e-paper pakistantoday

pakistantoday.com.pkrs15.00 Vol ii no 149 32 pages islamabad — peshawar edition Friday, 25 november, 2011 Zul-Haj 28, 1432

PAGE 03

SC will expose thetruth in memocase: Nawaz

‘Sesame Street’ turns‘Simsim Hamara’ in Pakistan

Indian food minister gets thetaste of price hike

PAGE 18 PAGE 17

ISLAMABADMIAN ABRAR

THE memo controversyfinally echoed in theNational Assembly onThursday with Oppo-sition Leader

Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan raisingfive fundamental questions aboutthe scandal, while Prime MinisterYousaf Raza Gilani came up withhalf-answers to dodge basicqueries, annoying the oppositionand triggering an exchange of alle-gations between the treasurybenches and the opposition mem-bers that finally led to a walkout byPakistan Muslim League-Nawaz(PML-N) members from the pro-ceedings in protest against the gov-ernment’s “non-serious approach”.

Allegation after allegationmarred the assembly proceedings,which also echoed with slogans of“urea thieves” and “bakery thieves”from both sides of the political di-vide. An otherwise senior and seri-ous Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)Minister Khurshid Shah alsogrilled the media for siding withthe corrupt, saying: “When it isabout writing the truth, the jour-nalists’ pens run dry but once

someone fills their pens with ink,they start writing”.FIVE QUESTIONS: Speaking ona point of order, Nisar raised fivequestions about the memogatescandal. He asked the governmentto explain why it kept claiming forthe past six months that there wasno truth to the memo controversyand no one was involved in thescam; why Husain Haqqani had re-signed if he was not involved in thecontroversy; why the army hadbarred Haqqani from going back tothe US; why a new envoy was ap-pointed immediately and whyHaqqani was not given a chance to

For gas to special

few, everyone

will pay moreISLAMABADAMER SIAL

To enable the two state-owned gas utilitycompanies to urgently complete gas sup-ply schemes in the constituencies of influ-ential parliamentarians, the Oil and GasRegulatory Authority (OGRA) has recom-mended an increase of 11 to 14 percent intheir tariff effective from January 1, 2012.An official source said OGRA has sent itsrecommendations to the government sug-gesting an increase of Rs 43.92 permmBTU in the tariff of Sui Northern GasPipelines Limited (SNGPL) and an in-crease of Rs 34 per mmBTU in the tariffof Sui Southern Gas Company Limited(SSGCL). The increase in tariff has beenallowed under the pretext of expansion ofthe gas distribution network and recoveryof the unaccounted for gas losses as a re-sult of theft. If the government approvesthe recommended increase, the worst af-fected would be domestic consumers andtheir gas bills will rise significantly eventhough their supply will be reduce be-cause of the expansion in the distribution

‘Memogate’ putsGilani on theback foot in NAg Nisar presents five questions to PM as treasury binsallegations that army pushed for Haqqani’s dismissal

ISLAMABADMASOOD REHMAN

Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhrysaid on Thursday that former prime ministerBenazir Bhutto was not at all interested inthe National Reconciliation Ordinance, butformer president Pervez Musharraf hadmade persistent efforts to bring her around.

“We even read in the press that PervezMusharraf went to Dubai several times butcould not convince Benazir Bhutto to comeon board,” said Chaudhry. If Bhutto wantedto broker a deal she would not have partici-pated in the lawyer’s movement, he added.

“You are linking Benazir Bhutto to thispiece of paper. She was not only Pakistanior Asian but she was an international tower-ing personality. Benazir Bhutto wrote in herbook that she did not take any interest inthe NRO. Gen Musharraf wanted this law.She was the daughter of a father who neveraccepted any wrong deed,” Chaudhry toldDr Babar Awan, the government’s counselin the NRO review plea. “This is the case ofthe federation, don’t involve such a great

leader in it,” the chief justice added. A 17-member full court headed by the

chief justice was hearing the government’sreview petition on the infamous NRO prom-ulgated by Musharraf. The Supreme Court al-lowed the federation on Thursday to fileadditional documents with the review peti-tion after having earlier declined to acceptthem with the ruling that according to thesettled rules of the apex court, any additionaldocuments could not be accepted at the re-view stage. The court directed Attorney Gen-eral Maulvi Anwarul Haq to ask Awan to filethe additional documents on Friday (today) ifthey were from the federal government.

Earlier when Awan concluded his argu-ments, he repeatedly requested the court toaccept some additional documents which hesaid were the most important ones, how-ever, the court declined.

Awan contended that the questions offacts were decided in the NRO judgementwithout replies. Justice Asif Saeed Khosa re-minded the counsel that a written statement

Benazir was not interestedin NRO, Musharraf was: SC g Court allows govt to file additional documents in NRO plea

Continued on page 04



Committee to probe memo | page 04

Pages For e-paper_Layout 1 11/25/2011 1:55 AM

02Friday, 25 November, 2011

News

Today’s

LookQuick

iSLamabad

Story on Page 07

NewS

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wORLd view

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Missing women remembered ‘Policies needed to curb violence against women’ A Pak-American reset

PPP warns Supreme Court

against cornering party KARACHI

StAFF REPORt

The PPP will not allowjudicial murder of an-other of its leader andthe party will knock thepeople’s court in case ofany injustice, Sindh In-formation MinisterShazia Marri said onThursday while reactingto NRO case proceed-ings underway at theSupreme Court.“When the SC largerbench was constituted,

it took up the NRO case as the first case. Only PPP leadership’strial is being held. Is it because of PPP leadership’s affiliation toSindh?,” remarked the minister while speaking at a hurriedlycalled press conference at the Sindh Chief Minister’s House.Marri said the SC larger bench did not take up the case of 22-year-old Asghar Khan and also did not consider taking up Rs100 billion corruption case against Nawaz Sharif.“We will not allow trial of the graves of our martyrs,” she said,adding that attempts were being made to conduct trial of Sha-heed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto. The PPP workersare in shock over the situation, she said.She said they were also concerned over the behaviour (of thecourt) with the federal government’s lawyer Babar Awan. “Weare not afraid of the situation. We will face the situation,” shesaid, adding that many people had got benefit of the NRO.The provincial law minister said they respected an independentjudiciary, but questioned why was the Asghar Khan case notbeing heard. “Is the PPP leadership being punished only be-cause of its affiliation with Sindh,” he added. He said they knewwho was favouring whom over blood relations. To a question,he said it was Nawaz whose people had attacked the SC, the PPPwould not do it. “This is not an issue of threat to democracy, it isa matter of conspiracy against democracy,” he said.

7 members of a familydie as roof caves in

SWATONLINE

Seven members of a family died after the roof of their housecollapsed in the tourist area of Madin. Ghani Rehman andhis family members were asleep on the night betweenThursday and Wednesday when the roof of his house cavedin. Police said seven people, including Ghani Rehman, hiswife, 3 children and a nephew were killed on the spot. Thevictims were named Ghani Rehman, Amna Bibi, Taj Bibi,Nazir, Shahid, Mehran and Hina.

US lauds HaqqaniWASHINGTON

AFP

The United States onWednesday praisedthe service of Pak-istan’s Ambassador toWashington HussainHaqqani, ousted afterbeing accused of urg-ing the Americans tostop the Pakistani mil-itary from seizingpower. SpokesmanMark Toner said theState Department hadnot yet received formal

notification from Pakistan about Haqqani’s resignation andhis replacement, but acknowledged Islamabad’s appoint-ment of democracy advocate Sherry Rehman as the newenvoy. “We certainly look forward to working together withher as we continue to build a strong, cooperative relation-ship between our two countries,” Toner said. “We have ap-preciated Ambassador Haqqani’s strong support forUS-Pakistan relations throughout his tenure.”

CHAKWALONLINE

PAKISTAN Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) Chair-man Imran Khan on Thursday said thedays of the incumbent rulers were num-bered, as the present government had

emerged as the most corrupt in the history of Pak-istan. Addressing a public gathering, Imran saideverything had changed with the passage of time andthe masses had become fed up with conservative andexploitative systems. Referring to historical citations,he said due to an absence of reasonable political sys-tem, Pakistan had become a puppet in the hands ofdestructive forces.

“Pakistan has been endowed with every kind ofcapabilities of science and technology. It is full ofmen of letters and scholars, but due to a lack ofproper planning and honest leadership, the nation issuffering more by the day,” he said. Criticising thePML-N, he said it had underground links with theruling party for its own interests.

Imran said former rulers mercilessly spent na-tional sources on Raiwind to convert it into a feudalestate. “How can a man who looted wealth of the na-tion uplift the masses?” he said.

“We would form national academic institutionswhere everybody would be provided with equal op-portunities without any discrimination.”

Referring to Hazrat Ali, Imran said a pagan sys-tem could run the state, but the system based on in-justice was impossible to sustain.

He said law and order had become pitiable, asthe law was blindly imposed on the poor and helplesspeople while the high-ups went scott-free.

The PTI chief also offered a roadmap for recon-struction of the country entailing rule of law, equalityand economic justice. “Oversees Pakistani are ourreal assets who are standing with the PTI to play apositive role for the progress of the country,” he as-serted. He said his government would provide cheapelectricity and fertilizers to farmers. Regarding thelaw and order in Karachi, he said innocent peoplewere being targeted without any reason. “The PTIwill invite all people, including Urdu-speaking, Pash-tuns, Sindhis and Punjabis for dialogue and urgethem to restore peace and tranquility in the city,which is the hub of national economy,” Imran said.

Sherry’s appointment

as ambassador to US

challenged in LHCLAHORE: A civilmiscellaneous peti-tion was filed onThursday in the La-hore High Courtchallenging SherryRehman’s appoint-ment as Pakistan’sambassador to theUnited States.Muhammad AzharSiddique filed the application, sayingSherry’s appointment was illegal. Hepleaded that she was still member of theNational Assembly (MNA) which made itunlawful to appoint her on any govern-ment seat until she resigned from the as-sembly seat. The petitioner said the LHCwas already hearing a petition seekingSherry’s disqualification from the assem-bly for tabling blasphemy laws amend-ment bill in parliament as an MNA. Hesaid as an MNA, Sherry was disqualifiedunder article 62(1), 62(e), 62(d) and62(g) of the constitution for tablingamended bill in the blasphemy act. Hesaid article 2-A and 227 of the constitu-tion protected religion Islam and Sherryhas violated it. He said an ambassadorwas supposed to protect national inter-ests of the country which Sherry couldnot do due to her anti-Islam stanceshown to public. The petitioner re-quested the court to annul the govern-ment’s notification issued for herappointment as ambassador to the US.Justice Khalid Mehmood of the LHCwill start proceedings on the applicationtoday (Friday). StAFF REPORt

Rulers’ days arenumbered: Imran

FRIENDS IN ARMS: Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) soldiers and Pakistani

commandos from the Special Services Group (SSG) shout ‘Long live China, long

live Pakistan’ as they wrap up their two-week military exercise in Jhelum. AFP



NewsCOmmeNtNew in DC:

articles on Page 12-13

Ms Rehman has her job cut out for her.

to the SC: The Memogate saga reached the courts.

M J Akbar says:

Qudssia Akhalque says:Truth must out: Memogate has opened all sorts of gates.

Hassaan Ghazali says:Eat dirt: After all, it’s all around you.

FOReigN NewS

Story on Page 17

aRtS & eNteRtaiNmeNtthat’s one swell pout!

Story on Page 19

SPORtSMisbah wants to cap series with twenty20 glory

Story on Page 20

Deaths cast pall over Saleh’s exit deal

The man who said he could: A review of Imran’s book.

Karachi woman

kills, attempts to

cook husband

KARACHIAFP

Police on Thursday arrested a woman whohad killed her husband and was attempting tocook his body parts after he planned to marryanother woman without her permission. Thepolice arrested Zainab Bibi, 32, and hernephew Zaheer, 22, in the Shah Faisal colonyof Karachi and recovered the bowl of flesh sheplanned to cook, said area police chiefNadeem Baig. “They killed Ahmed Abbas,Zainab’s husband, and chopped his body intopieces and were about to cook the flesh in abowl,” he told AFP, adding that the knife withwhich they killed the man had been recov-ered. Television networks showed gruesomefootage of the human flesh in a bowl readyfor the stove. A neighbour had alerted thepolice and investigations were ongoing, Baigsaid. “There could be two factors behind herintention to cook the husband. One is to de-stroy the evidence and the other could be herimmense hatred against him”, over his planto marry another woman, he said.

MFN decision not finalisedyet, minister tells NA

ISLAMABADStAFF REPORt

Minister for Textile IndustryMakhdoom Shahab-ud-din saidon Thursday that granting theMost Favoured Nation (MFN) sta-tus to India had not been finalisedas yet and the matter was beinglooked into to address the relatedissues.

He said that the cabinet onlyapproved in principle the grantingof MFN status to start normaliza-tion of trade relations with India.“Both countries are discussingmany aspects threadbare, a nega-tive list is being compiled,” he saidwhile responding to a supplemen-tary question during the questionhour in the National Assembly.

Foreign Minister Hina Rab-

bani Khar also said that MFN wasa misleading term, it only meantnormalization of trade ties be-tween the two countries. “Aftergiving MFN status to India, wewill trade with them like we aredoing trade with 100 other coun-tries,” she said.

Through MFN, we will be re-moving discriminatory tariffregime and non-tariff barrierregimes, she said, adding thattalks were under way at the Com-merce secretaries’ level and thecabinet’s decision regarding MFNwas just the start of the process.

Responding to another ques-tion, Railways Minister Haji Ghu-lam Ahmed Bilour informed thehouse that the total area of Pak-istan Railways under unautho-rized occupation was 3,779.98

acres. He further told the housethat a project for the procurementof 150 Diesel Electric Locomotiveshad been approved by the Execu-tive Committee of the NationalEconomic Council (ECNEC) forwhich technical offers were sched-uled to be opened on December14, 2011 as per Single Stage-TwoEnvelope bidding procedure ac-cording to the Public ProcurementRegulatory Authority (PPRA)Rules.

Responding to another ques-tion, Makhdoom Shahab-ud-Dintold the house that the EuropeanUnion had delisted Pakistani fish-eries exporting fish and seafoodproducts to the EU in 2007 due totheir failure to meet the EuropeanUnion’s Sanitary and Phytosani-tory (SPS) standards.

SC will expose the truthin memo case: Nawaz

LAHOREStAFF REPORt

RATHER than beingdriven by a personalagenda to become primeminister or president,

the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) filed the memocase in the Supreme Court in na-tional interest to discern truth fromfalsehood in the matter, PML-NPresident Nawaz Sharif said onThursday.

Addressing the key distributionceremony for the Yellow CabScheme at Al-Hamra Hall onThursday, Nawaz said those behindthe memo must be exposed. Hesaid, “Premiership, ministries andbeing ruler are valueless. I justwant to restore the glorywhich Pakistan has lost due to thecorruption and mismanagement ofthe present government.”

He said the PML-N had nottried to enter the doors of powerbut some elements were trying toattack the Sharifs which should bestopped. Nawaz said, “Allegationshave been made that we have accu-mulated assets beyond our meansbut our most valuable asset is ournation.”

He said the PML-N wouldarrange mark up-free loans foryouth after coming into power. Hesaid the Punjab governmentscheme to provide 20,000 yellowcabs could have increased to 2 mil-lion if the federal government hadbacked it. He promised to distrib-ute more yellow cabs soon.

“Apart from 3 to 4 percent bankcharges, the Punjab governmenthas not taken any mark-up on yel-low cabs. We saved Rs 960 millionon the yellow cabs, having negoti-ated a contract at Rs 50,000 lessthan the market rate. The creditgoes to the Punjab CM ShahbazSharif,” he said.

munter calls

on Khar ISLAMABAD

StAFF REPORt

US Ambassador to Pakistan CameronMunter called on Foreign MinisterHina Rabbani Khar on Thursday anddiscussed with her matters pertainingto bilateral relations, the Afghan situ-ation, the ‘memogate’ scandal and theappointment of Sherry Rehman asPakistan’s new ambassador to Wash-ington in place of Husain Haqqani.“The US ambassador hoped in themeeting with the foreign minister thatrelations between Islamabad andWashington, currently marred by ten-sions, would improve in the wake ofthe appointment of Rehman as thenew Pakistani ambassador to Wash-ington,” said an official here, whoasked not to be named. Meanwhile,Sherry Rehman also called on Presi-dent Asif Ali Zardari at the Presi-dency. “Matters pertaining to her newassignment were discussed during themeeting,” said an official statement.The president congratulated her o hernew assignment and urged her to con-centrate on enhancing bilateral rela-tions between Pakistan and the US.

Second bankrobbed in two days

KARACHIStAFF REPORt

In the second bank robbery in as manydays, bandits robbed Rs 4.4 million from aprivate bank branch in the Soldier Bazaararea on Thursday. However, yet anotherbank robbery attempt was foiled by the po-lice. Police said that seven armed robbersentered the bank in Soldier Bazaar and es-caped with Rs 4.4 million in less than fiveminutes. They also took away the footageof the closed-circuit television cameras in-stalled at the bank.“One of the bandits was in a security guarduniform and might be an employee of aprivate security agency,” police said. Morethan 25 clients were said to present at thebank when the robbers struck. “The ban-dits also snatched valuables from the cus-tomers present inside the bank.” Policehave issued the sketches of the robberswho are stated to be also involved in sixother bank robberies. According to SpecialInvestigation Unit Senior Superintendentof Police Raja Umar Khattab, the robbershail from the cities of Parachinar andKohat and used a Suzuki-made vehicle inall their robberies.On Wednesday, four armed men hadrobbed a bank in Gulshan-e-Iqbal ofaround Rs 4 million making it the latest ina series of bank robberies over the past fewmonths. In the jurisdiction of AwamiColony police, six gunmen shot dead theguard of a private company and looted Rs10.5 million from the cash-carrying vehicleon Thursday.The bandits had set up hurdles on the roadto stop the vehicle. Police said that a totalamount of Rs 60 million was present in-side the vehicle but due to the resistance ofguards, the robbers escaped with only Rs10.5 million.Meanwhile, another attempt to rob a bankwas foiled by police in Gulshan-e-Iqbal.Four armed bandits had entered a privatebank branch but the police reached thespot in time and arrested two of them fromthe spot. However, two suspects managedto flee from the scene.

Nawaz asks SC to place Haqqani on eCLISLAMABAD

StAFF REPORt

A day after seeking the Supreme Court’s help in probing the memo scan-dal, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on Thursday filed an-other application in the apex court requesting the court to order theauthorities concerned to place Pakistan’s former ambassador to the USHusain Haqqani on the Exit Control List. Earlier, on Wednesday, PML-NPresident Nawaz Sharif had asked the court to identify those behind thememorandum scandal and bring them to justice. In a separate applicationon Thursday, he requested the court to ensure that Haqqani could notleave Pakistan until the proceedings of the case were completed. He statedthat there was a chance that either Haqqani would flee the country or thathe would be forced to leave in order to cause problems in the court’s adju-dication, for “reasons based on malice to say the least”. Separately, threePML-N parliamentarians from Balochistan also filed a joint petition in theSupreme Court on Thursday against the memo controversy, requestingthe court to summon all the respondents to explain their position. The pe-titioners are MNA Lt Gen (r) Abdul Qadir Baloch, MNA Sardar Muham-mad Yaqoob Khan Nasir and MPA Sardar Sanaullah Khan Zehri.



News

clarify his position; why thedefence minister implicatedhis own prime minister intothe controversy, and why didthe prime minister not tellthe House about the way for-ward. Nisar also alleged thatthe government was not se-rious in removing Haqqaniand the resignation hadbeen sought after the armychief intervened and pushedthe government.

Responding to the alle-gations, Gilani said he hadalready assured the Housethat the ambassador wouldbe summoned and an en-quiry would be held into thematter. He said the meetingthat questioned Haqqaniwas held at Prime Minister’sHouse and not the Presi-dency and had taken place inbroad daylight, not quietlyin the darkness of the night.

He said the army chiefand intelligence chief hadjoined him in a meeting with

a UK delegation on strategicdialogue at 1pm and follow-ing the meeting, Haqqaniwas summoned and he toldthe former ambassador tohand in his resignation sothere was no chance hecould influence the enquiry.He said the decision wastaken in principle to ensurea fair trial into the memocontroversy because of na-tional security concerns.

“Now the matter is withthe enquiry committee for afair probe and since thePML-N has already takenthe matter to the SupremeCourt, further details cannotbe shared [with the House]because the matter is sub ju-dice. To satisfy the House, Ithink it would be better toprove to all stakeholdersthat there is an opportunityhere for a fair trial,” headded.

About the statement ofDefence Minister AhmedMukhtar, Gilani saidMukhtar had meant that the

prime minister would takethe final decision in the mat-ter. He said the ministerwould also explain his posi-tion before the House in per-son. He said the governmentand the ambassador hadsuch cordial relations withthe US government that theydid not need a third personto convey a message.

Dissatisfied with theprime minister’s explana-tion, Nisar once again tookthe floor and said the gov-ernment did not seek resig-nation from Haqqani until amilitary motorcade had vis-ited the Presidency twiceand the government sum-moned the ambassadorunder pressure from Gen-eral Headquarters (GHQ).

“The decisions taken atthe midnight meeting be-tween the president, primeminister, army chief and ISI(Inter-Services Intelligence)director general should beannounced on the floor ofthe House,” the opposition

leader said, adding that theissue was far from its con-clusion.

“If this government hadthe courage to seek resigna-tions from its officials afterthey had been accused [ofwrongdoing], it would havesought resignations fromcorrupt and NRO-taintedministers whose cases are incourt; it could have soughtresignations after the Abbot-tabad incident, PNS Mehranattack, etc. But no one wasasked to resign in the pastfour years,” said Nisar,adding that if Haqqani wasinnocent, he would not haveresigned but faced the en-quiry. He urged the premierto give a specific timeframeof the enquiry into the mem-ogate scandal.TREASURY BINS ALLE-GATIONS: Nisar’s asser-tions triggered a heateddebate, with Khurshid Shahresponding to the allega-tions. Shah said the rulingparty had never compro-

mised on principles and theprime minister was only an-swerable to the House andno one else.

“We don’t meet anyonein the darkness of the night.We are not answerable toany army general, this gov-ernment made generals an-swerable to this House. Nopolitician went to the GHQto answer queries,” he said.

Nisar shot back thatSupreme Court orders werenot being respected. “Thedefence minister neverspeaks on drone attacks butnow he is pointing fingers atthe prime minister,” he said,adding that the governmentcontinued to deny the memoissue for six weeks. FarahnazIspahani also said that all al-legations were false and thatshe would move the UScourt, said Nisar, but thenHaqqani resigned withinthree days and SherryRehman was appointed thenew ambassador to the USwithin hours.

“He was also not allowedto leave for America by thearmy when he desired,”Nisar said, adding that thearmy chief had met the pres-ident and then held a meet-ing with the prime ministerand in the third meeting,Haqqani’s resignation wassought. Nisar said the PML-N leadership had to movethe Supreme Court on thematter since parliament hadbeen turned into a rubberstamp. Khurshid Shah onceagain responded to the alle-gations made by Nisar,which shifted the focus frommemogate. He remindedNisar that from 1977 to2000, his party had facedcourt cases but never at-tacked the courts despitebeing given punishments infalse cases. Warning thePML-N that its corruption inPunjab would be exposed,Shah said political point-scoring would not do anyoneany good.

Nisar responded by

questioning who had termedthe courts “Kangaroocourts”. He said the govern-ment was non-serious andparliament had becomemeaningless so there was nopurpose for his party to sit inthe House. With these re-marks, PML-N membersstaged a walkout from theHouse proceedings.

Shah once again roseand called the PML-N lead-ers “bakery thieves” who hadtaken the Punjab govern-ment Rs 80 billion in debt.“When (former Punjab chiefminister) Chaudhry PervaizElahi left the government,Punjab was a rich provincewith Rs 17 billion in hand.But they (the PML-N) havemade it a defaulter,” he said.

Later, Minister of Statefor Industries and DefenceProduction Bahadur KhanSehar told the House thatprovincial mismanagementhad resulted in shortage ofurea across the country, es-pecially in Punjab.

‘Memogate’ puts Gilani on the back foot in NA

No suspect of

Rabbani murder

in Pakistan ISLAMABAD: InteriorMinister Rehman Malik onThursday said no accusedwanted in connection withthe murder of former Afghanpresident Burhanuddin Rab-bani was in Pakistan. Talkingto reporters, he said a 14-member Afghan delegationwas in Pakistan to discuss thedevelopment in Rabbani’smurder case with Pakistaniauthorities.StAFF REPORt

For gas to some

network without a requiredaccompanied increase ingas production. SNGPL had sought an in-crease of 30 percent butwas granted 14 percent,while SSGCL had sought a14 percent increase but got11 percent. The two state-owned entities have abnor-mally high unaccounted forgas losses of 13.5 percent(380 million cubic feet perday, or mmcfd) out of which200mmcfd is lost every dayby SNGPL and 180mmcfdby SSGCL, a source said.The international bench-mark for unaccounted forgas losses is 5 percent. TheOGRA wanted to set it at alower level but it was op-posed by gas utility compa-nies, who wanted it to bemaintained at 13 percent inorder for them to recovertheir losses. The govern-ment had pressed OGRA toincrease the benchmark, thesource said. However, the real reasonfor the tariff increase was toallow gas companies tomeet the expenditures ofthe natural gas supplyschemes of parliamentari-ans under the Prime Minis-ter’s People’s WorksProgramme. The parlia-mentarians have been de-manding completion of gassupply schemes in theirconstituencies even thoughthere is an extreme shortageof gas in the country. TheSui companies are inter-ested in expanding their in-frastructure, which allowsthem a return of 17.5 per-cent per year and to meetextra expenditure occurringbecause of the re-inductionof 7,000 terminated em-ployees.

Continued From page 1


benazir was not

interested in NRO,

musharraf was: SC

was filed by the acting at-torney general at the timefor not defending theNRO. Awan, however,replied that he had beentrying to tell the court forthe last three days thatthe federation had sub-mitted earlier in the mainpetition on the NRO thatif any wider issueemerged, a review couldbe filed. “The full court has beenhearing the review peti-tion for the last threedays, but you have not yetpinpointed that widerissue,” the chief justicetold Awan.“You mean to say that thepersons who benefitedfrom NRO should be pro-tected?” Justice SaqibNisar asked Awan, whoreplied that a reviewmeant “you come backfrom an earlier view inany judgement includingcases pertaining to crimi-nals, commercial and cor-porate, etc”. “The scope ofa review is not limited,but wide,” Awan stated. “That’s why we are hear-ing you, but subject to thelaw,” Justice TassaduqHussain Jillani told Awan. After the interval, WasimSajjad, counsel for formerattorney general MalikQayyum, stated that hisclient could not give hisstance in the case, andlater the court ordered fil-ing of criminal casesagainst him in connectionwith writing letters to theSwiss government. Hecontended that Qayyumwas not a beneficiary ofthe NRO and wrote letterson behalf of the Law Min-istry as he was represent-ing the federation in thecase.The court disposed ofcases of Malik Qayyum,former National Account-ability Bureau (NAB)chairman Naveed-ul-Has-san, NAB Prosecutor Gen-eral Danishwar Malik andAdditional General BaseerQurashi and ordered thecompletion of enquiresagainst them in compli-ance with the court’s ear-lier orders.


QUETTASHAHzADA zuLFIQAR

ONE of the twobullet riddledbodies found yes-terday were on

Thursday identified as JalilReki, the central informa-tion secretary of Baloch Re-publican Party (BRP).

The party has an-nounced 40 days of mourn-ing and has given a call for athree-day shut downthroughout the province toprotest the killing of its cen-tral leader allegedly at thehands of intelligence agen-cies.

Reki’s family membersalleged that he had beenwhisked away by the person-nel of an intelligence agencyon February 13, 2009 fromthe Sariab area of Quetta

while coming out of amosque after Friday prayers.

Two dead bodies werefound on Wednesday in themountains of Sheraz Koh inMund Bulo, the border townat Pakistan-Iran border,some 1250 kilometre south-west of Quetta. The bodieswere kept at a hospital’smorgue in Turbat town foridentification. Another deadbody was identified as Mo-hammad Younus Baloch, amember of the Baloch Na-tional Movement (BNM) - aseparatist group formed bylate Ghulam MohammadBaloch. Ghulam Moham-mad, along with two leadersof the BRP and the BNM,was whisked away in broaddaylight, and killed in simi-lar manner.

Reki’s father, AbdulQadeer Baloch, who had

formed the Voice for BalochMissing Persons with otherrelatives of missing persons,had been observing a hungerstrike outside Quetta PressClub for the release of hisson and other missing per-sons. He claimed that abouta dozen personnel arrived infour vehicles and abductedReki. He said that his sonhad sacrificed his life for his

motherland Balochistan andthe Baloch nation and hewas proud of him. He prom-ised to continue his strugglefor the safe recovery of allBaloch missing persons andhe would not give up hisstruggle for their safe recov-ery.

Meanwhile, NasrullahBaloch, chairman of theVoice for Baloch MissingPersons, said the recoveredbodies of Reki and YounusBaloch were a slap on theface of rulers and the organ-isations dispensing justice.He asked internationalhuman rights organisationsto take notice of the inci-dents of abduction, extra ju-dicial killings and recoveryof decomposed dead bodiesof Baloch people.

BNM Chairman KhalilBaloch paid tribute to both

Reki and Younus, sayingthat both the political ac-tivists faced mental agonyand physical torture beforebeing killed. He said thatevery dead body was provid-ing fuel for the Baloch strug-gle for independence.

BRP Spokesman SherMohammad Bugti said therecovery of dead bodies re-flected the continuation ofthe state’s policy of geno-cide towards the Baloch na-tion. He said that Jalil andYounus had followedBaloch martyred NawabAkbar Khan Bugti,Nawabzada Balach Marriand hundred of others whohad laid their lives for theirmotherland. He said thatover 300 dead bodies ofBaloch missing persons hadbeen thrown in the streetssince June 2010.

Mutilated corpse identifiedas that of BRP’s Jalil Rekig bRP announces 40-day mourning and three-day strike across balochistan

g bNm chairman says each body ‘providing fuel for baloch struggle for independence’

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minis-ter Yousaf Raza Gilani said onThursday that the governmentwas forming a high-level com-mittee to investigate the memocontroversy.

Responding to queriesraised by reporters after ad-dressing the participants of thesecond International WomenPolice Conference, Gilani saidthere was no threat to the gov-ernment because of the memocontroversy or any other issueand the scandal would be thor-oughly investigated “at thehighest level” and an enquirycommittee would be formedvery soon to probe the matter.

The prime minister did notcomment on the compositionof the enquiry committee andalso did not mention any spe-cific timeframe for the investi-gation. “Talking about threatsto the government is a part ofspeculation. Even if the entirecountry joins the investigationinto the memo issue, still thereis no threat to the government.I had promised to bring back

the ambassador. He was sum-moned back and was asked toresign. The matter is being in-vestigated now,” he said.NATIONAL SECURITY:Talking to British Home Secre-tary Theresa May who called onhim at the Prime Minister’sHouse, Gilani said that nationalsecurity was linked to economicsecurity. The prime ministerunderscored the importance ofeconomic stability for which theUK’s cooperation was of funda-mental importance. “The worldshould help us through greatermarket access and with moretrade and investment,” the PMadded.

The British home secretarydiscussed with Gilani issuespertaining to cooperation incounter-terrorism and the on-going collaboration in the fieldsof education, economy and se-curity. She said the cooperationbetween the two countries invarious fields under the um-brella of Enhanced StrategicDialogue would be strength-ened. ONLINE/StAFF REPORt

mustafa Kharlikely to join PtiLAHORE: Another heavy-weight of Punjab’s politicalarena, former governorGhulam Mustafa Khar, isgoing to join Imran Khan’ssquad against mighty rivalslike the Pakistan People’sParty (PPP) and the Pak-istan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N). Sources inthe Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Thursdayconfided to Pakistan Todaythat several meetings wereheld between Khar and thePTI chief, and the formergovernor would very likelymake a formal announce-ment in a public meeting onNovember 26. They addedthat the two leaders hadagreed to announce Khar’sPTI membership in a bigshow, either in Shujaabad,Multan or Muzaffargarh(Khar’s native town).Sources further said thatKhar’s entry into the PTIwould fortify Khan’s politicalstature in southern Punjab,as Khar had a strong lobby inthe region. StAFF REPORt

High-level committee toinvestigate memo: Gilani

PM appoints Gen (r) KhalidLodhi as defence secretaryISLAMABAD: Prime Minis-ter Yousaf Raza Gilani onThursday appointed General (r)Khalid Naeem Lodhi as defencesecretary of Pakistan. Lodhi willassume charge on December 3upon the retirement of the in-cumbent Defence Secretary LtGeneral (r) Syed Athar Ali.Meanwhile, on the recommen-dations of the Central SelectionBoard, the prime minister ap-proved the promotions of fol-lowing officers. Officers whowere promoted from BS-19 toBS-20 from the Civil Engineer-ing Department of Pakistan Rail-

ways include Humayun Rashid,Abdul Saeed Khan, ZafarullahKalwar and Muhammad HaroonGhauri. From Inland RevenueService (IRS) Farzana Jabeen,Muhammad Ashraf Khan,Khawaja Tanveer Ahmed, FizaMuzaffar, Azra Mujtaba, ShahidAnwar Khan, MuhammadShahid Zaheer, Qaisar Ali,Muhammad Younas Khan,Shaista Abbas, Sameera Yasin,Farida Amjad, Raana Seerat,Mahfuzur Rehman Pasha andHaroon Muhammad KhanTareen have been promotedfrom BS-20 to BS-21. StAFF REPORt

Pak-China cooperation not directedagainst any country: Kayani JHELUM: Army Chief Gen Ashfaq Kayani on Thursday said thestrategic cooperation between Pakistan and China was not di-rected against any other country and this cooperation was criticalfor peace and stability in the region. “No country should feel anythreat from the strategic cooperation between Pakistan and China.This cooperation is very crucial for the region. It will lead to peaceand stability in the region,” he said while addressing the conclud-ing ceremony of Pak-China war games, which was also addressedby Chinese Deputy Chief of General Staff Hou Shusen. ONLINE


Friday, 25 November, 2011

Electrical codes only in IESCO’sofficial manuals

ISLAMABAD: Contract employees of PHA demonstrate in favour of their demands outside the National Press Club. STAFF PHoTo

Page 08


PRIME Minister Yousaf Raza Gi-lani ordered on Thursday astern action against officialswho had failed to show resultsin the national polio eradication

campaign and asked provinces to doubletheir efforts towards making Pakistan apolio-free country.

Chairing a meeting of Task Force onPolio Eradication, the PM took a strong ex-ception to the performance of officials con-cerned, said an official statement issued here.“Do not transfer them, rather sack them, ifthey cannot deliver,” he told the members ofthe task force. The PM said all possible meas-ures must be taken to eradicate the cripplingdisease from the country by 2012, under theNational Emergency Plan. He also appointedBegum Shahnaz Wazir Ali as focal person forCoordination and Monitoring of Polio Erad-ication in Pakistan. Gilani urged KhyberPakhtunkhwa governor, all the chief minis-ters and the AJK prime minister to holdmonthly review meetings on the situationand send reports to him.

Gilani had also assured the world lead-ers present at the Commonwealth Summitin Australia that his government wouldutilise all possible resources for polio erad-ication, said the statement.

The meeting was informed that accord-ing to the latest tally, 158 cases of polio hadbeen detected in the country—29 in Sindh,63 in Balochistan, 4 in Punjab and 14 in KPand the rest in AJK and Gilgit-Baltistan.

The prime minister also told the taskforce to involve parliamentarians, religiousleaders, local notables and NGOs with anoutreach in the rural areas of the country inthat regard.

Gilani directed authorities concerned toensure better coordination between pri-mary healthcare departments and ladyhealth workers. He also proposed direct in-volvement of the media for greater aware-ness among the people against the disease.

He said the universities in the countryshould involved for third-party monitoringof the anti-polio campaign and appreciatedthe role of WHO, UNICEF, the government

of Japan, Bill Gates Foundation for finan-cial and technical assistance in that regard.

He said all provinces including Gilgit-Baltistan should be fully prepared for im-plementing campaign initiative called“National Immunisation Day”, commencingfrom 19 December to 22 December this yearthroughout the country.

He said that the focus of the discussionin the meeting in Australia was on Pakistanwhich had reported the highest number ofpolio cases in the world and hence it was acause for concern for the global community.

He stressed the need to redouble the ef-forts as it was vital for country’s prestigeand standing in the comity of nations. Hesaid the National Emergency Action Planwas developed in consultation with all theprovincial governments and with the activesupport of international partners.

Gilani recalled that the president hadlaunched the national polio eradicationplan at a ceremony held on January 24,which was also attended by Aseefa BhuttoZardari, the ambassador for polio eradica-tion. He expressed confidence that with onehundred percent implementation on theplan, the government would be able to stopthe spread of the polio virus and meet itstargets. Regarding reports of polio casesfrom FATA, he said a special civil-militarycoordination committees had been formedwith chapters in all the agencies of FATA.

He said innovative solutions like Immu-nisation Plus had been successfully intro-duced in FATA with encouraging results.The Pakistan army field medical camps hadalso made special arrangements to admin-ister polio vaccine to the children there, thePM said. “From 42 percent districts report-ing 95 percent coverage, we have now pro-gressed to 76 % districts reporting 95percent coverage which is a marked im-provement,” he observed. The meeting wasattended, among others, by Inter-provincialCoordination Minister Mir Hazar Khan Bi-jrani, KP Governor Barrister MasoodKausar, Sindh CM Qaim Ali Shah, KP CMAmir Haider Hoti, BISP Chairperson FarzanaRaja, Begum Shahnaz Wazir Ali, provincialministers, representatives of WHO, UNICEF,JICA, USAID, World Bank, Gates Founda-tion, and Rotary International.

PM warns officials showing laxity in polio eradication

2,700 bottles of liquor seizedISLAMABAD

StAFF REPORt

The Islamabad Police foiled an attemptto smuggle liquor into the federal capi-tal, as a huge quantity of the contra-band was recovered from a truckduring checking and arrested three per-sons in the precincts of Tarnol PoliceStation.

Police enhanced surveillance on atip off and constituted a special teamwas constituted supervised by StationHouse Officer (SHO) Tarnol Fazal-ur-Rehman. They stopped a truck (RIK-257) at a picket near Tarnol Chowk on

the GT Road, a police spokesman saidon Thursday.

Police seized 7,200 bottles of vari-ous brands concealed in cartons. Thearrested persons included Javed Iqbal,Zahoor Khan and Abbas Khan, who arestated to be the residents of Havalian,Abbottabad.

A permit about the import of liquorfor a local hotel was produced beforethe police which was found expired. Po-lice have impounded the truck and fur-ther investigation into matter isunderway. Meanwhile, Sub-InspectorMuhammad Ajmal from Tarnol policecaptured a drug trafficker Sartaj and

recovered 1.520 kilogramme of hashishwhile Sub-Inspector Saleemullah fromthe Women Police Station arrested Ra-jesh Khan over the possession of tenbottles of liquor. Police in IndustrialArea nabbed two thieves, Khan Wazirand Izatullah, and recovered 14 mobilesfrom them.

ASI Haider Ali from CIA Police ar-rested Jalil Ahmed, Adeeb, NasirMehmud, Babar Shehzad, Mohsin ZebGul Rehman and Majid in over thecharges of possessing of stolen itemswhile ASI Muhammad Ali from CIA Po-lice recovered a 30 bore pistol fromMohsin Zeb.

RAWAPINDIARSHAD ALI

The number of beggars inthe twin cities of Islamabadand Rawalpindi is increas-ing every day as they areseen in swarms at publicplaces like the traffic signalson busy roads. A majority ofthem claims to be from themilitancy-hit areas of Khy-ber Pakhtunkhwa andFATA as they seek alms tosupport their families. Butthe authorities concernedare not doing enough toprovide these displaced anddowntrodden with any fi-nancial assistance and theyhave been forced to beg.

Most of these beggarsare women and childrenwho would tell any passer-

by about their ordeals andthe events that compelled tobeg. These bagging womensay their males are eitherjobless because of law andorder situation in theirhometown in restive re-gions or have been killed insuicide bombings, leavingthem with no other optionbut to seek alms. The beg-gar children also have asimilar story to tell aboutthe miseries brought tothem by militancy and ter-rorism. A beggar woman,hailing from Swat, told thisscribe that her husband hadbeen killed in a blast andever since she was beggingto feed her little children.

She said she was alsosuffering from diabetes anddemanded the govern-

ment’s support so that shecould lead an “honourable”life. She said the govern-ment did support her fam-ily in the beginning butnothing was being given tothem presently, hence shewas forced to begging.An-other woman, begging by atraffic signal on a mainthoroughfare, said her hus-band was a drug addict andshe had no other means toearn a livelihood. She saidshe would never beg if thegovernment had providedher some employment orassistance.

A Rawalpindi resident,Sultan Zeb, was of the viewthat if government wantedto curb the menace of beg-ging, it should providethose people with some al-ternatives including em-ployment and eventraining for those who didnot have any skills.

People displaced by militancyjoin beggars’ brigadeg idPs from terrorism-ridden areas

swarm twin cities to seek alms


‘FATA: ITs Problems And soluTIons’


g expert stresses greater political empowerment of locals

Islamabad

ISLAMABAD: Former ambassador Ayaz Wazir speaks at a talk organised by Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad on FAtA’s problems. STAFF PHoTo


Federal Minister for CommunicationsDr Arbab Alamgir Khan Khalil onThursday termed better education ofchildren as a guarantee for a bright fu-ture, saying, “If we want to become afrontline nation of the world, we needto accord a due place to the teacherand the learner.”

He expressed these views while ad-dressing a grand ceremony held inconnection with the Universal Chil-dren Day at the Auditorium of Na-tional Library Islamabad, organisedjointly by the Directorate General ofSpecial Education and CAD Islam-abad. Federal Minister for ProvincialCoordination Mir Hazar Khan Bi-jarani, Managing Director PakistanBait Ul Mal Zamurd Khan and Direc-

torate of Special Educations’ DirectorSyed Mustafeen Kazmi were otherguests of honour.

A large number of children fromvarious schools of Islamabad, in-cluding special children, were alsopresent who presented patrioticsongs and made speeches againstterrorism and extremism whichwere highly appreciated by the audi-ence. Alamgir Khan said childrenwere an asset, adding that world or-ganisations were playing a key rolefor the just rights of children andthe present government was alsosafeguarding their basic rights.

“We as a nation have great tradi-tions of protecting the Islamic val-ues and human rights and theservices of the current MD PakistanBait Ul Mal Zamurd Khan arepraiseworthy, as he has taken revo-

lutionary steps for the welfare andwell-being of poor and orphans andthe setting up of Sweet Home is themost commendable step in the his-tory of the country by which hun-dreds of children have benefited.”

He stressed the need for furthersystematising and improving the ef-forts for the well-being and educationof children so that they can become re-sponsible citizens of the country.

Children from Roots School Sys-tem and City School were particularlyoutstanding in their performance andthe federal minister gave a cash prizeof Rs. 100,000 to them from his per-sonal pocket and made exclusive men-tion of their talent in his speech. Thefederal minister also gave away shieldsand certificates among the deservingchildren while Mustafeen presentedmemorial shields to the the guests.

‘90 percent developmentwork completed in i-16’ISLAMABAD: The Capital Development Authority (CDA)completed more than 90 percent of the development work inSector I-16 and the allottees had started construction of theirhouses in the area, said Chairman CDA Imtiaz Inayat Elahion Thursday. He was briefing the members of a SenateStanding Committee, headed by Senator Kalsoom Parveenduring their visit to inspect the development work in theSector I-16, says to a press statement.Member Engineering, Syed Ibrar Hussain Shah, MemberEstate Khalid Mehmood Mirza and senior officers of theauthority along with the officials of other relevantgovernment departments were also present on the occasion.The CDA chairman apprised the members of standingcommittee that development works on road infrastructure,water supply, sewage and other allied facilities were inprogress simultaneously and would be completed within sixmonths. He said the CDA had completed the lying of watersupply lines in addition to the rapid progress on the ShahAllah Ditta Water Supply Project. He said the CDA wouldinstall three new tube-wells in the sector in addition to thewater supply scheme from the Khanpur Dam. He said peoplehad already been given possession of the plots while manyhouses were also constructed. Elahi said the CDA wasfocusing on the development of the stalled sectors in additionto launching new housing projects to overcome the shortageof the residential units in the federal capital. “We haverevisited the priorities for development and focus is beinggiven to addressing the basic issues of the residents.”He apprised the senators that despite the financialconstrains, effort was being made for early completion of theprojects. StAFF REPORt


THERE are several misun-derstandings among therest of the Pakistanis re-garding FATA, which is nota ‘lawless’ tribal region as

it is assumed; rather the laws underthe FCR there are harsher than any-where else in the country.

It is due to the system being underthe political agents (PAs) that the re-gion could not be developed. ThesePAs, who are junior officials, tend tomisuse their powers and act as if theywere kings and they bother little aboutthe development projects there.

This was stated by former ambas-sador Ayaz Wazir here on Thursdayat a public talk organised by The In-stitute of Strategic Studies Islam-abad (ISSI) on “FATA its Problemsand Solutions”.

In his presentation on the subject,Wazir pointed out the demographicand geographical details of FATA, not-ing that it was generally agreed thatthere were over 7 million residents ofthe region, which had historically beenbackward and poverty-ridden.

“This situation did not change

even after 1947 and there remaineda purposeful neglect of FATA. In-deed, the notorious Frontier CrimesRegulation (FCR) introduced in 1901still exists and consequently the re-gion has remained politically andeconomically backward and not inte-grated with the rest of Pakistan”, hetold the gathering.

He said that despite recentamendments in the FCR laws, a lotmore was needed to be done. “More-over, they (laws) are eyewash to peo-ple, who are aware of governmentregulations that allow armed forcesto take any action against suspectedindividuals without any legal reason-ing. This has, instead, brought in aharsher regime to replace the amend-ments to the FCR,” he observed.

He said it was unfortunate that noteven a senior leader of Pakistan hadbothered to visit the areas and see thepeople of the region themselves.

The political leadership has beencompletely absent, and under the FCR,all powers to bring any change lie withthe president of the country, he said,adding that the recent history of FATAsaw many changes coming in with twoinvasions–the Soviets’, and more re-cently with the Americans’.

Indeed, he said, it was only after2003 when the Pakistani forces wentto FATA that the areas started to expe-rience unrest.

Discussing the socio-economicbackwardness of the agencies inFATA, Wazir stressed the need to em-power the locals. He said the systemof political agents had harmed the re-gion tremendously since it had led toan unchecked corruption andwastage of resources, without anyconsultation or involvement of thepeople of FATA in the process. Heconcluded his talk by recommendingshort-term and long-term solutionsto the problems in FATA.

The short-term solutions includethe rehabilitation and compensation ofinternally displaced people, opening ofroads, and replacement of the armyoperation with civil society participa-tion and the long-term political andeconomic empowerment of the people.

Earlier the ISSI Director GeneralAshraf Jehangir Qazi welcomed thespeaker. He stressed that since Pak-istan was going through a transfor-mative phase and FATA was underimmense focus, the security para-digm should be replaced by a devel-opment paradigm.

Education guarantees bright future

Call for end to political administration in FATA


nowhere To go

g Lok virsa publishes book on women’s role in folk theatre

g adnan Khan killed his sister Faria Rubab at the state-run facility in Chakwal on 22nd


Islamabad

ISLAMABADASMA KuNDI

INSANI Huqooq Ittehad (IHI), analliance of rights organisations,on Thursday expressed great con-cern over the death of a girl deathin the state-run Darul Aman in

Chakwal, as it questioned the state’s serv-ice delivery approach, which has failed toprotect women against the threats thatarise after raising their voices against thehuman rights violations.

In a statement, the IHI representa-tives condemned yet another securitylapse at the Darul Aman Chakwal onNov 22, which resulted in the killing ofFaria Rubab, while the assassin, her

brother Adnan Khan, was allowed towalk away.

They highlighted that the inci-dent puts forth some serious ques-tions for the government departmentresponsible for looking after theseinstitutions, which are suppose toprovide protection to the womenbeing victimised in society.

The human rights activists lamentedthat support services for women sur-vivors of violence were already very lim-ited and without any proper resources toperform tasks assigned to them. “Inci-dences like these further shrinks thespaces for women to seek protection fromthe violations committed with them atthe levels of family and society.”

They pointed out that instead of util-ising the existing structures (women cen-tres and Darul Aman) and increasingcoordination among them, the few insti-tutions functioning in Punjab were sup-posedly to be shut down.

They also questioned the argument ofthe Punjab Government that the DarulAman and crisis centres performed thesame task were proved wrong by the veryincident.

“Authorities have to separate the twofunctions of providing protection (shel-ter) from other roles, like arranging themeeting and reconciliation efforts. Thereshould be limited access to the shelter fa-cility and meeting should only bearranged by ensuring appropriate secu-

rity measures and seeking the consent ofthe women.”

They were of the view that the insti-tutions like Darul Aman were often criti-cised but the fact was being ignored thatthe staff had to work within limited re-sources, training and support from thegovernment.

They were of the opinion that thelarger burden of the incident should betaken by the government itself ratherthan holding inquiries within the shelterbecause it pointed to larger questions ofhaving appropriate systems and proce-dures, outlining the protection for thestaff and the women residents, who cometo seek protection.

They questioned why the institutions

of protection like Darul Aman were theleast resourced and with outdated secu-rity systems and why the security at theseinstitutions had not been among the toppriorities.

They demanded including the DarulAman facility among the agenda butwarned that it did not mean that theyshould be reduced to mini jails or with arestricted mobility of women.

The IHI members demanded that theissue of security must be addressed at thepolicy level and called upon the state au-thorities to provide adequate resourcesand train the staff of these institutions tounable them working in line with ethicaland human rights principles so as to min-imise the chances of such incidents.

Nusrat bhutto offered unforgettablesacrifices: PYOISLAMABAD: Begum Nusrat Bhuttooffered unforgettable sacrifices for theoppressed masses of the country anddemocracy, said People’s YouthOrganisation (PYO) Punjab Presidentand Adviser to PM on Youth AffairsMian Muhmmad Ayub on Wednesday.Addressing a condolence reference, thePYO president said after theimprisonment of Shaheed Zulfikar AliBhutto and then after his martyrdom,Begum Nusrat Bhutto faced atrocities ofthe worst dictatorship of General Zia.When the PPPP witnessed bad time, shetorched the light of democracy in thedark night of martial law, he said.“Begum Nusrat Bhutto was a woman ofsubstance who gave more to the worldthan she took from it. She lost herhusband, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto,undoubtedly the biggest politicalleader Pakistan has seen after Quaid-e-Azam; she lost two young sons,Shahnawaz and Murtaza, she also lostBenazir Bhutto, an icon for not justPakistan but also women around theworld. Begum Sahiba will remain aninspiration to the political workers ofPakistan, in general, and PPP workers,in particular,” Ayub said.He said she was a symbol of courageand a great mother of the nation, whofought against dictatorship. Shereceived head injuries during ruthlessbaton charge in the regime of dictatorGeneral Zia at Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore,She fought for the rights of workers,labourers, peasants and women of thecountry, he added. Begum Sahiba wouldremain alive forever in the hearts ofmillions of people of Pakistan, heconcluded. StAFF REPORt

aiOU body elected ISLAMABAD: Election for threereserved seats of Allama Iqbal OpenUniversity (AIOU)’s executive council(governing body) was held on Thursdayat the council hall of the varsity. According to results, Dr Hamid KhanNiazi, Dr Muhammad Daud Khattak andHakim Ali Buriro were electedrepresentatives of representatives ofassociate professors, assistant professorsand lecturers, respectively. StAFF REPORt

iHCba seeks more judges

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad HighCourt Bar Association (IHCBA) onThursday demanded the government toincrease the number of judges fromseven to 10 in the IHC. IHCBAChaudhry Ashraf Gujjar President saidbar would contact the government andother political parties for legislation inthis regard. APP

ISLAMABADMAHtAB BASHIR

In line with its ongoing efforts to docu-ment, preserve and promote indigenousfolk culture and heritage of Pakistan, theNational Institute of Folk and Tradi-tional Heritage (Lok Virsa) has pub-lished a book on “Forgotten Faces -Daring women of Pakistan’s Folk The-atre’ by Dr Fouzia Saeed.

The launching-ceremony of the bookwas organised at the Lok Virsa MediaStudios on Thursday. National Heritageand Integration Secretary FaridullahKhan was the chief guest on the occa-sion.

In his opening remarks, Khan said,“Theatre has deep-rooted history in thesubcontinent. It has been an indigenousexpression for the polarities of humanlife, like happiness and sadness, calami-ties and miracles, heroes and villains,and romances and tragedies. South

Asian culture being an oral one hascounted on story-telling as one of itsmain modes of transferring culturalknowledge from one generation to thenext. The story-telling, over a period oftime, has become the major source ofentertainment for rural masses.”

“I think Lok Virsa has taken aright step in this direction by publish-ing the book, for which they certainlydeserve a great appreciation”, thesecretary said.

He congratulated Lok Virsa and DrFouzia Saeed for their efforts in bring-ing out the publication and expressedhope that the initiative would go a longway in acquainting our youth commu-nity not only about this dying art formbut also contributions of our theatreartists in the past.”

In his welcoming speech, LokVirsa Executive Director KhalidJavaid said, “The book in question fo-cuses primarily on the daring women

of Pakistan’s folk theatre. Lok Virsa isa specialised culture and research-oriented organisation established in1974 with a mandate for collection,documentation, preservation and dis-semination of all forms of Pakistan’srich cultural heritage. This includesboth tangible and intangible heritage.Over the years, this unique institutehas made landmark achievements inthe field of culture for which it istoday known the world over.”

Khalid said the mission of Lok Virsawas to foster the excellence, diversityand vitality of all facets of tradition andto broaden public access to the knowl-edge. “Lok Virsa is committed to docu-ment and revive folk culture to ensure astrong link of our society with the in-digenous layers of our heritage. The roleof women in performing arts has been atheme which has not received the atten-tion it deserves. Dr. Fouzia Saeed did pi-oneering research on this theme, when

she herself was a part of this institute.We are proud that she, on our request,took on to further this work and add toher research”.

Lok Virsa intended to revive folktheatre and encourage folk music, folkdancing and other forms of folk enter-tainment, so that the youth shouldlearn about their own roots and get in-spired, he added.

Former director of Lok Virsa DrShamim M Zaidi, who is presentlyheading the Department of Communi-cation at the Fatima Jinnah WomenUniversity, praised for the author forher contribution.

A large number of people related tothe folk theatre, besides general publicalso attended the event. The launchingceremony was followed by live per-formances featuring Abida (daughter ofthe outstanding theatre artist of hertime Balli Jatti), Naznin Mano, FazalJat and Saima.

Theatre has deep roots in subcontinent

Govt blasted over killing at Darul Aman


‘We Can’ End All Violence againstWomen, a global campaign, marked thesymbolic representation of Shoe Memo-rial Ceremony in the remembrance of 50million missing women of South Asia onThursday.

The ceremony also initiates the se-ries of events across the four provinces,marking the Global Movement of 16Days of Activism for elimination of vio-lence against women. These events in-clude change maker (persons whopledge not to commit any violenceagainst women) rallies, walks, mobilevans and press conferences.

A minute of silence was observed topay homage to the missing women andtheir remembrance was attributed bycandle vigil and flowers. The ceremonywas attended by the members of civil so-ciety and youth groups from collegesand universities. The collected shoes(ladies worn out shoes) will be handedover to women in need through charityorganisations.

Hajra Pasha, the national coordina-tor of WECAN Pakistan, said, “WECANis working in collaboration of partners in36 districts of Pakistan to bring corechange in mindset regarding violenceagainst women. Throughout the country,more than four hundred forty thousandpeople vowed not to commit any vio-lence against the women and they arealso disseminating this message to oth-ers.”” Neva Khan, the country director ofOxfam GB, stressed the need of a changein the mindset. “The WECAN campaignis aimed at behavioural change in elimi-nation of discriminative attitude against

women. It is a gradual process that isgetting strength by time.”

She called upon political parties toplay active role for legislation to elimi-nate violence against women from thePakistan. ‘We Can’ End All Violenceagainst Women is a global campaign,present in 14 countries around the

world. It focuses strongly on non-accep-tance of violence in all its manifestationsaiming at engaging public opinion onthe issue of violence by building massawareness based on the underlying be-lief that personal attitudinal change be-comes the agent for social change. Itfunctions through its implementing

partners in 36 districts and has over440,000 change makers across thecountry. The campaign in Pakistan hasbuilt up a corpus of empathetic andcommitted individuals and groups whohave spearheaded social transformationand work together through alliances totake the campaign forward.

Missing women remembered


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Pia ReSeRvatiON 111-786-786

COLLegeS / UNiveRSitieS

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ImPedImenT

'impediment' by beenish Usman & Nadia tufail.Opens on wednesday 16 November 2011 at Khaasgallery at 5:00 p.m onwards. do come and enjoytheir edgy contemporary miniatures in person!bring your friends along!

CAPoeIrA IslTown

date aNd time: eveRY FRidaY 6:30-7:30PmveNUe: KHaaS aRt gaLLeRY iSLamabad

Capoeira is an afro-brazilian martial art thatcombines elements of dancing, ritualcombat & music in a unique synthesis ofself defense and rhythm.

SUNNY

weatHeR UPdateS

22°C

A TrIbuTe To mehdI hAssAn

mehdi Hassan the King of ghazal by therenowned ghazal singer ghulam abbas.we are very fortunate to have ghulam abbasperforming for us who is one of the leadingghazal singers of Pakistan and a senior discipleof mehdi Hassan.

date: NOv 25, 2011 veNUe: KHaaS aRt gaLLeRY iSLamabad

date: NOvembeR 06 tO 28, 2011 veNUe: KHaaS aRt gaLLeRY iSLamabad

08 Friday, 25 November, 2011

Islamabad

ISLAMABADFAzAL SHER

THE purpose of electrical codes andregulations is to ensure smoothpower supply with safety. The pro-fessionals responsible for the workadhere to these codes to avert any

mishaps in the form of electric shock or fire in-cident. These wiring safety codes are intended toprotect the life and property of the consumersfrom electrical shock and fire hazards.

But unfortunately, the public-sector electric-ity providers, despite having a comprehensiveelectric codes and regulations, have failed to in-sulate naked heavy tension power cables that canbee seen dangling from power poles and pylonsin many residential areas of the city.

In the underdeveloped sectors of the city in-cluding I-9, I-10 and I-8, the power cables havenot been laid underground yet and they pose a

threat to the lives of the residents.Almost the similar criminal negligence on

the part of the officials of Islamabad ElectricitySupply Company (IESCO) can bee seen at busymarketplaces, where people have to relentlesslyavoid contact with electric boxes and a danglingmaze of power cables. Most of these electricboxes are never locked and with power cableshanging out of them, the life and property of theresidents remain under a constant threat.

The menace is not limited to the unprotectedpower boxes as one can see at power cables dan-gling from commercial buildings, even houses,roadside power transformers.

The problem is particularly grave in the com-mercial district of Blue Area, where electricitymeters and naked wires are like landmines fittedalong the staircases of many buildings.

Though the IESCO and the Capital Develop-ment Authority (CDA) are fully aware of all thesedangers yet they have turned a blind eye towards

the problem and that is why the recurrence offire and electric shock incidents have become adeadly routine at the busy commercial centres.

The IESCO has so far conducted no surveywhatsoever to locate most sensitive areas and theofficialdom in the department has limited the of-ficials’ work to merely addressing the complaintsof the citizen. They only look into any matterwhen a citizen goes to them with a complaint andreports some tragic incident.

The laws require the company to moveagainst the owner of any building where uncov-ered cables may pose any threat to humans, anIESCO official told this scribe.

Seeking anonymity, he said, the companycould issue show-cause notice to any official fornegligence in that regard. He said a separatewithin the IESCO division called Safety Depart-ment was responsible for the safety issues.

Some shopkeepers in the in Blue Area toldthis scribe that they had been there for years andno official ever bothered to visit and ensure re-moval of those naked power cables. They said theauthorities concerned needed to take actionagainst the owners of the buildings that were re-sponsible for any such threats.

Adnan, a resident of Sector I-9 said the resi-dents had lodged several complaints with thecompetent authorities but to no avail.

Another resident pointed out that most ofstreetlight poles were without any windows atground level and cables hanging out of themwere a threat to people and particularly to chil-dren. The parks and playgrounds areas are alsodangerous spots in that regard where an unsus-pecting could get an electric shock.

CDA Public Relations Deputy DirectorRamzan Sajjid, when contacted, said the IESCOwas responsible to maintain electrical safetycodes in the commercial areas. He said the CDAwas only responsible for streetlights. He has-tened to add that the drug addicts and slumdwellers would steal the cover lids off thestreetlights, thereby exposing the cables.

Electrical codes only in IESCO’s official manualsg authorities turn a blind eye to dangling power cables g Residents of underdeveloped sectors exposed to electric shock hazards



News

ISLAMABADAPP

THE Thar coal project will be-come operational in Decem-ber 2013, Science andTechnology Planning Com-

mission member Dr Samar Mubarak-mand said on Thursday.

Talking to a private news channel,he said that the project would bringprosperity in the country. “Pakistanhas enough coal reserves that can pro-vide electricity to the country for morethan 500 years,” he said. He said thatdevelopment work is in progress andthe first 50 megawatts (MW) gasifiedproject has almost been completed.

He said that the project is to costRs 8.898 billion with a foreign ex-

change component of Rs 5.847 billionthat was approved by the ExecutiveCommittee of the National EconomicCouncil last year.

Dr Samar said that the success ofthe Thar coal project would lead to in-vestment from the leading interna-tional companies. He said that severalforeign companies wanted to partici-pate in the project and had shown in-terest.

He said that the 50 percent coal-fired power generation work has al-ready been done, while the rest wouldbe completed within a few months.With the completion of this project, thenation would get cheap and sufficientpower supply, thus resolving the cur-rent pestering energy crisis, he added.

He said that it was for the first time

in Pakistan that the coal gasificationproject was being launched on com-mercial basis, adding that abundantand cheap electricity would be avail-able if it gets through.

He said that coal gasification wasalready producing 50,000 MW aroundthe world, as the cost of electricity perunit is relatively low.

He said that four continents in theworld were working on this project asthis method has enhanced energy effi-ciency to 76 percent.

He said that the new growth strat-egy of the country was being empha-sised on power generation throughcoal, adding that the country’s installedcapacity of thermal generation is12,000 MW against hydel generationof 9,000 MW.

Security forces

accused of killing

3, holding 2 in

illegal custodyPESHAWAR: Security forces were ac-cused of killing three men and holding twomen in illegal custody in Khyber Agency onThursday. Addressing a press conference,brother of killed Syed Jan Afridi, OrangzebAfridi narrated that on 18 November, trac-tor diver Sher Muhammad, Syed JanAfridi, Ata-ur-Rehman, Adam Khan andothers were traveling from Ghanrezi villageto main Bara when security forces openedfire on them and a bullet hit Syed Jan inthe head. “After Sher Muhammad wasshot and his brother Yar Wali was in-formed. They managed to reach the Hay-atabad Medical Complex but Shersuccumbed to his injuries.” “When thegroup returned with Sher Muhammad’scorpse, security forces opened fire againand arrested the rest,” said Orangzeb. “On Nov 19, Sher’s dead body was re-turned to his heirs but the arrested menwere not released,” he said, “On the Nov20, their dead bodies turned up in Qama-rabad village. The dead included IslamiaPublic School Principal Syed Jan Afridiand Bsc student Ata-ur-Rahman whileSher’s brother Yar Wali and Adam Khanare still in the custody of security forces.”“Our relatives were innocent and had noassociation with any banned organisation,but they were targeted by security forces.Are we not Pakistanis and patriotic?” heasked. Relatives asked the Chief of ArmyStaff, Chief Justice of Pakistan, PresidentAsif Ali Zadari, Prime Minister and Gover-nor Khyber Pukhtunkhwa to conduct animpartial inquiry and punish security per-sonal involved. StAFF REPORt

Fm discusses Pak-US

relations with Sherry

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister HinaRabbani Khar received Sherry Rehman,who has been nominated as Pakistan’sAmbassador to the United States, onThursday. “Minister Khar congratulatedSherry Rehman on her nomination. Shewished her all the success,” said aForeign Office statement. “Bilateralrelations between Pakistan and the USwere discussed at length. The ministerunderscored the importance thatPakistan attached to its relations withthe United States,” it said. StAFF REPORt

Nine killed, 12 injured asvan collides with busMULTAN: Nine passengers were killedand another 12 injured when a van col-lided head on with a bus near Ghaziwalaon Shujabad Road, 28 kilometres fromMultan on Thursday.Muzaffarabad SHO Rana Farooq toldAPP that a van was coming fromJalalpur Pirwala to Multan when it col-lided with a bus that was on its way toShujabad from Multan. The collision left nine passengers, in-cluding three children, a woman and thedriver, dead on the spot while 12 otherssustained injuries and were admitted toNishtar Hospital Multan. Two were identified as MuhammadUsman and Muhammad Akhtar. Police said the bodies had been shiftedto Nishtar Hospital and identity of therest of the seven people was being ascer-tained. Those injured included Sagheer(8), Arshad (6), Khursheed Bibi, Iqbal,Shahzad, Rubina Bibi, Suhail and Sar-fraz. Farooq said according to a wit-ness, the van driver was driving rashly.Police have started investigations. APP

Thar coal project to becomeoperational by 2013: Samar

tHE WAIt FOR tHE GOLDEN tEMPLE: Sikh devotees wait for their turn enter the Golden temple in Amritsar. IRFAN CHAUDHRY

BASSAM JAvED

As expected, President Hamid Karzai achieved whathe wanted out of the recently held four-day loyajirga, a political approval to enter into a “StrategicPartnership Agreement’ with the United States. TheAfghan president, being controversial, has made aroutine to hold loya jirgas for approval of issues thatwould generally be rejected by Afghan Parliament iflawfully routed through them. He is the only leaderof Afghanistan who has called far more loya jirgas innumber when compared to other Afghan leaders ofthe past. The participants of this particular jirganever knew why they were assembled there in Kabultill the time the president addressed them and toldwhat was required of them in the name of advice.And that was exactly what they delivered but that ad-vice was projected as a formal approval by theAfghan president and the international community.

Why would not the jirga participants agree to thedesires of their host, the president, who spent somuch money for their traveling and comfortable stayin Kabul through official exchequer? The mainstrings of conditions attached with the jirga’s ap-proval included a bar on US-led forces to conductnight raids, a bar on US nationals committing crimesin Afghanistan from claiming immunity and a de-mand that the US must side with Afghanistan if athird country tries to attack it. The last conditiontantamount to degrade Afghan pride as born fightersfor they have never sought a third party or outside

helps to fight the foreign invaders.The 10-year ‘agreement’ that has been recom-

mended by the Afghan jirga will definitely lay thefoundation for a very long term deployment of USmilitary boots in Afghanistan. The analysis of Amer-ican ingresses elsewhere in other countries on strate-gic grounds reveals that they continued to stay therefor prolonged periods. Japan and Germany are theexamples where the Americans forces remain de-ployed for almost the last 66 years but neither thehost countries or the US itself have ever termedthose as permanent US bases. Afghanistan by agree-ing to the US demands of keeping five permanentmilitary bases beyond 2014 through ‘Strategic Part-nership Agreement’ is also headed towards anotherpermanent US strategic base.

Taliban have rejected the endorsement of Afghanelders for such a strategic partnership with the USby saying that the ‘agreement’ will be another toolthat would continue to sustain the Taliban insur-gency inside Afghanistan. Also, more than 1000 Uni-versity students came out on the streets next dayafter the jirga’s nod to the agreement and ventedtheir anger on jirga’s decision. They blocked a mainhighway in Eastern Afghanistan amid loud shouts of‘Death to America. Death to Karzai’. The situation onground in Afghanistan remains quite dire. Instead ofacknowledging his nation’s apathy on continuationof American forces beyond 2014, the US puppetpresident Hamid Karzai continues to play on thetunes of US ambassador and American military lead-

ership in Afghanistan not only to secure his corruptclique to power in Kabul but also to portray the USlike a winner in Afghanistan until [Barack] Obama’sre-election in 2012! He is also often referred to as anAmerican viceroy in Afghanistan who follows hishandlers dictates in earnest and tries to implementthem in latter and spirit for if he doesn’t, he willloose his job, which continues to be protected andfunded by them.

The American State Department naturally wel-comed the outcome of the loya jirga. General JohnAllen, Commander of the NATO led ISAF inAfghanistan has emphasised that the US-AfghanStrategic Partnership must be binding to cater forprovision of advisors, trainers, intelligence person-nel and also the special operators. He went on to saythat there will be a security relationship that willemerge out from the ‘Strategic Partnership Agree-ment’. The regional and global fraternity however,did not comment on the outcome of the same. Themajority of Afghans yearn to see the Americans getout of their country as soon as possible to let themavail a chance to develop peace internally amongstthemselves. A very small minority that too in theshape of Karzai government functionaries howeverwant continuation of American military presence inAfghanistan much beyond 2014.

The nod of the loya jirga and the street protestsagainst the same reflect deep divisions amongstAfghans on the issue. It is not known whether Karzaiwill take the issue to the Afghan Parliament or not

but all indicators point out that the ‘agreement’ willbe signed in the near future. The US has desired thatthe ‘agreement’ be signed before the Bonn Confer-ence takes place on 5th of December. It may not besurprising if the Afghan Parliament gets by-passedin the process to push the deal through per Americandesires.

The size and the locations of the deploymentbases beyond 2014 are not yet known. In all theprobability the selected bases will be shared withAfghan National Forces. The rules governing theAmerican actions post 2014 deployment are also notknown even to the Afghan president. The Afghanpresident has also said Afghanistan was negotiatingsimilar types of agreements with European countriesas well. An unstable Afghanistan has always been asecurity threat to Pakistan. With the prolonged pres-ence of US troops and other Western troops beyond2014, the situation in Afghanistan will continue tobe volatile. Nothing will change on the ground withrespect to the foreign military deployment inAfghanistan beyond 2014 and the status quo as oftoday will continue to be maintained.

The scourge of continued insurgency thereforein Afghanistan will continue as it was born out of theAfghan tradition to fight the foreign military in-vaders and will only fade out upon total withdrawalof these forces. Meanwhile, Pakistani military forces,now battle hardened, are poised to confront the spillover of the insurgency that is likely to prevail evenbeyond 2014.

Transforming US-Afghan ‘Strategic Partnership Agreement’ into reality



News

ISLAMABADAPP

PRIME Minister Yousaf Raza Gi-lani on Thursday asked the Inte-rior Ministry and policeorganisations to develop and im-

plement policies to combat violence againstwomen. He was addressing the second In-ternational Women Police Conference onGender Responsive Policing, attended byinternational and national police delegatesand Interior Minister Rehman Malik.

The prime minister directed the min-istries concerned to take steps to increasewomen representation by completely im-plementing recruitment quota, investing incapacity-building of women police, diversi-fying women’s role in policing andstrengthening policing to adequately dealwith crimes of violence against them.

He said these priorities had alreadybeen outlined in the recently formulatedGender Strategy of Police seeking owner-ship and implementation for gender re-sponsive policing. Gilani said he was proudto address a gathering of brave women,who had chosen a challenging career andprotecting the life and property of citizens.

Gilani said the government was com-mitted to empowering women and creatingconditions essential for social and genderjustice. “We believe in principles of equal-

ity as enshrined in the Constitution of theIslamic Republic of Pakistan,” he said.

He said the government recognised thevalue of women’s participation in public af-fairs and was therefore committed to gen-der equality reforms. Gilani said socialaction programmes during BenazirBhutto’s tenure were launched with a viewto reduce gender disparities and improvingwomen’s access to social services.

He said the government had taken anumber of steps that reflected its commit-

ment to mainstream women’s issues inpublic policies.

In this regard he said December 22 wasnow being celebrated as the National Dayof Women to commemorate the achieve-ments of women and acknowledge theirrole in the national progress.

Gilani said women needed to be em-powered, adding that the Benazir IncomeSupport Programme, the country’s largestsocial safety net, was aimed at helping themstand on their own feet.

Gilani said besides direct cash transfersto underprivileged women, BISP’s variousinitiatives impart technical training, healthinsurance and interest-free loans.

The prime minister also mentioned theenactment of the Protection against SexualHarassment of Women at Workplace Act2010. “I am personally looking after its im-plementation as I regard women and mi-norities as my core constituencies,” Gilanisaid. Gilani said the enactment of billwould put an end to inhuman and un-Is-lamic customs against the women besidesfurther empowering them to take charge oftheir lives. He said Shaheed Benazir BhuttoCentres for Women had been increased sothat immediate relief might be provided tothe female victims of violence.

Gilani said the government had also es-tablished the office of ombudsperson to ad-dress the complaints of women. MussaratHilali, a woman rights activist, was ap-pointed as the ombudsperson. He said thegovernment has de-listed the First WomenBank from the privatisation list enabling it tocontinue to play its due role in the economicempowerment of women. The governmenthad also approved the induction of lady navalofficers and lady pilots in the Air Force.

“The current parliament has a goodnumber of women parliamentarians whohave been playing their due role in pushingfor pro-women legislation,” he said.

g Prime minister directs ministries to take steps to increase women representation by completelyimplementing recruitment quota, investing in capacity-building of women police

PREPARING FOR MuHARRAM: An elderly painter paints a tazia for the coming month of Muharram. INP

ISLAMABADARIF tAJ

It is certainly distressing to know thataround 99 percent of children, including99 percent in Balochistan and FATA,make up the list of unregistered childrenin Pakistan each year and cast doubts onour ability to protect the rights of ourchildren.

The three million figure is not negli-gible by any stretch of human mind, socannot be ignored and needs immediatecorrective measures, otherwise childrenmay continue remaining vulnerable.

The figures also adversely impact na-tional data, like the ongoing and subse-quent censuses in the country.

The concern of the UNICEF, the UNagency for the rights of the children, overthe issue could not be underplayed pro-viding one or the other excuse as situa-tion is extremely worrisome.

The UNICEF said in its World’s Chil-dren Report 2011 that only 27 percent oftotal births in Pakistan between 2000 and2009 were registered, suggesting that thesituation in Balochistan and FATA waseven graver, as only one per cent of thechildren were registered at birth.

One percent registration is too low tobe counted at all and the Planning Com-mission of Pakistan must look into thematter if it seeks to flawless planning forits future projects.

According to the UNICEF, the figuresfor birth registration in Sindh and KhyberPakhtunkhwa, Azad Kashmir and Punjabwere also low.

It said Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has 20percent registration of children, Kashmir24 percent and Punjab had a higher rateof 77 percent, which is closer to the uni-versal registration mark. Registration atbirth is a right of every child and the UNdeclaring the Children’s Day this year as‘‘Make Every Child Count” speaks of theimportance of registering children atbirth, as it serves to be a vital instrumentin protecting the rights of children.

Karen Allen, UNICEF Pakistan’sdeputy representative, had rightly statedon November 19, “It is absolutely vital forevery child’s future well-being and thefulfillment of their rights that they are

registered at birth.”According to the UNICEF, birth reg-

istration is the first right of every childborn in Pakistan, because it establishedthe existence of a child under law andprovided the foundation for safeguardingmany of the child’s civil, political, eco-nomic, social and cultural rights.

The UN Convention on the Rights ofthe Child specifies that every child hasthe right to be registered at birth withoutany discrimination.

The reasons for low birth registrationare varied and complex, yet lack of aware-ness, cost factors and geographical dis-tance cannot serve as an excuse, aschildren without birth registration maybe denied access to ID card, passport,bank account, the ability to vote, accessto education, health and other social

services, which most of us take forgranted. Karen Allen was very right inpointing out that excuses could not be en-tertained at the expense of the rights ofthe children.

“Without such registration, it is al-most impossible to fully protect the rightsof adolescents, or to prosecute cases ofunlawful premature entry into adult rolessuch as marriage, or the labour force,when the exact age of the child or adoles-cent cannot be determined. In addition,birth registration provides the govern-ment with essential population informa-tion needed to plan for communityamenities like schools and hospitals. It isevery child’s right to have their birth reg-istered and for children to take theirrightful place in Pakistan society,” Allenhad said.

Ignoring primacy of children’s registration distressing

Journalistsprotest attackby mPa’s brother

KARAKStAFF REPORt

The journalists from Karak Districtprotested on Thursday against the at-tack on a local journalist by ShahJehan, the brother of MemberProvincial Assembly (MPA) MalikQasim Khan.The journalists, led by Karak PressClub President Nawaz Khattak andGeneral Secretary HaleemBukhari, began their protestmarch from the Baz MuhammadChowk and ended at the SaddamChowk. The protesters carriedbanners and blocked the Karak-Bannu road at Saddam Chowk fortraffic.Addressing the protesters, thespeakers condemned the attack onHaleem Bukhari over publishing anews item in his weekly againstMalik Qasim Khan. They allegedthat Qasim, accompanied by othermen, had also broken the cameraand mobile phone of the journal-ist.The speakers alleged that the MPAhad been patronising gambling,adding that they will reveal theembezzlements done by him. Theyalso demanded the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazal (JUI-F) leadershipto take notice of the activities ofQasim, who is a member of JUI-F,giving a 3-day deadline to theparty to take action against him.Later, the journalists met DistrictPolice Officer (DPO) Sajid AhmadKhan Mohmand in his office andsought a First Information Report(FIR) against the MPA .The DPOassured the journalists that legalaction would be taken against him.

2nd round of

Pak-australia security

dialogue beginsISLAMABAD

StAFF REPORt

Chairman Joint Chiefs of StaffCommittee (CJCSC) GeneralKhalid Shameem Wynne, alongwith Australian Chief of DefenceForce (CDF) General David Hurleyon Thursday initiated the secondround of Pak-Australia 1.5 TrackSecurity Dialogue.“This dialogue encompasses awhole range of issues from mutualcooperation to war on terror andhost of other areas. During thecurrent session, the progress madeon the benchmarks set in the lastsession was also reviewed,” said anInter-services Public Relations(ISPR) statement.The Australian CDF, in his con-cluding remarks, appreciated therole played by Pakistan ArmedForces in the fight against terrorand hoped the relations betweenthe two Armed Forces will be fur-ther enhanced.

13 die in Khanewalafter consumingpoisonous liquor

KHANEWALStAFF REPORt

Thirteen people died in Khanewal dis-trict on Thursday after consuming toxicliquor in the districts chak no 80/10R,Pirowal area.Per details, the incident occurred in thevillage, 10 kilometres away fromKhanewal, when residents of Pirowaland Khanewal purchased the liquorfrom the area’s main supplier Muham-mad Ali Kamboh.The men gathered at the home of Niazalias Gabbo on Wednesday evening.As they started taking the liquor, severalof them complained of uneasiness andwere rushed to a local doctor.Due to fear of being apprehended by po-lice, most of the affected people werenot shifted to Khanewal DHQ Hospital.The dead were identified as Niaz,Shahzad, Jamal, Hameed, Manzoor,Kumhar, Rana Mano Khan, Naveed,Pathan, Akram, Shabbir and Zahid Doli,all residents of chak no 80/10R,Pirowal.Aslam Nazir, who was also among thedead, belonged to Khanewal.Khanewal DPO Muhammad Waqar Ab-basi said the supplier, Muhammad AliKamboh, had been arrested and a hugequantity of liquor had been recoveredfrom his possession. He said policewould take stern action against drugtraffickers in the area and those respon-sible of would be punished accordingly.

‘Policies needed to curb violence against women’


Editor’s mail 11Friday, 25 November, 2011

Corruption and its impactCorruption is authority plus monop-

oly minus transparency. Our society isfacing a very grave problem of corruptionthat has threatened the basic founda-tions of our society. It is a cancer thatwill gobble up all the socio-economic andpolitical achievements.

The major reason of fast creepingcorruption are political instability,poverty, unequal structure of society, un-employment, lack of accountability, weakpolitical institutions and absence of ruleof law. Resultantly, they are affecting po-litical stability, equal distribution of re-sources and power, confidence of localand foreign investors and political insti-tutions.

Although corruption has wide-rang-ing deleterious effects on society andgovernance but its most deadly impact isalways on the poor.

It undermines democracy, hinders ingood governance and weakens the demo-cratic institutions. It hampers the eco-nomic growth and sustainabledevelopments. Increase in corruption inany society is inversely proportional togood governance.

If these suggestions and practicalmeasures are taken, the cancer of cor-ruption can be cured to reasonable ex-tent. Institutions should be made strongfor proper working of the democraticsystem. Proper system of accountabilityand check and balance should be imple-mented.

Justice delayed is justice denied. Intime justice can minimise corruptionpractices. Salaries and wages should beincreased in order to decrease thechances of corruption.

Education system must be revisedand improved according to nationalneeds. Stable governments are essentialto provide justice and to uproot corrup-tion, and public awareness is must toeliminate corruption.

As it is a multi-faceted problem, itshould be countered on all possiblefronts with sincerity. We must reformourselves. Only proper planning andstrictly implemented policies with publicsupport can bring it to a halt.

ZUHAIB ODHOKarachi

where are we?This is an era of competitive world.

Every country wants to progress andmake its economy stronger. Pakistan isconsidered among the economically de-veloping countries but it seems Pakistanis going down instead of going up. Weare busy in criticising other countries,particularly those with which we have nomatch whatsoever.

The foreign reserves of our neigh-bour countries are shockingly high. Indiahas 332 billion dollars in foreign reserveswhile China has 3.2 trillion dollars for-eign reserves. Pakistan has only approxi-mately 18 billion dollars of foreignreserves. While our government claimsever so often that our foreign reserveshave increased, we can clearly see wherewe stand.

The government must start projectsthat can help our economy grow insteadof just playing politics on this issue.

MUHAMMAD ADEELKarachi

Outcome of afghan jirgaThe Afghan jirga has concluded by

allowing the presence of Americantroops in the country for 10 years be-yond 2014. Afghan President HamidKarzai has set and provided the US withterms and conditions for a long termtroop presence in Afghanistan.

On one hand, he wants and de-mands for national sovereignty to begiven back to him while on the otherhand is ready to allow indefinite foreigninvasion and troop presence are anti-thetical to each other. That the demandsof discontinuation of night raids thatbecome instrumental in the killing ofthousands of innocent Afghanis andcontrolling the activity of civil-militarypresence in the garb of developmentworkers are pre-conditions that he hasposed for such an eventuality.

Such demands, it needs to be noted,have been made by Karzai for a longtime now. Either his voice is not reach-ing the US ear or his tone lacks sub-stance is something that needs to bepondered upon as it has made no differ-ence in the US operations inAfghanistan. So how can Karzai ensurethat the preconditions will not beflouted once again? Conditions or noconditions, allowing extended US mili-tary presence in the region is somethingthat will affect the entire South Asianregion.

Prospects of further extension in theinsurgency can surely be guaranteed asthe Taliban have already made thisamply clear. And that its aftershockswill prevent peace in the tribal areas ofPakistan that is inextricably linked tothe security situation in Afghanistan isinevitable.

One thing is for sure keeping inmind all previous endeavours made to-wards attaining a peaceful resolution inAfghanistan that views of every groupeither in minority or majority, need tobe accommodated and the objectivesthat are to be achieved should also bepresented in a clear transparent man-ner. Does the fact that a prolonged mili-tary presence be beneficial in trainingthe Afghan National Army enough rea-son for doing so or is there more thanwhat meets the eye?

DR SAFA RAHMANIslamabad

Rotting relief goodsReports are pouring in from various

upper and lower Sindh districts, whichexperienced super floods for two years,that the warehouses full of goods forthe flood victims are in a bad condition.

Goods in them are rotting and manyof them have expired but not utilised.Obviously, along with the Mother Na-ture our insensitive rulers, inept bu-reaucrats, crafty technocrats and thickskinned local and national NGO ac-tivists have been unkind to thesecalamity-hit people.

The careless and callous rulers haveno time for the victims, and the ineffec-tive and incompetent bureaucrats haveno idea of the miseries of these people.How can they evaluate the intensity oftheir miseries, the shrewd technocratsconsider such disasters as opportunitiesto fatten their own pockets whereas themoney crazy local and national NGOs’activists do not leave any stone un-turned to hatch such schemes which be-come the cause of ruthless wastage ofresources only in beautiful breakfasts,lovely lunches and delicious dinners atthe start and in the end of the daylongworkshops after workshops for the par-ticipants.

I am of this firm opinion if theavailable resources and the relief goods,which are rotting or sold out in theblack market at a throwaway price, aredistributed or used judiciously and up-rightly among the rain and flood-rav-aged victims, they would not be in sucha plight as the one they are in now.

Is there any humane and God-fear-ing in the corridors of power and poli-tics to take notice of rotting relief goodsinside the warehouses, misuse of moneyand other resources being misused innon-productive activities and corrup-tion of bureaucrats, technocrats andlocal and national NGOs in the floodand rain-affected upper and lowerSindh districts?

HASHIM ABROIslamabad

Drowning in a sea of problemsPakistan is a special case as far as social evils and other

problems that plague its social, political and economic life areconcernd. From politics to education, to economics and defenceissues, we have one or another problem that keeps rearing itshead on a recurring basis, if not persistent. Due to terrorism,security from internal and external threats and a proper law

and order mechanism appear to be totally absent from the na-tional scene. As long as we don’t counter these issues, we can-not make steadfast progress on any other front. This must be atop priority for the government.

RAMLA SHAHLahore

attack on FCThe attack on the FC convoy in Musa

Khel is indicative of the fact that the se-curity situation in Balochistan is oncemore in a state of unintelligible chaos.The FC forces are being termed as thebad guys for being the ones behind disap-pearances of innocent civilians. There-fore, they are brutally murdered by thecustodians of the liberation rights of thepeople of Balochistan. Similarly, the se-curity forces are busy maintaining somesemblance of sanity in the provincethrough brute force as such a state be-comes an open invitation to suppressedcriminal elements to become active andto operate freely, thus adding to thechaos.

This mutual hate process is enabledand kept alive by forces on either side ofthe power fence and the victims are al-ways innocent people. The only oneskeeping mum over the ongoing mayhemis the political regime that ought to bethe most affected by such violentepisodes of criminality.

It must be realised that these in-ternecine feuds merely perpetuate age-old grievances embedded in the localmemory. And the only means of pro-gressing peacefully, if there is a politicalwill, is that the real cause of the turmoilis ascertained by entering into dialogue.This will expose reality in its true form.Whether the myriad of nationalist groupsare genuinely interested in attaining anequal status for the people of Balochistanor are merely towing the separatistagenda for the sake of personal and

vested interests, can be exposed. Thismay be instrumental separating and ban-ning the groups that are busy ignitinganti-state sentiments from others.

Furthermore, the case of the missingpersons is something that ought to be ad-dressed in a holistically profound mannerthat has not been done so far. Who arethese people who disappear? Do theyhave any affiliations with terrorist andmilitant or anti-state groups as claimedby the security forces?

What rationale do the security forceshave for killing people at random? Doesthe strict tribal and sardari culture play arole in it? What about the Ferrari campson the border areas? Has the law evertried to trace the whereabouts of thesepeople in these militant camps in oracross the porous border?

Each and every case ought to be in-vestigated thoroughly and followed tillthe very end to trace the real perpetratorbehind this crime. But does anyone care?Why doesn’t the provincial and federalgovernment come up with a plan of re-placing the FC with a more effective civil-ian policing force in Balochistan insteadof turning most of the area into ‘B Area’?

Balochistan has turned into a hugequestion for the authority that screamsout to be answered immediately. But issomeone interested? Is someone listen-ing? Is something being done? Nobodycan address the situation except the gov-ernment by exercising its authority andresuming control of the province if it hasone at all.

LUBNA HAMEEDRawalpindi

Operation against HaqqaniThe latest ‘Memogate’ controversy

has surely made ambassador HussainHaqqani quite popular as prior to thisepisode not many Pakistani were awareof his identity as such a significant per-sonality.

With a majority of people claimingthat they had heard about him and thathe was someone as dangerous as OBL –a public opinion poll aired on a nationalTV channel – displays the fact quiteperfectly.

Since the Americans were hell bentupon Pakistan for eliminating theHaqqani Network’s presence in Pak-istan, it is surely the only reason whythe poor public has linked only terror-ism and deception with the name. Cananyone blame them?

Surely not. Pakistan, it seems hastaken the task provided by the US toheart and has opened up an honest op-eration against Haqqani. Well, does itmatter which Haqqani network it is aslong as it threatens the nation and com-promises the state’s sovereignty?

One thing is sure in this backdropthat an operation launched against theHaqqani Network would become a fullfledged war for Pakistan. How correctour political and security analysts hadbeen?

This is just the first part of the bat-tle, the real show is yet to follow. Let’shope the nation emerges out of it tri-umphantly.

PROFESSOR KABIL KHANPeshawar

The Most Favoured Nation statusconferred upon India is the talk of thetown nowadays and a lot of hue and cryis being raised on it. Certain misconcep-tions about it have made it controversial.The very first thing is that the term is amisnomer. It does not mean that Indiawill become a more favoured country.This only implies that Pakistan will givethe same treatment to imports fromIndia as it does to imports from the US,China, Sri Lanka or Thailand, etc. Hence,granting of MFN status would not meanthat India will have preferential treat-ment over any other country.

Presently, Pakistan allows import ofall items subject to customs duty andother import duties but India does nothave the right to import all these items aswe have maintained a special positive listof about 1100 items that can be im-ported. After the MFN status is con-ferred, this list would be replaced by anegative list of items whose importwould remain restricted. This means that

all other items that are not included inthis list would be allowed to be importedat normal tariffs as is allowed for allother countries of the world.

The notion that India may be themain beneficiary, while Pakistan with asmaller economy may be at losing end isalso misplaced. The experience of manyother smaller economies, which devel-oped closer trade relations with biggerones through Free Trade Areas or Cus-toms Union or otherwise, shows that it isa “win-win” situation for both sides butthe smaller economies have in generalbenefitted more from such arrange-ments. Bangladesh has been at win-winsituation since it entered into a FreeTrade Agreement with India.

Then there is a fear that India has astringent import policy (with many non-tariff barriers) and would be able to in-crease its exports at a greater pace thanimports. In this regard, one should notbe oblivious of the fact that India has noPakistan specific non-tariff barriers. Its

economy was closed till 1990 but since itstarted on the liberalisation process inthe early 90’s, on average its importshave grown at an average of 34 percentwhereas its exports have grown by about18 percent.

Another impression that some indus-tries in Pakistan such as automobiles andpharmaceuticals may find it difficult tocompete and may have to close downneed to be dispelled. Let’s believe thetruth in the fact that Pakistan’s automo-bile and pharmaceutical industries aremuch less competitive as compared toIndia’s and if Pakistan were to allowopen competition, it may not be able tocompete. The answer of this misconcep-tion is that Pakistan does not have toopen these sectors necessarily and cancontinue to maintain the same restric-tions as it is doing for other countries.

Then comes the mother of all mis-conceptions associated with MFN statusto India. Pakistan has kept linking grantof MFN status with solution of Kashmir

issue, but this strategy hasn't born anyfruits. Bangladesh opened trade withIndia and then has successfully resolvedits long-standing border dispute. The twocountries recently concluded a landboundary agreement to demarcate their4,000km shared border.

It quite misplaced to say Pakistan hastaken this decision in haste. Rather, Pak-istan has taken a long time to come tothis decision. During the last 20 years, itconducted several studies to see the im-pact of opening trade with India. Indiagranted MFN status to Pakistan in 1996and it has taken over 15 years to considergiving reciprocal status. It is not a deci-sion being taken in haste. However,where it is almost certain that this moveis going to benefit both the neighbours,one should not be oblivious of the factthat granting of MFN status would notmean opening of trade overnight. It willtake time to develop to its full potential.

TASSAWAR BOSALMandi Bahauddin

myths regarding mFN status to india

Send your letters to: Letters to Editor, Pakistan Today, 4-Shaarey Fatima Jinnah, Lahore, Pakistan. Fax: +92-42-36298302. E-mail: [email protected]. Letters should be addressed to Pakistan Today exclusively.


Comment12Friday, 25 November, 2011

Arif NizamiEditor

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

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

Dedicated to the legacy of the late Hameed Nizami

No right way to do this job

New in DC

She has her job cut out for her. If she thought thetravails of running the information ministry weretough, Sherry Rehman has another thing comingwhen the initial rush of the ambassadorial

appointment wears off and the bleak realities that comewith the job sink in. To call it a tight-rope walk would beoversimplifying it.

Since 2008, our diplomatic assignment to the US hassuffered the fate that their counterparts in India had beenfacing all along: to be looked at with suspicion if you wereactually good at your job. The job in question beingdiplomacy, that ancient craft replete with the laws oftakalluf, whispered suggestions and sugary eloquence.

When it comes to situations of conflict in India – and,increasingly, the US - the establishment back homedoesn’t want any expert use of wry understatement but aWagah-like goose step. And in situations of goodwill, arecall is expected because genuine goodwill with a countrylike India (and now, a terror-focused US) is indicative ofthe diplomatic corps doing something wrong somehow.

That all ensures Ms Rehman will have, regardless ofhow she does her job, her share of detractors both withinthe country and without. If she makes effective statementsof solidarity in the shared struggle against terror, shebecomes “America’s ambassador to America.” On theother hand, a pursuit of the policy of smug indignationwhich demands aid without having any progress on thewar on terror front to show for it would peeve off the USstate and defence departments.

Truth be told, both Ms Rehman and her boss, foreignminister Hina Rabbani Khar, like most of the professionalforeign service itself, exist only to soften the blows. Evenan expert dexterity at this courier-like assignment can goonly so far in keeping one’s country out of harm’s way ifthose who call the shots back home insist on a march offolly.

the memo saga isn’t over yet

to the SC now

Despite Hussain Haqqani’s resignation andreplacement by a new ambassador, the issue ofMansoor Ijaz’s memo continues to reverberate.With the deadline given by Nawaz Sharif for the

appointment of an investigation committee ending, thePML(N) has taken the matter to the SC. Nawaz hasdeclined to carry out his threat of PML(N) resigning fromthe assemblies if the demand was not accepted. He hasdecided not to take the issue to the parliament as hebelieves the forum’s decisions remain un-implemented.The PML(N) has also cancelled its Gujranwala rally toenable its leadership to be present at the court.Interestingly, Nawaz has declined to make the primeminister a party in the petition, instead calling upon theapex court to summon Zardari, Kayani, Pasha, Haqqani,Mansoor Ijaz and foreign and interior secretaries asrespondents. The PML(N) can, thus, claim that it is keento ensure the continuation of the system . The petitionmaintains that those who were involved in any way in theproduction of the memo have conspired to weaken anddemoralise the armed forces and are thus disloyal to thestate.

Till Wednesday morning, the government wasundecided over the investigation committee it hadpromised to set up. Reportedly, the matter also popped upduring the one-on-one meeting between the president andCOAS on Wednesday. In case, the SC decides to take upthe petition the government might find that has beenovertaken by events. The SC alone can decide if it can senda binding summons to a foreign citizen and call apresident enjoying immunity under Article 248 frombeing answerable to a court. It would be the first time inthe country’s history when a COAS and a DG ISI are madeto appear before any court.

While the issue is now before the SC, what one expectsis that all stakeholders would work towards strengtheningthe system. There is only one way in which this can bedone: following the constitution in letter and spirit. Onehopes all institutions would work together to fortify thedemocratic process initiated after 2008. Among otherthings that need to be done is to ensure that the principleof military subservience to the civilian authorities iscompletely upheld so as to dispense with any possiblereason on the latter’s part to look for external props.

Following the example of the past couple of years, strictsecurity measures have been adopted to avoid anykind of untoward happening – be it sectarian or ex-

tremism or a sabotage act – in the capital city Peshawar inthe wake of Muharram-ul-Harram.

Personnel of law enforcing agencies now appear atevery corner of main city areas and the suburban sensitivelocalities and entrances and exits to the capital city havebeen taken particular care of with considerable number ofblockades being put in place at these points.

The security personnel have learnt to be vigilant andkeep an eye out for suspicious figures in the city. To up theante, they are also carrying out raids on occasion in this re-gard. Sensitive areas, most prone to acts of terrorism, havealso been cordoned off carefully and are being watchedthrough close circuit cameras placed at strategic places.

But despite all these ‘preventive’ measures, people are

still live in fear of acts of terrorism, sectarian brawls andother untoward happenings during Muharram. It is becauseeven though such security measures were taken in previousyears, they were unable to stop untoward happenings andacts of violence occurred despite these stringent measuresand innocent lives of citizens were lost as a result.

The pertinent question to ask of the government iswhether this heightened level of security will be able to con-trol and maintain peace during Muharram. Surely, beforethat start of Muharram, law enforcers can be witnessed atvarious points of the city but will they continue with theircall of duty when the going gets tough. Masses expect theincumbent government to do the needful without causingtoo much inconvenience to the public. The government hastaken substantive steps to maintain peace during Muhar-ram in Peshawar but the real work is ensuring that nothinguntoward happens despite all these measures.

– Translated from the original Pashto by Abdur RaufKhattak

Strict security during muharramDaily Khabroona

Regional Press

The man who said he could“Because a dream has no time frame…”

Between Oxbridge and partridge,Imran Khan could have livedhappily ever after, milking thefirst and shooting the second, aLord of Swing wafting on privi-

leges due to a legitimate national hero whobrought home the World Cup in 1992. Hecould have taken the soft route to power.Zia-ul-Haq invited him to join his cabinet.Imran refused, a singularly sensible deci-sion, not least because the fundamentalistdictator was dead within a few weeks of hisoffer. Instead, Imran Khan chose to test hiscommitment and fortitude in the deadlychaos of Pakistan’s electoral politics. Thisbook is the story of how a big boy who alsoplayed at night grew up to become Man ofDestiny. The odds are good that he couldlead his country’s government in 2013.

You cannot be a serious candidate forthe White House without an autobiographyon the store shelves. No such intellectualstrain is demanded of Pakistan’s aspirants.Long-term despots like Ayub Khan andPervez Musharraf preferred to publish afterbeing booed out of office, when they werefinally able to sort out the differencebetween friends and masters. Thethird general who ruled for a decade,and could possibly thereby deservethe adjective decadent, Zia-ul-Haq,was prevented from literary endeav-our due to a sudden recall by theAlmighty. Benazir Bhutto patchedtogether something in exile, but itwas only an abject plea to Washing-ton for help on grounds of gender af-firmation in an “Islamic” worldoverburdened with burqas. SoImran Khan’s effort is as rare as it iswelcome.

It is also sensationally sincere.Any Pakistani politician would countthe votes before expressing suchpublic disdain for Saudi-sponsoredWahabi brand of Islamisation. It iseasier, in the political calculus, torage at American drones: Imran islivid at Bush’s “insane” war on ter-ror, which has “decimated two coun-tries, Iraq and Afghanistan, andbrought a third, Pakistan, almost tothe verge of collapse”. But it needsconfidence, in oneself and one’sfaith, to take on hard-line clergy.Imran Khan has never disguised hisstrong commitment to Islam. Heprays in the congregation of his localmosque, along with his son. At one

point his close friend, the irreverent YousafSalahuddin, grandson of the poet Iqbal andinheritor of a splendid haveli in Lahore,began to wonder if Imran would go the wayof Fazal Mahmood, the pin-up Pak cricketcaptain who grew a long beard and turnedto God. But Imran has never confused reli-gion with religiosity. He has become theface and voice of an emerging Pakistan thatis as tired of humbug clerics as it is of anAmerican war that seems to have lost allpurpose except the propagation of timelines for domestic reasons.

I hope Imran’s sincerity survives hisupward mobility; candour is consideredbad manners in politics. Many of his peers,particularly in media, with a familiar andcaustic cynicism, have labelled Imran stu-pid because he is transparent. He is carica-tured as “Im the Dim” by those who are notalways sure about the difference betweenwit and twit.

Imran does open himself up to intellec-tual disdain when he describes his faith inclairvoyants, particularly those who fore-saw him as saviour of his country. He wasonce as skeptical about them as any of theparty crowd. But in 1987, after he had re-tired from cricket and was on a shootingtrip north of Lahore, he met a village pircalled Baba Chala, with piercing eyes andhappy face, who told him he would returnto cricket, and informed Imran’s huntingcompanion Mohammed Siddique exactlyhow and to what extent he was being de-frauded in a business deal. The next yearImran met Mian Bashir, “the single mostpowerful spiritual influence on me” and theman who would “completely change my di-rection in life”. Bashir died in 2005, still apoor man, so there is no chance that he willinfluence policy if Imran is sworn in. An-

other celebrity might have kept such mat-ters private for fear of ridicule. It would beuncharacteristic of Imran to do so.

Liberals who laughed last year areshaking their heads at the prospect ofImran Khan as prime minister next year.[There is no danger of Imran being co-opted by the establishment before that be-cause he believes the Zardari governmentto be the worst in Pakistan’s history.] Fun-damentalists who once wanted to bancricket coverage on TV because the sight ofImran rubbing a red cherry on his trouser-front was titillating many a feminine libido,are scratching their beards in wonder.

Imran remains unfazed. He does notgive his critics the pleasure of revenge; heignores them with an aristocratic hauteurthat doubtless doubles their rage. It isn’tthat he is icy cool by temperament. He oncecame close to hitting me when I asked anawkward question during a TV interview inwhich Gavaskar was the other guest. Fortu-nately, he preferred restraint and ourfriendship survived. This is probably themoment for full disclosure. He has praisedmy book, Tinderbox: The Past and Futureof Pakistan, handsomely in this autobiog-raphy. I cannot say that this review is im-mune from affection.

But it is no exaggeration to note thatImran is a man with significant achieve-ments and splendid ambitions. Irrespectiveof what he does in the future, his finestwork will be, in the opinion of many, theShaukat Khanum Memorial Hospital,which specialises in cancer care for thepoor, and is a tribute to his mother, whodied after a long and painful struggle withcancer in 1985. Imran raised the funds per-sonally, rupee by difficult rupee.

Imran’s track record in politics wouldhave destroyed anyone with less con-fidence. He has lost more electionsthan he is ever going to win, some socomprehensively as to be humiliating.He once contested from seven differ-ent constituencies and lost all. When,in an Army-controlled general elec-tion, he did get through, Musharrafrather spoilt the limited pleasure bydisclosing that he had rigged the re-sults.

Imran says that he led his team tovictory in the 1992 World Cup whenall seemed lost and he was playingwith a cartilage in his shoulder, be-cause he had lost the fear of failure.Such courage has helped him survivetill this moment, when his popularityhas suddenly acquired critical mass.His former wife Jemima once askedhim how long he would pursue poli-tics despite such abject failure. “But Icouldn’t answer,” writes Imran, “sim-ply because a dream has no timeframe.”

It is time for that dream to cometrue.

The columnist is editor of TheSunday Guardian, published fromDelhi, India on Sunday, publishedfrom London and Editorial Director,India Today and Headlines Today.

third EyeBy M J Akbar


Comment 13Friday, 25 November, 2011

The unsigned confidentialmemo delivered to topAmerican military leader

Admiral Mike Mullen allegedlyat the behest of PresidentZardari on May 10 (seeking UShelp to avert a possible armytakeover) underlines the inher-ent distrust between Pakistan’scivil and military leadershipand the inevitable US factor inthe country’s politics. Thememo promises a carte blanchefor the US Administration topursue its goals in Pakistan inreturn for intervention in aid ofcivilian control of Pakistan’s se-curity establishment. Simplesum of this complex equation:we are willing to compromiseon territorial sovereignty if youhelp us protect ourselves fromthe defenders of this territory!

The alleged author of thememo, Pakistan’s ambassadorto the US, Mr. HussainHaqqani, who has denied anylink with it, was compelled toresign on Tuesday to clear wayfor a detailed probe. He did soafter meeting with the troikaamid mounting pressure and‘evidence’ of his supposed in-volvement gathered by ISI chiefGen Shuja Pasha.

Aptly titled ‘Memogate’, thecontroversy has been marked bydenials, ambiguity, blame-game, hysteria and conspiracytheories – typical ingredients ofany scandal in Pakistan and thedeafening din it creates. Thecontents of the memo are un-doubtedly shocking but what ismore distressing is dumbing oftruth in the din of political rhet-oric of the past week and an ap-parent resignation to the factthat truth will never be known.

The government simply

tried to sweep the matter underthe carpet at first. When thatdidn’t work, it used the foreignoffice to deny it. The presidencystepped in to rubbish the issuewhen it refused to die down. Fi-nally, when the existence of thememo and its receipt were con-firmed by Mike Mullen’sspokesman, the go-betweenMansoor Ijaz disclosed it wasconceived by AmbassadorHaqqani. All hell let loose withhis claim and indication that theambassador had the go-aheadfrom his ‘Big Boss’.

The explosive contents ofthe memo were leaked andsplashed all over the media withspin doctors at both ends doingtheir job. Pressure from thearmy, parliamentarians andmedia eventually forced govern-ment to summon the man in theline of fire – AmbassadorHaqqani, who refuted all allega-tions point blank. DismissingMr Ijaz’s claims, Mr Haqqaniwas quick to point to his contro-versial past and lack of credibil-ity. Haqqani's assertion on Ijazis shared by even Haqqani's de-tractors. Others have howeverrecalled Haqqani’s controver-sial past too, including hisreadiness to switch political loy-alties to further his personalambitions.

Embarrassing as it may befor Pakistan, if allegations of itsostensible author and clearancefrom the real author’s ‘Boss’ areproven, it would expose the du-plicity of the present govern-ment. That it grantedextensions to the army and theISI chiefs at home and soughtUS help to tame them behindthe scene. If true, it only pointsto innate weakness of successivegovernments in Pakistan thatinvariably turn to foreign pow-ers particularly the US for sup-port in internal affairs.

Critics of the memo call it aserious breach of national secu-rity or even treasonable butcynics insist that the contents ofthe memo are long-knownsymptoms of the Pakistani po-litical malaise. It exposes theunderlying tension between theso-called democratic forces andthe army or the civil-military di-vide and reflects the tendency tosacrifice national interest and

patriotism at the altar of politi-cal exigencies and self-preser-vation.

Perhaps, the truth liessomewhere in between. While acredible inquiry is in order it isimportant that it is transparentand its findings be made public.That it is not hijacked by powersthat be in the name of nationalsecurity. It must not become an-other exercise in futility to buytime to let another explosiveissue push this one on the backburner.

The concern of the truthnever surfacing is not ill-placedgiven a pattern of inquiry com-missions in the past on mattersof national security. The nationis still in the dark about thetruth about Dr A Q Khan’s un-ceremonious ouster, formerPrime Minister BenazirBhutto’s assassination, Ray-mond Davis’s pardon, journalistSaleem Shahzad’s murder andOsama Bin Laden’s presenceand assassination in the garri-son town of Abbottabad.

Signed or unsigned, ‘secretmemos’ are a self-defeating ex-ercise. Such clever-by-half de-vices are by no means a solutionto our internal problems. It is inPakistan’s best interest to nar-row down the civil-military di-vide and not to aggravate it.

The assumption should al-ways be that even the communi-cation marked as ‘Confidential’,‘Secret’ or ‘Classified’ is vulner-able to leaks. If anything Wik-iLeaks is evidence of the factthat, sooner or later, it all comesout. For those holding public of-fices and in position of author-ity it is better to play it straightand clean from the outset thanbe devious and face humiliationlater. Intrigues, deceit and dou-ble-crossing may bring momen-tary gains but end in shame andutter disgrace. History is repletewith such examples.

The writer is a senior jour-nalist and has been a diplo-matic correspondent forleading dailies. She was an Al-fred Friendly Press Fellow atThe Chicago Tribune in the USand a Press Fellow at WolfsonCollege, Cambridge, UK. Shecan be reached at [email protected]

Cross CurrentsBy Qudssia Akhlaque

Memogate exposes a royal mess within

Truth must out

We've all heard of schemes forenvironmental improvementin urban areas of Pakistan but

the Punjab has always taken the lead.Perhaps all this environmental con-sciousness is borne from the growthrates this Province sustained just overfive years ago but we've fallen on hardtimes since then. From waste manage-ment to natural gas powered buses, ourecological initiatives may be few andfar between, but they all have a re-markable tendency to start stinkingfaster than they can be churned out byall the Oompa Loompas working atthat Chocolate Factory on Lahore'sMall Road – the Punjab Civil Secre-tariat.

The few times we have managed topull off some miracle of environmentalimprovement, we've followed elitistagendas that not only absorb the re-sources that would have been better(mis)spent elsewhere but create in-equitable and ghastly partitions in ourcities. Just look at the civil works tak-ing place in and around the city of La-hore nowadays and you would wonderif just one city should be allowed togobble up what some other town con-tributed to the provincial kitty. Defi-

nitely not. But while contractorsand their commission agentswould be happy with this state ofaffairs, your favourite columnist isgrumbling.

While we are mulling over anecological crisis, I think it’s timecitizens came to realise that theirgreatest environmental challengeis probably not the internal com-bustion engine or some paper fac-tory's smoke stack at all butsomething far more humble. Tomy mind, the dust in our urban en-vironment is far more dangerousas it affects more people and it'sunavoidable. You practically swimin it every day. Whether you arejogging in the park or drivingdown a road with the windowopen, dust will find you. So hereare some reasons why you shouldbe carrying face masks whereveryou go.

Road dust in our urban areas isnot just a nuisance for pedestriansand thousands of unenclosed com-muters using motorbikes or cycles,its killing them. For the humblegrains blowing hither and tithercarry a lot more than simple or-ganic matter when they enter yourrespiratory system. After all dustserves us a sinister cocktail of sil-

ica, aluminium, toxic metals, and bac-teria – all garnished with dead skincells from my fellow countrymen. Itsounds yummy but it isn’t. This partic-ulate matter, especially the tiny stuff,doesn’t just settle down with the mois-ture in our mouths or nasal passagesand adversely affects human health byventuring much further. Particles thatevade being filtered out in the nose orthroat can collect in the lung tissues,causing injury to the lungs. How badlythey do so depends entirely on theamount of dust and kinds of particlesinvolved.

So it appears the first thing thegovernment needs to do if it has thepolitical will to control dust is toanalyse it, especially in communitiessituated in and around industrial orconstruction activities. If compositioncan be determined scientifically thenthat in itself is a major step forward. Toactually reduce the dust in urban areashowever will require a multi-prongedstrategy if it is to succeed and no man-ner of half-baked arrangements woulddo.

We know that the major sources ofdust in Pakistan are unpaved roads,uncovered construction materials andwind blown dust. Yet we allow this dustto first settle and then be re-suspendedup to several hundred feet in the airwhenever a vehicle goes over it. If youcan see it, chances are that you arebreathing it. But seeing it in itself maynot be such a bad thing after all. Wecan put pressure on the government tocontrol dust only when we can see itwith our own eyes. But the more im-portant issue would always be the fineparticles which we don’t see. So let thegovernment tell us what is the dustcomposition and we can decide on acourse of action for ourselves. Untilthen, if you must feel absolutely com-pelled to breathe in our cities, don't in-hale.

And if you have come to accept dustas something that you just have to livewith every day, you would do well toremember the video footage from 9/11when dust had its way with the peopleof New York City. God forbid such ahorrendous event should occur herebut we have no need of Bin Laden tosubject citizens to this form of torture.Perhaps it is time for governments tomake meaningful improvements in ourlives and stop paying lip service to pub-lic health and the environment.

The writer is a consultant on publicpolicy.

the real environmental hazard

Eat dirt

Purely PakistanBy Hassaan Ghazali



16 Foreign News

CAIROREutERS

SYRIA has accepted anArab League plan tosend monitors to ob-serve an uprisingagainst President

Bashar al-Assad and will sign aprotocol to that effect, Iraq's for-eign minister said on Thursday.

Syria's acceptance of a pro-posal it has previously soughtto amend appeared to be alast-ditch attempt to fend offsanctions being discussed byArab foreign ministers meet-ing in Cairo. "Syria has agreedfully to the protocol," Iraqi For-eign Minister Hoshiyar Zebaritold reporters in Cairo.

There was no immediate con-firmation from Syria and ArabLeague officials could not be im-mediately reached for comment.

Meanwhile, Arab foreign min-isters gathered in Cairo on Thurs-

day to discuss imposing sanctionson Syria for failing to implementan Arab League plan to end acrackdown on protests againstPresident Bashar al-Assad.

The League, which fordecades has spurned ordering ac-tion against a member state, hassuspended Syria and threatenedunspecified sanctions for ignoringthe deal it had signed up to.

Syria has turned its tanks andtroops on civilian protesters, aswell as on armed insurgents chal-lenging Assad's 11-year rule. TheUnited Nations says more than3,500 people have been killed.

"Syria has not offered any-thing to move the situation for-ward," said a senior Arabdiplomat at the League, addingthat it was considering what kindof sanctions to impose.

"The position of the Arabstates is almost unified. We allagree ... that the situation doesnot lead to civil war and that no

foreign intervention takes place,"he said. Khaled al-Habasi, an ad-viser to Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby, said thebody was "working on uniting theSyrian opposition on a vision re-garding the future of Syria duringthe transitional period" and draw-

ing up sanctions. Earlier this month, the

League asked Syrian oppositiongroups to submit their ideas for atransition of power ahead of aplanned bigger conference onSyria's future.

These included imposing a

travel ban on Syrian officials,freezing bank transfers or fundsin Arab states related to Assad'sgovernment and stopping Arabprojects in Syria, he said.

France called on Wednesdayfor a "secured zone to protectcivilians" in Syria, the first time amajor Western power has sug-gested international interventionon the ground.

After the uprising erupted inLibya, the League suspendedTripoli and also called for a no-flyzone that paved the way for a U.N.Security Council resolution andNATO air strikes. Arabs haveshown no appetite so far for follow-ing a similar route with Syria,which neighbours Israel and lies onthe faultlines of several interlock-ing conflicts in the Middle East.

Meanwhile, facing its worsteconomic crisis, Syria is bankingon boosting self-sufficiency toovercome sanctions, EconomyMinister Mohammed Nidal al-

Shaar said in an exclusive inter-view Thursday.

"This is not an easy crisis. It'sthe worst in our recent history be-cause it is immediately affectingthe Syrian citizen -- it's affectingthe street, it's affecting factories,it's affecting the business commu-nity," Shaar said.

"It's affecting everyone andthis is definitely not fair at all."

"We don't expect all Arabcountries to yield or participate insanctions," he added. "In fact, weare almost certain that some Arabcountries will not participate."

But as sanctions close in onthe regime of Bashar al-Assad,Shaar is adamant Syria can lookinwards for a way out.

"What we need today is tomake ourselves more efficient inour self-sufficiency by distribut-ing more efficiently our resourcesand factors of production, by bet-ter management of our trade andfactories," he said.

Syria agrees to let in Arab League monitors

atHeNS: Protesters scuffle with riot police outside the data centre of the state-controlled Public Power Company (PPC), as riot police ended

a five-day union occupation of the centre carried out to prevent the collection of an unpopular property tax through electricity bills. AFP

CAIROREutERS

Clashes between Egyptian riot policeand protesters stopped overnight forthe first time in days on Thursday,though demonstrators occupyingCairo's Tahrir Square vowed to stay putuntil the army relinquished power.

"We want to stop these clashes, peo-ple are dying...they are young kidsthrowing stones at the police," said 30-year-old protester Osama Abu Seree.

In the first significant pause in vio-lence since Saturday, clashes stopped atmidnight in Tahrir and elsewhere afterprotesters agreed with police to stay inthe square. But the thousands whothronged the square were undeterred intheir determination to protest at thedeaths of more than 30 people in the vi-olence and reject the army's offer of areferendum on its rule. "He goes, wewon't," declared one banner in a refer-ence to the head of the military council,Field Marshal Mohamed HusseinTantawi. The army and the Muslim

Brotherhood, which expects to do wellin the election, says it must go aheadbut many protesters are unwilling totrust the army to oversee a clean voteand hand real control of the country tothe winner. The generals' popularityhas waned in the nine months sincethey nudged President Hosni Mubarakfrom office and swore to steer the coun-try towards civilian democracy, as sus-

picion grew that they were manoeuvringto stay in power beyond elections.

"The military council must leaveand hand power to civilians. Theydon't want to leave so that their cor-ruption isn't exposed," said 23-year-old student Ahmed Essam.

He said he joined the protestswhen he saw riot police raining blowson peaceful demonstrators on Satur-

day. "Everything is like in Mubarak'stime," he said.

In Tahrir Square, protesters onThursday prevented anyone from enter-ing and chanted "go back go back". Therehad been marches in the square sinceWednesday afternoon calling for an endto bloodshed. What started as a sit-in onSaturday night has turned into a massdemonstration reminiscent of the 18-dayuprising against Mubarak as Egyptiansappalled at the mistreatment of protest-ers joined them in solidarity. The HealthMinistry said 32 people had been killedand 2,000 wounded in disturbancesacross the country of 80 million.

Meanwhile, Egypt's military rulersapologised on Thursday for the deathsof demonstrators at the hands of policeas a truce brought calm back to the out-skirts of Cairo's Tahrir Square, scene ofdays of deadly clashes.

"An agreement has been reachedbetween security forces and protestersto halt confrontations between the twosides," the cabinet said in a statementon Facebook.

Two killed ahead of Arableague meeting on syriaNICOSIA: At least two more civilians were killed in Syria onThursday, activists said, as the Arab League prepared to meet todiscuss measures against Damascus over its bloody crackdown ondissent. It said heavy machinegun fire blasted the city of Rastanfollowing a one-hour clash early on Thursday between soldiersand army defectors. Ahead of the Arab League meeting in theEgyptian capital, Lebanon's Foreign Minister Adnan Mansur saidBeirut would not endorse any potential sanctions against Syria."Lebanon will not endorse any sanctions by the Arab Leagueagainst Syria," Mansur, who is backed by the Shiite militantgroup Hezbollah which is supported by Damascus and Tehran,said before heading to Cairo. AFP

g arab ministers gather to discuss Syrian sanctions g France calls for humanitarian zone to protect civilians

Hamas-Fatah talksbegin in CairoCAIRO: Top-level talks between Palestinianleader Mahmud Abbas and Hamas chiefKhaled Meshaal got underway at a Cairohotel on Thursday in a bid to resolve issuesblocking implementation of a unity deal. Thetwo leaders were seen entering a room tobegin talks in their first meeting since May,when they signed a surprise reconciliationdeal aimed at ending years of bitter rivalry.Izzat al-Rishq, a Hamas leader from Damas-cus, said the talks "will start with a face-to-face meeting between Abbas and Meshaalwhich will last about two hours." The meet-ing would then be opened up to delegationsfrom the two factions, he said late onWednesday. On the agenda are key issuesincluding the adoption of a unified Palestin-ian strategy, forming an interim govern-ment, reform of the Palestine LiberationOrganisation and agreeing on a date forelections. Under terms of the May agree-ment they were to have worked on setting upinterim government of technocrats to pavethe way for presidential and parliamentaryelections within a year. AFP

quartet urges israel to

release Palestinian funds

JERUSALEM: The international diplo-matic Quartet late Wednesday called on theIsraeli government to release "withoutdelay" tax revenues due to the PalestinianAuthority which it is withholding. "I con-tinue to call on the Israeli government to re-lease the clearance revenues it iswithholding from the Palestinian Authoritywithout delay and resume their transfer ona regular basis," a statement from QuartetMiddle East envoy Tony Blair said. "Thefunds are vital for the functioning of the PAand Israel's withholding of these Palestinianfunds threatens the salaries of some180,000 employees, including Palestiniansecurity officials who are working to providesecurity in the West Bank," it added. AFP

Cairo clashes pause, but protest continuesg tens of thousands mass in central square g egypt military apologises as truce agreed

North Korea rejects

UN ‘smear

campaign’ on rightsSEOUL

AFP

Pyongyang Thursday rejected a United Na-tions resolution condemning human rightsabuses by North Korea, denouncing it as asmear campaign led by the United States.A foreign ministry spokesman said that nomatter how ferocious the campaigns by"hostile forces", they would not shake the"faith in socialism firmly rooted in peo-ple's minds". "The resolution circus... is atypical smear campaign repeated everyyear by the US and sycophants hostile tous," the spokesman was quoted as sayingby Pyongyang's official news agency. "We,as always, strongly reject the resolution, asummation of double standards in humanrights issues, which is full of falsehood andfabrications." Record numbers of coun-tries voted Monday in favour of UN Gen-eral Assembly resolutions condemninghuman rights abuses in Iran, North Koreaand Myanmar.The North Korea vote waspassed with 112 votes in favor, 16 againstand 55 abstentions. The assembly raised"very serious concern" over the "torture"and "inhuman conditions of detention,public executions, extra-judicial and arbi-trary detention" in North Korea. It alsocondemned the "existence of a large num-ber of prison camps and the extensive useof forced labour".

China to offer social

security to tibetan clergy

BEIJING: China will start paying pensionsto monks and nuns in its Tibetan areas, theofficial Xinhua news agency said Thursday,after a run of self-immolations by Buddhistclergy protesting religious repression. Bei-jing has come under mounting internationalcriticism over its treatment of Tibetan Bud-dhists in recent months, with US Secretaryof State Hillary Clinton calling on China to"embrace a different path". Eleven monksand nuns have set fire to themselves thisyear in what rights groups say is a sign of thedesperation felt by Tibetan Buddhists inChina, where some have been subjected toreligious "reeducation" and even torture.China, which has invested heavily in devel-opment in its ethnically Tibetan regions,maintains that it has brought modernisationand a better standard of living. AFP

egypt army says leaving power

now would be ‘betrayal’CAIRO: Members of Egypt's ruling military council on Thursday rejected calls tostep down immediately, saying it would amount to a "betrayal" as anti-militaryprotests entered their seventh day. "The people have entrusted us with a missionand if we abandon it now, it would be a betrayal of the people," said General Muk-thar al-Mulla, a member of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces which tookpower when veteran president Hosni Mubarak was ousted in February. "Our goalis not to leave power or to remain in power, but it's to implement our commit-ment to the people," Mulla told reporters. He confirmed that the first electionssince Mubarak's ouster will go ahead on schedule on Monday. AFP


Foreign News 17Friday, 25 November, 2011

SaNaa: Yemeni anti-government protesters react after President ali abdullah Saleh signed a deal transfer power. Saleh signed a gulf and UN-brokered deal to hand over his powers after

33 years in office, ending months of delay that had seen protests that erupted in January degenerate into deadly unrest. AFP

BEIJINGAFP

China has said it will conduct ‘rou-tine’ naval exercises in the PacificOcean, in the week after a majordiplomatic campaign by US Presi-dent Barack Obama to assert theUnited States as a Pacific power.

The defence ministry said the ex-ercises, to be held later this month,did not target any particular coun-try, but the announcement comesagainst a background of growingtensions over maritime disputes inthe Asia-Pacific region.

Obama, who has dubbed himselfAmerica's first Pacific president,said last week the US would deployup to 2,500 Marines to Australia andtighten air force cooperation, a moveseen as a response to China's grow-ing regional might.

China's freedom of navigation"shall not be subject to any form ofhindrance", the defence ministrysaid in a brief statement lateWednesday announcing the navalexercises in the western Pacific.

"This is a routine drill arrangedunder an annual plan, does not tar-

get any particular country or target,and complies with relevant interna-tional laws and international prac-tice," it added.

China's Premier Wen Jiabao haswarned against interference by "ex-ternal forces" in regional territorialdisputes including in the SouthChina Sea, a strategic and resource-rich area where several nations haveoverlapping claims.

China claims all of the mar-itime area, as does Taiwan, whilefour Southeast Asian countries de-clare ownership of parts of it, withVietnam and the Philippines accus-ing Chinese forces of increasing ag-gression there.

The competing claims haveled to periodic outbreaks of ten-sion between China and its neigh-bours in recent years, includingwith the Philippines and Vietnamin recent months, and with Japanin late 2010.

China's People's LiberationArmy, the largest armed force inthe world, is primarily a landforce, but its navy is playing anincreasingly important role asBeijing grows more assertive

about its territorial claims.Earlier this year, the Pentagon

warned that Beijing was increasinglyfocused on its naval power and hadinvested in high-tech weaponry thatwould extend its reach in the Pacificand beyond.

Recent trials of China's first air-craft carrier underlined the scale ofBeijing's naval ambitions, sparkingjitters in the United States andJapan. China, which publicly an-nounced around 50 separate navalexercises in the seas off its coastover the past two years -- usuallyafter the event -- says its military isonly focused on defending the coun-try's territory. Asia-Pacific leadersheld talks on the disputed territoriesat a summit Saturday, in a majordiplomatic coup for the US, whichhad pushed for the topic to be raised,despite objections from Beijing.

China's official comments onObama's trip were muted, but statenews agency Xinhua said Asian sus-picions would be raised by the planto base troops in Australia and by USSecretary of State Hillary Clinton'sdeclaration that the 21st century willbe "America's Pacific century".

Chinese navy to carry out Pacific exercises

Deaths cast pall over Saleh’s exit deal

Protester slaps

indian ministerNEW DELHI

AFP

A demonstrator slappedIndian Agriculture Min-ister Sharad Pawar, whois also president of theInternational CricketCouncil, in the faceThursday in a protestagainst corruption.The attacker landeda blow on Pawar'scheek before beingpulled away by secu-rity staff. He then bran-dished a small knife as heshouted insults at the min-ister, who was unhurt bythe assault. "You are allcorrupt... People are fed up," theman said, adding that the Indian governmentmust adopt a tough anti-graft law being consid-ered by lawmakers. The same attacker, whowas detained by police on Thursday, had onSaturday assaulted a former minister in a courtin New Delhi after a judge handed down a five-year prison term to the politician over a 1996corruption case. Other Indian politicians havealso recently had shoes thrown at them.

SANAAAFP

LOYALISTS of President AliAbdullah Saleh shot deadat least five people in theYemeni capital on Thurs-day casting a pall over a

hard-won deal for his departure after33 years in power.

The shooting by gunmen in plain-clothes came as tens of thousandsgathered for a mass protest againstpromises of immunity from prosecu-tion for Saleh and his family under theUN-backed accord signed with theparliamentary opposition.

Thirty-four other people werewounded, the medics said.

The anti-regime protesters cameunder fire as they marched towards thecity centre, with the demonstratorsblaming the attack on Saleh's "thugs."

Activists behind 10 months ofprotests had cal led for a hugeprotest ral ly against the promisesof immunity under the deal whichthe veteran president f inal lys igned in Riyadh on Wednesdayafter months of prevarication.

The protesters also chanted slogansagainst the Common Forum parliamen-tary opposition bloc led by the Islamistparty Al-Islah which was the first to signup to the plan drawn up by impover-ished Yemen's wealthy Gulf neighbours.

After the latest killings, themarchers returned to Change Square aspro- and anti-Saleh gunmen deployedacross the capital, sending tensionssoaring. In Yemen's second-largest cityTaez, another centre of the protestsagainst Saleh, "hundreds of thousands"took to the streets on Thursday withsimilar demands, organisers said, with-out reporting any early clashes.

Under Wednesday's deal, Saleh is tohand his powers over immediately toVice President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadiand hold office on an honorary basisonly for the coming 90 days.

But the youth, as the driving forceof the protest movement in the face of abloody crackdown that has left hun-dreds dead since January, are demand-ing Saleh and his family faceprosecution and that the whole regimebe dismantled.

"We will stage a million-man marchtoday to reject the guarantees given toSaleh," said Walid al-Ammari, aspokesman for the youth activists.

Ammari said Saleh's agreement tohand his powers to the vice presidentmade no real difference.

"We will continue until we have top-pled the rest of the regime," he said."We did not start a revolution to keephalf of the killers."

Hadi, Yemen's low-profile vice pres-ident for the past 17 years, is "just an-other arm of Saleh," Ammari said.

Wednesday's agreement providesfor Hadi to assume "all powers neces-sary... for organising early electionswithin a 90-day period."

The opposition is to nominate acandidate to head a government ofnational unity charged with holdingtalks with the youth activists.

World leaders have called onboth sides in Yemen's protractedpower struggle to seize on the oppor-tunity of the Riyadh agreement toend the bloodshed.

Saleh's long equivocation oversigning the Gulf transition deal sawthe protests slide into deadly clashesbetween loyalist and dissident troopsand tribesmen that have riven thecapital and left the armed forcesdeeply divided.

two shot dead

in renewed Saudi

Shiite protestsRIYADH

AFP

Two men were shot dead as protestserupted among the Shiite minority inSaudi Arabia's oil-rich east, the govern-ment said on Thursday, in clashes thatprompted leaders from both sides to callfor calm. The deaths bring the toll sinceSunday to four, with at least nine otherpeople wounded, including two policemenand one woman, said the interior ministry.Sunday's deaths triggered clashes the fol-lowing day, when demonstrators took tothe streets in the mostly Shiite Qatif regionof Eastern Province to protest the suspi-cious death of 19-year-old Nasser al-Mheishi, whose wounded body had beenfound near a police checkpoint in the townof Shweika. On Thursday, the governmentand Shiite leaders warned against the es-calating tensions. In a statement carriedby SPA state news agency, the Saudi inte-rior ministry called on leaders in Qatif tocontrol "those who are misled to avoid in-nocent casualties." In response, Shiiteclerics and activists warned against thedangers of a "deteriorating situation." Shi-ites in oil-rich Saudi Arabia often com-plain of being marginalised.

Several killed in ethnic

Nigerian clashes

JOSAFP

Clashes between Muslim and Christianethnic groups in central Nigeria Thursdaycaused "enormous" destruction, with anumber of people dead and housesburned, a military officer said."Lives have been lost, houses have beenburned," Captain Charles Ekeocha said,adding that exact details were not known"but the loss is enormous." The clashesappeared to result from reprisals carriedout for violence that had occurred overthe previous weekend. Plateau state liesin the so-called middle belt region be-tween the mainly Muslim north and pre-dominately Christian south of Africa'smost populous nation..

thailand asks Facebook to

delete 'offensive' content

BANGKOKAFP

Thailand has asked social networkingwebsite Facebook to delete more than10,000 pages of content containing im-ages or text which it claims are "offen-sive" to the monarchy, a minister saidThursday. The news comes a day after aThai court jailed a man for 20 years forsending four text messages deemed in-sulting to the monarchy, alarming criticswho say the kingdom's strict lese-majestelaws hamper free speech."There are more than 10,000 URLs whichseem to insult the monarchy," the coun-try's information minister Anudith Nako-rnthap said, adding that people shouldnot click "Like" or comment on "offensive"posts as this would be considered indirectdissemination of the material. Under Thailaw, anyone convicted of insulting theking, queen, heir or regent can face aprison sentence of up to 15 years for eachoffence. Even repeating details of an al-leged offence is illegal.

Six feared dead in small

plane crash in arizona

WASHINGTONAFP

A small plane carrying six people crashedin a fireball in the Superstition Mountainsnear Apache Junction, Arizona onWednesday, and those aboard were feareddead, local authorities said. "We just knowthere were six people on board. Given thenature of the crash and where it hap-pened, it is highly unlikely that anybodysurvived," Elias Johnson, a spokesman forthe Pinal County Sheriff's Office said.


MuMBAI: actor emraan Hashmi, who has managed tocarve a niche for himself, isn’t quite pleased with the

promotions of ‘the dirty Picture’, or so we hear, whatwith vidya balan being treated to all the limelight

thanks to her raunchy character. emraan,known for his on-screen kisses and

fantastic songs that always make it tothe top of charts, suddenly finds

himself at the wrong end of thestick. but the unit members and thedirector, milan Luthria, deny everysuch triviality. “emraan has madehimself available for every possiblepromotion. all actors knew thescope and length of theircharacters, and each and every oneof them has an important part toplay. why then would they sign thefilm to begin with? emraan has noinhibitions whatsoever and is asexcited about the movie as anyoneelse involved in it,” says one fromthe crew. when we contactedemraan, he kept it short with, “it’sall nonsense” and went on tonarrate what a fantastic time hehad shooting with milanLuthria. AGENCIES

Emraan Hashmi

‘upset’is nothing like‘Dostana’: Deepika‘Desi Boyz’

with Vidya Balan

LAHORE StAFF REPORt

A much awaited event will launch the firstofficial adaptation of Sesame Street inUrdu, for Pakistani children. The projectis a collaborationbetween the RafiPeer The-a t r eGroupa n dthe

USAID. The event is to be held at the Mar-quee Studio on Raiwind Road at 11:30 am.It has been organised by the Pakistan Chil-dren’s Television and Rafi Peer. The name

of the program has beenchanged to ‘SimsimHamara’. The event

will be held onSaturday,

N o v e m -ber 26,2011.

MUMBAI zEENEWS

It can be tricky when onehas to perform in front ofyour ex, especially whenyou haven’t parted on goodterms. Recently John Abra-

ham was in a similar situa-tion because of friend andco-star Akshay Kumar. Atan award function, Johnand Akshay were perform-ing their ‘Desi Boyz’ act onthe stage. A source in-formed, “Akshay was shut-

tling between the audienceand the stage during theperformance. He first wentto Shah Rukh Khan whowas sitting next to Rekha.He then moved on to his‘Ajnabee’ co-star Bipasha.Akki sat down next to Bi-pasha and gestured to-wards his co-actor John.John came and stood withAkshay but he was visiblyuncomfortable. While Ak-shay danced to the ‘DesiBoyz’ number, John juststood there and watched.He then tried to pull Akkiback on the stage.” The sig-nature pelvic thrust thatthe boys were required todo left John in an uncom-fortable situation in frontof his former girlfriend.

‘Sesame Street’ turns

‘Simsim Hamara’in Urdu adaptation

John gets nervous dancingin front of ex Bipasha

MuMBAI: Deepika Padukone speaks about her upcomingfilm ‘Desi Boyz’ and her equation with Akshay Kumar

and John Abraham. there is a general perception that‘Desi Boyz’ has a ‘Dostana’ hangover. Says Deepika,“Not at all! In fact the first film that comes to mymind when I see Akshay Kumar and John Abrahamtogether is ‘Garam Masala’ because that got themtogether for the first time. But let me tell you that

‘Desi Boyz’ is not in the same space as ‘Dostana’ oreven ‘Garam Masala’. Just because it’s a film about

male bonding, it doesn’t have to be like ‘Dostana’.”After two films with Akshay we were expecting

your pairing with him over John. “Exactly! Eventhe audiences would have assumed the samewhich would have made it a predictablecasting. So director Rohit Dhawan thoughtthere would be fresh chemistry with thepairing of John and me.” How pamperedwere you by the Desi Boys? “Oh, I wasextremely pampered, especially by Johnwho likes taking care of everyone closeto him. Akshay Kumar of course hasbeen a great support.” Without beingdiplomatic and if you had to choose only

one - who would you say is hotter betweenAkshay and John? “I think it’s an invalid

question because both are good lookingguys and extremely charming.” AGENCIES

PaRiS: a satin evening gown that Napoleon

bonaparte's wife Josephine wore estimated

between 60,000 to 80,000 euros will be sold

off by the Osenat auction house on december 4.

GOA: Shah Rukh Khan

speaks during the

inauguration ceremony

of the 42nd International

Film Festival of India.

beRLiN: antonio banderas and Salma Hayek

arrive for the german premiere screening of

animation film ‘Puss in boots’ they voiced.

mUmbai: Kangana

Ranaut

poses

during a

promotional

event for

tru trussardi

eyewear.

New YORK: Singer avril

Lavigne attends the

Picksie 2.0 launch party.

New YORK: taylor Swift

performs onstage during

the ‘Speak Now world tour’.

IN LIMELIGHT

18 Friday, 25 November, 2011


LONDON: daniel Radcliffe admitsfeeling guilty about not crying at the

world premiere of the final ‘Harry Potter’film like his co-star Rupert grint, but insists

he was very relieved to bid farewell to themovie franchise. thousands of fans had

gathered to watch Radcliffe, grint and emmawatson at London’s Leicester Square as the last

installment, ‘Harry Potter and the deathly Hallows:Part 2’, was unveiled in July. However, while grint and

watson broke down in tears on the red carpet,Radcliffe admits that he wasn’t so emotional, sincehe couldn’t help but feel glad to be “moving on”.“when you’re doing these insane press dayswhere you do a few interviews then the redcarpet and it’s just mad, i have a slight tendencyto shut down and go on autopilot just to getthrough it and not feel completely weirded outby the whole thing,” Contactmusic quoted himas telling mtv.com. “what was strange to mewas, in a way, i felt slightly bad because i wasn’tgetting upset like everyone else was. i’ve seenRupert grint cry once, on the last day of filming,when i was also in bits (upset), but i’ve neverseen Rupert get emotional like he did at thepremiere. i cannot go on enough about howmuch i loved my time on Potter.” AGENCIES

guiltyWill never fallin love withmy co-stars:

Radcliffe

Gerard ButlerLONDON: Scottish actor GerardButler, who is looking for lastinglove these days, says he isdetermined not to fall in love withmovie co-stars after his previouson-set alliances ended in“disaster”. Butler, 42, who hasbeen linked to a string ofHollywood beauties including his‘the Bounty Hunter’ co-starJennifer Aniston and CameronDiaz, admits it is too easy tobecome infatuated with an actresswhile at work, Contactmusicreported. “that’s a dangerouspath. When you’re making a filmwith someone, you get to knowthem very well indeed and it’s tooeasy to develop a sort ofobsession with them that youthink at the time might be love.But it isn’t. Earlier in my career, Ihad a couple of relationships withco-stars and both times it was adisaster,” he said. AGENCIES

That’s one swell pout!

Kareena Kapoor gets to choose her man in

MUMBAIMIRROR

JUST a few days before the filmgoes on floors, the cast of Mad-hur Bhandarkar’s film ‘Hero-ine’ has undergone a change,thanks to leading lady Kareena

Kapoor. According to sources close to theproject, the actress refused to get intimatewith actor Arunoday Singh on screen. AndRandeep Hooda had to fill in Singh’sshoes. Arunoday had been a part of theproject from the very beginning. At thattime, Singh was to share screen spacewith Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. An excitedArunoday had then said, “Why feel thepressure? I am not going to fight a battle.To work with Aishwarya would be amaz-ing and I am looking forward to it.”

The decision to replace Arunoday withRandeep has however, come as a surprise.Hooda, in his Bollywood career spanninga decade, has carved a niche for himself infilms that are generally tagged as ‘differ-ent’. The five film old Singh too enteredthe same space, eight years later. But lead-ing lady Kareena seems to prefer Hooda tothe newer actor. “Kareena approved ofRandeep filling up for Arunoday. She wasalso informed at the earlier stage whenRandeep was being approached,” in-formed our source. “Randeep is veryhappy to work with Bhandarkar and UTV.‘Heroine’, after all, is a big film. He will beplaying a cricketer in it,” added the source.

Bhandarkar confirmed, “The role waschanged. Randeep suits it more now. Arun-oday is a very talented guy. I am lookingforward to working with him in the future.”

First ever violinalbum of Pakistanlaunched

LAHOREXARI JALIL

Ghulam Ali Lahooti launched the firstever violin album of Pakistan in a smallceremony on Wednesday. The albumhas been named ‘The Voice of Soul’.Lahooti has been playing violin since 20years and planning to release an albumsince a long time. The album has beensponsored by Dr Ehsanul Haq of theRecovery Foundation while AkhtarJaved organised the ceremony. “Theentire album comprises of 12 tracks outof which one has vocals while the restare instrumental. The violin remainsthe lead instrument in the entirealbum,” he said. The album is alsoLahooti’s first album. He has alsoopened Pakistan’s first violin schoolcalled the Ghulam Ali Lahooti ViolinMusic School, which has beenestablished at Siddique Trade Centre.“Violin schools are everywhere in theworld but there was no such schoolhere,” says the musician. His albumtracks incorporate the use of Italian,Arabic and Scottish music elementswith Raag Kalapati and some other folksongs played on the violin.

LONDONMAIL

A woman desperate to look like JessicaRabbit has won the dubious honour ofbeing in possession of the world’s biggest

lips after having 100 silicone injections.Kristina Rei, 22, was convinced her thinlips made her ugly so she opted to havethem enlarged in the style of her favouritecartoon character, at a cost of more than£4,000. Now the nail technician admitsshe has an addiction, but still plans tohave her so-called trout pout made evenmore outrageous. Each injection costsroughly £40 and is “extremely painful”but Kristina, from St Petersburg, Russia,insists nothing will stop her. She said: “Ithink I look fantastic and it makes mehappy. Sometimes strangers shout namesat me in the street - like big lips - but Idon’t care. I want to go more extreme. Iwant to look like a cartoon character. I amaddicted to it. I love it.” Kristina said shealways believed her lips were too smalland used to compare them to thosearound her. At school Kristina was bulliedbecause of her looks. She said: “Myclassmates called me ‘ugly’. They didn’ttease me because of my lips specifically -but I believed big, full lips would make mebeautiful.” Kristina, who is single,recently reduced the frequency of theinjections to once every few months.

Woman desperate to look like Jessica Rabbit getsworld’s biggest lips after 100 injections

Learn fromShakespeare, study tells doctors

PARISAGENCIES

Doctors should read up onShakespeare, according to anunusual medical study that saysthe Bard was exceptionallyskilled at spotting psychoso-matic symptoms. KennethHeaton, a doctor at the Univer-sity of Bristol in western Eng-land, trawled through all 42 ofShakespeare’s major works and46 genre-matched works bycontemporaries. He foundShakespeare stood out for hisability to link physical symp-toms and mental distress. Ver-tigo, giddiness or dizziness isexpressed by five male charac-ters in the throes of emotionaldisturbance, in ‘The Taming ofthe Shrew’, ‘Romeo and Juliet’,‘Henry VI Part 1’, ‘Cymbeline’,and ‘Troilus and Cressida’.Eleven instances of breathless-ness linked to extreme emotionsare found in ‘Two Gentlemen ofVerona’, ‘The Rape of Lucrece’,‘Venus and Adonis’ and ‘Troilusand Cressida’. Grief or distressis conveyed through symptomsof fatigue in ‘Hamlet’, ‘The Mer-chant of Venice’, ‘As You LikeIt’, ‘Richard II’ and ‘Henry IVPart 2’. Disturbed hearing at atime of mental crisis crops upin ‘King Lear’, ‘Richard II’ and‘King John’. Meanwhile, cold-ness and faintness, emblem-atic of deep shock, occur in‘Romeo and Juliet’, ‘JuliusCaesar’, ‘Richard III’ and else-where. Shakespeare can helpdoctors today who face pa-tients whose physical statemasks underlying emotionalproblems, Heaton suggests.

for not crying atPotter premier

mUmbai: vidya balan poses

during a promotional event

on the set of television serial

‘bade achche Lagte Hai’.

mUmbai: Sonakshi Sinha

poses during an event

for FHm india magazine's

fourth anniversary issue.

19


ICC women’s world CuP quAlIFIers

Page 23


aisam-bopanna out ofatP world tour Finals

LAHOREStAFF REPORt

Hosts of the ICC Women’s World CupQualifier, Bangladesh, have secured One-Day International status after SalmaKhatun’s side beat USA in a low-scoringfixture.

Ireland defeated fellow Europeanqualifier and ODI side Netherlands to re-tain its ODI status – the result means thatNetherlands have lost their ODI statusfor the women’s side. Bangladesh andIreland will now meet on Saturday in the5th/6th play-off for the tournament.

In the semi-final fixtures Pakistan de-feated South Africa to secure a place inthe final which will be played on Saturdayat the Sher-e-Bangla National CricketStadium (SBNCS).

Pakistan beat pre-tournamentfavourites South Africa. Having comeinto the tournament ranked fifth in theworld, the South Africans are certain todrop down the rankings after eighthplaced Pakistan defeated the side by threewickets.

South Africa posted just 180 in its 50overs with captain Mignon du Preez pro-viding the most runs for the side. As-mavia Iqbal proved the pick of thePakistani bowling attack as the fastbowler from Multan claimed three wick-ets for just 15 runs.

Asmavia’s run with the ball saw the23-year-old dismiss opener ShandreFritz, Kirstie Thomson and Sunette Loub-ser, while Pakistan showed its pace in thefield as it ran out three of the SouthAfrican middle-order.

In reply, Pakistan played a patient in-nings to reach the target of 181, despitelosing both Sana Mir and Nida Dar forducks. The side ensured partnershipswere made and Javeria Wadood’s healthycontribution of 47 had the side well on itsway to defeating Du Preez’s team.

Fittingly it was up to Asmavia, along-side Marina Iqbal to score the winningruns for Pakistan and secure it a place inthe final of the ICC Women’s World CupQualifier. Win or lose, Pakistan are guar-anteed a rise up the Reliance ICCWomen’s ODI Team Rankings at the con-clusion of the tournament. Currentlyranked eighth in the world, Sana’s teamcan rise to either fifth or sixth in the

global rankings.Facing Pakistan will be Merissa’

Aguilleira’s West Indies after the Ameri-cas side beat Sri Lanka in a high-scoringshowdown at Khanshaheb Osman AliStadium by 58 runs.

At the most anticipated match of theday for the hosts, Bangladesh won thetoss and Salma made the decision to sendthe USA into bat – a decision that paid offfor the home side.

Salma’s bowlers proved difficult toscore runs off. Doris Francis led from thefront for the Americans, top scoring forthe team with 23 runs, but the rest of theteam struggled to make runs.

In-form batter Shebani Bhaskar took

51 balls to make just 13 runs before shedeparted after being caught and bowledby Suktara Rahaman. Things didn’t getmuch better for USA with Khadiza-TulKubra showing her great worth as a spinbowler – the 16-year-old claiming 4-20 inher allotted 10 overs.

Kubra dismissed three of the USA’skey middle-order batters, Durga Das,Nadia Gruny and Erica Rendler – tempt-ing two of the three into striking the ballinto the safe hands of Panna Ghosh andSuktara.

Bangladesh’s bowling once againproved the winner with the entire USAline-up being bowled out for just 78, butnot before Francis’ side had played some

47 overs. In response, Bangladesh lost a wicket

early on after Ayesha Akhter was dis-missed for just nine runs, the 27-year-oldbeing declared leg-before off the bowlingof Triholder Marshall. It was then up toSuktara and Fargana Pinky to secure an-other win for Bangladesh, in addition toa place in the fifth/sixth play-off and theODI status for the first-ever time.

In the major European clash of theday, Helmien Rambaldo’s side took onold foes Ireland led by Isobel Joyce whichwould ultimately see one team walk awaywithout its ODI status.

Having won the toss, Rambaldoelected to bat first and the Dutch sidemanaged to amass 139 in its 50 oversduring an average bowling performancefrom the Irish side. Joyce’s side gaveaway some 25 extras but also failed tobowl in the right areas to dismiss theDutch for less in the first innings.

Eimear Richardson claimed twowickets, but the 25-year-old gave awaysome 34 runs in the process, the mosteconomical of the Irish bowlers being theyoung Elena Tice who claimed 1-22 in her10 overs. The Dutch side never managedto get going and the innings never reallytook off.

In response, Ireland’s top order failedto fire, struggling against Kerry-AnneTomlinson and Leonie Bennett and alsolaboured in reaching its target.

That being said, Ireland still managedto finish proceedings off and retain itsODI status midway through the 32ndover. The side will now face Bangladeshin an ODI at BKSP 2 on Saturday.

ireland players celebrate their victory. (Right) asmavia iqbal with her player of the match award. She claimed three wickets for 15 runs.

Pakistan reach final, Ireland, B’desh earn ODI status

ABU DHABIAFP

PAKISTAN captain Misbah-ul Haq hopes his team im-prove its record in theshortest form of the gamewith a win over Sri Lanka in

a one-off Twenty20 here on Friday.Pakistan, the 2009 World Twenty20champions, have lost 13 of their last 24matches in the rapid-fire form of thegame which plunged them to seventhin the inaugural Twenty20 rankings re-leased last month.

But Misbah was confident his teamwill continue to improve after beatingSri Lanka 1-0 in three Tests and 4-1 inthe five-match one-day series.

Misbah said the one-day series winexcited him.

“It was an outstanding perform-ance by the team,” said Mishab afterhis team’s narrow three-wicket win inthe fifth ODI at Abu Dhabi on Wednes-day. “I am confident that we will do ourbest in the Twenty20 to improve ourranking.”

Misbah, who has now won nine ofthe 10 one-day internationals sincetaking over as limited over captain inJune this year, said the team’s goal wasto improve with every match.

“It is good to beat a top ranked side4-1 and I am very happy because myteam is improving and performing sowell. The goal is to improve day by dayand we want to extend the victory se-quence,” said Misbah.

The victory lifted Pakistan to fifthin International Cricket Council one-day rankings.

Sri Lanka, relegated to four fromtwo in one-day rankings, are placedsecond in Twenty20 rankings and theircaptain Tillakaratne Dilshan was hop-ing his batsmen lift themselves after

failing to impress during the wholetour. “It’s disappointing to lose theone-day series and we need to quicklyaddress our batting problems beforeour tour of South Africa,” said Dilshanof his team’s tour next month wherethey play three Tests and five one-dayinternationals.

“It will be a new game on Fridayand a change of format, so I hope theplayers lift themselves,” said Dilshan,whose team will also have the servicesof mystery spinner Ajantha Mendis forthe Twenty20 match.

Dilshan praised Pakistan team as“one of the best in the world”.

“Pakistan have more options thanus and the way they played on this tourto me they are one of the top teams in

the world,” said Dilshan, who has lostthree Tests and three one-day seriessince taking over in May this year.SQuADS: Pakistan (from): misbah-ul-Haq

(capt), Shahid afridi, mohammad Hafeez,

imran Farhat, Younis Khan, Umar akmal,

Shoaib malik, Sarfraz ahmed, Saeed ajmal,

abdul Rehman, Umar gul, aizaz Cheema, So-

hail tanvir, asad Shafiq.

Sri Lanka (from): tillakaratne dilshan (capt),

angelo mathews, Upul tharanga, Kumar San-

gakkara, dinesh Chandimal, Kushal Janith Per-

era, thisara Perera, ajantha mendis, dilruwan

Perera, Lasith malinga, dilhara Fernando, Kos-

ala Kulasekera, Charmara Silva, dimuth

Karunaratne.

Umpires: zameer Haider (PaK) and ahsan

Raza (PaK), tv umpire: Shozaib Raza (PaK),

match referee: andy Pycroft (zim)

Misbah wants to capseries with Twenty20 glory

The only Twenty-20 match betweenPakistan and Sri Lanka will be played atSheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi, onFriday (November 25). This day/nightmatch will start at 21.00 hours (PST).

Pakistan, who won the five-one daymatch series 4-1, are favourites to win thismatch too. It will be the seventh T20match between the two teams. The formerWorld Champions also have a good recordagainst Sri Lanka in T20s. They have wonfour and lost two in six encounters.

It will be the fifth T20 match andfirst between the two teams at thisground. Pakistan have lost both T20matches at this ground, against SouthAfrica in October last year. HIGHEST INNINGS TOTALS:

Pakistan recorded their highest totalagainst Sri Lanka when they scored 189

for six in 20 overs at Johannesburg onSeptember 17,2007. In the same match,Sri Lanka made 156 for nine in 20 overswhich is their highest against Pakistan.LOWEST INNINGS TOTALS:

Pakistan made 131 for nine in 20overs at Lord's on June 12,2009 which istheir lowest against Sri Lanka. SriLanka's lowest against Pakistan is 120 in18.1 overs at Colombo on August 12,2009.HIGHEST INDIVIDUAL SCORES :

Kumar Sangakkara's unbeaten 64 atLord's on June 21, 2009 is the highestindividual score for Sri Lanka againstPakistan. The record of highest individ-ual score for Pakistan against Sri Lankais held by Shoaib Malik who made 57 atJohannesburg on September 17, 2007.BEST BOWLING PERFORMANCES:

Umar Gul's four for 13 at Kings Cityon October 11, 2008 is the best bowlingperformance for Pakistan against SriLanka. Kaushalya Weeraratne, who took

four wickets for 19 runs in the samematch, holds the record of best bowlingperformance for Sri Lanka.HIGHEST MARGINS OF VICTORY:

Pakistan recorded an eight-wicketvictory over Sri Lanka at Lord's on June21, 2009, which is their biggest victoryagainst Sri Lanka in terms of wickets.Their 52 runs victory at Colombo on Au-gust 12, 2009 is the biggest against SriLanka in terms of runs. Sri Lanka's fivewickets victory at Kings City on October13, 2008 is their biggest against Pak-istan in terms of wickets. They achieved19-run victory over Pakistan at Lord's onJune 12, 2009 which is their biggestagainst Pakistan in terms of runs.PAkISTAN, SRI LANkA IN T20S HOSt PLAyED PAK WON SL WON

in england 2 1 1

in South africa 1 1 -

in Canada 2 1 1

in Sri Lanka 1 1 -

total 6 4 2

Pakistan almost indomitable against sl in T20s

S. PERvEz QAISER

Comment

Khalil to replaceinjured Junaid

LAHOREStAFF REPORt

Pakistan on Thursday named left-arm pace-man Mohammad Khalil to replace an injuredJunaid Khan in the squad for the Bangladeshtour kicking off with a Twenty20 next week.Khan, 21, was ruled out of Pakistan's fifth andfinal one-day against Sri Lanka on Wednes-day and returned home after injuring his ab-dominal muscle. "Khalil will replace Khan inthe squad for Bangladesh tour," the PakistanCricket Board (PCB) said in a statement. The29-year-old Khalil played two Tests, againstAustralia in 2004 and India in 2005, butfailed to get a wicket. He has taken five wick-ets in three one-day internationals but hasnot played for Pakistan since 2005. Khaliltook 79 wickets in the last first-class season inPakistan and has also been amongst the topwicket takers in the current season with 43.Pakistan plays one Twenty20, three one-dayinternationals and two Tests on their tour ofBangladesh. The tour will start with theTwenty20 in Dhaka on Tuesday. Besides Ju-naid, all-rounder Abdul Razzaq is also indoubt for the Bangladesh tour with a shoul-der injury. PCB has not yet named any re-placement for Razzaq.


Sports 21Friday, 25 November, 2011

army, Customsnotch wins

FAISALABADStAFF REPORt

Army, Customs, PIA and NBP won theirmatches of the All Pakistan NBP Gold CupHockey Tournament at Faisalabad HockeyStadium on Thursday. Army beat Sindh by5-1 after they dominated the first half bythree goals. Army scored through AbdulJabbar and captain Qasim Ikram man-aged two goals each while MuhammadSafeer got one. Sindh got their goalthrough Shujaat. Customs beat Balochis-tan by 6-1. Customs were leading by fivegoals in the first session while the sixthgoal and the losing team’s only goal camein the second session. Customs scorerswere Asad Bashir (2 goals), M Zahid (2)while Muhammad Asif and WaseemAbbas shared one goal each. Balochistanmanaged their goal when Kashif hit theboard. PIA beat HEC by 4-1. PIA wereleading by three goals at the breather.PIA’s Ihsan Ullah was the star of thematch with three goals while Afsar Yaqoobhad one and the losing side goal scorer wasShaheryar. NBP beat WAPDA defeated by5-3. The bankers scored two goals in thefirst session and got remaining three in thesecond half. Muhammad Atiq three goalswhile Naeem Akbar and Akhtar Ali werethe other scorers of WAPDA. WAPDA re-duced the margin through Suleman Hus-sain (2 goals) and M Zubair (1 goal).

quetta in troublein quaid trophy

LAHOREStAFF REPORt

Quetta crawled to 187 runs on the openingday of the Division II Quaid Azam Trophyeighth round match against SNGPL hereat the Gaddafi Stadium on Thursday.Badar Ali with half century manage thescore possible otherwise Yasir Shah andAzhar Shafiq with three and two wicketsrespectively took the charge of the matchand they need another two wickets topress Quetta towards further trouble. Atthe LCCA ground, KRL took charge of thematch against UBL after the bankers werebowled out for 121 and at the close of theplay KRL were at 54 for two.SCORES: quetta 187-8 in 77 overs (badar ali 56, ata-

ur-Rehman 33, mohibullah 40, Yasir Shah 3-44, azhar

Shafiq 2-12) v SNgPL, toss: SNgPL. Umpires: Hakeem

Shah and Kamal merchant. Referee: muhammad

anees. Scorer: azhar Hussain, at the LCCa ground,

United bank 121 in 50.1 overs (ali asad 34, tahir

mughal 24, Rahat ali 4-33, Yasir ali 3-38) v KRL 45-2

in 14 overs, toss: KRL. Umpires: akbar Khan and tahir

Shah. Referee: Saadat ali. Scorer: masood ahmed.

LONDONAFP

ANDREW Strauss has toldhis England team they willhave to prepare for theirbiggest challenge yet nowthey are a "hunted" side

after rising to number one in the worldTest rankings. Test captain Strauss ledhosts England to a 4-0 series rout ofIndia earlier this year as the Ashes hold-ers climbed to the summit of the five-day game. But England's new-foundstatus will come under threat when theyface Pakistan in a three-match series inthe United Arab Emirates starting inJanuary.

"We recognise that the next 12-18months will be the biggest test we've hadyet as a group," said Strauss, speaking atLord's on Thursday after the announce-ment of a 10-year deal for financial firmInvestec to become the sponsor of Eng-land's home Tests.

"It's a different mindset being thehunted rather than the hunters," open-ing batsman Strauss, who plays forLord's-based Middlesex, added. "We'llhave to retain that desperate desire toimprove if we want to stay on top.

"There are a lot of teams below uswho want to knock us off our perch."

After the Pakistan series, England

complete their off-season Test pro-gramme with a two-match contest in SriLanka.

Next year England are at home to animproving West Indies and SouthAfrica, who recently tied 1-1 in an excit-ing two-Test series with Australia, inthree and four match campaigns re-spectively.

"We've seen a resurgence in WestIndies cricket in recent times, so thatwill be a challenge for us," saidStrauss. "Hopefully (Eng-lish) early-season condi-tions will suit us morethan them.

"And we all knowabout the qualitiesof South Africa,they've just fin-ished an outstand-ing series againstAustralia.

Earlier Thurs-day, Australia fastbowler Ryan Harrissaid two-Test serieswere a waste of time.

"Two-Test series,personally in my pointof view, are pointless,"said Harris. "If it's 1-1 atthe end of the series youwalk away with an empty

feeling. Three-Test series have to be aminimum, if not more."

Crowds for Tests in England, evenbefore the start of the team's rise to the

top of the standings, have gen-erally held up well, with tick-ets for the first four days ofmost matches frequentlyselling out well in advance.The International Cricket

Council (ICC) have repeatedlyinsisted the five-day game

remains the pinnacle ofthe sport. However,

the decision to delaythe introduction ofa world Test cham-pionship until 2017-- it was due to startin two years' time -- for commercialreasons was seenas a blow to thestanding ofcricket's oldestinternational for-mat in an era ofnumerous one-day and Twenty20internationals. "Ina lot of ways in thepast we've relied

on Test cricketalways being

around," said Strauss. "Now we mustknock our heads together to evaluatewhat's the best way of marketing it andhow to bring people to the game.

"The added context of a world Testchampionship or something similar is agood idea.

"I'd hate to think anyone's arrogantenough to assume Test cricket will al-ways be around. I don't think that's thecase.

"I'm buoyed by what great supportthere is for the game in this country, butI'm also quite aware that in other partsof the world it's less so.

"We're in a fortunate position herebut it's up to administrators all over theworld to ensure they keep working onthe product."

Both Investec and the England andWales Cricket Board (ECB) have refusedto publicly reveal the worth of theirsponsorship deal, although estimates inthe British press have ranged from £20-40 million.

Investec were previously a sponsorof England home rugby union Tests. Buttheir 12-year relationship with theRugby Football Union (RFU) ended inAugust -- before England's shambolicWorld Cup campaign in New Zealandwhich has reportedly alarmed sponsorsconcerned by a series of lurid headlinesregarding the squad's conduct.

Strauss wary of resurgent Pakistan ajmal on topof the world

LAHOREStAFF REPORt

Pakistan's spin sensation Saeed Ajmalhas topped the International CricketCouncil's (ICC) ODI bowlers’ rankingat the end of Pakistan-Sri Lanka seriesthat ended with Pakistan's 4-1 victory.Saeed Ajmal took 11 wickets in the five-match series. Pakistan has strength-ened their no. 5 ranking in the ODI list.Ajmal grabbed that position from NewZealand's Daniel Vettori, who has re-tired from ODI and T20 after theWorld Cup 2011.Shahid Afridi has secured the numberseven position while MohammadHafeez number eight.Afridi has secured the number four po-sition in the All Rounder category. NoPakistani batsmen reportedly manageda spot in the top-ten batting list.

itF Seniors worldRanking tennis begins

KARACHIStAFF REPORt

The main rounds of the 15th PSO Pak-istan ITF Seniors World Ranking Ten-nis commenced at Karachi Clubcemented hard courts on Thursday.Karachi Club Secretary Yousuf Sule-man formally opened the event. ThePSO representative Amir Zaib (Brandmanager), Khwaja Saeed Hai and Pak-istan Seniors Tennis Association Sec-retary M Khalid Rehmani also spokeat the opening ceremony.RESuLtS: 45 Plus Singles qualifying Round: Saleem

Siddiqui bt Nasir Laiq 6-4, 6-2, muhammad arif bt afaq

zafar 2-6, 6-5 rtd. 35 plus Singles main First Round:

Shabbir gul bt Salman but 6-0, 6-0, ejaz Sarhadi bt

Rafi derbari 7-6 rtd, aly Panjo bt Salman manya 6-2, 6-

2, Noman Farid bt Suhail Farid 7-6(3),5-7, 7-6(4). 35 Plus

Singles quarter Final: muhammad abdul Saeed bt aly

Panjo 7-5, 1-6, 6-0, Rasheed malik bt Noman Fareed. 45

Plus Singles main First Round: qamarudin Habib bt

Noorullah dhannani 6-1, 6-2, muhammad Javed bt iqbal

qureshi 7-6, 4-6, 6-4, ismail Sharif w/o anjum Nadeem,

akhter aliman w/o Shareefuddin. 55 Plus Singles first

round: aijaz ahmed (Col) bt iqbal qureshi 6-2, 6-2.

multan victorious

in women’s cricketMURIDKE

StAFF REPORt

Multan and Islamabad sneaked pasttheir rivals in the U-19 NationalWomen’s T20 Cricket Championshipon Thursday. In the Pool A, Multanbeat Faisalabad by 68 runs while Is-lamabad got past Abbottabad by onewicket.multan Region U-19 –131-6 in 20 overs: (areeb

Shamim 54, Kiran irshad 34, amna ashiq 2-12) v

Faisalabad Region U-19 – 63 in 15.3 overs: (Kalsoom

Hanif 4-14) Player of the match: areeb Shamim (mul-

tan Region), Result: multan Region U-19 won by 68

runs, toss: multan Region, Umpires: afia amin and

Sameera aftab, match Referee: Raj Hans, Official

Scorer: Sajjad-ul-Hasan

ABU DHABIAFP

Legendary Sri Lankan batsman SanathJayasuriya Thursday backed his country’steam and captain Tillakaratne Dilshan, say-ing they needed time and space to recoverafter losing both Tests and the one-day se-ries to Pakistan.

Sri Lanka lost the fifth and final one-dayby three wickets on Wednesday, whichhanded Pakistan a 4-1 series win. They alsolost the preceding three-Test series 1-0.

Both teams play a Twenty20 here onFriday to complete the tour which Jaya-suriya said had left him disappointed. “It’s abit disappointing to lose both the series. Itwould have been ideal had we won at leastone series,” said Jayasuriya, who is here astelevision commentator after retiring earlierthis year. The 42-year-old former dashingopener said Sri Lanka needed time to revive

fortunes after blooding some new players.“These are hard times for Sri Lankancricket,” said Jayasuriya, who is also a par-liamentarian in his country. “Sri Lanka is

going with a number of youngsters so youneed to give them some time and space forrevival.” Jayasuriya, also a former captain,backed current under-fire skipper Dilshanwho has lost three Test and as many one-dayseries since taking over in April this year.

“He (Dilshan) is a great player and weall have seen what he can do but unfortu-nately he is going through a lean patch, sowe need to have faith in him, he has just gotthe job and anybody who takes captaincyneeds time. “It’s a new team, so you need tohave faith in the players and the manage-ment in which there is a new coach,” saidJayasuriya of the Sri Lanka’s Australiancoach Geoff Marsh who took over in Sep-tember this year. Jayasuriya said he did notagree that players lacked motivation sincenot being paid since April this year.

“I think it’s disaapointing (not to bepaid),” said Jayasuriya. “The previous SriLankan board made lot of mistakes and

were responsible for this mess and becauseof the administration problems the playersare unfortunately paying. “I am sure theywill get payment and also feel that when youplay for your country you forget everything.I am happy that they didn’t talk about that.They love their country,” said Jayasuriya.

The former opener also disagreed thatfrequent changes in Sri Lanka Cricket(SLC) were damaging. “That (changes inSLC) is part of the system, every year it ischanged but the players should not beworried about that. In our time we alsohad the same problems but we never caredabout that,” said Jayasuriya, who played110 Tests and 445 one-days. Jayasuriyapraised Pakistan team’s performance.“Pakistan have done well amidst all thoseaccusations and controversies,” said Jaya-suriya of the spot-fixing scandal whichended in jail terms for Salman Butt, Mo-hammad Asif and Mohammad Aamer.

Jayasuriya praises Misbah’s captaincy

LAHOREStAFF REPORt

A Test and One-Day International (ODI) series-win over Sri Lanka has reportedly convincedthe Pakistan Cricket Board's (PCB) three-member coach-hunting committee to seriously con-sider Mohsin Khan for a full-time job. Mohsin, the former chief selector, was asked to assistthe team on the UAE tour since the PCB could not appoint a head coach to replace WaqarYounis after the change in the team delayed the procedure. The committee, comprising In-tikhab Alam, Zaheer Abbas and Col (retd) Naushad Ali, had sent a list of five shortlisted can-didates for the position of head coach to the PCB but Mohsin's term was extended for thetour of Bangladesh that starts from November 29. "The applications we received were mostlyfrom local coaches along with a few foreign candidates. However, we're in no rush to namethe coach or the team of coaches and we'll sit down for various discussions beforefinalising the names," a member of the committee confirmed. Although the of-ficial did not confirm whether the team's performance in the UAE has forceda minor rethink and if the show goes according to plan in Bangladesh, re-ports suggest that Mohsin's appointment could be part of the serious dis-cussions. The interim coach recently expressed his desire to take onthe coaching position if offered, preferring that over his chief selector'srole. "The series wins have certainly added a feather to Mohsin's cap.We beat Sri Lanka and chances are that we'll beat Bangladesh as welland if the graph goes up then it'll be a worthwhile discussion," he added.

Mohsin could be named full-time coach

MELBOURNEAGENCIES

Under pressure to retire following his pro-longed lean patch, veteran batsman RickyPonting has vowed to fight for his place inthe Australian Test team ahead of the up-coming series against New Zealand. Pontingis coming off a lean 24 months with the bat,averaging just 14 in his 13 innings beforescoring a crucial 62 against South Africa inJohannesburg this week. “Of course (I wantto keep playing). I really enjoy it and alwayshave,” Ponting said after arriving home from

South Africa. “It’s a great team to be a partof at the moment. I want to be around andhopefully be able to have some sort of impacton the way the team plays If I keep doing myjob, then hopefully I keep getting picked,” headded. The former skipper has not scored aTest century since January last year but hisgritty knock in Australia’s record-breakingchase in the second Test in Johannesburgconvinced the 37-year-old he deserves hisspot. “When you know that you can con-tribute to wins that’s what it’s all about Iguess. I felt I had a part to play in the secondgame,” Ponting, who is considered Aus-

tralia’s greatest batsman after Don Brad-man, was quoted as saying by ‘The Age’. Testcaptain Michael Clarke backed Ponting tokeep his spot, saying he still has a lot to offerto Australian cricket if he can build on hismost recent innings. “If I thought that RickyPonting or Mitchell Johnson couldn’t per-form at this level, I wouldn’t be supportingthem as I have done,” Clarke said. “I’ve beenwatching Ricky bat in the nets -- I know he’sin good nick. Under pressure the other night,he did that but the reality is that he needs toperform better than he has done of late tostay in the team.”

Ponting vows to fight for his place


Sports22Friday, 25 November, 2011

LONDON: Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi of Pakistan

(R) stands ready at the net as his partner

Rohan Bopanna of India hits a return

against Mariusz Fyrstenberg of Poland and

his partner Marcin Matkowski of Poland. AFP

MUMBAIAFP

Sachin Tendulkar stayed on course for anunprecedented 100th international cen-tury as India made a strong reply on thethird day of the third and final Testagainst the West Indies on Thursday.

The master batsman was unbeaten on67 while Rahul Dravid (82) completed13,000 Test runs as India reached 281-3in their first innings at stumps in reply tothe West Indies’ 590 at the WankhedeStadium in Mumbai. Tendulkar has so far

added 57 for the unfinished fourth-wicketstand with Venkatsai Laxman (32 not out)with India now needing 110 more runs toavoid the follow-on with seven wickets inhand. Tendulkar’s 133-ball knock in-cluded an uppercut for six off pacemanFidel Edwards. He played handsomely,delighting the nearly 20,000 spectators inthe 32,000-capacity stadium.

But he was lucky to survive on 58when wicket-keeper Carlton Baughdropped a difficult chance off leg-spinnerDevendra Bishoo. Tendulkars 99 interna-tional centuries are almost evenly split be-

tween the Test and one-day format.Dravid batted confidently during

his 149-ball knock to become only thesecond batsman after Tendulkar(15,153) to score 13,000 Test runs whenhe drove seamer Darren Sammythrough the covers for four. He alsocompleted 1,000 Test runs in the yearfor the third time in his career.

India lost openers Gautam Gambhir(55) and free-scoring Virender Sehwag(37) before the world’s top two run-get-ters, Dravid and Tendulkar, added 86for the third wicket.

Tendulkar on coursefor 100th century

WESt INDIES 1st innings (overnight 575-9):A. Barath c Dhoni b Ashwin 62K. Brathwaite c Kohli b Ashwin 68K. Edwards c Dhoni b Sharma 86D. Bravo c Dhoni b Aaron 166K. Powell c Dhoni b Ojha 81M. Samuels c Dravid b Ashwin 61C. Baugh b Aaron 4D. Sammy c Dhoni b Aaron 3R. Rampaul c Kohli b Ashwin 10F. Edwards not out 11D. Bishoo b Ashwin 12EXtRAS (b8, lb16, nb2) 26tOtAL (for all out; 184.1 overs) 590FOW: 1-137 (Barath), 2-150 (Brathwaite), 3-314 (K.Edwards), 4-474 (Powell), 5-518 (Bravo), 6-524(Baugh), 7-540 (Sammy), 8-563 (Rampaul), 9-566(Samuels), 10-590 (Bishoo)Bowling: Sharma 32-9-84-1 (nb1), Aaron 28-4-106-3, Ojha 48-10-126-1, Ashwin 52.1-6-156-5, Sehwag16-1-61-0 (nb1), Kohli 2-0-9-0, tendulkar 6-0-24-0.INDIA 1st innings:G. Gambhir c Baugh b Rampaul 55V. Sehwag b Sammy 37R. Dravid b Samuels 82S. tendulkar not out 67V. Laxman not out 32EXtRAS (b1, nb4, w3) 8tOtAL (for three wickets; 80 overs) 281FOW: 1-67 (Sehwag), 2-138 (Gambhir), 3-224 (Dravid)Bowling: F. Edwards 15-0-70-0 (nb4), Rampaul 12-1-42-1 (w1), Sammy 22-3-67-1 (w2), Samuels 11-0-48-1,Bishoo 20-4-53-0, tOSS: West Indies, uMPIRES:tony Hill (NzL) and Bruce Oxenford (AuS)

SCOREBOARD

Pakistan totake part inarmwrestlingChampionship

LAHOREStAFF REPORt

The Pakistan Armwrestling Federationhas announced the participation of itsteam in the 33rd World ArmwrestlingChampionship to be held in Almaty,Kazakhstan, from November 26 to De-cember 4. The team comprises two individuals, aplayer Muhammad Zameer Sultan and anofficial Yasir Khan. Addressing a press conference, secretaryof the federation Qaiser Khan said thatthe team will be leaving on November 25and will be back on December 5. Muhammad Zameer will participate in 65KG weight and is right hand, left handboth categories player. He further said that they are also in con-tact with the Indian Armwrestling Feder-ation regarding series in Lahore,Islamabad and Karachi.

Khosa falls LAHORE

StAFF REPORt

Governor Punjab Latif Khosa onThursday lost his balance while playingcricket as the chief guest of the LahoreBar Cricket Tournament.The governor wanted to hit a six duringthe opening ceremony of the lawyersevent but when he stepped forward tohit the big shot he lost balance andnearly fell on the ground. On seeingthe governor go off balance, organisersand the officials ran towards him tosteady the governor.

PCb chief felicitatesPakistan team

LAHOREStAFF REPORt

Chairman Pakistan Cricket Board Ch ZakaAshraf congratulated the Pakistan team andits management over their 4-1 victory in theODI series against Sri Lanka. With this winPakistan gained fifth place in the ICC ODIChampionship table. Now they stand fifth,one place ahead of England and this is Pak-istan’s best ranking since May 2009. Chair-man PCB called the CaptainMisbah-ul-Haq, coach Mohsin Khan andManager Naveed Akram Cheema and facili-tated them on the commendable perform-ance of the team in both Test and ODIseries against the higher ranked Sri Lanka.In a message he said, “Cricket is a passionin Pakistan and everyone prays for theteam. The boys have made the nationproud. The credit goes to the hard work ofeach individual as everyone has contributedin his respective field. I congratulate theteam and the whole nation on this occasion.I am confident that if we continue withsame spirit and positivity, there are manymore milestones to be achieved in future.”

waPda, muslimClub advance in PPL LAHORE: WAPDA and Muslim Clubwon their matches of the 8th PakistanPremier Football League on Thursday.WAPDA beat HBL 2:1 at the here Rail-way Football Stadium. WAPDA got winthrough forward and captain Arif Mah-mood who scored both the goals in the21st and 68th minutes. Muslim FC beatPMC Athletico Club 1-0 at the Agricul-ture University Ground, Faisalabad.Muhammad Dawood brought the win-ning goals for Muslim FC in the 18thminute. StAFF REPORt

mUmbai: indian batsman Sachin tendulkar plays a shot. AFP


Sports 23Friday, 25 November, 2011

wAtCh It LIve

TEN SPORTSPakistan vSri Lanka T2009:00PM

NEO CRICKETIndia v West IndiesTest 3 Day 409:00PM

STAR SPORTSBarclays ATP WorldTour Finals – London07:00PM

LONDONAGENCIES

THE Indo-Pak Express ofAisam-ul-Haq Qureshi andRohan Bopanna continuedtheir winless run in the Bar-clays ATP World Tour Finals,

going down to Poland’s Mariusz Fyrsten-berg and Marcin Matkowski 6-2, 6-1.

The Polish duo ended their Group Bround robin campaign with a 2-1 recordafter they beat the fifth seeds in just 49minutes Thursday. The Polish pair weredominant in the first set, winning it in just28 minutes and dropping only five pointson serve. Aisam and Bopanna had ab-

solutely no answers to the serve-volleygame of the Polish pair, as they wererouted in the second set with the Poles noteven dropping a single point on serve.

The US Open finalists, Fyrstenbergand Matkowski, will have to wait for theresult between second seeds Michael Llo-dra and Nenad Zimonjic and third seedsMax Mirnyi and Daniel Nestor to know ifthey have qualified for the semifinal.FEDERER BEATS FISH TOExTEND WINNING RUN: Defendingchampion Roger Federer maintained his100 percent record at this year’s ATPWorld Tour Finals by completing hisgroup fixtures with a 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 victoryover America’s Mardy Fish on Thursday.

Federer was already guaranteed topspot in Group B and a place in the semi-finals after winning his first two matchesand the Swiss survived a mid-match wob-ble against Fish to extend his impressiverun at London’s O2 Arena.

Federer’s 37th career Tour Finalsvictory moved him into second placeon the all-time list ahead of BorisBecker and he is only two wins behindleader Ivan Lendl. His semi-final op-ponent is still to be decided, but if Fed-erer can maintain this impressive formit would be no surprise to see him winthe tournament for a record sixth timeand equal Lendl’s tally of victories inthe process.

LONdON: aisam-ul-Haq qureshi of Pakistan (R) and his partner Rohan bopanna of india (L) talk between points againstmarcin matkowski of Poland and his partner mariusz Fyrstenberg of Poland. AFP

Aisam-Bopanna out ofATP World Tour Finals

PARISAFP

Arsenal reached the Champions Leagueknockout phase with victory over Borus-sia Dortmund on Wednesday, butChelsea were made to wait after a dra-matic 2-1 defeat at Bayer Leverkusen.After Manchester City and ManchesterUnited had stuttered on Tuesday, it wasleft to the London sides to restore Eng-lish pride 24 hours later.

A Robin van Persie double saw Arse-nal keep their side of the bargain by beat-ing German champions Dortmund 2-0,but Chelsea must now win at home to Va-lencia in their final game to be sure of alast-16 place. Dortmund lost both SvenBender and star man Mario Goetze to in-jury inside the first 30 minutes at Arse-nal’s Emirates Stadium but the hosts wereunable to capitalise in what proved to bean underwhelming first half.

The breakthrough arrived four min-utes into the second period and stemmedfrom an unlikely source, with Alex Songweaving past three Dortmund defenderson the Arsenal left before crossing for vanPersie to head home. The in-form Dutchstriker tapped in his second from Thomas

Vermaelen’s flick-on in the 86th minute,before Shinji Kagawa claimed an injury-time consolation for the visitors. Marseillewould have joined Arsenal in the last 16had they not fallen 1-0 at home to

Olympiakos, with Ioannis Fetfatzidis’82nd-minute half-volley keeping alive theGreeks’ chances of securing a knockoutround berth. At Leverkusen’s BayArena,Chelsea saw former player Michael Ballack

hit the crossbar with a first-half header be-fore Didier Drogba broke the deadlockfrom Daniel Sturridge’s pass after threeminutes of the second half.

Ballack then drew two fine savesfrom former team-mate Petr Cech asChelsea closed in on a place in the nextround, only for Eren Derdiyok to dis-patch Sidney Sam’s cross and claim a73rd-minute equaliser. Worse was to fol-low, as Manuel Friedrich headed homefrom an injury-time corner to take Lev-erkusen into the last 16 and leave Chelseafacing a winner-takes-all showdownagainst Valencia on December 6. TheSpaniards moved into contention after adominant display, with Roberto Soldadonetting a first-half hat-trick in a 7-0 routof Genk. “It’s tough for the English clubsin the Champions League at the momentbut we have to put on a brave face,” saidChelsea coach Andre Villas-Boas, whoseside have lost three of their last fivegames. “We are still in front of Valenciaand expect Leverkusen to do their job(against Genk). We can go through.”

Defending champions Barcelona se-cured top spot in Group H after emergingwith a 3-2 victory from an engaging en-counter with AC Milan at San Siro.

miLaN: barcelona’s forward Lionel messi (C) escapes aC milan’s players. AFP

Arsenal through but Chelsea rocked by Leverkusen

women’s HockeyC’ship from dec 9

LAHOREStAFF REPORt

The 27th edition of the Women’s HockeyChampionship will be played at the Na-tional Hockey Stadium Lahore from De-cember 9 to 18.The Pakistan Hockey Federation for thesmooth conduct of the event has de-tailed the Panel of Technical Officials.Technical Officials: Tournament Director: Parveen SikandarGill, Tournament Officers: Gulshan Nas-reen, Uzma Rizvi, Judges: SamanRasheed, Aasia Rasheed, Ghazala Tariq,Farhat Malik, Robina Raza, HumairaMughal, Musarrat Jabeen, Rahat Iqbal,Najma Gillani and M Shafique Bhatti,Umpire’s Manager: Rashad MahmoodButt, Umpires: Razia Rizvi, ChandParveen, Shazia Yousaf, Erum Bukhari,Saima Afzal, Beenish Hayat, SamanIslam, Kamran Sharif, MuhamamdMushtaq and Muhammad Afzal. Chair-person Organising Committee: TanzeelaAamir Cheema. Organising Secretary:Abida Tanveer, President (PunjabWomen’s Hockey Association). Chief Co-ordinator: Shagufta Liaqat Randhawa(Secretary, Punjab Women’s Hockey As-sociation). According to PHF Constitu-tion, the players who are above 30 yearsare not eligible to participate in theChampionship. All players are directed tobring with them their Secondary SchoolCertificates for scrutiny, an official said.

waPda lead

National Cycling

LAHOREStAFF REPORt

WAPDA lead the points table of 59thNational Cycling Championship as theywon the 120 Kms Road Scratch Raceon Thursday. On the 4th day of the Championship,120 Kms Road Scratch Race was organ-ised. The race began at 9:00 am withRai Asghar doing the honours as thechief guest. As many as 47 cyclists (8from each unit) contested the race thatstarted from Burki Interchange andcompleted 2.5 round laps from RaviInterchange and half a round fromWagha Interchange.The panel of judges comprised NusratKhan alongwith Jawed Khan. PresidentPCF Munawar Baseer Ahmad and Sec-retary Syed Azhar Ali Shah along withother office bearers closely monitoredthe performance of cyclists.The cyclists could manage an averagespeed of 41 kms per hour due to fogand heavy wind. Following are the re-sults of 120 kms road scratch race. Abdul Ahad, WAPDA, 02 Hr. 56 Min.26 Sec, Sabir Ali, WAPDA, 02 Hr. 56Min. 26 Sec, Asif, SSGC, 02 Hr. 56Min. 26 Sec, Mohammad Rafiqe, Army,02 Hr. 56 Min. 26 Sec, MohammadZahid, Army, 02 Hr. 56 Min. 26 Sec,Asad Mahmood, Army, 02 Hr. 56 Min.26 Sec.

LAHOREStAFF REPORt

Pakistan blind cricket team sealed thethree-match One-Day series afterbeating India in the second ODI byfive wickets at the Islamabad’s Shali-mar Cricket Stadium.

India opted to bat after wining thetoss. Their openers Parkash andVenkateish gave a solid 139 runs startbut they were dismissed on consecu-tive balls. Parkash scored 83 runswhile Venkateish scored 40 runs.

India posted 324 runs on theboard for the loss of eight wickets in40 overs. Shekhar Naik and Ganeshadded 46 runs each. MuhammadWaqas took two wickets while Idrees,Masood Jan and Yasir claimed wicketapiece.

Pakistan in reply chased the targetof 325 runs in 36.4 overs for the lossof five wickets. Masood Jan was thetop scorer with 81 runs, MuhammadJamil scored 69 runs, Zafar 62 andAnees remained not out on 57 runs.

Ketan and Subash Boya took one

wicket each. Masood Jan of Pakistanwas later declared the Man of thematch.

This was also the 26th consecutiveone-day Internationals victory forPakistan and the 7th consecutive one-day series triumph.

Director General Federal SpecialEducation Mustafain Kazmi was thechief guest of the occasion and distrib-uted prizes among the players. The3rd ODI of Brien Holden Vision Pak-istan-India one-day series will beplayed on November 26.

Pakistan blinds clinch India oDI series

LaHORe: the cyclists take start for the120Kms Road Scratch Race at Raviinterchange. STAFF PHoTo


Friday, 25 November, 2011 24


FORMER water and powerminister Raja Pervaiz Ashraftold the Supreme Court onThursday that Federal Hous-ing and Works Minister

Faisal Saleh Hayat had a personalgrudge against him, therefore he waspursuing the matter of Rental PowerProjects (RPPs) everywhere.

Appearing in court in a case againstalleged corruption in the RPPs, Ashrafsaid Hayat was maligning him because hehad strongly criticised Hayat when he hadjoined the government in 2002 after win-ning elections on a Pakistan People’sParty ticket. He said he needed the court’sprotection and justice in the matter be-cause he had been ridiculed everywhere.

Raja also said there was no corrup-tion in the installment of the RPPs andhe had simply continued the policy ofthe previous government. He agreedthat RPPs were producing electricity ata higher tariff but there was no alterna-tive available to overcome the powershortage in the short term. He said hehad also started various hydroelectric,solar and coal energy projects to over-come the crisis.

He said previous regimes had notworked on the power sector and inde-

pendent power producers - introducedby the PPP in 1994 - were criticised byPakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and ittried to discourage the policy. Rejectingallegations that he had bought an apart-ment in London, he said he had noproperty or accounts in any foreigncountry. Ashraf said no bidder had ob-jected over the award of RPP contracts,which showed that there was no ques-tion of transparency in these projects. “Ijust approved the RPPs to produce en-ergy according to the agreement and ifthey would fail, we would fine themheavily,” he added.

He also said former president PervezMusharraf had inaugurated Bhasha Damfalsely, as his regime had done nothingregarding the construction of the dam.He said the incumbent government hadinitiated work on the Bhasha Dam.

Waseem Sajjad, counsel for Ashraf,also said his client had tried to overcomethe power shortage in the country but hadfailed. He said although the former min-ister had initiated the summary regardingthe RPPs, it was the decision of the primeminister, Planning Division, PetroleumMinistry and Finance Ministry.

Earlier, the chief justice said thecourt would also involve the FederalBoard of Revenue in the issue of cus-toms duty on the import of RPPs, whichcaused losses to the national exchequer.

No corruption inRPP contracts,Ashraf tells SCg Former minister says Faisal Saleh pursuingRPPs case because of personal grudge

GUJRANWALAAtIF Butt

Internal rifts among the divisional lead-ership of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), and not the memocontroversy, forced the party’s centralleadership to cancel its rally in Gujran-wala scheduled for Friday (today),sources told Pakistan Today on Thursday.

PML-N sources told Pakistan Todaythat the party’s central leadership wasunhappy with the divisional leadershipfor not contacting the people even in thefinal days before the rally — somethingwhich forced the top leadership to re-consider its plan of holding the publicgathering. The sources said that millionsof rupees were spent on the rally’s ad-vertisement campaign and several meet-ings had been organised to plan thearrangements, however a lack of collab-oration between the central and localleaderships resulted in the cancellationof the rally.

The PML-N’s central leadership, in-cluding Hamza Shahbaz and Punjab As-sembly Deputy Speaker Rana Mashhood,made recurrent visits to Gujranwala to

check the arrangements, but rifts withinthe local leaders became an obstacle.

Sources further revealed that thePML-N collected Rs 500,000 from eachof its national and provincial legislatorfrom Gujranwala Division for the rally.However, all local party leaders tried takea lead over others by spending more onadvertising their posters, instead of gath-ering people and finalising the arrange-ments. Malik Shakeel, a trader andactivist of the PML-N, said the party’ssupporters were looking forward to wel-coming Nawaz Sharif but the cancellationof the rally had disappointed them.

A party statement issued onWednesday said the new date for thepublic gathering in Gujranwala would beannounced after Muharram. Accordingto the statement, the memo issue was ofsensitive nature and hence, it could notbe left on just rallies and processions.

Punjab government spokesmanSenator Pervaiz Rasheed had earlier toldPakistan Today that the PML-N hadfiled a petition over the issue in theSupreme Court and the party could nothold gatherings during the hearing ofsuch an important case.


Recent developments in the ongoing inves-tigations into former MQM leader DrImran Farooq’s murder appear to have at-tained the same degree of complexity asthe circumstances which led to his death,as on Thursday British Home SecretaryTheresa May discarded a confirmation byLondon Police Commissioner BernardMorgan that the alleged killers had beenarrested in Karachi.

While holding a joint press conferencewith Interior Minister Rehman Malik, theBritish home secretary took a pause to hearthe feed from her assistant standing besideher, looked into his eyes nervously before

stating that the commissioner of the Met-ropolitan Police “is misspoken”.

However, she added that police was in-vestigating the case and findings would beshared after the completion of inquiry.Malik also denied the arrests, saying hewould stick to his previous denial.

Two weeks ago, the London police chiefhad confirmed the arrest of two people inPakistan. Dr Farooq was murdered on Sep-tember 16 last year outside his London res-idence. Two suspects allegedly involved inthe murder were arrested at Karachi airporton August 22 and three others were ar-rested in London in what was termed as aquantum leap in investigations. InteriorMinister Rehman Malik had at that timedenied the reports of arrests.

On a question on the arrest warrantsfor former president Pervez Musharraf,Malik said the government was following aformal procedure and that the authoritieswere in touch with Interpol on the subject.About the improvised explosive devices(IEDs), the British home secretary said theUnited Kingdom was providing supportand technical assistance to the Pakistanipersonnel in countering the threat of IEDs.

Before the press conference, Malikand May held a meeting and discussedseveral issues such as the developmentsinto Farooq’s murder case, the allega-tions of Dr Zulfiqar Mirza against MQMchief Altaf Hussain, the issue of illegalimmigrants and mutual cooperation incountering terrorism.

mirza to present ‘evidence’

to Cameron as Fehmida

heads to UK to stop him

LONDONONLINE/MONItORING DESK

As former Sindh home ministerZulfiqar Mirza said he would pres-ent evidence regarding MQM leaderImran Farooq’s murder to theBritish premier, his wife NationalAssembly Speaker Dr FehmidaMirza left for London on Thursdayostensibly to try and keep her hus-band from pursuing the issue fur-ther. Fehmida met the presidentand PM before her departure, GeoNews reported. Sources said she would try to con-vince her husband to stop as it wascreating problems for the govern-ment. Meanwhile, MQM chief AltafHussain told his party to initiatelegal proceedings against Dr Mirza.

An eighth-gradegirl was awardedPakistan’s firstNational PeacePrize on Thurs-day for her onlinediary reportingon the Taliban’sban on educationfor girls, CNN re-ported.

Malala Yousufzai, a resident of SwatValley, wrote about her frustration with theTaliban’s restrictions on female educationin her town. Using the Internet, she reachedout to the outside world, taking a stand bywriting about her daily battle with militantswho used fear and intimidation to force girlsto stay at home.

“I was scared of being beheaded by theTaliban because of my passion for educa-

tion,” she told CNN. Yousufzai said she used to hide her

books under her bed, fearing a housesearch by the Taliban. Prime MinisterYousaf Raza Gilani announced the awardon Thursday, which also comes with a Rs500,000 prize. He directed the cabinet toaward the national prize every year to achild younger than 18 who contributed topeace and education in the country, a state-ment from his office said. Yousufzai, 14,was also one of the five nominees chosenfrom 42 countries for the InternationalChildren’s Peace Prize for 2011.

Although Yousufzai didn’t win that prize,she said she would still “fight for girls’ educa-tion and work toward creating a society wheregirls can be educated freely”. She also has bigplans for the future. “I want to be a politicalleader, as this country needs honest and trueleaders,” she told CNN. MONItORING DESK

No arrests made in Farooq’smurder case: UK home secyg theresa may says London police chief ‘misspoke’ on arrest of mqm leader’s suspected killers

14-year-old girl wins Pakistan’sfirst National Peace Prize

PML-N rifts, notmemo, cost rallyin Gujranwala

CHAKWAL: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan addresses a public gathering on Thursday. INP | SToRY PAGE 02


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