Monday, 8 April, 2013 Jamadi ul Awwal 26, 1434Rs 17.00 Vol III No 281 19 Pages Karachi — Peshawar Edition

BALOCH WON’T ACCEPTANYHING AT GUNPOINT

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Taj MuhammadLangah passes away Pakistan Seraiki Party chief TajMuhammad Langah, 72, died of cardiacarrest on Sunday. Langah held an iconicstatus in south Punjab and the entireSeraiki people. He had been active for theformation of the separate province for theSeraiki belt and had been rallying for thisdemand for decades. His objectives werenot ethnic or racist, but purely for thebetterment of the people of the area.

PERVAIZ ASHRAF’SCANDIDACY PAPERSrejected

Scrutiny to continueeven after polls: ECPWith poll candidates heaving a sigh ofrelief following the completion of initialscrutiny of nomination papers, the ECPon Sunday said it reserved the right todisqualify any candidate found ofhaving misrepresented credentials,even after elections.

President Asif Ali Zardari onSunday said the conduct of theElection Commission of Pakistan(ECP) and returning officers(ROs) while scrutinisingnomination papers of electioncandidates has beeninappropriate. President Zardariopined he would stay quiet overthe RO’s and ECP issue, so thatthe task of the caretaker setupwas made easier and democracyin the country was allowed toprogress forward.

{Behaviour ofROs and ECP inappropriate

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STORY ON PAGE 03Punjab govt reshuffles beuraucrats, policemen

Heavyweights makeit past ECP scrutinySeveral key figures in the country’s politics got their nominations papers

for the upcoming elections accepted on Sunday, including PML-N chief

Nawaz Sharif, his brother Shahbaz Sharif, former president Pervez

Musharraf and Awami Muslim League chief Sheikh Rashid Ahmed.

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Scrutiny tocontinue evenafter PoLLS: ecP ISLAMABAD: The ElectionCommission of Pakistan (ECP)completed initial scrutiny ofnomination papers filed by allcandidates for the upcoming generalelection on Sunday, however, theelection watchdog reserved withitself the right to disqualify anycandidate found of havingmisrepresented, even after elections.Talking to reporters on Sunday‚ ECPAdditional Secretary Afzal Khan saidscrutiny would continue even afterthe general elections. The ElectionCommission of Pakistan has warnedthat despite the acceptance ofnomination papers and success inthe polls‚ if any candidate was foundinvolved in fraud‚ he or she would bedisqualified. Khan said that the ECPhad asked the caretakergovernments not to appoint partialpeople on important posts. He alsosaid the ECP had acquired theservices of FBR official JunaidIkraam to help evaluate the financialand tax returns of the contestingcandidates. Meanwhile, the ECPdirected National AccountabilityBureau (NAB), State Bank ofPakistan (SBP) and Federal Board ofRevenue (FBR) to post all details ofcandidates on their websites withintwo 12 hours. ECP AdditionalSecretary Afzal Khan issued thesedirections on Sunday. He said allrelevant information about theelection candidatesshould be uploaded on the websitesof SBP, NADRA, FBR and NAB so thatthe people could know about thedetails. AGENCIES

cjP quitS bencHHearing caSeSagainStMuSHarrafISLAMABAD: The Supreme Courton Sunday changed the three-memberbench for hearing cases againstformer president General (r) PervezMusharraf, as Chief Justice IftikharMuhammad Chaudhry quitted hearingthe cases against the former militarychief. According to media reports, thetwo-member SC bench headed byJustice Jawad S Khwaja would hearthe cases against Pervez Musharraftoday (Monday). Justice Khilji ArifHussain is the second member of thebench. The two-member will hear thefive petitions against Musharraf.Earlier, three-member bench of SCheaded by Chief Justice IftikharMuhammad Chaudhry had to hear thecases, however, the bench wasreconstituted on Sunday. ONlINE

MQM’s preference is toremove feudalism from thecountry — Farooq Sattar

ISLAMABAD/LAHORESTAFF REPORT/AGENCIES

SEVERAL key figures in thecountry’s politics got theirnominations papers for theupcoming elections acceptedon Sunday, including PML-N

chief Nawaz Sharif, his brother ShahbazSharif, former president Pervez Musharrafand Awami Muslim League chief SheikhRashid Ahmed.

In Lahore, the returning officer ofNA-120 accepted the nomination papersof former prime minister Nawaz Sharifand declared him eligible for contestingthe election.

The RO had earlier heard objectionsagainst Nawaz’s candidature and reservedhis judgement.

Later, all objections against him wererejected by the RO.

The objection included contentionthat Nawaz left for Saudi Arabia afterstriking a deal with Pervez Musharraf.

Rejecting the objections against thenomination of Sheikh Rashid Ahmed forNA-55 Rawalpindi, the returning officerapproved him to contest the election.

Habib Wahabul Khairi, a citizen, hadobjected that Sheikh Rashid declared him-self a bachelor despite the fact that he se-cretly married in 1996 in Birmingham.

The returning officer for NA-129 La-hore constituency accepted the nomina-tion papers of former Punjab chiefminister Shahbaz Sharif and declared himeligible to contest the election.

All objections against Shahbaz wererejected by the RO.

On the other hand, nomination papersof former military ruler Pervez Musharrafwere rejected by the Election Commissionfrom NA-250 Karachi, but Musharraf gota go ahead to contest polls by the RO forNA-32 Chitral. Several lawyers, politi-cians including former Karachi mayorNaimatullah Khan and two military offi-cers had filed objections over the papersof the former president.

Akhtiyar Ali Channa advocate andrival candidate from NA-250 NaimatUllah Khan Advocate, who is formermayor of Karachi, had raised objectionsagainst Musharraf’s candidature injudges sacking case.

In their objection, they stated thatMusharraf was ineligible to contest elec-tions since he was facing several cases.

After hearing arguments, RO SyedIkram Urrehman rejected nomination pa-pers filed by the former military ruler andchief of All Pakistan Muslim League‚ forNational Assembly NA-250 Karachi con-stituency. The former army chief returnedto Pakistan last month after nearly four

years of self-imposed exile to contest aMay 11 general election.

Musharraf was also barred from tak-ing part in election from the federal capi-tal.

Returning Officer NA-48 Azam Khanrejected Mursarraf’s nomination paperson the charges of violating the constitu-tion, sacking judges of Supreme Court, al-legedly killing Akbar Bugti and orderingof operation on Lal Masjid.

PML-N stalwart Chaudhry Nisar AliKhan’s nomination papers forRawalpindi’s NA-52 were also accepted.However his papers were rejected fromNA-53.

His candidacy was rejected during thescrutiny process for not declaring accuratedetails about his assets. Objections weresubmitted with the returning officer thatthe PML-N leader had not declared accu-rate details of his assets.

Counsel for former federal minis-ter Ghulam Sarwar Khan submittedobjections to the returning officer thatNisar had not declared accurate detailsof his assets.

The court rejected the nomination pa-pers during the scrutiny process for notdeclaring accurate details about his assets.

Other candidates who got their papersaccepted included Manzoor Wattoo forNA-146 and NA-147 (Okara), Khawaja

Asif for NA-110 (Sialkot), Sanaullah Jat(PTI) for PP-169 (Sheikhupura), HamzaShahbaz Sharif for NA-119 (Lahore),Ayesha Ahad Malik (MQM) for NA-119(Lahore), Mirza Nasir Baig for NA-154(Lodhran) Shabbir Ahmed Qaim Khani’s(MQM) for NA-223 (Tando Allahyar), PS51 (Hyderabad), Dr Fehmida Mirza’s forNA-255 (Karachi), Bibi Yasmeen Shahfor NA-255 (Karachi), Sardar ZulfiqarKhosa for NA-172 (Dera Ghazi Khan),Sardar Dost Khosa for PP-243 (DeraGhazi Khan), Abrarul Haq (PTI) for NA-125 (Lahore), Hina Rabbani Khar for NA-177 (Muzaffargarh) and Ghulam MustafaKhar for NA-176 (Muzaffargarh).

Also, returning officer for NA-178(Muzaffargarh) Shaukat Mehmood onSunday rejected the nomination papers offormer MNA Jamshaid Dasti.

Dasti’s papers were rejected due tohis three-year imprisonment in a fakedegree case.

Sources said Dasti’s younger brotherJaved Dasti would contest the electionsfrom NA-177 and NA-178 as an inde-pendent candidate.

The nomination papers of PakistanPeople’s Party (PPP) leader and formerfederal state minister Imtiaz Safdar War-raich were also rejected by the RO forNA-98 Gujranwala.

Rejecting the papers, the RO saidWarraich did not fulfil the criteria estab-lished in the Article 62 and 63.

“Imtaiz Safdar Waraich has men-tioned wrong detail of his assets,” theRO said.

After rejection of his papers, Warraichsaid he was disappointed over the deci-sion and would challenge it.

Heavyweights make itpast ecP scrutiny

ISLAMABADINP

President Asif Ali Zardari on Sundaysaid the conduct of the ElectionCommission of Pakistan (ECP) andreturning officers (ROs) while scru-tinising nomination papers of elec-tion candidates has beeninappropriate, a private TV channelreported.

Zardari said despite ROs andECP’s behaviour he had chosen tostay quiet, so that the caretaker gov-ernment could facilitate the elec-tions in a credibleenvironment.

President Zardari saidthe elections would be heldon time and that thereshould be no doubt at all onthis issue.

The president met withSindh Governor IshratulIbad Khan and caretakerSindh Chief Minister Jus-tice (r) Zahid Qurban Alvi,after which ministers in the

provincial caretaker govt also methim.

The presidentstated during themeeting thathe wouldstay quieton theRO’s andECP issue,so that thetask of thec a r e t a k e rs e t u p

was made easier and democracy inthe country was allowed to progressforward.

He said once the caretaker gov-ernment had facilitated elections inthe country, responsibility will betransferred to the incoming demo-cratically elected government.

After the meeting, Sindh care-taker Information Minister Noorul

Huda Shah said instructions had beengiven to make sure that the electionsare held on time. Shah said putting po-lice officers on six-hour duty duringthe election day, was also discussed

during the meeting. The provin-cial caretaker finance

minister, ShabbarRaza while speak-ing to the channelsaid PresidentZardari approvedspecial budget forthe police to pro-vide for securityin theprovince, espe-cially Karachi.

Behaviour of ROs and ECPinappropriate: Zardari

taj Langah passes awayMULTANINP

PakistanSeraiki Partychief TajMuhammadLangah, 72,died ofcardiac arreston Sunday.PresidentPakistan SeraikiParty (PSP), TajMuhammad Langah, wasan icon of south Punjab and the entire Seraikibelt. He had been active for the formation ofthe separate province for the Seraiki belt andhad been rallying for this demand for decades.His objectives were not ethnic or racist, butpurely for the betterment of the people of thisarea. Langah was once associated with thePakistan People’s Party (PPP) and remained itsdeputy secretary general. President Asif AliZardari has expressed grief over the death ofLangah and said his pro-people struggle wouldbe long remembered. Prime Minister Mir HazarKhan Khoso also expressed grief over the saddemise of PSP chief Taj Muhammad Langah. Inhis message, the prime minister said Langahdevotedly worked for the betterment of his areaand the people of South Punjab wouldremember his struggle for long. The primeminister prayed for eternal peace for the soul ofthe departed leader.

NAWAZ, SHAHBAZ, SHRASHID, WATTOO’SNOMINATION PAPERSACCEPTED

MUSHARRAF GETS NODTO CONTEST POLLS FROMNA-32 CHITRAL, REJECTEDFOR NA-48, NA-250

NISAR ANDIMTIAZ WARRAICH,DASTI’S PAPERSREJECTED

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T HE content of television, or,for that matter, any medium,is determined primarily bytwo sets of people. Thoseproducing it and those

consuming it.The people producing television newsare from the urban middle-class. Andthough the people consuming it arenot only from this class, the peoplethat advertisers want to target arefrom the urban middle-class.The issues that appeal to this classwill take the lead. If there is anysingle argument that the series ofarticles on the media, of which this isthe first, attempts to make, it is this.Most of the times, the simplestexplanation is the correct one. Mostof the times, peculiar media coverageis neither the result of a majorconspiracy nor is there some deeprooted plot that goes all the way to thetop of the military or the office of areal estate tycoon. It is simply a groupof people wanting to make televisionthat the people that they know willwant to watch.

TAKE the vetting process of theelection commission and themedia coverage thereof. Before

the ROs really turned the thing into acircus, the issue that was getting thelion’s share of the media’s attentionwas that of the fake degrees.

The media would have had youbelieve that, other than the ROs, itwas only the HEC that wascoordinating with the ECP. That theFBR, NAB and the State Bankweren’t even a part of the vettingprocess. Now getting a fake degree is a crime,no doubt about it. But there is nomoral compass that I knowthat would say getting afake degree is a highercrime than tax fraud.In one case, one isgetting around adictator-made lawto contest anelection; one thatthese candidateswon as a result oftheir rapport with theirconstituents. In the othercase, one is stealing, plain andsimple. Why, then, does the media promptlyreport the HEC’s reports and not theFBR’s? Because most of the viewingpublic and the reporters andnewsroom personnel don’t have fakedegrees. Most of them do, however,cheat on their taxes. Liberally. Yes,the journalists might have theirsalaries taxed at source but that mightnot be their only source of income.And within the viewing public, thepoor aren’t taxed to begin with andthe middle class and elite, if theFBR’s records are to be believed, paytax only and only when theyabsolutely cannot help it. Even themere 800,000 registered taxpayers inthis nation of 180 million grosslyunder-report their incomes. Reporting on tax evasion takes awaythe gratification of watching TV.Political talk shows were meant forwatching politicians - apparently the

root cause of all evil - squirm in theirseats, not for inducing personal guilt.Schadenfreude is dampened whencoupled with introspection. The bad guy to hate on in fake degreecases is this guy who couldn’t evenget a simple BA, printed out aspurious diploma and then lied aboutit; the bad guy to hate on in taxevasion cases is yourself. So no one held Shah MahmoodQureshi’s feet to the fire when thisfabulously wealthy Pir with aCambridge degree was revealed tohave ridiculously small tax returns.

But Sheikh Waqas Akram’sdegree issue was splattered

all over the airwaves,despite impressive taxreturns (though, givenour tax culture, he justmight have cheated ontaxes as well.) An aside: yes, Akram

did make things bad forhimself when he got the

education ministry. Theministry had originally been

devolved and given to the provincesand the bit that had remained hadbeen renamed Professional andTechnical Training. He moved quite afew strings to get it renamed to themore impressive sounding Educationand Training. Bad idea, if you knowyou have a fake degree, because“Education minister with a fakedegree” just makes really good newscopy.

LOAN default is another issue, theone that the State Bank issupposed to liaise with the ECP

on. The viewing public, by and large,aren’t loan defaulters, so it’s kosherfor coverage. Unless the mediaowners are loan defaulters (oneprominent media family that has aniche paper and a general TV newschannel was specifically named in theJustice Jamshed Commission) andthey slam the brakes, expect more ofthe coverage of bad loans.

BY THE TUBE

The degree of the sin

QUETTASTAFF REPORT

BALOCHISTAN Na-tional Party-Mengal(BNP-M) chief SardarAkhatr Mengal addresseda public rally in the provin-

cial capital on Sunday, saying there shouldbe no illusion that certain forces could im-pose their decisions upon the Baloch atgunpoint.

Mengal arrived in Quetta after morethan four years to begin his party’s electioncampaign. Mengal said the huge publicmeeting had confirmed that the enemy hadbeen defeated and it had failed to subduethe Baloch people with use of ruthlessforce. He said with consultation of theparty leaders and workers, the BNP couldreview its decision to participate in thenext elections if the missing persons werenot recovered and a congenial atmospherewas not created for free and fair elections.

The BNP-M chief said his party lead-ers and workers sacrificed their lives to up-hold the banner of Baloch rights and it wastheir courage that “convinced me to takepart in the polls”.

He lamented that neither democracynor those who chanted slogan of “Sab SePehlay Pakistan” addressed the miseries ofpeople of Balochistan.

He said both the democracy and dic-

tators gave only dead bodies to the Baloch.Mengal also criticised Pakistani institu-tions for spreading disappointment in theprovince.

However, the BNP chief said that thepeople would not give up their hopes andcourage to achieve their ultimate goal.

The Baloch leader said that the Balochdid not let themselves be bled to acquirepower.

He said there was a gap of one fullmonth and the BNP was reviewing the sit-uation constantly. “If there is no improve-ment and the government functionariesresponsible for torture and murder ofBalochs are not brought to justice, we canboycott the elections ahead of the pollingday. We want accountability of all the gov-ernment functionaries who committed ex-cesses with the Baloch youth.”

Talking to reporters later, the BNP-Mchief said no-go-areas still existed inBalochistan and dead bodies were beingfound each day.

“The rulers must realise the sensitivityof the situation on the ground.”

He said the situation in the volatileprovince had not improved in the caretakersetup, adding that the establishment wasnot ready to pay heed to the Baloch voice.

Mengal said that issues could not beresolved through use of forces, rather thesame complicated them.

He said that the election process

would be doubtful if the law and order wasnot improved in Balochistan.

Mengal added that a conducive at-mosphere was required for free and trans-parent elections in the province andsymbolic moves could not ensure trans-

parency in poll results.The BNP-m chief said missing Baloch

persons must be recovered before May 30.Mengal also urged his disgruntled

‘friends’ to shun the path of militancy andcome down from the mountains.

no decision can be imposedon baloch at gunpoint: MengalBNP-M CHIEF ADDRESSESPUBLIC RALLY IN QUETTA,SAYS BALOCH DID NOTGIVE BLOOD FOR POWER

CONGENIALATMOSPHEREMUST FOR FREE ANDFAIR POLLS

LAHORERANA HAIDER

The caretaker Punjab government has changedall management of Punjab and a notification hasbeing issued in this regard.

On the orders of caretaker Chief MinisterNajam Sethi the transfers have been made onmerit. The caretaker government changed allDPOs, DCOs, CCPOs and RPOs from all dis-tricts of Punjab, the commissioners of nine divi-sions were also changed.

Khalik Dadlack has been appointed asCCPO Lahore, Zulfiqar Hameed DIG Investiga-tion Lahore, Jawad Ahmed Dogar DIG Opera-tions Lahore, Muhammad Saleem SSP PatrollingGujrarawala, Kashif MusHtaq SSP InvestigationBranch Punjab, Ameer SP Patrolling Sargodha,Sikandar Hayat IG Admin, Ray Zameer SP Spe-cial Branch and Rana Mansoor has been madeSP Patrolling DG Khan.

Rizwan Mahboob has been appointed asDCO Lahore, Sheikh Khalid Mahmood DCOKasur, Capt Muhammad Asif DCO Sheikhupura,Ghulam Fareed DCO Nankana Sahib, NajamAhmed Shah DCO Faisalabad, Tariq JavedMalik DCO Gujranwala, Shakeel Ahmed DCOSialkot, Asif Bilal Lodhi DCO Gujarat, TariqMahmood DCO Lodhran, Muhammad YashabDCO Narowal, Imtiaz Niyazi DCO Mandi Ba-hauddin, Dr Farah Masood DCO Toba TekSingh, Zafar Iqbal DCO Hafizabad, Rashid Mah-mood DCO Rawalpindi, Maqbool Ahmed DCOJhelum, Usman Chaudary DCO Bahawalnagar,Muhammad Iqbal DCO Attock, Yawar HussainDCO Chakwal, Waqas Ali Mahmood DCO Sar-godha, Maqbool Dawala DCO Jhang, Amir IjazDCO Khushab, Dr Ahmed Javed Qazi DCO Mi-anwali, Nabeel Javed DCO Chiniot, KhalidSaleem DCO Rahim Yar Khan, Mumtaz HussainDCO Bhakkar, Gulzar Shah DCO Multan, AshanBhatta DCO Okara, Mahmood Javed BhattiDCO Vehari, Mahmood Hassan DCOKhanewal, Dr Sajjad Chohan DCO Sahiwal, Ir-shad Ahmed DCO Pakpattan, Qazi Zafar IqbalDCO Muzafargarh, Akram Allah DCO Oliaya,

Imran Sikandar DCO Bahawalpur, Ali BahadurQazi DCO DG Khan and Ziaullah has been ap-pointed as DCO Rajanpur. Separately, MalikKhuda Bakhsh Awan RPO Sheikhupura, AliAmir Malik RPO Multan, Sarmad Sayeed KhanRPO Faisalabad, Saleem Bhatti RPO Gujran-wala, DIG Rai Tahir RPO Sargodha, NaseemulZaman RPO Rawalpindi and MuhammadShahzad Sultan has been made RPO Sahiwal.

Hamayun Masood Sindhu has been madeDPO Pakpattan, Sarfaraz Ahmed Falki DPOBhakkar, Abdul Kadir Qayyum DPO Attock,Muhammad Waqas Nazeer DPO DG Khan,Afzal Mahmood Butt DPO Jhelum, Dar AliKhattak DPO Gujrat, Ahmed Arsalan MalikDPO Chakwal, Sadiq Ali Dogar DPO Mandi Ba-hauddin, Faisal Ali Raja DPO Hafizabad, GoharMushtaq DPO Narowal, Hamayum Bashir DPOSialkot, Athar Ismail Amjad DPO NankanaSahib, Ghulam Mubashir DPO Chiniot, Muham-mad Ashan Younis DPO Sheikhupura, SajjadManj DPO Khanewal, Rai Ijaz DPO Kasur, Say-eed Khurram DPO Saihiwal, Muntazar MehandiDPO Bahawalnagar, Sultan Ahmed ChaudaryDPO Sargodha, Ashan Ullah DPO Khushab,Rana Shahzad Akbar DPO Mianwali, RajaBasharat Mahmood DPO Okara, Dr HaiderAshraf DPO Muzaffargarh, Zeeshan AsgharDPO Jhang, Syed Khurram Ali DPO Sahiwal,Ishfaq Ahmed DPO Rajanpur, Kamal SadiqueDPO Vehari, Inamul Rehman Malik DPOLodhran, Ghazi Salahuddin DPO Leyyah, SohailZafar Chattha DPO Bahawalpur, Sohail HabibTajik DPO Rahim Yar Khan and Rai BabarSayed DPO Toba Tak Singh.

Separately, Capt (r) Naseem Nawaz hasbeen made Commissioner Lahore, Sayed Mur-taza Ali Commissioner Multan, Mushtaq AhmedAnjum Commissioner Gujarawala, Khalid Ma-sood Chaudhry Commissioner Rawalpindi,Muhammad Iqbal Chohan Commissioner Sar-godha, Tariq Najeeb Commissioner Faisalabad,Hamid Yaqoob Sheikh Commissioner Ba-hawalpur, Maqsood Ahmed Commissioner D-G-Khan and Muhammad Abdullah Sumbal hasbeen appointed as Commissioner Sahiwal.

Pervaiz ashraf’s candidacypapers rejected

RAWALPINDIINP

Nomination papers ofRaja Pervaiz Ashraf,former prime ministerand Pakistan People’sParty leader, have beenrejected for NA-51Rawalpindi constituency.Ashraf has been accused ofmisappropriating funds andindulging in nepotism. The former prime ministerhad submitted his nomination papers from hishometown Gujjar Khan, which falls in the NA-51constituency. Ashraf was appointed the primeminister after the Supreme Court sent hispredecessor Yousaf Raza Gilani packing for notwriting letter to Swiss authorities to reopen graftcases against President Asif Ali Zardari.

Wish Pti had more timefor canvassing: imran

KARACHIINP

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)Chairman ImranKhan on Sunday saidhis party wascompeting against tworuling parties of thecountry and it would havebeen better if more time had beenallowed for carrying out the election campaign.Talking to reporters, Imran said he did notbelieve in ‘muk muka’ (wheeling dealing) andthat his party had fielded candidates from acrossthe country. The PTI chairman said his focuswas on Punjab as winning in the province wouldbe critical for the PTI to form government in theCentre. Imran was all set to contest the May 11general elections from four constituencies of theNational Assembly, as the ECP had accepted allhis nomination papers.

AGENCIES TRIED TO ATTACK MENGAL: BNP-MQUETTA: Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M) SeniorVice President Dr Jahanzaib Jamaldini on Sunday claimed thatparty volunteers timely saved BNP leaders, including AkhtarMengal, and workers from an untoward incident as 10 secretagencies operatives were nabbed from the route of the partyleader. Addressing a hurriedly called press conference at theQuetta Press Club on Sunday, Jamaldini said Kalashnikovs andservice cards of secret agencies were also recovered from thearrested men, who were later handed over to the police forlegal action. He said as Mengal was heading towards hisresidence after addressing the public meeting, 10 suspects satin three vehicles waiting on Joint Road. He said “these agencyoperatives wanted in fact to forcibly enter into the convoy of theBNP but sensing danger, party volunteers nabbed them. Heclaimed upon interrogation they showed cards of a secretagency. The BNP leader said party workers however handedover the accused to the police for interrogation. “We know verywell that such agency operatives are a part of the death squadwhich is responsible for the brutal murder of hundreds ofBaloch, including BNP workers.” He said rulers were scared ofMengal’s popularity that was why they were pursuingundemocratic means to damage the BNP. Jamaldini said the BNPwas not very keen on contesting elections but as it was ademocratic process, “we decided to take part in it afterconsultation with friends”. He demanded the ElectionCommission of Pakistan and “the real circles of power” takenotice of such incidents and change their attitude otherwise thesituation would get out of control. SHAHZADA ZUlFIQAR

All political parties have fullconfidence in the current caretakersetup — Khurshid Shah

Punjab govt transfers DCOs,DPOs, CCPOs, RPOs

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We do feel that there wasn’t an impartialprobe and trial in Afzal’s [Guru] case — Amnesty International

ISLAMABADSTAFF REPORT

The Defence Committee of the Cab-inet remained dormant and under-utilised by the PPPP Government.PILDAT in its report on the Perform-ance of Defence Committee of theCabinet analyses that keeping withits past trend of being reactive ratherthan proactive, the Defence Commit-tee of the Cabinet met only threetimes in 2012-2013. A look at thefive-year performance of the DCCshows that despite serious internaland external security challenges fac-ing Pakistan, the Defence Commit-tee of the Cabinet met on an averageonly a little more than twice in a year

from March 2008 to March 2013.The DCC held one meeting in

year 2008-2009, two meetings in2009-2010, one meeting in 2010-2011, five meetings in 2011-2012and three meetings in 2012-2013.

Under the premiership of RajaPervaiz Ashraf, DCC met only once.

The DCC is the highest body inthe country in which top civil andmilitary leadership sits together todiscuss important issues of defenceand national security. It signifies thesupremacy of elected civilian leadersin interpreting national interests andin laying down the broad parametersof defence and foreign policy.

For the highest decision-makingbody on defence, DCC has remained

largely dormant and under-utilisedthroughout the past five years. Oneof the major weaknesses of the DCChas been lack of a dedicated perma-nent secretariat of the DCC aspledged under the CoD by the rulingPPP. Its re-active posture, that tooonly for selective incidents, does notindicate an effective role of theDCC. Three meetings of the DCCwere held during the one-year periodbetween March 2012 to March 2013and all of the meetings focussed onone issue, i.e., reopening the GroundLines of Communications (GLOCs)for Afghanistan-bound NATO sup-plies which were shut down in re-sponse to NATO’s unilateral attackson Pakistani checkposts at Salala in

November 2011. The DCC, how-ever, failed to meet in response tomajor incidents including a high-profile security breach in which mil-itants infiltrated into Minhas AirBase at Kamra, on August 16, 2012as well as an attack on Peshawar air-port on December 15, 2012. Report-edly, defence installations have beenattacked sixteen (16) times in thecountry since 2009. Recognising thatan effective Defence Committee ofthe Cabinet is the key to establishingdemocratic control on defence andthe only forum to arrive at a civil-military consensus on sensitive is-sues of defence and national securityin Pakistan, PILDAT said periodicitymust be set for the meetings of the

committee and minimum essentialshould be once in every two months.

The Cabinet Committee musthave an independent and dedi-cated secretariat under the officeof the prime minister of Pakistanas pledged in the Charter ofDemocracy.

Appointment of a full-time civil-ian National Security Advisor (NSA)by the prime minister of Pakistancould be useful to coordinate na-tional security-related functions inthe Prime Minister’s Secretariat andestablish its coordination with othersecurity agencies within the govern-ment. The secretariat of the DCCmust be placed under the civilian na-tional security adviser.

Defence Committee of the Cabinet remaineddormant, under-utilised by PPP government

KARACHI: Picnickers enjoy the weekend at Sea View on Sunday. ONlINE

ATTACKERS STORM NIGERIANPOLITICIAN’S HOME, KILL 11

11 MORE EX-LAWMAKERSHAVE FAKE DEGREES, FACE CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS

KANOAGENCIES

AT T A C K E R Sstormed the homeof a Nigeriandeputy governor onSaturday and slit

the throats of two of his guards,while killing nine others in thesame village in the restive north-east, police said.

It was unclear who was be-hind the attack in Midlu villageof Adamawa state in the earlyhours of Saturday, said policespokesman MohammedIbrahim. Adamawa DeputyGovernor Bala James Ngilari

was not at the home at the time.“The two guards at the deputygovernor’s house were slaugh-tered,” said Ibrahim, specifyingtheir throats were slit. “The re-maining nine were killed bygun” at different locations.

He said the attacks appearedtargeted, with initial informationindicating some victims in thevillage were called out by name.Ibrahim said he could not provideany further identification of thevictims or why they may havebeen targeted because an investi-gation was ongoing. “We havenot made any arrests yet but jointmilitary and police teams havebeen deployed to the village to

track down the attackers who areon the run,”Ibrahim said. Islamistextremist group Boko Haram hascarried out scores of attacks in theregion, though Adamawa statehas also been embroiled in a feudamong members of the rulingPDP party. Violence linked toBoko Haram’s insurgency, in-cluding killings by the securityforces, have left some 3,000 peo-ple dead since 2009. PresidentGoodluck Jonathan on Thursdayformed a panel to study whetherthe Islamists should be offered anamnesty deal to bring an end tothe violence in Africa’s mostpopulous nation and largest oilproducer

ISLAMABADSTAFF REPORT

The Election Commission ofPakistan on Sunday orderedregistration of First Informa-tion Reports (FIRs) against 11more former parliamentarians,for submitting fake degreesalong with their nominationpapers in the 2008 elections.

The fake degree holders,who now face criminal pro-ceedings, include Senator Is-rarullah Zehri, former senatorsMir Mohabat Khan Mari andRehana Yahya Baloch, Sami-nat Khawar Hayat, SeemalKamran, Shumaila Rana,Shabina Khan, Rana IjazAhmed Noon, Bashir AhmedKhan, Nawabzada Tariq Magsiand Nadir Magsi.

ECP, in a statement, saidthe decision was taken in thelight of the Supreme Courtjudgment from April 1, 2013, inwhich the ECP was directed torevisit twenty-seven degreecases which the commission

had earlier cleared. After hear-ings on 5th and 6th of April,2013, degrees of the 11 saidlawmakers were found to be in-valid. The election watchdog inits statement ordered that crim-inal proceedings e initiated inrelevant sessions’ court.

In former MPA MukeshKumar Chawla’s case, the com-mission maintained its earlierdecision, clearing him on allcharges. Similarly, in formerMPA Robina Irfan’s case, thelegal counsel of Higher Educa-tion Commission (HEC) as-sisted by HEC AssistantDirector Syed Asim Hussaingave a written statement duringthe hearing approving her degreeas genuine. The case against herwas dropped as a result. Thecase against former MPA Pitan-bar Sewani and SenatorNawabzada Muhammad Akbarwas adjourned for a full hearingon 11th April, for which the ECPhas summoned completerecords from the concerned uni-versities and boards.

‘WHere iSbiLaWaL?’ PPPcaMPaignStruggLeS

GARHI KHUDA BAKHSHAGENCIES

A cancelled rally, a loathedpresident and a party chairmankept out of the public glarebecause of Taliban threats —Gulzar Ali Khawaja has neverseen anything like it. For thefirst time in his life, the onceardent supporter of the PakistanPeople’s Party, which led thecoalition government for fiveyears, says he will not be votingin the general election on May11 and does not mince hiswords about why. Furious, withhis face red under the hot sun,he cannot believe that no majorparty leader addressed thecrowds on one of the mostsacrosanct dates — theanniversary of the April 4, 1979hanging of PPP founder,Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. “I comehere all the way from Karachito pray on the anniversary andthey can’t come?” said the 45-year-old property dealer, whodrove nine hours fromPakistan’s financial capital tothe Bhutto ancestral seat inGarhi Khuda Bakhsh.“President Asif Ali Zardari hasspoiled the party,” he said. ThePPP announced it would kickstart its campaign for re-election after five years in officewith a large rally on April 4, butthen cancelled it. Zardari,Benazir’s widower, and theirson, Bilawal, addressed a smallgathering, closed to all but statemedia, in the middle of thenight. Bilawal, the PPP’s starattraction, appeareduncomfortable, speakinghaltingly in heavily accentedUrdu, a mark of his upbringingin England and Dubai. Hestumbled through the outgoinggovernment’s achievementsbefore asking listeners to“promise” to vote for “AuntyFaryal” — Zardari’s sister —who is contesting the Bhuttofamily seat. Few party faithfulwho gathered at the shrine wereimpressed. “Bilawal should notlisten to anyone and come outinto the public to see theworkers as his mother andgrandfather did,” Khawaja said.In contrast, their main rivals,PTI Chairman Imran Khan andPML-N President NawazSharif, have kicked off majorcampaigns drawing tens ofthousands.

‘iMPortantdeciSionS onafgHaniStanin 2013’

KABULNNI

US embassy officials in Kabulhave announced that specificdecisions will be taken onAfghanistan during the year2013 which will have vital roleon the future of Afghan people.The deputy US ambassador inAfghanistan, Hugo Lawrencesaid ties between Afghanistanand the United States wouldenter a new phase after thesecurity pact between Kabuland Washington was finalised.

Kerry grievedby deadLyattacK inZabuL ProvinceUS secretary of State John Kerryhas expressed grief over the lossof US men in a deadly attack bythe Taliban in Zabul province ofAfghanistan on Saturday. “OurState Department family isgrieving over the loss of one ofour own, an exceptional youngForeign Service officer, killedtoday in an IED attack in Zabulprovince, along with servicemembers, a Department ofDefense civilian, and Afghancivilians. Four other StateDepartment colleagues sufferedinjuries, one critically,” Kerrysaid. Just last week in Kabul, Imet our fallen officer when shewas selected to support meduring my visit to Afghanistan.She was everything a ForeignService officer should be: smart,capable, eager to serve, anddeeply committed to ourcountry and the difference shewas making for the Afghanpeople.” “I wish everyone in ourcountry could see first-hand thedevotion, loyalty, andamazingly hard and hazardouswork our diplomats do on thefront lines in the world’s mostdangerous places. Every day,we honor their courage and aregrateful for their sacrifices, andtoday we do so with greatsadness,” he added. PR

NEW DELHIINP

India on Sunday test firedits nuclear capable Agni-IIstrategic ballistic missilefrom a military base in

Odisha, defence sourcessaid. The test wasconducted from Wheeler’sIsland in Bhadrak district,by the army personnel aspart of a training exercise.The medium-range

surface-to-surface missilewith a range of over 2,000km has already beeninducted into the army andis part of the StrategicForces arsenal for nucleardeterrence.

India test-fires nuclear capable Agni 2,000km range missile

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KARACHIAAmIR mAJEED

THE situation of themetropolitan is nodifferent than that ofKhyber Pukhtunkhwa(KPK) and Balochistan

where almost all the political partiesmay fail to launch effective electioncampaigns due to the fear of Taliban,who had warned all political leaders tosuspend their political activities in themetropolis or face dire consequences.

It is common knowledge that somepolitical parties feared launchingelection campaign due to their ongoingrivalries and existence of no-go areasin the city. To add up to the prevalentfear and confusion, the two majorstakeholders of the metropolitan,namely Muttahida Qaumi Movement(MQM) and Awami National Party(ANP), believed that someone wasplaying a “dirty game” from behind thecurtains. The existence of Taliban in thefinancial hub of the country has alsoachieved something for the ANP andMQM i.e bringing the two arch-rivalson the same page regarding terrorism,as both the parties have agreed to fightthe menace as a united front.

“We have been issued warning byTaliban to suspend political activities inthe Pukhtun-dominated areas,” ANPleader Rana Gul Afridi told PakistanToday. “A few days back, our leaderfrom Ittehad Town, Baldia was gunneddown because he did not comply withthe orders of Taliban, who had earlierwarned him to suspend politicalactivities in the town,” Afridi added.

“The ANP nominated candidatesare receiving constant threats fromthese extremist elements, due to whichwe (ANP) have failed to launch aneffective election campaign,” Afridiclaimed. “We have been informing thelaw enforcement agencies about thesethreats but no action has been takenagainst them as yet,” Afridi alleged.

“Unfortunately, some of theextremists travelled to the metropolitanduring the time when army operation waslaunched in KPK, and settled in Pukhtunareas of the city and later engaged incriminal activities by using the name ofANP,” Afridi accepted. He further said

that the Taliban established their networkin the metropolis as time elapsed andstopped using ANP’s name after they hadgained roots. “Now they haveexposed their real face andare threatening us tosuspend our politicalactivities fromPukhtun dominatedareas of the city,”Afridi said, addingthat they uprootedparty flags andbanners from the areaand threatened thePukhtun population withdire consequences if anyonetried to work for the ANP.

“The sudden emergence of Talibanin the city is a clear indication thatthose who produce Taliban in thecountry have made their move to stealelections in the metropolitan,” heaccused. “You must have heard afamous quote that is ‘When the cat isaway, the mice will play’ and this isexactly what has beenhappening with the ANP,” heclaimed. “The secretagencies are trying to bring ina new stakeholder in themetropolitan to influence theupcoming general elections,”he accused.

Meanwhile, MQM leaderFaisal Sabzwari, whilecommenting about thepresence of Taliban in thecity, said, “MQM has beengiving loud calls related tothe presence of Taliban in thefinancial hub since the lastmany years, but no actionwas taken by the authoritiesconcerned that helpedTaliban to establish theirnetwork in almost all parts ofthe city.” Taliban had issueda warning to the party andwere threatening the public tokeep away from MQMpublic gatherings andcongregations duringelections, Sabzwari added.

“It is not a level-playingfield in the metropolitan andsomeone is playing a dirtygame somewhere,” he

believed. “We have not decided as yetwhether we will hold public gatheringsand congregations during elections, butthe fear factor definitely matters as faras MQM election campaign isconcerned,” Sabzwari noted

“If the law enforcement agencies hadfulfilled their responsibilities andinitiated timely action against Taliban on

calls of the MQM, then thesituation would have been

entirely different in thecity,” Sabzwari

observed. “Now,they (Taliban) havepenetrated in allparts of themetropolis due tothe inaction of law

enforcers,” Sabzwarialleged. “We believe

that it is not onlynegligence but a criminal

negligence of the law enforcementagencies for not being able to initiateaction against Taliban despite proves oftheir presence in the city,” he said.

The Mohajir Qaumi Movement-Haqeeqi (MQM-H) Vice ChairmanShamshad Ghauri said that “Like ANPand MQM, MQM-H is also facingproblems in launching its election

campaign in the city due to existence ofno-go areas.” Raising an accusing fingertowards the city’s dominant politicalparty, Ghauri said that “Our nominatedcandidates cannot go to theirconstituencies to run election campaigndue to fear of our arch-rivals.” “If thelaw enforcement agencies claim thatthere are no ‘no-go areas’ in the city,then they should ensure MQM-H thattheir nominated candidates can visittheir constituencies to run electioncampaign without any fear of anyone,”Ghauri stressed. “The gravity of thesituation could be gauged from the factthat our workers could not move freelyin the city and nominated candidates arereceiving threats from our rival party towithdraw from their seats,” he alleged.

“The city is territorially dividedbetween two political parties in themetropolitan, that has resulted in thecreation of no-go areas,” said Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Karachi Chief Dr MairajulHuda Siddiqui. Barriers have beeninstalled in all parts of the metropolisand these were under the control ofmafia, the JI Karachi chief alleged,adding that if these barriers were notremoved from the city then it would bedifficult for some political parties to runtheir election campaign properly.”

KARACHI

kMonday, 8 April, 2013

05

Low

high

220Csunny

weaTher updaTes

380C

Fajr sunrise Zuhr asr Maghrib Isha

4:59 6:16 12:34 4:03 6:52 8:10

Tuesday wednesday Thursday

29°C I 22°C 31°C I 22°C 33°C I 23°C

PRAyER TImINGS

MQM and AnP leaders say that inaction of law

enforcement agencieshas enabled Taliban to establish strong

network in themetropolitan

Vice Chancellor of Sir Syed University of

Engineering and Technology (SSUET) ZA Nizami

passed away on Sunday after protracted illness.

enter, tHe taLibanPOLITICAL PARTIES IN THE CITY MAY FAIL TO RUNELECTION CAMPAIGNS AND THE SITUATION IS ALSODETERIORATING IN KP, BALOCHISTAN

urdu belongs to allHYDERABAD:

Press Councilof IndiaChairmanJustice (r)MarkandeyKatju onSundaysaid that

Urdubelongs to all

and thelanguage is not

restricted to any particularcommunity alone. “A misconceptionhas been created that Hindi andUrdu belonged to particularcommunities, because Urdu belongsto all,” Katju said. He was speakingat a function organised by the UrduJournalists Association here in hisfelicitation. Katju also appealed toAndhra Pradesh government tolook into the problems faced bysmall newspapers and Urdupublications. INP

cloudy weatherlikely

KARACHIAPP

The Met office has forecast a partlycloudy weather with chances ofthunderstorm and rain in themetropolis during the next 24 hours. Itsaid dust-thunderstorm rain with a fewmoderate to heavy falls is expected ata number of places in all divisions ofthe region. It said the maximum andminimum temperatures are expectedto remain in the range of 30 to 32 and20 to 22 degree Celsius respectively.

15,586 polling stationsto be set up in sindh

KARACHIINP

As many as 15,586 pollingstations will be set up for theupcoming general elections on 61National Assembly and 130Provincial Assembly seats in theprovince.

According to the ElectionCommission (EC) Sindh, 4,501polling booths would be set up in

the five districts of themetropolitan.

It said that 730 booths wouldbe set up in Hyderabad, 499 inLarkana, 649 in ShaheedBenazirabad, 463 in Sukkur and641 in Badin to facilitate thevoters.

The EC had allocated overRs40 million to meet theexpenses of the electionpreparation process.

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KARACHIMonday, 8 April, 2013

06

k

Services of Taj Muhammad Langah for the people of South

Punjab are highly commendable – MQM Chief Altaf Hussain

KARACHIISmAIl DIlAWAR

THE civil-military admin-istration of the Canton-ment Board Clifton(CBC) has devised an“un-intrusive” securityplan to preempt a likely

terrorist attack in the posh neighborhood,Pakistan Today has learnt.

The plan, which is pending before thecaretaker federal government for approval,envisages a monthly ‘security charge’ of Rs100 to be collected from each of some53,000 housing units located in the area.

The funds raised would be used for thecollective security of around 0.25 millionmostly civilian inhabitants of the canton-ment area that stretches over 51.327 squarekilometers comprising eight phases of De-fence Housing Authority (DHA), Blocks 8to 9 of Clifton and 13 peripheral KatchiAbadis.

Also, the proposed security plan fo-cuses on the eradication of street crimesfrom the crime-infested locality where theCBC, in collaboration with DHA, is back-ing an across-the-board police operation,apparently, not only to make the area free

of street crimes but also ensure therein afoolproof security.

Aziz Suharwardy, a civilian member ofCBC, told Pakistan Today that the moneycollected as ‘security charge’ would be usedfor installing state-of-the-art surveillancecameras, setting up a control room and es-tablishing a special security force to guardthe area against any untoward happening.

The force, he said, would be equippedwith highly sophisticated communicationdevices that would be linked up with theprovincial excise department to check ve-hicles entering the area limits.

“These are going to be an un-intrusivesecurity measures to keep an eye on vehi-cles through their number plates,” Aziz toldPakistan Today on the sidelines of a brief-ing held by the civil-military administrationof CBC last Tuesday.

The much-awaited approval of the fed-eral government, he said, would make itbinding upon the center to provide the mil-itary-controlled CBC with required “re-sources” to execute the plan on sustainablebasis. “We have proposed (in the plan) a se-curity charge of Rs 100 per unit that hasbeen sent to the federal government almosta month back,” said Aziz.

Earlier, the CBC member told in a brief-

ing that representatives from the stationheadquarters of CBC, DHA’s vigilance com-mittee and the area police held two meetingson March 22 and 26 to decide that policewould lead an indiscriminate campaign toimprove the law and order situation.

Colonel Mumtaz, CBC’s coordinatorofficer, said the meetings had decided totake coordinated action against the crimi-nals. “The incorporation of police andRangers next week is part of our plan,” thearmy man said. The two CBC officials werereluctant to concede that unprecedented se-curity measures were masterly aimed at ter-rorist attacks the likelihood of which wasno more a distant possibility given mediareports indicating the presence of militantsfrom Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) inthe metropolis.

“There is no report of Taliban’s pres-ence in this area. They are reportedly con-centrated in the city’s adjoining areas,”Aziz told this reporter.

However, the nature of security meas-ures the CBC official claimed to have so fartaken was self-explanatory. As he told thebriefing, the police in the cantonment haderected at least five additional pickets andchecking armed guards in tinted glasses,enhanced late night patrolling and im-

pounding unregistered vehicles.Even flags of various political parties

hoisted on some area houses were removedfearing these might be targeted. It is wellknown that political parties like the Mut-tahida Qaumi Movement and Awami Na-tional Party are, reportedly, facing threatsof terrorist attacks from the TTP.

There were occasions when Aziz usedthe word “terrorists” while urging the needfor regulating tenancy in the country. “Thetenants must be known. They may be ter-rorists,” he apprehended.

Colonel Mumtaz, an army officer inuniform, agreed with a reporter that stepsbeing taken were ‘preemptive’ in character.

The two CBC officials insisted that on-going crackdown was primarily aimed atridding the neighborhood of street crimesand other immoral activities.

Aziz said the police so far had closeddown 30 “Sheesha” outlets at Zamzamaand Defence, removed wall-chalking froma thousand places and also warned politicalparties to remove their billboards.

The people closely connected to highlyinfluential “VVIPs”, he said, were anothersource of disturbance for peace in the area.“These people take to the streets at nightthat must be stopped,” he said.

Aziz however was upbeat that the on-going police action had deterred the crimi-nals who deem the area as a “prime target”for all their illegal activities. “The deterrenthas shown results,” he claimed.

Asked why such bold security stepswere being taken, Aziz pointed a finger at

the former democratically-elected govern-ment that, he claimed, had been giving po-litical coverage to criminals. “The Sindh IGpolice neglected the masses during the lastfive years. No police existed to help a com-mon man,” he claimed, adding “the currentnon-political government is focusing onthese things”.

In the absence of political compulsions,he said, the law enforcers were able to carryout such bold actions against the outlawed.

cLifton cantonMent on guardagainSt terroriSt attacKSREGULATED TENANCY, ELECTRONIC SURVEILLANCE,INCREASED PATROLLING, WELL-EQUIPPED SECURITYFORCE, COORDINATED ACTION IN THE OFFING

POLICE TO CLAMPDOWNAGAINST VEHICLES WITH TINTEDGLASSES, ARMED GUARDS Un-intrusive security plan

devised to guard CliftonCantonment; CBC to

collect Rs 100 ‘securitycharge’ from 5,3000-unitneighborhood, plan sent

to federal government for formal approval,

political flags removedfrom area houses to avoid a likely attack

KARACHI: Rangers remove barriers at PIB Colonylocality on Sunday. The Supreme Court had directed thepolice and Rangers to eliminate no-go areas in Karachiby exhausting all available resources by the next dateof hearing in the port city’s law and order case. NNI

Zardari wants more cops for elections KARACHI

APP

President Asif Ali Zardari on Sunday di-rected for inductions in Sindh police forholding of general election 2013 in apeaceful environment.

Caretaker Sindh Minister for Informa-tion Noorul Huda Shah said this in a brief-ing during a meeting of Sindh caretakercabinet on Sunday.

Earlier, the meeting of the Sindh care-taker cabinet was held at Bilawal House.

The meeting discussed the matters

pertaining to the general election-2013and the overall law and order situation.

Noorul Huda Shah said PresidentZardari has also directed to ensure securityof the policemen during election duties.

Answering a question, she said hold-ing of transparent elections in a peacefulenvironment in time will be ensured atevery cost.

She informed that Caretaker ChiefMinister Justice (r) Zahid Qurban Alvi andSindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ebad Khanwere also present in the meeting of care-taker cabinet.

HYDERABADAPP

The Board of Intermediate andSecondary Education (BISE) Hyder-abad has finalised all arrangementsto conduct Secondary School Certifi-cate Part-I and Part-II Annual Exam-inations 2013 in its region fromMonday.

BISE Hyderabad Chairman ProfAbdul Aleem Khanzada informedthat around 1, 13,985 male and fe-male students would appear in theseexaminations. The required facilitieshave been made available in the ex-amination centres for them, headded. He informed that BISE Hy-derabad had also made necessaryarrangements to curb the menace ofcheating and use of unfair means inthe examinations.

The BISE had already organiseda daylong seminar on 2nd April forsetting up the guidelines and trainingof the superintendents of examina-tion centres, he informed.

He further said that BISE alsoformed 26 vigilance teams to moni-tor all 206 examination centres inHyderabad Division where 1, 13,985students would appear in the exami-nations.

Besides, he informed that a con-trol room had also been establishedat Chief Minister Sindh’s SecretariatKarachi with Telephone # 021-99207568, 99202065, 99202081-82,99202051-05 and Fax # 021-99202007 and 99202000.

Meanwhile, Hyderabad Com-missioner Jamal Mustafa, while pre-siding over a meeting on Saturdayevening to review the arrangementsof the examinations, had directed alldeputy commissioners and the aca-demics to adopt foolproof preventivemeasures to curb the use of unfairmeans and copy culture in the exam-inations.

The commissioner also an-

nounced the imposition of Section144 Cr. P.C. in order to prohibit themovement of unauthorised personsnear the examination centres.

He directed the deputy commis-sioners to prepare a security plan inconsultation with the district policeofficers concerned and also to ap-point focal persons.

Furthermore, the commissionerdirected them to convey the namesand contact numbers of those focalpersons where examination centreswere established and also to theBISE management.

The commissioner also directedthe deputy commissioners not toallow any person to enter or exitfrom the examination centres aftercommencement of exams. He askedthem to coordinate with local mediapersons for maintaining code ofethics in the centres.

He also directed the BISE ad-ministration to ensure that seatingcapacity, required staff and exammaterial was available at each exam-ination centre. He further directedthem not to allow non- teaching staffto enter the examination centres.

Moreover, he directed the offi-cers of the Education Department tocoordinate with government / privateschool managements and to ensuretransparent examinations in the divi-sion.

He further directed the HESCOauthorities to exempt the examina-tion centres from load shedding andto arrange alternate energy sourcesin case of technical faults in thepower lines.

After discussion and delibera-tion, the meeting decided to em-power the superintendents ofexamination centres to lodge FIRagainst the persons found involvedin impersonation, replacement of an-swer copies, creating disturbanceand violating the Section 144 Cr.P.C. at the police stations concerned.

ssC part-I & II exams from today

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07

nEwsMonday, 8 April, 2013

A person who never made amistake never tried anythingnew. –Albert Einstein N

thousands protest in egypt aftercoptic christians’ funeral

MONITORING DESK

Thousands of people packedCairo’s main cathedral onSunday for the funeralprayers of four Coptic Chris-tians killed in sectarian

clashes, The Daily Star reported.“Down, down with Brotherhood rule,”

the congregation chanted in reference tothe ruling Muslim Brotherhood of Presi-dent Mohamed Mursi.

“Leave!” they chanted as they held up

wooden crosses, television footageshowed.

One Muslim was also killed in theclashes which flared on Friday night inAl-Khusus, a poor area in Qalyubia gov-ernorate, after a Muslim in his 50s ob-jected to children drawing a swastika ona religious institute.

The man insulted Christians andthe cross, and an argument broke outwith a young Christian man who waspassing by, which escalated into a gunbattle between the Muslims and the

Christians in which assault rifles wereused.

A priest in Al-Khusus, Suryal Yunan,said 0n Saturday attackers torched “parts”of an Anglican church.

Muslims also set a Christian homeablaze and ransacked a pharmacy ownedby a Copt, a police official said.

A number of angry Muslim resi-dents tried to surround the town’s MarGirgis church, but the security pres-ence in the area prevented them fromdoing so.

Both sides then lit tyres in the nar-row streets where residents live incrowded slum housing.

Christians form between six and 10percent of Egypt’s population of nearly83 million people.

The country’s Coptic Christians andMuslims have clashed on several occa-sions since the revolution that toppledthe former president Hosni Mubarak inFebruary 2011. Around 50 Christiansand several Muslims have been killedin the clashes.

new radioactivewater leak reportedat fukushima

TOKYOAPP

Some radioactive water may have leakedinto the ground from a storage tank at thecrippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclearpower plant, its operator said on Sunday,the latest in a series of troubles at the fa-cility. The fresh leak comes a day afterTokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) saidup to 120 tonnes of contaminated watermay have escaped from another of theseven underground reservoir tanks at thetsunami-damaged plant.But it said the contaminated water wasunlikely to flow into the sea.The tanks store water used to cool downthe reactors after radioactive caesium isremoved but other radioactive substancesremain. TEPCO said radioactivity wasdetected in water outside a tank in the lat-est leak. “We have determined that a min-imal amount of water was feared to haveleaked from the tank although there wasno decline in the level of water inside thetank,” it said in a statement.The series ofleakages came after one of the systemskeeping spent atomic fuel cool at theplant temporarily failed on Friday, thesecond outage in a matter of weeks, un-derlining the precarious fix at the plant.

Protesters subjectedto brute force inbaramulla, 6 injured

ISLAMABADAPP

At least six people were injured when In-dian police resorted to brute force againstprotesters in Baramulla town of Indian-held Kashmir.According to Kashmir Media Service,people took to the streets in several areasof Baramulla town and staged forcefuldemonstrations demanding the mortal re-mains of Kashmiri leaders, MuhammadMaqbool Butt and Muhammad AfzalGuru, buried in New Delhi’s Tihar jail.Eyewitnesses said police burst teargasshells and fired pellets to disperse thedemonstrators resulting in injuries to sixyouth. They said that one of the injuredyouth identified as Sheikh Zamin of SangriColony Baramulla received pellet in hisright eye and was removed to SMHS hos-pital in Srinagar for specialised treatment.

SEOULAPP

The US has delayed an intercontinentalballistic missile test to avoid stoking ten-sions with North Korea, as fears escalatedthat weeks of angry rhetoric could eruptinto conflict on the Korean peninsula.

The Pentagon’s disclosure that itwould reschedule the test due in Cali-fornia next week comes as the interna-tional community grows increasinglynervous that the situation could spiralout of control. A US defence officialsaid Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel

postponed the Minuteman 3 test at Van-denberg Air Force Base until nextmonth due to concerns it “might be mis-construed by some as suggesting thatwe were intending to exacerbate thecurrent crisis with North Korea”.

“We wanted to avoid that mispercep-tion or manipulation,” the US official toldAFP. “We are committed to testing ourICBMs to ensure a safe, secure, effectivenuclear arsenal.”

North Korea, incensed by UN sanc-tions following its nuclear and missiletests and by South Korean-US militarydrills, has issued a series of apocalyptic

threats of nuclear war in recent weeks.It has also reportedly loaded two in-

termediate-range missiles on mobilelaunchers and hidden them in under-ground facilities near its east coast, rais-ing speculation it is preparing for aprovocative launch.

Foreign diplomats in Pyongyang hud-dled at the weekend to discuss a warningfrom the North’s authorities that theirsafety could not be guaranteed after April10 if a conflict broke out.

Most of their governments have madeit clear they have no immediate plans towithdraw personnel, and some suggested

the advisory was a ruse to fuel growingglobal anxiety over the crisis.

British Foreign Secretary WilliamHague said Sunday he saw no immediateneed to withdraw his country’s diplomats.Hague also told the BBC the North isshowing no sign of gearing up for “all-outconflict” by repositioning its armedforces, and called for calm.

The top national security adviser toSouth Korea’s President Park Geun-Hyesaid Sunday the warning was anotherploy to force the South and the UnitedStates to reach out with face-saving con-cessions.

BOAOAGENCIES

Chinese President Xi Jinping said Sun-day that Asia faced “new challenges” toits stability and warned no one should beallowed to throw the region into chaos astensions mounted over North Korea.

Xi, delivering a speech at an annualinternational forum on the southern Chi-nese island of Hainan, did not mentionthe crisis on the Korean Peninsula orChina’s territorial disputes with Japanand Southeast Asian nations.

But he said there should be no toler-ance for those who foster “chaos for self-ish gains” and reiterated that Chinawould “firmly” uphold its “sovereignty”and “territorial integrity”.

Tensions have soared in recent weekswith North Korea threatening nuclearwar after the United Nations imposedfresh sanctions over its latest atomic testand the US and South Korea launchedjoint war games.

“We need to make concerted effortsto resolve major difficulties to ensure sta-bility in Asia,” Xi said.

“Stability in Asia now faces newchallenges as hot spot issues keep emerg-ing and both traditional and non-tradi-tional security threats exist,” he added.

China has traditionally been NorthKorea’s closest political ally since theyfought together in the 1950-1953 Ko-rean War and is Pyongyang’s biggesttrading partner.

Speaking more broadly, Xi calledon the international community topush for a “vision of comprehensivesecurity, common security and cooper-ative security”.

germany says n Koreamust guaranteeembassy security

BERLINAPP

German Foreign Minister Guido Wester-welle said Sunday that North Korea mustensure the security of embassies on its soilafter Pyongyang warned diplomats that itcould not protect them if a conflict brokeout. “Foreign Minister Westerwelle reiter-ated that any deadline after which NorthKorea would no longer ensure the secu-rity of embassies is unacceptable,” hisministry said after he spoke by telephonewith Berlin’s envoy to Pyongyang.

china boostsefforts to containdeadly bird flu

SHANGHAIAPP

China Sunday stepped up efforts to curba deadly bird flu outbreak centred onShanghai, disinfecting schools and shut-ting down bird markets, as state mediacriticised “intense” farming for helpingspread disease.China has confirmed 18 cases of theH7N9 strain of avian influenza, so farconfined to its developed eastern region,since announcing a week ago that thevirus had been found in humans for thefirst time. There have been six deaths.The education ministry ordered schoolsnationwide to “guarantee” the health ofstudents and teachers against infectiousdisease, including H7N9.They should educate students aboutthe importance of washing hands,guarantee the safety of food served incanteens and strengthen monitoring ofsymptoms for illness, the ministry saidin a statement.In Shanghai, workers sprayed liquiddisinfectant in classrooms to preparefor the return of pupils on Sundayafter a holiday, local televisionshowed. Sunday is officially a workday in China after the three-dayQingming Festival.

Us delays missile test to cool n Korea tensions

Asia faces ‘new challenges’ to stability: Xi

KHUSUS: A Christian cleric asks Christians to back away

from the gates of Mary Gerges Church after clashes

between Muslims and Christians in the El-Kalubia

governorate of Egypt, 25kms northeast of Cairo. AGENCIES

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nEwsNMonday 8 April, 2013

08

SUKKURAPP

Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) JusticeIftikhar Chaudhry has said the role of dis-trict returning officers (DROs), returningofficers (ROs) and assistant returning offi-cers (AROs) was important for conductingelections in a free and fair manner.

The conduct of free and fair electionspoke highly of the sagacity and wisdom ofthese officials, he added.

The CJP was addressing these officialsfrom Sukkur and Larkana divisions on Sat-urday.

He said that the people had the right tochoose their representatives but duringscrutiny it should be ensured that the can-didate is a right one as desired by the con-stitution. “The judicial officers have beenchosen for this task of national importance,which will prove a paradigm shift in shap-ing the destiny of our country,” he said.

The CJP said the Supreme Court in a

case regarding initiation of action againstthose involved in corrupt practice of sub-mitting fake degrees during the election2008, observed, “In terms of Article 218 (3)of the constitution, where it is the duty ofthe commission to organise and conductfree and fair elections at the same time thevoter is also required to have full knowl-edge about the antecedents, etc of the can-didate, in whose favour, he contemplates tovote in the forthcoming elections.”

He told the judicial officers that the in-duction of the judiciary in the electionprocess meant that they would not be influ-enced by any political party or politician.The CJP told the judicial officers that peo-ple had immense expectations from them.He advised the judicial officers to be mind-ful of the fact that voters had the right to ac-cess to information with reference to thecredential of a candidate he was going tovote for.

Therefore, he said, it was need of thehour for all stakeholders to join hands withthe Election Commission of Pakistan(ECP) for conducting free and fair elec-tions. He said the ECP needed institutionalsupport and strength for performance of itsconstitutional duty as such the judicial of-ficers were deployed in the election processin the national interest.

He added that in view of the presentlaw and order situation, there was a direneed to join hands with the ECP so that itmay be able to give us the representatives,which will turn the fate of this nation. If wedid not participate to the best of our abilitiesthen history would never forgive us, headded. He said that it is obligatory for theECP under Article 218 of the constitutionto organise and conduct the elections andto make necessary arrangements to holdpolls honestly, justly, fairly and in accor-dance with the law.

LAHORENADEEm SyED

“THE people’s desirefor change will be adecisive factor inthe elections 2013.This time it will be

a vote for change”, this is how PTI’s secretaryinformation Shafqat Mahmood summed itup.

A well-known figure in the nationalmedia owing to his multifaceted personality– bureaucrat, politician and columnist – butmost importantly as a political commentatorand analyst, Shafqat is involved when keydecisions are taken by the PTI. Most politicalanalysts in the country are flabbergasted bythe so many dimensions, so many factors atplay in the forthcoming elections but the PTIis positive that this crest of a wave thathungers for change will catapult it into power.

“The people know that these electionsare critical in determining the future of Pak-istan. I think they have already decided what

they want from these elections. They want tosee PTI at the helm. They will surely vote forthe PTI”, said a self-assured Shafqat whilegiving his perspective on how these electionsare different from the ones in the past andwhy his party has emerged as a third politicalforce to reckon with, providing the publicwith a much-needed alternative.

“The people have seen the other twomajor parties and their performance in thepast. They are all collectively responsible forthe decline, the rot we see in Pakistan. Nowthey are not going to look back at them; theywill opt for PTI”, said Shafqat.

Dilating further on how he sees the elec-tions pan out, he said: “Hotly contested, nodoubt. You can have a feel of it from the heatgenerated across all parties as the party ticketswere awarded. The encouraging point is thisis not a long drawn process, for it will be overin a month or so.”

And it will be, he conceded, a big-ticketelection, with parties splurging a great dealon their media campaigns. “The decisive fac-tor in these polls will be people’s desire for

change and nothing else.”Shafqat said that all the recent surveys

showed that the public was disillusioned withthe present state of affairs and the leaders inpower. “They are not happy the way thingsare” he added.

To a question as to what about those sur-veys that placed PML-N well ahead of theother political entities, “the people in Pakistanare still afraid of administration, the localMNA or MPA. So they do not go out of theirway to speak out. But the March 23 publicmeeting of PTI has made it quite clear wherethe public stands.

On the performance of the caretakers sofar, Shafqat did not make a comment, saying“the PTI will keep a close watch over themand assess them on a daily basis.”

The party, Shafqat informed, had re-ceived over 4,000 applications for its ticket –1,800 for the National Assembly constituen-cies, the rest for the provincial seats. Fourthousand sounds like a good number for aparty that has only won one NA seat so farafter its travails spread over a decade and half.

“The PTI is for a wholesome change,from top to bottom, and absolutely againstthe perpetuation of status quo. While otherparties are giving precedence to the electablesand drawing plans giving biradries, caste andlocal groups much consideration, the PTI isdoing no such thing. We will win these elec-tions purely on the basis of our ideology. I seethe results in 2013 replicating 1970.”

About the PTI’s strategy for the upcom-ing polls, “we would contest from all over thePunjab, entire KPK, Pashtun areas ofBalochistan where there is a strong supportbase for the PTI. And last but not the leastfrom Karachi.”

And his forecast with regards to the bot-tom line, the number of NA seats the PTI waslikely to pick up? Without batting an eyelid:“100 seats from the Punjab and 35 fromKPK. Interestingly all we need are 130 seatsto form the government but we will definitelyend up with a figure much higher than this”.

Now to most political analysts this lastbit may be a tad too difficult to digest, butthen what is wrong in being optimistic?

not less than 135 in na,Shafqat’s aim for Pti

afghanistan warnsPakistan overabnormal borderactivities

KABULINP

The Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs hasstrongly criticised abnormal activities ofneighbouring Pakistan in the border areas,including construction of barrier wall andcontinuation of mortar attacks on border regionsof the country by Pakistani militia. In a newsbriefing, Janan Musazai a spokesman to theMinistry of Foreign Affairs of Afghanistan askedIslamabad to halt the unusual movements in theborder regions main across the Durand Line.Meanwhile, the Interior Ministry of Afghanistansaid Pakistani movements alongside border areaswere a violation of territorial integrity and nationalsovereignty of Afghanistan and in contradictioninter-governmental ties and the Afghangovernment had dispatched a delegation to theeastern Nangarhar province to probe into theincident. Pointing out the recent atypicalmovements of Pakistan alongside the borderregions the deputy spokeswoman of Ministry ofInterior, Najiba Danish told reporters that Pakistanintended to construct an illegal gate in zero pointarea alongside border region in Gusha district ofNangarhar province and the move followedserious retaliation of our border security forcesand prevented the construction of such a gate.

Role of ROs is important in free, fair polls: CJPSAYS ECP NEEDSINSTITUTIONALSUPPORT TOPERFORM ITSCONSTITUTIONAL DUTY

JUSTICE CHAUDHRY SAYSALL STAKEHOLDERSSHOULD JOIN HANDSWITH ECP TO CONDUCTFREE AND FAIR POLLS

ROs are askingunnecessary questions —Syed Munawar Hassan

QUETTA: President BNP-M Sardar Akhtar Mengal flashes victory sign during a public meeting in Quetta on Sunday. ONlINE

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nEws N

09

Monday 8 April, 2013

ASADABADINP

NEARLY a dozen chil-dren were killed and anumber of womenwounded in an Interna-tional Security Assis-

tance Force (ISAF) airstrike in the Shigaldistrict of eastern Kunar province, offi-cials said on Sunday.

The air raid came during a joint oper-ation by Afghan and coalition forces inthe Shulatan area of the district late onSaturday. At least seven women wereamong the injured, the governor’sspokesman said.

Wasifullah Wasifi said 11 senior Tal-iban figures were killed and 10 others in-jured in the raid that left one coalitionsoldier dead and four local intelligenceagents wounded.

However, the district’s administrativehead, Abdul Zahir Sapi, alleged 11 chil-dren had also been killed. Reporters whovisited the scene saw the children’s bod-ies. The victims were aged between twomonths and seven years, Sapi said.

He added that the Taliban were meet-ing inside the house which came underbombardment. Taliban commander AliKhan and his relatives were killed whenhis residence was struck, Sapi explained.

The raid came after the guerrillas

fired at the joint force, which asked themto surrender.

A dweller of Shultan, Shah Moham-mad, put the civilian toll at 22 dead andwounded. He said houses of three broth-ers Ali Khan, Sharifullah and BehramSaid had been bombed.

Earlier in the day, Asadabad CivilHospital Director Dr Farooq Sahak con-firmed receiving five injured womenfrom the valley. They were in stable con-dition, he said.

Resident Noor Mohammad, who ac-companied the women to the hospital,said the area had come under intensebombardment. He feared heavy casualtiesin the airstrikes that lasted several hours.

Approached for comments, theNATO-led force said, “We are still inves-tigating the reports. We are aware of re-ports that civilians were injured during anoperation. We take all reports of civilianinjuries seriously and coalition officialsare looking into this operation to ascertainthe facts.” On the other hand, Talibanspokesman Qari Yousaf Ahmadi ac-knowledged the loss of six ordinary fight-ers in the air raid. He claimed severalwomen and children had been killed inthe strike.

In face-to-face fighting, 10 Americantroops were killed, he said, adding the in-surgents also stormed the district centreand a security checkpoint.

PML-q announcesmanifesto, vows toeradicate terrorism,corruptionThe Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q)on Sunday announced its election manifesto.According to a private TV channel, PML-Qleader SM Zafar in a news conference making aformal announcement of the election manifesto,said his party had made its manifesto keeping inview the challenges country was facing. He saidthe PML-Q would wipe out extremism andterrorism from the country and the partymanifesto had outlined the measures to be takenfor the purpose. PML-Q President ChaudhryShujaat Hussain and Secretary GeneralMushahid Hussain were also present. SM Zafarsaid his party manifesto had also provided thesolution for rooting out corruption from thecountry, adding that the PML-Q leaders andworkers would pass through a process of self-accountability before presenting themselves tothe people. mONITORING DESk

gilani opposes strictscrutiny ofnomination papersMULTAN: Former prime minister Yousaf RazaGilani has said there should be no experimentlike the one being carried out wile scrutinisingnomination papers. Talking to reporters onSunday, Gilani said experiments were carried outon animals and not on humans. He said thegovernment’s priority should be transparentelections. Gilani said party workers were theirasset and joining of the PML-N by NawabLiaquat Ali Khan was his personal decision. Hesaid he had been tasked to bring back theestranged leaders into the PPP fold and for thispurpose he would go to every worker’s home toremove their grievances. INP

farooq urges youthto support MqM forpolitical revolutionISLAMABAD: Former Federal Minister andleader of Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM),Farooq Satar on Saturday urged youth tosupport his party for bringing politicalrevolution in the country. Talking to a privateTV channel, he said that the middle class,minorities, women and youth of the countryneed to be empowered to resolve all the issuesof Pakistan. Farooq stressed the need toestablish an effective local government systemto resolve the problems of the people in thecountry, adding that his party introducednumber of development schemes in Karachi.The MQM would not make political alliancewith any party before elections, he said.Replying to a question, he urged all politicalparties to develop a consensus to facechallenges of sectarianism, poverty andterrorism in the country. Farooq said that MQMaimed to bring an end to feudalism in thecountry, adding that the youth could play apositive role in this regard. APP

talks underway withPti, PML-n for seatadjustment: HassanQUETTA: Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) chief SyedMunawar Hassan has said his party was incontinued talks with the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan MuslimLeague-Nawaz (PML-N) for seat adjustment.“The JI will contest the upcoming generalelections on ‘scale’ symbol.” Speaking toreporters in Quetta on Sunday, Hassan said thegovernment of the Pakistan People’s Party hadgiven the masses nothing but corruption. TheJI chief said all political parties shouldnominate those candidates who fulfilled thecriteria of Articles 62 and 63. To a query, hesaid the participation of nationalist parties inthe election was appreciable. “Returningofficers are asking unnecessary questions,”Hassan said to a query about questions by ROsto electoral candidates during scrutiny. INP

ISLAMABADAPP

The Amnesty International has saidAfzal Guru, who was hanged by Indiaon February 9 in New Delhi’s Tiharjail, did not get a fair trial.

According to KMS, “We as an in-ternational organisation for humanrights do feel that there wasn’t an im-partial probe and trial in Afzal’s case,”said the three-member AI team led byits director programme for India, VKShashi Kumar, in an interview in Sri-nagar. They said that the AI had offi-cially written to the Indian presidenturging him to reconsider Afzal’s deathpenalty. They said that the Amnestywas favouring the demand of return ofAfzal’s remains. “They (family) de-serve the right to ask for the mortal re-mains and we support their demand,”they added.

The three member team compris-ing VK Shahshi Kumar, G Anantha-padmanabhan and US-based

researcher Christine Mehta is presentlyon a visit to the occupied territory.

The team members said that theyhad sought an appointment with the In-dian-held Kashmir Chief MinisterOmar Abdullah to hand him over theletter to seek repeal of draconian law,Public Safety Act, from the territory.

“Chief Minister refused to meetus,” they said, adding that he was notserious in repealing the PSA.

“If he (Omar) really wants to re-peal PSA he can simply issue an exec-utive order to do so,” they added.

Stating that to get PSA repealedfrom occupied Kashmir was their sin-gle point agenda, the AI team mem-bers said that under the garb of PSA,political leaders in the territory, par-ticularly in the Valley, were putunder house arrest.

G Ananthapadmanabhan saidthat it was not the time to seek atemporary amendment, but acomplete revocation of thecontroversial law. “PSA issuch a law that is entirelyagainst the interna-tional human rightslaws, as this law in-terferes in thedemocratic rightsof the civil-ians,” headded.

11 children killed, seven womeninjured in afghan airstrike

ghafoor Haiderirules outrestoration of MMa

OKARAINP

JUI-F General Secretary Abdul GhafoorHaideri has said there is no progress in seatadjustment with the PML-N as the party isstill in the midst of distribution of tickets tocandidates. In his telephonic address to theOkara Press Club on Sunday, Haideri saidvery little time was left, adding that theyhad two options and those were either tohold dialogue for seat adjustment with thePML-N or run the election campaign ontheir own. To a question, the JUI-F leadersaid the PML-N was not serious about seatadjustment as it considered itself “a bigparty”. He said in elections and postelections, big parties needed small parties.“We have not shut the doors for seatadjustment but have reservations over thePML-N for a very slow process.” Haiderisaid they never claimed to be the majorparty but having vast following acrossPakistan, “we can help others winelections”. To another question, he said dueto strict implementation of rules by theElection Commission of Pakistan, theMQM chief looked to escape from theelections. The JUI-F leader said his partytried its best for two years for therestoration of MMA but the Jamaat-e-Islamifoiled all its attempts and lost its standingin the national politics as well. He said nowthe JI was trying to swim in the boats ofPML-N and PTI, who were strongopponents of each other and going in theopposite directions.

Afzal Guru did notget fair trial: AIAI SAYS MEMBERS SAYTHEY FAVOUR FAMILY’SDEMAND TO RETURNHIS REMAINS

The rulers must realise thesensitivity of the situation on theground — Sardar Akhtar Mengal

LAHORE: Former prime minister and PML-N President Nawaz Sharif chairs a meeting of Central Parliamentary Board on Sunday. Shahbaz Sharif is also present. INP

KHI 08-04-2013_Layout 1 4/8/2013 5:58 AM Page 9

Human resourcedevelopment in balochistanHuman resource development, in short, meansinvestment in human capital. Human capital meanspeople can act as capital assets which yield a stream ofeconomic benefits over their working life. An improvementin the mental capability, skill, and physical capacity ofthe people constitutes an increase in the human capitalbecause this enables the human factor to produce more.

Human resources development is essential for bothindividual success and also overall national prosperityand development. Balochistan, though being rich innatural resources with a reasonable population, still hasnot relived itself of its poverty shackles. This is becauseit suffers from a serious lack of skilled human resources.The survey says Balochistan has only 10,381 educationalinstitutions against a total of 2,164,901 in the country,out of which 106,435 are in Punjab, 46,862 in Sindh and36,029 in Khyber Pakthunkhwa. About six per cent ofschools in Balochistan do not have buildings, nine percent do not have electricity, 12 per cent are withoutpotable water, and 11 per cent are without proper toilets.As mentioned in the Economic Survey, Balochistan’sliteracy rate is 34 per cent as compared to the nationalliteracy rate of 56 per cent. On the contrary, Punjab has aliteracy rate of 57 per cent, Sindh 50 per cent and KhyberPakhtunkhwa 49 per cent. Similarly, the survey says theliteracy rate in Balochistan among male and female ismerely 39 and 27 per cent, respectively, much below the

national average literacy rate. The statistics show thatinequality in education in Balochistan is a fact.

Unfortunately, the province is being deprived ofeducation and same is the case with unemployment anddevelopment. for quite a long time and no concertedefforts have been made to end this sense of deprivationin the province. I appeal to present caretaker governmentand coming government to concentrate on education andhealth sector for development of human resource sector.A productive Balochistan means a prosperous Pakistan.

SARFARAz SAMAdUniversity of Karachi, Karachi

dealing with the talibanI do not agree with the opinion that by electing goodleaders, we can drive out the few thousand terrorists whohave held the country hostage for last four decades. Thereal question is whether we are united on a commonresolve against terrorism. When it comes to religion, weare a confused nation. Anyone can fool us in the name ofreligion. Most of the religious-political parties areideologically aligned with the Taliban, which is whymilitary is unable to carry out any decisive action againstthem. The issue is no longer confined to the tribal areasand KPK. The country’s commercial capital, Karachi, isnow under siege by Taliban. Pakistan can never win thewar on terror until we are united against the enemy.Decisive action against extremists is essential.

MASOOd KHAnSaudi Arabia

COMMEnT

Aziz-ud-Din AhmadEditor

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

Islamabad – Ph: 051-2287273 Fax: 051-2850505Web: www.pakistantoday.com.pk

Email: editorial@pakistantoday.com.pk

Dedicated to the legacy of the late Hameed Nizami

C

With thousands of nomination forms left,scrutiny has become a bit of a national joke

Spotlight on returning officers

Politalkistan

alliance-less Pti hits election trail

ALL eyes have been cast on the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), the dark horse in theupcoming general elections, on whether it shall deliver on its rhetoric of change.Some suggest that how the PTI conducts itself in the election race itself shall be a

good indicator for the times to come. And for those observing the PTI hit the election trail,there has been little fodder for those looking for a new political tradition being created onthe campaign trail. Continuous negotiations, seat adjustments, pre-electoral alliances andpatronage-based vote bases are emerging as the campaign gathers pace.

While the PTI Chairman Imran Khan has come out claiming that his party will notmake an electoral alliance with any political party, he continues to meet the Jamaat-i-Islami leadership, the Nawab of Bahawalpur, Sheikh Rasheed and develop anunderstanding with Pir Pagara over fielding Shah Mehmood Qureshi in Sindh. If nothing,it just reeks of one man interested in getting into the seat of power one way or another,without changing much on the ground.

The significant infighting with the party over the issue of election tickets, with theelected Lahore president Aleem Khan having threatened to return the tickets, has also raisedconcerns over the maturity of the PTI’s internal processes. But more disturbing comes thePTI senior vice president Shah Mehmood Qureshi’s decision to contest elections from Sindhindependently with the blessing of the Pir Pagara. The election will not be fought on thestrength of Qureshi’s work in the area but the shared ‘spiritual heritage’ with the mostinfluential Pir of Sindh. What remains is his promise to field younger candidates below theage of 35 years of age. The PTI, to its credit, has launched a special fund, the “New Pakistanfund,” for its new candidates and money is being raised money from overseas Pakistanis.Whether it actually goes to new candidates and what the effects shall be is awaited.

There was a time when Imran Khan promised that one chooses “electables and alliancepolitics for power while our (the PTI’s) politics is to usher a change in the country.” Thepolls were to be won “on a wave of change.” But now the same Khan has put all his eggs innegotiating alliances, fielding electables and even seeking our Pirs. So much for the sloganof change, if the PTI is to follow the very same policies and tactics that they stood upagainst. Those who have looked to the PTI to usher in change are certainly having secondthoughts when witnessing the pushing and shoving to win elections. It appears that whileImran Khan continues to toe the line that the “masses support him,” on the field, he isbecoming a true politician. Whether that is to be cherished or not is not for us to decide.

RETURNING officers (ROs) have become the unnecessary centre of attention aswe enter the last day of scrutiny. With media reports suggesting thousands ofnomination papers are yet to be scrutinized, the actual process of politicians

appearing before an RO has turned into a bit of a national joke. ROs have been reportedto be asking personal questions and even doling out advise on family matters, neither ofwhich is amongst the tasks delegated to them. With their mandated task being to verifythe financial and moral credibility of candidates, even though some consider the secondan impossible and irrelevant task, ROs have become the new tormentors of many adedicated politician.

With this being the last day for scrutiny, ROs have dug a pit for the election processwhich is unlikely to have any personal ramifications for them. Observors fear that manyforms might be cleared in haste without examining questions of tax evasion, loan default,clearing of utility bills and other government dues. Media has already revealed that fakedegree holder Muhammad Ajmal was cleared by an RO in Faisalabad PP-63(Faisalabad). The ECP has come out and called it, “a problem created by the returningofficers for themselves.” Whatever that means, it is a confirmation that ROs have wasteda lot of time in frivolous matters, perhaps each wanting their own moment in thelimelight, while the serious task of confirming who all shall contest the polls from aparticular constituency has yet to be decided.

The fact that Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) himself chose to address ROs inHyderabad has come up for criticism from with the lawyers community. Asma Jehangirhas said the judiciary had no power to intervene in the affairs of ECP. She has alsoaccused the CJP for “trying to influence the election process” by addressing ROs.Whether that may be the case or not, the CJ does not appear to have made a prudentchoice. On the other hand, LHCBA president Abid Saqi has said judicial officers shouldhave been properly trained before their appointment as ROs. And it increasingly appearsas if the criticism is gaining strength with Pir Pagara accusing ROs of asking “irrelevantquestions” and stating that the time given for scrutiny of the nomination papers was notsufficient to screen out defaulters. That former foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar wasasked to submit her nikah nama by an overzealous RO is beyond ones understanding. Itappears no one has actually told an RO what the limits of he is and is not allowed to ask.The entire scrutiny procedure has given of the bad smell of the judiciary using anopportunity to insult politicians. This is certainly not the ideal situation to be in and it ishoped lessons are learnt in both the present and future.

Reality and promises are poles apart

Monday, 8 April, 2013

10

There is just no escape from the political talk show

Anyone who knows anything of history knows that great social changes are

impossible without feminine upheaval. Social progress can be measured exactly

by the social position of the fair sex, the ugly ones included. –Karl Marx

Send your letters to: Letters to Editor, Pakistan Today, 4-Shaarey Fatima Jinnah, Lahore, Pakistan. Fax: +92-42-32535230 E-mail: letters@pakistantoday.com.pk Letters should be addressed to Pakistan Today exclusivelyEditor’s mail

WHILE there is aplethora of thriv-ing entertainmentchannels, thelimelight contin-

ues to be hogged by the political talkshow ever since the revolutionagainst General Pervez Musharrafwas televised in 2007.

Interestingly, Mushrraf’s returnlast month from a self-imposed exile isagain the centre of the inescapablechatter. Today’s hearing in theSupreme Court will ensure more bytes!

However, there is some ironysurrounding the prime time fare,which was probably at its best duringthe time of the worst dictatorshipPakistan endured.

To think that the fare etched itselfin the minds of my generation in spiteof the suffocating code of morality —and on state-run Pakistan Television(PTV) — is to speak from the localchapter of Ripley’s Believe it or not!

Ironically still, it took anotherbrother general of General Ziaul Haq,the mustachioed helmsman and proba-bly the worst dictator to rule Pakistan,to free up the waves.

General Musharraf is credited withthe glastnost that, apart from deliveringthe necessary freedom of thought,backfired on him tremendously whenhe tried to asphyxiate the messenger.

To begin with, it wasn’t as ifMusharraf had suddenly fallen in lovewith the idea of independent media. Itwas necessitated by the Kargil conflictthat brought home the lessons of whyand how a credible media is crucial onthe diplomatic front. He realized thatthe state-run electronic media had nocredibility and no purpose was servedby withholding bad news as it were.

Fast forward to Musharraf’s

blunder in trying to force out IftikharChaudhary, the incumbent chief jus-tice, on mere suspicion that he wouldstall his presidential reelection bid in2007. Once the top adjudicator re-fused to resign on cue and was cap-tured on camera being pulled by hishair a day after Musharraf sackedhim, all hell broke loose.

Musharraf self-destructed byblacking out the private media fol-lowing a sweeping Emergency meas-ure that unwittingly culminated inuniting the rejuvenated judiciarywith a media that was dying to tele-cast the revolution. Since then, therehas been no looking back.

The reason I have narrated ascript all too familiar to most of uswith that TV remote in hand is todrive home the point on how primetime ever since that mad Musharrafwinter streak turned it into a circuscalled the talk show.

Admittedly, it was fun watchingthe daredevilry for some time. Therewas no dearth of in-your-face mienwith prominent but outspokenlawyers like Ali Ahmed Kurd primetiming cameos about ripping the (mil-itary) uniform off the General whowas refusing to take his fatigues off,calling it his “second skin”.

But after a while, the talk showsbegan to resemble secondhand cloth-ing with no imagination or substance.The average Pakistani viewer has hadlittle respite since then with TV an-chors far from playing moderators as-suming a larger-than-life profile andforcing agenda-driven shows down thethroats of the viewers.

It was a cinch that at some stage,the lack of credibility would give themaway, and it did resoundingly, last yearwhen two of the breed was caught oncamera literally staging a show with areal estate tycoon on extended primetime. The real estate tycoon is notori-ous for his wheeling-dealing and hasthe country’s who’s who in his pocket.

Even though the influence of theelectronic media has shot exponen-tially, the same cannot be said of itscredibility. The leaked tape served toreinforce the stereotype among boththe chattering classes and the viewingpublic that the media was part of theproblem, not quite the innocent mes-senger it fancied itself to be.

One popular notion — and it isused with some abandon by warringpoliticos on prime time TV — is that abreed of anchors are holding the dis-

course (if not the nation) hostage. Thatthey decide what will set the stagealight and conversely, ignore anythingthat falls short of their agenda.

Truth to tell, it is a charge not eas-ily dismissed. The bias, in some cases,is so blatant that you don’t knowwhether to laugh at their audacity orsympathize with the unsuspectingviewers who may have lost their senseof prime time direction.

But to blame the anchors entirelyfor the crisis of credibility that perme-ates every TV-equipped householdwould be stretching the argument. It isthe crafty managements behind thesemen and women of influence that isconstantly at work to ratchet up the rat-ings to milk whatever they can.

Is it any wonder, therefore, that aTV channel accused of leaking thetape of a self-styled religious scholar,whose sales pitch is unmatched, inone of his unguarded moments — outof sheer jealousy for losing him to arival — lured him back and, againstall in-house opposition, forced himdown the throat of the believers dur-ing the month of Ramadan because itfetched incredible moolah.

This space is too limited to list themedia’s crass commercialism and itshues of running with the hare and hunt-ing with the hounds. Paradoxically, itis not too difficult to make out whichmedia house is in which league andwith whom but most of them clearlyknow which side of the toast to butterfor a rewarding experience.

Not too long ago the media wasconsidered the last frontier in termsof conquest. Now both the stakehold-ers and the media seem to have co-opted. This is particularly true of thefare the viewers are currently ex-posed to in an election year whosefrenzy will take the country by stormin the coming days and weeks.

In fact, in an unprecedentedmove, Najam Sethi, perhaps, thecountry’s most influential talk showhost — whose access to the high andmighty in civil and military circlesas well as a remarkably accuratesource base is legendary — is nowpresiding over the most critical bas-tion of Pakistani power equation —the Punjab province.

Now, what is this, if not prime timetranscending the power of airwaves?

The writer is Editor PiqueMagazine based in Islamabad. He canbe reached at kaamyabi@gmail.com

monday musingskAmRAN REHmAT

KHI 08-04-2013_Layout 1 4/8/2013 5:58 AM Page 10

PREDICTING the future is nevereasy. All major corporations and na-tions devote substantial efforts to-wards devising processes and

technologies that assist in managing informa-tion and knowledge, and to help understandthe future. The more accurately one can graspthe emerging world; the better one can planand choose the course.

A related debate has to with if deductiveor inductive reasoning better for this task.Furthermore, whether the right or left-brainpeople more suited at seeing patterns andtrends and provide the clues about what iscoming. One of the key shortcoming in thisregard is that human operates from what isknown. While new discoveries give furthercredence to the fact that there is a lot we donot know. Even the best-developed modelscan be thrown off by a single anomaly, as theproponents of chaos theory would claim.

A lot also depends on the assumptionsand frame of reference being used to grasp agiven reality. Now a day’s, media plays an im-portant role in framing peoples’ perceptionsabout what that may be. Despite the limita-tions, the worse mistake is not to have pre-dicted wrongly, but to have not even madeindigenous attempts to understand the future.In absence of this effort, one is prone in be-lieving what others may conceive.

For more than a decade now, the poli-tics of Pakistan has been disproportionatelyimpacted by the war on terror. In additionto widespread corruption and poor gover-nance, this has caused economic stagnationand the energy crisis. In other words, theinternal and external problems of the coun-try have become linked. The nation cannotwalk away from the war on terror, and themore it stays involved; its economic and

security situation worsens further.For example, two prominent thoughts

have emerged about where Pakistan is head-ing in the US. One of them presents a pes-simistic and damning view that the nation isgradually spinning out of control, extrem-ism is spreading, and the point of no returnis approaching quickly. The scholars withthis view are often older and have been deal-ing with affairs of Pakistan for an extendedperiod of time. One senses exasperation intheir demeanor. It appears to be an after ef-fect of having dealt with the complexAfghanistan situation and the difficult Pak-istan-India relations, and to make sense ofit in the context of war on terror.

A little bit optimistic version usuallycomes from the relatively younger intellec-tual community of the think tanks. Thehopefulness is premised on the economicprospects the region, manifesting in theform regional trade and energy dealings.Generally, there is an emphasis on promot-ing the civilian government as opposed todepending on the military.

On the other hand, it is equally criticalto understand the trends impacting the sur-rounding region where nationalism, conser-vatism and security concerns are resurgent.The developing globalcompetition betweenChina and the US, theimpact of BRICS, andthe traditional tusslesbetween the Arabs, Per-sian and the Turks, areall equally importantconsiderations.

The consequences ofclimatic changes, espe-cially the frequent flood-ing and predicted acuteshortage of water willhave no less impact onthe region as populationcontinues to explode.

The key question ishow much are Pakistan’sleaders, of all shapes andforms, preparing the nation for these trendsand challenges. With in this inquiry, lies an-other major dilemma that the leaders of bothdeveloped and developing world are facing.Is the job of a leader to educate their votersabout the most serious issues and providethem with a new vision, direction, and solu-tion to what is not working? Or, do they justsimply represent popular voices in the shortterm to win votes, while leading the citizenstowards oblivion in the long run.

The political dynamics of Pakistan, andmany other places for that matter, are stuck ina vicious cycle. The past and present political

mistakes result in a reactionary cycle. And,the reactionary politics may not be what is re-quired to deal with the emerging world. Forexample, nationalistic, conservative and reli-gious forces are on the rise in Pakistan as wellas in the Middle East. This may have to dowith war on terror, change in the global bal-ance of power and associated economic influ-ence. Although it is important to understandthe deeper reasons producing this change,more critical is to understand where this dy-namics may lead to if left unchecked.

Consider the example of Egypt. Afteryears of Mubarak rule, a Muslim Brother-hood-led government came into power.While the uprising there was spearheaded byyounger liberal elements, they were not or-ganized enough to benefit from what tran-spired as a result of their efforts. Now, facedwith economic constraints, the Morsi govern-ment is being forced to take some of the samesteps Mubarak was blamed for, and in the endmay also cause its decay. American economicassistance to Egypt is linked with continuingthe peace treaty with Israel. The big questionin these circumstances is what will follow ifMorsi fails, and will the pendulum shift toliberal forces, or even more radical elements.

As is happening in the region, the con-servative, nationalistand moderate religiouselements are likely towin in Pakistan’s elec-tions. However, theymay require the help ofliberals to form thegovernment. Such a di-visive polity is unlikelyto be highly decisiveand the governance willobviously suffer oncemore. In the long run,continued failure to de-liver will result in moresupport for hard-line el-ements and againstdealing with the west.This is not very diffi-cult to forecast.

Predicting the results of Pakistan’selections is not that hard. How to avert theexpected paralysis is where most of thefocus is needed.

To do this will require a visionary, prag-matic, and persuasive leadership that doesnot have to spend majority of its time on itsown survival.

The writer is chief analyst at PoliTact,a Washington based futurist advisory firm(www.PoliTact.com andhttp:twitter.com/politact) and can bereached at aansar@politact.com

COMMEnT CMonday, 8 April, 2013

11Change is the law of life. And those who

look only to the past or present are certain

to miss the future. –John F. Kennedy

Predicting Pakistan’s electionsWhat should a leader do?

ARIF ANSAR

corporate india versusindigenous people

CONSISTENT with the unjust, decaying economic model of ourdeficit times, the commodification of everything and everyoneproceeds apace in India. The commercialisation of the land isshattering the lives of millions of India’s poorest, hungriest most

malnourished people, who are being murdered and raped, violently displacedand falsely arrested as huge multi-nationals, financially favoured andmilitarily armed by the Indian government, ravage the land.

The state has more or less abandoned rural people (70% of thepopulation) and turned the countryside over to corporate India. Mineralextraction, dam building, infrastructure projects, water appropriation andindustrial farming make up their burgeoning business portfolios. Theacclaimed author and political activist, Arundhati Roy [discussing ‘Thechanging face of democracy in India’ (CFDI)] makes clear that the land andeverything inside it, is now owned “by the corporations, every mountain,every river, every forest, every dam, every water supply system”. Add to thisthe telephone networks and the media, and some say the judiciary, and theworld’s largest democracy looks rather less democratically sparkling clean.Indeed, to the persecuted people in the forests and the urban poor crying outfor justice, democracy is a city fable of little significance and no reality.

Land sympathetically and sustainably nurtured by Adivasi families forgenerations (the original or native people), is being violently taken from themin what Arundhati Roy describes as “the biggest land grab since ChristopherColumbus”. In varying degrees of intensity, conflict and resistance is takingplace throughout the areas affected by the land appropriation, although Roysuggests the violence is even more widespread, “all across India there isinsurrection, there is a bandwidth of resistance” – made up of variousmarginalized groups. Massive numbers are being displaced, villagesdestroyed, women raped, hundreds, as Human Rights Watch (HRW) state,“have been arbitrarily arrested, [and imprisoned] tortured, and charged withpolitically motivated offenses that include murder, conspiracy, and sedition”.Charges manufactured and enforced under one or other of the draconian lawspassed by the world’s largest democracy, to stifle dissent and confine thetroublesome poor to the shadows. They are relentlessly victimized, targeted,Roy states, “in the name of development”: A perverse idea of developmentthat whilst feeding corporate coffers, is destroying the lives of millions ofindigenous people and causing devastation to the natural environment.

Within some of the poorest states of India, from West Bengal andChattisgarh in the Northeast, to Karnataka in the Southwest, (taking inOrissa, Andra Pedash, Jharkhand, Utter Predash, and Manipur) sits a treasuretrove of minerals worth trillions of dollars. A huge area incorporating largetracks of ancestral Land, where Adivasi who number around 150 million(half the population of the USA) and Dalit groups have lived for millennia.Rich in bauxite, iron ore and uranium, this area is an Aladdin’s cave ofminerals, which India’s corporations, and the one percent beneficiaries of adecade of economic growth, see as theirs by right.

To facilitate easy access to “their bauxite”, corporations need the landto be cleared of obstacles – indigenous people and their homes. Accordingto Ashish Kothari, author of Churning The Earth, “In recent years the countryhas seen a massive transfer of land and natural resources from the rural poorto the wealthy. Around 60 million people have been displaced (althoughsome put the figure much higher) in India by large-scale industrialdevelopments”. The millions of mainly Dalits and Adivasi, made homelessand destitute, forced to ‘re-locate’ to the slums and shanty colonies of smalltowns and mega cities, where they are also unwelcome.

A violent undemocratic river of greed and indifference is attempting todrown the indigenous people of Eastern and Central India. The Adivasi andDalit people, living in the vast Dandakaranya forest are, Arundhati Roy (CFDI),states, “being surrounded [by government forces], they are cut of from theirresources, they can’t come out of the forest they are dying of malnutrition“, allof which constitutes genocide by attrition. As well as trampling on a range ofinternational treatise the Indian government is vandalizing the constitution, insupport of Indian businesses, as they attempt to clear tribal land of millions ofpeople, and extract the treasures sewn into the fabric of the Earth.

Such government negligence and indifference fits hand in glove with anobsessive desire for economic development and accelerated growth divorcedfrom social justice. Destructive (government) policies pursued for the last twodecades are at the root of the intense suffering being caused to millions ofAdivasi and Dalit people, not just in the Dandakaranya forest but also in townsand cities across India. They are seen as a refuge of the past, to be swept aside,eradicated, lest India’s image as a financial destination of choice and the greatshopping center of Asia be tainted in western centres of corporate/power.

Growth and development, pseudonyms for profit and more profit, are thelead players of market fundamentalism, a system like all totalitarian ideologies,which is destructive, divisive and (often) violent in its methods and impact. Itis a model of civilization that promotes separation and inequality, which seeksto reduce mankind to think in limited and limiting material terms, and seeseverything and everybody as a commodity to be exploited until utterly spent.Every corner of every city, town and village viewed as a market, everyone abanded consumer. Crude by any standards, such subtleties of ‘development’fuel the corporate political machinery that is violating the lives of millions ofIndia’s most vulnerable people in the forests of central and eastern India.Out of step with the new time that speaks of cooperation, unity and socialjustice, the ‘Neo Classical’ model has served its purpose and had its day. Itdoes not meet the needs of the overwhelming majority of the people of Indiaor the world. It has hold of the minds of men, restricting the possibilities forchange to its own limited paradigm. It is a model, which has quashed theimagination of the unimaginative who deny even the possibility of a fair andjust alternative. A system that grows out of and perpetuates injustice andsuffering, as market totalitarianism does, is one for which an alternative is notonly required, it is essential for the health of the planet, the wellbeing andsurvival of humanity, indeed ‘there is no alternative’. A pragmatic alternativerooted in principles of goodness, sharing, justice and freedom – the birthrightsof every man, woman and child, which if imaginatively modeled andsimplistically applied, offer a just and fair alternative. One that, if mankind isto flourish and not simply persist, is, I suggest, our only choice.

Graham Peebles is director of the Create Trust. He can be reached at:graham@thecreatetrust.org

GRAHAm PEEBlES

Predicting the resultsof Pakistan’s

elections is not thathard. How to avert theexpected paralysis is

where most of thefocus is needed.

Violence in the name of development

KHI 08-04-2013_Layout 1 4/8/2013 5:58 AM Page 11

I owe this to Aishwariya.

— Abhishek Bachchan

after winning TOIFA

ARTS

AMonday, 8 April, 2013

12

MeditationHeLPS evanracHeLWood reLaxActress Evan Rachel Wood has assertedthat meditation helps her relax, givesher a sense of calm and keeps anxietyat bay in her hectic life. The 25-year-

old, who is expecting her firstchild with husband

Jamie Bell, insistedthat she beganmeditating when

she was just 12and has nowstarted doingyoga too,Contactmusicreported. The‘little Secrets’star added thatin the moviebusiness, it’s

easy to get caughtup in the anxiety of

it all, so she likes totake time to sit andbreathe by the oceanand there’s something

so calming about itthat it puts

everything intoperspective.She furtheradded toEllEMagazinethatdancingisanotherway forher toclear hermind.NEWS

DESk

THE story of a deaf and mute boy, “Barfi!” turned outto be the top winner at the maiden edition of theTimes of India Film Awards ( TOIFA) cornering thebest film, best director, best actor and best actresstrophies. At a glittering awards function Saturday,

Anurag Basu picked up the best director award while RanbirKapoor and Priyanka Chopra carried home the best actor andbest actress trophies, respectively. Southern actress IleanaD’Cruz, who made her bow in Bollywood with “Barfi!”, won thebest debut female award for her performance. The award forthe best debut male went to Ayushmann Khurrana for super hit“Vicky Donor”, in which he played a sperm donor. Rishi Kapoorwon the best actor in a negative role trophy for “Agneepath”. Inthe critics’ awards category, Gauri Shinde won the best debutdirector critics award for telling a heart-warming tale in “EnglishVinglish”, best actor female critics award went to DeepikaPadukone for “Cocktail”; best actor male critics award wasgiven to Irrfan for playing the steeplechase-runner turning intoa dacoit in the ravines of the Chambal in “Paan Singh Tomar”.Anurag Kashyap-directed “Gangs of Wasseypur”, a grittycelluloid saga of the coal mafia and blood thirsty vengeance,won the best film critics award. NEWS DESk

‘barfi!’wins top honours at

toifaBest Actor: Ranbir Kapoor (Barfi)

Best Actress: Priyanka Chopra (Barfi)

Best Film: Barfi

Best Director: Anurag Basu (Barfi)

Best Actor Critics: Irrfan Khan (Paan Singh Tomar)

Best Actress Critics: Deepika Padukone (Cocktail)

Best Debut Director: Gauri Shinde (English Vinglish)

Best Film Critics: Gangs Of Wasseypur

Best Lyrics: Gulzar (Saans, Jab Tak Hai Jaan)

Best Music: Atul and Ajay (Agneepath)

Best Actor in a Comic Role: Abhishek Bachchan (Bol

Bachchan)

Best Actor in a Supporting Role: Annu Kapoor

(Vicky Donor)

Best Actress in a Supporting Role: Dolly Ahluwalia

(Vicky Donor)

Best Debut Male: Ayushman Khurrana (Vicky Donor)

Best Debut Female: Ileana D’Cruz (Barfi!)

Best Actor in a Negative Role: Rishi Kapoor (Ag-

neepath)

Best Playback Singer Male: Sonu Nigam (Abhi Mujh

Mein Kahin, Agneepath)

Best Playback Singer Female: Shalmali Kholgade

(Pareshaan, Ishaqzaade)

WINNERSlIST

Actor Salman Khan`s appeal, against a magis-trate`s order invoking the charge of ‘culpablehomicide not amounting to murder’ in a hit-and-run case against him, would come for hearing be-fore a sessions court on Monday (today). Theappeal, filed by the actor a month ago, would beheard by Sessions Judge U B Hejib. The actor hasnot been summoned to appear before the court yetand the matter would be argued by his lawyers inthe sessions court tomorrow, sources told re-porters. The appeal would be decided first andthen the main case would be heard, sources said.The actor has contended that the magistrate haderred in invoking the charge of `culpable homi-cide not amounting to murder` (section 304 partII IPC) in the hit-and-run case of 2002. The of-fence under this section attracts ten years` punish-ment and is triable by a sessions’ court. Earlier,he was tried by a magistrate for lesser charge ofcausing death by negligence, that provides for amaximum punishment of two years in jail. Afterexamining 17 witnesses, the magistrate had come

to theconclusion that cul-pable homicidecharge was made outagainst the actor andtransferred the case to thesessions’ court for retrial. Ac-cording to Salman`s lawyer, themagistrate`s order was “erroneous,bad in law and contrary to evidence onrecord.” He said the magistrate had failedto appreciate that he (Salman) had neitherthe intention (to kill people) nor the knowl-edge that his rash and negligent drivingwould kill a person and cause injury tofour others. One person was killed andfour others injured when the LandCruiser allegedly driven by Salmancrushed a group of people sleeping onthe pavement outside a bakery insuburban Bandra in the wee hourson September 28, 2002. NEWS DESk

Leonardo dicaprio‘dating’ anothersupermodel

NEWS DESK

Leonardo DiCaprio is reportedly smitten bya 25-year-old model. The ‘DjangoUnchained’ star, known for his love ofwomen in the fashion industry, was linkedto French model Margarita Gauchet earlierthis year. It’s believed that their dalliancewasn’t serious and he has now set his sightson Heather Hahn, News.com.au reported.The pair were spotted enjoying dinner withfriends in Miami late last month, with the38-year-old making his attraction clear.“Leo only had eyes for Heather. They werelaughing and smiling and really seemed intoeach other,” an insider told In Touchmagazine. “Leo was a total gentleman. Heeven pulled out Heather’s chair for her!” thesource said. The actor has previously datedGisele Bundchen and Bar Refaeli, while histen-month relationship with Erin Heathertonended late last year.

Salman Khan`sappeal to beheard by sessions’court today

3-month pregnantHalle Berry flashes‘baby bump’

NEWS DESK

The impeccably stylish HalleBerry is getting ready to rocka whole new silhouette. TheOscar winner is pregnant withher first child with fiancéOlivier Martinez, and a sourceconfirms to E! News that thehappy couple is expecting ason. Now, celeb watchers canget a glimpse of Berry’s blos-soming figure: The first pho-tos of the actress haveemerged following the happynews. Berry stepped out Fri-day in New York City, whereshe was accompanied by palsas they took a stroll. Dressedin jeans and a comfy shirt, thestar covered up with a blackcoat that, large as it was, didn’tentirely conceal her babybump, which was subtly visi-ble underneath her layers. Sheappeared relaxed as she visitedtwo clothing stores in Soho.The 46-year-old star is report-edly in her second trimester,and is about 12 weeks along.

KHI 08-04-2013_Layout 1 4/8/2013 5:59 AM Page 12

A classic is a book that has

never finished saying what it

has to say —Italo Calvino

13ARTsMonday, 8 April, 2013

A

ADIL NAJAM Driving along The Mall on aweekend, I realised onceagain what a wonderful citywe live in.

JESSE JANEOff to the ap back to Cannesonce I land I have to go to abusiness dinner craziest 11/2 day trip thou thanx for agood time Barcelona

DEEPAK CHOPRA Space & time are mental

constructs. Our being resides

everywhere & at all times

#CosmicConsciousness

RUSSELL SIMMONS Cloudiness through

intoxication or clarity through

karmic devotional or spiritual

practices are ways to quiet

the mind

YOKO ONOYou see a chair as it is. Butwhen you burn the chair,you suddenly realize that thechair in your head did notburn or disappear.

NOTABLE TWEETS

Filmmaker Farah Khan is bracingherself for what she says is the biggestproject of her career with actor ShahRukh Khan, Happy New Year (HNY),which will go on the floors after SRKwraps up his Chennai Express shoot.“After he is done with his ongoingfilm, Shah Rukh needs to take a breakfor about a month and work on hislook for HNY. We’ll start with thefilm this year for sure,” says the 48-year-old. In the film, Shah Rukh willbe seen in a new avatar with a touchof intensity. “He will have a ruggedlook like never before, as his role isvery intense. He’ll play a dark hero,like Mr Darcy type (a character fromJane Austen’s novel, Pride andPrejudice). He’ll also have a littlestubble, more like a man you know,”says Farah. This film will alsohighlight the 47-year-old actor’smacho side. “He needs to build hisbody a little bit. I want to see himbare-chested all the time. I’m going tomake sure that he is seen without hisshirt a couple of times in the movie,”

adds Farah. The choreographer-turned-director, who was recently inDelhi for an Ariel event, tells us SRKis not the only male actor on board.“This is a script that I haveworked the hardest on. We areon the 15th draft, andevery month we still tryto hone it, because in away, it’s also a multi-starrer. It’s got fivemen and alady,” saysFarah. “It’schallengingto makeeach roleinteresting.It’s not likeShah Rukh isthe hero and fourpeople are on theback. Hats off to him towant to do it so eagerly, as a lot ofpeople want to see themselves solo onscreen. It’s going to be a fun ride foreverybody,” she adds. NEWS DESk

PriyanKa cHoPralooks forward to playback singing

NEWS DESK

After making her mark as a singer

internationally, Priyanka Chopra is looking

forward to lend her voice to Bollywood songs

but says that will happen only after the

release of her debut album. After ‘In My City’,

Priyanka recorded her second single ‘Exotic’

with rapper Pitbull, which she says should

come out in a few months. “Vishal-Shekhar

and Salim-Sulaiman had asked me to sing

but I was shy. Playback singing should

happen soon. I am just waiting for my

album to come out,” the Gunday actress

said. The 30-year-old actress, meanwhile,

is busy completing her movie

assignments. She has just finished

shooting the remake of Zanjeer.

Priyanka will also star in

‘Krrish 3’ and is also

preparing for boxer Mary

Kom’s biopic which she

begins shooting in

June. “Mary Kom is

very involved with the

biopic. It is a very

challenging role,” she

said. Her film ‘Barfi’

director Anurag

Basu is rooting for

the actress to win

a trophy at

TOIFA but

Priyanka says

she would

rather enjoy

the event.

“Awards

come and go.

Some I have

won this year

and some I have

not. Jhilmil was a

very special role for me. I

just met a lady and she was crying.

She has an autistic child and was

really touched by my performance. It

is gratifying as an actor.”

NEWS DESK

Daniel Craig and his actress wife,Rachel Weisz, are teaming up onstage this year to play a married cou-ple in a Broadway revival of HaroldPinter’s play “ Betrayal” about adul-tery. Craig, who has played Britishspy 007 in the last three James Bondfilms including the box office hit“Skyfall,” last appeared on Broad-way in 2009 alongside Hugh Jack-man in “A Steady Rain.” The MikeNichols-directed production will bethe Broadway debut for Weisz, whowon an Oscar for the 2005 film “TheConstant Gardener” and praise forher stage performances in “Sud-denly, Last Summer” and “A Street-car Named Desire” in London.Weisz is currently starring in theDisney box office hit “Oz the Greatand Powerful.” The two British ac-tors married in 2011 after falling foreach other while working on thefilm “Dream House.” The couplewill begin performances in October

before an official Nov. 3 opening fora limited run of the three-character1978 Pinter play about adultery,which is told in reverse time, pro-ducers said on Friday. Rafe Spall,who starred in Academy Award-winning “Life of Pi,” will play thethird character in the love triangle,also marking his Broadway debut.Director Nichols has won a host ofTony awards, Broadway’s highest

honors, most recently for produc-tions of “Death of a Salesman” andthe musical “Spamalot”. The play“Betrayal” first appeared on Broad-way in 1980 and returned in 2000in a revival starring JulietteBinoche, Liev Schreiber and JohnSlattery. Pinter adapted the screen-play for a movie version in 1983starring Jeremy Irons, PatriciaHodge and Ben Kingsley.

Daniel Craig, Rachel Weiszin love triangle

SRK will play adark hero likeMr Darcy in myfilm: Farah Khan

National award winning actress Vidya Balan hopes that fellow actor SanjayDutt`s sentence of five years for possession of arms will be reduced. Speak-ing on the sidelines of an event held here over the weekend, Balan said,“We all have faith in justice and in the judiciary system. So, I don`t thinkit is right for me to say anything on that. But, as someone who really con-siders him very special and dear, I just wish his jail term gets decreased. I

know there are many people involved in the case. All of us are re-acting on a very personnel point of view.” The Supreme Court

had on March 21 sentenced Dutt to five years in jail forprocuring and retaining guns from gangsters involved in

the 1993 bombings in Mumbai. Balan said the bond thatshe shares with Dutt is very special and she would al-ways stand by him through thick and thin. “I reallydon`t know, but, all I can say for Sanjay is that he isvery special to me, and I will always be there for him,

god bless him,” said Balan. NEWS DESk

Vidya Balan hopes for reductionof Sanjay Dutt`s sentence

KHI 08-04-2013_Layout 1 4/8/2013 6:00 AM Page 13

NEWS DESK

ASTRUCTURAL biolo-gist at the Florida StateUniversity College ofMedicine has made dis-coveries that could lead

scientists a step closer to understandinghow life first emerged on Earth billionsof years ago.

Professor Michael Blaber and his teamproduced data supporting the idea that 10amino acids believed to exist on Eartharound 4 billion years ago were capable offorming foldable proteins in a high-salt(halophile) environment. Such proteinswould have been capable of providingmetabolic activity for the first living or-ganisms to emerge on the planet between3.5 and 3.9 billion years ago.

The results of Blaber's three-yearstudy, which was built around investiga-tive techniques that took more than 17years to develop, are published in thejournal Proceedings of the NationalAcademy of Sciences.

The first living organisms wouldhave been microscopic, cell-like organi-zations capable of replicating and adapt-ing to environmental conditions -- ahumble beginning to life on Earth.

"The current paradigm on the emer-gence of life is that RNA came first andin a high-temperature environment,"Blaber said. "The data we are generatingare much more in favor of a protein-firstview in a halophile environment."

The widely accepted view among sci-entists is that RNA, found in all living cells,would have likely represented the first mol-ecules of life, hypothesizing an "RNA-first" view of the origin of living systemsfrom non-living molecules. Blaber's resultsindicate that the set of amino acids pro-duced by simple chemical processes con-

tains the requisite information to producecomplex folded proteins, which supportsan opposing "protein-first" view.

Another prevailing view holds that ahigh-temperature (thermophile) environ-ment, such as deep-ocean thermal vents,may have been the breeding ground for theorigin of life. "The halophile, or salt-lov-ing, environment has typically been con-sidered one that life adapted into, notstarted in," Blaber said. "Our study of theprebiotic amino acids and protein designand folding suggests the opposite."

Without the ability to fold, proteinswould not be able to form the precisestructures essential for functions that sus-tain life as we know it. Folding allowsproteins to take on a globular shapethrough which they can interact withother proteins, perform specific chemical

reactions, and adapt to enable organismsto exploit a given environment.

"There are numerous niches that lifecan evolve into," Blaber said. "For exam-ple, extremophiles are organisms that existin high temperatures, high acidity, extremecold, extreme pressure and extreme saltand so on. For life to exist in such environ-ments it is essential that proteins are ableto adapt in those conditions. In otherwords, they have to be able to fold."

Comet and meteorite fragments, likethose that recently struck in the Urals re-gion of Russia, have provided evidenceregarding the arrival of amino acids onEarth. Such fragments predate Earth andwould have been responsible for deliver-ing a set of 10 prebiotic (before life)amino acids, whose origins are in the for-mation of our solar system.

Today the human body uses 20 com-mon amino acids to make all its proteins.Ten of those emerged through biosyntheticpathways -- the way living systems evolve.Ten -- the prebiotic set -- can be made bychemical reactions without requiring anyliving system or biosynthetic pathway.

Scientific evidence exists to supportmany elements in theories of abiogenesis(the emergence of life), including the timeframe (around 3.5 to 3.9 billion years ago)and the conditions on Earth and in its at-mosphere at that time. Earth would havebeen made up of volcanic land masses (thebeginning of the formation of continents),salty oceans and fresh-water ponds, alongwith a hot (around 80 degrees Celsius) andsteamy atmosphere comprising carbondioxide and nitrogen. Oxygen would havecome later as a by-product of green plantlife and bacteria that emerged.

Using a technique called top-downsymmetric deconstruction, Blaber's labhas been able to identify small peptidebuilding blocks capable of spontaneousassembly into specific and complex pro-tein architectures. His recent work ex-plored whether such building blocks canbe composed of only the 10 prebioticamino acids and still fold.

His team has achieved foldability inproteins down to 12 amino acids -- about80 percent of the way to proving his hy-pothesis. If Blaber's theory holds, scien-tists may refocus where they look forevidence in the quest to understandwhere, and how, life began.

"Rather than a curious niche that lifeevolved into, the halophile environmentnow may take center stage as the likelylocation for key aspects of abiogenesis,"he said. "Likewise, the role of the forma-tion of proteins takes on additional impor-tance in the earliest steps in thebeginnings of life on Earth."

INFOTAINMENT

IMonday, 8 April, 2013

14

Material turns 'schizophrenic'on way to superconductivity

NEWS DESK

In a theoretical analysis this week in-Physical Review Letters (PRL), Ricephysicists Qimiao Si and Rong Yuoffer an explanation for a strange se-ries of observations described earlierthis year by researchers at the Stan-ford Linear Accelerator Center inMenlo Park, Calif. In those experi-ments, physicists used X-rays toprobe the behavior of electrons in su-perconducting materials made ofpotassium, iron and selenium. Thematerial becomes superconducting atextremely cold temperatures, and theexperiments revealed that at a slightlyhigher temperature, the material ex-hibited a "schizophrenic" electronicstate in which some electrons in theiron atoms became frozen in placewhile electrons in neighboring or-bitals continued to move.

"We have proposed a unifiedphase diagram for the alkaline iron se-lenides in which this schizophrenicphase connects between the lower-temperature, superconducting phase atone extreme and a higher-temperatureinsulating phase at the other," said Si,

Rice's Harry C. and Olga K. WiessProfessor of Physics and Astronomy.

Flowing electrons power all theworld's energy grids, and a significantamount of power in those grids is lostto electrical resistance -- a kind ofelectronic friction that occurs whenelectrons move through metallicwires. Superconducting materials,which were discovered more than acentury ago, conduct electricity with-out any loss of power, but they onlyoperate at extremely cold tempera-tures. Since the 1980s, scientists havediscovered a number of new materialsthat become superconducting at tem-peratures that, while still cold, areabove or close to the temperature ofliquid nitrogen -- an important thresh-old for engineering applications. Thehope is that these "high-temperature"superconductors may one day beused to revolutionize power trans-mission and other technologies, butphysicists have yet to develop aclear-cut understanding of how high-temperature superconductors work.

In classical superconductors,frictionless conduction is achievedwhen electrons pair up in a way that

allows them to flow effortlessly,without the bumping and jostlingthat normally leads to electrical re-sistance. Electron pairing is uncom-mon because the rules of quantummechanics typically make electronsloners. Under normal circumstances,electrons repel one another, and themechanism that causes them to pairup in classical superconductorsdoesn't account for their behavior inhigh-temperature superconductors.

Iron-based high-temperature su-perconductors were discovered in2008. Si and collaborators, includingUCLA physicist Elihu Abrahams,were among the first to propose away in which superconductivitymight arise in the iron-based materi-als due to a phenomenon known as"correlated electron" behavior. Incorrelated-electron systems, the be-havior of electrons in a material canonly be understood by viewing theelectrons as a collective systemrather than many individual objects.

Si and Yu's new paper focuseson experiments with an alkaline ironselenide, one family of materialsthat is included in the larger class ofiron-based superconductors. Priorexperiments had found that alkalineiron selenides exhibited odd elec-tronic behaviors at temperaturesabove the critical temperature inwhich they transition to the super-conducting state. In the PRL paper,Si and Yu describe a new electronicstate, or phase, marked by electronictraffic congestion. They show thatelectrons in different quantumstates, or orbitals, react differently tothe bad traffic situation. In particu-lar, the new phase is marked by elec-trons in selected orbitals becominglocked in a place -- a phenomenonknown as a Mott insulating state.

an inside look atcarnivorous plantsWhen we imaginedrama playingout betweenpredators andprey, most of uspicture stealthylions and restlessgazelle, or asharp-talonedhawk latched onto an unluckysquirrel. But BenBaiser, a post-doctoral fellow atthe HarvardForest and leadauthor of a new study in Oikos, thinks on a morelocal scale. His inter-species drama plays out in thehumble bogs and fens of eastern North America,home to the carnivorous pitcher plant,Sarraceniapurpurea. "It's shocking, the complex world youcan find inside one little pitcher plant," says Baiser.A pitcher plant's work seems simple: their tube-shaped leaves catch and hold rainwater, whichdrowns the ants, beetles, and flies that stumble in.But the rainwater inside a pitcher plant is not justa malevolent dunking pool. It also hosts a complexsystem of aquatic life, including wrigglingmosquito, flesh fly, and midge larvae; mites;rotifers; copepods; nematodes; and multicellularalgae. These tiny organisms are crucial to thepitcher plant's ability to process food. They createwhat scientists call a 'processing chain': when abug drowns in the pitcher's rainwater, midge larvaeswim up and shred it to smaller pieces, bacteriaeat the shredded pieces, rotifers eat the bacteria,and the pitcher plant absorbs the rotifers' waste.Aaron Ellison, a co-author on the new study andsenior ecologist at the Harvard Forest, says thepitcher plant food web is an ideal model forunderstanding larger food webs -- with toppredators like wolves -- that change over a longerperiod of time. He points out, "With pitcher plants,you can hold the whole food web in your hand. Thevast number of pitcher plants in one bog provideendless opportunities for detailed experiments onhow food webs work, not only in pitcher plants, butalso in bigger ecosystems that are harder tomanipulate, like ponds, lakes, or oceans." NEWS DESk

How life may have first emerged on earth: foldable proteins in a high-salt environment

japanese fishhitch ride on boatto Wash beachWhat a long, strange trip it's been fora small striped fish native to Japanthat apparently hitched a cross-Pacificride in a small boat believed to bepart of a tide of debris from thatcountry's March 2011 tsunami.Washington state Fish and WildlifeDepartment biologists found five of thestriped beakfish alive in a water-filledbait box on a 20-foot-long Japaneseboat that washed ashore March 22 atlong Beach in southwest Washington.Invasive species specialists also founda host of other Japanese species ofsea anemones, cucumbers, scallops,crustaceans and worms living in whatthey call the very rare "aquarium" ofwater that pooled inside the uprightboat. Except for one fish that theSeaside, Ore. Aquarium has agreed toquarantine and exhibit, the rest of thecritters were euthanized to minimizethe risk of introducing invasivespecies to Washington, said biologistAllen Pleus. The surviving beakfishgoes on display this weekend at theaquarium, The Oregonian reported.Curator Keith Chandler says his staffdubbed it the "tsunami fish.""It's pretty cool. It's about 4 incheslong," Chandler told the newspaper."We're trying to get it different thingsto eat ... and it may have eaten, butit's a shy little guy." Researcher JohnChapman at Oregon State University'sHatfield Marine Science Center inNewport is just back from a trip toJapan. He calls the find "stunning.""We said this couldn't happen," hesaid. "And nature is like, `oh yes itcan.' " Chapman says the fish isprobably young since mature beakfishturn black. They can grow as long as15 inches. "There were five fish totalwe found in the boat's compartment,and this is the first time we've seenvertebrates come ashore in tsunamidebris," Bruce Kauffman, a state Fishand Wildlife biologist in Montesano,told The Seattle Times. "Finding thesefish alive was totally unexpected."So how did the creatures survive sucha trip? The boat apparently drifted bowup, with its stern below the water'ssurface. The containment area therethat was open to the ocean "became alittle cave of refuge," Pleus said. "Thefish could go out to feed and comeback in. The boat was their home, theirhouse." It's common for fish toassociate with larger debris floating inthe ocean but "nobody's seen fish thathave traveled with debris this distance,"Pleus said, adding, "It indicates therecould be other fish floating with debristhat we never see." Most such debrisgets roughed up in the surf as it nearsshore, which would disperse any fishbut Pleus says this boat came ashoreupright. All of which raises sometroubling questions. "There could beother types of fish associated with thisdebris that we don't see but down theline we could find new populations offish established on the coast," Pleussaid. The other euthanized creatures -at least 30 different species - werepreserved and sent to scientists aroundthe country for analysis, he said. Theboat, bearing the name "Saisho-Maru,"was removed from the beach. NEWS DESk

You can’t study the

darkness by flooding it

with light. –Edward Abbey

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CHENNAIAGENCIES

Not many sides win a Twenty20 game from83 for 6 in the first innings. Not many sideshave Kieron Pollard, who once againshowed how much damage he can cause ifhe gets some time in the middle. On a pitchwhere both line-ups crumbled, barring bothNo. 6 batsmen, Pollard was the difference,although MS Dhoni almost stole the matchfrom Mumbai Indians’ grasp with an evermore outrageous counter-attack. Fittingly,with Chennai Super Kings needing 12 offsix, Pollard intercepted what looked set tobe another Dhoni six on the deep midwicketboundary, sealing the game for his side withan acrobatic catch.

Pollard had breathed life into a stalledMumbai Indians innings, which had gonenowhere after Sachin Tendulkar had fallenleg-before to Dirk Nannes in the openingover for a golden duck. Ricky Ponting andRohit Sharma soon followed Tendulkar.Although Dinesh Karthik looked in finetouch, when he departed for 37, MumbaiIndians were 59 for 4 in the ninth over andthe Super Kings seamers were on top.

Pollard batted quite sensibly, willing togo without scoring for several deliveries,knowing that when he wanted, he couldalways collect six with his power and reach.Half of the 38 deliveries he faced were dots,but he also biffed five sixes. Even when hewent for the big strikes, he wasn’t takingrisk. He would just lean forward to lengthor full deliveries and lift them over long-on.

From 83 for 6, to add 65 in eightovers, with Harbhajan Singh for company,was quite an achievement. Harbhajan’s

contribution, a run a ball 21, was crucial.Carefree swiping was put away and thestrike was turned over. When it wasn’t, toPollard’s disappointment in the final over,Harbhajan himself found the boundary.Pollard cracked Dwayne Bravo’s finalball of the innings over long-on to ensurethere would at least be a contest in thegame.

There almost wasn’t one, though, as theSuper Kings batsmen played a series ofpoor shots to leave their side gasping at 66for 5. M Vijay walked too far across to bebowled, Michael Hussey missed a slog to bebowled, Bravo drove loosely, and SBadrinath went too far back when he shouldhave been forward.

Dhoni walked in, and the match startedto turn. An upper cut appeared, a whiplashdrive, a calm pull. Soon the long-on anddeep midwicket boundary was beingpeppered with monster sixes, even asbatsmen kept arriving and departing at theother end. Pollard took the most punishment,five of Dhoni’s eight boundaries coming offhim. Forty needed off 18. Dhoni lashed 17off a Pollard over. 23 needed off 12. Dhonifound the stands at deep midwicket again,this time off Mitchell Johnson, to zoom to50 off 24. Both Pollard and Johnson sprayeda couple of wides each, such was the effectDhoni’s assault had.

First ball of Munaf Patel’s final over,Dhoni went for six more, targetting deepmidwicket again, but this time, the toweringfigure of Pollard stood in the way, and madeone final, decisive impact.

sPORTs

SMonday, 8 April, 2013

15The team that adapts (the best) at thestart will be the team that wins thechampionship – Steve Harmison

mUmBAI INDIANSRT Ponting* c Ashwin b Rajpoot 6SR Tendulkar lbw b Nannes 0kD karthik† lbw b Bravo 37RG Sharma c †Dhoni b Bravo 8AT Rayudu c Nannes b laughlin 7kA Pollard not out 57DR Smith c Bravo b Ashwin 3Harbhajan Singh not out 21EXTRAS (lb 3, w 6) 9TOTAl 148DID NOT BAT mG Johnson, mm Patel, PP OjhaFAll OF WICkETS 1-3 (Tendulkar, 0.5 ov), 2-17 (Ponting, 3.2ov), 3-41 (Sharma, 6.1 ov), 4-59 (karthik, 8.2 ov), 5-75 (Rayudu,10.3 ov), 6-83 (Smith, 11.6 ov)BOWlINGDP Nannes 4-0-18-1, AS Rajpoot 3-0-25-1, DJ Bravo 4-0-44-2,B laughlin 3-0-25-1, RA Jadeja 2-0-12-0, R Ashwin 4-0-21-1CHENNAI SUPER kINGSmEk Hussey b Harbhajan Singh 20m Vijay b Patel 5Sk Raina c Ponting b Johnson 10DJ Bravo c †karthik b Ojha 10S Badrinath lbw b Ojha 16mS Dhoni*† c Pollard b Patel 51RA Jadeja b Patel 16R Ashwin c Pollard b Harbhajan Singh 2B laughlin b Pollard 0AS Rajpoot not out 2DP Nannes not out 0EXTRAS (lb 1, w 6) 7TOTAl 139FAll OF WICkETS 1-10 (Vijay, 1.6 ov), 2-30 (Raina, 4.3 ov), 3-42(Hussey, 7.4 ov), 4-58 (Bravo, 10.2 ov), 5-66 (Badrinath, 12.1 ov),6-97 (Jadeja, 15.2 ov), 7-108 (Ashwin, 16.5 ov), 8-126 (laughlin,17.5 ov), 9-137 (Dhoni, 19.1 ov)BOWlINGmG Johnson 4-0-22-1, mm Patel 4-0-29-3, Harbhajan Singh 4-0-31-2, PP Ojha 4-0-16-2, kA Pollard 4-0-40-1match detailsToss mumbai Indians, who chose to batPoints mumbai Indians 2, Chennai Super kings 0Player of the match kA Pollard (mumbai Indians)Umpires m Erasmus (South Africa) and VA kulkarniTV umpire k Srinathmatch referee J SrinathReserve umpire k Srinivasan

SCOREBOARD

PoLLard truMPSdHoni in cLoSe cLaSH

championstrophy is crunchtime for cardiff

SPORTS DESK

Alan Hamer, Glamorgan’s chiefexecutive, has admitted that Cardiff’s roleas one of the host venues for theChampions Trophy “raises the stakes” forcounty and country and that their successor otherwise will have a direct impact onthe SWALEC Stadium’s prospects as avenue for international cricket in Wales.Cardiff is up against Birmingham andLondon as one of three grounds hostingthe June 6-23 event. While three of thefive games at each of The Oval andEdgbaston sold out in the first round ofticketing, only one of Cardiff’s - theopening fixture between India and SouthAfrica - did so, with sales in the othermatches, which include England’s groupgame against New Zealand, described asaverage. A second, limited batch oftickets for all Champions Trophymatches, including India v Pakistan atEdgbaston, will go on sale on Mondaymorning at 10.30am BST (09.30 GMT).With the next four-year cycle ofinternational match allocations in Englandto include the World Cup and Ashes in2019, as well as the proposed World TestChampionship in 2017, Hamer believes animpressive Champions Trophy showingwill help state Cardiff’s case. While not aground as storied as the likes of Lord’s orHeadingley, Hamer emphasised theimportance of continuing to create thathistory and wants a “sports hungry” Welshpublic to play their part, with the eyes ofthe cricket world watching. Welsh cricketis on a charm offensive.“This is the first time we’ve had a globalevent here so it raises the stakes, not justfor us but for the country as a wholebecause the TV audience isn’t just UK-based, it’s worldwide,” Hamer said. “Andit gives an opportunity for peopleoverseas to understand a bit more aboutWales and Welsh cricket. It is importantto us because if this tournament goes wellthen it puts us in a strong position when itcomes to staging future global events.

Zimbabwe playersthreaten boycottover contract issue

SPORTS DESK

Zimbabwe’s cricketers are considering aboycott ahead of their series againstBangladesh in protest against unsatisfactorypayments from their board. A source closeto the players said that non-centrallycontracted players may not play in anupcoming warm-up match betweenZimbabwe’s cricketers, “to contest ZC’soffer of a daily allowance” instead of awinter contract.Zimbabwe’s training squadTaylor, Tino Mawoyo, Vusi Sibanda,Hamilton Masakadza, Regis Chakabva,Malcolm Waller, Kyle Jarvis, Keegan Meth,Tendai Chatara, Chris Mpofu, ProsperUtseya, Sean Williams, Timycen Maruma,Raymond Price, Graeme Cremer, ChamuChibhabha, Tino Mutombodzi, NatsaiM’shangwe, Sikandar Raza, ShingiMasakadza, Elton Chigumbura, StuartMatsikenyeri, Charles Coventry, BrianChari, Kevin Kasuza, Richard Muzhange,Nathan Waller, Richmond Mutumbami,Edward Rainsford, Tawanda Mupariwa.latest setback comes 10 days beforeZimbabwe begin a series againstBangladesh, and threatens to disrupt theirpreparations. Although a large number of theplayers involved in the upcoming series arecontracted to the board and do not have thesame financial concerns, they are expectedto support those on the fringes who haveasked for winter contracts and been denied.Zimbabwe’s fringe players were contractedto their franchises and paid throughZimbabwe Cricket (ZC) grants, which weredistributed to the franchises. All thoseagreements were only for the summer andended on March 31, leaving most cricketersin need of work over the winter. Some ofthem have done so by obtaining club cricketdeals in the UK - a source of stable income- which they will have to forego to spendthe next few weeks in Zimbabwe playing inthe Bangladesh series, and in later matchesagainst India (three ODIs) and Sri Lanka inJuly and August. The lack of clarity on therenewal of contracts has also left coachesuncertain about their future.

CHENNAIAGENCIES

Chennai Super Kings coach StephenFleming has blamed the batsmen for histeam’s nine-run defeat against MumbaiIndians in their IPL 2013 opener andsaid the way some of them got out was“not acceptable”.

“The pitch was fine. The score wasachievable playing in the second inningsand at half time we were prettycomfortable. I must say the batting wasbelow standards, considering the[batsmen’s] experience,” said Fleming atthe post-match press conference. Someof the dismissals were truly out ofcharacter. It is not acceptable,” he added.

Chasing a modest total of 149, CSK

skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni almostwon the match for his side with abreathtaking 51-run knock off 26 ballsbut his dismissal in the first ball of thefinal over scripted Mumbai’ssensational win.

Fleming said he was disappointedat the way his batsmen got out.

“If you try and analyse it, may bethis is the first game in IPL 6. Comingfrom Test series, there may beconfidence or over confidence.Mumbai bowled well and they didenough in putting pressure on us. We donot like to see our batsmen out ofcharacter.

“It is not about harsh words. It is areality check. To be honest, I am not acoach to blow up things but I was

disappointed on the nature of thedismissals. We did not deserve to winthis game. We are hoping we willperform better in the next games,” hesaid.

Whether Dhoni ran out of partners,the coach said, “He came at number sixtoday with eight overs to go. Therewere key times he had batted and wongames (earlier). He batted singlehandedly for us today (as well).”

Fleming said his team would workon the grey areas and come out as abetter unit in the next match.

“Early in the competition, you needto be better in chasing and somewherethe nature of the loss is a reality checkfor us. With three days to go for nextmatch, our players will back themselvesand make things right.”

Asked if it was a different strategyin continuing with the quickies duringthe first 9-10 overs, Fleming explained:“I think Dhoni had seen bit ofmovement and was happy as they weretaking wickets regularly. In the firstnine overs or so we took four wicketsand may be if Jadeja had picked upPollard at that stage could havechanged the scene.

“Considering a lot of options weback the skipper every time. It is notright or wrong but they are keydecisions.”

The New Zealander said that hewas happy with the team’s fielding andbowling efforts.

“148 is a good outcome. What youhave to keep in mind is that it is a prettynew bowling attack. For 10 overs wehad [Dirk] Nannes, [Ankit] Rajpoot and[Dwayne] Bravo. Skipper had anunderstanding of these three bowlers’strengths and weaknesses at the netsbefore the match. It is not much time.We got some South Africans comingback to the squad now and will havesome decisions to make. But thebowling was not the reason that we lostthe game.”

stephen Fleming blames batsmenfor loss against Mumbai Indians

KHI 08-04-2013_Layout 1 4/8/2013 6:00 AM Page 16

sPORTs S

Monday, 8 April, 2013

16For sure, it’s the biggest win

in the Davis Cup doubles for

me – Zimonjic

BEHRAM QAZIAGENCIES

THE 2003 cricket World Cupin South Africa was the lastglobal tournament to host aPakistani team full ofsuperstars — steady

openers, lethal fast bowlers and world classmiddle-order.

Many pundits and spectators thoughtthe team would recreate the performancesof the1999 World Cup, in which the men ingreen made it all the way to the final. Littledid they know that this time the team wouldnot even make it past the first round!

Waqar Younis’s boys lost to threecricketing giants — Australia, England andIndia — while their game againstZimbabwe was washed out. The two winsthey managed were against Associatecricketing nations— Netherlands andNamibia.

What made this worse was thatPakistan lacked team spirit against the bigteams that resulted in lopsided contests.The batting was irresponsible, the bowlingwas wayward and inconsistent while littlecan be said about Pakistan as a fielding sideover the years. The Pakistan Cricket Board(PCB), being in a tough position, wasbound to make some big decisions after thisdebacle. As a result, most of the existingsquad was dropped and new faces wereroped in.

They say a good team is the one whichhas a good mix of veterans and youngsters.Pakistan’s squad selected for the SharjahCup in April 2003 lacked big namesmaking way for greenhorns. Pakistan wentunbeaten in the tournament and showed

immense mettle, proving all the naysayerswrong. It was a great achievement andmarked a new era for Pakistani cricket inan era where unpredictability had beenPakistan’s constant accomplice.

This Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB)experiment had both its pros and cons. Anadvantage of this decision was that talentedPakistani youngsters got international levelexperience and a chance to prove theirworth. However, Pakistani cricket, as awhole, developed a trait that it hasn’t gottenrid of till date; inconsistency.

With the absence of senior players toguide the youngsters, Pakistan might oftenwilt under pressure and throw away gamesthat were in their complete control. Butstill, every now and then, Pakistan wouldput on a show and make it seem as if theywere invincible. It is difficult to gauge apattern of their play.

This past decade has been a testing onefor Pakistani cricket; Controversies relatedto player discipline, performanceenhancing drugs episode and spot-fixingsaga have made international headlines.During this period we have seen manypotential cricketing heroes making a messof their careers, contributing to inconsistentresults of the team.

Furthermore, to make matters evenworse, the 2009 Lahore attacks on the SriLanka national team put an indefinite endto international cricket in the nation. It is anamazing feat that Pakistan are stillconsidered as heavyweights in thecricketing world after all these sordidincidents.

That said, Pakistan cricket has beengiven one too many chances, and it is timefor the team to pull up their socks. Albeit,

Pakistan cricket has had its highs in thisdecade, they have made it to the knockoutstages of several global cricketingtournaments with ICC World Twenty20title triumph in 2009 being the mostcherished moment.

The question is: Has the experimentcarried out by the PCB back in 2003 paidoff? Do the pros outweigh the cons?

In my opinion, they surely do.Pakistan cricket may be inconsistent

and may not have any big names imprinted

on its green jerseys, but what it does haveis durability. It is resilient and has provedto the world that even the worse ofcontroversies cannot hold it back and it willalways be a major cricketing force.

If you ask me, this past decade has beena blessing in disguise.

Of late, Pakistan has developed greatteam spirit and the dressing roomenvironment has never been better. Theplayers put in their 100%, play for the staron their jerseys and stand united. They say,

what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger,and Pakistan has certainly proved this rightby their efforts on the field.

The recent tour of South Africa mighthave been a failure, but the team has showngreat strength as a unit and has avoidedcontroversies of any sort.

There is still a lot to learn and a greatdeal of hard work to put in. If thingscontinue in this fashion, I reckon Pakistancricket will emerge stronger than ever inthis next decade.

Pakistan cricket will emerge stronger than ever in this decade

COLOMBOAGENCIES

Former captain Aravinda de SilvaSaturday chose to react diplomaticallyover Sri Lankan cricketers’ exclusionfrom the IPL matches in Chennai bystating that the players were grown upenough to take their own decisions inlife. “They’re all grown up enough todecide what they want to do in life. Theyunderstand the situation well and I thinkthose guys decided to go,” de Silva saidhere.

The IPL’s Governing Council hasdecided that the matches in Chennai willnot feature any Sri Lankan cricketers ormatch officials, following growingpolitical tensions, stemming from theanti-Sinhalese sentiments in the Indiansouthern city. The 1996 World Cup-winning hero, however, said that sports

should be kept away from politics.“I think politics should be kept

completely outside sport. Sport issomething that bridges differencesbetween various people. The best thingis to forget about politics and continuesport as sport,” de Silva said on thesidelines of the Red Bull CampusCricket World Series Finals being playedat the R Premadasa stadium.

The IPL’s Governing Council hasdecided that the matches in Chennai willnot feature any Sri Lankan cricketers ormatch officials.

Asked about the comments by WorldCup-winning captain Arjuna Ranatungathat the Lankan players should haveboycotted the IPL due to their non-participation in Chennai games, de Silvasaid, “It’s an individual decision. As Isaid, I don’t believe in bringing politicsinto sport. “I would have preferred if the

youth had not been forced to makedecisions on things such as politics. Ican’t speak for anyone else,” said deSilva, who is considered as one of thefinest batsmen Sri Lanka has produced.

De Silva said the Twenty20 formatcomplements the other two formats ofthe game and should not be consideredas a threat to Test cricket. “It’s a conceptthat is going to be there for a while. It’slike when ODI cricket came through ...it’s a format that is going to support theother two formats. There’s enough roomfor Test cricket and ODIs to grow. “Anindividual’s skills and mental ability istested more in those formats. T20 ismore towards the entertainment side.

The revenues generated by T20 cansupport the other two formats. This isimportant for cricket to be sustained.“Test cricket is something we’ve alwaysenjoyed and it shows us the mental skillsand real talent of a cricketer. ODI is amixture of entertainment and playingunder pressure,” he said. De Silva saidhe would have liked to play the T20format but it was not in his “destiny”.

“Obviously it would have been goodto have played every format. But thatwas not my destiny. Probably, cricketerswho came before me would have feltthey missed out on ODI cricket.Similarly, some of us missed out on T20cricket and that’s what life is all about.What matters is to watch the game andenjoy it, try and help the youngsters forthe future,” he said.

Talking about the Red Bull campuscricket, he said, “It’s important even atuniversity level to have cricket. That’sthe future of any country. “Giving anysort of opportunity for the youth helpsdevelopment in a country. Most of thesekids would have sacrificed their sportingfuture to focus on studies. Giving theman opportunity to once more play sportis very special.”

It’s up to individual players to play in IPL or not: de silva

faryad winsLahore to Kasurroad cycle race

LAHORE: Faryad Hussain won theLahore to kasur Road Cycle Race heldon Sunday morning and was organisedby the Punjab Cycling Association. According to the Organizing secretaryQasir Siddique Bhatti, PCA organized acycle race for the promotion of cycling inPunjab by grass route level withcollaboration with District sportscommittee Kasur. A recorded 62 cyclistsall over the Punjab took part in this race.The race was started from PunjabStadium towards Ferozepur road andTerminated at Bus Terminal Kasur. TheStart of the race given by Ch. KamranAmin President Punjab CyclingAssociation. Faryad Hussain got FirstPosition, 45Km distance was covered in1 Hour 18 Mints and 44Sec 89Points.2nd Position Azeem Nobal 3rd PositionShamoon Mashi 4th Sunny Anwar andNasir Khan 5th Muhammad Imran 6thAbdul Rehman. The Chief Guest forclosing Ceremony was Mr. Akbar MuradDistrict Sports Officer (DSO) who gaveaway Trophies and Cash Awards to theWinners. The Chief Judge of the RaceSyed Nazakat Ali Former InternationalCyclist with Muhammad Jamil , QasirSiddique Bhatti, Muhammad Ashraf, ,Malik Muhammad Bashir, Moras Raza,Sajid Nazar performed the best duties inthe Race. STAFF REPORT

Murad wins jaZaman golf trophy

LAHORE: The 1st J.A.Zaman GolfTournament concluded successfully at thepar-72, Lahore Gymkhana GolfCourse,yesterday and the glorious one ofthe tournament turned out to be SardarMurad of Lahore Gymkhana who excelledin all departments of the game to producea round of gross 71, 0ne under par. SardarMurad played an inspiring game and thewhole effort fetched him not only theglittering trophy but also the honor ofreceiving it from J.A.Zamanhimself.J.A.Zaman is a 95 years old iconicfigure of the club who gathered the energyto attend the grand prize distributionhimself alonwith his lady and sons andgrand children. J.A.Zaman also endorsedthe commitment made by his son, HamidZaman, that this event will become aniconic event in the years to come. Otherperformers in the gross section wereMohsen Zafar (2nd gross) with a score ofgross 76,M.Nasir Irshad (3rd gross) with asimilar round of 76 and Dr ZafarNasrullah(fourth gross) with a score of 76grosss.The positions were determinedbased on a better score on the back nine.In the race for net honors the best oneturned out to be Azmat Lodhi with anamazing round of net 63.Second net wasattained by Hafiz Aftab(net 64) and thirdnet prize went to Ahmed Khalid.. Other results;Ladies;Zahida durrani(1st net);Mrs

rahina ehtesham(2nd net);shahzadi Gulfam(3rd

net);Ladies gross;Ghazala yasmin(1st gross);sameea

Javed ali(2nd gross);Mrs asma shami(3rd

gross);Veterans;a.sattar Khan(1st

net);Col(r)shamsuddin Goraya(2nd net);Iftikhar

randhawa(3rd net);Javed hameed(1st gross);asim

durrani(2nd gross);u.d.najmi(3rd gross);seniors;Ch

Mohammed akhter(1st net);Irfan saeed(2nd

net);Karamatullah Chaudry(3rd net);asif Mehdi(1st

gross);Qayum rashid(2nd gross);Lt Col M.shafi(3rd

gross). STAFF REPORT

KHI 08-04-2013_Layout 1 4/8/2013 6:00 AM Page 17

sPORTsS

Monday, 8 April, 2013

17I have been fortunate enough that the game has given

me some respect. Therefore I have the responsibility

to do things the right way – Somdev Devvarman

SPORTS DESK

SERENA Williams hadcompleted a dazzlingdisplay of tennis todominate her opponentand advance to her fourthfinals of the year at the

Family Circle Cup on Saturday.Her excitement, though, was over the

weeklong play of sister Venus despite bigsister’s inability to slow down Serena.

‘’She’s had a great week,’’ Serena saidSo has Serena, who won her 14th

straight match here with a 6-1, 6-2 victoryover Venus Williams - the most one-sidedresult in the sisters’ long, intense rivalry.

Serena got started early with herpowerhouse serves and rarely let Venusgain any ground.

Still, Serena understands better thanalmost anyone what her older sister hasgone through in recent years due to injuryand illness.

‘’I think (the week) is positive lookingfor her and she can see the next, her nexttournament be really more positive,’’Serena said. Serena Williams goes for hersecond straight tournament title and thirdhere overall Sunday when she’ll take onJelena Jankovic, a three-set winner overStefanie Voegele.

It was the first time since 2009 theWilliams sisters were playing each otherin a tournament and the excitement wasfelt throughout the Family Circle TennisCenter. A crowd of 9,538 filled Billie JeanKing Court, a single-session record sincethe tournament moved from Hilton Headto Charleston in 2001.

Serena has won five straight in their

series and leads 14-10 since they firstfaced each other at the Australian Open in1998. Back then, Venus was the morepolished player and began a run of fivevictories over Serena the first six timesthey played.

Things turned in 2002 with Serena’s6-2, 6-2 win in Miami, the previousbiggest sibling margin before this one.

Since, Serena holds a 13-5 mark andhas played some of her best tennis the pastyear. Since capturing this title in April2012, Serena has won Wimbledon,Olympic gold, the U.S. Open andreclaimed the world’s No. 1 ranking.

‘’Obviously, Serena is playingextremely well,’’ Venus says, ‘’and it’sgreat to see her at No. 1 and just fulfillingevery dream.’’

Venus Williams’ career hasn’t gone aswell. The 32-year-old seven-time majorchampion was diagnosed with theautoimmune disease, Sjogren’s syndromein 2011 and took six months off from thegame. The condition saps her strength,meaning she must manage her game morethan ever. She and Serena both had to wintwice Friday because of rainpostponements earlier in the week,something Serena says surely affected hersister’s condition. ‘’I mean she’ll neveradmit it, ever, but I don’t think she was100 percent,’’ Serena said. ‘’But you willnever get that out of her, and quite frankly,three matches for her is much tougher thanthree matches for me.’’

Serena surged to a 4-0 lead over herbig sister and won the first set in 22minutes. Venus Williams, who withdrewfrom her previous event because of backproblems, picked up her game a bit in the

second set but it was hardly enough.The match ended when Venus mishit

Serena’s final serve, and the sisters simplyshook hands at the net when it was over,neither looking overly pleased. Serenawaited until her sister left the court beforeto cheers talking with an on-courtinterviewer and giving the crowd a fewcomments. Venus said dealing with thisdefeat won’t be different than any other inher long career. She said she had herchances to succeed and couldn’t do it,simple as that.

‘’We both had racquets andeverything. I didn’t take advantage of myopportunities, so there’s no reason for meto be upset’’ at Serena, Venus said. ‘’I justhave to improve my game.’’

Still, Venus Williams was smilingwhen she walked into the packed stadiumcourt for warm-ups. She jumped onSerena’s first serve immediately to win thefirst point - and it was largely downhillafter that. Serena’s powerhouse serves andaccurate groundstrokes rarely gave Venusroom to move. Serena regularly deliveredserves in excess of 100 mph that Venuscouldn’t handle. Serena Williams won thefinal game of the first set at love, andVenus looked out of options about how tobreak through. When Venus did have achance to tighten up the second set, Serenamade sure it didn’t happen.

Venus won two points on Serena’sserve trailing 3-2 in the second set. SerenaWilliams won the next two points withserves of 107 mph and 108 mph. Shefollowed that with ace off a 117 mph servethat Venus looked at before changingsides. Serena quickly ended the game apoint later to regain control.

Serena routs venus at family circle

jonny Marray andcolin fleming givegb faint chance

SPORTS DESK

The weekend is still likely to end in aninquest into what might have been, but anemphatic doubles victory here yesterdayby Jonny Marray and Colin Fleming overIgor Kunitsyn and Victor Baluda keptalive Britain’s hopes of beating Russia andearning a play-off for a place in the DavisCup’s World Group.James Ward and Dan Evans, nevertheless,will need to bridge major gaps in the worldrankings to beat Dmitry Tursunov andEvgeny Donskoy respectively in today’sreverse singles if they are to earn a 3-2victory. The winners enter a draw onWednesday for the play-offs in September,while the losers will next compete in Octoberin a play-off to decide who will be relegatedto Europe/Africa Zone Group Two.If Ward and Evans could defy the odds,Britain would have high hopes ofreturning to the World Group, as AndyMurray is planning to make himselfavailable for national duty in September.The world No 2, who won the MiamiMasters seven days ago and is nowpreparing for the clay-court season, didnot include Davis Cup duty this weekendin his schedule. A number of other leadingplayers, including Russia’s top two men,Mikhail Youzhny and NikolayDavydenko, made the same decision.Given the quality of Britain’s doublesplayers, there is no doubt that LeonSmith’s team could be a match foranybody when the line-up also includesMurray, who has been sending the teamregular messages of support this weekend.Yesterday’s result at Coventry’s RicohArena was no surprise considering theworld doubles rankings – Marray andFleming are No 16 and No 28respectively, while Kunitsyn and Baludaare No 439 and No 440 – but the Britonswere still admirably ruthless in their 6-1 6-4 6-2 demolition of the Russians.

atromitos partcompany with coachanastasopoulos

ATHENSAGENCIES

Greek Super League outfit Atromitos havebegan their search for a new coach afterannouncing the departure of NikosAnastasopoulos on Sunday following apoor string of results.The 55-year-old took over from DusanBajevic in December but, despite initialpositive results, the Athens club havesuffered three defeats in their last fourmatches which has damaged their bid fora European place.Atromitos’ latest loss came on Saturday athome to struggling Aris Salonica.“Atromitos FC technical director GiannisAngelopoulos met today with coach NikosAnastopoulos to discuss the progress ofour team the last few games and it wasjointly decided to end our cooperation,”the club said in a media statement.Local media reports said formerOlympiakos Piraeus and PAS Yianninagoalkeeper Dimitris Eleftheropoulos andformer AEK Athens and Asteras Tripolisboss Nikos Kostenoglou were two leadingcandidate for the vacant job.Atromitos are fourth in the 16-team SuperLeague table with two games to play aftercollecting 42 points from 28 matches.

canada beats

italy in doubles

thriller

VANCOUVERAGENCIES

A 40-year-old athlete dragged Canadian tothe precipice of a spectacular tennisachievement on Saturday, but he sure madethe country go through an excruciatingexperience to get there.Daniel Nestor, playing in his 66thinternational match for his country in DavisCup competition, teamed with 22-year-oldVasek Pospisil to capture an epic andextraordinary doubles contest against theItalian pair of Fabio Fognini and DanieleBracciali on the campus of UBC that willgo down as one of the most memorablematches in Canadian tennis history.Maybe that’s not a hard thing to be because,let’s face it, the Great White North doesn’thave a great deal of history in this sport.Well, Nestor and Pospisil decided to changethat, and now the country hopes MilosRaonic can finish the job on Sunday.If Raonic can defeat Italy’s Andreas Seppi,Canada will advance to the Final Four ofDavis Cup competition for the first timeever. If Raonic can’t, well, it will go downto a fifth and deciding singles match.All of Canada will be hoping that doesn’thappen. Surely Canadians sweated enoughthrough Saturday’s drama.It took the Nestor-Pospisil tandem fourhours and 37 minutes to vanquish theItalians in a match that saw the Canadiansblow a two-sets-to-none lead and includedan extended and tantalizing fifth set, finallywon by Canada 15-13.“There was no way I was going to losetoday,” said Pospisil, beaten by Seppi onFriday after leading two sets to none.Pospisil played on that difficult memorywhile Nestor limped around on a bad calf,no fun on a tennis court. “Good thing I hada partner who could cover three-quarters ofthe court,” said Nestor when it was over.“Vasek played unbelievably on the bigpoints. He took over in the fifth set.”Even with Canada advancing to thisquarter-final stage of the Davis Cup for thefirst time, Nestor had been unable tocontribute his best, losing three straightdoubles matches to France, South Africaand Spain.But with a raucous tennis audiencescreaming its support while living anddying with every gut-wrenching point in thefinal set, Nestor dug down and came upwith some key shots before Pospisil servedit out and ended the drama.“I thought we were the better team in thefifth set,” said captain Martin Laurendeau,who squirmed and played cheerleader asNestor and Pospisil earned eight breakpoints in the final set and squandered themall before finally breaking the Italians.

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STAR SPORTSManchester United vs. Manchester City11:59 PM

PTV SPORTSRoyals v KKR at Jaipur

07:30 PM

sPORTs SMonday, 8 April, 2013

18Horacio and David were excellent. It was a

lovely day with a really important victory. We’ve

got a real Davis Cup team – Martin Jaite

wAtCh It LIve

ESPNSportscenter

08:00 PM

this team can

make it to World

group in 2014: Misra

BANGALOREAGENCIES

Outgoing Davis Cup captain S P Misra onSunday said with quality players such asSomdev Devvarman and Yuki Bhambariin the team, India have a good chance toqualify for the World Group next year.Misra led the side for one last time withIndia blanking Indonesia 5-0.“It was great being a part of the Indianteam for the last six years, especially whenIndia stormed into the World Group after agap of eleven years. We played someexciting matches. Ties against SouthAfrica and Brazil are still fresh in mymind. The team now revolves aroundSomdev Devvarman, Yuki Bhambari andLeander Paes and they all have thecapacity to make into the World Group,”Misra told reporters here.Misra said the the team did not expect towin 5-0 but Yuki played brilliantly. “Hehad so much of power that Indonesianscould not not do much,” he said.About the differences with the youngplayers coming into this tie, Misra said hewould prefer putting it behind. “I want toforget everything about the last tie againstSouth Korea. Players who could not play,for they had good reasons. We cannot saythey were not responsible. This time aroundthe full-team was here and there wascamaraderie in the dressing room. Theyalso played football, cricket and tennis. Yesit was nice,” Misra said. “I had a great lasttie against Indonesia. The players gave lotof respect to me and performed brilliantlyto give us 5-0 win here,” he added.Yuki said he had a great week whichboosted his confidence going intoChallengers and Futures matches ahead.Yuki also said he wanted to forget aboutthe episode and start afresh in 2014.India coach Zeeshan Ali said the boysplayed solid tennis. “You know anythingcan happen in Davis Cup,” he said.

SPORTS DESK

Manchester United defender RioFerdinand is adamant that setting a pointsrecord this season comes second on theagenda to winning the Premier League.

The league leaders have a comfortable15-point cushion over nearest rivalsManchester City, with the two sides set toclash on Monday night, but Ferdinand isrefusing to get ahead of himself and willonly look toward the points record oncethe club has secured its 20th top-flighttitle.

“It is just about winning. Anythingthat comes after that is great, but winningit is the most important part,” Ferdinandtold PA Sport. “If you win the leaguebefore the end of the season then you canset other targets. For me, personally, weneed to get the trophy first, then you canthink of all the other stuff that goes onaround it.”

Ferdinand dismissed the notion thatUnited was being spurred on by a desire

to avenge year’s dramatic finale, with Cityclaiming the title with the final kick of theseason, and believes that it is the club’snatural mindset to want to win. “We arenot any more hungry because of whathappened last season,” Ferdinand said.“That is just the way we are. The mentalityof this club, driven by the manager, is thatyou have to win and you have to bechallenging for every single competitionyou go in for. That has been the case sinceI have been here. That will never change.

“This club, the manager, themanagement team he has behind him, andthe players and the fans demand that.”

Ferdinand also praised United’s new-found defensive strength, and believes itsrecent record – which has heralded a runof six consecutive clean sheets – hasenabled the club to tighten its strangleholdon the title.

“We feel more solid as a team,”Ferdinand said. “At the beginning of theseason we were playing open, expansivefootball, which I am sure was good for the

fans to watch but, being a defender, myfirst instinct is to defend and keep cleansheets. We weren’t able to do that.

“We addressed it. That is the mostpleasing point. Now we are benefittingfrom it.”

West Ham holdLiverpool to pull awayfrom relegation zoneANFIELD: West Ham United boostedtheir chances of avoiding a relegationbattle by holding Liverpool to a 0-0draw at Anfield on Sunday. The pointwas more useful to the London side,who are now seven points clear of thedrop zone in 12th place, than toLiverpool who had been hoping to keepin touch with the group chasingChampions League berths.Liverpool stayed seventh with 49 pointsfrom 32 games, two behind sixth-placedEverton who were playing at third-placed Tottenham Hotspur and sevenbehind fourth-placed Arsenal whooccupy the final Champions Leaguespot.League leaders Manchester United, whoare 15 points clear, host championsManchester City on Monday. AGENCIES

PSL condemnreferee attack

SPORTS DESK

Premier Soccer League acting CEOCambridge Mokanyane has condemnedthe unsightly acts of violence whichoccurred during the goalless drawbetween Kaizer Chiefs and GoldenArrows on Saturday. An entertainingmatch at the Moses Mabhida Stadiumturned ugly in the 33rd minute whenreferee Lwandile Mfiki was attacked bya supporter after showing ReneilweLetsholonyane a red card. Othersections of the crowd were then alsoseen throwing projectiles onto the field,a similar incident to what happened inthe same stadium when Orlando Piratesplayed AmaZulu last week, leaving thePSL supremo seething over the sights.“This is completely unacceptable in ourfootball. It does not do us nor the imageof our football any good when we havefans invading the pitch and othersthrowing objects,” Mokanyane said in astatement. “We condemn this in thestrongest possible terms. We will waitfor a full report from both the MatchCommissioner and the referee whichwill be forwarded to the LeagueProsecutor.”

SPORTS DESK

AMERICAN BillyHorschel continuedhis impressive recentform to maintain atwo-shot lead at theTexas Open on

Saturday with world number two RoryMcIlroy in striking distance four off thepace. Horschel fired a solid two-under par70 in the third round to improve to 10-under 206 for the tournament, two clear offellow Americans Charley Hoffman (70)and former U.S. Open champion JimFuryk (69) at eight under 208.

Northern Ireland’s McIlroy, searchingfor some form before next week’s Mastersafter an indifferent start to the season, shota scratchy 71 to set six-under and in a tiefor fourth with Americans Bob Estes (69)and Ryan Palmer (68).

The former number one started strongwith two birdies in his opening three holesbut bogeyed three of his next eight to fallback in the pack. The 23-year-old thensteadied with two birdies in the run hometo give himself a shot at a confidence-boosting win.

“I feel like I fought back well,”McIlroy told reporters. “I started the backnine with two three putts but to birdie 12and 14 to sort of get it back there was nice.

“I had a couple of chances coming inI didn’t take advantage of. I hit a greatdrive down 17 and just hit a terrible wedgeshot and it wasn’t a very good bunker shotat the last, so it could have been a couple

of shots better. But I am still in a decentposition going into the last day andhopefully I can make the ground up.”

Horschel, who started the year ranked312th in the world but is currently 132ndafter a runner-up finish in last week’sHouston Open, carded five birdies andthree bogeys to claim his first 54-hole leadon the PGA tour.

“Today was a good round,” Horscheltold reporters. “Obviously there was a lotof emotion going on starting the day but Ifelt like I hit the ball pretty well, madesome key putts, missed a couple comingin. But with this wind blowing you justhave to stay patient and just try to hit everyshot solid. “I think I did a pretty good jobof that, there were a few loose ones, butall in all a good day.”

The 26-year-old leads the tour inactive cut streaks with 21 consecutive cuts

but has yet to taste victory. A win onSunday would not only bring the biggestresult of his career but also afford him aninvitation to next week’s Masters.

Horschel has played just one major,the 2006 U.S. Open as an amateur, butsaid he would try his best not to bethinking of the potential start at AugustaNational.

“You can’t allow them (thoughts ofAugusta) in your head,” Horschel said.

“I think if you allow anything aboutthe future to get in there, then you aregoing to forget about the task at hand.

“So I’m just going to do a littleputting, get some dinner, go back to myroom and wake up tomorrow and focus onplaying a solid day.

“If I can just play my game, playsolidly and just keep doing what I’ve beendoing all week I’ll be just fine.”

Horschel just oneround from augusta,Mcilroy four back

DELHIAGENCIES

Australian Wade Ormsby held hisnerve to overcome a triple bogey andcomplete a wire-to-wire victory byone stroke for his maiden professionaltitle at the Panasonic Open India onSunday. Ormsby, who held at least ashare of the lead from the openinground, carded a final-round one-under-par 71 for a total of nine-under279 to finish a shot ahead of ThaiBoonchu Ruangkit (69) at the Delhi

Golf Club. Singapore’s Lam Chih Bing(72), who had the lead briefly duringthe final round, finished third whileIndia’s Shiv Kapur (71) bogeyed two ofhis last three holes to finish three shotsbehind Ormsby in fourth. Starting theday with a one-stroke advantage,Ormsby came back strongly after thetriple bogey by sinking three birdies infour holes from the fifth to the eighthhole. He dropped another shot on the12th hole but an 18-foot birdieconversion on the 17th was enough toseal his victory.

Australia’s Ormsby holds nervefor maiden victory in Delhi

Manchester United not focused on records: Ferdinand

KHI 08-04-2013_Layout 1 4/8/2013 6:00 AM Page 19

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

Monday, 8 April, 2013

A Pakistani labourer stand atop a USmilitary vehicle as it is unloaded from anAfghan truck to a Pakistani truck at aterminal on the Pakistani-Afghani borderat Chaman on Sunday. INP

MONITORING DESK

Adecisive operation has beenlaunched against militants inBara’s Tirah Valley by Spe-cial Services Groups (SSG)along with regular troops,

during which at least 23 troops have beenkilled along with local lashkar men, ac-cording to a private TV channel.

Scores of militants have also been killedin the offensive during the last three days. Of-ficial sources confirmed that several soldiers,including SSG commandos, have been killedin the battle for Tirah on Saturday, while over30 militants have also been confirmed deadalong with scores of others injured.

Sources said that SSG commandosalong with regular army troops and Fron-

tier Corps are battling to root out the lastpockets of resistance in the Tirah Valley,especially on the border of OrakzaiAgency. The landlocked area is reported tobe a bastion of the banned Tehreek-e-Tal-iban Pakistan (TTP) and other foreign mil-itants. The offensive has entered a crucialphase, after softening of targets by gun-ships and jet fighters.

Ground troops along with local volun-teers have been mobilised to clear the area.

Security experts had already hinted ata decisive strike in the Tirah valley as theTTP and Lashkar-i-Islam had started con-solidating their positions in the valley.

The two groups pose a serious threatto the settled areas especially Peshawar.

The FC media cell had confirmed onFriday that four soldiers were killed andover 14 militants had died in the clasheswhich have been continuing since then.Sources have confirmed to Dawn.com that

one dead body of an SSG commando andsix injured SSG soldiers along with eightother solders were shifted to the CMH Pe-shawar on Saturday. Artillery and mortarshelling has also intensified as troops havestarted an advance march and door-to-dooroffensive to clear pockets of resistance.

Expert on tribal affairs, BrigadierMehmood Shah, told the TV channel thatTirah would become a headache for thePakistani administration if it was notcleared of militants. He said that militantsfrom Khyber Agency’s Bara area and theDarra Adamkhel TTP have also shiftedtheir operational base to Tirah Valley asthey consider it to be a safer place to re-group. He added that if Tirah Valley is leftunattended, it would become even moredangerous than South Waziristan Agency.

tirah valley operationintensifies, 23 soldiers killed

GROUND TROOPS ALONGWITH LOCAL VOLUNTEERSHAVE BEEN MOBILISED TO CLEAR AREA

ANALYST SAYS IF TIRAH IS LEFTUNATTENDED IT WILL BECOMEMORE DANGEROUS THAN SOUTH WAZIRISTAN

NADEEm SyED

Without doing much damage to themain parties in the contest, most of theircandidates are through the scrutinyphase now fully ready to start theirelection campaign and focus on theirconstituencies.The only prominent rejection of nominationpapers on Sunday which was the last day ofscrutiny of nomination papers was of AsifHashmi, awarded ticket by the PPP tocontest from Lahore. Mostly candidatesfrom all main parties either with tickets orexpected to get tickets after the scrutiny arethrough without any surprises or damagedone in the otherwise a very tough scrutinyphase which saw nomination papers ofsome party stalwarts like Raja PervaizAshraf, PPP top leader and former primeminister being rejected. Still main partiesfrom the Punjab, the PML-N and PTI havenot yet announced the final line-up of theircandidates from Lahore, waiting to see theresults of scrutiny stage in a bid to avoidany embarrassment. These parties are dueto unveil their candidates any time, most

likely on Monday.Meanwhile, with scrutiny is over Lahoreis likely to emerge as an importantbattleground with Nawaz Sharif, ShahbazSharif, Hamza Sharif, Imran Khan andJaved Hashmi, all in the run to contestfrom the city considered otherwise thebastion of the Sharifs. In NA-119 acolourful contest is expected with AyeshaMalik facing Hamza Shahbaz. A tightthree-way fight with the PPP, PMLN andPTI in the race is expected in Lahore.Though analysts favour the PTI andPML-N as favourites for Lahore, otherindependent observers believe it will be athree-way fight with the PPP having greatpotential to stage a comeback fromseveral National Assembly constituencies.Meanwhile, it was a party time for mostindividuals getting through the rigoursof scrutiny, feeling highly relieved atthe successful conclusion of the processfrom their point of view.The scrutiny of the nomination paperscame under fire from political and legalfraternity, especially the uncalled forquestioning done by the returning officers.But as the process is over not muchdamage has been done nor candidates in

great numbers being disqualified as beingfeared before the onset of this process. Apolitical leader said over all it was abusiness as usual. It was passing througha stage the candidates have seen manytimes before. Separately, nominationpapers of PML-N stalwart ChaudhryNisar were accepted on Sunday from NA-52 but rejected from NA-53, raisingquestions about the scrutiny. “After thesetwo decisions diametrically opposed toeach other we are not sure which RO wasright: the one who accepted the papers orthe one rejected them. For ChaudhryNisar the RO who accepted his papermust be right and the other one wrong butfor his rivals the one who rejected hispaper would be more justified,”commented a senior politician.In another decision, former presidentGeneral (r) Pervez Musharraf’snomination papers for the constituencyNA-250 Karachi were rejected, butaccepted from Chitral. It would havebeen much better if such cases wereclubbed together so that one judicialofficer get the chance to decide the fateof candidates contesting from multipleseats, a lawyer said.

ecP rejectS 93 candidateSfor MinoritieS’SeatS

ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT

As many as 93 nomination papers ofthose who applied for 10 seatsreserved in the National Assembly(NA) for minorities, were rejectedduring the scrutiny process. ElectionCommission of Pakistan (ECP)received 162 nomination papersagainst the 10 NA seats. From them,the commission rejected 93nomination papers because thesepeople had not been nominated by anypolitical party. PML-N candidate andformer MNA Dr Nilson Azeem isamong those whose nomination paperswere rejected. His rejection was basedon grounds that he did not shareinformation about an FIR registeredagainst him during the last 6 monthswith the ECP. ECP Returning OfficerImtiaz Alam on Sunday said, “Wereceived 162 nomination papers, outof which we have rejected 93. Now atotal of 69 candidates are in the run”.Responding to a query, he said hisdecision on nomination papers couldbe challenged before the electiontribunal within the next three days.

gaS PiPeLine bLaSttriggerS PoWerSHortfaLL in Punjab,baLocHiStanQUETTA: Unidentified miscreants inBalochistan’s Naseerabad area blew up a gaspipeline supplying fuel to Uch power plant onSunday. Officials said the blast resulted in thesuspension of 525 megawatts of electricity tonational grid‚ increasing electricity shortfall inthe country to 6,000 megawatts. A WAPDAspokesman said the national grid was also notreceiving power supply of 150MW fromHabibullah Coastal Power and Shaikh Mandapower house. STAFF REPORT

PoLiceMan Hurt in tWinPeSHaWar bLaStSA policeman was injured as two blasts, goingoff within minutes, ripped through CharsaddaRoad in Peshawar on Sunday, a private TVchannel reported. According to sources, thefirst blast occurred when a power generatorof a private bank blew up. As the policepersonnel and media teams reached the sceneof the blast, a second blast occurred near thesame spot. As a result, a policeman wasinjured while windows of a private TCchannel’s vehicle shattered. mONITORING DESk

Seven inSurgentSKiLLed in oraKZai agencySecurity forces killed seven insurgents anddestroyed three of their hideouts in actionagainst militants in Orakzai Agency onSunday. According to the security sources,the security forces pounded compounds ofthe militants with gunship helicopters inGowak and Mitherni area of Orakzai,killing the seven. “Three compounds of themilitants were also destroyed,” the sourcessaid. mONITORING DESk

iMran, naWaZ under‘deatH tHreat’ in run uP to PoLLSThe country’s top political leaders, includingPML-N President Nawaz Sharif and PTIChairman Imran Khan, are under serious lifethreats, caretaker Interior Minister MalikHabib has said. Without specifying the sourceof the threat, he said Nawaz and Imran, aswell as other top leaders were under seriousthreat and a special security plan had beenchalked out in this regard. In a meeting withDirector General Military Operations(DGMO), Habib said the interim governmentwould take all possible measures and providesecurity cover to all high-profile politicalleaders irrespective of their politicalassociation. The minister also stressed theneed for intelligence sharing at the grassrootslevel to avoid any untoward incident. Habibsaid the DGMO also gave assurance of fullsupport to the civil administration in thisregard. mONITORING DESk

Hina KHar notconteSting on generaLSeat in eLectionSMUZAFFARGARH: Former foreignminister Hina Rabbani Khar on Sundayannounced that she would not contest theupcoming general elections. Khar said herfather, Noor Rabbani Khar, wouldcompete from their native constituency, asusual, and she was just a coveringcandidate from there. “I always assistedmy father as a covering candidate fromour native constituency and this timeagain my father will contest and I am hiscovering candidate,” said Khar. Theformer foreign minister Khar would nowbe a candidate on special reserved seats ofwomen in the National Assembly from thePPP, informed sources said. INP

Contenders ready to startelection campaign

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