA

tournament on Wednesday while ex-world number one Ana Ivanovic suffereda shock first-round exit. Sharapova pro-gressed to the last eight of the clay-courttournament after French qualifier AlizeCornet was forced to retire after the firstgame of the second set with a shoulder in-jury in the second-round tie.

"You never want a match to finish likethat, but we are approaching Roland Gar-ros and, being French, she would want tobe fit to be able to play in her home coun-try," said Sharapova. "I wish her the verybest for a fast recovery. "It is quite a taskto adjust to clay, you need matches to findyour game. "The ball bounces differentlyand you have to be prepared for thelonger rallies. "The only thing that helpsis playing matches, that is priceless."

In Friday's last eight tie, AustralianOpen finalist Sharapova will face eitherUS Open winner Samantha Stosur orStuttgart's defending champion Julia Go-erges, who meet on Thursday. Sixth-seedCaroline Wozniacki of Denmark is intothe second round after opponent JelenaJankovic was also forced to retire in theiropening match. Wozniacki took the firstset 6-3, but Jankovic was forced to retireafter 56 minutes with a back problem andthe Dane will face Germay's AngeliqueKerber on Thursday for a place in thequarter-finals. Polish fourth-seed Ag-nieszka Radwanska is also in the last eightfollowing her 6-3, 6-4 second-round vic-tory over Hungary's Greta Arn and shewill play either French Open winner Na Liof China or Uzbekistan's Akgul Amanmu-radova in the last eight.

Earlier, wild-card Mona Barthel wasdelighted by her shock first-round win overher former idol Ivanovic in straight set. The21-year-old German blasted down 11 acesto out-muscle the Serbian, ranked 15th inthe world, for a 7-5, 7-6 (7/4) victory andwill now face seventh-seed Marion Bartoliof France in the second round. "There wassomething special, because Ana used to bea bit of a role model for me," said Barthel,ranked 35th in the world. "I was still atschool when she won the (2008) FrenchOpen and I watched it on television. "Atthat time all this was a long, long way offfor me." Ivanovic has struggled for formsince she rose to world number onenearly four years ago following victory atRoland Garros. "It was a tough match,she served really well," said Ivanovic, whowas part of the Serbia team which beatRussia 3-2 in Moscow in last weekend'sFed Cup World Group semi-final.

Sharapova in quarters,Ivanovic bows out

Bartoli into Stuttgartsecond roundSTUTTGART: Wild-card MonaBarthel was delighted by hershock first-round win over formeridol and ex-world number oneAna Ivanovic at Stuttgart's clay-court WTA tournament onWednesday. The 21-year-old Ger-man blasted down 11 aces to out-muscle Serbia's Ivanovic, ranked15th in the world, in straight setsfor a 7-5, 7-6 (7/4) victory andwill now face seventh-seed MarionBartoli of France in the secondround. "There was something spe-cial, because Ana used to be a bitof a role model for me," saidBarthel, ranked 35th in the world."I was still at school when shewon the (2008) French Open andI watched it on television. "At thattime all this was a long, long wayoff for me." Ivanovic has struggledfor form since she rose to worldnumber one nearly four years agofollowing victory at Roland Gar-ros. Her best recent form hasbeen at the US Open when shereached the fourth round in both2010 and 2011. She started hersemi-final against Maria Shara-pova at Indian Wells at the startof March, but was forced to retirewith a hip injury. In contrast,Barthel is part of a batch of promising female tennis players emerging fromGermany having won the Hobart WTA tournament in January. She went onto reach the third round at the Australian Open where she lost to eventualwinnner Victoria Azarenka, the current world number one. AFp

STUTTGArT: France's Marion Bartoli returns the ball to Germany's Mona Barthelduring the 2nd round match at the WTA Porsche Grand Prix. AfP

STUTTGArT: Mona Barthel reacts afterdefeating Marion Bartoli in their 2nd round matchat the WTA Porsche Tennis Grand Prix. AfP

BARCELONAAFp

Andy Murray crushed Colombia's SantiagoGiraldo in a powerful 6-1, 6-2 display onThursday to set up a quarter-final showdownwith Milos Raonic at the Barcelona Open.Second seed Murray, a quarter-finalist aweek ago in Monte Carlo, reached the lasteight again as he builds for the French Opennext month. Murray and number 25 Raonic,who put out two-time semi-finalist NicolasAlmagro 6-3, 6-3, will finally clash in a matchwhich should have been played in March atMiami had the Canadian not suffered an in-jury and been forced to withdraw to giveMurray the walkover third-round win.

The Scot has come alive this week as heproduced his best career showing inBarcelona after previously winning only onematch here at the Real Club de Tenis. Mur-ray's win was his 25th of the season againstfive defeats; Giraldo lost his 15th matchwithout a win against top 10 players. Secondseed Murray won the opening set in 33 min-utes and broke to start the second as hewasted no time in advancing on the clay.

He overcame a second-set niggle, losingserve in the fourth game but answering witha break-back and following with a love gamefor 4-2. The Scot advanced on his second

match point from his opponent's backhanderror after 74 minutes and nine aces.

Raonic, the 11th seed who has playedless than 20 career ATP clay matches, pro-duced an equally one-way third-round winagainst Spanish sixth seed Nicolas Almagroas he beat the two-time semi-finalist 6-3, 6-3 in just 67 minutes. The winner fired sevenaces while breaking three times. "This wasprobably my best win on clay," said Raonic.

"There's been a big change for me this week.I'm very proud of my play today, and I'mprogressing well." Spanish seventh seed Fe-liciano Lopez beat Finn Jarkko Nieminen 6-3, 6-1 while Japan's Kei Nishikori continuedhis own progress, with the eighth seed de-feating Spaniard Albert Ramos 7-6 (7/2), 6-3. Spanish powerhouse players RafaelNadal, who has won six of the last seven edi-tions, and third seed David Ferrer, a three-

time losing finalist to Nadal, were bidding toadvance later. Nadal was facing ColombianRobert Farah while Ferrer was taking oncompatriot Albert Montanes. Meanwhile,Rafael Nadal began his title defence at theBarcelona Open on Wednesday with a 6-1,6-2 defeat of compatriot Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, who had defeated the king of clay twoyears ago in Thailand. Top seed Nadal,champion at the Real Club de Tenis in six of

the last seven editions - he missed 2010 withknee trouble - claimed his 30th match vic-tory in a row at his home event.

Nadal didn't have it all his own way,with his 78th-ranked opponent winningonly his second game of the match as hemanaged a break with Nadal leading a setand 4-0. The top seed eventually finishedthe job with some slight difficulty after Gar-cia-Lopez saved a match point with a fore-hand in the final game before the end cameafter 81 minutes. Garcia-Lopez beat Nadalin Bangkok two years ago indoors and alsoput out tournament second seed Andy Mur-ray in Indian Wells in March. Nadal admit-ted his dodgy left knee was not perfect butinsisted it wont be a problem for him,

Top seed Nadal, whose victory was his30th in a row at the clay event in the Catalancapital, told reporters he had felt a slighttwinge of pain in his left knee, but remainsunconcerned: "It's normal." "I had a few er-rors, but my backhand felt good the entirematch. I was solid. "Things went better thanI would have thought, it was a good win."

Nadal, the world number two, pickedup where he had left off on his favouritesurface last weekend when he won an his-toric eighth consecutive trophy in MonteCarlo, ending a seven-match loss streak toworld number one Novak Djokovic.

Murray, Raonic set up battle, Nadal starts title defence

hockey trials LAHORE:The trials toselect theBoys for PHFAcademiesfrom all overPakistan arein progressfrom 7thApril 2012.The trials tospot the boys for PHF Academy Lahorewere held on 25th April 2012, where some190 boys appeared. The trials to pick thetalented boys for Gojra Academy will beheld on 27th April 2012. StAFF RepoRt

Port Qasim, KESCin Patron’s TrophyGrade-II final

LAHOREStAFF RepoRt

Port Qasim and KESC will play in the final ofthe Patron’s Trophy Grade-II 2011-12 atIqbal Stadium Faisalabad. The final will beplayed on April 29 to May 2 and will be um-pired by Javed Ashraf and Aftab Gillaniwhile referee would be Iqbal Sheikh andscorer Tahir Suhaib. Earlier, Port Qasimmoved past Omar Associates after havingthe first innings lead as the match betweenthe teams ended in a draw. In the secondsemi-final KESC defeated PTV by nine wick-ets to set the final date with Port Qasim. SCORES: First Semi-Final Played AtIqbal Stadium, Faisalabad, Omar Associ-ates (First Innings) 179 in 56.2 overs:(Waqar Ali Syed 50, 141 balls, 5x4s, ImranAli 31*, 90 balls, 5x4s, Prince Abbas 30,Shahzad Malik 24, Muhammad Sami 5-21,Azam Hussain 2-39, Tanveer Ahmed 2-64) and 2ndinnings 120-0 in 33 overs:(Hammad Ali Shah 60*, 89 balls, HafizMajid 50*, 119 balls, 7x4s). Port QasimAuthority (First Innings) 300 in 77.5overs: (Atif Ali Zaidi 70*, 122 balls, 7x4s,1x6, Shadab Kabir 70, 123 balls, 9x4s, 1x6,Kamran Younas 68, 47 balls, 8x4s, 4x6,Daniyal 31, 33 balls, 6x4s, Nasir Awais 4-52, Ahmed Raza 3-72, Prince Abbas 2-67).Result: Match Drawn (Prot Qasim qualifyfor the final on first innings lead).Overnight Score: Port Qasim Authority(First Innings) 152-3 in 30 overs. Toss:Port Qasim, Umpires: Akmal Hayat &Nasar Khan, Referee: Naveed Nazir,Scorer: Noor Nabi. Second Semi-FinalPlayed At Pindi Stadium, Rawalpindi,PTV(First Innings) 286 in 82.2 overs:(Mo-hammad Saad 97, 185 balls, 10x4s, HaseebAzam 63, 69 balls, 7x4s, 1x6, NaeemAnjum 34, 55 balls, 5x4s, Arun Lal 3-61,Mir Hamza 3-71, Osama Basharat 2-16,Rizwan Khan 2-31) and 2nd Innings 97 in31.2 overs: (Raheel Majeed 26, 28 balls,4x4s, Mir Hamza 4-7, Tabish Khan 4-30,Arun Lal 2-52). KESC (First Innings) 337in 82 overs:(Saad Ali 126, 203 balls, 13x4s,Akbar-ur-Rehman 82, 7x4s, Javed Man-soor 31, 60 balls, 2x4s, Raheel Majeed 3-79, Usman Saeed 2-16) and 2nd Innings47-1 in 7.2: (Ahsan Ali 27*, 23 balls,6x4s). Result: KESC won by 9 wickets.Overnight Score: PTV (Second Innings)14-1 in 5 overs. Toss: KESC, Umpires:Shamim Ansari & Sajid Afridi, Referee:Masood Anwaar, Scorer: Shakeel Ahmed.

LHR 27-04-2012_Layout 1 4/27/2012 2:24 AM Page 21

Friday, 27 April, 2012

22

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

ISLAMABADStAFF RepoRt

THE leadership of the PakistanPeople’s Party (PPP) and itscoalition parties on Thursdaydecided not to file an immediateappeal against the apex court

verdict and it was resolved that the deci-sion would be delayed to keep all its op-tions open until the dust settled in the nextfew days and weeks.

A well-placed source informed Pak-istan Today that three different meetingwere held following the conviction ofPrime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani in con-tempt of court case and after seeking opin-ion from all sides, it was decided thatdecision to file any appeal would not betaken in haste and rather further consulta-

tion would be made.“Some leaders of the coalition govern-

ment view that the government should notgo for immediate appeal as this would leadto exhausting their all options. They saythat the judiciary has spoken their mindsand any immediate appeal would leadthem nowhere,” the source said.

“After careful deliberations, the meet-ing decided to give a robust, consideredand appropriate response to the new chal-lenges with great political maturity andwisdom on the one hand and firmness onthe other and employing all democraticand constitutional means available,” saidSenator Farhatullah Babar, the president’sspokesman. The meeting expressed thePPP’s resolve that it would not be deterredfrom continuing its struggle for upholdingthe constitution, the parliament and the

rule of law, he added.At the PPP’s core committee meeting

held at the Presidency to consider the sit-uation arising out of the Supreme Courtverdict, the defence counsel for prime min-ister Aitzaz Ahsan briefed the meeting onthe short order of the Supreme Court. Hebriefed the meeting about various legal as-pects and their implications.

The meeting was jointly presided overby President Asif Ali Zardari and PrimeMinister Gilani and was attended amongother by Makhdoom Amin Faheem, NazarMuhammad Gondal, Rana Farooq SaeedKhan, Ahmed Mukhtar, Qamar ZamanKaira, Senator Rehman Malik, Mir HazarKhan Bijarani, Raja Perviaz Ashraf, MianManzoor Ahmad Wattoo, Senator FarooqH Naek, Syed Khursheed Shah,Makhdoom Shahabuddin, Syed Naveed

Qamar, Senator Jahangir Badar, SenatorFaisal Raza Abidi, Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan,Rukhsana Bangash, Fouzia Wahab,Mehreen Anwar Raja, Fouzia Habib andFarhatullah Babar.

After discussing the short order, themeeting expressed dismay that an electedprime minister of the country had beensentenced for upholding the constitutionand supremacy of parliament. It also notedwith disappointment that while no dictatorhad been punished for suspension and ab-rogation of the constitution, a democrati-cally and unanimously elected primeminister had been sentenced for upholdingthe constitution. It expressed concern overattempts to dismiss an elected governmentand an elected prime minister, it said.

The meeting expressed complete soli-darity with Gilani and said he was the

elected prime minister of the country andcould be removed only in accordance withthe procedure laid down by the constitu-tion. The meeting congratulated the primeminister for standing up with dignity,grace and courage for defending the con-stitution and upholding its supremacy.

Babar said the meeting placed onrecord its appreciation for the defencecounsel Aitzaz Ahsan and his team for thespirited and competent defence of theprime minister in the Supreme Court. Themeeting called upon the defence team tostudy the full order of the court as andwhen it became available and give its con-sidered opinion on whether and when tofile an appeal against the verdict.

ISLAMABADStAFF RepoRt

Amidst ‘Go-Gilani-Go’ slogans in the House, theopposition benches in the National Assembly onThursday lambasted Pakistan People’s Party(PPP) for using Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gi-lani to achieve its vested political interests,threatening treasury benches that they wouldnot allow the premier to enter the House.

Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, who isgenerally appreciated for his regularity in at-tending the sittings of the National Assembly,did not turn up at the session. However, theentire proceedings revolved around his con-viction by the SC with loud slogans and ex-change of accusations from both sides of thedivide. The Lower House echoed with shout-ing and taunting by the PPP and the PML-Nparliamentarians against each other, with thelatter throwing a gauntlet down to the rulingparty to challenge the prime minister to cometo the House as they would not allow him tosit on his seat in the House.

Leader of Opposition in the National As-sembly Nisar Ali Khan demanded a resigna-tion from the prime minister saying that hiscontinuation as PM was an insult of the officeof the prime minister as well as of the judiciaryand parliament.

Law Minister Farooq H Naik asserted thatthe prime minister had not been disqualifiedafter this conviction. “He is still the primeminister of the country and will come to theHouse,” Naik declared, following shouts of“Go Gilani Go” by PML-N members. Nisar AliKhan and Law Minister Farooq H Naik spoketit-for-tat with the latter giving the policy

statement over the conviction and history ofSwiss cases and former rejected the statementon the ground that government wanted topoliticize the issue. Naik said the convictionwas not in line with the charges framedagainst Yousaf Raza Gilani and said the primeminister never ridiculed the judiciary as men-tioned in the short order of the government oncontempt of court case. He said an appealagainst the decision would be filed in the courtand that it was part of the trial saying that alltalks that the prime minister had been dis-qualified after the decision were absurd.“Court has not disqualified Yousaf Raza Gilanias prime minister or MNA,” he claimed.

He called upon NA Speaker Dr FehmidaMirza, who was chairing the session, to applyher mind if any question of disqualification sur-faced. “The speaker has the power to apply hermind if any question of disqualification arisesif any reference is sent to her office,” Naik said.On writing a letter to Swiss Courts to open thecases against President Zardari, Naik said itwas not a matter of Asif Ali Zardari but theprestige of the office of the president that wasan institution and supreme commander ofarmed forces of the country. Nisar threatenedthe ruling party against bringing the primeminister in the House who was a convicted per-son. His threat triggered a protest from the PPPlawmakers who rose from their seats and inter-rupted his speech and started shouting slogans‘Raiwand Mahal’, ‘Tax Chor’ etc. Nisar calledupon Gilani to resign from office and first provehis innocence through an appeal in the courtand then come to the House.

PMl-N govt takes itupon itself to save Scjudges from power cutsg Rs 7.835m released for installation of electricity generators at five residences

LAHOREnAuMAn tASLeeM

In clear violation of the constitution, the Punjab government hasreleased Rs 7.835 million for the installation of electricity generators atthe residences of five Supreme Court judges in Lahore, sources toldPakistan Today on Thursday. A letter available with Pakistan Todayreveals that the Punjab Finance Department has released the fundsunder the head of supplementary grant on special instructions of PunjabChief Minister Shahbaz Sharif. Communication and Works (C&W)Secretary Azam Salman has been assigned to complete the task ofinstalling the generators at the residences of SC judges.The generators would be installed at the residences of eight SupremeCourt judges, who fall under the jurisdiction of the federal governmentand the provincial government has nothing to do with it but even thenfunds were released from the exchequer of Punjab. “According to the constitution, Presidential Order determines the perksand privileges of SC judges and provincial government has nothing to dowith it,” said a senior officer of the Punjab Finance Department, addingthat the million dollar question was why the Punjab government was sokeen on facilitating the SC judges.The list available with Pakistan Today reveals that the generators wouldbe installed at the residence of Justice Tassaduq Hussain Gillani at 8-Tollinton Road GOR-I, Justice Ejaz Ahmed Chaudhry at 4-TollintonRoad GOR-I, Justice Jawad S Khawaja at 24-E-1 Gulberg III, JusticeMian Saqib Nisar at 79-A New Garden Town and Justice Asif SaeedKhan Khosa at 59-D-1 Sir Syed Road Gulberg III.Punjab Finance Secretary Tariq Bajwa abstained from commenting onthe issue despite the fact that his signatures were on the letter ofreleasing funds. “You should contact Implementation and Coordination(I&C) Secretary Mubasher Raza about this issue,” Bajwa added. Raza wasnot available for comments. Punjab government spokesman PervezRasheed confirmed that funds had been released for installinggenerators at the residences of the SC judges. “The SC has requested thePunjab government for maintaining residences of judges falling underPunjab province,” he added. When reminded that it was a clear violationof the constitution, Rasheed said the previous Punjab government had“practice of renovating and looking after the house of SC judges”.

Osama’s family

leaves for JeddahISLAMABAD

StAFF RepoRt

Pakistan deported the family of former alQaeda chief Osama bin Laden including histhree widows and children to Saudi Arabiathrough a special plane, which arrived herelate on Thursday evening with intelligenceand other officials from Riyadh on board.Escorted by a heavy contingent of local police,the bin Laden’s family left for the airport in acoaster from a house in which they werestaying in Islamabad’s G-6 sector. The familymembers included bin Laden’s two Saudiwidows Khairiah Sabar and Siham Sabar andone Yemeni widow Amal Ahmed Abdul Fatehand their nine children who were in Pakistanicustody since the US Navy SEALs raidedLaden’s compound in Abbottabad and killedhim in May 2011. The Laden family wasdeported to Saudi Arabia upon its own desire,according to Pakistani authorities. In astatement issued late on Thursday night, aspokesman of the Ministry of Interior saidthat the ministry ordered the deportation of14 members of Osama bin Laden’s family inpursuance of the court’s orders. “The familywas kept safe and sound in a guest housewhich had been declared a sub-jail. Theyhave been deported to the country of theirchoice, Saudi Arabia, today,” it said. Earlier,Saudi authorities had refused to accept thewidows and children of the al Qaeda chiefdirectly from Pakistan. According to anofficial here, the Saudi government wantedIslamabad to re-route them through a thirdcountry. To oversee the deportation ofLaden’s family, the Saudi ambassador inIslamabad also reached the airport wheresecurity was increased manifold. Pakistanhad first announced the deportation of binLaden’s widows and children on April 18following a court order two weeks ago whichhad handed the family a 45-day detentionsentence (pre dated to March 3) for illegallyentering and living in Pakistan, before beingsent to the countries of their origin.

Govt to challenge verdict but after some timeg PPP, cabinet, coalition partners rally behind Gilani for upholding the constitution

Opposition lambastesPPP for ‘using Gilani’

ISLAMABAD: Marc Grossman, the uS special representative for Afghanistan and pakistan, holds talks with Foreign Minister

hina Rabbani Khar during a meeting on thursday. AfP

CONTINuED ON PAgE 04

CONTINuED ON PAgE 04

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