PAGE | 04 PAGE | 05

Osama bin Ladenkeeps an eye on Earth from hell!

‘Time of war’ is ending, Obama tells Americans

PAGE |22

lahore edition thursday, 3 May, 2012 Jamadi-ul-Sani 11, 1433rs 15.00 Vol ii no 306 22 pages

US-Afghan pact ‘doesnot rule out drone strikes’

QUETTAShAhzADA zulfIqAR

THE Supreme Court (SC) said onWednesday that it was not helplessin getting its decisions imple-mented, as a three-member benchheard the case of missing persons

in Balochistan. The bench comprising Chief Justice of

Pakistan (CJP) Iftikhar MohammadChaudhry, Justice Tariq Pervez and JusticeArif Khilji resumed the hearing on deteriorat-ing law and order situation in Balochistan.

During the 15-hour hearing of the case,Justice Tariq Pervez said the SC was not help-less, adding that if the federal agencies werenot obeying the federal and provincial govern-ments, then the system had failed.

If the state fails in fulfilling its responsibil-ities, then its solution is available in the con-stitution, Justice Khilji said.

The federal government is not cooperatingin the issue of missing persons, while theBalochistan government is helpless in this re-gard, the CJP said while hearing the case.

The CJP also summoned Chief MinisterNawab Aslam Raisani and Home Minister Za-farullah Zehri for today’s hearing to assure thecourt that no more dead bodies would be re-covered in Balochistan and that people’s liveswould be protected under Article 9 of the con-

stitution. Deputy Attorney General Iskandar Khan

submitted a report regarding the missing per-sons, and said that no progress had been madein the case.

Balochistan Chief Secretary Babar YaqoobFateh Mohammad told the court that theFrontier Corps (FC), Military Intelligence (MI)and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) had as-sured of their cooperation with the police inrecovering the missing persons. He added thatalthough a list of missing persons had beenhanded over to these agencies but no progresshad been made so far.

Balochistan Advocate General AmanullahKunrani said the Balochistan government haddecided to take steps to recover the missingpersons in accordance with the SupremeCourt’s orders.

The CJP said that everyday a new storywas appearing in the newspapers about recov-ered dead bodies of missing persons inBalochistan. He cited two news reports pub-lished in Wednesday’s papers about the recov-ery of two bodies on the Costal Highway. Heremarked that only one missing person hadbeen recovered after the court’s directives, andthat nobody was worried about what was hap-pening in the province.

ISLAMABADStAff REpoRt

Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani onWednesday assured Army ChiefGeneral Ashfaq Kayani that thegovernment had no dispute with thejudiciary. According to sources, Gilanidiscussed the political situation afterthe ruling of Supreme Court againsthim with the army chief, and assuredhim that the Pakistan People’s Partywould not clash with the judiciary.However, the government would appealagainst the verdict of the SupremeCourt.

KARACHIAAMIR MAJEED

Sindhi separatists, inspired by Balochnationalists, have launched a series ofcracker blasts throughout the provinceon Wednesday to provoke the people tolaunch a ‘Baloch-like struggle for inde-pendence,’ it is reliably learnt.

This time the separatists targetedNational Bank of Pakistan (NBP),Sindh Bank and Citi Bank. Elevenblasts took place outside NBP and oneeach occurred outside Citi Bank and

Sindh Bank. One blast occurred at arailway track near Mirpur Mathelo.Blasts were also reported from Hyder-abad, Sukkur, Dadu, Badin, Nawab-shah, Ranipur, Dokri and Larkana.

“There were four blasts in Hyder-abad at Latifabad, Qasimabad, GulCentre and Main Market and NBP wastargeted,” Hyderabad Deputy Superin-tendent of Police (DSP) Aijaz Bhattitold Pakistan Today.

Larkana District Police Officer(DPO) Aitzaz Ahsan Koraya said twoblasts occurred at Baqrani Road and

VIP road and Citi Bank and NBP weretargeted. Sukkur SSP Pir MuhammadShah said a cracker blast was reportedat NBP Main Branch in Sukkur. Kair-pur SSP Irfan said the terrorists hurleda hand grenade at a NBP branch at Na-tional Highway in Ranipur, damagingit partially. Another NBP branch wastargeted in Nawabshah in the jurisdic-tion of A-Section police station.

No clash with judiciary, Gilani assures Kayani

SC ‘not helpless in getting verdictsimplemented’g Says if state fails in fulfilling its responsibilities,then its solution is available in constitution

g IHC disposes of petition seeking PM’s disqualification

Sindhi separatists cracker-bombbanks across province

continued on page 04

continued on page 04

continued on page 04 picture | page 28

LHR 03-05-2012_Layout 1 5/3/2012 3:12 AM Page 1

02thursday, 3 May, 2012

News

Today’s

LookQuick

lAhorE

Story on Page 07

NEwS

Story on Page 06

cArtooN

Page 13

Dr Aq Khan could be our next CM! Asma Jahangir says govt has no control in Balochistan

Equipment for Afghan armyis stranded in Pakistan: Pentagon

NEWS DESK

Thousands of tons of military equipment intended for the Afghanarmy and police is stranded in Pakistan, which for months has re-fused to reopen ground supply routes for NATO convoys despitehigh-level US pressure, a new Pentagon report says. Unless Pak-istan reopens the routes, Afghan army units will face “increasingshortages of equipment, particularly of vehicles,” according to thereport, a regular assessment of the US-led war made public Tues-day. Lack of access to the routes is “a strategic concern” that “willalso significantly” hamper the US military’s ability to withdraw itsforces from Afghanistan over the next three years, according tothe Pentagon. The report, which Congress requires every sixmonths, gives a largely positive assessment of the war, notingthat violence levels from October to March are lower in mostparts of the country compared with the same period a year ear-lier. Afghan army and police units, which are due to take over themain combat role in late 2014 from the US and its allies, are im-proving, it says. But the campaign still faces “long-term and acutechallenges” unless Pakistan moves against Taliban sanctuariesalong the border and the Afghan government curtails corruptionand takes other steps to improve its popularity with ordinaryAfghans. A senior Defense official who briefed reporters on thereport on the condition of anonymity, said that “we are makingserious important progress” but “challenges remain.”

Babar Awan kicked out from PPP manifesto committee

ISLAMABADonlInE

In what appears to be the last nail in the cof-fin, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has re-moved former law minister Babar Awan fromits manifesto committee, sources said onWednesday. They said that Senator AitzazAhsan had replaced Awan as the new mem-ber of the committee. Earlier on Tuesday,Awan was removed from the post PPP vicepresident, and the party’s office was also

shifted from his residence. His brother Farooq Awan has also re-signed as Special Adviser to Prime Minister.

UN seeks $2b to speed

return of Afghan refugeesGENEVAREutERS

Nearly 3 million Afghan refugees in Pakistan and Iran must beencouraged to go home to help stabilise their country and boostprospects for peace, the United Nations said on Wednesday,calling for $1.9 billion (1.1 billion pounds) in aid to help ithappen. The UN refugee agency presented a Geneva conferencewith a 3-year plan - backed by all three countries - for thevoluntary repatriation and reintegration of Afghanis, some ofwhom have spent decades in exile. “The ability for refugees toreturn in safety and dignity and become productive citizens intheir communities upon return is also integral to the stability andprogress of Afghanistan,” U.N. High Commissioner for RefugeesAntonio Guterres said at the start of two-day talks. The UNhumanitarian coordinator in Afghanistan said the refugee issuewas a vital part of securing the country’s long-term future.

ISLAMABADStAff REpoRt

ExPRESSING dismay over theFederal Investigation Agency(FIA) for not completing investi-gation into the Haj scam despitea lapse of almost two years, the

Supreme Court on Wednesday directed theFIA to complete the investigation within twoweeks and submit a comprehensive reportwith the court’s registrar office.

A two-member bench of Justice MianShakirullah Jan and Justice Jawwad SKhawaja expressed dissatisfaction over theongoing pace of progress in the investigationof Haj scam 2010, however, it allowed FIA toconclude the investigation within a fortnightand furnish a detailed report enabling it(court) to ascertain the progress so far madein the probe.

At the onset of hearing, FIA Director Inam

Ghani submitted a report and told the courtthat challans of former establishment secre-tary Ismail Qureshi, former Haj director RaoShakeel Ahmed and former joint secretary HajSM Tahir, involved in the case, had been sub-mitted before the trial court on April 25.

He said Qureshi was declared innocent inthe challan, whereas the Islamabad HighCourt had quashed the case against SMTahir. Besides, he said the agency was in theprocess of verifying the educational degree ofZain Sukhaira, one of the accused in the Hajscam, but the process was delayed as theMultan Bench of the Lahore High Court hadgranted stay on April 14 into the matter.

Justice Jawwad S Khawaja inquired whyhad the name of former establishment sec-retary Ismail Qureshi been written in col-umn number 2 of the submitted challanintentionally, to which, Deputy AttorneyGeneral Shafi Muhammad Chandio soughttime to submit a reply.

Justice Khawaja noted that it was aston-ishing that Sukhaira’s documents could notbe verified despite a lapse of over a year. Thecourt also directed the FIA to take actionagainst those who were protecting ZainSukhaira. Ghani told the bench that he wasassigned the task of Haj corruption scam’sprobe on April 20, 2012. He requested thecourt to allow him some more time to com-plete investigation of the scam.

Sukhaira had been working as consultantto the Ministry of Information Technologywhereas he had also been reported a closefriend of Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani’sson Abdul Qadir Gilani.

Justice Jawwad S Khawaja remarkedthat the verification of Sukhaira’s degreewas possible within ten minutes, addingthat it was beyond understanding that whyhad the court’s order about verification ofSukhaira’s LLb degree not been adhered toin even 13 months.

SC wants completion of

Haj scam probe in 15 days

ABBottABAD: Schoolchildren hold a placard

during a protest at the site of the demolished

compound of slain al qaeda leader osama bin

laden on Wednesday. AFP

LHR 03-05-2012_Layout 1 5/3/2012 3:12 AM Page 2

03thursday, 3 May, 2012

NewscoMMENtVital issues neglected

Articles on Page 12-13

Everyone in the end needs to abide by the SC’s decision.

the endgameIslamabad is wary of Delhi’s increasing influence in Afghanistan.

nazir naji says:

Ali Arqam says:

forEigN NEwS

Story on Page 18

ArtS & ENtErtAiNMENt

Story on Page 14

SPortS

Story on Page 18

20 dead after attackers storm Cairo protest humaima Malick awarded at london film fest

The fight for the PM slot: The country is in deep trouble.

Looking for Taliban equivalents: The alien movement ensued in an utter failure.

Imran husain says:Rocking graveyards: A new breed has entered the arena.

port qasim clinch patron’s trophy G-II

lhc stays allocation of hajquota till May 9

LAHOREStAff REpoRt

The Lahore High Court restrained the Min-istry of Religious Affairs on Wednesdayfrom allotting the Hajj quota for Hajj 2012to the old Hajj Group Organisers (HGOs).The court directed that that the Hajj quotaswill be allotted to the old as well as the newHGOs who qualify under the new policy. The court also sought a reply from respon-dents on the application within a week andadjourned the matter till May 9th. Justice Umar Ata Bandial passed the orderon a civil miscellaneous application filed byTravel Channel International Limited andothers in a pending matter.The petitioner’s counsel had submitted thatthe Religious Affairs Ministry was bound toallot the quotas to the new and old HGOs,under the Hajj policy of 2012.The petitioner stated that the ministry hadviolated the policy and allotted quotas to721 old HGOs. The counsel pointed out that if the enrol-ment was made according to the Hajj policyof 2012, then more than fifty percent of theold HGOs would be disqualified as they didnot fulfill the requirements laid out in thepolicy. The court, after hearing the arguments,barred the ministry from allotting Hajj quo-tas to the old HGOs alone and ordered thatquotas be allotted only to those HGOs thatqualify under the new policy.The application was filed in a pending peti-tion pleading to issue appropriate direc-tions to the respondents, including theReligious Affairs Ministry and other stake-holders and non-governmental associationsin making the Hajj policies friendly andtransparent.

Rumpus in the House: PML-N MPs continue

protest against ‘convicted chief executive’ISLAMABAD tAhIR nIAz

It was nothing different from Mondaybut this time the Pakistan MuslimLeague-Nawaz MNAs moved a bit fur-ther from their seats to encroach thepodium and treasury space in theLower House of parliament as theycontinued their in-house protestagainst the “convicted chief executiveof the country” on Wednesday.

The PML-N parliamentariansstarted shouting anti-Gilani slogans atthe very onset of the session afterSpeaker Dr Fehmida Mirza gave thefloor of the House to PML-N MNA MrsNisar Tanveer for a supplementaryquestion.

In what may seem as bad luck ofthe ruling alliance, the first questionprinted on the “Questions for Oral An-swers and their Replies” was from thePML-N female parliamentarian electedon a reserved seat which provided heran opportunity to ask about the SCorder pertaining to the PM instead ofasking a specific question.

As soon as she said “Yes the SC”, DrMirza cut her short asking for the nextquestion followed by anti-Gilani slogansby the PML-N members. Some protest-ing MNAs including females sat on thepodium while the remaining stood closeto the chair of the Leader of the Houseto lodge their protest. Prime MinisterYousaf Raza Gilani did not turn up inthe House anticipating rumpus.

“It [the session] is going live on theTV and you should take care of thesanctity of parliament,” Dr Mirza ad-vised the protesting PML-N memberswho responded with a round of “Go Gi-lani Go” slogans. However, the speakercontinued pursuing the question houramidst noise and disorder in the House.

Abid Sher Ali of the PML-N took thelead in throwing the torn copies of thequestions towards the podium followedby many others. “Corrupt government isunacceptable”, “Go Gilani Go”, the PML-N parliamentarians continued shoutinguntil the speaker adjourned the proceed-ings for 15 minutes for Maghrab prayers.

As the House assembled after thebreak, the PML-N legislators welcomedthe deputy speaker with the same kind

of slogans but he vigorously pursuedthe “Orders of the Day” which includedtabling of a number of bills.

However, he dropped the particu-lar bills whose movers were from thePML-N as he declared them absentafter finding no response from themdespite the fact they were present andprotesting in the House.

Doniya Aziz of the PML-Q walkedout of the House in anger after thespeaker obliged the stance of JUI-F’sAttaur Rehman and deferred “TheCharter of Child Rights Bill, 2009”moved by the female parliamentarianand another bill “The Domestic Vio-lence (Prevention and Protection) Bill,2012” for evolving a better consensuson the proposed legislation.

Bhoja plane crash

was merely ‘an

accident’: report

ISLAMABADInp

The initial enquiry report on previousmonth’s Bhoja plane crash was submittedto the National Assembly’s Standing Com-mittee for Defence on Wednesday.According to the report, the plane wasgrounded last year after remaining in usefor 26 years, while this incident apparentlyappears to be merely “an accident”.In a meeting of the NA Standing Commit-tee for Defence held with MNA Azra Fazalin chair, enquiry committee chief MujahidIslam said the ill-fated plane was manufac-tured in 1985, and was procured by SouthAfrica from Britain in 1999, and wasgrounded in 2011. Thereon Bhoja Airline acquired it on leasein the current year, and had made 60 hoursof flight for the company. Shortly beforethe disaster, the plane was last seen on theradar six miles away from the airport. Theinitial report on the plane’s cockpit voicerecorder and black box is expected fromWashington on May 7. The representativesof the plane’s insurance company havebeen called here. Mujahid Islam said thataccording to his past experience, the Bhojacrash was an accident, but all reasonsshould be investigated, as blaming theweather only was not correct, as otherplanes were also landing in the sameweather. Committee member ShahidKhaqan Abbasi demanded to wrap up theFIR on plane crash, saying it was merely“an accident”. FIA investigations shouldalso be put on hold, he asked.The committee has called for the fitnesscertificate of the plane and the details ofthe pilot’s experience. The committee rec-ommended the deletion of Section 302from the FIR, while directing for the earli-est completion of the enquiry.

PML-N announcesprotest itinerary

LAHOREnADEEM SyED

THE Pakistan MuslimLeague-Nawaz (PML-N) has announced theschedule for itsprotest rallies across

the country to step up pressure onthe Pakistan People’s Party-ledcoalition government to complywith the orders of the SupremeCourt in the contempt case, butstayed away from announcing anydate for the long march which stillseems to be the last option for themain opposition party.

The schedule, announced atRaiwind on Wednesday, hardlymakes any mention of the date ofthe long march which the PML-Nhas announced to launch in casethe PM continued to defy the SCverdict.

However, sources in the partysaid that the decision on the longmarch or the announcement of itsdate would be made public at the

party public meeting in Lahore.The PML-N announced its

protest schedule at a time when theSC chief justice himself concededto the government its right of ap-peal against the government andhinted at constituting a nine-mem-ber bench for the appeal hearings.

A senior party leader disclosedthat PML-N President NawazSharif would follow a soft-peddledapproach for the time being andwould not go too far to create a cri-sis in the country.

”This will undermine his 10-year struggle for democracy inPakistan,” he commented.

The main aspect of the protestschedule announced is the party’sdecision to reach out to otherprovinces, including Azad Kashmirand Gilgit-Baltistan and evenBalochistan, with a plan to holdrallies from Pashin to Quetta,mainly areas dominated by Pash-tuns.

PML-N leaders said the sched-ule for these protests outside Pun-

jab would be announced later,probably after taking the party or-ganisation on board.

Party insiders declared that thecoming four to six weeks would befull of action and reaction.

Surely, a reaction from the PPPwould promise a lot of fireworksand politicking in the coming daysbefore the budget, amid signs ofcontroversy about Gilani’s fate lin-gering on.

PML-N chief Nawaz will fea-ture in some events according toparty leaders, while Punjab ChiefMinister Shahbaz Sharif would bethe star speaker in others.

It has been learnt that Nawazhimself would be available at Taxilato kick start the protests on May 4.

According to the schedule an-nounced by the PML-N, rallieswould be held in Taxila on May 4,Gujranwala on May 7, Bahawalpurand Sargodha on May 8 and in PMGilani’s hometown Multan on May10, with Lahore hosting the lastshow of the protest rallies.

KARAChI: Residents of lyari burn president Asif zardari’s picture during a protest on Wednesday against the

police operation being carried out in the area. NNI

LHR 03-05-2012_Layout 1 5/3/2012 3:12 AM Page 3

04thursday, 3 May, 2012

News

“The relatives of the missingpersons have asked the courtswhere they should go as neitherthe police nor the inspectorgeneral are taking responsibil-ity for their missing near anddear ones. So where are thesemissing persons,” the CJPasked. Justice Khilji said thatthe complainants, who werethe citizens of Pakistan, hadcome to the courts with theirpleas, and wanted to knowwhere their missing relativeswere. Supreme Court Bar Asso-ciation President Yaseen Azad,who was also present in the

court, said the situation inBalochistan was not good. Hesaid that everything was underthe control of agencies, addingthat the state should fulfil its re-sponsibility in protecting thebasic rights of the citizens.

He said the Balochistan in-spector general of Police shouldtell the court about the where-abouts of the missing persons,adding that action should betaken against him if he failed inobeying the court’s orders. Hesaid that the judiciary mighttake action against the govern-ment if it was not performingits responsibilities in accor-dance with the constitution.

The CJP asked what wouldhappen in the country if thegovernment could not providesecurity to the citizens underArticle 9 of the constitution.Police have evidence and knowwhere the missing persons arebecause they have already re-covered some of the missingpersons, he said.

He said that Balochistanwas burning, the people werebeing whisked away, decom-posed bodies were being recov-ered and members of the Shiacommunity were being tar-geted. He regretted that peoplewere being kidnapped for ran-som, and ministers were also in-volved in it. He said that somebreakthrough was being madeas some people had been ar-rested. Chief Justice said that a

provincial minister had accusedFrontier Corps regarding deadbodies but no progress had beenmade, adding that the courtcould not remain calm on thesituation. If the Balochistanchief secretary and IG Police saythat they were helpless, then thecourts would summon theBalochistan chief minister, Inte-rior secretary, Defence secre-tary, and the sector in charge ofthe ISI, the CJP said, addingthat if the prime minister couldappear before the court, whynot the ISI officials. Later, all themembers of missing personspresent in the court recordedtheir statements. The bench alsoshowed its resentment when itwas informed that nine peoplewho had gone missing fromKhuzdar district could not be

recovered in accordance withthe court’s orders. In the previ-ous hearing on Monday, thechief justice had ordered the po-lice to produce nine people whowent missing from the Totakarea of Khuzdar district alongwith severe warnings of sternaction against police and thedeputy commissioner of Khuz-

dar if they failed to comply withthe court orders. During theproceedings, Balochistan Advo-cate General Amanullah Kan-rani informed the court that ameeting had already been heldon Tuesday in this regard inwhich the FC inspector generalwas also present. At this JusticeKhilji remarked said that the

houses of the people were burn-ing, and he was holding meet-ings. The bench summonedChief Minister Nawab AslamRaisani and Home Minister Za-farullah Zehri for Thursday’shearing to apprise the courtover the law and order situation,and submit their written state-ments in the court.

Sc ‘not helpless’continued froM page 1

The meeting also discussed theregional security situationalong with the issues of mutualinterest. Gilani also said therewould be no conflict if all insti-tutions followed the constitu-tion.

Talking to reporters afterattending a function of Pak-istan Scout Association, theprime minister said, “It is re-sponsibility of every individualand institution to follow theconstitution.” He said he had aright to appeal against the de-cision of the Supreme Court.

IHC disposes of plea: Ear-lier in the day, the IslamabadHigh Court (IHC) disposed ofa petition seeking the primeminister’s disqualification after

his conviction in the contemptof court case.

A petition filed in the IHCsought court order to stopPrime Minister Gilani fromserving as prime minister afterhis conviction.

The petition filed by GAChaudhry stated that the PMdefied the court’s orders by notwriting a letter to the Swiss au-thorities asking them to reopengraft cases against PresidentAsif Ali Zardari and thus heshould be disqualified.

Responding to the petitionwhich had maintained that ac-cording to Article 63 (1) (g), theprime minister stands disqual-ified from being a member ofthe National Assembly, JusticeShaukat Aziz Siddiqui re-marked, “Article 63 (1) (g) does

not mention the prime minis-ter’s disqualification.”

“By the time the detailedverdict is out, a petition mightnot even be necessary,” he said.

“The petition is premature,wait for the detailed verdict,”observed the court.

He said disqualificationsubject of PM is not mentionedin Article 63(1) g and disposedof the petition.

On the other end, the peti-tion filed by AK Dogar in theLahore High Court (LHC)stated that the PM was con-victed and in the current situa-tion not eligible to exercisepower nor continue to performas the PM of Pakistan.

According to the petition,the PM, the cabinet, its advis-ers and ministers of the state

cannot hold offices and suchactions of PM and their teamsare unconstitutional after theverdict of the SC. It added thatall federal ministers, advisersand special assistants shouldbe asked to quit their offices.

Chief Justice SheikhAzmat Saeed remarked thatcourts were not afraid of anythreat and they had to passjudgments according to theconstitution. He said verdictcouldn’t be passed withoutknowing the viewpoint of thefederal government.

In this regard, the LHCissued notice and sum-moned the deputy attorneygeneral for ascertaining theopinion of federal govern-ment and adjourned thehearing until May 7.

No clash with judiciarycontinued froM page 1

A-Section Police SHOAwais Mangrio said an NBPbranch situated at SakrandRoad was targeted. Acracker blast was reportedoutside NBP in Dadu in ju-risdiction of K N Shah po-lice station. An NBP branchwas hit by cracker blast inremits of Badin City policestation. Another NBPbranch was targeted inDokri. A Sindh Bankbranch was targeted inKotri. Kotri police stationSHO Insp Munim said ter-rorists had targeted Sindh

Bank branch at Amir Plaza. All the blasts took place

within one hour from 5:30to 6:30pm. Sindhu DeshLiberation Army (SDLA), agroup of Sindhi separatists,claimed responsibility ofthe blasts.

The police have foundpamphlets from blasts sitesin which SDLA commanderDarya Khan has requestedthe Sindhis to start anarmed struggle for Sindh asan independent state likeBalochistan. Khan alsodrew attention to the dis-crimination being meted

out the Sindhis by the cen-tral government. Taking theBaloch as their role model,the SDLA has lauded theirefforts in getting world’srecognition and tried toconvince the Sindhis, who,according to Khan, havebeen deprived of theirrights by the centre fordecades, and could getworldwide recognitionthrough an armed strugglelike the Baloch.

In the pamphlet, theSDLA chief commander hasassured the citizens ofSindh that his movementwill also launch an armedstruggle like the BalochLiberation Army (BLA) for

making Sindh an independ-ent state. Khan claimedthat the centre was exploit-ing the natural resources ofSindh against a very lowroyalty to facilitate Punjab.

Terming the ruling Pak-istan People’s Party (PPP)as ‘opportunists’, the SDLAblamed the party for usingthe Sindh card for attainingpower, trying to impressupon the nationalists thatSindh was the country’smost poor province. In thepamphlet, the SDLA has re-quested the Sindhis tostand up against the gov-ernment, Pakistan Armyand Inter-Services Intelli-gence.

Sindhi separatistscontinued froM page 1

BAGRAM AIR BASEAfp

PR E S I D E N TBarack Obamasaid Wednesday a“time of war” wasending in a mo-

ment of US renewal, afterslipping into Afghanistan onthe anniversary of Osamabin Laden’s death.

In a highly political elec-tion-year address from out-side Kabul, Obama posed asa commander-in-chief whoended two long wars andcrushed Al-Qaeda, and triedto conjure up a new dawn fora nation exhausted by con-flict and recession.

“This time of war beganin Afghanistan, and this iswhere it will end,” Obamasaid, recalling a decade-long

“dark cloud of war”, asAmerica fell into an Afghanmorass after bin Laden plot-ted the September 11 attacksin 2001.

“Yet here, in the pre-dawn darkness ofAfghanistan, we can see thelight of a new day on thehorizon,” said Obama, seek-ing to use political capitalearned by bringing troopshome to validate his requestfor a second White Houseterm. Obama earlierdropped from the night skiesinto Kabul in secrecy andsigned a deal with PresidentHamid Karzai, cementing 10years of US aid forAfghanistan after NATOcombat troops leave in 2014.

“Neither Americans northe Afghan people asked forthis war, yet for a decade

we’ve stood together,”Obama said at the signingceremony at Karzai’s presi-dential palace.

“We look forward to afuture of peace. We’re agree-ing to be long-term part-ners,” said the president,who later headed homeaboard Air Force One afterjust six hours on the ground.Obama trod a delicate polit-ical line, reassuring Ameri-cans the war was ending butsteeling them for possiblesacrifices to come — allwhile trying to pivot politi-cally back to the need to re-build at home.

“It is time to renewAmerica,” Obama said atBagram air base, against abackdrop of military vehiclesin their sandy desert liveries.

“A united America of grit

and resilience, where sun-light glistens off soaring newtowers in downtown Man-hattan, and we build our fu-ture as one people, as onenation.”

Though he sought to puta capstone on the war,Obama’s statement effec-tively meant that US troopscould be fighting for twomore years, and some couldremain in danger for adecade after that.

Obama bluntly told USsoldiers that “some of yourbuddies are going to get in-jured, some of your buddiesmay get killed”.

“There is going to beheartbreak and pain and dif-ficulty ahead, but there is alight on the horizon becauseof the sacrifices you havemade.”

KABULAfp

Afghan President HamidKarzai said Wednesday thelong-term strategic pact hesigned overnight with visitingUS President Barack Obamawould pose no threat toneighbouring countries.

The deal “is not onlynot threatening any thirdcountry, including theneighbouring countries,but we are hoping that thisleads to stability, prosper-ity and development in theregion,” he said.

Karzai was speaking at asigning ceremony in the pres-idential palace with Obama,who made a secret visit toKabul to sign the pact andmark the anniversary of thedeath of Al-Qaeda leaderOsama bin Laden.

“The agreement providesfor the possibility of US forcesin Afghanistan after 2014, forthe purposes of training

Afghan forces and targetingthe remnants of Al-Qaeda,” aWhite House fact sheet said.

But it does not committhe US to any specific militarytroop levels or funding.

The deal, which cappedmonths of thorny negotia-tions, also states that theUnited States does not seekpermanent military bases inAfghanistan.

QUETTAAfp

Hundreds of Islamists ral-lied in Pakistan’s southwest-ern city of QuettaWednesday to pay tribute toAl-Qaeda chief Osama binLaden on the first anniver-sary of his death, witnessessaid.

More than 500 activistsfrom the pro-TalibanJamiat-Ulema-e-Islam reli-

gious political party gath-ered in the city’s centralMezan square. They werecarrying bin Laden posters,shouting “Long Live Osama”and torched a US flag, anAFP reporter said.

“Osama was a hero ofthe whole Muslim world, hewas the real Mujahid (holywarrior),” Abdul QadirLooni, a party leader saidwhile addressing the rally.

“Today we gathered to

pay tribute to him. He willbe remembered forever inour hearts.”

The demonstrators alsoprayed for Taliban leaderMullah Omar.

Bin Laden, the al-Qaedafounder and 9/11 attacksmastermind, was killed onMay 2 last year in a secretUS Navy SEAL operation ina walled-off compound inthe Pakistani garrison townof Abbottabad.

‘Time of war’ is ending,Obama tells Americans

US pact no threat to Afghanistan’s

neighbours, says Karzai

Hundreds pay

tribute to bin Laden

Pakistan to join India-led

initiative on Afghanistan

NEW DELHI: Pakistan will for the first time, join an India-led initiative on Afghanistan. DNA news agency quotingsources said Pakistan is expected to participate at an ‘in-vestors conference’ on Afghanistan that is likely to be held inNew Delhi before July. The initiative to hold a regional in-vestors conference on Afghanistan was announced on Tues-day by India and Afghanistan following their first StrategicPartnership Council meeting. This development would signala major shift in Pakistan’s approach towards India onAfghanistan, and signals that Islamabad is willing allowstrategic space to India.Sources told DNA, the conference isexpected to have participation from “other regional players”,“including Pakistan.” India and Pakistan have been havingback channel talks on Afghanistan. This is however for thefirst time that the two countries have decided to talk in publicabout development and investment in Afghanistan that islooking at a drawdown of coalition forces in 2014. onlInE

PESHAWAR: While hearing a case on missing persons, Peshawar High Court (PHC) ChiefJustice Dost Muhammad Khan on Wednesday ordered the federal government to take concretesteps for resolving the case, and inform the court by May 16. “The missing persons’ case is a gravematter. It is tarnishing the respect earned by Pakistani troops in the war against terrorism,” thechief justice said. “The military and agencies should work together to find a solution andimplement the court’s order,” he added. Defence Secretary Nargis Sethi, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa(KP) Chief Secretary Ghulam Dastagir, and Interior Secretary Azam Khan had been summonedfor the hearing. Sethi assured the court that its order would be implemented, and a meeting inthis regard would be held soon. onlInE

PHC gives federal govt May 16 deadline

LHR 03-05-2012_Layout 1 5/3/2012 3:12 AM Page 4

05thursday, 3 May, 2012

News

NEWS DESK

WHAT happens whenyour surprise dinnerguest turns out to bethe world’s mostwanted man? A year on

from the death of Osama Bin Laden, twomen tell BBC News how they came tohost the then leader of al-Qaeda.

Late one night in the summer of2010, on the fringes of the Waziristan re-gion, half a dozen men of a local tribalfamily waited nervously for the arrival ofa guest whose identity they didn’t know.

They had been alerted to this visitweeks earlier, by someone they describesimply as an “important person”. Theywere not given any names, and the exacttime of the guest’s arrival was conveyedto them just a few hours in advance.

At about 23:00, when the worldaround them was in deep sleep, theyheard the rumble of the approaching ve-hicles.

“A dozen big four-wheel drive jeepsdrove into the compound,” recalls onefamily elder who agreed to speak to meabout it. “They seemed to converge fromdifferent directions.”

One of the 4x4s drove up close to theveranda, and from its back seat emergeda tall and frail-looking man. He woreflowing robes and a white turban.

The waiting men couldn’t believetheir eyes. Standing before them wasnone other than Osama Bin Laden, themost wanted man in the world.

“We were dumb-struck,” says theelder. “He was the last person we’d ex-pected to turn up at our doorstep.”

He stood beside the vehicle for awhile, shaking hands. The elder says hekissed Bin Laden’s hand and pressed itagainst his eyes in a gesture of reverence.

Then, putting his hand lightly on theshoulder of one of his assistants, BinLaden walked into the room they’d setup for him. The villagers didn’t followhim in. Only a couple of his own menkept him company.

This happened exactly one year be-fore Bin Laden was killed in a secret op-eration of the US Navy Seals inAbbottabad, located some 300km (186

miles) to the north-east of this remotetribal compound.

During the three hours Bin Ladenspent with them, the men said he offeredprayers, rested, and ate the lamb chops,chicken curry and rice they’d preparedfor him and his entourage.

All that time, his hosts weren’t al-lowed to leave the compound, or let any-one in. Armed men took positions at themain gate, along the walls and on theroof.

There was a slight commotionamong the guards when one of the hostsrequested that his 85-year-old father beallowed to see Bin Laden.

“Consider this to be his dying wish,”he pleaded. The message was passed tobin Laden, who agreed to see the old pa-triarch.

Four armed men escorted the sonhome to fetch his father. The old manwas only told about bin Laden’s presenceonce they were back inside the com-pound.

They said the old man spent 10 min-utes with bin Laden, pouring out his ad-miration and prayers for him, andoffering time-tested advice on tribal war-fare, all in his native Pashto language,which Bin Laden apparently didn’t un-derstand. This brought smiles to thefaces of bin Laden’s hosts and hisguards, they say.

Bin Laden and his men departed injust the same way as they’d come - their4x4s leaving the compound in a bustlingconfusion - and heading out in different

directions, giving his hosts little chanceto determine which way Bin Laden’s ve-hicle went.

While my interlocutors were quiteopen about the details of the visit, theydidn’t want to discuss the identity of the“important man” who had asked them tohost Bin Laden. They were also reluctantto share information on who else was inthe entourage.

Following Bin Laden’s death a yearlater, both Pakistani and American offi-cials had insisted that the al Qaeda chiefhad lived in total seclusion for nearly fiveyears, without once leaving his Abbot-tabad compound.

That would seem not to be the case.And many questions remain unan-swered.

The area where he showed up in2010 is in the middle of a vast tribal hin-terland which was, and to an extent stillis, the focus of a number of military op-erations against militants. Troops sta-tioned there were on high alert and hadset up dozens of security checkpoints tomonitor commuters along both regularand rarely frequented routes.

How did he get past those posts un-detected?

The Pakistanis have always deniedhaving any knowledge of his where-abouts or providing any support to binLaden. There’s also the question of whowas planning his itinerary, what was thepurpose of his visit and, above all, howfrequently did he pay midnight visits tounsuspecting hosts?

The night bin Laden came for dinner

ABBOTTABADAfp

A sacked health worker recalled Wednes-day how she knocked on Osama binLaden’s door just days before he was shotdead by American soldiers, an unwittingpawn in a controversial vaccination pro-gramme set up by the CIA to ensnare theAl-Qaeda leader.

Amna Bibi spoke to AFP while revisit-ing the site of bin Laden’s destroyed homewith two other health workers on the an-niversary of the American raid. Sacked bythe government over the fake vaccinationprogramme, they said they had been dis-missed unfairly and demanded their jobsback.

Pakistan arrested surgeon ShakeelAfridi, who was recruited by the CIA to helptrack down the Al-Qaeda terror leader andwas among a total of 18 health workers whowere dismissed.

The United States was not 100 percentsure that bin Laden was living in the Abbot-tabad house when Navy SEALs went ahead

with the raid on May 2. British newspaperThe Guardian said Afridi was recruited bythe CIA for an elaborate scheme to vacci-nate residents for hepatitis B, a ploy to geta DNA sample from those living in thehouse.

“I was assigned to the vaccination ofhepatitis B on April 20, and on April 20Shakeel Afridi came himself to manage thecampaign,” Bibi told AFP.

“We came to this compound. Weknocked at the door for five minutes, but noone opened the door. Then we went intothe house in front of Osama’s compoundand asked for their number, and one girlgave us Tariq’s number,” she said, referringto one of the men killed in the Americanraid on May 2 and now known to have beensheltering the bin Laden family.

“Then Shakeel Afridi called Tariq buthe told him they were far away from thehouse and couldn’t come back, so we left.Then Shakeel Afridi continued to call mefrom Peshawar to go to this compound tovaccinate the women inside.”

But Bibi claimed she told the doctor

she had a pain in her leg and could not re-turn, despite his further requests to do so.Then, on April 25, he telephoned and toldthem not to go to the compound again.

“On May 2, we heard about this inci-dent and I called Shakeel Afridi back andasked him about the house, saying it wasattacked by the Americans. He got angryand said he was in a meeting and not to talkto him. I called him again the next day andagain he gave the same answer,” she said.

Pakistani officials believe Afridi mayhave known about bin Laden’s presence inAbbottabad and shared the informationwith US intelligence agents. He faces a trialfor treason.

Shaheena Mumraiz, another sackedhealth worker, said Afridi asked her fordata on women aged 15 to 40 in Abbot-tabad, but that she had not been selected totake part in the vaccination campaign.

“I never visited Osama bin Laden’shouse,” she said. “The department hasasked us not to go to court and to themedia. But we came here to record ourprotest and we want our jobs back.”

Sacked medic recalls knocking on OBL’s door

osama keeps

an eye on

earth from hell!NEWS DESK

A year after Osama bin Laden was killedby US Navy SEALS in Abbottabad, theworld’s number one terrorist is keepingbusy tweeting from hell! According to anIndian Express report, dozens of fakeaccounts were floated on Twitter shortlyafter bin Laden’s death and ever since,there has been no stopping the updatesand “fatwas” from “hell”. “My ex-wife istalking to ABC News. This is even moredisrespectful than the time she asked tolook out a window...,” read a tweet by afake account operated by “Osama”.Another one pronounces that “hotchocolate is haram”. The descriptions ofOsama on the many fake accounts arehilarious. One such account describes himas “former public enemy #1”. One tweet ona fake account went: “...faked my owndeath, now travelling the world. MaybeI’m coming to your city! Check your localal-Qaeda branch!” On other accounts, themessages are matter-of-fact: “I was theleader of al-Qaeda. Now I’m dead” or“Those still alive can reach me atOsamaInHell” or “I was once the bestterrorist of all time! Greatest ever at hideand seek!” Sometimes the tweets are scary.“I may be dead...but life continues!!!” or“71% of the Earth is covered in oceans. So Imay be anywhere!! (Remember that!)”The American commandos took away binLaden’s body after shooting him in hiscompound located a short distance fromthe Pakistan Military Academy. His bodywas later buried at sea. Bin Laden’s threewidows and 11 members of his family wererecently deported to Saudi Arabia. Onetweet on a fake account on the first deathanniversary of bin Laden was ratherphilosophical. “It’s been almost a year...Time flies when you’re dead!” Another oneread: “What is it with Obama and surprisevisits on May 1st?” A popular spoofwebsite went a step further and publishedan interview with bin Laden: “The guys inHeaven all want to come down here.There’s no hot stuff up there - not even aLamb Tikka Masala. Man, I tell you, it’ssure great fun here in Hell”. Bin Ladenclaimed he was friends with Stalin andHitler. “Stalin’s a great guy. Vow! If only Ihad met him while I was still in your Earthzone. Adolf is a nice guy too, but he is a bitof a stiff. Keeps on about how he shouldnot be down here in Hell but up in Heaven‘cause of the good things he’d done in hisEarth life.” Unfortunately, the biggestspoof-like story emanating on bin Laden’sfirst death anniversary is for real. A localEnglish newspaper reported that peoplewere visiting the site of bin Laden’s razedcompound to offer “fateha” and witness a“miracle” water gushing forth without useof an electric motor. Though this couldhave been caused by a fractured water line,many claimed that water gushes forth likea spring because those killed at the placewere innocent.

ABBottABAD: A man prays near the site of the demolished compound of slain Al-qaeda leader osama bin laden on May 2, 2012, on his first death anniversary. AFP

LHR 03-05-2012_Layout 1 5/3/2012 3:12 AM Page 5

06thursday, 3 May, 2012

News

QUETTA onlInE

FO R M E R Supreme CourtBar Association (SCBA)president Asma Jahangirexpressed grave concernson Wednesday over the

extra-judicial missing persons, sayingthere is no writ of the government inBalochistan and that spy agencies havefull control over the province.

Addressing the lawyers’ commu-nity during at a reception hosted inher honour by the Balochistan Bar As-sociation, she said the current rulershave done nothing for Baloch people.

She stated that people are beingkidnapped at a rapid rate and that the

provincial government is being run bythe intelligence agencies.

She urged the government to workfor a healthier law and order situationin the province to prevent the disper-sion of Balochistan.

Jahangir also called for an end tothe interference of the state agenciesin the province.

She said the current circumstancesare leading towards a collision be-tween the government and the opposi-tion and judiciary.

She stated that the rulers shouldleave their personal interests aside tothink for the nation and country.

The former president said theBaloch people had been left helpless:“There is neither a chief minister nor

a prime minister for the people ofBalochistan while no suo moto hasbeen taken regarding the situation inBalochistan,” she said.

Jahangir said the nation was fedup with the corrupt system and thatthe government should bring the Ac-countability Bill in the parliament assoon as possible for eliminating cor-ruption from the country.

She said all the institutions have towork within their limits for the better-ment of general masses.

She expressed grave concern overthe Lyari operation and compared thesituation in the area to that of Beirut.

She urged the media and civil soci-ety to play their role in making Pak-istan a prosperous country.

Asma Jahangir says govt has

no control in Balochistan

PESHAWARStAff REpoRt

Expressing sever resentment overthe desecration of Holy Quran inthe United States, noted religiousfigure and khateeb of historicalMasjid Mohabat Khan in Pe-shawar, Maulana Yousaf Qureshi,on Wednesday announced a Rs 1.5million head money for pastorTerry Jones.

Qureshi also announced lead-ing a rally against this act of theUS priest after this Friday’sprayers.

The rally would be attended bypeople from all over Peshawar andits surrounding areas, he said.

“I will give the reward moneyto those who kill the US priest,”said Qureshi at a press conference.

Flanked by his aides, MaulanaQureshi said through such act, theUS priest had not only indulged indesecration of the Holy Quran buthad also fuelled tension and angeramongst the Muslims.

Qureshi said he met and re-main in a debate with the USPriest Terry Jones in Washington(USA) Catholic University in 1986.

According to him, Jones was evenunaware of the Holy Bible.

“We having the right to declarehead money for the US priest asthe US already put known religiousfigure Hafiz Saeed on the list ofwanted people,” Qureshi said to aquestion. He was hopeful aboutfurther increase in the head moneyas several people had contactedhim.

Qureshi had also announced a$1 million head money for SalmanRushdie a couple of years ago.

He recalled that he had de-clared the amount on behalf a

leading industrialist. Meanwhile, the Pakistani gov-

ernment strongly condemned theburning of the holy Quran by Pas-tor Terry Jones, Head of the Doveworld Qutreach Center in Florida.

“We feel that such senselessacts would only inspire hatred andviolence in the world,” said a For-eign Office statement on Wednes-day.

“It is the collective responsibil-ity of all governments and institu-tions to work closely on promotingharmony, peace and unity amongpeople of all faiths,” it said.

ISLAMABADAGEnCIES

Pakistan’s former ambassador to theUnited States, Husain Haqqani, haslamented that the Memo Commis-sion had been transformed into anarena to “prosecute and persecute”him instead of its original purpose offinding facts about the memo sentby Mansoor Ijaz to US military com-mander Admiral Michael Mullenlast year.

In a comprehensive applicationto the commission, submittedthrough his lawyers Syed ZahidBukhari and Sajid Tanoli, the formerenvoy repeated his demand for‘equal treatment’ with his accuserand responded to all the pointsraised during the Commission’s lasthearing.

Haqqani said, “I am a born citi-

zen of Pakistan. I have never soughtor obtained, nor do I intend to seekor obtain, the citizenship of anycountry other than Pakistan, includ-ing the United States. I have neversought, nor do I intend to seek asy-lum in any country, including theUnited States.” The former ambas-sador was responding to the Com-mission’s order that he clarifyreports in a section of the media.

“Although the honorable Com-mission was constituted to conductan inquiry and it had been said at theoutset that its proceedings would beinquisitorial in nature, it has beenconverted into a virtual prosecutionagainst me without even the filing ofa formal charge or registering acase,” Haqqani said in the applica-tion. “Questions pertaining to mycitizenship based on nothing otherthan newspaper stories, most likely

solicited and planted for this verypurpose, is one example of the diver-gence of proceedings away from theoriginal purpose of this inquiry,” headded.

Haqqani said that from 2002until appointment as ambassador ofPakistan to the United States heworked as a Pakistani citizen livingabroad and will be doing the samenow, “like millions of other Pakistanicitizens who live and work abroad.”

Emphasising his point that theCommission was focused on him in-stead of doing its job of inquiringabout the memo, Haqqani said, “Isubmit this information as orderedby the Commission even though Isee no relevance whatsoever be-tween the Commission seeking thisinformation and its task of probingthe origins, authenticity and purposeof the disputed Memo.”

cleric announces head money for pastor terry Jones

Haqqani says enquiry being used

for ‘prosecution, persecution’

robbers attack

Sialkot gPo, escape

with rs 3.5mSIALKOT

StAff REpoRt

Armed robbers wearing police berets raidedthe General Post Office (GPO) in broaddaylight and escaped with Rs 3.5 million incash on Wednesday. Eyewitnesses said thatsix armed men stormed into the SavingsBranch of the GPO and took everyone,including the security guards, at gunpoint.While the robbers were trying to escape, oneof the caps dropped along with a magazinefull of bullets, which the police took intocustody upon arrival. The Kotwali policeare carrying out investigations, but no arresthas been made so far in this regard.

New damning

figures for india’s

‘flying coffin’ MigsNEW DELHI

Afp

Dubbed “flying coffins” or “widow makers”in the air force, India’s ageing collection ofSoviet-era MiGs have long been unpopularwith airforce pilots. New figures unveiledWednesday show why. India’s DefenceMinister A.K. Antony said there had been482 accidents in the last 30 years, resultingin the deaths of 171 pilots and 39 civilians.The MiG fleet is now 873-strong. NewDelhi’s acquisitions began in 1966 withMiG-21 interceptors, and the next twodecades saw the induction of the high-speed MiG 25, ground-attack MiG 27 andthe fourth-generation MiG-29 fighter jetsinto the Indian Air Force. Experts say amajority of the accidents involved India’ssingle-engined MiG-21s, a combataeroplane which has been flown by some50 countries since it was developed by thenSoviet Union in the 1950s. “A total of 171pilots, 39 civilians, eight service personneland one aircrew lost their lives in theseaccidents,” the defence minister toldparliament, referring to the period from1971-1972 to April 19 this year. Theaccidents were blamed on “human errorand technical defects”. Antony in Februarysaid that the Indian Air Force would startphasing out its mainstay MiG-21s,comprising 40 percent of its total fleet,beginning 2014.

woman throwsacid at neighbour

GUJRANWALAInp

A woman threw acid at her neighbour,also a woman, after a petty quarrel in theLadhaywala area on Wednesday. Policesaid the two women had been quarrellingover a minor issue for the last three days.However, one of them turned violent onWednesday and threw acid, severelyinjuring her neighbour. The victim hasbeen identified as Najma Bibi. She wastaken to a hospital in critical conditionwhere doctors said that at least 70percent her body had received severeburn injuries.

gutter gas kills 2 brothers

trying to save goat kidRAHIMYAR KHAN: Two brothers died of poisonous gaswhile trying to rescue a goat kid from a gutter here onWednesday. According to Saddar Superintendent of PoliceChaudhry Mehmood al Hassan, a goat kid fell in a gutter inShahab Colony. Two brothers, Muhammad Ahmed, 42, andRasool Buksh, 40, who were working nearby, climbed downthe gutter to save the goat kid, but fell unconscious due topoisonous gas in the gutter and died later. However the goatkid survived. onlInE

Kalat roadside bomb kills fc soldierQUETTA: A Frontier Corps (FC) official was killed andanother was wounded when a remote-controlled bombwent off in Kalat on Wednesday. Sources said the bombtargeted an FC convoy which was patrolling in the area.Heavy contingents of police and FC personnel reachedthe blast site and cordoned off the area. onlInE

BAhAWAlpuR: A passenger van falls into a canal while trying to save a motorcyclist. one person was killed

and 18 others were injured; the motorcyclist is still missing. INP

LHR 03-05-2012_Layout 1 5/3/2012 3:12 AM Page 6

thursday, 3 May, 2012

LAHOREStAff REpoRt

Mohsin-e-Pakistan and renownedatomic scientist Dr Abdul QadeerKhan has said that he may considercontesting next elections from La-hore and even though the situationof the country was deteriorating,people should not lose hope.

He was addressing a big gath-ering at Faisal Auditorium in aceremony organised by Direc-torate of Students Affairs of thePunjab University. Vice Chancel-lor Prof Dr Mujahid Kamranpresided over the ceremony whileDirector Students AffairChaudhry Iftikhar, people fromvarious walks of life and a largenumber of students were presenton the occasion.

Dr AQ Khan urged the stu-dents to play good role and be-come a leader. He said there wasa lot of talent in Pakistan like theeight-year old Arfa Karim in thefield of IT and Ali Nawaz who se-cured 23 As in A Level examina-tion. He said talented peopleshould be provided with guidanceand facilities. He advised the

youth to elect educated peopleand technocrats in the next polls.“Our drawback is that our govern-ment lacks technocrats,” he said,adding that the progress of devel-oped nations was based on scien-tists and engineers but on thecontrary, politicians were issuingstatements against technocrats.He said politicians were makingall efforts to destroy the countryand it was very difficult to advisethem. He said after feeling thepassion of PU students, he wasthinking of taking part in the elec-tions from Lahore. He said defeatof any opponent was possible ifthere was a dedicated team.

While sharing his memoriesregarding early days of his life andatomic programme of Pakistan,he said he cried over theheartrending incident of EastPakistan and he could not eatanything for a few days.

He said when India conductedatomic tests in 1974, everybodywas thinking that Pakistan wouldbe no more. “I wrote a letter toZulfiqar Ali Bhutto to start a nu-clear programme, he asked me tocome to Pakistan and to live in the

country because Pakistan neededme,” he said. He said that he drewfirst salary after six months and itwas only Rs 3,000 (three thou-sand). He said Holland, Germanyand England had invested 2 billiondollars on their atomic programmeHe said the atomic programmestarted in 1976 and in April 1978,the first enrichment of uraniumwas conducted and by 1984, it hadbeen enriched to 90 percent.

“Your elders made an atomicbomb on their own and they didnot seek anybody’s help,” he said,adding that the standard of Pak-istani laboratories was equivalentto German and Swiss labs. Hesaid that Kahotta Research Labo-ratory was producing such sensi-tive equipment which was beingproduced by one or two countriesin the world. Dr AQ Khan saidwhen India started work onPrithvi Missile, they preparedballistic missile Ghauri and suc-cessfully tested it on April 6,1998. He said that the test shat-tered all the Indian dreams ofconquering and destroying Pak-istan. Dr AQ Khan said he ad-vised the government in 1982 to

focus on industrialisation and es-tablish automobile industry.He said that the rulers didnot listen to his adviceand now we were spend-ing billions of rupees onimport of cars, mobilephones and otheritems. He said thesituation of Karachi,Quetta and Fron-tier was worseningand thanks toAllah, Punjab wasin a better condi-tion. He said ShahbazSharif was a hardwork-ing person and PML-Nleader Nawaz Sharifshould leave the poli-tics to him. He ad-vised the students tooffer Sala’h and readtwo or three pages ofHoly Quran withtranslation. In hisinaugural address,Punjab UniversityVice Chancellor ProfDr Mujahid Kam-ran said that the na-tion could not forget

the efforts and bene-faction of Dr Abdul

Qadeer Khan.

LAHOREyASIR hABIB

CONSTRUCTION of Main Boulevard De-fence Road, main artery of DHA Lahore,that was once a nuisance to residents hasbeen completed and opened for traffic.Carpeting of road is still unfinished and

it is hoped that work will be accomplished in one ortwo days. People have heaved a sigh of relief on thecompletion of development work.

Initially work was a real mess due to lack of plan-ning, mismanagement, haphazardness and non-co-operative attitude with the residents.

DHA Lahore administration had started road de-velopment work on the Main Boulevard DefenceRoad without displaying traffic diversion plans. Asno basic vision was observed in the work, traffic loadof Main Boulevard Defence road had been trans-ferred to streets of almost all phases.

Lack of a plan led to the formation of differentbottlenecks and gridlocks all over Defence, to thediscomfort of the citizen. Besides, noise and airpollution had also racked up due to traffic jams inthe streets.

DHA Resident Association office bearer told

Pakistan Today that thousands of people residing inthe prime housing society had been deeply upset onthe chaotic rehabilitation work at Main Boulevard

Defence Road. “Since the work started, road hadbeen dug-up in unruly way and mounds of excavatedearth were piled up along the road. Clouds of dust

were often hanging in air and with windstorm, thedust not only created invisibility but also became un-bearable to road users,” he added.

Jamshaid Butt, resident of Phase 1 said that re-cently when downpour lashed out at the city, somepatches had been turned into a slippery swamp.

“Worst concern was that we were not informedin advance about the pace of work. We remained per-turbed and kept guessing about the abrupt construc-tion work,” he complained. “It took a while for thepeople to readjust their travelling route to avoid themain boulevard,” Bashir Cheema, a resident ofPhase 2 said, adding that many had cursed the ad-ministration for its ill planning.

Lahore DHA senior official seeking anonymityrevealed that Main Boulevard Defence Road was inramshackle with cracks and pitfalls everywhere andit reconstruction was direly needed. “Constructionwork had been completed in record time,” he said.

“We wanted to start work soon but Walton Can-tonment Board, the collector of revenue tax in DHA,delayed in delivery of funds,” he said

About not putting up traffic diversion plan, heanswered that traffic police did not cooperate withadministration and gave a blunt gesture saying “thiswas none of our business.”

WHat WaS ONce a NuiSaNce

g Work on Main Boulevard Defence Road has been completed, not without the residents questioning the lack of proper

planning g DHA officials say lack of cooperation from Walton Cantonment Board, traffic police led to residents’ discomfort

Dr AQ Khan could be our next CM!g Muses contesting next elections from lahore g father of the atomic bomb says technocrats are the ones whoshould be running the govt g Advises PMl-N chief Nawaz Sharif to let Punjab cM Shahbaz Sharif be in charge

LHR 03-05-2012_Layout 1 5/3/2012 3:12 AM Page 7

low

high

130cfriDAy SAtUrDAy SUNDAy35°c i 14°c 37°c i 14°c 36°c i 14°c

PrAyEr tiMiNgSfajr Sunrise zuhr Asr Maghrib isha

03:48 05:17 12:12 15:39 18:43 20:12

city DirEctory

rEScUE 1122

EDhi coNtrol 115

MotorwAy PolicE 130

PolicE 15

goVErNor’S hoUSE 99200081-7

chiEf MiNiStEr’S hoUSE 99203226

firE BrigADE 16

BoMB DiSPoSAl 99212111

Mcl coMPlAiNtS 99211022-29

lAhorE wAStE DiSPoSAl 1139

EMErgENcy hElP

hoSPitAlS

BlooD BANK

fAtMiD 35210834-8

iSlAMic AlliANcE 37588649/37535435

coMPlAiNt

wAPDA 111-000-118

SUi gAS 1199

rAilwAyS

city StAtioN (ENqUiry) 117

rESErVAtioN 99201772

rAilwAy PolicE 1333

AirPort

flight ENqUiry 114

PiA rESErVAtioN 111-786-786

collEgES / UNiVErSitiES

PUNJAB UNiVErSity 99231257KiNNAirD collEgE 99203781-4qUEEN MAry collEgE 36362942goVt. collEgE UNiVErSity 111-000-010UMt 35212801-10lUMS 35608000UEt 36288666lcwU 99203072SUPErior collEgE 111-000-078

MiD city 37573382-3

SErVicES 99203402-11

MAyo 99211100-9

gENErAl 35810892-8

ShEiKh zAiD 35865731

Sir gANgA rAM 99200572

Uch 35763573-5

ittEfAq 35881981-85

cMh 366996168-72

ShoUKAt KhANUM 35945100

JiNNAh 111-809-809

ADil (DEfENcE) 36667275

chilDrEN’S 99230901-3

DEfENcE NAtioNAl hoSPitAl 111-17-18-19

YOGA AND MEDITATION CLASSES

DAtE: APril 01 to DEcEMBEr 30, 2012VENUE: fAiz ghAr, lAhorE

A unique blend of yoga, Meditation, Neuro-linguisticProgramming, Sufism & more.Achieve self-insight, mind-body harmony & betterhealth.

yoga Master Shamshad haider

DANCE FACTORY - LADIES

DAtE: MArch 19 to AUgUSt 29, 2012VENUE: thE KNowlEDgE fActory (tKf)

PArtly cloUDy

wEAthEr UPDAtES

34°c

08thursday, 3 May, 2012

Lahore

100 GHAZALS OF MAULANA RUMI

hast-o-Neest centre for traditional Art & cultureinvites you to its Monthly Saturday Sitting withJanab Ahmed Javed Sahib(Director, iqbal Academy Pakistan)on 100 ghazals of Maulana rumi3:30 to 5:00 pm, last Saturday of every month

DAtE: MArch 31 to DEcEMBEr 29, 2012 VENUE: hASt-o-NEESt cENtrE, lAhorE

Bored of usual dance routines? fitness workouts comewith a 'yawn'?! whether you know how to shake ornot, this's the place to bring your groove! learn tofollow the rhythm, let loose, how to catch new stepsand master old ones. Mondays and wednesdays: 7-8pm, Per Session: 500 only!, Monthly: PKr 2,500/-

NEWS DESK

ANTI-AMERICAN

sentiment may have

reached historic

highs in this coun-

try, but for many

Pakistanis, the in-

dignation does not

extend to their bellies, Nicolas Brulliard of the

Washington Post reported.

Just over the past few days, Islamabad in-

augurated its first Hardee’s restaurant and its

first American-style sports bar. In recent

months, McDonald’s not only reopened its

only restau-

rant in the

capital but also

added a home-

delivery outlet.

Those businesses

join existing

burger joints and

other American

fast-food restaurants

such as Pizza Hut,

KFC and Domino’s

Pizza.

The proliferation of

American food options in

Islamabad and elsewhere in Pakistan stands in

stark contrast to the growing resentment most

Pakistanis feel toward the United States. Ac-

cording to an opinion survey released last

month by the Pew Research Center, only

12 percent of Pakistanis

have a favourable

opinion of the

United States,

and 69 per-

cent see it as

more of an

enemy than a

partner. Approval ratings

are at their lowest point

since 2002, according to the Washington-

based organization.

Mohammad Nouman, a businessman from

the western city of Peshawar, said he

likes to stop by McDonald’s whenever

he comes to Islamabad because his

daughters enjoy the food and

the attached playground. He

said he has misgivings

about US policy in the

region, but he said

those feelings are

not incompatible

with visits to Mc-

Donald’s.

“I don’t see things

like, ‘This is an Ameri-

can brand, so I shouldn’t go

there, ” he said.

After opening its first Pak-

istani restaurant in Lahore in

1998, McDonald’s now counts 21 outlets

across the country. Hardee’s launched the

first of its four restaurants in Pakistan a

year and a half ago and plans to open a total

of 25 within five years.

Nowhere is Pakistanis’ love of American

fast food more apparent these days than at the

newest Hardee’s. A few days after a much-

hyped opening attended by US Ambassador

Cameron Munter and his wife, lines of cus-

tomers still extended outside the doors. Nawaz

Sadiq, manager for development and training

at Hardee’s, said the outlet has served an aver-

age of 5,000 to 6,000 customers a day so far.

“The Pakistani market is very much brand-

conscious,” Sadiq said. “Pakistani people are

against America because of its policies, but at

the same time, people want quality.”

Unlike in the United States, fast food here

is among the more expensive eating-out op-

tions. At 390 Pakistani rupees, or about $4.50,

a Big Mac is out of reach for most people. Con-

sequently, many customers are part of Pak-

istan’s highly educated class and have spent

time in the United States, or have at least

more favourable opinions of the United States

than most of their countrymen.

That has not prevented US

chains from being the

target of at-

tacks.

Bomb blasts

have hit KFC and

McDonald’s outlets in Karachi in recent years,

and armed guards and metal detectors are

standard at fast-food restaurants. Moteeb

Ahmed, the manager of Islamabad’s American

Steakhouse, said his restaurant has never

been vandalised, but at times of surging

anti-American sentiment, he has cov-

ered up its sign as a precaution.

“These brands have a way

of advertising themselves as

status symbols and our

society, unfortunately,

is still to get over the

class system,” Aasia

Rehman, a psychologist

said, adding “even though

people will never really learn

how to love America, they will un-

consciously pressurise each other to

frequent these food chains.”

Our american fast food fix

These brands have a way of advertising themselves as status symbols and our society, unfortunately,

is still to get over the class system

With various American food chains now operational in the country,

anti-Americanism is a sentiment that does not extend to the Pakistani bellies

LHR 03-05-2012_Layout 1 5/3/2012 3:13 AM Page 8

09thursday, 3 May, 2012

Lahore

ciNE StAr tEzz 2:30 PMPh: 35157462 BAttlEShiP 04:30 PM

SAfE 06:45 PMtEzz 8:30 PMhoUSEfUll2 10:45 AM

ciNE golD tEzz 12:00 PMPh: 35340000 hoUSEfUll2 3:00 PM

tEzz 6:00 PMtEzz 9:00 PM

Sozo worlD tEzz 12:00 PMPh: 36674271 tEzz 2:30 PM

hoUSEfUll2 5:00 PMtEzz 08:00 PMwrAth of thE titANS 11:00 PM

Sozo golD hoUSEfUll2 12:00 PMPh: 36674271 hoUSEfUll2 03:30 PM

BAttlEShiP 06:00 PMhoUSEfUll2 08: 30 PMtEzz 11: 30 PM

LAHOREStAff REpoRt

PUNJAB Chief MinisterShahbaz Sharif has saidthat Punjab EducationalEndowment Fund is thebiggest educational

scholarship programme of its kindin the world to support poor tal-ented students.

He expressed these views whileaddressing a function regardingachievement of the target of distri-bution of educational scholarship ofRs 1 billion among deserving stu-dents by Punjab Educational En-dowment Fund at Chief Minister’sSecretariat on Wednesday.

He said the destiny of the coun-try can be changed if the rulers oc-cupying Islamabad return thewealth they had robbed. Similarly,he said, load shedding can come toan end if the circular debt of Rs 400billion was paid back.

He said the ‘IG of liars’ was en-gaged in a vilification campaign re-garding writing off of the loans ofbanks on political basis. He said hewould quit office if it was provedthat he had got a loan or even mark-up written off.

Speaking on the occasion, theCM said Punjab government had

taken up the challenge of educationand training of youth through en-dowment fund and had put an endto begging and dependence.

He said there was a need to pro-mote self-reliance for progress anddevelopment. He said the course ofhistory could be changed through astrong resolve and determinationand though it was a difficult taskbut not impossible.

He said Ali Baba and 40 Thievescould also be forced to flee if a firmcommitment was made. He said

“Billions of rupees of public moneyhave been misappropriated in Pak-istan still we complain that Pakistanis lagging even behind Bangladesh,pure medicines are not available tothe patients nor we have funds foragriculture development”.

He said cities and villages ofPakistan were plunged in darknessand poor children with brilliant ac-ademic record had no future whilea handful of elite have all resourcesat their disposal. He said due to aflawed system the rich were enjoy-

ing all perks and privileges whilethe poor are denied even a decentmeal.

He said this unjust system hadalmost destroyed the country and itis time for self-reckoning and refor-mation. He said the forefathers ofthe country made historic sacrificesin 1947 for the establishment of anexploitation-free society where therights of every citizen would besafeguarded.

He said that Pakistan was stillfacing drone attacks and time forself-reliance and reawakening hadcome. He said corruption and plun-der would have to be rooted out andcollective efforts would have to bemade to get rid of the corruption ofthe last four years.

Special Assistant Zaeem Hus-sain Qadri, Vice Chairman Pun-jab Educational EndowmentFund Dr Amjad Saqib, Justice (r)Amir Raza, principals and profes-sors of various colleges, recipi-ents of educational scholarshipsfrom all over the country, intel-lectuals and educationists werepresent in large numbers at thefunction.

The CM also took notice of thedilapidated condition of the gravesof the parents of Allama Iqbal.

Nobody supports poor studentslike we do, says Shahbazg Distributes scholarships worth rs 1 billion among poor students g Says ‘ig of liars’ is

deliberately trying to defame the Sharif family

LAHOREStAff REpoRt

The Punjab Paramedical Al-liance protested in front ofthe CM’s house at ClubChowk and organised ahunger strike campon Wednesday.

Many office bearers ofthe alliance led scores ofparamedics of grade four.

They reminded the chiefminister of his promisemade with the lower para-medical staff and demandedthat the chief secretary andhealth secretary issue notifi-cations for the revision ofservice structure of the gradefour paramedics.

They said the bureau-crats were not willing to im-plement the CM’s order andthat some employees hadbeen compelled to make sui-cide attempts.

They said Wednesday’sevents were the beginning ofa series of protests and thatrallies will next be held in allthe divisional centres.

They stated that theparamedics will suspendservices, except in the emer-gency wards. The para-medics also announced thatthey will observe a black dayon May 12 and said they willgo on a prolonged strike ifthe government did not ac-cept their demands.

LAHOREStAff REpoRt

Lahore District Coordination OfficerNoor-ul-Amin Mengal gave directions onWednesday for starting patchwork andconstructing lanes on eight importantroads of the city. He expressed theseviews in a meeting at the Town Hall.

He said many of the city’s roads canbe improved by doing patchwork and thatthe officers concerned of the CDGLshould pay attention to the issue.

He ordered the authorities concernedto startpatchwork atE d g e r t o nRoad, ParkLane Road,M a c l e o dR o a d ,B e a d o nRoad, ZafarAli Road, GT

Road, Zahoor Elahi Road and MozangRoad. He said these were the city’s mainarteries The Lahore DCO directed to repairthe drainage system before starting thepatchwork. Rs 60 lakhs will be spent onthe patchwork on these roads.

Mengal also approved the promotion of31 senior clerks, while the DCO promoted31 senior clerks from BS-09 to BS-14 as as-sistants on the recommendation of a de-partmental promotion committee. DOCSahabzadi Waseema Umar chaired a pro-motion committee meeting at the DCO’s of-fice. HRM DO, the officers concerned fromthe education, health and finance depart-ments also attended the meeting. The sen-ior clerks who have been promoted includeGhulam Bahadar, Ghulam Jillani, TanveerIkram Butt, Amir Muhammad Khan, AbdulQaim, Tariq Joshep, Tariq Butt, JavedAkhtar, Liaqat Ali, Khalid Jahangir, RaiAshfaq Hussain, Muhammad Yaseen, AzamRaza, Shahbaz Ahmed, Ijaz Ahmed,Muhammad Bakir Zaidi and Talib Hussain.

Paramedics holdhunger strike!

CDGL to spend Rs 6m laks onrepairing eight city roads

LAHORE: The Oxford Uni-versity Press will launch itspublication, ‘From Hindi toUrdu: A Social and PoliticalHistory’ written by therenowned linguist, Tariq Rah-man. The book is the first ofits kind on the evolution andsocio-political history of Urdu.Dr Mohammad Waseem, DrShahid Siddiqui, Dr TariqRahman, and Tariq Haq willbe the speakers at the launchbeing held on 3rd May, at theOxford Bookshop in MiniMarket at 5 pm. StAff REpoRt

Oxford to launch book on the history of Hindi and Urdu

LHR 03-05-2012_Layout 1 5/3/2012 3:13 AM Page 9

10thursday, 3 May, 2012

Lahore

LAHOREStAff REpoRt

LAHORE High Court ChiefJustice Azmat Saeed onWednesday issued summonsto the Attorney General ofPakistan (AGP) to assist the

court on May 7 in a hearing of a constitu-tional petition for restraining YousafRaza Gillani from performing his dutiesas prime minister, in the wake of his con-viction by the Supreme Court.

The petition has been filed by thePakistan Tehrek-e-Inqalab through itscounsel AK Dogar, contending that PMGillani should be directed to resign andsurrender all privileges that he is enjoy-ing despite his conviction in the contemptof court case.

The petition contends that after con-viction by the SC, the PM has ceased to bethe prime minister of the country andthat he should resign or a resignationshould be demanded from him by thespeaker of the national assembly.

The petitioner requested the court topass the orders for the NA speaker to stopthe convicted prime minister from per-forming duties as the PM and to takeaway the privileges of the office from him.

The petitioner said the PM should bede-notified as an MNA, through proceed-ings on the reference that should be sentto the election commission immediately.

The court, after hearing the argu-ments by AK Dogar, issued a notice to theattorney general asking him to the assistthe court in the proceedings.

The court has yet to decide the main-tainability of the petition as the right to

appeal before the SC against the verdictis still available to the convicted PM.LHC’S DRUgS TRIbUNAL SEEKSREPORT fROM HOME DEPT: TheDefective Drugs inquiry Tribunal com-prising Justice Ijaz-ul-Ahsan of the La-hore High Court issued directions onWednesday to the Punjab Home Depart-ment to submit its report today (Thurs-day) about the drug scam that killedhundreds of patients in the Punjab Insti-tute of Cardiology (PIC).

Punjab Health Secretary Arif Nadeemappeared before the tribunal on Wednes-day after a notice was issued to him.

He was asked to inform the tribunalabout the steps taken by the governmentunder the Punjab Healthcare Commis-sion Act of 2010. He sought time to col-lect the requisite information and submita report in this regard. An explanation,sought from Health Director GeneralNisar Ahmad Cheema, was also submit-ted before the tribunal.

Efroze Chemicals Limited ManagingDirector Abdullah Feroze and DeputyManaging Director Nadir Khan Feroz alsoappeared before the tribunal.

Their statements were recorded andthey answered questions raised by the tri-bunal.

The tribunal is probing the matter toascertain the causes of deaths of the PICpatients who were administered contam-inated drugs and to determine if thecauses relate to the use of certain drugsand the source of the drugs.

The tribunal will also fix responsibil-ity at each stage and make recommenda-tions to prevent such incidents in thefuture.

LHc cJ seeksaGP’s help inplea to stop PMfrom working

LAHOREStAff REpoRt

A preparatory seminar on the upcomingWorld Environment Day was organised bythe Punjab Environment Protection De-partment (EPD) on Wednesday at the Pun-jabi Cultural Complex, Qaddaffi Stadium.

Around 72 NGOs, both local and in-ternational, participated in the prepara-tory session. NGOs from each districtwere invited as representatives of theirrespective areas.

The seminar was arranged to gener-ate ideas and suggestions from the NGOsfor celebrating the World EnvironmentDay 2012, in a manner that highlightsenvironmental issues and provides solu-tions at the same time.

Punjab Chief Minister Mian ShahbazSharif has directed the government de-partments to celebrate the day at all gov-ernment levels across the province.

He envisions this day to be a mile-stone in setting the stage for a greeneconomy.

The theme chosen for this year’s en-vironment day is: ‘Green economy-Doesit include you?’

The participants of the session wereencouraged to share their ideas about agreen economy and environmental is-sues that they were confronting at thedistrict level. They were also suggestedto plan activities that involve communi-ties and span over five days, startingfrom 1st to 5th June.

During the seminar, a detailed ques-tion and answer session was held, in

which the representatives of all NGOssubmitted their suggestions.

A majority of them were of the viewthat activities should be held at the dis-trict and tehsil levels, as well as inschools, colleges, universities and gov-ernment departments.

They said all stake holders must beengaged in this regard and that walks,seminars, painting competitions, de-bate competitions, theatre plays, pup-pet shows, roadside pamphletdistribution and a model-making com-petition should be organised for theWorld Environment Day.

Talking to the seminar partici-pants, Environment Secretary SaeedWahlah said the basic purpose of theseminar was to get all the NGOs onboard to celebrate the coming WorldEnvironment Day.

He said a committee of the secre-taries from notable government depart-ments, including the environment,higher education, schools, informationand LG and CD secretaries, had beenconstituted under the chairmanship ofSenator Pervaiz Rasheed. The committeewill convey the Environment Day mes-sage across the province.

Wahlah said the Environment de-partment will organise the day’s activi-ties in collaboration with the NGOs.

He thanked the participants whotravelled large distances to attendthis seminar.

He also expressed his gratitude tothe NGOs operating in Lahore for theircooperation.

LAHOREStAff REpoRt

A man shot his mother dead over do-mestic matters in the Chuhang PoliceArea on Wednesday. Shooter’s firingalso injured his minor son.

The deceased was identified asRani Bibi, a resident of Sardar Townlocated on Main Multan Road.

The police said, two brothers,namely Shafiq and Chaand, werequarrelling with each other over do-mestic matters.

During scuffle, infuriated Shafiqbrought out his gun and pointed to-wards his younger brother. Meanwhiledeceased Rani Bibi tried to rescue

Chaand over which infuriated Shafiqopened fire at her due to which RaniBibi and a minor son of Shafiq sus-tained serious bullet wounds.

They were rushed to a nearbyhospital where Rani Bibi succumbedto her injuries while doctors statedshooter’s son to be in critical con-dition.

Police arrested Shafiq alongwith the murdering weapon andregistered a case against him.PTI LEADER’S SISTER SHOTDEAD: Unidentified killersstabbed a sister of PakistanTehreek-e-Insaaf’s provincialleader to death over reasons yet to beknown in the Defence A police Area on

Wednes-day.

The deceased was iden-tified as Balqees, a resident of

House number 304, J-Block De-fence.The police said that Balqees Bibi

was sleeping on the rooftop of her

house along with her sons when someunidentified killers climbed up thereand escaped after stabbing Balqees todeath.

Balqee’s brother, Col (r) Muham-mad Javed, is provincial leader of

PTI. Javed while talking to Pak-istan Today said that was too earlyto say anything.

He, however, said that they donot have such kind of rift or enmitythat could lead to murder of anyone. He also ruled out the possi-

bility of robbery-cum-murder.SUICIDE: A woman hanged herself to death after scuffling with

her husband on failure of giving birthin the Gowalmandi Police Area

on Wednesday.The deceased was identified as

Huma Ashraf, a resident of ChahAbulmaal area.

The police said that Huma con-tracted marriage with one MuhammadShahzad Ahmed some six year ago butthey got involved in a clash over child-birth.

On the day of incident, Huma at-tended the court proceedings fromwhere she returned disheartened.After returning, Huma locked herselfin her room and committed suicide.

Her parents informed local police,whose officials after completing legalformalities handed back the body ofthe girl to them.

yDA calls for increasing

house job seats,

payment of salaries to

medical graduatesLAHORE

StAff REpoRt

The Punjab Finance Depart-ment has yet to sign and for-ward the case for increasingthe house job seats at theprovince’s hospitals, to theChief Minister’s Secretariatfor final approval.As a result, 250 house officersacross Punjab are beingforced to work without pay.Young Doctors Associationoffice bearers, including DrRana Sohail, Dr SalmanKazmi, Dr Talha Sherwani,Dr Murtaza Bloch, Dr ShahidDreshik, Dr Waqas Gondal,Dr Shehzad, Dr MuhammadAzhar and Dr MuhammadAmjad have appealed to Pun-jab Chief Minister MianShahbaz Sharif to request Fi-nance Secretary Tariq Bajwato resolve the matter so thatthe doctors can get theirsalaries.The YDA added that accord-ing to the PMDC, the Punjabgovernment was bound toprovide fully-paid house jobsto the medical graduates, asthe government had in-creased 950 seats in medicalcolleges. The association said the seatsneed to be increased at thegovernment hospitals to re-solve the issue of unpaidhouse jobs.

LAHOREStAff REpoRt

The National Transmission andDespatch Company responded onWednesday to a recent statement givenby an independent power producer (IPP)representative regarding the efficiencyof thermal power plants.

An NTDC spokesman said the state-ment, in which the managers of theIPPs had claimed that the NTDC wasregulating the electricity load manage-ment, was not based on facts.

He stated that the newly consti-tuted Energy Management Cell (EMC)of the Ministry of Water and Power isresponsible for the optimum utilisationof the available capacity in the most ef-ficient manner.

He added that electricity generationwas being streamlined by maintainingsufficient fuel stock in close coordinationwith the IPPs, GENCOs and PSO.

The spokesman said it was hard tobelieve that the company would prefer in-efficient power plants over efficientplants supplying fuel.

Seminar generates ideas about World EnvironmentDay celebrations

NTDC not regulatingelectricity load

Man shoots mother dead for defending brother

huRRy huRRy!: 11-year-old Rukhsana drives her sheep home after allowing them to graze in the outskirts of the city. NADEEM IJAZ

LHR 03-05-2012_Layout 1 5/3/2012 3:13 AM Page 10

Editor’s mail 11thursday, 3 May, 2012

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

Escorting the ViPsThe ANP government claims that

they don’t have funds to better equip thepolice to fight terror in KyberPakhtunkhwa (KPK). The police stationsin KPK have been given brand new pick-ups and motorcycles to provide regularsecurity in the region but then the ANPgovernment stopped the payments forfuel for these vehicles.

The police station heads were told tofind "other sources" for the fuel cost oftheir vehicles. When these same SHOsstarted money extortion from the localbusinesses, the same governmentblamed these SHOs of corruption. Thisresulted in the return of motorbikes andvehicles by the police force and insteadthe police personnel opted for standingduties.

Almost everyday we read about thebombing of another school in KPK.Everyday we read about kidnapping,murder, extortion and many otherheinous crimes happening in KPK andclose to our homes. And during all thistime, we all assume that the ANP govern-ment has stretched their budget due tosecurity requirements and are facing atough time finding new funding for thepolice.

I almost threw up when three daysago I saw the Speaker of the KPK Assem-bly arrive to a party in an 8-vehicle policeescort. Then two days later, CM KPK ar-rived at a funeral in a police escort of 10-vehicles. And today Mr Asfandiyar Walicame to Peshawar, in an escort of 8-po-lice vehicles.

Where does the funding for the fuelrequirement of 8-10 police escort vehi-cles for each individual ANP leadercomes from? Is it even legal to allow thebudget for VIP escort vehicle, whiledenying the budget for police security ve-hicles?

If the police personnel are all busy inescorting and driving the escort vehiclesof the VIPs of ANP, then does that makethe ANP leaders responsible for destruc-tion of schools by terrorists in KPK, asthe police are not available to investigateand stop such acts?

ANP and leaders of KPK, look in themirror at yourself and at your actions. Byshowing off with big police escorts youare stopping the police from doing theirsecurity work, until one day the schoolwith your children inside might be blownup. Then you can go to their funeral witha long police escort.

SHAHRYAR KHAN BASEERPeshawar

cNg cylindersThe gas cylinders fitted below the

seats in the rear of the buses pose a greatthreat to the safety of the travellers andall the onlookers.

Moreover, it has been noted that onCNG strike days a couple of handy cylin-ders are kept in between the seats inorder to meet the urgencies. With theheat of summer on its peak the gas filledcylinders put all the passengers in greatjeopardy.

HANIYA JAVEDKarachi

Easy access‘The Sindh Assembly passed into law

to provide easy access to widows and eld-erly women to district officer for pay-ment of benevolent fund’, a news item.

They may have done as they knowthat foreign affairs are not their businessto pass a resolution for easy access of US-Pakistan officials for talks.

Z A KAZMIKarachi

Evils of beggaryRecently, the number of beggars in

our town has increased manifold. Themoment you come out of your house,they start plaguing you. They pursue youlike a shadow. Even hale and hearty peo-ple have taken to begging. Small boysand children have caught the infection.Perhaps they are made to beg by theirguardians.

The beggars gather at place fre-quented by the people. The bus stands,markets places, post offices, railway sta-tion and mosques are their favouritehaunts. It is impossible to move aboutthose places peacefully. If you show gen-erosity, and open your purse, you aresurrounded by a host of them.

Some child-lifters, in the guise ofbeggars, are on the lookout for abductingchildren. Two or three cases of this kindhave occurred recently, and the culpritshave been caught red-handed.

The female beggars enter the housesquietly without calling out for alms at thedoor. If they are not noticed by the in-mates, they run away with whatever theycan lay their hands on. They act as in-formers to the burglars who break intohouses at night.

One obvious reason for this evil is lit-eracy, poverty and unemployment. Dueto the pervasiveness of the social ill,many evil practices have come into exis-tence which are destroying not our socialnorms but also effecting our law andorder situation.

The number of baggers in our coun-try is rising. It is really a curse that evenable-bodied citizens resort to begging. Aprompt action on the part of the Govern-ment is required to check this social evil.Bagging should be banned and there is adesire need for a legislation to end thisprofession. However, deserving casesshould be helped and other should begiven profitable employment.

FATIMA QURESHIKarachi

workers’ plightLike many other countries of the

world, May Day was also commemoratedacross Pakistan. Seminars were held infive-star hotels and press releases issued.What good will come out of it, I don’tknow. But here I would like to highlightthe plight of construction and brick kilnworkers.

Brick kiln workers in Sindh, espe-cially Hyderabad, are probably the worstvictims of irregular and unprotectedlabour, low wages, unhealthy workingconditions and long work hours. Theywork in the absence of entitlements suchas paid days off and vacation, sick leaves,health insurance, social security benefitsand pension funds.

A worker who does not know who hisemployer is would not know where to fileclaims for proper pay and other rightsand entitlements. Needless to say, workcontracts are verbal and workers hardlyever get written contracts. Harassmentand abuse of female workers, particularlythose who belong to marginalised com-munities, are common.

Practical steps, both legal and ad-ministrative, must be taken to improvethe lot of these workers and strict ac-tion taken against those who exploitthem.

SIDRA NAEEMKarachi

Destiny or greedDestiny of Pakistan to be ruled by

despots in uniform and political medioc-rity was not ordained by nature, but whatwe the people, have allowed our politicalleadership and paid servants of state toreduce it to, by their greed for ill-gottenwealth, real estate and unchecked power.After Quaid’s unfortunate death, thosewho succeeded him in their quest for aconstituency, delayed framing of consti-tution and patronized the few who filedfake claims that set into motion a culture,where corruption, bribery and deceithave acquired the force of habit by thosewho acquired political power with theirnewly gotten black money.

Freedom was a gift given to us by ourfounding fathers, men of integrity likeQuaid-e-Azam and Allama Iqbal, whichwe allowed to be eroded by our failure toprotect it from vultures in form of oppor-tunists. We cannot have inherited thisfrom our religion, nor was it part of ourculture. It is what we ourselves have al-lowed this country to be destroyed bit bybit, in the name of religion, or nationalsecurity and our capacity to endure allthese excesses.

From a democratic welfare state en-visioned by Quaid, it became a countrywhere exploitation became a norm andcartels like sugar, cement, fertilizers etc

enjoyed state patronage by making impo-tent regulatory authorities like SECP,CCP, PPRA, NAB, FDA, ANF, etc and ajudiciary that became slave to an abusiveexecutive.

Today almost every powerful individ-ual, who belongs to any major politicalparty, or is, or has been, associated withcivil and uniformed bureaucracy, hasabused their public office to promote per-sonal business empires, avoid taxationand yet consider themselves holier thanthe other, although they are part of thesame rotten set-up.

We today face a crisis, where everystate institution is collapsing or is in dan-

ger, yet the politicians be they from PPP,PML(N), ANP, MQM, JUI, PML(Q) oreven PTI are failing to heed the warningthat this country and its people no longerhave capacity to endure any more abuse.While politicians blinded by their biasesor greed stand divided, the SupremeCourt which alone has any credibility isbeing rebuked.

Pakistan faces a constitutional crisiswith a PM in office who has been con-victed by SC for flouting its decisionswith impunity, arrogance and noshame.

MALIK TARIQ ALILahore

Strike againAfter a long interval, the United States continued with a

drone strike in North Waziristan. This was followed by an im-mediate statement released by the Foreign Office which con-demned this act. The question is: why isn’t the governmenttaking action? In a sovereign state, the drone would have beenshot down.

A major portion of the budget is spent on our defence. What

is the use of doing so if our country continues to face humilia-tion in the world?

It suggests that either the military is not competent enoughto take action or is just not interested. Our political elite are cer-tainly not capable of taking action.

TALALLahore

child custody law: basic aspects you should knowPaternity law deals with the legal ac-

knowledgement of a man and their child.This will be based on several factors andisn't half as straight forward as it may atfirst seem. At the same time it is very im-portant to ascertain this legal right in arange of situations regarding custody butalso various other issues, and this is whatnecessitates paternity lawyers.

If you are faced with having to gothrough a child custody dispute, youshould be familiar with the basic aspectsof child custody law and have an under-standing of how the process works. Un-less you are fully knowledgeable, alwayshire a qualified child custody attorneywho is good in family law.

First, there are two basic aspects re-lating to the custody of a child – legalcustody and physical custody. Legal cus-tody covers the responsibility and deci-sion making regarding the child’s basicneeds like for health, education and wel-fare. If only one parent has been given

sole legal custody, then that parent canmake all decisions relating to the chil-dren without consulting the other parent.Sometimes parents will be given jointlegal custody and decisions will thenhave to be made jointly.

There may be various degrees of cus-tody depending on the individual case.For example, a parent may have legalcustody, but they may also have a duty ofconsultation with the other parent to in-form them prior to any decision beingmade. However, it is quite common thatone parent will have the decision makingauthority to avoid a situation where theparties will become deadlocked and can’treach a decision.

The other aspect of child custody lawis the physical custody. This determineswhere the child will physically be living.Sole physical custody means the childwill be primarily with one parent and willhave visitation with the other parent. Onthe other end is true joint physical cus-

tody where the parents have equal timewith the children. There may be otherpossibilities for physical custody.

Physical custody is always open todisputes as each parent will want to fightfor their own right first and foremost.However, the law will need to look at thebest interest of the child first. However,the best interest of the child may not beeasily defined in real life and what seemsbest to one party may not appear so to beto another party.

The court will try to be fair to bothparents but more often than not, equaltime between parents is usually not pos-sible or practical and one parent willhave to make the sacrifice. I believe thatparents should also accept that the needsof the child come first and not to focusonly on what they themselves want. Toooften parents focus only on why the otherparent should not have custody and theyfail to see their own shortcomings.

Emotions can run high in child cus-

tody disputes but in the end, the actualdecision on each case must be based onlyon the facts of that case itself. Parentsshould avoid comparing custody cases ofother people that they deem similar.

When there is an inevitable divorce,it is most important that parents workout a custody arrangement first, settingout how the parties will approach cus-tody and visitation time with their chil-dren. Although the Courts can order acustodial arrangement, agreementsreached directly between the parents willhave the best chance of working out thanthose enforced by the court in the eventof legal disputes.

Even if you have hired an attorney, itis wise to read up regarding child custodylaw yourself. There are many very goodbooks written solely for mothers and fa-thers in child custody cases and they arewritten in very easy and readable format.

HINA BAIGKarachi

PPP and lyariAmidst all the legal nitpicking and re-

liance on lame semantic loopholes andlacunae, the government has either lostsight of, or deliberately swept under thecarpet, the very simple and self-evidentuniversally accepted democratic principlethat a convict has no moral or ethical au-thority whatsoever to govern a peopleand expect them to obey the law when hehimself stands guilty of not doing thesame.

But as a gentleman I know well hasoften remarked in response to some ofmy articles, ‘how do you shame theshameless?’

There can be no greater testimony tothis government’s betrayal of the Bhuttolegacy, in whose name it came to powerand continues to exist, than the fact thatthe people of Lyari, who set themselveson fire in protest against the murder of

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and valiantly strug-gled against military dictatorships underthe PPP flag now find themselves underhails of bullets while their party’s govern-ment enjoys the perks of power hand inhand with those whom Benazir Bhuttoherself identified as her mortal enemies.

SUNDUS NAWAZKarachi

Violence among studentsWithout any doubt student violence

is a very critical issue for teachers andparents but it’s the other students whoget affected by this situation the most.The violent student creates a very diffi-cult situation for other students.

The violence often reaches to a pointwhen they use dangerous weapons likeknife or gun. They use these weapons tothreaten or to beat other students. Thisbehaviour creates fear among other stu-

dents and often they try to avoid attend-ing classes.

The violent child harms not only thestudents and teachers but they createtrouble for educational institute's envi-ronment. The violation can even reach upto school principal or higher authority. Ifwe look back, we can find numerouscases where the student violation causedlife of principle, teachers and students.

Love, affection and understandingare the main medicine for violence be-haviour. Hence special measures must betaken in this case. Proper and effectiveguideline must be provided. If childrenneed extra care it must be given. We haveto make sure that they do not spoil theirfuture by going into the wrong directionof violence. We can secure the future ofour country by securing our children’s fu-ture.

MEHREEN FAROOQKarachi

LHR 03-05-2012_Layout 1 5/3/2012 3:13 AM Page 11

Comment12thursday, 3 May, 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

pakistan, Afghanistan and the uS

the endgame

The Afghan conflict has dragged on for far toolong, mostly because of a lack of a policy mutuallyagreed upon to bring an end to it. Militaryconflicts usually last only as long as the political

class wants them to. If the latter make up their mind abouthaving peace, militaries alone cannot continue a war. Theendgame in Afghanistan is something that requires asolution of the sort.

President Obama’s surprise visit to the war-ravagedcountry does show an inclination towards bringing an endto a war that has lasted almost a decade. By saying that hewould not want his forces to remain in harm’s way anymore than needed, he has made his intentions clear: awithdrawal and finishing the job responsibly. What has,however, stood at odds with this is his signing of anagreement for the American presence in the form oftrainers and advisors beyond 2014, the deadline for thewithdrawal of US troops. This is quite unsettling forPakistan who wants greater leverage in how affairs settledown after the US leaves the country. It is only natural forPakistan to demand such control, just to avoid a repeat ofthe situation that panned out after the earlier USwithdrawal in the late ’80s. Moreover, it is Islamabad thathas paid a heavy price, some say even more than Kabulhas, in this war on terror. Islamabad is also wary of NewDelhi’s increasing influence in Afghanistan.

Any solution that even hints at concluding this war,without Pakistan’s active participation, is more than likelynot to work. It will be hard for the Afghan government tosustain itself for long, in case the Taliban threat is notmollified. The US needs Pakistan as it is the only partyhere that can tackle the Taliban, both on the negotiationtable and in the field. While the US’ distrust of Pakistanmakes it hesitant in handing over a greater role to it, it isthe endgame that is at stake. Pakistan, however, alsoneeds to realise that the greater the power, the greater theresponsibility. It would perhaps be better if it does not gosolo and works with the US and Afghan government toensure peace in its neighbouring country.

Careening towards a precipice

Vital issues neglected

Despite the final verdict on PM Gilani yet to beannounced, the PML(N) has initiated protestsaimed at removing the prime minister which areto be followed by a march on Islamabad.

Meanwhile, Gilani is meeting international delegationsand army leadership. The Acting Chief ElectionCommissioner who is also a senior judge of the SC hasdeclined to take action against Gilani on the ground thatthis could not be done before the SC’s detailed verdict.This has led critics to maintain that the PML(N) is actingless out of the avowed motive of safeguarding the court’sprestige and more in pursuit of its political agenda ofremoving the government before the budget session.

Meanwhile the formation of a nine member bench tohear Gilani’s appeal may take longer than being envisaged.The opposition by the PBC and the government to theappointment of two ad hoc judges is likely to array threemembers of the JCP against the move. With the primeminister’s special assistant on political affairs objecting tothe two names on grounds of bias, another dimension hasbeen added to the issue. The parliamentary committee onjudges’ appointments would also be divided. This wouldboth deepen and prolong the crisis which has been createdafter the short order issued by a bench of the SC.

With the PM fully focused on preserving his job, vitalissues that need his full attention are likely to remainunattended. These include the ongoing crucial talks withIndia and moves to iron out Pak-US differences. There areother issues impacting the lives of millions like shortagesthat need an urgent resolution. In Sindh, blasts targetingATMs in various cities by a secessionist organisation havecreated another security issue while there is still no end tothe Lyari violence or the killings in Balochistan. Thegovernment and the opposition leaders need to realise thedangers posed to the system. They have to find a way outof instead of continuing an eyeball to eyeballconfrontation. Everyone in the end needs to abide by theSC’s decision. Meanwhile, the apex court too has to takenote of the legal objections raised by prominent lawyers tothe short order and reconsider if the removal of the PM isthe best way to strengthen the system.

The fight for the PM slotIt goes on while the country is in deep trouble

It has been a year since Osama bin Laden was killed.What is remarkable about this past year is how little“the most dangerous man in the world” has figured in

the political debate among his fellow Arabs and how dimin-ished his terrorist organisation, al-Qaeda, is on the priori-ties of international security.

The popular governments created by the Arab springare now consumed with the difficult process of piecing to-gether democratic governments. Even in Syria, ravaged bya civil war, bin Laden’s name is never invoked and al-Qaeda rarely mentioned. The US and other governmentsremain wary of al-Qaeda. But the days when its name couldrustle up billions of budgetary dollars and have govern-ments chasing intelligence shadows are gone. Al-Qaedacontinues to have offshoots – in Yemen, Nigeria, NorthAfrica and so on – but these are often indigenous militan-cies that have adopted the brand but keep organisationalindependence

. They operate on the margins of the international sys-tem. They are threatening, but not earth-shakingly so. BinLaden was an inspirational model for radical Islam, apoliticised and violent distortion of one of the world’s greatreligions. The terrorist wave he initiated disgusted many –

including the overwhelming majority of Muslims. In hislast days, even bin Laden worried that al-Qaeda’s name andstanding had been fatally compromised by the indiscrimi-nate nature of its violence. He took radical Islam to unusuallevels of international importance and influence – and thenunwittingly brought it down again through his own tactics.

Is there a bin Laden legacy? There are a number of pos-sibilities. However, what may prove to be the most impor-tant is that he gave a global respectability to conservativeIslam. This strand used to get indiscriminately clubbed to-gether with radical Islam because of its illiberal views onmorality, women’s rights and anti-secular stance. However,conservative Islam did not support violence and terror.

Today, that distinction has proven important in shap-ing a new-found international acceptance of conservativeIslam. Organisations like the Muslim Brotherhood or evenpolitical parties inspired by extreme schools of thought likeSalafism now contest elections and form governments – ananathema to the West a decade ago. This is why the inter-national system is more sanguine about the spread of Mus-lim democracy and the idea of Islamicist governments.

Bin Laden can be said to have produced the right inter-national environment for political Islam to pursue a morenatural path of evolution. He hated this path himself, butbin Laden won it acceptance by showing how much moredangerous the alternative was.

A natural path of evolutionHindustan Times

foreign press

Nawaz Sharif is now sayingthat he no longer accepts thelegitimacy of the PM. He hasnow launched a protestmovement to oust the PM

and has announced that it is now do ordie. The PM has hit back that the judici-ary cannot disqualify an elected represen-tative and that he would remain PM till hewas constitutionally removed. He also ap-pended his statement with this sense-de-fying tidbit: the PM said that he had beenpunished only for a few seconds whereasNawaz Sharif was sentenced to nine yearsimprisonment.

While this back and forth goes on, asane voice that knows the criticality of thesituation has said that justice should beequally applied, have faith in the continu-ity of democracy, institution should func-tion as per the constitution and that theultimate end of a democratic system is thewelfare of the people.

The person who has uttered thesewords is not a professor, intellectual, asocial science expert or a politician butPakistan’s chief of army staff, GeneralAshfaq Pervez Kayani. This is the chief ofthe same military that jumped to takeover power when the slightest opportu-nity presented itself. This is the same mil-itary that took over even when theopportunity didn’t present itself. For in-stance, when Yahya Khan took over, Pak-istan was close to being dismembered.Distrust between the two wings was veryhigh and the people of East Pakistan weredemanding their democratic right. IfAyub Khan had handed over power to theparliament’s speaker (as per democraticprocess) instead of the military at thattime, then maybe Pakistan could havebeen saved from what followed. ButYahya Khan usurped power and the rest,as they say, is history.

I’ve mentioned this Pakistan is againat a very critical juncture right now. Theslightest misstep, and our politics couldbe in grave danger. The leader of thearmy, cognisant of this fact, is trying toconvey it to our political elite as he wit-nesses the vicious flux in Pakistani poli-tics. The text of his recent speeches andstatements is laden with clarity and fore-sight. Why does our political leadership

lack these very things?The COAS has groused that the army

is a frequent target of criticism. In myopinion, the policy of abstaining fromtaking over power directly may be a rea-son for that. The people who have beenegging on the army to take over for thepast four years have been sorely disap-pointed and have now stooped to criticis-ing the army to get back at it for spurningtheir call to arms. Now they find reasonsto ridicule the army. Such is the state oftheir anger that neither do they properlyacknowledge the sacrifices of our soldiersnor do they say a good word about thearmy for staying away from politics.

On the other hand, many do not dif-ferentiate between military leadershipspast and present and criticise the currentleadership for sins of their predecessors.Every one should be judged on the basisof their own deeds and the current mili-tary leadership has tried its best to pro-tect democracy. But it should not beforgotten that the military leadership iscomprised of mere mortal human beingswho are also part of our society.

Much like our society, there are dif-ferences in their thoughts and ideas aswell. The approach of the military leader-ship will remain effective insofar that theenvironment for it remains conducive.But if the army’s policy of ignoring polit-ical crises and desisting from meddling inpolitics comes under debate and variousopinions among the leadership come upon the matter, then it will become hardfor the military to continue with this pol-icy. More or less during every govern-ment’s tenure in Pakistan, manyconspiracies of subordinate officers havebeen caught. Some came to the fore; otherremained hidden. But it has also hap-pened that a general who punished rebel-lious officers himself rebelled against aconstitutional government. Thus, oneshouldn’t rest on the fact that the currentarmy leadership has had a ‘hands off’ pol-icy till now.

The unfortunate thing is that politi-cians have now additionally turned thecourts into a battleground. The way thelatest judgment of the apex court has be-come a cause celebre is a unique case onour legal and political history. One deci-sion of the courts has pushed the countryinto a state of extreme tension and up-heaval.

One party interprets the decision inits favour while the other does the same.A decision like this from the apex court(and that too on such a sensitive matter)is nothing but misfortune. It is commonsense that only the legal minds of thehighest calibre reach the apex court.Thus, a decision that is the fruit of theirlabours should be free of any ambiguityand room for controversy. But it couldvery well be that there is no ambiguity inthe decision itself but the people inter-

preting the judgment have ulterior mo-tives. But there shouldn’t also be room forulterior motives between the lines pennedby a judge.

As a Pakistani diplomat has said, ourrulers have turned a democratic countryinto a joke. First, we pressed the majorityto fight for its rights after being hard doneby a minority. We killed one erstwhile PMand two PMs-in-office at the same place;Liaquat Ali Khan, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto andBenazir Bhutto, they were all martyred onthe same spot. And our judiciary hasgiven a 30-second punishment to a sittingprime minister and wrote the decision insuch a manner and language that it hasengendered much controversy. Maybe, wehave given up on our present and future.We have made up our minds to promotethis filthy political culture whose muckhas polluted our lives.

We are not the first country to haverelations with the US or to be its ally.Now, I can say with certitude, that the USis considering the option of relegating usto the status of an outright enemy, leavealone restoring our ally status. This is atime when we should be united on the in-ternal front to agree on an agenda forPak-US relations and their future ofterms of engagement. But we have virtu-ally disabled all our decision-making cen-tres. The Americans are at a loss aboutwho to talk to. If we aren’t ready to talk,the world’s only superpower will not waitfor us to put our house in order and thesituation to improve but it will create asituation of its own liking. I see the unrestin Karachi, FATA, Balochistan, Gilgit,Swat in this backdrop. A ‘do or die’protest movement in this context willonly be a blessing-in-disguise for the US.

Despite pulling out of Afghanistan,the US will continue to have bases there.According to reports, they aren’t becauseof China, Russia, Iran or Central Asia butbecause of Pakistan. If anyone has anydoubts about that, they should be dis-pelled by the news that F-22s have beendeployed at Qatar airbases. Moreover, ac-cording to an analyst who is an expert onSouth Asian affairs, India is asking the USfor the same status in South Asia that Is-rael has in the Middle East.

If we remain in a state of perpetualturmoil, then it is a distinct possibilitythat this US-India collusion will be doneon India’s terms. In that case, we willthen become the Palestine of South Asia.The strategic assets that we rely on i.e.nuclear bombs and terrorists will not af-ford us victory over anyone. Though theywill push us towards further destruction.

When a country is in such dire straits,it’s not hard to imagine the fallout of thetussle between ‘I-will-remain-PM’ and ‘I-will-become-PM.’

The writer is one of Pakistan’s mostwidely read columnists.

By Nazir Naji

LHR 03-05-2012_Layout 1 5/3/2012 3:13 AM Page 12

Comment 13thursday, 3 May, 2012

Bestowing artificial legitimacy on aliens?

Looking for Taliban equivalents

our horde of has-beens

Rocking graveyards

In a recent opinion piece, MrNadir Hassan has drawn par-allels between the present-day

Taliban and the resistance move-ments in the federally adminis-trated tribal areas (FATA) in theremote past. The writer assertsthat he does not condone the Tal-iban atrocities but, unfortunately,he appears to rationalise thatmadness by his attempt to impartlegitimacy of sorts by trying to tiethem to the past struggles in thatregion.

Mr Hasan has focused on theanti-colonial, conservative reli-gious figure, the Faqir of Ipi andhas compared the Faqir of Ipi’s re-bellion against the British Raj withthe Taliban. The similarities be-tween the two movements – if theTaliban can be called one - are farand few in between and the com-parison is valid only in a very lim-ited scope, if at all.

The writer has, for example,exaggerated the reach and influ-ence of the Faqir’s uprising by call-ing it one of the ‘most successfulrebellions’ which was actually notthe case. The fact is the movementby the Faqir of Ipi was quite lim-ited and neither had the capacityto nor did extend outside Waziris-tan. Like the Taliban’s Pakistanibackers, the Faqir’s uprising hadits foreign supporters in Germansand Italians. However, unlike theTaliban’s handlers, the Germansand Italians were aware that evenwith unlimited supplies he couldnot gather more than a thousandadherents or carry out a seriousand sustained assault on Britishforces. The Faqir’s did conduct theclassic hit-and-run guerrilla at-tacks against the British but reallyhad no strategy to expand thescope of their rebellion, includingtying it to the larger independencestruggle in British India.

Unlike the highly Arabisedand Pakistan-trained Taliban, theFaqir of Ipi’s movement was in-digenous in nature, characteris-

tics, norms, scope and influence.It was not driven by an anti-impe-rial ideology or any mooted anti-colonial phenomena. It erupted onthe issue of handing over a Hinduminor girl to her parents by theBritish administration, following acomplaint against a tribal man forabducting, converting to Islamand marrying the girl. The actiontaken by the British administra-tion, of course, was highly com-mendable, especially whencompared today with the complic-ity of present-day political andcivil administration and the inac-tion of judiciary in similar cases.

The steps taken by the Britishadministration were nonethelessconceived as an attack on thetribal code as well as against reli-gious norms. The outrage againstthe perceived British excessesmorphed into a decade-long in-surgency. The indigenous natureof the revolt by default had to tapthe traditional bastions of nativeculture and power i.e. the jirga(political assembly), hujra (socialassembly) and the mosque (reli-gious assembly). The former twopower centres overshadowed or atleast remained at par with themosque – an exact opposite of theway Taliban movement evolvedand prosecuted war. The Faqir’smen worked with the existingsocio-political structures, which isin stark contrast with the Talibanzealots blowing up jirgas and dec-imating the tribal elders and theirhujras. Not a shred of historicalevidence suggests that the Faqir’smen went on a killing spreeagainst the tribal leaders, commonpeople, music or poetry recitals,village fairs and play areas,bazaars, shrines or mosques.

The very distinct compositionof Taliban-ian Islam (as the writerasserted) is the attempt to bringdown the existing socio-politicalstructure and to extend their con-trol by inflicting a puritanical ver-sion of Islam and waging a jihadagainst fellow Muslims consideredguilty of idolatry, grave worship-ping and adultery. Imposing rigor-ous prohibitions on music, danceand all forms of arts, and enforcepunishments for not observing Is-lamic rituals, challenging tribal hi-erarchy and insisting onsocio-religious equality of the peo-ple to win over support.

In his pursuance of finding outan equivalent from the region todispel the impression of consider-ing the Taliban as an unprece-

dented phenomena, he missedthat the Faqir of Ipi was not a mul-lah; he was associated with a Suficlan, a disciple of Pir Naqib ofCharbagh, which makes him aBarelvi. Thus, his version of reli-gion was more in line with thelocal interpretation of Islam (forinstance, it is apparent from theuse of music in his war parties).

Also, if he had researchedabout the descendants of the Faqirof Ipi, he may have found that thesuccessor of the Faqir, his nephew,Niaz Ali Khan, was known for hisconciliatory approach in tribal dis-putes, and his sons Abdul Jaleel,Abdul Wali and others were ofteninveighed by the local mullahs forinertness toward the religiouslyglorified war of Afghanistan andthe current uproar in FATA.

The Faqir of Ipi’s oppositionto the idea of Pakistan came fromthe political leanings favoured to-wards Congress and its allies infrontier region, the Khudai Khid-matgars. His support of the Pash-tunistan was first influenced bythis and later by his contacts in theAfghan Government, which lostgrounds after Badshah Khan tookan oath of allegiance to Pakistanand his military commander latersurrendered to Pakistan.

Taliban roots in political andreligious movements on Pashtunlands can be traced to the Wah-habi-influenced movement ofSyed Ahmed of Bareli, who soughtpolitical control by declaring him-self the vanguard of Islam, im-posed centralised Sharia Laws,changing Pashtun traditions andnorms with their version of Islamand challenging the traditional au-thority of Pashtun elders as well asthe religious clergy by assigningthemselves the authorities to arbi-trate disputes and collect religioustax, as Zakat and Ushr. Thesesteps by Syed Ahmed and his dis-ciples from across India andamong Pashtuns were rejected bythe traditional Pashtun leadershipas well as clergy. The alien move-ment ensued in an utter failure

Local tribal elders and peopleof FATA have the same feelings ofagony towards the aliens andmonsters aka Taliban; it is statesupport for perceived strategic in-terests which have enabled themto continue their beleaguering ofFATA.

The writer is a freelance jour-nalist and can be reached at twit-ter.com/aliarqam

By Ali Arqam

At the outset, let me apologise if the titleappears insensitive or disrespectful. Itactually is meant to convey a level of

disrespect, not for the dead but for those pasttheir sell-by date who have a gigantic sense ofentitlement in this country. So forgive me andread on.

Look around. Retirement refuses to be anoption in Pakistan. People reaching either su-perannuation or a high level of incompetenceimmediately become a candidate for a prizejob, a big prize, at the cost of government orthe country. A spate of aged contenders existsfor jobs that must necessarily go to younger,more energetic, enlightened and dynamicpeople. Whether it’s a game or an assignment,the lines are endless.

Today’s ire is triggered by the announce-ment of Mohammad Yousuf, a cricketing ‘hasbeen’ who professes a passion for the gamethat warrants a return. Have a heart; if everyone passionate about cricket was considered,we’d have a deluge on our hands. Cricket hasreached spectacular energy levels and de-mands much physical and mental strength.Even at your best, you couldn’t throw the ballfrom the boundary. Having said this, yes you

were a class act, a superb bats-man when you got going. ButDravid was way above, andphysically in superb shape. Evenhe has said goodbye. No one ex-cept Tendulkar from your timeplays cricket anymore. So rest athome and don’t ridicule yourselfplease. Let us remember youwith some element of dignity.

Not to be outdone, close tothe end of a delayed but success-ful career, Misbah also an-nounces his candidature forcontinuing in cricket at all play-ing levels and formats. So be it.But tell me what arrogance al-lows players in their twilight toimagine even for a single mo-ment that a nation, which boasts80 million males, does not haveat least a dozen young replace-ments for them? It’s the geri-atrics that dominate GaddafiStadium who inspire these ludi-crous beliefs and will welcomeyet another in their midst. Itkind of camouflages the limpsand breathlessness that prevails.Why Zaka Ashraf bows in defer-ence, I have no idea. I knowwhat I would have done.

That’s cricket, just a game.What about serious business likegovernance, running institu-tions, representing the nationinternationally? How come al-most every retired governmentfunctionary demands he beplaced in an even more lucrative

job than the one he retired from? When acomparative one is suggested, he is grossly of-fended. It really pisses me off when I hear this.I mean, man, you’ve done your bit, the nationhas acknowledged your contribution which,frankly, in most instances is zilch; now just gohome and let others get on with the job.

There are guys from the services who re-tire with millions in benefits that will see themthrough to the end of life living in luxury. Butno, instead of resting on laurels, they will beknocking the door letting the right quartersknow of their expectations. Check out theprize jobs and see for yourself. It’s disgusting.

Seeing all this happen, a new breed hasentered the arena. Those highly paid gentle-men heading major corporations and finan-cial institutions, banking and non-banking,upon being relieved, with huge payoffs mindyou, are feverishly charging around Islam-abad looking to be accommodated, not justwith board memberships and chairmanshipsbut operational assignments as CEOs withterms and conditions applicable as in theirformer private sector jobs. I just have to lookup from this computer and I see a sea of self-entitled, expectant faces just waiting to dontheir Sunday best and jump onto an Islam-abad flight. It makes me laugh.

In deadly earnest, they recount how thefortunes of corporations they’ve headedchanged at their hands. What immense con-tribution they make to the think tanks they areplaced upon and how mediocre the present in-cumbents of jobs they earmark are. I don’tdoubt that there may be a lot of truth in whatthey say, especially in regard to current in-cumbents since a lot of ‘favourites’ occupy lu-crative assignments, but they’ve done whatthey had to. Let others have their chance.

An old horse is an old horse; he must giveway to the new, spirited successor. As theyhave had to in their international corpora-tions. Why don’t these big corporations ex-tend their tenures? Sure they take the best, Imean only the best, and appoint him or her aschairman of a subsidiary in Asia or Africa orthe like. The others go home to roost.

These folks are misled by what has beendone in the past to accommodate people de-spite protests, regulations et al. So one can’tblame them entirely for harbouring aspira-tions. The question is when will we recognisethis as a disease that plagues the nation. Getthese guys on talk shows and disconcert themtill they feel ashamed. I mean, my God, peoplein their seventies, mid to late, are still liningup. It’s embarrassing to say the least.

And the fact that government even con-siders such appointments is utterly ridiculous.Its responsibility is to the nation not individ-uals. And my friends ‘has beens’ are ‘hasbeens’ in whatever form or flavour they come.Let’s quickly agree on this.

The writer may be contacted via e-mailat imranmhusain@gmail.com

Random thoughtsBy Imran Husain

LHR 03-05-2012_Layout 1 5/3/2012 3:13 AM Page 13

14 thursday, 3 May, 2012

NEWS DESK

HUMAIMA Malick recently wonthe Best Actress award at the Lon-don Asian Film Festival (LAFF)2012, for her film ‘Bol’. Beating

Bollywood stars including Shilpa Shetty,Freida Pinto and Shabana Azmi at the awardsceremony, the award came as quite a surprisefor Malick. Winning the award she said was thebiggest honour for her. As the only Pakistani inthe BAFTA building at the time of the awardceremony, Malik says she was star struck in thepresence of so many Hollywood and Bollywoodbiggies and said it felt great to be among theamong so many big celebrities receiving theprestigious awards. “I was beaming with pride,happiness and joy,” she said. ‘Bol’ was the firstPakistani movie to be nominated in seven dif-ferent categories at such a major internationalfilm festival. Malik says the award she won wasfor her country. She says she was satisfied withthe hard work she had put in the project andwas hopeful it would pay off. Winning didn’tcome as a shock, she says, although, she was

surprised when her name was called out. “Ipersonally adore both Shilpa Shetty and Freidaand I love their work so I didn’t know where Istood. But I value the love and appreciationthat LAFF gave a new artiste like me,” she said.She continued, “I also got the chance to inter-act with many Hollywood and Bollywoodcelebrities during the event. It was delight tospeak to Sanjay Leela Bhansali and JavedAkhtar at the function.” Humaima also metwith Abhishek Bachchan at the ceremony andshe recalled, “I was overwhelmed on meetingAbhishek. In fact, he watched my film and saidvery good things about it and appreciated myperformance as well.” Humaima will be visitingIndia soon to complete the shoot of her nextmovie, the details of which are being kept underwraps for now. “I will be in India in a few days.I will be busy with the completion of the shootof my movie. It has been a different experienceworking in a Bollywood film. I’m just loving it,”said an excited Humaima. About former Pak-istani cricketer Wasim Akram, whom she wassaid to be dating in the past, she said, “We’rejust good friends, aur kuch bhi nahi hai.”

MuMBAI: Katrina Kaif is considered as one of the topBollywood actresses in the industry today. in a span of almosta decade, the actor has given innumerous hits like ‘Ajab PremKi gajab Kahani’, ‘raajneeti’ and ‘zindagi Na Milegi Dobara’. Nowonder she has bagged three big films opposite the three rulingKhans of Bollywood-Salman, SrK and Aamir. when asked thathow it felt to be the most sought after actress in the circuit, shesaid: “i don’t believe in numbers; the fact that i’m getting to workwith the best people in the industry makes me feel blessed. withevery project i get to learn so much that i can’t thank all thepeople around enough.” Expressing her excitement overworking with the three heavyweights of the industry, Kathad something to say about each one of them. AboutSalman, she said, “Salman and i have done comedies(‘Maine Pyaar Kyun Kiya’ and ‘Partner’) and a romance(‘yuvvraj’) but we’ve never done somethingadventurous together, so ‘Ek tha tiger’ is a thrill.Salman and i were waiting for the right script and set-up to work together again and this is it.” She describedSrK as “warm and friendly” while working on the setsof yrf’s new project. She said, “i admire the energy,hard work and passion he puts into his work.” But whenprodded about Aamir, she seemed most enthused. Katis cast opposite Aamir in ‘Dhoom 3’ about which she said,“it’s a hi-glam action movie and a hit franchise. i haven’tstarted prepping yet, but i will soon. i’m looking forward tolearning as much as i can from Aamir.” AGEnCIES

Aishwarya Rai’s shape, asubject of intense debate

LOS ANGELES CBS

Once Jennifer Lopez wraps ‘American Idol’ thisseason, she will be doing some performances of herown. The ‘Idol’ judge will hit the road with EnriqueIglesias and Wisin Y Yandel this summer. Lopezand Iglesias announced that the 20-city MEGAconcert tour will begin July 14 in Montreal. “We aregoing to give you everything we got,” Lopez said. “Ithink it’s going to be one of the most historic toursever. Because I don’t know that there has ever beensomething where these Latinos have come togetherlike this as family.” Iglesias said the tour will in-clude individual hits as well as collaborative per-formances. “I have a bunch of songs with Wisin YYandel and obviously with Jennifer,” he told thecrowd. Wisin Y Yandel has a new song, called ‘Fol-low the Leader,’ featuring Lopez. According to OK!magazine, J-Lo said her beau, Casper Smart, willbe among the tour choreographers. Lopez said her4-year-old twins, Max and Emme, will also be onthe tour bus. And if they get stir crazy? “There’s al-ways Grandma’s house,” she said.

Humaima MalickAwARdEd AT LOndOnfiLM fEST

Jennifer Lopez, Enrique Iglesias announce tour

Amitabh mayfly to LA fortreatmentMuMBAI: Amitabh Bachchan is certainly not in thepink of his health. the thespian might be flying tothe US to treat his illness after he underwent a ctscan recently. According to a tabloid, the veteranwill not take up any new assignments tillSeptember. A source said, “it was the first timesince the operation in february that Bachchan saabfelt such severe pain and had to go for a ct scansoon afterwards. it is believed that Mr Bachchan isnot doing any film before September as he’s goingto los Angeles, in May-June, where he will undergoa few tests and the required treatment to be sure.”Big B, however has committed to shoot for rohitShetty’s film ‘Bol Bachchan’ before September thatstars his son Abhishek and Ajay Devgn. “that’s alsobecause Abhishek is acting in the film and has avery strong role in it. And Ajay, who’s producing it,is like family. Besides, it’s not going to be stressfulas Bachchan saab’s part will be shot in just acouple of days,” said the source. the 69 year oldsuperstar has a number of projects lined up thatincludes ram gopal Varma’s ‘Sarkar 3’ and ShoojitSircar’s ‘Johnny Mastana’. AGEnCIES

FASHION

NEw yorK: UN Peace Messenger andmusical legend Stevie wonder performswith grammy-award winning singerEsperanza Spalding at the inauguralinternational Jazz Day concert. AfP

SyDNEy: Aboriginal modelSamantha harris parades aManuella silk dress duringoroton’s show at fashionweek Australia. AfP

SyDnEy: A modelparades a black silkManuella dress duringoroton’s show at fashionweek Australia. AfP

CAlIfoRnIA:Shailene Woodleyarrives at the ABCfamily West Coastupfronts party. AfP

SRK is warm andfriendly: Katrina nEW DElhI: the shape which Aishwarya Rai is in five

months after her pregnancy has generated unusualpublic interest with the Bachchan bahu coming in forsome criticism for the “oodles of weight” gained bythe actress. But some celebrities who have beenassociated with the 38-year-old Bollywood star,including designer Sabyasachi defended her, sayingthat the new mother would take some time to shedpregnancy weight. the trigger for the reactions camefollowing the publication of some pictures of theformer Miss World while emerging out of a party.Married to Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya gave birthto her first baby, a daughter, on november 16, 2011. thepictures set off a buzz on the internet and in thesocial media with articles, videos, blogs and tweetshighlighting her “double chin” and calling the photos“shocking”. the photos attracted comments like: “tillnow she has been praised for her beauty, so it is onlyfair that she should also be criticised if she is not ableto live up to it.” on the other hand, there are manywho believe that five months is not enough time toshed weight. Aishwarya looked slimmer at the pressconference conducted by the Bachchans at theirresidence immediately after the baby’s arrival. But inrecent photographs, it seems as if she is heavier byfive to six kilos. Designer Rina Dhaka says that a newmother gains weight especially when she is takingcare of her baby. Even blogs and tweets have comeout in Aishwarya’s defence. one twitter user wrote,“Reports about Aishwarya’s weight gain are vile andirresponsible. let the woman be.” AGEnCIES

LHR 03-05-2012_Layout 1 5/3/2012 3:13 AM Page 14

15

LOS ANGELES: Singer JessicaSimpson gave birth to a daughternamed Maxwell Drew Johnson in LosAngeles, said publicist LaurenAuslander. Maxwell weighed 9 lbs.13 ounces. Maxwell is the first childfor 31-year-old Simpson and her 32-year-old fiancé Eric Johnson, aformer NFL player. The name is atribute to the couple’s families:Maxwell is Johnson’s middle nameand the maiden name of his motherand Drew is Simpson’s mother’smaiden name. “We are so gratefulfor all of the love, support andprayers we have received,” Simpsonsaid in a statement on her website.“This has been the greatestexperience of our lives!!” AGEnCIES

iT’S A BABy giRL fOR JESSiCASiMpSOn

LOS ANGELES AGEnCIES

‘MEAN Girls’ celebrated itseighth anniversary andeven though fetch neverreally caught on, Lindsay

Lohan is indeed ready for her comebackas Elizabeth Taylor-filming for the Life-time biopic is set to begin June 4th. Andproduction for the flick’s going perfectlyas planned-the location has moved fromCanada to LA and insurance policies arein order, but there’s one big piece to thepuzzle producers are still missing-whowill play Richard Burton, Elizabeth Tay-lor’s fourth (and fifth) husband. Asource close to production said “produc-ers of the Lifetime biopic ‘Liz and Dick’have still not cast the actor to play therole of Richard Burton.” Which seems

fairly problematic considering there areonly 34 days before filming begins. “Asof today there is no final casting. Theyhave been looking at a lot of actors,” theproduction-savvy source revealed. Thesource would not mention who, specifi-cally, producers have their eye on. Allthe hype’s been around casting Lindsay,but this is not the Elizabeth Taylor solobiopic-the role of Richard Burton isequally as important since the flickchronicles ‘Liz and Dick’s chaotic union.Still, the source confirms shooting is in-deed “set to start in L.A. in the first weekof June”. About the reason behind thehold-up, the insider reveals the casting’snot as easy as it seems: “Everyone wantsto make sure the male lead not only canpull off Richard Burton, but that theyhave great chemistry with Lindsay. It isa double-whammy casting challenge.”

Blanchett,Hawkins set forwoody Allen film

LOS ANGELESAfp

Australian actress Cate Blanchett andBritain’s Sally Hawkins are being lined upto star in Woody Allen’s next film, industrydaily Variety reported. Hawkins, who hada small role in Allen’s 2007 ‘Cassandra’sDream’, a year before her breakout role inMike Leigh’s ‘Happy Go Lucky’, will play a“neurotic who’s more fun and rougharound the edges,” it said. ‘Hangover’ starBradley Cooper is “circling a role in the en-semble,” it reported, adding thatBlanchett-who like Cooper has not workedwith Allen before-will play a joint lead withHawkins. The movie is expected to be shotin San Francisco and New York this sum-mer, according to Variety. Allen, who wonan Oscar for best original screenplay thisyear for ‘Midnight in Paris’, last month pre-miered his latest film ‘To Rome With Love’,in which he stars alongside Penelope Cruz.

Oscars venuerenamed dolbyTheatre in new deal

LOS ANGELESBBC

The Hollywood venue that hosts the Os-cars has been renamed the Dolby Theatrein a new sponsorship deal. The 3,400-seater building, which has been home tothe annual Academy Awards ceremonysince 2002, was previously known as theKodak Theatre. Earlier this year a judgegranted Eastman Kodak permission to endthe $74 million, 20-year naming rightsdeal it signed in 2000. Dolby has agreed a20-year contract with theatre owners theCIM Group. Kevin Yeaman, of British-founded audio technology specialistsDolby, said the partnership “allows thetheatre to be not only the world stage forthe Academy Awards, but for Dolby inno-vations for decades to come”. EastmanKodak entered bankruptcy protection fromits creditors in January this year after fail-ing to keep up with competitors. The 133-year-old company announced it was tostop making digital cameras in order tofocus on more profitable divisions.

no Richard Burtonyet for Lohan’s LizTaylor biopic

HRITHIK ROSHAN

VOTED ULTIMATE

STYLE ICON

RottERDAM: Members of the two

boy bands New Kids on the Block

and Backstreet Boys perform during

their NKotBSB tour concert. AfP

loS AnGElES: zacEfron attends theDenver Nuggets againstlos Angeles lakersgame 2. rEUtErS

loS AnGElES: Ashton Kutcher sitscourtside during the los Angeles lakersagainst Denver Nuggets NBA game. rEUtErS

NEWS DESK

Ali Zafar has once again made the Pak-istani nation proud of his work. With threehit movies in a row, Ali Zafar has earnedimmense respect and goodwill in Bolly-wood over just two years. Last year he wonhis first Stardust award in the Superstar ofTomorrow category. Zafar has again de-lighted the Pakistani nation as he will bebringing a Phalke Academy Award homefrom the 143rd Dadasaheb Phalke Acad-emy Awards ceremony. Ali Zafar will re-ceive the Phalke New Talent Award at theannual event that celebrates DadasahebPhalke Jayanti. The awards are presentedto people associated with filmmaking, in-cluding producers, distributors, exhibitorsand actors, for their outstanding services

to the film industry. Dadasaheb Phalke isknown as the pioneer of the Indian FilmIndustry. He made the first Indian motionpicture ‘Raja Harishchandra’ in the year1913. The annual event will honour someof the biggest stars in the film industry, in-cluding veterans like Amitabh Bachchanand Vinod Khanna, who will receive thePhalke Ratna and Legendary Actor tro-phies respectively. Some of the otherprominent awardees at this 143rd eventare Waheeda Rehman, Tanuja and SairaBanu. Vidya Balan will receive the PhalkeMemorable Performance Award for ‘TheDirty Picture’ while Farhan Akhtar will re-ceive the Best Commercial Film award for‘Zindagi Naa Milegi Dobara’. Ajay Devganwill also be awarded the Outstanding Per-formance award for ‘Singham’.

ALI ZAFAR TO

RECEIVE DADASAHEB

PHALKE ACADEMY

AWARD

Tom Cruise to star as VanHelsing in new monster movie

LOS ANGELESAGEnCIES

Tom Cruise as Van Helsing? Judging from the ‘Rock ofAges’ trailer, he’s certainly got the hair (or at least a goodwig guy). According to a press release from UniversalStudios announcing a new deal with ‘Star Trek’ screen-writing duo Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, Cruise is

attached to play the famed vampirehunter in a new film from the decade-old studio. For the pair, this is the sec-

ond high-profile feature they’ve becomeattached to in recent days. Sony an-

nounced that Kurtzman and Orci wouldtake another pass at the sequel to ‘The

Amazing Spider-man’. They’re also co-writers on ‘Star Trek 2’, giving thema wide variety of blockbuster fran-chises. (Kurtzman and Orci arealso responsible for ‘Transform-ers’, ‘Mission: Impossible III’ and‘Star Trek’). The two-year dealwith Universal is an interestingone; after all, back in February,Orci tweeted that K/O PaperProducts (the Kurtzman/Orciproduction company banner)was leaving its home a Dream-

Works and was “excited to bean independent produc-

tion company in thecoming year.”

nEW DElhI: Bollywood star hrithik roshanhas been voted as the ultimate style icon inan online survey conducted by a popularwebsite, while Aishwarya rai and AbhishekBachchan were declared the most stylishcelebrity couple. on the list of ultimate styleicons cricketer MS Dhoni features at numbertwo and superstar Shah rukh Khan is third.hrithik got 18 percent votes, while Dhonibagged 16 and SrK 15 percent votes, accordingto a popular portal. totally, 1,223 respondentstook the survey conducted in April. three-fourths of the survey respondents comprisedthe youth aged between 18-34 years. in thepoll, Amitabh Bachchan is declared the bestpower dresser and his daughter-in-lawAishwarya is named the best dressed celeb onthe red carpet, while Malaika Arora Khan themost stylish celebrity mom title. Aamir Khanis declared the celebrity for whom technologyand style go hand-in-hand, rekha with thetraditional indian fashion sense, Vidya Balanwith the most unique fashion sense. AGEnCIES

LHR 03-05-2012_Layout 1 5/3/2012 3:13 AM Page 15

thursday, 3 May, 2012

16 Foreign News

CAIROAfp

THUGS attacked an anti-militaryprotest near the defence ministryin Cairo on Wednesday and 20people were killed, officials said,in the politically tense run-up to

the first post-uprising presidential election.The dawn assault sparked fierce

clashes between the unidentified attackersand the protesters, who have been therefor days calling for an end to military rule,with both sides hurling petrol bombs androcks, the official said. The army deployedtroops in central Cairo to quell the clashes,a military source told AFP.

A security official said the army andsecurity forces had formed a cordonbetween the protesters and the attackers,bringing the fighting to a halt. A doctor ata field hospital set up in the area said 20people had been killed and dozens injured.Four presidential candidates announcedthey had temporarily suspended theircampaigns over the killings. The MuslimBrotherhood’s Mohammed Mursi toldreporters he decided to suspend hiscampaign for 48 hours “in solidarity withthe protesters.”

He blamed the Supreme Council of theArmed Forces because it is the rulingauthority. SCAF “is the first to beresponsible,” he said. His main Islamist

rival, Abdel Moneim Abul Fotouh,cancelled all his events for the day over theclashes, a campaign official told AFP.Leftist candidates Khaled Ali andHamdeen Sabbahi also announced theywere suspending their campaigns. Pro-democracy activists including theCoalition of Revolution Youth, as well asAbul Fotouh, have called for a march toAbbassiya at 5:00pm (1500 GMT) todemand an end to the bloodshed in Cairo,where traffic in the centre of the city hadground to a halt and created patches ofgrid lock across the capital.

Leading dissident MohamedElBaradei denounced the “massacre”outside the ministry of defence. “SCAF &

Government unable to protect civilians orin cahoots with thugs. Egypt going downthe drain,” the former UN nuclearwatchdog chief posted on Twitter. Theprotesters, supporters of Salafist politicianHazem Abu Ismail, have been camped outsince Saturday after the electoralcommission barred the popular hardlineIslamist from contesting the upcomingpresidential election.

On Sunday, one person was killed and119 injured in clashes between Abu Ismailsupporters and residents of the Abbassiyaneighbourhood in Cairo, where thedefence ministry is located. Protests sincethe popular uprising that toppledpresident Hosni Mubarak last year have

often turned violent, with thugs associatedto the previous regime frequently blamed.The electoral commission on April 14barred 10 candidates, including theMuslim Brotherhood’s Khairat El-Shaterand the former president’s intelligencechief Omar Suleiman, from standing in thepoll to choose Mubarak’s successor.

Abu Ismail’s nomination was rejectedbecause his mother had taken joint UScitizenship, but many of his supportersbelieve he was the victim of a “plot” by theauthorities. The first round of thepresidential election is scheduled for May23-24, and the SCAF has promised tohand over power to the winner by the endof June.

PARISAfp

Nicolas Sarkozy makes a last-ditch bidWednesday to turn the tide against So-cialist Francois Hollande when they gohead to head in the French presidentialelection’s one and only television de-bate. The duel comes a day afterSarkozy staged a huge rally to rivalFrance’s traditional May Day show offorce by the left and after NationalFront leader Marine Le Pen scornfullyrejected his bid to woo her far-rightsupporters. The president is expectedto use the debate to portray his front-running rival as a dangerous left-winger whose tax-and-spend policiessignal a return to 1970s socialism thatwill doom the already strugglingFrench economy.

Sarkozy is generally seen as a bet-ter debater than Hollande but few ex-pect him to be able to reverse theopinion polls that forecast the Socialistwill clinch Sunday’s second round voteby around 54 percent to his 46. Hol-lande will speak first in the debate tobe broadcast live by several channels at1900 GMT and which has been metic-ulously prepared — even down to thetemperature of the studio — by mediaadvisors of both candidates. Hollandeon Wednesday received advice fromhis former partner and mother of his

four children, Segolene Royal, whotook on Sarkozy in 2007 when she wasthe Socialist candidate, in an electionher right-wing opponent went on towin.

“The issue is not to let him(Sarkozy) escape his track record, be-cause democracy is about knowing ifone sticks to one’s commitments. Hemust not be able to sidestep his trackrecord,” she told RTL radio.

Hollande must “above all remainhimself” and must “keep this debate onan elevated plane even if (Sarkozy)tries to drag him down,” she said.

Sarkozy’s UMP party was mean-while engaged in debate about how farit should engage with Le Pen, who gotthe support of 6.4 million voters in theApril 22 first round of the election.

Defence Minister Gerard Longueton Tuesday shocked many in the partywhen he said that Le Pen, “unlike herfather” Jean-Marie, the firebrandfounder of the National Front, was“someone we can speak to”.

But UMP secretary-general Jean-Francois Cope stated categoricallyWednesday that there would “never beany electoral deal talks with the Na-tional Front or discussion or negotia-tions with the leaders of the NationalFront.”

Sarkozy has tilted ever further tothe right since the first round in a bid

to woo Le Pen supporters, vowing to“defend the French way of life”, drasti-cally reduce immigration and secureFrance’s borders.

France holds elections next monthfor the National Assembly, where theNational Front currently has no pres-ence.

Le Pen hopes her third-place, 18percent score in the presidential firstround will translate into parliamentaryseats and turn the Front into a power-ful opposition party.

France’s BFM-TV news channelsaid Wednesday it had dropped Do-minique Strauss-Kahn’s journalist wifeAnne Sinclair from election night cov-erage because the disgraced Socialistwas once more in the media spotlight.

“The serenity was gone, what withthe affair kicking off again this week-end,” said BFM-TV’s boss GuillaumeDubois after the publication over theweekend of his allegation that Sarkozyorchestrated his downfall.

The ex-International MonetaryFund boss had been favoured to winthe vote until May last year, when hewas arrested in New York and accusedof sexually assaulting hotel maid Nafis-satou Diallo.

The charges were later droppedbut a New York judge has ruled that heshould face a civil case brought by Di-allo.

Yemen to ask for$10 billion fromdonors: minister

SANAAAfp

Yemen will ask donors for about $10 billionin urgent aid at a “Friends of Yemen”meeting to be held in the Saudi capital laterthis month, the country’s planning ministersaid Wednesday. “We are talking about $10billion that we will need for economicrecovery, to stabilise the economy and thecurrency,” Mohammed Said al-Saadi toldAFP on the sidelines of a donors conferencein Sanaa. “This is just an estimate at thispoint,” he said adding that “these figures willbe discussed” even though the meeting offoreign ministers from the Gulf countries,and representatives of the United States, theEuropean Union and the United Nations inRiyadh on May 23 will focus mainly onpolitical aspects of Yemen’s transition. Theinterim transitional government is in theprocess of finalising an emergency plan torelaunch its shattered economy, still reelingfrom a year-long uprising that forcedveteran leader Ali Abdullah Saleh out ofpower. According to the minister, the plansets out the most “urgent priorities,”including the spiralling food crisis that theUnited Nations estimates has affected some10 million Yemenis. The plan will also focuson rebuilding infrastructure, specificallyelectricity, water and oil products, andensure severely debilitated health and socialservices are restored, he added.

Japan urgesIsrael ‘patience’on Iran sanctions

JERUSALEMAfp

Japan’s Foreign Minister Koichiro Gembahas urged Israel to exercise “patience” onIran’s nuclear programme and givesanctions a chance to work, his spokesmansaid on Wednesday. Gemba, who arrived inIsrael on Tuesday, met Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu and Foreign MinisterAvigdor Lieberman, and on Wednesdayheld talks with Palestinian prime ministerSalam Fayyad in the West Bank city ofRamallah. A statement from spokesmanMasaru Sato said Gemba had toldNetanyahu that “patience would benecessary to deal with the Iranian nuclearissue, to which Mr Netanyahu responded bysaying that Israel does not want war.” Intalks with Lieberman, Gemba said Japanshared the international community’sconcern over Iran’s nuclear programme andthat an “unprecedented level of pressure”was being exerted on Tehran that wasbeginning to take effect. “It is important tocontinue to put effective pressure on Iran asthe pressure began to show its effect, tosome extent,” Gemba told Lieberman.“Regarding a military option against Iran,Foreign Minister Gemba urged hiscounterpart to be patient” and suggestedthat the Jewish state “restrain itself,” thestatement said. “Such an option wouldcreate new political confusion and tensionsin the region as well as giving Iran newexcuses to pursue their nuclearprogramme,” he told Lieberman.

CAIRo: An Egyptian anti-military protester protects himself with a crate during clashes in the Abbassiya district on Wednesday. AFP

20 dead after attackers storm Cairo protest

Struggling Sarkozy pins re-electionhopes on French TV duel

OutgoingMedvedev signsoff on politicalreforms

MOSCOWAfp

President Dmitry Medvedev on Wednes-day said he signed into law new politicalreforms agreed in the wake of the proteststhat shook Russia, just days before hehands over the Kremlin to Vladimir Putin.Medvedev announced he signed off onlaws reviving the direct elections of Rus-sia’s powerful regional governors and alsoabolishing the need for parties to gathersigned petitions to stand in all electionssave presidential polls. “I want to informyou — I have just signed the law on theelections of governors of the Russian Fed-eration,” Russian news agencies quotedMedvedev as telling a meeting of partyleaders, adding he had also signed thechanges to the requirement on signatures.The changes were first touted after massanti-Putin protests shook the Kremlin fol-lowing disputed parliamentary electionsin December. The laws had already beenadopted by parliament. Medvedev is toleave the Kremlin on May 7 when PrimeMinister Putin is inaugurated as head ofstate but the outgoing president is ex-pected to be immediately named as thenew prime minister.

LHR 03-05-2012_Layout 1 5/3/2012 3:13 AM Page 16

Foreign News 17thursday, 3 May, 2012

ARABA: A palestinian girl shouts slogans during a protest in solidarity of prisoners held in Israeli jails in the northern West Bank village of Araba, near Jenin, on Wednesday. AFP

Suu Kyi joinsparliament asMyanmar entersnew phase

NAYPYIDAWAfp

Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung SanSuu Kyi was sworn in as a member ofparliament Wednesday, opening a newchapter in the Nobel laureate’s nearquarter-century struggle againstauthoritarian rule. The 66-year-old, in thecapital Naypyidaw for the ceremony, stoodto read the brief oath in unison with 33other members of her National League forDemocracy party elected to the lower housein April, an AFP reporter said. The oathhands Suu Kyi public office for the first timeand marks a transformation in the fortunesof the opposition leader, who was heldunder house arrest for much of the last 20years but is now central to the nation’stentative transition to democracy. She hadinitially baulked at taking the oath,specifically a sentence pledging to“safeguard” the army-created constitution.But on Monday she backed down after thehead of the nominally civilian governmentPresident Thein Sein refused to offerconcessions, explaining it was the “desire ofthe people” to see her party in office afterbreakthrough April 1 by-elections. Speakingto reporters after Wednesday’s ceremonythe veteran dissident said: “I believe I canserve the interests of the people more thanbefore”. She was then whisked away by carto Naypyidaw airport to return to Yangon.The international community greeted herelection as a step towards democracy andhad urged Suu Kyi, who drew huge crowdson the campaign trail, to take her seat amidfears her refusal could stall the transitionfrom military rule. US Secretary of StateHilary Clinton, on a visit to BeijingWednesday, praised Myanmar’s presidentfor allowing the by-elections but said theUnited States was also looking ahead to theconduct of polls slated for 2015.

Five Russiansoldiers killed infiring range blast

MOSCOWAfp

Five Russian servicemen were killedWednesday in a munitions blast at a militaryfiring range in central Russia, the latest deadlyaccident to hit the armed forces, the defenceministry said. The explosion took place as thesoldiers were unloading expired stores ofmunitions at the Mulinsky base in the NizhnyNovgorod region of central Russia, thedefence ministry said in a statement toRussian news agencies. “As a result of theexplosion, five soldiers were killed and threewere wounded,” the statement said. Fatalaccidents are frequent in the Russian armedforces which have struggled to moderniseequipment since the fall of the Soviet Union in1991. In July 2010, six people were killed in asimilar accidental explosion at a Russianmilitary firing range in Siberia.

DAMASCUSAfp

SYRIA’S army on Wednesday re-portedly suffered its deadliestday in a ceasefire when rebelfighters killed 20 troops, in thelatest violation of the three-week

truce the UN says both sides are flouting.The rebels killed 15 soldiers — includ-

ing two colonels — in a dawn ambush inthe northern province of Aleppo, wheretwo rebel fighters also died, said the SyrianObservatory for Human Rights. The am-bush occurred near Al-Rai village, afterPresident Bashar al-Assad’s forces had“scaled up military operations” there in thedays since the truce took effect on April 12,said the watchdog. Clashes near Damascuskilled six troops, while the army shelledand torched activists’ homes in easternDeir Ezzor province and regime gunfirekilled a civilian in southern Daraa, cradleof the 14-month uprising. The latest blood-shed comes a day after the United Nationsaccused both the regime and its opponentsof violating the ceasefire that is part of apeace plan brokered by UN-Arab League

envoy Kofi Annan. The plan calls for a dailytwo-hour humanitarian ceasefire, mediaaccess to all areas affected by the fighting,an inclusive Syrian-led political process, aright to demonstrate and the release of de-tainees. According to the UN, more than9,000 people have been killed in Syriasince an anti-regime uprising broke out inMarch last year, while the Observatoryputs the figure at more than 11,100. UNpeacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous saidSyrian troops have kept heavy weapons incities, and that both the government andrebels have violated the truce. He also saidUN members had so far only offered only150 military observers for the 300-strongplanned force and that Syria had refusedvisas for three proposed monitors.

But Syrian foreign ministry spokesmanJihad Makdisi denied visa requests hadbeen turned down and said the two sideshad agreed on the nationalities that couldoperate in the country. “We agreed with theUN negotiating team that nationalities ofobservers to be mutually agreed upon ... Sothere is no refusal per se ... There are farmore than 110 nationalities that can easilywork in Syria,” he told AFP.

Syria army suffers deadliestday since ceasefire

NEW YORKAfp

Thousands of Occupy protestersmarched on Wall Street in New Yorkin the highlight of a May Day “generalstrike,” while police arrested dozensin sporadic clashes on the US WestCoast. Police used tear gas during theprotests Tuesday in Oakland, Califor-nia, and Seattle, where windows weresmashed, while some 20 people weredetained in Portland, Oregon and 10at Los Angeles international airport.

In New York mounted police weredeployed to keep protestors out of WallStreet itself, barring access to the fa-mous financial thoroughfare to anyonewithout proof of residency. One protes-tor was handcuffed as he tried to get to

Wall Street’s iconic bronze bull statue.After a prolonged struggle watched byjeering crowds, the man was carriedaway, although only after kicking out apolice car window and being put in a re-straining jacket. Some locals were notpleased. “This is absurd and we allow itto go on,” said one young woman, whosaid she lived there and had shownproof of address. “It’s useless. Nothingwill change because of this. “All I wantto do is be able to go home after work-ing my ass off all day.” Protests ap-peared to be peaceful and AFPreporters witnessed only five arrestsduring early events, in contrast to pre-vious Occupy marches that have typi-cally ended in scuffles with the policeand mass arrests on minor charges. Ac-tivists say they are protesting against

corporate greed and the plight of ordi-nary people in an anemic economy andhousing market. “Hey, hey, BOA, whodid you foreclose today?” some chantedat a Bank of America office building.Similar protests were announcedacross dozens of US cities and in coun-tries ranging from Spain to Australia.“While American corporate media hasfocused on yet another stale electionbetween Wall Street-financed candi-dates, Occupy has been organizingsomething extraordinary: the first trulynationwide General Strike in US his-tory,” the OWS movement said on itswebsite occupywallst.org.

On the West Coast, police made anumber of arrests in Oakland, California— the scene of repeated protests lastyear, some of which turned violent —

using tear gas to quell clashes. The Oak-land clashes came after officers orderedthe crowd to clear a downtown intersec-tion and many refused to move, chant-ing, “We are not afraid. The whole worldis watching,” the Contra Costa Times re-ported. In nearby San Francisco, Oc-cupy members canceled a protest on thefamed Golden Gate Bridge. In Seattle,downtown retail stores sustained exten-sive damage. A Wells Fargo branch andthe city courthouse were also damaged.At least two people were arrested as po-lice used tear gas and pepper spray todisperse protesters. In Los Angeles, 10people were arrested near the city’s air-port for obstructing a main access road,while three were held downtown asthousands joined rallies, snarling trafficbut remaining largely peaceful.

Occupy protesters held in US May Day rallies China dissident blowskisses to Clinton

BEIJINGAfp

After years in prison and under house arrest and a weekholed up in the US embassy, Chinese dissident ChenGuangcheng had one English phrase for Hillary Clinton: “Iwant to kiss you.” The United States had maintained a wallof silence after the activist fled to the US embassy on April26, but US officials opened up on Wednesday over whatthey said had become a warm relationship with Chen asthey negotiated for his safety. Secretary of State Clinton, inBeijing for long-planned talks, spoke by telephone to the40-year-old activist as he left the US embassy for a hospitalwhere he received treatment and was reunited with hisfamily. “After saying in Chinese how grateful he was thatshe had mentioned him in the past and supported his case,he said in broken English, ‘I want to kiss you,’“ a senior USofficial said on condition of anonymity.

UN Syria mission head saysobservers ‘calming’ situation

LONDONAfp

The head of the UN mission to Syria said Wednesday his observers were having a“calming effect” on the ground but admitted the ceasefire was “shaky” and not holding.Speaking in Damascus to Britain’s Sky News, in his first television interview in therole, Major General Robert Mood brushed off criticism that the United Nations Su-pervision Mission in Syria (UNSMIS) had been too slow to get going. The Norwegiansaid their numbers of boots on the ground would double in the coming days. “This isnot easy and we are seeing — by the action, by explosions, by firing — that the ceasefireis really a shaky one. It’s not holding,” the 53-year-old said. “But what we are also see-ing on the ground is that where we have observers present, they have a calming effectand we’re also seeing that those operating on the ground, they take advice from ourobservers.” Syria’s army on Wednesday reportedly suffered its deadliest day in a cease-fire when rebel fighters killed 20 troops, in the latest violation of the three-week trucethe UN says both sides are flouting. Mood said he would have 59 people in place inDamascus by the end of Wednesday and aimed to double the figure in the coming daysas more flights come in carrying troops, vehicles and equipment. “The people andequipment now on the ground is actually exactly how we want to see it, so the nextcouple of days — picking up the pace, doubling and spreading out — is exactly whatsuits us very well,” he said.

LHR 03-05-2012_Layout 1 5/3/2012 3:14 AM Page 17

thursday, 3 May, 2012

Page 21

former champions findwinning formula in Estoril

LAHOREStAff REpoRt

The Pakistan cricket Board on Wednesdaysaid that chief coach Dav Whatmore havenot been called for any kind of explana-tion regarding the fitness test of for-mer test cricketer MohammadYousuf. In a statement, spokesman of thePCB said: “I want to rebut a story ap-peared in a section of media todayabout PCB calling Dav Whatmore’sexplanation with regards to Moham-mad Yousuf’s fitness test. The story istotally incorrect and baseless. The PCBwishes to clarify that no explanation hasbeen sort from the coach on this or any otherissue.” “The PCB also takes this opportunity tomake it clear that rumour-based stories such as differences

between the coach and chief selector Iqbal Qasim are ab-solutely incorrect. As far as the Board is concerned, every

official is on one page with regards to the objective: tak-ing Pakistan cricket forward in a seamless manner,”

he added.PCb SECURITY OffICIAL RESIgNS:

Pakistan Cricket Board Director Security andVigilance Tariq Parvez has resigned fromhis position due to his personal reasonsand other international commitments. Chairman PCB Ch. Zaka Ashraf gave afarewell lunch in the honor of departing of-ficer at NCA which COO, Director General,

CFO and other Directors and General Man-agers attended.

Chairman PCB at the occasion appreciated theservices of Mr. Parvez and wished him best for

his future endeavors. Mr. Tariq Parvez thankedChairman PCB and his team for having trust in him dur-

ing his stay at PCB.

LAHOREStAff REpoRt

Former captain and chief selector AamirSohail has suggested that the PakistanCricket Board should launch its own Pro-40 tournament with the match split intotwo innings of 20 overs each.

"Thrills and skills will be the sell-ing points of such an event," Sohailsaid on a television channel. AlthoughSachin Tendulkar had sometime backcalled for the 50-over ODIs to be splitinto four innings of 25 overs each, thisis the first time someone has proposeda 40 over game split into two inningsof 20 overs each.

Sohail said there was a feeling in thecricket fraternity that T20 cricket was at

times devoid of skills and focused on onlyproviding entertainment to the viewers.

"I think if we can launch a Pro-40event in Pakistan with two innings of20 overs for one side it would provideboth things. It will require skills andalso produce plenty of thrills," he said.

Sohail said PCB needs to look atfresh ideas to rejuvenate domesticcricket and even otherwise since thecountry had been deprived of interna-tional cricket for three years now. So-hail pointed out that Pakistan in thepast had always been in the forefrontof tabling revolutionary ideas in inter-national cricket.

"Pakistan played a lead role inturning the World Cup into a commer-cial powerhouse and also introduced

the concept of neutral umpires. Ourdomestic cricket format was once stud-ied and admired by other countries aswell," he noted. Former captain,Rashid Latif conceded that fresh ideasand concepts were required in Pakistancricket since there was too much atten-tion on T20 cricket now.

"In our domestic events while peo-ple flock to see the T20 events there ishardly any interest in the one-day orfirst class matches. Something radicalshould be done to involve the people inother cricket besides T20 matches," hesaid. The PCB has been trying tolaunch its own premier league T20competition and officials say threemore presentations from companiesare scheduled for next week.

National hockeytrials on 13th

LAHOREStAff REpoRt

The second phase of national training camppreparing for participation in 21st SultanAzlan Shah Hockey Tournament-IPOH/24thMay to 3rd June 2012-will be established atNaseer Bunda Hockey Stadium, Islamabadon 5th May 2012. The Trials to select thefinal lineup for the event will be held on 13thMay 2012 at Naseer Bunda Hockey StadiumIslamabad (Instead of 12th May).

Azam hopingto play in iPl

LAHOREStAff REpoRt

Pakistan’s all-rounder Hammad Azam feelsthe Indian Premier League (IPL) is gloomywithout Pakistani cricketers but still hopesthat one day he will be able to walk out infront of the crowds at the IPL. “Everyoneknows that Pakistani cricketers are currentlynot being given the opportunity to play inthe IPL but I believe that the tournamentwould be a greater spectacle with the inclu-sion of Pakistani cricketers. I am hopefulthat one day the situation will be resolvedand my countrymen and I will be able towalk out in front of the crowds at the IPL,”he quoted by Pakpassion. Talking about therecent postponement by the BangladeshCricket Board of the proposed two-matchseries, Hammad said the postponement ofthe Bangladesh team’s tour of Pakistan wasvery disappointing for all of the players andcricket fans in Pakistan. “We were reallylooking forward to playing internationalcricket on home soil and for the matches tobe postponed was very sad.” Hammad, whois a member of the ongoing training camp atthe National Cricket Academy at Lahore andis working under the supervision of coachesDav Whatmore and Julien Fountain, said heis now ready to establish himself in the na-tional limited overs side. “I am hopeful thatgoing forward I can repay the faith shown inme by the captain and coaching staff. I cer-tainly do not see anything wrong with thenumber of matches I have played or thesmall number of opportunities I have beengiven, rather I see it as a challenge to estab-lish myself in international cricket and I feelI am ready to meet that challenge,” he said.

Asif out of jail today

KARACHIAfp

Former Pakistan paceman MohammadAsif will be released from a British prisonearly on Thursday after completing halfof his one-year sentence for spot-fixing,his lawyer said. The 29-year-old wasjailed by a court in London in Novemberlast year after he was found guilty of con-spiring to cheat and conspiring to acceptcorrupt payments over deliberate no-balls bowled during the Lord's Testagainst England in August 2010. "Asif'srelease is a matter of few hours and Ilook forward to meeting him and helpinghim in his legal fight to restore what wasan otherwise brilliant reputation he oncehad," the player's lawyer Ravi Sukul toldPakistan's Geo television in London.Asif's friend and coach Mohammad Ha-roon had previously said the fast bowlerwould be released on Saturday May 5.Sukul said Asif could stay in Englandwhile he explored the possibility oflaunching an appeal against his convic-tion. "I have a strong belief that if cer-tain procedures had been applied inAsif's benefit at his trial, they couldhave persuaded the jury to come to adifferent conclusion," said Sukul.

LAHOREStAff REpoRt

PORT Qasim Authority onWednesday won Patron’sTrophy Grade-II 2011-12after gaining first innings

lead over KESC as the match endedin a tamed-draw on the final day atthe Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad.With this win, Port Qasim also wonthe purse of Rs 200,000 while therunners-up KESC got Rs 100,000.Muhammad Sami of Port QasimAuthority Turned out to be the Manof the Final Match and got Rs20,000 while Faizan Khan (CDA)

525 runs was the Best Batsman, Fa-heem Ahmed (Customs) with 46wickets was named the Best Bowlerand Fakhar Zaman (Pak Navy) with15 catches was the Best Fielderwhile M. Salman (Port Qasim Au-thority) 17 catches, 3 St was theBest Wicketkeeper and all of themreceived Rs 20,000 eachSCORES: Port Qasim Authority(First Innings) 343-7 in 83 overs:(Shadab Kabir 68, 115 balls, 12x4s,Daniyal Ahsan 57, 136 balls, 10x4s,Muhammad Salman 48, 73 balls,3x4s, Atif Ali Zaidi 45, 77 balls,5x4s, Muhammad Sami 43*, 31balls, 4x4s, 1x6, Tanvir Ahmed

24*, 16 balls, 1x4, 1x6, RizwanKhan 4-100)and 2nd innings 404in 116.3 overs: (Muhammad Sami79, 135 balls, 12x4s, KamranYounas 71, 125 balls, 10x4s, 1x6,Muhammad Salman 45, 93 balls,00364s, Azam Hussain 61, 96balls, 9x4s, 1x6, Tanveer Ahmed34, 48 balls, 4x4s, Atif Ali Zaidi 29,69 balls, 3x4s, Mir Hamza 5-110)KESC (fIRST INNINgS) 263IN 72 OvERS: (Saad Ali 64, 107balls, 3x4s, 1x6, Ahsan Ali 55, 88balls, 8x4s, Usama Basharat 38,40 balls, 5x4s, Javed Mansoor 34,53 balls, 4x4s, Muhammad Sami4-47, Azam Khan 3-69) and 2nd

innings 311-6 in 74 overs: (SaadAli 68, 109 balls, 7x4s, Ahsan Ali62, 86 balls, 9x4s, MuhammadWaqas 62, 69 balls, 10x4s,Rasheed Anwar 44, 83 balls, 6x4s,Rizwan Khan 30*, 38 balls, 3x4s,Azam Hussain 3-142, KamranYounas 2-51)RESULT: Match Drawn but PortQasim won the final. OvERNIgHT SCORE: PortQasim Authority (2ndinnings)376-9 in 107.2 oversTOSS: Port Qasim Authority, Um-pires: Javed Ashraf and AftabGillani, Referee: Iqbal Sheikh,Scorer: Tahir Suhaib

Port Qasim clinch Patron’s Trophy G-II

LONDONAfp

London launched a major military exerciseWednesday to check security responses forthe 2012 Olympics, as the final wave of testsports events got under way.

Royal Air Force (RAF) Typhoonfighter jets flew into the British capitalto herald the start of Exercise OlympicGuardian, a nine-day training operationto test the response to a possible attackfrom the air during the Games. Militaryhelicopters were to be stationed aroundthe capital, including some on the am-phibious assault ship HMS Ocean in theRiver Thames, and others carryingsniper teams. The Typhoons will be op-erating at RAF Northolt in west London-- the first time fighter aircraft havebeen stationed at the military airbasesince World War II.

AWACS surveillance planes and air-to-air refuelling aircraft will also be air-borne. "Whilst there is no specific threatto the Games, we have to be ready to assistin delivering a safe and secure Olympicsfor all to enjoy," said Defence SecretaryPhilip Hammond. "The fact that our state-

of-the-art Typhoons will be stationed atRAF Northolt underlines the commitmentof the Ministry of Defence and our armedforces to keeping the public safe at a timewhen the world will be watching us."

Britain's regular air defence includes

round-the-clock radar with Typhoons onhigh alert. Meanwhile, the Olympic Parkin Stratford, east London, was getting itsbiggest test of readiness for the Games asthe final wave of test events got underway. From Wednesday until Tuesday, five

venues will stage events in three Olympicand three Paralympic sports. Assisted by11,000 staff, more than 140,000 specta-tors will watch 3,000 athletes take part inhockey, wheelchair tennis, water polo,athletics, boccia and Paralympic athletics.

The international invitational hockeytournament leads the way, startingWednesday. World number one Aus-tralia, Olympic champions Germany,Britain and India are competing in themen's event, while World Cup holders Ar-gentina, China, Britain and South Koreaare playing in the women's tournament.

The British university athletics cham-pionships will take place in the mainOlympic Stadium from Friday to Monday,and on Saturday the sport will be mixedwith a concert when 40,000 spectatorsget their first taste of the venue.

"Testing the Olympic Park and its op-erations is a hugely important part of ourplans," said London Games chairman Se-bastian Coe. "Over the last 10 months, over250,000 spectators have watched world-class sport as part of the London Preparesseries test event programme, and, in doingso, every one of them is helping us deliverthe best possible Games."

‘PCB should launch Pro-40 tourney’

No explanation from whatmore: PcB

Military, stadia get final big test for London

fAiSAlABAD: the captain of winner’s Port qasom team receivesthe trophy from PcB director zakir Khan. STAFF PHoTo

loNDoN: chinook helicopters fly over the olympic Stadium as london launched a majormilitary exercise to check security responses for the 2012 olympics. AFP

LHR 03-05-2012_Layout 1 5/3/2012 3:14 AM Page 18

Sports 19thursday, 3 May, 2012

JAIPURCRICInfo

Agame-changing spell fromleft-arm spinner Pawan Negifollowed by a fifth consecutivehalf-century from Virender

Sehwag overwhelmed Rajasthan Royalsin Jaipur and helped Delhi Daredevilsstrengthen their hold on the No. 1 posi-tion. The six-wicket victory, achieved with28 balls to spare, was Daredevils' fourthconsecutive win this season and gavethem 16 points after ten games, whileKolkata Knight Riders are second with 13after ten. One more win in six remaininggames will assure Daredevils a place inthe playoffs.

The previous game between thesesides, two days ago at the Kotla, had beendecided by a one-run margin, with Dare-devils stealing victory from a dire situa-tion. Royals looked like stretchingDaredevils today as well, until Negi beganto spin through the top order. After re-placing Ajit Agarkar in Daredevils' xI,Negi began his spell when Royals were 56for 0 in six overs. By the time he finishedthey had slumped to 95 for 5 after 13, andwere eventually restricted to 141.

Negi was brought into the attack afterthe fielding restrictions were lifted and

went for only six in his first over. In hisnext, after bowling two dot balls, he in-duced in Ajinkya Rahane the need to at-tempt the unorthodox, a reverse swat thatlanded in Virender Sehwag's hands atpoint. Until then Rahane had helped Roy-als score at about ten an over with mostlyconventional yet extremely potent

strokes. Rajasthan were 71 for 1.Shane Watson, playing his first game

this season in place of the injured KevonCooper, did not take long to unfurl atrademark heave against the other left-arm spinner, Shahbaz Nadeem, deposit-ing the ball over deep midwicket. Whenhe exhibited similar intent against Negi,

he missed and lost off stump. In his finalover, Negi had Brad Hodge caught cuttingto point and Ashok Menaria holing out tolong-on to finish with 4 for 18. Before thatbrace of wickets another in-form Royalsbatsman, Owais Shah, had been caughtbehind, top-edging a pull off UmeshYadav. Royals had lost 5 for 24.

Through all this, Rahul Dravid stoodfirm. He had contributed a fair share tothe early momentum, then watched theadvantage fritter away, and took it uponhimself to bat through the innings. In the17th over, he drove Morne Morkel insideout to bring up a half-century off 35 balls.In the penultimate over, though, Dravid'sslog across the line resulted in the ballgoing off the inside edge on to his leg andthen on to hit the off stump.

Royals' hopes of defending 141 surgedwhen Mahela Jayawardene was lbw with-out scoring in the first over. They wereshort lived, though, as Sehwag launcheda withering assault. He hit five of his firstsix balls for four and after 17 deliveriesthat count was up to nine. When the field-ing restrictions were over, Daredevils hadraced to 61 for 1 and their momentum didnot abate.SCORES: Delhi Daredevils 144 for 4 (Se-hwag 73) beat Rajasthan Royals 141 for 6(Dravid 57, Negi 4-18) by six wickets.

Negi, Sehwag give Delhi 4th wincity traffic PoliceXi victorious

LAHOREStAff REpoRt

City Traffic Police Division xI beat SadarTraffic Police Division xI by four wickets inan exhibition match here the other day. Inthe first match, City beat Lines Thokar. Citymade 58 runs while Thokar failed to reachthe target. In the second match City lost toSadar. Sadar got the score of 48 in 3.3 overs.And in the final Sadar made 56 while Citygot to the target losing six wickets in 5.4overs. Traffic Warden Sheraz was named theman of the final. SP Traffic City Divisiongave the winner’s trophy to City team.

lAhorE: city traffic Police captain receivestrophy from SP traffic city Division. STAFF PHoTo

faran gymkhanabeat city gymkhana

LAHOREStAff REpoRt

In group match of Sprite Lahore CricketLeague Faran Gymkhana beat favorite CityGymkhana by 66 runs at Ittefaq CricketGround LCCA. Faran Gym scored 298/10 in50 overs M Irfan scored 107 and Syed AliZeeshan contributed 69 runs Shahroze Khanpicked 5/53. In reply City Gymkhana bowledout for 232 Waqas Ahmed scored 101, MQasim Ali, Shahid Aslam shared 3 wicketseach. M Irfan was declared man of the match

Punjab club outplayMt club in quarters

LAHOREStAff REpoRt

Punjab Club has moved into the Semifinal of9th M Siddique Memorial cricket event whenthey outplayed strong MT club by 46 runs inthe quarter final played at MT ground. SCoRES: Punjab club 147/8 in 20 overs. Sami Aslam37, Umer Bhati 26, Shoaib Akram 31, M Kashif 21. ziaulhaq 4/34, Sajid Vato 2/16, hAfiz Saad NAseem 2/20.Model town club 101 all out in 14.4 overs. Etamad Ulhaq 31, M ghulfam 16, gulraiz 17. Sheraz Butt 3/32, Asifishfaq 3/18, faisal tanveer 2/15, M imran 1/10.

Servis clubmarch to final

LAHOREStAff REpoRt

Servis Club has 1st marched to the final of27th Mohammad Yaseen Akhter MemorialEvent when they beat Lucky Star club by79 runs in the 1st Semifinal played atModel Town ground on Wednesday. SCoRES: Servis club 159/3 in 20 overs. farhan Asghar 62,Ali zahid 56, Danish 21, Arshad 15. raja waleed 2/34,Noman 1/32. lucky Star club 80 all out in 13.2 overs.Noman 22, Bukhtyar 13, tanzeem 14. Shehbaz 3/15, Alizahid 2/32, Khuram 2/16, Umair 2/14, Azeem 1/1.

VIENNAAfp

Austria's government said Wednesday itwill boycott all Euro 2012 footballmatches in Ukraine to protest at the treat-ment of jailed ex-premier Yulia Ty-moshenko, who is on hunger strike. "Nomember of the Austrian government willattend these games, that is our mark ofsolidarity," Vice-Chancellor and Foreign

Minister Michael Spindelegger said aftera cabinet meeting. Vienna wanted to sendKiev a political signal, he added.

The move follows reports that the Ger-man government was considering boy-cotting the Ukrainian matches overconcerns for Tymoshenko's well-being.The 51-year-old former Ukrainian premierwas controversially jailed for seven years inOctober on disputed charges and has com-plained of beatings by prison guards.

JAiPUr: Delhi Daredevils batsman and team captain Virendar sehwag plays a shot as rajasthanroyals wicketkeeper Shreevats goswami looks on during the iPl twenty20 match. AFP

lAhorE: Umer Pahlwan receives trophy fromBaba Diwan, haji ilyas and Mithu after winning theKhaloo Pahlwan Memorial Dangal. STAFF PHoTo

Austrian govt to boycott Euro2012 matches in Ukraine

MoNtPElliEr: Montpellier's forward olivier giroud (up) vies with Evian 's defender cedriccambon during the french l1 match at the Mosson Sstadium. AFP

LHR 03-05-2012_Layout 1 5/3/2012 3:14 AM Page 19

Sports20thursday, 3 May, 2012

LUANG PRABANG: NamchokTantipokhakul of Thailandduring the practice round ofthe Lao Open at Luang PrabangGolf Club. The tournament willbe played from May 3-6. AFP

LAHOREStAff REpoRt

Lancashire have bolstered theirhopes of reaching the Champi-ons League by signing YasirArafat for their Friends Life t20campaign.

The all-rounder has playedthree Tests, 11 one-day interna-tionals and seven Twenty20s forPakistan, and is used to Englishconditions having played forSurrey, Kent and Sussex.

He will join up with the RedRose in June and play just in theTwenty20 campaign. However,Lancashire are still waiting tofind out if he will be joined inthe squad by fellow Pakistanseamer Junaid Khan.

Although just last week theclub were given permission bythe Pakistan Cricket Board forJunaid to play, he could still becalled up for their tour of SriLanka which has just been an-nounced.

The trip – which involvesthree Tests, five ODIs and twoTwenty20s – runs from the lastweek of May until July 13, whichclashes with the whole of Lan-cashire’s T20 group campaign.With Junaid having just recov-ered from a knee injury, Pak-istan may want him to play forLancashire to prove his fitness.But if Pakistan see the centrallycontracted 22-year-old – whoplayed a key role in helping Lan-cashire reach T20 finals day last

season – as part of their plansthen coach Peter Moores andcricket director Mike Watkinsonmay have to look at other op-tions.

They will have no such is-sues with Arafat, however, withthe 30-year-old’s last interna-tional call-up coming in 2010when he played against Englandin a Twenty20 international.

"The addition of Yasir to oursquad emphasises our determi-nation to progress in the FriendsLife t20 tournament and we aredelighted to have him on board,"said Watkinson. "Our squaddoesn’t have the depth we havebeen accustomed to and Yasirbrings experience and skill tofulfil this important role for us."

Red Rose T20 ranksbolstered by Arafat

haas claims tsonga scalp

BERLINAfp

Top seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga crashed out of the ATP tourna-ment here on Wednesday, beaten 6-1, 6-4 by former Germannumber one Tommy Haas in their second round clash. Haas,who was as high as number two in the world in 2002 but hasslid to 134 in the rankings after suffering several injuries,tore into world number five Tsonga's serve breaking him inboth the second and fourth games of the first set. Tsonga,who has not played since losing to compatriot Gilles Simonin the Monte Carlo Masters quarter-finals, put up more of afight in the second set but Haas made the break in the fifthgame to go 3-2 up and held on to claim the win. "Simply saidit was that Tommy played better than me," said Tsonga. "Hedidn't allow me any time to express myself, or to controlthe ball. "It wasn't down to a lack of practice as I put in twotwo hour sessions and normally that is sufficient. "Obvi-ously conditions are different when you are practicing andplaying a competitive match, the court as well. But I playedwell at Monte-Carlo and before that in the Davis Cup so Iwas match ready." Haas, who is now a naturalised Ameri-can, will play Cyprus's 2006 Australian Open finalist Mar-cos Baghdatis in the quarter-finals. Tsonga for his part willmove on to the Rome Masters to fine tune his preparationfor the French Open which begins later this month.

LAHOREStAff REpoRt

Railways and Wapda are in run for thetop honours of the 2nd PHF U-21 GirlsHockey Championship as they lead thepoints table while three matches weredecided on Wednesday. PakistanHockey Federation President QasimZia was the chief guest of the finalmatch between Wapda and Raiwlayswhich was won by the later. The eventwhich is in progress at Hockey Stadiumsaw three matches were played.

Sheikhupura Dcoorders audit ofunion councils

SHEIKHUPURAStAff REpoRt

Sheikhupura DCO Ibrar Ahmed Mirzahas on Wednesday ordered to audit theunion council in the district. The order has been given in response tothe applications submitted by Al-Ghaziforum, an organization which arrangessports competitions. It has alleged thatthe Tehsil Municipal Administration didnot provide it any facility during the Pun-jab Sports Festival which was held in themonths of January and February.Similarly the secretaries of the unioncouncils in the district have denied thedue funds and prizes to the participantsand the organizers.Al-Ghazi Forum Chairman Ch AkhtarAli also has also alleged District SportOfficer (DSO) and Tehsil Sport Officer(TSO) for not entertaining the playersduring the competitions.He showed his deepest worries when heinformed that the Punjab government isgoing to announce youth policy nextmonth with another sport program;while the prizes of the previous sportprogram are due yet. Akhtar, general sec.of the organizationWaqar Hameed and the captain ofKabbdadi winner team at tehsil SajadGujjar and District Hockey winner teamcaptain Akhtar Rsool were also presentat the occasion and they also pledged tolaunch a protest if these prizes are notbeen given within seven days.

Japan, South Africaeye olympic berth

KAKAMIGAHARAAfp

South Africa came back from a goal downthree times to hold Japan to a 3-3 drawin the men's final Olympic hockey quali-fying tournament on Wednesday.Japan looked like they had done enoughto secure a win before a last minute goalby South Africa's Justin Reid-Ross in in-jury time levelled the score.The two teams are both unbeaten andshare the lead in the standings of the six-team round robin competition with threewins and a draw for 10 points.China kept their hopes of reaching the play-off alive by beating the Czech Republic 1-0and trail the leaders by just one point.There will be everything to play for onFriday, with South Africa facing Austriaand Japan meeting China for a place inthe final to decide who will take the lastberth at the London Games. The tourna-ment is the last of three final Olympicqualifying tournaments that started inFebruary to choose the last three placesfor London and wrap up a long process tochoose 12 teams for the Games.The 11 men's teams to have alreadyqualified for the Games are: Argentina,Australia, Belgium, Britain, Germany,India, Netherlands, New Zealand, Pak-istan, South Korea and Spain.

lAhorE: the girl players fight for the ball during the 2nd Phf U-21 girls hockey championship. NADEEM IJAZ

Railways, Wapda top Girls Hockey

poInt tABlE

p tEAMS p W D l Gf GA ptS GD

1 rAilwAy 5 5 0 0 29 2 15 +27

2 wAPDA 5 4 0 1 15 2 12 +13

3 PUNJAB (c) 5 4 0 1 15 2 12 +13

4 PUNJAB (w) 6 3 0 3 15 8 9 +7

5 PAK. BoArD 5 1 0 4 4 22 3 -18

6 SiNDh 5 1 0 4 2 24 3 -22

7 BAloch 5 0 0 5 2 22 0 -20

RESultSPak Board beat Balochistan 2-1 (full time), 0-1 (half time), Pak-Board: hina Mehta 47th minute (Pc) & Shamsa Javed 67th minute(Pc). Balochistan: fatima Nazar 26th minute (fg). Punjab (w) beat Sindh 1-0 (full time), 1-0 (half time), Punjab (w): AfshanNoreen 31st minute (Pc). railway beat wapda 2-1 (full time), 2-0 (half time), railways: Mayira Sabir 2nd minute (fg) & Shukriarashid 18th minute (fg). wapda: fakhra 41st minute (fg).

LHR 03-05-2012_Layout 1 5/3/2012 3:15 AM Page 20

Sports 21thursday, 3 May, 2012

WatcH it Live

GEO SUPERIPL-5: Pune Warriorsv Mumbai Indians07:30PM

ESTORILAfp

Atrio of former women's cham-pions opened with contrast-ing May Day victories at theATP-WTA Estoril Open on

Tuesday. It was the same on the men'sside of the draw, with 2009-2010 winnerAlbert Montanes advanced over Aus-tralian Matthew Ebden 6-2, 6-3.

Second-seeded Russian Kirilenko, wholifted the title at the Estadio Nacional in2008, overcame Briton Elena Baltacha 7-6(8/6), 6-1 in a struggle which began with afirst set lasting exactly one hour in front ofholiday crowds. Spain's Anabel MedinaGarrigues, the third-seeded holder, got pastGerman Kristina Barrois with more ease asshe posted a 6-4, 6-1 win. That win was arepeat of last year's final won by theSpaniard. China's Zheng Jie, the numberfive who won in 2006, put out RussianEkaterina Makarova, Russia, 6-3, 6-1.

Medina Garrigues was pleased to beatBarrois for the second time of asking in

Portugal. "I played pretty well consideringI wasn't able to warm up due to rain thismorning," said the winner. "The start feltstrange but after a few games I managedto feel better and get comfortable.

"I won in the end so I'm quite happy.When you win an event you want to comeback the next year and defend the title."But all the matches are difficult and thisone was not an exception. I'm taking itstep-by-step and see how I go."

Medina Garrigues, a 29-year-old whohas won 10 of her 11 career trophies onclay, broke Barrois five times in theirmatch lasting just under 90 minutes. Kir-ilenko, losing finalist in February at Pat-taya, Thailand, battled the 63rd-rankedBaltacha as the Briton tried in vain to winonly her third WTA match of the season.

The Russian seed finally claimed anopening set featuring six breaks of servein a tiebreaker, earning the lead on herfirst set point after saving two for Bal-tacha. In the second Kirilenko stampedher authority on the contest after an-other 45 minutes. Three more seeds

took opening wins, with number fourPetra Cetkovska defeating AlexandraPanova of Russia 6-2, 6-1 and numbersix Kaia Kanepi of Estonia crushing USqualifier Sloane Stephens 6-1, 6-0.

Eighth seed Polona Hercog beat Aus-trian Tamira Paszek 6-0, 6-3. AustralianJarmila Gajdosova defeated María-Teresa Torró-Flor of Spain 6-3, 6-1, whileBriton Heather Watson, a qualifier wholast played more than a month ago inMiami, beat Czech Lucie Hradecka 6-4,6-4 to next face Cetkovska. The Men'sATP play was highlighted by locals asPortuguese players went into action.

The 2010 quarter-finalist RuiMachado rallied past wild card compa-triot Pedro Sousa 6-7 (3/7), 6-1, 6-2 in twohours, breaking six times. Joao Sousa(won another all-local battle, defeatingGastao Elias 5-7, 6-4, 6-2. Italian eighthseed Flavio Cipolla stopped ArgentineDiego Junqueira 6-1, 6-4. Top seed JuanMartin del Potro, Frenchman RichardGasquet and Swiss debutant StanislasWawrinka all have byes in the first round.

Former championsfind winning formula

oEirAS: Jie zheng of china returns to Ekaterina Makarova of

russia during their Estoril open. zheng won 6-3, and 6-1. AFP

oEirAS: Elena Baltacha reacts after losing a point to MariaKirilenko during their Estoril open. Kirilenko won 7-6, and 6-1. AFP

LAHOREStAff REpoRt

Another two matches were played in theNational U-22 Football Championship-2012 being played at Bahawalpur’sDring Stadium and both of them endedin a draw.

The drawn gams earned one pointeach to the teams. Punjab and Armyplayed a goal less while Sindh and Na-tional Youth scored one goals each withgoals coming from Sindh’s Wohaib (FW)1Goal @ 19Mnt and National Youthteam’s Riaz (FW) 1 Goal @ 19 Mnt.

10th Nationalwomen cyclingbegins

LAHOREStAff REpoRt

The Idris Khawaja-group of the CyclingFederation organized 10thWomen Na-tional Championship paddled off yester-day. The road events of thechampionship were held on the openingday at Kasur and track events started thefollowing day at Cycling Velodrome. Theclosing ceremony of the championshipwill be held at 4.30 pm at the same place.THE RESULTS:Road event held at Kasur, 20 KM Roadteam time trial: Railway 33M 04S20P, HEC 33M 16S 19P, Afghanistan36M 16S 68P, Punjab 42M 10S 59P1km time trial: Nelam Raiz Punjab Time48S; 88P, Sidra HEC 49;54P, Asim Rail-ways 49S;88P 1000 meters sprint qualification: FizaRailways, Mehwish HEC, Shukaria Af-ganistan, Nelam Raiz Punjab.

TOKYOAfp

Two-time double Olympic gold medal-list Kosuke Kitajima has said the deathof world champion Alexander DaleOen has left a "big hole" in his heartbefore their much anticipated duel atthe London Games.

"My tears won't stop," the Japan-ese breaststroke swimmer wrote onTwitter in Japanese late on Tuesdayafter learning that his Norwegian rivalwas found dead at a training camp inthe United States on Monday at theage of 26.

"In shock over the passing of adear friend and great rival. RIP Alex,"Kitajima, 29, based in the US city ofLos Angeles, later lamented in Eng-lish. Dale Oen could have stopped Ki-

tajima's bid for a third straight 100m-200m Olympic breaststroke double inLondon. "He was a great swimmer. Iwant to race against him again. That(feeling) had been motivating me. Myheart is left with a big hole," Kitajimawrote.

Norway's swimming federationannounced that Dale Oen was founddead in a shower at a swimming poolin Flagstaff, Arizona, where the coun-try's Olympic swim team was training.

At the Beijing Olympics, Kitajimabeat Dale Oen by 0.29 in the 100m.Dale Oen grabbed silver, becomingNorway's first swimmer to win anOlympic medal.

The Norwegian won the 100m in58.71 seconds at last year's worldchampionships with Kitajima fourthat 1:00.03.

But Kitajima stormed back at thenational championships last month,winning both distances to book ticketsto London.

He clocked 58.90 in the 100m, anew national record, to become thesecond swimmer to duck under 59after high-tech polyurethane swim-suits were banned in 2010.

Dale Oen trained in Tokyo underKitajima's coach Norimasa Hirai inlate 2009 to learn how his rival wasdeveloping himself.

The Norwegian trained in Tokyoagain last December when he said heand Kitajima were "very much thesame" as swimmers.

"We'd like to race and we'd like todo our best," he told reporters, addinghis duel with Kitajima in Londonwould "definitely (be) a big challenge".

wADA official callsBoA appeal ‘a wasteof time and money’

PARISAfp

The director-general of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) on Tuesdaysaid the British Olympic Association(BOA) had "wasted a lot of time andmoney" appealing to the Court of Arbi-tration for Sport (CAS) on lifetime bansfor drug cheats. David Howman said theBOA should have considered their posi-tion last year when the InternationalOlympic Committee (IOC) failed in theirbid to introduce the so-called Osaka ruleto have all drug cheats banned from thenext Olympics even if their suspensionwas completed."The BOA decided to appeal and thatappeal was totally defeated," he said in aWADA media teleconference.We gave the BOA a chance to reviewtheir opinion after the IOC case. TheBOA wasted a lot of time and money andgot the inevitable result."The BOA had wanted to introduce a bye-law relating to the selection of Britishathletes for the London Games but theirdefeat leaves a clear path for the likes ofsprinter Dwain Chambers and cyclistDavid Millar to compete this summer.Howman warned the BOA that theymust now comply with the CAS rulingbefore a scheduled meeting of theWADA board on May 18."May 18 is the only board meeting thatwe will have before the LondonOlympics so it is an opportunity to sortit out before the Games," he said."If they don't comply before then, thentheir position would be maintained andwe would report to the IOC accord-ingly." Howman added that the CAS rul-ing affirmed the primacy of WADA'srules over those of any national Olympicassociation. "Yes it does. What we haveto reflect upon is that both the IOC andBOA were original signatories to thewhole wider set-up. So they abide by it. Ithink it comes down to something assimple as that.

Newage win

finale Polo openerLAHORE

StAff REpoRt

Newage won the opening match of theFinale Polo Cup 2012 when it beatValvoline Lubricants here at the LPCground on Wednesday. Newage havinghalf a goal advantage got another four todown Valvoline Lubricants which gottwo goals on the scoreboard. AdnanJalil Azam with two goals while AghaHashim Ali and Shahzad Magoon withone goal each completed the winner’sscoreline while the losing side’s scorerswere Ali Malik and Shahzad Magoon.

BAhAwAlPUr: the players of National youth and Sindh team in action during theNational U-22 football championship-2012 at the Dring football Stadium.

two more matches played in youth Soccer

Kitajima mourns Dale Oen’s death

LHR 03-05-2012_Layout 1 5/3/2012 3:15 AM Page 21

thursday, 3 May, 2012

22

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

KABULAfp

THE pact between the UnitedStates and Afghanistan couldleave the door open for contin-ued drone strikes against insur-gent targets in Pakistan after

2014, US Ambassador Ryan Crocker indi-cated Wednesday.

“There is nothing in this agreementthat precludes the right of self-defence foreither party and if there are attacks fromthe territory of any state aimed at us wehave the inherent right of self defence andwill employ it,” he said. Crocker was re-sponding to a question about controversialdrone strikes on Taliban and Al-Qaeda tar-

gets in Pakistan at a briefing on the dealsigned in Kabul overnight by US PresidentBarack Obama and Afghan leader HamidKarzai. The Strategic Partnership Agree-ment states that the United States will notuse its presence in Afghanistan to launchoffensive actions against other states fromAfghan soil. However, it does say that inthe event of threats to Afghanistan the twocountries would consult on an appropriateresponse. “This is defensive in nature, notoffensive, doesn’t threaten any one, but Ihope the region takes notice,” Crocker said.

US officials are loath to discuss the se-cretive CIA program, the source of sharptensions between Washington and Islam-abad. Drones have killed scores of what theUS government says are Al-Qaeda suspects

in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Yemen. Thisweek, Obama aide John Brennan insistedthat the missile strikes were legal, ethical,proportional and saved US lives.

On Tuesday, the Pentagon warnedthat insurgent sanctuaries in Pakistan andcorruption posed “long-term and acutechallenges” to security in Afghanistan.Crocker urged Pakistan to take actionagainst safe havens and prevent cross-border attacks by the Taliban. “I hopePakistanis will take a look at this agree-ment and say ‘Wow, the Americans arenot going to cut and run this time. Wedon’t need to hedge our bets, we don’tneed to put up with these guys any longer’and either take control of them or pressthem into the reconciliation process.”

KABULAfp

Taliban bombers attacked a heavily fortifiedguesthouse used by Westerners in Kabul onWednesday, announcing the start of their an-nual “spring offensive” in defiance of callsfrom visiting US President Barack Obama thatthe war was ending.

Seven people were killed after attackers inburqas detonated a suicide car bomb andclashed with guards at the “Green Village”complex of guesthouses used by the EuropeanUnion, the United Nations and aid groups, of-ficials said. The assault raises fresh concernabout the resilience of the insurgency on theanniversary of Osama bin Laden’s death asNATO winds down its combat presence in thenext two years and hands over responsibilityfor security to Afghan forces.

The Taliban said the assault was a riposte toObama, who just hours earlier signed a newpartnership pact in Kabul to govern Afghan-USrelations after 2014 — a deal the insurgents dis-missed as “illegitimate”. Obama flew into Kabulin secret in the dead of night and signed the dealwith President Hamid Karzai, cementing 10years of US aid for Afghanistan after NATO com-bat troops leave in 2014. Most Afghans wereasleep and he left after about six hours. The Tal-iban said Karzai had no right to sign the deal andaccused him of selling Afghan sovereignty to theAmericans. The militants vowed to continuetheir armed struggle “against all the contents ofthis illegitimate document until the full with-drawal of all invading forces and their puppets”— referring to the Karzai government. TheGreen Village assault began around two hoursafter Obama left. Police said suicide attackers

wearing burqas struck at 6:15 am (0145 GMT),detonating a car bomb before clashing withguards. The interior ministry said seven peoplewere killed, including at least six Afghans.

There were three attackers, the ministrysaid, one in the suicide car bomb and two whogot inside the complex. One blew himself upwhile the other was shot dead by securityforces. Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahidtold AFP the attack was a message to Obamato say the militants would continue to fightuntil all foreign forces had left. The militia saidits spring offensive, code-named Al-Farouq,would from Thursday target “foreign invaders,their advisors, their contractors, all those whohelp them militarily and in intelligence”.

The White House said the pact allows pos-sibility of American forces staying behind totrain Afghan forces and pursue the remnants ofAl-Qaeda for 10 years after 2014. The deal wasconcluded just over two weeks before a NATOsummit in Chicago, but it does not cover thecrucial issue of the status of any US troops re-maining in Afghanistan. Instead it commitsWashington to specific troop or funding levelsfor Afghanistan, though is meant to signal thatdespite ending the longest war in US history,Washington intends to ensure Afghanistandoes not revert to a haven for terror groups.

Meanwhile, Pakistan strongly condemnedthe suicide attack in Kabul and said it would notallow anybody to use its territory against anycountry. “Pakistan and Afghanistan face the com-mon threat of terrorism. We are committed towork closely with Afghanistan to eliminate thisscourge,” said a Foreign Office statement said. Itsaid that Pakistan had always maintained thatpromoting peace and stability in Afghanistan re-mains a cornerstone of its foreign policy.

Rangers called in

for the kill in Lyarig Six more killed as clearance operation continues in troubled town g 100 sharpshooters,five more APcs called in for assistance

KARACHIStAff REpoRt

At least six people, including four criminals, were killed during theclearance operation in Lyari on Wednesday, as the government calledin Sindh Rangers to conclude the seemingly unending offensiveagainst gangsters in Karachi’s troubled neighborhood. The death tollhas climbed to 39 on the sixth day of the operation. Talking toPakistan Today, the City Town SP said six people were reportedlykilled on Wednesday. He said all the killings took place in AfshaniGali during an exchange of gunfire between law enforcement agencies(LEAs) and gangsters. He said all of the victims were gangsters.Earlier, LEAs taking part in the operation discussed the futurestrategy and all station house officers of all police stations in Lyaridelved into options to wrap up the operation. After discussions, over100 sharpshooters were called in for deployment on high rise buildingof the town to monitor the activities of criminals. Additionalcontingents of police were deployed in Baghdadi, Kalri, Musa Lane,Naya abad, Kharadar, Lee Market and Agra Taj areas of Lyari andsearch operations across the town. Another five armored vehicleswere provided to LEAs for assistance in the operation. Early onWednesday, residents of Lemon Goth protested against the operationand set PPP flags and an effigy of President Asif Ali Zardari on fire.Some unidentified armed men also torched the house of PPP MPAand Sindh Minister for Katchi Abadis Rafique Engineer at Ath Chowk.The minister and his family were not at home at the time of the attack.Meanwhile, President Asif Ali Zardari took notice of the torching ofhouses by miscreants in Lyari and directed the payment of Rs 10,000to the affected families.

Power tariff increased by12 percent

ISLAMABADAGEnCIES

The federal government has increasedthe power tariff by 12 percent, taking itto Rs 8.72 per unit. According to anotification issued by the Ministry ofWater and Power on Wednesday, thenew power tariff would be effective fromtoday (Thursday), however, consumersusing up to a 100 units will remainbeyond the tariff hike. The ministry hascited increase in the international priceof furnace oil as the key reason for theincrease in power tariff. According tothe notification, per unit price ofelectricity was being increased by Rs1.22 per unit against fuel consumptionfor power generation. During the lastthree years, the government hasincreased the power tariff two-and-halffold. In addition, fuel adjustmentcharges are also being increased everymonth and it would also be pushed upin line with the notification. After theincrease, electricity tariff will reach Rs8.72 from previous Rs 7.84 per unit.Water and Power Secretary ImtiazHussain Qazi said the electricity tariffhad been increased following theincrease in oil prices and the ministrywas also considering raising base tariff.

US-Afghan pact ‘does not rule out drone strikes’g Crocker urges Pakistan to take action against militant safe havens

Taliban hit Kabul, 7dead after obama visit

Zardari holds high-level meetingto mull restoring ties with US

ISLAMABADStAff REpoRt

Pakistan’s civilian and military leadership on Wednesday remained engagedin hectic daylong deliberations to take a final decision on its reengagementwith the United States (US) without any official announcement. A source toldPakistan Today that the discussions were held ahead of President Asif AliZardari’s likely meeting with his US counterpart Barack Obama this month. Ahigh-level meeting was held at Aiwan-e-Sadr with President Asif Ali Zardariand Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani in the chair. Presidential spokesmanFarhatullah Babar said the regional security situation was discussed duringthe meeting. The parley took stock of the Islamabad-Washington relations,besides discussing reopening of NATO supply line in the backdrop of theparliamentary recommendations.

hyDERABAD: A policeman stands outside a branch of the national Bank of pakistan which was bombed by a Sindhi separatist

group on Wednesday. NNI

LHR 03-05-2012_Layout 1 5/3/2012 3:15 AM Page 22