Monday, 3 September, 2012 Shawwal 15, 1433Rs 15.00 Vol iii no 67 24 pages Lahore edition

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rimsha’s accusercleric sent on 14-day remand

sherry rehman says islam and democracy

‘very much’ compatible

shah Mahmood Qureshiflays ppp, pMl-n for their mismanagement

QUETTAAgEnciES/STAff rEporT

Acomplete strike was ob-served across Balochistanon Sunday against the mur-der of nine Shia Hazara citi-zens, while one more person

was shot dead here in yet another inci-dent of targeted killing.

All shops, businesses and marketsremained closed in most districts of theprovince to protest against the murderof nine persons on Saturday.

An atmosphere of mourning andinsecurity prevailed in the province,while heavy contingents of police andother law enforcement agencies keptpatrolling the provincial capital andother parts of Balochistan to thwart anyuntoward incident.

Amid tight security in the provin-cial capital, several demonstrationswere also taken out to protest againstthe barbaric act. Members of the Haz-ara Shia community, holding placardsand banners inscribed with sloganscalling for an end to targeted killings,took out several processions, and de-manded the government to bring theattackers to justice.

The protestors also chanted slo-gans against law enforcement agenciesover their failure to protect the lives ofthe citizens, and inability to arrest thepeople carrying out such attacks. Theyalso criticized the “tall claims” of theprovincial and federal governments ofrestoring writ in Balochistan.

They said that despite the SupremeCourt’s (SC) orders, both the govern-ments were not serious in making ef-

forts to prevent sectarian attacks, andrestore law and order in the restiveprovince. The said the governmentswere merely using delaying tactics andverbal claims, further increasing thesense of insecurity among the people ofprovince. Saadat Hazar, chieftain of theHazara community, appealed to ChiefJustice of Pakistan (CJP) IftikharMuhammad Chaudhry and Chief of theArmy Staff (COAS) General AshfaqParvez Kayani to take notice of thebloodshed of the community. TheBalochistan Shia Conference an-nounced a three-day-mourning in theprovince.

ANOTHER KILLED: Meanwhile,unidentified miscreants shot dead oneperson in Kaley Sardar Bangalazai areaof Sariyab Road. The body was shiftedto hospital for postmortem.

ISLAMABADShAiQ hUSSAin

As the US urges its allies Pakistan andSaudi Arabia to facilitate the resumptionof stalled peace dialogue with the Talibanin Qatar, the Taliban leadership has madeit clear that they would not become partof any fresh negotiations unless and untiltheir five leaders detained by the US atGuantanamo Bay prison were set free.

The demand for freedom of the fiveTaliban leaders is not a new one, as theTaliban had come up with the same con-dition before the last round of talks inDoha between Mullah Omar-led Afghaninsurgents and US officials, which was

also the first formal contact between thetwo parties.

The US had in fact agreed to acceptthat demand and had conveyed to theTaliban that it would hand over the de-tainees to Qatari authorities in return forthe release of Sgt Bowe Bergdahl, who isthe only American soldier known to beheld by the Taliban insurgents. The US,however, later, showed reluctance tohand over the Taliban detainees to Qatar,a move that led to the suspension of peacedialogue with the Taliban in March.

The US is now trying to impress uponPakistan and Saudi Arabia to help itrestart the negotiations with the Talibanto bring lasting peace to Afghanistan and

make the goal of US/NATO exit from thewar-torn country by 2014 achievable.“The Taliban have, however, conveyedafresh to the United States that withoutthe release of their leaders from Guan-tanamo Bay prison, there can’t be anytalks with the US negotiators,” a diplo-matic source said, seeking anonymity. Hesaid any progress on the resumption ofUS and Taliban talks in the near futureseemed unlikely, as the Obama adminis-tration was not in favor of releasing theTaliban before the presidential election inNovember 2012.

“It seems that any talks between the USand Taliban would happen next year andthat too if the Taliban detainees are handed

over to Qatar,” he said. Another, Pakistanidiplomat said it was true that the US hadbeen seeking help of Pakistan and otherfriendly states for the resumption of talkswith the Taliban, but it seemed that Amer-ican efforts were not acceptable to the Tal-iban leaders unless and until the Talibanprisoners were released. He said anotherdevelopment that could cast a negative im-pact on the US efforts to restart negotia-tions with the Taliban was the likelydesignation of ‘Haqqani network’ as a ter-rorist group by US Secretary of State HillaryClinton. The Congress has already set adeadline of September 9 for the purpose.

lG polls in Sindhbefore generalelections: Zardari

KARACHIAgEnciES

President Asif Ali Zardari on Sundaychaired a crucial meeting of senior PPPSindh leadership at Bilawal House Karachi,announcing that local governmentelections would be held in Sindh before thegeneral elections and set up a committeeheaded by Qaim Ali Shah in this regard.Zardari said an ordinance would be issuedfor holding the polls if the need arose. Hesaid reservations of the MQM on localgovernment system would be removed anddisciplinary action would be taken againstparty leaders giving statements againstallied parties. The president took a seriousnotice of statements by some party leadersagainst the MQM and told the partymembers that the same should be avoidedin the future. The president said allconspiracies of the opponents had beenfoiled in the past and would be floiled inthe future as well. Zardari said restoringpeace and order in violence-marredKarachi should be the government’s toppriority and no compromise would bemade on securing the life and property ofthe people. Condemning incidents ofviolence in Karachi, the president saidcriminals involved in disturbing the peaceand stability in Karachi should be tackledwith an iron fist regardless of their politicalaffiliations. The meeting also discussed thecurrent political situation, matters relatingto coalition, local bodies election in Sindh,developmental issues, flood situationbesides law and order of the country’sfinancial capital. Earlier, Sindh ChiefMinister Qaim Ali Shah briefed themeeting on steps being taken to maintainlaw and order in Karachi, includingequipping law enforcement agencies withmodern tools to fight criminals in aneffective manner. The chief minister alsoapprised the president about Saturday’smeeting of the PPP Core committee Sindhwith the MQM leadership. The presidentsaid the PPP ministers, MPs and office-bearers should reach out to the people,especially those in far flung areas of Sindh,for addressing their problems as part of theparty’s preparations for the forthcomingelection. Addressing the meeting,President Zardari said following the partypolicy of reconciliation, the PPP wouldcontest the next election throughtadjustment with allies and give a stunningdefeat to opponents. He also asked thechief minister and provincial governmentto resolve the complaints of flood and rainaffected people on a priority basis.

‘no wickeTsfalling in pTi’LAHORE: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)Information Secretary Shafqat Mahmood onSunday rejected a news item published inPakistan Today on Sunday titled “Wicketsbegin to fall in PTI”. In a press statement,Mahmood said that he had spoken to JamalLeghari, Owais Leghari, Amin Aslam andKhawaja Khan Hoti, and that they denied thereport. “They have denied the story. Thetruth is that no one is leaving the party andall the sources quoted to substantiate this areanonymous. It is also completely untrue thatthe party has been hijacked by technocrats.The PTI is the only national party that is con-ducting real elections within in the months ofSeptember and October. Whatever leader-ship emerges out of this process would beelected by every member of the party andthere would be no nominations. Under thesecircumstances the question of any person orgroup hijacking the party does not arise,” theinformation secretary said. He also deniedthat PTI chief Imran Khan had tried to im-press party colleagues by mentioning his for-mer in laws, the Goldsmiths. “Mr Khan is notthe kind of person who would make suchclaims and attributing such things to himmakes absolutely no sense. Also suggestingthat Mr Shah Mahmood Qureshi or Mr JavedHashmi are feeling sidelined is ridiculous.Mr Hashmi is the president of the party andMr Qureshi is its vice chairman,” he said.Mahmood also rejected that the PTI had anysupport from the establishment. In a mes-sage posted on his facebook account, SardarJamal Leghari also denied the report. “Sar-dar Jamal Leghari and Awais Leghari wouldlike to clarify that they have no intention ofparting ways from PTI,” Leghari posted onfacebook. “Awais Leghari stands in line withthe decisions of PTI and has no aspirationsfor any post in the party. It is pertinent tomention here that he gave up the post of Sen-ior Vice President PML Q to join PTI uncon-ditionally in the struggle against corruptionby the present Federal and provincial gov-ernments. The Leghari brothers took a prin-cipled stand when they opted to join forceswith PTI and they stand by their decision aslong as the PTI will continue to struggleagainst all corrupt elements of political soci-ety,” Leghari added. Staff RepoRt

Balochistan shuts downagainst targeted killingsg one more member of Shia Hazara community shot dead in Quetta

g Us urging pakistan, saudi arabia to convince Taliban for talks g Us administration unlikely to release prisoners before november presidential polls

Taliban sTill noT ready To Talk To Us sans prisoners’ release

Continued on page 04

Continued on page 04

QUETTA: Shops and markets remained closed on Sunday

to observe the strike called by parties affiliated with

Millat-e-Jaffariya, a Shia organization, against the

targeted killing of nine Shia Muslims on Saturday. online

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02News

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Blair, Bush should face trial over iraq war: Tutu listening to complainers is bad for your brain

Monday, 3 September, 2012

WASHINGTONSpEciAl corrESpondEnT

REJECTING stereo-types about Islam,Pakistan’s Ambassa-dor to the UnitedStates Sherry Rehman

on Sunday underscored that theglobally practiced religion anddemocracy were not only compatiblebut also complemented each other.

She was addressing the 49th an-nual convention of the Islamic Societyof North America. The envoy told thegathering of intellectuals and diplo-mats that Pakistan would accomplisha landmark democratic transitionwith the completion of the constitu-tionally mandated term of the demo-cratically elected government.

Islamabad, she said, remainedfirmly committed to safeguardingrights of women and minorities. She

also cited Pakistan’s long tradition ofgiving women high positions of re-sponsibility in the government andprivate sectors.

“The omnipresent misconcep-tion that we must all battle to de-bunk is the belief that Islam and amodern democratic society cannotco-exist,” she remarked.

The ambassador noted that the as-sociation of Muslims with hatred andextremism stemmed from a fear thatIslam was fundamentally incompatiblewith a democratic and modern way oflife. “The political and economic vital-ity of the North American MuslimCommunity demonstrates what wehave always known — that democracyis not only compatible with Islam butis its central tenet.” Islam, she said,stood for equality, unity, tolerance,and rights of people and the global re-ligion allowed peaceful co-existenceof various faiths in the society.

“I come here not to defend Islamfrom the charge that it is incompatiblewith democracy. Rather, I come hereto prove that Islam and democracy areintertwined, always have been as suchand would always will be. Islam is notthe caricature that has been hijackedby extremists, but rather a peace-lov-

ing religion of equality, opportunityand tolerance,” she said while cancel-ing out some misperceptions about thereligion. Islam includes members ofevery race, ethnicity, and nation onevery inhabited continent on earth, shesaid. North America is a living exampleof Islam’s international reach, as wellas its complexity and diversity.

“The ethnic makeup of the commu-nity mirrors the plural nature of Ameri-can society, with believers from across theracial, cultural, and economic spectrum,”she said. “The values at the core of Islamtranscend the superficial differences inskin color, gender, sect, geography, andnationality. Islam is not limited by the ar-tificial boundaries established by wealth,nations, or society,” the ambassador said.She said the US had been a welcominghome to Muslims, and it was a countrywhere Muslims had prospered, flour-ished and had fully integrated at everylevel of society.

Imran blames coward govt

for sectarian killingsPakistan Tehreek-e-Insaafchief Imran Khan on Sundaysaid incidents of targetedkillings were a result of thegovernment’s ineligibilityand cowardice. Addressinga public gathering in Skardu,Imran said he would take onthe “ineligible and corruptgroup of rulers” and takemeasures for theempowerment of people.The PTI chief praised thepeople of Gilgit-Baltistan,saying they were full ofcharacter and their land rich in natural resources. Takkingto reporters in Islamabad later, Imran condemned thekilling of Shia Hazara people in Balochistan and calledthem a planned genocide of the community. He questionedwhy had the leadership and members of criminals not beenidentified and arrested. “This shows a failure of intelligenceboth civil and military, complete helplessness bordering onindifference of the Balochistan government and criminalneglect by the federal government,” he added. “There issuspicion that elements within working on the behest ofthose outside may deliberately be trying to createwidespread sectarian conflict. This is a matter that requiresextreme vigilance of the state,” Imran said. MonitoRinG DeSk

LHC to decide Shahabuddin,

Musa bail applications todayRAWALPINDI: The Rawalpindi bench of the Lahore HighCourt, comprising Justice Khawaja Imtiaz Ahmad andJustice Ibadur Rehman Lodhi, will today (Monday) give itsjudgment on the ad-hoc bail applications by FederalMinister Makhdoom Shahabuddin and MNA Ali MusaGilani, son of former prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, inthe ephedrine quota scam case. LHC Chief Justice Umer AtaBandial had formed the bench for hearing the importantcase. The bench had reserved its judgment on August 29and issued summons to the counsels of the accused andprosecutors in writing for the date. On the other hand, theAnti-Narcotics Force has filed a petition with the RawalpindiBench of the LHC for placing on ECL the names of fourteenaccused in the ephedrine quota case. inp

Four killed in MansehraFour people, including a child and woman, were shot dead byunidentified armed men’s indiscriminate firing in a house inOgi tehsil. According to Geo News, the armed assailants brokeinto a house of Wali Muhammad and opened indiscriminatefiring, killing his father Gul Zaman, wife Hasan Jan, sonMuhammad Atif and 8-year old nephew Umer. MonitoRinG DeSk

5.9 magnitude tremor jolts Sibi

ISLAMABAD: Balochistan’s Sibi district and itssurrounding areas were jolted by earthquake tremors onSunday. According to a private news channel, theMeteorological Department reported that the epicenter ofthe quake in Sibi was 196 kilometers south west ofKhuzdar, while its intensity was recorded at 5.9 on theRichter scale. Residents of the town came out of theirhouses and assembled in open spaces to avoid anyaccident. A child sustained injuries when the boundarywall of a house collapsed due to the quake. app

pti chief to answer questionson Google Hangouton September 6

ISLAMABADnni

Use of technology in Pakistanipolitics is becoming a norm and inline with increasing bandwidthseeping into the informationculture of the society, PakistanTehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) hasorganized a Google Hangout withthe party Chairman Imran Khanhimself on Google Plus. PTI hasinvited all the Pakistanis who gotor can get access to an internetconnection, to speak directly toImran Khan and ask anyquestion(s) live on the hangout onSeptember 6. The party believesthat to bring about genuinepolitical change in Pakistan,Pakistanis must better understandtheir leaders and their politicalpositions,” PTI spokesman said. AllPakistani mainstream politicalparties including Pakistan MuslimLeague-Nawaz (PML-N), Jamat-e-Islami (JI), Pakistan People’s Party(PPP) and Muttahida QaumiMovement (MQM) are very activeon the social media to attractvoters into their folds.

Sherry says Islam and democracy‘very much’ compatible

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03NewseDItorIaLThe plot thickens:

CoMMent

articles on Page 14 - 15

The Rimsha Masih case.

Arif Ansar says;On the NAM Summit: A war of perceptions.

rabia Ahmed says;So how much does your mother cost?: Poverty: it’s a terrible thing.

M J Akbar says;Hauled over coals: PM Singh gets soot on his face.

artS & entertaInMent

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J-lo: i’d have kids with my new toyboy lover casper Smart End of summer to bring volume; all eyes on EcB hafeez sees pakistan win in third odi

Monday, 3 September, 2012

Having fled their homes in the latest waveof religious strife in the country, a few hun-dred Christians have camped in a forest inIslamabad, cut down trees and are using thebranches to build a church. Their ordealbegan when a Christian girl from a poorneighbourhood in Islamabad was accusedby a neighbour of burning pages of theQuran , blasphemy by Pakistani law, thatcan merit capital punshment.

A week after the girl’s arrest, much re-mains in question: her age , 11 to 16 in con-flicting reports; mental condition , Down’ssyndrome has been mentioned; and whatexactly she was burning, there’s little evi-dence that Quranic pages were involved.But as word spread, hundreds of peoplegathered outside her house demanding ac-tion, and on Aug 20 the police arrested thegirl initiating an investigation. Most Chris-

tians in the neighbourhood fled , some 600families according to an interfaith group.Some said that their landlords had evictedthem, while a few have returned. One ofthose who had moved into the forest onSunday, was Sumera Zahid, who was busyfeeding her three children and her par-ents.“We used to come here to collect woodfor fuel so we find it a suitable place forshelter,” she said. “This is nobody’s home,nobody’s land. Let us live here in safety.”

On Monday their pastor, Arif Masih,spoke to them through a frame of branchesthey were lashing together for their church.“We are thankful to the Lord for this land,”he said. Blasphemy is an extremely sensitiveissue in this nation of 190 million peoplewith a 95% Muslim population, and casesoften grab huge attention here and abroad.Crowds have been known to beat or kill sus-

pected blasphemers. Last year two promi-nent politicians who criticised the blas-phemy law were murdered, one by his ownbodyguard. In July, thousands of peopledragged a Pakistani man accused of dese-crating the Quran from a police station, beathim to death and set his body alight. Sovolatile is the issue, that public figures loatheto speak out on the latest episode. The gov-ernment has made little substantive com-ment, and no police protection was evidentat the forest encampment. On Monday theAll Pakistan Ulema Council, an umbrella or-ganisation of Muslim clerics, held a newsconference together with the Pakistan Inter-faith League, the group that reported that600 families had fled, and is now campaign-ing to return them to their homes.

The two groups called for an investiga-tion into whether the girl was wrongly ac-

cused and what role religious extremismhad played. League chairman Sajid Ishaqsaid that the government shuld providecompensation for displaced Christians, aswell as protection. Critics say that blas-phemy laws have been often used invendettas and score-settling. Sensitivitiesare also heightened by Western reactions tosuch incidents, such as the US State Depart-ment statement calling the latest case‘deeply disturbing’. At the news conference,Head of the clerics’ Council, MaulanaTahir-ul-Ashrafi, told the outside world notto interfere, saying that Pakistan would pro-vide justice for the girl and her community.

Meanwhile, Nooran Bashir, who hadfled a few hours after the girl’s arrest, wasback in her home on Monday. “I don’t knowwhether she burned pages of some holybook or not, but we all had to abruptly leave

our homes to save our lives,” she said. Shesaid that one of her sons had come back withher, but her other children were too fright-ened and she had sent them to relatives. Shesaid that Muslims asked the Christians notto worship in their church, and if they did,to refrain from singing. But others were notready to return. About 200 Christians,mostly men, protested in front of the city ad-ministration offices Monday, demandingpermission to stay in the clearing. About an-other 100 people, mostly women and chil-dren, were back at the clearing. “We don’thave a big list of demands,” said one Chris-tian resident, Salim Masih.“We have clearedthis place with our hands, and we have laidthe first foundation of a small church here.Although this is a mere skeleton made oftree branches, this is the holy home of God.This should be respected.” aGencieS

fearfUl chrisTians Make hoMe in jUngle

ISLAMABADonlinE

PAKISTAN Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) ViceChairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi onSunday flayed the PPP and the PML-N

for their mismanaged government, pushing 50percent of the population below poverty line.

Addressing a press conference at the PTImedia office, Qureshi said the nation was suf-fering the hands of the two ruling political par-ties, the PPP and the PML-N, due to badgovernance, defective economic planning, cor-ruption and failure to maintain law and order.“The people of Pakistan will have to vote thePTI into power to save the country,” he said.He gave statistics to show how the country asa whole and Punjab in particular had incurredhuge losses to the exchequer by indulging inuseless projects of Sasti Roti, Danish Schoolsand Rapid Bus Transport System.

“The country is infested by inflation, un-employment, corruption and poverty as a re-sult 50 percent of the population has gonebelow the poverty line,” he added. Qureshisaid the Baloch did not trust the state agencieslike police and the FC anymore “which willhave an adverse impact on federation andweaken it”. On the issue of new provinces, hesaid the people of south Punjab did not trustboth parties. “The PPP is playing this card tohide their poor performance and divert atten-tion from real issues. An example of which isthe parliamentary commission formed to ad-dress the issue is a joke… people in the com-mission are incompetent and do not knowanything about the dynamics, demographicsand ground realities of the south. Hazaraprovince issue was also not taken up in thecommission consisting of inexperienced indi-viduals which shows the lack of will and seri-ousness.” “As far as the PML-N is concerned,it supports new provinces but is not willing tosit and talk. The PML-N, ruling 60 percent ofPunjab, has disappointed the masses by itspoor governance. Punjab had a bigger fiscalspace but didn’t perform as they keep borrow-ing from state bank.” He said the World Bank

gave large amounts for promotion of educa-tion, adding that of those Rs 6 billion waswasted on the laptop scheme which could havebeen spent on rural Punjab “besides Rs 80million were spent on advertisements and per-sonal projection”. Giving a brief analysis ofthe law and order being a provincial subject,Qureshi said there was an overall 21 percentincrease in the crime rate in Punjab, 94.4 per-cent increase in car lifting, 100 percent in-crease in bank robberies, 102 percent increasein robberies, 22 percent increase in rape cases,13 percent increase in kidnappings, and 15percent increase in murder cases.

“At a Danish School an amount of Rs16,000 is spent on a child whereas in a govern-ment school the expense is Rs 1,600. This re-sults in creating a divide amongst the people.The amount spent on Danish schools couldhave been utilized for upgrading 660 primaryschools to middle.” Talking about the healthsector, he said the outbreak of dengue, adulter-ated medicines in PIC and manhandling YDAissue spoke volumes of the failure in the gover-nance of the province. “Both the parties failedmiserably due to inefficiency, corruption andpoor governance,” he said. He said the PTIwould announce its health and education poli-cies in September which would give solid pro-posals for the welfare of the general public.

Qureshi flays PPP,PML-N for theirmismanagementg PtI vice chairman says nation is suffering due to bad governance, defective economicplanning, corruption and failure to maintain law and order by two ruling parties

Militants threatening govtwith terror acts: MalikKARACHI: Interior Minister Rehman Malik on Sunday said militants wererepeatedly threatening the federal government with terror activities in majorcities across the country through their various sources. Talking to reporters aftera meeting with the Rangers DG and FIA director, Malik said the governmenthad made all necessary arrangements to beef up security for giving protection topublic life and property after it received threats of terror activities in Karachi,Lahore, Quetta and other major cities of the country. He said during his meetingwith the heads of the law enforcement agencies, important issues regarding lawand order and steps needed to cope with the situation came under discussion.Malik said attempts were being made to instigate sectarian violence by killinginnocent people and forces which wanted to destabilize the country were behindsuch acts. He was of the view that Afghanistan and Pakistan must work togetherto end terrorism in the region. Malik said the Taliban come to Pakistan fromAfghanistan, and urged Afghan President Hamid Karzai to take effective steps tostop the terrorists from crossing into Pakistan. The interior minister said thealliance of the Pakistan People’s Party and Muttahida Qaumi Movement wasnecessary for maintaining peace in Karachi. inp

Senior newspaperstaffer attacked ‘for watching tV’A senior staff member of a leadingEnglish daily, Zainul Abedin, wasattacked by four men “for watching TVand listening to Qawwalis”. Theincident occurred outside thejournalist’s home in Karachi’s Gulshan-e-Iqbal Block 2 area. The incident hasbeen reported to the police. AccordingZain, four men kicked the gate of hishouse and began hurling abuses at himat around 11pm on August 27. When hewent to the gate to talk to them, theycomplained against his watching TVand listening to Qawwalis and laterbeat him up. They tried to enter thehouse as well but Zain managed toclose the gate in time. The men wentaway hurling abuses and threats,warning Zain against turning on the TVor listening to Qawwalis. It has beenfound that the assailants live close tothe journalist’s house and are knownfor in the area for their preaching ofIslam. They have been identified asRiaz, Fahad, Ohaad, Saad, all brothers,and sons of Mehboob. A complaint waslodged with the Gulshan-e-Iqbal police but no action has been taken so far. MonitoRinG DeSk

Policeman killed,

3 injured in firing

in Lower DirLOWER DIR AgEnciES

A policeman was killed and threeothers sustained critical woundswhen unidentified miscreantsopened fire on a police mobile in thevicinity of Jandol Bazar of LowerDir. According to details, militantsopened fire on the police van while itwas on routine patrol near JandolBazaar. As a result, a policeman waskilled on the spot while three otherssustained critical wounds. Themiscreants managed to flee. Theinjured were shifted to DistrictHeadquarters Hospital Timergarafor medical care. Heavy contingentof police cordoned off the area afterthe attack and launched searchoperations, but have not beensuccessful in arresting the culprits as yet.

BAhAWAlpUr: irrigation department workers place bushes along the

bank of a canal to prevent water erosion. online

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Monday, 3 September, 2012

04 News

British Prime MinisterDavid Cameron, in his forth-coming reshuffle, is expectedto replace Saeeda Warsi witha candidate from the Rightwing of the party, who speaksfor core Tory supporters, aleading British daily reportedon Sunday. Lady Warsi toldThe Daily Telegraph thatwhile the Conservative Partywas “beginning to change”, itstill had more to do tobroaden its appeal if it was towin the next election.

Speaking in Tampa Bay,Florida, where she has beenattending the Republicanconvention, the peer said: “IfI genuinely had a choice, Iwould like to stay doing whatI’m doing. “If you look at thedemographics, at where weneed to be at the next elec-tion, we need more people inthe North voting for us, moreof what they call here ‘bluecollar’ workers and I call thewhite working class. We needmore people from urbanareas voting for us, more peo-ple who are not white andmore women.

“I play that back andthink: ‘I’m a woman, I’m notwhite, I’m from an urbanarea, I’m from the North, I’mworking class – I kind of fitthe bill. All the groups thatwe’re aiming for are groupsthat I’m familiar with.”

Lady Warsi’s interventioncomes as David Cameron andGeorge Osborne, the Chan-cellor, start a series of high-profile policy initiatives as

Parliament returns from thesummer break. A scheme tounderwrite the constructionof tens of thousands of homesis to be unveiled. Ministerswill also publish a consulta-tion paper on how to increaseairport capacity in the SouthEast. The Prime Minister isexpected to spend this week-end putting the final touchesto his first full-scale ministe-rial reshuffle, to be carriedout next week.

Several senior Tories havebeen linked with Lady Warsi’spost, including Grant Shapps,the housing minister, ChrisGrayling, the work minister,and Michael Fallon, the deputychairman of the ConservativeParty.In an unusual interven-tion, Lady Warsi, the first fe-male Muslim Cabinet minister,said she was angry at beingseen as a “tokenistic appoint-ment”. She described how shehas “had to fight for everything,every single day”.In a riposte toher critics, she said: “Do youwant to try to be an Asianwoman and try to do it myway?” Of the reshuffle, she in-dicated that she had consideredother roles in the Cabinet, say-ing: “I’m not exactly cut out tobe secretary of state for Defra[the environment department].

“David [Cameron] knowsme quite well … he’s knownme for a long time now. Heknows my strengths and weak-nesses and that I’m honest. Ibelieve you’ve got to have theright people in the right job.”After meeting delegates on the

floor of the Republican con-vention, Lady Warsi said manywere visibly amazed to see aMuslim woman being intro-duced as the chairperson oftheir sister party. Lady Warsisaid: “If you’d gone back adecade when I first got in-volved in the ConservativeParty, then people would havesaid the party was a challeng-ing environment for someonelike me. The culture is begin-ning to change … now it’s aplace where I am entirely com-fortable.”Lady Warsi, thedaughter of a textile workerwho moved to Britain fromPakistan and went on to builda successful business, said shewas always aware of the un-pleasant suggestions that shewas only appointed because ofher gender and ethnicity. Shesaid: “Some people think I’mthere as a tokenistic appoint-ment. That’s hard to take forsomeone like me who grew upin the environment that I grewup in, who has had to fight foreverything, every single job.”

Lady Warsi’s interview isthe first since she was em-broiled in controversy over herexpenses earlier this year - forwhich she sent the Prime Min-ister a letter of apology. She hasbeen criticised by some MPswho say she does not appearregularly enough on televisionto back the party. She stronglydefends her record as chair-woman. “I’m out in the countrytwo days a week, doing dinnersand door-knocking,” she said. MonitoRinG DeSk

LG polls in Sindhbefore general elections: Zardari

President Zardari urged theministries of Petroleum,Finance and Water and Powerto work in unison and takecoordinated steps to endelectricity and gas loadshedding in the country.Zardari directed he be regularlyupdated about the powersituation, adding that thegovernment accorded highpriority to improving theenergy situation. “Thegovernment can no moreafford persistent loadsheddingas it is adversely impacting thecountry’s economy,” he said.Water and Power MinisterChaudhry Ahmed Mukhtarbriefed the meeting on thepower production situationand measures taken toovercome power shortage inthe country. Mukhtar saidseveral immediate measurestaken by the government hadresulted in reducing the powerdemand and supply gap. Hesaid the power situation wassteadily improving andexpressed the hope that withthe rising water levels inreservoirs, the situation wouldimprove further. The WAPDAchairman also briefed themeeting on various hydelpower projects, including AllaiKhwar-Battagram, JinnahHydropower-Mianwali, GomalZam Dam-South WaziristanAgency, Satpara Dam-Skardu,Duber Khwar-Kohistan,Jabban Hydropower Malakandand Laraib HPP, which have atotal capacity of 487MW.Adviser to PM on PetroleumDr Asim Hussain also briefedthe meeting on the availabilityof gas and fuel for powergeneration. Others present inthe meeting included PirMazharul Haq, MuhammadAyaz Soomro, Agha Siraj KhanDurrani, Syed Murad Ali Shah,Rafique Engineer, Abdul QadirPatel, Rashid Hussain Rabbaniand Law Minister Farook Naik.

Taliban still notready to talk

The Congress set this deadlinein July to prod the Obamaadministration into imposingsanctions on the Haqqaninetwork, which Americanofficials say is the biggest threatto Washington and its alliednations having troops inAfghanistan. “We have nothingto do with the US decision ondesignating Haqqani networkas a terrorist organization and itis purely their own matter, but itwill make it difficult after that tobring the Haqqanis to the tableof negotiations and that wouldalso have a likely impact on theUS talks with Mullah Omar-ledTaliban, as Haqqani network istheir important part,” thediplomat said.

Continued fRoM page 01

Continued fRoM page 01

doUE-lA-fonTAinE: A five-month leopard from Sri lanka, born in the bioparc of the western french city, plays with his mother iris on Sunday. The Srilanka leopard is the largest feline in the island country that shares its name. rare in captivity, it is threatened by the destruction of its habitat. Threeyoung panthera live in the zoo of doue-la-fontaine, ciuttai, cingha and lanka are the children of iris (6 years) and Bonhomme (12 years). afp

ALLARAfp

Like most Palestinian teens,Bashaer Othman goes back toschool this week after a longsummer break. But ratherthan hanging out with friends,this 16-year-old has spent thepast two months serving asmayor of a small town in thenorthern West Bank.

Sitting at a large desk infront of three framed photo-graphs of president MahmudAbbas, prime minister SalamFayyad and veteran national-ist leader Yasser Arafat, Oth-

man smiles as she signs adocument allowing a residentto pay his large water bill ininstallments.

“It’s not about the title,it’s about serving the town,”says the teenager, who wasjust 15 when she took overfrom mayor Sufiyan Shadidon July 2 for a two-monthstint as the top official inAllar, a town of 8,000 resi-dents.

The idea, she says, cameout of a national youth parlia-ment project run by theSharek Youth Forum, whichaims to involve youngsters in

the day-to-day workings ofPalestinian local government.The project has been runningacross the Palestinian territo-ries but Othman was the firstto take on such a high-profilerole, in a move which was“fully supported” by Shadid,she says.

The teenager says sheknew “nothing” about the jobat first but “with the help andcooperation of council mem-bers and the mayor,” shequickly learned. “I come to myoffice every morning at 8amand look over many files, signpapers and meet with council

members. I also have to do alot of field visits to solve ur-gent matters,” she told AFP. “Iwas scared about taking on somuch responsibility, it was abig challenge,” she said, ex-plaining that her position was“not just a formality” and thatshe was given “full powers” asmayor. But she is proud of herrole. “I’m the world’s youngestmayor, it’s incredibly excit-ing,” she says. After six hoursat work, Othman is free to gohome, where she quicklyswitches to a more routineteenage existence — “playingcomputer games”, she grins.

KABULAgEnciES

An enraged pro-Afghan gov-ernment militia commanderand his men on Sunday shotdead at least eight civilians inrevenge for the killing of oneof his men.

The bloody and confusingincident occurred in Kunduzdistrict of Afghanistan onSunday after the militia com-mander, Qadeer, blamed vil-lagers for a Taliban attack,officials said.

Qadeer drove to Kanumvillage outside Kunduz withabout 20 members of hismilitia and killed eight vil-

lagers, the Kunduz provincialgovernor told AFP. “The Tal-iban had killed two men anddumped their bodies inKunum village. One of themwas Qadeer’s man,” Moham-mad Anwar Jegdalek said.

“Qadeer, thinking hisman was killed by the resi-dents of Kunum, went thereand killed eight villagers. Wehave launched a hunt to ar-rest Qadeer.”

Three others including awoman were injured, he said.

An Afghan Interior Min-istry official gave a similar ac-count, but said a total of ninepeople had been wounded.

He said authorities had

sent reinforcements to thearea to maintain order.

Local doctor Taza Gulsaid 10 bodies were broughtto his hospital.

Howver, officials at Kun-duz hospital said 16 bodieshad been brought to the hos-pital.

A local resident also saidthe group commanded byQadeer carried out the attackin retaliation as Taliban in-surgents killed one of his manlate on Saturday night in thearea.

Police sources said sev-eral people were missing afterthe attack and the number ofcasualties could rise.

KARACHIAfTAB chAnnA

After declaring the deserteddistrict Tharparkar calamity-hit, the Sindh government isall set to declare Umerkot dis-trict drought-hit, so that thepeople of these deserted areascould be provided with timelyrelief, it has been learnt.

Moreover, after Umerkot,three other districts, includingMirpurkhas, Badin and Khair-pur would also be declaredcalamity hit, as these areas arefacing drought this season.“Area-weighted monsoonrainfall for August to Septem-ber over upper Punjab, Khy-

ber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan is likely to fall below20 percent of the long-termaverage and below 40 percentover Southern parts of thecountry,” according to a lettermade exclusively availablewith Pakistan Today.

“Also the Drought Moni-tor map of August 16 on PakMets website shows the partsof Tharparkar, Mirpurkhas,Badin and Umerkot districtsin mid-drought condition.Keeping in view the abovefacts, it stands mandatory forthe districts to take immedi-ate measures for pre-droughtpreparedness.” In this regard,PDMA Director (Operations)

Akhlaque A Qureshi has for-warded a letter to the deputycommissioner/District Disas-ter Management Authority(DDMA) chairman, directingauthorities to prepare a de-tailed contingency plan fordrought mitigation. The Mir-purkhas commissioner divi-sion has forwarded a detailedreport to Sindh’s relief de-partment with a request toapproach the chief ministerfor declaring Umerkot districta calamity-hit area, as it hasnot received rains this year.

The report by the Mir-purkhas commissioner hasidentified 25 dehs of talukaUmerkot which are coming in

desert areas and are depend-ents on rain for sowing baranicrops.

It was further informedthat at the end of monsoon,there was no chance of rain inthese desert areas of the dis-trict and due to unavailabilityof timely rains, there was nolikelihood of sowing Kharifcrops in these areas.

It was requested that pro-vision may be made to supplyfree ration and gross to ani-mals along with drinkingwater to all people who choseto stay in their villages, whilethose who migrated tem-porarily may also be sup-ported financially.

Five tribesmen kidnapped

in Kurram agencyPARACHINAR: Fifteen armed militants abducted fivetribesmen at gunpoint from central Kurram Agency on Sunday.According to sources in the political administration of KurramAgency, 15 militants, equipped with automated weapons, enteredSarkhavi Dara area of Zamusht and kidnapped five tribesmen andfled to an undisclosed location. It is feared that the kidnappingincident is a result of personal enmity but families of the abductedtribesmen rejected having any enmity with anyone. aGencieS

PM awards cash prize tomatriculation topperISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf has an-nounced a reward of Rs 500,000 for Revtash Kumar, a poorstudent who secured the top position in matriculation exami-nation. Kumar belongs to a poor family of Rahim Yar Khan.A spokesman for the PM said Kumar wanted to become adoctor but could not afford to continue his education becausehis father, a shoemaker, earned Rs 100-Rs 150 a day.In re-sponse to an appeal made by his father, the PM announced agrant of Rs 500,000 for Kumar, and promised to bear all hiseducational expenses, the spokesman said. aGencieS

Commission on newprovinces to meet todayISLAMABAD: The parliamentary commission on newprovinces will meet at the Parliament House here on Mondayunder the chairmanship of Senator Farhatullah Babar. Thecommission, tasked with recommending proposals on thematter within a period of 30 days, has met twice so far. The lastsession to be held on August 31, was called off due to otherengagements of its constituent members. The PML-N hasrecorded its reservations on the commission and has demandedreconstitution of a national commission on the matter. So farattempts to persuade the PML-N to join the proceedings of thecommission have not been successful. aGencieS

robbers snatch rs 5.1mfrom cattle trader in MultanMULTAN: Armed men snatched Rs 5.1 million from a cattletrader at gun point on Sunday. In reaction to the incident, cattletraders held a protest demonstration by burning tyres andblocking the road for all kinds of traffic for more than twohours. According to details, Amjad Khan, a cattle trader wascommuting to the market for conducting business as usualwhen four armed motorcyclists stopped him at BCG square,snatched Rs5.1 million from him and fled. aGencieS

Saeeda Warsi appeals to Cameronto let her retain Tory chair

Pro-government Afghan militia ‘kills 8 civilians’

Sindh govt decides to declareUmerkot district calamity hit

g Militia commander believed villagers had killed one of hismen g Hospital sources say 16 bodies brought to facility

back to school for palestinian, ‘world’s youngest mayor’

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05

Monday, 3 September, 2012

News

BAhAWAlpUr: Workers of cholistan development department hold a walk on Sunday to raise awareness against dengue fever, as government prepares to combat the

epidemic during the mosquito season. online

HAGUEinp

THE InternationalCourt of Arbitration(ICA) has upheld thestay order for Kis-hanganga hydropower

project being constructed by Indiain the occupied Kashmir.

A two-member team, compris-ing Pakistan’ Indus Water TreatyCommissioner Asif Baig Mirzaand Advisor to the Prime Minister

on Water Resources Kamal Ma-jeedullah, attended the 10-dayproceedings of the ICA in theNetherlands.

While talking to a private TVchannel after returning from theNetherlands, a member of thePakistani team said that the ICAwould announce the verdict of thecontroversial Kishanganga hydro-electricity project case in Decem-ber. He said the head of the ICA,former US chief justice Stephen MSchwebel, had upheld the stay

order which was granted on an ap-peal filed by Pakistan that Indiawas diverting the flow of the riverand violating the Indus WaterTreaty (IWT) between the twocountries.

The counsels representingPakistan, James Crawford, Van LuIe and Simpson Woodsworth, dur-ing their arguments raised objec-tion on the diversion of theKishanganga River nearBandipura in Held Kashmir andinstallation of the gate of power

house at a lower level, and de-manded changes in the design ofthe project.

Pakistan fears that the Kis-hanganga dam would rob it of 15percent water share – a violationof the Indus Water Treaty. Withthe present design, production ofelectricity from Pakistan’sNeelum-Jhelum hydro-electricityproject would be decreased by 30percent and a part of Neelum Val-ley would lose 2,000 cusecs ofwater permanently.

All main riversflowing normally

ISLAMABADApp

The Federal Flood Commission (FFC) onSunday said all main rivers – Indus,Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi and Sutlej – wereflowing at a normal rate. According to thedaily FFC report, reservoir elevationsindicated that Tarbela and Mangla damswere at elevations of 1,540.40 feet and1,182.05 feet respectively, 9.60 feet and59.95 feet below their respective maximumconservation levels. The combined livestorage position of Tarbela, Chashma andMangla reservoirs is 9.597 MAF ascompared to last year’s 11.743 MAF.According to the Flood Forecasting Division(FFD) Lahore, weak seasonal low still layover northern Balochistan. Yesterday’strough of Westerly Wave over North ofAfghanistan today lay over NortheasternAfghanistan and adjoining Pakistan.Monsoon currents were penetrating upperparts of the country up to 3,000 feet.Yesterday’s Low Pressure Area overNorthern Madhya Pradesh (India) hadbecome insignificant, it said. The FFDpredicted scattered thunderstorm and rainwith isolated heavy falls over KhyberPakhtunkhwa, northern and north-eastenPunjab (Rawalpindi, Sargodha, Gujranwalaand Lahore Divisions) and Kashmir,including upper catchments of RiversIndus, Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi and Sutlejduring the next 24 hours.

Pirate Bay co-founderarrested in Cambodia: police

PHNOM PENHAfp

A co-founder of top Swedish filesharing site The Pirate Bay,who is on an international wanted list, has been arrested in theCambodian capital at Stockholm’s request, police said Sunday.Gottfrid Svartholm Warg was handed a one-year prisonsentence by a Swedish court in 2009 for promoting copyrightinfringement but failed to show up to serve his term at the startof this year. He was detained in Phnom Penh on Thursday,Cambodia’s national police spokesman said. “His arrest wasmade at the request of the Swedish government for a crimerelated to information technology,” Kirth Chantharith told AFP.“We don’t have an extradition treaty with Sweden but we’ll lookinto our laws and see how we can handle this case,” he said,adding that Cambodia was awaiting more information anddocuments from the Swedish authorities. The Swedish embassyin Phnom Penh was not immediately available for comment.Founded in 2003, The Pirate Bay, which claims to have morethan 31 million users, makes it possible to skirt copyright feesand share music, film and computer game files using bit torrenttechnology, or peer-to-peer links offered on the site. Warg’sfellow co-founders of the popular site, Fredrik Neij and PeterSunde, as well as key financier Carl Lundstroem all had their12-month sentences reduced to between four and 10 months onappeal in late 2010. They were also ordered to pay a total of 46million kronor ($6.9 million) in damages for copyrightinfringement to the music and movie industry. But Warg didnot attend his appeal hearing and his sentence was upheld,followed by an international warrant for his arrest. During theirtrial, the defendants maintained that file-sharing services canbe used both legally and illegally, and insisted their activitieswere within the law. News that Warg had been picked up bypolice at his riverside apartment on the capital’s main touriststrip spread like wildfire among Phnom Penh’s expatcommunity over the weekend and was eagerly discussed ononline forums. On Khmer440.com, the main website forforeigners living in Cambodia, editor Peter Hogan describedWarg as “a seldom-sighted and reclusive figure” whosepresence in the country had long been an “open secret”.

ICA upholds stay order forcontroversial Kishanganga project

Blair, Bush should face trial over Iraq war: TutuLONDON

Afp

Archbishop Desmond Tutu on Sunday called forBritish former leader Tony Blair and former USpresident George W Bush to face trial in The Haguefor their role in the Iraq war.

The South African peace icon, in an article inThe Observer, accused the pair of lying aboutweapons of mass destruction and said the invasion

left the world more desta-bilized and divided

“than any other con-flict in history”.

Tutu arguedthat differentstandards ap-

peared to applyfor prosecuting

African lead-

e r sthan westerncounterparts,and addedthat the deathtoll duringand after the

Iraq conflictwas sufficient

for Blair andBush to face trial.

“On these grounds alone, in a consistent world,those responsible for this suffering and loss of lifeshould be treading the same path as some of theirAfrican and Asian peers who have been made to an-swer for their actions in The Hague,” Tutu wrote inthe weekly Sunday newspaper.

“But even greater costs have been exactedbeyond the killing fields, in the hardened heartsand minds of members of the human familyacross the world.”

However, Blair responded in a statement sayingthat “this is the same argument we have had manytimes with nothing new to say”. Tutu, a long-stand-ing vocal critic of the Iraq war, had snubbed Blairlast week, pulling out of a South African conferenceon leadership last week because the ex-premier wasattending. The peace icon said he had boycotted theevent in protest at Blair’s “morally indefensible”support of the US-led 2003 Iraq invasion.

The archbishop added on Sunday: “I did notdeem it appropriate to have this discussion.

“As the date drew nearer, I felt an in-creasingly pro-

found sense ofd i s c o m f o r tabout attending

a summit on ‘leader-ship’ with Mr Blair.”

He added: “Leadership and morality are indi-visible. Good leaders are the custodians of moral-ity. The question is not whether Saddam Husseinwas good or bad or how many of his people hemassacred. The point is that Mr Bush and MrBlair should not have allowed themselves to stoopto his immoral level.”

“If it is acceptable for leaders to take drastic ac-tion on the basis of a lie, without an acknowledge-ment or an apology when they are found out, what

should we teach our children?”The Nobel Peace Prize winner also argued that

the 2003 Iraq war to oust Saddam Hussein had cre-ated the backdrop for civil war in Syria, and a po-tential wider Middle East crisis involving Iran.

“The then-leaders of the US and UK fabricatedthe grounds to behave like playground bullies anddrive us further apart,” he wrote. “They have drivenus to the edge of a precipice where we now stand —with the spectre of Syria and Iran before us.”

Blair issued a stern defense on Sunday in re-sponse to the article. “To repeat the old canard thatwe lied about the intelligence is completely wrongas every single independent analysis of the evidencehas shown,” he said.

LHR 03-09-2012_Layout 1 9/3/2012 2:00 AM Page 5

LAHORESTAff rEporT

PUNJAB Chief Minister Shah-baz Sharif has said that anti-dengue campaign has nowbeen transformed into a dy-

namic movement, in which all seg-ments of the society are vigorouslyparticipating. He said that in order tocontrol the deadly disease, the Punjabgovernment, elected representativesand masses have come into the fieldunited to fight dengue and as a resultof collective and well-coordinated ef-forts, dengue virus has been controlledto a large extent. CM said that preven-tive measures with regard to denguevirus have been made part of syllabusof educational institutions and denguerelated questions have also been in-cluded in examinations. He declaredthat the anti-dengue movement wouldbe further animated.

The CM was talking to media rep-resentatives after participating in awalk on Anti-dengue Day at CentralPoint Gulberg. Advisor KhawajaSalman Rafique, Members Nationaland Provincial Assembly, office-bear-ers and workers of Pakistan MuslimLeague-N, Commissioner Lahore Divi-sion and other concerned officers werealso present on the occasion. The ChiefMinister said that with the cooperationof the people, a big anti-dengue volun-teer force has been harnessed. Semi-nars, workshops and walks have beenarranged throughout Punjab, whichhave been attended by Ministers,

Member National and Provincial As-semblies and people hailing from allsegments of the society. He said thatvigorous participation of all segments

of the society has further highlightedthe importance, significance and utilityof anti-dengue day which has createdgreater awareness among the masses

about the virus. He said that by ensur-ing participation of every segment ofsociety in anti-dengue campaign, Pun-jab government has proved that its

stands shoulder to shoulder with thepeople in every hour of trial. He saidthat the anti-dengue movement wouldcontinue on a permanent basis.

Monday, 3 September, 2012

The birth of the anti-dengue movementCM Shahbaz Sharif, children, actors, doctors, politicians, students, teachers all join hands against dengue

LAHORE App

Hundreds of orphan, abandoned andpoor schoolchildren from Model Townand Kot Lakhpat areas staged a walk to

mark the Anti-dengue day on Sunday. Thewalk was organized under the auspices of"Save the Deserving Children", a non-governmental organization (NGO). Par-ticipants of the walk distributed pam-phlets carrying instructions regarding

preventive measures to be adoptedagainst the dengue virus. The walk startedfrom Punjab Model Welfare School,Kausar Colony and concluded at the samevenue after walking along the banks ofSattu Katla drain. Anjuman-e-Shehryan

Kot Lakhpat President Ch. M Maq-boolAhmed, office bearers of ModelFalahi Society and CitizenForum ModelTown, former members of UC-129 andnazims of UC-131, teachers and notablesof the area also participated in the walk.

orphans, special children take part in anti-dengue walk

The biggest denguevirus is sitting inIslamabad, saysHamza Shahbaz

LAHORESTAff rEporT

Pakistan Muslim League-N’s centralleader Hamza Shahbaz has said thatPunjab government has left no stone un-turned in finalising arrangements for theelimination of dengue but the biggestdengue virus is sitting in Islamabad. He was addressing a function at Gov-ernment Secondary Institute for theBlind at Sheranwala Gate in connectionwith Anti-Dengue Day. Advisor to CMon health Kh Salman Rafiq, MPA KiranDar, Special Secretary Education Abdul-lah Khan Sumbal, party workers, teach-ers and students attended the functionin large numbers. Hamza said that allhave to fight against dengue by risingabove all kind of political affinities. Headded that Punjab government is fight-ing against dengue with optimum re-sources in collaboration with media,social organizations, citizens and stu-dents. He stressed upon the participantsto ensure cleanliness and adoption pre-ventive measures for eradication ofdengue virus. Hamza Shahbaz an-nounced installation of two filtrationplants for provision of potable water tothe residents of Sheranwala Gate.

LAHORESTAff rEporT

Muhammad Haneef, 30, a resident ofLahore was declared to be sufferingfrom dengue virus in a local hospitalafter dengue virus was identified in hisblood samples. Haneef visited thehospital complaining of suffering formhigh fever for the last few days. Thetotal number of confirmed patients ofdengue in the city now stands attwenty three. At least ten dengue pa-tients are under treatment in MayoHospital, three each in General andJinnah Hosptials and two are undertreatment in Services Hospital.

Another dengue case detected, toll mounts to 23

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Monday, 3 September, 2012

Lahore

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JISM 2 02:30PM, 08:00PM

SuPer CIneMa SHIrIn FarHaD 11-00aM, 01:00PM, 6PM 8:15PMat royaL PaLM CoCKtaIL 03:15 PMPH: 111-602-602 tHe DarK KnIGHt rISeS 5:00 PM, 11:45 PM

tHe exPenDabLeS 2 11:00 aM, 08:00 PMtotaL reCaLL 01:00 PM, 10:00 PMSaMMy 2 03:15 PM

badr praises Zardari’sresolve to completeIran-Pakistan Gas Pipeline

LAHOREApp

Leader of the House in Senate and Secretary General Pak-istan Peoples Party (PPP) Jehangir Badr has said that Pres-ident Asif Ali Zardari’s resolve for the completion of theIran-Pakistan Gas Pipeline project without giving into for-eign pressures is commendable and in line with the coun-try’s strategic and economic interests. He said that the completion of the project would not onlyeliminate gas shortages from the country but would also actas strong pillar of the diplomatic relations between the twoneighborly Muslim countries. He emphasized the impor-tance of increasing trade between the two countries whichat present equaled merely 1/10th its total potential. He added that the two countries share a common history,traditions, culture and religion. Adding this mixture to eco-nomic feasibility pf trade would beget positive dynamics forthe region. In the short term trade between the two coun-tries can be increased from half a billion to two billion dol-lars. Badr also hinted on matters of currency swap,rationalization of the tariffs discussion on trade policies be-tween the two sides.

Samiul Haq warnsagainst operation in nwa

LAHORESTAff rEporT

Difah-e-Pakistan Council Chairman and JUI-S AmeerSamiul Haq has said that the proposed operation in NorthWaziristan is a conspiracy against the country and urgedthe government and army to resolve internal issues througha process of dialogue.He passed these remarks during a meeting with JUI-S Cen-tral Secretary General Maulana Abdul Rauf Farooq andother party leaders on Sunday. He said that continuingdrone attacks by the United States in Waziristan are a proofof government’s consent and its lack of concern for the livesof the Pakistani people.He added that a meeting of general council of DPC has beensummoned on September 10 in Rawalpindi while an allparty meeting of all the religious parties will be held in thecity the following day.

Punjab spending rs 4b on It LAHORE

App

The Punjab government is set to spend Rs 4 billion in theIT sector during the current fiscal year.The amount will be utilized for the completion of 14 devel-opment schemes of which nine are under completion andfive new projects would initiated soon. A multi-storey Technology Park is already functioning andthe department is developing an IT infrastructure and data-base centre to connect government departments and dis-tricts for better governance through a common gateway.Incubator centers for IT firms to provide training are alsoon the government’s agenda. computerisation of counterterrorism department is forecasted to be completed in2012-2013. Completion of the projects, sources said, willhelp enhance domestic and foreign investment in the ITsector through collaboration of noted firms like Oracle, Mi-crosoft, Intel and IBM.

LAHORESTAff rEporT

CHAIRMAN Federal Pub-lic Service Commission,Justice Rana BhagwanDas attending a meeting

of Inter Public Service Commis-sions hosted by Punjab PublicService Commission (PPSC) saidthat “Impartial and judicious se-lection in government depart-ments can prove helpful in thedevelopment of the country”

He directed all provincial pub-lic service commissions to upholdthe principles of impartiality andtransparency in the process of re-cruitment. He said that all possiblesteps should be taken for modern-izing the process of selection.While discussing the issue of com-puterized domiciles, he said thatthe matter should be dealt at theprovincial level and assistance oflegal experts could also be sought.

Regarding introduction of onlinesystems, he said that all resourcesshould be utilized for the purposeso that modern facilities could bemade available to the people and

unnecessary burden lessened onthe institutions. He added that ver-ification of disabled persons shouldbe conducted by a medical board.

PPSC Chairman Lt Gen Saba-

hat (r) Hussain briefed membersthat the Commission received 3,10,333 applications during 2011 ofwhom a total of 5,643 candidateswere selected and their nameswere sent to the concerned depart-ments which is a record. Secretary(PPSC) Nayyer Iqbal briefed theattendees on the commission’s fiveyears performance record. Hon-ourable members of otherprovinces appreciated the stepstaken by PPSC for making theprocess of selection transparentand impartial.

Balochistan Public Service Com-mission Chairman Ashraf Magsi,Members Federal Public ServiceCommission, Sindh, Azad Jamu andKashmir, Khyber Pakhtunkhawa andHigher Education Department at-tended the meeting. It was decidedthat Khyber Pakhtunkhawa PublicService Commission will host thenext meeting of Inter Public ServiceCommissions.

LAHORESTAff rEporT

A five member delegation of Aus-tralian Senate led by David Johnstonlaid floral wreath at the Mizar-e-Iqbal.Head of the delegation David John-ston said that Allama Iqbal is a poetrelevant to the entire humanity. Mem-bers of the delegation also visited Bad-shahi Mosque where Khateeb of themosque Moulana Abdul KhabeerAzad welcomed them. AustralianHigh Commissioner Peter Heywardwas also present on the occasion. Theysaid that all religions of the world givelessons of peace and brotherhood.

Later, the delegation visited Uni-versity of Veterinary and Animal Sci-ences where Secretary Livestock andVice Chancellor of the University wel-comed them. David Johnston saidthat we have come to Pakistan to fur-ther strengthen the friendship be-tween the two countries. ViceChancellor of UVAS Dr Talat NaseerPasha gave briefed members of thedelegation about the performance ofthe university. He said that universityis providing best educational facilitiesto the students and is assisting farm-ers for breeding animals and enhanc-

ing farm production. He added thatforeign students were also enrolled inUVAS and the university was offeringspecialisations and PhD’s in five dis-ciplines. Dr Hassan, Incharge ofASLP a project started in collabora-tion with Australian government

briefed the delegation on operationalaspects of the project. Secretary Live-stock and Dairy DevelopmentMuhammad Irfan Elahi informed thedelegation that Punjab government ismaking efforts for the welfare of thefarmers and intends to expand this

programme throughout the provinceso that maximum people could bene-fit from it. Representatives of thefarmers expressed their gratitude tothe members of the Australian dele-gation and university managementfor starting ASLP.

110-year-old Kingedward girls’ hostelroof collapses

MONITORING DESK

The roof of one of the rooms of 110-year-old Girls’ Hostel building in King EdwardMedical University collapsed on Sundayinjuring one student, City42 reported.Per details, KEMU girls’ hostel roomnumber 14 roofs’s collapsed due to rainand a student named Samina got badlyinjured. Students said that they havecomplained to the management manytimes but they had not taken any notice.

3 accused nabbedLAHORE: Officials of Punjab highway pa-trol (PHP) arrested three culprits and recov-ered two rifles and four magazines. Theofficials handed over the arrested accused-Matiul Haq, Muhammad Yousaf andShaukat- to local police for further interroga-tion. Meanwhile, PHP officials rescuedthree lost children and handed them over totheir parents. The missing children wereMudassar Ali of Okara, M Zain of Fortabbasand Ali Hussain of Bhakkar. STAff rEporT

Impartial, judicious govt officers’ selectionhelps development: Justice Bhagwan Das

australian senators pay tributeto iqbal, visit Badshahi mosque

LAHORESTAff rEporT

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Vice President Shah MehmoodQureshi has said that Pakistan People's Party (PPP) led rulingfederal government is not abiding by court orders and is notsincere in writing to Swiss authorities for the reopening of graftcases against President Asif Ali Zardari. Addressing a press con-ference here on Sunday, Qureshi said that time was being ac-quired from the Supreme Court just for the government tocomplete its tenure.

“It shows insincere behavior of the PeoplesParty leadership,” said Qureshi during a pressconference in Lahore. He claimed that PML-Nhad lost its popularity, adding that the issue ofnew provinces was being used for politicking.

MONITORING DESK

A man died due to electrocution while workingin Metro Bus Rapid Service at Bhatti Gate onSunday, City42 reported.

According to the channel, 32 year-old-

worker named Zubair Ahmed, resident ofRahim Yar Khan, was working for Metro BusService at Bhatti Gate when he got electrocutedon late Sunday night.

Rescue teams took him to the Mayo Hospi-tal where he lost his life.

bus rapid service laborer electrocuted

ppp not sincere in writingthe letter: Shah Mehmood

LHR 03-09-2012_Layout 1 9/3/2012 2:01 AM Page 7

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260CtueSDay weDneSDay tHurSDay33°C I 26°C 32°C I 26°C 31°C I 26°C

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PunJab unIVerSIty 99231257KInnaIrD CoLLeGe 99203781-4queen Mary CoLLeGe 36362942GoVt. CoLLeGe unIVerSIty 111-000-010uMt 35212801-10LuMS 35608000uet 36288666LCwu 99203072SuPerIor CoLLeGe 111-000-078

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08

Monday, 3 September, 2012

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

100 GHAZALS OF MAULANA RUMI

Hast-o-neest Centre for traditional art & Culture

Invites you to its Monthly Saturday Sitting with

Janab ahmed Javed Sahib

(Director, Iqbal academy Pakistan)

on 100 Ghazals of Maulana rumi

3:30 to 5:00 pm, Last Saturday of every month

Date: MarCH 31 to DeCeMber 29, 2012 Venue: HaSt-o-neeSt Centre, LaHore

this exhibition will showcase the best ofPakistan’s Gems & Jewellery productshighlighting both traditional andcontemporary class.

Date: SePt 14 - 16- Venue: PearL ContInentaL HoteL

3RD INTERNATIONAL GEMS & JEWELLERY EXHIBITION

Lahore

LAHOREAgEnciES

p OOR implementation of environmen-tal laws and regulations cost the coun-try Rs 1 billion daily as threats offurther deterioration loom large amid

a rising population, depleting resources andglobal warming. The country is vulnerable tofrequent natural disasters in the form ofdroughts, floods and earthquakes which costthe country additional losses amounting tobillions. Fifty percent of the total solid wastegenerated (almost 25,000 ton) remains uncol-lected. When disposed improperly, thesewastes choke sewage lines and decays in openair contributing to respiratory and skin dis-eases. According to studies, millions of Pak-istanis do not have access to clean drinkingwater and sanitation facilities while defor-estation is rampant. The air quality monitor-ing system installed across the country half adecade ago has been closed down and cleandrinking water project for all has died its owndeath.

Unruly growth of urban settlements andill planned development projects play havocwith natural ecosystems as projects are exe-cuted without conducting proper Environ-mental Impact Assessment (EIA) and thistrend continues to deteriorate the environ-ment resulting in loss of resources and biodi-versity. All these impacts, the World Bank hasreckoned, are costing national kitty Rs 365billion annually. This is six percent of theGDP and such a huge loss to an already crisisstricken economy can be lethal, if things arenot improved and EIA mechanism is not

strengthened. "EIA is a key to progress. Itsimplementation ensures sustainable develop-ment and minimizes pressure on nationalkitty," Director General Pak-EPA Asif ShujaKhan said. He stressed upon adopting EIAand Strategic Environmental Assessment(SEA) tools on a permanent basis as he be-lieved that skipping some projects or conduct-ing EIA of selective projects hamper’s theefforts to protect environment and curtaileconomic losses. “We in the capital try to en-sure EIA for every project. However, morework is needed to be done at the provinciallevel, he remarked.

As both the government and internationalexperts believe that all development projectsmust be environment friendly, therefore, acountrywide National Impact AssessmentProgram has been initiated. Planning Com-mission and Ministry of Climate Change areexecuting this program through IUCN andEnvironmental Protection Agencies. Nether-lands Commission for Environmental Assess-ment is providing technical support, whereas,the program is being funded by the Embassyof the Kingdom of the Netherlands. NationalProgram Manager Mr. Ahmad Saeed saidNIAP is aimed at sustainable economicgrowth and based on two important tools; En-vironmental Impact Assessment and StrategicEnvironmental Assessment (SEA).Both thetools aim to integrate environmental consid-erations into decision making, he said and ex-plained, EIA is applied at individual projectsand SEA comes into play during the develop-ment of plans and policies. SEA also refers toa range of analytical and participatory ap-proaches aimed to integrate environmental

considerations into policy plans and programsand evaluates the inter linkages with eco-nomic and social considerations, he added.

In Pakistan EIA was made statutory in1983 and Pakistan Environmental ProtectionAct of 1997 and its EIA regulations issued in2000 specify processes and procedures forconducting EIA. But, its proper implementa-tion has remained an unfulfilled dream. SEAis a new concept for Pakistan and is not sup-ported by legislation. Even most of media per-sons and those responsible for raisingawareness are least conversant with this im-portant tool and seldom write about or high-light it.

Experts believe that introduction of SEAin development planning in Pakistan willmake the planning process more inclusive,minimize contradictions between policies,plans and programs, strengthen inter-sectorcooperation and coordination, decrease thepressure on project-level EIA and ensure thatplanning is economically viable, environmen-tally sustainable and cost-effective in the longrun.

In view of deteriorating environmentalconditions and rising losses, it is imperativeto put in place a legal and technical mecha-nism for effective implementation of EIA andSEA.

Implementation institutions and requisiteinfrastructure are partially in place but theirfunctioning needs to be streamlined andstrengthened. Therefore, it is important to en-hance capacity of institutions and promotepolitical commitment as well as raisingawareness among common people and thestakeholders.

environment degradationcosting country rs 1 billion daily g Poor implementation of environmental laws has made the country seriously vulnerableto flood, draughts and earthquakes g unruly urban settlements, pollution, deforestation justthe tip of the iceberg

LHR 03-09-2012_Layout 1 9/3/2012 2:01 AM Page 8

09Foreign News

gEnErAl MAcArThUr: A resident walks past a damaged home after a 7.6 magnitude earthquake on August 31 hit the town of

general MacArthur, eastern Samar province, in the central philippines on Sunday. afp

bombs rock Damascus

as envoy says change

‘unavoidable’

DAMASCUSAfp

Twin bombs exploded near a tightlyguarded government compound in theheart of Damascus on Sunday, statemedia said, as new international peaceenvoy Lakhdar Brahimi said change was“unavoidable.”Speaking to satellite news channel Al-Jazeera as he took over as UN-ArabLeague envoy from former UN chief KofiAnnan, Brahimi carefully refrained,however, from publicly calling as hispredecessor had for President Bashar al-Assad to step down.Four people were wounded in the twinbombings which struck in the AbuRemmaneh district where severalsecurity service buildings and the officeof Vice President Faruq al-Shara arelocated, state television said.The attack, which state media blamedon “terrorists” -- the government’sstandard term for rebels fighting to endAssad’s rule -- came a day after abombing killed 15 people in a southernsuburb of Damascus. They were amongat least 168 people killed on Saturday --110 civilians, 32 soldiers and 26 rebels,the Syrian Observatory for HumanRights said.

Hamas announces

cabinet reshuffle

in Gaza

GAZA CITYAfp

Ismail Haniya, head of the Hamasgovernment in Gaza, announced acabinet reshuffle on Sunday, appointingseven new ministers including a newfinance minister.Haniya said the reshuffle was “normalprocedure after nearly six years of workby some ministers and in order toachieve specific goals for the currentperiod.” And he said the new cabinetwas partly a reaction to the changinglandscape of the Middle East in thewake of uprisings in Tunisia, Libya,Egypt and other Arab countries.“This shuffle will give us an opportunityto deal with these changes,” he said.The reshuffle was approved by Gaza-based Hamas MPs from the PalestinianLegislative Council (PLC) or parliament,which comprises legislators from acrossthe Palestinian territories.The Hamas-dominated parliament cameinto being in 2006 after the Islamistgroup won a crushing electoral victory,but it has been largely largely non-functional since then.

thousands join

funeral of long-time

ethiopia leader Meles

ADDIS ABABAAfp

Tens of thousands of Ethiopians andmany African leaders mourned latestrongman Meles Zenawi on Sunday atthe first state funeral for a leader of theHorn of Africa nation in over 80 years.Followed by giant crowds, Meles’s flag-draped coffin was carried on a carriagethrough the capital from the NationalPalace to the vast Meskel Square, hisfamily dressed in black followingbehind, many in tears.The long-serving prime minister, whodied last month aged 57, was hailed asan African hero and was a key Westernally in a region home to Al-Qaeda-linkedgroups, but also criticised by rightsgroups for a crackdown on basicfreedoms. “The late prime minister wasworking not only for the renaissance ofEthiopia, but also for the renaissance forall of Africa,” deputy Prime MinisterHailemariam Desalegn said in a speechafter prayers at Meskel square.Hailemariam, who will lead thegovernment until national elections in2015, sat behind the coffin, which wasplaced on a stage above the huge crowd inthe square. Thousands of soldiers stoodguard as the ceremony progressed, someof them crying, before the funeral cortegemoved to the capital’s Holy TrinityCathedral, where Meles will be buried.Presidents of all Ethiopia’s neighbours -- with the exception of arch-foe Eritrea-- attended the ceremony. South AfricanPresident Jacob Zuma said Africa had“lost one of the greatest sons of thecontinent”, while Paul Kagame ofRwanda said Meles had “led a humbleand simple life, but very meaningful one”. Meles died in a Brussels hospital onAugust 20 after a protracted illness. Hehad not been seen in public for twomonths, spurring rumours about hishealth. The former rebel turned regionalstrongman took power in 1991 aftertoppling dictator Mengistu Hailemariam,remaining at the helm of Ethiopia -- arelatively stable country in the volatileHorn of Africa region -- until his death.

China’s defense

minister visits India

NEW DELHIAfp

Chinese Defense Minister LiangGuanglie was due to start a four-dayvisit to India on Sunday with concernsover competing influence across SouthAsia likely to be high on the agenda.General Liang was expected to arrive inMumbai from Sri Lanka, and wouldhold talks with his counterpart A.K.Antony in New Delhi on Wednesday, theTimes of India newspaper reported.The visit is the first by a Chinese defenseminister in eight years, and comes amidIndia’s fears about Chinese activity innations such as Sri Lanka andBangladesh that India sees as within itssphere of influence. Indian governmentofficials confirmed Liang’s trip butdeclined to give further details.

Cameron vows to

revive british economy

LONDONAfp

British Prime Minister David Cameronvowed Sunday to “cut through thedither” and breathe new life into thenation’s recession-mired economy witha series of new initiatives.With lawmakers returning to parliamenton Monday after their summer break,Cameron also pledged that he wouldcontinue cutting debt amid the ongoingeurozone sovereign debt crisis.“We will return (to parliament) thisweek with new goverenment bills foreconomic development,” he wrote in theMail on Sunday newspaper. Britain remains mired in recession amidpainful state austerity cuts and ongoingfallout from the debt crisis in theeurozone, a key trading partner.

SEOULAfp

NORTH Korea’s ceremo-nial head of state hasvowed to strengthenties with Iran and reaf-firmed a shared hostil-

ity towards the United States during ameeting with Iran’s leader, state mediasaid on Sunday.

Kim Young-Nam, attending a sum-mit of the Non-Aligned Movement inTehran, met Mahmoud Ahmadinejadon Saturday to clarify Pyongyang’s“firm stand” to boost ties with Iran, theNorth’s KCNA said.

Kim stressed the need for more bi-lateral exchanges among high-leveldelegations as well as to boost eco-nomic and diplomatic ties during thetalks that took place in a “friendly at-

mosphere”, it added.The Iranian authorities said boost-

ing bilateral relations would be benefi-cial to both nations, praising theNorth’s “steadfast anti-imperialist,anti-US stand”, KCNA said.

“At the talks both sides exchangedviews on... strengthening cooperationon the joint anti-imperialist, anti-USfront and in the non-aligned move-ment,” it said.

Kim Young-Nam also met Iranianparliament speaker Ali Larijani on Sat-urday and expressed Pyongyang’s sup-port for Iran’s drive for “peacefulnuclear energy”, the Fars news agencysaid.

North Korea and Iran are both sub-ject to international sanctions overtheir nuclear activities and their gov-ernments share a deep hostility to-wards the United States.

During Kim’s latest trip to Iran, thetwo countries also signed an agreementto cooperate on science, technologyand education, KCNA said.

Kim Young-Nam acts as head ofstate because the country’s late found-ing leader Kim Il-Sung has been de-clared “eternal president”. Theimpoverished but nuclear-armedNorth is led by Kim Il-Sung’s grandsonKim Jong-Un.

An Iranian delegation visitedNorth Korea in July for talks and thetwo sides put forward a “commonfront against imperialism and hege-mony”, the North’s state media saidearlier.

In May 2011 a UN sanctions reportsaid the two countries were suspectedof sharing banned ballistic missiletechnology, a charge denied byTehran.

N Korea, Iran lookto boost cooperation

MIGRONAfp

The residents of Migron, the largestand oldest Israeli settlement out-post in the West Bank, evacuatedthe site voluntarily on Sundayahead of a court-ordered deadline,police told AFP.

The outpost in the occupiedWest Bank, built without Israelistate permission, is on privatePalestinian land and in August 2011Israel’s Supreme Court orderedthat it be cleared.

The evacuation has been re-peatedly delayed in the face offierce settler opposition, but lastweek the court said the 50 familiesresident in the outpost had to beout by the end of Tuesday.

“All the families are gone,” po-lice spokeswoman Luba Samri toldAFP, noting that most left on theirown while some passively resistedand were removed by police forces.“Everything is quiet here.”

Most families left for temporaryhousing in the nearby settlement ofOfra, where they will be houseduntil homes in a new settlement

being built for them, GivatHayekev, are ready.

A handful of mostly women andchildren were seen leaving theirhomes early on Sunday, althoughnone appeared to be taking luggagewith them, an AFP correspondentreported.

Graffiti and signs on theirhomes sounded defiant tones. “Mi-gron, we shall return,” and “We willnever forget Zionism,” slogansread.

But the outpost’s residentswere largely silent, trying to avoidbeing questioned or photographedby the media scrum.

The Israeli military said imple-mentation of the court order beganovernight.

“Several families began leavingMigron voluntarily during thenight,” a spokeswoman said.

Early on Sunday, officialsbegan distributing the evacuationorders to the families, with scoresof police officers on hand to pre-vent unrest.

In anticipation of police at-tempts to forcibly move the fami-lies, around 70 young settler

activists, who do not live in Migron,took over a caravan at the site andbarricaded themselves in, whileothers could be seen on the roof.

Samri said the youths wereeventually removed from the site,and police arrested eight of them.

Last week, the Supreme Courtsaid Migron must be cleared of allresidents by September 4 and allthe buildings removed by Septem-ber 11, after rejecting an appeal by17 families who argued that theyhad legally purchased the landwhere their homes stood.

Settlement watchdog PeaceNow welcomed the ruling as a “vic-tory for the state of law,” but thesettlers described it as a “brutalrape.”

Israel outlaws settlement out-posts being built without govern-ment approval and often sendssecurity personnel to demolishthem. They usually consist of littlemore than a few trailers.

The international communityconsiders all settlements built inthe occupied West Bank -- includ-ing annexed Arab east Jerusalem -- to be illegal.

Jewish settlers leave West Bank outpost

Migron: israeli policemen evacuate settlers

from the roof of a caravan in the settlement

in the West Bank on Sunday. afp

Monday, 3 September, 2012

LHR 03-09-2012_Layout 1 9/3/2012 2:01 AM Page 9

The five-day Non-Aligned Movement(NAM) summit was held from August26-31 in Tehran, hosted by MahmoudAhmadinejad as Iran assumed 3-yearpresidency of NAM. The 16th get-to-

gether was attended by more than 50 heads ofstates, including Indian Prime Minister Manmo-han Singh, President Zardari of Pakistan, andPresident Mohammad Morsi of Egypt, alongwith the United Nations Secretary General BanKi-moon. Senior representatives of China andRussia were also in attendance.

The proceedings of the conference receivedextensive media coverage and there were severalreasons for that. Firstly, the mere fact that themeeting was being held in Iran was significant, asthe West is trying hard to isolate the country usingdiplomacy, sanctions and covert operations. Israeland the US extended direct pressure on Ban Ki-Moon to not attend; according to them his pres-ence at the summit conveyed the wrong message.

Secondly, Iran is a lynchpin to the Syrian cri-sis due to closeness to the Syrian regime and in-fluence over Hezbollah and Hamas. Thirdly, thesummit was the first visit of the Egyptian Presi-dent to Iran. Since Morsi came to power, West-ern and Gulf quarters are worried about how theforeign policy of the country will change on Syriaand the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Both theseconflicts will be greatly influenced by the direc-tion of Egypt’s ties with Iran.

It is for these critical reasons the Westernmedia and Iran were hard at work to shape theperceptions on the NAM Summit. The foreignpolicy journals in US debated if the Americansshould take the NAM conference seriously ornot. While the West was attempting to exploitthe differences that emerged at the meeting todemonstrate disunity, Iran, on the other hand,was striving to project NAM support and solidar-ity for its positions. At the opening ceremony,Iranian Foreign Minister Salehi commented,

“The non-aligned (movement) must seri-ously oppose ... unilateral economic sanctionswhich have been enacted by certain countriesagainst non-aligned countries.”

On the other hand, India, Pakistan andAfghanistan used the conference not only to

present their views on these crises but to alsoraise other matters of concern.

For example, Pakistan emphasized how theIranian crisis can lead the already tinder region,towards wider instability. Addressing a debate on‘Lasting Peace through Global Governance’ aheadof the Non-Aligned Movement summit, HinaRabbani Khar commented that the Iranian nu-clear issue will set off instability in the broader re-gion. She called for dealing with the issue usinginstruments of dialogue and diplomacy usingNAM principles of peaceful coexistence, respectfor human rights and territorial integrity. On theother hand, President Zardari supported the prin-ciples of non-intervention and interference in theinternal affairs of a state and expressed a desirefor an immediate end to the conflict in Syria.

Khar used the NAM platform to raise concernsover the drone strikes. In an interview to Press TVof Iran she stated: “You see Pakistan’s position isclear today and has been clear in the past. Our po-sition is that this is [drone strikes] somethingwhich is counter-productive. It is unlawful. It is il-legal, and therefore they must cease. This is whatthe parliament of Pakistan has clearly said.”

Moreover, Pakistan stressed on collective ef-forts to deal with scarcity of energy and water.When Zardari and Ahmedinejad met on the side-lines of the summit, they reviewed enhanced en-ergy and trade cooperation between the twocountries. This is despite US pressure on Pakistanto curtail its ties with Iran. The review covered theIP gas pipeline project, the Taftan-Quetta powertransmission line, the Gwadar power supply proj-ect, the construction of Noshki-Dalbandin part ofQuetta-Taftan Highway and upgrading of theQuetta-Taftan railway track.

In an approach similar to the one Pakistanhas adopted with India, the two leaders discussedways to ease issuing of visas and opening of thenew border posts, Mand-Pishin and Gabd-Rim-dan. These posts will link Karachi and Gawadarwith Chah Bahar and Bandar Abbas using thecoastal highway. Moreover, the two sides report-edly also made progress towards establishing airlinks between Islamabad and Tehran, and Pe-shawar, Quetta, and Gilgit with Mashhad.

Being a founding member of NAM, Indian

position on Syria was not much different than theone articulated by Pakistan. Indian PM Manmo-han Singh took a more cautioned line expressingsupport for democratic and pluralistic order inSyria while warning against external interventionthat can make humanitarian crisis worse.

Before the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM)summit, India, Iran and Afghanistan held an im-portant trilateral meeting on August 26 andagreed to set up a joint working group to stimu-late trade and transit via the Iranian port ofChah Bahar. Some media reports projected thatIndia has long wanted to develop the port as analternative route to Afghanistan, bypassing Pak-istan. However, the mere fact that Iran and Pak-istan also discussed linking with the Chah Baharport, negates this perception.

Speaking at the summit, President Karzaipointed out to terrorism as a major challenge inachieving regional cooperation. He emphasizeddefeating extremism requires regional and inter-national cooperation. The Indian prime ministerechoed a similar sentiment when he met Presi-dent Zardari and conditioned his trip to Pakistanon speedy efforts against Indian centered terror-ism, demonstrated by speedy conclusion of theMumbai attack trial.

To ally regional concerns that have emergedas a result of strategic pacts that Afghanistan hassigned with the US and other NATO countries,Karzai commented that these agreements do notdiminish the Afghan commitment to NAM.

In short, the NAM conference exposed the re-gional concerns on the fast flux underway in theMiddle East, in which the role of Iran is pivotal.The mere attendance of the head of states of India,Pakistan and Afghanistan reflects on the delicatebalancing act these nations are playing. Clearly, re-gional ambitions are colliding with global tussles,and these countries do not want to blindly followwestern dictates at the cost of regional instability.Meanwhile, Pakistan is moving fast forward to di-versify its trade and energy ties with Iran. As itdoes, the sectarian clashes are intensifying.

The writer is the chief analyst for PoliTact(www.PoliTact.com and http:twitter.com/politact)and can be reached at aansar@politact.com

Comment10

on the naM SummitA war of perceptions

poliTactBy Arif Ansar

Arif NizamiEditor

Lahore – Ph: 042-36298305-10 Fax: 042-36298302Karachi – Ph: 021-35381208-9 Fax: 021-35381208Islamabad – 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

The rimsha Masih case

the plot thickens

The tables have turned in the RimshaMasih case. A couple of days ago, prayerleader Khalid Jadoon was baying for astern punishment for the girl. Now, he

stands accused of blasphemy himself. There aretwo ways of going about the whole thing. One, theliberals can be their petty, insulated, cyclopticselves and relish the poetic justice of the wholesituation. Another is for them to try helping toactually rectify the system by using the instance tolend perspective to the nation’s clergy.

In Jadoon’s case, all that was sufficient toarrest him was the word of a witness who allegedthat he added some burnt pages of the Qur’an tothe ones Rimsha supposedly had to strengthen theblasphemy charge. And, if enough people believethis, he stands the risk of being killed before thecourt of law pronounces a judgment on the issue.

This incident should show even the far rightthat no one is safe from clunkily drafted, easilymisused laws. Not even the self-appointedguardians of the faith. Not even those who are thefirst to wield the pitchforks.

There needs to be a blasphemy law. No one hasthe right to do anything that is offensive to ourIslamic faith. This might seem like a violation offree-speech to someone reading this in the west butthe prohibited areas of hate speech even in the westare somewhat arbitrarily set. All countries have theright to declare sacrosanct what is sacred to them; ifthis seems obscurantist to the west, then so be it.

But the existing laws in Pakistan – man-madelaws, these – can be changed. They should besubject to debate without those proposingamendments being scared of retribution for evensuggesting a change.

Rights activists are making much of the factthat Rimsha Masih is a mentally challengedminor. And, yes, this is a glaring case. But weneed to ensure that the laws are not misused evenin the case of sound-minded adults. That theblasphemy laws should not become the recoursefor those who want to settle absolutely unrelateddisputes, in this case, allegedly, the desire to evictthe Christian residents from the area.

The love of the Qur’an should be pure. Weshould not let petty hatred sully it. That would beblasphemous.

Monday, 3 September, 2012

Some people will sell anythingif it isn’t bolted to the floor,even their mother, and it

looks as though a certain haplessmother in Hafizabad wasn’t boltedto the floor, because two of hersons sold her, for a mere Rs30,000just recently.

It’s a lowering thought. You’dthink a lady would fetch a higherprice than that. After all, what canyou do with a paltry thirty thousandthese days? A cook, a decent one,doesn’t come for less than eight ornine thousand a month, generallymore. So given that Pakistani malesaren’t about to do any cooking in ahurry, the motherless duo wouldhave to employ a cook, which isthirty thousand gone in threemonths or so, and no more motherto sell. They’d also have to sendtheir laundry out, which isn’tcheap, so that’s thirty thousandgone in less than three months.Plus the shopping, the mending…nope, they’ll go for the marriage op-tion, which should cost them sev-eral times that sum, and serve themright too, but that is another story.

Selling mom wasn’t a good bargainwhichever way you look at it. Nowonder Pakistan is where it is. Itsmen have no head for business.

Deals such as these are not un-common in Pakistan, particularly inthe remote (and not-so-remote)areas of the country. Illiterate anddowntrodden, women there are far,far away from a world where theirsisters agonize over which major tochoose, biology, engineering, or thelaw. Their choices tend to hoveraround the highest bidder mark.It’s either that or stay at ‘home’ andbe hounded to death by a draconiansister/daughter-in-law or two, butthat, like above, is another story.

In this hapless lady’s case, shewas sold to a man who kept her tiedfor three days, during which timehe raped and tortured her beforeshe escaped. Staying at home withsons who were always sizing up hermarket value couldn’t have beenmuch better. The other choice ofcourse was to move out and sup-port herself, but by doing what?Women’s literacy or the lack of it isa major issue in this country. With-

out the ability to support herself, awoman will always be at the mercyof men who take advantage of her.Word Bank figures place Pakistan’sfemale literacy rate at an appalling42 percent, and the ratio of basi-cally literate females to males (inthe 15-24 group) at 74.85 percent.

The going rate for the prettier,taller girls of nomadic tribes is saidto be rather higher than 30,000.They’re apparently quite chuffedthe higher it is, and it is often up-wards of Rs 300,000 (or else ahundred sheep).

I can honestly not rememberthe last time I evaluated my worth

against a single, much less a hun-dred sheep, and I hope my hus-band never did either, but thatsounds like quite a smart exchange,much better than being exchangedfor a cow, anyway. I just checked,and three hundred thousand isequivalent to only about four fullygrown cows; a heifer on the otherhand would cost about what momdid, around thirty to forty thou-sand, but that would be with a lifetime of fecundity ahead of thecow/heifer. Mom, unfortunately,had outlived her use-by date withnine sons and daughters to hercredit…or discredit, as far as the

two who sold her are concerned.I’d just like to stop at this point,

and ask the mother of nine a ratherdelicate question: ‘Ma’am, youaren’t Catholic by any chance, areyou?’ But come to think of it, eventhe Pope has conceded a pointthere (although only just recently,and quite grudgingly) and con-ferred his pontifical blessings oncertain prophylactics, outstrippingour mullahs by a score of a few mil-lion in that respect (going by thenumber of souls saved a life of mis-ery in the process)…Gloria in ex-celsis Deo! Of course womenhereabouts don’t have a choice,which is the real problem. Inter-viewing some young people a fewmonths ago, I discovered that al-most to a man (or woman, in theircase) none of them had less thansix to seven siblings.

What choice do people in suchfamilies have except to sell theirmothers?

The writer is a freelancecolumnist. Read more by her athttp://rabia-ahmed.blogspot.com/

poverty: it’s a terrible thing

So how much does your mother cost?By Rabia Ahmed

i can honestly not remember the last time i

evaluated my worth against a single, much less

a hundred sheep, and i hope my husband never

did either, but that sounds like quite a smart

exchange, much better than being exchanged

for a cow, anyway.

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Comment 11

Monday, 3 September, 2012

SbP’s hiring; but not youSome two weeks back, an advertisement from State

Bank of Pakistan was published in the leadingnewspapers regarding job opportunities at SBP at OG-3level (one level higher than the normal induction point).The advertisement made me happy as I was looking fora job at this esteemed organization. But when Icontacted a senior economist at the SBP, my excitementand happiness turned sour as I was told that there wasno need to apply for these posts and waste precioustime, as the concerned head of the department hadalready chosen the candidates he wants to recruit.

The senior economist also briefly explained to methe performance evaluation and promotion systems ofthe SBP. In addition, he told me that theaforementioned advertisement of SBP seems to bemala fide, as the same posts were advertisedinternally and more than 20 officers were shortlistedfor the interview. Those twenty includes some officerswith an incredible track record at SBP, 3 of those withtwo outstanding reports in last 4 years and one withall outstanding reports in last 4 years. Surprisinglymost of the officers interviewed were already workingon similar portfolios for several years. Butunfortunately, Chief Economic Advisor (PD)communicated the HR department that none of theseofficers is suitable to work on inflation, automobilesand energy sectors. Interestingly, CEA (PD) was alsothe chairman of the interview panel for the internalcandidates and the panel gave more than 80 percentmarks to one of the candidates. But as the CEA (PD)had already decided that he will accommodate someof his close allies, currently working on contracts atSBP against these posts, so he simply wrote a line “notsuitable for this post” for every internal individual.My belief that the process for aforementionedpositions is mala fide becomes even stronger once Icame to know that it was the CEA (PD) who broughtthose contractual employees back in 2010 and 2011with following any standard criteria for hiring at SBP.

It is the collective responsibility of Media,judiciary and executives to stop this mala fide hiringprocess to save the credibility of SBP and to avoidhaving a Pakistan Railways type SBP in 2025. We allcollectively should think about the corrective measuresto stop this kind of practices, before it gets too late.

A BALOCHQuetta

Crash and earnPakistan aviation industry, once reputed for its

professionalism, has been under a dark patch foralmost 15 years, with dangers of internationalcensure haunting it. The lack of credibleinvestigation into Air Blue and Bhoja fatal crashesshould have been enough to warrant a shakeup of

CAA and its management. Whatever the cause thatled to PIA’s ATR skidding off the runway in light rainwith no significant wind, the closure of Lahore’smain runway for over 30 hours exposes the totalincompetence and lack of professional capacity ofCAA, the body assigned to regulate air transport onbehalf of ICAO in Pakistan. The ATR is a relativelysmall aircraft. Can somebody imagine how manyweeks would CAA have taken in case God Forbid thisaccident had involved a bigger aircraft like B777 or B747.

CAA charges a phenomenal fee as landing fee andpassenger tax from airlines that land on airports run byit. In fact CAA’s regulatory functions are compromisedby the fact that it runs and owns all the major airportsin Pakistan except Sialkot Airport. This conflict ofinterest has jeopardized its primary role of a regulator,since in any accident, or incident, involving commercialaircraft, either or both the airline operator or airportauthorities who administer the operation of activerunways and the navigational aids that aid in landingand in in case of in-flight accidents the en-routenavigational aids and air traffic control, all vest withCAA. There is no shortage of funds with CAA, which isone of the most profitable state-owned enterprises.

The unfortunate reality is that this very lucrativefinancial bonanza of CAA has become its biggestimpediment, with both the powerful Ministry ofDefense and successive governments eager to havetheir share of the pie. CAA today has become thedumping ground for retired officers and bureaucratsof the khaki establishment and ruling political party.The DG CAA is a crony of the most powerful politicalauthority and a serving pilot of PIA, while the CFO ofCAA is closely related to the Pakistan’s mostpowerful man sitting in Islamabad.

GULL ZAMANPeshawar

It’ll take twelve yearsBhasha dam is very much in the news these days.

After refusal by ADB to fund the project, now Chinais to be asked to step in. Every news about Bhashadam carries the statement that it will generate 4500megawatts creating the impression that this power willbe available very soon. No mention is made that it willbe 12 years before this will happen. It is requestedthat the editors please take note and mention allfacts about the dam for impartial and circumspectcoverage and not to inflate public expectations.

KHURSHID ANWERLahore

Prodigal sons get front-row seatsYour picture on the back page of August 31 issue

showing Bilawal Zardari Bhutto seated next to MrZardari is further evidence of how whimsically thiscountry’s affairs are run.

While the president has the prerogative toinclude people from outside the government inofficial delegations, such participants do not takeprecedence over the higher state functionaries. \It iswrong to seat Bilawal in the front row and makingthe foreign minister sit in the back row. Mr Zardariactually lowers the standing of the key minister insuch gatherings. In fact all three seated behind havea higher protocol levels than Mr Bilawal Bhutto.

It is hoped that proper protocol will be observedduring such conferences and meets in the future.

SAJJAD ASHRAFIslamabad

Editor’s mailSend 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.

pM Singh gets soot on his face

Hauled over coals

It could be a coincidence,but one wonders. This isthe first session of parlia-

ment in over eight years wherePranab Mukherjee is not incharge of the treasurybenches. It is also the first ses-sion when government hasfallen, not from its legal perch,but flat on its face.

The principal responsibil-ity of leader of the house is topreserve government’s major-ity, and, in this age of per-formance politics ontelevision, protect its credibil-ity. In a toss-up, the secondtakes priority. Without a ma-jority, a government collapses.But without credibility theparty disappears.

In 2008, Dr ManmohanSingh would have been de-feated over the nuclear dealbut for the generosity of AmarSingh. But even at its lowestebb in the numbers game, DrSingh’s credibility was on theascent. His management ofthe nuclear debate was an ex-cellent illustration of a funda-mental rule in democraticpolitics: the ground on whichyou take a stand determinesthe course of a battle. Dr Singhsold the nuclear deal as goodfor the country, and found agrowing number of buyers. Heenergized an urban middleclass eager for better relationswith the United States, whichsaw this pact as axis of a newpartnership. Dr Singh wouldhave won the subsequent gen-eral elections even if he hadlost the vote in Lok Sabha.

Four years later, the situa-tion is reversed. He is now the

man who looked the other waywhile party hacks and alliesmade money. There is a perva-sive smell of sleaze aboutCoalgate. Begin with just thisquestion: why did Dr Singhappoint Santosh Bagrodia, abusinessman from Calcuttawithout any political creden-tials, who came from nowhereand returned there unla-mented, who added no valueto party or country, as minis-ter of state for coal? Bagrodiahas chosen silence as his onlyveil.

Coalgate is not a con-frontation between Congressand BJP. If the BJP had ac-cused Dr Singh of causing aphenomenal loss to the ex-chequer, it would have raiseda stutter on the first day and ayawn on the second. The accu-sation carried weight becauseVinod Rai, appointed by DrSingh to head government’sprimary audit authority, CAG,has offered a thick and de-tailed analysis of the processand manipulation behind thearbitrary allotment of coalblocks and asserted that lossof revenue could be as muchas Rs 1.86 lakh crores. [Goneare the days when corruptioncould be measured in single oreven double-digit crores.]

Belligerence is not an an-swer. Rai was not an RSSswayamsevak when he woreshorts. Nor did he did notcarry a hammer in one handand sickle in the other when incollege. He is a distinguishedbureaucrat who was madeCAG by the Prime Minister,perhaps because Dr Singh sawin Rai the very virtues that heidentified with. It’s a thought:is Manmohan Singh the pres-ent PM at odds with Manmo-han Singh the former publicservant?

Would Pranab Mukherjeehave been able to cut the gov-ernment’s losses if he was stillin parliament? He led Con-gress strategy when Coalgate’selder brother, 2G, stalled thewinter session in 2011. Hispublic counterattack was soft-ened by private communica-tion with the opposition. In

parliamentary politics, younever subvert any path to-wards the other side of thefloor. Mukherjee also under-stood that corruption is quiv-ering quicksand, and canquickly drag down those whotake a non-negotiable positionon it. He found a way out ofthe 2G blockade at an afford-able price. He lost a day’sheadlines but saved the gov-ernment from further batter-ing.

But the game is differentnow. Every party has its ownrules. The BJP demands thePM’s resignation but only toetch another groove into pub-lic memory through headlines.It would be a bit baffled if itsdemand was accepted. Mu-layam Singh Yadav is anxiousto singe the Congress as longas he is not caught warmingthe fire. Mamata Banerjee’spartnership with Congressdoes not extend to elections;she needs Coalgate for cam-paign rhetoric - later. The Leftis too dazed for debate; it onlywants rest and recuperation.Mayawati is focused on hercalculator, checking out whenthe Yadav demographic equa-tions will go awry so that shecan maximize her rebound.The Congress is in disarray,since its declared heir is invis-ible, and its seniors are on theway to retirement. This parlia-ment used to be a jigsaw puz-zle, where the pieces layscattered but would eventuallyfit. It has now become only apuzzle.

Numbers do not dominatethe thought process of thepresent Lok Sabha, in the waythey did in 2008, because theyhave become irrelevant. Thetussle has shifted to credibil-ity, or at least comparative lev-els of this scarce resource. Andthe credibility game has anunforgiving referee: the voter.

The columnist is editor ofThe Sunday Guardian,published from Delhi, Indiaon Sunday, published fromLondon and EditorialDirector, India Today andHeadlines Today.

Third EyeBy M J Akbar

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12

Monday, 3 September, 2012

confident, not over-confidentof ‘heroine’: kareena kapoor

BollyWooD actress Kareena Kapoor, whosefilm ‘heroine’ is set for a Septemberrelease, said she was confident but not

over-confident about it. “I am not over-confidentbut quite confident and excited about the film,”she said at a promotional event, marking thefilm`s tie-up with clothing brand, Jealous 21,here. Asked about she is jealous of in life, shesaid: “I am jealous of people who get to go onholidays, even though I go on many on my own.I love travelling. I am also jealous of people whoget to eat whatever they want. “The first film isalways special. That innocence never comesback. `Refugee` is my favourite film,” she said.‘heroine’ revolves around the ups and downs ina journey of an actress. nEWS dESk

j-lo: i’d have kids with my newtoyboy lover casper smart

BomBShell from pop beauty dating dancerwho is 18 years younger The 25-year-old,who was part of a hip hop clown troupe, is the

toyboy in the life of Jennifer lopez — and now thesuperstar has revealed she is thinking of havingchildren with him.J-lo, 43, who already has four-year-old twins with ex-hubby marc Anthony, said hernew relationship has made her broody for more. Sheadmitted: “I haven’t closed shop in thatdepartment.“I don’t know, we have to see — weonly have so many years that you can do that.” Andshe added she has so much love to give that shefeels she is mADe for a big family. The singer said: “Iam a lover. I mean, at my core I feel like that’s sucha big part of my personality — and a part of why Ido what I do — because I have so much to say onthat subject.But some fear that Casper, who begandating the diva in November, may not be the rightman for her — or the right dad for kids. nEWS dESk

Tusshar will now payrent to ekta kapoor

The iconic Krishna bungalow at Juhu, is notonly famous as the residence of Jeetendraand his family of three — wife Shobha,

daughter ekta and son Tusshar — but also for beinghuge enough to house an entire army. And thepaparazzi, too, are extra-familiar with the plushplace as it is often the venue for stylish and theme-related parties thrown by soap queen andfilmmaker ekta.At this juncture, we introduce twomore buildings, adjacent to each other — Krishna-1and Krishna-2 — both of which are on 7th Road,Juhu and a five-minute drive from the main Kapoorresidence. While Krishna-1 belongs to ekta, thesecond one belongs to her brother Tusshar. Andmany of the flats in both the buildings are alsorented out to outsiders. But interestingly, both ektaand Tusshar maintain their personal penthouses intheir respective buildings. nEWS dESk

A32-year-old blonde has claimed shestripped down to a string bikini and kisseda naked Prince Harry in a Las Vegas hotelroom for up to 20 minutes, according tothe Daily Mail. Carrie Reichert said she was

alone with Harry in his hotel room for up to 20minutes during a party in Sin City last month. Thekiss was, however, “fun” and “not romantic”, anddespite many people stripping off at the party, itwas not an orgy, the daily quoted the woman assaying. Although Harry was a “gentleman”, he wascompletely “wasted”, she said. Reichert said shewas “hand-picked” to join the party after hisfriends spotted her near the swimming pool.“Harry was already undressed. It was just crazy,he looked actually delirious. There was a pooltable and he was playing air guitar with poolsticks,” she was quoted as saying. Reichert saidHarry took her by the hand and led her from theliving room to his bedroom. He was alreadynaked and she removed her dress to reveal astring bikini before she kissed him, the Daily Mail

reported. “We kissed for 15 to 20 minutes. I amsure someone stumbled in as there were people going

in and out of rooms all the time. We kissed again and hesaid `That was great`,” she said. dAily MAil

AISHWARYA RAIIS A LINGUISTThe beautiful actress can speak not just one or two, but six lan-guages. Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is a true linguist. The actressis well versed with not just one or two but six different lan-guages that include Tulu, Hindi, English, Marathi, Tamil, andBengali. Aishwarya is of Tulu origin and started her act-ing career with Tamil films down south and then for-ayed into Bollywood. Since she has lived inMaharastra, she learnt Marathi in school andas for Bengali, she has shot Bengali filmslike Choker Bali and portrayed Bengalicharacters in films like Devdas andRaincoat. coUrTESy Toi

Deepika Padukone-Amitabh Bachchan’sdinner dateDeepika Padukone was in for a pleasant surpriserecently. She had Amitabh Bachchan knock at herdoor and announce, ‘Are you wearing your clothes? Iam coming in’. It so happened that Deepika and Big Bwere shooting at the same premise on Thursday —Dips was shooting for Race 2 and Big B for an ad.Deepika was not only over the moon. She said Amitjitold me ‘I got fully taiyaar to have dinner with you but

you were not there’ so I told him‘Sir this weekend, you and I

will have dinner alone.”Bachchan holds a veryspecial place in her life.“Once you play fatherand daughter in a film(as they did inAarakshan), you alwaysshare a bond for life. Iremember the first guestsat my new flat were Jayajiand Amitji. Jayaji spoke to

me about my film andtold me that I remindedher of her daughter,”recounted

Deepika.coUrTESy

Toi

HINDUSTAN TIMES

Veteran actor Amitabh Bachchan has a loton his plate. But, mention his nine-monthold granddaughter Aaradhya, and you geta big smile from him. Big B, who was last

seen on the big screenin Ram Gopal

Varma’sDepartmentthis year,was at thelaunch of the

sixth seasonof popular

quiz show,Kaun Banega

Crorepati, inMumbai

recently. The 69-year-old talks

about Aaradhya, hisbirthday plans and

interacting withfans.

BIG B SPEAKS...ON KAUN BANEGA CROREPATI:

When we were just starting in 2000 and Ihad agreed to do the show, I neverthought it would continue for 12 years.KBC has been a moving and extremelysatisfying experience for me.

ON GRANDDAUGHTER AARADHYA:

She hasn’t started speaking yet but shepulls my beard. She knows that this manwith beard is special. We adjust ourtimings according to her. I make sure Iget enough time to play with her.

ON PLANS FOR HIS 70TH BIRTHDAY (OCTOBER 11):

You will have to ask the family about mybirthday plans. But, I think they areplanning something.

ON INTERACTING WITH AUDIENCE:

Earlier, there were very few mediums ofcommunication. But now, there are many.I love connecting with my fans throughany medium.

ON A REMAKE OF SHOLAY:

I think there is nothing wrong if Sholay isremade today. I am okay with the idea.

ON DOING A PUNJABI FILM:

I did a special appearance in a Punjabifilm long back. But, if I am offered one, Iwould love to do i

Aaradhya pullsmy beard:Amitabh Bachchan

alicia keys

Miley c yrUs

elizabeTh Moss

Terri haTcher

Blonde kissed

naked

PrINce Harry

for 20 minutes!

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13

Monday, 3 September, 2012

THE Sunny Deol-Kangna Ranautstarrer I Love New York whichwas shot entirely in New Yorkis 95 percent complete. In factit has been 95 percent complete

for the last one and a half years. So what‘s stopping the film from pushing to thefinishing line? According to a source closeto the project, it’s money issues involvingSunny Deol’s payment and the producers’T Series apparently selling off the satel-lite rights of the film at a much lowerprice than what Deol starrers generallyfetch, are the twin issues between Deoland the film’s makers. However thefilm’s producer Bhushan Kumar andthe co-director Vinay Sapru vehe-mently deny that Deol is in any wayresponsible for the delay. Accordingto Sapru,the reason the film is held upis the climax. Says Sapru, “We shot theentire film on location in New York. Thenwe needed to shoot the climax at the JFKinternational airport. Despite our best ef-forts we couldn’t pull that off. Wewere told it would be a mira-cle if we eventuallyget the

green signal to shoot at the New York air-port. But we decided to wait for the mira-cle to happen.” Finally now, the film’smakers have given up hope. The airportsequence would have to be fudged. Theywill now shoot it at the Bangkok airportand pass it off as the JFK airport. VinaySapru is hopeful no one would be able totell the difference. “You see, the topogra-phy of New York is a model for every

super-metropolis in the world.Bangkok is like a

replica of NewYork, including

the airport. Sono one wouldbe able to tellthe differ-ence.” nEWS

dESk

SUMMERHAIRCUTS

SuNNy DeoLstarrer denied shootingat New York airport

WITH no dialogues for him in Barfi!, actor RanbirKapoor Friday said the film was like a game of dumbcharades for him. He plays the role of a deaf-muteperson in the film. “I enjoyed playing this character.There were no dialogues. I used to go on the set, play

dumb charades and come back,” Ranbir said at a promotional eventhere. The actor said that it was very important for him that theaudience was able to relate to his character and this was something

which he kept in mind while shooting. He said that his director AnuragBasu gave him a lot of freedom on the set. “I was frustrated that I didn’t

even say one dialogue or sing a song. A Hindi film hero wants to have adialogue or sing songs, but it was a fun experience. But I had a lot offreedom on the set. Anurag Basu just wanted that my character must haverelatability with the audience. They must be able to understand what I amfeeling,” he said. Directed by Basu, the film also stars Priyanka Chopra and

Ileana D’Cruz who will be making her Bollywood debut. For Ranbir, thefilm was like a “breath of fresh air” due to the “happy, jovial nature” of his

director. “I am very excited and am looking forward to it. Rockstar was anintense film for me, so after the shooting I was a little depressed anddetached. This film is like a breath of fresh air, it’s a happy film like the initialfilms of Chaplin. It’s joyful and entertaining. Like a family film,” he said.“Anurag Basu is a very happy, jovial person and I feel the director’spersonality always reflects in the film. I feel when you see the film, you willsee a lot of him. Everyone will like the film,” he added. In Barfi!, Ranbir’sperformance has been compared to Chaplin in his comedies, as well of hisgrandfather Raj Kapoor, but he said even though there are similarities, hehas just tried to incorporate whatever his director wanted. “Chaplin is thefather of comedy, all actors who have come in the industry have beeninfluenced by him. My grandfather Raj Kapoor himself was inspired by

Chaplin. But I have not tried to copy him in Barfi!, I have tried to play Barfi!in my own and Anurag Basu’s way,” he said.

Barfi! was likedumb charadesfor me: Ranbir

alicia keys charlize Theron john Mayer

Miley c yrUs liaM payne anne haThaway

zoe kraviTzporTia di rossielizabeTh Moss

Terri haTcher

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14Infotainment

Monday, 3 September, 2012

white house reveals ‘ale to thechief’ beer recipes

BARACK Obama promisedand the White Housedelivered, revealing recipes

for the president’s officialmicrobrewed honey beers,following an Internet campaign.“With public excitement about theWhite House beer fermenting sucha buzz, we decided we better hop right to it,” said SamKass, one of Obama’s chefs, on the White House blog.The “Ale to the Chief,” he punned, is “as far as weknow ... the first alcohol brewed or distilled on theWhite House grounds.” “George Washington brewedbeer and distilled whiskey at Mount Vernon andThomas Jefferson made wine, but there’s no evidencethat any beer has been brewed in the White House,”he continued. “Inspired by home brewers from acrossthe country, last year President Obama bought ahome brewing kit for the kitchen” at the White House,the chef explained. With advice from White Housestaffers who brew in their own spare time, the chefshoned a recipe — tweaked from a local brew shop’soffering — which features honey “tapped from thefirst ever bee-hive on the South Lawn” in the WhiteHouse garden. More than 12,000 people had signed apetition asking for the White House’s special brew onthe “We the People” page of the White House website, which is dedicated to grassroots petitions. Afp

dad protects son from bulliesby wearing a skirt

NILS Pickert’s 5-year-old son likes wearingdresses. If anyone thinks that’s odd theycan take it up with Nils. He’s the guy in

the skirt. The German dad has become a rolemodel not only for his son, but for parents aroundthe world, after a photograph of the pair holdinghands in red skirts spread across the internet.“Yes, I’m one of those dads, that tries to raise theirchildren equal,” he explained in an essay. Pickertnever minded that his son liked dressing in littlegirl’s clothes, but when his family moved fromWest Berlin to a small southern town in Germany,he learned that other people did. That’s where thered skirt came in, a pants-free option Pickerthimself would sometimes take back in Berlin,without getting even a second glance. He’d stoppedwearing skirts when they moved to their smallvillage, knowing a man in women’s clothes couldcause rubbernecking accidents at the very least. Butwhen his son asked his father to wear a skirt again,he decided to step up to the challenge. nEWS dESk

7 weird facts about the body

D ID you know that it’s literally possibleto smell fear? Scientists have discoveredthat the scent of our body changes be-fore we do something scary, even ifwe’re trying to seem brave, and other

people can literally smell the difference.Scientists have unraveled many amazing

mysteries about the body, including a secret ourearlobes reveal about our heart health, and whya 3-second yawn revs up our brain and even im-proves our mood.

Here are seven weird body facts, some ofwhich seem too strange to be true—but are.

1. Your heart health is predicted byyour earlobes

Oddly enough, a diagonal crease – or lack ofcrease — in your earlobe may determine thehealth of your heart. Although scientists are ex-ploring the reason behind the link, a 1992 study ofhospital patients was the first to report that thosewith an earlobe crease were far more likely to havecoronary artery disease (CAD).

In fact, this indicator was 94 percent accurateat predicting which patients had CAD, promptingthe researchers to suggest that this weird clue beused to help identify at- risk patients. More recentresearch also linked earlobe lines to risk for sud-den cardiac death in men.

2. Yawning is contagious, but less soin the summer

Seeing other people yawning—even in pho-tos—can make you yawn in response. However,a 2011 study with 80 participants per seasonshowed that yawning in response to photos onlyhappened 24 percent of the time in the summer,versus 45 percent of the time in the winter.

Apparently, yawning cools down your braina bit, so outside temperature makes a big differ-ence in how likely you are to catch the urge. Sci-entists also report that yawning also helps keepus alert, because. It turns out that difficult men-

tal tasks literally heat up the brain, while a yawnlowers the temperature.

Another surprising research finding: Youcan’t complete a yawn with your eyes open, re-ports neuroscientist Robert Provine in his newbook, Curious Behavior: Yawning, Laughing,Hiccupping and Beyond).

3. The body’s largest organ is the sizeof six tennis courts, yet is only onecell thick

The endothelium, the smooth interior liningof the more than 60,000 miles of blood vessels inthe body, would cover six tennis courts if removedfrom the body and flattened. It’s been called “thebrain of the arteries,” because it acts as a smartbarrier to control which substances can pass fromthe blood into the arterial wall.

The endothelium also makes “executive deci-sions” by releasing molecules that help regulateblood pressure, fight off disease, control bloodclotting, and fine-tune blood so it remains fluidenough to flow easily.

4. Hearing words and seeing colorsIn most people, taste, sound, and vision are

distinctly separate, but those with a rare conditioncalled synesthesia have a blurring of sensory ex-periences. Some actually experience tastes in re-sponse to words, while others hear sounds whenthey see certain colors.

“The proportion of words that triggers tastevaries…for those in our study it ranged from about15 percent of words, to one lady who experiencestastes for 100 percent of words,” researcher JuliaSimner told WebMD. Scientists are still workingto understand how synesthesia affects the brain.

5. You can literally smell fearPeople can actually detect and respond to fear

by smelling people’s sweat. Research funded bythe U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects

Agency shows that there are different pheromones(detectable chemical substances) from armpitodor when people are afraid than when theyaren’t. Their fear can literally be picked up fromtheir body odor.

Researchers taped absorbent pads to 20 peo-ple’s armpits right after they ran on a treadmill,and again right before they were about to take atandem jump while skydiving for the first time.Volunteers were then able to differentiate be-tween the two types of sweat, and areas of theirbrain that react to fear were more active whenthey smelled the skydiving sweat than the tread-mill sweat.

6. The scent of women’s tears reducesmen’s sexual arousal

A 2011 study published in Science magazineshowed that tears act as a chemosignal, or achemical substance detectable by others. Not onlydid men who sniffed tears (which were broughton by negative emotions) find photographs ofwomen’s faces less attractive, the men also re-ported that they were less sexually aroused, andthe scientific data backed it up.

The men’s physiological measures of arousalwere reduced, levels of testosterone lowered, andthey had reduced activity in the substrates of theirbrain that are linked to sexual arousal.

7. It’s practically impossible to keepyour eyes open when you sneeze

A common misconception is that we shut oureyes to avoid the spray of airborne droplets. Ac-tually, a simple reflex prompts our peepers toblink shut during a sneeze, similar to the reflexthat occurs when the doctor taps your knee witha medical mallet, allergists report.

While you can try to keep your eyes openwhen you sneeze, it’s extremely difficult to do.And since the spray you release can carry germs,it’s also common courtesy to cover your mouthand not infect others. nEWS dESk

46 years later, diplomatic mailfound in alpine wreckage

MOUNTAIN rescue worker ArnaudChristmann and his neighbor JulesBerger made quite a discovery after tourists

said they’d spotted “something shining” on theBossons glacier on Mount Blanc in the French Alps.“A couple on vacation came to us and told us theyhad seen something below them on the glacier,“Christmann told ABC News. After a two-hour hikeup the tallest mountain in Western Europe, themen reached a wreckage site on the glacier thatincluded pieces of a plane cabin, chairs, electricalcables, a wheel, a shoe. Then, just as they weredescending, Christmann and Berger came across a50-pound brown jute bag labeled “DiplomaticMail” and “Ministry of External Affairs.”The pouch had been on a 1966 Boeing 707 flightfrom Mumbai to New York, which crashed on themountain’s southwest face while preparing for astopover landing in Geneva. All 117 passengersonboard were killed, including the Indian directorof the Atomic Energy Commission.The pouchcontained mainly English and Indian newspapersfrom 1966, among other documents. nEWS dESk

Do you hate it when people com-plain? It turns out there’s a good rea-son: Listening to too muchcomplaining is bad for your brain inmultiple ways, according to TrevorBlake, a serial entrepreneur and au-thor of Three Simple Steps: A Map toSuccess in Business and Life.

Being exposed to too much com-plaining can actually make youdumb. Research shows that expo-sure to 30 minutes or more of nega-tivity—including viewing suchmaterial on TV—actually peels awayneurons in the brain’s hippocampus.“That’s the part of your brain youneed for problem solving,” he says.“Basically, it turns your brain tomush.”

But if you’re running a company,don’t you need to hear about any-thing that may have gone wrong?“There’s a big difference betweenbringing your attention to somethingthat’s awry and a complaint,” Blakesays. “Typically, people who arecomplaining don’t want a solution;they just want you to join in the in-dignity of the whole thing. You canalmost hear brains clink when sixpeople get together and start saying,‘Isn’t it terrible?’ This will damageyour brain even if you’re just pas-sively listening. And if you try tochange their behavior, you’ll becomethe target of the complaint.”

So, how do you defend yourselfand your brain from all the negativ-ity? Blake recommends the followingtactics:

1. Get some distance“My father was a chain smoker,”

Blake confides. “I tried to change hishabit, but it’s not easy to do that.”Blake knew secondhand smokecould damage his own lungs as well.“My only recourse was to distancemyself.”

You should look at complainingthe same way, he says. “The ap-proach I’ve always taken with com-

plaining is to think of it as the sameas passive smoking.” Your brain willthank you if you get yourself awayfrom the complainer, if you can.

2. Ask the complainer to fixthe problem

Sometimes getting distance isn’tan option. If you can’t easily walkaway, a second strategy is to ask thecomplainer to fix the problem.

“Try to get the person who’scomplaining to take responsibilityfor a solution,” Blake says. “I typi-cally respond to a complaint with,

‘What are you going to do about it?’”Many complainers walk away huffilyat that point, because he hasn’t giventhem what they wanted, Blake re-ports. But some may actually try tosolve the problem.

3. Shields up!When you’re trapped listening to

a complaint, you can use mentaltechniques to block out the gripingand save your neurons. Blake favorsone used by the late Spanish golferSeve Ballesteros during a matchagainst Jack Nicklaus—a match thecrowd wanted Ballesteros to lose.“He was having difficulty handlingthe hostility of the crowd,” Blakesays. “So he imagined a bell jar thatno one could see descending fromthe sky to protect him.”

Major League Baseball pitcherscan sometimes be seen mouthing“Shields on!” as they stride to themound, he says. He adds that hisown imaginary defense is “more likea Harry Potter invisibility cloak.”

Blake first saw the picture of theisland in a magazine, and the imagestuck with him. Eventually, he got achance to try it for real. “It turnedout the island was for rent, and itwas the same one I’d seen,” he says.“So I rented it for a week. And I gotto take that walk.” nEWS dESk

Listening to complainers is bad for your brain

LHR 03-09-2012_Layout 1 9/3/2012 2:02 AM Page 14

Monday, 3 September, 2012

Page 17

Federer romps,Murray struggles inuS open sweatshop

ABU DHABIAfp

VICE-CAPTAIN Moham-mad Hafeez said Pakistanwere focussed on winningthe third one-day match atSharjah Stadium here on

Monday to take their first series againstAustralia in ten years.

Pakistan and Australia go into thethird and final one-day at 1-1, with Aus-tralia winning the first match here by fourwickets before their rivals earned a se-ries-levelling seven wicket win in the sec-ond at Abu Dhabi on Friday.

Hafeez said records did not matter asPakistan always go for a win.

"We, as a team, think about winningevery game but if in the process we areable to achieve a record then it's fine,"said Hafeez of Pakistan's prospects ofwinning their first one-day series againstAustralia since 2002.

Hafeez said Pakistan's varied bowling

gave them the edge over Australia."We want to take the winning mo-

mentum of the second match into thethird and our varied bowling attack givesus an edge ovr Australia," said Hafeez,himself part of the spin trio led by SaeedAjmal.

Left-arm spinner Abdur Rehman re-placed Shahid Afridi in the second matchafter the leg-spinner had a recurrence ofa back problem. Afridi was a doubtfulstarter for Monday.

Ajmal took three wickets in the firstmatch and four in the second, exposingAustralia's weakness against spin.

Hafeez refused to admit that it will bea win toss, win match situation after Pak-istan benefitted from Australia's decisionof batting first in Abu Dhabi.

"They were wet conditions in AbuDhabi but they are the same for both theteams and I don't think the toss will bedecisive," said Hafeez.

Australian allrounder David Husseyadmitted Ajmal has been a threat.

"He (Ajmal) is a hell of a greatbowler. It is totally different from the wayAustralians play him, you might see a dif-ferent technique against him in the thirdgame," said Hussey. Hussey said all Pak-istani spinners warrant attention.

"All their bowlers warrant lots of at-tention. We do our planning very deli-gently and when it comes to planning andHafeez definitely does not slip under theradar and he is number one ranked spin-ner in the world at the moment."

Apart from the Pakistani spinners,Australia were smarting from the oppres-sive heat in the United Arab Emirates.

"It is just a different humidity than

we are used to. The key is to keep yourbody temperature down. We arestrengthening and our conditioningcoach has been fantastic and the key is tokeep your body temperature down andyou have to adapt that," said Hussey.

Australia were hopeful their openersMatthew Wade and David Warner fireafter failing to score big in the first twomatches.

Paceman Mitchell Starc was a doubt-ful starter after complaining of chest painon Friday.TEAMS AND MATCH OffICIALS:Australia (from): Michael Clarke (capt),David Warner, George Bailey, Dan Chris-

tian, Xavier Doherty, Callum Ferguson,David Hussey, Michael Hussey, MitchellJohnson, Glenn Maxwell, Alister McDer-mott, James Pattinson, Steven Smith,Mitchell Starc, Matthew Wade.

Pakistan (from): Misbahul Haq (cap-tain), Nasir Jamshed, MohammadHafeez, Azhar Ali, Asad Shafiq, UmarAkmal, Kamran Akmal, Shahid Afridi,Sohail Tanveer, Aizaz Cheema, SaeedAjmal, Imran Farhat, Shoaib Malik,Abdur Rehman, Junaid Khan, Anwar Ali

Umpires: Billy Bowden (NZL)andAhsan Raza (PAK)

Tv umpire: Nigel Llong (ENG) Match referee: Roshan Mahanama.

HAFEEZ SEES PAKISTAN WIN IN THIRD ODIBY S.PERvEZ QAISER

Pakistan have won 76, lost 34 and tied onein 111 one day internationals played atSharjah Cricket Stadium where the thirdand final one day international match ofthe third-match series will be played onMonday (September 3). This day-nightmatch will start at 19.00 hours (PST).

Pakistan have won three and lost justone in four one day internationals playedagainst Australia at this ground which isalso good hunting ground for Australia.They have won 12 and lost eight in 20 oneday internationals played here.

Pakistan recorded an eight wicketwin over Australia when two teams metfirst time at this ground on April 11,1986.Batting first after winning the toss, Aus-tralia made 202 for seven in 50 overs.Pakistan made 206 for two in 49.1 oversto win the match. Man of the match, Mu-dassar Nazar scored 95 off 140 balls withfive fours.

Pakistan defeated Australia by 6wickets in the second match at thirdground palyed on April 3,1987. Battingfirst on the livelier of Sharjah’s two pre-pared pitches, Australia were immedi-

ately in trouble against hostile new-ballbowling from Wasim Akram and Man-zoor Elahi. David Boon (71) and SimonO’Donnell’s (54) century partnership forthe fourth wicket lent the innings re-spectability, but with Javed Miandad (74)in the mood to take their attack apart,Australia never looked like winning. Mu-dassar Nazar who took three wickets for44 runs in Austalian inning of 176 fornine in 50 overs, scored 64 runs in Pak-istan's innings of 180 for four in 46.4overs. He get the man of the matchaward.

The final of Austral-Asia Cup on May4,1990 was the third match between Pak-istan and Australia at Sharjah. Pakistan’smercurial all-rounder, Wasim Akram,hitting 49 off 35 deliveries and later fin-ishing the Australian innings with a hat-trick, enabled Pakistan to retain theAustral-Asia Cup they won four yearsearlier when they beat India, with a six byJaved Miandad, off the last ball. With al-most four overs left, Australia required 37to win with three wickets in hand, butWasim Akram dashed any hopes theymight have entertained by clean-bowlingMerv Hughes, Carl Rackemann and Terry

Alderman. The architect of Pakistan’s in-nings was Salim Malik, whose polished87 from 104 balls contained a six andseven fours. Saeed Anwar got them goingwith a swashbuckling 40 from 37 balls,but it needed Wasim Akram’s devastatinghitting to bring 60 runs from the last fiveovers and so set the Australians a chal-lenging target. Two of his three sixescame in the final over, both landing in thestands, as he took 18 runs off Simon O’-Donnell. Leg-spinner Mushtaq Ahmed’sthree wickets put the brake on Australiaafter Steve Waugh and Simon O’Donnellhad added 54 for the fifth wicket.

Australia's first victory over Pakistanat this ground came in the first match ofthe current series on August 28. Afterdismissing Pakistan for 198 runs in 45.1overs, Australia made 199 for six in 48.2overs to win the match. Mitchell Starcwho took career best five for 42 declaredman of the match.AUSTrAliA-pAkiSTAn AT ShArJAh:

Winner Margin date

Pakistan 8 wickets 11-04-1986

Pakistan 6 wickets 03-04-1987

Pakistan 36 runs 04-05-1990

australia 4 wickets 28-08-2012

Sharjah favourite ground for both Pakistan, Australia

BANGALOREAfp

Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ash-win bagged five wickets to throw thesecond and final Test against NewZealand wide open on the third day inBangalore on Sunday.

Ashwin finished with 5-69, his fifthhaul of five or more wickets in a Test in-nings, as New Zealand reached 232-9 intheir second innings at stumps for anoverall lead of 244.

New Zealand paceman Tim Southeeearlier grabbed a maiden seven-wickethaul as India were bowled out for 353 intheir first innings in the morning inreply to the tourists' 365.

The 23-year-old finished with 7-64,the best by a New Zealander in a Testinnings in India.

New Zealand were struggling at140-5 before James Franklin (41) andKruger van Wyk (31) added 55 crucialruns for the sixth wicket to boost theirteam's hopes of setting a competitivefourth-innings target.

Ashwin struck vital blows when hehad Franklin stumped and then trappedvan Wyk lbw before accounting forSouthee in the last session.

"I don't think the wicket is doing somuch that we have to be worried aboutthe target. If we bat three-four sessions,we should be in a good position to winthe match," said Indian batsman ViratKohli, who completed a century on Sun-day.

"It's always satisfying to get a Test

hundred."Indian paceman Umesh Yadav did

the early damage when he removedboth the openers in his successive overs.He bowled Martin Guptill (seven) witha full-toss and had Brendon McCullum(23) caught behind.

Skipper Ross Taylor, who scored anaggressive 113 in the first innings, con-tributed 35 this time as he was trappedleg-before while attempting to sweepleft-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha.

Ashwin, who took 12 wickets in histeam's win by an innings and 115 runsin the opening Test, also had KaneWilliamson (13) and Daniel Flynn (31)caught by Virender Sehwag in the slips.

New Zealand earlier struck with thesecond new ball, which was taken im-mediately after it was due, as Indiaadded 70 runs to their overnight total of283-5. Southee, playing his 19th Test,claimed four of the five wickets that fellin the morning, including those of mid-dle-order batsman Kohli (103) andskipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (62).

LAHORE STAff rEporT

All the staff and employees of the SportsBoard Punjab and Sports Directorate onSunday held a walk to observe the Anti-Dengue Day for the awareness of the peopleof all walks of life for the eradication ofdengue from its root.

Secretary Sports Punjab Haroon AhmedKhan led the walk for the awareness of thegeneral public. He was accompanied byProvincial Health Advisor to CM while mem-bers of archeology and tourism departmentswere also part of the walk.

Haroon along with Salman led the walkfrom the footsteps of Lahore Fort to the mainentrance of Minar-i-Pakistan Park. The par-ticipants of all the three departments were

holding banners and placards for the aware-ness of the general public. They showed com-mitment to provide a neat & cleanenvironment to the younger generation sothat the healthy youth could actively servethe country.

Speaking on the occasion Haroon AhmedKhan said that main purpose of holding ofthe Punjab Youth Festival in the province isto provide the youth healthy activity and de-velop a sense of responsibility towardshealthy building a healthy society. SalmanRafique said that his government will not sitidle until the menace of dengue is eradicatedfrom the provincial metropolis. “We aredoing everything possible within our domainto finish the disease right from its base. Andfor the purpose everyone is being educatedto work for the cause,” he maintained.

SBP HOLDS WALK to observe Anti-Dengue Day

LaHore: Provincial Health advisor to CM Kh Salman rafique and Secretary

Sports Punjab Haroon ahmed Khan lead the walk to observe anti-Dengue Day.

Second india-new Zealandtest evenly-poised

nEW ZEAlAnd 1st innings 365 (r. Taylor 113, k. van Wyk

71, M. guptill 53; p. ojha 5-99)

indiA 1st innings (overnight 283-5):

g. gambhir b Southee 2

V. Sehwag c flynn b Bracewell 43

c. pujara c Boult b Southee 9

S. Tendulkar b Bracewell 17

V. kohli lbw b Southee 103

S. raina c van Wyk b Southee 55

MS dhoni lbw b Southee 62

r. Ashwin not out 32

Zaheer khan c van Wyk b Southee 7

p. ojha c van Wyk b Southee 0

U. yadav b Boult 4

Extras (b11, lb2, nb5, w1) 19

Total (for all out; 96.5 overs) 353

fall of wickets: 1-5 (gambhir), 2-27 (pujara), 3-67

(Sehwag), 4-80 (Tendulkar), 5-179 (raina), 6-301 (kohli),

7-312 (dhoni), 8-320 (Zaheer), 9-320 (ojha), 10-353

(yadav).

Bowling: Boult 23.5-2-90-1 (nb2), Southee 24-6-64-7 (nb1,

w1), Bracewell 20-4-91-2, franklin 10-4-17-0 (nb1), patel 19-

5-78-0 (nb1).

nEW ZEAlAnd 2nd innings:

B. Mccullum c dhoni b yadav 23

M. guptill b yadav 7

k. Williamson c Sehwag b Ashwin 13

r. Taylor lbw b ojha 35

d. flynn c Sehwag b Ashwin 31

J. franklin st dhoni b Ashwin 41

k. van Wyk lbw b Ashwin 31

d. Bracewell lbw b ojha 22

T. Southee b Ashwin 2

J. patel not out 10

T. Boult not out 0

Extras (b4, lb12, w1) 17

Total (for nine wickets; 69 overs) 232

fall of wickets: 1-30 (guptill), 2-31 (Mccullum), 3-69

(Williamson), 4-111 (Taylor), 5-140 (flynn), 6-195 (van Wyk),

7-216 (franklin), 8-222 (Southee), 9-222 (Bracewell).

Bowling: Zaheer 12-2-37-0, yadav 14-0-62-2 (w1), ojha 20-

6-48-2, Ashwin 22-1-69-5, raina 1-1-0-0.

Toss: new Zealand

Umpires: ian gould (Eng) and Steve davis (AUS)

TV umpire: Sudhir Asnani (ind)

Match referee: chris Broad (Eng)

ScorEBoArd

LHR 03-09-2012_Layout 1 9/3/2012 2:02 AM Page 16

PUNJAB YOUTH FESTIvAL 2012

Sports 16

Monday, 3 September, 2012

LAHORE STAff rEporT

THE Punjab YouthFestival 2012 partic-ipation figure in thefirst level of the ex-travaganza has on

Sunday touched one million markwith the day alone have an in-volvement of around 300,000youngsters from 55200 Sportsand Youth Development Councilsthroughout the 36 districts of theprovinces.

The figure of participation inthe Neighbourhood and Villegelevel had reached 700,000 on Sat-urday and the immense interest ofthe people has made the Sunday aday of festivity. People from allwalks of life did not budge an inchor show any reluctance in partici-pation despite heavy rain that hitseveral parts of the province.Even though Sunday was ob-served as an Anti-Dengue Dayand Sports Board Punjab organ-ized a walk in this regard in theguidance of Sports Secretary Ha-roon Ahmed Khan, but there wasextensive participation of the peo-ple in the different events of thefestival now being held at the verylower level.

Although activities continuedall over Lahore and the provincealike, but the main hustle and

bustle of the festival was wit-nessed at Gulshan Ravi footballground where Deputy SpeakerRana Mashhood Ahmed Khan,who is the chief organizer of theFestival along with Director Gen-eral Sports Board and Youth Af-fairs Punjab Usman Anwar gracedthe occasion.

Rana Mashhood informed theparticipants that the interest ofpeople in the festival has reached10,00,000 figure and it hasturned the efforts of the Punjabgovernment into proper festivity.“Even Olympians like Moham-mad Saqlain and Naveed Alamare also taking part in the action.While international weightlifterand power lifter Aqeel Butt andPakistan’s Olympian athlete Sha-bana have also shown interest inthe PYF,” he added.

He further said that he expectsa huge jump in public response tothe Festival activity when thecomplete data is collected from allover Punjab. On the occasion, theOlympians, Saqlain and Alam hadan arm wrestling contest in thepresence of Rana Mashhood andUsman Anwar.

The day’s activity also in-volved cycle stunt from a younggirl and a boy, who rode their bi-cycle through a tire while holdingit in their own hand. They plannedthe stunt while burning the tire

but heavy rain prevented themfrom performing with the fire.

In Union Council 142, Al-BilalTownship, only cricket tape ballmatch was held in whichUhanaabad 1 beat Uhanaabad 2by 13 runs. The event was laterstopped due to heavy rain due tothe slippery outfield.

However, in Union council 11and Union council 12, Ravi Townindoor activity in-cluding armwrestling andbadminton com-petitions wereheld and UC 12won the teamevent 2-1.

In UnionCouncil 127 and128, cricket tapeball matches be-tween E BlockModel Town Awas held and theformer team tookthe match by 32score while inBadminton, GBlock, ModelTown A beat Gblock ModelTown B 20-9.

In the ArmWrestling event,Nazeer Masih in90 KG won the

match, Imran in 70 KG andNaveed Khalid in 65 KG were thewinners.

In Billiard, Barket Marketblock 16, Ahsan Rizwan won thematch from Khawar NomanQureshi. In Tug of War, blocknumber 7 Kota Pind A won overKota Pind B 2-0.

Similarly, there were hecticactivity in other districts of the

province with Chakwal, Bhakkar,Faisalabad, Tobe Tek Singh, Ve-hari, Dera Ghazi Khan, Muzaffar-garh have active participation.

In Chakwal 4734 participatedin seven events from 58 UCs, 7785took part in 18 events from 22UCs in Bhakkar while Faisalabadtouché 10241 mark of participa-tion from 469 blocks of 122 UCsand 3250 winners.

Around 6000 took part indifferent sports events in TobeTek Singh and here majority ofparticipation was in athletics,Vehari got 19522’s invovelemntin all the nine events of the firstlevel of the Festival while DeraGhazi Khan had 13784 people inline of participation and Muzaf-fargarh have active participa-tion of 61470.

EXTRAVAGANZA TOUCHES ONE-MILLION-MARK

LONDONAfp

England won the fourth one-day internationalagainst South Africa at Lord's on Sunday by sixwickets to take a 2-1 lead in the five-match se-ries. England, set 221 for victory, made 224 forfour with 20 balls to spare.

Ian Bell top-scored with 88, with Eoin Mor-gan was 36 not out and Craig Kieswetter, whofinished the match with a six off fast bowler DaleSteyn, unbeaten on 21.

The series concludes in Nottingham onWednesday.

Earlier, James Tredwell atoned for drop-ping two catches with three wickets as Englandrestricted South Africa to 220 for eight in thefourth one-day international at Lord's on Sun-day.

The off-spinner took three for 35, allstumped by wicket-keeper Craig Kieswetter --in eight overs.

Tredwell had kept his place after figures oftwo for 49 during England's four-wicket winacross London at The Oval on Friday which lev-elled the five-match series at 1-1.

The Kent bowler only got his chance whenEngland rested number one spinner GraemeSwann for the rest of this series because of alongstanding elbow injury.

And it seemed England might miss Swannas much for his slip catching as his bowling onSunday when Tredwell dropped openersHashim Amla, on four, and Graeme Smith, on26, both off fast bowler Steven Finn.

But unlike previous England droppedcatches this season -- which helped Amla be-come the first South African to a Test triple cen-tury, at The Oval last month, and 150 in an80-run win in the second one-dayer inSouthampton on Tuesday -- neither proved ex-cessively costly.

Instead it was South Africa-born Dernbachwho had Smith, on 29, top-edging a pull toKieswetter to leave the Proteas 68 for one afterEngland captain Alastair Cook won the toss andfielded in overcast conditions that promised as-sistance to his seamers.

And missing Amla, 'only' cost England 41runs Sunday when he was bowled between batand pad by medium-pacer Ravi Bopara for aninnings top score of 45.

SoUTh AfricA

g. Smith c kieswetter b dernbach 29

h. Amla b Bopara 45

Jp duminy st kieswetter b Tredwell 18

AB de Villiers st kieswetter b Tredwell 39

f. du plessis b Bopara 1

d. Elgar c kieswetter b finn 35

W. parnell st kieswetter b Tredwell 5

r. peterson not out 31

r. Mclaren run out (dernbach) 1

d. Steyn not out 3

Extras (lb7, w6) 13

Total (8 wkts, 50 overs) 220

fall of wickets: 1-68 (Smith), 2-100 (Amla), 3-106 (duminy), 4-115 (du

plessis), 5-166 (de Villiers), 6-174 (parnell), 7-214 (Elgar), 8-215 (Mclaren)

did not bat: l Tsotsobe

Bowling: finn 10-0-33-1 (1w); Anderson 7-0-32-0 (1w); dernbach 9-

0-51-1 (1w); Bopara 9-0-34-2 (1w); patel 7-0-28-0; Tredwell 8-0-35-3

EnglAnd

An cook lbw b Steyn 2

ir Bell c †de Villiers b Steyn 88

iJl Trott lbw b Elgar 48

rS Bopara c †de Villiers b Mclaren 6

EJg Morgan not out 36

c kieswetter† not out 21

Extras (b 3, lb 7, w 11, nb 2) 23

Total (4 wickets; 46.4 overs; 215 mins) 224

did not bat Jc Tredwell, Sr patel, JM Anderson, JW dernbach, ST finn

fall of wickets 1-2 (cook, 0.6 ov), 2-143 (Trott, 31.5 ov), 3-156 (Bopara,

35.4 ov), 4-186 (Bell, 43.2 ov)

Bowling: dW Steyn 9.4-0-47-2, ll Tsotsobe 8-0-36-0,r Mclaren 9-

0-52-1,d Elgar 5-0-15-1,Wd parnell 8-0-39-0, rJ peterson 7-1-25-0

Toss: England

ScorEBoArd

Bell leads England winagainst South Africa

LHR 03-09-2012_Layout 1 9/3/2012 2:02 AM Page 17

Sports17

Monday, 3 September, 2012

Van Persie treblefires united, arsenalsink Liverpool

LONDONAfp

Robin van Persie hit a dramatic hat-trick as Manchester United fought backto win 3-2 at Southampton in Sir AlexFerguson's 1,000th league game incharge, while Arsenal piled on the mis-ery for struggling Liverpool with a 2-0victory at Anfield on Sunday.Van Persie looked like ruining Fergu-son's landmark celebrations when hemissed a penalty with United trailing 2-1midway through the second half at StMary's.But the Dutch forward showed why Fer-guson splashed out £24 million to signhim from Arsenal last month with twoclinical finishes in the final three min-utes to snatch the points fromSouthampton's grasp.Rickie Lambert had headed Southamp-ton into the lead from Jason Puncheon's16th minute cross, but van Persieequalised seven minutes later with a finestrike after Nathaniel Clyne slippedwhile trying to reach Antonio Valencia'scross.Southampton, who are bottom of thetable after losing their first threematches back in the top-flight after aseven-year absence, regained the lead 10minutes after half-time when midfielderMorgan Schneiderlin directed a divingheader past United goalkeeper AndersLindegaard.Van Persie won a penalty when JosHooiveld fouled him in the 69th minute,but Kelvin Davis saved the Dutchman'schipped spot-kick.Determined to make amends for thatblunder, van Persie bagged the 87thminute equaliser with a close-range fin-ish before heading the winner fromNani's corner in stoppage-time.Earlier on Sunday, Arsenal had endedtheir goal drought in emphatic fashionas Lukas Podolski and Santi Cazorla in-spired an impressive 2-0 win at Liver-pool.Arsene Wenger's side had drawn a blankin their first two Premier Leaguematches as they struggled to adapt tolife without van Persie.But the Gunners, held to goalless drawsby Sunderland and Stoke, were back ontarget at Anfield thanks to two ofWenger's pre-season signings. Germanystriker Podolski netted his first goal forthe club in the first half to end Arsenal'sbarren run of 211 scoreless minutes.

Mazembe knockahly off top of table

JOHANNESBURGAfp

TP Mazembe from the Democratic Re-public of Congo knocked Al Ahly ofEgypt off the top of a CAF ChampionsLeague group with a 2-0 home victorySunday that ensured a semi-finals place.Consistent scorer Mbwana Samata putthe Ravens ahead just after half-time ata packed stadium in southern miningcity Lubumbashi and Mukok Kandaadded a second goal on the hour markagainst the already-qualified visitors.It was the third consecutive victory forthe four-time African champions aftercollecting only one point from a possiblesix in the opening rounds, and avengeda 2-1 loss to Ahly in Cairo.Mazembe and Ahly have 10 points withone round to go in Group B and if theCongolese can match the Egyptians' re-sult on matchday 6 they will win themini-league on the head-to-head rule.Both teams want to finish first and avoida probable semi-finals showdown withdefending champions Esperance ofTunisia, who are unbeaten in 18matches spanning two seasons.The Tunisians host Sunshine Stars fromNigeria late Sunday in Rades and needonly a draw to clinch top spot as theychase the $1.5 million first prize and apassport to the 2012 FIFA Club WorldCup in Japan. Victory for Mazembeeliminated surprise qualifiers BerekumChelsea of Ghana from the title raceafter they managed only a 1-1 draw awayto Zamalek of Egypt, who are doomed tofinished bottom of the table.

FEDERER ROMPS, MURRAY STRUGGLESin US Open sweatshop

NEW YORKAfp

fIVE-TIME champion RogerFederer defied 32-degree heatand crushing humidity toreach the US Open last 16 Sat-

urday as potential semi-final rival AndyMurray almost wilted in the New Yorksweatshop.

Top seed Federer, bidding to be thefirst six-time winner in 87 years, de-feated Spanish 25th seed Fernando Ver-dasco 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 in a shade over twohours to make the last 16 for the 12thsuccessive year.

The Swiss next faces American 23rdseed Mardy Fish, who beat Gilles Simon,the French 16th seed, 6-1, 5-7, 7-6 (7/5),6-3.

Fish prevailed in a match which fin-ished after 0100 local time Sundaymorning despite hitting 74 unforced er-rors.

In stark contrast, third-seeded Mur-ray, the 2008 US Open runner-up toFederer, needed almost four hours toclinch a 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (7/5), 4-6, 7-6(7/4) victory over 30th-seeded Spanishleft-hander Feliciano Lopez.

Olympic champion Murray will nextface 15th-seeded Milos Raonic, who de-feated American wildcard James Blakeand 6-3, 6-0, 7-6 (7/3) on the back of 29aces to become the first Canadian tomake the last 16 in 24 years.

Murray, four times a Grand Slamrunner-up, had lost only one set in sixprior matches against Lopez but had tocome back from trailing in all three tie-breakers on Saturday.

Federer only faced one break pointagainst Verdasco, a player he has nowdefeated five times in five meetings.

"I was never really in big trouble on

my service games," he said."The heat and wind weren't really a

problem, but Fernando keeps you guess-ing, he's a great shot-maker."

Murray's 250th career match victoryon hard courts, and his seventh in sevenmeetings with Lopez, came when theSpaniard netted a backhand.

"This was the first match I hadplayed in this humidity for a while so itwas tough," Murray said. "I would like tobe in slightly better form but thesematches have helped with that."

Eleventh seed Nicolas Almagro keptSpanish hopes alive when he reached thefourth round for the first time with a 7-6 (7/3), 6-7 (4/7), 7-6 (7/2), 6-1 win overAmerican wildcard Jack Sock.

Almagro will meet Czech sixth seedTomas Berdych, who defeated American

27th seed Sam Querrey 6-7 (6/8), 6-4, 6-3, 6-2.

Croatian 12th seed Marin Cilic, aquarter-finalist in 2009, ended Asianhopes in the singles when he oustedJapanese 17th seed Kei Nishikori 6-3, 6-4, 6-7 (3/7), 6-3. Cilic will next face un-seeded Slovak Martin Klizan who beatdoubles partner Jeremy Chardy, theFrench 32nd seed, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4.

Three-time women's champion Ser-ena Williams went level with sisterVenus on 61 US Open career wins whenshe coasted into the fourth round.

Olympic and Wimbledon championWilliams won eight games in successionto claim a 6-4, 6-0 win over Russia'sworld 42 Ekaterina Makarova, thewoman who knocked her out of the Aus-tralian Open this year.

I hope Nadalplays again thisyear: Federer

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Roger Federer wants to see injury-hitRafael Nadal back playing this year de-spite fears that his great Spanish rivalis likely to miss the Davis Cup semi-final and even write off the rest of2012. Nadal, the seven-time FrenchOpen champion, hasn't played since ashock second round exit at Wimbledonin June. He was forced to sit out theOlympics to recover from more prob-lems with his knees, a requirementwhich also forced him to miss the on-going US Open where he was cham-pion in 2010 and runner-up last year."It's obviously not great news but onethat was a possibility," said worldnumber one Federer when told thatNadal could be forced to delay his re-turn to the tour until 2013. That wouldalso rule him out of the Davis Cupsemi-final against the United States inGijon from September 14-16 as well asa potential final date in November.Nadal's name is already absent fromthe team list published on the officialDavis Cup website for the semi-final."I'm not shocked about the news. I'mstill hopeful that he'll be okay for therest of the year," added the world num-ber one. Federer and Nadal have devel-oped a close bond despite theireight-year rivalry which has seen thembattle for the world number one rank-ing as well as Grand Slam titles.

LonDon: Poland's ewa Zielinska competes in the women's Long Jump

F42/44 Final athletics event during the London 2012 Paralympic Games. afp

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watch it LiveTEN SPORTS3RD ODI: PAKISTANV AUSTRALIA07:00PM

Sports 18

Monday, 3 September, 2012

ramsay triumphs ateuropean Masters

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Scotland's Richie Ramsay claimed thebiggest win of his career on Sunday atthe European Masters in the Swiss Alps,a final-round 66 handing him victory bya four-shot margin.Ramsay finished at 16 under par, withAustralia's Marcus Fraser, Romain Wat-tel of France, Fredrik Andersson Hed ofSweden and England's Danny Willett allon 12 under.It is the second tour title of Ramsay's ca-reer after his triumph at the SouthAfrican Open in 2010, and the secondwin in as many weeks for a Scotsman,following Paul Lawrie's success at theJohnnie Walker Championship at Gle-neagles last weekend.

McIlroy leads, Oosthuizen and Woods chasingNORTON

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World No. 1 Rory McIlroy fired a sec-ond straight 65 on Saturday for a slimhalfway lead in the Deutsche BankChampionship with Louis Oosthuizenand Tiger Woods heading the chasingpack.

Northern Ireland's McIlroy, whoearned his second career major title atthe PGA Championship in August, hada 12-under total of 130 after two roundson the par-71 TPC Boston layout.

South Africa's Oosthuizen, the 2010British Open champion, was one shotback after a 65 for 131 and 14-timemajor champion Woods carded a 68 for132, where he was joined by compatriotRyan Moore, who also carded a 68.

McIlroy's round included an eagleon the revamped par-five 18th -- hisninth hole of the day -- where he stuck

his approach shot eight feet (two me-ters) from the pin.

He had two bogeys on his inwardnine, finding the water at the par-fivesecond for a six and also bogeying thepar-three third. But he bounced backwith birdies at four and five.

"Everything seemed to work prettywell out there," McIlroy said. "I felt likeI drove the ball a bit better today andhit more fairways, which gave me somemore opportunities to make birdies.

"And I was putting well enough totake a few of those," he added. "Yeah,pleased with where I am and lookingforward to the weekend."Overnightleader Seung-Yul Noh of South Koreahad an even par 71 that included aneagle and a double-bogey and was in agroup of five players on 133 that also in-cluded South Africa's 2011 Masterschampion Charl Schwartzel (65).

Nine players were separated by

three shots heading into Sunday's thirdround of the $8 million tournament,which is scheduled to end Monday onthe US Labor Day holiday.

Prior to the event, the second in theUS PGA Tour's four-tournament playoffseries that ends with the Tour Champi-onship in Atlanta, McIlroy predictedthe winning total after four rounds onMonday would be from 15- to 18-underpar.

"Now that I'm in the tournament, Ijust want to play as well as I can andmaybe reassess things going into thelast day," McIlroy said.

"But I was very happy with the twoscores that I've got already and knowthat I need to go out and play just asgood tomorrow to give myself a chancegoing into Monday."

While McIlroy said his puttinghelped him score, Woods couldn't getmuch going on the greens. He missed

six birdie putts from within 18 feet."I didn't make anything today,"

Woods said. "There are a bunch of guysstacked up so we have to go out thereand make some birdies."

Woods opened his round withbirdies at the first and second holes, buthe was unable to get up and down froma bunker at the par-three third and tookbogey.

A birdie at the sixth was followed bya three-putt bogey at 11, but he pickedup another shot at 14 where he draineda 30-foot birdie putt.

He holed a 17-footer for birdie at 17,but any hope of a birdie at the last evap-orated when he found the rough off thetee and came up short with his thirdshot.

Oosthuizen also teed off on 10 andhis round included five birdies and achip-in for eagle on the par-four fourth,with just one bogey.

organisers defend Gamesdrug-testing policy

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London Paralympics organisers on Sun-day defended their decision not to drug-test every medal winner at the Games,insisting that the procedures were tightenough to prevent dope-cheats prosper-ing.The International Paralympic Commit-tee (IPC) said they expected to carry outsome 1,250 tests at the Games, a 25 per-cent increase on the number conductedin Beijing four years ago.But unlike at the Olympics, where everygold, silver and bronze medallist had togive samples, not every medal winnerwill undergo testing at this edition of theParalympics.The president of the IPC's anti-dopingcommittee, Jose Antonio Pascual, saidanalysing samples from every medallistwould be impossible, as there were 503golds on offer compared with about 300at the Olympics."The IPC anti-doping programmes, as inprevious Games, (tries) to cover allcountries and all sports. But the fact isthat at the Paralympic Games, we have alot of medal events... around 500," hetold a news conference."That makes testing for every single ath-lete having gold, silver and bronze notpossible."Instead, Pascual said that as well as test-ing at least one medallist, there was ran-dom testing of other competitors, whichwas a strong enough deterrent to pre-vent doping violations."They know that if they get a medal theyhave a high probability of being testedbut it's not 100 percent," he added.A total of 207 tests have been conductedin the first three days of competition,with 476 before the start of the Gameslast Wednesday. So far, no athlete hastested positive for banned substances,Pascual told reporters.In powerlifting, a "high-risk" area forperformance-enhancing drugs in thepast, all competitors will have beentested, said IPC spokesman CraigSpence, who also played down reports ofwidespread "boosting" at the Games."Boosting (artificially raising bloodpressure to improve performance, par-ticularly among competitors withspinal injuries) was outlawed by theIPC in 2004. It's performance-enhanc-ing and most importantly a healthrisk," he said."In Beijing we tested 37 athletes and wehad no positive tests."London 2012 director of sport, DebbieJevans, meanwhile rejected suggestionsthat cost was a factor in the decision notto drug-test all medal-winners, althoughPascual said money had to play a part ifthere were not enough resources.

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SWITZERLAND'S EdithWolf on Sunday regainedher T54 5,000m Paralympiccrown and Kelly Cartwrightof Australia jumped to glory,

as Oscar Pistorius geared up to defend thefirst of his three sprint titles.

The 40-year-old, who first won therace at Athens in 2004, crossed the linejust ahead of Shirley Reilly of the UnitedStates and Christie Dawes of Australia,cheered on again by a near-capacitycrowd of 80,000. Wolf said the supporthad motivated all the athletes but was stillshocked at her victory.

"I was wondering if I could keep(close) to the group, but it was really good.I feel amazing," she added. "I was sur-prised that I came into the final and reallysurprised to win."

Cartwright, 23, broke the worldrecord for F42 athletes in the women'sF42/44 long jump with 4.38m, which incombined class field events is convertedinto points.

Her score of 1,030 was good enoughto beat Britain's New Zealand-born StefReid, who competed for Canada in Bei-jing, and France's Marie-Amelie le Fur,into silver and bronze.

"It was really tough because being ina combined class, you've got to look at thepoints, it's not just the distance," saidCartwright, whose right leg was ampu-tated after she was diagnosed with a rareform of cancer as a teenager.

"Some of those girls jumped so farand so well and it was pretty tough -- oneof the toughest competitions I've had."

The two finals came before theevening session, which sees "Blade Run-ner" Oscar Pistorius go in the T44 200m,

after setting a new world best of 21.30secin Saturday's heat.

The 25-year-old -- the Games' biggestname after he became the first double-amputee to compete in the Olympics -- isthe defending champion in the 100m,200m and 400m.

Sunday's evening session will also seeBritain's David Weir renew his rivalrywith Australia's Kurt Fearnley and theSwiss "Silver Bullet" Marcel Hug in theT54 5,000m final.

Sixty gold medals were being decidedon Sunday, with a week to go until theGames come to an end.

Track cycling comes to an end at theVelodrome, with the women's individualpursuit final for blind and visually im-paired riders, the men's equivalent raceand the mixed C1-5 team sprint.

In rowing, Britain's LTA mixed coxedfours beat rivals Germany for gold at Eton

Dorney but the host nation's gold medalhope Tom Aggar -- unbeated in five years-- lost his Paralympic title in the AS men'ssingle sculls final.

That race was won by internationaldebutant Huang Cheng of China, whosmashed Aggar's world record in Friday'sheat. Australia's Erik Horrie won silverand Russia's Aleksey Chuvashev tookbronze, with Aggar in fourth.

Eleven table tennis medals werebeing decided. Hong Kong took gold andsilver in the shape of Wong Ka Man andYeung Chi Ka in the women's singles class11, while China's Feng Panfeng beatZlatko Sler of Serbia in the men's class 3.

Thailand's Thainiyom Rungroj tookthe men's class 6 gold, while Liu Jing gaveChina another gold in the women's class1-2. In equestrian, Belgium's MicheleGeorge took gold in the grade IV individ-ual championship test.

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Britain's Ellie Simmonds on Saturday made doubts about Vic-toria Arlen's eligibility immaterial on Saturday, as she retainedher S6 400m freestyle crown by smashing the US swim queen'sworld record. The 17-year-old, a double gold medallist at the Bei-jing Olympics four years ago at the age of just 13, proved toostrong for her rival in the final 50m, pulling away to touch homein a new global best of 5mins 19.17secs.

Arlen secured silver in 5:20.18 -- more than four seconds in-side the 5:24.46 benchmark she set in June -- with China's SongLingling taking bronze. "I'm so pleased to touch and get a worldrecord and a five-second PB. I knew it was going to be so toughleading into it with Victoria being on form and I knew I had togive it my everything and give it my all," said Simmonds.

"That last 50 hurt, it just killed me. I knew that I had no re-grets, I just gave it my all but I'm just so pleased. When I touchedI had no energy left. It was one of the toughest races of my life sofar." Arlen, also 17, said she was pleased with the result and saidit was a spur for the future.

"I couldn't have asked for more on my first big meet... It'smotivational, she (Simmonds) did amazing, the better person

won. I'm very happy for her. Especially with it being her hometurf," she added.

The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) had earlierfreed the American teenager to race after question marks hungover her eligibility in the race. She was declared "non-eligible"earlier this week due to doubts over her classification.

She was re-instated on appeal but still faced the threat ofbeing stripped of the gold medal had she won.

But the IPC said in a statement that she will "continue tocompete in the S6 class, with a review date set for August 2013".

"Due to the different technicality of stroke required inbreaststroke a similar observation in competition will take placein her first SB race," it added. Categories one to 10 are allocatedto swimmers with a physical disability. The lower the number,the more severe the impairment. The letter indicates the stroke.

Arlen was diagnosed with the neurological disorder post-in-fectious transverse myelitis, which affects the spinal cord, at theage of 12 and was in a vegetative state for two years.

Simmonds was born with achondroplasia, a form ofdwarfism.

Another US swimmer facing classification difficulties wasMallory Weggemann, who saw herself moved up a category asshe prepared to swim seven events at the Games.

Wolf roars to win as Pistorius eyes 200m title

eton Dorney: australian Sports Minister Kate Lundy (r) is congratulated by britain's

Minister for Sport and the olympics Hugh robertson (L) after Lundy rowed 1000m of the

olympic course. Lundy was completing her forfeit after losing to robertson. afp

Simmonds put Arlen eligibility questions to bed

new yorK: Stacey Gardner watches her

husband Mardy Fish play Gilles Simon of France

during Day Six of the 2012 uS open at uSta

billie Jean King national tennis Center. afp

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Monday, 3 September, 2012

24

Published by Arif Nizami at Qandeel Printing Press, 4 Queens Road, Lahore. Editor: Arif Nizami

ISLAMABADkAShif ABBASi

THE blasphemy case against a14-year-old Christain girl tookan important turn when theaccusing cleric, Khalid Ju-doon, was sent to jail on a 14-

day judicial remand on Sunday.The cleric was on Saturday accused of

tampering with the evidence against Chris-tian girl Rimsha to exacerbate the situa-tion. Jadoon, a prayer leader of a mosquein Mehra Jaffar where Rimsha allegedlyburnt pages of a Noorani Qaida, is accusedof putting two pages of the Holy Quranwith the brunt pages of Qaida to make astrong case of blasphemy against the 14-year-old girl.

However, three of Jadoon’s colleaguesexposed him the other day by recordingstatements before a magistrate, disclosingthat the cleric added two pages of HolyQuran to the burnt pages of NooraniQaida, which were allegedly burnt byRimsha. The Imam was arrested on Satur-

day night. He was brought before JudicialMagistrate Nasrun Minallah on Sundayamid tight security and was sent to prisonfor 14 days. Police submitted an applica-tion to the court requesting for the re-mand, but the court sent the accused in jailwith direction to police to present the ac-cused in court on September 16.

Police sources said Khalid Jadoon wasbiased against Christian families living inMehra Jaffar and had tried to instigate thepeople against the community through hishate speeches in the past as well.

They said the cleric wanted Christiansto leave the area.

The other day, three witnesses of thecase, Hafiz Muhammad Zubair and twoothers disclosed before the executive mag-istrate that Khalid Jadoon added two pagesof the Holy Quran to the burnt pages of theQaida. They added that they tried to stopthe cleric, requesting him not to tamperwith the evidence, but he ignored their ad-vice. Police then registered an FIR againstthe cleric for tampering the record and try-ing to influence the situation. However,

Jadoon denied the allegations during theproceeding, saying the administration washatching a conspiracy against him.

An additional sessions judge is due tohear the bail plea of Rimsha today (Mon-day). The minor girl was arrested for al-legedly burning pages of a Noorani Qaidain Mehra Jaffar, an area in Sector G-12, Is-lamabad.

Ramna police had registered a caseagainst Rimsha under the blasphemy lawon August 16 and sent her to jail. RaoAbdur Raheem, lawyer for Rimsha’s ac-cuser, said the development was intendedto “spoil” his case and he accused authori-ties of interfering.

“They are pressurising the com-plainants and witnesses to facilitate thebail of Rimsha,” he told the court.

“They are making threats on behalf ofthe people sitting in the President’sHouse.” A medical report had said Rimshaappeared to be around 14 years old, buthad a mental age below her true age.

The court is yet to decide whether toaccept the assessment.

rimsha’s accuser cleric sent on 14-day remand

AFP

KABULAfp

US special forces in Afghanistanhave suspended training forabout 1,000 Afghan policerecruits to carry out checks onexisting members, the militarysaid Sunday, after a surge ininsider attacks on NATO.There has been a sharp rise inso-called “green-on-blue”attacks recently, in whichmembers of the Afghan securityforces turn their weapons ontheir Western allies, sometimestheir military trainers.There have been more than 30such incidents this year, claimingthe lives of 45 coalition troops —about 14 percent of the overalldeath toll in the war for 2012.“Current partnered operationshave and will continue, even aswe temporarily suspend training

of about 1,000 new ALP (AfghanLocal Police) recruits while re-vetting current members,” aspokesman for the US forces inAfghanistan, Colonel ThomasCollins, said.The ALP is a US-sponsoredpolice force with around 30,000members, recruited to fightTaliban insurgents in remoteareas of the Afghan countryside.“While we have full trust andconfidence in our Afghanpartners, we believe this is anecessary step to validate ourvetting process and ensure thequality indicative of AfghanLocal Police,” the spokesmansaid. The Washington Post saidthe re-vetting process wouldaffect more than 27,000 Afghantroops.The suspension was temporary,the colonel said but gave notimeframe.

There are about 130,000 US andNATO troops in Afghanistanfighting the Taliban insurgencyand training the Afghan securityforces since the Taliban wereousted from power in late 2001in a US-led invasion.The US-led NATO troops willwithdraw at the end of 2014,giving all securityresponsibilities to the Afghanforces in a US-designedprogramme which began earlierthis year.According to the Post,numerous military guidelineswere not followed by eitherAfghans or Americans becauseof concerns that they might slowthe growth of the Afghan armyand police. The Taliban havestepped up their attacks inrecent months as part of effortsby the insurgency to underminethe transition process.

16 militants killed

in bajaur, SwaMIRANSHAH/PESHAWAR: Assecurity forces move ahead with militaryoffensive in the tribal belt on Sunday, theykilling seven militants in Azam Warsakarea of South Waziristan, and nine othersin Baujar. According to sources in themilitary‚ 13 militants had also been injuredin the clashes. On the other hand, themilitants fired rockets on security forcesfort in Khan Kot area of the agency. Severalsoldiers were reported to have been injuredin the attack. Earlier, the terroristsattacked convoys of the security forces withremote-controlled bombs at four separateplaces across North Waziristan. However‚no casualties were reported in any of theattempt. The political administration hasimposed an indefinite curfew in severalareas of the agency, including Miranshah‚Mirali‚ Dosalli and Razmak. BAJAUR OffENSIVE: Security forceskilled at least nine militants on Sunday inthe ongoing military operation in Batwararea of Bajaur Agency along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. According to sources,nine terrorists, including their commander,were killed in the ongoing cleanupoperation against militants along theborder. aGencieS

British channel’shistory of islamsparks flood ofcomplaints

g presenter subjectedto torrent of abusivetweets

MONITORING DESK

A British public-service televisionbroadcaster, Channel 4, is at the centreof a storm over a programme itbroadcast on the history of Islam.According to a report published in theDaily Mail, Islam: The Untold Storyhas triggered nearly 550 complaints toboth the television regulator Ofcomand Channel 4 itself. It has alsosparked a bitter war of words onTwitter involving leading historiansand Islamic scholars. Since it wasscreened last week, presenter TomHolland, a historian with a double firstfrom Cambridge, has been subjected toa torrent of abusive tweets, some ofwhich have included physical threats.According to the paper, he is accusedof distorting the history of Islam byclaiming the holy Quran “makes littleor no reference to the religious city of”Makkah. One Twitter user accusedHolland of trying to destroy Islamichistory while another called him a‘fool’ for suggesting Islam was a“made-up religion”. The IslamicEducation and Research Academypublished a lengthy paper denouncingthe programme. But historians haverallied to Holland’s defense. DanSnow, who has presented historyshows for the BBC with his fatherPeter, described the programme as “atriumph”, tweeting: “Dear angry, madpeople – it is conceivable that youknow more than the world’s leadingscholars, but very unlikely.” The paperquoted the academy as claiming thatthe programme’s assertion that therewere no historical records detailing thelife and teachings of the holy ProphetMuhammad (PBUH) was flawed.“Holland appears to have turned ablind eye to rich Islamic historicaltradition,” said the academy. Ofcom,which has received 150 complaintsabout the programme’s alleged bias,inaccuracy and offence caused toMuslims, is considering aninvestigation. Holland was quoted assaying, ‘The origins of Islam are alegitimate subject of historical inquiryand this film is wholly in keeping withother series and programmes onChannel 4.” “We were of course awarethat we were touching deeply-heldsensitivities and went to every effort toensure that the moral and civilisationalpower of Islam was acknowledged.

US special forces suspendtraining of Afghans

VEnicE: A boat displaced by hurricane isaac sits on the edgeof a road in lower plaquemines parish on Sunday in Venice,louisiana. Some residents of lower plaquemines were allowedon Sunday to return to assess damage to their homes. afp

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