PAGE |19PAGE |03

pakistan’s loanscannot be written offor restructured: iMf

Qadri has joinedruling parties afterMuk Maka: nawaz

election ontime, assuresZardari

PAGE 19

Saturday, 19 January, 2013 Rabiul awal 6, 1434Rs 17.00 Vol iii no 203 24 pages Karachi edition

ISLAMABADKASHIF ABBASI

ANational AccountabilityBureau (NAB) investiga-tor who was part of theteam that found the

prime minister and 15 others guiltyin the rental power projects case was“found dead” in his apartment inFederal Lodges on Friday.

Kamran Faisal, an investigationofficer in the RPPs corruption caseand whose team prepared a reportthat made the Supreme Court orderthe arrest of Prime Minister RajaPervaiz Ashraf and 15 others, wasfound hanging from a ceiling fan inthe room. The NAB official was partof Investigation Officer AsgharKhan’s team that is probing into themega corruption scandal related torental power projects, which also in-volves Prime Minister Ashraf.

The RPPs case involves nine firmsaccused of receiving more than Rs 22billion as mobilisation advance fromthe Government of Pakistan to com-mission their projects, but most ofthem did not set up the plants and afew set them up after inordinate delays.Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf isaccused of receiving kickbacks in theproject as then minister of water andpower and the SC had ordered NAB toarrest him just two days ago.

Police said the real cause of thedeath would be ascertained after postmortem, however, sources said cir-cumstantial evidence suggested Faisalcommitted suicide. “The deceasedprobably used a chair and a table toreach the fan, as we found a chair hav-ing fallen down near the table belowthe ceiling fan,” a police official whovisited the apartment said. Sources inNAB told Pakistan Today that Faisalhad been facing extreme pressure

and stress and did not want to re-main part of the investigation teamto further the probe into the RPPscorruption case. He had also submit-ted a written request to the NAB DGfor relieving him from the case.

On Friday noon, NAB Sub-In-spector Mumtaz Ali telephoned theSecretariat Police Station and in-formed them that one of the NAB in-vestigators had committed suicide atFederal Lodges, the sources said.

They said the question that arosewas that how come the SI came toknow about the suicide. Despite re-peated attempts, NAB spokesmanZafar Iqbal could not be contacted forcomments. Upon receiving the infor-mation of the incident, a team of Sec-retariat Police rushed to the sceneand found Faisal’s body hanging fromthe ceiling fan. “We have sealedFaisal’s room and we will start properinvestigation after getting over with

medico-legal formalities,” said a po-lice officer, who is part of the in-vestigation team. Policeshifted the body to PolyClinic where a boardof doctors conductedover three-hour-long post mortem.

“We found a Vmark on Faisal’sneck, which suggeststhe deceased commit-ted suicide, however, wealso got some samples of thebody that would be sent to a foren-sic laboratory in Lahore to ascertainif the deceased was poisoned,” a sen-ior doctor at Poly Clinic said, wishingnot to be named. The body washanded to the heirs later at night.Kamran Faisal was appointed inNAB in 2006 and was posted inQuetta until May 2011. In May 2011,he opted to join the Federal Investi-

gation Agency (FIA). However, Faisalreturned to NAB in May 2012, wherehe continued to serve until his death,a press release issued by NAB said.NAB Chairman Fasih Bokhari alsovisited the site of the incident and ex-pressed grief over Faisal’s death.

The Supreme Court had on

Thursday expressed anger over NAB’sinability to arrest all accused in thecase and had dismissed NAB’s reportas unsatisfactory. It ordered NAB toreport back with the case files on Jan-uary 23, so that the court could itselfpoint out evidence that could form thebasis of a prosecution.

ISLAMABADASHER JOHN

Even though Interior Minister Rehman Malik is

now relentlessly claiming that his threat of

cracking down on Dr Tahirul Qadri’s sit-in was

part of psychological warfare with the Tehreek

Minhajul Quran leader, the interior minister had

full plans to attack the unarmed and peaceful

gathering by misleading the Inter-Services

Intelligence chief that his stance was fully

endorsed by Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, the

government’s lead negotiator, an informed source

revealed to Pakistan Today on Friday.

According to the source, who spoke on condition on

anonymity, Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q)

President Chaudhry Shujaat not only played a

pivotal role in defusing the government’s standoff

with Dr Qadri, the seasoned politician also

thwarted a mischievous plan by Interior Minister

Malik to start an operation against the sit-in

participants at 2am (late on Wednesday) that

would have made former president Pervez

Musharraf’s assault on Lal Masjid (Operation

Silence) seem like a tea party.

The source said that Malik had even tried to mislead

Inter-Services Intelligence chief Gen Zaheerul Islam

into believing that Shujaat had sanctioned a

crackdown against the sit-in participants “as Dr

Qadri had disappeared from his container and had

likely escaped from the sit-in venue”.

Dead men tell no talesg NAB investigator part of team probing RPPs case ‘found dead’ g Kamran Faisal allegedly committed suicide byhanging himself from ceiling fan g Said to be under immense pressure and stress from RPPs case probe

Malik’s ‘psychologicalwarfare’ Mantra a shaMn Interior minister lied to ISI chief that Shujaat had endorsedoperation against peaceful protesters n Chaudhrys makingefforts to rope in Qadri’s political party in grand alliance

Continued on page 04

Sadiq andAmeen: reallyMr Qadri?

ISLAMABADAGENCIES

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP)on Friday summoned Minhajul QuranInternational (MQI) chief Dr Tahirul Qadri onFebruary 5 and sought an explanation overviolation of the oath he took while seekingasylum in Canada. According to a private TVchannel, RCMP said Qadri violated the oathstating that he was not allowed to enter thecountry he had sought asylum from.The channel said Qadri had sought Canadianasylum under the name of Abdul ShakoorQadri in 2008, fearing threats to his lifefrom Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) and Sipah-e-SahabaPakistan after he met the Danish cartoonistresponsible for making blasphemouscaricatures of Holy Prophet Muhammad(PBUH). Qadri had filed the request alongwith his son Hussain Mohiuddin through hislawyer Mendel Green. On October 17, 2009,his asylum application was accepted, whilehe was issued the Canadian passport aboutsix months ago. The MQI chief has alsobeen receiving welfare funds from theCanadian government, citing health issues.Qadri, who led a five-day-long march inIslamabad that concluded on Thursdayevening, is currently in Pakistan. Meanwhile,Qadri returned to Lahore on Friday followinghis agreement with the government.QADRI CLAIMS MARCHSUCCESSFUL: Talking to reporters, DrQadri said the long march had been successfuland congratulated the entire nation.

Continued on page 04

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02News

Today’s

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newS

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cartoon

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infotainment

Story on Page 14

Babar-style operation needed to bring peace to Karachi: Gabol Bat-killing fungus hits famed US park

Food poisoning keeps PMaway from son’s walima

LAHORE: Prime Minister Raja PervaizAshraf could not attend the Walimareception of his son at the Prime Minister’sHouse because of food poisoning, PakistanToday has learnt. Per details, Prime MinisterAshraf had fish for dinner on Thursday nightand soon after fell ill. “The PM is sufferingfrom high fever which is why he could notparticipate in the wedding reception of hisson Shahrukh Ashraf Raja and MuneebaFatima. He has also cancelled his trip toKarachi where he was scheduled to hold

several important meetings,” said a source in the Prime Minister’sHouse. He said that the reception was attended by several politicalleaders and foreign dignitaries but the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawazleaders were conspicuously missing from the event. STAFF REPORT

Lt Gen Rashid made CGS, GenMaqsood Lahore corps commanderRAWALPINDI: Lahore Corps Commander Lieutenant General RashidMahmood has been posted chief of general staff (CGS) at the GeneralHeadquarters (GHQ), an ISPR press release issued on Friday said. Italso said that Bahawalpur Corps Commander Lieutenant GeneralMuhammad Haroon Aslam had been posted chief of logistic staff (CLS)at the GHQ. Moreover, Lieutenant General Zubair Mahmood Hayat hasbeen posted Bahawalpur corps commander while Lieutenant GeneralMaqsood Ahmed has been posted Lahore corps commander. APP

Oil prices likely to increasefrom January 22ISLAMABAD: Prices of petroleum products, except high speeddiesel, are expected to be raised from January 22. According to mediareports, petrol price is likely to go up by Rs 1.80 per litre, light speeddiesel by Rs 1.05 and kerosene oil by Rs 1.75 a litre. The price of highspeed diesel is expected to be cut by 30 paisas a litre. The Oil and GasRegulatory Authority (OGRA) will forward a summary of freshreshuffle in petroleum prices to the Ministry of Petroleum on January21. New prices will be applicable from January 22. ONlINE

2 militants among 6 killed in BalochistanQUETTA: Four people, including a child, were shot dead inMastung and Kharan on Friday. According to details, Ikram Mengal,director of a private school, was shot dead along with his son outsidetheir house in Kharan by unidentified assailants. Two people werealso shot dead in Mastung. On the other hand, security forces in anoperation shot dead two militants Rashid Shahwani and ShahJehan. Shahwani was the commander of a banned militantorganisation. An FC spokesman said that during the action 10militants were also arrested and weapons were seized from them.Target killing continued in Balochistan despite the imposition ofgovernor’s rule that gave free hand to law enforcement agencies toact in an independent manner without political interference. INP

FIA DG injured in accidentLAHORE: Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Director General(DG) Anwar Virk was injured in an accident on the Motorway onFriday. According to details, the Motorway Police rushed him to ahospital and gave first aid. He was said to be in a stable condition.His car was partially damaged. STAFF REPORT

ISLAMABADAPP

The Supreme Court on Friday deferredproceedings for an indefinite period on theissue of appointment of Islamabad HighCourt judges on the insistence of the attor-ney general for Pakistan, who wanted toargue the review plea moved by the feder-ation.

A five-member special bench headedby Justice Khilji Arif Hussain deferred theproceedings on a contempt plea moved byAdvocate Nadeem Ahmed, the petitioner.

During the course of the proceedings,Justice Hussain told the parties that theplea had become infructuous as the notifi-cation for the appointment of two judges ofthe Islamabad High Court was issued bythe authorities concerned.

“Similarly, a review plea moved by fed-eration also became ineffective,” he said.Attorney General for Pakistan (AG) IrfanQadir said he would like to press with thereview plea. He said it was moved againstthe short order on the basis of two reasons,firstly, to secure the right of appeal and sec-ondly to avoid contempt proceedings.

Justice Hussain told him that thecourt’s directive had been compiled with asnotification was issued. The AG insistedthat the hearing on the review might be de-ferred until the issuance of a detailed ver-dict. Mian Abdul Rauf apprised the benchthat Akram Shaikh, counsel for the peti-tioner, had also requested for adjourn-ment. The bench adjourned furtherproceedings until a date in office. The fed-eration had moved a plea under Article 188of the constitution, seeking a review of thecourt’s short order of December 21, last inwhich it had directed the respondents toissue notification regarding appointmentof Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui as perma-nent and six months extension period toadditional judge, Justice Noorul HaqQureshi. The federation had contendedthat under Article 177 and 193, read withclause 13 of Article 175-A of the constitu-tion, only the president was empowered tomake the appointment of judges, as man-dated by Article 48 (2) to act in his discre-tion. It said the constitution did not assignjudges of the superior courts with the roleover the appointment or removal of theirbrother judges.

Amendments needed toscrutinise nominationpapers in a month

ISLAMABADINP

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has saidthere is no provision in the constitution to extend theperiod of scrutiny of nomination papers of thecontesting candidates for the National and provincialassemblies seats as agreed by the government and DrTahirul Qadri in the Islamabad Long MarchDeclaration.A senior official of the Election Commission told INPon Friday that the government would have tointroduce amendments in several articles of theconstitution and the Peoples Representation Act toimplement the agreement. He said if the amendmentswere not made before March 16 or before thedissolution of the National Assembly, which ever wasearlier, the agreement between the government andQadri would have no standing and the ElectionCommission and the caretaker government would notbe bound by it.He said there was a provision of seven days in Article11 of the Peoples Representation Act 2012 for scrutinyof the nomination papers of contesting candidates,adding in most cases, there was a large number ofcandidates for contesting elections in just oneconstituency. The ECP official said the tenure ofservice of the chief election commissioner andmembers of the Election Commission had beensecured by the constitution. He said they could onlybe removed either by amendments in the constitutionor if they voluntarily resigned.

Back fromthe dead!

GUJRANWALAATIF BUTT

A child declared dead by a quack gainedconsciousness during his funeral servicesin Tatlay wali area.Per reports, two-year-old Samiullah wasunconscious and was taken to a quacknamed Munir by his mother Nazia, whodeclared him dead. However, the childstarted crying during the final bath forhis funeral. The child was immediatelytaken to Civil Hospital to ensureprovision of proper medical treatment byqualified professionals Nazia, the mother of the child, whiletalking to Pakistan Today said her childwas unconscious so she took him to aquack in the area who declared him dead.“When we were bathing him for thefuneral, he woke up and started crying,”she said. Civil Hospital Medical Superintendent DrAnwar Aman while talking to PakistanToday said quackery is a curse whichshould be dealt with strongly. He addedthat quacks have been endangering thelives of masses and this incident shouldbe an eye opener for people. “They areself proclaimed doctors working withoutthe any qualification,” he said.

SC defers proceedingsin IHC judges’appointment case

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Saturday, 19 January, 2013

03NewseditorialWas the game worth the candle?:

comment

articles on Page 10-11

Maturity of political actors spelt demagogue’s defeat.

Arif Nizami says;Hostility across the border: It’ll take time for the frost to thaw.

Raoof Hasan says;

Dented faith, waning hope: A dream that has lost its meaning - and muchof its relevance.

Saleem A Sethi says;Let’s hail democracy: The farce has ended.

artS & entertainment

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BuSineSS

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SPortS

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John was a real influence: Saif Ali Khan IP gas project to help overcome gas, power crises Pakistan women’s matches shifted to Cuttack

LAHOREONlINE

PAKISTAN Muslim League-Nawaz(PML–N) chief Nawaz Sharif on Fri-day said Tehreek Minhajul Quranchief Dr Tahirul Qadri went to Is-lamabad to topple the government

but ended up standing with the ruling parties.“Qadri has entered into an alliance with the

Pakistan People’s Party after a Muk Maka,”Nawaz told a press conference after meetingwith PML-Functional chief Pir Pagara.

Earlier talking to Pir Pagara, who had calledon him at his Raiwind residence to condole thedeath of his brother Abbas Sharif, Nawaz saidthe PML-N was opposed to the Sindh local gov-ernment ordinance which was aimed at divid-ing Sindh. Nawaz said his party sought an endto load shedding, poverty and illiteracy in thecountry. “We will further strengthen the al-liance,” he added. The PML-F delegation of-fered condolences to the Sharif brothers overthe demise of their brother Abbas Sharif.

Earlier, Pir Pagara said the PPP-led govern-ment paid no heed to the people of Sindh whilepassing the Sindh People’s Local GovernmentAct 2012. He said Pakistan was a federation and

the PML-F did not want to destabilise it. Presi-dent Asif Ali Zardari did not listen to the peopleof Sindh, Pagara added. Earlier, Pir Pagara ex-

pressed his grief and heartfelt condolences toNawaz Sharif over the sad demise of MianAbbas Sharif.

Qadri has joined ruling partiesafter Muk Maka: Nawaz

NEWS DESK

A Czech national flew to Pakistan threetimes in four months as part of an elabo-rate immigration scam to allow Pakistanimen to live in the UK, a British courtheard on Friday.

According to a report in the DailyMail, Eva Holubova, 19, flew to Pakistanwith her boyfriend, also 19, to take part infake marriage ceremonies and was ‘mar-ried’ three times in the space of fourmonths. She told police Pakistani men of-fered her £250 for photos to pretend theywere married so they could get visas to goto the UK.

Her boyfriend Peter Pohodko, fromSlovakia, also took part in the scam andwas paid £300 for ‘marrying’ a 28-year-old Pakistani woman he claimed to havemet on his wedding day. Miss Holubovawas among more than 20 Czech or Slovakbrides flown to Pakistan by a sham mar-riage gang based in Rotherham, SouthYorkshire that set up fake weddings todupe immigration services into lettingPakistani men into the UK.

The phoney weddings were staged inPakistan with ‘brides’ posing with their‘grooms’ for photographs suggesting thatthey had got married.

One woman returned to the UK with

£1,000 in her bag while another whowent through a sham marriage alreadyhad a husband in the UK.

As overseas nationals, the Pakistaniswould have been granted leave to live inthe UK as ‘husbands’ of their spouseswho, as EU citizens had the right to liveand work in the country.

The scam was discovered by staff atthe British High Commission in Islam-abad when they noticed the multiple doc-uments supporting applications to marryand to settle in the UK were forged.

Immigration officers discovered thesham weddings took place in various pri-vate homes throughout the Mirpur dis-trict in the south-west of the Kashmirregion. The ceremonies often marriedwithin hours or a few days of meeting oneanother. Operation Razorback led to 18men and women being convicted aftertrial or admitting conspiring to breach theUK’s immigration laws or assisting un-lawful immigration between August,2009 and September, 2010.

Prosecutor Sarah Wright toldSheffield Crown Court it was a sophisti-cated conspiracy. She said: ‘This was ahuge, well-organised and professional op-eration.’ She said the brides had no inten-tion of living in ‘settled and genuinerelationships’ with the men and the shammarriages were clearly undertaken forimmigration purposes.

A total of 62 fraudulent visa applica-tions were traced to 32 addresses in theUK and the trail of false documents led toa semi-detached house in Rotherhamwhere the main organisers, brothers TalibHussain, 41, and Tariq Mehmood, 27,along with Talib’s ex-wife Rahina Zaman,32 lived. Mehmood is now on the run.

Czech national flew to Pakistan to marry THREETIMES in FOUR MONTHS in UK immigration scamg eva Holubova told police Pakistani men offered £250 for photos of herselfg Her boyfriend flew to Pakistan with her and was paid £300 for ‘marrying’ aPakistani woman g Sham marriage service based in rotherham, SouthYorkshire arranged for more than 20 ‘brides’ to be flown to Pakistan

HYDERABAD: Tyres burn at Haider Chowk as

the city observed a day of mourning on Friday

on the call of Muttahida Qaumi Movement

against the killings of MPA Manzar Imam and

three others in Karachi on Thursday. INP

OPERATIOnS Hub: ARotherham-basedgang organised forCzech and Slovaknationals to be flownout to Pakistan totake part in shammarriage ceremonies.Many of thedocuments wereforged in this house.

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04

KARACHISTAFF REPORT

AS many as eightpeople, includ-ing a girl andthree clerics,were killed on

Friday, police said.Unidentified assailants

shot dead two brothers nearLasbela Chowk in the Gulbaharpolice precincts. The stationhouse officer said that the vic-tims were identified asMuhammad Ikhlaq, 40, andMuhammad Irshad, 46. “Bothwere brothers and tableegi ac-tivists in the area. It will be pre-mature to declare it sectariankilling until and unless investi-gation completes,” the SHOsaid. Separately, another two

people, including a driver ofIdara Khatam-e-Nabuwat weregunned down on New MA Jin-nah Road. Jamsheed Quarterspolice SHO Inayatullah saidthat two people were killed byarmed gunmen near IslamiaCollege. He said the deceasedwere identified as MuhammadAjmal, 25, son of RaheemBakht; and Kamal Shah, 35,son of Muhammad Raza. Hesaid Kamal Shah was the driverof Idara Khatam-e-Nabuwat.

Meanwhile, two people, in-cluding a girl, were killed in ahouse in DHA Phase-II. BalochColony police SHO said thatwitnesses said they came out oftheir houses after hearing gun-shots they found Waqas, 23,son of Abdul Rehman andMadiha, 18, daughter of Raaz

Muhammad in a pool of blood.He said that both victims werecousins. However, the motivebehind their murder could notbe ascertained so far. “It can bea result of personal enmity,” headded. Separately, a 30-year-old man was killed in UrduBazaar in the limits of AramBagh police station. SHO ImdadAli Khawaja said that the bodywas shifted to Civil HospitalKarachi. However, the bodycould not be identified so far.Meanwhile, a 25-year-old manwas shot dead by unidentifiedarmed men on Suparco Road,Baldia Town. Maripur policeSHO Iftikhar Hussain saidthat the identity of the bodycould not be confirmed so far.

NOUAKCHOTTAGENCIES

Gunmen in Algeria who areholding about 60 hostages at agas plant, want to swap theAmerican hostages for prison-ers held in the United Statesincluding Pakistani Aafia Sid-diqui, the ANI news agencyquoted sources close to theirleader as saying on Friday.

The abductors, who arealso holding other Algerianand foreign hostages, havealso demanded negotiationsfor an end to French interven-

tion in Mali, the agency said,quoting sources close toMohktar Belmokhtar. Veteranfighter Belmokhtar, a one-eyed Algerian militant appar-ently with ties to al Qaeda, hasclaimed responsibility forlaunching Wednesday’s at-tack. ANI said Belmokhtar, ina video that would be distrib-uted to the media, proposedproposed that “France and Al-geria negotiate an end to thewar being waged by France inAzawad” (northern Mali). Healso proposed “exchangingAmerican hostages held by his

group (the ‘Signatories inBlood’)” for Egyptian OmarAbdul Rahman and PakistaniAafia Siddiqui, who are jailedin the United States on chargesof terrorist links.

Abdul Rahman, the spiri-tual leader of the radicalJamaa Islamiya group, wasconvicted in 1995 for his rolein a 1993 attack on the WorldTrade Centre in New YorkCity, in which six people werekilled. He is serving a life sen-tence for the attack in whichhundreds more people wereinjured when a truck bomb

was detonated in the build-ing’s garage. Abdul Rahman,known as the “blind sheikh,”was also convicted of plottingto bomb other New York tar-gets including the United Na-tions and a plan to assassinateousted Egyptian presidentHosni Mubarak. Mubarak’ssuccessor, Islamist PresidentMohamed Morsi, said earlierthis month he will urge USPresident Barack Obama tofree Abdul Rahman, during avisit he is due to make to theUnited States later before theend of March.

The source said Gen Islamchecked with his field agentsand was informed that Dr Qadriwas present inside his bomb-proof container and had not leftthe sit-in. “The information waspassed on to Shujaat who im-mediately telephoned PresidentAsif Zardari, who has been inKarachi for the last one month,and told him about Malik’s con-spiracy,” the source said. “Shu-jaat told President Zardari thathe would resign in protest ifMalik was allowed to carry outthe ‘targeted operation’. Thesenior coalition partner alsotold the president that therewas no point in restrainingMalik and he should himselfmake a public announcementthat the government would notlaunch any crackdown on thesit-in participants.”

“President Zardari ac-knowledged Shujaat’s requestand a media statement wasissued by the Presidency, cat-egorically stating that no suchoperation would be carriedout,” the source said, addingthat a major disaster wasaverted by the timely inter-vention of the president.

The source said Shujaatalso told the president that hewould not negotiate with DrQadri alone and a committee ofcoalition partners should beformed to carry out the dia-logue. “The president askedPrime Minister Raja PervaizAshraf to call a meeting of thecoalition partners on Thursdayand it was decided that a 10-member government team ledby Shujaat and comprising rep-resentatives of all allied parties

would hold negotiations withDr Qadri,” the source said. Hesaid Senator Mushahid Hus-sain was tasked with contactingDr Qadri and listing down hisdemands which were accordingto the constitution. “Besides theimmediate dissolution of thenational and provincial assem-blies, reconstitution of the Elec-tion Commission and a say inthe formation of the caretakergovernment, Dr Qadri also de-manded that Prime MinisterAshraf should lead the govern-ment’s negotiating team. How-ever this demand of Qadri wasshot down by Mushahid, whotold him that Shujaat was amuch senior political leaderthan Pervaiz Ashraf and wasalso a former PM and thereforehe would lead the negotia-tions,” he said.

The source said Qadri de-manded that elections shouldbe held within 90 days to givethe Election Commission timeto scrutinise the eligibility ofcandidates under Articles 62and 63 of the constitution, towhich the government agreed.According to the constitution,if the assemblies are dissolvedwhen their terms expire (inthis case March 16) the elec-tions should be held within 60days, but in case the assem-blies are dissolved even oneday before their terms expire,the elections may be heldwithin 90 days. “Dr Qadri wasbeing advised on the constitu-tional provisions by formerECP secretary Kunwar Dil-shad,” the source said.

He said after negotiatingthe demands with Dr Qadri,the government team dis-cussed them with President

Zardari and Prime MinisterAshraf. “I also have informa-tion that Qadri’s demandswere discussed with the armytop brass but this could notbe independently verified,”he said. The source said aftergetting the president’s ap-proval, the government teamwent to meet Dr Qadri andthey vetted the draft agree-ment together. “However, DrQadri told the team that hewould not announce an endto his sit-in until Prime Min-ister Ashraf authenticated theagreement. The team thenwent to the PM and got hissignatures following whichQadri called off the sit-in.”POLITICAL ALLIANCE:The source said efforts werenow being made by theChaudhrys to convince DrQadri to make an alliance ofhis Pakistan Awami Tehreekwith the Pakistan MuslimLeague-Quaid and PakistanPeople’s Party for the upcom-ing election. “Parleys are alsobeing held to entice ImranKhan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf to join the grand al-liance. However, the situationwill become clearer in thecoming days,” he said. Thesource said the general per-ception in the power corri-dors in the federal capital wasthat Qadri’s political dramahad isolated PML-Nawaz, butsome analysts believe thatNawaz had also benefitedfrom the situation as it hadbrought him closer to reli-gious parties like Jamaat-e-Islami and JamiatUlema-e-Islam-Fazl andmight help in forging an elec-toral alliance with them.

NEW DELHI INP

India has launched a majorplan to construct under-ground shelters for storingmissiles, rockets and ammu-nition close to the borderswith Pakistan and China.

Apart from providing bet-ter logistics on the front in theevent of a war, these under-ground dumps will also en-sure critical war-fightingordnance protected fromenemy attacks and weather.

Sources said Indian Armychief General Bikram Singh iskeen that at least 2,000-2,500metric tonnes of ammunitionthat is “expensive and opera-tionally important’’ should bestored in such undergroundshelters in the operationalareas of the Northern andEastern Army Commands, anIndian media report said. WithBeijing being considered the“real long-term threat’’ despitethe current tensions with Is-lamabad along the Line of Con-trol, two pilot projects havebeen taken up for constructionof “underground and tun-nelled’’ storage of ammunitionin Leh and Sikkim along the

“northern borders’’ with China.Initially, army, DRDO andother experts had selected fivesites in the north-east and twoin Jammu and Kashmir for theunderground shelters. Thechoice was narrowed down to asite each in Leh and Sikkimwith the help of “geo-technicalreports’’, which looked at 40-50 parameters, for the pilotprojects. “Once the first twoprojects take off, similar oneswill be undertaken along thewestern border with Pakistan.The underground shelters willmake it difficult for the enemyto detect and destroy our am-munition dumps. Both Chinaand the US store most of theirammunition in tunnels, cavesand other underground shel-ters,’’ said a source. At present,only around 4.5 lakh of the 8lakh tonnes of ammunition au-thorised for the army hasproper storage facilities in theshape of modern and fire-resis-tant storage sheds or store-houses. The rest is storedmostly in the open, exposed tothe weather. This often leads toexplosions, fires and “mishan-dling of ammunition incidents’’causing regular deaths as wellas destruction of ammunition.

Girl among eight killed inKarachi violence

India to store missiles,rockets near Pakistan,China borders

Algeria militants want Aafia Siddiquireleased in proposed prisoner swap

lAHORE: Motorcyclists scramble for shelter during rain in the provincial capital on Friday. ONLINe

Malik’s ‘psychological warfare’

really mr Qadri?

He said if the agreementsigned with the governmentwas not implemented, theyreserved the right to takeextreme measures. The sit-inwas ended by Qadri after anagreement was reached withthe government on Thursdaynight. The agreement hasbeen named “IslamabadLong March Declaration”. Aprivate news channelreported that Dr Qadri wasleaving for Dubai on January27 at 9am. The date was setfor holding a meeting inLahore between thegovernment team that signedthe long march agreementand Qadri for taking up thematter of ElectionCommission’s reconstitution.

removal of 7ministers fromPunjab cabinet:Sc to give ruling

ISLAMABADONlINE

The Supreme Court onFriday decided to give aruling on the removal ofseven members of the Punjabcabinet for their affiliationwith the Pakistan People’sParty. Opposition leader inthe Punjab Assembly RajaRiaz and his six cabinetcolleagues, including ex-finance minister TanvirAshraf Kaira, were sacked inMarch 2011 by Chief MinisterShahbaz Sharif withoutciting any reason. The CM’sadvice was placed before theapex court with the questionwhether a minister could beremoved merely on the basisof party affiliation. Theappeal in the Supreme Courtwas filed in March 2011. Thecourt on Friday rejected thestance of the Punjabassistant advocate generaland observed that theappellant was an aggrievedperson in the eyes of theconstitution. Justice Jawad SKhawaja observed that theaction of the chief ministercould affect the generalpublic and could bechallenged.

oGra case:naB’s failure toarrest tauqirSadiq irks Sc

ISLAMABADSTAFF REPORT

The Supreme Court (SC) onFriday expressed itsdispleasure over NationalAccountability Bureau’s(NAB) inability to produceTauqir Sadiq, ex-chairman ofthe Oil and Gas RegulatoryAuthority (OGRA). A three-member bench headed byChief Justice (CJ) IftikharChaudhry and includingJustice Jawwad S Khawajaheard the case pertaining tocorruption in OGRA whenSadiq was its chairman. Thecourt was displeased afterNAB presented a report onthe case rather thanproducing Sadiq before thebench as per the court’sorders. The CJ said theaccused escaped from NAB’soffice after his arrest warrantswere issued. He said Sadiqwas not arrested despite apolice team’s presence inDubai for the purpose. JusticeKhawaja remarked that NABwas busy in lip service insteadof bringing back the accusedfrom UAE. He said it seemedthe bureau had helped himescape from the country andalso provided Sadiq anopportunity to withdraw fundsfrom 40 of his bank accounts.The court questioned whyNAB was not able to arrestSadiq if Sindh Police couldarrest Shahrukh Jatoi inDubai. Justice Khawajaremarked that nobodyincluding NAB was ready totake the case seriously.

Continued fRom page 01

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eaRlieR StoRy | page 07

KHI 19-01-2013_Layout 1 1/19/2013 7:17 AM Page 4

Saturday, 19 January, 2013

KARACHISTAFF REPORT

Hundreds of Muttahida Qaumi Move-ment (MQM) workers accompaniedby activists from the Awami NationalParty (ANP) and Pakistan Peoples’Party (PPP) attended the funeralprayer of Member Provincial Assemby(MPA) Manzar Imam, offered at Jin-nah Ground near MQM headquartersin Azizabad here on Friday. The funeral prayer was led by HafizSaquib Imam, nephew of the slainMPA.Members of the MQM Rabita Com-mittee, ANP leaders including AmirNawab, Bashir Jan and Rana GulAfridi, PPP leaders Waqar Mehdi,Abid Satti, Munir Khattak and RashidRabbani, and Pakistan MuslimLeague-Nawaz’s (PML-N) NehalHashmi were among the prominentpersons who attended the funeralprayer.The political workers who exhibitedcomplete discipline, on the occasionresolved to rise above all political dif-ferences in order to maintain absoluteunity in their ranks against terroristsand criminal elements.MPA Manzar who was killed onThursday in Orangi Town area herehad left behind a widow, a five-year-old son and parents.Meanwhile, the funeral prayers forSajid, personal bodyguard and driverof Manzar, along with the two de-ceased cops, Imran and Murad werealso offered on the occasion.The MPA was buried at Shuhadagraveyard in Azizabad.

KARACHIAFTAB CHANNA

The government is unable to ensuresafety and security to the alleged blas-phemers, said Amir Joel Sahutra, asenior government official and the of-fice-bearer of human rights in Punjab.

According to the details, a letterwas written by the father of an allegedblasphemer, Fayyaz Ali, to the parlia-mentary secretary of human rights inPunjab to ensure safety and security tohis son.

In the said letter, MuhammadAkram, resident of Sialkot, pleaded thehuman right secretary to provide secu-rity and justice to his son who was

falsely nominated in a pre-registeredcase of blasphemy by the Landhi Policestation in Karachi by his in-laws asFayyaz Ali married to the girl without

the will and wish of her family.In reply to the letter, Muhammad

Akram said neither he nor any othergovernment official or department

could be of any help to his son as FayyazAli was a wanted absconder with seri-ous charges of blasphemy and the mat-ter had already been taken up by theapex court for criminal proceedings.

He further said that brutal killing ofPunjab Governor Salman Taseer by apoliceman from his own security squadwas the clear example of the non-toler-ant and extremely violent behaviour ofour society in such cases.

It is pertinent to mention here thatFayyaz Ali had been officially nomi-nated in a police case (No 57/2011) reg-istered in Karachi under BlasphemyAct, Section 295-B. The apex court hadalso issued warrants to arrest the al-leged blasphemer at the earliest.

Sorry, we can’t help you!

HYDERABADAPP

Hyderabad Metropolitan Corporation Ad-ministrator Syed Barkat Ahmed Rizvi haslinked the opening of new educational in-stitutions in private sector with acquisitionof “no-objection certificate” (NOC) from thetown administration.

Strict action will be taken against thosewho violated the decision, he said. Besidesobtaining NOC from the town administra-tion for opening new educational institu-tions in private sector, he said the interestedpersons should also seek NOC from theneighbours of the school premises.

The HMC administrator announcedthese decisions while presiding over a meet-ing with the owners of private schools herein the office of town administrator Latifabadon Thursday. Director Education ShahidaParveen and Administrator Latifabad Shab-bir Qaimkhani were also present on the oc-casion, the HMC spokesman informed.

The administrator also expressed his

concern over traffic jam occurring outsidethe private schools during their openingand closing hours and asked the owners ofthe schools to prepare effective traffic man-agement plan and also deploy staff for park-ing of vehicles with allocation of parkingarea. In case, the school management usesthe state land it should pay rent to the townadministration, he added.

While taking notice of encroachmentsoutside the school buildings, the HMC ad-ministrator also asked the town administra-tors to remove all such encroachment aftertaking the concerned school managementonboard and issue legal notice prior to ini-tiating action in this regard. He also re-quested the schools management to removeencroachments outside their respectiveschools within 15 days otherwise the townadministration will take necessary legal ac-tion. The owners of the private schools as-sured the HMC administrator of extendingtheir full cooperation including overcomingthe problem of traffic jam outside theirschool premises.

KARACHIPPI

Abrupt closure of petrol pumps and CNGstations following the assassination of Mut-tahida Quami Movement (MQM) MPAManzar Imam on Thursday created greatdifficulties for citizens.

All fuel stations went closed suddenlyand public transport also stopped plyingon city roads. The Karachites faced im-mense problems in reaching their homes.Hundreds of motorcyclists dragged theirbikes on different roads when they wentout of fuel.

On Friday, the fuel stations continued

to remain closed. Only a few petrol pumpsin suburban areas near National Highwayand Superhighway remained open wherelong lines of motors and bikes were seen.On Superhighway, the petrol pumps be-tween Al-Asif Square and New Sabzi Mandiwere open; however, by noon some of themwent closed after they sold all availablepetrol in their tanks.

The supply of petrol and diesel re-mained suspended the whole day. A petrolpump operator, requesting anonymity, saidit might not be restored on Saturday unlessthe political parties observing mourninggive green signal for restoration of routinemarket activities in the city.

No private school sans NOCnOpening of private schools to require no-objectioncertificate from town adminstration: HMC chief

Fuel stations closuretorments citizens

Punjab government senior

official flatly refuses to

provide protection to

alleged blasphemers

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Saturday, 19 January, 2013

06Karachi

KARACHINNI

Two suspected terrorists in-cluding Naib Amir of banned

Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan(TTP) were arrested fromKorangi area here, policesaid. Addressing a press con-ference here on Friday, SSP

Raja Umar Khatab said armswere also recovered from thecustody of the arrested ter-rorists. He said the suspects,identified as Naqibullah and

Adnan, were involved in tar-get killing and money extor-tion. They killed four peopleincluding a constable, inKarachi, he claimed.

KARACHIAlI WAHEEd

THE performance of Sindhgovernment can be gaugedby the fact that it hasfailed to utilise Rs 53 bil-lion on around 1,288 de-

velopment schemes during the last sixmonths. However, the provincial gov-ernment succeeded in utilising only Rs23 billion - 47 percent of the releasedfunds.

There are at least 1,288 ongoingand 1,323 new schemes included in theannual development programme(ADP) for 2012-13.

The allocation made for the ADP

stood at Rs 161 billion, out of which Rs112.631 billion were spent for ongoingschemes and Rs 48.368 billion for thenew ones. Besides, Rs20 billion wereearmarked for districts governmentsand foreign-funded development proj-ects, sources told Pakistan Today.

Under the planning, it was ex-pected that at least 450 to 500 schemeswere to be completed by February2013. However due to pathetic attitudeof the provincial authorities, it isfeared these schemes would remainabandoned, the sources added.

The finance department had re-leased quarterly installment of Rs 25billion, however, these funds remainedunutilised.

In a progress reported submittedby all the departments to the financedepartment, it was disclosed that atleast Rs 53 billion were released to thedepartment in quarterly installmentsso far, however, all the 36 departmentscould only utilise 47 percent of thefunds that reflected what the sourcesclaimed poor performance of theSindh’s authorities.

The Sindh bureaucracy ignored thedevelopment schemes launched by theelected government notwithstandingthe chief minister had clearly in-structed to complete all the ongoingschemes by February. However, the of-ficials seemed reluctant to comply withthe chief minister’s orders that would

put an extra burden on the provincialexchequer.

The major department who failedto utilise the development funds in-cluded education, health, home, cul-ture, tourism, agriculture, home,irrigation, power, human rights, inter-provincial planning and development,finance, relief, industries and com-merce, information technology,fishries, wildlife, prison and forest de-partments.

A senior official of the planningand development department, request-ing anonymity, told Pakistan Today thegovernment was trying to utilise thefunds on schemes not beneficial for thecommon people.

KARACHISTAFF REPORT

Renowned International metal sculpture AminGulgee orchestrated another live performanceat his gallery on Wednesday, when “Riwahyti:One Night Stand” brought together filmmakers,actors, architects, musicians, event managersand photographers to do a creative and interac-tive live performance on the selected theme.

“Staging performances has been a part ofmy art practice. For this particular event, I haveincluded plastic artists as well as musicians,filmmakers, actors, architects and people asso-ciated with fashion in the entire creativeprocess. Performance is very much part of ourlives in South Asia as births, marriages anddeaths are all considered as public events,”Amin Gulgee said. Guests were amused by the21 beautifully presented performances whichtook place simultaneously in different parts ofGulgee’s gallery. The highlight of the eveningwas the Red Carpet event managed by “CatwalkProduction” and was based on the famous quoteof Anday Warhol, “In the future everyone willbe famous for fifteen minutes.” The concept ofthe red carpet event was to create a compositionthat would make everybody feel like a star. Thepresence of a photographer, media wall, cameracrew and audience made the experience evenmore real and enjoyable for the participants.

The black umbrella theme, orchestrated byMuzzumil Ruheel proved to be very interestingfor the guests as he tagged along with guestswith a black umbrella in his hand, depictingforced relationships people make to achievetheir hidden agendas. Furthermore, AngelineMalik gave a performance on the theme titled“With Oneself”. She could watch herself on aprojector while performing different scenesfrom a bystander’s point of view.

Meanwhile, other performances includedFayaz Agariah’s “Paraphernalia”, Danish Raza’s“Sacrifice & Surrogates”, Ayesha Toor’s“Chuup!”, Ayessha Quraishi’s “The Sensual Or-chestra Plays Live”, Nimra Bucha’s “SwimmingPool”, Izdeyar Setna’s “Stand Still”, SikanderMufti’s “Off-the-Shelf Box Frequency”, SyedAmmad Tahir’s “Mirror Mirror on the Wall”,Irfan Hasan’s “Performing Self-Portrait”,Danyal Sadiq’s “Soundscapes”, Babar Sheikh’s“The New Wave”, Ahsan Jamal’s “The Art thatMakes My Living”, Raania Azam Khan’s “Mys-tery Nivala”, Muhammad Ali’s “Happy End-ings” and Affan Baghpat’s “Untitled” .

The event was attended by Saqib Malik,Deepak Perwani, Rukaiya Adamjee, TaraMehmood, writer Muhammad Hanif, AyazAnis, Zurrain Imam, Tara Uzra Dawood, Dur-raid Siddiqi, Obaid Sheikh, Shanaz Ramzi,Aamna Isani and many more who appreciatedthe performance of the artists.

dry, cold weatherforecast for metropolitan

KARACHIAPP

Dry and cold weather for the day withcool night temperature has been fore-cast for Karachi, Hyderabad andSukkur regions by the Pakistan Mete-orological Department on Friday.According to Met department sources,day temperatures were also reported tohave dropped by two to seven degreesin different parts of the province onThursday and the first half of Friday.The sources further said that dry conti-nental air would also prevail over theregion. Meanwhile, very light rain wasalso reported from different areas inthe province including parts ofKarachi.

Billions in pockets but poor in vision g Sindh govt clueless about spending 47 percent of the funds over development schemes

KARACHISTAFF REPORT

A bilateral exercise between Pakistan Special Serv-ices Group-Navy (SSG-N) and Royal Saudi NavalSpecial Forces was conducted on Friday under theNaseem Al Bahr exercise, which is the 10th drill inthe series.

The officers and members of SSG-N, PakistanNavy Maritime Special Warfare (MSW) Group,SEAL Group and officers and members of the RoyalSaudi Naval Special Forces participated in the ex-ercise. The exercise was conducted simultaneouslyby MSW and SEAL Group, and was based on semi-nars, lectures and special operations exercises.MSW conducted Maritime Special Operations en-compassing maritime counter terrorism, counterpiracy operations at sea and close quarter combat.

The operations were conducted by special oper-ating forces using special force boats, VBSS boatsand helicopters. The joint exercise culminated withmock boarding operations on a simulated piratevessel in counter piracy situation by using the SSG-N sea platforms.

Meanwhile, the SEAL Group focused on minoroperations, marksmanship, transition drills, livemoving fires, Fighting in Built Up Area (FIBUA),Military Operations in Urban Terrain (MOUT),Close Quarter Combat (CQC) and mountain war-fare.

Both teams demonstrated individual skills indifferent facets of special operations. Joint FieldTactical Exercise encompassing field craft, survivaltechniques, navigation, hide pit drills, followed byambush on convoy and raid on simulated target,was undertaken in mountainous terrain by bothspecial operations forces. It should be mentionedhere that the SSG-N was established in 1967 to un-dertake diversified special operations.

The organisation had been recognised as oneof the most potent forces globally with a diversecapability to undertake sea, air and land opera-tions, anti-terrorist operations and MSW opera-

tions simultaneously with equal competence andprofessionalism. The SSG-N had regularly under-taken exercises with the special operations forces

of the world to enhance professional acumen andfighting skills. The exercise provided a good op-portunity to the armed forces of both the countries

to exchange expertise in the domain of special op-erations, to develop cordial relations and to alsoenhance interoperability.

RIWAHYTI: ONeNIGHT STAND!

KHI 19-01-2013_Layout 1 1/19/2013 7:18 AM Page 6

Friday, 18 January, 2013Karachi07

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26

pIcASSo In pAKISTAn

“abstract art is only painting. and what’s so dramatic aboutthat? there is no abstract art. one must always begin withsomething. afterwards one can remove all semblance of reality;there is no longer any danger as the idea of the object has leftan indelible imprint. it is the object which aroused the artist,stimulated his ideas and set of his emotions. Boisgeloup,winter 1934, Quoted in letters of the great artists – from Blaketo Pollock -, richard friedenthal, thames and Hudson, london,1963, pp. 256-257 (translation daphne woodward)

eMAc - pARAGlIdInG In KARAcHIIn, AT And ARound - VISuAl expeRI-enceS of MeMoRY And TRAVel

´in, at and around´ an exhibition of urban landscapes byPakistani artist, Soraya Sikander on 10 till 17 January 2013 atunicorn Gallery, karachi, creates awareness about eco-diversity,deforstation and rapid urbanisation. the exhibition featuresseventeen exclusive paintings created on-site around areas inlondon and karachi. the artist traveled around london and trillduring her time at Slade School of fine art, where she producedthese sensitive works as a response to a changing world.

date: Jan 10 - 17, 2013 Venue: unicorn GallerY karacHi

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: dec 24, 2012 to feB 02, 2013 Venue: GandHara art SPace

HYdERABAd: Tyres have been set on fire by angry mob during the observance of three-day mourning on the death of Manzar Imam. ONLINe

KARACHIAAMIR MAJEEd

THE metropolis is crawling backtowards normalcy after a day-long closure on Friday to observea day of mourning over the killingof Muttaheda Qaumi Movement

(MQM) MPA Imam Manzar by armed personsin Orangi Town last day (Thursday).

Shops, market and business centres inKarachi reopened for routine activities on Fri-day evening. Public transport also appearedon roads and fueling stations reopened forservices to consumers. The vehicular trafficand a large number of public and privatetransports were seen on city’s roads at end ofthree-day mourning announced by MQM.

On Friday morning, the city was closed for

all type of routine activities. The people re-mained restrained to their houses to avoidany mishap. The shops and markets in manyareas were close following the three-daymourning call by MQM. The public transportwas seen off-road in the day which createdmiseries for those willing to go to their officesdespite the prevailing fear due to shutter-down call.

The educational boards had also cancelledall the papers scheduled on Friday due to clo-sure of public transport. University ofKarachi, Federal Urdu University of Arts, Sci-ence and Technology and Board of Intermedi-ate Education Karachi postponed all thepapers scheduled on Friday. Private schoolsin the city were also closed due to three-daymourning call which would end on Sunday.

The incidents of forceful closure of shops

and markets were reported in NaganChowrangi, Paposh Nagar, Malir, Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Landhi, Gulshan-e-Maymar, Keamari,Saddar, Old City Area, Orangi Town and NorthNazimabad areas. Co-ordination Committee ofMQM thanked political and religious parties,traders, industrialists, transporters and otherpeople belonging to different walks of life forobserving a peaceful day of mourning on thekilling of MQM MPA Manzar Imam, his driverand two security guards.

The soyem of Manzar Imam, his driverand two security guards will be held on Sat-urday (today) after Zohar prayer in the LalQila Ground, Azizabad. MQM Co-ordinationCommittee, ministers, MNAs, MPAs, sena-tors, office-bearers of various wings/sectorsand thousands of workers would attend thesoyem.

normalcy returns! has it?

iGP orders strict security forchup tazia procession

KARACHIPPI

Sindh Inspector General Police (IGP) Fayyaz Ahmed Leghari hasordered the implementation of fool-proof security arrangement forChup Tazia procession, scheduled to be held on January 21. Heurged the officers to make prompt security arrangements aroundthe Imambargah and other sensitive points with coordination of re-ligious scholars, organisers and administrations at division level.He further directed to enhance deployments of police personnel,both in uniform and in plainclothes, on the procession route. Fur-thermore, he ordered that proper clearance of procession route andits parking areas should be ensured before the main procession gotunderway. Moreover, the IGP directed officials concerned to en-hance snap checking at all exit and entry points in the province,particularly in big cities. He also directed for enhanced randomsnap checking and patrolling in sensitive areas of the city. He or-dered officers at police station level to accelerate targeted opera-tions and raids against criminals under the joint action plan.

manto remembered onhis death anniversaryKARACHI: One of greatest short story-writers of all time Saadat HasanManto was remembered on his death anniversary on Friday (yesterday). Saa-dat Manto, a great South Asian Urdu short story writer, was born on May 11,1916. Upon Abdul Bari Alig’s motivation, Manto attempted Urdu translationof The Last Days of a Condemned Man. Manto completed the translation andsold it to the Urdu Book Stall located in Lahore, under the title Sarguzasht-e-Aseer. Having now become a published author, Manto aided by Hasan Abbassoon attempted a translation of Oscar Wilde’s Vera, which was published in1934. Manto also continued to try his hand at writing original short stories inUrdu, including “Inqlab Pasand”. Later his, story “Tamasha” and several oth-ers were put together into Manto’s first collection of original short stories inUrdu titled “Atish Pare”, published in 1936. He came to Lahore and joined anewspaper called Paras. In late 1936, he accepted an invitation to edit theweekly Musawwir and justified his existence in Lahore after leaving behindBombay (currently known as Mumbai). In 1941, Manto came to Delhi and ac-cepted a writing job for Urdu Service of All India Radio. Soon four of his radioshows were published after finding the right audience. The controversial shortstory collection Dhuan came out later on. INP

KHI 19-01-2013_Layout 1 1/19/2013 7:18 AM Page 7

08NewsSaturday, 19 January, 2013

DAMASCUSAGENCIES

Amassive blast has hit aneighbourhood of thenorthern Syrian city ofAleppo and caused severalcasualties, state television

has said, blaming the rebels for the at-tack.

Syria TV said on Friday the explo-sion had been caused by a rocket firedby a “terrorist group” - a term it fre-quently uses to describe rebels in the22-month-old uprising against Presi-dent Bashar al-Assad.

Video broadcast on Syrian state TVshowed several floors of the targetedbuilding collapsed in a government-

controlled area of the city, Syria’slargest urban centre and main com-mercial hub.

A man was seen carrying a babyout of the damaged building and an-other man was seen clutching his headas blood ran down his forehead.

It was the second time in a weekthat the government accused rebels offiring rockets.

But opposition groups have saidAssad’s forces were behind the blast,which hit the Muhafaza Sakaniya

The state TV also reported that at-tacks had occurred near a mosque insouthern city of Deraa, but gave no de-tails regarding the casualty figures andthe number of wounded.

The attack occurred when wor-

shippers were leaving a mosque fol-lowing Friday prayers in the southerncity, the state TV said.

The attacks come amid a spike inviolence in Syria and a particularlybloody week as the uprising gets worse.

On Tuesday, 87 people were killedin twin blasts at Aleppo University.

Each side blamed the other forthat attack. The regime said rebels hitthe university with rockets,while rebels said the deaths resultedfrom regime airstrikes.

Also on Friday, fighting betweenSyrian rebels and Assad’s loyalistsflared in a Palestinian refugee camp inDamascus, killing 12 people andwounding at least 20 others, a UNrefugee agency said.

ALGIERSAGENCIES

At least 60 hostages and 11 members of anal-Qaeda-affiliated group were killedwhen Algerian forces stormed a desert gasplant to free the captives, drawing inter-national attention to al-Qaeda in NorthAfrica.

Eight Algerians and seven foreigners,including two British, two Japanese and aFrench national, were among the dead, anAlgerian security source said.

The military says some of the gunmenwho took hundreds of hostages at the gasfacility, are still holed up inside. Nine for-eign nationals were released but the fateof a number of those who had been heldby the fighters remains unclear. Thehostages included Algerians, as well asforeigners from at least nine countries -including the US, Britain and Japan.

At least 22 hostages are still missing -

eight from Norway and 14 from Japan.Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe

cut short a visit to Indonesia on Friday, re-ports said, to fly home and deal with thehostage crisis in Algeria in which numer-ous Japanese are caught up.

The Japanese government criticisedthe Algerian army for the bloody end tothe hostage crisis.

Japan’s foreign ministry also sum-moned the Algerian ambassador demand-ing answers over the rescue operation

Yoshihide Suga, the Chief CabinetSecretary, said: “There is still much con-fusion in the information but we are re-ceiving reports of casualties. “We deeplyregret the actions taken by the Algerianmilitary.” Communication Minister Mo-hamed Said said troops had been forcedto act after talks with the kidnappersfailed. He said many fighters had beenkilled in the operation at the In Amenasgas field.

Uncertainty over missing Algeria hostages

Multiple casualtiesin Aleppo blast

Netanyahu sayssettlements will notbe dismantledTEL AvIv: Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’sprime minister, has said no settlements inthe occupied West Bank will be dismantledif he wins next week’s general election. Inan interview withIsrael’s Maariv newspaper published onFriday, Netanyahu was asked: “Can youpromise that during the next four years, nosettlement will be dismantled?” “Yes,”Netanyahu answered. “The days whenbulldozers uprooted Jews are behind us,not in front of us. Our record proves it.”“We haven’t uprooted any settlements, wehave expanded them,” he said, recallingthat his government had established thefirst university in asettlement, in Ariel deepin the West Bank.“Nobody has anylessons to give meabout love for theLand of Israel orcommitment toZionism and thesettlements.”Netanyahu wasalluding to thestrong opinion pollshowing of the pro-settler Jewish Home partywhich has beenchampioning acceleratedsettlement expansion and looksset to take seats from the primeminister’s right-wing list inTuesday’s election. AGENCIES

Mali army recaptures keytown from rebelsBAMAKO: The Malian army, supported by Frenchforces, has retaken control of the central town ofKonna which fell to rebel fighters advancing from thenorth earlier this month and sparked France’s militaryintervention. “We have wrested total control of Konnaafter inflicting heavy losses on the enemy,” an armystatement said on Friday. A spokesperson from the al-Qaeda-linked Ansar al-Dine rebel group confirmed toAl Jazeera’s Mohammed Adow that its fighters pulledout of the town.AGENCIES

HARARE AGENCIES

“We are glad to say that we have come tothe conclusion of the exercise and all par-ties are agreed,” Mugabe told a news con-ference at his official residence in thecapital Harare on Thursday after talkswith Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.

The text forms the main element ofkey reforms needed to hold a crediblevote after discredited elections in 2008.

The new basic law would bolster thepower of parliament, set a 10-year presi-dential term limit, and strip away presi-dential immunity. “The finalisation of thedraft is now being made,” said Mugabe.He did not say when a referendum willbe held. The process of drafting the newconstitution, which started more thantwo years ago, was plagued by chronic

delays and violence at public meetings.Tsvangirai’s Movement for DemocraticChange party has already endorsed thetext. “I am glad to say that ... indeed thisconcludes a long journey that we havetravelled in trying to arrive at this na-tional process,” he said. Mugabe andTsvangirai were forced into a power-sharing government in 2009 after thedeadly and disputed poll held the previ-ous year. Their relations have been char-acterised by bickering andcounter-accusations of violence. Mugabewho is 88 and has ruled Zimbabwe sinceindependence in 1980, has insisted onelections being held in March whileTsvangirai wanted reforms first, to allowfor fair and violence-free polls.

Tsvangirai, 60, pulled out of a pres-idential run-off election in 2008, citingthe killing of about 300 supporters.

Zimbabwe rival leadersagree on constitution

AllAHABAD: Hindu priests perform evening rituals

at Sangam, the confluence of the rivers Ganges

and Yamuna and mythical Saraswati, during the

Maha Kumbh Mela in India. AGEnCIES

KHI 19-01-2013_Layout 1 1/19/2013 7:18 AM Page 8

News09Saturday, 19 January, 2013

NEW DELHI ONlINE

PA K I S T A N ’ S High Com-missioner to IndiaSalman Bashir on Thurs-day called for toningdown “Pakistan bashing”

in India following clashes along theLine of Control (LoC) between thetwo armies.

In an interview to an interna-tional news agency, Bashir also reit-erated Pakistan’s offer for foreignminister-level talks to try to cool ten-sions.

“I think it is important not to letthis cycle escalate into somethingwhich becomes even more ugly than

it is today,” Bashir said. “Let’s try tosee if we can cool down and resumenormal business.”

The envoy said instead of in-dulging in “Pakistan bashing”, NewDelhi could have approached Islam-abad to get to the bottom of whathappened instead of “stirring rawemotions and upping the rhetoric”.Bashir was referring to the January 8gruesome killing of two Indian troopson the LoC in Jammu and Kashmir’sPoonch District.

He said that “Pakistan bashinghas become fashionable” in India.

Bashir denied that Pakistanitroops were behind the killing of thesoldiers on the Indian side of the LoC.

“Such heinous acts ... are of

course condemnable irrespective ofwhere they happen and when theyhappen. But to say that these weredone by Pakistan, that the PakistanArmy was responsible, is somethingthat we cannot agree to,” he said.

Bashir said the Pakistani Armyand government could not speculateon who might have been behind theattack.

He pointed to an offer made onWednesday by Foreign Minister HinaRabbani Khar to her Indian counter-part for talks to ratchet down the ten-sion.

“Pakistan definitely desires de-es-calation and definitely feels that theonly way forward is through dia-logue,” he said.

Pakistan bashing has become

fashion in India: Salman Bashirg envoy says Pakistani troops are not behind killing of soldiers on locg Says Pakistan definitely desires de-escalation and feels that only way forward is dialogue

Pakistan mustprobe Khyber Agencydeaths: AmnestyPESHAWAR: Amnesty International onFriday called on the Pakistani authorities toinvestigate and bring anyone identified asresponsible for unlawful killings of 18 peopleto justice in fair trials. On Thursday,protesters gathered outside the residence ofthe Governor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwaprovince and the Peshawar Press Club after 18bodies were found dumped across Baradistrict of Khyber Agency the previous day.Relatives claim the 18 people were shot deadby soldiers of the Frontier Corps, eitherduring or after raids on their homes. Thevictims included seven members of the samefamily. “Our research indicates that bodies ofpeople who have been arrested by the armedforces are being returned to their families orapparently found dumped across the TribalAreas almost every week,” said IsabelleArradon, Amnesty International’s DeputyAsia-Pacific Director. “Unless these deaths areproperly investigated and the perpetratorsbrought to justice – without recourse to thedeath penalty - the cycle of violence willcontinue.” INP

Reopening of CNGoutlets demanded asweather improvesISLAMABAD: The All Pakistan CNGAssociation (APCNGA) on Friday said allCNG stations should be reopened as weatherhas improved. In a statement, APCNGAChairman Abid Hayat said that the extremeweather which had heated up demand fornatural gas had normalised and it calls foran immediate revisit of the CNG schedule.He said that the CNG crisis had shuttransport sector, left millions jobless whileadditional imports of petrol was puttingadditional strain on forex reserves whichwere already below the satisfactory level.The CNG closure has also stoked inflation,eroded currency and disturbed budget ofmiddleclass while the people have been hardhit, he added. Hayat said that Adviser to thePM on Petroleum Dr Asim Hussain hadpromised to reopen all CNG stations onJanuary 21 in accordance with the formertimetable. He said that all CNG outletswhich have been closed by gas utilitycompanies should also be reopened. Hayatsaid that uninterrupted supply of gas toCNG filling stations would relieve masses,transport sector and the owners of theoutlets facing acute uncertainty, adding,“We will be highly thankful to Dr Asim.” Hesaid that energy shortages in the countrycalled for expediting exploration ofhydrocarbons and providing incentives aswell as security to the investors. ONlINE

75% Pakistanissupport Christians’right to build churchesISLAMABAD: As many as 75 percent ofPakistanis have supported the right ofChristians to build churches in the country,revealed the latest survey of Gilani ResearchFoundation Survey conducted earlier thismonth. There is a notable increase in thesupport for the Christians’ right to buildchurches in Muslim countries in the last threeyears. In 2010, 69 percent supported it whichincreased to 75 percent in 2013. The study wasreleased by Gilani Foundation and carried outby Gallup Pakistan, the Pakistani affiliate ofGallup International. The recent survey wascarried out among a sample of 2,660 men andwomen in rural and urban areas of all fourprovinces of the country in December 30, 2012to January 4, 2013. A total of 24 percentbelieved that Christian minority should not beallowed to build churches in Muslim countries,while one percent did not give their views onthe subject. Error margin is estimated to beapproximately = 2-3 percent at 95 percentconfident level. A nationally representativesample of men and women from across thefour provinces was asked, “In your opinionshould the construction of churches be allowedin Muslim countries such as Pakistan whereChristians are a minority”. APP

LAHORE ONlINE

Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Nabeel Gabol on Friday said peace couldnot be established in Karachi until the government carries out General Naseerul-lah Khan Babar-style operation in the city. After a meeting with PML-N Presi-dent Nawaz Sharif in Lahore where he offered condolences over the demise ofAbbas Sharif, he said Karachi had slipped out of the hands of political leaders,adding that the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) was also perturbed over

the situation in the country’s financial capital. TheMNA said he was not acquiring membership of

the PML-N, adding that he was still a law-maker associated with the PPP and wouldnot leave the party until President Asif

Zardari directs him to. The PPP leader saidNawaz Sharif and heads of other political

parties had invited him to join their par-ties. Gabol said he was meeting Nawaz tooffer his condolences on the demise ofAbbas Sharif, adding that his family had

close ties with the Sharifs. Gabol said itwas likely that the upcoming elections inKarachi may get bloody. He said further heenjoyed respect everywhere except withinhis own party (PPP), adding that although

the PML-N chief had offered himthe party ticket, all polit-

ical decisions workwell when they are

made on propertime.

Babar-style operation needed tobring peace to Karachi: Gabolg PPP leader says nawaz Sharif and heads ofother parties have invited him to join their parties

UNITED NATIONSAPP

While the number of deaths due tomeasles around the world has signifi-cantly decreased over the past decade,large outbreaks in certain regions arejeopardising progress, the UN healthagency said on Thursday, adding that im-proved vaccination rates are critical toeliminate the disease.

Between 2000 and 2011, measlesdeaths dropped from 542,000 to158,000 globally, representing a 71 per-cent decrease.

New cases also dropped during thesame period by 58 percent, according tonew data released by the UN WorldHealth Organisation (WHO).

However, the agency warned that de-spite global progress, some populationsremain unprotected, with an estimated20 million children lacking vaccinations.

More than half of them are concen-trated in five countries: Pakistan, theDemocratic Republic of the Congo(DRC), Ethiopia, India and Nigeria.

India has the largest number of un-vaccinated children – 6.7 million fol-lowed by Nigeria and Ethiopia with 1.7million and 1 million, respectively.

In 2011, outbreaks of the diseasewere reported in all five countries, as wellas France, Italy and Spain. Most of thesecountries are in WHO regions whichhave committed to eliminating measlesby 2015 or 2020.

“The measles outbreaks pose a seri-ous challenge to the regional eliminationefforts and signal where national healthsystems and routine immunisation pro-grammes need strengthening,” WHOstated in a news release.

KASUR: Another child died ofmeasles in Kasur on Friday raising thedeath toll to three in a week. Threenephews and one niece of Bilal Ahmed,a traffic warden, had contractedmeasles a week ago. They were rushedto a local doctor but Ahmed and Ijaddied with an interval of two days. Later,the other two children Azam andTayyeba were admitted to Kasur DHQHospital on Thursday but Azam diedon Friday due to non-availability ofproper vaccine in the hospital. Thethree children were laid to rest inBhasarpura graveyard. Bilal hadappealed to the authorities concernedto take proper steps to stop the spreadof the deadly disease in the area, butthe children still did not get propercare. Tayyeba is suffering from measlesand is struggling for life for the last fourdays. STAFF REPORT

Measles deaths decline, but outbreak in

some regions jeopardising progress: UN

Another childdies of measlesin Kasur

PESHAWAR: Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam supporters on Friday protest outside the press club against the mysterious killings of 18 tribesmen of Bara tehsil. INP

KHI 19-01-2013_Layout 1 1/19/2013 7:18 AM Page 9

Saturday, 19 January, 2013Comment10

Arif NizamiEditor

Lahore – Ph: 042-36375963-5 Fax: 042-32535230Karachi – Ph: 021-35381208-9 Fax: 021-35381208

Islamabad – Ph: 051-2287273Web: www.pakistantoday.com.pk

Email: editorial@pakistantoday.com.pk

Dedicated to the legacy of the late Hameed Nizami

Maturity of political actors spelt demagogue’s defeat

was the game worth the candle?

Tahirul Qadri’s so-called ‘million march’ has ended in a fiasco.Despite the fig leaf of a face saver, none of his major demands hasfound acceptance. The government has said no to the dismissal ofthe assemblies, resignation by the cabinet, disbanding of the

Election Commission and a role for the army and judiciary in the formationof the caretaker setup and the EC. Qadri was made to eat a humble pie byaccepting a vague date for the dissolution of the assemblies, alreadyconceded by Khurshid Shah, and a concession that he could suggest twonames for a caretaker prime minister with the PPP having the mandate towithdraw those during the mandatory consultation with the opposition. Hehad to retreat on the demand to give the EC 90 days to scrutinise theeligibility of the contestants and agree to a 30-day limit. A conceited Qadriwho had challenged the legitimacy of the government calling cabinetmembers ‘former ministers’ must have had to swallow hard during andpost-negotiations charade of showing camaraderie and respect for them.He had to enter into a deal with a prime minister he had only a day earlierwanted to be removed and sent to jail. While leaderless protestorscontinued to occupy Cairo’s Tahrir Square for 18 days and ended the sit-inonly after the removal of Hosni Mubarak, Qadri was issuing ferventappeals to President Zadari to send a delegation over only after four days.

The debacle of Qadri’s so-called ‘four million march’ should discourageany potential adventurer from undertaking an exercise of the sort in future.This should meanwhile lead his idealistic followers to ponder over whetherthe achievements of the march were worth putting the lives of thousands ofmen, women and children at stake. What was the whole nation plungedinto anxiety over its future for, and was it worth wasting four days of thenation, with businesses and stock market taking such a serious hit?

The government deserves credit for skilfully bringing the sit-in to an endwithout the slightest use of force. Dispersing a big crowd of highly chargedactivists which included a fairly large number of women and childrenthrough conventional coercive methods could have had unpredictableconsequences. Credit is also due to Mian Nawaz Sharif, for he displayedstatesmanship, rallying the entire opposition behind him in defence of thesystem. Nawaz’s nous, along with the coalition sticking together in the enddespite two of its member wavering initially, took the wind out of the sailsof those conspiring to upset the applecart. Imran Khan also deserves kudosfor refusing to accept Qadri’s last ditch appeal to join the sit-in.

This maturity and calm by all political actors across the aisle bodes wellfor the democracy taking firm root. Yet there is a need on the part of allmajor parties to continue mutual cooperation in the days to come tostrengthen the system. While Qadri’s PAT should be encouraged to takepart in elections, mainstream parties stand to harm themselves if they wereto close their eyes to Qadri’s murky politics.

A dream that has lost its meaning - and much of its relevance

Dented faith, waning hopeCandid CornerBy Raoof Hasan

There should be little ambigu-ity about one thing now.When it comes to defending

a corrupt and decrepit system, allstakeholders who are its direct andindirect beneficiaries would con-verge leaving aside their bitter ri-valries and animosities. Thecoalition partners on the one handand the opposition parties on theother joined across all divides inthis unprincipled and humiliatingspectacle to lay claim on being theanointed custodians of the coun-try’s destiny and to challenge amove ostensibly aimed at highlight-ing the fickleness of their beliefsand the hollowness of their claims.

Tahirul Qadri may have goneoverboard in his oratorical exhor-tations stretching over hours, theformulation, branding and packag-ing of his demands and the imme-diacy of timing that he set for theiracceptance, but he succeeded inpinpointing some of the inherentflaws that plague the prevalentelectoral system so critical for theadvent of a genuine democraticpolity in the country. The composi-tion of the Election Commissionwith its gross political undertonesand the manner of the formation ofthe interim government that wouldbe vested with the responsibility ofholding the next elections consti-

tute the core of the problem.On the face of it – and which he

was able to highlight in his multiplemasterly addresses – the steps lead-ing up to the elections have been soengineered that they would solelyserve the interests of the establishedpolitical mafias. Consequently, itwas strange to witness that even thejunior partners in the loot spreesprang to the defence of the systemwith alacrity and zest. May be this isbecause they would not like to riskwhat they have so assiduously se-cured under the corrupt incumbentaberration to any possible prospectsunder a more efficient and trans-parent dispensation. So they allclung together like forlorn partnersgrieving tearfully over years of sep-aration. It was one big show ofhypocrisy in defending the systemwith all its attendant shortcomingsand ills lest the cleric may succeedin spearheading a movement forchanging it for the general better-ment of the people. In essence, itwas self-interest overshadowing anyprospect for institutional correctionand public welfare.

While the attitude of the politi-cal parties that are part of the par-liament was understandable, it isthe approach of those that are notrepresented in the legislatures thatwas mindboggling. One under-

stands that their avowed commit-ment to ‘democracy’ springs from aperception that the stakeholders ofthe current system would allowthem space either in formulatingthe rules leading up to the elections,the putting together of various insti-tutions that would be vested withthe task of conducting the exerciseor the manner in which the statemachinery would be used to influ-ence the outcome. This espousal of‘democracy’ could also spring fromthe notion that they would be ableto lead a charge converting the ap-parent surge on ground directly intoseats in the legislatures. So theychose the path of elections preced-ing any possible reform. Both theseassumptions could prove to begrossly erroneous. But, if and whenrealised, they will neither have theadvantage of time nor the willing-ness of people to support theircause. They did not have to jump onthe Tahirul Qadri bandwagon, butthey could have extended support inmultiple ways to highlight the gen-uine failings of the system that thecleric had set out to do. They mayrue the lost prospect in not utilisinga window of opportunity that wascreated. Or, was it just a question ofwho leads the charge?

In the process, it is the possibil-ity of alienation for the genuine

democratic forces that would bemost damaging for the country.While the traditional mafias, bothin the ruling coalition and the op-position, would continue to negoti-ate and secure their respectivepound of flesh, it is the forces lead-ing a movement for change thatwould likely be left out in the cold.Every political activity like the oneled by Tahirul Qadri is usually fol-lowed with a level of exhaustionand inertia which take a while towear off. Also, if any such move-ment ends in a victory for the sta-tus quo represented by the rulingforces – as has actually happenedin the current instance – it is alsofollowed with heightened cynicismwhich greets every new initiativeon the anvil. So, those desirous of achange will have to wait their timeout to re-cultivate receptivitywhich may take years in coming. Inthe intermediary, they may them-selves fade away as victims of thelargesse so benevolently bestowedby a corrupt system and its clevermachinations. So the cumulativeloss would be manifold that willhave to be borne out not only bythe political players who fail thepeople, but the whole country.

Whatever else may or may nothave happened, the Tahirul Qadriphenomenon has effectively high-

lighted the drawbacks of the sys-tem and the manner in which it islikely to be manipulated to the ad-vantage of the incumbent benefici-aries. There is little room that willbe afforded to any newcomers un-less they strike a deal in advance tofurther promote the corrupt systemand to boost its relevance. In theaftermath of the failure of the longmarch, any such prospects wouldalso diminish as, gloating in thesunshine of their success, the in-cumbent mafias would be loath toshare their pound of flesh with anynew kids on the block.

These are sad times for thecountry as also for the people whohave genuinely craved and strug-gled for the advent of change. Theirfaith would be badly shaken andtheir commitment mortally dented.Worse still, they are likely to losehope in the prospect of thingschanging for the better. It is in theshadows of this waning hope thatwe may have to survive for a verylong time to come.

Postscript: Ironically, in theend, Tahirul Qadri became a victimof the very demon he had set out tovanquish: “siyasat”.

The writer is a politicalanalyst. He can be reached at:raoofhasan@hotmail.com

Internally, Pakistan is in a state ofconstant turmoil. Rampant ter-rorist attacks, political assassina-tions and target killings have nowbecome the norm rather than the

exception.Although Allama Tahirul Qadri’s cir-

cus in Islamabad has ended after thecleric was given a face saver by the gov-ernment, the damage has been done.

Ostensibly the democratic system andAsif Ali Zardari are the winners in the firstround. But a most dangerous precedenthas been set: any well-financed rabble-rouser with the help of his sizable follow-ers in tow can invade the federal capital,making an elected government virtuallyhostage to his amorphous demands.

While the government was runningaround dealing with the appended conse-quences of the long march, an externalcrisis on its eastern borders erupted fromnowhere, leading to the extent that For-eign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar had tobitterly complain about the hostility em-anating from across the border.

Thankfully, Pakistan and Indian Di-rector Generals of Military Operations(DGMOs) have mutually decided to reducetensions on the Jammu and Kashmir Lineof Control (LoC). But it will take a while toreset India-Pakistan relations to the levelbefore the recent skirmishes in Kashmir.

The uneasy peace that prevailed sincethe 2003 ceasefire agreement was rudelyshattered earlier in the month when the In-dian forces infiltrated Pakistani territory,killing one soldier and injuring another. Inretaliation, Pakistani soldiers crossed theLoC killing two Indian soldiers.

According to the Indian officials, oneof the soldiers was beheaded and muti-lated by the Pakistani forces, a charge vo-ciferously denied by Islamabad. Whateverthe truth, there has been outrage in India.

In abundance in both sides of the di-vide, the hawks have prevailed over the

doves. The Indian army chief has threat-ened to retaliate “at the time and place ofits choosing” – a chilling word-for-wordreplication of Lal Bahadur Shastri’s warn-ing immediately before the 1965 war.

The political leadership in India aftershowing initial restraint has also kowtowedto the jingoists’ calls for revenge. The nor-mally restrained Indian Prime MinisterManmohan Singh has declared that it canno longer be ‘business as usual’ with Pak-istan, also announcing suspension of thepainstakingly crafted new visa regime be-tween New Delhi and Islamabad the veryday it was scheduled to be operative.

With the extremist Shiv Sena spewingmenace, the Pakistani hockey playerssigned up to play in the newly-launchedprofessional league matches in Indiahave been sent packing back home, os-tensibly owing to safety concerns. Partic-ipation of the Pakistani women’s cricketteam in the ICC World Cup, scheduled tobe held in Mumbai at the end of themonth, is also in jeopardy.

All this is symptomatic of the fragilenature of India-Pakistan relations.Though Ajmal Kasab, the lone survivinggunman of 26/11, has been convictedand hanged, New Delhi is still fixatedupon Pakistan handing over perpetra-tors of the Mumbai carnage.

India also wants Pakistan to restrainmilitant outfits like the Lashkar-e-Taiba(LeT) which it alleges is operating withimpunity across the LoC. Islamabad, onthe other hand, perhaps considering theLeT chief Hafiz Saeed as a strategic ally,is reluctant to do so. Its official positionremains that the cleric, who misses noopportunity to bait India, is merelydoing charity work and that he has bro-ken no laws in Pakistan.

New Delhi also wants Islamabad togrant it the Most Favoured Nation(MFN) status without further procrasti-nation. At the same time, though, it isnot willing to have meaningful talks onmajor outstanding issues like Kashmir,Sir Creek or Siachen.

It has been proved time and again thatunless there are result-oriented talks onthe core issues, CBMs like trade and visaregime will not work on their own. NewDelhi is not willing to discuss the status ofKashmir which it considers non-nego-tiable. Different formulas short of self-de-termination for the Kashmiris have beenfruitlessly put on the table over the years.

Khurshid Kasuri, Pakistan’s foreignminister under Musharraf, claims a for-mula had been agreed upon. But before it

could be sealed, Musharraf’s quasi-mili-tary regime was destabilised as a result ofthe lawyers’ movement in 2007.

The bottom line, however, remainsthat any arrangement on Kashmir wouldnot fly unless it has the backing of thepeople. It is strange that the militaryunder Musharraf was playing ball withIndia through back channel diplomacybut plays an obstructionist role when theshoe is on the other foot.

The jihadists, on the other hand, afterbeing nurtured for Kashmir have turnedagainst their erstwhile mentors. The Pak-istani military having lost almost threethousand men fighting terrorism in thepast two years faces an existential threatfrom the militants.

Under Musharraf, the architect of thedisastrous Kargil misadventure, thingswere different. Now it no longer servesPakistan’s interests or that of the peacein the subcontinent to back them. Eventhe military has amended its Green Bookto declare that internal terrorism is a big-ger threat than India.

The PPP-led coalition is too busy deal-ing with multifarious internal challenges.Apart from the recent shenanigans of themaverick Sufi cleric Tahirul Qadri, a fail-ing economy, instability in Balochistanand an increasingly hostile Supreme Courtare threatening its very existence.

Across the border, ManmohanSingh’s government is also weak and be-leaguered. The Indian prime minister,caving under the pressure of the hardlinerBJP and a belligerent army chief, had nooption but to take a hard line on Pakistan.Although the term of the Congress-ledUnited Front government ends next year,it is already in the general elections mode.

For both India and Pakistan, this ishardly the time to have meaningful talks.As Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Kharhas stated, foreign minister level talkscan help to diffuse the tension in the air.Judging from the temper in New Delhi, itis however unlikely that India would evenagree to foreign ministers of the twocountries meeting any time soon.

The recent imbroglio has inexorablyset the clock back on bilateral relationsbetween the two nuclear powers. Scut-tling the new visa regime between Indiaand Pakistan by Manmohan Singh is areal setback. And it will be a miracle if sta-tus quo ante is restored until general elec-tions are held and new governments areput in office in both Pakistan and India.

The writer is Editor, Pakistan Today

Hostility across the borderIt’ll take time for the frost to thaw

By Arif Nizami

KHI 19-01-2013_Layout 1 1/19/2013 7:18 AM Page 10

Thank God, Tahirul Qadri’s cir-cus has finally ended withoutany untoward incident and

without the postponement of generalelections, that some like to call the de-railment of democracy, which was thereal agenda of Shiekh-ul-Islam.

Tahirul Qadri started with someseemingly innocent and genuine de-mands regarding reforms in the pres-ent electoral system. These appearedto be legal at the first glance. But ac-tually, most of these were unconstitu-tional which he, using his skills ofmob oratory and verbosity, camou-flaged like democratic and constitu-tional requirements that, according tohim, the government and opposition(meaning Nawaz Sharif) had plannedto violate. This wasn’t the case. But hemade people believe it was.

The functional parts in his de-mands’ list were; reforms before elec-tions, disbanding the ElectionCommission of Pakistan, screeningout the ‘corrupt’ candidates beforeelections, the inclusion of armedforces and judiciary in the consulta-tion process for the formation of care-taker government and, if needed,giving an extended period to it.

But why did he insist on the inclu-sion of armed forces and judiciary inthe formation of the next caretakersetup? And what could have beenachieved through postponement ofelections and giving an extended time(some said about two years) to it?Many of the political observers believethat his real agenda was to help theformation of a caretaker setup whichwould be ready to do the establish-ment’s bidding during that extendedperiod. This was the real purpose ofthe hullabaloo which he created on thesurface. The ‘extended period’ of the

caretakers could have been used to runa vicious character assassination cam-paign against the politicians, particu-larly the leadership of PPP andPML-N. Because, if held within thestipulated period, PPP and PML-N canwin substantial seat in these elections.

It was also possible that a decisivemilitary action would have beenlaunched against the homegrown aswell as foreign terrorists, resultantlybringing peace within the country andthe region (but depriving the politi-cians of any credit). It would havebrought not only domestic law andorder situation under control but alsopacified the US-led international pow-ers, currently involved in Afghanistan.Hence, silence over the virtual takeoverof the capital by a mullah of the ‘mostdangerous country’ in the world.

To achieve his real objectives, theman from Canada not only wishedthe constitution trampled but alsoappeared to have taken control of Is-lamabad, the moment he landed inthe capital. This was such ominousand dreadful a time when he pro-nounced the demise of parliamentand the government of the day. Andnot only this, he tried to virtuallytakeover Islamabad by ordering hisworkers to take the responsibility ofprotection of the city into their ownhands. This made the people shud-der. Thankfully, realising his strengththe other day, TQ didn’t re-empha-sise this obsession of his, and anoverall chaos was narrowly averted.

The whole operation was so well-scripted and the planners so confidentof its success that Tahirul Qadristarted his first formal speech on themorning of January 15, by addressingthe international community, outlin-ing the charter of ‘his’ government. Hesaid, ‘Pakistan wanted peace withinand peace without’, and that the coun-try wanted to bring an end to the pre-vailing extremism and terrorism. Thiswas a clear message to the interna-tional players about the intentionsand resolve of the future rulers and aneffort to lure them into this dangerousgame of sidelining democracy onceagain. It was ironical to observe thatdespite all their commitment todemocracy and democratically electedgovernment, they became ‘silent spec-tators’ and let a mullah try his best toderail the democratic system using re-ligion once more. So much for theiradherence to democratic values!

The Maulana, from then on, flew

higher and higher, with his stance anddemands becoming more and morerigid. Coupled with the SupremeCourt’s decision in Rental Power Proj-ects case, the government appeared tobe on its last legs and the countryseemed entering a political cul-de-sac.Some of the analysts were of the viewthat three factors could save the coun-try’s democratic dispensation: a) un-equivocal and unconditional unity andsupport of all the political forces andparties across the political spectrum;b) building a strong public opinionagainst what was going on by themedia; and c) the role of the judiciaryin supporting the system. Though theSC’s decision helped temporarily ag-gravating the uncertainty, most of themedia outlets came in the openagainst the dubious Shiekh-ul-Islamand his nefarious agenda.

But the events took a decisive turnwhen all the major opposition parties’representatives gathered at Raiwindon Jan 16 and came out with a unitedstand against any effort to derail thesystem at a juncture when the peoplewere about to exercise their demo-cratic right and change the govern-ment through ballot. By the evening,Imran Khan’s PTI also made a finaldecision not to participate in TuQ’slong march. This took the wind out ofthe sails of the long march and itsoriginators and proponents. TheMaulana tried to keep his wits, puttingup a brave face before his supporters,but desperation was writ large on it.

Now that a so-called IslamabadLong March Declaration has beensigned and the Maulana is on his wayto the dustbin of history, let’s seebriefly what good and bad this episodehas given to politics, democracy andthe state. Looking at it in retrospect,this long march has the potential toset a new trend of assembling a fewthousand people by anyone (even a

foreign national), storming the capitalof the country and then asking for themoon at gun point. This, surely, willnot be healthy. But then, the futuregovernments, learning from it, mayalso not let it happen.

There are many lessons to belearnt. First, that no one should try infuture to fabricate a scenario which isnot real, no matter how many re-sources and manpower one has at hisdisposal. Second, no political govern-ment should try to take democracy,power and support of the people forgranted. Third, government and op-position political parties should notlet their mutual divide become so un-bridgeable that it jeopardises thedemocratic system itself. Fourth, thefuture elected governments shouldtry to address the real problems ofthe populace and let the fruits ofdemocracy trickle down to the grass-roots. Fifth, the future government,while keeping the rest of the politicalparties on board, should assert itselfvis-à-vis the military. If history is anyguide then trying to appease the gen-erals by compromising on basic dem-ocratic principles and surrenderingto them the right of decision makingin key areas, has delivered nothing ei-ther to the government of the day orto the country.

All is well that ends well. It is reallypleasant to see the long march partici-pants go back to their homes safe andsound. The long march has reallyhelped us take a step forward in thedemocratic direction – though it wasn’tits real purpose. And last but not theleast, let’s hope it was the last effort ofundemocratic forces to once againforce their will on the people in thename of corruption, accountability,democracy and religion. Let’s hope thattheir fate in politics is sealed forever.

The writer is a freelance columnist.

all is well that ends well. it is really pleasant to see the long

march participants go back to their homes safe and sound. the

long march has really helped us take a step forward in the

democratic direction – though it wasn’t its real purpose. and

last but not the least, let’s hope it was the last effort of

undemocratic forces to once again force their will on the people

in the name of corruption, accountability, democracy and

religion. let’s hope that their fate in politics is sealed forever.

Saturday, 19 January, 2013Comment 11

whitelIES

For feedback, comments, suggestions and,most importantly, tips, contact us at

whitelies@pakistantoday.com.pk

By apollo

Sale! Sale! Sale!

Abullet-proof, water-proof container,rigged with heaters, TVs, internetfacilities, modern geyser-fitted

bathrooms is available for sale.Almost mint condition. Owner moving

abroad.Ideal for political rallies, sit-ins and – why

the hell not – romantic dates.For sale on OLX!As they say in the OLX ads: barri barri

baatein karte thay!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

In the aforementioned container, thenegotiating team was a bit larger than theone previously decided by the

government. Crucial in the parley was Q manMushahid Hussain.

The former information minister had onething in common with TuQ: they werecolleagues at the Punjab University, him atthe political science department and thebullet-proof monk at the law department.And, incidentally, both of them were in theanti-IJT camp. Perhaps this connection wasplayed upon.

Mushahid was also the one who draftedthe now historic Container Declaration. Butthe document was constantly being amendedby TuQ’s son and daughter-in-law, who werein the container throughout. Why were theythere? To participate in the struggle againstdynastic politics.

Post-script: TuQ wasn’t too good a hostfor the five-hour marathon negotiationsession. Just a cup of tea. And, as it was writlarge on some of the governmentrepresentatives’ faces: it wasn’t their cup of tea.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

All western nations issue travel advisorydirectives to their nationals. One threatlevel pertains to the discouraging of

Non-Essential Travel to a particular country.In light of the recent tension, the

Canadian government also issued a no Non-Essential Travel advisory to its citizens inPakistan. Which is ironic, because the wholething started because of a Canadian national’snon-essential travel to Pakistan.

The farce has ended

Let’s hail democracy

By Saleem A Sethi

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ELTOn John and his husband David Furnish are

the epitome of a modern family. The two, who

were married in a civil ceremony in 2005,

welcomed their second son, Elijah Joseph Daniel, via a

surrogate on January 11 and gave the little bundle of

joy the last name of Furnish-John. unfortunately for

the couple – and other same-sex couples just like them

– the government has yet to fully catch up to what is

considered “the new normal” and birth certificates still

only allow for there to be one mother and one father ...

not two dads. So just like they did with first son,

Zachary, the “Piano Man” singer is listed as little Elijah’s

father … and Furnish is listed as mother. So does that

mean John, 65, is the boy’s true biological father? He

and Furnish have yet to say, but the birth certificate’s

information could simply be a formality. NEWS dESK

who’s the ‘mother’ on eltonnewborn son’s birth certificate?

ALICIA Keys is adding her voice to the Super

bowl show. The Grammy-winning R&b singer

has been lined up to perform the national

anthem before the nFL championship game on Feb. 3 in

new Orleans, a person familiar with Super bowl

entertainment plans told The Associated Press on Friday.

The person spoke on condition of anonymity because

the nFL has not yet announced the anthem singer. Keys,

who turns 32 next week, released her fifth studio album,

“Girl on Fire,” late last year. The Super bowl teams will

be determined this Sunday, when the San Francisco

49ers play the Atlanta Falcons in the nFC championship

game, and the baltimore Ravens face the new England

Patriots in the AFC championship game. NEWS dESK

BOLLyWOOD heartthrob Ranbir Kapoor says a

lot of people help an actor in delivering a

powerful performance but they remain

unsung, while the actors walk away with all the

accolades. “Actors get too much credit. I am sitting

here talking about acting, but there is so much that

goes behind us. There is a director, writers,

cinematographer, lighting, makeup, background

music,” Ranbir said during a conversation with

Anupam Kher at the latter’s acting school. Ranbir

himself got oodles of accolades for playing a deaf

and mute fun loving guy in “barfi!” which also won

him the best actor award. “(While shooting) I can

just sit and the camera moves towards me and there

is a sad music playing, that can portray so many

emotions, and the audience thinks, ‘Wow what a

performance he has given’. NEWS dESK

alicia keys to sing superBowl anthem

actors get too much credit:ranbir kapoor

Saturday, 19 January, 2013

Charlie Sheen and Lindsay Lohan only spent one daytogether filming “Scary Movie 5” in

September, but that didn’t stop himfrom gifting the actress with a

$100,000 check – and now he’sexplaining why he did it.The “Anger Management” startells The Daily Beast producers

offered him $500,000 to playhimself for just a few hoursin the spoof film … until

they decided to hireLohan. Then, he wasinformed his salary

would be cut to$250,000 in order to

also pay the actress,with whom he

shared a comedicbedroom scene.

But whenSheen askedLohan whatshe wasearning andshe replied

only$100,000, the

numbers didn’t add up.“So I just gave her $100,000

of their money,” he says, “Paying it

forward.” And the financially-strapped 26-year-oldgladly paid the sum forward to Uncle Sam, although itjust barely made a dent in the $233,904 she owes inback taxes from over a period of years, beginning in2009. And how did Lohan show her gratitude toSheen? She didn’t … until three months later, inDecember, and only after he publicly complained thatshe never even said “thank you” for the check he hadmailed to her. According to TMZ, she sent a belatedbouquet of flowers to his L.A. home.Lohan’s lack of appreciation probably didn’t surpriseSheen, who also told the Daily Beast that she hadn’tbeen very friendly on-set – which she only made it toafter the producers, had to send her a private jetbecause she missed a commercial flight from New YorkCity to Atlanta “I felt bad for her,” Sheen says. “I waswith some of her team the night before making sureshe got on this plane, and all I wanted to do wasrehearse the scene with her one-on-one because I havea lot of experience in this genre. But I couldn’t get herto rehearse it, so we only met in the makeup trailerabout five minutes before shooting. She was shy andvulnerable, but her instincts are dead on.”Interestingly enough, it seems there was very littlechit-chat in between takes, too. Although Sheen andLohan certainly have lots in common, especiallypartying and getting second chances in Hollywood, headds that she didn’t ask for any pointers on repairingher image. “I was hoping that she would pick my braina little bit on the set. That’s the one thing that wasreally missing from the experience.” NeWS DeSK

charlie sheen explains why hegave lindsay lohan $100k

Can you believe it’s been almost fiveyears since Heath Ledger’s sudden andtragic death? In honor of the sad anniver-sary, the Oscar winner’s parents Sally andKim spoke with Australian magazine NewIdea (via RadarOnline) about their son’sdeath, as well as their adorable grand-child, Matilda, who’s now 7 years old.

If you recall, Ledger died at age 28 onJanuary 22, 2008, of an accidental over-dose, leaving behind little Matilda and hermom, ex-girlfriend Michelle Williams. Butanyone who’s ever looked at a photo ofMatilda would agree that Ledger lives on– she looks exactly like him. “Matilda isindeed very much like her dad – she haslong limbs and similar features,” SallyLedger told the magazine. “However, shealso possesses the beauty of her mamma –lucky girl.” “Matilda has the same walk asHeath and is such a respectful little kid –she calls us ‘Papa’ and ‘Grandma Sal,’”

Heath’s father added. “Our family has themost wonderful relationship with bothMatilda and Michelle. We talk frequentlyand visit as often as we can.”

For her part, Williams appears to be ina happy place, having maintained a seem-ingly strong relationship with Jason Segelfor nearly a year. Back in April, a sourcetold Us Weekly that Matilda “loves Jason”and soon after adorable pictures of the twoof them playing in the park hit the Web.Matilda stands to inherit all of her father’sfinancial legacy. “Our family has giftedeverything to Matilda,” Kim told People in2008. “That was the plan from the mo-ment my boy passed away. There wasnever any question about the fact thatHeath’s estate would go to Matilda.” Need-less to say, Heath continues to be missedby those whose lives he touched, but itwarms our hearts to see his family thriv-ing. NeWS DeSK

Heath Ledger’s parents speak outon 5th anniversary of his death

New birthday, new presidentialterm … new ‘do for First LadyMichelle Obama! The POTUS’ wifedebuted the look – straight,shoulder-length hair with bangsand some face-framing fringe – onThursday (her 49th birthday) in aphoto she posted on her newTwitter account. Mrs. Obama, whonormally sports a sleek style with aside part or a swept back look, alsodonned a red-and-pink Zac Posen

creation in the shot, a candid of herchatting with Inaugural citizen co-chair David Hall about Monday’sMartin Luther King Jr. Day ofService. And the people havespoken! The majority of those whoreplied to @FLOTUS on Twittervoted that the new look was quitean improvement with more than300 retweets and favorites. “HappyBirthday, and great hair,” tweetedlea_artz. Monday, of course, will@‏

also be busy for the First Family sinceit’s the inauguration of PresidentBarack Obama. Nearly 800,000people are expected to descend uponWashington, D.C.’s National Mall towatch him be sworn in for his secondterm. Also on hand for the festivitieswill be Beyonce, who will sing thenational anthem, and Kelly Clarkson,who will serenade the president andfirst lady with “My Country ‘Tis ofThee.” NeWS DeSK

Michelle obama debuts bangin’new ‘do on her birthday

Michael J Fox does not want

taylor swiFt to date his sonWith age comes wisdom, and Michael J. Fox has the goodsense to listen to Tina Fey. Recall last week’sGolden Globe Awards, when Fey took aplayful jab at serial dater Taylor Swift,telling her to stay away from the “Backto the Future” star’s 23-year-old son,Sam? Well, Fox was payingattention. Vulture caught up withthe 51-year-old actor at a booklaunch party in New YorkCity, and told the website thathe wouldn’t approve ofTaylor Swift dating his son.“I don’t keep up with it all.But Taylor Swift writessongs about everybody shegoes out with, right?” heasked, adding, “What a wayto build a career.” Fox reallydoesn’t keep up with therumblings of youngHollywood, as he admittedthat if his son brought herhome, he probablywouldn’t even know whoshe was — but he’dprobably be ableto put two and twotogether if he heardthe inveitablesong Swiftwould penabout theromance.“Yeah,exactly,”he said.“‘Sam,You Pieceof Shit.’ Oh… that was thegirl you brought home. NeWS DeSK

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ACTOR Saif Ali Khan, who will be seen next in

Race 2, says he was influenced by actor John

Abraham while doing the action scenes in the

film. “While playing the same character was

mentally easier, it was physically more demanding,

as this one has far more action. We were on a very

Spartan diet and John (Abraham) was a real

influence on us. We worked really hard, which is why

I can now relax and have a beer in London,” says

Saif, who will return as Ranvir Singh in the sequel to

the 2008 hit- Race. “Sequels are quite fashionable

now and the pressure was on to make this a cooler

and better film. The story has a slight thread of the

first film but it is not necessary to have seen Race to

enjoy Race 2,” he adds. NEWS dESK

John was a real influence:saif ali khan

TV and film producer Ekta Kapoor is known

for her obsession with the letter ‘K’ and is

often called superstitious. However, she says

these are only her beliefs. “I actually don’t think I

am very superstitious because I think I have very

strong beliefs. It depends on how you look at a

belief. If you don’t believe, for you it’s superstition.

If I believe, for me, it’s my belief,” the 37-year-old

said at the first look launch of her co-production “

Ek Thi Daayan”. “I really don’t think I can scale

myself on 1-10 (scale), that’s not my job. Anyone

else has full right to scale me as very superstitious,

slightly superstitious, not superstitious. For me, it

will still be my belief,” she added. NEWS dESK

JEnnIFER Lopez may have moments of doubt

over her future with boyfriend Casper Smart, but

she must not have that much doubt. The pair

have made a serious commitment together… to raising

a puppy! Lopez, 43, and Smart, 25, welcomed the

boxer pup named bear publicly earlier this week via

Twitter. “Introducing the new addition to the family….

‘bEAR,” Smart wrote alongside a photo and hashtags

#WelcomeHome and #Happy. Lopez seconded the

sentiment, adding, “So happy! Lilbabybear. Could get

confusing Lol!” The confusion she’s referring to is the

name. Lopez and Smart have confessed to calling each

other “bear,” so naming their pooch that could indeed

create some interesting moments at home.J.Lo is

already quite attached to the adorable puppy, as she

brought him along for the ride during her appearance

on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” Thursday night. NEWS dESK

i’m not superstitious, i onlyhave beliefs: ekta kapoor

Jennifer lopez and caspersmart commit… to a pooch

Saturday, 19 January, 2013

kidman on her children and scientology: i utterly respect their beliefs All that Scientology controversythat’s re-emerged as of late?Nicole Kidman can’t be botheredwith it. The Hollywood Reporterrecently asked the Oscar-winningactress to discuss ex-husbandTom Cruise’s ties to Scientologyand whether the religion didindeed lead to their divorce in2001. She’s been notoriouslysilent about Scientology sincetheir split, and she didn’t budgemuch when pressed by THR. Themagazine recently published anexcerpt from Pulitzer-winningnonfiction writer lawrenceWright’s Scientology exposé book“Going Clear.” In it, Wrightdiscusses Kidman and Cruise’smarriage extensively, blaming the

“cult” religion for their divorce.“I’ve chosen not to speak publiclyabout Scientology,” Kidman saidwhen probed. “I have twochildren [adopted with Cruise]who are Scientologists — Connor[17] and Isabella [20] — and Iutterly respect their beliefs.” Thisis a bit of a 180 for Kidman, whoin the wake of the divorce in 2001insisted that her children notsubscribe to Cruise’s religion. The“Moulin Rouge!” actress had leftScientology prior to the couple’sdivorce. Wright’s book, alongwith a recent Vanity Fair exposé,claim that Scientology turned herchildren against her, a notion thatKidman would neither confirmnor deny to THR. NeWS DeSK

LENA DUNHAM: despite the latest news my fatherwill not stop using lancearmstrong as an adjective forstrength and determination.

RITA WILSON:cheat ( noun) a person who behavesdishonestly in order to gain anadvantage. lance left out the“behaves dishonestly” part, right?

PIERS MORGAN: the fact @lancearmstrong admitshe had to look up what the word‘cheat’ means, says all you needto know about the man.

MATTHEW PERRy: a lot of sports journalists werequestioning if oprah had what ittakes to thoroughly interviewlance armstrong.

ALBERT BROOKS:would love to see lancearmstrong and Barry Bonds dothe odd couple on Broadway.

SETH MEyERS: say what you will, he’s still the lance armstrong of d*ckheads.

ANDERSON COOPER: “it didn’t feel wrong” he didn’tfeel bad. he didn’t feel he was cheating.

MICHAEL IAN BLACK: if oprah’s smart, she’ll have Jamesfrey come out and give lance a hug.

STEvE MARTIN: Bad day: spent it on a 787dreamliner with lance armstrongand Manti te’o’s ex girlfriend.

JACK OSBOURNE: honestly i don’t care that lance doped. hegave people hope and that’s moreimportant then anything. so what if he lied.

JOSH GROBAN: i’m just bummed i wasn’t askedto sing on this episode. #oprah

RASHIDA JONES:great day for liars! they aredominating the news today.#congratsUsa

celeBrities weigh in on lance arMstrong’s confessionin case you missed it, lance armstrong finally admitted he was doping during his storied cycling career. But, you live in the modern age oftweet or it didn’t happen and, since the story practically broke the internet, we know you know. and you weren’t the only ones tweeting aboutit. since armstrong was such a huge star with so many celebrity fans and friends, the twitterverse was exploding during his big interview withoprah winfrey on thursday night. we thought we’d save you the grunt work and share some of the (mostly hilarious) highlights.

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Let’s hope subway-pushing isn’t turning intoa horrific trend: After beating a woman at aPhiladelphia subway station, a man draggedher by the ankle and tossed her onto thesubway tracks Tuesday afternoon, ABC’slocal affiliate reports. In this case, however,the woman survived with just some bruises.The whole thing was caught on surveillancevideo—including the suspect’s snatching ofthe woman’s phone.

Police have now arrested the man, whowas wearing a unique jacket, they say. Themotive remains unclear; police say the manis mentally challenged, the Philadelphia

Daily News reports. He reportedly ap-proached the victim asking for a lighter, andgrabbed her after she provided it. “ThankGod she wasn’t knocked unconscious in thattrack area,” says the transport police chief.It’s also good she didn’t touch the electricalthird rail: “If you touch that third rail, youdie.” Click through for some rather disturb-ing video. In other happier subway news, aNew York subway driver brought his train toa sudden, life-saving halt when a woman ap-peared on the tracks; she’d had a seizure atthe station and fallen down. Check out thephoto at Mashable. NEWS dESK

FACEBOOK is quietlyrolling out a newfeature that couldf u n d a m e n t a l l ychange the way you

make calls. A free call buttonhas appeared in Facebook’sMessenger app for iPhone, al-lowing users to place a callover Wi-Fi or their cellulardata network to their friends,the Verge reports. Facebook

had been testing the featurein Canada since earlier thismonth, and it was being ex-panded to US users beginningyesterday. In the Verge’stests, the call quality soundsgood. There’s no video fea-ture yet, nor any word onwhen the service will be avail-able on Android or throughthe main Facebook site, butodds are those things are in

the works. Of course, VoIPcalling isn’t exactly new—Google and Skype have longoffered apps of their own—but Facebook is different,Chris Gayomali at the Weekpoints out, because “the sliceof smartphone owners whoare also on the billion-per-son-plus social network isconsiderable and growinglarger by the day.” NEWS dESK

Saturday, 19 January, 201314Infotainment

Bat-killing fungus hitsfamed Us park

THE fungus that has already killed 6 millionbats in the eastern US and Canada has beenfound in Kentucky’s Mammoth Cave

National Park for the first time, reports the LosAngeles Times. A bat with white-nose syndrome wasdiscovered in Long Cave, a 1.3-mile-long cave notlinked to the 390-mile-long Mammoth Cave; it’sbeen closed to visitors for some 80 years. MammothCave, however, will remain open, though officialsworry about the highly contagious nature of thefungus and the fact that the disease can linger fordecades in cave environments. The park beganrequiring tourists to walk on decontamination matsin 2011 after the disease was identified in Indiana,reports the Courier-Journal. “I am incredibly sad toreport this,” said a Mammoth Cave National Parkofficial. “A northern long-eared bat showingsymptoms of white-nose syndrome was found inLong Cave in the park. The bat was euthanized onJan. 4.” Lab tests confirmed white-nose syndrome.The fungus behind white-nose syndrome, known asGeomyces destructans, hits hibernating bats thehardest, causing them to fly outside in daylight andexhibit other unusual behaviours. NEWS dESK

inmate’s last words: an irish curse

ROBERT Gleason became the first inmateexecuted in the US this year when he gothis wish of electrocution in Virginia last

night. Gleason, 42, was a convicted murderer whosubsequently killed two inmates in prison andcharmingly vowed to continue killing until he wasput to death, reports Reuters. The state allowsinmates to choose the method, and Gleason madethe rare pick of the electric chair. His last wordswere “pog mo thoin”—an Irish phrase that means“kiss my ass.” NEWS dESK

attorneys ‘hounded’swartz to his death: dad

LAWYERS pulledAaron Swartz into alegal maze that

ultimately killed him, theInternet activist’s fathertells the Los Angeles Times.Swartz “was hounded to hisdeath by a system and a setof attorneys that still don’tunderstand the nature ofwhat they did,” Bob Swartzsays. “They destroyed myson by their callousness and inflexibility.” Swartzcommitted suicide as he faced jail time for hackinginto MIT to make academic papers freely available;he saw the move as political, the Times notes. In astatement issued Wednesday, a prosecutor in thecase acknowledged that “there was no evidenceagainst Mr. Swartz indicating that he committed hisacts for personal financial gain,” but reiterated thebelief that he should have served at least six months.But hacks like Swartz’s happen at MIT “on a monthlybasis,” says his father, who insists that Swartz didn’t“have” depression, and was never diagnosed as such.“You’d be depressed too if you were under a 13-countfederal indictment and you go see your mother,who’s in a coma.” His mother had suffered from abowel obstruction in late 2011 and spent more thanhalf a year in the hospital. NEWS dESK

‘dear abby’ dead at 94

PAULINE Phillips,perhaps better knownas the popular “Dear

Abby” advice columnist, diedyesterday at age 94, a repconfirms to TMZ. Phillips,who founded the column in1956 and eventually handed itover to her daughter Jeanne,had been suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. “I havelost my mother, my mentor, and my best friend,”Jeanne says. “My mother leaves very big high heelsto fill with a legacy of compassion, commitment, andpositive social change. I will honour her memoryevery day by continuing this legacy.” Phillips usedthe pen name Abigail Van Buren, after a wise womannamed Abigail from the Bible’s Old Testament andMartin Van Buren, one of her favourite presidents.Her twin sister, Ann Landers, was also an advicecolumnist; she died in 2002. “Dear Abby” had a dailyreadership of 100 million people. NEWS dESK

google: no, we didn’t kill a donkey

NO, Google is not a donkey killer. TheInternet giant went on the defensive aftera Google Street View image that looked as

if the Street View car had run over a donkey inBotswana began making the rounds on Twitter.But appearances can be deceiving: Google releasedadditional images taken by the car that show thedonkey was merely dozing (or “enjoying a dustbath”) and safely got out of the way in time. “I’mpleased to confirm the donkey is alive and well,” aGoogle product manager wrote on the GoogleMaps blog. NEWS dESK

Facebook rolls outFREE PHONE CALLS

Man nabbed in yet another subway attack

If your genetic data, oreven a relative’s, hasmade its way online—al-beit posted anony-mously—it’s simple forresearchers to uncoveryour identity. So simple itsurprised the researchersthemselves. All theyneeded to suss out a per-son’s name, and thenames of members ofthat person’s family tree,was DNA information,the person’s age, andtheir home region. Thatjust so happens to be thedetails that accompanythe extensive amounts of

genetic data that havebeen put in an NIH data-base for researchers’ freeuse as part of the 1000Genomes Project. “I’vebeen worried about thisfor a long time,” says oneexpert. The New YorkTimes recounts a re-searcher’s experiment totrack people down usingthe data. He comparedpatterns from a postedDNA string to those in agenealogical database.That gave him the sub-ject’s grandfathers’ lastnames; from there, somequick Googling provided

a family tree. “Oh myGod, we really did this,”the researcher said. Hebelieves his team couldtrack down the names ofsome 12% of middle-classand wealthy white males,the types who are likelyto submit DNA data.Other experts, however,say there’s no need tofret. “It is hard to imaginewhat would motivateanyone to undertake thissort of privacy attack inthe real world,” notesone. The NIH has sinceerased people’s ages fromits database. NEWS dESK

‘Anonymous’ online DNA not so anonymous

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Icc WoMen’S WoRld cup

MUMBAIAGENCIES

PAKISTAN Women will playtheir ICC Women's World Cupgroup matches in Cuttack, inthe eastern Indian state of

Orissa, following threats from politicalactivists in Mumbai. The World Cup,which starts on January 31, will now beplayed across two cities, instead of tak-ing place only in Mumbai. However,there is no confirmation regarding thevenues of the knock-out stages yet.

A BCCI official was quoted by ESPN-cricinfo that "Group B games will beplayed in Cuttack", while Group A gameswill be played in Mumbai. An ICC in-sider also revealed that the fixtures are"being reworked", keeping Cuttack inmind.

Orissa Cricket Association presidentRanjib Biswal, however, said he was un-aware of the development. "Till now,neither ICC nor BCCI have contacted us,

so it won't be prudent on my part tocomment right now," Biswal said.

While England, India, West Indiesand Sri Lanka will be based in Mumbaifor their Group A games, Group B com-prises Australia, New Zealand, Pakistanand South Africa for the event that willrun for just over two weeks, culminatingin the final on February 17.

An 'ICC insider' has been quoted assaying that the fixtures are being re-worked with Cuttack as the other venue.

After days of speculation, it has beenlearnt that Pakistan women's cricketteam will come to India and that theirmatches will be played in Cuttack.

Sources were quoted by NDTV onFriday that the team from across theborder will be based in Cuttack and thatGroup B games will be played here.Group A matches will continue to behosted by the Brabourne Stadium inMumbai. The tournament begins Janu-ary 31. The Board of Control for Cricketin India (BCCI) had earlier said that ad-

equate measures to provide security willbe put into place. "We would provide se-curity to Women's World Cup matchesin India. We are in the process of speak-ing to respective state governments,"said Rajiv Shukla, Vice President, Boardof Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

Border conflict between India andPakistan in the last two weeks had re-sulted in security concerns for thewomen's team. Groups like Shiv Senahad threatened disruptions in any sport-ing tournament which featured Pakistanplayers. As a result, eight hockey playersincluded in various teams featuring inHockey India League were sent backhome.

BCCI in its executive committeemeeting on Tuesday, had written to ICCand has asked the international body totake a call. While some said that Pak-istan Cricket Board has expressed a de-sire to have the tournament in SouthAfrica instead of India, the same couldnot be confirmed.

Pakistan women’s matches shifted to Cuttack

t20 boom nothreat to tests,says lara

DHAKAAGENCIES

The growing popularity of Twenty20 inter-nationals will not harm test cricket becausethe two formats of the game can thrive to-gether, former West Indies captain BrianLara said on Thursday. "I believe now withT20 cricket a lot more people are watchingthe game," Lara told reporters inBangladesh where he is an ambassador forthe country's T20 Premier League. "Just re-member, we are all entertainers. And if thiskind of cricket brings interest to the people,cricketers will be happy to indulge in it."Test cricket is still important, so are ODIs(one-day internationals) but T20 should bethere too because of the crowd factor," Laraadded. Lara, who played 131 tests and 299one-dayers, never had the opportunity toplay Twenty20 cricket at which West Indiesare the current world champions. Lara be-lieves the growing popularity of Twenty20cricket will help West Indies generate moreinterest in the game among the youngergeneration. "In the Caribbean we found itdifficult to encourage teenagers to take upthe game," said Lara. "We are nowlaunching our own domestic T20 compe-tition. We will try to seek more young-sters play the game in the Caribbean."

LAHORESTAFF REdOIRT

Former Pakistan players said it wassurprising to see that Misbah-ul-Haq's contribution to the team's suc-cess was not found good enough forrecognition at the annual PCB awardsceremony held in Lahore last week.

While Saeed Ajmal and Moham-mad Hafeez walked with most of theawards, Misbah was ignored by thethree-member committee formed toselect the winners.

"It is disappointing to see thatsomeone like easily enough Pakistan'smost successful captain has not beenacknowledged by the PCB," formercaptain Rashid Latif said.

"It is sad that we have alwaystended to overlook the contribution ofMisbah to Pakistan cricket. He hasled the side maturely at a time whenPakistan cricket was going through itsworst crisis.

"But being a gentleman he has notprotested. If I had been in his place orany other cricketer would definitelyhave protested over this injustice,"Latif added.

Latif also said that although crit-ics do not like Misbah's style of play,he would have selected him for all

three formats.Misbah, 38, has gone through a

torrid time while leading Sui North-ern Gas team in the final of the Presi-dents Trophy as everytime he walkedonto the field, a small group of spec-tators threw taunts at him by callinghim 'Tuk Tuk'.

Former Test batsman MohsinKhan also felt that it was injustice

that the PCB had not recognized Mis-bah's contribution to the team at theannual awards.

He should have been given a spe-cial award. Because I know from closehow well he has managed the teamand kept the players together andmade them play like a unit," Mohsinsaid.

He pointed out that in 2010 and2011 Misbah had shouldered the Pak-istan batting for most of the time.

"It was the first time the annualawards were held and Misbah was notgiven any award this is sheer careless-ness from the board."

Mohsin said Misbah had led Pak-istan to a 3-0 Test whitewash of Eng-land and also a one-day series win inIndia and these achievements wereenough to warrant him a award.

Another former captain MushtaqMohammad said Pakistan's Test andone-day teams still needed someonelike Misbah.

"He brings a stable influence tothe team and in the dressing room.The team needs to have a batsmanlike him at one end specially in Testcricket who can bat for long periods.We have enough stroke makers in theteam to take command from otherend," Mushtaq said.

kenya-ethiopia rivalry

is like india-Pakistan

cricket, says Haile MUMBAIAGENCIES

Two-time Olympic gold medallist Haile Ge-brselassie on Thursday associated the ri-valry in long distance running between hiscountry Ethiopia and neighbouring Kenyato the one between India and Pakistan onthe cricketing field. "Kenya and Ethiopiahave a healthy competition in runningwhich is good. Can you be good in cricketwithout (rivalry with) Pakistan?," asked theEthiopian long-distance great in an interac-tion with the media ahead of the 10th Stan-dard Chartered Mumbai Marathon to beheld on Sunday. The two-time Olympic goldmedallist in 10,000m and four-time worldchampion in the 25-lap track race, who laterswitched over to marathon to set worldrecords in the gruelling event, is the brandambassador of 42.1km race to be contestedon the streets of Mumbai. Gebrselassie, stillremembered for edging out Kenyan rivalPaul Tergat by a nine hundredths of a sec-ond to win the 10,000m gold at the SydneyOlympics in 2000, said that healthy compe-tition between countries was "very impor-tant". The 39-year-old athlete, who set aworld record of 2:03:59 to win the 2008Berlin Marathon, which he captured fouryears straight, stressed the importance ofrunning for the common man.

Misbah deserves an award,feel former Pakistani players

Saturday, 19 January, 2013

BRISBANEAGENCIES

Sri Lanka laboured to a four-wicket victoryafter right-arm pacer Nuwan Kulasekara de-stroyed Australia with a fine display of swingbowling in the third one-day international inBrisbane on Friday. Australia's top and mid-dle order batsmen capitulated before Ku-lasekara's inswing while Lasith Malinga(3-22) polished off the tail to bowl out thehosts for 74 in 26.4 overs. The win, thoughnot as convincing as it should have been,puts Sri Lanka 2-1 up in the five-match se-ries. Sydney hosts the fourth one-dayer onSunday. For Australia, only Mitchell Starc(22 not out) and Xavier Doherty (15) man-aged double digits, adding 34 runs for thelast wicket to take the home side past theirlowest ODI total ever. On a day when balldominated bat and not a single six was hit,the Sri Lankan batsmen had their problemstoo and wobbled early on in their chase.

Mitchell Johnson (3-11) blew awaytheir top order, while Starc claimed a cou-ple as Sri Lanka lost six wickets before

scrambling over the line in 20 overs.Kushal Perera was unbeaten on 22, whileTillakaratne Dishan also contributed asmany runs. It was a brave effort by theAustralian bowlers after they were letdown by their batting colleagues earlier inthe day. Angelo Mathews drew first bloodwith his seventh delivery when he removedopener David Warner and Australia cap-tain Michael Clarke was soon left to rue his

decision to bat first as the batting lineupcame unstuck. Right-arm pacer Ku-lasekara tasted his first success when skip-per Mahela Jayawardene took a sharp, lowcatch in the second slip to dismiss theother opener Phil Hughes. Kulasekara wason a hat-trick in his next over when he re-moved Hussey and followed it with a deliv-ery that swung a long way to trap thescoreless George Bailey leg before.

Kulasekara sparks Sri Lanka ODI victory

AUSTRAlIA

d Warner c Eranga b Mathews 4

P Hughes c Jayawardene b Kulasekara 3

M Clarke b Kulasekara 9

d Hussey c Perera b Kulasekara 4

G Bailey lbw b Kulasekara 0

M Wade c dilshan b Malinga 8

M Henriques b Kulasekara 2

M Johnson b Malinga 2

M Starc not out 22

C McKay c Perera b Malinga 0

X doherty c Mendis b Eranga 15

Extras (lb-2, w-3) 5

Total (all out in 26.4 overs) 74

Fall of wickets: 1-4 2-13 3-21 4-21 5-28 6-30 7-35 8-38 9-40.

Bowling: Mathews 4-0-10-1, Kulasekara 10-2-22-5, Malinga 7-2-

14-3, Perera 3-0-14-0, Eranga 2.4-0-12-1.

SRI lANKA

M. Jayawardene c Warner b McKay 1

T. dilshan c Clarke b Johnson 22

l. Thirimanne c Warner b Johnson 7

K. Perera not out 22

A. Mathews c Starc b Johnson 0

U. Tharanga c Clarke b Starc 12

J. Mendis c McKay b Starc 2

T. Perera not out 4

Extras (lb-1, w-3, nb-1) 5

Total (for 6 wickets in 20 overs) 75

did not bat: Kulasekara, Malinga, Eranga.

Fall of wickets: 1-4 2-33 3-37 4-37 5-63 6-71.

Bowling: McKay 8-0-31-1, Starc 7-0-25-2, Johnson 3-0-11-3,

Henriques 2-0-7-0.

SCOREBOARd

KHI 19-01-2013_Layout 1 1/19/2013 7:19 AM Page 16

Saturday, 19 January, 2013Sports 16

HAnIf lAudS pcB’S effoRTS

LAHORESTAFF REPORT

SENIOR players Misbah-ul-Haqand Mohammad Hafeez believethat the planned Pakistan T20Super League in March will in-

ject new life into the sport in the countryand instill confidence in the internationalcommunity over safety in the troubled na-tion. "There is no doubt the PSL is neces-sary for not only the survival but also thepromotion of cricket in Pakistan," Misbahsaid here on Friday.

Misbah, Pakistan's Test and ODIskipper, said the PCB had done well tokeep alive the sport in Pakistan despite nointernational cricket being played in thecountry since 2009. "The way I look at itthe super league hopefully with foreignplayers also participating in it will serveas a oxygen for cricket in the country. And

it will also lead to the revival of interna-tional cricket in Pakistan," Misbah said.

Pakistan's T20 captain MohammadHafeez also backed the tournament."Something big like the PSL will boost thesport in Pakistan and increase people's in-terest. PSL will also bring financial boostto our domestic players and offer incen-tives to them," he said. The PCB has an-nounced a super league with fivefranchises from March 26 this year.

Former Pakistan captain HanifMuhammad also lauded the PCB's effortsto launch the league this year. "What I be-lieve is that the PCB should involve ourformer and current greats to work to-wards convincing top players from differ-ent countries to come and play in theleague. "Such leagues are now necessaryto ensure that the financial status of play-ers at the domestic level also improve dra-matically," Hanif said.

Misbah, Hafeez feel PSL willrevive int’l cricket in Pakistan

LAHORESTAFF REPORT

Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited lifted theinaugural President's Trophy, beating HabibBank Limited by 75 in Karachi. When HBLresumed the day at 169 for 6, they had toscore another 160 to lay their hands on thetitle. SNGPL's spinners took three of the lastfour wickets, led by Mohammad Hafeez whoscalped two on the last day, taking just over24 overs to wrap up the innings.

Chasing 329 was going to be a dauntingtask after HBL were dismissed for 137 inthe first innings. Ahmed Shehzad was theonly batsman to provide resistance with ahalf-century while the other ten playersscored only 57 runs combined. Hafeez tookfour wickets in the first innings in less than14 overs, giving away only 16 runs. Thatgave SNGPL a first-innings lead of 146 asthey had scored 283 after they were put into bat. Even though they were in trouble at49 for 3, they were rescued by Azhar Ali(32) and half-centuries from Misbah-ul-Haq and Ali Waqas. When they came out tobat again, Umar Gul not only got rid of theopeners, he dismissed their first-inningstop scorers - Misbah and Waqas - forducks. His six wickets, which included ahat-trick, kept SNGPL to 182 but the leadby then had already reached to 328.

SNGPL take inaugural President’s Trophy

azher memorialBridge from today

LAHORESTAFF REPORT

The Mian Azher Memorial Bridge Tour-nament will commence at the bridge ta-bles of Lahore Gymkhana from Saturday(today) and will be contested over twodays with finals to be played on Sunday.Events at stake are the Pairs event to befollowed by the team event. This champi-onship is open to bridge players from allover Punjab and besides ten teams fromLahore, three teams from Rawalpindiand one from Multan are expected to viefor honors and lucrative prizes.Players of national standing like SaeedAkhter, Javed Akhter, Tahir Abbas,Shauq Hussain and Izzat Khalil will addcolor to this Azher Memorial BridgeTournament which is to be conducted bySarfraz Butt and Ihsan Qadir.

wilshere hails

Gerrard as role model

LONDONAGENCIES

Arsenal's Jack Wilshere would love to em-ulate the achievements of role model Eng-land captain Steven Gerrard to be at theheartbeat of his team for both club andcountry. The 21-year-old goes fromstrength to strength with every game as helooks to put a frustrating spell on the side-lines with ankle and knee injuries firmlybehind him - crashing in a superb latewinner against Swansea on Wednesdaynight to fire the Gunners into the fourthround of the FA Cup. While not wanting toadd to the pressure already on Wilshere'syoung shoulders from an expectant na-tion, Gunners boss Arsene Wenger is in nodoubt there is plenty more to come.Wilshere's energy and dynamism hasdrawn comparisons with Liverpool skip-per Gerrard, whose determination helpedthe Reds win the 2005 Champions Leaguefinal and saw him tasked with leading thenational side into the 2014 World Cupqualifying campaign under Roy Hodgson."I remember Steven Gerrard scoring asimilar goal to mine in the FA Cup finalagainst West Ham and also the Champi-ons League game against Olympiacos.

SpORTS DESK

A towering man of seven feet one inch, fast-rising Pak-istan paceman Mohammad Irfan often struggles to findbowling shoes that fit and a comfortable bed.

But on the cricket pitch, the 30-year-old former fac-tory worker is more than comfortable with a new ball inhis hands, cleverly exploiting his height to unsettle someof the best batsmen in the world with bounce, pace andvariation. Pakistan tagged Irfan a "surprise package" ontheir December-January tour of India and despite takingjust three wickets, he plagued the opposition's much-vaunted batting.

"We jokingly call him the short man," PakistanTwenty20 captain Mohammad Hafeez said. "We knewhe would be a surprise package and with his determina-tion and hard work I hope that he can go a long way ininternational cricket."

It is only now that officials accept him to be 7'1''. Inthe past, his height has been purportedly measured at6'8" and 6'10". "My height was measured at the US em-bassy when I applied for visa in 2010," Irfan said, boast-ing of being the tallest ever international cricketer,surpassing West Indian Joel Garner and AustralianBruce Reid who stood at 6'8".

He also claims to be the tallest known cricketer, beat-ing English county players Anthony Allom, Paul Dunkelsand Will Jefferson, all measured at 6'10". But for Irfan,height hasn't always been an advantage.

He was born a farmer's son in the small village ofGaggu Mandi in the central Punjab province, where hefound his height hard to cope with, even as one of fivebrothers all over six feet tall.

"My height started to increase when I was in classeight," Irfan remembers. "I couldn't sit on the school bus

properly, my uniform stopped fitting after a few days andpeople started to make fun of my height." His father,himself six feet nine inches, advised him to be patient."My schoolmates used to mock me saying, why am I inclass eight when I am so tall. I used to come in myfriends's car with a special seat. "I would join two beds

to sleep properly and when I wanted to play cricket Icouldn't find proper shoes," said Irfan who now getsshoes in a British size 15 from a friend. Growing up, hisrole model was fellow villager Mohammad Zahid, whotook eleven wickets in his debut test in 1996 before a backproblem cut short his career.

But he was discouraged by a lack of opportunity andtook a job in a nearby pipe factory in 2000. "Those werevery difficult days for me," remembers Irfan. "I wantedto play cricket but was forced to work for 300 rupees ($3)a week and the future was not looking good."

But suddenly lady luck smiled at Irfan. Former first-class cricketer Nadeem Iqbal spotted him in a club matchand sent him to Pakistan's national cricket academy tobe coached by former paceman Aaqib Javed and formeropener Aamir Sohail.

Irfan made the most of it. In 2009, he was picked upby the Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) team, set upby the father of Pakistan's nuclear bomb A.Q Khan,where Irfan turned into an explosive bowler, taking ninewickets in only his second match.

"Irfan was unique," said Rashid Iqbal, manager ofthe KRL. "He has worked very hard to come this far andthe most remarkable thing about him is that despite hisheight he has kept his fitness through extra work-outs."

The KRL stint saw Irfan picked for Pakistan's one-day series in England in 2010 but two wicketless matchesseemed to end his career before it even started.

"I did not get discouraged and kept up the hardwork," said Irfan, who impressed coach Dav Whatmoreenough during the national Twenty20 tournament in La-hore last month to be picked to stage a comeback inIndia. Leaving Indian batsmen shaken, Irfan now bowlsagainst the world's No 1 test team South Africa nextmonth, aiming to prove that he is not all about height.

‘Short man’ Irfan aims high for Pakistan

Sui Northern Gas Pipelines limited 1st innings

Mohammad Hafeez c Salahuddin b Gul 4

Taufeeq Umar c Humayun b Masood 16

Azhar Ali c Masood b Adil 32

Umar Akmal b Rehman 16

Misbah-ul-Haq lbw b Gul 85

Ali Waqas c Humayun b Masood 83

Adnan Akmal b Masood 1

Imran Khalid lbw b Masood 0

Imran Ali c Humayun b Masood 9

Samiullah Khan c & b Rehman 21

Asad Ali not out 0

Extras (b 2, lb 1, nb 13) 16

Total (all out; 119 overs; 535 mins) 283

Fall of wickets 1-24 (Taufeeq Umar, 9.6 ov), 2-24

(Mohammad Hafeez, 10.2 ov), 3-49 (Umar Akmal,

21.2 ov),4-121 (Azhar Ali, 49.1 ov), 5-200 (Misbah-

ul-Haq, 86.1 ov), 6-215 (Adnan Akmal, 89.4 ov),

7-215 (Imran Khalid, 89.5 ov),8-253 (Imran Ali, 106.3

ov), 9-276 (Ali Waqas, 114.5 ov), 10-283 (Samiullah

Khan, 118.6 ov)

Bowling: Umar Gul 30-14-49-2, Fahad Masood 28-

8-67-5, Ehsan Adil 21-8-47-1, Abdur Rehman

36-8-98-2, Ahmed Shehzad 1-0-11-0, Asad Shafiq 1-

0-4-0, Younis Khan 2-0-4-0

Habib Bank limited 1st innings

Imran Farhat c Akmal b Hafeez 14

Shan Masood b Samiullah 11

Ahmed Shehzad b Hafeez 79

Younis Khan run out (Taufeeq) 0

Asad Shafiq c Waqas b Hafeez 7

Usman Salahuddin b Asad 15

Humayun Farhat run out (Misbah) 0

Abdur Rehman lbw b Hafeez 0

Umar Gul lbw b Samiullah 5

Fahad Masood c Adnan b Asad 4

Ehsan Adil not out 1

Extras: (nb 1) 1

Total: (all out; 56.4 overs) 137

Fall of wickets 1-22 (Shan Masood, 8.6 ov), 2-26

(Imran Farhat, 9.3 ov), 3-26 (Younis Khan, 10.1 ov),4-

34 (Asad Shafiq, 11.2 ov), 5-61 (Usman Salahuddin,

28.6 ov), 6-61 (Humayun Farhat, 30.2 ov),7-71

(Abdur Rehman, 35.5 ov), 8-105 (Umar Gul, 45.6

ov), 9-118 (Fahad Masood, 50.5 ov), 10-137 (Ahmed

Shehzad, 56.4 ov)

Bowling: Samiullah Khan 16-1-45-2, Asad Ali 16-3-

43-2, Mohammad Hafeez 13.4-8-16-4, Imran Khalid

4-1-3, Imran Ali 7-1-30-0

Sui Northern Gas Pipelines limited 2nd innings:

Mohammad Hafeez b Gul 22

Taufeeq Umar lbw b Gul 1

Azhar Ali c Humayun b Shafiq 31

Umar Akmal lbw b Gul 76

Misbah-ul-Haq c Shehzad b Masood 0

Ali Waqas c Humayun b Masood 0

Adnan Akmal c Masood b Gul 21

Imran Khalid c Humayun b Gul 1

Imran Ali c Humayun b Gul 0

Samiullah Khan not out 13

Asad Ali c Shehzad b Rehman 10

Extras (lb 1, w 2, nb 4) 7

Total (all out; 63.4 overs; 303 mins) 182

Fall of wickets 1-13 (Taufeeq Umar, 2.3 ov), 2-28

(Mohammad Hafeez, 6.2 ov), 3-115 (Azhar Ali, 29.6

ov),4-117 (Misbah-ul-Haq, 33.4 ov), 5-117 (Ali Waqas,

33.5 ov), 6-147 (Umar Akmal, 41.6 ov), 7-149 (Imran

Khalid, 43.1 ov),8-149 (Imran Ali, 43.2 ov), 9-156

(Adnan Akmal, 47.5 ov), 10-182 (Asad Ali, 63.4 ov)

Bowling: Umar Gul 22-6-67-6, Fahad Masood 16-4-

42-2, Abdur Rehman 11.4-4, Ehsan Adil 7-1-18-0,

Younis Khan 5-2-9-0, Asad Shafiq 2-0-14-1

Habib Bank limited 2nd innings:

Shan Masood lbw b Imran 21

Ahmed Shehzad c Taufeeq b Samiullah 10

Younis Khan c Waqas b Imran 25

Asad Shafiq c Waqas b Hafeez 58

Usman Salahuddin lbw b Asad 0

Humayun Farhat c Azhar b Imran 25

Imran Farhat lbw b Hafeez 49

Abdur Rehman lbw b Hafeez 11

Fahad Masood c Taufeeq b Asad 29

Umar Gul b Imran 12

Ehsan Adil not out 6

Extras: (b 1, nb 6) 7

Total: (all out; 80.1 overs; 349 mins) 253

Fall of wickets 1-15 (Ahmed Shehzad, 4.2 ov), 2-41

(Shan Masood, 17.1 ov), 3-84 (Younis Khan, 31.6

ov),4-85 (Usman Salahuddin, 32.6 ov), 5-136

(Humayun Farhat, 43.2 ov), 6-150 (Asad Shafiq, 48.1

ov),7-204 (Imran Farhat, 67.1 ov), 8-209 (Abdur

Rehman, 69.3 ov), 9-242 (Umar Gul, 76.5 ov), 10-

253 (Fahad Masood, 80.1 ov)

Bowling: Samiullah Khan 17-3-68-1, Asad Ali 19.1-2-

67-2, Mohammad Hafeez 22-5-62-3, Imran Ali

13-7-24-2, Imran Khalid 9-2-31-2

Toss Habib Bank limited, who chose to field

Series Sui Northern Gas Pipelines limited won the

2012/13 President's Trophy

Player of the match Misbah-ul-Haq (Sui Northern

Gas Pipelines limited)

Umpires Riazuddin and Saleem Badar

TV umpire Kamal Marchant

Match referee Ilyas Khan

Reserve umpire Khalid Mahmood

Prize Money

Winner: SNGPl (Rs. 500,000)

Runners up: Habib Bank (Rs. 250,000)

Man of the Match: Misbah-ul-Haq (SNGPl)-Rs.

50,000

Best Batsman: Umar Amin (Ports Qasim- 767

runs)- Rs. 50,000

Best Bowler: Zulfiqar Baber (WAPdA-62 wickets)-

Rs. 50,000

Best Fielder: Ahmed Shahzad (Habib Bank-18

catches)- Rs. 50,000

Best Wicketkeeper: Sarfraz Ahmed (PIA-40

dismissals {36 catches + 4 stumpings}- Rs.

50,000

SCOREBOARd

LAHORE: The Pakistan Cricket Board has on Friday made things clearwith the Bangladesh cricket Board that it did not ask the PCB to sent itsplayers for auction for the BPL. Commenting on a media release issued byBCB, a spokesman of the PCB said: “In order to put the record straight, it issated that PCB received no request from Bangladesh Cricket Board regard-ing release of its players for the auction of BPL. “It should also be notedthat the tour of Bangladesh to Pakistan in April 2008 was an FTP commit-ment and in no way a favor to PCB. It is pertinent to mention here that justbefore that tour, Zimbabwe and South Africa also visited Pakistan in thesame period. “As far as the first edition of BPL (2012) is concerned, the PCBcooperated with the BCB after then President BCB Mostafa Kamal madelong-term commitments and understandings and requested the PCB to sup-port their league. The release of the players on part of PCB was intended tomake the inaugural tournament of the BCB a success. “The PCB values itsfriendship with the BCB and has always supported the Bangladesh cricket inmany ways. However it expects the BCB to reciprocate this support. ThePCB respects the people of Bangladesh and wishes well for the developmentof cricket in their country. STAFF REPORT

pcB clears the air on Bpl

KHI 19-01-2013_Layout 1 1/19/2013 7:19 AM Page 17

Saturday, 19 January, 2013

national boxingcamp to starttomorrow

LAHORESTAFF REPORT

The National boxing camp will bestart from January 20 at the Pak-istan Sports Board (PSB) ComplexIslamabad. Pakistan Boxing Federa-tion Secretary Muhammad AkramKhan also announced the names ofthe boxers who will begin therepreparation for upcoming SAFGames, Asian Games, ASBC champi-onship, AIBA world boxing champi-onship and other some Internationalimportant event. Secretary GeneralPBF arranged this camp after theprior approval of Pakistan SportsBoard (PSB), 21 boxers are invited toattend the national camp from all af-filiated units. THEY ARE: 49kg, muhib Bacha (Police) and da-

wood ali (Pak navy), 52kg, muhammad waseem

(wapda), Syed m. asif (railway), Syed israr (Hec),

56kg, naimat ullah (Paf), atta ullah (Police), abdul

rehman (Punjab), 60kg, Qadir khan ( Pak navy),

Syed m. hussain (Hec), nawaz dawood (Pak army),

arshad (Sindh), 64kg, mir Balach (Sindh), adnan

Hassan (Paf), 69kg, tanvir ahmed (Pak navy),

amir khan (wapda), zulqarnain abbas (Pak army),

75kg, dur muhammad (Pak navy), mirza azam

(Paf), 81kg, asmat ullah (Balochistan), 91kg,

naimat ullah (Balochistan), riaz ali (Pak army),

91+kg, waqar ali (Pak army),

all boxers have been advised to report at the

venue on January 20 to coaches, abdul majeed

Brohi (railway), ramzan ali (wapda) and nisar

khan (Pak army).

trial for nationalu-13 football

LAHORESTAFF REPORT

The trial of U-13 Punjab football teamis being held at two different groundsi.e. MTFA Club Lahore and TufailabadFootball Stadium District Vehari onJanuary 21-22 and 26-27 respectivelyat 1.00 pm on both grounds. The play-ers belonging to Lahore, Rawalpindi,Gujranwala, Faisalabad and SargodhaRegion give the trial at Lahore whileSahiwal, Bahawalpur, D.G.Khan andMultan Region at Tufailabad FootballStadium District Vehari. President La-hore Football Association MianRizwan Ali is nominated as Inchargeat Lahore center. The players born be-tween 1st January 2000 to 31st De-cember 2002 are eligible to participatein the U-13 Championship 2013. Finaltrial and camp venue, date/time wereannounced later on.

Sports17

ABU DHABIAGENCIES

The last time Rory McIlroy shot 75 he wenton to win his second major title by eightstrokes. But it will be some feat if the worldnumber one, playing competitively with hisnew Nike clubs for the first time, does thesame at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Champi-onship this weekend - if he is still around forthe final two rounds, that is.

After two double bogeys on the openingday - one the result of a wild tee shot at a parthree and the other a drive that struck a treeand went out of bounds - McIlroy is in a bat-tle to survive the halfway cut. The 23-year-old is only just inside the top 100 in the126-strong field and eight adrift of leadersJustin Rose and Jamie Donaldson.

He has also suffered another "loss" inhead-to-head combat with Tiger Woods,even with the 14-major champion hittingone of the worst shots of his professional ca-reer in his level-par 72. Woods hit a drivebarely 120 yards at the 405-yard first - his10th hole - and had to take his second shotfrom short of the fairway.

There was no way McIlroy, who hasoutscored the American only three times in12 clashes, was going to blame his unhappystart to 2013 on his mega-million pound

equipment change, however. "I feel like Iwas a little bit rusty, not playing any com-petitive golf for eight weeks," he said. Hislast tournament was in Dubai in November,when he birdied the last five holes to win theDP World Tour Championship.

"I didn't drive the ball particularly well,which you sort of need to round here be-cause the rough is very thick. "I actually hitmy irons pretty well, but just didn't hole anyputts. I'll work on that." Asked if it was to beexpected that it would take time to get usedto the club switch, he replied: "Of course itdoes, but I'm really happy with the way theball is in the wind - it was really stable - andthe wedge play. "I wasn't very comfortableoff the tee, but just because I didn't feel likeI was swinging it that well.

"I've been working leading up to Christ-mas and then obviously into the New Year,but it's a little bit of an experimental periodand I have four weeks off after this tourna-ment just to work on it." Not that he hasgiven up on the week. "I feel like if I can justget comfortable and swing it a little better Ican still play some good rounds here.

"I'm disappointed. I felt like I couldhave played better and shot a better score."I'm not overly concerned how I played. Itwasn't quite what I wanted, but I felt therewere a few good signs. "I guess when

you're going out with new stuff you're al-ways going to be a little anxious." Woodswas happy enough to turn in a two-under34, but then came his shocker off the nexttee and after a bogey there he took sixdown the long second and later followeda birdie at the 597-yard eighth with athree-putt bogey.CAPTAIN MCGINLEy BLOWN AWAyBy WHIRLWIND REACTION: PaulMcGinley sported a grin as wide as the18th green at the Abu Dhabi Golf Club onFriday as he explained how he had beenblown away by the reaction to his appoint-ment as Europe's 2014 Ryder Cup captain.The 46-year-old Irishman was almost cer-tain to miss the halfway cut at the AbuDhabi Championship after carding a one-over-par 73 for a five-over tally of 149.

While McGinley was disappointed byhis inability to make a mark on thisweek's European Tour event, he tookgreat comfort from the hordes of well-wishers keen to slap him on the back ashe made his way to the clubhouse at theend of the second round.

"It's been a whirlwind for the last 48hours," the genial Dubliner told Reutersin an interview as he wiped the sweatfrom his brow after another steamy dayin the desert.

McIlroy feeling a little rusty

LONDONAGENCIES

Felipe Massa feared his Formula Onecareer was finished last season and con-sulted a sports psychologist to help himovercome his problems at Ferrari.

The Brazilian told the BBC, in an in-terview at his team's winter 'Wrooom'media event in the Italian Dolomites,that he had considered stopping. "Yeah.I thought about so many things. Ithought maybe I was finished. I thoughtabout not staying in Ferrari. I did notknow what would happen. So manythings were inside my brain," he said.

"I talked to everyone," added the2008 championship runner-up whocame back from a near-fatal head injurysuffered in 2009. "But I also did work

with a professional psychologist, sport-ing psychologist. "That was just the be-ginning. After that I was able to changethe direction to think, the direction towork and I think it was like training Idid. But also I think my family helps,

definitely 100 percent." Massa had anabject first half of last season, scoringjust 23 points by the half-way pointcompared to team mate FernandoAlonso's 154. The Brazilian had a far bet-ter second half, ending with a final tallyof 122 points and securing a one-yearextension after Ferrari had consideredreplacing him.

Massa said Alonso, a double cham-pion, was the toughest team mate hehad ever had including Germany's seventimes world champion Michael Schu-macher. "I think I had more difficulttimes with Fernando, so I would sayFernando was the strongest team matefor me," he explained. "But you learnwith everybody. I learnt a lot withMichael, with Kimi (Raikkonen in 2007-9) and Fernando."

Massa feared his career was over win for aamirmemorial

LAHORESTAFF REPORT

Aamir Memorial beat Sh Zyed IslamicCenter by 76 runs at Punjab UniverstyNew Campus cricket ground.SCORES: Aamir Memorial 165/7 in25 overs. Hammaad Naseem 32, Fa-heem Arshad 24,Qamar Azeem 26. Ali3/25 ,Toqeer 2/31. S Z I C 89/10. Zahid 30, Umer 12.Hafiz Ahsan Ashraf 4/13. H ammadNaseem 3/7 & Ahmad Bilal 3/19. 16years old Hammad Naseem was de-clared the Man of the match at his all-round performance.

KHI 19-01-2013_Layout 1 1/19/2013 7:19 AM Page 18

Saturday, 19 January, 2013

mo farahstill hungryfor successLONDON: Mo Farah on Thurs-day insisted he had to forget a su-perb year in 2012 and remains ashungry as ever for success. Hewon double Olympic gold, cele-brated the birth of twin daughtersand was rewarded for his effortswith a CBE in the year. Farah gavehimself a well-deserved month offfollowing his historic victoriesover 5,000 and 10,000 metres atthe London Games, but is alreadyback in training in Kenya, clock-ing up more than 100 miles aweek. This year's focus is firmlyon retaining his world title over5,000m in Moscow in August -and adding the 10,000m forgood measure - with a move upto the marathon put off until2014 at the earliest. AGENCIES

Sports 18watch it Live

PTV SPORTSAustralian OpenTennis 201305:00AM

STAR CRICKET3rd ODI: IndiaV England11:30AM

48 clubs forakhtar memorialtourney

LAHORESTAFF REPORT

The 48 clubs for 28th MohammadYaseen Akhtar Memorial cricket eventhave announced. The event will beplayed on knock out system. P&TGymkhana has won the event 4 timeswhile Model town clun has won 3times. All nominated clubs have ad-vised to provide 20 names of the play-ers with 2 photographs till Janurary 25. ClUBS ARE: Servis club, tauseef club, Servis coalts, Gul-

berg eaglets, aamir memorial club, dawn club, dharam-

pura sports club, Gharishahu Gymkhana, lucky star club,

Golden star club, Ghaziabad sports, Jallo gymkhana, ris-

ing stars, mughalpura whites, muslim abad gymkhana,

Shinning club, mozang link club, lahore gymkhana, dehli

gymkhana, ludhyana gymkhana, model town club, new

national gymkhana, Baghbanpura greners, township

whites, Shah kamal club, crown club, crescent club, na-

tional gymkhana, aliGarh club, cricket centre club, islam-

pura eaglets, khan sports club, Ghulam qadir memorial

club, ehsan memorail club, mehboob park gymkhana,

faran Gymkhana, ravi Park gymkhana, Baghbanpura ea-

glets, wahdat eaglets, fayaz meymorial club, Prince club,

kashmir crown club, muslim gymkhana, akhtar abdul

rehman club, model town gymkhana & faran Sports.

final postponedLAHORE

STAFF REPORT

The final of the Corporative T/20 CricketTournament 2012-13 which was sched-uled to be held on January 19 at Bagh-e-Jinnah Lahore between Allied BankLimited and Lahore Gymkhana Clots hasbeen postponed due wet ground condi-tions and poor weather forecast. Date ofthe Final will be fixed shortly and com-municated accordingly. For further detailplease contact 0336 6458324.

zareef memorial winLAHORE

STAFF REPORT

Zareef Memorial Club beat Golden Starby 26 runs at Carson ground. SCORES: 1st zareef memorial 269/7 in 35 overs. khuram

112, imran 39 & Shahid 30. zeshan Shabeer 3/29,

mashraf 2/30 ,m farhan 2/52 Golden Star 243/8 in 35

overs. nadeem khan 62 ,zeshan Shbeer 52 & abdul-

hanan 23. Shahid 3/34 nabeel 2/44.

LAHORESTAFF REPORT

The three-day trials to select athree-member boys team, for par-ticipation in the Nick Faldo GolfChampionship in China , began yes-terday at the Defence Raya GolfCourse yesterday.

Simultaneously trials alsobegan for selection of a lady playerto represent the country in the NickFaldo Championship to be held inApril. For boys there are three agecategories with one best player tobe selected in age category under 21years, one in age category under 18years, and one in age categoryunder 16 years. For girls the agecategory of under 21 years appliesalthough the eligible ones are muchyounger.

At the end of the first day, theplayer who stood out all by himself

was Mahad Zafar of LahoreGymkhana and the pattern of hisgame remained steady in spite ofrain and chill. The drives were accu-rate and there were no hiccups infairway hitting. His gross score of 77represents the best round of the dayand is placed as the best one in hisown age category of under 18 yearsand also in the overall standing.

In the age category under 16years, the top one is Faisal Mir ofGujranwala with a score of gross 78,followed by M. Maqsood ofRawalpindi 84 .and Rao Muham-mad Hassan of the same club at 85.

In the under 18 years age cate-gory the leader is Mahad Zafar fol-lowed by Mubraiz Ahmed at gross84 and Ahmed Sultan Kayani alsoat 84.

As for under 21 years age cate-gory the front runner is WamiqShakeel of Rawalpindi,his first days

score being gross 78.Four strokesbehind him is Omer Khokhar at82,and adnan Khan at 83.

The boys look talented enoughand amongst the 44 participantsone sees seven single handicappersin the age category under 21 years,three single handicappers in agecategory under 18 years and eightplayers in age category under 16years. That bodes well for the na-tional golf scene.

As for competition amongstgirls Nushmiya Sukhera showedcourage and temperament and didnot get bothered by the rain inter-ruptions and the severe cold. Thefocus was visible and throughsteady play manages to appear asthe top one in girls section.

Her nearest competitors areMaryama Khan and Kara Alam. Thesecond round will tee off at 9.30amon Saturday.

Trials for Nick Faldo Series Golf

MELBOURNEAGENCIES

ANDY Murray is enjoying therecent resurgence of Britishwomen's tennis - and wel-comed the number of famil-

iar faces still present in Melbourne.And while the world number three con-cedes he has not spent too much timewith his countrywomen Down Underthis week, he admits it is "nice" to notbe the only British representativeheading into the middle weekend of theAustralian Open.

Although Heather Watson's runended at the hands of Agnieszka Rad-wanska in the early hours of Fridaymorning, Laura Robson has the oppor-tunity to match her run to the last 16 ofthe US Open last year when she meetsrising American star Sloane Stephensovernight.

Murray himself meets Ricardas Be-rankis as he continues to follow up hismaiden grand slam title in New Yorkwith further success in Melbourne.

Of the women, he said: "I think it'snice to have more British playersaround the tournament.

"I haven't spent that much timewith the women but I obviously seethem around, in the gym, whatnot.

"We had Anne Keothavong and theyoung girl (Johanna Konta) in thequalifying, and Jamie Baker qualified(for the men's singles).

"And we have five or six guys in thedoubles as well."

While it is very positive to seeBritish tennis slowly gaining momen-tum, certainly on the women's side,Murray remains its flagbearer.

And his immediate goal is furthersuccess in Australia.

Next up for the Scot is a third-round clash with resurgent LithuanianRicardas Berankis, who thrashed 25thseed Florian Mayer to reach this stage.

Berankis is a qualifier but shouldnot be underestimated as someoneonce tipped for big things before beingstruck down by a serious groin injury.

"He plays well," said Murray. "Heis not that tall but he hits the ball prettybig from the back of the court.

"He plays aggressive and is a veryflat hitter of the ball.

"He's obviously playing very well tobeat a guy like Mayer that comfortably.It was a very good win."

Berankis must view the clash withMurray as a chance to take a significantstep back towards his predicted goalafter an injury which was initially mis-diagnosed in 2011.

"I got injured pretty badly andcouldn't play for four months," he said."I came back on the court for half ayear and then the injury came back soagain I didn't play for half a year.

"Now I am back on the court,healthy and trying to stay healthy."

He found it tough being sidelinedespecially after being incorrectly toldhe would be back within four months.

He added: "The first time the doc-tor made a mistake. He said it was abone fracture and I shouldn't play forthree to four months so I didn't.

"At the time my ranking was 73 soI dropped. And then when I came backI was still feeling pain.

"And then in February last year I

couldn't play anymore so one doctor inthe States told me it was a sports her-nia. And when they cut me open theyfound the muscles (in the groin) weretorn off.

"The first time it was the mistake ofthe doctor but now they have solved it."

Asked by a Lithuanian journalist ifthe blundering medic was still alive,Berankis responded with a smile: "Sofar yes...but we will see how it goes."

Murray appreciatesBritish resurgence

MElBOURNE: Maria Sharapovashakes hand Venus Williamsafter she won her AustralianOpen match while Kerberreacts to winning a point.

ESPNBarclays League:Man City V Fulham09:00PM

laHore: nushmiya Sukhera tees off at defence raya Golf course.

MELBOURNE: World number one Novak Djokovic remained on coursefor a third successive Australian Open title after an entertaining win overRadek Stepanek. Stepanek threw some different challenges at the worldnumber one - charging the net on 67 occasions - but Djokovic was still toostrong, winning 6-4 6-3 7-5 in two hours 22 minutes. The contest featured ahost of wonderful rallies with both players pushed to the limit and Djokovicadmitted it was enjoyable to play in. "It was a great match, great fun," hesaid. "He is a very talented player, very skilful. He made a lot of great firstvolleys and made me play the extra ball. "He was chipping and charging,not a lot of players do this any more. A lot of theplayers stay on the baseline." Djokovic haslooked good in the first week and will play ei-ther Sam Querrey or Stanislas Wawrinka inround four. "I have played well in the first fewrounds, slowly getting into myrhythm," he said. "I can play betterbut I cannot be dissatisfied with myperformances."The first two setswere similar - Stepanek holding hisown before Djokovic struck at keytimes. The top seed broke throughin the 10th game to claim theopener when Stepanek netted amakeable volley and a wonderfulbackhand pass handed him a 5-3advantage in the second. It re-mained on serve in the thirduntil 5-5 when Stepanekdumped a weak backhand intothe net at 15-40. AGENCIES

djokovic cruisespast tricky Stepanek

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Saturday, 19 January, 2013

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

KARACHI: Protesters guide a family away from the scene of a demonstration as the Muttahida Qaumi Movement gave a strike call in Sindh on Friday to mourn the killing of its MPA Manzar Imam. IMRAN GILLANI

ISLAMABADSHAIQ HUSSAIN

THE escalation of militarytensions on the Line ofControl (LoC) in Kashmir afew days ago has caused amajor setback to the Indo-

Pak talks for formalisation of anagreement on the non-construction ofnew posts along LoC, as well as an-other proposed vital pact on thespeedy return of the people who inad-vertently crossed the LoC.

After days-long tension at the LoC,Pakistan and India have been able to de-escalate the agitation and an understand-ing has been reached between the twoarmies in this regard. The deadly flare-up in the disputed border region, how-ever, resulted in the killing of threePakistani soldiers by the Indian troopswhereas India, in turn, accused Pakistanitroops of killing two of its soldiers. Be-fore, the recent clashes, both armies have

been adhering to the ceasefire that wasannounced along the Line of Control in2003 with on and off violations. In addi-tion to the ceasefire of 2003, the nuclearneighbours came up with an undertakingin 2005 on the non-construction of newposts along the LoC and formalisation ofan agreement in this regard was also thepart of expert level talks that they held inNew Delhi in December 2012.

“The talks were aimed at evolving aframework agreement by establishingparameters for non-construction ofmilitary defence posts. Though therewas no concrete movement ahead inthe recently held expert level talks butthe two sides decided to continue withthese important negotiations,” said adiplomatic source, seeking anonymity.He said, “Pakistan is of the view thatthe posts are needed to be barredwithin 500 metres on either side of theLoC. Moreover, there has been discus-sion as well to specify the limits ofmaintenance work on the existing mil-

itary posts.” Nonetheless, he said therecent skirmishes along the LoC hadresulted in serious damage to the talkson more Kashmir specific confidencebuilding measures, such as non-con-struction of new posts along the LoCand it seemed that the task to achievea formal agreement in this regard hadbeen made far more difficult. A Pak-istani official said Islamabad and NewDelhi had also been working on an-other important LoC-related proposedpact. “Talks have been held at the ex-pert level on speedy return of the inad-vertent LoC crossers,” he said,requesting not to be named. He said itwas decided at the recently-held talksthat negotiations would continue onthe important matter, adding that “wedon’t see derailment of talks but the re-cent escalation of military tensions onLoC has caused a setback to these talkson Kashmir specific CBMs and wedon’t see the chances of any positive re-sults in the near future”.

QUETTASHAHZAdA ZUlFIQAR

The coalition parties of the dismissedBalochistan government have announcedthat they would observe complete shutter-down and wheel-jam strikes against the im-position of Governor’s Rule in the province.Addressing a press conference, JUI-Fprovincial chief and Islamic Ideology Coun-cil Chairman Muhammad Khan Sheraniwarned that if the provincial governmentwas not restored until January 20, thecoalition parties would stage massive

protests across the province and wouldeven go to the extent of jamming airportsand the railway system in the province.Balochistan National Party-Awami AsadBaloch, PPP Haji Ali Madad Jattak, SyedEhsan Shah, Maulana Abdul Wasay, MirShah Nawaz Marri, Abdul Razziq and Sen-ator Hafiz Hamdullah were also present.

Sherani said the law and order inBalochistan had been deteriorating forquite some time now but the provincialgovernment had now been suspended be-cause it did not succumb to the pressureof some personalities on the Reko Diq

project. He demanded President Asif AliZardari immediately withdraw Gover-nor’s Rule and restore the Balochistangovernment under Article 236, addingthat if he did not withdraw the decision,the coalition parties would stronglyprotest against it. He announced thatprotest demonstrations would be carriedout across Balochistan on January 20while a complete shutter-down strikewould be observed on January 25 and awheel-jam strike on February 1, bringingthe life on a standstill “as we would jamairports and railway system if our de-

mands are not accepted”. The JUI-Fleader denied that the parties intended tochallenge the imposition of Governor’sRule in courts, adding that this was so be-cause a short time had left before the gov-ernment completed its tenure.BNP-Awami leader, former minister foragriculture, Asad Baloch said their gov-ernment had been dismissed unconstitu-tionally, adding that Governor’s Rulewould not be accepted at all. He said thedismissal of a democratic governmentwould worsen the already deterioratinglaw and order in Balochistan.

Pakistan’s loanscannot be written off or restructured: IMF ISLAMABAD: International MonitoryFund (IMF) mission in Pakistan chief JeffreyFrank said the IMF cannot write off or re-structure Pakistan’s loan. While speaking tothe media, Frank said Pakistan has not for-mally sought a new program, adding that ifthey did want to seek a new program theireconomic strategy must radically change aslosses of government institutions haddrowned the current economic strategy.Frank said Pakistan was in need of billions ofdollars in revenue as it was suffering from acurrent deficit of Rs 16.24 trillion, and Pak-istan’s foreign exchange reserves had dimin-ished. He expressed serious concern over thebudgetary deficit and said it could reach to Rs1,624 billion during the current financial year.He said without the agreement of provinces,Pakistan cannot get a new loan and neithercan the existing loan will be written off orrescheduled. He pointed out that provincialgovernments were part of the financial opera-tion and provinces had a greater role in col-lection and utilisation of taxes. He howeverindicated that if the political leadership of thecountry expressed its desire, the caretakergovernment of Pakistan can get loans whichwould be helpful in making payment of for-eign liabilities. Frank said Pakistan would notbe able to achieve the GDP target of 4.5 per-cent for the current year. INP

Bara killings: FCKhyber chiefsacked from officePESHAWAR:Taking serious notice of thekilling of 18 tribesmen in Khyber Agency onJanuary 15, authorities on Friday an-nounced to remove Col Jawad, the chief ofFrontier Corps in Khyber Agency. Accordingto official sources, Col Jawad would now bereplaced by Col Naeem Sarwar as the FCKhyber Agency chief. Following a militantattack on a checkpost of security forces onthe midnight between January 14 and 15, 18bullet-riddled bodies were found nearAlamgoodar Bara on January 15. On Janu-ary 16, tribesmen along with the bodiesstaged a sit-in in Peshawar outside the Gov-ernor’s House. The protesting tribesmentold reporters that people in security forcesuniform broke into houses and sprayed bul-lets on the people. But officials contradictedthe allegations and held militants from abanned group responsible for the violence.However, representatives of protestingtribesmen levelled similar allegations dur-ing negotiation with officials headed byGovernor Barrister Masud Kausar and de-manded stern action against those responsi-ble. The government team assured thetribesmen of conveying their sentimentsand grievances to the quarters concerned.Governor Barrister Masud Kausar had an-nounced Rs 0.4 million as compensation forthe heirs of each deceased. The protestingtribesmen have also demanded an end tomilitary action in Bara that was killing inno-cent people. SHAMIM SHAHID

election on time,assures Zardari

KARACHIONlINE

President Asif Ali Zardari on Friday saidelections would be held on time per theconstitution and no delay in polls would beallowed even for a day. “Those seeking topostpone elections have been frustrated.No one will be allowed to derail the electionprocess on any pretext,” the president said.The president felicitated both the coalitionpartners and opposition on successfulresolution of the sit-in in the federalcapital. President Zardari observed thatPrime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf, thecoalition parties in the government, allopposition political parties and thedemocratic elements in the civil society andmedia played positive and constructive rolein ensuring a peaceful and successfulresolution of the sit-in at Islamabad. Hesaid peaceful resolution of the issuewithout the use of force was a triumph ofdemocracy and reconciliation. “It is avindication of the policy of reconciliation ofBenazir Bhutto that has been vigorouslypursued by the present democraticgovernment,” he said. “Democracy andreconciliation have won. The unity shownby democratic political forces insafeguarding democracy is most laudablethat needs to be preserved andstrengthened,” Zardari said. Hecomplimented the Interior Ministry and lawenforcement agencies under it for aptlyhandling the situation in maintaining lawand order and keeping the demonstratorssafe from security threats. The presidentalso congratulated all those involved innegotiations for their skill and perseverancein successfully concluding negotiations.

LoC tension pushesback Indo-Pak talks g Stalls talks on non-construction of new posts along loc, return of thoseinadvertently crossing loc g kashmir-specific cBms to suffer

Sacked Baloch lawmakers warn ofstrikes against Governor’s Rule

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