e-paper pakistantoday 26th april, 2012

Lahore edition Jamadi-ul-Sani 4, 1433thursday, 26 april, 2012 Rs 15.00 Vol ii no 299 22 pages

LAHOREnauman taSleem and imRan adnan

A mysterious disease has hit the poultryfarms in Punjab resulting in the deaths ofthousands of birds across the province, Pak-istan Today learnt on Wednesday.

The industry sources said the disease,which has developed immunity against anti-biotic treatment, has plagued Punjab for thelast one-and-a-half months and the bigwigsin the industry are making all out efforts tohide it from the masses.

They said that thousands of birds haddied due to the disease. The farms at Manga-Sundar Road, Kasur, Sialkot and Gujranwalaare badly hit by the disease that causes sud-den death of chickens. “Farms along theManga-Sundar Road that are major suppli-ers to Lahore are worst hit by the disease,”an industry source said, adding that the dis-ease had developed immunity and made itimpossible for farmers to stop the deaths.

The average age of a healthy chicken isaround six to eight weeks. However, withthis disease, the bird dies in the third orfourth week. Looking at the disease, thefarmers are trying to sell the chicken in theearly age so that in case of death, the losscould be reduced. “This is the reason thatchicken sold in the city are of low weight butinfected by disease,” he added.

The supply of chicken has also been dis-turbed in the city resulting in an increase ofprices, which have touched Rs 270 per kg.

“So far, the consumers are not aware ofthe disease therefore they are buying chickenbut due to a reduction in supply, the pricesare going up,” he added.

Interestingly, the Punjab governmenthas so far not checked the quality of chicken

provided to the city and farmers are gettingaway and selling their produce.

“The provincial government is not awareof the disease therefore no action is beingtaken,” the sources added.

Some of the farmers, who spoke to Pak-istan Today, confirmed that their stocks hadvanished overnight and they were helpless.

Tufail Khan, a manager at poultry farmon Manga Road said he vaccinated his birdsbut the entire stock died. “At least 40,000chickens expired in one night. The situationis similar in other farms,” he said, addingthat in many farms the mortality rate re-mained more than 60 percent and in somefarms 90 percent of birds had died.

The medicine suppliers to the farmershave also confirmed presence of the disease,adding that so far the companies are tryingtheir best to develop vaccination for the virusbut it will take time.

“At least two to three months are re-quired to develope an effective vaccinationfor this disease,” said a supplier of a com-pany while seeking anonymity.

The veterinary doctors, meanwhile, sug-gested avoiding consuming chicken. Theysaid that it was not certain which type of dis-ease had hit the farms, therefore it was betternot to consume chicken. “The bird flu is killedduring cooking at high temperature, butunder the current scenario it is advisable forconsumers not to eat chicken,” VeterinarianDr Asef Hameed said, adding that every viruschanged its shape and as a result the medi-cine for this specific disease became ineffec-tive. Pakistan Poultry Association formerchairman Abdul Basit confirmed that thedisease was an advance shape of the Newcas-tle disease in which chickens died in thefourth or fifth week of life.

ISLAMABADonline

The country’s top economic team hasfailed to persuade the US to restore theaid under the Kerry-Lugar Bill and Coali-tion Support Fund (CSF) for Pakistan, anofficial said.

“The US has linked the restorationof Kerry-Lugar Bill and Coalition Sup-port Fund with the resumption of sup-ply line for NATO troops in

Afghanistan,” the official in the Fi-nance Ministry said, adding that in therecent Pak-US officials’ meeting heldat Washington, the US officials re-sponse was not positive when Pak-istani authorities raised the issue ofaid restoration for Pakistan.

Finance Minister Dr Abdul HafeezShaikh in his recent meetings with theUS official reiterated the demand forpayment of US grant under the Coali-tion Support Fund to Pakistan and in-

formed them that Pakistan had placedthe CSF in the budget, and if it did notreceive the amount during the rest ofthe current financial year, the economictroubles of the country would increaseas Pakistan had projected $800 millionin receipts. In an attempt to restore theaid of Kerry-Lugar Bill and CoalitionSupport Fund for Pakistan, the coun-try’s top economic team had reachedWashington on April 17 and is sched-uled to return today (Thursday).

Mysterious diseasekilling Punjab poultryg Poultry industry hiding the facts from government andmasses as thousands of birds have died in several farms

US reluctant to restore Kerry-Lugar Bill, CSF aid for Pakistan

NEW DELHIagencieS

Seeking closer ties through a sustainedtalks process and a step by step approachto solve outstanding issues, India andPakistan are likely to sign a “liberalisedvisa agreement” when their home secre-taries meet in Islamabad next month, In-dian External Affairs minister SMKrishna said on Wednesday.

Krishna was speaking to the LokSabha about the April 8 daylong visit ofPresident Asif Ali Zardari to India duringwhich he met Prime Minister Manmo-han Singh over lunch.

“The two leaders (Manmohan Singhand Zardari) felt that priority needed tobe given to issues of people-to-peoplecontacts. In this context, they decidedthat a liberalised visa agreement whichhas been worked out should be signedduring the next meeting of the home/in-terior secretaries,” Krishna said.

The home secretary level talks be-tween India and Pakistan, in the pipelinesince December, are likely to take place inIslamabad by the end of May. Home Min-istry sources said Islamabad had been

asked to give fresh dates for the talks -sometime after May 22 when the ongoingbudget session of parliament ends.

The sources said easier travel and visaprocedures were aimed at boosting tradeties so that businesspersons from the twocountries traveled without hassle.

The proposal also includes non-busi-ness visas for divided families, particularlyfor those aged over 65 years, and for thosewanting to attend marriages and funerals.

Krishna said Manmohan Singh andZardari met for about 40 minutes for“friendly and constructive discussions cov-ering India-Pakistan relations, regionaland global issues of common interest”.

The minister said Singh raised theissue of terrorism and anti-India activi-ties of Laskhar-e-Tayyaba founder HafizSaeed from Pakistani soil.

“It would be evident that our con-cerns on terrorism had to be addressedif the people of India are to support andsustain progress in bilateral relations.”

India, Pakistan to sign ‘liberalised’visa agreement: Krishna

g Gilani’s day of reckoning arrives as PM decides to walk tothe Supreme Court to exhibit ‘respect for judiciary’

g PM’s son summoned by ANF for questioningg PPP orders all MNAs, MPAs to reach Islamabad

ISLAMABADStaff RepoRt

The day of judgement is here – a seven-memberSupreme Court bench will today (Thursday) decide thefate of Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani for willfullydefying its order by not writing a letter to the Swissauthorities for reopening graft cases against his party’sco-chairman, President Asif Ali Zardari.Gilani on Wednesday told his cabinet he would appearbefore the court for a third time and head to the courtpremises “on foot” to exhibit his respect for the apex court.Meanwhile, in an unpleasant surprise for the defiant PM,his son Ali Musa Gilani, a nominee in the Ephedrinequota scam, was summoned by the Anti-Narcotics Forcefor recording his statement at almost the same timeGilani is scheduled to appear in SC.Gilani’s Principal Secretary Khushnood Akhtar Lashari,also named in the Rs 7 billion drug scam, has beendirected to appear before ANF on Friday (tomorrow).The court’s decision cannot be anticipated until it isannounced. However, the most likely scenario is thatGilani will have to pay for not implementing the courtorder. And, he is willing to face the consequences – sixmonths imprisonment and a constitutional bar fromholding any public office for five years.Having achieved the distinction of becoming the longest-serving chief executive of the country, Gilani has publiclymade it clear that he would accept going to jail suggestingthat he would neither bow before the court nor would hetake the blame for being disloyal to his party.

There are apparently two scenarios – convictionor acquittal. In case of his conviction, the prime ministerwill be morally bound to immediately stepdown but this is unlikely as his counselBarrister Aitzaz Ahsan has said Gilani wouldstill be the chief executive even in jail.Experts are of the view that there is apossibility that the seven-member benchmay convict Gilani and sentence him untilthe rising of the court instead of sendinghim to jail for six months. But even if his sentence ends with therising of the case, they say, he would beconsidered a convict and thusdisqualified to hold any public office. It,however, remains to be seen whetherhis legal team decides to seek areview of the seven-member bench’sdecision. If they opt for this, the casemay be dragged for some more weeks.But the matter will not end with Gilani’sconviction. Legal experts say theconviction will ensue long-drawnlegal procedure to unseat the primeminister, as after his conviction aquestion has to be raised in theNational Assembly that he hasbecome disqualified to be amember of the House.

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02thursday, 26 April, 2012

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after planes, trains too fall from grace indian Sc reserves verdict on ajmal Kasab’s plea

Nadeem Afzal Chan elected as

PAC chairmanISLAMABAD: Pakistan People’s PartyMNA Nadeem Afzal Chan has been electedunopposed chairman of the Public AccountCommittee (PAC). The PAC on Wednesdaymet in Parliament House and elected theMNA from Sargodha as its new chairman.Chan has been elected as PAC chairmanafter the resignation of the PakistanMuslim League-Nawaz’s Chaudhry NisarAli Kahn. Federal Minister for ReligiousAffairs Syed Khurshid Shah said it wasdecided in the Charter of Democracy thatthe PAC chairman would be elected from

the opposition and the PPP government gave the PAC chairmanship toOpposition Leader Nisar Ali Khan, however, he resigned from the officedue to certain reasons. Khurshid Shah added that the PPP had alsowritten a letter to Nisar and sought his suggestions regarding new PACchairman but he did not respond in this regard. agencieS

11 killed as jeep falls into gorge

near MuzaffarabadMUZAFFARABAD: At least 11 people were killed and 10 otherssustained injuries in a road accident in Azad Jammu and Kashmirregion on Wednesday. Police said a passenger jeep fell into a gorgewhile negotiating a sharp turn near Muzaffarabad. Quoting somepassengers, officials said the jeep went out of the driver’s controldue to some technical fault and nosedived into the gorge that wasmore than 300 feet. At least 11 persons were killed while 10 otherswere injured in the incident. After the incident, rescue teams arrivedat the site and shifted the bodies and injured to hospitals. nni

PIA flight escapes disaster at

Multan airportMULTAN: The pilot of PIA’s flight PK 387 on Wednesday bravelynegotiated a temporary fault in the plane close to Multan airport,managing to safely land the plane after over 30 minutes of struggle.The flight had to hover above the airport for more than half-an-hour, but its pilot eventually succeeded in landing it safley. Perdetails, the PIA flight PK 387 with 44 passengers was on its way toMultan from Islamabad. Close to Multan, the plane’s landing gearwent out of order due to which the pilot tried to crash land it on theground of Bahuddin Zakria University, but failed. The pilot had tokeep the flight in the air for more than 30 minutes. Ultimately, thelanding gear opened and the pilot succeeded in landing the flightsafely. Airport administration was of the view that planes weremachines that could go out of order at any time. online

Power tariff raised by Rs 2.38ISLAMABAD: The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority(NEPRA) Wednesday approved an increase of Rs 2.38 in the powertariff. NEPRA officials said that the power tariff had been increasedunder the monthly fuel adjustment charges, while date of itsimposition on bills would be announced later. Officials said that thisincrease would not be implemented on the Karachi Electric SupplyCorporation (KESC). In a statement released by NEPRA, the CentralPower Purchasing Agency said that extra power was generated fromdiesel and furnace oil in the month of January and February due towhich power tariff was raised by 59 paisa in January and Rs1.79 perunit in February. After the final approval by the federal government,this hike will be charged from all consumers, however peopleconsuming up to 100 units will be exempted from this hike. online

ISLAMABAD taHiR niaZ

Criticism by National Assembly oppositionleader Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan on the compo-sition of the judicial commission, constitutedby the Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani toprobe into Bhoja Air plane crash, ended up in apersonal clash between Nisar and InformationMinister Qamar Zaman Kaira on Wednesday.

Ch Nisar opposed the idea of turning theCalling Attention Notice submitted by the Na-tional Assembly members on the issue of theBhoja Air crash, into a debate on points oforder, saying the government was trying to de-fuse the issue through a non-serious debate inthe House. Ch Nisar also criticised the govern-ment for its ‘criminal negligence’ in handlingthe plane crash, saying the commission consti-tuted by the PM did not qualify to be called a

judicial commission. He also linked the debate in the House

on the issue with the government constitut-ing an impartial and independent commis-sion. “The government did not find impartialpeople, other than the PCO judges, whocould be appointed as members of the com-mission,” he said.

He also criticised the interior minister forhis demand that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz take action against PML-N member,Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, who is also the chief ex-ecutive of Air Blue, for the airline’s plane crashof 2010. He said the government should takeaction against the airline’s management if itsnegligence caused the crash.

Prime Minister Gilani, who appeared in theHouse for a brief period of time, responded tothe reservations of the opposition leader butcould not satisfy the latter.

The PM said the government wanted tobring the facts of the recent plane crash onrecord and that it did not need to apologise.

Law minister Farooq Naek also defendedthe premier on constituting the judicial com-mission, saying that the commission was con-stituted according to the law and none of therelatives of the crash victims had expressedtheir distrust in the commission members.

Ch Nisar took the floor again and criti-cised the law minister for ‘unjustifiably’ de-fending the government, adding that two ofthe judicial commission members faced con-tempt of court charges.

Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kairatried to defend the government and the lawminister’s stance by saying that the enquiry waspurely a technical issue and no one could be de-clared guilty before the plane’s black box andvoice data recorder could be examined.

Criticism on judicial commission ends up

in personal clash between Nisar, Kaira

Possible disqualification

of PM: Khursheed Shah,

Mukhtar, Ghurki strong

candidates ISLAMABAD

online

In view of a possible disqualification of thePrime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani in thecontempt of court case, the PPP seniorleadership has started the process of lookingfor a new PM. A seven-judge bench headedby Justice Nasirul Mulk on Tuesdayreserved its judgment in the contempt caseinitiated against Gilani for failing to act onthe apex court’s directives to reopen graftcases against President Asif Ali Zardari. Thecourt had asked Gilani’s counsel, AitzazAhsan, to ensure the PM’s presence in courtwhen the verdict would be announced onThursday (today). Gilani could face sixmonths in prison and disqualification if heis convicted. According to reliable sources,President Asif Ali Zardari, who is currentlyin Karachi, has decided to cut short his visitin view of the possible SC verdict against thePM. In this regard the senior party leadershave started consultations for new names toreplace the PM. The sources said thepresident has also contacted coalitionpartners in this regard and Federal Ministerfor Religious Affairs Khursheed Shah,Defense Minister Ahmed Mukhtar andFederal Minister Samina Khalid Ghurkiwere strong contenders for the PM’s slot.However, names of MakhddomShahabuddin, Hina Rabbani Khar andFirdous Aashiq Awan are also underconsideration. The final decision lies withthe president, which would be acceptable toall, the sources said.

KARACHI: A security personnel scans the luggage of passengers at the

Cantt Railway Station on Wednesday as security has been beefed up

across the country following the blast at Lahore Railway Station. ONLINE



NewsCoMMENtlahore blast

Articles on Page 12-13

The emergence of a new source of violence.

outspending each otherIndians choose guns over butter.

nazir naji says

dr James J Zogby says:

foREIGN NEWS

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ARtS & ENtERtAINMENt

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annan urges fast deployment of monitors to Syria Veena aims to oust naomi campbell from ‘Supermodel’ throne

PM perturbed: Should a PM be so easily disconcerted?

The resilient community: On Arab-Americans and their persistence.imran Husain saysDefining moments: A memorable weekend in London.

‘ppl to help bring int’l cricket back to pakistan’


MINISTER for Religious Af-fairs Syed Khurshid Shahand secretary of the Ministryof Religious Affairs cameunder fire in the federal cab-

inet meeting for presenting an “anti-poor HajPolicy” due to a significant raise in Haj faresand thus “depriving the poor” from the per-forming the pilgrimage.

A source told Pakistan Today that soonafter a presentation on Haj Policy, some PPPministers from Sindh, led by Senator MaulaBaksh Chandio, made an effort to hoodwinktheir colleagues on the Haj fare raise andshowered praises on Shah for efficientlymanaging Haj operations during the pastyear. However, the move was thwarted byMuttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) Minis-ter Babar Khan Ghauri who objected toundue raise in Haj fee.

“Ghauri’s arguments were duly sup-ported by PML-Q State Minister ShaikhWaqas Akram who said this was an anti-poormove that would deprive the poor from per-forming Haj,” said the source, adding thatAkram’s arguments triggered a heated debate

in the cabinet meeting.“Faisal Saleh Hayat also joined the debate

and said it was injustice to the poor who werealready facing skyrocketing prices. ManzoorWattoo also joined in and supported views ex-pressed by the Q leaguers,” said the source.The source said Akram said there was no logicbehind increasing the fare by Rs 20,000 forwhite class – a class for people from poor andmiddle classes. “This is sheer injustice. Lastyear, the fare for white class was fixed at Rs212,000 and now these have been increasedup to Rs 233,000. There is no logic for suchan increase when around Rs 100,000 have al-ready been added to the Blue Class fare,” thesource quoted Akram as saying.

Faisal Saleh said when the blue class hadbeen added, there was no logic to increasefares for white and green classes and the gov-ernment should have provided subsidy forthe poor intending pilgrims. Khurshid Shahurged his cabinet colleagues to pass the Hajpolicy as the same had already been delayedand there was not much time left to makearrangements for pilgrims. “This debate fi-nally compelled Prime Minister Yousaf RazaGilani to intervene. He asked the cabinetmembers to pass the Haj policy as there wasnot much time left. He also directed finance

minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh to look intothe matter and try to provide some funds tothe Religious Affairs Ministry for provision ofsubsidy to the people related to the poor andmiddle classes,” the source added.

Later, talking to reporters, Minister for In-formation Qamar Zaman Kaira said that afterthe Supreme Court verdict on the contempt ofcourt case, a special cabinet meeting will beheld. He said that the federal cabinet consid-ered and gave its approval for confirmation ofthe decisions taken by the Economic Coordi-nation Committee (ECC) in its meetings heldon 6th and 12th April. The federal cabinet alsogave its unanimous approval for Haj Policyand Plan 2012. After the signing of bilateralannual agreement between the Governmentof Pakistan and the Ministry of Haj, and King-dom of Saudi Arabia on February 22, Hajj Pol-icy 2011 has been reviewed and modified onthe basis of an in-depth analysis and consul-tation with all stakeholders through Haj work-shops at Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi andQuetta. While giving details of the Haj policy,Khursheed Shah said the Haj quota for 2012will remain 179,210 and Haj scheme-2012shall be implemented through the govern-ment and Private Hajj Group Organizer(HGOs) in the ration of 50:50.

Haj Policy comes under fire incabinet for being ‘anti-poor’g Gilani seeks cabinet’s nod for policy due to shortage of time

ISLAMABADafp

A confused captain and a hostile cockpitatmosphere were to blame for the worstever plane crash in Pakistan, when 152people died, the official report on thedisaster said Wednesday.

Pakistan’s Civil Aviation Authority(CAA) said the crew of the Airblue Air-bus A321 “violated all established proce-dures” in trying to circle and land in badweather at Islamabad’s international air-port.

The morning flight from Karachislammed into the Margalla hills over-looking the capital in heavy rain andpoor visibility on July 28, 2010, killingall 146 passengers and six crew on board.

Captain Pervez Iqbal Chaudhary was“harsh and snobbish” towards his firstofficer almost as soon as the aircraft tookoff, the report said, and this continued

during the flight.“After the intermittent humiliating

sessions, the first officer generally re-mained quiet, became under-confident,submissive, and subsequently did notchallenge the Captain for any of his er-rors, breaches and violations,” the reportsaid.

Even as the plane was about to crashthe first officer, 34, did not take control.

Shortly after takeoff Chaudhary, 61,mixed up Karachi and Islamabad air-ports and other landmarks, the reportsaid.

“The Captain showed signs of anxi-ety, preoccupation, confusion and geo-graphical disorientation in variousphases of flight especially after com-mencement of descent,” the report said.

Despite the bad weather and visibil-ity of only 3.5 kilometres (two miles)Chaudhary ignored standard procedurefor circling to land, lost visual contact

with the airfield and tried to follow hisown approach, the report said.

As the aircraft got closer and closerto the hills, the captain became moreconfused and failed to take evasive ac-tion despite 21 audible warnings fromthe plane’s safety systems telling him hewas heading for solid ground.

There was no technical problem withthe aircraft or evidence of sabotage,structural failure or external impact suchas bird strike, the report said, and blamelay with the crew.

“They committed serious violationsof procedures and breaches of flying dis-cipline, which put the aircraft in an un-safe condition over dangerous terrain atlow altitude,” it said.

The report comes days after a BhojaAir flight also from Karachi to Islamabadcrashed in fields near a village on theoutskirts of the capital, killing all 127people on board.

Crew blamed for Airblue plane crash


The government on Wednesday filed a re-view petition against the Supreme Court’sMarch 30 judgment that declared all rentalpower projects (RPPs) – involving agree-ments between wealthy private parties andthe federal government to produce electric-ity – null and void for involving corruptionof billions of rupees and causing loss to thepublic exchequer.

Justifying the RPPs, the governmentstated in its petition that the induction ofrental power plants as a short term measurewas a proper exercise as their inductionwould have helped not only bridging the

deficit but also enabling the public sectorcompanies to close down their plants forpurpose of rehabilitation and moderniza-tion. The federation filed the review petitionthrough Ministry of Water and Power secre-tary and the Private Power and Infrastruc-ture Board (PPIB), praying the court toreview its judgment against RPPs.

Federal Minister Makhdoom SyedFaisal Saleh Hayat, MNA Khawaja Muham-mad Asif and National Electric Power Reg-ulatory Authority (NEPRA) have been maderespondents in the petition.

In the review petition, the federationstated that the court had not referred to theelaborate facts and figures placed on recordand the conclusion arrived at by the court

was not on basis of facts but on presump-tions and a reading of the factual positionwould show that there had been an errorwhich was apparent on the face of the recordand the court had passed the decision on er-roneous assumptions of material of factsand the same had a material bearing on thefate of the case.

The federation contended that the find-ings of the court that functionaries wereprima facie involved in corruption and cor-rupt practice was not supported by any evi-dence or material submitted either by thepetitioner, or by any other person and suchobservations undermine the fundamentalrights of the functionaries in particular andunder Article 10-A.

Govt files review petition against SC verdict in RPP case

NAto cargo plane forced to land in KarachiKARACHI: A Russian-made cargo plane carrying NATO supplies wasforce to land in Karachi airport by Pakistan Air Force fighter planes onWednesday. According to sources, the Pakistan authorities forced theplane to land in Karachi after it entered Pakistani airspace withoutpermission. The cargo plane had taken off from Bagram Air Base inAfghanistan and was supposed to fly to Al Maktoum InternationalAirport in UAE. The plane entered the Pakistani airspace withoutadvance permission and the pilot was given two warnings which heignored. Later, PAF fighter jets forced to land at Karachi airport. CivilAviation Authority sources said the flight RTR 1012 entered Pakistaniairspace without permission. The plane was allowed to leave for itsdestination after the crew was interrogated. inp



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loWeR diR: a resident of the area holds an anti-aircraft gun after people of various areas of lower dir voluntarily handed

over heavy weapons to security forces on Wednesday. INP

WASHINGTON ReuteRS

PRESIDENT BarackObama’s adminis-tration, seeking torevive stalledAfghan peace talks,

may alter plans to transfer Tal-iban detainees from Guan-tanamo Bay prison after itsinitial proposal fell foul of po-litical opponents at home andthe insurgents themselves.

As foreign forces prepareto exit Afghanistan, the WhiteHouse had hoped to lay thegroundwork for peace talks bysending five Taliban prisoners,some seen as among the mostthreatening detainees atGuantanamo, to Qatar to re-join other Taliban membersopening a political office there.

In return, the Talibanwould make its own good-faithgestures, denouncing terror-ism and supporting the hoped-for talks with the governmentof Afghan President HamidKarzai.

While that plan has notbeen scotched entirely, severalsources familiar with prelimi-nary discussions within the USgovernment said the United

States may instead, as an ini-tial gesture meant to revivediplomacy, send one of thosedetainees directly to Afghangovernment custody.

The sources identified thedetainee as a former Talibanregional governor namedKhairullah Khairkhwa, who isseen by American officials asless dangerous than other sen-ior Taliban detainees now heldat the US military prison inCuba. No final decision ap-pears to have been made onKhairkhwa’s fate.

A senior Obama adminis-tration official, while not dis-puting that Khairkhwa’sunilateral transfer had beensuggested, cautioned that itwas still at a “brainstorming”level. The onus was still on theTaliban to show it is interestedin Afghan reconciliation, hesaid. “It’s most definitely notpolicy,” said the senior official,speaking on condition ofanonymity. “At the momentwe’ve made clear what we ex-pect from reconciliation ... andthe Taliban understand that,full stop.”

More than a year ago, theWhite House launched whatbegan as a secretive diplo-

matic bid to coax the Taliban,the Islamist group that ruledAfghanistan until 2001, intopeace talks. That campaignhas become central to USstrategy as officials concludethe Afghan war will not end onthe battlefield alone.

It remains far from clearwhether the Taliban wouldembrace sharing power inAfghanistan and whether themilitants are cohesive enoughto agree on a joint diplomaticapproach. But Washington’sstrategy, before a May summitof NATO leaders in Chicago, isto build on what officials see asmilitary progress against theTaliban, and encouragingsigns from the Afghan andPakistani governments, toheap pressure on the Islamistgroup.

“As we head into Chicagoobviously we’ll continue tohighlight each of those (areas)and we’ll continue to workwith Congress,” the U.S. offi-cial said.

The Chicago summit is ex-pected to further detail plansfor the withdrawal of most ofNATO’s 130,000 troops thereby the end of 2014 and set thecourse for future ties between

Afghanistan and the West.A LONG SHOT, BUT FEWALTERNATIVES: US ef-forts to broker the talks weredealt a blow last month whenthe Taliban suspended its par-ticipation and appeared to re-ject even minimal restrictionsfor prisoners transferred toQatar. From the beginning, atransfer of Taliban prisonershas posed major political risksfor Obama in an election year.

US lawmakers from bothparties, but particularly Re-publicans, have warned thatprisoners such as Mullah Mo-hammed Fazl, a “high-risk”detainee and former Talibanmilitary commander alleged tobe responsible for the killing ofthousands of minority Shi’iteMuslims, might rejoin militantoperations.

The transfer proposal hasalso been divisive within theObama administration. Be-cause Defense Secretary LeonPanetta, under U.S. law, mustpersonally approve the trans-fer, Pentagon officials worrytheir agency will be deemedresponsible for any future ac-tions by those detainees.

Partly for those reasons,US negotiators are now focus-

ing on Khairkhwa. Once theTaliban’s governor of westernHerat province, he was also aTaliban spokesman and inte-rior minister.

The senior US official saidKarzai has been asking theUnited States for years to sendKhairkhwa, imprisoned since2002 at Guantanamo Bay,back to Afghanistan. The Tal-iban has long demanded re-lease of its prisoners, in part asa good-faith move.

US military assessmentsthat have been made publiccharacterize Khairkhwa as a‘high-risk’ detainee and a ‘di-rect’ associate of the late alQaeda leader Osama binLaden and Taliban leaderMullah Omar.

But they also describe himas more of a civilian than amilitary figure, and he is saidto be a friend of Karzai.

Khairkhwa was capturedin Pakistan in early 2002, al-legedly while seeking to nego-tiate surrender and integrationinto the new Afghan govern-ment. “If you were to take allthe senior leaders associatedwith the Taliban since the startof the movement, and try tofind the inclusive figures, ac-

ceptable to fellow Afghans andcompetent to work for a polit-ical agreement, Khairkhwawould definitely be in the topfive,” said Michael Semple, aformer U.N. official with morethan 20 years experience inAfghanistan.SETBACKS: Afghanistan’sHigh Peace Council, under theleadership of the late formerPresident Burhanuddin Rab-bani, had advocated forKhairkhwa’s release, saying hemight play a positive role inthe peace process. “The causeof Mullah KhairullahKhairkhwa is good for peace,and totally acceptable toKarzai,” Semple said, in partbecause Karzai andKhairkhwa both come fromthe Popalzai tribe.

Last year, a US federalcourt rejected a challenge toKhairkhwa’s detention by hislawyers, and an appeal is nowpending.

If a unilateral transferwere approved, Khairkhwawould be moved to Afghancustody in a country otherthan Qatar, without involve-ment of the Taliban. It was notimmediately clear whetherthis might mean a transfer di-

rectly back to Afghanistan.The transfer would still

require the Obama adminis-tration to notify Congress 30days ahead of time. But thehope is that Khairkhwa’stransfer would avoid the furorin Congress that moving theother prisoners might bring.

Efforts to salvage thepeace process follow a seriesof U.S. setbacks inAfghanistan: bloody riotscaused by soldiers’ burning ofthe Koran; a staff sergeant’salleged massacre of 17 vil-lagers; and an 18-hour mili-tant assault of Kabul lastweek.

Still, officials point to sta-tistics charting a drop in‘enemy-initiated attacks’ thisspring. They were encouragedby recent steps to finalize adeal outlining the US-Afghanrelationship, along with state-ments of support for thepeace process by PakistaniPrime Minister Yusuf RazaGilani. US officials hope touse all these developments tocoax the Taliban’s leader-ship, under pressure fromless senior fighters who op-pose negotiations, to for-mally resume talks.

US eyes options to restart Afghan peace talks

The National Assemblyspeaker is bound to send areference to the ElectionCommission within 30days and the ElectionCommission, under thelaw, may take ninety daysto announce its decision.In case of an adverse deci-sion, Gilani will still havea chance to appeal againstthe decision of the Elec-tion Commission in theSupreme Court.

Following the cabinetmeeting earlier in the day,Minister for Informationand Broadcasting QamarZaman Kaira told re-porters that the federalcabinet expressed solidar-ity with the prime ministerand decided to accompanyhim to the court premises.

Kaira said the PM in-formed the cabinet that hewould not accept any priv-ilege while appearing be-fore the SC in thecontempt of court case andwould go to the court onfoot.

“The leaders and min-isters from the coalitionpartners would also ac-company the PM. We ex-pect justice from the courtand hope for justice,” hesaid.

Kaira said the presi-dent enjoyed immunityunder local and interna-tional laws and writing aletter to Swiss authoritieswould be tantamount tosurrendering immunity.

Asked if the govern-ment would implement thecourt’s verdict, the minis-

ter said the government’slegal and political teamswould take a decision inline with the constitutionand law of land.

“The prime ministerhas no ego problem and heis ready to appear beforethe court for a third time.He would appear beforethe court like an ordinarycitizen,” he added.

In a late night develop-ment, the PPP leadershipdirected all its provincialand National Assemblymembers to reach Islam-abad on Thursday to ac-company the PM to the SChearing.

A meeting of heads ofall coalition parties in thegovernment was also heldto discuss the post-verdictscenario.

GULIBAGHReuteRS

Hazrat Gul spent two years indetention for allegedly aidingthe Pakistani Taliban whenthey publicly flogged and be-headed people during a reignof terror in the scenic Swat Val-ley.

Now he wiles away histime in pristine classrooms, aPakistani flag pin on his crispuniform, learning about wordprocessing, carpentry and carrepairs at the Mashal de-radi-calization centre run by thearmy.

Part of a carrot and stickapproach to battling militancyin the strategic U.S. ally, theaim is to cleanse minds of ex-tremist thoughts through voca-tional training, and turn menlike Gul into productive citi-zens who support the state.

The success of the pro-gram will ultimately hinge,however, on the ability of thegovernment, widely seen as in-competent and corrupt, to helpthe de-radicalization graduatesfind jobs. “If a sincere leader-ship comes to this country, thatwill solve the problems,” saidGul, 42, one of the Mashal stu-

dents. “Today the leadership isnot sincere. The same prob-lems will be there.”

Pakistan’s military drovemilitants out of Swat in 2009.Mashal is in the building whichused to be the headquarters ofthe militants from where theyimposed there austere versionof Islam.

Eventually, the army real-ized it couldn’t secure long-term peace with bullets alone.So military officers, trainers,moderate clerics and psychol-ogists were chosen to runthree-month courses designedto erase “radical thoughts” ofthose accused of aiding theTaliban.

Students like Mohammad

Inam, 28, a former assistantengineer, give the school agood report card. “The envi-ronment is very good. Ourteachers work very hard withus. They talk to us about peace,about terrorism and how thatis not right,” said Inam, in thepresence of a military officer.“God willing, we will go outand serve our country and ournation.”

School officials say about1,000 people have graduatedsince the initiative began twoyears ago, and that only 10 per-cent were not cleared for re-lease.

Officials concede that their“students” are not hardenedmilitants who killed. Mostly,

they provided the Taliban withwater, food or shelter, or beatpeople. That was enough for atwo-year detention, and somesay abuse, in a country wherethe Taliban stage suicidebombings at will and havelaunched brazen attacks, in-cluding one on the army head-quarters near the capital.

Even if the Mashal insti-tute instills a new mindset anddiscipline in the students,graduates face an uncertain fu-ture.PUBLIC BEHEADINGS:Pakistan’s military presentsthe Swat offensive and thecampaign to root out extrem-ism as a showcase of its successagainst militancy. On the sur-

face, the valley looks far morestable than it did in the Talibandays when Fazlullah, known asFM Mullah for his fiery radiosermons, was ordering his mento take to the streets and pun-ish the “immoral”, or anyonewho disagreed with his violentphilosophy.

Residents of Swat, 160 km(100 miles) from Islamabad,crowd street markets. Girlsschools that were blown up bythe Taliban have reopened. Aski resort burned down by theTaliban has re-opened. That isdue in large part to a sense ofsecurity created by the thou-sands of Pakistani soldiers stillstationed there. But the army’ssuccesses have been tarnished

by allegations of human rightsabuses.

Human Rights Watch saysit has received credible reportsof extrajudicial killings al-legedly committed by soldiersor police in Swat. The armycounters that it takes humanrights seriously and haslaunched an investigation intothe matter. Sitting beside anofficer in a classroom at theMashal school, Gul said hewas subjected to torture atprisons run by the military orits intelligence agency merelybecause, out of fear, he hadchanted pro-Taliban slogans.“Every time they were talkingto us, (they were) beating us,”said Gul, who has a masters inpolitical science. Asked toelaborate, he said: “From A toZ, all kinds of problems.”

Minutes later, the officer,who sleeps in a room with acommanding view he said wasonce occupied by Fazlullah,leaned over to this reporterand said: “What do you expectin prison, massage girls?”.

The accounts of ill treat-ment were echoed by others.Rehman Shah, a formerschool teacher, says he wasonly detained because his son

was accused of joining the Tal-iban.

Nine weeks into thecourse, he praises the de-rad-icalization concept but saysthe army made a big mistakeby detaining innocent people.“When Pashtuns are treatedunfairly, it never leaves theirhearts and they take revenge,”Shah said of the dominantethnic group in Swat andother parts of northwest Pak-istan, where most of the mili-tary offensives againstmilitants are mounted.

“I urge the governmentand security not to do this andnot increase resentment andanger in the people.”

A senior Pakistani intelli-gence official denied abusestake place. “That’s not ourstrategy at all. They are ourown people and we do not be-lieve in these things,” he said.LIFE OUTSIDE THESCHOOL: Outside Mashal’sclassroom, there are signs thatnot everyone is embracing thenew approach. Soldiers led ahooded man into a truck whilethree others looked onthrough the barred windowsof what appeared to be a cellat the compound.

TicktokContinued fRom page 1

Army uses bullets, and classrooms to fight militancy



News

KOTRIonline

PML-N President Nawaz Sharif hassaid the rulers would not be givenmore time for corruption in the nameof democracy.

Talking to former Sindh chief min-ister Liaqat Jatoi on Wednesday, Nawaz

said the elimination of corruption fromthe country was his first priority.

He went on to say that only thePML-N could bring change in the coun-try. Prudent and bold decisions wereneeded to address the problems facingthe country and people, he stressed.

Nawaz underlined that 180 millionpeople of the country could not be leftalone in the prevailing situation. “I willsoon visit Jamshoro,” he stated.

He assured Liaqat Jatoi that no po-litical figure would be allowed to jointhe PML-N from district Dadoo andJamshoro without his consultation.

Veteran political leader of Jamshorodistrict, Malik Changez Khan, would an-nounce to join PML-N during visit ofNawaz Sharif of the district.

“Sindh is a citadel of the PML-N andwe will win the upcoming general elec-tions with overwhelming majority in allprovinces and form government and putthe country on the road to prosperity,”Nawaz added.

KaRacHi: a coast guard personnel shows liquor bottles seized during a raid on Wednesday. ONLINE


TH E Supreme Court onWednesday issued con-tempt of court notices tothe interior secretary,Capital Development Au-

thority chairman and Islamabad chiefcommissioner for non-implementa-tion on its 2007 judgment in the LalMasjid case.

A three-member bench of ChiefJustice Iftikhar MuhammadChaudhry, Justice Khilji Arif Hussainand Justice Tariq Parvez was hearinga suo motu case of Lal Masjid andJamia Hafsa along with a contemptpetition filed by Maulana Abdul Aziz.

An unpleasant scene was also wit-nessed when harsh words were ex-changed between Tariq Asad, counselfor Maulana Abdul Aziz, and mem-bers of the bench that was hearing thecase.

At the onset of hearing, TariqAsad urged the court to take up con-tempt of court plea regarding thematter, but the court asked him to sit-down as his application would beheard later on.

Asad, however, insisted the benchhear his contempt of court applica-tion first. Upon this, a court’s assis-tant intervened into the matter andasked Tariq to leave the court ros-trum, but Tariq refused to do andgrilled on the court’s assistant during

the proceedings.Upon this, the CJ and Justice

Khilji Arif Hussain expressed severeanger with him and said he was get-ting too much liberty from the court.The chief justice also warned thatthey would stop him from appearingbefore the bench due to his irrespon-sible behavior. “You can’t do it,”Tariq replied. The CJ again warned:“We have already done so with oth-ers”. “Then do it,” Tariq challengedand left the rostrum.

Iftikhar Gilani, counsel forWafaq-ul-Madaris told the bench thatthe federal government had not com-plied with the court’s order in the LalMasjid case. A deputy attorney gen-eral told the court that administra-

tion of Jamia Hafsa had entered intoa contract with the federal govern-ment in December 2011. In view ofthis, the government had given a plotof 20 kanals for Jamia Hafsa in H-11,he said. Iftikhar Gilani said thoughthe government had allotted the plot,it was not constructing the madrasain view of the court’s 2007 judgment.

He also stated that CDA was alsonot allowing Lal Masjid’s administra-tion to construct the madrasa on itsown. The court suggested the CDA toeither comply with the court’s orderor go through the agreement.

It also expressed concern that thecourt had passed the order five yearsago but the relevant authorities werenot complying with it.

SC issues contempt notice to interior

secretary in Lal Masjid case


Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani willbe visiting the United Kingdom from8-13 May 2012 to attend the 1st AnnualReview Meeting of the EnhancedStrategic Dialogue.

“He will be accompanied by a highlevel delegation including senior min-isters and parliamentarians,” said aforeign office statement here onWednesday.

The two sides formally launchedthe Dialogue in April 2011 during thevisit of Prime Minister David Cameronto Islamabad. The Dialogue covers fiveareas of bilateral cooperation includ-ing trade and business, finance and de-velopment assistance, education andhealth, culture, and defence and secu-rity.

During the visit the two PrimeMinisters will review the progress onthe Enhanced Strategic Dialogue andlaunch a Trade and Investment

Roadmap to increase the volume oftrade to £2.5 billion by 2015.

“The program of the visit includesinteraction with British Parliamentar-ians, Members of the Cabinet, andmeetings with prominent British busi-nessmen, investors and the media. ThePrime Minister will also address acommunity gathering and lay the foun-dation stone of the Consular Hall inthe High Commission,” the statementsaid.

“Pakistan and UK are bound by tiesthat are rooted in shared history, cul-tural values and people-to-people con-tacts. Over one million Britons ofPakistan origin / heritage provide aliving bridge between the two coun-tries. They have contributed signifi-cantly to the deepening of relationsbetween Pakistan and the UK,” it said.

The United Kingdom is Pakistan’ssecond largest trading partner in Eu-rope and an important source of for-eign investment and remittances. TheUK has been Pakistan’s consistent sup-

porter in gaining enhanced trade ac-cess to the EU, including throughGSP+.

The United Kingdom is one of Pak-istan’s major development partners. Ithas provided assistance in a number ofareas including education. Prime Min-ister Cameron had committed UK as-sistance of £650 million for primaryeducation in Pakistan. This is thelargest education assistance by UK inthe world. Besides, UK has agreed tofacilitate academic links, student ex-changes and increase numbers of Pak-istani students in its Universities.

The visit of the Prime Minister willfurther enhance the existing relationsbetween the two countries. Both thecountries cooperate and coordinate onglobal and regional issues with a viewto promoting stability, peace and secu-rity. The Enhanced Strategic Dialoguewill provide the two leaders an oppor-tunity to identify ways and means tofurther raise the level of cooperation inthe various areas of mutual concern.

PM’s UK tour begins May 8Govt will not be allowed more corruptionin name of democracy: Nawaz

Indian SC reserves

verdict on Ajmal

Kasab’s plea

NEW DELHIagencieS

The Indian Supreme Court on Wednesdayreserved its order on Ajmal Amir Kasab’splea challenging his conviction and deathsentence in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.A bench of justices Aftab Alam and C KPrasad reserved its verdict after a marathonhearing, spanning over two and a halfmonths, of arguments by the prosecutionand defence counsel in the terror mayhem inwhich 166 people lost their life. During theargument, Kasab contended that he was notgiven a free and fair trial and that he was notthe part of any larger conspiracy for wagingwar against the nation. He had alsomaintained that the prosecution had failedto prove the case against him beyond doubtsand told the bench that his right against self-incrimination as well as his right to gethimself adequately represented by a counselto defend himself in the case had beenviolated during the trial. 25-year-old Kasab,had filed the appeal from jail challenging hisconviction and death sentence. The apexcourt had appointed senior advocate RajuRamachandran as amicus curiae to argue onbehalf of Kasab.

PMl-N MPA’s vehicle

kills woman, injures

three in JampurJAMPUR

nni

A woman riding a motorcycle died andthree others, including two children, wereinjured after being hit by the vehicle of aPML-N MPA on Wednesday. According todetails, the speedy vehicle of PML-N MPASher Ali Gourchani struck a motorcyclecarrying four people on the Indus Highwayin Jampur area of Rajanpur district.Gourchani rushed the injured to a hospitalin his vehicle, where a woman succumbedto her wounds while others were undertreatment. The locals protested against theincident and demanded action against theMPA. The PML-N leader expressed griefover the incident and said a youngsterriding the motorcycle suddenly appearedbefore the vehicle and was run over.



News

PESHAWARStaff RepoRt

IN a bid to maintain the law andorder situation and to combat ter-rorist activities in Peshawar, the cityadministration has decided to repa-triate the Afghan nationals residing

illegally in the city, as well as those wholack proper registration documents.

“All illegal Afghan nationals living inPeshawar must go back to their homelandby May 25th, otherwise proper action willbe taken against them,” said Peshawar Dis-trict Coordination Officer (DCO) SirajAhmad Khan during a press conference onWednesday.

Flanked by Commissioner for AfghanRefugees Zaheer Ul Islam, the DCO saidthe purpose of such a decision was toreestablish peace in the city.

He added that proper cases under the

Foreign Act will be registered against theAfghans nationals residing illegally in thecity, as well as those found to be in posses-sion of fake or illegally secured NationalIdentity cards.

The DCO said the operation is cur-rently limited to Peshawar and that similaraction will be taken against Afghan nation-als living in other areas of KhyberPakhtunkhwa.

He stated that the authorities will givedue respect to all the Afghans in possessionof UNHCR or Afghan Refugees Commis-sioner registration cards.

The United Nation High Commissionfor Refugees (UNHCR) had already fixedDecember 31st as the deadline for all theregistered Afghan refugees to go back totheir homeland.

The Commissioner for AfghanRefugees said 1.7 million Afghan nationalsare residing in Pakistan, out of which 0.8

million are in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He added that there are 42 camps for

Afghan refugees throughout the countryand that 29 of these are located in scatteredparts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Siraj Ahmad Khan said 0.4 millionAfghans are residing illegally in Peshawar.

The DCO said special committees willbe established for identifying the illegalrefugees. In response to a question, theDCO said, “The action will be taken againstthe Afghan nationals according to the ca-pacity of the police and the vehicles ear-marked for deporting the illegal residents.”

The committees, he added, will helpthe police in preparing the lists of theAfghan nationals.

Regarding re-entry or return of therepatriated Afghan nationals, the DCO saidthe matter had been discussed with the po-litical administration of the FATA agencies.

He added that a plan had been evolved

to discourage the return of the repatriatedAfghan refugees.

In response to a question, Siraj Ahmadsaid rapid urbanisation is in progress andthat the population of Peshawar nowranges between 3.5 and 3.6 million.

He stated that the officials will carryout a detailed survey of all the territories,bazaars and madrasas to isolate the ille-gally residing Afghan nationals.

He said the lists of these individualswill be provided to the provincial govern-ment, which will take the final decision.

He added that the NICs of the Afghannationals will also be verified against theNADRA database.

Answering a question, the DCO madeit clear that the government is determinedto respect all commitments and chartersmade with the UN and other foreign coun-tries and that no one will be allowed to vi-olate the existing rules and regulations.

Peshawar to repatriate 0.4m

illegal Afghan refugees

ZoJila: an indian army jeep plies the Srinagar-leh highway about 108 km east of Srinagar on Wednesday. the 443 km-long highway was opened for the season by indian army

authorities after remaining snow at Zojila pass, some 3,530 metres (11,581 feet) above sea level, had been cleared. the pass connects Kashmir with the Buddhist-dominated

ladakh region, a famous tourist destination among foreign tourists for its monasteries, landscapes and mountains. afp

KARAcHIStaff RepoRt

The future of Pakistan lies with ouryouth, which has lots of potential.They only need a right directionand a platform, which if providedcan help them work wonders. Thesewere the highlights of the Azme Al-ishan’s 2nd Azm Awards 2012.

The 2nd Azm Awards, organ-ized by Pakistan’s fast growing so-cial movement Azme Alishan, areaimed at celebrating the nation’sunsung heroes – ordinary Pakista-nis who do extraordinary things tohelp others in Pakistan and pro-mote a more positive image of thecountry around the world.

For Azm Awards, hundreds ofnominations were received from allover Pakistan of people working indiverse fields of life, from educa-tion and health to women’s empow-erment and IT. All the contestantswent through a tough selectionprocess that included an initial

public nomination period, a short-listing phase in which 20 contest-ants were selected and the finalpublic vote conducted over the firstfew weeks of March.

Prominent personalities includ-ing Shaukat Tarin, Sajjad Mir, Mujibur Rehman Shami, Arif Nizami,Noorjehan Bilgrami, Seema TaherKhan, Rafiq Habib, Razzak Bengalidistributed these awards at a grand

ceremony held in Karachi.This year the award winners in-

cluded ten dedicated Pakistanis,who received the awards through apublic and jury voting. Among theaward winners was Amir Davis, aDublin based Pakistani youth whois the pioneer of Amir Public Schoolin Gujranwala. Rahnuma, a groupstarted by Indus Valley students re-ceived the accolade for raising

funds for flood affectees throughconcerts and plays. Khalida Brohi’sSughar received Azm Award for itscontributions for women empower-ment. Syed Ali Abbas Zaidi thefounder of a youth based platformagainst injustice, exploitation andsocial ills - dedicated his award tothose working for a better Pakistan.

Roshni Public School receivedaward for providing free quality edu-cation to the underprivileged chil-dren. Mehwish Abdul Sattar wasawarded for her contributions in thefield of IT. Nadeh Ali of PeshawarY-outh Organization was acknowl-edged for creating social awarenessin the youth of KPK. Manzil Educa-tion Foundation received award forspreading quality education in allcorners of Pakistan. The contribu-tions of the Citizen’s Archive of Pak-istan for cultural and historicpreservation were also acknowl-edged. 13 years old Malala Yousafzai,was awarded for championing thecause of the people of Swat.

Azme Alishan rewards resolute Pakistanis for selfless contributions

Pakistani safe

havens hinder

Afghan war: USWASHINGTON

online

Pakistani safe havens and corruption aretwo factors retarding the progress ofNATO forces in Afghanistan, according toa senior US military commander.Pakistan represents a safe haven forterror groups working inside Afghanistan,Maj. Gen. John A. Toolan, commander ofthe 2nd marine division and the formercommander of regional command-SouthWest, told reporters. The problem ofPakistan frustrated him during his year-long tour in command of the region, hesaid noting that two places insidePakistan that were particularlyproblematic are Chaman and BahramChah. Chaman is a major port of entry onthe road to Kandahar. It is free-flowingtrade hub where the Taliban has built uphuge caches of bomb-making materialand supplies. Bahram Chah is a hubwhere drugs go out of the country andlethal aid is coming in, Toonan said. “Wesaw it. We interdicted a lot,” he said. Theproblem is, he said, Pakistan has worriesof its own and Balochistan, which bordersAfghanistan’s Helmand and Nimruzprovinces, has its own separatistmovement underway. “The Pakistanimilitary knows, “if they start doing things,they could stir up the Balochistanbeehive, so they just sit there. And it’sfrustrating. Diplomatic pressure onPakistan is important, “but we don’t wantto break the Pakistani government,”Toolan said.

Musharraf decides to

close down charity ISLAMABAD

online

Former president Pervez Musharraf hasdecided to close down his welfarefoundation after finding anomalies ofaround Rs 100 million collected for therehabilitation of flood victims. Sourcesthat during the charity campaign, PervezMusharraf Foundation had collected Rs260 million for flood victims. “Of Rs 260million, the foundation had only spent Rs10.5 million on a housing scheme for theflood victims in Muzaffargarh,” sourcesadded. Sources claimed that the office-bearers of the foundation were involvedin the embezzlement of around Rs 100million keeping Pervez Musharraf indark. “The act of the officials of thefoundation has put the former presidentunder stress; therefore he has decided toclose down the foundation,” sourcesmaintained. Sources said Musharraf hasalso approved the transfer of remainingfunds of Rs 145 million to a NGO, HRDbased in London on the suggestion of hisclose aides Rashid Qureshi and Dr Amjad.

World’s second largest tablighi

Ijtima starts amid tight security SWAT

HaRoon SiRaJ

The world’s second largest Muslim preaching congregationstarted amid tight security at Barikot on Wednesday.Thousands of people from across the country and abroadare gathering in Swat to attend the preaching congregation.Large tracts of have been prepared for the three-dayTablighi Ijtima at GT Road Barikot, some 21 kilometresaway from Mingora city. According to the Tablighi Ijtimaelders, the number of attendees had exceeded theorganisers’ expectations. Senior religious scholars andUlema are also participating in the Muslim preachingcongregation which will end with an exceptionally longprayer offered on Friday, 27th April. It is worth mentioninghere that this is first preaching congregation to be held inSwat after peace was restored to the region following asuccessful military operation in 2009. According to thePSMA General Sectary, all private schools will remainclosed on 27th April on account of the Tablighi Ijtima. Alarge number of policemen and plain clothes officers havebeen deployed at the venue. The traffic police have setup acontrol room as well as a police camp under the supervisionof a DSP at the site of the congregation.


thursday, 26 April, 2012

World malaria day forgotten in face

of multiple tragedies

PAGE 07

LAHORESHafiQ SHaRif

Death toll from the Tuesday evening blast atcity’s main Railway Station reached four astwo brothers succumbed to injuries on lateWednesday night at Mayo Hospital in La-hore.

The brothers were identified as Mah-mood Khan and Amir Sohail, residents ofKhanpur. They were present at the LahoreRailway Station along with their 13 familymembers including parents, four sisters, twouncles, two aunts, two cousins and grand-mother when the bomb exploded.

The brothers had sustained serious headinjuries and were shifted to the neurologicalward at Mayo Hospital, where doctors hadlittle hope of their survival. All 14 familymembers of deceased’s family sustained in-juries in the blast and were admitted at dif-ferent hospital for medical aid.

On the other hand, 35 injured citizenswere discharged while 31 were still beingtreated. Hospital sources said 27 injured vic-tims were still admitted in Mayo Hospital, 1in Ganga Ram Hospital, 1 at Children Hospi-tal while 2 are under treatment at ServicesHospital.FUNERALS: Meanwhile funeral prayer ofa cop of railway police, Muhammad Idrees,was held at Railway Police Lines earlier onWednesday. Railway Police Inspector Gen-eral Syed Ibne Hussain, Railway GM NaeemMalik, Railway Police AIG Intezar AhmedQureshi and others also attended the funeral.

Martyred cop was also given guard of ho-nour after funeral prayers.

Ibne Hussain said investigations hadstarted and the Railway Police had been or-dered to be on high alert.

INVETSIGATIONS: Investigators havenot been able to trace any major clue duringcourse of investigation in the bomb blast thatnot only created panic among the citizensbut have also thwart all the arrangementmade by security agencies to secure the city.A senior cop of Investigation Wing on condi-tion of anonymity told Pakistan Today thatinitially they had recorded statements of allinjured victim of blast but they have not beenable to trace any major clue from the state-ments of victims.

“We had determined in initial interroga-tions that the martyred cops MuhammadIdrees was much close than the porter whichshows that either the cop was checking thebag or was standing close to it,” he saidadding that porter was not carrying the bag.

He said that at the moment they were in-vestigating on three lines: involvement of In-dian intelligence, Lashkar-e-Balochistan orany local criminals.

Talking in details about these aspects, in-vestigators confided to Pakistan Today thatthey could not ignore the possibility of In-dian Intelligence Agency’s role because theyhad a history of hatching such terrorist de-sign against Pakistan only to spread uncer-tainty in the country.

Official further said that though Laskar-e-Taliban has claimed the responsibility ofthe attack but they will further verify theirstatement in order to know the reason be-hind their act. They further added that in-volvement of any local element could not beignored too.

However, mystery about how the blastoccurred still prevails in the minds of in-vestigators and it is expected that new as-pects of it will come to the surface incoming days.

LAHOREimRan adnan

LAHORE Railway Stationremained deserted on thenext day of blast andaround 30-35 percent pas-sengers cancelled their

booking after the unfortunate incidentthat caused three deaths, and injuredover a 100 people. Pakistan Railwayssources revealed that after airlines’ fareincrease and recent Bhoja air crash,passengers had rushed towards rail, butthe Tuesday evening blast forced themto cancel their bookings. Railways offi-cials estimated that around 35 percentpassengers, booked for long journey, re-quested cancellations, while 70-80 percent passengers booked for short jour-

ney asked railways for refund.Talking to Pakistan Today, Pak-

istan Business Express CEO IjazAhmad also confirmed that over 30percent of Business Express bookingswere cancelled on Wednesday.Though, he said, business trains re-mained operating on schedule, butvery low occupancy was witnessed onthe next of the blast. He disclosed thatpassenger traffic had witnessed in-crease since summer had started andoccupancy was hovering over 75 per-cent, but on Wednesday, businesstrains left Lahore and Karachi stationswith only 50 to 55 percent occupancy.

Ahmad said the security lapse atthe Lahore Railway Station had badlyshattered the confidence of passenger,which was a major loss for Pakistan

Railways, private sector and country atlarge. He underlined that PakistanBusiness Express did not make a reser-vation of single passenger on Wednes-day, which clearly indicated the state ofpublic perception about rail.

Responding to a question, Ahmadsaid his company had made good secu-rity arrangements. All entry and exitpoints were manned, but the unfortu-nate incident happened outside the busi-ness train lounge on Platform No 2 andhad destroyed the lounge completely.

However, contractor had startedrenovating the waiting lounge and itwould be operation in couple of days,he maintained and added that as it wasa private sector initiative so no helpwas sought from the government orPakistan Railway.

Meanwhile, Federal Minister of Rail-ways Ghulam Ahmed Bilour, while ad-dressing a news conference, said thatPakistan Railways had released pay-ments for CCTV cameras. He announcedcompensation of Rs 0.5 million for theheirs of dead and Rs 0.1 million for theinjured. He also disclosed that he hadalso constituted a special investigationcommittee headed by Railways IG toprobe the incident. Muhammad Ali, apassenger roaming at Railways Stationfor cancellation his booking, told Pak-istan Today that he wanted to travel toKarachi with his family, but Wednesdayevening bomb blast had broken the con-fidence of his family members. He saidhe would now be travelling by roadsince both the railway and the air routewere proving to be fatal.

g Damage control begins at the empty Railway Station

g over 35 percent bookings cancelled as people say they would rather

prefer roads to planes and trains

Investigators still in dark as toll reaches 4 g Police say involvement of Indian hand cannot

be ruled out


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World Malaria Day forgottenin face of multiple tragedies

LAHOREumaiR aZiZ

TOO occupied with the blast at the Lahore Railway Sta-tion, Bhoja plane crash and the dengue mosquito, thePunjab Health Department completely ig-nored the World Malaria Day as neitherthe Health De-

partment nor any organisa-tion did any thingsignificant to mark the day

that is observedglobally, Pak-istan Today haslearnt.

According to theWorld Health Organisa-tion, Malaria is a life-threaten-ing disease caused by bites ofinfected mosquitoes. In 2010,malaria caused an estimated 655,000deaths mostly among African chil-dren. However, malaria is preventableand curable. Even though, fortunately,the disease is not widespread in Pak-

istan but many cases are reported year. The WHO decided to ob-serve the World Malaria Day in 2007 considering the importance ofcurbing malaria that poses a threat to human beings across the

globe. However, the Punjab Health Department com-

pletely ignored the event and only gave adds in thenewspapers while

no hospital orother organisa-tion held any

function orawareness semi-nar to educatethe populationabout the

severity of thedisease and howto keep oneself

safe from it.“The govern-

ment did not ob-serve theW o r l dM a l a r i aDay andit went

totallyu n n o t i c e d , ”P a k i s t a nYoung Doc-

tors’ Associa-tion General

Secretary Dr SalmaanKazmi said while talking to Pak-

istan Today, adding “Malaria is as common as typhoid.Just because it is not fatal people don’t panic and may be the gov-ernment decided to ignore it too …otherwise many of the patientswho visited hospitals with dengue symptoms are actually malariapatients but just because dengue epidemic is fatal and on a largescale, people don’t realise that malaria also needs to be curbed.”

Malaria is transmitted through the Anopheles female mosqui-toes. The intensity of transmission depends on various factors re-lated to the parasite, the vector, the human host, and theenvironment. Malaria is an acute illness. In a non-immune individ-ual, symptoms appear seven days or more after the mosquito bite.Fever, headache, chills and vomiting are the initial symptoms whichmay be mild and difficult to recognise as malaria. However, if treat-ment is not given to the patient within 24 hours certain types ofmalaria can progress to severe illness often leading to death. Chil-dren with severe malaria frequently develop one or more of the fol-lowing symptoms: severe anaemia, respiratory distress in relationto metabolic acidosis, or cerebral malaria. In adults, multi-organ in-volvement is also frequent. In malaria endemic areas, persons maydevelop partial immunity, allowing asymptomatic infections tooccur.

However, malaria is a curable and preventable disease. Medicalexperts believe that keeping away from mosquito is the best preven-tion. In urban centres people should use anti-mosquito sprays whilein villages they should use mosquito nets to avoid malaria.

“We have been on the move for the past four days. First we wentto PIMS and now all the officials are in Sialkot,” CM Special Assis-tant on Health Khwaja Salman Rafique said while talking to Pak-istan Today, adding “our focus has shifted to the victims so that iswhy the day went unnoticed.”

Lahore Health EDO Dr Inamul Haq and Health Secretary Cap-tain Arif Nadeem were not available for comments.

g No awareness seminars, sessions held as health machinery remains busy with Railway

Station blast, Bhoja plane crash


LAHOREapp

A hospital worth Rs 25 million has beenset up by philanthropists with theprime mission to treat cleft lip patients,mostly children, suffering from seriouscongenital deformities in Pakistan.

Pakistan Cleft Lip and Palate Asso-ciation (PCLAPA) General Secretary DrIjaz Hussain highlighted that the initia-tive had been taken with the coopera-tion of philanthropists and theJapanese government.

The hospital has started function-ing in Gujrat underthe guidance ofrenowned cleft sur-geon Dr Riffat Hus-sain.

Hussain said itwould be the firstpermanent health in-

stitution in the country to cater theneeds of cleft lip palate or nose patientson regular basis.

The hospital has been set up on 22kanals land donated by a philanthropistDr Ijaz Bashir with the financial sup-port of Japanese government.

“The condition of cleft lip or cleftpalate is found in one out of every 582births in Pakistan. So roughly, there areabout 30 to 35 thousand children bornwith either a cleft lip or a cleft palate orboth every year,” Dr Riffat Hussain

said. Explaining the deformity, hehighlighted that the upper lip was spliton one side or both sides and it sticksout on the face for everyone to see whilethe nose is also deformed and causestrouble in feeding. He said childrenwith cleft palate had a much higher in-cidence of ear infections which can leadto deafness. He said the treatmentthough mainly surgical requires a greatdeal of rehabilitation though some ofthese facilities were available in somegeneral hospitals in larger cities.


Lahore

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LAHOREafp

Pakistan’s electronic media regulatorWednesday issued a furious rebuke to 17television channels after they broadcastgraphic images of the victims of a planecrash.

A Bhoja Air Boeing 737 came downand burst into flames in fields near Islam-abad last Friday as it tried to land, killingall 127 people on board-the Pakistani cap-ital’s second major crash in less than twoyears.

The Pakistan Electronic Media Regu-latory Authority (PEMRA) on Wednesdayordered the channels to explain them-selves over what it called “horrific and in-

sane” coverage of the disaster.In a strongly worded statement,

PEMRA said the channels broadcast“unedited live footages of blood, gore,dead and mutilated bodies amid a privateplane crash.”

The regulator said it was consideringlegal action against the broadcasters, call-ing their approach “extremely unethicaland irresponsible”.

“There is no harm in taking edge overother channels in dissemination of timelyand accurate news but the quest must notbe to take lead in indecency or irregular-ity,” the statement said.

“It’s high time that the channels mustrealise their responsibility and define thedo’s and don’ts.”

oxford to organisetalk on theAfghanistan conflict

LAHOREStaff RepoRt

The Oxford University Press (OUP) is or-ganising a talk today (Thursday), by vet-eran diplomat, Riaz Mohammad Khan,on his book ‘Afghanistan and Pakistan:Conflict, Extremism, and Resistance toModernity’. The book examines the con-flict in Afghanistan from Pakistan’s pointof view and analyses the roots of thatcountry’s ambiguous policy-supportingthe United States on one hand and show-ing empathy for the Afghan Taliban onthe other. Riaz Mohammad Khan hasserved as Pakistan’s Foreign Secretary aswell as ambassador to several countries. OUP Pakistan Regional Sales DirectorTariq Haq will introduce Riaz Moham-mad Khan at the talk being held at theOxford Bookshop in Mini Market.

Aiwan-e-Iqbal to

hold Inter Collegiate

essay competitionLAHORE

Staff RepoRt

The Aiwan-e-Iqbal is holding a ceremonytoday (Thursday) to honour the winners ofthe All Pakistan Inter Collegiate essaycompetition on the topic ‘Iqbal ka Ta-sawwur-e-Maghrib’ or Iqbal’s view ofWest. The first position holder will beawarded Rs 10,000, the second positionholder Rs 7000 and third Rs 5000. Otherparticipants with notable contributionswill also be given awards. All the partici-pants of competition will be acknowledgedby giving them certificates of participation.

lSE wins GCU Debates Competition

LAHOREStaff RepoRt

The Lahore School of Economics Associa-tion of Debaters (LSEAD) has won the17th Annual Parliamentary Debates Com-petition 2012, held at the GovernmentCollege University for the second consec-utive year. After competing against sev-eral teams from institutions all overPakistan, the Lahore School debaters se-cured both positions in the final spot inthe tournament. Team A was representedby Wasae Imran, Ali Akbar Abbas Rizviand Hamza Ghaznavi and Team B con-sisted of Shahzeb Rathore, Saad Sohailand Zarak Shah. The teams verbally bat-tled it out intensely till the end. With La-hore School Team A and B discussingwhether education should be a federalsubject, the trophy was awarded to TeamA in the tournament final.

US delegation discusses sanitationissues with ED LAHORE: A four members delegationfrom the United States of America headedby Aaron Saizberg, The Bureau of Oceansand International Environmental andScientific Affairs (OES) Washington,called on Punjab Environment ProtectionDepartment (EPD) Secretary SaeedWahlah to discuss the water and sanita-tion issues in broader scenario in thePunjab province on Wednesday.During the meeting, Wahlah informedthe delegation regarding the present stateof water and sanitation in all the districtsof Punjab, adding that all resources werebeing utilised for the provision of safeand clean water even though the EPD didnot have enough resources. Wahlah told Saizberg that treatmentplants were the first priority of the de-partment and surveys were being con-ducted for their installation. Aroundtwenty water samples from all the 36 dis-tricts each have been taken by the EPDduring the past few months to check thewater quality, Wahlah said, adding thatthe Punjab government was also going toshift all industries outside the city. EIA Director Naseem ur Rehman Shahtold the delegation that the ED in coor-dination with public and private sectorhad planted .25 million plants in Lahoresome months back. The delegation wastold that more than 6,000 cases on en-vironment were pending in the courts.Staff RepoRt

Policing just got betterg CM Shahbaz inaugurates Police School of Information and Analysis

LAHOREStaff RepoRt

CHIEF Minister Punjab Shah-baz Sharif along with Ferdi-nand Jenrich, 2nd SecretaryEmbassy of the Federal Re-public of Germany, inaugu-

rated the Police School of Informationand Analysis at Police Training School(PTS) Chung on Wednesday.

The Police School has been estab-lished by Gender Responsive PolicingProject (GRP) a joint venture of GIZ (animplementing agency for the Govern-ment of Germany) and National PoliceBureau funded by the Foreign Office ofGermany. The purpose of the school is toprovide excellent trainings on police in-vestigation and intelligence by using lat-est training techniques on internationalstandards for both men and women po-lice officers of different ranks under theexpertise of highly skilled and profes-sional trainers.

The PSIA offers highly sophisticatedclass rooms equipped with up-to-dateteaching facilities, well equipped Foren-sic Labs with hi-tech bugging devicesalong with the latest gadgets for DNAmatching, Finger prints lifting and col-lection of evidences from crime scenes,state of the art computer lab and library

and mess facilities for the trainees andteachers.

The CM visited the campus and ap-preciated the initiative and efforts of thePunjab police in taking a lead by cateringto emerging needs of capacity building ofpolice personnel in the field of informa-tion gathering and analysis of crimes. Healso acknowledged the need to develophuman capital and make investment inadequate provision of infrastructure toenable the police to meet its obligation of

ensuring security and peace adequately.He commended the support ex-

tended by the government of Germany tothe Punjab police in the field of genderresponsive policing by focusing on pro-vision of specialized skills trainings, im-proving training facilities, formulation ofpolice training policy, development oftraining modules and establishment ofLadies Complaint Units inside regularmale dominated police stations.

Jenrich said PSIA was a depiction of

the successful co-operation of the Na-tional Police Bureau and the GermanAgency for International Cooperation atprovincial level. He said that Germangovernment valued its cooperation withthe government of Pakistan to promotegood governance and would like to seethis partnership growing with visibleoutcomes for greater impact on the livesof women, men, girls and boys alike.

Naseem uz Zaman, Additional IGTraining, Punjab thanked the CM for hispresence and unflinching support andinterest to improve the standards ofpolicing to better serve the public. Healso appreciated the assistance of theGerman government extended to thePunjab police in enhancing the stan-dards of policing.

Mr. Tariq Rustam Chuhan, Com-mandant, Police School of Information &Analysis presented the mission state-ment of PSIA (Police School of Informa-tion & Analysis). He shared that PSIAhas already conducted 16 trainingcourses and about 450 police officers(both men and women) had been trainedso far on different aspects of informationgathering and analysis.

The CM also inaugurated theYadgar-e-Shuhada at Police College andvisited the Women Campus for spe-cialised skills at Police College Lahore.

PEMRA warns TV stationsover graphic footage

Cleft lip patients get ahospital of their own

gulf air’s country manager in pakistan, Saleem motiwala is presenting a bouquet

to chairman travel agent association of pakistan, Yahya polani for being awarded

tamgha-e-imtiaz. picture Shows; Khalid Saeed, Saad polani, Haroon Kazmi, Kamran

ahmed and other person on the occasion. PR



Lahore

LAHOREStaff RepoRt

A man and his wife were killed by aspeeding truck near Qadaffi Stadiumon Wednesday. Police said MohammadAhmad Butt, his wife Sana Bibi andtheir six months old baby were on theirway on a bike when a recklessly driventruck ran over them, as a result ofwhich all the three received injuries.They were rushed to a local hospitalwhere Ahmad and his wife Sana Bibisuccumbed to their injuries. The con-dition of the minor boy was stated tobe out of danger.

Police handed over the bodies of thedeceased to their heirs and startedsearching for accused truck driver whomanaged to escape from the scene.

BODY FOUND: Lytton Road police re-covered the body of a 50-year-old manfrom Chuburji Chowk on Wednesday.

Police claimed that the deceased, yetto be identified, was an addict who diedof natural causes. FIRE: Goods worth million of rupeeswere gutted into ashes when fire brokeout in a trading company in Upper Mallon Wednesday.

The cause of fire was said to be ashort circuit in UPS. ROOF COLLAPSE: A 40-year-oldwoman received injuries when a dilapi-dated roof of her Shahdara house cavedin on Wednesday.

The injured woman was identified asNazeeran Bibi. She was admitted to alocal hospital where her condition wassaid to be out of danger.

lhC transfers 54 AD&SJs, 168 civil judges

LAHOREStaff RepoRt

The Lahore High Court chief justice onWednesday transferred 54 additionaldistrict and session judges AD&SJs and168 civil judges cum-judicial magistratesacross Punjab in the public interest.Per a notification issued by LHC Regis-trar Sohail Nasir Additional District andSessions Judges whose transfers andposting order have been issued include:Wajahat Hasan, from Islamabad to Pas-rur, Muhammad Yar Gondal from Is-lamabad to Rawalpindi, Tanveer AhmadSheikh from Ahmadpur East to Chiniot,Muhammad Riaz Chopra from Chiniotto Ahmadpur, Khizar Hayat Gondalfrom Ferozewala to Khanewal, Muham-mad Zahid from Khanewal to Feroze-wala, Muhammad Akram from Khimpurto Sahiwal, Waseem-ur-Rehman Khanfrom Sahiwal to Khanpur, Rehan Bashirfrom Tandlianwala to Gujranwala,Abdul Haq from Gujranwala to Tan-dlianwala, Nazar Hussain from Khanpurto Depalpur, Khizar Hayat from De-palpur to Khanpur, Shabbir HussainAwan from RY Khan to Layyah, AsimMansoor from Layyah to Sahiwal,Mukhtar Ahmad Gondal from Sahiwalto Nankana, Muhammad Iqbal Gorayafrom Malakwal to Sammundri, Muham-mad Nawaz from Sammundri to Malak-wal, Muhammad Abbas from Chishtiarto Bahawalnagar, Subah Sadiq Khanfrom Bhakkar to Chishtian, MuhammadAzam from Bahawarangar to Depalpur,Iram Ayyaz from Depalpur to Pakpat-tan, Khawaja Muhammad Zafar fromSahiwal to Lahore, Pervez Iqbal Siprafrom Lahore to Sargodha, MushtaqElahi from Sargodha to Lahore,Muhammad Arif Hameed from Lahoreto Sahiwal, Muhammad Ramzan fromLahore to Daska, Sajjad Ahmad fromDaska to Lahore, Sadiq Masood Sabirfrom Lahore to LHC office, Lahore, Ha-roon Latif Khan from Sheikhupra toLHC office as Addl MIT-Il, Qamar Sul-tan from Kehror lal Esan to Malakwal,Muhammad Iqbal Khan from Malakandto Kehror lal Esan, Raja Qamar-uz-Zaman from Gujjar Khan to MB Khan,Syed Asghar Ali Shah from MB Khan toGujjar Khan, Ch Mahmood-ul-Hassanfrom Gujrat to MB Khan, Tariq Khur-shid Khawaja from MB Khan to Gujrat,Javed Iqbal Sheikh from Jhelum to La-hore, Abdul Raheem from Lahore toJhelum, Muhammad Ashiq from Bure-wala to Lahore, Muhammad Javed ulHassan Chishti from Lahore to Bure-wala, Munir Ahmad from Lahore toAlipur, Rana Zahid Iqbal from Alipur toWazirabad, Nussar Ali Naseem fromWazirabad to Ferozewala, Sajjad Hus-sain Sindhar from Burewala toKhanewal, Muhammad Yaqoob fromKhanewal to Burewala, Mian Muham-mad Anwar from Ferozewala toSheikhupura, Khurshid Anwar Rizvifrom Chiniot to Multan as AdditionalMultan Bench Registrar, MuhammadNaeem Arshad from Multan toRawalpindi, Muhammad Amjad Alifrom Kabirwala to Chiniot, MalikMuhammad Iqbal from Jalalpur Pirwalato Okara, Bakht Fakhar Bahzad fromOkara to Jalalpur, Abdul Majid fromFaisalabad to Multan, Imtiaz Hussainfrom Multan to Faisalabad, SohailShafiq from Okara to Lahore, NoveedAhmad from Lahore to Okara. All the of-ficers shall assume charge of their newoffices on or before May 2 in addition tothese AD&SJs, as many as 168 civiljudges cum-judicial magistrates havealso been transferred across Punjab inthe public interest.

‘overseas Pakistanislove PtI!’LAHORE : Central leader of PakistanTehreek-e-Insaaf Abdul Aleem Khan hassaid that overseas Pakistanis have alwaysplayed their role in real development ofmotherland and would fully support PTIfor a positive change in the coming gen-eral elections. He added that Imran Khanhad given revolutionary agenda to putPakistan on the right track and overseasPakistanis would fully support it as ac-cording aspirations of citizens. online

paVing tHe WaY: much-needed repair work begins on the aiwan-e-tajarat. MURTAzA ALI

Paintings’ group

show opens at

Revivers GalleriaLAHORE

Staff RepoRt

A major paintings’ group show titled ‘Vi-sion’ is getting underway at the ReviversGalleria in Gulberg from this evening(Thursday). On display in the group ex-hibition are the selected artworks of 11renowned artists of the country. These artists include AQ Arif, SalmanFarooqi, Khalid Saeed Butt, BabarAzeemi, Abrar Ahmad, Moazzam Ali,Tanveer Farooqi, Muhammad Arshad,Wajid Yaqoot, Maqbool Ahmad andMaham Gull. Some of the participatingartists, who hail from Lahore, Karachiand other parts of the country, are likelyto attend the inaugural ceremony of theexhibition. According to the owner andthe curator of the Revivers Galleria SaraAnjum, the group art show is scheduledto continue for a fortnight till May 10th.She said more than 50 paintings of theseartists, which have been done in differ-ent mediums, including oil, ink andacrylics, are being displayed in the exhi-bition. She expressed the hope that theexhibition will be appreciated by artists,art lovers and collectors. According toher, the Revivers Galleria completedthree years of its existence in Februarythis year, during which it has organiseda number of solo and group art shows,all of which have been quite successful.

Minister warns PtB to ensure availabilityof syllabus books

LAHOREapp

Punjab Education Minister MujtabaShuja ur Rehman has directed the Pun-jab Textbook Board (PTB) authoritiesto ensure the availability of all the syl-labus books from class 1 to 10 in themarket. He further directed to take strict actionagainst those publishers who havefailed to supply the relevant books intime and have shown negligence forsupplying the books.He expressed these views while presid-ing over a meeting of PTB authoritiesregarding shortage of syllabus books inthe market. The meeting was attendedby PTB Chairman Mukhtar AhmadNoul, Khalifa Majeed and officials ofPTB and Education Department. The minister said old system of bookpublishing by PTB would be restored inplace of the present system so that toensure the availability of syllabusbooks timely and comparatively atlesser prices.The minister was briefed that all syl-labus books from class 1 to 10 wereavailable in the market and the PTBhad established its own book stall at22-Urdu Bazaar near Bank Al-Habib. The PTB authorities have ensured theavailability of books from retailersthroughout the province, however, ifany complaint was made it would beredressed immediately.

LAHOREStaff RepoRt

LAHORE High Court Chief Justice Sheikh AzmatSaeed on Wednesday criticised the Punjab gov-ernment for not holding local government elec-tions in the province and using delayingtactics on the matter. As the proceedings

started, a provincial law officer told the court that thegovernment has delayed the local government electionsfor another six months through a notification.

The CJ expressed annoyance over the statementand remarked that the Punjab government seemed tobe disinterested in conducting local governmentelections in the near future. The court alsosaid the government has been accused ofusing delaying tactics in the pastas well and that it is yet tomake the electionschedule.

The CJ ad-journed thematter till May 9 and directed the law of-ficer to inform the court about the dateon which the local government electionswill be held. The CJ also directed thatthe election schedule be submitted be-fore the court.

The Justice Saeed was hearing a pe-tition filed by Asghar Gilani challengingthe delay in holding the local governmentelections and the excuses given by the govern-ment for not doing it.

The petitioner’s counsel submitted that according to theconstitution, it was mandatory to hold the local governmentelections, but the Punjab government was using delaying

tactics in violation of the constitution.LHC TRIBUNAL SUMMONS EFROZE CHEMICALS’OFFICIALS IN SPURIOUS DRUG CASE : The DefectiveDrugs Enquiry Tribunal comprising Justice Ijaz-ul-Ahsan ofthe Lahore High Court issued notices on Wednesday to

Efroze Chemicals Limited Supply ManagerSuleman Malik, Supply Chain ExecutiveSyed Waqas Hussain and Store OfficerSyed Iftikhar Ahmad to appear before thetribunal on Thursday (today) at 10 am.

Since the matter is of great public im-portance, the tribunal is conducting pro-ceedings on a daily basis.

On Wednesday, Efroze ChemicalsLimited Production Manager AltafAhmad Qureshi, Production ExecutivesTabish Nomani, Amjad Lodhi, andDeputy Production Manager KashifAbdullah, appeared before the tribu-

nal. They answered ques-

tions raised by the tribunaland their statementswere recorded.

The tribunal isholding proceedings toascertain the causes ofthe deaths of the PunjabInstitute of Cardiologypatients who were ad-

ministered spurious drugsand to determine whether the

deaths were related to the use of cer-tain drugs and the source of such drugs. The tribunal is alsolooking to fix responsibility and to make recommendationsto prevent such incidents in the future.

LHC CJ criticises Punjabfor not holding LG polls

Truck runs over couple, baby orphaned!


Send your letters to:Letters to Editor, Pakistan Today, 4-Shaarey Fatima Jinnah, Lahore, PakistanFax: +92-42-36298302E-mail: [email protected] Letters may be edited for length and clarity.It would be appreciated if letters were ad-dressed to Pakistan Today exclusively.

Editor’s mail 11thursday, 26 April, 2012

Wonders of walkingWalking is the easiest form of the

healthy exercise, walking helps you anumber of health benefits. It prevents di-abetes type 2 as taking a walk every weekreduces the chance of getting diabetes.

Benefits of walking include improvedphysical function of the body and en-hanced fitness. Taking two or three hour-long walks per week reduces the risk ofbreast cancer in women and also reduceschances of getting a heart attack.

One of the benefits of walking for thepeople who want to lose weight is that ithelps a great deal in burning calories, bytaking two or four long walks per week.Imagine how much weight you can loseby just walking 30 to 35 minutes everyday.

It helps in improving digestionprocess and also increases your appetiteand gives us better metabolism. It keepsmind relaxed and reduces the chances ofdepression and headaches caused bystress and the best benefit is if we havesomewhere to go, unless it is a long way,one can walk and avoid hassle of worry-ing about the cost of gas, traffic problemor congested buses.

Walking is the easiest form of exer-cise and is accessible to everyone and isfun to do, especially with a company offriends, MP3 player or an iPod.

HUMAIRA MOHSINKarachi

Bomb blast in lahoreI think the recent bomb blast at La-

hore railway station was an attempt ofthe terrorists and our foes to besmirchthe image of the country. It seems as ifthe terrorists had been reactivated bytheir masters after a short period of rest.

Every action of terrorists, no matterintentionally or un-intentionally, has aclear-cut aim to create terror among themasses but I think now Lahore is spe-cially targeted to foil the efforts of MrZaka Ashraf, the chairman of PakistanCricket Board, for making a comeback ofinternational cricket in Pakistan. The lawand order situation of Karachi, Quetta,Peshawar and now Lahore is not infavour of holding an international event.

If we really want to resume the inter-national cricket in our country, we haveto defuse the prevailing security turmoil.Terrorists want to defile the image of thecountry and we will have to beat themwith strong commitment and effectivesecurity measures.

MUHAMMAD NADEEMLahore

loadshedding – a jokeLoadshedding is now a part of our

culture. But I have certain valid ques-tions which need serious answers.

1. Why is loadshedding not in accor-dance with the deficit between the con-sumption and production figuresexhibited by the government? Loadshed-ding maintains its tempo whatever is thedeficit.

2. Why does the production vary sodrastically? And why are there specialdays when there is no loadshedding?

3. Why was not even a single MW ofadditional power added to the nationalgrid in the past four years plus?

The truth is that the IPPs have beenmade as the main source of suppliers ofpower. These IPPs have to be paid. Whenwe want electricity, we give them moneyand the circular debt reduces or else weallow circular debt to increase. This waythe government is directly controllingthe supply of power. In other words,power supply has been made a tool in thehands of federal government to punishor reward some areas. Now a petition hasbeen filed in SC for reviewing its earlierdecision on RPPs. IPPs and RPPs to-gether will become even a stronger tool.Innocent and illiterate people are beinghoodwinked by these tactful methods.Elections are coming and with whatachievements can PPP face public?

AMJAD H MIRZALahore

the use of secret fundsThe practice of using secret funds for

unspecified purposes is back in limelightin Supreme Court as the DG IB filed areply in the court about the alleged use ofsecret funds to help away political per-suasions in Punjab following the imposi-tion of governor’s rule in the province in2009.

What is the purpose of secret fundsin this day and age? Every fund’s detailshould be debated in the parliament. Theparliamentarians should do away all ille-gally used funds. The IB should do its joband should not interfere in politics or usethe nation’s money illegally. This moneyshould be spent on masses for education,health and sectors.

TARIQ HUSAIN KHANKarachi

Smiling facesIn this letter, I want to appreciate the

efforts taken by the students of Psychol-ogy Department, University of Karachi,to conduct a festival for children at Pedi-atric ward, Civil Hospital. A group ofgirls including, Asma Andaleeb, BushraSubhani, Faiza Ilyas and Shahzeen So-hail arranged games, refreshment, sev-eral other activities and gifts for children,which not only brought smiles on thoseinnocent faces but also filled their moth-ers’ hearts with gratitude.

KULSOOM INAMKarachi

Bleak situation of our securityThis is with reference to the front

page news published in your esteemedpaper (25 April) saying that a bomb ex-ploded in Lahore railway station killingtwo and injuring about 35 persons. Theresponsibility has been owned by bannedLaskar-e-Balochistan.

People of Pakistan were alreadyunder shock by the Siachen tragedywhere 135 soldiers lay buried under deepsnow and then we had a terrible tragedyof Bhoja air crash in which 127 peopleperished. We were lucky to avert majordisaster when Shaheen airlines aircraftsuffered break of landing gear, in anotherincident again a Shaheen airliner’s fuel

tank leaked when the flight was about totake off, and now we have bomb blast atone of the busiest railway stations of thecountry. Unfortunately, our all publicplaces are so vulnerable that a deter-mined terrorist or his agent can hit anyplace with ease and confidence and gouncaught.

So far the government has not comeout with a clear cut strategy to controlthese bomb blasts except routine meas-ures taken after each incident and that isnot the solution to the problem. Ourpresent security strategy has failed tobring halt to such brutal attacks. Railjourney was considered comparatively

safer as compared to air travel. All rail-way stations are packed to capacity andtherefore a very high order of security isneeded.

There is an urgent need to havescreening machines at major railway sta-tions with only one entry point to screenthe baggage. Railway police in civildresses should be deployed at major rail-way stations to keep an eye on suspectedpersonnel and CCTV camera should beplaced in locations and must be checkedat regular basis. But at the same timepeople should also be vigilant and shouldnot rely on government security only.

Our half hearted measures intro-

duced after each incident have remainedcounterproductive. The nation has losthope and confidence in the governmentwho has failed to protect the life andproperty of citizens. TV channels shouldair programmes for the benefit of peoplegiving them caution how a small breachin security can end up in major catastro-phe.

Media should also draw a line whatshould be shown to masses. Showingfamilies weeping with dead bodies simplyadds to more sorrow and pains and fur-ther demoralises the viewers

MUKHTAR AHMEDKarachi

demand for electionNawaz Sharif, the president of Pakistan Muslim League-

Nawaz is demanding early elections and his nephew HamzaShahbaz MNA has declared that the next government would beof that of the PML(N).

It is the right of the opposition party to demand fresh elec-tion when the government in power fails to protect the lives andproperties of citizens and fails to solve problems faced by thepeople. It is a fact that the PPP-led government in the centrehas not been able to solve the chronic energy shortages, andcases of corruption are being reported every week, with involve-ment of high profile persons.

But a relevant question is: what is the achievement ofPML(N) which is ruling Punjab, which has 62 percent of thecountry’s population, and what reforms have been implementedby the Punjab government in the police force, health and otherinstitutions, departments which are directly under the Punjab

government? Is the province crime and corruption free? Hasthe number of people living below poverty line decreased? Whatalternative vision, agenda and plans do the PML(N) have tochange the prevailing conditions in the country? Has not thePML(N) ruled twice already? What is its legacy?

The people of Pakistan are fed up with conspiracies and liesand are losing faith in democracy due to the inefficient, selfish,incompetent self seeking politicians.

The battle between the protectors of status quo and sup-porter of change has already started. The PTI’s message of“change” is attracting the youth, women and educated middleclass, who have been deprived from their basic rights to jobs,education, health, clean drinking water, and participation ingovernance.

S T HUSSAINLahore

An American once said;“There are no permanentfriendships or enmities, the

only thing which is permanent arethe interests.”

The United States wants tohave normal relations with Pak-istan. No doubt we, the Pakistanis,also want to have the same andthat too at the earliest. But thereare certain prerequisites that haveto be done by the United States be-cause the United States’ 11 yearslong war against terrorism has de-stroyed Pakistan and that is whatPakistan as a poor friend could dofor a wealthy friend.

Pakistan suffered losses of $100 billion for being a frontlineally to the United States in its war

against terrorism. More than 5000Pakistani soldiers were killed inthis war. More than 35000 civil-ians lost their lives. Brain drain,capital drain and industry drainhave given huge financial losswhich will continue for a long timeand has given joblessness to theremaining people.

Psyche of people of Pakistanhas damaged and destroyed theirconfidence. Entire investment sce-nario got a huge dent to the extentthat not only the foreigners but thelocals also stopped any sort of newinvestment or expansion in exist-ing business. The situation hasturned so pathetic that a small in-cident either it has any relation toterror or not get huge space in themedia of other countries particu-larly in the Western media.

The US should immediatelyarrange the compensation of $ 100

billion and should immediatelypay $ 10 billion to start with andrest in next five years like 20 bil-lion dollar per year.

In our religion, there is a sys-tem of Qasas which was adoptedby the US government in case ofRaymond Davis. The same way theUS government should pay Qasasfor all those soldiers and civilianswho lost their lives in the war andthat too only for the Americancause. We do not want them to saysorry and get away. All the familieswho lost their dear ones should begiven Qasas. Each soldier shouldbe given one million dollar andcivilian $1-2 million each and $ 10million for each soldier killed inSalala check post by NATO forcesas was received by the UnitedStates from Libya in Locker B casein 1988.

As a principle, if there is a

fighting between two groups ortwo countries and a third partygets wounds during this scuffle, itis the moral duty of country to payat least, at least, at least the med-ical bill for the injured and this 100billion dollar is the medical bill forPakistan.

Therefore, the United Statesand the other countries aremorally bound to pay this medicalbill weather they can or can’t butthey should. In Pakistan’s casethere are certain contradictions inUS policy. On the one hand, allAmericans talk of friendship but inreal the things are moving into theother way round.

For instance, the American ad-ministration knows well that Pak-istan was in dire need of civilnuclear technology to cope withthe energy shortages and for therevival of economic activities but

no word has ever come from themon this subject.

They also know that if Pak-istani merchandise is given a dutyfree access to the US market, itcould do a lot of help to this coun-try but they always say that theyare working on it. And quite sur-prisingly nobody on this earthknows that when this workingwould complete. The fate of Pref-erential Trade Agreement betweenPakistan and the United States isalso unclear.

America needs to get out ofAfghanistan, only Pakistan can behelpful for this withdrawal of USforces from Afghanistan. If the USwants to ensure its safe exit fromAfghanistan it would have to takecertain measures and before im-plementing these measures, itwould have to announce them inthe press so that common man in

the street could be able to knowthat the US is leaving Afghanistan.There are a few suggestions thatcould add to the US respect. Theseare: all the weaponry of US forcesin Afghanistan should be handedover to Pakistan so that Pakistancan handle the post US exit prob-lems. Pakistan will have to face allthose forces who have been fight-ing with US for such a long time.

No matter, how much it costsbut the United States should alsospend some bucks for the im-provement of Pakistan Railways asit is the only means of transporta-tion of US army personnel rightfrom the Afghan border to Karachiseaport for a safe exit.

The writer is a former seniorvice president of the LahoreChamber of Commerce and In-dustry.

By Abdul Basit

Let us not ask for sorry

EncroachmentsI travel frequently by buses. Today I

had such a difficult time on the bus stopbecause of these weird-looking peoplewho behave as if they own the place.They are fruit-sellers or kids who sell offtissue paper packets and make it difficultfor you to stand there.

The street hawkers should keep theircarts on the streets and not on the roadwhere people have to stand. It's a troubleto first stand at a place from where the

bus can be spotted and then to get on itwithout someone coming in between.The City District Government shouldtake an action and remove these en-croachments.

SUDRISH KHANKarachi

Veena’s decisionPakistani model-actress Veena Malik

has said that she would be willing to posenude in Playboy for $1 million. She is

damaging the image of Pakistani womenand now it has become the responsibilityof the government to take steps to main-tain good image of Pakistani women. Thegovernment should give her a warningletter to change her decision of posingnude in Playboy magazine. If she standson her decision then the governmentshould revoke her nationality in order tosave the image of Pakistani women in theworld.

FAISAL KHALID SIDDIQUIKarachi


Comment12thursday, 26 April, 2012

Arif NizamiEditor

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

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

Dedicated to the legacy of the late Hameed Nizami

the indians and us

outspending each other

No one wins an arms race, says one of the flurry of t-shirt-sized slogans that peaceniks across the worlduse. Not that they have helped us, or any of thosecountries that operate and arm huge armies.

Militaries in the democratic western countries don’t bat theireyelids even when peace-loving tree-huggers tie themselves tonuclear facilities; those in more repressive regimes do worsethan simply being indifferent to these gadflies.

No. Peace and a diversion from defence spending comefrom tangible changes in real factors that affect a region’ssecurity calculus. That is what the deep state tells,condescendingly, to its doves. Pakistan wouldn’t have testedthe recent Hatf missile, certain apologists say, if India hadn’ttested a missile of its own a week back. This is an admission,then, that the test wasn’t a test at all but a political statement.The same was the case when we tested our nuclear weaponsback in 1998.

Real changes in a security calculus are brought about byincreases in trade and commerce. Countries that have a hugevolume of trade with each other are not likely to go to war witheach other. But the hawks within the country want to throw aspanner in those works as well. The brouhaha over theincumbent government’s granting of the MFN status to India isa testament to that fact.

What constitutes as real changes can be subject ofunending debate. Some of the definitions set by the hawkswould be downright unreasonable. For better or for worse, wehave to accept the fact that India is a much, much largercountry and the way they view their place in the world is inrespect with China which necessarily has to be different fromwhat ours should be. Even if they are not adversarial, they arebound to rub the churlish amongst us the wrong way.

But some argue that that is what they want. There is avibrant school of thought within the Indian defenceestablishment that makes a case for pushing Pakistan intoentering an arms race it can barely afford. For the Indians, thiswould be a case of the operation being successful but thepatient dying; to goad Pakistan into spending more and more,the Indians will have to spend more and more. For a countrythat has so much grinding poverty, it is a shame that theIndians choose guns over butter.

and the lack of security apparatus

lahore blast

So far the country had been facing terrorist attackslaunched by the TTP only. The Lahore blast indicatesthe emergence of a new source of violence. Aspokesman of the banned Lashkare Balochistan,

comprising ethnic extremists, has claimed responsibility for theattack, maintaining that it was in retaliation to dead bodiesbeing dumped across Balochistan. The organisation warnedthat if the killings continued, their next target would beRawalpindi and Islamabad. Hours after the Lahore blast, abomb was defused at Attock railway station.

That only two persons died in the blast was due to theprimitive type of the bomb which had no time device. The ballbearings it contained, however, wounded over sixty people.During the initial attacks by the TTP also the number of mortalcasualties used to be low. The terrorist however tend to becomemore lethal with the passage of time. The securityarrangements at the Lahore railway station have been found tobe inadequate. According to the CPO, none of the 17 CCTVcameras was in a working condition. There are also reports ofwalk-through gates and metal detectors being non-functional.Another report tells of the company maintaining the scannershaving suspended service two months ago for non payment ofthe dues by the Pakistan Railways. If this is the securitysituation at the second busiest station in the country afterKarachi, one can imagine what havoc terrorists can wreak atother stations.

It is dastardly to target innocent people for any causewhatsoever. Earlier, ethnic extremists have killed teachers,doctors, businessmen, even labourers and barbers coming toBalochistan from other provinces which was rightlycondemned in the country. What one is constrained to note,however, is that acts of the sort, once unheard of inBalochistan, started to take place only after the killing of AkbarBugti who was a pro-Pakistan Baloch leader. The subsequentoperations in the province, accompanied by involuntarydisappearances of political activists and extrajudicial killingsfurther aggravated the situation. There is a need to rein in thestate agencies. Unless this is done, a new group of highlymotivated terrorists is likely to start endangering the lives ofpeople all over Pakistan.

PM perturbedthe man with nerves of mush, apparently

With the start of strikes against Afghanistan in the nameof the war on terror, any chance and hope for peace inthe region were dashed. The US actions, one after the

other, backfired and contributed more to instability and violencein the war-torn region than contributing to peace and stability. Itis because the land of Afghanistan has proved to be area of defeatfor the allied forces.

The US was here in Afghanistan with an aim of seeking per-manent bases in the country but it seems that it will not be able tofulfil this aim as it is facing interminable losses on all fronts inAfghanistan and its ailing economy will be hard-pressed to sustainany kind of prolonged military presence in the country. This is whythey want to cut their losses and run now. The proof is in the factthat the Americans are seeking talks with the Taliban for peaceand have duly opened an office at Qatar for the same purpose.

The question is whether the plan to have a military presence

in Afghanistan by the US has yielded any result or has the US re-alised the mistake it committed in plunging into the region with-out thinking the entire thing through.

Pakistan should be praised for the role it has played in thelarger interest of the region. Not only has Pakistan hosted millionsof homeless Afghans for decades, it has also ceaselessly continuedwith its efforts for lasting peace in the region through cooperationwith regional and global stakeholders.

The talks intended for peace in the region among variousstakeholders cannot shun the importance of Pakistan to the wholeprocess. But in the ultimate analysis, it is the Afghans who musthave a solution of their liking. A solution that has been manufac-tured to cater to the interest of other stakeholders and powers willnot sit well with the Afghans and will be doomed to fail from thestart, as history has proved. Thus, the process must ensure thatthe Afghans are freely able to decide what is best for them.

– Translated from the original Pashto by Abdur Rauf Khat-tak

Peace in tribal beltPashtun Post

Regional press

For the past few days, the state-ments of PM Syed Yousaf RazaGilani have been filled with astrange kind of restiveness,confusion and irregularity. Up-

till a few months ago, he seemed like avery balanced and confident man. A mansure of his own surety. When I met himabout a year and a half ago, he talked ofhis political understanding and acumen.

I had a good rapport with the lateHamid Raza Gilani. I met him frequentlyin Islamabad and there would be longconversations when I visited his abode inMultan. He was a worldly man adept atkeeping up appearances. His demeanourwas laden with humility. Great men donot make great claims and this was also acharacteristic of Hamid saaeen. He was aclose relative of PM Gilani but there polit-ical paths were often miles apart. When Imentioned him, PM Gilani said he did notconsider him to be a successful politician.Whereas the PM thought that he himselfhad overtaken Hamid saaeen as far as po-litical achievements were concerned. It isa fact indeed that PM Gilani is the firstamongst his family to reach the primeministerial post and he can rightfully beproud of this fact. When talking of Hamidsaaeen, he said once they were both rem-iniscing about their political lives togetherand Hamid saaeen had accepted that PMGilani was a better politician and itwould’ve been better if he (Hamid) had lethis political career grow under his (PMGilani’s) leadership. But the past fewweeks, this kind of confidence is conspic-uous by its absence in the PM’s state-ments. His self-belief seems to be on thewan.

The PM sometimes talks of going tojail. Sometimes of martyrdom. He haseven mentioned the distance betweenAdiyala Jial and the PM house. He some-times asks his progeny for direction. Hementions his loyalties; declares his son tobe Bilawal Bhutto’s brother. He also castsaspersions on the judiciary and expresseshis doubts about its integrity. Recently, hewent so far as to declare that he faces nodanger from a ‘friendly’ judiciary. Theseare just some examples I have quoted. Butit will be exceedingly apparent if one wereto analyse the PM’s statements through-out the last year that his tone and tenordoes not befit a confident, self-assuredman perched atop the highest seat in thecountry.

He seems to be passing through dif-ferent emotional states. His statementthat a woman proved more capable than

many men was mind-boggling. He wastalking of dispensation of duties in an ad-ministrative post and his statement im-plied that there was some difference in theabilities of men and women or in theirconstitutional status where appointmentto such posts was concerned whereas thatis not the case. Whatever he meant, theway he put it was not befitting of a primeminister. It is apparent that he is under alot of stress because of the cases beingheard in the SC. But should a person oc-cupying such a high post take such stress?

We have seen many leaders gothrough much more than this but theydidn’t let it show. President Nixon wasunder an extreme media onslaught but hewas composed till the very last minute. Hewas but human too. The pressure musthave gotten to him too but he didn’t let thecracks show. Clinton was also made thesubject of judicial inquiry. He was madeto sit like a common witness and cross-ex-amined. I saw that on television. It wasapparent that a leader has to have nervesof steel.

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto had to face allkinds of injustices at the hands of a tyrantfor almost two years. There were manybelow the belt things done deliberately tomock him. Many outrageous things weredone. No stone was left unturned byMaulvi Mushtaq to malign him. A cagewas constructed in the high court for thefirst time for him. He was subjected to tor-ture in the jail. But Bhutto sb didn’t showfor a minute that he had been broken.Similarly, Benazir Bhutto also sojournedin prisons and faced countless court cases.But she didn’t despair and her resolve wasnot shaken in the least. President Zardarihas been on board the character assassi-nation train for quite a while which thePM has only boarded a few months ago.

As soon as Asif Ali Zardari becamepresident, he faced a relentless oppositioncampaign. There is no allegation in theworld that has not been levelled againsthim. Those conducting these campaignswere convinced that he was corrupt andhad no right to stay in the presidenthouse. Every second month, his exit fromthe president house would be prognosti-cated. Stories would be fabricated about

his health. Scandals were made out of hisforeign tours. Even the judiciary neverhad any good news for him. Even the im-munity he had under the constitution wasdenied. Even though the clause is as clearas day and there is little room for ambigu-ity. Despite all this, the president kept hiscool and scarcely said anything untowardabout the judiciary. He only addressedsome media personnel slyly. The way hehas faced this onslaught from many quar-ters, one would think his nerves are madeof some reinforced steel which the fiercestfire cannot melt.

But one thing the president has kepta strict control on. His opponents are in-fluential people. The media keeps a closeeye on everything that goes on in the pres-ident house. President Zardari’s compan-ions and associates also face the closestscrutiny. But no corruption scandal hascome forth from the president house.Conjectures and allegations are some-thing altogether different but there hasnever been definitive proof. Nobody hashad the gall to implicate the president orhis family in any corruption scandal.

If, despite facing the fiercest characterassassination campaign, the president hasavoided being accused of corruption, thePM should also have. As opposed to thepresident, the media has always beenfriendly with the PM and shown him in agood light. But if still stories about hisfamily were coming to the fore, heshould’ve taken personal notice of this.But he didn’t.

As far as the cases against him areconcerned, they should have been nocause for worrying. Any decision in thosewill have political implications. The realreason for the PM’s lack of confidence isthe corruption scandals surfacing. Butshould a PM be so easily disconcerted? Ifhe can’t take this, what would he do if saya war took place? And what of his incred-ulous remark that says that the judiciaryis his friend? Doesn’t it cast direct doubtson the integrity of the judiciary? Dear PM,please take note of your words and ac-tions.

The writer is one of Pakistan’s mostwidely read columnists.

By Nazir Naji


Comment 13thursday, 26 April, 2012

on arab-americans and their persistence

The resilient communitya memorable weekend in london

Defining moments

With all of the dramaticand sometimes dis-couraging develop-

ments currently taking placeacross the Arab World, thechallenges faced by the smallbut vibrant Arab Americancommunity are often givenshort shrift. This week we tooktime to acknowledge thethreats to the community's se-curity and well-being and theefforts being made to addressthese challenges.

On April 18th, the ArabAmerican Institute hosted itsannual Kahlil Gibran Spirit ofHumanity Awards Dinner, giv-ing special recognition to ourcommunity's resilience, ourpersonal resources and thestrong and courageous allieswho stand with us in defence ofour rights.

In the past year, the seri-ousness of these dangers hascome to light. In some casesthey have emanated from "hategroups" who have been em-boldened in their efforts to de-fame the community. Oncemarginal websites that havelong propagandised againstArabs and Muslims, have nowbecome mainstream, findingtheir hate echoed on Fox TV orin the rantings of some presi-dential candidates. They paintall Muslims as a danger andmake no distinction betweenArabs and Muslims. Targetingan entire community, they pro-mote intolerance and fear.

While the community hasrelied on law enforcementagencies to defend it againstthe violence, threats of vio-lence, and acts of outright dis-crimination that have been theresult of the atmosphere cre-ated by the "hate groups,” all isnot well on that front either.Revelations on CNN that train-

ing manuals used by the FBIand other law enforcementagencies are filled with grossmisrepresentations of Arabculture and Islam, and otherrecent revelations (in a seriesof AP articles, that just won aPulitzer prize) that the NewYork City Police Departmenthas implemented a massivedomestic spying operation tar-geting Egyptians, Syrians,Palestinians, and Muslims, ingeneral, have caused great dis-tress in the community.

Instead of accepting thisstate of affairs, Arab Americanshave drawn on their resourcesand their allies, and havefought back. And the Gibranawards dinner provided the oc-casion to recognise those whohad been important in this ef-fort, making it clear that ArabAmerican are not powerlessand do not stand alone. One ofthe groups honoured with theGibran "Spirit of Humanity"award was the SouthernPoverty Law Center (SPLC), acivil rights organisation bornin the Deep South during thestruggle for African Americanrights. Today, the SPLC hasbroadened its purview becom-ing a leading voice speakingout against Islamophobic hategroups and discrimination inall its forms, thus providing thecommunity with much neededsupport and strength.

Also honoured was a re-markable initiative launchedby an Arab American (DeanObeidallah) and an IranianAmerican (Negin Farsad).Their effort, "The Muslims AreComing" comedy tour travelledlast year throughout the Southgoing even to communitiesthat had mobilised to block ef-forts to build mosques. Thetour relied on comedy to edu-cate and shatter stereotypes.Using laughter, they both in-structed and defused hate.

There are those who saythat while Arab civilisation hada great past, it has no presentor future. They also questionwhether Arab immigrants toAmerica have made any contri-bution to the US. In responseto this slight to Arab culture,the Gibran awards recognisedthe work of the Arab ThoughtFoundation – an example of anArab institution that promotes

learning, cultural pride, andself-reflection. The ArabThought Foundation is a cen-tre for the dissemination oflearning and a beacon of en-lightenment.

Annually, the Gibran galarecognises an Arab Americanwho has made an outstandingcontribution in the area of pub-lic service. This year's recipientof the Najeeb Halaby publicservice award was presented toformer U.S. Ambassador TedKattouf for his three decades inthe Foreign Service and hisdecade-long leadership ofAMIDEAST, one of America'slargest NGO's serving the peo-ple of the Arab World. Theaward was presented by U.S.Secretary of TransportationRay LaHood, himself a formerrecipient. As unremarkable asall this might have appeared tosome, the fact that a LebaneseAmerican presents an awardnamed after a Syrian Americanto a Palestinian American itselfmakes a statement about thesuccess of the Arab Americancommunity to rise above divi-sion and assert its identity andheritage.

The night concluded with aspecial tribute to Anthony Sha-did, a journalist like no other,whose untimely death in Feb-ruary took from us a writerwho had devoted his life toserving as a bridge, connectinghis fellow Americans to theoften misunderstood realitiesand peoples of the Arab World.

The night closed with a re-minder that even in what mayappear to be the darkest oftimes, with challenges allaround, Arab Americans are aresilient and proud communitywith allies who support us. Weare a community with thestrength and creativity to af-firm our humanity and defendour rights against those whowould defame, dishonour, dis-own, or try to divide us.

Despite the challenges wehave faced and continue toface, we remain, at the end ofthe day, a community that isproud of our heritage, andprouder still of our accom-plishments in America, ourhome.

The writer is President ofthe Arab-American Institute.

Washington WatchBy Dr James J Zogby

There are times in life when, out of theblue, one finds oneself able to avail op-portunities that bring you back to

things that somehow escape from grasp dur-ing the hustle bustle and routine of life. Andit’s amazing how you take to those momentsseamlessly and then can sit back and reminis-cence of the past but also engross yourself inthe current scenario almost as if you neverwent away.

Two weeks ago, I had to rush to Londonfor urgent meetings ahead of a scheduledquick break. While there, I met up with afriend who’d also been travelling the worldand we hadn’t caught up in a while. Overlunch, we decided to meet the following week-end and do the museums, catch a couple ofsuper exhibitions that were on. I spent Easterwith friends and dogs in Germany and took awell-deserved week off. But the best was stillto come.

I planned to fly to London on Thursday,work Friday, visit the museums Saturday andleave for Karachi Sunday when on Tuesday acolleague called asking if I’d like to go toWembley on Sunday to watch the FA Cupfootball semi between Chelsea and Totten-

ham. I was totally thrilled, made the re-quest to Marcus, the super genius, atthe London office to find me a seatMonday, which was promptly done.The flight from Stuttgart to London wasfull of anticipation and I guess I had abig smile on my face. The tell tale signs,a pain in the jaw and a stewardess ask-ing me the reason for this infectioussmile.

That weekend in London was sim-ply fantastic. I did stuff I had almostforgotten existed. It was the London Iknew, the London of old and I am over-joyed I took the opportunity. Fridaynight was a fabulous dinner at a newrestaurant with my nephew. The foodexquisite, the place packed, ambiancecharged with energy and atmosphere.And if that were not enough, lo and be-hold, we bumped into delightful friendswe hadn’t seen for a while. It was agreat evening that ended in the earlyhours. Some hours later, I was jumpingfrom my cab on the Embankment at thedoors of Tate Britain.

Time vanished. The Picasso exhibi-tion was simply breathtaking. Amongstthe well-known masterpieces, therewere other paintings that were simplyexquisite. The versatility of the masteris incredible. Some pieces you saw at adistance and didn’t believe they couldbe his work. Once you drew closer, yousaw the unmistakable signature. Therewere works by other artists influencedby his work that were equally fascinat-ing. These are moments when you getGoosebumps and cannot believe aworld exists when access to such bril-

liance requires only a little bit of your timeand, in relative terms, a small amount ofmoney. I am still living in that moment, ad-jectives just too elaborate to place on paper.Each painting evokes its own admiration; es-pecially powerful was a simple sketch of awoman in poverty eating from scraps of food.

Lunch at Covent Garden’s famous L’Ate-lier Joel, Robuchon’s famous culinary excel-lence, needless to say my friend Adiba hadplanned the day to perfection, where the foodwas to die for and the grape to match. Thenon to Tate Modern; I’d never been before.What can I say! The museum itself is a stun-ning piece of construction. A purpose-built,modern steel structure lending itself to artists’installations of all types and sizes. 7 floors ofexquisite creations. The facilities are out-standing. The views from the balcony of themembers club over the Thames and over to St.Paul’s simply amazing. Damian Hirst was ex-hibiting; again incredibly versatile. His im-mersion in the cycle of life is so totallyrevealing; it brings you repeatedly to the won-drous element of evolution. From egg to livingcreature to death in just a few hours. Flies,butterflies, reproductive organs, digestion,medicines. Installations that were par excel-lence, totally inspiring.

Followed by a visit to Borough Market. Ithas changed so! Simply exciting. The WhiskeyExchange a must do for connoisseurs. Andthen a fabulous Saturday evening endingagain in the early hours walking throughSoho. Memories ring loud!

Sunday, a fabulous lunch at Heston Blu-menthal’s finest. His food is simple, not the-atrical and yet superbly delicious. Thecompany stupendous. The Mandarin’s viewsover the Park another exquisite example ofLondon. Then the surface train to WembleyArena; 10 minutes direct from Marylebone. Ihadn’t been to the new Wembley. The old waskind of ‘grotty’. The new is kind of awesome!

I hadn’t been to a football game in almosta lifetime. The atmosphere was electric. Mymind raced to my first time ever, White HartLane in 1961, I was back being 10 again. En-thralled. The game was football at its compet-itive best. Fantastic! It was a goal fest. Chelseascoring five brilliant goals against the onefrom Spurs. And what was more remarkable,with 85,175 recorded audience, was the returnjourney. Forty-five minutes waiting in queueand a ten-minute ride. The logistics are sim-ply terrific.

It’s like Rip van Winkle, rising from slum-ber. I am awake again. London weekends willfigure in my life, as of course will the dogs thathave dominated past decades, big time.Thank you Adiba, Damian, Jack, Aziz, Mon-ica, Maggy. Defining moments dragging meback into reality! I’m already thinking Lon-don, the Rosso waiting!

The writer may be contacted via e-mailat [email protected]

Random thoughtsBy Imran Husain


14 thursday, 26 April, 2012

NEWS DESK

WHILE earning a super-model tag it is an achieve-ment for most catwalkbeauties, Veena Malik be-

lieves that the supermodel status givento her is not exaggerated and alreadyconsiders herself to be a supermodel.Controversial actress Veena Malik hasgrab her entry in Navin Batra’s new film‘Supermodel’ in which she will be essay-ing the role of a glamorous supermodel.The character is said to be based on theNaomi Campbell, a British model whogarnered international acclaim for herwork. Sources close to the film say,Veena Malik is compared to Campbell,as both have established reputations asthe most recognisable and in-demandfaces of the fashion world. Like Camp-bell, Veena’s life as a celebrity has alsogone through many phases and contro-versies. “Professionally she is a success-ful model and actress and is an aptchoice for the film,” says director NavinBatra. “Her body language, style andpoise are that of a supermodel, as hasbeen stated many times by the media.This makes her the right choice,” Batraadded. For the film ‘Supermodel’, Malikwill be paired opposite Indian actor andrumoured ex-flame Ashmit Patel. The25-year-old insisted that the film shouldshowcase the sizzling chemistry be-tween her and Patel.

LOS ANGELES: Actor Zac

Efron says his part in ‘The

Lucky One’ is his most

mature role so far and that he

used to lighten the mood on

the sets by singing and

dancing. “I am definitely still

a big kid at heart. But this

role in ‘The Lucky One’ is

definitely my most mature

role. I loved the experience.

It was hard. Every scene had

a gravity to it in a way. I

couldn’t improve, or laugh or

tell any jokes. No fun stuff. I

couldn’t sing,”

showbizspy.com quoted Efron

as saying. “I would break into

song and dance but nobody

would join me,” added the

24-year-old. agencieS

mumBai: Shah Rukh Khan has high hopes fromthe young players in his ipl team this seasoneven though Shah Rukh Khan is busy with hisYash chopra film co-starring Katrina Kaif, hewill take time off to boost the spirits of his iplteam. Says the actor, “i am shooting currently,but when i get some days off, i will fly down toKolkata to watch the matches. Hopefully, i willcomplete the film by July and take a couple ofmonths off. only then will i decide what to donext,” adds Shah Rukh, squashing reportssaying that he will start Rohit Shetty’s ‘chennaiexpress’ this year. “i have been reading thesereports, but i have not decided when i will startshooting.” on another note, the actor is allpraise for Katrina. “i do a few films every year,and when i work with young actors, i learn alot as they have a different way of doingscenes. Katrina is a stupendous actor. Sheapproaches every scene differently, and as a co-star i have to adapt differently. that give andtake has been absolutely fantastic,” says SRK,adding that anushka Sharma will soon jointhem in the film’s next schedule. agencieS

‘The LuckyOne’ mymost maturerole: Efron

Katrina is astupendousactor: SRK

NEWS DESK

Drama artist, host and film star Mishi Khan was accused of stealing valu-ables from the apartment of Jawad Safi Khawaja in Islamabad. Khawaja,who is a well known businessman of the federal capital, has filed a com-plaint against Mishi Khan charging her with robbing Rs 500,000cash, a two-tola gold bracelet, three rings and a wristwatch. Accord-ing to Khawaja, Mishi Khan frequently visited his flat and had seenhim place the cash and other items in his cupboard. Two watchmenstationed at the building also stated that they had seen Khancoming out of Khawaja’s flat with two shopping bags in herhands. When Khawaja contacted Khan, she used offensivelanguage and threatened him as well. The police confirmedthat they had received a complaint from Khawaja againstMishi Khan. When contacted, Khan denied the allegationslevelled against her, saying it had become fashionable to usethe name of any famous actress for getting temporary fame.She said some publicity mongers attempted to gain cheap ex-posure by saying they married an actress. She denied know-ing anyone by the name of Jawad Safi Khawaja. “God hasblessed me with everything and I don’t need anything else.Why would I get from such a meagre amount,” she remarked.

Veena aims to oustNaomi Campbell from‘Supermodel’ throne

Businessman accuses Mishi Khan of burglary

RANBIR TOCHANGEHIS LOOK?

mumBai: this Kapoor lad has beenmaking waves with his acting ever sincehis debut. Ranbir Kapoor is one of thefew actors who has managed to domyriad roles in different genres of filmsvery early in his career. the actor who isknown to experiment with his looks(remember ‘Rockstar’s grunge look) willsoon go for a major makeover for his rolein Anurag Kashyap’s ‘Bombay Velvet’.Speaking to a daily, a source confirmedand said, “the character has very close-cropped hair in the film. After a lot ofdiscussions and deliberations, the lookwas finally chosen. It’ll be a challenge forRanbir to carry it off, and he is veryexcited about it.” Ranbir will also beseen playing an old man in Anurag Basu’s‘Barfi!’ and will have pierced ear look for‘yeh Jawani hai Deewani’. agencieS

fashion

mumBai: Madhuri Dixit Neneattends the ‘Deenanath MangeshkarPuraskar Awards 2012’. afp

HollYWood: John Cusackreceives a star on thehollywood Walk of fame. afp

NEW yoRK: Kristen Wiig and tyra Banksattend the time 100 Gala celebrating thetime 100 issue of the Most InfluentialPeople in the World. AfP

laHoRe: Upcoming designerSaima Pervaiz presented hercollection. PhotoS By NADEEM IJAz


loS angeleS: Jennifer lawrence isreportedly in talks to star in the bigscreen version of ‘the glass castle’.deadline.com reports that lionsgaterecently got the rights to ‘the glasscastle: a memoir’ by gossip columnistJeanette Walls. the 2005 book spentmore than 250 weeks on the new Yorktimes bestseller list, longer than anyother memoir. it chronicles Walls’childhood, recounting her experiencesgrowing up with four siblings in a“dysfunctional but vibrant” family.lawrence, star of ‘the Hunger games’,has already been cast in a series offilm roles. She’s starring in the horrormovie, ‘the House at the end of theStreet,’ as well as in ‘the Silver liningsplaybook’ with Robert de niro andBradley cooper. cBS

15

LONDON: Actress Eva Longoria has

denied rumours of a ‘Desperate

Housewives’ movie, insisting

makers have run out of story lines.

The 37-year-old, who played

suburban girl Gabrielle Solis on the

hit show for eight years, said the

show has exhausted every plot

possibility for the film, reported

Showbizspy. “We won’t do a movie.

Marc Cherry, our creator, has said

that because we have done over

200 episodes. The difference with

‘Sex and the City’ is that they only

did 13 episodes a year and they

were only on six years so they

didn’t ever really fully explore

those characters so you are able to

do a movie,” she said. agencieS

‘Desperate housewives’MOVIE WON’THAPPEN: EVALONGORIA

LOS ANGELESagencieS

FOLLOWING in the footsteps of MichellePfeiffer, Jennifer Lopez, Jennifer Anis-ton and Kate Hudson, Beyonce has been

named People Magazine’s Most BeautifulWoman in the world. “She’s flawless, she’s gor-geous, she’s at the top of her game career-wise,” a People editor said on the Today show.“On top of that, she’s got this glow going on.She’s a new mom, which makes her the World’sMost Beautiful Woman.” “I feel more beautifulthan I’ve ever felt because I’ve given birth,” Be-yonce tells People. “I have never felt so con-nected, never felt like I had such a purpose onthis earth.” Beyonce calls daughter Blue Ivy,“the cutest thing,” adding, “The best thingabout having a daughter is having a truelegacy. The word ‘love’ means something com-pletely different now.”

Aniston deniesplanning big fatGreek wedding

LOS ANGELESagencieS

While ex-husband Brad Pitt may finallybe planning a second trip down the aisle,Jennifer Aniston is denying any plans towed this summer in Greece. AlthoughTMZ reported that Aniston was seenlooking at possible wedding locations inCrete, her rep is telling Us Weekly, “Howis it that one of the most photographedpeople in the world supposedly goes toGreece to check out a hotel she neverheard of and is not spotted or pho-tographed?” While Aniston andboyfriend Justin Theroux have tried tokeep their relationship out of the publiceye, the pair was reportedly house-hunt-ing together last year according to People.In an interview, Aniston called Theroux“a great actor,” but joked that he was “themost cold, icy fishy kind of a guy.”

Kidman mimics ‘BasicInstinct’ SharonStone moment

LOS ANGELESagencieS

NICOLE Kidman, who has been in needof a hit lately, has her eyes shut in her newmovie with Zac Efron. The 44-year-oldOscar-winner turns up the raunch factorand channels the spirit of Sharon Stonefor the thriller ‘The Paperboy’. In newstills released by the film’s producers,Kidman is tanned and trashy, wearing ablonde wig and a short dress. In one scenein particular, where Kidman mimicsSharon Stone’s pose from ‘Basic Instinct’,will remind cinema-goers why Kidmanwas such hot property during the nineties.Efron too was all praises for his co-star.“Nicole is so gorgeous,” News.com.auquoted him as saying. ‘The Paperboy’,which is directed by Lee Daniels, who wasnominated for an Oscar for his film ‘Pre-cious’, also stars Matthew McConaugheyand John Cusack. The story, which isbased on a crime novel of the same name,focuses on a reporter who returns to hisFlorida hometown to investigate a case in-volving a death row inmate.

Beyoncenamed mostbeautiful

Red Bull X-Fighters blow awayNEWS DESK: The world’s best Freestyle motocross riderstook off to the air again in front of 15,000 people at theMoin Khan Stadium as a part of the Red Bull X-Fighterssix-stop 2012 world tour. The Red Bull X-Fighters Jams isa series of exhibitions worldwide, giving the people aroundthe globe an opportunity to witness the action that can beseen on the world tour. The Red Bull X-Fighters conceptshas grown to become the biggest and most respectedfreestyle motocross on the planet. Red Bull X-Fighters hadits biggest event in Sri Lanka, Colombo at the Galle FaceGreen with more than 200, 000 spectators. After rockingSri Lanka, The Red Bull management brought thosetremendous athletes to Pakistan, and for the first everFreestyle Motocross event. The event started with a bril-liantly choreographed cultural show, after which the riderskicked off their bikes. Four of the world’s top riders, namelyMartin Koren from California, Nick De Wit from SouthAfrica, Jimmy Verburgh from Belgium and Nick Franklinfrom New Zealand, showcased the best of their tricks forone and a half hour. Afterwards an electrifying performanceby Ali Azmat sent the crowd to their feet. The productionand management of the event was handled by the team ofRed Bull and the PR by Catalyst PR and Marketing.

Pakistan with their thrilling performance

‘The Glass Castle’

film adaptation

may star Jennifer

Lawrence

laS VegaS: Jennifer Garner arrives

promotes her upcoming film, ‘the

odd life of timothy Green’. afp

laS VegaS: Mila Kunis arrives at a WaltDisney Studios Motion Picturespresentation to promote her upcomingfilm, ‘oz: the Great and Powerful’. AfP



16 Foreign News

DAMAScUSafp

A handful of UN observers resumedtheir tour of Syrian hot spots onWednesday as envoy Kofi Annan urgedthe fast deployment of the full, 300-strong mission and voiced alarm aboutpersistent violence.

Nine civilians were reportedlykilled across country, taking to nearly300 the number of people who havedied since a tenuous ceasefire wentinto effect on April 12.

Among them were four peoplewhose bus was raked with gunfire bysecurity forces at a checkpoint near

Khan Sheikhun, a town in the restivenorthwestern province of Idlib, theSyrian Observatory for HumanRights said.

The Britain-based watchdog saidtwo civilians were also killed by regimeforces in the Harasta suburb ofDamascus, while another was killed bysniper fire in Douma, a northeasternsuburb of the capital.

One child died after being shot in avillage in the eastern province of DeirEzzor, according to the Observatory.

And regime forces also reportedlyshot dead one citizen in the town ofRastan, in the central province ofHoms.

Annan branded the bloodshed“unacceptable” as he and world powerscalled for the speedy deployment of the300 observers, but a top UN officialsaid it would take at least a month toget the first 100 in place.

Addressing the UN SecurityCouncil via teleconference, the UN-Arab League envoy said he was“concerned” about the violence surgingafter observers visit individual cities.

The former UN chief said SyrianPresident Bashar al-Assad has still notfulfilled a promise to end violence andsaid the situation was “bleak” and“unacceptable.”

Annan said he was “particularly

alarmed” at reports that governmentforces had entered the city of Hamaafter a visit by UN monitors and killed“a significant” number of people.

“If confirmed this is totallyunacceptable and reprehensible,” hetold the council.

The Damascus-based SyrianLeague for Human Rights said nineactivists were “summarily executed” bygovernment forces in Hama onMonday, a day after they met UNobservers in the central city.

More than 30 people were alsokilled in a government assault onHama’s Arbaeen neighbourhood onMonday, monitors have said,

prompting anger and criticism byactivists who questioned the use of theUN observer mission given theunending bloodshed.

Neeraj Singh, spokesman for anadvance team of UN monitors whobegan arriving in the country on April15 and are set to number 30 in thecoming days, said the observers wereconducting visits in various regions ona daily basis.

He said there were two observersbased in the central town of Hama andtwo others in Homs, scene of fiercefighting between government forcesand rebel troops. The rest of the teamis based in Damascus.

JERUSALEMafp

Israel’s military chief toned down therhetoric over Iran’s nuclear pro-gramme on Wednesday, describing theIranian leadership as “very rational”and unlikely to take the decision tobuild a bomb.

Speaking to Haaretz newspaper,Lieutenant General Benny Gantz saidIran was approaching the point atwhich it would be able to decide onwhether to build a bomb, but thatSupreme leader Ayatollah AliKhamenei had not yet decided“whether to go the extra mile.” So far,Israel and Washington do not believethat Tehran has actually taken the de-cision to develop a nuclear bomb, a de-cision which would require the abilityto quickly produce weapons-grade ura-nium. “In my opinion, he would bemaking a huge mistake if he does so,and I don’t think he will want to go theextra mile,” he said of Khamenei.

“I think the Iranian leadership iscomposed of very rational people,” hesaid, indicating that the internationalregime of hard-hitting sanctions was“starting to bear fruit.” Defence Minis-ter Ehud Barak also took a somewhatsofter line on Iran, saying it had “not

yet decided to manufacture atomicweapons” and suggesting the sanctionscould work. “If the Americans, and theEuropeans and we ourselves are deter-mined, there is a change of stopping theIranians before they acquire the atomicbomb,” he told Israeli public radio.

Israel and much of the West sus-pect Iran is using its civilian nuclearprogramme as a cover for a weaponsdrive — a charge which Tehran vehe-mently denies, and Israeli officialshave refused to rule out a pre-emp-tive strike to prevent it from happen-ing. But there was no sign of anychange in the hardline approach ofPrime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu,who said Tehran should remainunder biting sanctions until it haltsall uranium enrichment. “They haveto stop all enrichment,” he told CNN,saying he would not accept Iran en-riching uranium to even three per-cent, which is near the level requiredfor peaceful atomic energy.

Iran has already developed the ca-pacity to enrich uranium to 3.5 per-cent, and to 20 percent, which is usedto create medical isotopes, but it wouldhave to enrich to 90 percent in order tomake nuclear weapons. The languageused by Gantz in Wednesday’s inter-view was far from the fiery rhetoric of

Netanyahu, who last week said anyonewho refused to acknowledge the Iran-ian threat had learned nothing fromthe Nazi Holocaust during World WarII. “They are afraid to speak the truth,which is today, as it was then, thatthere are people who want to annihi-late millions of Jews,” he said. The at-tempt by both Gantz and Barak to tonedown the rhetoric on Iran comes aftera spate of media reports suggesting adivision within the Israeli leadershipover how to handle the Iranian issue.

Two months ago, Netanyahu andBarak appeared to agree that thesanctions imposed on Iran would notwork, Haaretz reported, describingthe political leadership as “divided”between the premier and the defenceminister, and other top ministerswho wanted to give the sanctionstime to work. But last week, thepaper said there was a growing riftbetween the two after Netanyahucriticised the nuclear talks betweenworld powers and Iran. “Netanyahu’stough statement also appears to un-derline the growing rift between himand Defence Minister Ehud Barak onthe Iran issue,” the paper said, indi-cating that Barak “has said he be-lieves the negotiations should begiven a chance to succeed.”

Breivik accusesexperts of lies as hepleads for his sanity

OSLOafp

Anders Behring Breivik, who wants tobe found accountable for his massacreof 77 people in Norway last July, onWednesday accused a team ofpsychiatric experts of making things upto prove him insane. Breivik is seekingto convince an Oslo court that he issane so that his anti-Islam ideology willbe taken seriously and not consideredthe ravings of a lunatic, even though itwould mean a prison sentence ratherthan psychiatric care. The 33-year-oldright-wing extremist has already saidthat being sentenced to closedpsychiatric care would be “worse thandeath”. A first psychiatric evaluationlast year concluded that he wassuffering from paranoid schizophrenia,but a second opinion found him ofsound mind. On Wednesday, hechallenged the first examination, whichhe claims contains “more than 200 lies”in a diagnosis he has called “theultimate humiliation.” “These are ill-willed fabrications,” Breivik told thecourt Wednesday, referring to passagesfrom the report. He later added: “Theymay not be ill-willed, but they are inany case wrong.” Psychiatrists SynneSoerheim and Torgeir Husby wereappointed by the Oslo district court tocarry out the first evaluation. Theirconclusion in November that Breiviokwas psychotic cleared the way for himto be sent to a closed psychiatric wardfor treatment instead of prison. But thediagnosis caused an uproar in Norway,where many were astounded that theman who methodically planned hisattacks for years and then executedthem with precision could be found notresponsible for his actions. The courttherefore ordered a second opinion bytwo other experts, who concludedearlier this month that Breivik wassane. A third panel of experts chargedwith verifying the validity of the reportshas found weaknesses in the secondevaluation and asked the authors toprovide additional information. It willultimately be up to the judges todetermine whether he is sane whenthey hand down their verdict in July.Breivik told the court Wednesday that“80 percent of the content from theinterviews (on which the first twopsychiatrists based their conclusions)is invented.” The two experts drewtheir conclusion “very early” and aimedthe rest of their work at proving theirdiagnosis was correct, he said. “Theywere emotionally affected (by theattacks) and they were not competentto evaluate a person responsible forpolitical violence,” he said. “If I hadread a description of the person theydescribe, I would have agreed: thisperson needs psychiatric care,” he said,adding: “But the person described inthis report is not me.” Breivikreiterated Wednesday that he does notwant to “end up in an asylum” and saidhe had exchanged letters with aSwedish militant nationalist whodescribed his own treatment in apsychiatric ward as “a chemicallobotomy.” “He says it’s awful. He sitsat a table drooling,” he said.

JeRuSalem: israeli soldiers unload their rifles after a memorial ceremony at the military cemetery on mount of olives, overlooking the dome of the Rock mosque on Wednesday. the

memorial day commemorates fallen soldiers since 1948, ahead of celebrations of the 64th anniversary of the creation of the state of israel according to the Jewish calendar. AFP

Annan urges fast deployment of monitors to Syria

Israel military chief tonesdown rhetoric on Iran

Nepal’s SuperSherpa crossesthe Himalayas

KATHMANDUafp

Nepal’s “Super Sherpa” on Wednesdayvoiced amazement at the pace of change inthe country’s remote Himalayancommunities, as he celebrated his returnfrom one of the world’s most difficulttreks. Apa Sherpa, 52, arrived inKathmandu earlier this week after leadingthe first expedition to complete the GreatHimalayan Trail, a 1,700-kilometre(1,050-mile) trek spanning the entirelength of the Nepalese Himalayas. Sherpa,who earned his nickname for scalingMount Everest a record 21 times, said theworld’s highest mountain range hadundergone a “transformation”, withimproved transport links, communicationsand education. “I was happy to see kidsgoing to schools and people betterconnected through mobile phones,”Sherpa told reporters. “But I was saddenedto see children working as porters whenthey should have been going to school,” hesaid, adding that he found many schoolsshut so that pupils could work aslabourers. Sherpa and three companionsset off in January on the Climate SmartCelebrity Trek, an expedition promotingtourism and highlighting the effects ofclimate change.


Foreign News 17thursday, 26 April, 2012

guadalaJaRa: a massive fire is seen at ‘la primavera’ forest in guadalajara, mexico, on Wednesday. more than 700 firefighters were sent to the site where the fire has been

burning uncontrolled for almost five days, and consumed over 5,000 hectares so far. AFP

France’s Sarkozyrules out dealwith far right

PARISafp

French President Nicolas Sarkozy onWednesday ruled out any pact with MarineLe Pen’s National Front after its electoralbreakthrough but insisted far-rightsupporters should not be demonised. AsSocialist frontrunner Francois Hollandeaccused Sarkozy of going too far to “seduce”the far right, European Union presidentHerman Van Rompuy condemned “windsof populism” which he warned wereblowing across Europe. Hollande won thefirst round of France’s presidential electionon Sunday with 28.6 percent of the voteover 27.2 percent for Sarkozy. The two willsquare off in a final round on May 6 thatpolls say the Socialist will win. But the racewas shaken up by the 18 percent result ofanti-immigration and anti-Europe populistLe Pen, whose score on Sunday was notenough to stay in the race but was thehighest ever for a far-right candidate.Sarkozy, the first sitting French president tolose a first-round vote, has tilted further tothe right since Sunday, vowing to “defendthe French way of life”, drastically reduceimmigration and secure France’s borders.“We need to speak to the 18 percent whovoted for Marine Le Pen,” Sarkozy said inan interview Wednesday with France Inforadio. “But I don’t want ministers from theNational Front. I’ve never wanted that. The18 percent who voted National Front don’tbelong to me, but it’s my duty to addressthem,” he said. “What Mr Hollande has notunderstood is that we should speak toeverybody. There will be no deal with theNational Front, no ministers for them, but Ihave to take them into account and not feelI have to hold my nose.”

Indian childmarriage annulledin landmark case

JAIPURafp

An Indian couple who “married” when agedjust one and three have had their weddingannulled in a ground-breaking case thatactivists hope will challenge the culture ofchild marriages. Laxmi Sargara, 18,unknowingly wed her husband Rakesh, 20,in the desert state of Rajasthan 17 years agoafter their families decided that when theygrew up they would live together and havechildren. In the first procedure of its type,the pair had their union legally revoked inthe city of Jodhpur on Tuesday as part of acampaign against enforced childmarriages.“I was unhappy about themarriage. I told my parents who did notagree with me, then I sought help,” Sargaratold AFP. “Now I am mentally relaxed andmy family members are also with me.” Childmarriage is illegal in India but remainscommon in poor, rural communities inwhich it is seen as improving the financialsecurity of both families. The girl oftenremains in her parents’ home until shereaches puberty and is then taken amid greatcelebrations to her husband’s family.

LONDONafp

RUPERT Murdoch tried todownplay his political in-fluence in landmark testi-mony to a British inquiryWednesday, even as evi-

dence from his media empire prompteda government aide to resign.

The 81-year-old mogul, speakingon oath during his first appearance atthe Leveson Inquiry into press ethics,hit out at “sinister inferences” abouthis ties to British leaders over the pastfour decades. “I’ve never asked aprime minister for anything,” theNews Corp. chairman said in a spir-ited performance at the judge-led in-quiry at the Royal Courts of Justice incentral London.

He said he “loved” newspapers but

shareholders in US-based News Corp.wanted him to get rid of his titles,which include The Sun, The Times andSunday Times in Britain and the WallStreet Journal and New York Post inthe United States. Murdoch also re-jected as “untrue” rumours that he wasunhappy with current premier DavidCameron for ordering the inquiry fol-lowing the phone-hacking scandal thatclosed down his News of the Worldnewspaper in July last year.

But as Murdoch was speaking,Adam Smith, a special adviser to cul-ture minister Jeremy Hunt, resignedover claims that he leaked details toNews Corp. about the government’sview of its bid to take full control ofpay-TV giant BSkyB. Texts and emailsfrom him to News Corp. executiveFrederic Michel emerged during evi-dence given during Murdoch’s son

James on Tuesday, in which Smith ap-parently gave confidential details andsaid that Hunt backed the deal. “I ap-preciate that my activities at times wenttoo far,” Smith said. Hunt — who hadthe responsibility for the decisionabout whether the BSkyB takeovershould be allowed to go ahead — madea statement in parliament rejectingcalls for his resignation. “This is not thetime to jump on a political bandwagon.I have strictly followed due processthroughout,” he said, although headded that the “volume and tone” ofthe emails was “clearly not appropri-ate”. Cameron told parliament thatHunt, who also has responsibility forthe London Olympics, had his “full sup-port”. But he added that “hand onheart, we all did too much cosying upto Rupert Murdoch, I’m sure we’llagree.”

At the inquiry, Murdoch rejectedsuggestions that he had used his tiesto previous prime ministers MargaretThatcher, John Major and Tony Blairfor the commercial gain of his mediaempire. “I think you are making sinis-ter inferences,” the Australian-borntycoon told Robert Jay, the counsel forthe inquiry, when he was asked abouthis ties to former Labour premierBlair. Blair is godfather to one of Mur-doch’s daughters.

“In ten years I never asked Mr Blairfor anything, nor indeed did I receiveany favours. If you want to check that Ithink you should call him,” Murdochsaid. When asked about phone-hackingand the use of private investigators bythe News of the World, Murdoch saidhe believed celebrities and politicianswere “not entitled to the same privacyas the ordinary man in the street.”

Murdoch denies seekingfavours from UK leaders

WASHINGTONafp

Mitt Romney effectively claimed the Re-publican presidential nomination as hereveled in a five-state primary sweep andurged voters to help him oust PresidentBarack Obama in November.

With wins Tuesday in Connecticut,Delaware, New York, Pennsylvania andRhode Island, according to US media fore-casts, Romney essentially kicked off hisgeneral election campaign after months oftangling with Republican rivals. “Tonightis the start of a new campaign,” Romneytold ecstatic supporters in New Hampshire— scene of his first Republican primaryvictory back in January and a potentiallypivotal general election battleground.“Tonight is the beginning of the end of the

disappointments of the Obama years —and it’s the start of a new and better chap-ter that we will write together.”

He trounced former House speakerNewt Gingrich and congressman Ron Paul,the two remaining Republicans in the race,in northeastern states that are largelyfriendly territory for Romney, a former gov-ernor of Massachusetts. Romney basked inthe glow of the clean sweep, and effectivelystaked his claim to the nomination. “After43 primaries and caucuses, many long daysand not a few long nights, I can say withconfidence — and gratitude — that you havegiven me a great honor and solemn respon-sibility,” Romney told supporters. “To-gether, we will win on November 6!”

Romney is still short of the 1,144 dele-gates needed to be crowned the official nom-inee at the Republican convention in late

August, but most campaign watchers aretreating him as the Democratic incumbent’schallenger. “The nomination struggle is over,”G. Terry Madonna, director of the Center forPolitics and Public Affairs at Franklin & Mar-shall College in Pennsylvania, told AFP.

After Tuesday, Madonna said, “hestays on that message. It’s the general elec-tion day in and day out.” Romney soughtto assure struggling Americans — “thethousands of good and decent AmericansI’ve met who want nothing more than abetter chance” — that he was the candidateready to fight for a fair and improvingeconomy. “To all of you, I have a simplemessage: hold on a little longer. A betterAmerica begins tonight,” he said, reprisingthe central theme of the Republican cam-paign — that Obama has failed to turnaround the US economy.

The Obama White House — which hastreated Romney as its main opponent formonths — also appeared to formally kickoff its general campaign. “Mitt Romney hasspent the past year out on the campaigntrail tearing down the president with a neg-ative message that even Republicans whohave endorsed him have criticized,” saidObama campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt.“This marks the end of that monologue.Now he must put his record and his agendanext to the president’s.” Obama’s support-ers have warned that Republicans wouldreturn to the policies of the George W.Bush administration, which it says favoredthe wealthy, worsened inequality andcaused the 2008 economic collapse.

“The title for Governor Romney’sspeech tonight should have been ‘Back tothe Future’ because he has proposed a re-

turn to the same policies that got us intothe economic crisis in the first place,”LaBolt said. Obama meanwhile swungthrough North Carolina and Colorado, twokey battlegrounds in the general election,where he called on Congress to act to pre-vent interest on federal student loans fromdoubling in July. Romney has 683 dele-gates, compared with 141 for Gingrich and84 for Paul, according to a tally by Real-ClearPolitics.com. Rick Santorum has 267delegates, but he bowed out of the race twoweeks ago. Santorum has declined as of yetto endorse Romney, but said Tuesday hewas hoping to meet with his former rival inthe coming weeks.

“I will support the nominee of ourparty,” Santorum told CNN during an in-terview in which he repeatedly declined todirectly endorse Romney.

Romney lays claim to nomination with 5-state sweep


thursday, 26 april, 2012

Page 21

Djokovic to skipSerbian open

LAHOREStaff RepoRt

THE Pakistan Cricket Board(PCB) has not given up itshope for a home series againstBangladesh. The PCB Tuesday

asked the Bangladesh Cricket Board(BCB) to keep it updated on the appealfiled in the high court against the peti-tion that sought cancellation ofBangladesh's cricket tour of Pakistan.The tour for ODI and Twenty20matches, slated to take place here thisweek, was postponed by the Dhaka High

Court for four weeks citingsecurity concerns. The highcourt took the decision ona petition of Dhaka uni-versity teacher KhandakerDidarus Salam to cancelthe tour on securitygrounds. The courtsaid it will reviewthe situation in amonth. The PCBsaid that the petitionagainst the tour wasdevoid of merit and notin public interest. "After pe-

rusing the copy of the writ pe-tition regarding Bangladesh

tour of Pakistan, pendingin Dhaka High Court Divi-

sion, PCB sent an officialcommunique to Bangladesh

Cricket Board (BCB)asking it to submitcopy of the courtorder and copy ofthe appeal (if any)

filed by BCB againstthe stay order," PCB

said in a statement."After perusal of the writ by

officials of PCB assisted by legal advisor,prima facie the writ petition is devoid ofmerits and has been filed against publicinterest which will be detrimental to thegame of cricket," the release said.

Had the tour gone ahead,Bangladesh would have been the first in-ternational team to tour Pakistan inthree years since the 2009 attack on theSri Lankan cricket team in Lahore.

For the last three years, Pakistan hasbeen a no-go zone for internationalteams and they had to play most of theirhome matches at neutral venues, mostlyin Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

PCB still hopefulabout Bangladesh series

LAHOREStaff RepoRt

The semi-final line-up in the 49, 52,56, 60 and 64 kgs weight categorieswere decided on day three of the34th Velo National Boxing Champi-onships being held here at the Pun-jab College Hall.

On Wednesday, bouts were heldin two sessions with the morning ses-sion witnessing the national goldmedalists reaching the last four with-out much difficulty while the secondsession was yet to start at the time offiling this report. Both the sessionshave 20 bouts each to be fought andsimilarly on Thursday the competi-tions will be held in two sessions with10 bouts each for either session.

The prominent boxers that madethrough to the last four includeMohib Barha of Police, MohammadNauman of Army, Naqubllah ofWapda, Mohammad Wasim ofWapda Nematullah of PAF, Khawarof Wapda, Nawaz Dad of Army,Faisal Khan of Army. Apart fromthese, those who reached the semi-finals include Sheroz, Abdul WaheedPAF, Hallar HEC, S Israr Sindh,Samiullah Navy, Kadir Khan Wapda,Mohammad Haroon Police, AmarNavy, Sanullah Balochistan, , AdnanPAF, Mohamamd Ali Navy.

Overall Army and Wapda aregoing neck and neck in the champi-onship. It was Wapda which camefrom behind to come on level termswith Army which was dominatingevent by the end of the first twodays. Navy is another team whichcarries a unique skill to surprisewith some of its boxers too makingthe semi-final round.

tHiRd daY ReSultS: 49kgs: Mohib Barha Police beat ObaidPAF on points 16-12; Sheroz Navy beatAzam Punjab 21-10; Mohamamd Nau-man Army beat Abdul Jabbar Balochis-tan 34-7; Naqeebullah Wapda beatShoaib Murad Rangers 20-1352kgs: Attaullah Police beat ImamFata retired first round; Abdul Wa-heed PAF beat Jamal Army 20-6;Mohamamd Waseem Wapda beatMohammad Asif Railways 33-7; Hal-lar HEC beat Shoaib Sindh 18-5.56kgs: S Israr Sindh beat KhawarMahmood Rangers 10-9; SamiullahNavy beat Mohammad Raza Rail-ways 20-9; Nematullah PAF beatSajjid Ali Army 21-11; KhawarWapda beat Asadullah HEC 13-6.60kg: Kadir Khan Wapda beat Fa-heem PAF 13-6; Mohammad HaroonPolice beat Fareed Khan KPK 17-11;

Amar Navy beat Asamatullah Rail-ways 30-14; Nawaz Dad Army beatMir Balaj Sindh 19-13.64kgs: Sanullah Balochistan beatFarhan Sindh rt 2nd rd; Faisal KhanArmy beat Jibran Rangers RSC OC2nd rd; Adnan PAF beat Sahib KhanWapda 20-14; Mohamamd Ali Navybeat A Pukar Police 9-5. Earlier on day two, Nawaz Dad ofArmy, Mir Balaj of Sindh, AdnanHasan of PAF, A Pukar of Police, Mo-hammad Ali of Navy, Arshad Hus-sain of PAF, Tanvir Ahmed of Navy,Faheem of Rangers, Zulqarnain ofArmy, Aamer Khan of Wapda, DurMohammad of Navy, Tayyab Usmaniof Islamabad, Shahid Khan of Pun-jab, Atif Mehmood of Army, AhmedAli of Army, Noor Ali of Rangers,Banyal of Islamabad, MohammadHassan, Riaz Ali and Naimatullahwon their respective bouts.

LAHOREStaff RepoRt

Former magician Abdul Qadir backed theidea of launching Pakistan Premier League(PPL) and stated that it would attract for-eign players and thus end the drought ofinternational cricket in the country.

The Pakistan Cricket Board is plan-ning to launch the PPL in October andwants to use the Twenty-20 competitionto show the world that the country is safefor cricket. Qadir, a former PCB chief se-lector, praised Chairman Zaka Ashraf forhis efforts to bring back internationalcricket to Pakistan and said the PPLwould help first-class players to improvetheir skills while playing along with inter-national players. “I am optimistic that

some very good international players willfeature in the PPL,” he hoped.

When asked about the Bangladesh’svisit to Pakistan was halted on securitygrounds, and it remains to be seen thathow the board will rope in foreign players,Qadir remarked: “It is not a team we areinviting this time but the players individu-ally who have to participate in the event.”

“When international players will comehere, then definitely finest securityarrangements would be provided to them,”Qadir said adding that since PCB has an-nounced to launch PPL, many national andinternational cricketers shown interest infeaturing in the tournament.

Former Sri Lanka captain SanathJayasuriya and retired Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds have expressed

their willingness to play in the tournament,however more confirmations are expected.

Qadir said PPL will definitely becomea centre of attention of people, investorsand surely for the PCB.

“Just see the Bangladesh PremierLeague (BPL), how successful it went, soPPL is just the beginning of a new era ofcricket in Pakistan,” he said. Respondingto a question, Qadir said the more teamsthere will be in the PPL, the more excitingit will get. “There should be 12 to 16 teamsin the PPL and the team’s names must bekept on the cities in Pakistan as to generatea rate of interest among the people,” hesaid. Qadir said for example local teamsshould pick players from their own citieswhile the international players should beobtained through biding process.

Wade keepsambitions incheck despitemaiden century

ROSEAUReuteRS

Australia wicketkeeper Matthew Wadehit an impressive maiden test century inthe third West Indies test on Tuesdaybut does not expect his achievement tochange his status as understudy to firstchoice Brad Haddin. Haddin had to giveup the gloves for this series for personalreasons and Wade has been accom-plished both behind the stumps and withthe bat. His ability as a batsman was il-lustrated with a sparkling 106 from 146balls which rallied Australia to 328 be-fore West Indies were reduced to 165 foreight by the close of the second day.Playing with aggression against ShaneShillingford's spin, that had caused theAustralian top order so much trouble,Wade showed his game is suited to thetest arena. But with Australia captainMichael Clarke making it clear thatHaddin remained his number one pickfor tests, Wade refused to let his evidentdelight at a first century lead him to putpressure on the skipper. "Hadds wassupposed to play this tour and I've comein and taken his spot from an unfortu-nate situation, personal reasons backhome that he has," Wade told reporters."So that's as far as I'm looking at it.We're playing these games then we'vegot a pretty big gap in test cricket fromthere and hopefully I can hold my spotin the one-dayers and go from there."Australia's next test match is at home toSouth Africa in November but Wade sayshis thoughts about his role in that serieshave not altered. "I don't think itchanges. My mindset definitely hasn'tchanged, there's a lot of one-day andTwenty20 cricket between... a lot ofwater under the bridge before the firsttest against South Africa at the Gabba,so I'll do my job and see how it goes."Pup (Clarke) said that Haddin is num-ber one in test cricket and that sits finewith me, I'm happy to fill the void for awhile and go and play some one daycricket." Wade, who has played in 16 oneday games for Australia, is featuring injust his third test match but said he hadnever questioned his ability to make thestep up. "I don't think I had any doubt Icould play test cricket. It's been a mas-sive tour for me, I've learned so muchfrom the first game we played... the one-dayers where the conditions were just sodifferent from what I'm used to. "It wasmore improving to get better. I felt I wasgood enough to play at this level if Icould just get things to go right for me."It was about improving the little things,the conditions were a massive thing andI brought my sweep, halfway through theone-day series I decided I'd use thesweep a lot more and I've brought thatwith me into the tests." Australia leadthe three-match series 1-0.

Patience key tounlocking WestIndies potential

ROSEAUReuteRS

West Indies were again guilty of letting astrong position slip from their grasp whenthey ended the second day of the third testagainst Australia 163 runs adrift, but theiryoung squad will be given a chance to de-velop. Australia's tail wagged to punish thehosts, recovering from 169 for seven toreach 328 all out before the Caribbeanmiddle order slumped as the home sidefell to 165-8. It was a disappointing day forthe Dominican crowd, who had hoped tosee Darren Sammy's young team push onfrom their promising work on Mondayand make a bid to tie the three-test series.Despite the setback, assistant coach TobyRadford said that his inexperienced teamwere going to be given a chance to provetheir potential. "These are young guys, tal-ented guys, who I think will have good ca-reers and we've got to be patient withthem," the Welshman said. "It's not sui-cide for us. You learn, you come back andare stronger. Hopefully we can go to Eng-land and then perform there," he said,looking ahead to the next action for WestIndies. Opening batsmen Adrian Barathand Kraigg Brathwaite have not been ableto give their team solid starts with just onehalf-century stand between them in thisseries. Brathwaite, who made his thirdconsecutive duck on Tuesday, is just 19-year-old, however, and his partner is onlythree years his senior. With DarrenBravo, 23, and Kieran Powell, 22, also inthe lineup, 37-year-old Shivnarine Chan-derpaul is the only top order batsmanwith extensive international experiece.Radford said the West Indies coachingstaff were working closely with BarbadianBrathwaite, who made a half-century inthe first test and is considered one of themost exciting prospects in the Caribbean."You chat with him. You talk with him.You practice with him whenever youcan and you remind him how good aplayer he is. He played very well in Bar-bados in that first innings," he said.

Semis line-up decidedin 34th National Boxing

‘PPL to help bring Int’l cricket back to Pakistan’


ROSEAUReuteRS

Australia lost opener Dave Warner cheaplybefore lunch on the third day of the thirdand final test on Wednesday after finallydismissing West Indies for 218 towards theend of a frustrating morning session. Thetourists, who at 18 for one still have a 128-run lead with nine wickets remaining,could face a tricky challenge against spinon a pitch offering plenty of turn.

Shivnarine Chandepaul's typically pa-tient 68 from 164 balls was the anchor in aWest Indies tail-end resistance than mus-tered 98 runs from the last two partner-ships. The Guyanese left-hander was wellsupported by Ravi Rampaul who moved to31 before an ill-judged attempt to hitagainst Nathan Lyon's off-spin resulted ina thick outside edge that was easily taken

by Warner. Last man Kemar Roach thenplayed his junior partner role well, adding32 with Chanderpaul before the latter wastrapped leg before to Mitchell Starc. De-spite the focused effort from the lowerorder West Indies still trailed by 110 runs

and their chances of a victory to level thethree-test series are remote. In the awk-ward 20 minutes batting time beforelunch, Australia lost Warner (11), whoedged an attempted drive off Roach intothe hands of Chanderpaul in the slips.

australia 1st innings 328(m. Wade 106, d. Warner 50; S. Shillingford 6-119)West indies 1st innings (165 for 8 overnight)a. Barath c cowan b lyon 29K. Brathwaite c Harris b Hilfenhaus 0K. powell b lyon 40d. Bravo c cowan b Warner 10S. chanderpaul lbw b Starc 68n. deonarine lbw b Harris 7c. Baugh c cowan b lyon 5d. Sammy run out (cowan) 10S. Shillingford b Starc 0R. Rampaul c Warner b lyon 31K. Roach not out 9extras (b1, lb2, w1, nb5) 9total (all out for; 87.2 overs) 218

fall of wickets: 1-1 (Brathwaite), 2-62 (Barath), 3-73 (Bravo), 4-85 (powell), 5-96 (deonarine), 6-103 (Baugh), 7-120 (Sammy),8-120 (Shillingford), 9-186 (Rampaul), 10-218 (chanderpaul)Bowling: Hilfenhaus 18-6-30-1, Starc 12.2-4-29-2 (3nb), Harris13-0-36-1 (1nb), Watson 4-0-12-0 (1w), lyon 33-7-69-4, Warner5-0-21-1, clarke 2-0-18-0 (1nb)australia 2nd inningsd. Warner c chanderpaul b Roach 11e. cowan not out 6S. Watson not out 0extras (nb1) 1total (1 wickets for; 4 overs) 18fall of wickets: 1-17 (Warner)Bowling: Rampaul 2-0-13-0, Roach 2-0-5-1toss: australia, umpires: marais erasmus (RSa), tony Hill (nZl),third umpire: ian gould (eng), match referee: Jeff crowe (nZl)

ScoReBoaRd

Sports 19thursday, 26 April, 2012

LAHOREStaff RepoRt

PAKISTAN’S future hope andDavis Cupper Samir Iftikharsaved two set points toprove himself an asset for

University of New Mexico Lobos at theNCAA (Division 1) Tennis Circuit bywinning his crucial decider conferencematch against Will Stein of TexasChristian University Horned Frogsheld at Dallas Fort Worth 7-6 6-3.

The both teams were tied up atthree-match all and the crucial win bySamir for UNM enabled them to qual-ify for important NCAA Division-IConference Tournament being held atSan Diego California from April 27 to29 where the best regional teams willcontest for place in season endingNCAA Play offs.

Samir saved 2 set points at 5/6 inthe first set and won the first set in tiebreak 7/6 without conceding a point(7/0) with display of powerful groundstrokes and passing shots.

He never let Settle Stein in the sec-ond set and won 6/3 by obtaining earlybreak. The 19-year-old youngster whois on 4-Year Athletic cum EducationalScholarship is flying Pakistan’s Flag

high at the USA University in academ-ics and tennis alike where he achieved3.75 GPR in the last semester and woncrucial matches for University and re-cently won 3 set Marathon 7-5, 6-7, 6-2 match last week against RickeyBaylon of San Diego State University .

Samir said: “The highly competitiveNCAA University Tennis has reallyhelped me lift my game and am working

very hard at tennis and studies. I amaiming for 4.0 GPR this semester.”

“I hope that PTF, Govt, and corpo-rate sector will sponsor me for ITF Fu-ture tournaments this summer whichwill really help me to gain experienceand bring laurels to Pakistan. I also liketo thank MEPCO for their continuedsupport in pursuing his career in Ten-nis and Education,” he maintained.

Samir shines forNew Mexico varsity

Aligarh, ludhiana,Appolo wingroup matches

LAHOREStaff RepoRt

In group matches of Sprite LahoreCricket, Aligarh beat Model Town, Lud-hiana beat Muslimabad Gymkhana andAppolo beat Baqa Jelani club. At Ittefaq Ground LCCA Aligarh beatModel Town club by 20 runs with themethod of better run rate. Model Townscored 260/9 by bating first in 50 oversM Mohsin scored 80, Saad Naseem made44 and Mustafa Iqbal remained unbeatenwith 39 runs Shakeel Malik and RehanRauf shared 3 wicket each for Aligarh Inreply, Aligarh scored 222/3 in 39 oversbefore rain started Umer Javed scoredunbeaten 65 and Shakeel Malik con-tributed of 64 runs Shakeel Malik an-nounced man of the match. At LCCAground Ludhiana beat Muslimabad by 88runs. Ludhiana bowled out for 316 in49.5 overs by batting first Adnan Razascored 90, Umer Siddiq 62 and AdnanButt scored 55 runs Khuram Humayungrabbed 3 wickets for Muslimabad Gym.In reply Muslimabad Gym bowled out for228 in 39.2 overs Tanzeel Altaf scored 68and Khurram Humayun contributed 67runs. Faisal Rasheed grabbed 4 and AliAslam took 3 wickets for Ludhiana ClubAt Imtiaz Academy ground Appolo beatBaqa Jelani club by 6 wickets. Baqa Je-lani scored 239/6 in 50 overs AmeerHamid scored unbeaten 74 and ImranAhmed Naeem scored 68 runs M Shah-baz and Agha Sharoze shared 2 wicketseach Appolo successfully chased the tar-get in 42.3 overs just for the loss of 4wickets Ghulam Zafar scored 91 not outand Agha Salman scored 74 runs

tauseef Club outplayAlhamra Club

LAHOREStaff RepoRt

Tauseef Club outplayed Alhamra club by5 wickets in the second phase of theLCCA Super League at Iteefaq ground. ScoReS: Alhamra Club 232 in 46 overs. Malik Bilal 42,Umer Shafiq 30, Inayat Saeed 44, Behroz faisal 35(no),fahad Imran 13. Sheraz Baig 3/33, Sher Baz Khan 3/45,Israr Baig 1/43, M Awais Manzoor 1/37. tauseef Club236/5 in 46.5 overs. Shehzad Muhayudin 53, M Ahmed44, Waqas Khan 29, Sher Baz Khan 11, Ibrar Baig 24,Israr Baig 23(No),Junaid Mudassar 21(no). Shezad Mirza3/34, faisal hAssan 1/36, Sajid 1/46.

Peterson, Rayudupickpocket Kings XI Punjab

MOHALI: Robin Peterson borrowed shots from hisnamesake, Kevin Pietersen, as he played a cameo punctu-ated with switch hits on his IPL debut to snatch victory forthe Mumbai Indians. Peterson scored 15 runs off four ballsin the penultimate over and Ambati Rayudu smacked twosixes to cost Kings XI 27 runs. The pair took Mumbai froma position where victory seemed unlikely, with 32 runsneeded of 12 balls, to where it became an obvious conclu-sion with only five runs to get in the last over. After allow-ing Kings XI Punjab to post their highest total in IPL 2012with a bowling effort that was dominated by deliveries thatwere too short, Mumbai were favourites to win when RohitSharma was at the crease, marching to his half-century.Parvinder Awana swung the pendulum back towards KingsXI with a double strike in his final over - the 18th - inwhich he removed both Sharma and Harbhajan Singh. ScoReS: Mumbai Indians 171 for 6 (Sharma 50, Awana 3-39) beat Kings XI

Punjab 168 for 3 (hussey 68*, Miller 34*) by four wickets. cRicinfo

Defeat slows lazioChampions league push

ROMEafp

Lazio missed a glorious chance to strengthentheir grip on third place in Serie A onWednesday after losing 2-1 at relegation-threatened Novara. A beautifully-struck free-kick from substitute Giuseppe Mascara 11minutes from time gave Novara a win that islikely to only delay their return to the secondtier. The home side had taken a first-half leadcourtesy of an own-goal from Modibo Di-akite, but Lazio pulled level when AntonioCandreva turned in the rebound after StefanoMauri's shot had been saved. Novara remaineight points from safety before 17th-placedGenoa kick off later on against AC Milan.Udinese can move level on 55 points withLazio by beating Inter Milan later, with thetwo rivals for the final qualifying position fornext season's Champions League set to meeton Sunday. Lazio's defeat also gives Napoliand Roma new hope of snatching third place.Elsewhere later, Serie A leaders Juventustravel to Cesena. Wednesday's matches arethose rescheduled from April 14, when theentire Italian league programme was can-celled after Livorno's Piermario collapsed anddied during a 2nd division game at Pescara.

Aussies lose Warner after Windies resistance

MohAlI: Kings XI Punjab Bowler Azhar Mahmood (C) celebratesthe wicket of Mumbai Indians Batsman Sachin tendulkar withteammates during the IPl twenty20 match. AFP


Sports20thursday, 26 April, 2012

VALKENBURG: Belgiancyclists Sep Vanmarcke,Kevin De Weert, PhilippeGilbert, Nick Nuyens, TomBoonen and Dries Devenynscompete during the trackreconnaissance of theBelgian cycling team for theworld championship. AFP

MOScOWafp

Russia's 2004 Olympics long jump silver medalistIrina Meleshina was banned for two years on Tuesdayby the Russian Athletics Federation after she testedpositive for testosterone. "The banned substancetestosterone was found in Irina Meleshina's sample,taken from the sportswoman in testing outside com-petition on February 7, 2012," the All-Russia AthleticsFederation said in a statement on its website.Meleshina, 29, has been disqualified for two yearsstarting from February 21, the federation said.RUSSIA BANS OLYMPIC LONGjUMPER: Russiaon Tuesday said it had banned Olympic silver medal-winning long jumper Irina Meleshina for two years aftershe tested positive for testosterone. "The banned sub-stance testosterone was found in Irina Meleshina's sam-ple, taken from the sportswoman in testing outsidecompetition on February 7, 2012," the All-Russia Ath-letics Federation said in a statement on its website.Meleshina, 29, has been disqualified for two years start-ing from February 21, the federation said. She won a sil-

ver medal in the 2004 Olympics in Athens.BRITISH SLEDDER POSITIVE FOR BANNEDSUBSTANCE: A British bobsleigh competitor hastested positive for a banned substance, it was announcedWednesday. UK Anti-Doping (UKAD) informed the ath-lete on February 28 and imposed a provisional suspen-sion, pending a hearing. However, the athlete will notbe named by authorities until their case is assessed fullyand a verdict delivered. If found guilty, the com-petitor is likely to receive a two-year banwhich would see them barred from the2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia."This gives a very clear mes-sage to athletes that youwill be regularly testedto ensure a clean andfair sport," GB Bob-sleigh performance di-rector Gary Andersontold the BBC on Wednes-day. "The athlete now has the opportunity to respond tothe charge, including the right to a full hearing and test-ing of their B sample," Anderson added. "British Bob-

sleigh will not be making any further comment on theissue until after the full process of investigation has beencompleted." Under the current British Olympic Associa-tion (BOA) doping by-law, a guilty verdict would alsomake any athlete ineligible to represent Team GB at all

future Winter Games. However,this stance is currently being

challenged by the World Anti-Doping Association(WADA), with the Court ofArbitration for Sport set to

deliver its ruling next week.WADA insist the by-law is

"non-compliant" with their global char-ter on anti-doping, which states an ath-lete found guilty of taking a prohibited

substance should be given a two-yearban, and amounts to an extra punishment.

TWO jAILED FOR DEFRAUDING LON-DON GAMES: A British judge jailed two men onTuesday for a scheme to defraud the Olympic DeliveryAuthority (ODA) of £2.3 million ($3.7 million, 2.8 mil-lion euros). Abayomi Olowo, 48, was jailed for four and

a half years after being found guilty of four charges ofmoney laundering and Ayodele Odukoya, 42, was jailedfor three years and nine months after he was convictedon three counts. The pair sent a letter sent to the ODA-- the body overseeing the construction of Olympic ven-ues -- falsely claiming to be from Skanska, a contract-ing firm carrying out work on the Olympic Park in eastLondon, Southwark Crown Court heard.

The letter said the company's bank details hadchanged, and in May 2010 the authority paid £2.3million into a bank account which was held by a thirdman, Ansumara Kamara. It later managed to recover£2.14 million and contacted the police.

Scotland Yard said the men were trying to laun-der the money in Nigeria before transferring it backto Britain where they would use it to buy a commer-cial property. Kamara, 32, who was described in courtas a ringleader, pleaded guilty last yaer and was jailedfor three and a half years. Judge Martin Beddoe, sen-tencing Odukoya and Olowo, said: "As the jury hasfound, both of you were ready and willing partici-pants in the scheme to launder £2.3 million stolenfrom the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA).

LAHOREStaff RepoRt

“Since 2004 Pakistan Football Federation(PFF), under the dynamic leadership ofMakhdoom Syed Faisal Saleh Hayat, hadbeen carrying out all football activitiescentrally based upon PFF Annual Calen-dar,” said Secretary PFF Lt. Col. AhmedYar Khan Lodhi TI (M). “Resultantly, PFFwas able to carry out 30 times more activ-ities in last 8 Years as compared to the cor-responding eight years of the old PFF setup”, he said during the seminar on “Foot-ball activity at District/Province level forPunjab” at Football House Lahore.

The main purpose of this seminar isto help representative provinces and dis-tricts to carryout their own football activ-ities including districts and provincialleagues, women leagues and youth foot-ball development activities, PFF has de-cided to hold subject seminar in all thefour provinces and this is the first seminarfor Punjab province convened at Football

House Lahore attended by all the presi-dents and general secretaries of all districtfootball associations of Punjab. Lodhi saidthat in order to further accelerate footballactivities, PFF congress decided in itsmeeting held on 17th Sept, 2011, that innext 4 years, Provincial and District Foot-ball Association must carryout their activ-ities by generating financial resourcesthemselves. To address the problems atdistrict level, participants put forward aseries of recommendations regarding thelong-term development of football at dis-

trict level, which focused on improvingthe governance of the sport; raising thestandard of professional and "national"teams; improving training for young play-ers; upgrading football facilities and es-tablishing football training centres. Theparticipants of the seminar consideredthat PFF should take a leading role inlocal football development, with the Gov-ernment providing appropriate supportin a well-coordinated manner, includingthe allocation of resources and the devel-opment of football venues.

U-21 Women’shockey from today

LAHOREStaff RepoRt

The secondedition of U-21 Women’sHockeyChampi-onship will beplayed at Na-tional HockeyStadium fromApril 26 toMay 6, inwhich 8 (eight) female hockey teams fromall over Pakistan will participate. TheOpening Ceremony will be held on 26thApril 2012 at 1500 hours. Mian Muham-mad Shahbaz Sharif, Chief Minister Punjabwill be the chief guest on the occasion.Deputy Speaker, Punjab Rana MashoodAhmad Khan, will be chief guest in case thechief minister did not make the occasion.

Punjab clinch men,ladies RokhriBadminton team titles

LAHOREStaff RepoRt

Punjab Green defeated KhyberPakhtunkhwa 3-1 to win the men’s teamevent of the 14th All Pakistan AamerHayat Khan Rokhri Badminton Champi-onship 2012. The only player from K.PHaroon beat Amir Saeed of Punjab instraight sets by the score of 21 – 15, 21 –19. Punjab Ladies Team made a cleansweep and beat Railway by the score of3 – 0. Ghazala Siddique of Punjab wonboth her singles and doubles againstRailways. In the ladies singles, First andSecond rounds were completed. Pal-washa Basheer of National Bank the topseed won easier against Javairia Tahir ofPunjab by the score of 21 – 2, 21 – 8.otHeR ReSultS aRe:ladieS SingleS: Nida Sarwar (Railway) beat SahrishSheikh (lahore) by the score of 21 – 4, 21 – 14.Mehmoona Ameer (Punjab) beat Aqsa (K.P) by thescore of 21 – 17, 21 – 11. Gahazala Siddique (Sindh) beatSalma Sharif (Railway) by the score of 21 – 10, 21 – 9.Sofia Mughal (Sindh) beat farnaz Iqbal (Sindh) by thescore of 21 – 10, 21 – 12. Sara Mohmand (National Bank)beat zainab Ejaz(Punjab) by the score of 21 – 9, 21 – 13.men’S SingleS: haroon Rahman beat Shoaib Ashrafby the score of 21 – 15, 21 -17. Aoun Abbas (Punjab)beat Umer Sarfaraz (Daska) by the score of the 21 –13, 21 – 19. Shoaib hafeez(Punjab) beat hasnainBaig(Baluchistan) by the score of 21 – 17, 21 – 16. Rajahasnain (Punjab) beat Abdul Muqeet by the score of21 -17, 21 – 18. Subhan hanif beat Usman by the scoreof 21-16, 21-15. hayat Ullah beat talha by the score of21-13, 21-17. over two hundred players from all overPakistan are participating in this Championship whichincluded PMAD, National Bank of Pakistan, AJK, fAtAand Gilgit Baltistan. finals will be held on April 29.

PU win WomenCycling title

LAHOREStaff RepoRt

Punjab University won the 1st HECWomen Cycling Championship with195points and Lahore College Women Uni-versity with 165 Points was runner-up.Shaeed Banazir Bhatto Women Univer-sity Peshawar secured the third positionwith 82 points and Superior Universitywas 4thwith 37 points. The best cyclist ofChampionship Miss Sidra from PunjabUniversity and Miss Mehwish iqbalFastest Cyclist also from Punjab Univer-sity. The chief guest for closing ceremonywas Mr. Idris Haider Khawaj SecretaryGeneral Pakistan Cycling Federation whodistributed prizes and trophies to thewinners. On the last day of championshiptwo events were finalized. tHe ReSultS:-Elimination Race: Razia Punjab University, Mariya la-

hore College University, Aysha Shaheed Bazir Bhattio

University, Anita Superior University

5km road team time trial:

Punjab University, lahore College University, Shaheed

Bazir Bhattio University, Superior University, Karachi

University

oVeRall poSition1st Punjab University 195 Points

2nd lahore College University 165 Points

3rd Shaheed Bazir Bhattio University 82 Points

4th Superior University 37 Points

5th Islamic Int University Islamabad 29 Points

6th U.E.t texila / Karachi University 8 Points

lAhoRE: the participants of seminar on football Activity at District Providence levelfor Punjab at football house lahore.

PFF holds seminar for soccer uplift

Olympic long jump silver medalist banned


Sports 21thursday, 26 April, 2012

wATch IT LIve

GEO SUPERIPL-5: Pune Warriorsv Deccan Chargers07:30PMTEN SPORTSThrid Test: West Indiesv Australia06:00PM

BARcELONAafp

Australia's Bernard Tomic bowed outof the Barcelona Open in the secondround on Wednesday after losing amarathon battle to Spanish clay spe-cialist Albert Montanes 6-0, 5-7, 7-5.

Tomic, ranked 15 for the tourna-ment and who at just 19 was theyoungest man in the field, put up atough fight against his 30-year-old op-ponent, who has won all five of hisATP career trophies on clay.

The teenager, who began the sea-son by progressing to the Australian

Open fourth round, spent two hours 15minutes on centre court at the RealClub de Tenis at an event which RafaelNadal has won six times in the lastseven years.

Stuttgart-born Tomic's showingduplicated his second round last weekin Monte Carlo as he began his pre-French Open build-up with a debutappearance in Barcelona.

After losing the first set compre-hensively, he began fighting in the sec-ond to level at one set each andcontinued in the third, forcing Mon-tanes to save match points in the 10thgame as the desperate Spaniard finally

held for five-all. Montanes then got abreak for 6-5 and closed out the matcha game later. Tomic put Montanesunder heavy pressure, forcing the vet-eran to save 13 of the 16 break pointshe faced, with the Australian losingserve six times. Spanish third seedDavid Ferrer made up for his surpriseopening defeat last week in MonteCarlo, crushing Sebian wild card FilipKrajinovic 6-0, 6-3.

Ferrer is more than comfortable atthe event and has lost in the final toNadal in three of the last four years.

Krajinovic underwent shouldersurgery last July and his openinground win was his first on the ATPTour since a Belgrade semi-finalnearly two years ago.

Elsewhere, Santiago Giraldo ofColombia defeated Monte Carlo quar-ter-finalist Robin Haase of the Nether-lands 6-4, 6-3.

Japan's eighth seed Kei Nishikoridemonstrated his growing confidenceon the clay with a battling 6-3, 4-6, 6-0 defeat of Kazakhstan's MikhailKukushkin which took just under twohours.

Nishikori has duplicated his third-round Barcelona showing from a yearago and next faces either Spain's Al-bert Ramos or Frenchman BenoitPaire. "It was an awful match," saidNishikori. "It was very windy and weboth made so many errors. After threeor four balls, someone would make amistake.

"It was my first match and I was abit tight, he had already played amatch. I really had to concentrate a lotbut I have to handle the conditionsbetter. "It was Ok to win but it was atough day for me."

Canadian Milos Raonic, the num-ber 11 seed, raced through the secondset to beat Igor Andreev 6-4, 6-1 whileSouth African 13th seed Kevin Ander-son advanced over Federico Delbonisof Argentina 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (7/5).

Australia’s Tomic goesdown battling in Barcelona

STUTTGARTafp

US Open winner SamanthaStosur said she was happywith her start toStuttgart's WTA clay-

court tournament on Tuesday after see-ing off China's Shuai Peng in straightsets. The 28-year-old Australian, who isthe fifth seed here, needed less than anhour to see off Peng 6-2, 6-2 and wasrarely tested by her Chinese opponentin her first round tie. Having helpedAustralia to a 3-2 Fed Cup win overGermany on Stuttgart's clay courts overthe weekend, Stosur has been here forseveral days and, after winning bothher Fed Cup singles matches, is happywith her form on the surface.

"It was good, I thought I playedwell and served well, it was nice to getthrough in straight sets," said Bris-

bane-born Stosur. "It was handy tohave been here a week already,whereas a lot of the other girls wereonly arriving from Fed Cup on Mon-day night. "Sometimes the bestpreparations don't equate to the bestperformance, but you aren't going tocomplain about playing Fed Cup inthe same place as your next event.

"I played well over the weekendand managed to keep that goingtoday, so far so good as far as theclay-court goes, so I am feelinggood." In the second round, Stosurwill face Germany's Julia Goerges,the defending champion, who neededthree sets to see off Russia's Anasta-sia Pavlyuchenkova 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 aftermore than two hours.

"I had a long three-setter againstJulia in the semi-final here last yearand it will be extra hard playing aGerman here, said Stosur.

Djokovic to skipSerbian open

BELGRADEafp

World number one Novak Djokovic saidWednesday he will skip the Serbian Open,where he is defending champion, next weekin a bid to recharge his batteries ahead of theclay Masters in Madrid. "I have decided notto take part in the Serbian Open to try getsome much needed rest. This is probablyone of the most difficult decisions I havemade in my career," Djokovic said in a state-ment on his website. "But it is impossible forme to play in the coming days and think oftennis when other things are on my mind."Djokovic lost to Spain's Rafael Nadal onSunday in the Monte Carlo final, where hesaid he had trouble concentrating after thedeath of his grandfather last week. The Ser-

bian Open is held from April30 to May 6, with total prizemoney of 418,700 euros($551,507).

Stosur breezesinto Stuttgart’ssecond round



28

Published by Arif Nizami for Nawa Media Corporation (Pvt) Ltd at Qandeel Printing Press, 4 Queens Road, Lahore. Editor: Arif Nizami, Executive Editor: Sarmad Bashir

ISLAMABADmaSood ReHman

The Supreme Court on Wednesday directedthe attorney general to accelerate effortsand positively produce by May 10 lost re-ports of the inquiry commission on ‘MehranBank and Habib Bank’, as these reportswould ultimately decide fate of the case.

A three-member bench of Chief JusticeIftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, JusticeKhilji Arif Hussain and Justice TariqParvez was hearing a petition filed by AirMartial (r) Asghar Khan 16 years agoagainst distribution of million of rupees ofpublic money by the Inter-Services Intelli-gence (ISI) among anti-PPP politicians tomanipulate the 1990 election. The case iscommonly known as the Asghar Khan case

and Mehran Bank scandal.At the onset of hearing, the court re-

jected a report submitted by the InteriorMinistry on the Mehran Bank scam. Thecourt termed the report unacceptable, say-ing it was based on memoirs of InteriorMinister Rehman Malik. The report quotedMalik as saying that he was delegated theresponsibility to investigate into theMehran Bank scam by then interior minis-ter Naseerullah Babar, however, the reportsof those investigations were no longer avail-able. In compliance with the court’s earlierorder, Naveeda Noor, IB assistant director(Legal), presented before the court a sealedreport containing the accounts of Intelli-gence Bureau for the years 2008-09. Thecourt had summoned this report from IB inresponse to a news report that in 2009, an

amount of Rs 270 million was taken outfrom the account of IB for the purposes oftoppling the Punjab government.

The court opened the report for exami-nation and after examining it, got it sealedagain and directed that it be kept on recordin safe custody. After having gone throughthe report, the court made the IB directorgeneral as party in the case and directedhim to file his concise statement over the al-legations about spending of the amount fortoppling the Punjab government in 2009.

Appearing on notice, Attorney GeneralIrfan Qadir told the court that despite se-rious efforts ‘Mehran Bank and HabibBank Inquiry Commission’ reports, couldnot be traced out. He said in compliancewith the court’s March 30, 2012 order forrecovery of these reports, he convened a

meeting with Interior Minister RehmanMalik, which was also attended by the in-terior secretary, but the reports had notbeen found available with the ministry, ex-cept the report which was based on mem-ory of the then FIA director RehmanMalik. The court noted that perhaps underthe law such report was not acceptable.

The attorney general, however, statedthat he was trying his level best and en-sured the court that all efforts would bemade to trace the missing reports in the In-terior Ministry as well as the Law Ministry.

Salman Akram Raja, counsel for As-ghar Khan, told the court that Hamid Mir,a senior anchor person of Geo TV, had con-tacted him and informed him that he pos-sessed the reports, which were said to havebeen lost. He also stated that he could re-

quest Hamid Mir to place the reports onrecord. The court allowed him to do so.

The court noted that Gen (r) MirzaAslam Beg in his concise statement hadalso taken the position of possessingknowledge about the distribution of hugeamount and maintaining the account bythe ISI. The court noted that from the con-cise statement, a common factor tran-spired that a full account was maintainedand all the payments made by then ISI di-rector general were kept in this accountand no amount was misappropriated ormisused. Mazhar Ali Chaudhry, a repre-sentative of NAB, told the court that he wascollecting the record in respect of the casein which Younas Habib had entered incompromise/plea-bargain. He said for thisexercise some time was required.

ISLAMABAD\WASHINGTONStaff RepoRt

Civil and military top brass onWednesday night fine-tuned the strat-egy for talks to be held with US repre-sentative Marc Grossman who hasarrived here to discuss Pak-US rela-tions scheduled to be held today(Thursday).

At a high-level meeting held at thePM’s House under the chairmanship ofPrime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, thecountry’s top leadership decided thatNATO supply routes would not be re-opened as the US administration wasreluctant to offer formal apology to Pak-istan on the Salala checkpost attacks,Pakistan Today has learnt reliably.

A source confided that the meetingdecided that the NATO supplies’ matterwould be put on hold until the upcom-ing visit of US by Foreign Minister HinaRabbani Khar and her talks with her UScounterpart, Hillary Clinton. Grossmanwould hold separate meetings withPresident Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Min-ister Gilani, Foreign Minister HinaRabbani Khar and Foreign SecretaryJalil Abbas Jilani today. Grossman andJilani are also likely to address jointpress conference.GROSSMAN ARRIVES FORTALKS US special envoy toAfghanistan and Pakistan, MarcGrossman landed in Islamabad on

Wednesday night in an effort to re-boot ties between Pakistan and theUS. “This is a bilateral consultationabout how we can improve our rela-tionship along all of the lines that havebeen difficult,” State Departmentspokeswoman Victoria Nuland toldreporters.

Nuland declined to go into detailabout whether Grossman would dis-cuss all of Pakistan’s demands butsaid: “I think he’s open to workingthrough the results of the parliamen-tary review with the Pakistani govern-ment.” “We had been waiting for thatreview to be concluded before wecould fully re-engage. So this is ouropportunity to do that,” she said.

A number of other US officialshave visited Pakistan in recent weeksin hopes of rebuilding ties, includingtop military commander GeneralMartin Dempsey, aid chief Rajiv Shahand Deputy Secretary of State TomNides. Separately, the United Statesrefrained from criticizing Pakistan fortesting a nuclear-capable intermedi-ate range missile on Wednesday, lessthan a week after a similar launch byPakistan’s arch-rival India. Nulandsaid the United States would offer “thesame message that we gave at the timeof the Indian test — that we urge allnuclear-capable states to exercise re-straint regarding nuclear and missilecapabilities.”

Pakistan successfullytest-fires nuclearcapable missile


Pakistan on Wednesday successfullylaunched an upgraded ballistic missilecapable of carrying a nuclear warheadjust a few days after India conducted itsown missile test of a nuclear-capable,long-range missile, Agni-V. The Hatf IVShaheen-1A missile was launched intothe sea, said an ISPR statement issuedhere after the missile test. The missilewas described as an intermediate-rangemissile having a longer range than itspredecessor, Shaheen-1, which is believedto fly up to 465 miles. “The improvedversion of Shaheen-1A will furtherconsolidate and strengthen Pakistan’sdeterrence abilities,” said Lt General (r)Khalid Ahmed Kidwai, who witnessed thelaunch of the missile. India hadannounced last Thursday that it hadsuccessfully test-launched a new nuclear-capable, long-range missile, the Agni-V,which has the range of 3,100 miles. Thenew missile test by Islamabad wasdescribed by western media as a responseon part of Islamabad to New Delhi’sAgni-V test. However, a security officialhere belied those reports saying that wasnot the case as the latest test was planneddays ago and more over both Islamabadand New Delhi notified each prior to suchtests in accordance with an agreement ofadvance notification of ballistic missiletests. The ISPR statement said, “Pakistantoday successfully conducted the launchof the intermediate Range BallisticMissile Hatf IV Shaheen-1A WeaponSystem. The missile is an improvedversion of Shaheen-1 with improvementsin range and technical parameters. It iscapable of carrying nuclear andconventional warheads.”

Mehran Bank report: SC won’t take no for an answer

Top brass discussstrategy for talks with US

attocK: a bomb disposal squad official defuses a 15-kg bomb that was found in a briefcase on board a peshawar-bound train

at attock Railway Station on Wednesday. ONLINE

Train bomb defused in PeshawarISLAMABAD: Police defused a bomb on a passenger train in Peshawar onWednesday, officials said, hours after a blast at a station in Lahore killed four peo-ple, including two minor children. A guard found the bomb in a briefcase in theearly hours of the morning on the train from Karachi to Peshawar. “The bomb fit-ted with detonator and batteries was packed with old clothes in a briefcase lyingunattended in one of the coaches of the Awam Express,” police officer MazharAbbas told AFP. The train guard found the briefcase after a wedding party gotdown from the train at Attock station, he said. “The guard checked from the wed-ding party members and remaining passengers in the coach but nobody claimed itsownership.” A bomb disposal squad was then summoned who defused the device,he said. Mohammed Sajjad, a police investigation official, told AFP the bomb car-ried 13 kilograms of explosives as well as ball bearings and some nuts and bolts.“Luckily a major tragedy has been averted,” he added. AFP


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e-paper pakistantoday 26th april, 2012