e-paper pakistantoday 19th december, 2012

Wednesday, 19 december, 2012 Safar 5, 1434Rs 15.00 Vol iii no 172 19 pages Karachi edition

PAGE |05PAGE |19

Breast cancer higheramong young women

PAGE 15

Taliban easingpeace talks’

conditions

KARACHIAAMIR MAJeeD

Unidentified gunmen shot dead six healthworkers – five females among them – involvedin an anti-polio campaign in separate attacks inKarachi and Peshawar on Tuesday. The attackshave raised fears for the safety of workers

immunising children against the crippling disease andhas put the crucial vaccination drive in jeopardy. Aninvestigation by Pakistan Today into the killingsrevealed that some areas in Karachi, where peoplefrom Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) had settled downfollowing security forces’ operations, had beenhighlighted as sensitive, as people in these areas hadwarned health officials of dire consequences if poliocampaign was conducted. These people have nopolitical affiliation and had taken shelter in the slumsof Karachi during security operations in KP. Before thestart of the three-day anti-polio campaign, healthofficials met with the people of these areas and tried toconvince them to allow the campaign, but they refusedthe appeals and warned the officials of direconsequences if polio teams visited their areas.“Theofficials of health department met with the people ofGulshan-e-Buner in Landhi, Khan Muhammad Goth inBaldia Town, Sohrab Goth and some areas of OrangiTown to convince residents to get their childrenvaccinated. These people consider polio vaccinationun-Islamic and turned down all requests of letting theirchildren be immunised,” Karachi Health ExecutiveDistrict Officer (EDO) Dr Imdadullah Siddiqui toldPakistan Today.“Not only officials of provincial healthdepartment but a delegation of World HealthOrganisation (WHO) also visited these areas and triedto make the people of these areas agree to getting theirchildren vaccinated,” the EDO said, adding that alltheir pleas fell on deaf ears. WHO even contactedclerics of the area to convince the people to get theirchildren vaccinated, but all in vain. The deputycommissioners (DCs) of these areas also held severalmeetings with locals, but they again refused thedemands, he added. Sindh Health Minister SagheerAhmed ordered a halt to the anti-polio drive in Karachiin the wake of the shootings. The killing took place inthree separate areas of the port city on the second dayof a nationwide three-day vaccination campaignagainst polio, a disease endemic in Pakistan.

Now parliamentwill judge SC registrar’s defiance

ISLAMABADAnweR AbbAs

The Public AccountsCommittee (PAC) onTuesday decided to refer theissue of non-compliance bythe Supreme Court registrarto the National Assembly intwo days’ time through aspecial report. During an in-camera session on Tuesday,the PAC reviewed variousoptions concerning the SCregistrar’s refusal to appearbefore the accounts body inconnection with audit parasand objections related to theSupreme Court from 2001 to2010-11. A source said allmembers of the committeewere on the same page vis-à-vis the supremacy of theconstitution. Members wereof the view that if flexibilitywas adopted on issue ofconsolidated funds, otherinstitutions like the ElectionCommission of Pakistan,Presidency and PrimeMinister’s Secretariat couldalso follow in the footstepsand refuse to appear beforethe body. After reviewing allthree options against the SCregistrar, the PAC decidedwith consensus to refer thecase to the NationalAssembly in form of a specialreport within two days,seeking an early decision bythe assembly on this issue.Giving a briefing to reportersafter the meeting,

Continued on page 04

No question ofcalling off Pakistan-India series: BCCI

KARACHI: A woman mourns the death of her relative who was among four female volunteers gunned down by unidentified men during an anti-polio campaign on Tuesday. online

g 5 females among six polio workers shot dead in Karachi and Peshawarg 4 female workers, male volunteer gunned down in three attacks in Karachi g Health EDO says locals had warned officials against anti-polio campaignsg WHO calls off campaign against crippling disease in both cities

KHI 19-12-2012_Layout 1 12/19/2012 3:25 AM

02News

wednesday, 19 december, 2012

Today’s

lookQuick

NEwS

Story on Page 09

ArtS & ENtErtAINmENt

Story on Page 12

EdItorIAlTackle them now:

CommENt

Articles on Page 10

Time for coordinated actions against terrorists.

basharat Hussain Qizilbash says;‘Bhutto and the breakup of Pakistan’: A misperception that just stuck.

Kunwar Khuldune shahid says;

The mystery of the kafir tattoo: *Spoiler Alert*

Around 8,715 pakistanis languishing in jails abroad salman Khan asks for strict punishment in Delhi gangrape case

KARACHI: supporters of the All pakistan Muttahida students organisation stage a rally in support of MQM chief Altaf Hussain on Tuesday. online

Altaf asks workers tocancel demonstrations,respect judiciaryLONDON: Muttahida Qaumi Movement(MQM) chief Altaf Hussain directed theparty’s coordination committee in Londonand Karachi, and workers of zones, sectors,units and different wings to cancel all sched-uled demonstrations. He asked them to showpatience and refrain from using inappropriatelanguage against the judiciary. He appealed toMQM workers to not go to the Supreme Courton 7th January and urged them to respect thesanctity of the court. He insisted that onlylegal and constitutional experts from theparty should attend the court. “I do not wantthe sanctity of the court to be violated and Ido not want to pursue the path of confronta-tion,” said the MQM chief. He said he wouldnever make his person the cause of any poten-tial confrontation keeping in view the currentsituation of the country. AGenCIes

Clerics urge consensus before initiating anti-polio campaigns KARACHI: Clerics in Karachi have sug-gested that the government should adminis-ter polio drops to children only after dueconsensus with them, making the schememore trustworthy for the masses. Condemn-ing the brutal attack on a volunteer anti-polio team, in which four women were killed,Pakistan Ulema Council (PUC) ChairmanTahir Ashrafi on Tuesday said the peoplemust let polio drops be administered to theirinfants, as it was a mandatory medical re-quirement. “However, the government andrelated national and international bodiesshould avoid taking help from NGOs, espe-cially like those of Shakeel Afridi chargedwith abetting the US, to carry out such tasksas people then lose trust,” he said. MuftiNaeem also recommended seeking edictsfrom clerics to pacify any active resistancefrom the public in this regard. onlIne

Malik’s mobile ban gets people’s nodISLAMABAD

onlIne

A recent poll shows that majority of Pak-istanis supported Rehman Malik’s deci-sion to block mobile phone servicesduring Muharram. According to a GilaniResearch Foundation survey conductedby Gallup Pakistan, a majority (68%)supported the government’s action toblock mobile phone service on 9th and10th Muharram.

A nationally representative sample of

men and women from across the fourprovinces was asked, “Keeping in mindthe security situation, mobile networkswere blocked by the government duringMuharram. To what extent do you supportthe government’s decision to block mobilenetworks?” Responding to this, 33%strongly supported the government’s de-cision, 35% somewhat supported it, 21%somewhat opposed it while 10% stronglyopposed it. 1% did not give a view.

The poll’s findings are in line withother survey results compiled by Gilani

Research Foundation, where public opin-ion has been generally supportive of thecurrent government’s decisions regard-ing law and order and anti-terrorismmeasures.

The study was released by Gilanifoundation and carried out by GallupPakistan, the Pakistani affiliate of GallupInternational. The recent survey was car-ried out amongst a sample of 2,632 menand women in rural and urban areas of allfour provinces of the country during De-cember 3 to December 8, 2012.

ISLAMABADTAyyAb HussAIn

PAKISTAN Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) ChairmanImran Khan and theAll Parties HurriyatConference (APHC) on

Tuesday called for demilitarisationof Indian-held Kashmir (IHK) andtalks between Pakistan, India andthe people of Kashmiris.

Addressing a joint press confer-ence after a meeting held betweenthe delegations of the PTI and theAPHC, the leadership of both par-ties said they had agreed that theKashmir dispute could not be re-solved through militancy or mili-tary means and dialogue was theonly solution to the longstandingconflict between Pakistan andIndia.Khan said there was a need toupgrade the talks between Pakistan

and India to the trilateral level asthe Kashmiris, being importantstakeholders in the dispute, shouldalso be included in the talks.

He said the issue was yet to be re-solved due to the incompetent leader-ship in India and Pakistan and thishad threatened regional peace.

“Weak leaderships in India andPakistan have made the issue moreand more complex. However, aftercoming into power, the PTI will re-solve it through peaceful dialogue,”Khan said. The PTI chairman said in-cluding the Kashmiri leadership in thetalks was in the interest of both Pak-istan and India.

He said Pakistan was strategicallylocated hence it would be in the inter-est of the whole region that Pakistanand India coexisted peacefully.,adding that the ongoing human rightsviolations in Kashmir should beended once and for all. Khan said the

settlement of the dispute should beon the top of the agenda of both gov-ernments, adding that people of bothcountries were struggling to makeends meet so it would be beneficialfor both if they coexisted peacefullyand not in a war-like situation.

The PTI chief said no serious ef-fort had been made for the resolutionof the Kashmir dispute in the past,adding that if the PTI came intopower, Kashmir would be on the topagenda of its government.

Agreeing with Khan, Mirwaizalso said the Kashmiris should begiven representation in the parleysheld for the resolution of the Kash-mir dispute between India and Pak-istan, “as the problem cannot beresolved until the Kashmiris are in-cluded in the dialogue process”. Hesaid Pakistan and India could not livein peace and harmony unless theKashmir dispute was resolved.

ECC forms committeeto set CNG pricing formula guidelines

ISLAMABADsTAff RepoRT

The Economic Coordination Committee of thecabinet has formed a committee to formulateguidelines to determine a CNG pricing formulain consultation with all stakeholders.The ECC meeting was held in Islamabad onTuesday with Finance Minister Dr Abdul HafeezShaikh in the chair.The committee would be headed by the law min-ister and other members would include the min-ister for petroleum‚ OGRA chairman andCabinet Division secretary.The body will submit its report in the next ECCmeeting for a final approval.The ECC approved in principle to allocate natu-ral gas to fertilizer plants from new dedicatedsources for long term.It also directed the Ministry of Petroleum andNatural Resources to devise a detailed mecha-nism for long-term allocation of gas to the fertil-izer sector.The ECC allowed Trading Corporation of Pak-istan to dispose of the 700 metric tonnes ofsugar in stock in an appropriate and transparentmanner.

No more extensions

for cantonment

board electionsISLAMABAD

sTAff RepoRT

The Ministry of Defence on Tuesday submittedan undertaking with the Supreme Court sayingthat it would send no further requests to theprime minister to accord approval for the exten-sion/variation of the current set up of canton-ment boards.It further said the federal government would ac-cord its approval and directive for holding elec-tions in cantonment boards through the ElectionCommission of Pakistan (ECP). A three-judge bench comprising Chief JusticeIftikhar Chaudhry, Justice Gulzar Ahmed andJustice Azmat Saeed resumed the hearing of aconstitutional petition moved by Raja Rab-nawaz. During the hearing, Commander Shahbaz Hus-sain, a representative of the ministry, submittedthe undertaking.The bench also issued a notice to the ECP to sub-mit whether it would be possible for the commis-sion to hold cantonment board elections asgeneral elections in the country were also due.Shahbaz told the bench that the current set uphad been given an extension till May 5 after asummary was moved under Section 19 (b) of therelevant provisions.The chief justice asked him to clarify what justi-fications they would offer for not holding elec-tions after 1999.He observed that it was the command of the law tohold elections and they would not direct anyone.

PTI, APHC call for demilitarisationof IHK, trilateral talks g Imran says regional peace only possible if Kashmir issue is settled in

accordance with aspirations of Kashmiris

KHI 19-12-2012_Layout 1 12/19/2012 3:25 AM


03

KHI 19-12-2012_Layout 1 12/19/2012 3:26 AM


04Government faces tough time in NA over power, gas crises


LEGISLATORSfrom across thepolitical dividevoiced a strongprotest in the

National Assembly (NA)against rampant inflation,unprecedented load sheddingand growing unemploymentin the country.

Abid Sher Ali of PML-Nsaid the ongoing power andgas crisis was more damag-ing than the plague of terror-ism. “Efforts are underway toturn the country into barrenland,” he alleged. He en-quired as to why no attentionwas being paid to the issue.He alleged that Rs 80 billionwere spent on Benazir In-come Support Program and

if the same amount wasspent on overcoming thepower and gas crisis, thecountry would have been onroad to prosperity.

The parliament wantedto know, he said, why theIran-Pakistan gas projectwas scrapped. Replying to apoint of order from SohailMansoor of MQM, chiefwhip Khurshid Shah saidgovernment policies wereaimed at providing employ-ment opportunities to thepeople rather than renderingthem jobless. “Governmentemployees’ salaries were in-creased by 120 percent dur-ing our tenure,” he added.

Shah told the House thatit was a principle policy of thegovernment that no govern-ment employee would beforced to leave his job.

NA Deputy Speaker FaisalKarim Kundi said the foreigndebt matter is of vital signifi-cance. He said both the govern-ment and opposition shouldconsider the issue seriously andpresent a report in this regardin the house.

Dr Tariq Fazal Chaudhry ofPML-N said 4,000 canals ofstate land from his constituencywas being occupied forcibly andthis matter ought to be givendue consideration. Thousandsof acres land is being occupiedillegally and no one was there tostop the land mafia, he added.

Shah said Supreme Courttakes suo motu notice onevery matter and it shouldalso take such notice againstthe prevailing land mafia.

On a point of order,Jamshed Dasti of PPP said theprincipal secretary to prime

minister was not giving impor-tance to MNAs, who werebeing degraded by the PM. Hemaintained that this insult ofparliamentarians will not betolerated. UZBEK MILITANTS: Fed-eral Minister Sheikh WaqasAkram said he had pointedout three years earlier thatarmed militants of Uzbek Is-lamic Movement were ac-companying the chief of adefunct outfit but no atten-tion was paid to the matter.He questioned why sanctuar-ies of Uzbek terrorists hadnot been dismantled.

The House observed aminute’s silence in memoryof a Swedish social workerBargeeta Almby who waskilled in Lahore a few daysago. She had served as a so-cial worker in Pakistan for

about 39 years.BILLS MOVED: Two billswere introduced in the Na-tional Assembly on Tuesdayincluding the “Acid Throwingand Burn Crimes Bill, 2012”.

“The Acid Throwing andBurn Crime Bill, 2012” pro-vides to address acid throw-ing and burn crimes, whichare increasing year by yearand hundreds of women andchildren fall victim to thishorrendous crime. It wasmoved by Dr Attiya Inayatul-lah and others.

The second bill moved byYasmeen Rehman was “TheCensus (Amendment) Bill,2012” to amend the CensusOrdinance, 1959. The chairreferred the bills to the con-cerned Standing Committees.

The session was adjournedtill Wednesday, 11 am.

Kabul sets ‘roadmap for peace’with Taliban

Kabul’s “Peace ProcessRoadmap”, obtained by aforeign news agency,outlines a vision in which by2015, “Taliban, Hizb-e-Islami and other armedgroups will have given uparmed opposition”. They willhave “transformed frommilitary entities intopolitical groups, and areactively participating in thecountry’s political andconstitutional process,including nationalelections”. The first stepcalls for a focus on “securingthe collaboration ofPakistan” in the peaceprocess. This includesIslamabad releasing specificTaliban detainees held in itsprisons in the hope that thiscould help bring themilitants to the negotiatingtable. The second step inKabul’s roadmap calls forinitial moves towards formaldirect negotiations with theTaliban in Saudi Arabia inthe first half of next year,with the backing of the USand Pakistan. To facilitatethis, the plan calls for the USand the United Nations tosupport the dropping ofsanctions against specificTaliban and other armedopposition leaders. Stepthree of the roadmap, set forthe second half of 2013, callsfor agreements on aceasefire and thetransformation of theTaliban and other armedgroups into political partieswhich could take part inelections. It says the Talibancould participate “in thepower structure of the state,to include non-electedpositions at different levels”.This could see Talibanmembers in cabinet andholding regional posts asprovincial governors,particularly in theirstrongholds in the south andeast of the country. The finalsteps in the plan includesecuring a peaceful end tothe conflict during the firsthalf of 2014 and moves tosustain the “long-termsecurity and stability ofAfghanistan and the region”.The principles governing thepeace process state that it“must respect the Afghanconstitution and must notjeopardise the rights andfreedoms (of) the citizens ofAfghanistan, both men andwomen”. The Taliban mustalso “cut ties with Al Qaedaand other terrorist groupsand verifiably renounceviolence”. AGenCIes

PAC Chairman Nadeem AfzalGondal said the move of thebody did not mean any retreatfrom its stance, saying the par-ticular option was chosen toavoid giving an impression ofconfrontation between the in-stitutions.

He said the registrarlooked after the financial mat-ters of the Supreme Court andwas not a judge by designation,so the matter under review bythe committee did not fallunder the conduct of judgesand was, therefore, debatable.“We respect the judiciary,”Gondal said. “That is why the

option under review by thebody to issue summons for de-tention and forced appearanceof the registrar was rejected andit was decided to refer the issueto the National Assembly.”

“We do not want any con-frontation among institutions,only the supremacy of law.However, it should be clearthat the body has not retreatedfrom its stance, as it is the dutyof parliament to protect thepublic,” he added. The PACchief said it was up to parlia-ment to summon the joint sit-ting of the House or call somespecial sitting to review theissue, adding that matters wereheading towards transparency.

The first of the killings oc-curred in Karachi’s Landhiarea, where unidentified as-sailants opened fire on a polioimmunisation team, killing twofemale members. The secondincident occurred in Raja Tan-vir Colony in Karachi’s OrangiTown area where another polioteam was attacked by uniden-tified assailants. Dr Shafiq, theteam in-charge, said a femaleworker was killed on the spotwhile a male worker was seri-ously injured in the firing.

A third polio team was at-tacked in Mochko area’s Mo-hammad Khan Colony. Afemale worker was killed andanother male worker was in-jured in the attack. He laterdied due to excessive bleeding.

PESHAWAR ATTACK: InPeshawar’s Mathra area, twofemale members of a polioteam were fired upon, result-ing in fatal injuries to oneidentified as Farzana.

Following the incidents,the World Health Organisationsuspended the Polio Eradica-tion Campaign in both cities,demanding absolute securityfrom the government. A SindhHealth Department officialsaid none of the killed womenwere regular employees of thedepartment, rather they hadbeen actively engaged for thepolio immunisation exerciseduring special campaigns.President Asif Zardari andPrime Minister Raja PervezAshraf condemned the attacksand ordered an immediate en-quiry into the killings.

‘Peshawar airportattackers identified’

PESHAWAR: KhyberPakhtunkhwa InformationMinister Mian Iftikhar Hus-sain on Tuesday informed theprovincial assembly that iden-tities of terrorists involved inthe attack on Bacha Khan Air-port and the gunfight that en-sued the following day hadbeen ascertained. Speaking inthe assembly, the ministersaid blood samples of terror-ists had been sent for DNAtests and the reports were ex-pected soon. Hussain said twoof the five terrorists involvedin the attack on the airportwere Chechen’s and threewere Pakistanis. “Those killedin the gunfight the followingday in Pawaka village in-cluded a Pakistani, a Kyrgyz,one from Dagestan, oneUzbek and a Chechen.” Hesaid those who attacked theairport were trained assailantsand it appeared that militancywas dying down, as trainedpeople were usually used as alast resort. sTAff RepoRT

now parliament

Bloody attacks

Continued fRom page 19



KHI 19-12-2012_Layout 1 12/19/2012 3:26 AM

KARACHIAfTAb CHAnnA

ALTHOUGH, the Sindh ChiefMinister (CM) Syed Qaim AliShah has recently termedTando Allahyar as “Bara”, a

tehsil in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK)that is infamous for its arms trade, thedistrict authorities have termed thestatements of the CM and the SindhInspector General of Police (IGP)Fayyaz Leghari based on inaccurate-ness, it has emerged.

While briefing the CM, who holdsthe portfolio of home minister, the IGPhad informed that the trade of illegalweapons was going on in the small dis-trict of Tando Allahyar that could provedangerous in the near future. After thebriefing the CM had instructed theTando Allahyar deputy commissioner(DC) Syed Mehdi Shah to submit a de-

tailed report in this regard.Soon after the order, the additional

home secretary Atta Soomro forwardeda letter to the Tando Allahyar DC to fur-nish a detailed report containing detailsof licensed arms dealers and theweapons they were dealing in, addingthat illegal arms business should also bechecked in the district.

At a meeting at the CM House, theSindh CM said that there were so manyweapons in the province that he haddirected the law enforcement agenciesto start a crackdown against arms sup-pliers.

In this regard, a committee compris-ing of the home department’s additionalchief secretary, Sindh advocate general,the prosecutor general and the law sec-retary would be formed to consult withthe federal law ministry and suggestamendments that could be moved in theSindh Assembly.

Acting efficiently on the orders ofthe high-ups, DC Mehdi had compiled adetailed report and submitted it with thehome department.

The report clearly mentioned thatTando Allahyar was a peaceful districtwith no illegal trade of arms and ammu-nitions and not even a single person wasinvolved in illegal weapons trade in thedistrict.

When contacted, the DC told Pak-istan Today, “We have submitted a re-port with the home department and thereport contains no such stuff as men-tioned by the Sindh CM or the IGP”.

“We have informed the home de-partment about the arms dealers and thetypes of weapons they are dealing in. Be-sides the local administration has alsoclearly mentioned that there was notrade of illegal weapons in the area as istaking place in Bara,” the DC added.

According to the CM House

spokesperson, the police have startedverifying arms licenses and would beginthe process of computerisation of datasoon. More than 400,000 arms licenseshad been issued in the province while Rs75 million have been paid to the Na-tional Database and Registration Au-thority (NADRA) to install computerisedsystems in the home department and atall divisional and district headquarters.

Following the new initiatives, theowner of arms license would go to theirnearest NADRA office to fill up neces-sary forms that would be verified by therespective Superintendent of Police (SP)office. Apart from Karachi, such ma-chines have also been installed in Hy-derabad and Larkana.

Pakistan Today repeatedly tried tocontact the Sindh IGP to seek his ver-sion, but his mobile phone was continu-ously attended by his staff saying thatthe IGP was in a meeting.

Sindh CM, IGP term Tando Allahyaras ‘Bara’, DC thinks otherwise

KARACHI: Motorists are stuck in a traffic jam due to construction work of a bridge near liaqatabad Dakkhana Chowrangi. online

KBA postponesannual dinnerfor CJP

KARACHIsTAff RepoRT

In the wake of recent protests byMQM against the chief justice of Pak-istan, Karachi Bar Association haspostponed annual dinner in the hon-our of Iftikhar Chuadhry, media re-ported on Tuesday.Media quoting Karachi Bar Associa-tion President Mehmood-ul-Hassanand Secretary Khalid Mumtaz saidthat due to current tense situation inthe city and the bar election to be heldtoday (Wednesday) it was not possibleto arrange the annual dinner.The chief Justice was scheduled to ad-dress the lawyers at annual dinner onDecember 22 however; the bar presi-dent and secretary said new suitabledate for the event would be an-nounced later. They said the eventwas not cancelled but it was delayeddue to busy schedule of lawyers andtense situation in the city. The 66th annual elections of theKarachi Bar Association were post-poned due to the law and order situa-tion in the city last week.Protests were erupted in Karachi, Hy-derabad, Sukkur, Mirpurkhas andother cities in Sindh after the SupremeCourt of Pakistan issued a contemptnotice to Altaf Hussain for makingdisparaging remarks against the judi-ciary while addressing different rallieson telephone from London recently. The court ordered Hussain to bepresent in court for the hearing onJanuary 7. In a matter of hours, markets and oth-ers facilities were closed down inmany areas of Karachi and severalother cities of the province.

KarachiPolice arrest59 accused

KARACHIsTAff RepoRT

The Karachi police in their ongoingdrive against criminals have arrested59 accused during the past 24 hours.A police statement on Tuesday saidthat those arrested included 37 ab-sconders. It said that there werethree encounters of the police withthe alleged criminals during the pe-riod and that four gangs of allegedcriminals were eliminated. As manyas 20 pistols and four mobile phoneswere recovered from the possessionof the accused, the police statementadded. Cases had been registeredagainst all the nabbed accused.


Sindh IGP, CM be asked why they issued such statements, says Tando Allahyar DC

KARACHIsTAff RepoRT

The prevalence of breast cancer ishigher among the young women inthe country. It is considered the sec-ond most common cause of deathdue to cancer. Pakistani traditionalsociety is one of the main reasons forspread of this disease. There is nosystem in the country, at public orprivate level, to keep the record ofthe cancer incidents. Some of themajor causes of this disease amongwomen included alcohol drinking,being overweight and never havingchildren. These views were expressedby Dr Azmina Tajdin Vali Muham-mad, Lecturer and Consultant Hema-

tologist and Oncologist, Departmentof Medicine, Aga Khan UniversityHospital, while speaking at the 14thPublic Awareness Seminar on “BreastCancer”, held in Prof SalimuzzamanSiddiqui Auditorium, InternationalCenter for Chemical and BiologicalSciences, Karachi University(KU) on the otherday. The seminarwas jointly or-ganised by DrPanjwani Cen-ter for Molec-ular Medicine andDrug Research(PCMD), KU andVirtual Education ProjectPakistan (VEPP). Health profession-

als, students, research scholars, NGOrepresentatives, and general publicattended the program. Dr Azminasaid that, as per ACS, breast cancer

can be definedas a malignanttumor that hasdeveloped

within the cellsof the breast; the

breast cancer can-not be prevented but

early diagnosis and treat-ment are inevitable for the treatmentof the disease. She said: “Screeningexams for early breast cancer detec-tion, such as mammograms, mayhelp find cancer before it starts tocause symptoms. Breast cancer

screening means checking a woman’sbreasts for cancer before there aresigns or symptoms of the disease.Due to the traditional norms and val-ues in the country, there is lack oftendency among women towardsscreening exams for early breast can-cer detection; Pakistani traditionalsociety is one of the main reasons forspread of this disease. Some physi-cians feel shy to ask their female pa-tients for screening exams for breastcancer detection, which is nonprofes-sional attitude causing health troubleamong female patients.” She advisedthe female citizens to eat right, exer-cise regularly and get their breastcancer screening done annually tolive healthy.

Breast cancer higher among young women

KHI 19-12-2012_Layout 1 12/19/2012 3:26 AM


06 Karachi

KARACHI: workers are busy in the construction work of a bridge near liaqatabad Dakkhana Chowrangi. online

HyDeRAbAD: Awami Tahreek president Ayaz lateef paleejo leads Muhabbat-e-sindh Rally. online

SItE Area facinglow gas pressurefor 4 months

KARACHInnI

SITE Association of Industry ChairmanDr Arshad A Vohra reiterated much con-cern over low gas pressure persisting forthe last five months in SITE IndustrialArea by the SUI Southern Gas CompanyLimited. He said despite assurances givenby the concerned authorities the situationhad not normalised besides closure of gassupply on every Sunday for 24 hours. Theindustries are facing low pressure for thelast three days of the current week whichresults in hampering the production andsupplies causing delays to fulfill the com-mitments with customers and not able tomeet the export targets and they are suf-fering great financial/production lossesand are on the verge of closing the busi-ness. He further expressed that eitherSSGCL should run the CNG stations orprovide required gas to the industries ofthe SITE area. He is of the view that thesupply of natural gas is responsibility ofSSGCL and they are under obligation tosupply full pressure of gas to industries.Most of the Industries facing low or nopressure of gas for the last few months ona regular basis and even sometimes areable to run the production only for fivedays in a week with fluctuation in gaspressure. The chairman stressed the advi-sor to prime minister on petroleum & nat-ural resources, Sindh chief minister andgovernor to take necessary action and ad-vise the concerned quarters for the imme-diate supply of gas with proper pressure.

tortured bodyfound, one killed

KARACHIsTAff RepoRT

A man lost his life and another was in-jured in the continued violence thatmarred peace of the metropolis. Anotherperson was killed in a robbery attempt,police said. According to details, a bodywith torture marks of a 22-year youth wasrecovered from the city area of Korangi.According to police, the deceased was ab-ducted and then tortured to death. Mean-time, a man was killed and another wasinjured during a robbery at a milk-shoplocated in Quaidabad area of the city.

KARACHInnI

SINDH Board of InvestmentChairman Muhammad ZubairMotiwala has said that the pur-pose of establishing fisheries

special economic zone is to promote socio-economic conditions of the rural Sindhand this zone will be established on20,000 acres that has already been iden-tified in Thatta district. He said this whilepresiding over a high-level meeting here

in his office on Tuesday. He said that SBIwould create mechanism for investmentfacilitation and subsidized financing forthe investors in the zone which would in-clude financing of 100 fish farms, of 25hectares each, to be managed jointly byprivate investors with international ex-perts for two years. He added that in firstphase SBI would development of 20 farmsand would undertake 2nd Phase on suc-cessful of implementation of the 1st Phase.

Muhammad Zubair Motiwala saidthat the establishment of the Fisheries

Special Economical zone would createemployment and economic opportuni-ties for rural peoples and it would en-hance foreign exchange earningcapturing World Halal Food Marketthrough export. Chairman said that theestablishment of the said zone wouldprovide capacity building to the local in-vestors / fishermen and government of-ficials involved in the sectors and itwould also introduce international bestpractices and new technologies in re-search for fisheries development.

Fisheries special economiczone on 20,000 acres

Ex-mPA files rs 50mdamages suitagainst son-in-law

KARACHIsTAff RepoRT

Former Sindh member provincial assembly(MPA) Zafar Iqbal Bilal has filed a civil suitof Rs 50 million damages for defamationand harassment against his son-in-lawFahad Rasool and his father Javid Iqbal.The SHC’s single bench of Justice MunibAkhtar heard arguments over the civil suitand adjourned further proceedings till23rd. Zafar Iqbal submitted that his son-in-law Fahad Rasool and his father JavidIqbal were harassing him for a long time.Javid Iqbal wrote several letters and sentmobile messages to various authorities in-cluding President Asif Ali Zardari, PPP(women wing) President Nafeesa Shah andmany others, he said. He further submittedthat Nafessa Shah showed him a text mes-sage sent to her by Javid Iqbal wherein hespread disinformation and leveled baselessallegations against him. “Being a formerMPA, well known politician, landlord andbusinessman, my reputation and careerhave been badly damaged due to baselesspropaganda against me”, Zafar Iqbalclaimed in the suit. He further said: “Theplaintiff is a corrupt, terrorist and has beeninvolved in criminal activities.” Zafar Iqbalprayed the court to take legal action againstthe defendants and order them to paydefamation of Rs 50 million to the plaintiff.However, the court issued stay order andrestrained the defendant from harassingthe applicant till further orders.

Eminent journalistSiddiqui remembered

KARACHIInp

Famous journalist and writer ShaukatSiddiqui was remembered on his deathanniversary on Tuesday.Shaukat Siddiqui was born on March20, 1923, in a literary family of Luc-know, India. After partition, he mi-grated to Pakistan in 1950 and stayedin Lahore but soon he permanently set-tled in Karachi.His early days in Pakistan were full offinancial trouble and political opposi-tion, which he soon overcame. He ac-companied Zulfikar Ali Bhutto onforeign tours.

KHI 19-12-2012_Layout 1 12/19/2012 3:26 AM

low

high

150CthurSdAy FrIdAy SAturdAy

28°C I 14°C 28°C I 14°C 28°C I 13°C

PrAyEr tImINGSFajr Sunrise zuhr Asr maghrib Isha

06:00 06:10 12:00 15:45 15: 00 18:30

CIty dIrECtory

rESCuE 1122

EdhI CoNtrol 115, 32310066, 2310077

motorwAy PolICE 130

PolICE 15

GovErNor’S houSE 136

ChIEF mINIStEr’S houSE 99202051

FIrE BrIGAdE 16, 99215007-8

BomB dISPoSAl 15, 99212667

rEd CrESCENt 35833973

KhIdmAt-E-KhAlq FouNdAtIoN 36333811

EmErGENCy hElP

hoSPItAlS

Blood BANK

huSSAINI 32238405-8

FAtImId 32225284, 32258656

PwA 99215740, 32735214

ComPlAINt

KESC 118

SuI GAS 1199, 99231603

PtCl 1218

KwSB 1339

CdGK 134

rAIlwAyS

ENquIry 117, 99213565-6

CIty StAtIoN 99213538

CANtt StAtIoN 99201118

AIrPort

FlIGht ENquIry 114

PIA rESErvAtIoN 111-786-786

CollEGES / uNIvErSItIES

KArAChI uNIvErSIty 99261300-06NEd uNIvErSIty 99261261-8FuuASt 99244141-9duhS 99215754-7SmIC 99217501-3FASt-Nu 111128128, 34100541-7SzABISt 111922478IoBm 35090961-7IBA 111422422IvS 35861039-40

ABBASI ShAhEEd 99260400-09

CIvIl 99215749, 99215960

JINNAh 99201300-39

NICvd 99201271-6

AGhA KhAN 34930051

tABBA 36811841-50

SuNNy

wEAthEr uPdAtES

28°C


07Karachi

LOL WaaLay

It's unscripted. It's all based on audience suggestions. you call

the shots. And it is darn hilarious!

lIvE Improvisational Comedy runs wild at the mAd School with

"lol waalay" - the Improv troupe by Firefly theatre.

tickets @ rs. 300/- and will be available at the mAd School

entrance. For further details call mAd School: 0336 235 0775

EXCluSIvE rAdIo mEdIA PArtNEr: CityFm89

emaC - ParaGLiDinG in KaraCHi'Ussman aUr mein'

ussman aur mein Exhibition of Paintings 67 artists haveintegrated their interpretation of ussman Ghouri’s conceptwith their own, resulting in a stimulating and diverse body

dAtE: dEC 13 - 22, 2012vENuE: KoEl GAllEry KArAChI FrEE!

1) Fill and submit the online registration formhttp://form.jotform.me/form/232212320694432) deposit the total fee into EmAC’s account and receive emailconfirmation with more useful information about the day3) Join us for your training on the selected date4) Keep flying with us after training for only rs 1,000Saeed Alam :0300-2440066, muhammad rashid :0333-6294687, raza mehdi :0322-2755759

dAtE: dEC 21, 2012 to JAN 06, 2013

vENuE: muBArAK vIllAGE KArAChI, dAtE: Nov 03 to dEC 25, 2012 vENuE: mAd SChool - muSIC Art dANCE

JAMsHoRo: Vice Admiral Muhammad shafique (Hilal-e-Imtaiz Military) hands over Champions Trophy during 51st parent’s day of Cadet Collage petaro. online

KARACHIsTAff RepoRT

S INDH Ombudsman AsadAshraf Malik said that all dis-tricts will have regional direc-tor offices in due course to

provide justice to the people attheir doorsteps. He was addressingconference of regional directors ofOmbudsman Secretariat in Karachi.

He directed the regional direc-tors to raise quantum of output tojustify their positions. He describedtheir responsibility as a sacred trustand urged them to devote wholeheartedly to resolve problems of theaggrieved masses to fulfill the ob-jectives for which the institutionhas been established.

He emphasised that the om-budsman institution was a pubicservice institution, therefore, it wasincumbent upon them to put sin-cere and dedicated efforts to pro-vide relief to the complainants. Headvised them to focus on problemresolution b passing normal officialred-tapsim. The Ombudsman saidthat regional directors hence forthwould be given quantifiable targetsto measure their efficiency. He fur-ther said that he will personallymonitor the performance of re-gional office to ensure fulfillment ofpublic expectations attached withthe Institution and only those Re-

gional Directors will continue in theset-up who perform and help inproviding relief.

He asked the regional directorsto create a helpful and caring imageof the Institution through selflessand dedicated service.

The ombudsman directed themto pay special attention to the prob-lems relating to children, widowsand senior citizens. He said ex-cesses committed on children havegrave long-term implications,therefore, must be promptly andproperly addressed. He directed toimprove the handling of childrenrelated complaints at the regionallevel. He also advise them to haveproper coordination wit h all the in-stitutions of their regions.

It was decided in the meeting toorganize regional directors Confer-ence on quarterly basis and arrangeshort duration training pro-grammes for improving their un-

derstandings of laws and proceduregoverning the operations.

Earlier the Secretary, Ombuds-man Secretariat Mr. Younus Daghagave a detailed brief on the workingof all the regional stations identifytheir out put and constraints.

Meanwhile, Reidar Kvaal Hjer-mann, UNICEF Consultant in Pak-istan, who is also formerombudsman for children in Nor-way, called on Asad Ashraf Malikand held detailed discussion on is-sues and projects relating to thechildren complaint office in Sindh.

Hjermann was accompanied byEja Qureshi Advisor CCO, federalOmbudsman, Sohail Abba and MrsJabeen of UNICEF Karachi.

The UNICEF has recently hiredthe services of Reidar Kvaal Hjer-mann to review CCO projects inPakistan and suggest way forwardfor promoting CCO objectives inPakistan.

‘Ombudsman regional officesto be set up in all districts’Ex-Norwegian ombudsman calls on Sindh counterpart

workshop onharassmentof women

HYDERABADsTAff RepoRT

The Non-GovernmentalOrganisation (NGO) In-stitute for Social Change(ISC) has organised aone day workshop withthe support of ActionaidPakistan on December22 at 10 am at the Train-ing Resource Center,RDF Hyderabad.According to a press re-lease issued here onTuesday, the theme ofthe workshop would be"Protection against Ha-rassment of Women".

PPP Culturewingmeeting

HYDERABADsTAff RepoRT

Pakistan People's Party(PPP) Hyderabad chap-ter cultural wing has or-ganized an importantmeeting on December 19(Wednesday) at Circuithouse, according to apress release issued hereon Tuesday.

KHI 19-12-2012_Layout 1 12/19/2012 3:26 AM

08


NewsQueen attendscabinet meeting inDowning Street

LONDON: The Queen was greeted by DavidCameron as she arrived at Downing Street toattend her first cabinet meeting, as part of thegovernment’s diamond jubilee celebrations.Dressed in a royal blue coat, the Queen walkedup the red carpet on the steps of No 10 beforestanding chatting with the prime minister at thedoor to pose for photographs. However, claimsthat this was the first time a monarch hasattended a cabinet meeting since Queen Victoriawere disputed by one historian, who said KingGeorge III was the last to have done so. Inhonour of the Queen’s visit, secretaries of stateconducted a ministerial whip-round and boughther a gift, to be presented at the gathering inDowning Street. The prime minister’sspokesman declined to say what the gift mightbe, although the BBC reported that ministers allchipped in an equal amount. The Queen, whoarrived just after 10am, was attending as anobserver and was expected to stay for aroundhalf-an-hour at the meeting, which will lastapproximately 90 minutes. She is expected to sitbetween Cameron and the foreign secretary,William Hague. AGenCIes

White House has‘no specific agenda’yet on gun violenceWASHINGTON: The White House said onMonday it so far had “no specific agenda” toannounce on tackling gun violence, hours afterPresident Barack Obama warned America mustdo more to end firearms tragedies. White Housespokesman Jay Carney said that Obama wouldengage Americans “in the coming weeks” onpossible approaches, after he pledged at a vigil forlast week’s school shooting to use all the powersat his disposal. “I don’t have a series of proposalsto present to you. The president spoke yesterdayabout moving forward in the coming weeks,”Carney said. “I don’t have a specific agenda toannounce to you today. I will simply point you towhat the president said last night about movingforward in the coming weeks. I would look forhim to do that.” Carney did however say thatObama still supported a reinstatement of the banon assault weapons ban that expired in 2004,following growing talk in Congress about a bid torenew the measure. AGenCIes

Syria hits back atUN over PalestinianrefugeesDAMASCUS: Syria on Monday hit back at theUnited Nations over the fate of Palestinianrefugees after UN chief Ban Ki-moon voiced“grave concern” following a deadly air strike onYarmuk camp in southern Damascus. “TheUnited Nations and international community areresponsible for the frustrations of thePalestinians because they have not implementedUN resolutions related to their legitimate rights,”Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said. “Syriaoffered something to our Palestinian brothersdecades ago that no other Arab host country hasoffered,” he told Ban in a telephone call, quotedby state news agency SANA. The foreign ministerwas referring to the granting of equal social rightsand to living conditions in Syria’s Palestinianrefugee camps, long considered the best in theregion. Sunday’s air strike on Yarmuk carried outby the Syrian military was the first against thecountry’s Palestinian refugee camps, whoseresidents are divided over the 21-month conflictbetween rebels and regime forces. AGenCIes

THE HAguEAGenCIes

FORMER Congolese mili-tia leader Mathieu Ngud-jolo Chui has beenacquitted by the Interna-tional Criminal Court of

war crimes and crimes against hu-manity.

The case related to the 2003killings of 200 residents of Bogoro vil-lage in the mineral-rich Ituri region ofthe Democratic Republic of Congo.

The court in the Hague heard re-

ports of victims being burned alive,babies smashed against walls andwomen raped.

Mr Ngudjolo denied ordering theattack, saying he learned of it dayslater. He had been charged with sevencounts of war crimes and three ofcrimes against humanity. Prosecutorssaid he had enlisted child soldiers tocarry out the killings. Some of thekillings were carried out with ma-chetes.

But presiding Judge Bruno Cottesaid the court acquitted Mr Ngudjoloof all charges, saying the prosecution

had “not proved beyond reasonabledoubt that Mathieu Ngudjolo Chuiwas responsible” for the crimes com-mitted.

He said the decision was unani-mous, and that witness testimony hadbeen “too contradictory and too hazy”.

In its summary, the court stressedthat the ruling does not mean it be-lieves no crimes were committed inBogoro “nor does it question what thepeople of this community have suf-fered on that day”. “The chamberalso emphasised that the fact of de-ciding that an accused is not guilty

does not necessarily mean that thechamber finds him innocent,” the ICCsaid in a statement. “Such a decisionsimply demonstrates that, given thestandard of proof, the evidence pre-sented to support his guilt has not al-lowed the chamber to form aconviction ‘beyond reasonabledoubt’.” Judge Cotte ordered Ngud-jolo’s immediate release, but prosecu-tor Fatou Besnouda said she intendedto launch an appeal. A verdict onwhether he should be kept in custodyis expected later on Tuesday, and anyhearing will be held in 2013.

Congo militia boss Ngudjoloacquitted of war crimes at Hague

NEW YORKAGenCIes

In a case full of perplexing questions, themother of Connecticut shooter AdamLanza is the mystery woman-but whateversecrets she had about her son were lost for-ever when he shot her in the head.

Nancy Lanza has been something of aperipheral, and confusing, figure in themassive media coverage of the Newtownshootings. When the tragedy is discussed,whether by President Barack Obama orordinary mourners, references are madenearly exclusively to the 20 children andsix staff members shot dead at the SandyHook Elementary School. It’s almost as ifNancy Lanza didn’t exist.

Yet she was the first to die that Friday,

shot in the head by her 20-year-old son-with one of her own guns, and in her ownhouse. Amidst the many rumors and un-substantiated media reports about thehorror, one picture painted of Nancy is ofa somewhat kooky figure with a doublelife, the typical suburban mom on one side,and a closet survivalist hoarding an arsenalof deadly weapons in her posh house onthe other.

But there are also signs she was a de-voted mother who, like many Americans,happened to love firearms, and who waskilled by the very young man she’d devotedher life to helping. What’s sure is that thereis little sure about Nancy Lanza.

In the first hours of the shooting, mostof the world’s media reported wrongly thatshe was a teacher at the school. In fact, of-

ficials now say she had no connection withthe school, nor did her son. It’s known thatshe was divorced from an executive at

GE Capital and that she lived in a de-tached house in a well-off neighborhood ofNewtown, and that she owned at least theBushmaster assault rifle and two semiau-tomatic handguns that Adam would ulti-mately turn on her and then on the school.

Why did she have the weapons? Herformer sister-in-law, Marsha Lanza, saidin US television interviews that Nancy wasa “prepper,” someone preparing to defendthemselves from social unrest “down theline if the economy collapses.” But otherfriends said Nancy was no wild-eyed gunnut, but a gentle and caring woman whohappened to love shooting and-insupremely tragic irony-took her shy son

Adam to learn on the range. One friend,Russ Hanoman, insisted that “she used(the guns) very responsibly.”

“She was a very responsible person,especially in terms of safety,” he told CNN.Sebastian Morrell, another friend of thedeceased woman, described her as a “greatmoral compass.” What seems apparent isthat Nancy Lanza cared for her son, whoseprofile appears to be one of the unusuallyclever, but socially awkward youngsterwhom no one ever really got to know be-fore he snapped. Unlike his 24-year-oldbrother who has already set up as a tax ex-pert in his father’s footsteps, Adam re-mained with his mother. “She eventuallywound up home schooling him,” MarshaLanza said on CNN, describing Adam as a“very, very bright boy.”

US shooter’s mother the missing link in tragedy

BAgHDADAGenCIes

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani has suf-fered a stroke and is being treated inhospital, media and officials say.

A statement on his website said hewas stable, his bodily functions werenormal and he was being treated forblocked arteries.

Mr Talabani has struggled with hishealth in recent years and has oftenbeen treated abroad, analysts say. Aveteran of the Kurdish guerrilla move-ment, Mr Talabani, 79, is Iraq’s firstpresident from the ethnic group. “Bod-ily functions are normal and the healthcondition of his excellency the presi-dent is stable,” the statement said.

The presidency said in an earlierstatement that Mr Talabani’s efforts toforge a consensus in Iraq and the “con-sequent fatigue and tiredness” had led

to a “health emergency”. A spokesmanfor Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, Alial-Moussawi, told AP that doctors weredeciding whether to continue treating

him in Baghdad or to fly him abroad formedical care. Mr Maliki is said to be atthe hospital. The president had heartsurgery in the US in 2008, and wastreated for dehydration and exhaustionin Jordan in 2007.

Mr Talabani has lived throughdecades of conflict with the central gov-ernment and other Kurdish groups, in-cluding a period in exile, before the fallof Saddam Hussein. He took over themainly ceremonial presidency in theyears after the 2003 invasion, and hasoften used the position to mediate be-tween sectarian and ethnic groups. Re-cently he brokered a deal betweenBaghdad and Kurdish groups to end astandoff on disputed areas on the bor-der with the Kurdish self-rule area. MrTalabani and Mr Maliki were said tohave met on Monday, and agreed to in-vite a Kurdish delegation to Baghdadfor further talks.

iraqi president Jalal Talabanistable after ‘stroke’

ANC Mangaungconference: Zumare-elected as leaderCAPE TOWN: Jacob Zuma has been re-elected as leader of South Africa’sgoverning African National Congress. Hereceived an overwhelming majority ofvotes cast by some 4,000 delegates at theparty’s Mangaung conference. He hadbeen favourite to secure the leadershipafter he was challenged for the top job byhis deputy Kgalema Motlanthe. MrMotlanthe has been replaced by anti-apartheid era hero Cyril Ramaphosa asdeputy president. The ANC, which hasgoverned South Africa since whiteminority rule ended in 1994, is widelyexpected to win nationwide elections duein 2014. Meanwhile, four white men haveappeared in court accused of being part ofa right-wing extremist plot to bomb theANC conference. The men were arrestedon Monday in raids across the countryand reportedly face treason andterrorism charges. AGenCIes

Dunblane: a woman

and a policeman look

at floral tributes to

the 16 children and

their teacher who died

in a school shooting in

March 1996. afp

KHI 19-12-2012_Layout 1 12/19/2012 3:26 AM

09


NewsCourt issues arrestwarrant for MusharrafRAWALPINDI: A local court on Tuesdayissued an arrest warrant for formerPresident and ex-Army chief PervaizMusharraf. According to details, a localjudge Muhammad Abbas Shah issued thewarrant upon the request of SecretariatPolice Station, Rawalpindi. Earlier thismonth, the government had also dispatcheda 2nd letter to the International Police(Interpol), requesting them to arrest theformer president, who had been declared aprime suspect in the Benazir Bhutto murdercase. Pakistan’s Federal InvestigationAgency (FIA), which has been investigatingthe case, attached Musharraf’s arrestwarrant and other pieces of evidence withthe letter. nnI

Stay extended in LPGcompanies’ caseLAHORE: The Lahore High Court onTuesday extended the stay order, restrainingOil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA)from harassing and taking coercive measuresagainst liquefied petroleum gas (LPG)marketing companies and distributors tillJanuary 11th. A single bench comprisingJustice Ijazul Ahsan passed the order on a civilmiscellaneous application filed by a petroleumgas company and three others challengingaction being taken against them by OGRA fornot selling gas at the new price fixed by theauthority. Earlier, OGRA’s counsel appearedbefore the court and sought time to file a replyin the matter. The court, accepting the request,adjourned the matter until January 11th andextended the stay order. The petitioners, intheir application, submitted that therespondent’s council declared before the courtthat OGRA did not intend to fix a fresh price ofLPG on November 26, 2012, during thehearing of a case against the LPG policy.However, they submitted that OGRA violatedits commitment and issued a notification onDecember 8, 2012 for reduction of LPG prices.They said that the step was taken withoutconsulting marketing companies and itamounted to civil contempt. They pleaded thecourt to set aside the notification for reductionin LPG prices and order OGRA to stopharassing them. App

Afzal Sindhu resignsfrom NA seat

ISLAMABAD:Former lawminister AfzalSindhu resignedfrom hismembership ofthe NationalAssembly.Sindhu waselected on a PPPpicket from NA-191Bhawalnagar-4

during the 2008 elections. No reasons weregiven for his decision to resign. Inp

ISLAMABADApp

AROUND 8,715 Pakistanisare languishing in jails invarious countries and theministry concerned is mak-ing serious efforts to ensure

their early release, official sources said onTuesday.

They said the government had takennumerous steps for their release, includ-ing setting up of a special cell for overseasPakistanis. “The complaints receivedthrough relatives of expatriates areprocessed in coordination with missionsabroad,” they added.

With regards to the release of Pak-istani prisoners through payment of finesand legal aid, the sources said the releaseof 92 Pakistani detainees and prisoners –90 in the Gulf and two in Malaysia – wassecured through payment of fines andlegal aid during last year.

During the same period, Pakistanimissions in Kuwait, the UAE and SaudiArabia were authorised to pay fines of 30prisoners who had completed their sen-tences and had not committed heinouscrimes, but were still in jails for not payingfines.

Moreover, Pakistan also signed bilat-eral agreements on Transfer of Offenderswith four countries, that is, the UAE, the

UK, Thailand and Sri Lanka. As many as75 Pakistani prisoners had so far beentransferred to Pakistan from Sri Lankaand Thailand under the agreement.

In addition, six prisoners from Sey-chelles and China were also transferred toPakistan as a good will gesture.

The official said about 18,000 Pak-

istanis residing or working in variousparts of Libya during the protests overthere, were evacuated and repatriated toPakistan on government expenses.

He said in coordination with Pak-istan’s missions in Australia and Indone-sia, assistance was extended to families ofvictims of boat capsizing incidents and Rs

10.488 million was provided for repatria-tion of dead bodies to Pakistan. On the re-quests, the concerned ministry authorisesmissions to pay one way air tickets forrepatriation of destitute Pakistanis as wellas transportation of dead bodies from thePakistan Community Welfare and Educa-tion Fund (PCWEF).

The country-wise total number ofPakistanis imprisoned abroad is:Afghanistan 315, Afghanistan (Bagram)35, Australia 12, Austria 10, Azerbaijaneight, Bahrain 53, Bangladesh 26, Bel-gium six, Bulgaria one, Cambodia one,Canada 26, China 264, Hong Kong 150,Czech Republic 16, Denmark 24, Egyptone, Ethiopia one, France 75, Germany38, Greece 319, Hungry 83, India 403, In-donesia five, Iran 79, Ireland two, Italy134, Japan 19, Jordan two, Kazakhstantwo, Kenya two, Uganda one, Korea Re-public seven, Kuwait 314, Kyrgyzstan one,Lebanon one, Cyprus three, Libya 26,Malaysia 202, Maldives eight, Nepal 23,Netherland 16, Norway 14, Oman 347,Poland two, Portugal seven, Qatar 25, Ro-mania two, Russia seven, Saudi Arabia2,373, Serbia four, Singapore two, SouthAfrica 17, Spain 169, Sri Lanka 51, Switzer-land four, Tajikistan three, Thailand 90,Turkey 12, the UAE 1,334, the UK 1,416,the US 99, Ukraine two, Vietnam/(LaoPDR) one, Yemen 16, and Zimbabwehouses four Pakistanis in its jails.

Around 8,715 Pakistanislanguishing in jails abroad

WASHINgTONInp

A huge amount of $2.5 billion was illegally si-phoned out of Pakistan between 2003 and 2010,according to a study released on Monday byGlobal Financial Integrity (GFI), a Washington-based research and advocacy organisation.

The report, “Illicit Financial Flows from De-veloping Countries: 2001-2010,” is GFI’s annualupdate on the amount of money flowing out ofdeveloping economies via crime, corruption andtax evasion.

The report said $44 million were illegallytransferred from Pakistan in 2003, $202 millionin 2005, $505 million in 2007, $728 million in2008, $298 million in 2009 and $729 million in2010.

The study said crime, corruption and tax eva-sion cost the developing world $858.8 billion in

2010, just below the all-time high of $871.3 bil-lion set in 2008, the year preceding the global fi-nancial crisis.

“Astronomical sums of dirty money continueto flow out of the developing world and into off-shore tax havens and developed country banks,”said GFI Director Raymond Baker. “Regardless ofthe methodology, it’s clear: developingeconomies are haemorrhaging more and moremoney at a time when rich and poor nations alikeare struggling to spur economic growth,” he said.

The $858.8 billion of illicit outflows lost in2010 was a significant uptick from 2009, whichsaw developing countries lose $776.0 billionunder the new methodology. The study estimatesthe developing world lost a total of $5.86 trillionover the decade spanning 2001 through 2010.

“This has very big consequences for develop-ing economies,” explained Ms Freitas, a co-au-thor of the report.

“Poor countries lost nearly a trillion dollarsthat could have been used to invest in healthcare,education, and infrastructure. It’s nearly a tril-lion dollars that could have been used to pull peo-ple out of poverty and save lives.”

Dr Kar and Freitas’ research tracks theamount of illegal capital flowing out of 150 differ-ent developing countries over the 10-year periodfrom 2001 through 2010, and it ranks the coun-tries by magnitude of illicit outflows.

According to the report, the 15 biggest ex-porters of illicit financial flows over the decadewere China with $2.74 trillion, Mexico $476 bil-lion, Malaysia $285 billion, Saudi Arabia $210billion, Russia $152 billion, Philippines $138 bil-lion, Nigeria $129 billion, India $123 billion, In-donesia $109 billion, UAE $107 billion, Iraq$63.6 billion, South Africa $83.9 billion, Thai-land $64.3 billion, Costa Rice $63.7 billion andQatar $56.1 billion.

swAT: The Government Girls Degree College has been closed for security reasons following protests by girl students against renaming it Malala Degree College after

teen education activist Malala yousafzai. online

Pakistan occupies78,000 sq km ofIndian territory, Indianparliament toldNEW DELHI: Pakistan has been in illegal andforcible occupation of 78,000 square kilometers ofIndian territory in Azad Jammu and Kashmir, LokSabha was informed on Tuesday. Indian Minister ofState for Home Mullappally Ramachandran saidunder the “Sino-Pakistan Boundary Agreement of1963”, Pakistan had illegally ceded 5,180 sq km ofIndian territory in AJK to China. The Indian ministertold the Indian parliament that there was noencroachment by foreign countries along the Indo-Bangladesh, Indo-China, Indo-Nepal, Indo-Bhutanand Indo-Myanmar borders. “The governmentremains vigilant and is firm in its resolve to takenecessary steps to effectively safeguard India’ssecurity and territorial integrity,” he said. Inp

$2.5b illegally siphoned out of Pakistan from 2003 to 2010g New study says developing countries lost nearly a trillion dollars to illegal outflows

KHI 19-12-2012_Layout 1 12/19/2012 3:26 AM

Comment10


Since 1971, it has become quitecustomary in Pakistan to discussthe breakup of the country inevery December. Often the de-bate revolves around the three

leading characters: Yahya, Mujib andBhutto. However, the one who has receivedthe harshest criticism for various reasonshas been Bhutto and that is why it is impor-tant to know his version of why and how theseparation took place. There is plethora ofavailable literature but the most valuable re-cent addition has been the memoirs of Mo-hammed Yunus, who served as the DirectorGeneral of the Middle Eastern and AfricanAffairs in Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Af-fairs and in that capacity recorded the ver-sion of the East Pakistan tragedy given byBhutto in the aftermath, during the courseof his first round of flying visits to the tenmost important Muslim heads of state in theMideast and North Africa.

Though on assuming power, Yahya hadannounced that he had no “political ambi-tions” and after his first broadcast to thenation “sat down holding his head in dis-may and woefully remarked: what shouldwe do now”, on tasting the brew of power,he tried to hang on as the president after

the generalelections byplaying oneparty againstthe other,a s k i n gMujib, “Letus get to-gether andcrush Pak-istan Peo-ples Party(PPP)” be-cause of itsradical pro-g r a m m e ,while simul-t a n e o u s l ys e e k i n gBhutto’s co-operation byb r a n d i n gMujib a “se-cessionist”.To manipu-late the post-e l e c t i o nformation ofgovernment,he expected10-12 politi-cal parties toemerge withsubstantialrepresenta-tion and

therefore allowed one whole year for theelection campaigns during which he just satback and did nothing to stop the ensuingacrimony and hatred. Subsequent to thelaunching of the military operation on 25March, 1971, in East Pakistan, he dubbedboth the PPP and the Awami League as‘menace’ to be dealt with and even distrib-uted money among the hardliners in thePPP to split the party.

It is wrong to assume that Bhutto wasanti-Bengali because he admitted beforeGaddafi of Libya that they made the greatestsacrifices for the cause of Pakistan. That iswhy he was quite sympathetic towards theSix Points of the Awami League because hefelt that to a common Bengali these Pointsmeant an end to exploitation and progressbut for the extremists this programme be-came a vehicle for secession. He tried to im-press this fact upon Yahya, who retortedthat “he had been given to understand by theindustrialists that Mujibur Rahman wouldcompromise”. Bhutto informed King Faisalof Saudi Arabia that he had told Mujib thatPPP was willing to “make compromises butthe Six Points meant the end of Pakistan”;Mujib being intoxicated by victory was notwilling to compromise. Moreover, through-out the election campaign, he had taken ahard line against West Pakistan and anysubsequent softness meant his politicalhara-kiri. There was a deadlock because theWest Pakistanis looked upon the acceptanceof the Six Points as capitulation to the Ben-gali separatism.

Mujib’s plan was to insist on the earlyholding of the National Assembly sessionbecause with his majority, he could have theconstitution of his liking framed and ifYahya resorted to veto, which he could asper the Legal Framework Order (LFO), thenhe planned to turn the National Assemblyinto the Constituent Assembly and “adoptthe constitution and march on the Govern-ment House in Dhaka”. Those who blameBhutto for the breakup of the country shouldremember that he was the one who came upwith different proposals to break the dead-lock. Had the constitution been not formedwithin the stipulated 120 days by the Assem-bly, Yahya could dissolve it and call for re-election, thus using a convenient ruse toprolong his rule and at the same time pin theblame on the politicians. To avoid this,Bhutto proposed that either the session bepostponed or the period for constitution-making be extended to more than 120-daylimit. He suggested this with two objectives:one, to gain more time to soften SheikhMujib’s stiff stance on the Six Points; andtwo, to level public opinion in West Pakistanas far closer to the acceptance of thesePoints as he could and thus break the im-passe. Bhutto’s proposal was not unreason-

able keeping in view the fact that the firstconstitution was formed in eight years andthe second by Ayub had taken four years.

Yahya paid no heed to this idea and or-dered a military operation in East Pakistan.Again, those who blame Bhutto for sup-porting it do not take full cognizance of thefacts. It is important to remember that nei-ther Yahya took the PPP into confidencebefore launching the operation nor Bhuttohad ever suggested it to the militaryregime. In fact, his stance after the opera-tion is muddled through to exonerateYahya and portray him as a ‘power-hungry’politician, who was not interested in keep-ing the unity of the country. This is becausethree points are totally ignored with regardto Bhutto’s standpoint on the military op-eration: first, after the military operationhad been undertaken, he demanded that itshould be restricted only to the outright se-cessionists to save the integrity of the state.Two, that pure and simple military opera-tion could not succeed on its own withoutsome kind of political action to win thehearts of the people. Three, he and hisparty repeatedly protested against the ex-cesses of the operation.

As situation continued to deteriorate,Bhutto is on the record to have warned intwo public meetings — one in Karachi on 11September and the other in Multan on 8October — that the integrity of the countrywas at stake, at which Yahya called him andtold to be not “so pessimistic” because hisregime “would not allow the dismember-ment of Pakistan”. As Yahya had virtuallydivorced any meaningful political optionand intended to pursue the military solu-tion, Bhutto left the country in disgust.

With the advantage of hindsight, onemay ask that as the Awami League had wonthe majority, why was power not handedover to it and that was the responsibility ofPresident General Yahya Khan and not anypolitician. Moreover, were the Six Points —the bone of contention — so ‘sacred’ forMujib and so ‘sacrilegious’ for Yahya, Bhuttoand the West Pakistanis that the integrity ofthe country was put at stake rather thanreaching a pragmatic solution? Today, thePakistani print and electronic media is fullof remorseful people, who insist that powershould have been transferred to the Ben-galis. Ironically, these very (West) Pakista-nis were the ones, with a few exceptions,who actually built up the public pressurethat didn’t leave much room for the politi-cians to maneuver. By a strange coincidence,both the wings had entered a dead-endstreet from which they could not come out.

The writer is an academic andjournalist. He can be reached [email protected]

Arif NizamiEditor

Lahore – Ph: 042-36375963-5 Fax: 042-32535230Karachi – Ph: 021-35381208-9 Fax: 021-35381208Islamabad – Ph: 051-2287414-6 Fax: 051-2287417

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

Dedicated to the legacy of the late Hameed Nizami

Time for coordinated actions against terrorists

tackle them now

Acoordinated operation against the militants was never asimportant as it is now. A number of signals emerging fromthe military high command and the US have made theterrorist outfits desperate. These included Gen Kayani’s

Kakul address on 14 August calling for national unity in the battleagainst terrorism, the opening of the NATO supply routes andPanetta’s statement that Pakistan had finally decided to launch amilitary operation. The militants have therefore launched an all-outoffensive using their sleeper cells in different cities to launchmurderous attacks on civilians, military personnel and tribesmencooperating with the government.

The Jamrud blast was a major terrorist attack. The target was theKukikhel tribe which had raised a lashkar to fight the militants. Thiswas the third attack in a year in Jamrud, a settlement on the vitalroad used by trucks carrying NATO supplies. Like the ongoing attackson tribal elders loyal to Pakistan, the purpose was to demoralisethose who cooperate with the government. Four more terroristattacks were conducted within twenty four hours of the Jamrud blast.Four anti-polio workers were killed in Karachi and one in Peshawar.In Lakki Marwat, dozens of insurgents stormed a security checkpostkilling three soldiers, including an officer, and injuring three others.At an army recruitment centre on Nowshera-Mardan road, theterrorists on motorbikes hurled grenades injuring 11 including threesecurity personnel. Coming as they do within two days of the attackon Peshawar airport, the incidents should be a matter of seriousconcern for those looking after the security of the country.

While the TTP accepted responsibility for the attack in Peshawar,the identification of foreigners among the dead indicates a pooling ofresources by Al-Qaeda and the Pakistani Taliban. That they failed toperform the mission should not lead the security establishment tocomplacency. Had the militants managed to occupy the strategicairport in a provincial capital even for a few hours, they would havebadly damaged the capacity of the Air Force and Army Aviation tolaunch attacks on the militants’ hideouts in remote tribal areas. Whatis more, this would have sent a highly negative message abroad aboutPakistan government’s ability to secure its vital military assets. Themilitants, however, are likely to make similar bids of the sort againbesides trying to extend their reach beyond KP.

What is required is for Pakistan, the US and Afghanistan toundertake joint military actions to wipe out the terrorists. This needsto be done urgently. If the militants manage to launch a devastatingattack inside the US from Pakistan’s tribal areas, this might lead to achain of events highly detrimental for Pakistan, the US and theregion at large.

A misperception that just stuck

‘Bhutto and the breakup of pakistan’

There is no better way to appreciatewinter with all its chilliness thanenjoying a whodunit, an espionage

story or a murder mystery with a hugecup of coffee. And while I might not havehad the gas, electricity or indeed the cof-fee to make said cup of coffee, what I def-initely had was a decent collection ofthrillers to choose from over the week-end. First there was ‘Referendum on theNile’, a story about a rigged referendumas a part of a religious espionage, star-ring M Moresee – a rising star who’smade himself the face of Middle Easterncinema. Then there was ‘Funnyball’, a bi-ographical account of a bit of a joke of asportsman and his mysterious omission

from the national squad bound for thetour of national archrivals, starring S AFreedee, reprising his role from ‘TheDummy Returns’. However, arguably thepick of the flicks from the past week was‘The Mystery of the Kafir Tattoo’; featur-ing one of my favourite sleuths of alltime: Said Hamid aka Lal Topi.

Set in modern day Peshawar, the filmis about a terrorist attack on an airportand the ensuing gun battle. Ten terror-ists, two cops and three civilians arekilled during the exchanges. The mili-tary, leading intelligence agency, govern-ment and media acknowledge the role ofsecurity agencies and civilians as thedamage is minimised. The leading ter-rorist organisation of the area TTP (Ter-ror’s Truthful Propagators) accept theblame for the attack, the nation con-demns the terrorists, the ideologicalapologists start quoting peaceful cita-tions and the dronophobes start locatingimaginary chains linking the incident toforeign drone attacks. The screenplayseems pretty straightforward and there’snothing extraordinary about the plot tillthe kafir tattoo springs out in the open.

The tattoo touted to be ‘demonic’ andaround 10 to 15 years old is seen on theback of one of the terrorists that gives awhole new dimension to the story. For

you see, the ideology propagated by TTPdeclares tattoos to be haram (forbidden)and hence anyone who has tattoos ontheir body is actually a kafir (infidel). Andtherefore, everything ranging from theorigin of these terrorists, their identityand their targets is shrouded by mystery.Since five of the ten terrorists are alreadyidentified as Uzbeks – including the onewho had the tattoo – the logical deductionwould be that the person must have beena convert. The Central Asian States havea lot of Goth influence, which is extremelypalpable in the Uzbek underworld, andone could logically construe that the manin question was one of the many CentralAsians that had settled in FATA duringthe ‘70s and ‘80s. World renowned formaking a mockery of logic and reason, thestage is set for Said Hamid.

Hamid’s role in TMOTKT is an un-canny throwback to his role in ‘ForeignHeight 26/11’, in which Lal Topi solvedthe case of the identity of AK through anorange band that proved that the terror-ist was actually a Hindu Zionist. Thatblockbuster is renowned for the detec-tive’s vigour and determination that sawhim prove investigation reports, mediaanalysis, AK’s family, every man and hisdog, and the blatant truth wrong by re-vealing how AK – a Pakistani Muslim –

was in fact AS (Amar Singh) from Farid-kot in Indian Punjab. Similarly, inTMOTKT Hamid – often called ‘The Un-restrained Collarbone’ by his fans – digsdeep into the origin and the meaning ofthe kafir tattoo to unravel the seeminglyunsolvable mystery.

In the final sequence of the film,Hamid gives us one of two possible so-lutions to the mystery:

a) The tattoo, which showcases a skullwith horns and an incomplete hand, is ac-tually from a “Dajali cult of Satanism”,which proves a 1400-year old prophesy tobe true. It also proves that Zionists – aterm Hamid famously used 127 times in60 seconds to shatter a Guinness record –planned and financed the attack.

b) The tattoo is actually an exactmatch of “Illuminati Freemasonic tattoo“which proves that devil worshipperswere behind the attack. Lal Topi alsohighlights that the face cut and the jawline of the skull bears an eerie resem-blance to President Barrack O Bomber,and therefore he could also have been theprincipal antagonist in the attack.

Just when the audience starts to be-lieve that the terrorist was a convert, LalTopi slams the two-pronged irrefutabletruth on our faces. A lot of ‘born again’converts and even some noteworthy

scholars have had tattoos, which theytry and hide from the public, so it wasnatural for one to think along thoselines. Hamid, however, had other ideasas he conjured an outrageous solution togive the flick a popular ending – the keyto any hit movie.

Said Hamid, donning his ridicu-lously red hat, shines throughout thefilm. Rapid-fire dialogue delivery,amusing body gestures, signature Zion-ist phrases, towering screen presence:Said Hamid is at his very best in thisflick. The thing with all Lal Topi films isthat it allows us to connect with the leadcharacter, since we know in our heartsthat there’s a Said Hamid in all of us.This is precisely why The Murder of theKafir Tattoo is highly recommended.

There’s a decent array of films thatI’d be looking forward to this weekendas well. I might go for either the newBond film ‘Rupeefall ‘or the final install-ment of the Batman trilogy ‘TheDreaded Dollar Rises’. Both of thesehorror films have a common theme, andtheir promos are quite intriguing.

The writer is Editor, Business/City(Karachi), Pakistan Today.Email:[email protected],Twitter:@khuldune

The mystery of the kafir tattoo

By Kunwar Khuldune Shahid

*spoiler Alert*

eye on HistoryBy Basharat Hussain Qizilbash

KHI 19-12-2012_Layout 1 12/19/2012 3:26 AM

Comment 11


I was really disappointed to learnthe discriminatory behaviour of theadministrations of the English schoolstowards their staff of Urdu teachers.They think that every Tom, Dick andHarry can teach Urdu subject at aschool level. They prefer to employthose who ask meagre salaries, nomatter even if their pronunciation isnot up to the mark, let alone having adegree of graduation or masters inUrdu. The parents of the children alsogive little attention to what theirchildren are learning and by whomthey are taught on account of theirUrdu subject. This is for the simplereason that such schooladministrations are not fulfilling their

duties towards the national languageof Pakistan.

I interact on and off with manyresearch colleagues of mine who alsoteach for earning a living besidescarrying out a research. One of myresearch colleague says that when shewas appointed in an English school,her predecessor was telling her schoolchildren the masculine of vixen aslombra (fox) as she neither hadexperience of teaching Urdu nor didshe have degree in Urdu at any level.The predecessor also made manymistakes in teaching her childrenconcerning distinguishing masculineand feminine of Urdu nouns.

The Urdu teachers feel also

humiliated and their monthly salariesare not incremented at the year-end inproportion to their counterparts.When asked for the meagre salaryraised, they administrations are of theview that the raise they offer is quiteenough to their utility as the Urduteachers are found every nook andcranny.

In this regard, I suggest theparents in particular to be watchful oftheir children what they are learningabout Urdu. Urdu language hasproduced a great literature. If theparents do not prove to be touchy,enjoying a great literature everproduced by any language all over theworld would remain a dream for their

children. The parents must pay heedto the Urdu subject as they pay to anyother subject of their children.

The administration of such schoolshould avoid taking the Urdu subjectand its language for granted andencourage as much the Urdu teachersas they do to any teachers of othersubjects. Discrimination against Urduby the ruling elite has beenproverbial. The administrations ofsuch schools also seem to follow thepath of their ruling elites. A researchmust be carried out to know howmuch these administrations arebiased against Urdu.

JAWED AHMED KHURSHEEDKarachi

Editor’s mailSend your letters to: Letters to

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

Fax: +92-42-36298302. E-mail: [email protected].

Letters should be addressed to Pakistan Today exclusively.

Foreign attackers on Pakistani soilAs more information comes in, it has been

established that most of the terrorists who attackedthe Bacha Khan International Airport, Peshawar,the Pakistani city bordering Afghanistan, wereforeigners, one was confirmed from the Russianrepublic of Dagestan and others are believed to befrom Uzbekistan. As DG ISPR Maj-Gen Asim Bajwaconfirmed, tattoos on terrorists’ bodies were onesuch evidence. The attack was conducted on thenight before Dec 16, the fateful day of Pakistan’shistory. This incident followed by the attack on a USschool where over 25 school kids were killed by anAmerican citizen. The attack was similar to thoseattacks which the Afghan Taliban conducted in oraround Kabul. The logistics indicated that theterrorists had come well prepared to occupy thePeshawar airport, but questions remain as to whatwas their real motive, why the foreigners and howhuge was their backup plan?

Obviously, the terrorists can use an airport witha number of aircraft standing there to fulfil theirvery serious designs. Hats are off for our securityforces personnel, the PAF, ASF and Peshawar Policewho did wonderful job and thwarted the enemies’design. As the DG ISPR said, this leads us to learnmore lessons and review afresh the securitymechanism and further tighten it. Had this been asuccess on part of terrorists, this could have led to abig humiliation on the day of “Fall of Dhaka”. Theenemy’s plans have so far been failed, thanks to thegreat valour and sacrifices of our soldiers andofficers, policemen and officers, citizens and mediapersons. The enemy design will fail in future as well,provided we join hands together against thismenace of tremendous intensity.

ALYA ALVIRawalpindi

Kudos, uvASWhile attending the fourth convocation of

University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences atLahore on 17-12-2012, it was a very pleasantsurprise to learn about the tremendous progress ofUVAS after a decade of its inception in 2002. Sincethe scribe was associated with the genesis of this

university, it would be of interest to recall theincidence which spawned the university. It wasreported in the press that during the period ofattaching the Punjab Veterinary College withUniversity of Agriculture Faisalabad, 14 PhDteachers out of 29 had left the college.

The above disclosure triggered the case ofautonomy for the college and later blossoming inthe creation of a full-fledged university. Today theuniversity has produced 30 PhD degree holders asalso 1,072 scholars in the various fields during theperiod of past two years or so under the watch ofpresent Vice Chancellor which is a remarkable featplacing the UVAS at number 12 out of 82 nationaluniversities in a relatively short period. What isrequired now is to ensure continuity in the progressover the coming years so that the same rate ofprogress in teaching and research programmescould be maintained.

DR MUHAMMAD YAQOOB BHATTILahore

Floating fence at Sir CreekApropos to the report published in ‘Hindustan

Times’ that India will soon erect a ‘floating fence’anchored by submerged metallic mashes along thedisputed Sir Creek border area with Pakistan. SirCreek is a 96km strip of water that is disputedbetween India and Pakistan in the Rann of Kutchmarshlands. The creek, which opens up into theArabian Sea, divides the Kutch region of the Indianstate of Gujarat with the Sindh province of Pakistan.Reportedly, two Indian agencies, National BuildingsConstruction Cooperation (NBCC) and CentralPublic Works Department, have started ‘gabion box’fencing the area that will have all weatherconcertina wires and poles.

It is important to mention that Sir Creek is adisputed area; thus, any unilateral step wouldinfuriate the real claimant of the Creek, thePakistan. Pakistan and India have the history offailed dialogue due to the intransigence of Indianleadership. India and Pakistan are continuously intalks with regard to the maritime boundary disputein this area; thus India’s act of erecting floatingfence in Sir Creek can prove counterproductive. Itwill negate the spirit of confidence building

measures and the efforts to resolve the disputesthrough dialogue.

AFIA AMBREENRawalpindi

toughest job of the decadeThe Pakistani security forces are doing a good

job in fighting terrorism and extremism, but thisfight has proved very long and tedious where thesecurity forces have suffered great losses. The highlymotivated soldiers lay their lives for the sake of thenation and its people. The status of performing the‘toughest job’ of the post 9/11 decade can be allottedto the security forces. They have been quite literally,‘in the line of fire’ for far too long.

The unabated targeting and killing of the police,rangers and armed force by the terrorists has raisedthe death toll to a considerable degree. Evidently,the terrorists view those forces that pose aresistance to their existence as a great threat thatmust be removed. We must acknowledge the effortsof our soldiers and policemen who despite knowingwhat they put their lives up to while being on dutystill do it every day.

It is amazing that achievement awards are beingbestowed upon many people who aren’t evendeserving of the credit they receive. Merit has neverbeen our criteria for anything in this part of theglobe. High achievers are ignored while highdeceivers are lauded and appreciated.

We must change our preferences and try toexalt the common man. Awards ought to adorn theuniforms of the brave soldiers and policemeninstead of their big bosses who do not have thecapacity to grow any bigger. Our hero is the soldierwho fights with the terrorists head on, it is thesecurity guard who grabs the terrorists clad in aburqa entering the girls cafeteria of theInternational Islamic University, it is the guard ofa private bank who saves the bank and the peoplein it while he performs his duty, it is the all thesoldiers who stand guard either at Salala, Siachen,along the Indian or the Afghan border. They arethe ones that need to be backed, supported andlauded for their bravery.

PROFESSOR KABIL KHANPeshawar

discrimination against urdu teachers

Change the systemI agreed with Dr Tahirul Qadri that

without changing the present politicalsystem, nothing is expected to be change;only one lot of politicians will replace theothers with same credentials. Therefore,unless the opportunists, incompetentand selfish politicians are not replaced byhonest and competent ones to solve theproblems faced by the people and the is-sues faced by the country, nothing willchange after the elections. Most of thepoliticians have no political principles;they change one party after another, areonly interested to gaining power andthen controlling the economic resourcesof the country and using them to per-sonal advantage. How can one expect anygood from those who don’t pay any taxesand plunder public money?

A portion of our population is poorbut the ruling elite’s lifestyle is entirelydifferent. They spend millions of rupeeson maintaining their royal protocolwhereas the majority of Pakistanis arestruggling on a daily basis to marginallysurvive. The mainstream political partieshave residences spreading over acres oflands where millions of peoples are livingwithout any shelter. The people ofPakistan must be given the power todecide about their destiny. The presentstatus quo must be changed if Pakistanhas to become a self-respected countryamong the world nations. There is noshortage of good and competent peoplein the country; they must be given thechance to serve the country.

S T HUSSAINLahore

Attack on polio teamIt is deplorable. Many things happen

these days which are condemnable butthis attack on young anti-poliovolunteers is absolutely grotesque. Whycan’t our administration give themprotection? Why can’t they apprehendculprits? India, with nearly five times ormore in population and much lowerliteracy rate, can become polio-free buthere we are still caught in the web ofilliteracy and ignorance of Stone Age.

AMJAD H MIRZALahore

KHI 19-12-2012_Layout 1 12/19/2012 3:26 AM

12

Awards still exciteShah Rukh Khan

SUPERSTAR Shah Rukh Khan has won a plethora

of trophies in his two-decade career in the Hindi

film industry, but the awards still leave him

excited as ever. The actor won two awards along with

co-star Katrina Kaif for his film “Jab Tak Hai Jaan”, at an

awards function. “ ‘Jab Tak Hai Jaan’ will always be a

special film for me. I will always be thankful to Yash-ji.

I get really excited with awards. No matter how many I

have got, they have the same affect on me, like they

did when I was new in the industry. I almost become

like a kid in the candy store,” said Shah Rukh. Shah

Rukh and Katrina were also named the Best Romantic

On-Screen couple for the same film. “This was the first

time I worked with her and see what happened!

Katrina is a very hardworking girl and it was a pleasure

working with her. And as far as romance is concern, I

am the best one here,” quipped Shah Rukh. “Jab Tak

Hai Jaan” was Yash chopra’s last directorial venture,

before he passed away Oct 21. news DesK

‘Yeh Jawaani...’character closer to myreal self: Deepika

acTRESS Deepika Padukone, whose

performance as Veronica was highly

appreciated in “cocktail”, says her character

in her upcoming film “ Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani” is

more close to her real self. “Actually ‘Yeh Jawani...’ is

very similar to me in person like Veronica was not. I

think Veronica, as a character, as a person is very

different from how I am personally but ‘Yeh

Jawani...’ is very similar to how I am,” the 27-year-

old said at an event. Directed by Ayan Mukerji, “Yeh

Jawaan Hai Deewani” also stars Ranbir Kapoor and

Kalki Koechlin. Asked about her supposed tussle with

actress Anushka Sharma, Deepika said, “There is no

truth to this and I always wish her well.” Apparently,

the two actresses are vying for the lead role opposite

Salman Khan in “Kick”, which has led to a tussle

between Anushka and Deepika. news DesK

Holmes spends 30,000pounds on Suri’s presents

acTRESS Katie Holmes has reportedly spent more

than 30,000 pounds on christmas presents for

her daughter Suri. Suri, 6, who is the daughter

of former couple Katie and Tom cruise, biggest present

is a Victorian playhouse costing almost 15,000 pounds,

reported Sun online. The playhouse is a small building,

which will be set up in the family garden, includes

running water and electricity. The extravagant present

also includes an iPad mini, a 6,000 pounds kids’ version

of a Mercedes, a Ralph Lauren dress and a chloe fur

coat. cruise has been in London shooting new film “All

You Need Is Kill” and visited the Etihad Stadium last

weekend for the Manchester derby. news DesK


NEWS DESK

A man, who hacked the emailaccounts of stars including Scarlett Johansson

and Christina Aguilera has been jailed. Christopher Chaney, who leaked nude

pictures of Johansson that were meant for her then-husband Ryan Reynolds,

was sentenced to ten years in prison, reported TMZ online. The 35-year-old

targeted over 50 people in the entertainment industry, including Mila

Kunis. He pleaded guilty to charges including wiretapping and

unauthorised access to a computer. Chaney leaked photos of

Aguilera after sending an email from the account of her stylist,

Simone Harouche, asking for scantily clad images. The singer

said ahead of his sentencing, “That feeling of security can never

be given back and there is no compensation that can restore the

feeling one has from such a large invasion of privacy.”US

District Judge S James Otero sentenced Chaney in LA following a

video statement from Johansson. Aguilera, Kunis and Johansson

agreed to have their identities made public to raise awareness

about online intrusion. Chaney had also targeted two women he

knew. He was originally arrested in October 2011.

Salman Khan asksfor strictpunishment inDelhi gangrape case

NEWS DESK

Terming the gangrape of a medical student a“shame”, Bollywood superstar Salman Khan todaysaid that such criminals need to be taught a lesson.“The first thought which comes to the mind is —such people should be killed — but there are toomany things which we have to follow. It is a shamethat such a thing has happened, how can somebodycommit such a heinous crime.” “If not death theyshould be sentenced for life so that they learn alesson. Rapists are beaten up in jails also,” saidSalman, during a press conference to promote hisupcoming movie Dabangg 2. A para-medicalstudent, who was travelling with a male friend inprivate bus, was gangraped inside the movingvehicle in South Delhi. Salman, however, defendedthe police, saying, “I think citizensshould be more responsible, withonly the efforts of our policethis cannot be solved. Wecannot have one cop sitting inevery bus. People have tostand up against what’swrong and voice theiropinion.”

nude photo hacker jailed for ten years

Gossip Girl series finale: find

out who the mystery blogger is!“Who am I? That’s a secret I’ll never tell.”

That is, until now. On Monday’s Gossip Girl

series finale, the blogger known for posting

everything about the scandalous lives of

Manhattan’s elite unveiled her true identity.

Or should we say his true identity! Yes, that’s

right. After six years of covering the Upper

East Side, it was revealed that Brooklyn-born

Dan (or Lonely Boy as he referred to himself)

has been writing the blog. Dan told

Manhattan — including Mayor Bloomberg,

who like us, thought this whole time that it

was Dorota — that he made the blog way

back when so that he could write himself into

the high society crowd that he was not

naturally born into like S, B and everyone

else. So, thanks to the idea from his dad,

Rufus (Matthew Settle), Dan started posting

items not long after he met the love of his

life Serena (Blake Lively) and made himself

someone by talking about himself on the blog

as “Lonely Boy” as soon as Serena returned

from boarding school. As the Gossip Girl

Season 1 tagline said, “You’re no one until

you’re talked about.” Sure enough, Dan not

only started dating Serena soon after, but

also started getting a lot of help with the blog

from pretty much every petty/bitter/burned

teenager on the Upper East Side. As Dan

proudly said to Blair (Leighton Meester), “All

this time, I had more power than you.”

Although the revelation came as a shock to

the entire gang, especially Blair, who insisted

Gossip Girl ruined her life, on closer

examination, everyone realized they had

achieved their goals despite — or in some

cases because of? — the blog. As Serena

said, Gossip Girl wasn’t really a takedown,

but a “love letter” to all of us. The revelation

of Gossip Girl in Dan’s final chapter of his

book — which went wide via Nate’s

newspaper, The Spectator — brought many

familiar faces back into the mix as they all

proclaimed their own version of the show’s

signature “OMG” including Vanessa, Lola and

Juliet. However, the best scene was that by

the real Gossip Girl, actress Kristen Bell, who

stared straight into the camera as she recited

Gossip Girl’s signature line in a very meta

moment. The camera quickly peeled back to

reveal Bell was reading from the script for

the movie based on Dan’s book and helping

her friend, Rachel Bilson, go over lines for

her audition. news DesK

NEWS DESK

American actor and producer Mark Wahlberghas confirmed he is going to star in Transform-ers 4. The 41-year-old has revealed that he de-cided to accept a part in the movie afterdeveloping such a great working relationshipwith director Michael Bay on the set of their up-coming action comedy film Pain and Gain.“Transformers came about because we had sucha great time working together (on Pain andGain). We kind of complemented each otherthroughout the entire process with what he doesand what I do and what we were able to do to-gether, and then after that I was like, ‘Dude wegotta work together again,’ and he was like,‘Well I got a project, you interested?’” contact-music.com quoted Wahlberg as saying.

Mark Wahlberg to star inTransformers 4

KHI 19-12-2012_Layout 1 12/19/2012 3:27 AM

13


NEWS DESK

Pick a social cause and you’ll often find a Hollywoodcelebrity speaking out. Gay marriage ( Brad Pitt), Darfur (George Clooney), the environment (Robert Redford orLeonardo DiCaprio). Gun control? Not so much. Most ofHollywood’s biggest action movie stars have remainedsilent, so far, on the divisive issue following last week’sslaying of 20 young children and six adults at aConnecticut school. And pop culture experts say it’s nothard to see why. “If you are known for being a star whocarries around weaponry and fires it, when something likethis happens, the last thing in the world you want to do is

insert yourself ... unless you say you are never going tostar in another action-adventure movie,” RobertThompson, professor of popular culture at SyracuseUniversity, said on Monday. Longtime gun controladvocates like actress Susan Sarandon and “Bowling forColumbine” documentary director Michael Moore werequick to take to Twitter after Friday’s Connecticutmassacre, and tens of thousands of Americans have sincesigned online petitions urging approval of stricter guncontrol laws. Yet major action heroes ArnoldSchwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, Denzel Washington, as wellas Pitt and Clooney, have had little or nothing public tosay. That may change, according to a veteran publicrelations executive who handles many Hollywood clients.“I think there will be a very public display of outrage fromprominent people in the entertainment world and peoplewanting to do something about guns,” said the publicrelations chief who asked not to be named because he wasnot authorized to speak for his clients. “I think thestereotypical Hollywood action star not wanting to touchan issue like this may be dated. There is a lot of talk aboutpeople wanting to express very public outrage. Let’s seewho joins, and how that manifests itself,” he told Reuters.

NEWS DESK

Riding high over the success of blockbusters likeThe Dark Knight Rises, Skyfall, The Avengers, TheAmazing Spider-Man and The Twilight Saga:Breaking Dawn - Part 2 to name a few, Hollywoodin year 2012 created ripples across the world.Known for their spectacular visual effects, daringsuperheroes, time defying technologies and ofcourse, jaw dropping budgets - Hollywood filmsare always centre of the attraction for movie buffs.Based upon these aspects, here are few of theHollywood movies to watch out for in year 2013.

THE LAST STAND Director: Kim Ji-woonCast: ArnoldSchwarzenegger, JohnnyKnoxvillePlot: A retired sheriff fightsagainst a notorious drugkingpin with his small town force.USP: Legendry actor Arnold Schwarzenegger’scomeback in Korean action-suspense master KimJee-Woon film, an unlimited action genre.

A GOOD DAy TO DIE HARD Director: John MooreCast: Bruce Willis, JaiCourtney, Sebastian KochPlot: John McClane is backand is bound to save his sonfrom a rogue Russian leader.USP: The fifth installment of the Die Hard filmseries is also full of high-flying stunts. Bewaregoons, here comes Willis.

OZ THE GREAT AND POWERfUL Director: Sam RaimiCast: James Franco, MilaKunis, Rachel WeiszPlot: The tale of a circusmagician who finds himselfinto a battle amongst thethree witches of Oz.USP: L. Frank Baum’s beloved character on afantasy land with unique CGI techniques.

CARRIE Director: Kimberly PeirceCast: Chloe Grace Moretz,Judy Greer, Julianne MoorePlot: A classical horror taleof a small town shy girl, whounleashes telekinetic terroron her small town after being harassed by herpeers.USP: Based on the best-selling novel by StephenKing.

OBLIVION Director: Joseph KosinskiCast: Tom Cruise, MorganFreeman, Olga KurylenkoPlot: On a spectacularfuturistic earth, one man’sconfrontation with the pastleads him on a journey of redemption and hebattles to save mankind.USP: The sci-fi is shot on stunning digital 4Kresolution - experience a new cinematographytechnology.

fAST & fURIOUS 6 Director: Justin LinCast: Vin Diesel, Paul Walker,Dwayne JohnsonPlot: Dominic Toretto and histeam are back perpetratinganother heist but agent LukeHobbs is still behind them.USP: Posh cars, over the edge chase scenes and ofcourse, some solid blows.

WORLD WAR Z Director: Marc ForsterCast: Brad Pitt, Mireille EnosPlot: A United Nationsemployee traverses the worldin a race against time to stopthe Zombie pandemic that istoppling armies and governments and threateningto decimate humanity itself.USP: Experience a new terror, which is based onMax Brooks’ best-selling novel “World War Z: AnOral History of the Zombie War”.

THE WOLVERINE Director: James MangoldCast: Hugh Jackman, Will YunLeePlot: The samurai steel ofJapan will clash withadamantium claw as Loganconfronts a mysterious figure from his past in anepic battle that will leave him forever changed.USP: Hugh Jackman in his never-seen-beforeaction avatar.

PACIfIC RIM Director: Guillermo del ToroCast: Charlie Hunnam, IdrisElbaPlot: To combat themonstrous creatures, a washedup former pilot and anuntested trainee stand up as mankind’s last hopeagainst the mounting apocalypse.USP: A sci-fi action adventure by acclaimed

filmmaker Guillermo del Toro.

AfTER EARTH Director: M. NightShyamalanCast: Will Smith, Jaden SmithPlot: The harassed tale of afather and son on a strandedearth, which is ruled byanimals and an unstoppable alien creature.USP: A comeback of M. Night Shyamalan with theSmiths

STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS Director: J.J. AbramsCast: John Cho, BruceGreenwood, Simon PeggPlot: An unstoppable force ofterror has detonated, leavingour world in a state of crisis.Captain Kirk leads a manhunt to a war-zone worldto capture a one man weapon of mass destruction.USP: Pioneering director J.J. Abrams’ explosiveaction thriller.

THOR: THE DARK WORLD Director: Alan TaylorCast: Chris Hemsworth,Natalie PortmanPlot: Thor battles to save earthand all the Nine Realms from ashadowy enemy that predatesthe universe.USP: An intense journey of the superhero.

THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION Of SMAUG

Director: Peter JacksonCast: Ian McKellen, Martin Freeman, CateBlanchett, Orlando Bloom, Ian HolmPlot: The adventurous journey of Bilbo Bagginsinto the wild facing treacherous lands swarmingwith goblins and orcs, deadly wargs and giantspiders, shapeshifters and sorcerers.USP: Bilbo meets Gollum and the “precious” ringthat holds unexpected qualities.

CONNECTICuT:Hollywood quiet sofar on gun control

Hollywood movies to watcH out for in 2013 Kristen Stewartused to hide in herhotel room postcheating scandal

NEWS DESK

Hollywood actress Kristen Stewart hasspoken for the first time about her cheatingon boyfriend Robert Pattinson with directorRupert Sanders. Stewart, 22,and her Twilight co-starsplit for three monthsafter her fling with themarried father-of-two,41, but the actors havereconciled now,reported Mirroronline. “If you’rehonest you’llmake mistakesbut that’s whenthe mostinterestingthings happen.I used to juststay in my hotelroom ratherthan deal witheverything,but if you gettoo caught upin whatothers thinkyou become areallydisjointedperson,” saidStewart. Stewartcheated onPattinson, 26, withSanders whodirected her and hiswife Liberty Ross inthe film Snow WhiteAnd The Huntsman.After the romancewas exposed Stewartpublicly apologised toPattinson. They havebeen inseperable sincerekindling their love inOctober – in time topromote The TwilightSaga: Breaking Dawn –Part 2.

NEw orlEANS: matthew mcConaughey on the set of the dallas Buyers Club.

KHI 19-12-2012_Layout 1 12/19/2012 3:28 AM

A 115-year-old Iowawoman's granddaughtersays the woman has diedless than two weeks after in-heriting the title of world'soldest person. Dina Manfre-

dini's granddaughter LoriLogli says Manfredini diedMonday morning. Logliwouldn't elaborate on hergrandmother's cause ofdeath. Manfredini lived at

the Bishop Drumm Retire-ment Center in Johnston.Guinness World Recordsconfirmed she inherited thetitle of world's oldest livingperson less than two weeksago. Bessie Cooperof Geor-gia previously held the titleat age 116. Guinnessspokesman Robert Youngsays a Japanese man is be-lieved to now hold the title.Jiroemon Kimura was bornon April 19, 1897, whichmakes him just 15 daysyounger than Manfredini.Young says Kimura, of Ky-otango in Kyoto, also is be-lieved to be thesecond-oldest man in docu-mented history. AGenCIes

SHE delayed her wedding fortwo years while she waitedfor a lung transplant to saveher from the cystic fibrosisthat had claimed her

brother's life.The operation was a success, and

last autumn an overjoyed JenniferWederell walked down the aisle tomarry her boyfriend of four years.

Less than a year later, Mrs Wed-erell was dead, killed by cancerwhich her family is certain camefrom the donated lungs – which theyfound out, too late, had belonged toa 20-a-day smoker.

Mr Wederell says there is no waythat his wife, who died in August atthe age of 27, would ever have agreedto the transplant had she known thelungs came from a smoker.

Along with his wife’s parents, MrWederell, 28, is now campaigningfor more non-smokers to register asorgan donors, to prevent other fam-ilies going through the same agony.

While it is easy to assume thatonly pristine organs are used intransplants, a severe shortage ofdonors means that almost 40 percent of lungs used in the operationscome from donors who havesmoked. Research shows that a seri-ously ill patient is much more likelyto die from turning down a trans-plant than from accepting lungs do-nated by a smoker.

Essex-born Mrs Wederell was di-agnosed with cystic fibrosis at the

age of two.The disease, in which the lungs

and digestive system becomeclogged with thick, sticky mucus, ishereditary. It claimed the life of herolder brother, Richard Grannell,when he was just 23.

Mrs Wederell met her futurehusband through friends in 2007. Bythe time they got engaged in 2009,her health had deteriorated badlyand the couple decided to delay thewedding in the hope she would get atransplant.

After an 18-month wait, she wastold in April of last year that a pair oflungs was available. She gave her

consent to the transplant after a doc-tor ran through the risks.

A few weeks before her opera-tion, transplant guidelines had beenrevised to say that patients should beinformed if their new lungs carried ahigher than normal risk of cancer.

But Mrs Wederell was treatedunder the previous rules, and wasnot told that the lungs had comefrom a 20-a-day smoker.

The transplant, which was car-ried out at the Harefield Hospital inUxbridge, West London, appeared tobe a success and the couple marrieda few months later.

A few months later, however, her

happiness was shattered when shewas diagnosed with lung cancer. Itwas only then that she was told hernew lungs had belonged to a smoker.

Mr Wederell is adamant thatthey were the source of the cancer.

She died at home in Hawkwell,Essex, on August 24. Her father,Colin Grannell, 57, said: ‘Yes, shehad a fantastic wedding day but herdeath was horrible.

Along with his wife and son-in-law, Mr Grannell has now set up aFacebook page called Jennifer’sChoice to encourage more non-smokers to register as organ donors.

Mr Grannell says he wants thosewho have waited years for a trans-plant to have the choice his daughternever had.

A spokesman added that while itwas ‘very rare’ for patients to specifythey do not want lungs from smok-ers, Mrs Wederell should have hadthe choice. He said that researchshows that a patient’s chance of sur-vival is higher if they receive asmoker’s lungs than if they remainon the waiting list for a transplantfrom a donor with no history ofsmoking.

He added: ‘Regrettably, thenumber of lungs available for trans-plantation would fall by 40 per centif there was a policy of refusing thosewhich have come from a smoker;waiting lists would increase andmany more patients would die with-out a transplant.’ onlIne

Sarah Finch, 19, was fired forgross misconduct after givingextra chocolate topping to aworkmate on a 99p McFlurry.Miss Finch took the McDon-ald's restaurant to an employ-ment tribunal after her bossesaccused her of giving awayfood without payment. Theunfair dismissal claim wassettled out of court and shewas awarded more than£3,000 in compensation.Miss Finch said in a state-ment: “I was dismissed on thegrounds of gross misconduct.I was accused of stealing food.“The matter was trivial, inthat I provided a fellow em-

ployee, who was purchasing adessert, a generous sprinklingof chocolate pieces. “There isno standard for such meas-ures, they are always impre-cise and will vary amongcustomers. “My colleague hadasked me: 'Make it a nice one'.So the measure I gave erredon the side of more than,rather than less than, themean.” Miss Finch, an ac-countant's daughter, earned£180-a-week at the branch ofMcDonald's in Carmarthen,West Wales, where she hadworked for 18-months. Shemade an application for un-fair dismissal against fran-

chise company Lonetree whorun a string of McDonald'srestaurants. But both sidesreached an out-of-court set-tlement after the AdvisoryConciliation and ArbitrationService was called in. DarrenNewman, Miss Finch's solici-tor, said: “With the assistanceof ACAS we have reached aresolution, the tribunal isbeing withdrawn and there isno additional mention of lia-bility. “The parties haveagreed not to disclose anymore information apart fromthat the issue has now beenresolved.” Miss Finch, fromKidwelly, West Wales, nowstudying for A-levels in chem-istry, physics and biology, wasdescribed as an “exceptionalemployee” before beingsacked. Part of the terms ofthe settlement is that Sarahwill get a good reference fromMcDonalds. A spokesman forthe McDonalds franchise said:“This matter has now been re-solved to the satisfaction ofboth parties. The Employ-ment Tribunal case has beenwithdrawn. No admission ofliability was made.” AGenCIes

14Infotainment


Sweden finds Soviet submarinewreck in Baltic Sea

THE wreck of a Soviet submarine lost duringWorld War Two has been found in the BalticSea, 71 years after it sank, the Swedish Military

said on Monday. The Swedish Armed Forces saidthe submarine, believed to have been lost on patrolin late 1941, was found in the Swedish economic zonesoutheast of the Baltic island of Oland in an areawhich German forces had mined during the war.“There is much to indicate that the submarine headedstraight into the minefield while on the surface andwas blown apart by a mine,” the military said in astatement. On its website the military posted a videoand still images of the wreckage, which had brokeninto two large sections. The wreck was first reportedby civilian divers during the summer months in themiddle of this year. Swedish submarine salvage shipHMS Belos in the following months confirmed thefind and photographed it, the military said. Swedishauthorities had informed Russia of the find in orderto give family members and the Russian navy theopportunity to conduct a memorial ceremony at thesite, the military added. Several Soviet submarinessunk during World War Two have been found inSwedish waters over the years, it added. ReuTeRs

Girl given smoker’s lungs passes away

World's oldest person passes away

Cheese - the elixir of life?

SCIENTISTS discovered the French cheese,known for its mould and green veins, hasspecific anti-inflammatory properties.

It could provide clues to the “French paradox” andexplain why people who live in the country enjoygood health despite favouring a diet high insaturated fat. Using new technology, theresearchers found the properties worked their bestwhen the cheese, one of the world’s oldest, ripened.The properties of the blue cheese, which is aged incaves in the south of France, near Toulouse, werefound to work best in acidic environments of thebody, such as the lining of the stomach or the skinsurface. Acidification is also a common processaccompanying inflammation such as in jointsaffected by arthritis or special plaque on an arterywall. French women enjoy the joint-longest lifeexpectancy in Europe, at 85.3 years, against 82.3years for British women.The group of doctors at a Cambridge-based biotechcompany developed the technology, which helps toidentify the new anti-inflammatory factors.The team from Lycotec, led by Dr Ivan Petyaev andDr Yuriy Bashmakov, suggested the new propertiescould be extracted to help the fight againstcardiovascular disease or in anti-ageing creams.They detailed their work in a study, published in theMedical Hypotheses journal, titled: “Could cheesebe the missing piece in the French paradox puzzle?”“The anti-inflammatory factors found in these cheesescould be extracted and used independently or as apart of today's pharmaceutical or beauty products,”they wrote. “Observations indicate that consumptionof red wine alone cannot explain the paradox andperhaps some other constituents of the typical Frenchdiet could be responsible for reduced cardiovascularmortality. “We hypothesise that cheese consumption,especially of moulded varieties, may contribute to theoccurrence of the ‘French paradox’.” They added:“Moulded cheeses, including Roquefort, may be evenmore favourable to cardiovascular health.” Roquefort,which is thought to have been first eaten in about79AD, is noted for its sharp, tangy, salty flavour andits rich, creamy texture. CouRTesy TeleGRApH

Local medical centre unveils line of cosmetic skin treatments

ALMOST every change in a girl’s body isaccompanied by a fresh outbreak of zits.However there is more to acne than just a

bad skin condition. The skin gets irritated by theeven slightest of change in the environment – youalways feel like scratching the ugly things off yourface – and end up scaring children. The 20’s – a timeof youth and freshness, a time which is now spentfretting over how pimples leave spots and how newones are erupting with an overwhelmingenthusiasm. By the time your acne leaves your youthhas left with it. You know you’ll never look 21 again.The years have been wasted on atrocious little zits. Amidst this chaos and misery, a ray of hope, by thename of Halcyon, unravels a new line of skintreatments designed by Dr Osman Bashir Tahir. Forthose with lighter burdens, there is Hydrafacial,which is an excellent monthly skin treatment to keeppores clean, remove blackheads as well as whiteheads, prevents spots, and reveals smooth skin. Thesession takes around 15 to 25 minutes only. Somewomen are unfortunately left to deal with unwantedfacial hair. However laser treatment for chin hair,sideburns and those unsightly hair on upper lips– alltaken care of in 6 to 8 sessions. Halcyon also has aChiroxy Cream for more generic problems. It is afantastic moisturiser to relieve dry, scaly skin duringcold winter days. Made in Belgium and foundavailable only at Halcyon, this is an oxygenatingcream which is based on nanosome technology topenetrate the skin and to add moisture to plumpand hydrate skin. MesHezebel JACob

McDonald's waitress wins £3,000compensation for being fired

Man wears 70 items of clothing atairport to avoid baggage charge

Aman took to putting on 70 items of clothingto avoid an extra baggage charge at anairport. The unidentified passenger turned

up at Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport inChina, described as looking like a 'sumo wrestler'.According to Guangzhou Daily, the man's luggageexceeded the weight limit. He did not want to paythe extra baggage costs, and thus took out andwore more than 60 shirts and nine pairs of jeans.Wanting to board a flight to Nairobi, Kenya, he wasstopped by the metal detector and had to undergoa full body search. In his numerous pockets werebatteries, thumb drives and device chargers. onlIne

KHI 19-12-2012_Layout 1 12/19/2012 3:28 AM

neW ZeaLanD in sOUtH afriCa 2012-13


HOBARTAGenCIes

SEAMERS Peter Siddle andMitchell Starc shared six latewickets to give Australia a dra-matic 137-run victory over Sri

Lanka in the last hour of the fifth and finalday of the first test on Tuesday. Siddle,who finished the match with figures of 9-104, and left-armer Starc, who took 5-63in the second innings, caught fire in thefinal session to bowl the tourists out for255 and give Australia a 1-0 lead in thethree-test series. Having been stymied insimilar circumstances by a brilliant rear-guard action from South Africa in Ade-laide last month, Australia were desperatenot to repeat the experience in Hobart. Itlooked like it might be a case of déjà vu attea, however, when some resilient battingfrom the Sri Lankans and a couple of rainbreaks frustrated the hosts for two ses-sions. Siddle had already taken the keywickets of captain Mahela Jayawardene(19) and ICC Cricketer of the Year KumarSangakkara (63) around lunch but thetourists reached tea on 186 with six wick-ets still in hand.

In a sign of Australia's growing des-peration, wicketkeeper Matthew Wadeshed his pads and gloves to bowl the finalover before the break and claimed amaiden in his first spell in senior cricket.Sri Lanka, set a victory target of 393,could still conceivably have won thematch but a paltry return of 42 runs in thesecond session clearly indicated they were

batting for a draw rather than a first winin Australia. The Australian bowling unit,a man down after local quick Ben Hilfen-haus suffered a side strain, never gave up,even if Siddle looked like the only manwho might break through for much of theday. The 28-year-old struck again on thefirst ball of his second over after tea to dis-miss obdurate all-rounder Angelo Math-ews, caught behind by Wade for 19.

With the rain staying away, Siddlethen removed the last of the Sri Lankantop order with a sizzling delivery whichtrapped Thilan Samaraweera lbw, one runshort of the batsman's half century.Samaraweera almost reluctantly appealed

to the television umpire but it was awasted appeal and removed anotherweapon from the tourist's armoury asthey sought to bat out the day. With SriLanka reduced to 218-6, Siddle took a restbut left-arm quick Starc picked up thebaton and had soon removed PrasannaJayawardene for 21. A fullish in swingernearly took the wicketkeeper's hand offand the ball flew off his glove to MikeHussey at second slip to leave just threetail end wickets standing with around 90minutes of play remaining.

Another peach of a delivery fromStarc sent Nuwan Kulasekara back tothe pavilion for nine and a perfectly de-

livered yorker soon afterwards removedRangana Herath for eight. With Siddlenow bowling from the other end, it wasa straight fight between the two for whowould take the five wicket haul and winthe match for Australia. Starc took thehonours when he had Shaminda Erangacaught behind for six, sparking hugecelebrations among his team mates andthe disappointingly small crowd ofsome 2,000. Siddle was named Man ofthe Match but was also at the centre ofa ball tampering row after a picture ofthe bowler apparently picking at theseam in Sri Lanka's first innings circu-lated on social media.

Siddle strikes in Australia winAusTRAlIA fIRsT InnInGs 450-5 DeClAReD

sRI lAnKA fIRsT InnInGs 336

AusTRAlIA seConD InnInGs 278

sRI lAnKA seConD InnInGs (oVeRnIGHT 65-2)

D. Karunaratne b starc 30

T. Dilshan c wade b watson 11

K. sangakkara lbw siddle 63

M. Jayawardene c Clarke b siddle 19

T. samaraweera lbw siddle 49

A. Mathews c wade b siddle 19

p. Jayawardene c Hussey b starc 21

n. Kulasekara c wade b starc 9

R. Herath b starc 8

s. eranga c wade b starc 6

C. welegedera not out 0

extras (b-10, lb-8, w-1, nb-1) 20

Total (all out, 119.2 overs) 255

fall of wickets: 1-26 2-47 3-112 4-151 5-201 6-218 7-235 8-247

9-250

bowling: starc 28.2-7-63-5 (nb-1, w-1), siddle 26-11-50-4,

watson 27-6-5-1, lyon 32-12-57-0, Hussey 1-0-5-0, warner 4-

0-8-0, wade 1-1-0-0.

second test Dec. 26-30 Melbourne Cricket Ground

Third test Jan. 3-7 sydney Cricket Ground

sCoReboARD

JOHANNESBERgAGenCIes

AB de Villiers has pulled out of SouthAfrica's Twenty20 internationals at homeagainst New Zealand in December, citingthe need for extra rest before the Tests inJanuary. Justin Ontong, the Cape Cobrascaptain, has been called into the squad.

"It's been an exhausting few monthsand I feel that I need some extra rest beforethe Test series," De Villiers said. "It's forthis reason that I have put in the requestand I'm grateful to the team managementfor supporting this decision." When thesquad was announced on December 13,South Africa's selectors had named Faf duPlessis as captain in order to reduce theworkload on de Villiers, who was includedas a player. Quinton de Kock, who was partof South Africa's Under-19 squad for the2012 World Cup, had been designated aswicketkeeper for the T20s, and ESPN-Cricinfo understands he will also keep inthe one-dayers after the Tests, although theODI squad has not been named yet.

De Villiers has a history of back prob-lems that have worsened because of wick-etkeeping, and this request for a break willfuel speculation that he is in trouble again.After the World Twenty20 in September,de Villiers needed three weeks of rehabili-tation for his back, and South Africa's man-agement denied the injury has recurredagain. "There is nothing imminently wrongwith his back, it is just about managing

workload," Mohammed Moosajee said, theteam manager, told ESPNcricinfo. "Theplan is to rotate players like Morne Morkel,Dale Steyn, Jacques Kallis and HashimAmla because of the schedule. Morne andDale will probably only play one or twomatches each. With AB, it's about gettinghis mindset right and getting him ener-gised. It's physical and mental."

De Villiers had complained of stiffnessand fatigue after playing in the domesticone-day cup playoff match on December 9.

Moosajee said that could be a result of jet-lag, as the team had only arrived from Aus-tralia four days before. De Villiers' role inthe game could also have contributed to thefatigue. He scored a century and fielded forthe entire duration of Cobras' innings be-cause Heino Kuhn kept wicket. Three daysafter that match, De Villiers said the gamewas "hard on my body," and that he wasglad he was a wicketkeeper for South Africa"because the time in the field was tiring."

However, ESPNcricinfo understands

wicketkeeping is partly responsible for deVilliers' back injuries. He became the per-manent Test wicketkeeper after MarkBoucher retired and wants to continue inthe role. A source close to Cricket SouthAfrica said de Villiers had been initially re-luctant to take on the job but had "changedhis mind" since. With Tests the focus for deVilliers, despite his role as limited-overscaptain, he will be rested when the sched-ule allows, although he will play the IPL.

De Villiers' replacement Ontong cap-tained Cobras to the final of the domesticone-day cup. He scored 268 runs in 12matches at an average of 44.66. He waspart of South Africa's squad at the WorldT20, although he did not play, and will leadthe A side in a practice match against NewZealand this afternoon. "Justin has been inour limited-overs plans for some time nowand he has underlined his worth during therecent one-day cup, when he excelled as afinisher," Andrew Hudson, the convenor ofselectors, said. "As we all know he is also anoutstanding fielder with his direct hits anda more than useful spin bowler. We are for-tunate to have a player of his calibre to re-place AB and the loss of one is certainly anopportunity for the other."

Revised Twenty20 squad: Faf duPlessis (capt), Farhaan Behardien, HenryDavids, Quinton de Kock, Justin Ontong,Rory Kleinveldt, Richard Levi, DavidMiller, Morne Morkel, Chris Morris,Wayne Parnell, Robin Peterson, AaronPhangiso, Dale Steyn, Lonwabo Tsotsobe.

AB de Villiers pulls out of New Zealand T20s

LAHOREsTAff RepoRT

Pakistan handball team the silver medal in the InternationalHandball Federation (IHF) under 21 years South west AsianHandball Challenge Trophy losing the final to arch rivals Indiaon Tuesday in Kathmandu, Nepal. Indian side won the final40-20 taking advantage of injuries to two Pakistani players,said the information made available here.

Yemen bagged bronze whereas Afghanistan took thefourth place followed by Bangladesh as hosts Nepal finishedat rock bottom sixth place. By virtue of playing the final, Indiaand Pakistan qualified for Asian men IHF Challenge Trophybeing held in 2013, said the information made available here.Pakistan won its group match against Afghanistan by 33-27

goals and 2nd match against Nepal by 36-26 goals and wontheir semifinal match against Yemen by 33-27 goals . Pakistangot another distinction when their key player Imran khan wasdeclared the best player during two matches.

Pakistan women under 20 years team also participated1st time in this event and got 5th place after winning matchagainst Afghanistan by 31-13 goals and lost matches againstIndia and Bangladesh. Pakistan contingent will be arrivinghome on December 20.Khalid Rashid is the Men team headof delegation and coaches are Mr. Muhammad Akram and Ir-shad Ahmad whereas Dr. Shabana Naz is the head of delega-tion of women team and coaches are Mrs Saiqa Ehsan andMiss Aisha . Muhammad Shafiq Secretary, Pakistan HandballFederation supervised IHF Trophy as representative of Asianand International Handball Federation.

Pak team win silver medal in South west handball

No questionof calling offPakistan-Indiaseries: BCCI

NEW DELHIAGenCIes

The BCCI on Tuesday shot down BJP's de-mand of cancelling the Indo-Pak limited-overs cricket series in the wake of visitingPakistan Interior Minister Rehman Malik"insulting" India, insisting that thematches would be held as scheduled."There is no question of calling off thetour. All the arrangements have been madeand the tour was planned much earlier.Politics should not be mixed with sportsand the tour will go on," senior BCCI offi-cial and IPL Chairman Rajiv Shukla said.In the Parliament on Monday, the BJP hadaccused Home Minister Sushil KumarShinde of remaining silent by not respond-ing appropriately to Malik, who triggeredcontroversy by equating 26/11 Mumbai at-tack with Babri Masjid demolition and de-scribing LeT terrorist Abu Jundal as anoperative of Indian intelligence agency.New Delhi has rubbished Malik's asser-tions. Senior BJP leader Yashwant Singhsaid, "The Indo-Pak cricket series (com-mencing on December 25) should be can-celled. "What kind of goodwill we arecreating by playing cricket matches afterMalik's visit," he told reporters outsideParliament House. "...our Home Ministerhas shown weakness by not responding toRehman Malik in kind. He should haveimmediately responded, if he (Malik)used hard words, he (Shinde) should haveused hard words," Sinha said.

No evidence oftampering: ICC

HOBARTAGenCIes

ICC match ref-eree Chris Broadhas said therewas no evidenceto suggest thatthe condition ofthe ball had beenchanged by Australia during the Hobart Test,after Sri Lanka had expressed concerns overalleged tampering. Broad said the umpireshad reviewed the video footage and will notlay charges. "The umpires frequently inspectthe ball during play, and did so again afterthey had reviewed the video footage in ques-tion on Sunday [third day]. They found noevidence to suggest that the condition of theball had been changed," Broad said afterAustralia won the first Test by 137 runs."During the tea interval on that day, I spokewith Australia coach Mickey Arthur and toldhim that the umpires will continue to inspectthe cricket ball regularly, and monitor the ac-tions of all players. "I subsequently informedthe Sri Lanka team management of my dis-cussions with the Australia coach. In theopinion of the umpires, there was no evi-dence to suggest that the condition of the ballwas changed, or that the video or photo-graphic evidence would support a chargeunder the Code of Conduct, so they will notbe laying any charges relating to these inci-dents." Sri Lanka's team management hadexpressed concerns over footage it believedshowed Peter Siddle tampering with the ballin their first innings. They alleged thatbroadcast cameras might have captured Sid-dle using his fingernails to raise the seam ofthe ball in the 88th over of Sri Lanka's in-nings, while bowling to Prasanna Jayawar-dene. According to the team managerCharith Senanayake, their suspicions hadbeen raised in the dressing room as theyreceived the video-feed in real time, in thesecond session on day three. However, thevisitors did not make an official complaintto the match referee. "We have thefootage with us," Senanayake had said."We recorded the game and it's there foreverybody to see. We saw something ille-gal and have reacted to that. I have spo-ken to the match referee informally. It'sup to them to act now, but we will have topursue it further if nothing happens."

KHI 19-12-2012_Layout 1 12/19/2012 3:28 AM Page 16

Sports 16


LAHOREsTAff RepoRT

THE world’s largest hockeyvenue, the National HockeyStadium Lahore having thefirst ever Desso blue turf in

Pakistan will be ready for use by the endof this month as the Dutch experts arebusy laying the synthetic surface at thearena these days. Convener Sports andDeputy Speaker Punjab Rana MashoodAhmed Khan along with Usman Anwar,Director General Sports Board Punjab onTuesday visited the stadium to see theprogress of laying blue turf at the nearly80000 spectators stadium.

TS Builders, which was handed overthe work after the previous contractor’scontract was cancelled, is carrying the taskwith the help of Dutch experts and the lay-ing of the turf would be completed in oneand a half week time, by December 26.“We will hold a proper ceremony to markthe opening of the new turf by arrangingan exhibition hockey match as we didwhen the Johar Hockey Stadium wasopened for use,” said Rana Mashood,while briefing the media about the layingof the blue turf. “The issue of the turf wasstalled only due to the delaying tactics ofthe previous contractor but the work issatisfactorily being carried out,” said Mas-

hood. The previous contractor was notonly using delaying tactics but also wantedto use the old and worn out shock padswhich were not changed in decades. Butnow the every material is being FIH andDesso Company certified. “The issue ofthe previous contractor even went to thecourt but the decision was given in the

SBP favour because we held transparencysupreme and the contract of the previouscompany was cancelled,” he said.

“He even tried to apply political pres-sure but on the direction of the chief min-ister an inquiry was conducted with clearinstructions of maintaining quality andtransparency in the entire process and

now the new turf is being laid,” he added.Speaking on the occasion, Usman Anwarinformed that the Desso turf was directlyacquired and for much lower rate. “Thecompany’s own representatives are layingthe turf which is an encouraging aspect.This is the same surface being laid at 70percent of the hockey venues of theworld,” he added.

“We are here to work for the develop-ment of sports and to establish qualitysports infrastructure and for the purposeno one would be allowed to damage thesports system”,he added.

“We not only want progressive Punjabbut also want a stronger Pakistan and forthat we would go any length. The conductof the Punjab Youth and InternationalSports Festivals are the open examples ofour commitment for the uplift of the youthand sports in the province,” he said.

Usman further added that the turfand shock pads of polyurethane are ofthe same Desso Company which have a10 years guarantee and the stadium willbe ready by December 26 for the holdingof the matches. “We will arrange a func-tion to mark the opening of the stadiumby organizing a festival match and a cer-emony,” he said and added “SBP will beholding a Punjab Premier HockeyLeague in near future which will be par-ticipated by foreign players.”

NAgPuRAGenCIes

Captain Alastair Cook savoured a "veryspecial" series win after England tri-umphed in India for the first time in almost28 years. Centuries from Jonathan Trottand Ian Bell secured a draw in the fourthTest in Nagpur and a 2-1 win in the series.

"It's a very special day for us, it's beena special tour and we'll have great memo-ries. "The day was a fantastic effort byTrotty and Belly. All right, it was a flatpitch, but how calmly they batted was fan-tastic. "We were slightly surprised howlow and slow the pitch was, and it got bet-ter as the game went on. "We knew whenwe batted in the second innings we had tomake it very hard to take those wickets socredit to our batsmen for fronting up andtaking on that challenge," said Cook. Theseries success was all the more impressiveafter a heavy nine-wicket defeat in the firstTest in Ahmedabad, which promptedwidespread forecasts of a 4-0 series white-wash in the hosts' favour.

"We didn't handle the Ahmedabadwicket as well but the others were all very

different and we adapted well," Cookadded. "The bowlers have been brilliantand our batters have contributed big runs.Everyone in the squad can be very proud,especially after Ahmedabad and that heavydefeat. "The guys who played a couple ofgames all made a difference and theamount of effort the guys have put in forme, I can't ask any more.

"It's always nice when it goes well but Ican't praise the team enough. And the sup-port we've had everywhere we've gone, notjust from the Barmy Army but also the In-dian public, has been fantastic." Andersonwas awarded the man of the match awardafter taking four for 81 in India's first in-nings and finished with 12 wickets in theseries. He came into his own during thethird and fourth Tests by mastering re-verse-swing after a relatively quiet start inIndia. The 30-year-old always believed hewould have a key part to play, refusing torely on the spinners who normally prosperon the sub-continent.

"When we come over here, peoplethink that spinners are going to get all thewickets but we knew that the seamers hada job to do over here," he said. "We really

wanted to show people we can do a job hereand I really think we have. "I've bowled bet-ter than I have before. Reverse-swing hasbeen a key part of us doing well.

"We've really practised it in the netsand in the games we've had leading up tothe series. I think we executed our plans re-ally well in the game." Anderson also prof-ited from bowling shorter spells.

"You're only going to bowl three or fourovers in a spell so being able to give iteverything, it really helps you and you alsoget quite a long rest with the spinners we'vegot as well," he added. India captain Ma-hendra Singh Dhoni admitted his side'spoor batting at times had let them down,but was quick to hail Anderson.

"I think we struggled in the battingdepartment but the difference betweenthe two bowling sides was James Ander-son," he said. "He bowled really well. Hewas someone who was testing the bats-man quite often." The lifeless pitch inNagpur attracted some criticism from allquarters and Dhoni acknowledged it didnot suit either side. "There was notmuch really for the fast bowlers or thespinners," he added.

NHS to be ready forInt’l events by Dec 26

Cook hails landmark England success

KOLKATAAGenCIes

Sachin Tendulkar received support fromunexpected quarters with five-timeworld champion chess wizard,Viswanathan Anand, urging him to con-tinue playing as long as he wanted.

"Criticism is fine, but if you still likeplaying it's crazy to stop for no reason.In sport there is no question that itfavours young people in general. But Ireally want to play chess still," the 43-year-old Anand told reporters at apromotional event inKolkata. "I am lucky tohave the chance to playand I intend to use it. Iimagine the same forhim (Tendulkar),"India' first Grandmas-ter in 1988 said.Terming 40 as just anumber, Anand said it'sfunny when one is ques-tioned about age. "Thefirst question people ask iswhen are you going to re-tire? And if both ofyou want to re-

tire, can one of you retire... It's a littlebit funny. In my case, I don't think thereis any fundamental change from De-cember 10, 2009 to December 11, 2010.But it seems to affect the way people seeyou," Anand, who turned 43 on Decem-ber 11, said. The chess wizard clubbedTendulkar, former India captain SouravGanguly, tennis veteran Leander Paesas three top icons he had seen.

"In general I have seen a lot of Le-ander Paes... I might have started a fewyears earlier but Sachin and I have beenthere for quite a long time. Sourav was

there for quite a good part there aswell. I think most of our careers

we share together," he said.Asked whether age was a fac-tor, he said, "I don't think thenumber 40 has any particularsignificance with chess. Inchess, you definitely get moretime." "There is a certain wearand tear in physical sport.

"There are sports like footballand tennis, where people would

be amazed if you continue be-yond 32-33." How-

ever, Anand saidhe did not

wish to play beyond 50. "I think 50 iskind of a barrier. For me, I don't expectto be playing top chess when I am 60.But still there are a few years left. In themeantime, I want to enjoy as much aspossible. But Anand said he would liketo win as many world titles as possible."I have not fixed any number to it. It'sas many as they will let me in," he saidwith a smile. But on a serious note hesaid he has a heavy schedule next yearkeeping in mind the next World Cham-pionship in 2013. "I have a heavy sched-ule next year. I would want to play asmany as possible. The candidates forthe world championship will be se-lected in March and I will know who myopponent is," he said. Recalling hismatch against Boris Gelfand, he said,"it was extremely draining. It was ahuge workload that you put in for morethan three months. But I don't think Iam affected by it anymore. I was keento play in Romania in June but it gotpostponed. On to things other thenchess, Anand hoped the impasse be-tween the Indian Olympic Committeeand the Indian Olympic Associationwould be resolved with more than threeyears to go before the next Olympics.

livid dhoniholds batsmenresponsible

KOLKATAAGenCIes

A dejected India skipper MS Dhoni todayblamed his batsmen and quick bowlers inequal measure for the team's humiliating1-2 series loss against England."I think we struggled in the batting andfast bowling but our spinners were onthe mark. The difference between thetwo bowling sides was James Anderson,he bowled really well on all the four oc-cassions," said Dhoni at the post matchpresentation ceremony."Most of the other fast bowlers lookedquite average but he was the one whotested the batsmen quite often. I thinkthe credit goes to him, there was notmuch support for fast bowlers on a tracklike this. But apart from that, I think thebatsmen have to take the responsibilty ofnot putting enough runs on the board,"he said.England broke a 28-year-old jinx byachieving a historic Test series win onIndian soil, leaving the hosts embar-rassed with a 2-1 verdict.

PCB chiefbriefed oncricket issues

LAHOREsTAff RepoRT

Chairman, PakistanCricket Board Mo-hammad ZakaAshraf was givena briefing by thePCB Manage-ment at the PCBHeadquartershere Tuesday withregards to the recentlyconcluded Faysal Bank Twenty2012 Tour-nament. In a thorough review the wholerange of organizational aspects were dis-cussed threadbare, with a view to identifythe areas to improve for the future events,said a spokesman of PCB here. “The mar-keting department reported an increase ofmore than 60 per cent in revenue yield incomparison with the preceding year”, hesaid. While expressing general satisfactionon the organization of the Faysal BankT20 National Championship, the Chair-man directed that all concerned shouldmake an effort towards continuously set-ting up new benchmarks, he added.

mcGill backswarne’s test return

SYDNEYAGenCIes

Stuart MacGill has backed a return to theTest team for Shane Warne, saying he isgood enough but needs to prove he has thestamina to cope with the five-day game. Adearth of top-quality spinners has fuelled acampaign to bring back Warne, with the43-year-old doing little to douse the specu-lation, recently saying he has "absolutely nodoubt" he could bowl successfully at Testlevel again. MacGill, who took 82 of his 208Test wickets playing alongside Warne, saidhe would pick him. "I'd play him," he toldSydney's Sun-Herald. "Should he bepicked? If any selector said he shouldn't bepicked, that it's not in the best interests ofAustralian cricket, I laugh at them. "I'm in-terested in Australian cricket winning. Notin 10 or 15 years, but every day. "The bestway to win in 10 or 15 years is for it to be onthe tail end of a huge streak. You pick your

best team on any givenday and if ShaneWarne is available,then he's in it." Ear-lier this month,Warne said that if

Australian skipperMichael Clarke sug-

gested his serviceswere needed for the

Ashes campaign againstEngland next year, he

would give it some se-rious thought.

‘Crazy to stop playing for no reason’

lAhorE: home Child is held by owner ShaheenButt after the horse staged an upset win atlahore race Club beating title favourite virsa,which came second and red Star was placedthird in a five furlong race. It was home Child’sseventh win of which six were upset.

lAhorE: rana mashood Ahmed Khan, deputy Speaker Punjab and usman Anwar, directorGeneral Sports Board Punjab, get briefing from the contractor on the progress of the work ofthe laying of the desso Blue turf at the NhS.


AtP calls for rethinkon uS open finalNEW yORK: The ATP has criticised the United States TennisAssociation's decision to extend the US Open by a day next yearto feature a Monday men's singles final. The USTA bowed toplayer demands to introduce a day between the semi-finals andfinal of both men's and women's singles at the year's final grandslam but has not fallen into line with the other major events. TheAustralian Open, French Open and Wimbledon all play the semi-finals on Thursday and Friday, with the women's final on Satur-day and the men's on Sunday. The USTA had been reluctant tochange the US Open's cherished 'Super Saturday', which fea-tured both men's semi-finals and the women's final, with themen's final then scheduled to be played the next day. But a com-bination of the schedule, the lack of a roof on Arthur Ashe Sta-dium and the often inclement late-summer weather in New Yorkhad forced the men's final to be played on the third Monday forthe last five years. The ATP, which represents both players andtournaments on the men's tour, welcomed the introduction of aday in between semi-finals and final but believes the finalshould stay on Sunday. A statement read: "By modifying theschedule to allow a rest day between the semi-finals and thefinal, the US Open has recognised the incredible physical de-mands of men's tennis. "However, the ATP and its players havemade it clear to the US Open that we do not support a Mondayfinal. "We strongly believe the US Open should keep a similarschedule to the other grand slams, with the men's semi-finalscompleted by Friday and the final on Sunday. AGenCIes

Eagles win AmarCables veteranst20 Cricket title

LAHOREsTAff RepoRT

Golden Eagles won the title of 3rdAmar cables T-20 veteran cricketchampionship defeating ChaudharySports by 7 wickets in the final hereon Tuesday at LCCA ground.sCoRes: Chaudhary sports, batted first were alloutin 19.4 overs. muhammad Shafiq 46, Abid Sheikh 16 &Naseer Bhatti 11 runs. Golden Eagles bowling Ali rafibowling well 3/13, Naveed Sufi 3/22, Naeem Iqbal3/26, muhammad hafeez 1/13 & romail Bashir 1/21wickets. In reply Golden Eagles answered with 125/3in 17.3 overs. Asif mehmood 44, mujahid Jamshaid 34& Jamshaid Ali 22 runs not out. Chaudhary Sportsbowling muhammad Khan 2/37 & muhammadSaleem 1/3 wickets. muhammad hafeez was de-clared man of the match. waleed yaqoob and ranaSohail manzoor were the umpires.Sagheer Ahmadwas the reserve umpire, Irfan dilshad was tv um-pire. Former Pakistan Captain manager & directorNCA PCB Intikhab Alam was the chief guest on theoccasion and gave away the away winner trophy andcash award of 50,000- to Captain Golden EaglesSalman Khan, runner up trophy, and a cash awardof rs 25000 to Captain Ch. Shafqat hussain.muhammad hafeez was declared man of the match.on this occasion PvCA Chief Executive Nawab Ashiqhussain qureshi, President lrCA Khawaja NadeemAhmad, CEo Amar Cables Amer Ilyas Butt, hassanAmer Butt, rizwan Nisar, rafi Naseem, mian Aslam,mian mobeen, Ejaz Butt & large number of specta-tors were present. Following cash awards weregiven, player of the tournament, Shahid Ali (Ch.Sports), rs 7500,best batsman, Shahid Ali (Ch.Sports),rs 5000,best bowler, zulfiqar Ali (textiletigers) rs, 5000,best wicket keeper, Bilal Ahmad(lhr muhammadan) rs 5000,best fielder, muham-mad hafeez (G Eagles) rs 5000.

Punjab rugbycamp in full swing

LAHOREsTAff RepoRT

With the National Games fast approach-ing, the Punjab rugby team camp is in fullswing in Lahore and the players from La-hore, Multan, Muzafrgurgh, Sargoda,Bawalnager were shortlisted from thePunjab District championship held alongwith the Punjab Youth Festival. The two Lahore based clubs the Lahorerams and DHA Rugby club providing theMost number of players.This is the first ever inclusion of Rugby inthe National games and reflects thegrowth of grassroots development ofRugby in Pakistan Rugby 7s was recentlyvoted to be included as an event in theOlympics both for men and women.The Punjab team is being training campis being run by sectary of Punjab RugbyAssociation Khuram Haroon who hasdeputed a coaching team consisting ofHaji Anwar , shakeel , Arslan zahid andSair Raiz coaches .the Squad currently consist of Areeb, muhammadtahir, Arsalan, Babar , umer usman, daud,muhammad Shoaib, Anwar ul haq, Sair riaz,manan, Basit, Ali Khuram, waseem, Basit,abubaker, m babar, hassan Shan, waqar Ali (viki).

Pioneer Club beatStar Club Kasur

LAHOREsTAff RepoRT

Pioneer Cricket Club beat Star CricketClub Kasur by five wickets in a friendlyfixture at R block Model Town ground. sCoRes: Star Cricket Club 186 all out. Ahmed Ali30, Inam Ahmed 40. mohammad Suleman took 3-30, mohammad Ishfaq 3-40, hasan Azam 4-32. Pi-oneer Cricket Club 187 for five wickets in 22.2overs. Khawaja Abid 70, Nadeem Javed Butt55,mohammad Ishfaq 30 not out. Akbar Khan 3-30. Khawaja Abid was the man of the match.

Sports17


NEw yorK: Arthur Ashe

Stadium wil have the uS

open tennis Final of

men’s singles on monday

from the coming season.

ROBERT DAvIS

P AKISTAN’S ace tennis star, Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi kicked off his StopWar Start Tennis Tour in Yangon,

Myanmar as chief guest at the 1st AnnualMyanmar International Tennis Project lastweek. Qureshi, who was joined by formerATP World Tour player Jean-PhilippeFleurian, participated in a pro-am fundrais-ing dinner and hosted a Kid’s Day – featur-ing 1,000 children aged six to 10 from 15Yangon public and private schools – for anintroduction to mini-tennis. Qureshi andFleurian’s visit to Myanmar was to help pre-pare the nation for the upcoming Davis CupAsia/Oceania Groups III and IV ties and theSouth-east Asia Games in 2013.

“We are most grateful to the ATP forproviding such special players like AisamQureshi and Jean-Philippe Fleurian forcoming to Myanmar,” said U Aung MawThein, president of the Tennis Federation ofMyanmar (TFM). “They showed the truespirit of the ATP World Tour by giving backto the game of tennis. Together they provedthat through tennis, our kids can learn to behappy, healthy and culturally tolerant.”

Qureshi, who arrived in the early hours ofFriday morning, was the keynote speakerfor the conference at the InternationalSchool of Yangon. The Pakistani talkedabout how the ATP World Tour tennisteaches people to understand and respectdifferent religious and political views,as well as ethnic backgrounds. “Ten-nis gives us the tools for a betterlife,” said Qureshi. “Through tennis,I have experienced that sport canbring tolerance, counter discrimina-tion and eradicate prejudices. Ten-nis can serve as a bridge overtroubled waters.” Duringthis year’s ATP WorldTour events at theBNP Paribas Mastersin Paris and the Bar-clay ATP WorldTour Finals in Lon-don, Qureshi askedAndy Murray, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga,Kei Nishikori andShingo Kuneida (London2012 Paralympics singles goldmedallist) for autographed

match shirts to be auctioned in Myanmar.The five shirts raised a total of $5,460 forthe Tennis Federation of Myanmar orphansto tennis program. “It was a lot of fun,” saidJean-Philippe Fleurian. “Tennis has pro-vided Aisam, Inaki Balzoa and myself such

a great life. We are very happy to findprojects like these around the world,

where we can give back to those whoneed it most. With this project inMyanmar, we felt like we could makea world of difference for teachers and

kids who need it most.” Qureshiwas elected as a United Na-

tions Development Project(UNDP) National Good-will Ambassador twoyears ago. He finishedhis speech by saying,

“We live in a verycruel world. Aworld where nat-ural disasters, dis-

ease and war areliterally on our door

steps every day. Welive in a world where bad

things happen to good peo-

ple. I used to get caught up in my own worldof rankings and results.

“A few years ago, I began visiting areasthat have been affected by war. I have hadto travel to regions that have been poundedby earthquakes and ravaged by floods. En-tire communities that have had livelihoodsand homes wiped out in one night, childrenwho have been orphaned by sectarian vio-lence. I have met young kids who have lostlimbs and loved ones due to sectarian vio-lence. Through the ATP World Tour STARSprogram I have visited hospitals where sicklittle ones, who are most certainly going todie, are hooked up to tubes and monitors.Or village elders who praise Allah when youarrive in a cargo helicopter with fresh waterand the promise shelter. Witnessing thesethings puts life into perspective.”

Qureshi left Yangon immediately afterthe event and travelled to Kabul,Afghanistan where he will be the keynotespeaker for the United Nations Office onDrugs and Crime on how sport can serve asa deterrent to drugs. Qureshi will also meetwith the IOC President and AfghanistanTennis Federation President to plan awheelchair tennis program.

Aisam begins Stop War Start Tennis Tour in Myanmar

LONDON AGenCIes

fOR Andy Murray 2012 marked agolden milestone, for Novak Djokovicthe year was an emphatic re-minder of his status as the

world's best male player, and forRoger Federer and his army of fans itwas proof that the old master's magicstill sparkles. Serena Williams usedthe second half of the year to demon-strate that she continues to be head andshoulders above her rivals in the women'sgame, whatever the rankings suggest.

Of the sport's marquee names, onlyRafa Nadal will reflect on the past yearwith regret after six months out with aknee injury, and all eyes will be studyingthe 11-times grand-slam winner's formonce the new season swings into ac-tion. Nadal, one of four differentwinners of the men's grand-slam ti-tles this year, has not played amatch since a shock Wimble-don defeat by LukasRosol. He hopesto return atthe Aus-tralian Openalthough hehas sensiblylowered expectations of an immediate impact. Inany other era the absence of a player of Nadal'scalibre would be an impossible void to fill yetsuch is the quality at the top of the men's gamethat the Mallorcan's extended lay-off merely tooka little gloss off what was otherwise a vintageyear. Murray began it with a new coach in IvanLendl but still without a grand-slam title on hisCV having lost in his first three major finals with-out taking a set. The Scot became Britain's firstmale Wimbledon singles finalist since BunnyAustin in 1938 but Federer's grasscourt bril-liance deprived Murray of the title. Threeweeks later Murray returned to the All Eng-land Club lawns like a man on a missionand he rode a wave of national euphoria tothrash Federer in the Olympic singles final.

Fuelled with belief, Murraythen strode into New York andwhen a fifth shot at a grand-slam final duly arrived herose to the occasion tobeat Djokovic in afive-set epic. It wasa setback forDjokovic but theSerbian, who beganthe year by beatingNadal to retain theAustralian Open title inthe longest-ever men'sgrand-slam final, finishedit off as year-end world num-

ber one for the second season running. "Consid-ering the circumstances that I had to face onand off the court, expectations, all these things,I believe that this year has been even more suc-cessful for me," Djokovic, who won three majortitles in 2011, said after beating Federer to winthe ATP Tour Finals at London's 02 Arena.

TOP SPOT: Though Federer's yearended in defeat, the 31-year-old

Swiss will look back on 2012with pride. A record-

equalling seventh Wim-bledon title took hisgrand-slam haul to 17and propelled him

back to thetop of the

w o r l drankingsl o n genough to

s u r p a s sPete Sampras's

record of 286 weeksas number one. The fa-

ther-of-two is expected to scale back hisschedule in 2013 but will still be a forceto be reckoned with when the big prizes

are up for grabs. "I think it's been a fan-tastic season to be part of," Federer said."Four different grand-slam champs. Thenhaving the Olympics, as well, was obviouslyvery unique." Fellow 31-year-old SerenaWilliams had a relatively slow start to the yearbut after losing in the first round of theFrench Open to Virginie Razzano she was un-stoppable. The American won a fifth Wimble-don title, completing a golden slam bywinning the Olympic singles gold in London,as well as the doubles with sister Venus, anda fourth U.S. Open title and capped the yearby not dropping a set at the WTA finals in Is-

tanbul. Belarus's Victoria Azarenka endedthe year as a worthy number one hav-ing captured the Australian Open andfive other titles, while Maria Sharapovacompleted a career grand slam at the

French Open but Williams was rightlynamed WTA Player of the Year. After her

battles with serious injury and healthproblems in recent years, Williamsappears as hungry as ever and will

be the woman to beat whenthe new season begins atthe end of December. "It's

amazing that I'm still consid-ered like one of the top players to

beat. For me it's the ultimatehonour and the ultimate com-

pliment," Williams said inIstanbul be-fore suggest-ing that the

best might stillbe to come.

Golden year forMurray, regretsfor Nadal


Sports 18


watch it LiveESPNSports Center07:30PM

ESPNBPL: LiverpoolV Aston Villa11:30PM

lAhorE: Abdul haye mehta, President lahore Polo Club, alongwith thesponsors Kamran Khalil, Group head operations GS & It and moghisBokhari, Group head human resource, during a polo press briefing.

BANgKOKAGenCIes

Thailand’s Thaworn Wiratchant was thetoast at the Asian Tour’s Awards Nightwhen he swept the Players’ Player of theYear Award and Special AchievementAward. The veteran Thai star, who turns46 later this month, also picked up theBirdie Leader Award on Sunday nightwith his haul of 346 birdies throughout asensational season which saw him liftthree titles - the Queen's Cup in Thailand,Worldwide Holdings Selangor Mastersand Hero Indian Open - and four runner-up finishes en route to becoming the old-est ever Merit winner on the Asian Tour.

Thaworn was delighted to earn thevotes from his peers for the prestigiousPlayers' Player of the Year Award whilethe Special Achievement Award was de-termined through a selection committeewhich included golf writers from Asia andTour officials. "I'm really happy. I'm anold man already and the players stillpicked me as their Players' Player of theYear. It was also nice to win the SpecialAchievement Award which means a lot tome. This Sunday feels as good as 2005,"said Thaworn referring to the year whenhe was crowned Asia's number one for thefirst time. "I want to thank the Asian Tour,the officials and all the players for theirsupport. This is a special night," addedThaworn after the Awards Night whichwas held at the Puteri Pacific Hotel here.

Thaworn, who earned a five-year ex-emption on the Asian Tour for his Meritsuccess along with exemptions into theBritish Open and World Golf Champi-onships-Cadillac Championship in 2013,

wrapped up his magical season at theUS$2 million Iskandar Johor Open inMalaysia with a tied fifth finish, whichtook his year's earnings to US$738,046.

Japan's Masanori Kobayashi, whowon the Asia-Pacific Panasonic Open onhome soil and finished tied fifth in Johor,picked up the Rookie of the Year Awardafter his memorable season. He earned

his Tour card at Qualifying School inThailand in January before finishingfourth on the Order of Merit withUS$471,079. The Amata Spring CountryClub, which hosted the Thailand GolfChampionship earlier this month, wasvoted by the players as the Best GolfCourse in 2012, narrowly edging SentosaGolf Club which hosted the Barclays Sin-gapore Open in November.

The Haesley Nine Bridges Golf Clubin Korea was picked as the Host Venue ofthe Year for its impressive facilities, serv-ices and F&B on offer during the CJ Invi-tational hosted by KJ Choi.

Australia's Marcus Fraser, who fin-ished second on the Order of Merit,scooped up two awards, the LowestStroke Average with his impressive sea-son's scoring of 69.27 and also the LowestPutting Average Award with 1.71 putts pergreen in regulation.

LONDONAGenCIes

BARCELONA have announced that thestar duo of Lionel Messi and Xavi haveagreed an extension to their existing

contracts on Tuesday. The Catalan giants con-firmed on their official website the Argentin-ian would pen the deal "in the coming weeks"and would stay till 2018. Barca also revealedXavi and Carles Puyol had agreed extensionsuntil 2016. Messi's current deal runs untilJune 2016 and the new agreement will keephim at the Nou Camp beyond his 31st birth-day. The forward has enjoyed an extraordi-nary year, even by his own remarkablestandards, netting his 89th and 90th goals of2012 at the weekend. The 25-year-old had al-ready surpassed Gerd Muller's 40-year-oldrecord of 85 goals in a calendar year. He is alsoin contention to claim a fourth successiveFIFA Ballon d'Orcrown, being namedon a three-manshortlist alongsideCristiano Ronaldo andteam-mate AndresIniesta. DefenderPuyol's contractwas due to ex-pire at theend of theseason,while

midfielder Xavi's ran out the following sum-mer. Their new deals are set to keep them atBarca for the rest of their careers and under-line their commitment to the runawayPrimera Division leaders under new coachTito Vilanova. They also reduce the chances offormer boss Pep Guardiola being able to temptthem away if he returns to club managementnext season. A statement on the Barcelonawebsite read: "This news means that FCBarcelona has secured its ties with three of itsmost important players. Over the course of thenext few weeks, Carles Puyol, Xavi Hernandezand Leo Messi will all be signing their respec-tive new contracts." Details of the contractshave not been released, but board spokesmanToni Freixa said "some had been improvedand others not". He added to reporters: "Thisis extraordinary news that Barca are celebrat-ing." Messi and Puyol have both won fiveleague titles, three Champions League crowns,

two Copa Del Rey ti-tles and two FIFAClub World Cupswith the club. Xavi

has won six Spanishtitles. Messi, who hasscored twice in each

of his last sixleague gamesand netted19 in his last10, will play

his finalmatch of theyear at Real

Valladolid onSaturday.

Barca extend Xavi,Messi contracts

BANgKOKAGenCIes

Adrian Sutil does not believe hiscriminal record will prevent himmaking a return to Formula One in2013. The German has been linkedwith a return to Force India, hav-ing sat out the 2012 season afterthe team chose to replace him withNico Hulkenberg.

Sutil, 29, was convicted ofgrievous bodily harm in Januaryof this year and handed an 18-month suspended sentence after

an incident at a nightclub inShanghai following the 2011 Chi-nese Grand Prix. The convictioncould have had an impact on his

ability to enter some countries onthe F1 calendar, but Sutil says thatis not the case. Speaking to theBBC at the Race of Championsevent in Bangkok, he said: "Mymanagement and I checked all thecountries and there is no problemfor me to travel. That is why I amable to be here.

"All my problems last winterare solved. It will be a new start."Jaime Alguersuari, KamuiKobayashi and Jules Bianchi arealso contenders for the seat along-side Scotland's Paul Di Resta. But

Sutil is not feeling any anxiety overthe wait to find out if the drive ishis. "The signature is what counts.They know who I am and how towork with me; in the last five yearswe got a lot of experience," he said."There's not a lot to say, it's up to(team principal) Vijay (Mallya), it'shis decision, and hopefully he willmake the right one so I am in thecar. "I'm quite relaxed; I know howto handle this situation, I've donethe maximum I can do at the mo-ment and now it's up to them todecide if I'm in the seat or not."

reds will not buy‘top players’: rodgers

LIvERPOOL AGenCIes

The Reds' woeful season got worse overthe weekend as they fell to a shock 3-1 de-feat to Aston Villa, with the insipidMerseyside club's defensive failings andlack of firepower laid bare in front of theirlong-suffering fans at Anfield. Rodgers'men are now 12th in the table having justmanaged to pick up a measly 22 pointsfrom 17 games, and their dreams of fin-ishing in the top four this season alreadylook to be in tatters. Given Liverpool's re-cent troubles, Rodgers has been urged byfans to strengthen the squad in January,and the club has been recently linked witha whole host of different players, includ-ing the likes of Klaas-Jan Huntelaar,David Villa and Theo Walcott. However,Rodgers insists that he will not be break-ing the bank to buy 'top players' when thetransfer window opens next month, al-though he did admit that he would bebringing in one or two new signings."There is no doubt we will get reinforce-ments in and there is no doubt that wewill get the backing, but it will comedown to two things - the availabilityand affordability of players," Rodgerswas quoted as saying by the Guardian."I see lots of names bandied about thatare pie in the sky because there won'tbe too many top players moving in Jan-uary as clubs want top money. "All ourproblems were never going to be solvedin this window because the Januarywindow is the least productive and theleast movement goes on there.

Puyol cautiousover Barca lead

BARCELONA AGenCIes

The Blaugrana sent astrong message outto their title rivalson Sunday with a 4-1rout of nearestchallengersAtletico Madrid;Los Col-choneros tookthe lead in theninth minutethroughRadamel Fal-cao, but theCatalan giantsreplied with goalsfrom Adriano, LionelMessi [2] and SergioBusquets. This result,coupled with RealMadrid's failure to beatlowly Espanyol thesame day, meantthat Barcelona ex-tended their leadover last season's La Liga champions toa massive 13 points, resulting in LosBlancos manager Jose Mourinho towrite his side out of the title race. How-ever, Puyol reminded his team-matesthat despite their commanding lead atthe top, the title race was far from over,and claimed that no one should write offReal's title chances just yet. "We have toremember, we've won nothing yet,"Puyol was quoted as saying by the offi-cial Barcelona website. "It's an impor-tant lead but we can't be toooverconfident, if we relax, the resultswill start to go against us.

we have to bounceback and win: Cech

LONDONAGenCIes

Petr Cech told his Chelsea team-mates itwas up to them to prove they had not blowntheir only chance of Club World Cup gloryfollowing their defeat to Corinthians. The 1-0 loss in Yokohama saw the Blues wastewhat could prove a once-in-a-lifetime op-portunity to be officially recognised aschampions of the world. No sooner had theyleft the field than cracks appeared to emergebetween those Chelsea players for whom theClub World Cup meant absolutely every-thing - namely their Brazilian imports - andthose who clearly still see it as something ofan ugly sister to the Champions League.Fortunately, even the latter group will havelittle trouble motivating themselves to re-gain the club's real Holy Grail of the Euro-pean Cup, which would guarantee themanother world title shot. But having alreadysuffered the embarrassment of ChampionsLeague elimination this season, it will be atleast another two years before Chelsea areback where they were last week.

Sutil ready for F1 return in 2013

Thaworn sweeps asian Tour awards

CAPETOWN: South African Charl Schwartzel completed his superb finish to2012 with an amazing 12-stroke victory on home soil at the Alfred DunhillChampionship on Sunday. The third biggest winning margin in European Tourhistory was achieved at Leopard Creek a week after last year's US Masterschampion won in Thailand by 11 shots. Only Tiger Woods and Ernie Els, whowon the 2000 US Open and 2005 Asian Open by 15 and 13 respectively, haveleft the best of the rest trailing so far behind in the circuit's 40-year history.Schwartzel, 10 clear with a round to play, added a three-under-par 69 eitherside of a two-hour thunderstorm delay to take his eighth Tour title - five of themin South Africa - with a 24-under-par total. In the Thailand Championship hewas 25 under, and for the past five weeks - they started with finishes of fifth,third and second - he is a staggering 84 under. France's Gregory Bourdy, hisclosest challenger for virtually the entire weekend, took a double-bogey seven onthe final hole and that elevated Swede Kristoffer Broberg, four times a winner onthe Challenge Tour last season, into second place. AGenCIes

schwartzel wraps up win in south africa


Published by Arif Nizami at Plot No 79, Sector 24, Korangi Industrial Area Karachi. Editor: Arif Nizami

ISLAMABADsHAIQ HussAIn

THE Taliban may withdrawtheir major condition of foreigntroops’ withdrawal fromAfghanistan for the start ofpeace dialogue with the US, but

they are not willing to soften their stance onother two main conditions of removal ofnames of key insurgent commanders fromthe United Nations terrorists’ list and releaseof their prisoners from American custody.

The US administration is trying torestart peace talks with the Taliban after thesuccessful re-election bid of PresidentObama. The talks between Taliban represen-tatives and US officials broke down in Dohain March this year due to the unwillingnessof Washington to set free important Talibanleaders from Guantanamo Bay prison.

The Taliban walked out of the peace talksover what they said was US failure to fulfill itscommitment that it made over the release ofdetainees. The talks held at that time betweenthe two main actors in Afghan imbrogliowere, however, said to be initial contacts andnot any meaningful negotiations.

The Mullah Omar-led Taliban have beenasking the US for months to withdraw itstroops from Afghanistan before the com-mencement of any serious peace dialogue, re-lease Taliban prisoners from Guantanamo Bayand last but not the least, use its influence toremove the names of Taliban leaders from theUN terrorists’ list. “The Taliban leaders seemto have softened their stance now on foreigntroops’ withdrawal from Afghanistan as a keydemand for the start of any ‘meaningful nego-tiations’ with the US and they are willing to not

insist on that,” a diplomatic source privy to therenewed efforts said.

However, he said the reason behind theTaliban’s flexibility was that the US had al-ready announced it wanted to withdraw bulkof its forces by 2014 and they (Taliban lead-ers) believed that once the other conditionswere met by the Americans, the contentiousissue of troops’ withdrawal could be dis-cussed, debated upon and sorted out later.

The other conditions, he said, were the re-lease of Taliban leaders and removal of theirnames from the UN terrorists’ list. A Pakistanidiplomat said he was not in a position to sayanything with authority on the Taliban condi-tions for talks, but it was true the US was try-ing for restart of peace negotiations with theTaliban, which collapsed early this year.

The diplomatic source said Pakistan andAfghanistan were also working on ‘peaceroadmap to 2015 in Afghanistan’ underwhich the Taliban would be offered a sharein central government in the Afghan capital,as well as control of provinces where they al-ready have their writ. He said the Talibanwould also be able to take part in nationaland provincial polls in Afghanistan but in re-turn, they (Taliban) would have to shun thepath of violence, renounce al Qaeda and ac-cept the Afghan constitution.

The source, however, said the reaction ofTaliban top leadership to offers under the‘peace roadmap to 2015’ was not known sofar and nothing could be said about its suc-cess or failure. “Full efforts are underway tobring back the Taliban to the table of negoti-ations and for that, some good offers are alsobeing made, but it is still not clear how theTaliban leaders will respond to these offers,”the source added.

WASHINgTONspeCIAl CoRResponDenT

The Pentagon quietly notified Congress thismonth that it would reimburse Pakistannearly $700 million for the cost of station-ing 140,000 troops on the border withAfghanistan, an effort to normalise supportfor the Pakistani military after nearly twoyears of crises and mutual retaliation.

The biggest proponent of putting for-eign aid and military reimbursements toPakistan on a steady footing is the manPresident Barack Obama is leaning towardnaming as secretary of state: Senator JohnKerry, democrat of Massachusetts, TheNew York Times said in a report.

Kerry, the chairman of the Senate ForeignRelations Committee, has frequently served asan envoy to Pakistan, including after the killingof Osama bin Laden, and was a co-author of alaw that authorised five years and about $7.5billion of non-military assistance to Pakistan.The United States also provides about $2 bil-lion in annual security assistance, roughly halfof which goes to reimburse Pakistan for con-ducting military operations to fight terrorism.

Until now, many of these reimburse-ments, called coalition support funds, havebeen held up, in part because of disputeswith Pakistan over the Bin Laden raid, theoperations of the CIA, and its decision toblock supply lines into Afghanistan last year.

The $688 million payment — the first

since this summer, covering food, ammuni-tion and other expenses from June throughNovember 2011 — has caused barely a rippleof protest since it was sent to Capitol Hill onDecember 7. The absence of a reaction, Amer-ican and Pakistani officials say, underscoreshow relations between the two countries havebeen gradually thawing since Pakistan re-opened the NATO supply routes in July afteran apology from the Obama administrationfor an errant American airstrike that killed 24Pakistani soldiers in November 2011.

Kerry’s nomination would be wel-comed in Pakistan, where he is seen as per-haps the most sympathetic to Pakistaniconcerns of any senior lawmaker. He hasnurtured relationships with top civilian

and military officials, as well as the ISI,Pakistan’s intelligence agency, NYT said.

“But if he becomes secretary of state,Kerry will inherit one of the hardest diplo-matic tasks in South Asia: helping Pakistanfind a role in steering Afghanistan towards apolitical agreement with the Taliban. As theUnited States, which tried and failed to bro-ker such an agreement, begins to step back,Pakistan’s role is increasing,” the paper said.For a relationship rocked in the past twoyears by a CIA contractor’s shooting of twoPakistanis, the Navy SEAL raid that killedBin Laden and the accidental airstrike, per-haps the most remarkable event in recentmonths has been relative calm. A seniorAmerican official dealing with Pakistan said

recently that “this is the longest we’ve gonein a while without a crisis”.

Sherry Rehman, Pakistan’s ambassadorto the US, said, “Pakistan-United States re-lations are settling down to a more stabletrajectory.” The paper said one exception tothe state of calm had been a tense set of dis-cussions about Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal.“US officials have told their Pakistani col-leagues that Islamabad’s move to smaller,more portable weapons creates a greater riskthat one could be stolen or diverted. A dele-gation of American nuclear experts was inPakistan last week, but found that the twocountries had fundamentally divergentviews about whether Pakistan’s changes toits arsenal pose a danger,” the report added.

Pentagon to reimburse $688m to Pakistan

Taliban easingpeace talks’conditionsg Afghan insurgents may withdraw major condition of

foreign troops’ withdrawal for start of peace dialogue

g Nyt says Senator John Kerry biggest proponent of putting foreign aid, military reimbursements on steady footing



In a major development on Tues-day, the executive board meeting ofthe National Accountability Bureau(NAB) authorised an enquiry intothe Balochistan Public ServiceCommission (BPSC) scam.

The BPSC chairman and othermembers are accused of misusingauthority, exercising favouritism,nepotism and corrupt practiceswhile appointing officials against800 vacancies of grade 16 to18.

NAB Chairman Fasih Bokharichaired the meeting, in which, itwas alleged that the posts of headmistresses (BS-17) were sold for Rs1.7 million each and assistant com-missioners for Rs 4 million eachwithout observing merit.

The board decided to refer acase to the State Bank of Pakistan(SBP) against four former directorsof the Bank of Punjab (BoP) so thata reference could be filed with NABthrough the SBP governor underSection 31-D of the NAO 1999. Theaccused have been accused of ob-taining bank loans in violation ofrules and regulations.

The board also decided to closefour enquiries for want of incre-menting evidence against the ac-cused, the first among whom wasGEPCO CEO Rana Zahid Ashrafand others.

They were accused of corrup-tion in procurement of steel crossarms, capacitors, corruption in ac-quisition of land for grid station atKhiali Aroop and illegal appoint-ments in GEPCO.

The second case was againstNawaz Ali Samejo, former chief en-gineer of WAPDA. In this case,Samejo was accused of embezzlingRs 13.86 million in the purchase ofone shaft circulating pump and oneThrust Roller Bearing.

The third case was against for-mer Peshawar Farm Water Man-agement Agriculture Departmentdirector general Yousaf Khattak who was accused of accu-mulating assets beyond knownsources of income.

The fourth case was against Na-tional Bank of Pakistan (NBP) Pres-ident Qamar Hussain who wasaccused of submitting fake educa-tional degrees for appointment bychanging his father name.

Five security menamong 17 injured inRisalpur grenade attack

NOWSHERAApp

Two unidentified assailants riding a motor-cycle on Tuesday hurled a hand grenade atpeople gathered outside the main gate ofRisalpur cantonment, injuring 17 people.The injured included five security person-nel. The attack was carried out when anumber of people were seeking securityclearance at gate No 3 for entering the can-tonment. The injured were rushed to CMHand District Headquarters Hospitals Now-shera. An ISPR spokesman said five civil-ians and five security personnel sustainedminor injuries when two motorcyclistshurled a hand grenade on the main GTRoad gate in Risalpur at 11am. Police saidthe injured civilians were identified asAhmed, Ismail, Amir Shahzad, ZiauddinKhan, Irfanullah, Gul Zaib, Ziaur Rehman,Safeer Ahmed, Liaqat, Nasir, Aakif andFakhrul Islam, while names of the injuredsecurity personnel could not be known. Allof the injured are out of danger. The as-sailants managed to escape, however, secu-rity forces have launched a searchoperation to apprehend the perpetrators.Gate No 3 is the main gate of Risalpur can-tonment where Engineering Branch of thePakistan Army and Pakistan Air ForceAcademy is located.

naB approves enquiryagainst BpSC chief

Kabul sets ‘roadmap for peace’ with TalibanKABUL: Kabul has laid out an ambitious and contentious five-step plan that could bringhardline Taliban into government as efforts to broker peace accelerate ahead of thewithdrawal of Western troops. The Taliban regime was ousted by a US-led invasion in 2001and there are concerns that their return to any sort of power could see an erosion of gainsin democracy and human rights, particularly the rights of women. But with the UnitedStates and NATO due to withdraw their combat troops in 2014, there are also concerns thata multi-sided civil war could erupt, and the search for peace has taken on a new urgency. Aflurry of diplomatic activity recently has seen meetings between the Afghan and Pakistanigovernments in Islamabad and Turkey, while the Taliban is participating in a conference inFrance this week with government officials and other opposition groups.

Continued on page 04

KARACHI: president Asif Ali zardari hands over an export trophy to a leading exporter at the 36th export Awards ceremony of

fpCCI at sindh’s Governor House on Tuesday. online

19


e-paper pakistantoday 19th december, 2012

Documents

Transcript of e-paper pakistantoday 19th december, 2012