thursday, 12 July, 2012 Shaban 21, 1433islamabad — peshawar editionRs 15.00 Vol iii no 17 19 pages

PAGE | 04 PAGE | 19

imran says AmbassadorMunter must have misunderstood him

Dr Asim hussainthrows the gas bomb:No CNg in Nov & Dec

PAGE |02

haqqani won’t returnwithout guarantee of security

CoNteMPt biLL sAiLs thRough the seNAte

ISLAMABADTayyaB hussaIn

AMid a ‘soft resistance’ by Pakistan Mus-lim League-Nawaz (PML-N) senators,the ruling coalition on Wednesday

night sailed through with its controversialamendment bill, the Contempt of CourtBill 2012, with a majority vote.The bill had already been passed by the National Assem-bly on Monday and aims at removal of judicial powersunder contempt law. Under the new law, the president,prime minister, ministers and chief ministers will be im-mune from contempt of court proceedings under Article284-1 of the constitution. The law also states that criti-cism of court orders, if made in the appropriate lan-guage, would not be contempt of court. Other necessaryprovisions relevant to contempt of court proceedingshave also been incorporated in the new law.

The bill, which would allegedly provide cover toPrime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf from possible dis-qualification by the Supreme Court under contempt ofcourt law, was presented by Minister for Law Farooq HNaik. The political isolation of the PML-N was furtherexposed as no other opposition party joined its memberson their way out of the House when the oppositionleader Senator ishaq dar announced to walk out toprotest the passage of the bill.

Though the JUi-F senators also joined the PML-N’svoice of dissent against the contempt bill in theirspeeches, no one opposed the bill vigorously during vot-ing and the PML-N members offered a weak “no” againsta strong “yes” from treasury benches.

However, there were three strong voices from withinthe ruling coalition against passage of the bill in “haste”, asBarrister Aitzaz Ahsan, Mian Raza Rabbani and MushahidHussain Sayed cautioned the government not to go for the

legislation abruptly and rather debate it and remove thecontroversial clauses from the bill, which were a recipe foran executive-judiciary collision. Barrister Aitzaz Ahsanadopted a cautious approach towards the bill, saying twoclauses were controversial and if the apex court’s attentionwas diverted towards both of them, it would not take long

to declare them ultra-vires of constitution. He urged thelaw minister to review the clause one of the Section 3 ofthe bill and the sub-section 3 of the clause 11, which hesaid were in conflict with Article 204.

g PML-N offers ‘soft resistance’, stages walkoutin protest g Aitzaz, Rabbani, Mushahid caution govt against hasty passage of bill g Aitzaz says court may strike downbill due to two clauses

Cabinet willdecide letter issue, PM totell SC today

ISLAMABADIrfan BukharI

As the Supreme Court resumeshearing in the National

Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO)verdict implementation case

today (Thursday) and expectsthe new prime minister toclarify his stance on writing

the contentious letter to Swiss authoritiesfor reopening the graft cases against thepresident, the new prime minister is likelyto tell the SC that “he is in no position towrite the letter as yet and would give areply after consulting with his cabinetmembers”. The government made thisdecision during a meeting of the federalcabinet on Wednesday. Sources toldPakistan Today that after the cabinetdiscussed the agenda items, including loadshedding and giving its approval to anincrease in non-Muslims’ seats in thenational and provincial assemblies, theprime minister asked all staff, exceptcabinet secretary Nargis Sethi, to leave thehall. The sources said that the cabinetmembers then deliberated on the responsethe prime minister should give to the SCvis-à-vis the letter. They said that thecabinet decided that the PM would tell theSC that he was not in a position to take adecision on the letter issue on his own andwould give a reply after consulting with hiscabinet members, and he would soon call aspecial meeting in this regard.

Continued on page 04Continued on page 04

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02thursday, 12 July‚ 2012

News

Today’s

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foreign neWS

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World vieW

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cArtoon

Page 11

Iran much stronger today despite sanctions: khamenei Why is the us selling billions in weapons to autocrats?

ISLAMABADagencIes

PRiMe Minister Raja PervezAshraf has said that Pakistan tookthe decision of reopening theground lines of communication(GLOCs) for NATO supplies in

the interest of regional peace and stability inaccord with national interests.

He said Pakistan was ready to facilitate thetransition process in Afghanistan as a responsi-ble member of the international community anda neighbour who stood to directly benefit de-

pending upon how situation unfolded in thatcountry. The prime minister expressed theseviews while talking to Cameron Munter, the out-going US ambassador to Pakistan, who paid afarewell call on him at the PM’s House onWednesday. The prime minister said Pakistansupported an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned in-clusive peace and reconciliation process and ex-tended its unstinted support to the internationalefforts for peace and stability in Afghanistan.“despite our own economic constraints, the gov-ernment has announced the financial assistancefor Afghanistan to the tune of $20 million,” hesaid. The prime minister said despite recent chal-

lenges in the bilateral relations between Pakistanand the US, it was matter of satisfaction thatthings were back on track, “thanks to multi-lay-ered engagements between Pakistani leadershipand their American counterpart. We need to lookahead and move forward in building durable andmutually beneficially partnership between bothcountries and their peoples based on mutual re-spect and mutual interest”, he added.

Ashraf said strategic partnership betweenWashington and islamabad manifested thedepth of bilateral relations. He said Pakistanlooked forward to more US cooperation in thefields of energy generation, infrastructure devel-

opment, water management, agriculture andhuman development. He said under the govern-ment’s policy of ‘trade not aid’, the governmenthoped that the Obama administration wouldwork with Congress on greater market access onpreferential tariff.

He said the country was a frontline stateagainst war on terror and had suffered the lossesmore than any other country in the world. Hesaid that Pakistan expected of the allies to alsorespect her redlines. He said that the governmenthad taken effective measures on the counter-iedduring last few months to control illegal flow ofieds ingredients into Afghanistan.

Reopening of NATO supply routesimportant for regional peace: PMg Ashraf says Pakistan ready to facilitate transition process in Afghanistan as responsible member of international communityg Munter says Pakistan‚ US partners in fight against terrorism

Haqqani won’treturn withoutguarantee ofsecurity

ISLAMABADagencIes

Former ambassador ofPakistan to the US, HussainHaqqani in a letter expectedto be placed before theSupreme Court on Thursday,stated that he would come toPakistan only after threats tohis life have been seriouslydealt with. “i will not risk mylife until the circumstancesthat have put my life injeopardy have changed,” hedeclared, adding, “Given thecurrent mood andenvironment in the country,where individuals are beingburnt alive on unprovedcharges of blasphemy andethnic, political andsectarian killings are goingunnoticed, it is unreasonableto pressure me to return tothe country to respond topolitical accusations basedon the word of oneforeigner.” According to aprivate TV channel, HussainHaqqani said that he wasfacing death threats frommilitants, as he wasportrayed as a rebel and atraitor despite the fact thathe had not committed acrime. Haqqani said that hereceived threats to his lifedaily, from extremistelements in Pakistan whoquestioned his religious andpolitical views. Referring tothe memo commission,which he criticised for goingout of its way to persecutehim, Haqqani said, “Thehighly incendiary languageused by the commission inits partisan report hasincreased the threats to mysafety and security in caseof returning to Pakistan.”He went on to argue thatboth Mr. imran Khan andSheikh Rashid Ahmed haveshared the public stage withgroups and leadersdescribed internationally asterrorists.

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03thursday, 12 July‚ 2012

NewseditoriAla stitch in time

coMMent

Articles on Page 14-15

Can’t afford to be the flaky ally

kamran rehmat says;Hillary Dickory Dock: Semantics save the day for estranged allies

dr James J Zogby says;Lebanon on the brink: Many a faultline pass through this troubled land

Imran husain says; A war of ‘supremacy’: The crisis escalates

ArtS & entertAinMent

Story on Page 12

bUSineSS

Story on Page 18

SPortS

Story on Page 15

Bipasha Basu at her best Oops we did it again! azhar ton sets up intriguing finish

WAShINGTONsPecIal cOrresPOndenT

MORe than a year after thefirst stirrings of the ArabSpring, solid majorities inLebanon, Turkey, egypt,Tunisia and Jordan be-

lieve democracy is the best form of govern-ment, as do a plurality of Pakistanis.

The latest Pew Research Center surveysays publics in these countries do not justsupport the general notion of democracy –they also embrace specific features of ademocratic system, such as competitiveelections and free speech.

A substantial number in key Muslimcountries want a large role for islam in po-litical life. However, there are significantdifferences over the degree to which the

legal system should be based on islam.The United States is not seen as pro-

moting democracy in the Middle east. innewly democratic Tunisia, only aboutthree-in-10 believe the American responseto the political upheaval in their countryhas had a positive impact.

While democratic rights and institu-tions are popular, they are clearly not theonly priorities in the six Muslim majoritynations surveyed. in particular, the econ-omy is a top concern. And if they had tochoose, most Jordanians, Tunisians andPakistanis would rather have a strongeconomy than a good democracy. Turksand Lebanese, on the other hand, wouldprefer democracy. egyptians are divided.

There is also a strong desire for islamto play a major role in the public life ofthese nations, and most want islam to have

at least some influence on their country’slaws. Majorities in Pakistan, Jordan andegypt believe laws should strictly followthe teachings of the Quran, while mostTunisians and a 44 percent plurality ofTurks want laws to be influenced by thevalues and principles of islam, but notstrictly follow the Quran. Just as opinionsabout religion and politics vary acrossthese six nations, so do views about genderequality. Majorities in all six believewomen should have equal rights as men,and more than eight-in-ten hold this viewin Lebanon and Turkey. Moreover, whilemany support the general principle of gen-der equality, there is less enthusiasm forgender parity in politics, economics, andfamily life. For instance, many believe menmake better political leaders, that menshould have more of a right to a job than

women when jobs are scarce, and that fam-ilies should help choose a woman’s hus-band. Conducted from March 19 to April20, the poll, which is part of the broader 21-nation spring 2012 Global Attitudes sur-vey, found considerable optimism – atleast among Arab publics – about theprospects for democracy in the region.

Majorities in five of the six nationspolled (and a plurality of Pakistanis) be-lieve democracy is the best form of govern-ment. Moreover, there is a strong desire inthese nations for specific democratic rightsand institutions, such as competitive multi-party elections and freedom of speech. Onbalance, opinions about iran are negative,although Pakistan is a clear exception – 76percent of Pakistanis have a favorable viewof iran, and 47 percent rate President Mah-moud Ahmadinejad positively.

Pakistanis want democracy but assignpriority to economic prosperity: Pew

Bicycle bomb killsone in Karachi

KARAchITarIq haBIB

A man, Anasr Khan, was killed and 23people were injured on Wednesday whena bomb planted on a bicycle went off at abus stop in Hub Chowki, an industrialarea of Hub tehsil of Balochistan and aborder town near Karachi The target ofthe attack appeared to be a bus from thenational space agency SUPARCO(Pakistan Space and Upper AtmosphereResearch Commission) which was takingworkers home, officials said. A largecontingent of police and Rangers rushedto the spot and cordoned off the area.According to initial investigations, thebomb was planted on a bicycle which wasplaced along the road. SeniorSuperintendent Police (SSP) AmirFarooqui told reporters that severalpassengers had been injured in the blast,apparently targeting the SUPARCO bus.He said four of the injured were in criticalcondition. He said nature of the blastcould not be ascertained so far but thepolice had found wreckage of a motorcycleon the spot. diG West Akram NaeemBroka told reporters that the bombweighed about three to five kilogrammes.He said further investigations wereunderway and the perpetrators would bearrested soon. Sources claimed thatterrorist organisations in Balochistanusually attacked vehicles on the route andsecurity forces and government employeeswere their usual targets.“Terrorist organisations from Balochistanmay be responsible for the attack,” a policeofficial said.

Coach- carcollision claimseight lives

KhAIRPURaPP

At least eight pilgrims were burnt alivewhile 28 others were injured in acollision between a coach and a car nearRasool Abad, 80 km from here, Tuesdaynight on the National Highway. Thecoach was carrying pilgrims from SehwanSharif to Sadiqabad when it collided witha car causing both vehicles to catch fire.Razak Faqeer, Saleem, Amina, Sonia,Mehran Khatoon, irfan Mangi, and twoother unidentified were burnt alive, while28 passengers in both vehicles includingKaloo, darya Khan, Hasnain , irshad,Umar Farooq, Kishawar Khatoon,Mehwish, Zarina, Fazal, Sadiq, Bilawal,Rana Manzoor, Abdul Latif who weretravelling by coach and Ghualm Abbas,Mai Wadhul, Aslam who were in the carreceived burn injuries.They were rushedto hospitals in Hingorja, Ranipur,Gambat and Nawabshah for treatmentwhere the condition of ten is stated to becritical. The fire brigade was called but itdid not reach on time while the motorwaypolice rushed there and rescued theinjured passengers from coach.

ISLAMABADOnlIne

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) hasdirected its secretariat to write a letter tothe Law department seeking legal guidanceregarding the rejoinder from the SupremeCourt (SC) over its refusal to send any of itsrepresentatives to appear before the com-mittee.

The PAC meeting, chaired by NadeemAfzal Chan, mulled over the SC’s reply thatno mouthpiece of the court will appear be-fore the committee and elicited opinionfrom the Law Ministry over the issue.

Nadeem urged the Law Ministry to ten-der its opinion on this delicate matter on anappropriate time while, the committee’sadditional secretary said the SC raised theissue of non-appearance in 2006.

The SC’s registrars have previouslybeen appearing before the court.

The PAC also discussed the audit re-port of Pakistan Post Office department forthe year 2004, 05, 06 and 07 discussed.

Chan said discrimination in salaries ofemployees was violation of the constitu-tion. He asked the Finance department to

explain why had employees of a few depart-ments been given dual salaries in the nameof special allowance. He directed the Fi-nance department to give structure of payscales of various departments and in thisregard no discrimination should beadopted.

The PAC also decided to hold its meet-ings in all the provincial headquarters tojudge the performance of different depart-ments.

earlier, the committee showed its re-sentment over the poor performance ofPostal Service director General GhulamSever Panjtan and the Ministry of PostalServices secretary.

The committee directed them to takestern action against irregularities in the de-partment and elements behind it.

Yasmin Rehman said worst kind of ir-regularities had been exposed in the Pak-istan Postal Services.

it observed that due to departmentalmismanagement Postal Services had notimproved its structure while other smalldepartments had expanded their networknationwide.

Chan directed the officials of Postal

Services to fix the responsibility against re-sponsible persons including former direc-tor general Maj Gen r Agha MasoodulHasan and called him during the nextmeeting of the committee.

The PAC observed that rather to exposethe corruption of former dG other officialsof the department also assisted him andcovered his corruption. Chairman directedofficials to fix the responsibility and exposenames of all those persons who covered thewrong doings of former dG and becamepart of the corruption.

The committee said certain projectshave been initiated just to obtain funds buton practical grounds no activity have beenseen which is very unfortunate and com-plete failure of the management. They saidthat no one from the department is botherto follow the pre-defined departmentalrules and corruption is prevailing everywhere.

The PAC also showed its resentmentover daily wagers working in the depart-ment and stated that these daily wagers areinvolved in corruption. These employeestake Rs 200 bribe from the beneficiaries ofBenazir income Support Program (BiSP).

PAc seeks legal guidance on Sc registrar’srefusal to appear before committee

old family

feud claims 8

lives in AJKMUZAFFARABAD

agencIes

At least eight people of thesame family were shot deadover an old enmity in AzadKashmir.According to police, twoyears ago Raja Mushtaqand his son were murderedby Sarwar and hiscompanions in the Garounarea of Azad Kashmir overa minor dispute. Sincethen, both families were atdaggers drawn with eachother.On Wednesday morning,Raja Mushtaq’s family wason its way to the sessioncourt in Bhimbar when therival party opened fired onthem, killing eight peopleof the family on spot.According to police, bothgroups were close relatives.

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04thursday, 12 July, 2012

News

ISLAMABADagencIes

THe federal cabinet onWednesday decidedthat load shedding

would be conducted across allprovinces uniformly.

The cabinet meeting,chaired by Prime MinisterRaja Pervaiz Ashraf, was toldby the Ministry of Water andPower that the power produc-tion had increased while theshortfall had reduced to3,500MW. The meeting de-cided that there would be noload shedding during Tar-aveeh‚ Sehr and iftar timingsduring the holy month of Ra-madan. The cabinet was ap-prised that an additional2,000MW of electricity wouldbe added to the national gridby the end of this year.

The cabinet also approvedan increase in seats of minority

members in the national andprovincial assemblies andformed a committee compris-ing three ministers for assessingthe degree to which the quotawould be increased. earlier,Minister in-charge for NationalHarmony dr Paul Bhatti soughtmore seats for minorities in theSenate, national and provincialassemblies, citing an increase inthe national population.

The minister urged theprovincial and FATA adminis-tration to encourage employ-ment of minority members inall public and private sectors.To raise the number of minor-ity seats, the Constitution’s Ar-ticle 51 would be amended, thecabinet decided. Briefing re-porters on the cabinet meeting,Minister for informationQamar Zaman Kaira said thecabinet had approved a Rs 2.5billion Ramadan package.Under the package, 57,000

utility stores throughout thecountry would offer subsidieson a number of daily use items.

He said Prime MinisterAshraf had directed the UtilityStores Corporation to make im-mediate arrangements for pro-viding the facility in FATA. Hesaid that the cabinet was briefedon the load shedding situationand informed that power gen-eration had increased to13,650MW. Kaira said the cab-inet had approved in principleto increase quote for non-Mus-lims in the national and provin-cial assemblies in proportion tothe country’s population. Hesaid the prime minister had in-formed the cabinet that he hadreceived a letter from theSupreme Court registrarthrough the attorney general,in which the registrar hadsought information aboutprogress on implementation ofNRO verdict.

KARAchIsTaff rePOrT

American AmbassadorCameron Munter has eithermisunderstood or misquotedmy discussion with him re-garding Pak-US relations,said Chairman PakistanTehreek-e-insaf imran Khan.

Speaking to reporters atthe Karachi airport as he ar-rived in the city for a two dayvisit, Mr Khan said that PTi isneither pro- nor anti- theUnited States. it takes a posi-tion based on its policies. Thus,the party has consistently op-

posed the American war inAfghanistan and Pakistan’spartnership in it. Mr Khan fur-ther added that events hadproven the party’s stand to becorrect as Pakistan had suf-fered immensely after associat-ing with the United States andproviding it help in the Afghanwar. The country became thetarget of a wave of terrorism inwhich over 35,000 people losttheir lives and the Pakistaneconomy suffered a loss of anestimated 71 billion dollars.

But the Chairman PTi saidthat this position against Pak-istan’s participation in the war

on terror taken in Pakistan’s na-tional interest does not meanthat the party is anti-America.

Talking to the American Am-bassador in this regard, MrKhan had said that the partywould react to US policies that itdisagreed with but would seekto build an enduring relation-ship with it based on shared in-terests and mutual respect. MrKhan said that it was this partic-ular part of the interaction thathad been highlighted by themedia and not the fact that hehad candidly told the AmericanAmbassador that the party can-not support the reopening ofNATO supplies or any other ac-tivity that furthers the Americanwar effort in Afghanistan.

Aitzaz said there was aprovision in sub-section 3 ofthe clause 11 which wasidentical to the contempt ofcourt bill which wasintroduced by NawazSharif’s government in year1997. He said except forthese two clauses, the billwould help provide abalance between thejudiciary and executive.Aitzaz said the bill wasprepared in haste andhistory showed that anylegislation which was madein rapidity normallybackfired. “Whenever such

legislation is made in haste,it benefits the governmentand its ministers. However,whenever the party whichintroduces such a law goesto the opposition benches,they have to face the musicand the same party isreminded that they hadintroduced the same law,” headded. “Any law made inhast can prove bedeleterious,” he said.Aitzaz, however, shared hisconcerns about the apexcourt verdict about thedisqualification of formerPM Yousaf Raza Gilani.

He also said that thecontempt of court law was toan extent against the freedomof expression. Mian RazaRabbani said the currentpolitical situation of thecountry demanded forpolitical as well as judicialmaturity. He said thecontempt law was beingreviewed in other countries ofthe world, just like Pakistan.“But there is a differencebetween those countries andPakistan. in other countries,the enforcement of judgmentand rule of law is not due tofear of contempt law butbecause people respect courts’decision there. executive willbecome unbridled if this lawis abolished in Pakistan,” headded. He was also of theview that the court would set

aside the bill, hence, it shouldnot be pursued at thisjuncture of time. MushahidHussain Sayed of the PML-Qseconded the views expressedby Aitzaz Ahsan and RazaRabbani. He said anylegislation passed in hastewould serve no good.“We should learn lessonfrom the past and should tryto legislate above party lines.There is no law for the richand powerful, hence we needthe contempt law,” he said.He also stressed for politicaland judicial restraint. “Weare passing through politicalevolution and should avoidany kind of confrontation,”he added. Senator FaratullahBabar of PPP said that thecontempt of court bill wasnot presented in haste but

the reality was that thecountry needed it.“People must respect courtsbecause of their decisions andnot because of a contemptlaw,” he remarked. LawMinister Farooq H Naik saidthe constitution gaveparliament the right tolegislate. “We are not againstthe judiciary, but respect theconstitution,” he added.earlier, expressing hisreservations over the bill,Leader of the Oppositionishaq dar said his partyopposed the bill that wasbeing brought in just to savethe skin of the prime minister.He said lawmakers shouldhave been given sufficienttime for discussion on the billand the rules had beensuspended to bulldoze the bill

despite the fact that thegovernment enjoyed majorityin both Houses of parliament.dar added that even if the billwas approved, the PML-Nwould try to make sure that itdid not remain part of theconstitution. He was of theview that the apex court couldstrike it down as it wasintroduced in a haste undermalafide intentions as theprime minister had beensummoned by the apex courttoday (Thursday) in NROimplementation case. RajaZafarul Haq and Syed Zafar AliShah of the PML-N were also ofthe view that the bill was beingpassed in haste. Hasil KhanBizenjo of National Party saidthe contempt bill should besent to the concerned standingcommittee for a debate.

Uniform load sheddingfor all, decides cabinetg orders no load shedding during taraveeh‚ Sehr and iftartimings during ramadan g Approves increase in non-Muslims’ seats in national‚ provincial assemblies

Arrest warrantsissued forMusharraf in bugti case

QUeTTAsTaff rePOrT

A special Anti-TerrorismCourt of Sibi on Wednesdayissued arrest warrants offormer President and chief ofthe army Pervaiz Musharraf,former prime ministerShaukat Aziz, ex chief ministerBalochistan and other accusednominated in Nawab AkbarKhan Bugti’s murder case. Thearrest warrants were issued byATC judge Nawaz KhanBarakzai in Sibi while hearingthe murder case of NawabAkbar Khan Bugti, the hearingfor which has been adjournedtill July 18th.

Although the coalition part-ners of the government reiter-ated their support to thePakistan People’s Party’sstance on the letter issue,sources said that the party’sallies were finding themselvesbetween a rock and a hardplace as none of them wantedto get involved in any frictionbetween the two institutions.

Nonetheless, the stage isset for another confrontationbetween the government andthe SC. The government hasalready completed its prepa-rations to shield the primeminister by getting a newcontempt of court law passedfrom the National Assemblyand Senate, which is nowwaiting to be signed by thepresident for its enactment.

Per the new law, theprime minister and membersof parliament would not bedisqualified if found guilty ofdefaming and ridiculing theapex court, while a convict ofcontempt charges would sim-ply have to file an appeal to

get the punishment sus-pended.

The attorney general willalso be submitting a report inthe court pertaining to the ap-pointment of Adnan Khawajaas the OGdCL chief.

The NRO implementa-tion case has been a bone ofcontention between the gov-ernment and the judiciaryever since the SC ruled ondecember 16, 2009 thatNRO was illegal and stoodnull and void.

The SC then ordered for-mer prime minister YousafRaza Gilani to take actionagainst all beneficiaries ofNRO, including Asif AliZardari, and asked Gilani towrite a letter to the Swiss gov-ernment to reopen graft casesagainst the president.

However, the PPP keptdelaying the implementationon the SC verdict and de-ployed one tactic after theother to deny the apex court.

eventually, the SCshowed Gilani the door afterconvicting him of committingcontempt of court.

LONDONafP

Three more men appeared ina London court on Wednes-day accused of terror of-fences, including building amakeshift bomb, following astring of arrests last week.

Anzal Hussain, 24, Mo-hammed Saud and ZohaibAhmed, both 22, werecharged on Tuesday withpreparing for an act or acts ofterrorism between May 1 andJuly 4. The trio, all fromBirmingham, central eng-land, was remanded in cus-tody after appearing atWestminster MagistratesCourt in central London,where they spoke only to con-

firm their personal details.Their alleged activities in-clude the manufacture of animprovised explosive device,the acquisition of firearmsand other weapons, and thepurchase of motor vehiclesconnected with their plans.The charges follow a series ofarrests by counter-terrorismofficers last week, which po-lice stressed were not relatedto the London Olympics be-ginning later this month.

Seven men were detainedafter officers found shotguns,a nail bomb and machetes ina Renault Laguna car travel-ling along the M1 motorwaynear the city of Sheffield,northern england, on June30. Police later found a note

in the vehicle addressed tothe “english drunkardsLeague” — an apparent refer-ence to the far-right group theenglish defence League(edL). The edL, whichstrongly opposes what it calls“radical islam’s encroach-ment into the lives of non-Muslims”, was holding a rallythat day in the Yorkshiretown of dewsbury.

The court heard thatHussain, Saud and Ahmed,who were arrested on July 4,were allegedly travelling in agold-coloured Rover carwhich was in a convoy withthe Laguna. The three are dueto appear at the Old Baileycentral criminal court in Lon-don on July 31.

Bodies of two

decapitated Shias

found in Quetta QUeTTA

shahZada ZulfIqar

Bodies of two decapitated shias,including that of a prayer leaderof an imambargah, were foundin the outskirts of Quetta onWednesday. The bannedLashkar-e-Jhangvi claimedthe responsibility for thekillings. Police said the twowere slaughtered and theirbodies were thrown in themountains in the area of MianGundi, some 20 kilometresfrom Quetta. Police recoveredthe bodies from the mountainsand took them to Bolan Medicalcomplex for autopsy. “Theywere slaughtered with a verysharp weapon,” police officialWazir Khan Nisaar quoteddoctors as saying, adding thatboth victims were 28- to 30-year-old. There identity of thevictims was confirmedthrough little chits found lyingnear their bodies. One wasidentified as leader of SatelliteTown imambargah MulanaNoor Ali Noor and the otherwas identified as Syed HaseebAbass Zaidi, resident of SirkiRoad. The LJ claimed theresponsibility for the killingsthrough the same chits, sayingthey were target killers ofLashkar-e-Mehddi. Policesaid Zaidi was abducted fromSatellite Town three weeks agowhile Noor was picked up acouple of days ago from thesame area. Talking to reporters,Zaidi’s family members said hewas kidnapped from SatelliteTown 19 days ago. They saidthe abductors had demandedRs 1.9 million as ransom butthe family could only pay Rs1.5 million.

The ambassador didn’t get it!g Munter misquoted or misunderstood me, says Imran

Three more in Londoncourt on terror charges

Cabinet will decideletter issue, PM to tell SC today

Continued fRom page 01

CoNteMPt biLLContinued fRom page 01

sehWan: devotees perform dhamaal on the last day of the 760th urs celebration of lal shahbaz qalandar on Wednesday. INP

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thursday, 12 July, 2012

05

ISLAMABADOnlIne

THe Pakistan Telecommuni-cation Authority (PTA) paidextra allowances and finan-cial benefits amounting toRs 36.203 million to its offi-

cers, including educationists, withoutapproval from competent authority.

The Auditor General of Pakistan inits report for 2011-12 has revealed thatPTA management paid financial bene-fits to its officers violating the Financedivision (Regulation wing) OM No (15)

R-4/04 dated January 17 in which it hasbeen stated that existing allowancesshould be merged with the new basicpay hence would cease to be admissibleupon introduction of new pay scales,except those allowances which havebeen shown in new pay scales, or anyother allowance, which the competentauthority may approve from time totime with the occurrence of finance di-vision.

The report revealed that Rs9,749,785 was paid for recreation leavesalary, Rs 7,565,490 for 41,355-car al-lowance and Rs 10,652,982 paid under

qualification incentive.Another amount of Rs 8,235,075

was paid for general purpose loan. The audit report observed that

recreation leave salary and general pur-pose loan was granted in violation of fi-nance division’s instructions. Theseschemes were not approved from thecompetent forum even from the admin-istrative ministry. As regards car al-lowance and qualification incentives,these were not welfare allowances butpart and parcel of the pay as a regularallowance and these allowances werenot approved from the finance division.

in another case, the PTA paid ad-vance house rent amounting to Rs3.407 million for the period of twelvemonths to its officers during the year2010-11. This advance amount of rentwas in violation of the pay package ofPTA. The audit report also observedthat in some cases payment was mademore of Rs 300,000, but income taxwas not deducted at source.

PTA authorities were of the viewthat PTA allowed the house requisitionfacility to its employees at the rate ofhouse rent allowance, hence no irregu-larity was committed at the part of PTA.

PTA paid extra allowances amounting toRs 36.203 million to its officers: audit

LOWER DIR: Residents of TormagKhel block the GT Road with burningtyres during a protest against loadshedding on Wednesday. INP

ISLAMABADagencIes

The Senate Standing Committee on Statesand Frontier Regions (SAFRON) has ex-pressed concern regarding the presence ofover 20,000 militants in North Waziris-tan, getting an uninterrupted supply ofweapons to disrupt the law and order sit-uation in the region.

Secretary Law and Order FATA, whilebriefing committee members headed by Sen-ator Muhammad Saleh Shah on Wednesday,said that security forces are engaged in an op-eration against militants in upper Orakzai,while the situation is under control in lowerOrakzai. He said that there is an urgent needto launch an operation against militants inNorth Waziristan as they are getting hold ofthe area and the government is losing its writslowly. He believes that there is an inherentlack of trust between tribals and the govern-ment; moreover the government has failed toidentify the source of funding in order to stopit. Committee members were told that thegovernment has succeeded in maintaining itswrit in Bajaur and Mohmand Agency, and thatmilitants were being pushed back intoAfghanistan. He told the committee that mil-itants are organizing attacks from across theborder from Afghanistan into Pakistan andthat instability in Bara and upper regions is af-fecting the provincial capital Peshawar as well.

The Chairman was of the view that ter-rorism in FATA has adversely affected thearea and its residents very badly and the gov-ernment needs to draw an affective full fledgestrategy to root out terrorism from the area.He said that people of FATA need to be pro-vided with better job opportunities andhealthy life style, and that health and educa-tion policies are important to normalize thenature and situation of the area.

Secretary FATA Habib ullah Khan,briefed the committee about the performanceof the FATA secretariat and its importance inproviding better facilities and rights to thepeople of FATA. He said that they are work-ing vigorously on drafting policies and work-ing on the proposal of establishing a forum inFATA until the federal government deter-mines the final status of the region. The com-mittee was told that there are a total of 1,20,467 displaced people in Pakistan thatneed to be provided with permanent shelterfacilities. About the presence of Afghanrefugees in Pakistan, the committee was toldthat there are over three million Afghanrefugees in Pakistan out of which two millionare registered while around one million re-main unregistered. Secretary SAFRON toldthe committee that Afghan refugees can stayin Pakistan till december 31, 2012 afterwhich they have to go to. He said that unfor-tunately the Afghan government is not inter-ested in taking its nationals back.

Writ of the stateeludes North Waziristan:Senate committee

ISLAMABADaPP

Pakistan Meteorological department(PMd) forecasted on Wednesday that thereare chances of another spell of moderate toheavy rains in the upper parts of the coun-try from Friday.

intermittent thundershower is ex-pected in parts of islamabad/Rawalpindi,Gujranwala, Lahore, Sargodha, Faisalabadand Bahawalpur divisions on Thursday.

Scattered thundershowers, with iso-lated heavy rainfall, are expected overupper and central Punjab from Friday toMonday. in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), in-

termittent thundershower is expected inisolated places today (Thursday), whilescattered thundershowers are expected inupper and central KP from Friday to Mon-day. The weather is expected to remain hotand dry in most parts of Baluchistan, withrain and dust storms are expected in thenortheastern part of the province today.

in Sindh, hot and humid weather is ex-pected, with minor rainfall and dust stormsexpected in the lower parts of the province.More rain is expected in isolated places inGilgit-Baltistan from Friday to Monday. in-termittent thundershower is likely in scat-tered places of Kashmir today. Yesterdayhighest temperature recorded in dalbandin

was 47 C. Maximum temperatures in othercities were islamabad 40C, Lahore 39C,Quetta 37C, Karachi 36C, Peshawar 42C,Muzaffarabad 39C, Gilgit 40C, Murree 25C,Multan 43C and Faisalabad 40C.

Rainfall during the last 24 hours wasJhelum 51mm, islamabad Z.P 39mm, Kotli37mm, islamabad(Golra) 34mm, islam-abad (saidpur)30mm, islamabadBokra)30mm, Lahore PBO 24.6 mm,Chhor23mm, Rawalpindi(Chaklala)23mm,Sangarh 22mm,Rawalpindi(Shamsabad)17mm, Kakul12mm, Murree 12mm, Mithi 10mm, SaiduSharif 8.5mm, Muzaffarabad 7mm andMirpur Khas 5mm.

Bin Laden’s ex-cookfreed fromGuantanamo: Sudan

KhARTOUMafP

The former cook of slain Al-Qaedafounder Osama bin Laden returned to hisnative Sudan early Wednesday, theforeign ministry said, after his releasefrom the US detention centre atGuantanamo Bay, Cuba. ibrahim al-Qosi“is already in Khartoum since early thismorning” after his arrival on a UnitedStates military aircraft, Foreign Ministryspokesman Al-Obeid Meruh told AFP.“He is a free man,” Meruh said. Courtdocuments in August 2010 showed thatQosi’s 14-year sentence would besuspended this month and that he wouldbe returned to Sudan. He was the firstGuantanamo detainee to be tried bymilitary tribunal under revised rulesintroduced by the administration ofPresident Barack Obama. Under a pleadeal, Qosi, 50, admitted in July 2010 toproviding support to terrorism andconspiracy. details of the plea deal werenot released at the time. He had beenheld at the US-run Guantanamo prisonsince 2002.

Man kills brothersover property

SARGODhAagencIes

A property dispute turned ugly in Lalowali,a suburb of Sargodha, when a man endedup killing his brothers. According todetails, ijaz Ahmed killed his two olderbrothers by firing at them when they cameto him about the matter of the division ofproperty. According to reports, theyoungest brother wanted the division ofproperty to take place after the death oftheir father but the elder brothers wereopposed to this idea. When they came tohim with regards to the matter, he shot andkilled them. A huge contingent of the policereached the crime scene but the killer hadalready fled. The dead bodies were shiftedto district Head Quarter hospital. A casehas been registered against the murdererand a search operation initiated.

More rain expected from Friday

BOSTONafP

An American Al-Qaeda supporter plottingto bomb the Pentagon and Capitol using ex-plosives-laden model planes faces 17 yearsin prison, a federal prosecutor said at thetrial Tuesday.

Rezwan Ferdaus, 26, will be sentencedon July 20, after pleading guilty to attempt-ing to destroy the Washington landmarksand seeking to provide material support toterrorists, according to federal prosecutorCarmen Ortiz.

Although he awaits sentencing laterthis month, Ferdaus has already “agreed toa joint sentencing recommendation of 17years in prison followed by 10 years of su-pervised release,” a statement from the USJustice department said.

US judicial authorities said in a state-

ment they would dismiss several othercounts against Ferdaus as part of a pleaagreement reached in a federal court, fol-lowing a case in which the suspect fell vic-tim to an FBi sting.

Authorities described Ferdaus as anunmarried physics graduate from Boston’sNortheastern University. The al-Qaedasupporter reportedly committed himself to“violent jihad” early last year.

He also apparently possessed a knackfor technical work.

A white Playboy bunny graced the tailend of one of three model planes filled withC4 plastic explosives, slated to hit the Pen-tagon or blow the Capitol’s dome “tosmithereens,” Ferdaus was quoted as say-ing in court files.

The attacks “ought to result in thedownfall of this entire disgusting place,” heis alleged to have said of his plot to destroy

the US landmarks. Ferdaus reportedly called his models

“small drone airplanes,” according to theFBi’s reports, in an echo of the UnitedStates’ contentious drone strikes againstsuspected militants in countries such asYemen and Pakistan.

Ferdaus was also accused of modifyingmobile phones for use as switches in bombsto kill US soldiers in iraq and to have giventhe devices to FBi agents “he believed weremembers of or recruiters for al-Qaeda.”

According to the original complaint,when told — falsely — one of his phones hadbeen part of a bomb that killed three sol-diers, he is alleged to have said: “That wasexactly what i wanted.”

Ferdaus was captured as part of a stingoperation in which he sought to procure ex-plosive chemicals, grenades and firearmsfrom undercover FBi agents.

Al Qaeda supporter pleads guilty to model plane plot

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thursday‚ 12 July‚ 2012

ISLAMABADaPP

seNATe Standing Commit-tee on States and FrontierRegions on Wednesday di-rected the officials con-cerned to formulate a

comprehensive strategy to ensurepeace in the Federally AdministeredTribal Areas (FATA) in consultationwith the locals of the area.

The committee’s meeting was held

in the Parliament House here under thechairmanship of Senator Saleh Shah.Secretary Ministry of States and Fron-tier Regions Habib Ullah Khan gavepresentation on the overall working ofthe Ministry of States and Frontier Re-gions (SAFRON) and its attached de-partments.

The committee was informed thatthe country-wide census of Afghans wasconducted in year 2005 and census hadconfirmed the presence of 3.04 millionAfghans in the country. Registration ex-

ercise conducted in 2006-07 and total2.153 million Afghans were enrolled byNAdRA with initial validity of POR(Proof of Registration) cards up to 31stdecember, 2009, which has further ex-tended up till 31st december, 2012. Toa question, the officials told that 1.7 mil-lion registered Afghans refugees werestill residing in Pakistan.

The committee was also informedthat 22 specialist doctors on specialpay packages and 86 medical officersand 13 dental surgeons had been re-

cruited to provide health facilities inthe tribal areas.

The Officials said establishment ofa medical college is under process inBajaur Agency and 64 ambulances pro-vided for mother care health and emer-gency referral.

Chairman Senator Saleh Shah di-rected the authorities to take furthersteps for the betterment of people of thearea. Senators Mufti Abdul Sattar andMalik Muhammad Rafique Rajwanaalso attended the meeting.

Out of order signals,encroachments annoy commuters

ISLAMABADaPP

Out of order traffic signals creating immensedifficulty for the commuters of the capitalwhile traffic wardens deployed over these sig-nals allow each side to go according to theirown will without taking care of time whichcauses traffic jam. due to the load-sheddingmost of the signals in the city often remaindysfunctional, whereas at some signals war-den of islamabad Traffic Police are deployedwhile there are no personnel deployed at mostof the signals to control heavy flow of traffic. “The personnel of iTP do not care of time dueto which the commuters have to stop for along time”, Muhammad Ali a commuter com-plained added that long queues of trafficcould be witnessed on these signals due tothe negligence of traffic wardens. Aqib Shiekh, one of the commuters said longqueues on traffic signals also causing incon-venience for ambulances, because it was notpossible for ambulances and other emer-gency vehicles to rush through heavy traffic. Another commuter told APP that it was notpossible for one warden to control heavy flowof traffic and suggested that it was necessary todeploy at least three to four personnel at eachsignal. Meanwhile, encroachments have be-come hazardous in populated areas of BaraKaho due to negligence of the concerned de-partment. encroachments are creating hurdlesfor the pedestrians and transporters on Col.Amanullah Road, Bazaar Stop, Simli damRoad, Kiyani Road, Bhera Pull and other areasof Bara Kaho. “Vendors and their stalls arehampering smooth flow of traffic and causingroad accidents”, said a local resident. All theencroachers had established their business byplacing stalls in front of the shops, he added.Citizens called attention of the concerned au-thorities towards the issue several times but noaction was taken by the administration tillnow. Residents, transporters and civil societydemanded of higher authorities to take actionagainst the encroachments in various areas ofthe city. Meanwhile, traffic signal is a commonsite where one can see lot of children andwomen thronging at vehicles asking for alms.The number of beggars, especially children andwomen, are rising in the federal capital. Beg-gars use novel techniques to attract people, astheir sole purpose is to take money from them.

ISLAMABADInP

The National Assembly’s Li-brary Committee, at a meet-ing, has decided to launch anoperation against illegal oc-cupants in lobbies, siderooms and servant quartersof Parliament Lodges.

National Assembly deputySpeaker Faisal Karim Kundipresided over the meeting ofthe committee. The membersof the committee said that ille-gal occupants in the lobbiesand side rooms of the Parlia-ment Lodges were a permanentsecurity threat and disturbingthe privacy of the families re-siding in the building.

The committee directed theCapital development Authority(CdA) to issue notices to allthose illegally residing in thelobbies to vacate them and col-lect the particulars of the occu-pants of servant quarters. Thecommittee decided to launchan operation against the illegaloccupants next week.

PM to Address PublicMeetings in PunjAb:Prime Minister Raja PervezAshraf has asked Minister ofState for interior imtiaz SafdarWarraich, who is also PP Cen-tral Punjab president, to organ-ise the party in the provinceand reach out to the people asthe forthcoming elections arenot far way off.

The prime minister saidthis to imtiaz Safdar War-raich during a meeting at thePM’s House on Wednesday.The prime minister said hewould soon visit the Punjaband address public meetingsbesides interacting with theparty workers and leaders assuggested by imtiaz SafdarWarraich.

The minister appreciatedthe prime minister for takingconcrete steps which reducedload shedding in the country.He said that people were al-ready feeling the difference aspower generation had in-creased as a result of the gov-ernment’s decisions.

Senate body for comprehensive strategy on law and order in FATA

Parliament Lodges’ illegaloccupants to bite the bullet

IslaMaBad: Pakistan Bait-ul-Maal Managing director Zamurrad khan poses for a group photo with orphan children from north Waziristan at

Pakistan sweet homes. oNLINE

IslaMaBad: employees of house Building finance corporation protest against its Md at f-8 Markaz. STaFF PhoTo

ISB 12-07-2012_Layout 1 7/12/2012 2:44 AM Page 6

07thursday‚ 12 July‚ 2012

Islamabad

ISLAMABADagencIes

THe Capital developmentAuthority has decided torestart work on Kuri ModelVillage plan. CdA had pre-viously stopped work on

the plan due to corruption in the proj-ect. in a high-level meeting of the CdAofficials presided over by ChairmanCdA Farkhand iqbal, it was stated thatif attention was not given to the alreadyacquired land spreading over 4,000kanals in Kuri and Riyaarah, it seems itwill be occupied again.

One of the CdA high-up told themeeting that the organization is willingto start a project of Kuri Model Villagebearing a total cost of Rs 2 billion andhas prospects of generating an incomeof Rs 10 billion through selling of com-mercial plots.

Replying to a question about the al-lotment of substitute plots to the presentdwellers of Kuri village, the official saidFederal investigation Agency (FiA) wasconducting an investigation on the awardof Kuri model village. After the investiga-tions, allotment letters would be given tothe residents of Kuri village, he added. itis pertinent to mention that in december2010, FiA had asked CdA to presentrecord about allotment of plots as accord-ing to reports, hundreds of undeservingpeople were included in the award.

Cases were also registered against 6officers and employees of CdA, including

the then director land and deputy direc-tor Sheikh Khursheed who was workingon current-charge basis.

On August 17, 2011, FiA arrestedCdA deputy Tehsildar Mian AftabAhmed and Admin Officer Ali Asghar.

The FiA and the NAB, after investi-gation, held that 1,200 persons were ille-gally awarded plots.

The then CdA chairman imtiaz in-ayat ilahi then declared that the 3,976 al-lotment letters had no effect.

investigations by the FiA are on thego and the development work for KuriModel Village will be given a final shapein the next few days.tMA rAwAl town reMoves 60 illegAlboArds, encroAchMents: Tehsil Mu-nicipal Administration (TMA), RawalTown, has started action against illegalboards and banners in the city.

An encroachment department team,under the supervision of Town Officer(Regulation) Malik Tousif Ahmad, initi-ated an operation against illegal boardsand banners on Murree Road, Commer-cial Market and other shopping centresof Rawal Town. during the operation,around 60 boards and a large number ofbanners were removed while an FiR wasalso lodged against five departments. Theteam also acted against encroachmentsin Ganjmandi, Bara Bazaar, iqbal Road,Bohar Bazaar and impounded threetrucks over encroachments.

Malik Tousif said the operation waslaunched in all bazaars of Rawal Townwithout any discrimination.

IslaMaBad: Overseas Pakistanis Minister dr farooq sattar distributes cheques during a ceremony at OPf

Boys college, h-8/4. ONLiNe

CDA to revive Kurimodel village plan

govt to announce policyfor overseas Pakistanissoon: farooq Sattar

ISLAMABAD

nnI

The government will soon announce a pol-icy for overseas Pakistanis, under whichseats will be reserved for them in the Sen-ate and the National Assembly. This wasannounced by Minister for Overseas Pak-istanis dr Farooq Sattar at a news confer-ence here on Wednesday. He said thatoverseas Pakistanis constitute 7 to 9 per-cent of the Pakistani population and theycannot be neglected.

earlier‚ dr. Farooq Sattar distributedcheques among the Kuwait-iraq war af-fectees. Speaking on the occasion‚ he saidthat R 700 million were being distributedamong 27,000 affected people throughoutthe country.

He said that cheques worth twenty-thousand rupees have been dispatched tothe affectees on their residential addresses.

ISLAMABADaPP

The Ministry of National Food Secu-rity and Research is planning to start aZero Hunger Programme aiming at at-taining food security and reduce mal-nutrition in the country.

The programme would be launchedin collaboration with the World FoodProgramme, according to official doc-ument. The programme implies coor-dinated approach with severalministries to achieve its targets andwill reach to 12 million food insecurepeople in one year (20% of total af-fected population) with a cost of $1.04 billion.

Out of the total cost, the govern-ment has already sanctioned 200 mil-lion while the rest amount would becontributed by donors and othersources of funding, it added. A total of61 million people will be reached withtotal cost of 16 billion dollars in fiveyears time.

A National Council for Food Secu-rity, comprising of representatives offederal and provincial governments,private sector and civil society will beestablished to carry forward the pro-gramme. A consultative workshop inthis regard has already been held inMarch 2012 to produce a set of guide-

lines and frameworks for NationalZero Hunger Action Programme andthe operational strategy.rAinwAter drAining PiPesstolen: The pipelines meant fordraining rainwater were stolen fromthe newly constructed Chandni ChowkFlyover, which has affected drainageof water.

The officials of the Punjab High-way department and National LogisticCell have expressed concern over theincident, saying that some unknownthieves have stolen five to seven pipesfitted on the flyover, disturbing thedrainage of rainwater and causing in-convenience to motorists and com-muters.

The officials have lodged a reportin New Town police station for actionagainst the thieves.

On the other hand, Led lightscould not be installed on the flyoveryet while a committee, headed by thePunjab chief minister, has beenformed on the subject. However, tem-porary lights have been installed onthe flyover.

Project Xen Rana Basharat saidthat control of the Chandni ChowkFlyover, after its completion, would behanded over to the tehsil municipaladministration, adding that theft ofthe pipes was an unfortunate incident.

Zero hunger Programme on cards

lack of safety at

railway tracks threat

to human lifeRAWALPINDI

InP

Owing to negligence of the rail-ways authorities, train tracks inthe district are lacking propersafety measures and fences, whichpose threat to the lives of the peo-ple crossing the tracks.it was learnt that many personshave lost their lives while crossingthe tracks. People cross the rail-way tracks without any fear due toabsence of barriers, but the rail-way police are playing the role ofsilent spectators over the matter.Sources said that people cross thetracks at random points for lackof proper safety measures andfences despite proper crossingpoints at Mareer Pul, dhokCharaghdin, Saraie Kharboozaand others. The authorities concerned havefailed to install signboards in-scribed with slogans restrictingpublic from crossing tracks atrandom points.The residents have demanded thePakistan Railways divisional su-perintendent to take notice of thematter and ensure necessarysafety arrangements. They havealso sought action against thosewalking on the railway tracks.

ISLAMABADPress release

NHA Chairman Syed Muhammad AliGardezi has said that the National High-ways is playing a key role in socio-eco-nomic uplift besides forginginter-provincial harmony. Timely andquality construction of projects is mainobjective of the authority” He was ex-pressing views on his inspection tour tovarious highway projects in Punjab &Sindh Provinces.

Syed Muhammad Ali Gardezi said,“The NHA attaches great importance tohighway building schemes throughout thecountry” Speaking about projects in Pun-jab, he said, work on 26 projects amount-ing to Rs. 149 billion was in progress inPunjab. Muzaffargarh highway, MoosaPak Shaheed Bridge, Head MuhammadWala Bridge and six interchanges in Mul-

tan City had been completed. Work onFaisalabad-Gojra and Khanewal-Multansections of M-4 was also in progress atcost of Rs. 23 billion. Construction of M-4 would open new avenues of develop-ment in Southern Punjab. He said “NHAis building Benazir Bhutto Bridge atNishtar Ghat on indus, Sultan BahuBridge on Chenab. Upgradation of La-hore-Gujranwala highway up to 6-Laneand Khyali Chowk Flyover projects arealso among priorities of NHA in Sindh.”

Syed Muhammad Ali Gardezi said workon 17 projects amounting to Rs. 78 billionwas also in progress. These developmentalschemes included Larkana-Mohenjodaro,Hyderabad-Badeen- Qazi Ahmad AamriBridge, Larkana-Qambar-Shahdadkot, Se-hwan-Ratodero, Sukkur-Shikarpur-Jacob-abad and Lyari expressway. districtLarkana and surrounding areas were beinglinked up under Larkana Package, he added.

ISLAMABADaPP

The 23rd World Population day was observed on Wednes-day in all over the world, including Pakistan, with thetheme ‘Universal Access to Reproductive Health Services’in the development of the community. The observance of this day’s importance lies in the fact thatthe world holds 7,025,071,966 people as on July 9, a leap ofover 2.5 times over the last fifty years, while earth’s re-sources remain finite. This day is to reminds that a hugenumber of people, running into billions, suffer from abjectpoverty, starvation, malnutrition, diseases, illiteracy, lackof access to healthcare, wars and all kinds of social, politicaland economic injustice. in 1989, in its decision 89/46, the Governing Council of theUnited Nations development Programme recommendedthat, for focusing attention on the urgency and importanceof population issues in the context of overall developmentplans, programmes and the need to find solutions for theseissues, 11 July should be observed by the international com-munity as World Population day.

‘NHA playing key role insocio-economic uplift’

IslaMaBad: People take a nap under trees along Jinnah avenue on World Population day. ONLiNe

World PopulationDay observed

ISB 12-07-2012_Layout 1 7/12/2012 2:44 AM Page 7

08 thursday‚ 12 July‚ 2012

Islamabad

low

High

fridAy SAtUrdAy SUndAy32°c i 26°c 30°c i 26°c 30°c i 26 °c

PrAyer tiMingSfajr Sunrise zuhr Asr Maghrib isha

03:25 05:05 12:13 15:58 19:21 21:02

city directory

Police eMergency 15

AMbUlAnce 115

reScUe 1122

HilAl-e-AHMer 9250488

edHi foUndAtion 2827844

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civil defence 9262830

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city StAtion (enQUiry) 117

reServAtion 9273614

rAilWAy Police 1333

AirPort

fligHt enQUiry 114

PiA reServAtion 111-786-786

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internAtionAl iSlAMic UniverSity 9260765

bAHriA UniverSity 9260002

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QUAid-e-AzAM UniverSity 90642098

Arid AgricUltUre UniverSity 9290151

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riPHA internAtionAl UniverSity 111510510

ncA rAWAlPindi 5770423

PUnJAb lAW college 4421347

MAHroof int 2222920

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Poly clinic 9218300

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ISLAMABADnnI

AdViSeR to Prime Minister drPaul Bhatti succeeded in gettingthe charge of the Ministry of Na-tional Harmony. Sources told NNithat Prime Minister Raja Pervez

Ashraf decided to give the charge of the ministryto his party fellow. dr Paul Bhatti, the brother ofthe late Shahbaz Bhatti, belongs to the rulingPakistan Peoples’ Party. The notification in thisregard has been issued by the Cabinet division,sources added.

dr Paul Bhatti met President Asif AliZardari and Prime Minister Raja PervezAshraf and succeeded in convincing them togive him the charge of the ministry. He toldthem that his family had long affiliation with

the party and even his brother ShahbazBhatti had sacrificed his life for the cause ofthe party and to build the party’s liberalimage across the world.

On the other hand, Akram Masih Gill MNAwho belongs to major coalition partner of thegovernment, Pakistan Muslim League-Q methis party head Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain,deputy Prime Minister Ch Pervez elahi and theprime minister for bargaining to get either slotof the federal minister of National Harmony orcharge of the ministry.

Though Paul Bhatti is not a member ofthe National Assembly or Senate and cannotbecome a federal minister, but under therules and regulations, the PM has authorityto appoint any one as in-charge of the min-istry; and the PM used his powers to appointdr Paul as such.

ustAd sAlAMAt Ali’s AnniversAryobserved: One of great maestros in classicalmusic, Ustad Salamat Ali Khan, was remem-bered on his death anniversary on Wednesday.

Ustad Salamat Ali Khan was born in 1934 inthe Hoshiarpur district of Punjab. Salamat AliKhan was initiated into classical music togetherwith his elder brother Nazakat Ali Khan underthe able guidance of their father Ustad VilayatAli Khan at the tender ages of five and seven re-spectively, reported a private news channel.They were initially taught the basis of dhrupadbut later concentrated on learning khayal due toits increasing popularity.

it was only after two years of training thatthey made their debut at the prestigious Har-ballabh Mela in 1941. At Partition, Ustad Sala-mat and his family migrated to Pakistan andsettled at Multan.

BhAtti suCCeeDs in gettingCHARGE OF NATIONAL HARMONY MINISTRY

ISLAMABADaPP

Among people with low physical activity anda high risk of diabetes, those who walk morethroughout the day are less likely to actuallyget the blood sugar disorder, according tonew research.

The study, published in the journal diabetesCare, is part of a growing body of evidence thatfor people who get very little exercise.”evensmall amounts of activity will provide a reallygood return on their investment,” said CatrineTudor-Locke, who studies walking and health at

Pennington Biomedical Research Center inBaton Rouge, Louisiana, and was not involved inthe research, Medical Health news reported.

daily walking recommendations typicallypoint to a minimum of 10,000 steps per day.Tudor-Locke said a good rule of thumb is that2,000 steps equals about one mile. earlier stud-ies, based on questionnaires, have shown thatwalking more is tied to a lower risk of diabetes.

But few studies have used precise measuresof how many steps people take each day, saidAmanda Fretts, the lead author of the new reportand a researcher at the University of Washingtonin Seattle. To get a better sense of walking’s po-

tential benefits, Fretts and her colleagues askedmore than 1,800 people to wear a pedometer ontheir hip for a week to tally the number of stepsthey typically took each day. All of them camefrom native American communities in Arizona,Oklahoma and North and South dakota that areknown to have low physical activity levels andhigh rates of diabetes. About a quarter of thegroup were considered to have very low activity,taking fewer than 3,500 steps a day, while halftook fewer than 7,800 steps per day. At the be-ginning of the study, none of the participantshad diabetes. But after five years of follow-up,243 people had developed the condition.

Walk a lot and have lower risk of diabetes

ISB 12-07-2012_Layout 1 7/12/2012 2:45 AM Page 8

09thursday, 12 July, 2012

Foreign News

cAIROafP

eGYPT’S parliament was hang-ing in legal limbo on Wednes-day after a top court overruled apresidential decree reinstatingthe dissolved house, stepping

up a power struggle between the presidentand the army.

“The battle for power centred aroundthe judiciary,” read the headline of inde-pendent daily Al-Watan.

The Supreme Constitutional Court onTuesday annuled a decree by newly-electedPresident Mohamed Morsi reinstating theislamist-led lower house of parliament,after the top court last month ruled it wasinvalid.

“The court ordered the freeze of thepresident’s decree,” a judicial source said,

adding that it “ordered that its previous rul-ing be implemented.”

Morsi had on Sunday ordered backparliament and invited it to convene. Tak-ing its cue from the president, the People’sAssembly met on Tuesday.

“We are gathered today to review thecourt rulings, the ruling of the SupremeConstitutional Court,” speaker Saad al-Katatni said.

“i want to stress, we are not contradict-ing the ruling, but looking at a mechanismfor the implementation of the ruling of therespected court. There is no other agendatoday,” he added.

it was not immediately clear how thenew ruling would be implemented.

“There have been no instructions toprevent MPs from entering the parliamentbuilding,” the lower house’s secretariat saidin a statement.

The origins of the battle for parliamentlay in a constitutional declaration issued bythe Supreme Council of the Armed Forces(SCAF), which ruled egypt during its tran-sition after president Hosni Mubarak wasousted last year.

The declaration, which acts as a tempo-rary constitution until a new one is drafted,granted the military sweeping powers, in-cluding legislative control, rendering thepresidential post little more than symbolic.

The SCAF consists of generals ap-pointed by Mubarak, as was the head of theconstitutional court which annuled parlia-ment because it found that certain articlesof the law governing its election invalid.

Critics said the decision was politicallymotivated.

“The constitutional court whose judgeswere appointed by Mubarak has cancelledthe president’s decree and restored the field

marshal’s decree,” wrote prominent writerand commentator Alaa al-Aswany referringto SCAF head Hussein Tantawi.

“The message is clear, the elected pres-ident is not to exercise power without themilitary,” he said.

But others saw in Morsi’s decree a con-stitutional coup which showed little regardfor the judiciary or democracy. “The consti-tutional court returns the slap to the presi-dent,” wrote the liberal Al-Wafd,mouthpiece for the Wafd party whose MPsboycotted Tuesday’s parliamentary session.

Lawyers representing Morsi criticisedthe court’s latest decision and said Tues-day’s ruling was a political move that wouldfurther complicate the crisis. “This ruling isnull and void,” lawyer Abdel Moneim AbdelMaqsud told reporters, while anothermember of the team, Mamduh ismail,called it a “political decision.”

Parliament in legal limboin egypt power struggle

SReBReNIcAafP

Weeping Bosnians prepared Wednesday tobury 520 victims of the 1995 Srebrenicamassacre, with the two alleged master-minds of the slaughter finally on trial forgenocide.

About 30,000 people were gathered ata special memorial centre in Potocari, justoutside Srebrenica, for a mass funeral onthe 17th anniversary of the worst atrocityon european soil since World War ii.

The 520 simple coffins covered ingreen cloth were lined up to be buried infreshly dug graves that dot the vast ceme-tery, alongside the 5,137 victims already in

the ground. “it is the pain, an endless pain,and when July 11 arrives, every year, thispain becomes unbearable,” said SevdijaHalilovic, a woman in her 50s whose fatherwill be laid to rest Wednesday.

Weeping women and some men satbeside the coffins of their loved ones, asloudspeakers broadcast Muslim prayers.

“i haven’t told my mother that they willbe buried today. She is sick and still be-lieves they will return,” a tearful Mujo Sal-ihovic, 30, who had come to bury his fatherand one of his brothers, told AFP.

“if i tell her, it would kill her. i cannotlose her, she is all that i have left”.

it is the first anniversary being com-memorated since since the massacre’s al-

leged architects, Bosnian Serb militarycommander Ratko Mladic and politicalleader Radovan Karadzic, went on trial be-fore the UN war crimes court.

in all, around 8,000 Muslim men andboys were slaughtered in the eastern en-clave, then under the protection of lightly-armed dutch UN peacekeepers, in the onlyepisode of the 1992-95 Bosnian war to havebeen ruled a genocide by internationalcourts. World leaders rejected any movesto down play the scale of the massacre.

“The United States rejects efforts todistort the scope of this atrocity, rationalisethe motivations behind it, blame the vic-tims, and deny the indisputable fact that itwas genocide,” US President Barack

Obama said in statement.His remarks were a clear swipe at Ser-

bia’s new President Tomislav Nikolic, whosaid last month that the killings in Sre-brenica constituted “grave war crimes” butnot genocide. “We must never forget theact of genocide that was committed in Sre-brenica, nor should it ever be denied,”British Prime Minister david Cameronsaid in a statement.

But for many survivors and relatives inSrebrenica, the trials at the internationalCriminal Tribunal for the former Yu-goslavia (iCTY) in The Hague are too little,too late. They fear the proceedings will beso drawn out that Karadzic and Mladic willbe dead before any verdict is delivered.

bosnia to bury hundreds at Srebrenica massacre site

genevA: Fifty-four migrants trying to reach italydied of thirst when their inflatable boat ruptured inthe Mediterranean, according to testimony fromthe sole survivor, Abbes Settou, the UN refugeeagency said on Wednesday. Settou, who drank seawater to survive, was spotted clinging to a jerry canand the remains of the stricken boat off theTunisian coast on Monday night by fishermen whoalerted the coast guard, the UNHCR said. The man,who is being treated in a Tunisian hospital, saidthere was no fresh water on board and peoplestarted to perish within days, including threemembers of his family. He said 55 people boardedthe boat in the Libyan capital Tripoli in late June,and that more than half were from eritrea,including himself. They were unable to call for helpbecause the boat’s satellite phone was broken,according to Father Mussie Zerai, an eritrean

priest who spoke to the survivor by telephone onWednesday. “He said they were at sea for 15 days intotal,” the priest told AFP. “They had apparentlyreached italian waters but they weren’t able to callfor help because the satellite phone was broken, sothe wind pushed them back out into open sea.“during those 15 days the people on board slowlybegan dying of hunger and thirst. They were lost,they could not orient themselves. “He is recovering.in a few days he said he would be moving to arefugee camp.” in his account of the ordeal to theUN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), thesurvivor said the boat had punctured and airstarted to leak out. Settou later spoke to AFP,saying he survived “by the grace of God.” Speakingof his fellow passengers, which also includedSomalis, he said “they died of hunger, of thirst, ofexhaustion. We threw their bodies overboard.” afP

54 migrants die of thirst in Mediterranean boat drama

Brother of SouthKorean presidentdetained

SeOULafP

The elder brother of South Korean PresidentLee Myung-Bak was arrested and detainedearly Wednesday pending a corruption trial,in a setback for the conservative ruling partyduring an election year. The Seoul Centraldistrict Court approved prosecutors’ requestfor an arrest warrant for Lee Sang-deuk, aformer six-term ruling party lawmaker, over asavings bank scandal. The 76-year-old wastaken to a detention centre immediately afterthe warrant was issued. Angry bankdepositors had hurled eggs at him when hearrived at court Tuesday for questioning.Prosecutors allege he took 600 million won($525,000) from chairmen of two troubledsavings banks — Solomon Savings Bank andMirae Savings Bank — between 2007 and2011 in return for helping them avoid auditsand punishment. “Lee’s crimes have beenascertained and there is a reasonable concernthat the suspect might attempt to destroyevidence, considering his status and politicalinfluence,” Judge Park Byoung-Sam said,quoted by Yonhap news agency. Regulators inMay suspended four savings banks includingSolomon and Mirae, leaving many customersunable to withdraw money. The scandal is thelatest in a series of corruption cases involvingpeople close to the president, whose five-yearterm ends in February 2013. An election forhis successor will be held on december 19.Chung doo-Un, a ruling party lawmaker anda close confidant of the president during the2007 presidential campaign, was alsoquestioned by prosecutors last week over thesaving banks affair.

Suicide attack onYemen policeacademy kills 6

SANAAafP

A suicide bomber blew himself up at theentrance of a police academy in the Yemenicapital Sanaa on Wednesday, killing at leastsix cadets and wounding dozens more, asenior official said, revising an earlier toll.“After the victims were transferred, itbecame clear that the attack killed sixpeople, and wounded dozens of others,” theofficial in charge of the investigation toldAFP on condition of anonymity. He said thetoll “could rise as several of the woundedwere in critical condition,” adding that allthe dead and most of the injured were policecadets. earlier, a security official said atleast 20 people were killed in the attack.dozens of ambulances rushed to the sceneto evacuate the casualties, witnesses said,adding that the blast took place at a seldomused southern entrance of the academy. Atleast 4000 cadets study at the policeacademy in Sanaa, and according towitnesses, hundreds of them were leavingfrom the southern gate at the time of theblast to head home for the weekend.Another security official, speaking oncondition of anonymity, said the bomberdetonated his explosives after “arriving in avehicle” at one of the academy’s entrances.One witness said the bomber had arrived in ataxi, which was “blown to pieces in the blast.”There was no immediate claim ofresponsibility for the attack.

Syrian rebelsfail to swaydefiant Russia

MOScOWafP

Syria’s main exiled opposition group onWednesday failed to convince Russia todrop its support for President Bashar al-Assad as Moscow defiantly clung to itsrejection of outside intervention. SyrianNational Council (SNC) chief Abdel BassetSayda told Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrovin rare talks at the Russian foreignministry that Moscow needed tounderstand his country was in the throes ofa revolution. But the SNC admitted afterthe talks that Russia’s refusal to join callsfor Assad to quit had not changed andlamented that Moscow was still convincedthe Syrian leader had the support of themajority of his people. “We confirm, in thename of the Syrian opposition, that therecannot be talk of a solution until Assadquits power,” Sayda told reporters after themeeting. “Russia has a different positionon this issue,” he added. Burhan Ghalioun,SNC executive committee member and itsformer chief, who held similar talks inMoscow last year, added that there was nosign of any change in the Russian position.“We have not seen a development in theRussian position. i was here one year agoand the position has not changed,” he toldreporters. Moscow has refused to call onAssad to relinquish power, saying thatSyria’s political future cannot be imposedfrom the outside and must be decided via adialogue involving all parties.

Iran much strongertoday despitesanctions: Khamenei

TehRANafP

iran is “100 times stronger” today than 30years ago despite the multitude of Westernsanctions imposed since the 1979 islamicrevolution, iran’s supreme leader AyatollahAli Khamenei said on Wednesday.“Westerners are making much hype aboutsanctions against iran but they don’tunderstand that they have vaccinated theiranian people themselves by imposingsanctions over the past 30 years,” Khameneisaid, quoted by state television. iran “hasresisted all sanctions and is now 100 timesstronger than 30 years ago,” he said in aspeech to a women’s internationalconference on “islamic awakening” inTehran. The United States and europeanUnion have implemented an oil embargoagainst iran, leading to a substantial declinein exports of crude from which the islamicrepublic draws two-thirds of its foreignexchange earnings.

POTOcarI: a Bosnian Muslim woman holds an umbrella as she sits among 520 caskets laid out in preparation for a

mass burial ceremony at the srebrenica-Potocari Memorial cemetery on Wednesday. aFP

ISB 12-07-2012_Layout 1 7/12/2012 2:45 AM Page 9

Comment10thursday, 12 July, 2012

Arif NizamiEditor

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

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

Dedicated to the legacy of the late Hameed Nizami

can’t afford to be the flaky ally

A stitch in time

Those who decided to block the Nato traffic had grosslyunderestimated the ability of the US to deal with thesituation. The purpose behind referring the issue tothe parliament was only to delay the decision. This

generated hostility in Washington against Pakistan. Whenasked at a TV appearance about the parliament’s role in theaffair, MNA Mehtab Abbasi said that army alone had decidedto block the traffic and later to open it. Parliament had little todo with either of the decisions. it is widely understood thatPakistan’s post 9/11 policy was devised by Gen Musharraf. Thepresent government was required to continue it till a numberof incidents led the real decision makers to choose unwisecourses of action. The discovery of Raymond davis operatingin Lahore led to extraordinary travel restrictions on US andallied diplomats. Tensions mounted when OBL was killed in araid by the US Special forces in Abbottabad. The killing of 28Pakistani soldiers in a US attack on Salala checkpost led to theblockade of the Nato traffic and closure of the Shamsi air base.instead of resolving the dispute at the earliest, it was put onthe back burner on account of unrealistic assessments.Washington was willing to render an apology in March but wasunwisely asked to delay it. What islamabad has accepted nowis only a shadow of an apology.

While Pakistan is likely to get $1.1billion asreimbursements for assistance in fighting the militants,Washington has made it abundantly clear that it considersPakistan an unreliable ally. Three issues continue to cast a darkshadow over the Pak-US relations: the Haqqani network whichthe US considers responsible for deadly attacks on Nato andAfghan troops, Hafiz Saeed who has a bounty of $10 million onhim and whose LeT is considered by some in Washington asmore dangerous now than Al-Qaeda, and finally dr ShakilAfridi whose sentence by a tribal court was promptly declared“unjust and unwarranted” by Clinton. if past is an indicator,the real decision makers are likely to delay the right stand onthe issues till enough damage has been done. This reminds oneof Churchill who said about the Americans, “You can alwaysrely on America to do the right thing, once it has exhausted thealternatives.”

Time is of the essence in the life of the nations. Rightdecisions have to be taken promptly to get the benefits. As twotop Pakistani generals proceed to Washington, one wonders ifthey are carrying with them satisfactory answers to thequestions considered vital by the US.

Lebanon on the brinkMany a faultline pass through this troubled land

With neighbouring Syria im-ploding, tensions with iranmounting, and israel everthreatening, Lebanon ap-

pears to be on the brink of conflict. Butthen that has been the story of Lebanon fordecades now. This remarkably beautifulcountry filled with extraordinary peoplehas long been a victim of its history, itsown leaders, and the machinations of out-siders. This may be Lebanon's past andpresent, but if we listen to the Lebanesepeople, it need not be the country's future.

it was the French who createdLebanon and its patchwork quilt, sect-dri-ven system of governance, designing it toserve France's imperial interests. duringthe past 80 years, operating within this im-posed framework, Lebanon's sectarianelites have jockeyed for advantage seekingthe support of external "partners" to but-tress their position. Only too obliging,these foreign "partners" all too often hadtheir own interests to promote or scores tosettle. As a result, Lebanon was time andagain transformed into a battlefield wheresects clashed and regional power struggleswere fought.

And so it is today.Two generations ago, Lebanon was an

east-West Cold War battleground. Todayit is an arena in which the conflict betweenthe West and its allies versus iran and itssurrogates plays out — with fragileLebanon hanging in the balance, and its se-curity, stability, and prosperity at risk.

Some may shrug dismissively and say"this is Lebanon" or point to the country'swarlords and armed gangs and say "theybring it on themselves.” But this recurringprecarious state of affairs need not beLebanon's fate. if we listen to Lebanon'speople, it is possible to imagine a very dif-

ferent country, based on a common iden-tity and sense of purpose.

if polling has taught me anything, it isthat people almost always know more thanthe politicians who lead them. in this re-gard, Lebanon's people have a great deal tosay — and deserve to be heard.

There are, to be sure, issues that dividethe Lebanese. For example, two recentpolls found Lebanese holding discordantviews with regard to Syria and iran. Shi'ain Lebanon appear to be supportive of theBa'ath government of Bashar al Assad andalso favour close ties with iran. Meanwhilethe country's Sunni community holds theopposite view. Christians are divided intheir opinions. in all cases, these attitudesof various Lebanese groups, while reflect-ing the positions of their leaders, only tellpart of the story of what Lebanese reallythink. On most issues, however, there is astrong domestic consensus — and it wouldbe wise for leaders in Lebanon, and the restof us, to pay attention and focus on the is-sues and policies that could bring mostLebanese together, not those that dividethem.

There are many places where Lebanesefind common ground. They agree on thecountry's sorry state of affairs, the political

priorities that must be addressed, the im-portance of national identity, unity, andfundamental political reforms that shouldbe enacted.

When, for example, we ask Lebanesewhether they are better off or worse offthan they were five years ago, all agree theyare worse off. Similarly, when we ask themif the country is currently on the right trackor the wrong track, all groups agree thatLebanon is on the wrong track. And whenwe ask Lebanese to identify their top polit-ical concerns, once again there is a remark-able convergence in attitudes. AllLebanese, across the board, rank "expand-ing employment opportunities" as theirnumber one concern, followed by “endingcorruption and nepotism,” "political re-form,” and “protecting personal freedomsand civil rights.” Foreign policy issues arenot considered priorities, and at the verybottom of the scale is "promoting politicaldebate" — something most Lebanese havewearied of.

What is also striking is that when weask Lebanese for their principle source ofidentity, they do not name their religion orsect, nor do they say their family or “beingArab.” instead, people in all groups saythat it is “being Lebanese.” in this regard

they are different than Arabs from everyother country — where responses are mostoften nearly evenly divided amongst“Arab,” religion, and their country of ori-gin.

When we ask Lebanese whether theyprefer to maintain the sect-based appor-tionment system of the past or replace itwith a "one man/one vote" political struc-ture, there is broad agreement that it istime to implement the latter. They all agreethat national unity is a must for the coun-try. And they reject the notion that any onegroup should dominate over the others.

Almost a century ago, Lebanon's inter-nationally renowned poet, Kahlil Gibran,wrote a marvellous piece "You have yourLebanon, i have my Lebanon" in which hecontrasted the country's self-centred, plun-dering, bickering elites with the commonfolk who are Lebanon's heart and soul.Gibran was right then, and his observa-tions hold true today. Lebanon's leadersand those who care about the future of thecountry ought to take note — listen toLebanon's people, and help pull the coun-try back from the brink, before it's too late.

The writer is President of the Arab-American Institute.

Washington WatchBy Dr James J Zogby

hillary Dickory Docksemantics save the day for estranged allies

The great jigsaw puzzle hasbeen solved — or so it seems.Pakistan and the US are backfrom what many feared wasgetting perilously close to

the edge of the precipice. Apparently, all it took was for Uncle

Sam to say “sorry” — an improvementon the decidedly weak expression of “re-gret” — to reopen the ground lines ofcommunications or GLOCs (admittedly,a delectable recipe — for both the US-ledNato mission in Afghanistanand the cash-strappedPakistanis).

However, theremay be more to contri-tion — genuine or oth-erwise — than meetsthe eye. There’s se-mantics, to beginwith. it’s a whole widewor(l)d of diplomacy designed to wadethrough troubled waters. For the unini-tiated, of particular interest, is how andwhy states resort to semantic lexiconwhere the context becomes all impor-

tant. The seven-month

itch over the US re-fusal to “apologise” forthe killing of two dozenPakistani soldiers atthe Salala check postin an ill-directed blitzand merely “regret”and condole the deathsleft the world’s mostcritical relationshipteetering on the edge.

The behind-the-scenes relentless burn-ing of the midnight oildid open a thin win-dow last April — theonly time the Ameri-cans came agonisinglyclose to apologisingbut it was postponed atislamabad’s behest,which wanted the fullcontrition to calibratewith the recommenda-tions of the Parliamen-tary Committee onNational Security.

By then, the dese-cration of the HolyQuran by Americansoldiers in Afghanistantriggered an interna-tional outrage, leadingPresident Obama tooffer apologies for thedespicable act.

Thereafter, the ad-

ministration decided not to offer anapology to Pakistan for fears it wouldimpinge on Obama’s chances of re-elec-tion as having reduced the world’s hyperpower to literally an apologetic state —and that, too, to states virtually depend-ent on its largesse.

domestic compulsions obviouslyoverrode the merit of such action, whichin fact, would have helped salvage thebilateral relationship as well as kept the

Nato supplies going withoutthe phenomenal cost the

Northern distri-b u t i o n

Network in-curred, much ear-lier.

However, inwhat turned into abattle of attrition,Pakistan, too, dug in itsheels, and as well as snapping theGLOCs also ordered the US forces out ofthe Shamsi Airbase. The action waspremised in the knowledge that the al-ternative routes were far too expensivefor the US-led Nato mission to sustain.

According to a security expert, it wascosting them an extra $100 millionevery month to send the supplies, whichwere also taking a long time to reachtheir destination.

However, in hindsight, it appears is-lamabad had misread the mood inWashington and soon the Coalition Sup-port Fund (CSF) was withheld and otheraid dried up as well.

even though Pakistan’s decision toboycott the Bonn conference onAfghanistan last december was seen asa bold gambit at home, it had a lateraleffect of a combined Nato alliancebreathing down Pakistan’s neck.

Hopes were raised of a break-through when Pakistan was invited tothe Chicago Summit in May at the lastminute as it were, but “deliverance” waselusive once again because of domesticcompulsions for the ruling PakistanPeople’s Party of President Asif Zardari,who found himself in a corner after hismilitary cleverly shifted the onus to re-open Nato supply routes on the civiliangovernment — in what is also likely to bean election year at home.

The president weathered the storm

— including a visible snub from Presi-dent Obama, who refused to engage withZardari officially once it had becomeclear he had no plan to announce the re-sumption in sync with the conference,which dealt with the Afghan endgame.

islamabad’s attempt to seek a higherprice — $5,000 per container floatedagainst the previous term of a paltry$250 — was dismissed by defence Sec-retary Leon Panetta as “price gouging”.

Last week, the two sides were up tospeed with semantics ruling the roost onaccount of domestic compulsions even

as speculation was rife that theunderstanding may bebroader than is visible on the

ground. So while there’ll

be status quo onthe containersweaving their way

into Afghanistan, theCSF reimbursement will be

considerably more thanthe one earlier an-

nounced after islam-abad admitted inflated

bills and an assurance topay for the rebuilding of the

damaged road infrastructure. in the end, Secretary of State Hillary

Clinton only offered to be “sorry”, notfully “apologetic” even though some sec-tions of the media in Pakistan weremade to believe the pre-condition to re-open Nato supply routes had been metwith the latter.

Consider the crafty calibration inher phone(y?) regret to counterpartHina Khar. As well as saying, “We aresorry for the losses suffered by the Pak-istani military”, she also said, “ForeignMinister Khar and i acknowledged themistakes that resulted in the loss of Pak-istani military lives.”

does that imply Pakistanis, too, com-mitted “mistakes” that led to the deathsof its own soldiers? Pakistan has settledfor far less than it had bargained. But itshand was also forced thanks to enormouspressure from an almost 50-nationstrong alliance with which it could not re-ally afford to be on the wrong side.

The repercussions were huge, for, acontinued stalemate would have been arecipe for disaster — politically andeconomically, feeding into regional in-stability.

For now however, the hopefuls see“sorry” as the ignition to restart the en-gine of peace.

The writer is a senior journalistbased in Islamabad and can bereached at kaamyabi@gmail.com

MusIngsBy Kamran Rehmat

ISB 12-07-2012_Layout 1 7/12/2012 2:45 AM Page 10

going solarThe Race Course Park in Lahore has had

solar panels installed in it for long. it is great tosee that the park is doing its bit to conserve en-ergy. Why can’t this installation of solar panelsbe done on just the main roads of Lahore (likethe Canal Bank road, the Sherpao bridge road,Shami road, Jail road, Main Boulevard etc), ifnot all the lights? This action will save a lot ofelectricity in the long run. A sunny country likePakistan should make full use of this abundantand free resource. We should start small by in-stalling solar panels and wind panels where wecan. Then, maybe one day, we can have solarpanels along the Motorway and most places inPakistan.

SARMAD ELAHILahore

changing the thana culturePunjab CM Shahbaz Sharif has once again

said that the thana culture should be furtherimproved. i would like to ask the respected CMhow it is possible to change the thana culturewhen the police force is politicised and notworking as an independent institution.

When a posting or transfer of police offi-cers is based on the discretion of the CM, howcan a police officer perform his duties accord-ing to the prescribed rules? When hundreds ofpolicemen are engaged in the personal securityof officialdom, expecting the police force toserve the citizens is contradictory. is the life ofan ordinary citizen not as precious as that of apolitical leader?

To change the thana culture, it is impera-tive to change the present system of police re-cruiting, training, responsibilities and servicestructure. The system rules date back to thecolonial era although the need of the day is anindependent police institution where the re-cruitment of officers is based on qualificationand merit.

in my opinion, a police officer should be noless than a graduate and policeman shouldhave at least completed matriculation. Policeofficers should study and be trained for a mini-mum of two years before being made in chargeof a police station. Similarly policemen shouldundergo at least one year training.

The service structure should follow themodel of the army. Only then can the policeperformance change and the thana culture bechnaged.

The other important factor missing is theparticipation of the community in the workingof the police and performance evaluations.Those new residential colonies which havetheir own security arrangement must be en-trusted with part of the police functions suchas protecting the property and maintaining lawand order. Why are the people afraid of seek-ing help from the police?

developing and encouraging communitypolicing and revamping the whole police sys-tem is the need of the hour. Unfortunately, ourpolitical leaders are so busy in political pointscoring and sparring with each other that theydo not have the time to think and implementpolicies which contribute to the welfare of thepeople and which can really make a differencein the performance of the government.

Lastly, i suggest that the CM should alsoestablish women police stations that are man-aged by women alone so that 50% of the popu-lation is given its due importance and equalrights.

S T HUSSAINLahore

taking the wheels off?This is with regard to the recent news that

appeared in the press concerning the so-called‘inducements’ extended by the local car assem-blers to ensure protection of their industry.The issue raised by the ‘well-wishing’ membersof the National Assembly questioned the needfor protection of the local auto industry anddemanded that cars should be allowed to beimported from india.

The motives of these honourable parlia-mentarians certainly sound dubious as the onlybeneficiaries of such requests will be the deal-ers who contribute nothing towards the eco-nomic output. One would like to point out thatallowing such requests to be granted will ulti-mately do more harm than good to the econ-omy and will also serve as a severe blow to thedomestic auto industry.

Local auto companies manufacture new ve-hicles that are sold at the same cost as the usedvehicles that are imported from other coun-tries. Pakistan’s future depends on growth ofits industries. A strong auto sector that is pro-viding employment opportunities and makessignificant contribution to economic growth ofa country is a key industry.

Already the leniency granted for the importof used cars due to lack of tariff barriers hasflooded the market with cars that are muchbelow standard. These cars are neither benefi-cial to the economy nor do they provide thecustomer with any advantages as they cost farmore than their actual worth and end up beinga liability due to their ever rising maintenancecosts.

i would like to request the government totake initiatives that would benefit, support andprotect local industries instead of adding to thewoes of an already debt-trapped economy.

SYED OVAIS AKHTARKarachi

Comment 11thursday, 12 July, 2012

Editor’s mailSend your letters to: Letters to

Editor, Pakistan Today, 4-ShaareyFatima Jinnah, Lahore, Pakistan.

Fax: +92-42-36298302. E-mail: letters@pakistantoday.com.pk.

Letters should be addressed to Pakistan

Today exclusively.

With every Pakistani, nay every stakeholder,asking where this is headed, it seems theinevitable next stage towards a formal

declaration of war is afoot. Before the governmenteven tabled a proposed amendment, one of the com-batants issued a rather unambiguous statement ex-pressing its intentions. Now that a bill has beentabled, it is has been challenged before it has becomelaw. An interesting fact, indeed.

The constitution embodies the process requiredto amend it. There is no ambiguity there. And theamendment is only passed if that process is com-pleted. A two-thirds majority must vote for it. Basedon numbers and facts, this government has that ma-jority when it needs it. Or so it appears. But there isanother important factor; the amendment shouldnot impinge on three important aspects relating tothe principles of the constitution, fundamentalrights being the principle. i am making an educatedguess in saying this bill doesn’t. Since the lowerhouse has passed it with the required majority, oncethe Senate does it will be law.

does it end there, is the multi-million dollarquestion. Without going into the depth of the bill, itis necessary to discuss whether the current amend-ment was forced upon government by the purportedinvasion of the apex court into the fundamental

right of parliament to legislate,and perhaps as in the case of theformer prime minister, oustinghim for following specific arti-cles of the constitution restrain-ing him from taking stepsordered by the apex court. it’sobvious the validity of these in-terventions can be subject tochallenge. But where would thatchallenge be heard?

We are landed smack bangin the middle of a war for su-premacy and on supremacy bysupremacy. Two major institu-tions are hell bent on fighting fortheir alleged turf. Let me correctthat. The government is appar-ently fighting for survivalagainst a challenge imposedupon it by another institutionembodied in the Constitutionthat is, again apparently, strivingto extend its jurisdiction, per-haps beyond its defined realm.So who then is the eventual cus-todian?

The truth is that this conflicthas jeopardised the integrity ofall institutions. Governance, badas it may have been, is now inutter shambles. Nothing is hap-pening; there is no focus on any-thing but this battle forsupremacy. i believe it’s un-

called for. Having hoped that egos would be satiatedafter the ‘kill’, i once again find my optimism beingfuriously challenged. it’s sad it has come to this.

it’s an overkill to repeat that Pakistan’s currentcrisis and needs today far outweigh the events un-folding on Constitution, pun intended, Avenue. Thetime and money being spent to sustain this debili-tating process, creating uncertainty, insecurity andmaking a mockery of this country for negative orvery little gain is absurd. So much has been writtenabout this Swiss letter, there is no need to add to it.Only one small point: even if it were written, no ac-tion is possible at the present time.

When i write that the government is beingforced into a corner to defend itself, i am not reliev-ing it of its own role in this dilemma. Certain actionshave been more than questionable. Governance andlaw and order have been serious issues. Corruptionis at a premium. And the common man continues tosuffer seriously. The apex court perhaps does havereason to take some Suo Moto cognisance, but it toomust exercise restraint. There are far too manystatements attributed to the judiciary appearing inthe media, which goes against the principle of‘judges speaking through their judgement’. Andmost important of all both factions must get on withtheir main job to provide relief to the people in theirrespective spheres.

i know it’s fashionable to write against the gov-ernment but sometimes facts must be brought onground. President Zardari has carried the majorityof political parties with him through the four and ahalf years of this government. even the volatileMQM has been tamed to a large extent. The com-missions of the ‘Q’ during Musharraf’s years havebeen forgiven. There are no scandals of a financialnature linked to him personally during the currenttenure; in fact no scandal of any nature. And the des-picable ‘midnight knock’ is a thing of the past.

Given this positive record, why have the govern-ment and apex court not been able to reach a com-promise wherein both would function within theparameters clearly defined by the constitution? in-stead of getting better, matters have gotten steadilyworse and respite does not appear to be in sight.Growing number of allegations on both sides vitiatethe atmosphere. Again, without going into the mer-its or demerits, it appears that everyone is taintedwith some sort of negative hue.

This battle of giants has terrible collateral dam-age. institutions are being damaged. The ability ofthe nation to interact with the world has been se-verely impaired, creating an aura of suspicion anduncertainty. it is driving investment, foreign andlocal, away. While around us, the neighbours pros-per, we indulge in self-destruction. i can repeat till iam blue in the face, go beyond yourselves, it doesn’tmatter who you think is supreme. Pakistan isSupreme.

The writer can be contacted at imranmhu-sain@me.com.

random ThoughtsBy Imran husain

The crisis escalates

a war of ‘supremacy’

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12 thursday, 12 July, 2012

Amir Khan with a new look?

H avINg sported a moustache in 'MangalPandey', a beefed-up look in 'ghajini' andlosing abs for '3 Idiots', actor aamir Khan is

again experimenting with his looks in 'Dhoom 3'where he is likely to appear in a lean body frame.Seemingly charged up for aditya Chopra's 'Dhoom 3'in which he will be seen as a baddie, aamir appearedat a media conference in a lean 'avatar', sporting astud. on if this is the look for 'Dhoom 3', aamir said,"I have started shooting for 'Dhoom 3'. almost...this iswhat it will be like (look) except the clothes that I amwearing now. I will have to do a lot more." 'Dhoom'series revolves around daring theft plans, handsomethieves and bike chases. after the success of 'Dhoom'(2004) and 'Dhoom 2' (2006) there is already a buzzabout the third instalment of the film. abhishekBachchan and uday Chopra will continue to reprisetheir roles as Jai and ali, respectively, while aamir willbe seen in a negative shade, opposite Katrina Kaif.Directed by victor acharya, 'Dhoom 3' is slated torelease next year. cOurTesy TOI

Doctors lose hope for Dara singh

W reSTler-TurNeD-aCTor Dara Singh,who has been battling for his life in a cityhospital since the last four days, has

"less chance of recovery" due to significant damageto his brain, doctors said today. The 84-year-actorwas admitted to Kokilaben hospital in an emergencycondition on July 7. he had suffered a cardiac arrestand since then he has been in the ICu. "We haddone a MrI and it shows significant damage to hisbrain due to decreased oxygen supply to brain,when he had a cardiac arrest. There is less chancethat he will recover. Chances of him regainingconsciousness are also less," Dr ram Narain fromKokilaben hospital said. "There are no medicinesthat will reverse the brain damage... only if amiracle happens. he might even slip into coma," hesaid. The commonwealth wrestling championentered film industry in the fifties and is known forhis roles in King Kong and Faulad. he was last seenin Imtiaz ali's Jab We Met (2007) playing KareenaKapoor's grandfather. neWs desk

My PersonAl life Putblocks to My cAreer: if mypersonal space were to help myprofessional sphere, i’d be very glad- but it never did. Right from the dayi entered the industry, my personallife had never helped me - it had, infact, put blocks to my career.Because some things are very clearin this business - single girl worksmore, don’t talk about yourboyfriend - these are things that helpwhen you’re starting, perhaps notonce your name is made. But thecuriosity is there, it’s huge. i have tostart seeing someone now. How dareyou be single, it’s that sort of tone! iused to be scared of that word once.But the media threw it so much, sooften in my face that a stage camewhen i actually turned around andsaid, all right, i’m the poster girl ofbeing single.Men todAy Are onlylooking for Mothers:Honestly, the quality of men, theyare looking only for mothers. Andsometimes you don’t want to playthe mother, it’s really exhausting! ifany guy even remotely gives me the

dukhiyari vibes, i am like no, pleasedon’t call me again!Guys in the industry take thebusiness so seriously. They putunnecessary pressure on themselves.They will not become globallyrenowned hallmark actors overnight,that’s not going to happen.Confidence is rather fragile in themen. They have their own baggagesand egos and competing withsomeone else or whatever they aredoing. Half their life goes in that. ifthey use that in focusing on whatthey want, the process of livingwould be much lighter, easier. Butthey make it very difficult.everything they do in life is“pressure”. “Oh, it’s such a battle!” idon’t have too much of sympathy forthat. i’m like, OK, it’s tough? Toughfor you, not for me!People younger than me, they’rewaiting for this very big moment intheir lives, which is elusive, whichyou don’t know whether it’ll come ornot, but they can’t appreciate thesmall things, the everyday happinessof life. Sometimes you want tosympathise, but then it’s their own

life. it’s not just in the film industry.People want to live with a struggle intheir heads. “i’m struggling”. i’mlike, wow, struggle, go on!.when i becAMe single,everybody wAnted toAsk Me out: Some time off loveis good. When i became single,someone wrote that i am putting upa front. i told him, stop putting thispathetic image of mine. don’t feelbad for me. i don’t want anyone tosympathise with me, but they justdon’t stop! This whole thing about asingle girl, alone, can’t be happy, isvery bizarre. Single girls get so muchattention - they should be happier.When i became single, i got so muchattention, that i had to say, what’sgoing on! These are the same peoplei knew earlier. everyone wants toask you out, it’s scary. everyonecalled me a schoolgirl. Anyway, idon’t like the word. You’re bornsingle, you die single, but why notbeing in a relationship is somespecial ‘single’ status, i don’tunderstand. Life is less stress beingsingle, i have to admit. i have neverbeen single before this - since 15, i

have been in a relationship. it’s sosimple.At 15, i wAnted to MArryMy first boyfriend: Mymother fell down when i told herabout my boyfriend at 15. My oldersister was very chalu - she hadboyfriends and she never told mymother. But when i had my firstboyfriend in school, the day iaccepted his proposal, i came to mymother and said, i want to marryhim. This is my boyfriend, i’m gonnalive and die with him. i’m that kindof a girl. i used to wear shorts, and itold mom suddenly that i’m nolonger going to wear shorts, i’ll wearsalwar-kameez because his parentsare Marwari and they don’t like it!He’s vegetarian, so i turnedvegetarian for two months. Hisparents met me, my parents methim, like that, all honest and open,nothing hidden. My mother’s idealboy for me is - we make so much funof it - Hindu, ‘good boy’, rich, tall.And i say momma, why are youbiased against short people? Mymother never liked any of myboyfriends. Never. Nobody deserves

Kids with famousdivorced parents

Katie used secret cell phoneto hide her conversationswith her lawyers

The actress started taking action to divorce TomCruise via disposable cell phone so as to keepher conversations with her lawyers private (and,

it would seem, a secret from her husband). Well, we'renot surprised by more news of holmes' foresight inthese matters. The former Dawson's Creek star hadalready leased her own Manhattan apartment—whereshe and daughter Suri are now living—by the timenews broke that she had filed for divorce from Cruiseafter five years. her divorce filing was immediatelysealed, but holmes is rumored to have stated that hermarriage broke down sometime last year. She alsospent part of every month for the last two years inNew York, possibly as a precursor to filing for divorcein that state, where residency is required. neWs desk

SPLiT is not just about twopeople as the kids areequally involved anddeeply affected. With

more and more celebrity couplesparting ways after years ofcommitment and having childrentogether, we find out who gets tokeep the kids. cOurTesy TOI

in the most recent divorce of TomCruise and Katie Holmes, the ac-tress has got the sole custody ofdaughter Suri with generous visita-tion rights awarded to the Missionimpossible star. Mother-daughterwill be staying in a three-bedroomapartment in New York City.

toM-KAtie

Heidi Klum and Seal have threebiological children together- sonsHenry Gunther Ademola dashtuSamuel, Johan Riley FyodorTaiwo Samuel and daughter LouSulola Samuel. The two an-nounced separation after almostseven years of marriage in January2012. The kids are currently stay-ing with the model.

heiDi-seAL

demi Moore has three daughters-Rumer Glenn, Scout and Tallulahwith second husband Bruce Willis,whom she divorced in 2000. The17-year-old Tallulah is the onlyone of demi’s children who stilllives with the actress, the othertwo live independently.

DeMi-bRuCe

Karisma Kapoor got hitched to in-dustrialist Sanjay Kapur in 2003.After the birth of daughterSamaira, 7, there was reportedly arift between the couple. She gavebirth to their second child, sonKiaan Raj Kapoor, two years back.Rumour has it that the actressstays in Mumbai with the kidswhile her hubby is based in delhi.

KARisMA-sANJAy

After thirteen years of marriage andtwo children (son ibrahim Ali Khan,10 and daughter Sara Ali Khan, 17),Saif Ali Khan-Amrita Singh divorcedin 2004. Kids stay with their mother.

sAif-AMRitA

Aamir Khan has two chidren, sonJunaid and daughter ira, with Reenadutta. After Khan filed for divorce in2002, ending the 15-year marriage,custody of kids went to the mother.

AAMiR-ReeNA

After Sanjay dutt’s first wife RichaSharma died of brain tumour in1987, their daughter Trishala, 25,has been staying with her grand-parents, following a custody battlewith dutt after Sharma’s death.

sANJAy-RiChA

Boney Kapoor- Mona Shourie havetwo children, Arjun Kapoor and An-shula, together. The kids stayed withmom after he left her for Sridevi,whom he married in 1996.

boNey-MoNA

Johnny depp-Vanessa Paradis calledit quits after 14 years of courtship inJune 2012. They have two childrentogether, Lily-Rose, 13, and Jack, 10,who stay with the French actress.

JohNNy-VANessA

Jennifer Lopez married her third hus-band Marc Anthony in 2004 and gavebirth to twins Maximilian and emme.Post the split in 2011, the couple hasshared custody of the four-years-olds.

JeNNifeR-MARC

Bipasha Basu at her best

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13

Miss india uK faces racismin Celebrity big brother uK

F Ive years after actress Shilpa Shetty wassubject to racist behaviour on Celebrity BigBrother, Miss India uK Deana uppal has faced

similar ‘insults’ from a fellow contestant, promptingregulator ofcom to launch an investigation onreceiving over 1,000 complaints. hailing fromBirmingham, uppal is currently Miss India uK. In2007, following an uproar over racist comments bycontestant Jade goody against Shilpa, ofcom hadruled that Channel 4 had breached its code ofconduct. The issue snowballed into a major row,with the Indian and uK government intervening.The show is now being broadcast on Channel 5. onJune 5, fellow contestant Conor McIntyre wasreportedly seen screaming at uppal and was laterwarned for the aggression towards her. on June 25,he was seen shouting at a weeping uppal,brandishing her epilator, and abusing her. McIntyre’sremarks prompted demands from women charityorganisations for his removal from the Big Brotherhouse, saying that uppal should not have to livewith such an intimidating presence. neWs desk

sofia Vergara is getting married!

The Modern Family star got an early birthdaypresent yesterday when she got engaged to herlongtime businessman boyfriend, Nick loeb. Mr.

loeb popped the question last night in Mexico, wherevergara is in the midst of a week-long celebration of her40th birthday with family and friends, including Familycostars Julie Bowen and Jesse Tyler Ferguson. loeb, whois the founder and creator of a food topping called onionCrunch, put a ring on it while the birthday entourage wassightseeing at the Mayan archeological ruins of ChichenItza. later, vergara was spotted at the rosewoodMayakoba resort, where “she was bouncing around andshowing everyone the ring,” a source said. You can evensee the engagement bling on a picture posted to Twitterby one of her friends. vergara has been holding court atthe posh rivera Maya getaway since the weekend. Therewas a dinner at Casa del lago on Friday followed bydrinks at agave azul. Sunday included a boat ride toCozumel and another dinner at Punta Bonita. neWs desk

Assistant sues Courtney Love

CourTNeY love’s former assistant is suing overunpaid wages and claims the rocker madeunethical requests such as instructing her to

hire a hacker and falsify legal letters. Jessica labriefiled the wrongful termination, wage and breach ofcontract lawsuit in los angeles on Tuesday. The suitstates labrie worked as love’s administrativeassistant for about a year in 2010 and 2011, but wasfired after complaining she was owed thousands inunpaid wages and expenses for business trips. Thelawsuit claims labrie suffered from headaches,insomnia and other medical conditions as a result oflove’s conduct. her attorney, Joshua gruenberg, sayslove wanted a hacker to change records tobusinesses she owned or believed she owned, butlabrie refused. attempts to find a currentrepresentative for love were unsuccessful. neWs desk

to be with me because i amsuch a good girl! Mom justhopes that now finallythings will happen her way(laughs) - Christianboyfriend, Christianboyfriend, she used to goon and on!i went through AnoPerAtion becAuseof A lie: My resolutionfor this year was that i’mgoing to learn to lie. As aliar, i’m so pathetic, peoplecan look at my face and tell.The resolution failed quitemiserably. i get caught.When i was a kid, i tried tolie once, and it was a verybad lie i got into. i wasgetting ready for my pre-boards. i was a very goodstudent; i used to come firstin all sections. i hadn’tprepared very well for mymaths exam. And i hatedgetting low marks - whichwas going to happen.So i did something to missthat exam - i fainted. And idid such a good fainting act!My mother and my uncleactually hospitalised me thatnight. in the hospital ibegan to realise that thiswas getting way too serious,

it was beyond what i wanted- which was just a one daygap. Like a budhdhu, i keptholding the right side of myabdomen and faking pain.The doctors said, she seemsto have an appendixproblem, we need to operateimmediately or else it mightburst. i then went on and onsaying my dad isn’t in town,i won’t have this done in hisabsence. i could not believewhat was happening. Butthey forcefully operated onme. i’d done a fabulousfainting job, fell down somesteps also, so everyonethought i was in acutepain, plus there was a littleinflammation. i wentthrough an appendicitisoperation because of thatlie! i couldn’t give any ofthe exams. i couldn’t walkfor days. And i couldn’t tellanyone! i must have toldmy best friend, told Johnsometime. But my parents,i finally told them twoyears back. i told them thewhole story, see, that’s whyi don’t lie. My father said,‘i should have known you’llbe an actress!’ Strange kidi was. cOurTesy TOI

salman to visit Pakistanon ek tha tiger bangood news for all Salman Khan fans in Pakistan. Following theban on his film ‘ek Tha Tiger’ promo in Pakistan, the actor hasexpressed his desire to visit the country. he will beaccompanied by the film’s director, Kabir Khan. a letter issuedby the Pakistan electronic Media regulatory authority to allsatellite Tv channels and cable networks last week, states that‘ek Tha Tiger’, set for world release on august 15, is"reportedly based on the activities of ISI and raW". The board

feels that the film is anti ISI. When asked about his tripto Pakistan, Kabir Khan told an Indian daily, ‘neither

Salman nor I ever visited Pakistan, so why not? Weare willing to do anything that`s required to makePakistanis believe that our project is not againstthem. I don’t think the trailer being banned is a bigdeal. once the film releases, the truth will be out."In fact the filmmaker took to Twitter on Tuesday to

clarify that ‘ek Tha Tiger’ does not show Pakistanin a bad light. “I will say it once more...

ekThaTiger is NoT anti-Pakistan...(sic)”the director tweeted. “This is the price

we have to pay because unfortunatelyour industry has made insensitive

and jingoistic films in the past... Iam absolutely sure that once thecensor board of Pakistan seesekThaTiger... they will be morethan happy to show the film. I

can assure the millions of fans ofSalman in Pakistan that ekThaTiger will

release in theatres in their country. In this dayand age... its stupid to make films that areinsensitive or derogatory to any country orcommunity...(sic)” Kabir added. neWs desk

stars shine atLux style Awards

The glamorous evening provided entertainment full of fashion,

music and laughter to viewers. Today’s spotlight takes a look at

some of the big names of Pakistan’s entertainment industry.

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11

Man admits to drunkdriving with kids strapped to car ‘s roof

A northern Indiana man has pleaded guilty toseveral charges after driving three blocks withfour children strapped to his car’s hood while he

was intoxicated. Twenty-nine-year-old aaron Stefanski ofFort Wayne accepted a plea agreement with prosecutorsMonday. Stefanski was arrested in May after someonecalled 911 saying he saw Stefanski use a tow strap tosecure the children to the car’s hood and drive away. TheJournal gazette reports that Stefanski pleaded guilty tochild neglect and drunken driving charges and faces sixmonths to three years in prison on each of the four felonycounts when he’s sentenced aug. 3. Police say Stefanskitold officers he thought the children ages 4 to 7 wouldenjoy the ride and that he was only driving around thecorner.bypass." neWs desk

New app rescuespeople from bad dates

M oST people have been there, trapped on anawkward date that is going nowhere. Butrelief could be on the way with a new app

that provides an incoming rescue call. The Bad Daterescue app, which was launched by the datingwebsite eharmony.com this week, lets users arrangefor a call to appear on their iPhone to graciouslyallow them to bow out if a date isn't going well."There are all sorts of reasons for why people wouldwant to get out of a date," said arvind Mishra,director of product management at eharmony. "Wecan all sympathize because we have all been on baddates in our lifetime." The free app includes severalways to set up a rescue. users can pick a numberfrom their address book for the call, for examplefrom their mother or a friend. It the person's pictureis stored on the app it will appear on the screenwhen the call comes through. Scripts are availablegiving the reason for the call, such as a neighborcalling about a leaky pipe; a mother informing that asister just had a baby; or a boss saying he needshelp immediately. neWs desk

yoga instructor fired fromfacebook hQ

I T is not out of the ordinary for fitnessinstructors to ask their students to turn off allelectronic devices prior to the start of the class.

But at least one Facebook employee found therequest so intolerable that she had the company'syoga teacher fired over it. 35-year-old alice van Nesshas been holding weekly yoga classes at the socialnetworking company's Menlo Park headquarters sinceMarch without incident. last month, after asking anemployee who was checking her Facebook account toput her smartphone aside for the duration of theclass, van Ness was promptly terminated by Plus onehealth Management, Facebook's fitness contractor.She explains that the unnamed woman was "typingaway" in the front row, and was asked — along withthe rest of the class — to turn off her phone. halfwaythrough the class, however, the same woman pickedup her phone again, at which point van Ness"stopped talking and looked at her." She saidnothing, but "I'm sure my face said it all." neWs desk

Infotainmentthursday, 12 July, 2012

SERIES 2012

sAMsuNg The Samsung Series 9 was one of the bestWindows ultraportable laptops last year. Even though it didn't quite keep up on specs or benchmarks with some of the top-end machines, it was the mostusable of the bunch. This year, as ultrabooks havemade massive improvements over the pastgeneration, the Series 9 remains one of the best. But it's still not perfect. COURTESY GIZMODO

whAt IS ItOne of the topMacBook Aircompetitors,and a reminderthat beautiful,well-builtmachines aren'texclusive to Apple.

who'S It FoRWindows userswho care aboutdesign as muchas performance.

the BeSt pARtThe trackpad.Scrolling, clicking,zooming—it smoothlydoes what it's supposedto do. That's rare on aWindows machine, andespecially on anultrabook.

deSIgN

teSt NoteS

tRAgIc FlAw

SpecS AS RevIewed

A slim profile, brushed aluminum body,and extremely strong build quality makeit look and feel like a 15-inch, blackMacBook Air. Which would be totally fine,actually. But it's also got functional littleflourishes, like a really thin bezel and amatte screen. Why don't all of Samsung'sproducts look like this? (Minus the awfulchrome ring around the trackpad.)

n The 1600x900 display isimpressively bright—moresothan the MacBook Air and its1440x900 display. And it'smatte! (Swoon.) But like mostWindows 7 displays, the colorpalette is washed-outcompared to OS X.

n As a whole, the screen is prettygreat, with a lot more realestate that you're used to on alaptop this portable.

n The standard 128GB SSD isunusually cramped, withupwards of 30GB worth ofrecovery and hibernationpartitions out of the box.

n The Series 9 never felt hot tothe touch, and no heat escapedthrough the keyboard, which ishow some ultrabooks havebeen (uncomfortably)dispersing heat to avoidMacBookian temperatures.

n And build quality-wise, theSeries 9 is shockingly solid.Everyone who touches thething comments about howlight and sturdy it feels.

n Graphics performance (DiabloIII) was on par with other IvyBridge ultrabooks, with noslowdown after prolonged use.

n The keyboard backlight is sodim that it takes a while toeven realize the keyboard is backlit.

n Samsung insists on loadingstock junk onto this beautifulmachine—"SoftwareLauncher," is the most half-assed, bootleg version of theOS X dock you could imagine.

The keyboard. The keys don't feel as cheap as last year's, but they alsodon't have a very deep throw and travel—a strength of last year'smodel—which makes keystrokes feel unsure. Typing on it feels likeusing last year's Zenbook or a Vaio Z—and that's not a good thing.

n PRoCessoR: 1.7ghz intel Core i5 17w Dual Core ivy bridge

n RAM: 8gb

n stoRAge: 128gb solid state Drive

n gRAPhiCs: intel hD graphics 4000

n DisPLAy: 15-inch 1600x900

n PoRts: Micro hDMi, 2 usb 3.0, 1 usb 2.0, Mini VgA, sD card

n DiMeNsioNs: 14.0" x 9.3" x .58"

n Weight: 3.63 pounds

Should You BuY It?

Yes. The Series 9 is $1400, which places it right in the middle of MacBook Airand other premium ultrabook pricing, and performance and design are solidenough to make it a strong alternative to the MBA. And that was a seriousquestion about why all your stuff doesn't look like this, Samsung. Thismachine is beautiful. It does nearly everything right, and improves on some ofApple's features. All things equal, the MBA and probably the new AsusZenbook still edge ahead, but for Windows users, this is a damn good fallback.

The increasing frequency of extremeweather events has hadmeteorologists scratching their headsfor a long time, unsure whether theycould be firmly attributed to man-made climate change or not. Now, astudy by a global team of scientistssuggests that we can be squarelyblamed in many cases. The study,which is to be published soon in theBulletin of the AmericanMeteorological Society, attempts todecipher climate data and establishwhich extreme weather events are aresult of man-made climate change.The results are interesting. Forinstance, they claim that globalwarming made the severe heat inTexas last year 20 times as likely as itwould have been in the 1960s.elsewhere, they suggest that theincredibly warm temperatures inBritain last November were 62 timesas likely because of global warming.But not every event is deemed aresult of man-made climate change:last year's devastating floods inThailand, for example, weren't.instead, in that case, they suggestthat rapid development in parts ofThailand is to blame. The findings, of

course, are bound to becontroversial—especially when youconsider the pace at which theresearch has been carried out.Usually studies which link climatechange to weather events take yearsto publish, as the process ofunpicking signal from noise inweather data is extremely difficult. inthis case, a global team of scientistshas managed to study six events from2011 and publish the results in sixmonths. Philip W. Mote, director ofthe Climate Change Researchinstitute at Oregon State University,explains to the New York Times:"This is hot new science. it'scontroversial. People are tryingdifferent methods of figuring out howmuch the odds may have shiftedbecause of what we have put into theatmosphere." No doubt it will remaincontroversial, too. But it's hard toargue with some of their broaderconclusions, which sound common-sensical but are now backed by somedata: that heat waves are probablybeing worsened by global warming, andthat an intensification of the water cycleresults in increase in both droughts andheavy downpours. neWs desk

extreme weather linkedto man-made climatechange, claim scientists

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Thursday, 12 July, 2012

Page 18

Akhtar to exploit experience‚conditions effectively

PALLeKeLeafP

PAKiSTAN'S Azhar Ali smashed asecond century in successivematches Wednesday to leave thefinal Test against Sri Lanka

poised for an intriguing finish. Azhar made136 as Pakistan wriggled out of a corner topost 299-8 in their second innings bystumps on the fourth day in Pallekele, a leadof 188 runs with two wickets in hand.

The tourists now have three sessionson the fifth day to conjure a series-levelling

win on a wearing pitch that will offer someturn to prolific off-spinner Saeed Ajmal.But Sri Lanka remain favourites to win ordraw the match and clinch their first seriesvictory in three years since beating NewZealand at home in 2009. The hosts wonthe first Test in Galle by 209 runs beforethe second in Colombo was drawn.

Azhar, who made 157 in the ColomboTest, held the innings together for sixhours, hitting 13 boundaries in his fourthTest century and the third this year. The 27-year-old put on 94 for the second wicketwith his overnight partner Mohammad

Hafeez and 48 for the third with YounisKhan after Pakistan resumed the day at 27-1. But the most crucial partnership cametowards the end of the day when AsadShafiq helped Azhar add 100 for the fifthwicket after Younis and skipper Misbah-ulHaq had departed quickly. Fast bowler dil-hara Fernando and left-arm spinner Ran-gana Herath sparked a lower order collapsein the final hour as Pakistan slipped from acomfortable 276-4 to 299-8.

Fernando had Azhar caught behind andthen claimed his 100th Test wicket by trap-ping Mohammad Sami leg-before. Herath

claimed Umar Gul and Saeed Ajmal leg-be-fore, but Shafiq saw out the day for Pakistanin the company of injured wicket-keeperAdnan Akmal. Shafiq was unbeaten on 55after top-scoring with 75 in the first innings,while Akmal, batting with a hairline fracturein his left hand, had yet to score.

Hafeez, who also hit a century inColombo, made 52 when he was dismissedjust before lunch with Pakistan two runsaway from wiping out the first innings deficitof 111 runs. The Pakistan vice-captain edgeda wild drive off Fernando to TharangaParanavitana in the slips. The wicket of

Hafeez came against the run of play after SriLanka's bowlers failed to contain the flow ofruns on a pitch that appeared to ease outunder bright sunshine. Pakistan went tolunch at 119-2, in front by eight runs, afterYounis had given his team the lead by tappingAngelo Mathews for a single to point. Wicket-keeper Prasanna Jayawardene dropped a lowcatch when Younis, then on 12, followed awide ball from Angelo Mathews. But themissed chance did not prove costly as Younismanaged to add just seven more runs whenhe was snapped up by a lunging Paranavitanaat silly-point off Herath.

MANcheSTeRafP

Ravi Bopara starred with bat and ball asengland routed Australia by seven wicketsin the fifth and final one-day internationalat Old Trafford here on Tuesday to com-plete a 4-0 series win. it was the heaviestdefeat ever suffered by Australia, still theworld number one in the 50-over game, inany head-to-head limited overs series.

By contrast, this was england's 10thone-day win in a row. Man-of-the-matchBopara took two wickets for eight runs infour overs with his medium-pacers as eng-land held Australia to 145 for seven in aninnings reduced by rain to 32 overs.

Then, after a further rain break sawengland set a revised victory target of138 in 29 overs, Bopara made 52 not outoff 56 balls with five fours. Togetherwith england captain Alastair Cook, whomade 58, he shared a stand of 92 in 98balls that took the team to the brink ofvictory. And when eoin Morgan struckthe winning runs england had tri-umphed with 11 balls to spare.

"The pitch was a little bit 'stoppy' but ithink it got better as the night went on,"said Bopara, glad to see england homehaving made runs previously this series be-fore getting out in sight of the winning post.

"it's about time i was there at the end!,"said Bopara. "it was important that i got anearly knock and that one at the Oval (82from 85 balls in england's six-wicket winin the second match) gave me confidenceand stood me in good stead for the series."

Cook praised essex colleague Boparaby saying: "We all know what a qualityplayer he is, and he is starting to deliver forengland now." Australia captain MichaelClarke praised england but said his sidewould be stronger come their return fornext year's Ashes Test series. "We have noexcuses, we came here to win all fivegames," said Clarke. "i don't want to takeanything away from england, but i willmake sure we are as well prepared as wecan possibly be for the Ashes."

Before this match, Australia coachMickey Arthur had called on his side toshow some "mongrel" but there was pre-cious little in evidence in this day/night fix-ture or indeed the series as a whole.

clarke stunnedMANcheSTeR

afP

Australia captain Michael Clarke admit-ted he hadn't seen a 4-0 one-day cam-paign defeat by england coming after hisside made some unwanted history hereon Tuesday. england cruised to a seven-wicket in a rain-affected fifth and finalone-day international, triumphing inconvincing style under the Old Traffordfloodlights as they made it 10 straightvictories in this format. But for Australiathis was their heaviest series defeat inthe 40-year history of one-day interna-tionals. indeed it was only 'Pommierain', in a washed out clash at edgbastonlast week, that denied england thechance of a 5-0 series clean sweep whichwould have seen them replace Australiaat the top of the 50-over world rankings. Only George Bailey, who gave Australia aglimmer of hope with a valuable 46 notout on Tuesday, among the touristscould look back on this series with muchpride and Clarke said: "i certainly didn'texpect to lose 4-0 that's for sure. "Weneed to play better cricket. We need tosit down as a team and have a look atour performances over the last 12months and areas we need to get better,"he added. "it certainly wasn't prepara-tion. i thought our training was out-standing and we played some really goodcricket in the couple of warm-up gamesbut we have no excuses," Clarke insisted. "i think a lot of credit needs to go toengland as well. They've outplayed us inall four matches, they've been very con-sistent, their bowlers have bowled withgood patience and discipline and theirbatters have made runs. "We haven'tdone both. We didn't have anybodymake a big score as a batter, we lost alot of early wickets throughout the se-ries and we didn't execute our skills aswell as you need to."However, Australia have made it clearthey are now looking to use one-dayersas a means of finding out whether play-ers are up to the demands of interna-tional cricket rather than pitching theminto high-profile Test series such as nextyear's campaign in england, where theywill try to regain the Ashes.

Cook urges england tomaintain Aussie momentumMAnchester: englandone-day captain Alastair Cookwants his side to cash in ontheir 4-0 series rout of Aus-tralia and become a majorforce in the 50-over game.england, who've now won 10successive one-day interna-tionals, climbed to third in theworld rankings on Tuesdayand would have replaced Aus-tralia at number one had theycompleted a clean sweep of afive-match series where lastweek's clash at edgbaston waswashed out. But they finishedwith a flourish, beating their arch-rivals by seven wickets under the duckworth/Lewis in arain-reduced match at Old Trafford after Cook (58) and essex team-mate Ravi Bopara (52no) helped chase down a revised target of 138 after Australia had been restricted to 145 forseven in 32 overs. england, however, have never won a major 50-over tournament andthe last of their three losing World Cup final appearances was back in 1992. it's a recordthey'd dearly love to improve upon when the rest of the world's leading nations travel toengland for the Champions Trophy next year, a staging post en route to the 2015 WorldCup in Australia and New Zealand. in the meantime, england need to keep winning inorder to ensure they enjoy the same supremacy in the 50-over standings as they do in top-ping the international Cricket Council rankings in the Test and Twenty20 formats. afP

PAlleKele: Azhar Ali raises his bat after scoring a century while Mohammad Hafeez and teammate Azhar run between the wickets and Asad Shafiq raises his bat to the crowd after scoringa half-century (50 runs) during the fourth day of the third and final test match. aFP

Azhar ton sets up intriguing finishPakIsTan 1sT InnIngs: 226 (asad shafiq 75, T.

Perera 4-63, r. herath 3-40)

srI lanka 1sT InnIngs: 337 (T. Paranavitana 75, T.

samaraweera 73, T. Perera 75, Junaid khan 5-70, saeed

ajmal 3-66).

PakIsTan 2nd InnIngs (OVernIghT 27-1):

Mohammad hafeez c Paranavitana b fernando 52

Taufeeq umar lbw b kulasekara 4

azhar ali c P. Jayawardene b fernando 136

younis khan c Paranavitana b herath 19

Misbah-ul haq c M. Jayawardene b herath 5

asad shafiq not out 55

Mohammad sami lbw b fernando 3

umar gul lbw b herath 0

saeed ajmal lbw b herath 5

adnan akmal not out 0

extras: (b6, lb8, w6) 20

Total (for eight wickets, 104 overs) 299

fall of wickets: 1-16 (Taufeeq), 2-110 (hafeez), 3-158 (younis),

4-176 (Misbah), 5-276 (azhar), 6-280 (sami), 7-281 (gul), 8-

299 (ajmal).

Bowling: kulasekara 22-7-50-1, Perera 17-1-66-0 (w5), herath

32-4-64-4, fernando 20-1-65-3 (w1), Mathews 12-0-38-0,

samaraweera 1-0-2-0

Pakistan lead by 188 runs with two wickets in hand.

Toss: sri lanka

umpires: steve davis (aus) and simon Taufel (aus)

TV umpire: ranmore Martinesz (srI)

Match referee: david Boon (aus)

scOreBOard

ausTralIa: Ms Wade st kieswetter b Tredwell 12da Warner lbw b Tredwell 32PJ forrest run out (Patel/Tredwell) 3MJ clarke run out (Morgan) 1sPd smith c kieswetter b Bopara 21dJ hussey c kieswetter b Bopara 9gJ Bailey not out 46Jl Pattinson c †kieswetter b finn 13cJ Mckay not out 5extras(lb 1, w 2) 3Total(7 wickets; 32 overs; 135 mins) 145did not bat: BW hilfenhaus, XJ dohertyfall of wickets: 1-43 (Warner, 10.4 ov), 2-49 (forrest, 14.1 ov),3-49 (Wade, 14.3 ov), 4-55 (clarke, 15.4 ov), 5-77 (smith, 19.1ov), 6-86 (hussey, 21.1 ov), 7-120 (Pattinson, 29.6 ov)BOWlIng: JM anderson 5-1-22-0, sT finn 6-0-35-1, scJBroad 7-0-39-0, Jc Tredwell 7-1-23-2, sr Patel 3-0-17-0, rsBopara 4-0-8-2england an cook c clarke b hilfenhaus 58Ir Bell c Bailey b Mckay 4IJl Trott b clarke 10rs Bopara not out 52eJg Morgan not out 9eXTras: (lb 1, w 4) 5Total: (3 wickets) 138did not bat: c kieswetter†, sr Patel, Jc Tredwell, scJBroad, sT finn, JM andersonfall of wickets: 1-5 (Bell, 0.6 ov), 2-34 (Trott, 9.4 ov), 3-126(cook, 25.5 ov)BOWlIng: cJ Mckay 6-0-27-1, BW hilfenhaus 5.1-0-19-1, JlPattinson 6-0-34-0, MJ clarke 3-0-14-1, XJ doherty 5-0-34-0, sPd smith 2-0-9-0Toss: england, who chose to field, series: england won the5-match series 4-0, Player of the match: rs Bopara(england), Player of the series: Ir Bell (england), umpires:aleem dar (Pakistan) and IJ gould, TV umpire: M erasmus,Match referee: J srinath, reserve umpire: rJ Bailey

scOreBOard

Bopara stars as England rout Australia 4-0

MAncHeSter: england national cricket team's players hold their trophy and celebrate after winning the series. aFP

ISB 12-07-2012_Layout 1 7/12/2012 2:45 AM Page 16

PUNjAb YOUTH AND SPORTS FeSTIvAL

Sports 16thursday, 12 July, 2012

top players sue

bangladesh over

unpaid wagesSYDNeY

afP

The Federation of international Cricketers'Association (FiCA) said Wednesday it willjoin players in legal action over unpaidwages by the Bangladesh Premier League,calling the situation "a joke". Bangladesh'sinaugural Twenty20 league was held inFebruary and attracted a host of overseasplayers, including Australians, but at least12 have not been paid their full dues,amounting to over US$600,000, FiCAsaid. in addition, local Bangladeshi playershave received, on average, less than 60percent of their wages, with only eight paidwhat they are owed. FiCA's Australianchief executive Tim May said that despitenumerous assurances from the BPL, theBangladesh Cricket Board and its presi-dent Mustafa Kamal, they had proven to be"broken promises and empty public pro-nouncements". "it is obvious that the BPLfranchises and the BCB are either unableor unwilling to meet these financial obliga-tions," he said in a statement. "FiCA is leftwith no choice but to support the unpaidplayers in legal action against the fran-chises and BCB in Bangladesh." May saidthe credibility of the BPL and the BCBhad been seriously damaged. "Theprocess of the payment of players has de-teriorated into a joke and the unprofes-sionalism of its handling is massivelyshort of that required standard of an iCCfull member country." He added thatFiCA, which was set up in 1998 to protectthe interests of professional cricketersthroughout the world, had recommendedits members not play in the tournamentagain. "it goes without saying that FiCAwill be strongly recommending to allplayers, both in and outside Bangladesh,that they should not contemplate partici-pating in this tournament in the comingyears," he said. "They (BPL and BCB)have no one to blame but themselves."

di gregorio stillremains in custody

MARSeILLeafP

One of three men arrested as part of an in-vestigation into doping has been released,but Cofidis' Tour de France rider Remy diGregorio and a 75-year-old man are to re-main in custody, a police source confirmedon Wednesday. di Gregorio, 26, was ar-rested following a police raid at his team'shotel in Bourg-en-Bresse, several milesoutside Macon in eastern France on Tues-day as part of an investigation into the or-ganised trafficking of doping substances.He was brought to Marseille for furtherquestioning by investigating magistrateAnnaick Le Goff, along with the two otherunidentified men, who are suspected of"having dealings" with di Gregorio.

bcb hires

senior barrister

to get Pakistan

tour clearanceMUMBAI

BIPIn danI

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) hasnot given up hope of playing seriesagainst Pakistan in Pakistan and in itsrecent move has changed its legal teamand now has hired the services of a newlawyer, Rokon Uddin Mahmud, to fightagainst the Public Litigiation Appeal(PLA), filed by the two locals in HighCourt on Thursday, it is learnt here.Confirming the news, the Barrister,Rokon Mahmud said, "The BCB chair-man, Mustafa Kamal has approached usto appear in court on July 12.""i have just returned from abroad andhas not seen the papers and thereforecan not divulge the details about our de-fence line," he further added.in April this year, the BCB had planned ashort tour to Pakistan but it got called offfollowing a High Court stay order on thetour for four weeks.The two petitioners, Khandiker dider-us-Salam and Kamal Hossain Miazi believedthat it is unsafe for the national team totravel to Pakistan at this time of the yearand got the extension of the interim stayorder.Rokon Uddin is a Barrister with 25 yearsexperience who concentrates on areaslike: corporate, commercial, companyand admiralty; administrative and con-stitutional law; arbitration. He repre-sents U.S. law firms and companies. Butdo not take cases out side of dhaka. Hedoes not provide services of a certifiedtranslator, court reporter/ stenographeror notary. Since the new lawyer is yet tofile the reply, the appeal may not beheard on Thursday.

LAhOResTaff rePOrT

The game of cricket has always enjoyedgreat popularity among the masses, es-pecially the younger generation. Overthe decades, Pakistan has producednumerous legendary players and de-spite inadequate cricket infrastructureand resources at the domestic level, thePakistan youngsters proved to be for-midable contender, showing superbtalents and commitment to excel.

On community level, cricket hasbeen a source of inspiration andhealthy entertainment that nurturesrelations between the various segmentsof society, as it induces teamwork andcoordination, while supporting com-munity building efforts.

Over the years, the hot weatherconditions in summer have given riseto night-cricket activities across thecountry, whereby young enthusiastsare seen participating regularly inmatches held after dusk, under artifi-cial lights.

To capitalize on this fervent partic-ipation and popularity, the corporatesector, media enterprises and celebri-ties also come forth to nurture healthyactivities, that bring the community to-gether to enjoy colorful night crickettournaments. The holy month of Ra-mazan adds vigour to night-cricketingas the streets and grounds are lit up atnight for this cheerful retreat, follow-ing each day of fasting and somber vir-tuous deeds.

We often see exciting night tourna-ments, featuring T20 and limited-oversmatches, being held across all majorcities and towns of Pakistan. Partici-pants from all walks of life including,students, TV stars, former cricketers,famous personalities, professionals,bankers and media partners, gracingthese events to add to the glitz to thesecontests. Many of these tournamentshave gained tremendous popularityand receive heavy sponsorships fromthe corporate sector and are also cov-ered by electronic media.

during the holy month of Ra-

mazan, youngsters often indulge innight cricket after Tarawi and stayawake till Sehri. This shows the pas-sion and love of Pakistani youth forcricket. The specialty of these tourna-ments is that they use specific rulesand regulation, for instance, they re-duce the number of balls per over from6 to 4 and playing stroke in any partic-ular side could be restricted to makethe game more interesting.

Unlike in the past, Chairman, Pak-istan Cricket Board (PCB) MuhammadZaka Ashraf and his team have beenactively involved in initiatives to pro-mote domestic cricket. in order to becompetitive at the international stage,a country must have a very strongstructure of domestic cricket and thisis why Pakistani officials continue tostress on the importance of domesticcricket. in conclusion, night cricket hasproved to be a healthy entertainmentfor our nation, and every citizen shouldplay his role in promoting this greatsocial exercise particularly the corpo-rate sector.

LAhORe sTaff rePOrT

As many as 56 events and 13 sportscompetitions will be held among sevensectors at the Union Council level inthe second phase of the Punjab Sportsand Youth Festival 2012 to be heldafter eid in August.

The Union Council level events andcompetitions will be held after thecompletion of the neighbourhood andvillage level contests.

A total prize money of Rs 278,000will be distributed among the winnersof different events. Similar to theneighborhood and village competitionsin individual, family and team eventshave been lined up for the people of all

walks of life,said director General,Sports Board Punjab, Usman Anwarhere on Wednesday.

“in sports for general public, com-petitions will be held in ArmsWrestling, Athletics, Badminton, Bas-ketball, Billiard and Snooker, Chess,Cricket (T B), Football, Tug of war,Volleyball, Bodybuilding, Weightliftingand Hockey,” he added.

“Through these events we want tocreate healthy culture of sports in mod-ern sports as well as in traditionalsports and by that way we can con-tribute in the overall development ofsports in Punjab “,he asserted.

He said Punjab Government underthe vision of Punjab Chief MinisterMian Shahbaz Sharif, is striving hard

to create a new culture of sports amongpeople of all walks of life. “Youth is thefuture of our country and through thissports and youth festival we are aimingto identify new talent for our futureneeds,” said Usman Anwar.

The events for individual, familyand team category includes Cooking,Horticulture, Mushaira, Naatkhani,Pet competitions, Photography, Qirat,Songs/millinaghme/poetry, debates,dress designing/stitching, Handicraft,Painting, Kitchen Gardening, photog-raphy, Healthy Baby Competitions,Street Art, essay Writing while BullRace, dog Race, Tippling/Pigeon Fly-ing, donkey Cart Race and Horse Racehave been reserved for Rural Sectorpublic.

Apart from the individual, familyand team events, in this level elemen-tary and secondary school have alsobeen invited to get involved in healthyextracurricular activities and the stu-dents of that level will contest in de-bate, essay Writing, Millinaghme(national songs) , Naatkhani, (recita-tion of Naats) Painting, Qirat, CulturalModels, Cooking, dress Show, Handi-craft, Science Models.

“inter-sports and Youth develop-ment Council matches and competi-tions will be held between Sports andYouth Councils of each Union Councilswhile there will also be competitionsbetween participating teams and indi-viduals at the same level,” said the di-rector General SBP.

LAhOResTaff rePOrT

wiCKeT keeper KamranAkmal, dumped allrounder Abdul Razzakand opener imran

Nazir on Wednesday were named in athirty member Pakistan squad forWorld T-20 Cup being played in Sep-tember in Sri Lanka. Kamran is stillawaiting clearance by PCB’s integritycommittee as he will be appearing be-fore it on July 4 .Razzak who last playedfor Pakistan in November ,2011 sinceinjuring his shoulder in a one day seriesagainst Sri Lanka in UAe is a surpriseinclusion in country’s provisional squadfor the mega event. imran last playedfor Pakistan in February 2010 and hisinclusion has also put a question markon the selection process. it is worthmentioning here that all the three re-called players don’t have central con-tracts awarded by PCB.

“Kamran has been selected after hewas cleared by the integrity committeeand we feel that he can still deliver askeeper and an opener in the Twenty20cricket,” chief selector iqbal Qasim said.

The 30-year-old has not been se-lected for Pakistan since the 2011 WorldCup. His name was mentioned at the trialin england last year of three PakistaniTest players over spot-fixing allegationsbut he was neither summoned by theLondon court nor banned by the interna-tional Cricket Council (iCC).

Former Test captain Salman Buttand pacemen Mohammad Asif and Mo-hammad Amir were banned and jailedfor contriving deliberate no-balls during

the Lord’s Test against england in 2010.Kamran was also accused of deliber-

ately under-performing during Pakistan’ssurprise defeat against Australia in the2010 Sydney Test, where he failed to runout Shane Watson and dropped threechances from Michael Hussey.

The iCC directed the PCB to form anintegrity committee to check players’con-duct and their assets in the wake of the2010 spot-fixing scandal. Pakistan ap-pointed Mohammad Hafeez as theirTwenty20 captain in May to replace theageing Misbah-ul Haq. Misbah, who losthis Twenty20 place, is still missing fromthe preliminary squad despite vowing toget back in the shortest form.

Also recalled in the preliminarysquad are all-rounder Abdul Razzaq

and opener imran Nazir. A final squadof 15 will be announced by mid-August.The squad has eight opening, five mid-dle order batsmen, three all rounders,eight ace bowlers, three spinners andsimilar number of wicket keepers.squAd: Mohammad Hafeez, AhmedShahzad, Khalid Latif, NasirJamshed, imran Nazir, ShahzaibHasan, Awais Zia, Sharjeel Khan,Umar Akmal, Asad Shafiq, Haris So-hail, Shoaib Malik, Rameez Raja,Shahid Afridi, Hammad Azam, AbdulRazzaq, Umar Gul, Mohammad Sami,Sohail Tanvir, Yasir Arafat, WahabRiaz, Junaid Khan, Aizaz Cheema,Anwar Ali, Saeed Ajmal, AbdurRehman, Raza Hasan, Sarfraz Ahmed,Kamran Akmal, Shakeel Ansar.

Kamran in provisionaliCC World t20 team

Ramazan cricket a great social exercise

69 events to be contested in UC level

g razzak‚ nazir make 30 probables‚ Misbah dropped

ISB 12-07-2012_Layout 1 7/12/2012 2:45 AM Page 17

Sky expect warbut will defendyellow: rogers

BeLLeGARDe-SUR-VALSeRINeafP

Australian Michael Rogers is ready to usehis vast experience on the Tour de Franceto make sure Sky teammate Bradley Wig-gins succeeds Cadel evans as yellow jerseychampion. As one of two experienced 'roadcaptains' on Team Sky, Rogers is currentlyracing his eighth Tour with the highly-fan-cied British team. it is probably just aswell. With Wiggins starting the 10th stagearmed with a 1min 53sec lead on defendingchampion evans, and other dangerous ri-vals further behind, the Briton is expectedto come under attack on two consecutivedays in the high Alps. Rogers says Sky fullyexpect to be targeted by aggressive movesover the coming days. But despite concernsover Wiggins' comparative lack of experi-ence handling the pressure over threetough weeks of racing, he believes Sky havethe tools to keep him in yellow. "There'sbeen quite a lot of questions concerningBradley's lack of experience, but this is myeighth Tour and that's why i'm backingBradley 100 percent," Rogers told AFP.While Austrian teammate Bernhard eiselwas the team captain for the first week offlatter stages, Rogers -- who has the job ofpacing Wiggins on the lower slopes of keyclimbs -- is now ready to take over. it is onthe climbs and descents that Wiggins' ri-vals -- evans, italian Vincenzo Nibali andRussian denis Menchov -- could decide tostrike. But Rogers says they are prepared.

Afghans launch firstprofessional league

KABULafP

Afghanistan is launching its first profes-sional football championship with the ambi-tious goal of bringing peace to the war-torncountry -- and with teams chosen on agroundbreaking reality television show.Thousands of young Afghans have alreadyapplied to take part, with the members ofeach of the eight teams to be selected on the"Maidan e Sabz" (Green field) programme.it will be the first Afghan football champi-onship to be broadcast on television. Previ-ous amateur competitions have involvedlittle-known players and failed to capture thepublic's imagination. Football-crazy Afghansare more passionate about european com-petitions, especially Spain's La Liga. Cush-ions with the emblems of Barcelona andReal Madrid are often seen in the backshelves of cars in Kabul. "To establish peaceand stabilise a country, one must not onlyfocus on training soldiers," said AfghanistanFootball Federation (AFF) president Kera-muddin Karim as he announced the cham-pionship. "Sport is also a strong base forpeace, as it (embodies) values such as unity,integration, pride and prevents racism,drugs and other elements that bring inse-curity to the country," said Karim, who isalso governor of Panjshir province.

Sports17thursday‚ 12 July‚ 2012

LONDONafP

John Terry's Chelsea and englandteam-mate Ashley Cole told a courtWednesday that the racial slur allega-tions against his club captain shouldnever have gone to trial.

Terry is accused of brandingQueens Park Rangers player AntonFerdinand a during a match betweenChelsea and QPR on October 23 lastyear. Terry, standing trial at Westmin-ster Magistrates Court in London, de-nies committing a racially aggravatedpublic order offence. He has told thecourt he was sarcastically repeatingwords he thought Ferdinand had saidto him.

Left-back Cole, taking the witnessstand, said the allegations should nothave been taken to court.

"i think we shouldn't be sittinghere," said Cole, who is mixed-race.

While racism should never be tol-

erated, "if i repeated something that ithought you said, that's totally differ-ent than if someone just says some-thing," he told the court.

He said Terry was an inspirationalcaptain and one of the best because heremained cool, calm and collectedwhen others might not.

Cole said Terry had never reactedto taunts on the pitch about an allegedaffair with the mother of the formerteam-mate's child. The defender saidhe was friends with both Anton Ferdi-nand and his elder brother Rio, theManchester United and england cen-tre-back. Cole said did not want to beinvolved in the aftermath of the racistabuse allegations.

"it was hard because i knew JT,Rio and Anton," he said. Terry, givingevidence on the third day of his trial,said he wanted to speak to the policeand to the Football Association, thesport's governing body in england, toaddress the allegations.

"i was keen to go forward with mypolice statement, my FA statement. if ihad anything to hide i wouldn't havedone that," he said.

"i knew there was nothing outthere that would show that i had doneanything wrong." The former englandcaptain said he made a statement be-fore seeing any footage of the incident.

"if there was ever any doubt in mymind, i could have held back, soaked itup and thought 'Let's wait until tomor-row, let's see what kind of footage isout there'."

The 31-year-old said he tried to callRio Ferdinand, whom he partnered inengland's central defence.

Prosecutor duncan Penny said toTerry: "You might have got in touchwith Mr Ferdinand and said 'Help meout here -- this is going completelynuts'."

Terry replied: "i did attempt to callRio and he wouldn't take my call, ididn't have Anton's number."

He also said he spoke to an ex-footballer who helped both playerswith property investments.

Penny asked "what good" it wasgoing to do Anton Ferdinand to makeallegations against Terry if they wereuntrue.

Terry said: "i can't answer anyquestions for Anton."

The Blues skipper was asked if,with hindsight, he would have dealtwith the allegation differently.

"if it happened again maybe i'd bea bit more immune to it, but it was thefirst time it happened and that's why ireacted the way i did, and i can't takeit away," he said.

The england defender also deniedthat he had made a remark about hav-ing sex with Ferdinand's girlfriend, inresponse to taunts about his alleged af-fair. if found guilty, Terry could befined up to £2,500 ($3,850, 3,150euros). The trial is expected to takefive days.

Cole says Terry claims should not be in court

Sindh Sportsboard Seriesranking tennis

KARAchIsTaff rePOrT

The 19th SSB development Series Rank-ing Tennis Championship will commencefrom today (Thursday) at the newly-painted hard court of Union ClubKarachi. The Sindh Sports Board hassponsored this week long event and overall 9th Ranking Tournament held underSTA banner during 2012. Sindh TennisAssociation has finalized the seeding ofvarious events. Hassaan siddiqui is topseed in Juniors under 17. Nazif Ahmed inunder 15, Shahzil Ahmed in under 11 andHania Naveed in Ladies Singles top seeds.

DUBAIafP

Argentinian football legend diego Maradona was sacked as coach ofUnited Arab emirates side Al Wasl just over a year after he was ap-pointed to the job, the club announced on Tuesday.

The 51-year-old - who was appointed in May 2011 after he hadlost his job the previous year as Argentina national coach - hadlooked to be in a precarious position after failing to win a trophy lastseason. His cause had not been helped when the board of directorsthat had hired him resigned following the previous campaign andtheir replacements took the decision to fire him after a meeting onTuesday.

"Following a meeting held by the board of directors of Al WaslFootball Company held today (Tuesday), to evaluate the technicalstaff of Al Wasl Football Team under the leadership of coach diegoMaradona, it was decided to terminate the services of coach diegoMaradona and his technical staff," a statement from the club said.

Maradona - who as a player almost singlehandedly guided Ar-gentina to the 1986 World Cup trophy and then to the 1990 final -had another year left on his contract.

Maradona sacked as al Wasl coach

london: chelsea and england footballerAshley cole (c) arrives to attend the trial of histeam-mate John terry at the court. aFP

ISB 12-07-2012_Layout 1 7/12/2012 2:46 AM Page 18

MâCOn: The pack rideson a bridge in Macon atthe beginning of the194,5 km and tenth stageof the 2012 Tour deFrance cycling race. AFP

WATCh iT LivE

TEN SPORTSThird Test: PakistanV Sri Lanka 09:30AM

From Athensto London

eIghTh OlyMPIc gaMes In 1928:

Venue: Amsterdam‚ Holland

daTes: July 28 to August 12‚ 1928

nuMBers Of sPOrTs: 14 (109 events)

nuMBers Of naTIOns: 46

nuMBers Of ParTIcIPanT: 2883 (2606 men

and 277 women)

yOungesT gOld MedalIsT: Hans bourquin (Switzer-

land) aged 14 years in rowing

OldesT gOld MedalIsT: Johann Anker (norway) aged

57 years 44 days in yatching

fInal Medals Tally:

cOunTry g s B

United States 22 18 16

germany 10 7 14

finland 8 8 9

Sweden 7 6 12

italy 7 5 7

Switzerland 7 4 4

france 6 10 5

Holland 6 9 4

Hungary 4 5 -

canada 4 4 7

great britain 3 10 7

Argentina 3 3 1

denmark 3 1 2

czechoslovakia 2 5 2

Japan 2 2 1

estonia 2 1 2

egypt 2 1 1

Austria 2 - 1

Australia 1 2 1

norway 1 2 1

Poland 1 1 3

yugoslavia 1 1 3

South Africa 1 - 2

india 1 - -

ireland 1 - -

new zealand 1 - -

Spain 1 - -

Uruguay 1 - -

belgium - 1 2

chile - 1 -

Haiti - 1 -

Portugal - - 1

Philippines - - 1

TOTal 110 108 109

TrIVIa:n for the first time‚ the olympic flame was lit at the

top of a tower placed inside the stadium and de-

signed by Jan Wils. it remained lit throughout the

games. At this period in time‚ the torch relay was

not yet practised.n germany participated in the games once again‚

after 16 years of absence‚ since the 1912 games.n Johnny Weissmuller (United States) won the 100m

freestyle and was a member of the winning relay

team. because of the limited number of events

available to him‚ his olympic record cannot be fairly

compared with that of Mark Spitz (germany)‚ but

the longevity of his records is a testament to his

greatness.n the 100 metres was the first women’s track event

to be contested in olympic history. betty robinson

(United States) won the final by half a metre in

what was only her fourth track meet ever. She also

earned a silver medal in the 4x100m relay.n Athletes from 28 different nations won gold medals

in Amsterdam‚ a record that would last for 40 years.n for the first time‚ Asian athletes won gold medals.

Mikio oda of Japan won the triple jump‚ while his

teammate‚ yoshiyuki tsuruta‚ won the 200m

breaststroke. Meanwhile the team from india swept

to victory in field hockey. between 1928 and 1960‚

indian teams won six straight gold medals.n Hungary earned the first of seven consecutive gold

medals in team sabre fencing.

Sports 18thursday‚ 12 July‚ 2012

STANFORDafP

Serena Williams has yet to consider herWimbledon accomplishments after admit-ting on Tuesday that she was distracted bymovies on her flight to California to play ina WTA event. "i haven't had a lot of time toprocess anything," the world number fourconfessed after watching "at least fivemovies" during the trans-Atlantic journeya day earlier to the WTA Stanford Classic."i don't know where i am now. i haven't re-flected on what i did," joked the Wimble-don singles and doubles winner.

"i watched at least five movies on theplane. Like "The Hunger Games." That kept

me away from too much reflection."Williams returned to the WTA top five afterlifting her fifth Wimbledon trophy and 14thGrand Slam singles crown overall. The ti-tles came after a first-round loss at theFrench Open, a defeat which the 30-year-old said affected her more than any otherin her career. "i haven't had a chance toenjoy it. it was a super-hectic two weeks,the most hectic ever," she said of Wimble-don. "But with the way that i'm feeling i re-ally wanted to get on that plane and comehere." The 30-year-old American also pro-nounced herself in the best shape of her lifeand eager to defend her title during a hard-court interlude prior to the July 28 start ofthe Olympic tournament on grass at the All

england Club. Williams will begin her titledefence on Wednesday against teenageStanford student Nicole Gibbs, who beatThai qualifier Noppawan Lertcheewakarn6-4, 6-4. Gibbs, 19 and ranked 403, will beplaying only her second WTA main drawmatch when she faces Williams.

"i will be nervous, no question aboutthat," said Gibbs, who was a ballgirl for Ser-ena at an exhibition tournament in Cleve-land seven years ago and actually had afive-minute practice session with Williamsand her sister Venus. But the challenger willnot be a lamb to the slaughter. "i couldn'thave any less pressure," Gibbs said. "it's anexperience which i have to enjoy and pres-ent myself as competitive in that match."

Film-fan Serena yet to reflect on Wimbledon win

LAhOResTaff rePOrT

cHieF coach and manager ofPakistan hockey team,Olympian ChaudharyAkhtar Rasool sounded op-

timistic to utilize the expertise and tal-ent of senior players in a most effectiveway by gelling them with the juniorplayers to lift the fortune of the team inits bid to produce a better show in Lon-don Olympics. “We have chalked out aplan to utilize the services of seniorplayers by blending them with the jun-ior players to draw a combinationwhich is equally against every oppo-nent in Olympics,” he said on the eve ofthe departure of the team for england.Pakistan team will be having a ten-daytraining camp in Birmingham to finaltouch to its preparations for Olympics.

The present management is bank-ing upon the potentialities of seniorplayers including captain Sohail Abbas,Rehan Butt, Shakeel Abbasi andWaseem Ahmad with a mindset that

there is no substitute of experience andthese players still have much hockey leftin them to raise the performance of theteam by becoming inspiration for fellowcolleagues who are lesser in experienceand age. “They (senior players ) are fitenough to cope with modern day fastpaced hockey requirements as they havebeen involved in international hockey inrecent years and we hope that they canput up highest level of performance toencourage junior players,” said formercelebrated centre half under whose cap-taincy Pak won the 1982 World Cup.

He said junior players are provingthemselves and their recent perform-ance in the european tour and the train-ing camp at Abbottabad was impressiveand he is confident that if the team playswith the same rhythm and momentumwhich it struck in the camp, it has theability to chatter the confidence ofworld’s top hockey nations. “We haveworked really hard on improving fitnessof the players and to create a positiveculture of fitness among the players andit was a pleasant surprise of us that sen-

ior players are maintaining a higher sideof stamina and fitness to remain in ac-tion during seventy minutes play, nomatter they are coming in the field inpatches but having a higher line of stam-ina,” he asserted. Akhtar sounded con-fident when asked about team’sprospects in Olympics. “ i don’t want tomake tall claims, the most importanttask ahead of me is to keep the playersin high spirit and to develop a desire ofsuccess in them to get best out of theplayers even in tough matches,” he said.

“in next ten to fifteen days we willbe playing five practice matches to gearup for Olympics in a most comprehen-sive manner,” he said. He furtheradded: “We are better in technique andwe have worked really hard on missingchances inside the circle and utilizingthe forwards in new roles assigned tothem besides working on bettering theconfidence of goalkeeper imran Shah,”he said. He termed the first match ofOlympics against Spain “a match ofgreater significance” to determine Pakteams path in the mega event.

SeOULafP

South Korea will send 245 athletes tocompete in 22 events at the LondonOlympics, officials said Wednesday, thesmallest number since 210 attended the1984 Los Angeles Games. But the KoreaOlympic Committee (KOC) remained up-beat about its target of securing at least 10golds and a finish inside the top 10 in theoverall medal tally. "We have trained andprepared very hard to achieve our goal,"said team chief Lee Ki-Heung as he waspresented with the national flag in a cere-mony at Olympic Hall in eastern Seoul.

The South failed to qualify in basket-ball, tennis, equestrian events and canoe-ing. its national sport, baseball, wasdropped as an Olympic event. The KOCsaid the flag-bearer at the opening cere-mony would be Yoon Kyung-Shin, a vet-eran of the men's handball team who willbe attending his fifth summer Olympics.The 39-year-old, who will be the oldest

South Korean athlete in London, was alsothe flag-bearer at the 2010 GuangzhouAsian games. South Korea has rankedamong the top 10 in medal standings infive of the past six summer Olympics.chinA unveils sMAllerlondon teAM: China has an-nounced a far smaller team for the Lon-don Olympics than the one that toppedthe gold medal table at home four yearsago, but expectations are high of anotherdominant performance. Just 396 Chineseathletes will go to London, down from arecord-breaking 639 in Beijing and fewereven than the 407 who competed at theAthens Games in 2004. But sports offi-cials emphasised that the London-boundteam, unveiled at a ceremony in Beijingon Tuesday, was still China's third-biggestfor an Olympics and urged the athletes tobring their country glory. "The Chineseathletes must get fully prepared and readyto face the challenges. We have to fight foreach gold," Sports Minister Liu Peng saidat the announcement ceremony.

South Korea to sendsmallest team since 1984

Sahiwal‚ Sargodhaassured of help forSports‚ youth festival

LAhORe sTaff rePOrT

The officials of Sahiwal and Sargodha dis-tricts on Wednesday were briefed about theholding of the Punjab Sports and Youth Fes-tival 2012 and formation of different com-mittees for the smooth conduct of theevents. deputy Speaker and Chairman Or-ganizing Committee Sports Punjab RanaMashhood Ahmed Khan briefed the MPA,MNAs and other district officials about theconduct of various events and urged them toensure mass participation in various cate-gories at different levels of the festival. Sec-retary Sports Punjab, Haroon Ahmed Khanand director General, Sports Board PunjabUsman Anwar were also present on the oc-casion. during the meeting an official fromPakpattan district, expressed his concern forholding the sports competitions in the ab-sence of sports infrastructure. Rana Mas-hood and Usman Anwar assured themeeting that all out assistance and coopera-tion will be provided by the Punjab Govern-ment for the provision of grounds for theparticipation of sportsmen in the festival.

PHf providesfinancial assistanceto masseur’s widow

LAhOResTaff rePOrT

Pakistan Hockey Federation PresidentQasim Zia on Wednesday presented acheque of Rs 456,000 to the widow of Pak-istan senior hockey team’s masseur BabarQureshi here at National Hockey Stadium.Qureshi, a devoted worker who remainedassociated with the team over a decade,died during training camp of Pak hockeyteam in islamabad in April 26,2012.

Akhtar to exploitexperience effectively

S. PeRVeZ QAISeR

stats corner

team leavesfor londonolympics today

SeoUl: lee Ki-Heung‚ head South Koreanolympic team‚ waves a national flag ruginga ceremony at the olympic Hall. aFP

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thursday, 12 July, 2012 19

Published by Arif Nizami at Plot # 7, Al-Baber Centre, F/8 Markaz, Islamabad. Editor: Arif Nizami

QUeTTAshahZada ZulfIqar

Chief Justice of Pakistan iftikhar Moham-mad Chaudhry on Wednesday said the‘system’ had started to work in the countryand its glaring example was the ouster of aprime minister and the election of anotherthrough parliament.

The CJ, who heads a three-member SCbench, passed the remarks while hearingthe cases of missing Baloch persons inQuetta on Wednesday. Justice Khliji ArifHussain and Justice Jawad S Khwaja areother members of the bench. during thearguments, Frontier Corps Counsel Rajairshad said only the system of the SupremeCourt was working satisfactorily.

Bu the chief justice said the political

system was also working well. “Look atparliament, a prime minister went, theparliament elected another one and thesystem is working smoothly,” he said. Jus-tice Chaudhry said, “enough evidence isavailable of the involvement of FrontierCorps Balochistan in picking up of everythird missing person.”

The bench was hearing a case ofFebruary 2011 in Tootak, Khuzdar dis-trict, in which the FC allegedly killedtwo tribesmen while taking 30 othersinto custody. The court ordered the FCofficials to present the persons ofTootak incident, otherwise it should askthen commandant of the area to appearbefore the court along with all therecords and personnel engaged in theaction. The CJP said, “Why civil admin-

istrative officials do not make anyprogress in the investigation and ask FCofficials about the custody of these (14)people.” He said if officials concernedwere found guilty of negligence, theywould not be spared.

Balochistan Chief Secretary BabarYaqub said all deputy commissioners andother administrative officials were strictlyadvised not to show any negligence in in-vestigation of missing persons, otherwisepunitive action would be taken.

Chief Justice iftikhar Chaudhry said tothe FC’s counsel, “You should bring mis-creants [before us], we will be the last per-son to spare them, rather will try them incourt.” While defending the FC, Raja ir-shad said FC was a national force andworking under the constitution for the ho-

nour and protection of life and property ofcitizens and a conspiracy was beinghatched to defame the force.

Justice Khawaja said, “Then why is FCbeing named in every third missing per-sons’ case?” Balochistan Advocate GeneralAmanullah Kunrani told the court that 385dead bodies have been recovered from var-ious areas of Balochistan until a fewmonths ago and the number had grownsince. in another case of Kabo, Mastungdistrict, the chief justice directed FC toproduce Zafarullah, a student of Khuzdarengineering University on next hearing(Thursday), otherwise submit all relevantrecords and ask concerned FC officials toappear in court. He said, “Unless some ofthe officers from the civil administrationare punished for their negligence regarding

the missing persons case, there will be noimprovement.”

“We are being forced to do somethingregarding the missing persons case,” headded. One of the missing persons, MuftiAbdus Sattar, appeared in court and saidhe and Mohmmad iqbal were picked up byplain clothed men from his residence.

He said he had been set free after 13days, but his colleague was still missing.

The Supreme Court also took suo motunotice of the murder of Mir Akmal Raisani,nephew of the Balochistan chief minister,in Mastung.

The chief justice expressed his dis-pleasure with the police for making noprogress in the investigation into the mur-der, which took place in front of over 3,000people during a football match.

ISLAMABADIrfan BukharI

As the cabinet was busy mulling its optionsfor Ramadan, which ran the whole gamutbetween reducing load shedding andconjuring up a package for the masses,Petroleum Minister dr Asim Hussain decidedthe moment was right to drop his bomb. in a move that is set to wreak havoc withCNG station and vehicle owners, thePetroleum Ministry has decided tocompletely cut off gas supply to CNGstation all over the country in Novemberand december. The move has beennecessitated by the ministry’s gasmanagement needs, which have boileddown to the simple fact that Pakistan doesnot have sufficient gas to cater to the needsof both the household requirements and theneeds of CNG stations. At a time when the regular two-to-three-day closure is generating countrywideclatter, the prospect of going two monthswithout gas supply would receive someserious backlash. evidence of the said backlash was seen inthe cabinet meeting as well, with concernsregarding the reaction of the various

sectors and the fact that the elections wouldbe around the corner at the time, surfacingregularly. However, dr Asim was adamant that theministry had no other option, reiteratingthat with gas shortfall tracing its nadir atthe tail-end of the year the ministry wouldhave had to earmark either the householdgas supply or CNG station supply for thetwo-month closure. The latter was theobvious choice, he maintained, as theopposition continued to hanker after thepossibility that neither closure would beconjured up. dr Asim, however, wasunmoved and claimed that there was “noother solution”. The move comes amidst government’sfailure to import sufficient LNG to bridgethe national demand-supply disparity, withthe iP (iran-Pakistan) and TAPi(Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-india) gas pipeline projects not transpiringeither owing to international politicalpressure and concerns. This has left thegovernment with no other alternativeexcept giving CNG gas supply the boot andmaintaining household gas supply – whichagain would not be as seamlessly as themasses would wish them to be.

US Congressional leaders backCSF reimbursement for Pakistang US Armed Services committee chairman carl levin‚lindsey graham say money should be released to Pakistan

WAShINGTONsPecIal cOrresPOndenT

The reopening of key Pakistani bor-der-crossings into Afghanistan forNATO supplies has earned islam-abad support of influential Americanlawmakers in reimbursement of thelong-held Coalition Support Funds.

The Obama administration hastold Pakistan it will release $1.1 billionof Coalition Support Funds (CSF) tothe Pakistan military now that islam-abad has reopened the Ground Linesof Communication (GLOC) throughwhich the US supplies troops inAfghanistan. The funds are reim-bursement money that Pakistan hasalready spent in the joint effort to fightal Qaeda and the Taliban that were al-ready authorized by Congress.

A Foreign Policy magazine reportsaid Washington had been holding upthe money over the past six months asthe supply lines were closed. Pakistanhad closed those supply lines afterNATO forces killed 24 Pakistani sol-diers near the Afghan border in No-vember, but opened them this weekafter Secretary of State Hillary Clintonfinally said publicly that “we’re sorry”for the mistakes that led to thosekillings. The Senate Armed ServicesCommittee (SASC) could hold up thefunds, but its leaders say they don’tplan to do so. “i would approve it,”

SASC Chairman Carl Levin (d-Mi)told The Cable on Tuesday. “They’vepresumably earned it by the moneythey’ve laid out in terms of their anti-terrorist activities and protecting ourflow of oil.” There are costs incurredby Pakistan in facilitating the move-ment of oil and training and equip-ping their own forces engaged in thefight against insurgents, Levin said.

“This is not supposed to be a gift,this is supposed to be a reimbursement,”he explained. But Levin is still not satis-fied with Pakistan’s level of cooperationwhen it comes to combating terroristsafe havens on their soil and protectingtheir side of the Afghanistan border. “ithink they’ve done an adequate job insome areas, a spotty job, a job that is notconsistent ——- but the deal was therewould be reimbursement for their costsand that’s what’s been held up.” SenLindsey Graham (R-SC), a senior mem-ber of the Senate Armed Services Com-mittee and ranking Republican on theSenate Appropriations Subcommitteeon State, Foreign Operations and Re-lated Programs, also believes the CSFmoney should go through. “The money’sbeen stuck in a pipeline and the reasonit hasn’t flowed faster is that we can’t besure it’s going to be spent wisely. if ourcommanders believe releasing the fundshelps the war effort, i don’t want to sec-ond guess them,” Graham said, accord-ing to the report.

Five dead inarmy choppercrash in Skardu

ISLAMABADafP

An army helicopter crashed during atest flight in Skardu on Wednesday,killing five people on board, the militarysaid. The Mi-17 helicopter came downon the runway of the airport in thenorthwestern city. “According to initialreport, five persons, including a pilot,embraced martyrdom”, in the crash, themilitary said in a statement. it addedthree others, including a pilot, wereinjured. The Mi-17 chopper was on atest flight when the incident took placearound 5pm in.

NEPRa increaseselectricity tariff by Rs 1.51 per unit

ISLAMABADInP

The National electric PowerRegulatory Authority (NePRA) hasincreased power tariff by Rs 1.51 perunit. The increase was approvedunder the monthly fuel adjustmentand will be implemented in electricitybills of May. Consumers will see thecharges of this increase in the billsreceived in december.

Ouster, election of new PM shows system is working: CJ g Justice Chaudhry says enough evidence available of FC’s involvement in abduction of every third missing person

DR ASIM THROwSTHe GAS bOMbg No gas supply for CNG stations in November, December this year g With complete lack of alternativeoptions, Petroleum Ministry had ‘no other option’

queTTa: a former missing person Mufti abdul

Wahab (l) walks with a policeman before appearing

before a supreme court bench on Wednesday. aFP

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