tuesday, 11 december, 2012 Muharram 26, 1434Rs 15.00 Vol iii no 164 19 pages Lahore edition

PAGE |04PAGE |04

Morsi gives army ‘policepowers’ ahead of Egypt referendum

Malala Yousafzai declared ‘Daughter

of Pakistan’

US has concerns overPak-Iran gas pipelineproject: Olson

PAGE |03

PARISAGenCIes

PReSideNT Asif Ali ZardariMonday announced $10 millionfor a global war chest to educate

all girls by 2015 set up in the name ofMalala Yousufzai, the teen educationactivist shot and injured by the Talibanfor campaigning for girls’ education.

The “Malala Fund for Girls’ Rightto education” aims at raising billionsof dollars to ensure that all girls go toschool by 2015 in line with UnitedNations Millennium goals.

Pakistan’s education MinisterWaqas Akram signed the agreementwith the United Nations educational,Scientific and Cultural Organisationhead irina Bokova. “A young deter-

mined daughter of my country was at-tacked by the forces of darkness,”Zardari told the high-profile “StandUp For Malala” event at UNeSCOheadquarters in Paris. “We are facingtwo forces in the country; Malala rep-resents the forces of peace and we arefighting with the forces of darkness,hatred and violence,” he said.

The ceremony drew French PrimeMinister Jean-Marc Ayrault, formerBritish premier Gordon Brown, the UNspecial envoy for Global education,and the former presidents of Finlandand Chile. UN Secretary General BanKi-moon, US Secretary of State HillaryClinton and the eU’s top diplomatCatherine Ashton sent special video-taped messages of support.

ISLAMABADAnwer AbbAs

The parliamentary commissionfor creation of new provinces inPunjab on Monday sought rec-ommendations from all partiesregarding chalking out newunits in the coming 10 days,despite a continued boycott byPML-N representatives.

The members representing12 political parties met commis-sion chairman Farhatullah Babarto finalise the rules and regula-tions for the commission. How-ever, the PML-N representativesavoided participating in the sit-ting of the commission and con-tinued their boycott. Federal

Minister for Religious AffairsSyed Khurshid Shah exclusivelyparticipated in the sitting.

A source informed Pak-istan Today that the memberswere asked to submit their rec-ommendations and sugges-tions in connection with thecreation of two new provinceswithin the next 10 days.

The decision was alsomade to summon the comingsitting of the commission bynext week. Talking to reportersafter the meeting, FarhatullahBabar said the commission ini-tiated its working after thePunjab Assembly passed ajoint resolution favouring

Pakistan, UN launch global ‘Malala’war chest for girls’ education

g President Zardari announces $10 million dollars for fund

Commission on newprovinces finalises rulesdespite PML-N boycott

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typhoon-hit philippines appeals for help nasa camera captures 'fireball' over texas

Tuesday, 11 December, 2012

Gilani refuses to appearbefore NAB todayISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Yousaf RazaGilani has again refused to appear before the NationalAccountability Bureau today (Tuesday) to explain theappointment of Adnan Khwaja as the OGdCL chairmanduring his tenure. Sources said NAB had issued noticeto the former premier on the orders of the SupremeCourt, adding that a reference had also been filedagainst establishment Secretary ismail Qureshi. How-ever, the decision to file a reference against Gilani hadnot been made until now, they said. On the other hand,Gilani was of the view that while in office, he had en-joyed constitutional immunity in all steps taken by himand he would not appear before any institution to givean explanation. The former prime minister did not ap-pear before the Federal investigation Agency despitebeing summoned for a second time with relevance to thehaj corruption case. onlIne

Unprovoked fire by Indianforces on LoC kills one ISLAMABAD: indian forces opened unprovoked gun-fire and shelling on Monday at Batal sector on the Lineof Control (LoC), killing one man and injuring threeothers including two women. According to policesources, due to the unprovoked fire by the indianforces at Batal sector, a mortar shell landed near ahouse in which a wedding ceremony was underway. nnI

Guard flees with Rs 21.07million bank cashLAHORE: Security guard of a cash van belonging toFaysal Bank fled with cash worth Rs 21.07 million atichhra on Monday evening. Police sources stated theincident took place around 6.30 pm, post closing timewhen the cash was being shifted from the bank to themain branch. As many as four security personnel weredeployed with the cash van for shifting the bags of moneyto the vehicle. Two guards went back inside the bank fordocumentation and the third had to go to the washroom,leaving Ramzan alone in the van with the cash. Hegrabbed the money and managed to flee, allegedly onanother vehicle. Police reached the scene and seized theCCTV footage and other evidence from the bank. Thepersonal data of the accused was collected and raidparties were sent to the available addresses to arrest him.Ramzan, however, still remains at large. stAff report

Blast leaves one dead in QuettaQUETTA: A man was killed and several others werewounded on Monday when a bomb went off nearSaryiab Road in Quetta. Police and the bomb dis-posal squad rushed to the spot and cordoned off thearea. The dead and injured were taken to a nearbyhospital. stAff report

PESHAWARsAJJAd AlI

KHYBeR Pakhtunkhwa informa-tion Minister Main iftikhar Hus-sain on Monday said Kalabaghdam was a “dead horse” thatcould not be given life. “Kalabagh

dam is a dead issue and it is time to build smallerdams in the province, as larger dams have alreadybecome more dangerous than atomic bombs,” theminister said while speaking on a point of orderon in the provincial assembly on Monday.

He said it would be major disaster if Tarbeladam suffered some damage, therefore, smallerdams had become the need of the hour. The as-sembly session was held under the chairmanship

of Speaker Kiramatullah Khan and was witnessto the tabling of three bills. Opposition leaderAkram Khan durrani said the provincial assem-bly had already passed three resolutions againstKalabagh dam and there was no need to bringother resolutions on the issue. “instead of givingweight to the issue of Kalabagh dam, it is betterto ignore it as we all oppose its construction,”the opposition leader remarked.

He said it was disappointing that a courtpassed a verdict in its favour despite three of thefour provinces rejecting the proposal.

information Minister Mian iftikhar said thegovernment had approved 24 projects to con-struct smaller dams in the province in whichthree were under construction and would gener-ate 24 Megawatts of electricity.

“it is better for Punjab to generate electricityfrom coal reserves in Chakwal instead of disus-ing the issue of a controversial dam. Our leadershave already said that it is a matter of our livesand we will not even accept a decision of theSupreme Court in this regard,” he added. Thegovernment introduced three bills in the assem-bly on Monday, including the bill against Ghag,a customary practice in the tribal belt in whicha person lays Ghag or claim on a girl which im-plies that no one else can marry that girl.

The girl’s family is then bound to marry thegirl to the claimant and anyone else wishing tomarry the girl has to deal with him first, else itmeans bloody feud with the family.

Other bills included the KhyberPakhtunkhwa Medical Transplantation Regular-ity Ordinance 2012, presented by Main iftikharon the behalf of Health Minister Zahir Shah,while the third was Khyber Pakhtunkhwa imple-ment of Wages Bill of 2012, tabled by Ministerof Manpower Saleem Khan.

‘Dead KBD horse’ cannot begiven life, says KP minister

WASHINGTONspeCIAl Correspondent

A new US report on Monday saw Pak-istan facing a mix of prospective and pre-carious scenarios in the next couple ofdecades – ranging from a sustained eco-nomic growth built on regional coopera-tion to instability from militant trends inthe region.

The report, Global Trends 2030: Al-ternative Worlds, which is a publicationof the National intelligence Council,weighs in on Pakistan’s internal prob-lems including militancy and economicreforms as well as the impact of its rela-tions with india.

The authors of the report, which is

published every four years, view Pak-istan-india economic relations being crit-ical to stability of the South Asia.

in a hopeful outlook, they say thePakistani economy could grow on sus-tained basis if efforts aimed at normaliza-tion of trade between the two nuclearneighbors move forward.

“in a Turn-the-Corner scenario, sus-tained economic growth in Pakistanbased on the gradual normalization oftrade with a rising india would be a crit-icalfactor,” says the report.

An improved economic environmentwould produce more opportunities foryouth entering the workforce, lesseningthe attractiveness of militancy and con-taining the spread of violence, the au-

thors of report say of Pakistan’s economicpossibilities. intra-regional trade wouldalso be important in building trust be-tween india and Pakistan, slowly chang-ing threat perceptions and anchoringsectors with vested interests in continu-ing economic ties, it argues.

The report projects a strong eco-nomic engine in india could lay downnew foundations for prosperity and re-gional cooperation in South Asia.

“Over several decades, Pakistanwould grow into a relatively stable econ-omy, no longer requiring foreign assis-tance and iMF tutelage.”

Suspicions of india would, however,persist in military circles; even so, bothnuclear-armed countries could find

means to coexist in order to avoid threat-ening the growing economic ties, it says.

At the same time, authors of the reportmake it clear that positive and optimisticscenario would need islamabad to pursuetax reforms and improve governance thatspur new industries, jobs and more re-sources for modern education in Pakistan.A collapse in neighboring Afghanistanwould probably set back any such civilian-led agenda, reinforcing security fears andretrenchment, the report cautions.

“Pakistan’s large and fast-growingnuclear arsenal in addition to its doctrineof “first use” is intended to deter and bal-ance against india’s conventional mili-tary advantages. india worries about asecond Mumbai-style terrorist attack

from militants backed by Pakistan. Amajor incident with many casualties andPakistani fingerprints would putaweakened indian Government undertremendous pressure to respond withforce, with the attendant risk of nuclearmiscalculation.”

dr Mathew J Burrows, Counselor tothe National intelligence Council, notedat a National Press Club briefing that aslong as the underlying reasons for dis-putes and tensions including Kashmirpersist, the two countries face the risk ofa standoff. The report also mentions thepossibility that india could withhold Pak-istan’s share of water from Kashmirmountains in the case of a tension-filledscenario.

APCNGA demandsimmediate auditof gas prices

ISLAMABADnnI

The All Pakistan CNG Association (APCNGA) on Mon-day demanded immediate audit of gas prices, sayinggas distribution companies were forcibly getting in-flated price of gas from CNG operators for the last threeyears.CNG owners have been made to pay Rs 2.18 perkg in addition to the prices determined by OGRA,which was a sheer violation of the laid down guidelines,it said. The report of independent auditors appointedby OGRA on the directives of the apex court had calcu-lated losses to the tune of Rs 18.90 on the current retailprice, said Ghayas Abdullah Paracha, chairman of theAPCNGA. in a statement issued on Monday, he saidCNG operators had been directed to sell gas at Rs 61.63in which they paid back Rs 57.62 to the government asbill of the gas utilised by them. Owners only save Rs4.01 per kg in which they are supposed to cater forcompression and operational costs, salaries, rent, fees,diesel for generators, maintenance of building and ma-chines, depreciation and miscellaneous expenses,which was illogical, the statement added. Paracha saidaudit of operational cost had been conducted but anaudit of gas prices had not been done, else the masseswould have seen the entire picture. “OGRA is not will-ing to accept the report of auditors appointed by them,it is bent upon following babucracy that is complicatingthe matter and creating problems for masses and theCNG sector,” he added.

US report identifies prospects, pitfalls Pakistan may face in near future

g Information Minister Hussain Iftikhar says smallerdams should be preferred over larger ones

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Pak-Afghan credibility gap.

Kuldip nayar says;Communal harmony: Hindus and Muslims, it seems, have come a long way.

Aima Khosa says;Meeting dark clouds: The extension of Kyoto Protocol is baby steps whenwhat we need is long and quick strides.

Malik Muhammad Ashraf says;Pakistan and SCO: The quest for peace, security and progress.

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Guns n’ roses take Mumbai by storm we’ve got power, let’s share it

Tuesday, 11 December, 2012

I was not there to prove a point: Hafeez

ISLAMABADApp

CALLiNG minorities an integralpart of the Pakistani society,Prime Minister Raja PervezAshraf said the government wasconsidering promulgation of per-

sonal laws for them, including separate marriageand divorce bills for Christians and Hindus.

Addressing at a function to mark interna-tional Human Rights day at the Prime Minis-ter’s Secretariat, Ashraf said the step would fulfila longstanding demand and bring them at parwith the Muslim citizens of the state.

The event to commemorate the passage ofthe Universal declaration of Human Rights in1948 by the United Nations’ General Assembly,was attended by federal ministers, parliamentar-ians, ambassadors, representatives of UN Agen-cies, non-governmental organisations andhuman rights activists. The prime minister saidminorities had played an important role in thedevelopment of the country. He mentioned thatthe government had increased the number ofseats for minorities in the Senate besides fixinga quota in the civil services.

He said Pakistan’s role in protecting human

rights had been recognised globally and saidPakistan had been elected a member of the UNHuman Rights Council for three years, with 171countries of 191 supporting its membership.

Ashraf called it recognition of the govern-ment’s efforts to further the cause of humanrights in Pakistan as well as of its standing in thecomity of nations. He said the government wasconsidering the appointment of Human Rightsdefenders under the Ministry of Human Rights.

The prime minister said Pakistan would con-tinue fighting the war against terrorism to se-cure the future of its children.

“We will never accept the narrow-mindedand bigoted agenda of extremists,” he said andurged the people of Pakistan to join hands withthe government and the civil society for promo-tion of human rights.

He reiterated the government’s commit-ment to create an environment conducive topeace, democracy and human rights in thecountry. Prime Minister Ashraf interlinkingdemocracy and peace said the road to durablepeace was paved by representative and effec-tive democratic institutions.

“Our tenure is a story of struggle for democ-racy, nurturing of institutions, upholding ofrights of the marginalised sections of society and

fight against non-state elements who threatenthe life and property of our citizens,” the primeminister said.

Ashraf said islam considered human rightssacrosanct and accorded it top priority. “TheCharter of Madina presented by the HolyProphet (peace be upon him) stipulated equalpolitical, cultural and religious rights to the non-Muslims,” he added.

He said Muslims learnt the lesson of egali-tarianism and human rights 1,400 years ago.

Prime Minister Ashraf said the UN declara-tion of Human Rights was a comprehensive doc-ument and a solemn expression of the world’scommitment to secure the fundamental rights ofall individuals irrespective of any discrimina-tion. He said the day served as a symbol for theprotection of life, dignity, liberty, honour and se-curity of each person living on this planet.

The prime minister said the constitutionguaranteed fundamental rights to its citizens,adding that human rights were an essential com-ponent of public policy of the government thathad put in place mechanisms for their advance-ment. Ashraf said the way the whole nation cametogether in support of Malala Yousafzai reflectedthe national consensus and the will of the nationto protect its values, culture, and way of life.

PM says marriage, divorce billsfor Christians, Hindus on cards

ISLAMABAD: Long queues of vehicles can be seen at

CNG filling stations across the country due to a strike

called by the station owners against reduced prices. INP

‘Governor signed RekoDiq accord withoutcabinet’s consent’

ISLAMABADnnI

Balochistan Advocate-General AmanullahKanrani told the Supreme Court on Mon-day that the Reko diq agreement wassigned by the provincial governor withoutthe Balochistan cabinet’s approval.A three-judge bench of the Supreme Courtheaded by Chief Justice iftikhar Muham-mad Chaudhry resumed hearing in the caseagainst the federal government’s decisionto lease out Reko diq gold and copper re-serves in Balochistan to foreign companies.during the hearing, Chief Justice iftikhardirected the Balochistan government toprovide evidence with respect to its stance,adding that whosoever violated the lawwould have to pay for the wrongdoing.Kanrani concluded his arguments in thecase, saying the law did not allow theawarding of mining lease to TCC.The chief justice reprimanded the advocategeneral, saying he had been reviewing doc-uments for the last three days and shouldnot waste time unnecessarily by shifting re-sponsibility on the courts. Kanrani reiter-ated that the Balochistan governor signed theagreement without the provincial cabinet’sapproval, adding that Barrick Gold andAntofagasta Minerals became part of theagreement without a real reason.Kanrani said Barrick Gold bought the fileof the agreement in $60 million whereasAntofagasta Minerals paid $140 millionfor the agreement’s file. Moreover,Ahmer Bilal Sufi, counsel for theBalochistan government, began his argu-ments, saying no land had been specifi-cally allotted in the Reko diq agreement.To this, Justice Gulzar inquired whetherSoofi was claiming that the agreementwas bogus. in his remarks, Chief Justiceiftikhar Chaudhry said the agreement, inits spirit, did not ratify a mining licencebut simply agreed to the filing of a re-quest for that purpose.

KARACHIstAff report

The United States (US) has concernsover the Pakistan-iran gas pipeline proj-ect, US Ambassador to Pakistan RichardOlson said on Monday. Talking to re-porters during his visit to Quaid-e-Azam’s mausoleum, the US ambassadorsaid, “We do have concerns about iran’spotential development as a nuclearpower and that we are not alone in thisregard… this is the strongly held consen-sus view of the international commu-nity.” He also said his country was readyto cooperate with Pakistan in the energy

sector in order to curb energy shortage faced by the country. “We believein religious independence,” Olson said. The ambassador said Pakistan andthe US were “waging a joint war against the menace of terrorism to ensureglobal peace”. He said efforts to promote Pakistan-US ties particularly ineducation‚ culture and energy sectors were underway.

Punjab govt’s surplus account secret revealedLAHORE: Though the Punjab government claimed havingsurplus amount of Rs 9 billion just after five months of the currentfiscal year, the fact remains that the surplus amount reflected indocuments belongs to development funds allocated for the powerand education sectors. A private TV channel said the Punjabgovernment had claimed that 32 percent of the development fundshad been used in the urban areas of the province, includingLahore, during the period from July to November 2012. However,the truth is that no amount has been used for the water and powersector projects in the province. development funds for localgovernments have also been slashed to a meagre amount of Rs3.80 billion, while schools in Punjab received only seven percentof the promised amount. Similarly, Rs 60 million earmarked forscholarships for female students and free textbooks have also notbeen utilised. onlIne

US has concerns overPak-Iran gas pipelineproject: envoy

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Tuesday, 11 December, 2012

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CAIROAGenCIes

egypt’s embattled PresidentMohamed Morsi on Mondayissued a new decree givingpolice powers to the army tobeef up security ahead of thisweek’s referendum on a newislamist constitution, as thedeeply polarised countrybraced for massive rivalprotests.President Morsi hasissued the decree, effectivefrom Monday, ordering thearmy to “cooperate” with thepolice, giving it the power ofarrest, in a move that mayraise fears that egypt is mov-ing back towards militaryrule. “The armed forces mustsupport the police service incomplete cooperation inorder to preserve security and

protect vital state institutionsfor a temporary period, up tothe announcement of the re-sults from the referendum onthe constitution,” the decreesaid. “Armed forces officersparticipating in missions topreserve security and protectvital state institutions... allhave powers of legal arrest,”it added.

The army, which lastweek had deployed tanks toguard the presidential palace,has built a wall of concreteblocks to seal off the place,which has been the focus ofopposition demonstrations.

The military, which ruledegypt between the ouster offormer president HosniMubarak in February, 2011,and the election of Mr. Morsiin June this year, has sought

to remain neutral on the cri-sis that has plagued the coun-try for weeks. The presentpolitical turmoil began afterPresident Morsi granted him-self absolute powers throughthe November 22 decree thathad put his decisions beyondjudicial review, a move whichgained him titles like “dicta-tor” and “Pharaoh”.

Mr. Morsi tried to calmprotests by annulling the de-cree giving him Pharaoh-likepowers, but the december 15vote on the new constitutionwas to go ahead as scheduled.

egypt’s opposition hascalled for more protestsagainst President Morsi afterrejecting his plans for a con-stitutional referendum laterthis week on a disputed draftconstitution.

the creation of two newprovinces, adding that therewas no justification for thePML-N boycott anymore. He said the PML-N shouldreview its strategy, asboycotts never providedsolutions. “The PML-Nleaders should participate inthe meetings of thecommission and should givetheir recommendations andsuggestions in thisconnection.”To a query, Babar said no

timeframe could be given forthe creation of the newprovinces, but it wasworking speedily and wouldsoon forwardrecommendations toparliament.“After the recommendationsare forwarded, it will be thetask of parliament to alterthe constitution,” he added.MQM’s Farooq Sattar saidthe struggle of the people ofsouth Punjab would end insuccess.ANP’s Haji Adeel said thePunjab Assembly had no

right to pass a resolutionregarding other provinces,as it was only possible if the“one-unit system” wasrestored.Federal Minister SyedKhurshid Shah toldreporters that PakistanPeople’s Party ChairmanBilawal Bhutto Zardariwould not contest the up-coming general electionbecause of his age, addingthat he would appear in theby-polls later.elaborating further, Shahsaid Bilawal would kick start

his formal political career byaddressing the PPP rally tocommemorate former partychief Benazir Bhutto’smartyrdom on december 27at Garhi Khuda Buksh.Regarding the caretaker setup, the minister said a“surprise” would soon becoming after completion ofconsultation with Leader ofthe Opposition ChaudhryNisar Ali Khan.Shah suggested the SupremeCourt should revisit itsdecision for re-mappingconstituencies in Karachi.

The report to Congresshighlights the improvement insecurity of populated areas.“Security dramaticallyimproved in most ofAfghanistan’s five mostpopulous districts, with[enemy-initiated attacks] inthe first nine months of 2012compared to the same periodin 2011 dropping 22 percent inKabul, 62 percent inKandahar, 13 percent in Herat,88 percent in Mazar-e-Sharif,and rising 2 percent inKunduz,” the report says.insurgent attacks are takingplace away from thesepopulated centers, the reportsays, noting that the majority ofAfghanistan’s 405 districts nowexperience very low levels ofenemy attacks. eighty percentof attacks occur in districtsencompassing only 20 percent

of the population, and nearlyhalf of all attacks inAfghanistan occur in just 17districts that contain only 5percent of the population, thereport states.The Taliban’s ability to attackAfghans is diminishedparticularly in Kandahar, thegroup’s operational andideological base. But overall,the report paints a picture ofmixed progress toward securityand stability, with the areaalong the Afghanistan-Pakistanborder remaining a hot zone.“Pakistani-based sanctuary forinsurgents, such as the HaqqaniTaliban Network in NorthWaziristan, as well as thefinancial and operationalsupport that insurgentsreceive from various sources,keeps the security situationalong the border withPakistan in RegionalCommand – east volatile,”

the report says.While enemy attacks in theregion declined slightly, easternAfghanistan accounted foralmost a third of all insurgentattacks throughout the country.“The Taliban-led insurgencyremains adaptive anddetermined, and retains thecapability to emplacesubstantial numbers of iedsand to conduct isolated high-profile attacks,” the report says.“The insurgency also retains asignificant regenerativecapacity.”As iSAF and Afghan forceserode Taliban efforts,insurgents have increasinglyresorted to asymmetric tacticsin an attempt to regain territoryand influence, includingassassinations, kidnappings,intimidation tactics,encouraging insider attacks andstrategic messaging campaigns,the report states.

He also questioned if anotheridentical case could be heardwhen a case of same issue waspending. Wasim replied thatit was decided in 1987 thatboth cases of identical naturecould be taken up.

Sajjad said the presidentwas not a party in that in-stant case, while the ques-tion of seniority was notraised in that case. He saidthe president sought opin-ion of the court providedunder the procedure and itwas not mere academic mat-ter and rather it involvedconstitutional issues. Hesaid they wanted the judici-ary independent andstronger and its decisionswould be followed by thegovernment. Justice TariqPervaiz observed that theseniority of judges was de-cided on the basis of age ascontained in 1987 case.

Akram Shaikh, counselfor a petitioner in the iHC

judges’ appointment case,said that due to non-appoint-ment of judges, the residentsof islamabad had been facingproblems. Justice ejaz AfzalKhan said propriety de-manded that these questionsraised in the reference wereintrinsically interlinked withthe pending issue so thesecould be decided togetherwhile regarding pendingcases in the iHC and theycould observe that theseshould be decided expedi-tiously. Justice Tariq Pervaiztold Akram Shaikh that thereference was seeking guid-ance for future.

Responding to a remarkof the counsel, Justice KhiljiArif Hussain observed thatthey realised the seriousnessof the matter. He said he andJustice Tariq Pervaiz was partof Muneer Hussain Bhatti’scase but now the presidenthad sent them a reference andthey would have to respond.The proceedings have beenadjourned until december 12.

2 Rangers among5 killed inKarachi violence

KARACHIAGenCIes

Two officials of the Rangerswere among five people killedin different incidents ofviolence in Karachi onMonday. The two Rangerspersonnel were killed and twotraffic policemen were injuredafter unidentified menopened fire on a Rangerscheckpost in Sohrab Gotharea. According to the report,unidentified motorcyclistsopened fire on a Rangerscheckpost near Al-Asifsquare, injuring two Rangerspersonnel, who succumbed totheir injuries on their way tohospital. The bodies andinjured have been shifted to alocal hospital in Karachiwhile police and lawenforcement agenciescordoned off the area andstarted investigations into thematter. Meanwhile, threepeople were killed in acracker blast also in SohrabGoth area, a private TVchannel reported. Thechannel quoted a seniorpolice official as saying theincident took place near thePareedy police station, addingthat the cracker was hurled ata closed spare parts’ shop.

report lists 214 humanrights violation in IHK

ISLAMABAD: Theinternational PeoplesTribunal on Human Rightsand Justice (iPTK) and theAssociation of Parents ofdisappeared Parents ofdisappeared Persons (APdP)released a report on 214cases of human rightsviolation in indian Kashmir.The report, released at apress conference in Srinagar,lists 214 cases and points out500 perpetrators, whichinclude 235 army personnel,123 paramlilitary personnel,111 police personnel and 31militants. APP

Fifteen-year-old Malala is recov-ering in a British hospital afterbeing attacked on her school buson October 9 and will join thecampaign when she is better.

Malala’s father, ZiauddinYousufzai, has been ap-pointed to help in whatBrown has dubbed a new‘Malala Plan’ to get all girlsinto school around the worldby the end of 2015. Zardarislammed islamic fundamen-talists for giving the religion abad name. “The first word ofthe Holy Quran is ‘iqra’ whichis read,” he said, attacking the“fringe minority of darkness,of hatred, of conflict.” “Whatextremists fear is a girl with abook in her hand,” he said.

Zardari expressed the re-

solve to make Pakistan a fullyprogressive‚ democratic andeducated country, adding thatthe country was committed topromoting girl’s education.He said the country’s educa-tion system was derailed dur-ing the dictatorial rule but thepresent democratic govern-ment was determined to en-sure education for all. Thepresident sought support ofthe international communityto ensure that every girl inPakistan received quality ed-ucation and contributed to-wards a progressive Pakistan.

He said like democracy inPakistan‚ “we need global sup-port for education in Pakistan”.Zardari said Pakistan was a re-silient and determined nationand needed support of the in-ternational community for

helping every girl go to school.The president said the UN

system had a crucial and cen-tral role to play in overcomingeducational challenges. Hesaid Pakistan would continueto uphold high ideals of theUN of education for all. TheUN estimates that 61 millionchildren do not go to schooland girls account for two-thirds of that number. in anattack that shocked the world,Malala was shot in the head aspunishment for the “crime” ofcampaigning for girls’ rightsto go to school. GordonBrown said the initiative,which he hoped would attract“billions of dollars of publicsubscriptions”, also aimed atstopping social evils such aschild marriage and violenceagainst girls.

na adopts resolution to declareMalala ‘Daughter of Pakistan’

ISLAMABADApp

The National Assembly onMonday unanimouslyadopted a resolution askingthe government to declareMalala Yousufzai the‘daughter of Pakistan’. Theresolution was moved byPakistan People’s Party’sRobina Saadat Qaimkhani,who said Malala had becomea role model for childeducation across the world.“This House gives greatimportance and significanceto the sacrifice made byMalala Yousufzai for the sakeof education. This House,therefore, recommends thatMalala Yousufzai may bedeclared the daughter ofPakistan,” the resolutionsaid. Qaimkhani said owingto her struggle forpromotion of peace andgirls’ education, Malaladeserved an applause and aspecial recognition fromparliament. She also laudedthe role of President Asif AliZardari in promoting childeducation in the country.

pesHAwAr: A man injured in a bombing targeting an Anp meeting in Charsadda is being treated at lady reading Hospital on Monday. INP

SC rejects plea for formationof larger bench

Morsi gives army ‘police powers’ ahead of referendum

Pakistan, UN launch global ‘Malala’ war chest

ISLAMABADonlIne

The Ministry of Petroleumhas prepared a proposal toincrease gas tariff fromJanuary 1.Suggestions includeincreasing the tariff in allthree slabs for residentialgas consumers and one-slab for religious andeducational institutions.A Rs 6.14 per 100 units, Rs12.28 per 300 units and anew tariff of Rs 30.69 forresidential consumersusing over 300 units havebeen suggested.it has been suggested thatthe three slabs for

mosques, churches, hosteland universities be doneaway with and replacedwith a fixed tariff of Rs530.29.The tariff for commercialconsumers has beensuggested to be increasedfrom Rs 438 to Rs 531.39.The new tariff forindustrial units issuggested to be increasedby Rs 39.46 to Rs 448.14.An increase of Rs 59 hasbeen suggested for thecement sector, Rs 9.9 forfertilizer and Rs 49 mmbtufor power plants.The new gas tariff would beeffective from January 1 ifapproved.

Commission on new provinces

finalises rules despite PML-N boycott

Raise in gas tarifffrom Jan 1 proposed

Pentagon presents mixed report on Afghanistan

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Continued fRoM page 19

LUCKNOW: Two students from Lucknowhave sent a legal notice to Press Council ofindia Chairman Justice Markandey Katju forhis comment at a seminar last week that “90percent of indians are idiots”. The notice toKatju was sent by law student TanayaThakur and her brother, Class Xi studentAditya Thakur. Both said they found thecomments hurtful, “We are deeply hurt andhumiliated by Justice Katju’s words,” the

duo said on Monday, adding that JusticeKatju’s statements “will depreciate thereputation of india and its citizens”. “Aperson of Justice Katju’s stature should havedeliberated on the implications of hisstatement,” they said, and sought a publicapology from the former Supreme Courtjudge. The students said if a public apologywas not forthcoming, they would move thecourt in a month’s time. AGeNCIeS

LEGAL NOtICE SENt tO JUStICE KAtJU fOR CALLING INDIANS IDIOtS

Continued fRoM page 01

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Tuesday, 11 December, 2012

LAHOREstAff report

An international conference on callig-raphy entitled Sarir-e-Khama: the Artof the Pen started on Monday.

Hosted by University of the Pun-jab’s College of Art and design, theevent is aimed at an exhibition of cal-ligraphy. displaying an assortment ofislamic and Quranic manuscripts cre-ated by calligraphers, the show will re-main open till december 19.

Speaking at the occasion, the prin-cipal of the college Professor dr. Rahat

Naveed Masud called this exhibition asa valiant effort in reviving the dying artof calligraphy in Pakistan. Renownedacademician and social figure, SyedBabar Ali inaugurated the show.

The show comprises a unique pieceof Kufic Manuscript written on a deer-skin dating to the 1st century Hijra tothe masterpieces of the Mughal andBritish era. Moreover, unique pieces ofQuranic manuscripts, in various stylesincluding will Khat-e Naskh, Khat-eNasta’liq, Khat-e Thulth, Khat-e Rehan,Khat-e Bahar and Khat-e-Turkistaniwill be put on display.

LAHOREstAff report

A Swedish charity worker whowas critically wounded in a gunattack in the city last week wasflown home on Monday for spe-cialist medical treatment, offi-cials said.

Birgitta Almby, 72, was com-ing home from work when shewas shot in the chest.

She was working in Lahorefor the US-based Full Gospel As-semblies, which describes itself

as a “church fellowship” withcongregations all over the world.

Chief doctor at Jinnah Hospi-tal said she was still unconsciousand her condition was stated tobe critical.

“There was a special requestfrom Sweden. They sent a specialair ambulance manned by a teamof doctors and we shifted hertoday,” he added.

A spokesman for the FullGospel Assemblies, Pastor Li-aquat Qaiser, confirmed that hercondition was serious and that

she had been flown to Sweden forbetter treatment.

The organisation runs chari-ties in Pakistan including a tech-nical training institute, adult

literacy centre and orphanage.According to police, Almby hasbeen living in Pakistan for 38years.

Police officer Owais Malik

said the culprits had not yet beenidentified.

in August 2011, US develop-ment worker Warren Weinsteinwas kidnapped after gunmentricked their way into his Lahorehome. Pakistani officials believehe is being held by al Qaeda andTaliban extremists in Pakistan’slawless northwest.

in April, a British MuslimRed Cross worker was beheadednearly four months after beingkidnapped in the southwesterncity of Quetta.

This attack came amidst awave of sectarian violence that hadgripped the nation. On the day ofthe attack, over 100 Ahmadigraves were also desecrated.

Moreover, a roadside bomb on thesame day ripped through a policevan as it was patrolling on the out-skirts of Peshawar, killing two of-ficers and wounding two others,said senior police officer JavedKhan.

The attack on the charityworker was condemned by allquarters. in a statement issuedby a spokesman of the ForeignOffice, the government con-demned the attack and said thatthe government was hoping forAlemby’s full recovery. HumanRights Commission of Pakistanalso condemned the act and de-manded the security of minori-ties and social workers in thecountry.

Wounded Swedish charity worker flown home for treatment

Sarir-e-Khama calligraphyexhibition takes off

LAHOREUMAIr AZIZ

WHiLe Punjab Chief Minister has deniedblocking traffic on city roads during transit,the same cannot be said about his subordi-nates. Shahbaz Sharif on Sunday directedthe chief traffic officer not to keep traffic

blocked for long hours in the name of security route for theCM. He also came out of his car on Allama iqbal Road andhandled the traffic for sometime. While the chief minister wasacting as a traffic police officer, other government officialscontinue to abuse their position in clear defiance of his ordersand continued to block traffic during transit.

An on-duty traffic warden, seeking anonymity, told Pakistan Today that the maximum number of blockades iswitnessed on The Mall and the Canal but often the route andthe movements mostly depends on the official concerned.“The Mall becomes a sight of traffic mess during the officehours because top government officials move to and from theCivil Secretariat and other offices. A warden cannot stop asenior police officer moving with a squad of gunmen or anyother top bureaucrat who do not usually follow traffic signalsor lane rules,” he added. The ViP movement on the roads ismeant only for top government offices including the presi-dent, the prime minister and chief ministers. While the Pun-jab CM denying traffic protocol for himself is a positive step,the downward hierarchy has put it on the backburner.

every day the commuters witness the “special status” onthe roads enjoyed by the top government officials mostlyguarded by armed policemen which naturally results into traf-fic mes, especially in rush hours. “i work in a bank and have tocommute daily on The Mall and witness how the vehicles withgreen number plates followed by police vans violate lane disci-pline and traffic signals with ease. The police guards even forceothers from moving close to their vehicle while committing vio-lations,” Ahsan Manzoor, a banker told Pakistan Today.

Chief Traffic Officer (CTO) Captain Sohail said there aretwo time brackets, the office timing in the morning andevening, for rush hours during which the traffic signals areswitched off. “We don’t observe protocol for any official at allwhatsoever be it the iG or the chief secretary. The itinerary isonly communicated through the wireless if a high official iscommuting. if the CM has denied it for himself, we won’t ob-serve it for anyone else,” he added.

CM shuns protocol but his subordinateskeep roads blocked for hours!

n Birgitta Almby, 72, was cominghome from work when she was shot

TAKING MATTER IN OWN HANDS: Tanvir, a resident of

Yateem Khana, helps the Traffic Police in controlling

the traffic at Regal Chowk. He says all traffic wardens

do these days is issue tickets to motorcyclists not

wearing helmets. MUrTAzA ALI

LAHOREstAff report

Lahore High Court (LHC) Chief JusticeUmar Ata Bandial on Monday directedauthorities to enforce the law banningsheesha smoking at public places.

earlier the sheesha cafe ownershad challenged the government’scrackdown and submitted that the useof sheesha was not harmful for healthnor was it a prohibited product.

They said the cafes had designatedplaces for sheesha smoking which didnot fall in the category of a public place.

The petitioners requested that thegovernment should be restrained fromtaking measures against the cafes fol-lowing a ban on the use of sheesha.

However, the CJ said that sheeshacame under the definition of tobacco smok-ing. He said that the authorities must en-force the ban on smoking in public places.

A few weeks back, counsel for thecafé owners Shehzad Shaukat had toldthe court that the government hadlaunched a crackdown on Sheeshacafes was damaging their business,adding that sheesha was neither harm-ful nor banned hence there was no jus-tification for sealing the cafes servingsheesha. He said separate space hadbeen designated for smoking a ciga-rette in restaurants while there was noneed to do so for sheesha. To this, thecourt had asked the government to de-fine an “open space” so that the bancould be imposed.

Sheesha smoking,OVERRULED!n LHC directs authorities to enforce complete ban on smoking in public

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Tuesday, 11 December, 2012

06 Lahore

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PH: 36674271 KHIalDI 12:00, 05:30, 11:00PM

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Jab TaK HaI Jaan 12:00, 08:00PM

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KHIlaDI 01:30, 11:00 PM

breaKInG Dawn P2 06:1o PM

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SKYfall 06:20 PM

LAHORE:The Bank ofKhyber (BOK)on Monday in-augurated abranch in de-fence Y-Block.Speaking onthe occasion,BOK Managingdirector BilalMustafa saidthat BOK wasdevoted to playing a vital role in development of businesses and trad-ing activities through its vast network. Mustafa said that as a trade-friendly bank, BOK was among the favourite banks used by tradersand local businessmen to cater to their needs. He added that BOK in-tended to increase its network to less developed areas of the country.He further said that BOK supported both conventional and islamicmethods of banking and focused more on the quality of service toboost trade and business in the country. stAff report

LAHORE: US Con-sulate General PublicAffairs Officer Brinilleellis on Monday joinedscholars, human rightsadvocates, police andstudents at a panel dis-cussion on gender-based violence. TheLahore College forWomen UniversityGender Studies de-partment hosted the

event. Speaking on the occasion, ellis said, “Today is not just a discussion aboutgender-based violence, but is also international Human Rights day and it marksthe Universal declaration of Human Rights.” He stressed that it should not be for-gotten that women’s rights were included in human rights, adding that every indi-vidual deserved to be treated with respect, honour and dignity. stAff report

US consulate participates in talkon gender-based violence

Bank of Khyber opens Defence branch

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Tuesday, 11 December, 2012

YOGA AND MEDITATION CLASSES

DaTe: aPrIl 01 To DeceMber 30, 2012venue: faIz GHar, laHore

a unique blend of Yoga, Meditation, neuro-linguisticProgramming, Sufism & more.achieve self-insight, mind-body harmony & betterhealth.

Yoga Master Shamshad Haider

100 GHAZALS OF MAULANA RUMI

Hast-o-neest centre for Traditional art & culture

Invites you to its Monthly Saturday Sitting with

Janab ahmed Javed Sahib

(Director, Iqbal academy Pakistan)

on 100 Ghazals of Maulana rumi

3:30 to 5:00 pm, last Saturday of every month

DaTe: MarcH 31 To DeceMber 29, 2012 venue: HaST-o-neeST cenTre, laHore

an exhibition honouring The college of artand Design, university of the Punjab, andcovering landscapes, cityscapes and otherrelated conceptual paintings.

DaTe: nov 22 - Dec 10, 2012 venue: laHore MuSeuM

CONCEPTUAL PAINTINGS

reScue 1122

eDHI conTrol 115

MoTorwaY PolIce 130

PolIce 15

Governor’S HouSe 99200081-7

cHIef MInISTer’S HouSe 99203226

fIre brIGaDe 16

boMb DISPoSal 99212111

Mcl coMPlaInTS 99211022-29

laHore waSTe DISPoSal 1139

07Lahore

NEWS DESK

PAKiSTAN is an immenselybeautiful country and a greattourist destination. it is a landof splendors with the land-scape stretching remarkably

from the high mountain ranges in thenorthern areas to the plains and deserts ofcentral Pakistan and the Arabian Sea in theSouth. Pakistan’s mountain ranges includethe famous Himalayas, Karakoram and theHindukush. There are several high peaks inPakistan, with the tallest being K-2 (at8,611 meters), which is also the secondhighest in the world. The 806-kilometer-long Karakorum Highway constructedalong the ancient Silk Road linking Pak-istan to China is the highest trade route inthe world, according to a report by the Ko-rean Herald.

The Punjab province, which is thelargest in Pakistan in terms of population,comprises rich agricultural lands, an ex-tensive network of rivers and channels,shrines, ancient forts and gardens from theMughal era. Over 2,000 years ago, theworld famous Gandhara Buddhist Civiliza-tion flourished in northern Pakistan, withTaxila as the principal seat of Buddhistlearning.

The Baluchistan province is the largestin the country in terms of area, constitut-ing approximately 44 percent of Pakistan’stotal land mass. The province is rich inmineral resources, being the second majorsupplier of natural gas in Pakistan. it isalso blessed with immense natural beautycomprising mountain ranges with theirown peculiar characteristics, mines and along coastal belt.

The province of Sindh in the South alsoabounds in natural beauty. it is most fa-mous for being home to the ancient civi-lization of Mohenjo-daro, the commercialhub city of Karachi, its seaport and a beau-tiful beach. in addition to the naturalbeauty in the four provinces of Pakistan,the people of Pakistan are very hospitableand generous toward foreign tourists.

Khyber Pakhtoonwa is also well knownfor its varying natural beauty ― compris-ing of areas in the south of the provinceand some fantastic awe-inspiring beauty inthe shape of valleys and mountains in theNorth ― just one of them being the famousSwat valley. it also houses the world-fa-mous Khyber Pass.

The northern areas of Pakistan, spreadover 72,496 square kilometres, are as fas-cinating in beauty as the other regions.Amid towering snow-clad peaks, severalover 8,000 meters, the beautiful serenevalleys of Gilgit, Hunza and Skardu fit inmagnificently. The cultural patterns in thisregion are as varied and interesting as itstopography.

From the great stretches of the greatmountain ranges in the North to the vastalluvial delta of the indus River in theSouth, Pakistan remains a land of high ad-venture and nature. Trekking, moun-taineering, white-water rafting, wild boarhunting, mountain and desert jeep safaris,camel and yak safaris, trout fishing andbird watching are just a few of many activi-ties which attract tourists to Pakistan.

The country is also rich in vegetationand fauna. High Himalayas, Karakoramand the Hindukush ranges with their alpinemeadows and permanent snow line, conif-erous forests down the sub-mountain

scrub, the vast indus plain merging into thegreat desert, the coast line and wetlands,all offer a remarkably rich variety of vege-tation and associated wildlife including avi-fauna, both endemic and migratory. Ten of18 mammalian orders are represented inPakistan with species ranging from theworld’s smallest surviving mammal, theMediterranean Pigmy Shrew, to the largestmammal ever known, the blue whale.

Modern Pakistanis are a blend ofHarappan, indo-Aryan, indo-iranian,Saka, Parthian, Kushan, White Hun,Afghan, Arab, Turkic and Mughal her-itages. Waves of invaders and migrantssettled down in the areas that now consti-tute Pakistan through the earlier centuries,influencing the locals and also slowly beingabsorbed among them. Thus the region en-compassing the modern-day Pakistan ishome to the oldest Asian civilization (andone of the oldest in the world afterMesopotamia and egypt), the indus ValleyCivilization (BC 2500-1500).

Another remarkable highlight is the fa-mous Khunjerab Pass linking Pakistan toChina, on the Karakorum Highway. in ad-dition, the nearby Mintaka Pass lies alongthe fabulous ancient Silk Road that linkedeurope to Asia and over which history’smost famous tourists once travelled.

These include the Venetian traderMarco Polo in the 13th century (the wildMarco Polo sheep was named after him),the Chinese Monk Fe Hien in the 4th cen-tury and the Arab historian Al-Beruni inthe 11th century.

Pakistan is a land of splendour and willnot disappoint any avid tourist seeking ad-venture, beauty and relaxation. As theysay, you have to see it to believe it.

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Tuesday, 11 December, 2012

News

North Korea delays rocket lift-offPyONgyANg: North Korea has extended the launchperiod for its planned rocket launch by one week, citingtechnical problems. The Korean Committee of SpaceTechnology said in a statement carried by the officialKorean Central News Agency on Monday that the rocketwould kick off on december 29 due to “technicaldeficiency” in a rocket engine module. The statement didnot elaborate but said technicians were “pushingforward” with final preparations for the launch. TheNorth had originally set up a 13-day launch window,starting on Monday. A South Korean newspaper quoted agovernment source as saying on Monday that NorthKoreans were replacing the faulty section of therocket with the help from iranian missile experts.The Chosun ilbo newspaper cited new satellite imagesthat suggested the faulty component was being replacedto allow the launch to go ahead. “A new third stage of theNorth’s three-stage missile Unha-3 was seen beingmoved on Saturday afternoon from a missile plant...towards the launch site,” the newspaper said. “A car seenat the... launch site has been spotted driving back andforth from the accommodation facility nearby. it isbelieved to be carrying iranian experts,” the official toldthe newspaper. The iranians were invited afterPyongyang’s last rocket launch in April ended in failure,the newspaper said. earlier this month, Japan’s Kyodonews agency quoted a western diplomatic source assaying iran had stationed defence personnel in NorthKorea since October to strengthen co-operation in missileand nuclear development. AGenCIes

Nigeria finance minister’smother kidnappedABUjA: The mother of Nigerian Finance Minister andformer World Bank managing director Ngozi Okonjo-iweala has been kidnapped from her home in thecountry’s south, a statement from her ministry said.“earlier today, Professor (Mrs) Kamene Okonjo ...mother of the Coordinating Minister for the economyand Minister of Finance, dr Ngozi Okonjo-iweala, wasabducted from her home in Ogwashi-Uku, delta State,”the statement said on Sunday. Finance Ministryspokesman Paul Nwabuikwu said the minister hadreceived threats in the past. “At this point, it is difficult tosay whether those behind this action are the same peoplewho have made threats against the coordinating ministerin the recent past or other elements with hostile motives.No possibility can be ruled out at this point.” Nwabuikwusaid. A security source said it was not clear whether themotive was political or ransom-seeking. The source inAbuja said three people had already been arrested inconnection with the kidnapping. He had no furtherdetails. Kidnappings for ransom have occurred frequentlyin Nigeria’s southern oil-producing Niger delta region.Local newspapers carry a story about a new kidnappingalmost every day, often of professionals or relatives ofpoliticians, but rarely anyone as high profile as thefinance minister’s mother. Okonjo-iweala has pushed toclean up corruption in one of the world’s most graft-ridden nations, particularly related to a fuel subsidyprogramme alleged to be riddled with graft. The ministerhas been struggling with fuel importers over payment ofsubsidies, with government officials delaying paymentsto allow for verification of claims. AGenCIes

KABuLAGenCIes

AN Afghan women’s affairsofficial has been assassi-nated in Laghman province,just months after her pred-ecessor was blown up by a

bomb, while a police chief was killed in aroadside bombing in Herat province.

Najia Siddiqi, the acting director of thewomen’s affairs department in the easternprovince of Laghman, was shot dead bytwo unidentified men while commuting ina motorised rickshaw on Monday.

“We have launched an investigationand we have sealed off the area where theattack took place and we will very soon cap-ture the attackers,” Laghman police chiefAhmad Sherzad told AFP news agency.

in a separate attack, General Moham-mad Musa Rasoli, the provincial policechief of Nimroz, was killed when his ve-hicle was struck by a bomb in Adraskandistrict of Herat province, while he washeading to Nimroz on his way to work, of-ficials said. Rasoli was seriously woundedin the blast and rushed to the hospital,where he died of his wounds.

The US has condemned the assassi-

nation of Siddiqi. “Those who killed Sid-diqi have no respect for human rights orthe safety of the Afghan people,” the USembassy in Kabul said in a press release.

Siddiqitook over from provincialwomen’s affairs director Hanifa Safi, whowas killed when a magnetic bomb at-tached to her vehicle exploded in July.

“There have been advances inwomen’s rights in Afghanistan but it re-mains a very conservative society withconservative attitudes to women particu-larly in rural areas,” Al Jazeera’s Smithsaid. “it’s just that women by the very factthat they are in a job are a higher profile

target and therefore, much more vulner-able to attacks,” he said.

“Any government official is a targetfor the Taliban, although they are yet toclaim any particular responsibility forthis particular killing.” There was no im-mediate claim of responsibility for Mon-day’s attack. Orzala Nemat Ashraf, anAfghan human rights campaigner said.

“it clearly indicates that dominanceof culture of impunity is working. Fivemonths have passed since Hanifa Safi’sdeath and still the governor has not an-swered who killed her. if there is no jus-tice, he or they will keep it up, sadly.”

earlier this month a young womanstill at school who also doubled as ahealth worker was shot dead as shewalked out of her family home in Kapisaprovince, which borders Laghman.

On Thursday a Taliban suicidebomber with explosives in his underpantswounded the nation’s intelligence chiefafter entering a tightly-guarded guest-house by posing as a Taliban peace envoy.

The Afghan government is scram-bling to improve security before NATOtroops withdraw by the end of 2014.Some Afghans fear another civil war mayerupt after the pullout.

MontevIstA, pHIlIppInes: typhoon victims beg for food on a street in the devastated town. AGeNCIeS

ALEPPOAGenCIes

Syrian rebels have captured parts of a largearmy base in the country’s north, just westof the city of Aleppo, activists say.

The Britain-based Syrian Observa-tory for Human Rights said the rebelsentered the sprawling Sheikh Suleimanbase on Sunday afternoon, after weeks offighting. The development indicates therebels are strengthening their grip onnorthern areas near the Turkish border.Last month, they captured another large

base near Aleppo.Amateur videos released by activists

showed fighters walking inside the base.The footage also shows rebels drivingaround in a captured tank and manningheavy anti-aircraft machine guns.

Meanwhile, the Syrian military car-ried out an air strike on suburbs of dam-ascus, the capital, as rebels clashed onthe ground with soldiers on Monday, theObservatory said. “A fighter bomber car-ried out a raid on daraya as rebels andsoldiers fought on the ground, while ar-tillery bombed Moadamiyet al-Sham,” it

said, referring to two towns south ofdamascus. The air force also overfleweastern Ghouta, an area where rebelshave set up rear bases amid its orchards,the Observatory said. The military hasfor several days bombarded rebel strong-holds in the suburbs from ground andair, raising fears of a looming ground as-sault by the army to try to establish a se-cure cordon around the capital.

On the diplomatic front, Russia saidplans for Syria’s political future shouldnot be forced on it from outside, under-lining its hostility to foreign pressure for

President Bashar al-Assad’s exit and toWestern backing for an opposition coali-tion. in a statement Russia “stressed thatfundamental decisions about reformingSyria’s political system ... must be madeby Syrians themselves, without outsideinterference or attempts to force pre-pared recipes for socio-political develop-ment” on them. The US and its NATOallies have pressed for al-Assad’s depar-ture as part of efforts to end the blood-shed in Syria, but Russia and China haveblocked action against the Syrian leaderat the UN Security Council.

Two officials assassinated in Afghanistan

MANILAAGenCIes

The Philippines government and the United Na-tions are launching a $65m global appeal to helpthe victims of Typhoon Bopha that devastated thecountry’s south and left hundreds dead.

Luiza Carvalho, country officer for the UN Of-fice for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs,said on Monday that the funds would initially helpprovide food, water and emergency shelter to480,000 people in the worst-hit areas.

At least 650 people have died, while millionsare left homeless and in desperate need of food aidand other basic goods. Benito Ramos said that 647bodies had been found and 900 people were stillmissing, including hundreds of fishermen.

Rescuers continued searching for bodies or signsof life under tonnes of fallen trees and boulders inthe worst-hit town of New Bataan, where rocks, mudand other rubble destroyed landmarks, making itdoubly difficult to search places where houses oncestood. “This is a scale the Philippines has not previ-ously seen, we’re talking about tens of thousands of

homes destroyed across southeast Mindanao,” JoeCurry of Catholic Relief Service told Al Jazeera.

“People live in fragile housing and when stormslike this hit … it wipes out entire communities.”

Hundreds of refugees, rescuers and aid workerstook a break on Sunday to watch the Manny Pac-quiao-Juan Manuel Marquez fight on a big TVscreen, only to be dismayed by their hero’s sixth-round knockout. Nearly 400,000 people, mostlyfrom Compostela Valley and nearby davao Orientalprovince, have lost their homes and are crowded in-side evacuation centres or staying with relatives.

Families and fishing companies reported losingcontact with more than 300 fishermen at sea.

Ramos said the authorities were unprepared forthe unprecedented weather in those areas worst af-fected, and that it was struggling to cope with the dis-aster. “Right now, we have some internationalorganisations and governments assisting us, but oursupplies are still insufficient at this moment,” he said.

The fishermen from southern General Santoscity and nearby Sarangani province left a few daysbefore Bopha hit the main southern island of Min-danao on Tuesday, causing deadly flash floods.

TYPHOON-HIT PHILIPPINESAPPEALS FOR HELP

Syria rebels ‘seize key Aleppo army base’

anti-austerity

coalition wins

romania pollsBuCHAREST

AGenCIes

Romania’s centre-left governing coalitionhas comfortably won a weekendparliamentary poll with nearly 60 per centof the vote, partial results have showed.With 80 per cent of the polling stationsreporting, the results confirmed exit pollsthat declared the Social-Liberal Union(USL) headed by Prime Minister VictorPonta as winner in Sunday’s poll. despitethe fact that it (USL) has only held powersince May, many voters saw it as the partyof change because it has promised to rollback austerity cuts undertaken by prevousgovernment. Parties close to PresidentTraian Basescu came in a distant secondwith nearly 17 per cent of the vote.Turnout was low at 41.6 per cent asdisenchantment with politics remains highin the newest european Union member.The win deals a blow to President Basescuwho is due to officially appoint the newprime minister. There has been noreaction yet on the outcome of the pollfrom Basescu, who will be travelling toOslo on Monday together with otherheads of state to collect the Nobel peaceprize awarded to the eU earlier this year.Ponta was appointed prime minister inMay, the third prime minister this year,but he had a bitter battle with Basescu,whose mandate expires in 2014. Basescu’sallies, who were in government from2008, grew unpopular due to harshausterity measures demanded by theinternational Monetary Fund andeuropean Union in exchange for a $26bn(20 billion euro) bailout loan in 2009, andallegations of cronyism.

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Tuesday, 11 December, 2012

News

KHuSHABApp

FedeRAL Minister for infor-mation and BroadcastingQamar Zaman Kaira onMonday said Punjab ChiefMinister Shahbaz Sharif

wanted to run government affairs undera “Rangeela Raj” and held 22 ministrieshimself which was a contradiction to histall claims of good governance and ademocratic culture in the province.

“One can see monarchy instead of areal democratic system in the provincefor how can a single person hold so manyministries,” he said questioning Sharif’sgovernance of the province during inau-guration of a Pakistan Peoples’ Party(PPP) secretariat in Khushab. PPP candi-date for constituency NA 69 Amna Malikand a large number of party workers werepresent at the occasion. The minister saidPPP opponents accused the governmentof causing inflation, unemployment andterrorism in the country but remainedoblivious to landmark achievements ofthe PPP-led government on social, eco-nomic and diplomatic fronts. He said thecountry was in a much better positionfrom multiple angles in comparison tothe situation in 2008, the year PPP cameinto power, when terrorists had occupied

the Swat valley and there were rumoursthat they would soon advance towardsthe federal capital. “We not only flushedthem out from Swat but also maintainedpeace in the area in the aftermath of theoperation,” he added.

Commenting on the PML-N victoryin the by-elections, Kaira said the PML-N leadership was mistaken in consider-ing their success as a political revivalbecause massive rigging was commit-ted during the polls. evidence of riggingand use of government resources in the

by-polls would soon be handed over tothe election Commission of Pakistan(eCP), the minister stated. Kairaclaimed that only one seat was actuallywon by PML-N in the area whereas theother constituency was won throughmanipulation and rigging. “We alwaysbelieve in politics of principles and donot indulge in fraud and deception,” hesaid. The PPP, he said, could not com-pete with PML-N in fraud for it wasfirm believer in getting votes throughserving the masses.

PESHAWARAGenCIes

The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP)has denied any rift among their ranks,saying said is no plan to replaceHakimullah Mehsud with WaliurRehman as the new chief of the out-lawed organisation.

TTP spokesman eshanullah eshansaid, “The reports have no truth, we heldthe main shura meeting two weeks ago inNorth Waziristan Agency and all 42 mem-bers or their representatives attended themeeting chaired by Hakimullah Mehsudwhich is sufficient enough to rebuff re-ports of any change in the TTP top slot.”To a query, eshan, who claimed to havealso attended that meeting, said, “WaliurRehman and all the other top leadership

from Mohmand, Bajaur, dara Adam Kheland the rest of Pakistan had attended themeeting and reposed confidence inHakimullah Mehsud besides discussingTTP’s organisational affairs.” However,the TTP spokesman acknowledged thatonly Mullah Fazlullah, the Taliban chief ofMalakand, was absent and that he hadsent his representative to attend the shurameeting in his place as he was not allowedto travel due to security concerns.

ehsan also denied the claim by a for-eign news agency that Rehman had beenin touch with the administration andthere was a plan he would be enteringinto some agreement with the govern-ment and starting a rebellion againstHakimullah. About the change in theTTP leadership, ehsan said, “Until ourameer is following the sharia laws and

taking decisions according to the is-lamic sharia, no one is going to defect orrise against him and the reports in thisregard are merely propaganda.” He alsoruled out any truce with the administra-tion, who according to him, was follow-ing dictates from abroad. To anotherquery about Hakimullah’s relations withRehman and Fazlullah, the TTPspokesman said, “There is no problem atall.” discussing the US withdrawal andthe transportation of military hardwareback to the US via Pakistani land route,ehsan said, “We are waiting for this tar-get since long and have already plannedto destroy it,” adding, “There is no doubtthat this stuff will not go back in onepiece, the US and their Pakistani coun-terparts are one and the same for theTTP and would be targeted alike.”

Nawaz wants contacts with Sindhinationalists sped up

LAHOREonlIne

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N)President Nawaz Sharif has directed partyleaders to speed up contacts with nationalistparties in Sindh for seat adjustment andelectoral alliance to give a befitting contest tothe Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) in itsstronghold. The meeting of ManifestoCommittee of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) was held on Monday underthe chairmanship of Nawaz to give finaltouches to the crucial document ahead of thegeneral election. The chairman of thecommittee, Sartaz Aziz, presented a report tothe PML-N president in the meeting. Sourcessaid that during earlier meetings of thecommittee, Nawaz had suggested someamendments to address the concerns of themasses, as the country was facing economicdownslide, unemployment, price hike andenergy crisis. The sources said Nawazdirected the specially constituted committeeto speed up contacts with nationalist partiesin Sindh for seat adjustment and electoralalliance. He said the by-polls were areferendum of the PML-N government’ssuccess in Punjab, and the failure of thoseruling at the Centre. He hoped that his partywould sweep the general elections. Nawazsaid the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and itsallies had given nothing to the country exceptcrises, adding that the rulers should preparethemselves for returning the looted moneyinstead of dreaming about another term. ifvoted to power, the PML-N would protect theinterests of the country and work for raisingthe living standard of the people, he said,adding that the party manifesto was in thelast phase of completion. “Pakistan needs arevolutionary change,” he said. Nawaz addedthat the PML-N had worked day and night towork in accordance with the constitution.

‘Crisis hotline’ setup between Pakistan, Afghan,Turkish presidents

ANKARAInp

A hotline has been established tofacilitate communication among thepresidents of Afghanistan, Pakistanand Turkey “in times of crisis,” aTurkish official said on Monday. “Thehotline has been operational sinceyesterday (Sunday),” the official saidon condition of anonymity but notedthat the presidents have not used ityet. “it is designed to helpcommunication among the threecapitals in times of crisis,” the officialadded. The presidents of Afghanistanand Pakistan are due to hold talks inTurkey on Tuesday (today) andWednesday in a bid to resolve a rowafter Kabul claimed an attack againstits spy chief was planned in Pakistan.Turkish President Abdullah Gul willhost his Pakistani counterpart Asif AliZardari and Karzai during a dinnertoday (Tuesday). The summit inAnkara will be the seventh in Turkey, aNATO member, since the regularconsultation mechanism wasestablished in 2007 to encourage bothcountries to cooperate againstextremism. The assassination attempton National directorate of Security(NdS) chief Asadullah Khalid wascarried out on Thursday by an attackerwho claimed to be a Taliban peaceenvoy but had a bomb hidden in hisunderwear. Afghan President HamidKarzai did not directly blame Pakistanfor the attack but said the Talibanalone would not have been able tocarry out the bombing and that “biggerhands were involved”. The ForeignMinistry denied the claim and said itwas ready to help investigate what itcalled a criminal act.

Landlords whounleashed dogs onfarmer still at large

MuLTANInp

The cruel landlord whose ferocious dogskilled a tenant farmer has still not beenarrested. Mohammad Hanif, a resident ofShujabad town near Multan, died inNishtar Hospital after the dog-bitewounds became too infected to treat. Theinitial postmortem report revealed thatHanif died of sepsis, an infection of blood.Local landlords, Allah Bux and his sonAsif, subjected Hanif to barbaric tortureover a farmland tenancy dispute and setferal dogs on him, which sank their teethin his flesh over and over again. Though acase was lodged against the landlords butShujabad police had not been able to laytheir hands on the accused yet.

Shahbaz Sharif running Punjabgovt under ‘Rangeela Raj’: Kaira

Hakimullah Mehsud not to be replaced: TTP

CHAMAN: Border security personnel guard over a Swedish national who illegally crossed into Pakistan from Afghanistan from the Chaman checkpost on Monday.inp

g Spokesman says meeting held two weeks ago in nwa chaired by Hakimullah is proof that he is TTP chief

LHR 11-12-2012_Layout 1 12/11/2012 2:44 AM Page 9

Comment10

Tuesday, 11 December, 2012

What message do Muslimsget when neither the civilsociety nor the electionCommission does any-thing to stop Amit Shah,

a former Gujarat minister, from contest-ing the state assembly seat this decem-ber? He is accused of being an instigatorof fake encounters against ShourabbudinSheikh and Tulsiram Prajapat during theanti-Muslim riots in Gujarat in 2002.

That the BJP has fielded Shah as acandidate only confirms the allegationthat Chief Minister Narendra Modi andhis ministers were part of the plan to ef-fect ethnic cleansing. Maybe the party isnot shy of playing the Hindu card and itis testing the waters in Gujarat. The BJP’simage has already been damaged by theopen rebellion of top leaders like RamJethmalani, Yashwant Sinha and Sha-trughan Sinha against party presidentNitin Gadkari alleged to be mixed up withdubious business companies.

Shah’s nomination could havefavoured the Congress but the party is aptin scoring a self-goal. it has adoptedShweta Bhatt as its candidate in the Gu-jarat polls. She is the wife of Sanjiv Bhatt,the police officer who spilled the beans onthe riots by admitting in public that heand other officers were instructed by thechief minister not to take action againstthose who were murdering Muslims andlooting and burning their houses andshops. The stock defence of the BJP, moreso of Modi supporters, has been thatBhatt is the Congress stooge and his state-ments against Modi are at the party’s in-stance. At least some leaders in theCongress should have realised that thecandidature of Bhatt’s wife would giveModi an ammunition which he would use.

Mrs Bhatt probably tells the truthwhen she says that she was waiting for

the election so that she would have a plat-form to expose the dictatorial rule thatprevails in Gujarat. Many would corrob-orate her charge because they have gonethrough harassment and have even beenroughed up because of their criticism ofModi. i feel that she would have been ona stronger wicket if she had not acceptedthe Congress ticket. She would have alsocarried greater credibility as an inde-pendent candidate.

On top of it her husband, SanjivBhatt, a serving police officer althoughsuspended, accompanies her to the re-turning officer to file her nomination. Anindependent officer with an outstandingservice record, seen on television screens,sitting next to her wife when she files hernomination papers is bound to cost himhis unsoiled reputation.

The reason why the Congress offeredSheweta Bhatt the party ticket is not dif-ficult to understand. The party wants tobring the anti-Muslim riots in the state tothe fore. For some reasons, the Congressitself had pushed the carnage to the back-ground. The party should never have al-lowed to go the killings out of focus.

Whether the party ultimately getsmore voters or not is difficult to predict,but it would be doing some justice tothousands of Muslims who live in Gujaratin fear and have little scope for their de-velopment. A re-run of the killings andother excesses committed with the bless-ings of the Modi government may arousethe conscience of the Gujaratis who gaveMahatma Gandhi to the nation. Theirsupport to the people whose hands aretainted with blood is pathetic.

Modi and a large retinue of the BJPleaders would try to polarise the state –their only agenda – but it is for the Gu-jaratis to reject them. The nation remainssecular but how odd it is that their ideo-logical stance has been quite the oppo-site. They should know that theconstitution enjoins upon us not to dif-ferentiate between the indians on thebasis of religion or caste. Were the Gu-jaratis to return to the mainstream, theywould give confidence not only to Mus-lims but the entire nation which has putthe question mark against them.

Not only in Gujarat but all over thecountry, the Muslim community feels in-secure and helpless. it has been seen thatyoung Muslims have been picked up bythe police on mere suspicion. Some havebeen set free and some still await justice.The law courts are responsible for theirdetention and the years they have spent

in jail. Worse is that none has been heldaccountable. Mohammad Amir Khan isone such example who, after being in jailfor 14 years, was not found guilty by thedelhi High Court. He should at least begiven some financial assistance as a re-habilitation gesture.

even otherwise, Muslims have neverbeen so demoralised as they are todayafter partition. There is despondency andlack of hope. The Sachar committee re-port on improving their lot remainsmostly unimplemented. Still what evokeshope and confidence is that there is over-all communal harmony. it means thatpluralism is asserting itself. The fact thatthere was no repercussion in the rest ofindia, after the Mumbai attacks in 2008,shows that both Hindus and Muslimshave learnt to live in harmony.

i am optimistic that the day is not farwhen Muslims would be able to rent ahouse in posh localities in big cities. Nodoubt, some Muslims have been desper-ate and adopted terrorism for their ex-pression. But the answer to this problemis not counter-terrorism as some fanaticHindu organisations are doing. Bothcommunities should understand thatkilling begets killing.

despite all this, the opposition leaderin the Lok Sabha, Sushma Swaraj, wants toanoint Modi as the next prime minister ofindia. Her loyalty to the BJP is understand-able. But how can she inflict on the nationa person who was a party to the killing ofmore than 2,000 Muslims? if the SupremeCourt had not transferred the cases of “en-counter” and other crimes to courts outsideGujarat, Modi and his team would have gotaway with their cover-up job.

The call by British envoy Sir JamesBewan on Modi at Ahmedabad amountedto mocking at the critics of the chief min-ister. Bewan’s explanation was that theUK wants to have more trade with Gu-jarat. He is the envoy at New delhi, notAhmedabad. As the Ahmedabad-basedJesuit said in his letter to the Britishenvoy, “Morality can never be compro-mised by any other consideration. Thiswas something which Mahatma Gandhiresolutely fought for and ultimately sacri-ficed his life for.” Renewed opposition inAmerica to Modi’s visa is understandablebecause it does not want to give the im-pression that Washington will follow Lon-don’s example. This message should go toall countries in the world.

The writer is a senior Indianjournalist.

pak-Afghan credibility gap

ruled by misgivings

Pakistan has abandoned the quest for strategic depth inAfghanistan. in deference to the wishes of Kabul and to helprestore peace in Afghanistan, it has recently released a groupof Taliban leaders who were in its custody. islamabad has

promised to release more if this can be helpful in bringing peace tothe neighbouring country. The development indicates Pakistan’scommitment to Afghan reconciliation. Foreign Minister Hina RabbaniKhar has stated in Washington, islamabad and Kabul that Pakistanremains committed to using the existing trilateral mechanism topromote an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned reconciliation process.

Last week, Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and Hina Khar were both inBrussels to meet eU and NATO leaders. Both supported an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned peace process. On Kayani’s return home, acorps commanders’ meeting endorsed the policy. This indicates a bigchange in the army’s thinking regarding Afghanistan. earlier,islamabad was reluctant to play any role in bringing the Taliban tothe negotiating table. it is now actively pursuing the goal. All this hassomehow failed to remove the distrust in Kabul.

On Saturday, Karazai claimed that the recent assassinationattempt on his intelligence chief was planned in neighbouringPakistan. Though he declined to accuse the government directly, heinsisted that since the attack was conducted in a very sophisticatedway, this must have been the handiwork of a professional intelligenceservice from the neighbourhood. The accusation was all the moreinappropriate after the Taliban had owned the attack. Karzai forgetsthat over the last two decades, the Taliban have developed a relativelyhigh level of competence. That in december 2009, a Taliban suicidebomber could sneak into the high security Forward Operating BaseChapman, and kill seven of the CiA’s most experienced agents,including the chief of the base, is an indicator of their proficiency.After the suicide attack that killed Burhanudin Rabbani and theassassination of Ahmed Wali Karzai, one had expected the Afghanintelligence chief Asadullah Khalid to have ordered foolproofmeasures. The incident shows that this was not done. even if Karzaipossessed any incontrovertible evidence to substantiate the claim, heshould have approached islamabad instead of indulging in publicaccusations.

With the US fighting force poised to leave Afghanistan by the endof 2014, it is vital for the two countries to urgently improve mutualcooperation. Hopefully, the issue would be under discussion at thetripartite summit in Ankara. Unless they devise measures to urgentlyclose the credibility gap, Pakistan and Afghanistan are likely to beovertaken by events.

Communal harmonyHindus and Muslims, it seems, have come a long way

border CrossingsBy Kuldip Nayar

Meeting dark cloudsthe extension of Kyoto protocol is baby steps when what we need is long and quick strides

doha talks on climate change fi-nally came to an end after a two-week deadlock over the extension

of the Koyoto Protocol. Nearly 200 dele-gates from various countries came to anagreement to cut greenhouse emissionsin the next eight years. At the same time,the US refused to ratify the Kyoto Proto-col, Russia had objections to it, india andChina were excluded from it.

They called it a ‘modest but essential’step forward. Any person with the faintestnotion of the gravity of the situationwould tell you that this is no step in anydirection. President Barack Obama in hisre-election speech seemed to have finallytaken a stand on the growing fears of cli-

mate change. Less than a month later, notonly did his administration fail to submita decisive treaty to curb carbon emissions,but also refused to increase funding tohelp developing countries reduce theirs.This is not to say that the United Stateshas not played its role in reducing its car-bon emissions at all. According to the in-ternational energy Agency, US emissionshave dropped 7.7 percent since 2006 –“the largest reduction of all countries orregions”. But this was countered withChina’s increase in greenhouse emissionsby 9.3 percent and india’s 8.7 percent.China is the world’s biggest polluter andindia ranks as number four.

But before one starts to berate devel-oping countries on their refusal to backdown from economic growth at the cost ofenvironmental exploitation, developed na-tions themselves have to ask the question,what have they done? For the extendedperiod of the Kyoto Protocol, europeanUnion, US and Japan pledged nothing fordeveloping countries to cut carbon emis-sions. Kumi Naidoo, executive director forGreenpeace, said that while no decisivestrategy was laid out to combat the grow-ing threat of climate change, the extensionof Kyoto Protocol was at least “baby steps”.

Hailing the extension of a redundanttreaty when scientists and environmentprotection activists have been screaming

themselves hoarse, demanding a seriouseffort, as a small victory is just sad. Why?Because the threat that is facing our worldis much more serious than protection offlailing economies. instead of makinggrowth of economies the top priority, thisslump is not being seen as a blessing indisguise. Now is the time to redirect re-sources, incorporate climate change into along-term international strategy, along-side economic growth. Lester Brown, inhis speech in 2008, said that burning coalmakes up 40 percent of world carbonemissions from energy. To replace thatcoal with wind power, Brown said we’dneed to build about 1.5 million wind tur-bines worldwide — and we should aim todo it in 10 years. That sounds like an as-tounding goal. 1.5 million wind turbinesseems like a mammoth of a task. But asBrown explained, 65 million cars had beenmade in the past year. if just one industrycould produce that many cars in a singleyear, there was no question we could build1.5 million wind turbines in 10 years, ifsociety’s resources were mobilised to thatend, he said. Business groups say that theprofit motive and markets allocate re-sources rationally and efficiently. But inpractice, it’s so irrational and inefficientthat the idle manufacturing capacity inthe car industry alone could buildBrown’s 1.5 million wind turbines.

even if car production (one of the keypolluters in the world) was not reduced,governments could take a different ap-proach – through laws and legislatures.Sure, halting deforestation and going paper-less are all commendable efforts, but morecould be achieved if governments increasedcost of fossil fuels, whether through a “car-bon tax” or cap-and-trade system, so thatboth energy efficiency and alternative fuelsbecome more attractive, and also to free upmoney to be invested in new technologies.Governments can also invest in “smartgrids” (as President Obama proposed in2009) to improve the efficiency of electricitydistribution. Similarly, governments canalso invite investment in efficient large-scale investments in research and develop-ment of energy-efficient alternatives toproduction. From this perspective, it is awin-win. Not only will the economiesworldwide continue to flourish under suchinvestments, threats of climate changecould be met with better preparation.

Such precedents can only be set by de-veloped nations who have the resourcesand strong economies to do so. JamesTraub gave the example of the nuclearnonproliferation act as an analogy. He saidthat just like the United States set theprecedent of cutting down nuclear produc-tion in rogue and/or developing nations bystarting from home, the same could be ap-

plied to combating climate change. devel-oped nations must set the precedents first.And why not? As per the 2011 list of coun-tries with the greatest amount of carbonemissions, US, Russia, Japan, Canada,Germany, Qatar, and many others rank asthe top polluters in the world.

The last decade, in the glowing wordsof world leaders, was spent in combatingglobal warming and climate change. Butthere has been little to show for it. FromRio de Janeiro in 1992 to Kyoto in 1998 todurban in 2011, in total the carbon emis-sions have been reduced by only 1 percent(50 million metric tons of carbon dioxideper year). Temperatures continue to rise,glaciers continue to melt. even as worldleaders argued overtime at doha on the to-be-or-not-to-be question on the extensionof the Koyoto treaty, over 300 people losttheir lives in Philippines because of theBhoba typhoon. At the risk of soundingtoo poetic, it is as if Mother Nature knewthat there’d be a deadlock. it is as if sheunderstood that if she did not strike, worldleaders would come out of these talkswithout a decisive plan of action. in retro-spect, this is exactly what happened. But ifthey want to call it a small victory, so be it.

The writer is a staff member atPakistan Today and blogs at zoneasia-pk.com

By Aima Khosa

Arif NizamiEditor

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

Web: www.pakistantoday.com.pk Email: editorial@pakistantoday.com.pk

Dedicated to the legacy of the late Hameed Nizami

LHR 11-12-2012_Layout 1 12/11/2012 2:44 AM Page 10

Comment 11

Tuesday, 11 December, 2012

The KbD conundrumThe recent development in the most

disputed but pivotal Kalabagh dam de-mand a mature approach and consensusfrom all the political parties. They shouldthink above provincialism for greater na-tional interest. it is a reality that our lastbig dam was Tarbela built almost fourdecades ago. The energy crisis caused bythe deficiency of electricity and gas canaptly be overcome by building KBd. KBdis indispensable for the economy of Pak-istan as, according to an estimate, it hasthe capacity of producing more than20,000MW power. However, the af-fectees can be compensated by accommo-dating them in the settled areas. Somesacrifices will have to be rendered on thealtar of greater national interest. Theleaders should not exploit this issue forpolitical point scoring because if Pakistanis self-sufficient in fulfilling its require-ments, eventually it will benefit us .Weshould divert our endeavours from hostil-ities to cooperation. All the stakeholders– the govt, opposition, common massesand media should extend their full sup-port in realising this dream into reality.

IMTIAZ AHMADMardan

PIa pilots’ sackingit took PiA more than 18 years to find

that six pilots working for decades sub-mitted fake matriculation or intermediatedegrees at the time of appointment,which should explain why they havenever wanted to, or were unable to plugpilferage of billions in revenues. This iswhat was expected, when a high schooldrop-out crony, accused of gross irregu-larities in recruitments by AVM MushafMir, was nominated as Md and was in-strumental in incurring huge losses totune of Rs100 billion in past four years.While aviation industry the world overhas raised the induction level minimalqualifications for pilots, PiA continues tocater to mere intermediate pass. it is anairline, where a former director accusedof financial irregularities in Haj/Umraoperation, was shown dancing with awhisky glass balanced on his head, onlyto be rewarded by being promoted asdMd. instead of the airline being run asservice industry, serving its clients, it be-

came an organization dedicated to pro-vide surplus employment to unqualifiedchildren of either its employees, or mem-bers of ruling elite. PiA has also become anursery for dual nationality holding pilotsto seek employment, gain experience andthen seek jobs in foreign airlines that pre-fer any nationality other than a Pakistani.

it is an airline where during the pastfour years surplus vacancies were createdand then sold to highest bidders. From anairline of repute, it has become a loss mak-ing bloated white elephant, because thequality of its human resources deterio-rated and there was no accountability forthose involved in financial, administrativeor even criminal indiscipline. What canyou expect from an airline, where salesstaff recruited in Group 3, get fake degreesfrom an unrecognised university located inAJK and yet get promoted as officers,while foreign postings are either sold tohighest bidder, or given to those with po-litical recommendations. dismissed em-ployees caught and charged for theft atdubai dFS or at other foreign stationswhile on duty, were not only reinstated,but given their seniority and rewardedwith foreign postings. PiA has been re-duced to its despicable present state bysuccessive governments, both civil andmilitary, who have abused it to the hilt.

RASHID ORAKZAITexas, USA

Murder in backyarddr imran Farooq’s gruesome murder

on 16 Sept, 2010, has remained unre-solved. Britain’s prime detective agency,Scotland Yard, has failed in hunting downhis killers. Similarly, Scotland Yard’s per-formance in investigating Benazir Bhutto’sassassination was exceptionally poor.Agency’s boys, with hi-tech cameras, lap-tops, and binoculars around their necks,roamed about the streets near LiaquatBhagh and climbed over neighbouringbuildings, but there was no tangible out-come. They made merry and left, dentingour taxpayers. But dr Farooq was mur-dered in Scotland Yard’s backyard, yet itsdetectives have failed to nab the killers.Many Pakistanis think the agency is a fake;it has a big name but low performance,hence a dead load on British taxpayers. isuggest the UK government to set JamesBond 007 after Farooq’s murderers be-cause that’s the only option left. Bond witha damsel in tow will sniff out the killers likea pointer dog points out a bird in the bush.

DR A P SANGDILOslo, Norway

correctionThe writer’s name on article titled,

‘Great as he was’ printed on Saturday,december 8, 2012, on page 11 was inad-vertently mentioned as Kamran Rasool.The piece was written by danyal Rasool.

--Ed.

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Fax: +92-42-36298302. E-mail: letters@pakistantoday.com.pk.

Letters should be addressed to Pakistan Today exclusively.

the quest for peace, security and progress

Pakistan and SCO

The just concluded 11th SCO Heads ofGovernments Council meeting atBishkek, Kyrgyzstan, reaffirmed

the commitment to vigorously pursue theobjectives of the organisation besidesgranting observer status to Afghanistanand dialogue partner to Turkey. ThePrime Minister of Pakistan was repre-sented by the information MinisterQamar Zaman Kaira. Addressing themeeting, he said Pakistan was looking for-ward to working with SCO as a full mem-ber for shared prosperity and security, therealisation of which stemmed from theconviction that security not only requiredmilitary action but was also built on astrong economy, political stability andbetter standard of living of the people. Heobserved that the war on terror had costUS$ 80 billion to Pakistan besides a lossof 40,000 military personnel and civil-ians. The menace is also restraining thecountries of the region from achievingeconomic connectivity and integration.Therefore, Pakistan attached great impor-tance to SCO’s counter-terrorism efforts.

Pakistan’s bid to have its status asobserver changed to a full member ofthe Shanghai Cooperation Organisation(SCO) represents its innate desire andquest for peace, security and progresswithin the region and within its ownborders. Why is Pakistan so keen tojoin the SCO and what benefits it canbring to it would perhaps merit a littleprobing of the origin of SCO, its princi-ples and objectives and their relevanceto Pakistan’s situation?

The SCO was launched on 15 June,2001. it comprises of Russia, China,Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan andUzbekistan. it succeeded the ShanghaiFive Mechanism that was establishedwith the purpose of strengthening con-fidence building measures and disarma-ment in the border regions of themember states and to resolve borderdisputes among them. The ambit oftheir cooperation, however, was gradu-

ally extended to cover mutually benefi-cial cooperation in political, security,diplomatic, trade, and other areas. Withthe admittance of Uzbekistan to the or-ganization, it was renamed as ShanghaiCooperation Organisation and a newcharter was drawn up expounding itspurposes and principles, organisationalstructure, form of operation, coopera-tion, orientation and external relations.

According to its charter, the mainpurposes of SCO are: strengthening mu-tual trust and good neighbourliness andfriendship among member states; devel-oping effective cooperation in politicalaffairs, economy and trade, culture, ed-ucation, energy and environmental pro-tection; working together to maintainregional peace, security and stability andpromoting the creation of a new interna-tional political and economic order. TheSCO abides by basic principles of the UNCharter that stipulates respect for eachother’s independence, sovereignty andterritorial integrity and non-interferencein each other’s internal affairs. in Janu-ary 2004, in view of the burgeoning phe-nomenon of terrorism and extremism,the SCO decided to set up Regional Anti-Terrorism Structure (RATS) with thepurpose of enhancing cooperationamong the member states to deal withterrorism, separatism and extremism.

The SCO is unique in the sense thatit is based on a new model of state-to-state relationship that derives itsstrength from cooperative configurationrather than binding them into a formalalliance like NATO. The resolve of SCOto fight the menace of terrorism, pro-moting regional peace and security andworking for shared economic prosperityare very much in harmony with whatPakistan is looking for and needs des-perately. Pakistan’s resolve to look to theregion where it belongs, for finding so-lutions to its economic woes and otherdebilitating challenges, represents a par-adigm shift in the conduct of its foreignrelations. The major initiative on part ofPakistan to strengthen its credentials forfull membership of SCO was unfurled byPresident Zardari during his visit toRussia in mid-May in 2010 when he of-fered Russia to use Pakistan’s territoryto gain access to the southern seas andRussia reciprocated with re-affirmationfor Pakistan’s membership of the SCO.

The presence of the giants like Russiaand China in the SCO along with CentralAsian states, rich in natural resources,promises infinitesimal opportunities forpeace and economic prosperity of the re-gion. Granting of observer status toAfghanistan and associating Turkey with

SCO have further strengthened the organ-isation. The economic linkages evolvedthrough the SCO forum will alsostrengthen prospects of regional security.Pakistan presently faces an existentialistthreat from terrorism and religious ex-tremism and the member states of theSCO are also victims of this menace invarying degrees. Making a common causeand fighting collectively to stop it in itstracks stands a better chance of successand Pakistan can contribute to this effortas well as benefit from it tremendously.

Pakistan is also confronted with a se-vere energy crisis and the materialisationof TAPi and other trans-regional powerand gas projects – for which Russia hasalready expressed its support in materialterms – could help her tide over the prob-lem and nudge the process of economicrevival. Pakistan presently is also en-gaged in diversifying its exports and find-ing new and easily accessible markets forits products. The SCO states, with almostone fourth of the world population, hav-ing geographical proximity with Pakistanand easy accessibility, constitute a verylucrative market for its exports.

Similarly it can attract the requiredinvestments in the energy and infrastruc-ture sector in which some of the SCOcountries have a comparative advantage.The strategic location of Pakistan in theregion and its economic potential canalso help the SCO members to exploittheir economic potential to the maxi-mum. With the prospects of Afghanistanand iran, and possibly Turkey, also join-ing the organisation in the near future,the SCO is likely to emerge as a verystrong regional organisation.

The SCO also has an international di-mension. One of its purposes is to worktogether to promote and create a new po-litical and economic world order. in theprevailing global environment, wherein asole super power supported by its westernallies is feverishly engaged in fashioninga new world order chiseled to its own per-ceptions, which in certain cases has cre-ated more threats for the world peace andsecurity, the role of SCO in firming up thenew world order and eliminating the vul-nerabilities of this region to foreign inter-vention, assumes greater significance.

Regional organisations like SCO areperhaps the best forums to strengthenregional security and preserving worldpeace. The foregoing facts make a verystrong case for Pakistan to seek mem-bership of SCO and present it with anhistoric opportunity to make amends forits past follies in the arena of foreign re-lations. The government, therefore, ismoving on the right track.

By Malik Muhammad Ashraf

LHR 11-12-2012_Layout 1 12/11/2012 2:44 AM Page 11

12

Singer Jenni Rivera dies in plane crash

MExiCAn-AMERiCAn singer Jenni Rivera died

in a plane crash after the small jet she was

travelling in went down in northern Mexico,

her father said on Sunday. A spokesman for the

state government of nuevo Leon said investigators

had found the remains of Rivera’s Learjet, which

disappeared from the radar 62 miles from the

northern city of Monterrey at about 3:30 am local

time/4.30 am ESt. Speaking after the wreckage was

discovered, the singer’s father, pedro Rivera, told all

seven of the people on board the plane, including

two pilots, had died. “Everyone was lost,” Rivera

said, flanked by two sons. investigators are still

searching the crash site in the municipality of

iturbide, south of Monterrey. the transportation and

communications ministry said the wreckage was strewn

so far and wide that it was hard to recognize anything.

it was not clear what caused the crash. news desK

tom Cruise, Robert Duvallwatch thrillingManchester derby

TOM Cruise and Robert Duvall have entertained

fans around the world for decades. On

Sunday, it was their turn to kick back and

watch. the two actors were on hand at the Etihad

Stadium in Manchester, England, to see the much-

anticipated derby between Manchester City and

Manchester United. the premier League’s two top

teams met for the first time this season, and the

stars came out for the show. Cruise and Duvall

strolled around the field before the game, taking in

the sights and sounds of Manchester. they also gave

an interesting interview with Sky Sports. Cruise

joked that his good friend David Beckham was

jealous because he wasn’t able to attend the game.

He then went on to boast about Beckham’s glorious

end to his L.A. galaxy career, as Duvall looked on in

bewilderment. “He wishes he was here. … He’s in

[Los Angeles],” Cruise said. Duvall, the noted on-

screen manager from the film A Shot at glory,

wouldn’t dare predict the result of the Manchester

derby. “i don’t know,” he said. “Flip a coin. they’re

both great teams.” Cruise and Duvall are in England

for the premier of Cruise’s film Jack Reacher. United

prevailed 3-2 thanks to a Robin van persie goal

during second-half injury time. news desK

Rihanna hurt overBrown’s party photos?

SingER Rihanna is reportedly hurt after she

saw photos of rumoured boyfriend Chris

Brown partying with girls in paris. Rihanna,

24, and Brown, 23 have reconciled after parting

ways in 2009. However, she is not pleased with his

habits and even had a fight with him over the

weekend, reports thesun.co.uk. Rihanna posted a

picture of her lying in the arms of Brown on twitter

and wrote below it: “Damn..i miss my n***a”.

Brown was accused of physically assaulting Rihanna

is 2009 before they called it quits. news desK

Tuesday, 11 December, 2012

“Kareena has not converted toislam, but she is the Begum ofPataudi,” says mother-in-lawSharmila Tagore.

Why did Saif and Kareenanot attend the Marrakech filmfestival that you were a part of?

Saif is shooting with Tigmanshudhulia in Lucknow for Bullet Raja.They are trying to finish it in one goand then take a break. i am glad, be-cause coming for the Moroccan festcould’ve been a distraction. Youcome here, drink and party... thefilm that Saif is doing is very in-tense. it is set in a rural backgroundand he has worked on the accent.Also, Kareena’s film Talaash hasjust released.

How is Kareena, thedaughter-in-law?

Nothing has changed. She is thesame person and i like her a lot. Sheis very calm. i saw her during Tiger’sillness in the hospital. it was veryeasy to be with her. She is gentle andquiet and not intrusive. i get alongvery well with Babita and Karisma

also. Karisma is a lovely person. ishared the platform with her at a re-cent event. She speaks so well. Sheis actually coming into her own. isaw Dangerous Ishhq; she is a goodactress, but the film was awful. Eng-lish Vinglish is a good film; filmsdon’t run because you are a star. iffilms could run because of perform-ances, everybody’s films would dowell. it is the director who makesthe film.

Has Kareena converted toIslam?

She hasn’t converted, but she isnow the Begum of Pataudi. He is theNawab, so Kareena is the Begum.Saif is not comfortable with it. But isay why shouldn’t one take tradi-tions seriously. He says people maymock at him saying, ‘kahaan kiriyasat’ and all that. i understandthat, but when you go to Pataudi,there are people who follow it. Youare who you are, why should youdeny your past? Maybe he feels thathis father was so well known as theNawab of Pataudi and filling in hisshoes will be difficult. But slowly, hewill get used to it.

What is the status of theletter you wrote to The Boardof Control for Cricket in India(BCCI) on the Pataudi trophy?

i never got any reply, but the let-ter was leaked to the press. Theyalso made a statement that whenindia and england play in the UK, itwill be called Pataudi trophy and inindia, it would be the Vincentd’Mello trophy.

Are you okay with that?it is their prerogative. Maryle-

bone Cricket Club had instituted atrophy in 2007 to commemorate75 years of india and englandplaying together. SinceTiger’s father playedfor england and india,the england and WalesCricket Board also recognised

it and invited Tiger. He went despitehis ill-health to give the trophy, buti don’t know what happened behindthe scene — it was not announced.in November, i wrote to the BCCi,requesting them to make it official.Mr (N) Srinivasan, the BCCi presi-dent, wrote back saying he had toldthe people concerned to take it for-ward. When it became clear that thematch was going to take place andnothing had happened, i wrotea letter to them, but therewas no reply. You cannotforce anybody to honoursomebody. You can onlyask.

You must misshim a great deal...

it is difficult to talkabout him. i am notready and feel unableto explain. Life haschanged; he is notthere, but his pres-ence is very muchwith us. i am calmerand have an en-hanced confidence;may be because heis not there. Other-wise, i would’ve ar-gued with him. Now, isee the wisdom ofwhat he used to sayand i am follow-ing that; my lifeis simpler.Tiger hasbeen mymentor in

a way, especially regarding behav-iour. i didn’t care about time, but hebrought punctuality into my life.earlier, i would say ‘i don’t wantyou, professor’, when he said some-thing about some action of mine.He was also my spellcheck. Whenhe was in the hospital, i would sitwith him and take down each and

every detail for the in-vites — of Saif’s wed-

ding — to be sentout. Now, i have

to take the helpof a diction-ary. Correct-ness was

i m p o r t a n tto him.C o U r t e s y

toI

SRK comes to Katrina Kaif’s rescuewhen questioned about her Hindi

Anthony Hopkinsleft daunted by'Hitchcock' roleSir Anthony Hopkins has admittedthat playing the role of AlfredHitchcock was "daunting". The filmfocuses on the late director'srelationship with wife Alma Revilleduring the making of his 1960 hitslasher film Psycho. Speaking on thered carpet outside the British Filminstitute on the South Bank, SirAnthony, 74, said he was "obviously alittle nervous" about the role, SkyNews reported. "i didn't want to hearmy voice back or see any of it, iwouldn't see any playback because ididn't want to shock myself," he said."i saw the film when it was finally cuttogether and i was very pleased withit. "it was a tough role to play, justtricky because everyone knows himand he has been such a formidablepresence in our living rooms throughthe years and probably the mostfamous director of all time - so it wasdaunting," the Oscar award-winneradded. news desK

Kareena is still a Hindu: Sharmila Tagore

NEWS DESK

It was not a comfortable moment for

Katrina Kaif, when a journalist doubted her

command over Hindi language at a

promotional event here on Sunday. But co-

star Shah Rukh Khan came to her rescue.

they were here to promote their forthcoming film

‘Jab tak Hai Jaan’ that is releasing on

Diwali. When one of the photo

journalists asked Katrina about her

character in the movie, she started

answering in English, but was stopped

midway by the journo who forced her

to speak in Hindi saying: “You are from

Bollywood, not Hollywood”. Shah Rukh

immediately intervened and said:

“She speaks Hindi also. there is

no questioning on the language

that she speaks. i request you

not to do that...don’t get

confused with what language

the actor speaks in. Whatever

they are comfortable in, they

have right to do so.” When

someone asked who does

dubbing for Katrina, SRK

chose to reply, saying, “She

dubs herself.” As soon as SRK

finished, Katrina informed

about her role in the film.

Speaking in English, she said:

“My character is that of a

typical Yash Chopra heroine.

She is very idealistic about life. in

the film, i am a businesswoman

running my own company.” “today

is not my day. i just want to say

that please see the movie and

hope you like the film,” she added.

punctuality is not Shah Rukh’s

forte and he was once again late

for the event and perhaps the

long waiting hours didn’t go down

well with the waiting journos.

‘Jab tak Hai Jaan’ is Kaif’s first

romantic film with Shah Rukh

and the actress admits that she

is concerned about the response of the audience

to her pairing with the superstar. “this is my first

movie with Shah Rukh and i am extremely

happy. Since i am doing my first romantic film

with him, i have kept my fingers crossed. Every

romantic film of Shah Rukh was successful, so i

had that pressure, but he helped me a lot,” the

28-year-old told reporters here Sunday. She also

said it’s not just the pairing with Shah Rukh, but

also Yash Chopra’s reputation of giving best

romantic films to Bollywood that is adding to

the pressure. “not only with SRK, but also

Yashji directing the film. i think both had a

legacy behind them. it is really important for

me that people should like both of us

together,” she added. Shah Rukh-

Yash Chopra combination gave

hits like ‘Darr’, ‘Dil to pagal Hai’

and ‘Veer-Zaara’. After his not-

so-good experience with sci-fi

superhero film ‘Ra.One’, Shah

Rukh says that he is scared of

the genre but has not given

up on it yet. “Sci-fi film scares

me. Sci-fi films are very

expensive and need a lot of

time. there was a market

research recently and that

reads that in india, the sci-

film audience are very less

than any other genres,” the

47-year-old told reporters.

Directed by Anubhav Sinha,

‘Ra.One’ was co-produced by

SRK’s Red Chillies Entertainment and

Winford productions on a budget of

over Rs 100 crore. the film

released last year on Diwali, but

failed to set off fireworks at the

box office. Despite being scared

of the genre, SRK says that he

won’t stop making such films.

“But i will certainly try to carry

forward the work of making

such films because till the

time we don’t make such

movies, then how will the

audience like it. So i will

definitely make it,” he said.

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Tuesday, 11 December, 2012

13AiShwARyA RAi

is beautiful, says Catherine Zeta Jones

NEWS DESK

She herself features in elite global lists such as theWorld’s Most Beautiful People, 100 Sexiest Womenin the World and 100 Hottest Hotties. But Welshbeauty and Hollywood actor Catherine Zeta Jones isall praise for the stunning looks of Bollywood actorand former Miss World, Aishwariya Rai Bachchan.Catherine saw pictures of Aishwarya with herhusband, Hollywood actor Michael douglas, whenthe two attended the international Peace day at theUN Headquarters in New York together, andconfessed that she couldn’t take her eyes off Ash’spictures. “Michael recently met Aishwarya. i saw thepictures and she is just as he described her,beautiful,” the 43-year-old actor said. However, themeeting with Aishwarya is not Michael’s andCatherine’s first exposure to india. The Hollywoodcouple has visited india on a brief, hush-hush trip inthe summer of 2008, and the duo it seems have beensmitten by the natural beauty and colours ofindia ever since. “We visited Rajasthanand Bombay a few years ago. Both theplaces were so different from eachother. Rajasthan is as beautiful andbright as the people there. The state isso colourful despite the fact that alarge part of the state has a desertthat is cold and staid. Bombay(Mumbai) of course has a charmof its own,” Catherine sharedabout their indian holiday.Meanwhile, indian fans ofCatherine can catch her inPlaying For Keeps, which hitindian screens on Friday. Thisis Catherine’s second releasethis year after she came backfrom a three-year hiatus, and sheplays the role of a sports newsreader in the film. The actor ishowever upset about not beingable to promote this film inindia. “india was on our mapwhen we were deciding thepromotional tour of Playing forKeeps. But then due to someproblem we had to cancel ourplans,” she says. The otherfilm of the actor that releasedthis year was Rock of Ageswith Hollywood actor TomCruise. Catherine, whobegan her career on thestage, shot to fame inHollywood with films likeThe Mask of Zorro (1998)and Traffic (2000).

(l-r) Mick Jagger, Keith richards and charlie watts of The rolling Stones perform in a concert at the barclays center in brooklyn, new York.

Guns N’ Roses take Mumbai by storm

NEWS DESK

The Australian dJs behind a prank callto the hospital where the pregnantduchess of Cambridge was beingtreated have spoken of their regret afterone of the nurses they duped was laterfound dead in a suspected suicide.

in emotional interviews on Aus-tralian TV networks, presenters MelGreig and Michael Christian insistedthat their prank call to the King edwardVii’s Hospital in central London had“never meant” to get that far and theyhad expected staff to hang up on them.

The pair posed as the Queen andthe Prince of Wales when they rangthe hospital where Kate was beingtreated for acute morning sickness.

Nurse Jacintha Saldanha took theinitial call and, believing the call to begenuine, put them through to anothercolleague who was duped into describ-ing Kate’s condition in detail.

A tearful Ms Greig, who was at timescomforted by Mr Christian, told TodayTonight on Australia’s Channel Seven:“There’s nothing that can make me feelworse than what i feel right now. “Andfor what i feel for the family. We’re sosorry that this has happened to them.”

Mr Christian said he was “gutted,shattered, heartbroken” by the nurse’sdeath. Mother of two Ms Saldanha, 46,was found dead on Friday in what ap-peared to be a suspected suicide

Ms Greig said: “i remember myfirst question was ‘Was she a mother?’.

“i have thought about this a mil-lion times in my head, that i justwanted to reach out to them and justgive them a big hug and say sorry.

“i hope they are OK, i really do.”A sombre and downcast Mr Chris-

tian, added: “i just hope that they getthe love, the support, the care that theyneed.” in a second interview on theNine Network, the dJs said they hadnever expected their fake call would beput through to the duchess’s ward.

They said they expected it to last30 seconds, get told off and have thephone hung up in their ear. A dis-traught Ms Greig said: “Not for a sec-ond did we expect to speak to anyone.We expected to be hung up on.”

The pair said their greatest con-cern now was for the family of Ms Sal-danha. Ms Greig said: “i wanted tojust reach out to them and to givethem a big hug and say sorry.

“Not a minute goes by that we

don’t think about the family and whatthey are going through, and thethought we may have played a part isgut-wrenching.”

Mr Christian told Nine’s A CurrentAffair programme: “We are shattered,heartbroken and our deepest sympathygoes to the family, friends and all thosepeople affected. “Mel and myself are in-credibly sorry for the situation andwhat’s happened.” Ms Greig and MrChristian, dJs on the station 2day FM,pulled out of a third interview scheduledfor The Project, on the Ten network, be-cause they were unwell, according to aspokesman for the TV channel.

in a statement, the radio station’sowner, Southern Cross Austero Media,said it had suspended advertising on2day FM until further notice, endedMs Greig and Mr Christian’s Hot 30show, and suspended prank callsacross the company. The statementsaid attempts had been made to con-tact the hospital before the hoax wasbroadcast, adding that it believed nolaws had been broken. Britain’sHealth Secretary Jeremy Hunt hastold Sky News that the nurse’s re-sponse to the prank call does not pointto a widespread breach of procedure.

RoyAl PRAnk DJS: ‘WE ARE BOTH SHATTERED’

NEWS DESK

R OCK legends Guns N`Roses had fans groovingto their tunes in enter-tainment capital Mumbaiduring their maiden

india tour, indian media reported.Thousands of fans thronged the

city`s MMRdA grounds in Mumbaifor the concert, which saw the bandbelt out widely popular numberslike ‘Sweet Child of Mine’, ‘Wel-come to the Jungle’ and ‘NovemberRain’ among others on late Sundayevening. The concert saw televisionand movie stars in attendance; allenthusiastic at the concert to seethe music legends perform beforetheir eyes.

“(it was) amazing. How can you

not like Guns N` Roses? Finally,after so many years, (it was) a greatexperience,” said Bollywood filmproducer Ritesh Sidhwani.

Member of Parliament Milind

deora, tennis player Mahesh Bhu-pathi, filmmaker-actor-singerFarhan Akhtar were seen at the con-cert, apart from Bollywood actorsSanjay dutt, Lara dutta, Zarine

Khan among others.Guns N` Roses opened their

first-ever india tour on december07 in southern Bangalore city. Theywill perform their last concert of thetour on Wednesday (december 12)in Gurgaon adjoining the nationalcapital.

The band`s current lineup forthe india tour comprises frontmanAxl Rose, guitarists Ron ‘Bumble-foot’ Thal, dJ Ashba and RichardFortus, bassist Tommy Stinson,drummer Frank Ferrer and key-boardist Chris Pitman.

The rockers struck fame in the1980s with hits like ‘Appetite for de-struction’ and ‘Paradise City’ but theoriginal line-up broke up in the1990s after a feud between Rose andguitarist Slash.

LHR 11-12-2012_Layout 1 12/11/2012 2:45 AM Page 13

14Infotainment

Germany serves up three tonne cake

EVeRYONe loves Christmas cake but thetown of dresden, Germany takes theholiday treat to new heights - literally. in

celebration of the annual Stollenfest, local bakersprepared a super-sized version of the Germanclassic cake Stollen which stood one metre tall,weighed three tonne and measured 3.64 metreslong. The huge Stollen has been a hallmark ofdresden's holiday season for the last 19 years.'When we started to organise the 'Stollenfest, wewould have never dreamed of such a celebrationand that we can repeat it that many times. And wehave been praised by the city of dresden for it. itreally is the biggest event at the Christmas market,'baker Henry Mueller told Reuters. Onlookerswatched as the cake - displayed on the same horse-drawn carriage used to transport the delicacy todresden's old city centre - was sliced by a special1.6 metre-long knife Pieces of the giant treat weresold at the local Christmas market with theproceeds benefiting children with cancer and theirfamilies. 'it is always important that you givesomething back of what you have earned. news desK

Tuesday, 11 December, 2012

Nasa camera captures'fireball' over texas

VideO footage of a "fireball" flashing in the skyover Texas has been captured by a Nasa camera.The camera picked up the flash from Nasa's

Meteoroid environment Office in New Mexico. it wasreported to have been seen from as far away as Houstonand Louisiana. Nasa believes that a meteor enteredearth's atmosphere somewhere between dallas andHouston. it has tracked fragments of it which fell toearth north of Houston. news desK

Russian prime minister says hehas secret alien files

‘MeN in Black’ agents K and J may beabout to recruit a new Russianassistant: Prime Minister dmitry

Medvedev. Medvedev has spoken about topsecret files on aliens that may have landed inRussia. in footage recorded Friday after atelevision interview, the former president jokedthat each Russian leader gets two folders withinformation about extraterrestrials that visitedour planet – and stayed here. Unseen on camerafootage, he is heard telling a Ren TV journalisthe could not tell "how many of them are amongus, because it may cause panic." He said moredetails could be found in Barry Sonnenfeld's"Men in Black" films. news desK

Anti-meth campaign called‘health terrorism’

Anew anti-crystal meth campaign featuringthe warped mugshots of alleged repeat usersis scary, but is it effective at discouraging

drug abuse? Not really, say researchers. The "Horrosof Methamphetamine," launched by Rehabs.com,claims to show the physical self-destruction that thedrug is capable of. The faces of youthful, virile menand women booked on meth-related charges rapidlymutate as the same individuals are arrested againand again. They transform into haggard, gaunt andunkempt visages just a few years after the apparentdownward spiral began. Acne litters what was onceunblemished skin, rosy cheeks hollow out andtangled clumps of hair replace neat 'dos. The onlineposter warns that these are telltale signs of decayunleashed by prolonged, illegal crystal meth use. "ithink it's definitely more effective when people cansee the outcome of what abusing that substancemight be, it becomes more concrete in a person'smind," said dan Tynski, Rehabs.com's projectmanager. news desK

Police in Australia have warned driversnot to use Apple's map software after anumber of people ended up lost in thewilderness in scorching temperatures.

Motorists trying to find the south-eastern town of Mildura became lost afterfollowing the map system, which locatesit about 43 miles (70km) from its actualposition. One man was stranded for 24hours in temperatures of up to 46C, andat least three more have had to be res-cued, police said.

Tests on the mappingsystem show that Mil-dura is incorrectlylisted as being in themiddle of the Mur-ray Sunset Na-tional Park.Mildura policehave now is-sued a warn-ing on theirwebsite.

"Police are extremely concerned asthere is no water supply within the parkand temperatures can reach as high as 46degrees, making this a potentially life-threatening issue," it says.

"Some of the motorists located by po-lice have been stranded for up to 24 hourswithout food or water and have walkedlong distances through dangerous terrainto get phone reception." inspector SimonClemence told Australia's ABC News thathe is concerned people using the AppleMaps app could find themselves in trou-ble. "if it was a 45-degree day, someone

could actually die," he said."it's quite a dangerous sit-uation, so we would be

calling for people notto use the new AppleiPhone mapping sys-tem if they're travel-

ling from southAustralia to Mildura."

Police have contactedApple in relation to the

issue. Apple droppedGoogle as its map provider in

September with the launch ofits iOS 6 software for the

iPhone and iPad. it was pannedby users for putting towns and

cities in the wrong place and mis-spelling locations. Well-known areas

such as Westminster and Shepherd'sBush in London were misspelt "West-

minister" and "Shepard's Bush".And search for Chessington in Surrey

initially brought up Chessington TyresLtd in Plymouth, then ChessingtonHouse. Apple CeO Tim Cook was forcedto apologise for the glitches, and the man-ager who oversaw the software updatehas also left the company. news desK

6 wacky McAfee facts:from Guatemala, with twists P

iCTURe the scene: An informationsecurity genius retires to CentralAmerica, where he dabbles in yoga,guns, and pharmaceutical research.An unknown assassin kills his neigh-

bor, perhaps mistaking him for the security pro.When government agents turn up, the security progoes rogue, burying himself in the sand, with hisface shielded by cardboard so he can breathe.Over the next three weeks, he escapes over landand by boat to a friendly nearby country, where herequests asylum and promises to tell all.

As an episode of "24," viewers might call thatscenario forced. But it's the actual ongoing caseof real-life 67-year-old antivirus pioneer JohnMcAfee, who fled Belize after being sought forquestioning in the Nov. 10 murder of his neigh-bor, fellow U.S. citizen Gregory Viant Faull, 52.Along the way, McAfee claimed to create a diver-sion involving another "John McAfee" who wasarrested with a North Korean passport in thatname at the border between Belize and Mexico,before the real McAfee landed in Guatemala andbegan seeking asylum.

Having trouble keeping up with the unfoldingdrama, which is currently in the running for thewackiest information security-related story of2012? Here are six related facts:

1. Murder charges haven't been filed

against McAfee

Why did McAfee flee Belize? To be clear, nocharges have been filed against him, and investi-gators in Belize have recently said that he's not asuspect in Faull's murder. But according toMcAfee, authorities in Belize have attempted toframe him for the murder of Faull, after previ-ously harassing him after he stopped donatingmoney to the government. "Seven months ago theBelizean government sent 42 armed soldiers intomy property. They killed one of my dogs, theybroke into all of my houses, they stole, they ar-rested me and kept me handcuffed in the sun for14 hours. i was taken to jail, and it was only theintervention of the U.S. embassy that got me outof jail," said McAfee said in a video uploaded toYouTube by Vice magazine, which has had jour-nalists shadowing McAfee from Belize toGuatemala.

2. McAfee alleges corruption in Belize

On Wednesday McAfee said he'd hold a pressconference in Guatemala City Thursday, atwhich he promised to unveil proof of wide-spread government corruption in Belize. Justhours later, however, he was arrested by immi-gration police in Guatemala for having enteredthe country illegally. Since then, McAfee hasbeen updating his blog from jail. Currently, ajudge is reviewing his case and could opt to notreturn McAfee to Belize if it can be proven thathis life would be in danger.

3. Guatemala rejects asylum application

After being on the run for three weeks, McAfeearrived in Guatemala by boat with his 20-year-old girlfriend, Sam Vanegas, and two journalistsfrom Vice, which inadvertently disclosed his lo-cation via an iPhone photo. One of McAfee's firstactions after arriving in Guatemala was to obtaincounsel and request asylum. His lawyer, Teles-foro Guerra -- a former attorney general ofGuatemala and Vanegas' uncle -- filed the asy-lum request. in a press conference Thursday,however, Guatemalan president Otto PerezMolina announced that McAfee's request hadbeen rejected, saying that the country had "noobligation" to grant his request.

4. Heart attack: false alarm

After his asylum request was rejected, McAfeeThursday was taken to a police hospital, complain-ing of chest pains. earlier in the day, he'd declinedto be taken to a hospital, saying that after sufferinga heart attack in 2003, he preferred to use Chineseherbal medicine. "Last night i had a little bit of pain,but i am fine this morning," he told the AssociatedPress. "i don't like Western medicine ... if the peoplearound me are kind and compassionate, that's allthat matters in life. The people of Guatemala arevery kind people, so i have no complaints." doctorswho examined McAfee found no signs that he washaving a heart attack, and suggested that the chestpains related to McAfee having consumed no foodand little water over the preceding 24 hours.

5. Belize Hints At New Evidence

What might happen if -- or when -- McAfee re-turns to Belize? Technically, no warrant has beenissued for his arrest by the country, meaning thatafter police questioning, he could be free to go.Raphael Martinez, a spokesman for the Belizegovernment, said that because charges haven'tbeen filed against McAfee, he could be held foronly up to 48 hours for questioning, or longer ifformally charged,reported ABC News. "There ismore that we know about the investigation, butthat remains part of the police work," Martinezsaid, meaning that investigators may have as-yet-undisclosed evidence relating to the case. Regard-less, Martinez argued that returning McAfee toBelize was "the neighborly thing to do."

6. Banner year for asylum requests

it's been a big year for tech-savvy types fleeingcharges in one country to seek asylum in another.indeed, 2012 has also been the year in whichecuador granted asylum to Julian Assange, thefounder of WikiLeaks. The only wrinkle with thatcase, of course, is that the Australian national isholed up in ecuador's embassy in London. Britishauthorities have promised to arrest him, shouldhe emerge, and send him to Sweden, where he'swanted for questioning related to charges of sex-ual molestation and rape that have been filedagainst him. news desK

Apple Maps'life-threatening' to drivers

Man steals ex’s ring, gives it to girlfriend

POLiCe say a northeastern Pennsylvania manstole his ex-girlfriend's engagement ring onThanksgiving in hopes of patching up his

relationship with his wife. Scrantonpolice say 35-year-old donaldAlbritton swiped the ring while

his former girlfriend madeThanksgiving dinner and later gave

it to his current wife. Albritton wascharged with theft and released on bail

following his arraignment Tuesday. Aphone listing for him could not immediately

be located Friday. news desK

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tuesday, 11 december, 2012

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brazil must improve tennisfacilities: roger federer

LAHOREAGenCIes

MOHAMMAd Hafeez,the Lahore Lions cap-tain, has praised histeam's effort in win-ning the Faysal Bank

T-20 Cup, Pakistan's domestic T20 cham-pionship. Having been handed the LahoreLions captaincy by Mohammad Yousufjust prior to the tournament, Hafeezbrushed aside the notion that he wasunder pressure to win the championshipto protect his reputation as nationalTwenty20 captain.

"it was a great team effort and fullcredit to my side," Hafeez said after thefinal, in which Lahore Lions beat Faisal-abad Wolves by 33 runs. "everyone in theside had gelled and had one goal: to winthe championship.

"i, being a captain, had to performand had to contribute in the team success.There is nothing such as i was out thereto prove any point."

Lahore Lions, the tournament's mostdominating side, were set to pile up a big-ger total than their 154, but lost their way,restricted by some tight, penetratingbowling from Asad Ali and ehsan Adil.Hafeez gave credit to the Faisalabad

bowlers for fighting back, and admittedthat the absence of star offspinner SaeedAjmal - who had played only three gamesin the tournament for Faisalabad beforeleaving for Australia's Big Bash League(BBL) - could have made a difference tothe result.

"i must give credit to Misbah-ul-Haqand his team, for being so consistentthroughout the event despite having min-imal resources in the side," Hafeez said."it was a final and a pressure game, and i

would have liked at least 170 to 180 on theboard to defend, but it was Asad Ali andehsan Adil who restricted us. Otherwisewe were all set for one last big hit.

"Apart from this, i think absence ofSaeed Ajmal was a big setback for them,but, after all, we managed to get a fightingtotal and successfully defend it."

Faisalabad didn't look in control ofthe chase, and lost wickets at regular in-tervals. Captain Misbah, who top scoredwith 37 while the rest failed to find their

feet, said the chase was never on track."They were outstanding right from thestart, their bowlers kept us in check," Mis-bah said. "We were looking to have onegood partnership, but we lost early wick-ets and never found momentum through-out. We lost our way and were never ableto recover."

Faisalabad had been undefeated inthe tournament before the final but withAjmal at the BBL, they had to rely onsome inexperienced campaigners. Mis-bah, though, said it was not the bowlingattack that had failed: "His [Ajaml's] ab-sence did make a difference, but we stillmanaged to take down Lions' enormousbatting line-up. Then we failed to capi-talise while chasing, and that cost us thematch."

The tournament was played over ninedays and had 14 teams competing againsteach other ahead of the india tour; thatgave each player at least six matches toexhibit his skills. Hafeez, as national cap-tain, said he had keenly observed theplayers on show. "[The tournament] gavea vital opportunity to every player to showhis ability and temperament. i have as-sessed the performances of some of theplayers, and will discuss them with the se-lection committee, regarding when andwhere they can be used in near future."

I was not there to prove a point: Hafeez

NEWSDESK

Cricket South Africa will soon - possiblyas early as next year - appoint a blackAfrican selector in accordance withtheir transformation policy, in an at-tempt to better represent the country'sdemographics. South Africa's popula-tion is more than 80% black African butthey are largely under-represented incricket.

"We want to transform and reflectthe demographic of our country as bestas possible. A black African selector isneeded to help address representationon all levels, which includes manage-ment," Jacques Faul, acting CSA chiefexecutive told eSPNCricinfo.

He clarified that the move shouldnot be seen as one which will push thecase for black players only. "Just aswhite selectors don't only select whiteplayers, so would black selectors not

only select black players," Faul said.Former fast bowler Makhaya Ntini

is the frontrunner for the position, evenafter his criticism of the team make-upahead of the Australia tour. Ntini wasquoted saying reserve wicketkeeperThami Tsolekile would have played forthe national team if he was white, butTsolekile brushed off the remarks. de-spite being nationally contracted inFebruary and identified as the replace-ment to Mark Boucher, Tsolekile hasnot played a Test because AB de Villiershas been promoted to the role of thepermanent keeper.

in Perth, South Africa played their200th Test since readmission but inthat time, only five black Africans haverepresented the country. Of those,Ntini played 101 Tests but the otherfour: Mfuneko Ngam, Monde Zondeki,Tsolekile and Lonwabo Tsotsobe haveless than 20 between them and South

Africa have not fielded a single blackAfrican in Test cricket in the past year.

it is a record CSA wants to change."i don't think people realise what a biggap Ntini left when he retired from in-ternational cricket. He was a great rolemodel and obvious choice for the Testteam," Faul said. "it is important for usto improve on this statistic. We hopethat in the next 200 Tests we will beable to do that."

CSA does not enforce a quota sys-tem but state in their policy they intendto make cricket a "truly national game."They fund an academy at the Universityof Fort Hare which Ngam runs, exclu-sively for black African cricketers tofurther that aim. Ntini was due to startan academy in the Mdantsane townshipin the eastern Cape for the same pur-pose but has not been able to securesufficient funding to get the project offthe ground.

CRICKEt SOUth AfRICA tO APPOINt BLACK AfRICAN SELECtOR

NEWSDESK

Ross Taylor, the former New Zealandcaptain, has openly disputed the coachMike Hesson's depiction of his exitfrom the leadership of the nationalside.

Hesson has maintained that in ameeting ahead of the recently com-pleted Test series in Sri Lanka he in-formed Taylor that he should stepaside as captain of the Odi andTwenty20 sides while retaining theTest captaincy.

However Taylor, who is missingthe forthcoming South Africa tour inorder to take a break from the gameafter the job was handed to BrendonMcCullum, said that Hesson's versionof events does not match his own rec-ollection of what took place.

"He said i wasn't a good enoughleader, that this team needs a strongleader and that i wasn't a strongleader. if i wasn't a strong leader whywould he give me the Test captaincy?"

Taylor told Radio Sport."He said 'Ross, i am going to rec-

ommend to [NZC director of cricket]John Buchanan that we have a newcaptain for South Africa'. There wasnothing in there about anything to dowith a split captaincy."

Taylor has maintained the first heheard about the possibility of his re-taining the Test captaincy was follow-ing the conclusion of the Sri Lankaseries, which was tied 1-1 after NewZealand won the final Test. Asked di-rectly whether or not someone was

lying about the episode, Taylorreplied: "definitely."

Since his replacement by McCul-lum, Taylor has stated that he was notsupported by Hesson after he replacedJohn Wright as the national teamcoach in July.

Taylor also reiterated his reasonsfor not joining the South Africa tour."i don't think i could have given100%," he said. "it has been a prettystressful time for me, especially thelast two or three weeks but the lastfive months have been pretty toughon myself.

"it's still pretty fresh in my mind.i think i got straight back on the horseby not turning down the captaincy inGalle and leading the team to that vic-tory ... it would have been easy for aperson in my position to just give it upthere and then, but i decided that thebest thing for the team was to carry on.

"The team will be better withoutme and all the distractions that havehappened in the last couple of weeks."

Pakistan wrong totour India: ehsan

NEW DELHIAGenCIes

ehsan Mani, a former president of theinternational Cricket Council (iCC), feelsthat the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB)was wrong in agreeing to a brief limitedovers series in india."i think the PCB is wrong to have agreedto this. if it is a political decision, thenthe PCB should have asked the politi-cians to make sure that india recipro-cated by coming and playing againstPakistan even if it was at a neutralvenue," said Mani, who represented thePCB in iCC from 1989 to 1996.Mani doubts whether india would recip-rocate in the same way by playing in Pak-istan. He said the indian cricket boardwas responsible for isolating Pakistan ininternational cricket after the 2008Mumbai attacks by Pakistani nationals. "india owes Pakistan two series which ithas cancelled out. it is totally wrong thatPakistan should be going to india. Myopinion is Pakistan should not be goingto india at all. india or the BCCi wentout of its way after the Mumbai attack toisolate Pakistan cricket at the iCC," Maniwas quoted as saying by Pakpassion.net.The Pakistan team will tour india for thefirst time for a bilateral series since2007. Sporting ties between the twocountries were snapped after the 2008Mumbai attacks. But Pakistan played thesemi-final of the 2011 World Cup againstindia in Mohali.Mani said that PCB is just helping theBoard of Control for Cricket in india(BCCi) to fill its overflowing coffers "withno assurance of a reciprocal tour"."This short series will enable BCCi toearn over $100 million, probably asmuch as $150 million. All we`re doing isto help india make a lot of money out ofus, with no assurance of a reciprocaltour," Mani said."So i think it has not been thoughtthrough properly. it is sort of trying toget the headlines. i don`t see any benefitto Pakistan cricket in terms of gettingcricket back to Pakistan by playing thisseries. Certainly, i am not in favour ofit," he said.

Khosa hopes for

collective effort

during India series

LAHORE stAff report

Punjab Governor Sardar Latif KhanKhosa has expressed the hoped that Pak-istan team will win the T20 and one-dayseries later this month in india by ex-hibiting collective efforts and commit-ment. ‘Our team is full of talent and it isperforming at a very good level in inter-national cricket and i hope it will win theseries in india to bring glory for thecountry’, he was speaking at the prizedistribution ceremony of National T20final in which Lahore Lions beat Faisal-abad Wolves by 33 runs here on Sundaynight at Gadaffi Stadium.Also present were, President, PakistanCricket Board,Mohammad Zaka Asrhaf,President, Faysal Bank, Naveed Khan,the sponsors of the tournament ,Presi-dent, Lahore City Cricket Association,Khawaja Nadim Ahmad and other offi-cials of the PCB and LCCA. He said Pakteam which will be playing two T20 andthree one day international will demon-strate a higher level of game to outshineindia in both the formats of the game.The Punjab Governor said that interna-tional cricket will soon return to Pakistanas PCB was making sincere efforts in thisregard. ‘ PCB under the dynamic leader-ship of Zaka Asrhaf is taking necessarymeasures to bring back internationalcricket to Pakistan. He praised the inter-est and discipline of a full house whichwatched the thrilling final with keen in-terest. Sardar Latif Khosa said it wasgood to see such a big gathering watchingthe game and congratulated the winningand losing teams. ‘ Lahore Lions playedgood game and had luck on their side towin the title ‘,he said adding ‘ winningand losing go hand and hand and oneteam wins on a particular day and todaythe game of cricket won in the end asboth sides played quality cricket ‘.The Punjab Governor said exchange ofsports and cultural events on regularbasis will improve relations betweenPakistan and india and people fromboth sides will also get closer.

Taylor disputes Hesson's version of events

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Sports 16

Tuesday, 11 December, 2012

DHAKAespnCrICInfo

WeST indies beatBangladesh by 18runs in a one-offTwenty20 interna-tional at the Sher-e-

Bangla National Stadium in dhaka onMonday. West indies scored 197-4 in 20overs while Bangladesh could managed179-1 in given overs.

earlier, the loss of two early wicketsdid not prevent West indies from postinga formidable score on a good, battingtrack in Mirpur, in what is their firstgame as Twenty20 champions. The manwho won them the World Twenty20 final,Marlon Samuels, was again among theruns, as he blasted his way to 85, target-ing the Bangladesh bowlers in a mannerreminiscent of his assault in Colombo.

A bit of early movement for Rubel Hos-sain helped him nip out the West indiesopeners; Chris Gayle's poor run this tourcontinued and dwayne Smith lost his mid-dle stump. But darren Bravo and Samuelsdidn't restrain themselves, with Bravo sig-nalling his intentions right from his firstball that was driven imperiously throughextra cover. He then slashed Shafiul islam

through point, before taking onBangladesh's spinners. He stepped out toAbdur Razzak, smacking him for two foursand a six and dispatched Mahmudullah'sfirst delivery over long-on.

Samuels was let off twice by MushfiqurRahim, as he tried to open the face againstthe seamers, but both were thick edges andhalf chances. He played the supporting roleto Bravo in a stand of 66 in seven overs anddominated the innings once the pair wasseparated by a stumping. Sohag Gazi, theoffspinner, dismissed Bravo but didn't havea debut matching his maiden performancesin Tests and Odis. Kieron Pollard attackedhim, launching him for two sixes in an ex-pensive spell, before Samuels made the restof the innings his own.

Samuels was a picture of absolute con-fidence, he picked the gaps at will andstruck cleanly, silencing a crowd of nearly19,000 at the Shere Bangla Stadium. Hewas batting on 27 off 24 at one stage andshifted gears to hammer another 58 offjust 19. As he did against Lasith Malingain that unforgettable innings in the WorldT20 final, he aimed straight, with im-mense power and succeeded almost eachtime. Razzak was struck for two sixes andRubel was given a taste of what Malingawould have felt.

Samuels assault proves fatal for BD

LAHORE stAff report

The ist Women’s Challenge Cup HockeyTournament is being held at the NationalHockey Stadium in Lahore from decem-ber 30. The Pakistan Hockey Federation(PHF) has allowed a group of enthusiasticformer hockey players to organize thewomen’s hockey tournament in the pri-vate sector.

The tournament, which will be playedon single league basis, is scheduled tocontinue till January 6, 2013 and ex-pected to be participated by six leading

women’s teams from all over the countryincluding WAPdA, Railways, Punjab,Sindh and Army among others.

The group of former hockey players isspearheaded by Ms Saman Rashid who isthe chief organizer of the forthcomingtournament. She has played for PakistanWomen Hockey Team, Lahore, Punjab,Railways and WAPdA for about ten yearstill 2010.

According to the information avail-able from the organizing committee, themain objective for organizing the tourna-ment is to promote national game ofhockey, empowerment of women and en-

couraging young girls to take up hockeyas their favourite game and show theirtalent at the national and internationallevels in due course of time after hardwork, training and determination.

The organizing committee is confi-dent that young girls from colleges anduniversities in the provincial metropoliswould turn up daily at the NationalHockey Stadium to watch the best womenplayers of the country in action and todraw inspiration and learn lessons fromthem.

Chief organizer Saman Rashid is inSingapore presently on an assignment

given to her by the Asian Hockey Federa-tion on the recommendations of the Pak-istan Hockey Federation. Prior to herleaving for Singapore for taking up the as-signment, Saman Rashid had told coupleof media people that she regards this as-signment as a member of the AHF Jury asan honour for herself, the nation and thecountry and would try, while in Singa-pore, to come up to the expectations of allin a satisfying manner.

Saman Rashid is scheduled to returnhome on december 19 after which thetournament arrangements would begiven final touches in all respects.

Women’s Challenge Cup Hockey at Lahore from 30th

Kaneria to challenge

accuser westfield's

absence at hearingLAHORE

stAff report

Lawyers for banned cricketer danishKaneria will challenge the absence of wit-ness Mervyn Westfield if he does not ap-pear for an appeal hearing on Monday,the Pakistan player said.Kaneria said that his legal team had beentold that his former essex team mateWestfield would not attend the hearingin the British capital."We are surprised at this developmentand will challenge his absence when thehearing proceedings begin," said Kaneria,who was banned for life by the englandand Wales Cricket Board (eCB) in Junefor corruption. Kaneria will appealagainst the ban this week after beingbranded a "grave danger" to the game bythe eCB who found him guilty of encour-aging or attempting to encourage West-field to underperform in a match in 2009.The Pakistani leg-spinner, who has beensuspended by the Pakistan Cricket Board(PCB) pending the outcome of the appealhearing, said he wanted Westfield to ap-pear before the five-man eCB panel."He has accused me of corrupting himand my legal team wants to question himagain as his testimony played a big rolein my ban," said Kaneria, who has taken261 Test wickets. Kaneria to challengeaccuser Westfield's absence at hearing.

Inter-board Sports from 12th

LAHORE stAff report

The inter-board Sports will be held fromdecember 12 with athletes from 30 educa-tional boards showcasing their talent at is-lamabad’s Pakistan Sports complex.“We have completed all the arrangementsto stage the games in a befitting manner,”said a spokesman of the Pakistan SportsBoard here on Monday. He said the secondmeeting of Steering Committee of Pakistaninter Board Sports was held under thechairmanship of Abdul Ghafar Khan, JointSecretary, Ministry of iPC for an overviewon the arrangements of the event.dr. M Akhtar Nawaz Ganjera, director Gen-eral (Tech& Trg) Pakistan Sports Board, dr.imtiaz Yousaf, deputy Secretary (Sports)Ministry of iPC, dr. Muhammad Bashir,Chairman iBSC, Ramzan Achakzai, Secre-tary, iBCC, Muzafar Ahmad Zia, director(iBCC) , Muhammad Azam dar, director,National Federations, Pakistan SportsBoard attended the meeting.

LAHOREstAff report

Focused on the forth-coming india and

South Africa tours,spearhead Pakistanpace bowler UmarGul has said that sen-iors like him would haveto lead from the front onthe crucial itineraries, and particu-larly in india, where the pressure willbe too high in every single game.

Pakistan cricket team is scheduled to tourarchrivals india later this month to play twoT20 internationals and three Odis against thehosts – the first bilateral series between thetwo Asian giants in five years.

While speaking to media reporters here inKarachi on Sunday, the 28-year-old right-armmedium pacer said that seniors like him wouldhave to shoulder the bulk of responsibility in

the much-awaited india seriesto help the side standstraight in the pressuregames. "i know therewill be lot of pressure

playing in india andi am prepared for

that because the sen-iors have to take a lead

role when playing inindia," said Gul, a veteran of 45

Tests and 111 One day internationals.Gul, 28, has had a successful run in

both the one-day and Test format of the game,with 158 scalps in each, but it is the fast pacedT20 cricket where the pacer from Peshawarhas made a stronger impact, claiming 62 wick-ets from 49 appearances.

However, the experienced Pakistan pacerhas not been as consistent in recent times ashe should be, and Gul said he was aware ofthat, adding that he had been working hard on

his line and length in the nets.

fatherhood hasn'tslowed Messi

MADRIDAGenCIes

Barcelona forward Lionel Messi became afather for the first time last month at theage of 25 but parenthood doesn't appear tohave slowed the Argentine down and if any-thing has sharpened his appetite for goals.The World Player of the Year surpassed twolong-standing records with a La Liga doubleat Real Betis on Sunday, beating GerdMueller's 40-year-old mark of 85 for a cal-endar year and overtaking Cesar Rodriguez,who played in the 1940s and 50s, as Barca'stop scorer in the league on 192.Messi needed 66 games to reach 86 andoverhaul Mueller, who scored his goals in60 matches for Bayern Munich and Ger-many in 1972, while he has amassed hisleague tally for Barca in 229 outings sincehis debut in 2004, compared with 190 goalsin 287 matches for Cesar.He still has two La Liga games and a King'sCup match to extend his 2012 total and if hekeeps going at anything like his current ratehis career scoring records are unlikely to bechallenged for many, many years."i am going to try to score one or two more(before the end of the year) to make it moredifficult for anyone who comes after me," atypically modest Messi joked with reportersafter the Betis game.

LAHOREstAff report

The Pakistan Cricket Board finally got rid of non-performing and still immature al-rounder ShahidAfridi from Odi team while opening batsmanimran Nazir and allrounder Abdul Razzaq werealso dropped from the one-day squad for thetour of india in december

Nazir and Razzaq were part of the teamagainst Australia in the UAe in July and eventthe latter’s T20 performance failed to earnedhim a place in the upcoming series.

However, Afridi have won a placein the T20 team despite the factthat he was not among the top20 batsmen and bowlers of theNational T20 Cup.

Mohammad Hafeezand Misbahul Haq were

retained captains of the T20 and Odi teams respectively. Shoaib Malik has, however, won a place in the T20 team

along with Mohammad irfan. Mohammad Yousuf, who took part in the Na-

tional T20 Cup for a place in the side was also notconsidered for selection

Teams: Odi squad: Nasir Jamshed, Mo-hammad Hafeez, Azhar Ali, Younus Khan, Mis-bah-ul-Haq, Haris Sohail, Kamran Akmal,Saeed Ajmal, Wahab Riaz, Junaid Khan, UmarGul, imran Farhat, Umar Akmal, Anwar Ali,

Zulfiqar Babar.Twenty20 squad: Mohammad

Hafeez, Nasir Jamshed, KamranAkmal, Umar Akmal, Umar Amin,Shoaib Malik, Shahid Afridi,Saeed Ajmal, Mohammad irfan,Junaid Khan, Sohail Tanvir,

Umar Gul, Asad Ali, ZulfiqarBabar, Ahmed Shehzad.

PCB gets rid of Afridi from ODI team

Umar keen to make an impact against India

weST InDIeS

Dr Smith b rubel Hossain 24

cH Gayle b rubel Hossain 6

Mn Samuels not out 85

DM bravo st †Mushfiqur rahim b Sohag Gazi 41

Ka Pollard b ziaur rahman 15

lMP Simmons not out 18

eXTraS (lb 1, w 7) 8

ToTal 197

DID noT baT DJG Sammy*, Dc Thomas†, aD russell, SP narine,

KaJ roach

fall of wIcKeTS 1-25 (Gayle, 2.6 ov), 2-30 (Smith, 4.5 ov), 3-96

(bravo, 11.5 ov), 4-121 (Pollard, 14.4 ov)

bowlInG: Sohag Gazi 4-0-44-1, Shafiul Islam 4-0-26-0, rubel

Hossain 4-0-63-2, abdur razzak 3-0-32-0, Mahmudullah 1-0-15-

0, ziaur rahman 4-0-16-1

banGlaDeSH

Tamim Iqbal not out 88

anamul Haque c Sammy b roach 22

Mahmudullah not out 64

eXTraS (b 1, lb 2, w 1, nb 1) 5

ToTal 179

DID noT baT Mominul Haque, Mushfiqur rahim*†, nasir Hossain,

Sohag Gazi, abdur razzak, Shafiul Islam, rubel Hossain, ziaur

rahman

fall of wIcKeTS 1-47 (anamul Haque, 4.2 ov)

bowlInG: DJG Sammy 2-0-30-0, KaJ roach 4-0-36-1, aD russell

1-0-17-0, Mn Samuels 4-0-32-0, SP narine 3-0-27-0, cH Gayle 4-

0-18-0, Dr Smith 2-0-16-0

Match details

Toss west Indies, who chose to bat

Series west Indies won the one-off match

T20I debuts anamul Haque, Mominul Haque and Sohag Gazi

(bangladesh)

Player of the match tba

umpires anisur rahman and enamul Haque

Tv umpire reJ Martinesz (Sri lanka)

Match referee aJ Pycroft (zimbabwe)

reserve umpire Tanvir ahmed

sCoreboArd

LHR 11-12-2012_Layout 1 12/11/2012 2:45 AM Page 17

Sports17

Tuesday, 11 December, 2012

confident england wantseries win: Gooch

KOLKATAAGenCIes

Graham Gooch has hailed england'sback-to-back Test wins in india as a"monumental achievement". Gooch, thehighest run-scorer in england's Test his-tory and the side's current battingcoach, claimed england were now "inthe ascendancy", but warned that withone Test remaining, plenty of hard worklay ahead if they were to claim their firstseries win in india since 1984-85.After losing the first Test in Ahmedabad,england won in Mumbai and Kolkata totake a 2-1 lead with one match to play.While Gooch praised the team for theirfightback, he also suggested india mightprepare a "result pitch" for the last Testin Nagpur, starting on Thursday, tomaximise their chances of securing a re-sult to draw the series."it was a monumental achievement,"Gooch said. "We know these conditionsare sometimes alien to english players.We lost the first Test, we took a bit of abeating there, and in their conditions -india have set up the conditions inMumbai and Kolkata - our guys have re-sponded magnificently. Let's be fair,they've outplayed india in both the lasttwo Tests."When you go 1-0 down against hostswho have a very good record in theirown conditions, it's very satisfying whenyou can turn it round and use the skillsyou have practised long and hard to out-play the opposition. "But i don't thinkfor one minute that the guys think thejob is done. We're 2-1 up with one toplay. We want a positive result in Nag-pur. i don't think i'm giving anythingaway by saying it's going to be a resultpitch in Nagpur. if i was india i wouldwant a result pitch to take my chances."The things MS dhoni has said afterMumbai i totally agree with - he wantsto play on pitches that produce resultsand i don't have a problem with that. i'drather have a pitch that produces a re-sult that one that produces 600 plays600. So we know it's likely to be a pitchwhere it will be tough for the batsmen,with the ball turning. But after our lasttwo performances we can go there withconfidence and we've got to make surewe bring our A game to Nagpur."

rodgers notsetting targets

NEWSDESK

The win moved Liverpool into the tophalf of the Barclays Premier League anda run of form that has seen the Anfieldclub lose just once in the league sinceSeptember 23 means they are just fourpoints off the top four.Rodgers, 39, is keen for his players tocontinue to develop their understandingof the style of football he has been im-plementing since taking charge of theclub in June, rather than setting end-of-season goals.When asked if the top four was now arealistic target Rodgers said: "We arejust trying to build our momentum."We had a difficult opening fixture listand coupling that with trying to play acertain way of football was always goingto be difficult."Certainly over the past couple ofmonths we have been progressing andjust let's see where we finish."This is one of the biggest clubs in worldfootball and everybody knows where itshould be but we are making steadyprogress and climbing the league and itis important for us to do that."

NEWSDESK

RiO Ferdinand wasstruck by a coin thrownfrom the crowd as Man-chester United cele-brated Robin van

Persie's deflected last-minute winner,while only the intervention of Citykeeper Joe Hart prevented another fanconfronting the defender.

And Bernstein told Sky SportsNews: "it is deplorable to see those in-cidents and to see Rio Ferdinand withblood on his face is absolutely terrible."

He continued: "i think it's disturb-ing that we're seeing a recurrence ofthese types of incidents. We've hadracial abuse issues, the odd pitch in-cursion, things being thrown at players- it's very unacceptable and has to bedealt with severely."

Bernstein promised tough actionfrom the FA to try to stamp out thechances of further incidents occurring.

"it's very disappointing: so much offootball is so good, great things arehappening in football as a whole, butthese odd incidents get the headlines -and understandably because they areserious matters, they are unforgivablethings," he added.

"When you think of the millionswatching football every week, or in-volved in football, to see it hijacked bythese incidents is awful so we have todeal with it in the strongest way wecan.

"it's a difficult social problem. ithink there's a copycat thing: some-thing happens and other people copy itand this sort of thing can spiral. To mymind it's for the FA, the whole game offootball and the authorities to work to-gether to deal with this most severematter.

"i believe that if necessary thesepeople need to go to the court and be

banned for life, if they're found out."it's important that matters are

brought to a head and people under-stand that there is no room for this

in football at all, and we'll do every-thing we can within the FA. i knowthe rest of football feels the same, it'sa blot on the game."

lions victory toserve lcca’s gamedevelopment cause

LAHORE stAff report

Lahore City Cricket Association PresidentKhawaja Nadim Ahmad has said that LahoreLions title victory in the National T-20 crickettournament will support the efforts of LCCAfor the further development of the game atgrass root level. “This success will infuse a re-newed interest among the youth to take upcricket as a sport besides supplementing ourongoing efforts for the revival of the game atearly level,” he said here on Monday.Nadim said it was a positive sign for Lahorecricket that its teams won the National T-20 title after two years and the success hasgiven a new identity to Lahore cricket. itmay be mentioned here that Lahore teamalso won the National T-20 title two yearsago when Nadim took over as the Presi-dent, ending a 23-year long regime of pre-vious President Aamir Hayat Rokhari.“in previous three years we did our best torevive the game by taking a number of dras-tic measures and now that stage is comingto concentrate more on speeding up our ef-forts for the further development of thegame,” he asserted. LCCA Chief attributedLions victory to collective team efforts andable leadership of national T-20 captainMuhammad Hafeez who led from the frontfrom the beginning to end. “ if you look atthe overall the performance of Lions teamsit reveals a par excellence show on part ofthe players who underlined their talent andpotential to inspire their side to unbeatenrun in the event,” he added. He praised theleadership qualities of Hafeez.LCCA Chief said Pakistan Cricket Board or-ganized the T20 in a trend setting mannerwith the cooperation of Punjab Govern-ment and both the institutions did theirbest for the successful holding of the pre-mier event. “Top of the line organizationalskills were utilized by PCB and high secu-rity measures were taken by the PunjabGovernment to ensure the smooth conductof the tournament,” he added.He said a capacity crowd watched the finalwith keen interest and exhibited exemplarydiscipline which shows people’s deep pas-sion in the game of cricket,” he said.

MancHeSTer: van Persie and rooney, the stars of the match between

Manchester united and Manchester city, celebrate their victory.

Bernstein condemnsderby violence

Man City apologise forFerdinand coin attack

MANCHESTER: Manchester City have apologised to Rio Ferdinand after theManchester United defender was struck by a coin as he celebrated his side’s 3-2win in Sunday’s Manchester derby. The english centre-back was left with bloodpouring from his face after being hit by a missile apparently thrown from thecrowd in the aftermath of Robin van Persie’s injury-time winner for United atthe etihad Stadium. Greater Manchester Police have launched an investigationinto the incident, while City expressed regret to Ferdinand. “We apologise toRio,” said a spokesman from the club “We condemn the actions of the individ-ual concerned. We are reviewing the CCTV with the police and our normal se-curity. ”We will support the police with any investigation and hopefully identifythe person as soon as possible.” Ferdinand himself made light of what had hap-pened, writing on Twitter: ”what a result,3points! Sweet! Whoever threw thatcoin,what a shot! Can’t believe it was a copper 2p....could have at least been a#1 coin!" City manager Roberto Mancini claimed not to have witnessed the in-cident, but he condemned it nonetheless. ”i didn’t see, so i don’t know whathappened,“ said the italian. ”We have fantastic support but we can’t do whatthat person did, because it’s not good.“ A fan wearing City colours also had tobe restrained by home goalkeeper Joe Hart after walking onto the pitch andmaking his way towards Ferdinand after van Persie’s goal. Ferdinand laterthanked his one-time england colleague. AGenCIes

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Tuesday, 11 December, 2012

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foreign teamsarrive for asia cupDeaf cricket

LAHORE stAff report

deaf cricket teams from Afghanistan,india, Nepal and Sri Lanka on Mondayreached here to take part in the Asia Cupdeaf Cricket Championship beingplayed here from december 12 at differ-ent grounds.All the three visiting teams were givenrousing reception on their arrival in theprovincial metropolis by the office bear-ers of Pakistan deaf cricket Associationled by their President, irfan Miraj andmanger PdCA, Zaheerudin Babar.“it is a historic moment for Pakistandeaf cricket that the Asia Cup will beplayed here and we anticipate thrillingcricket in coming day,” he said. He further stated: “We have finalized allthe arrangements for hosting the eventin a befitting manner,” he said.He said all the participating teams in-cluding hosts Pakistan are fully pre-pared to exhibit good quality cricket forthe entertainment of the lovers of thegame.“This event will further promote cricketamong deaf in Pakistan besides portray-ing a soft image of Pakistan as a safevenue for staging international cricketevents for special cricketers,” ahe as-serted.Zaheer said the matches will be playedat LCCA, Bagh-e-Jinnah grounds withthe final december 17 final to be playedat Gadaffi stadium.“ if Gadaffi stadiumwill not be available then we will beholding the final at Bagh-e-Jinnahground “,he said.PdCA official said top security is beingprovided to all the foreign teams. “ Thematches will be 50-overs-a-side and weanticipate good crowds at all the venues“. Two matches will be played daily.The opening ceremony of the Cup willbe held tomorrow, Tuesday at Punjabstadium and Hamza Shahbaz SharifMNA will be the chief guest on the occa-sion. He said efforts have been to grooma strong Pak team to successfully defendthe title .

FILLING The PONTING vOIDNEWSDESK

Australia's Test team convened withoutRicky Ponting in Hobart on Mondayevening. Barring reasons of injury orpersonal leave, this is the first time sucha state of affairs has existed since 1999.

The space left by Ponting will be feltas much in the dressing room as out inthe middle, for while his run-makingtrailed off badly towards the end, hiscontribution to the team's developmentas a mentor and example was seldomstronger.

Phillip Hughes occupies Ponting'splace on the team sheet, but all will beexpected to take up the considerablehole left by his presence. Apart from thecaptain Michael Clarke, the most seniormembers of the squad to play at Bel-lerive are Michael Hussey, Shane Wat-son and Mitchell Johnson.

Their insights and examples will becritical to younger team-mates, and sotoo will the personal experience of ed

Cowan. Having benefited greatly fromthe time he spent around Ponting bothbefore and after his elevation to the na-tional team, Cowan will now be expectedto show that example.

"it's an odd situation in that one ofthe guys that has been inked into the toporder, but more so inked into the cultureof the change room, will be missing,"Cowan told eSPNcricinfo. "So there aretwo ways to look at it. One is to remi-nisce and think what a hole he's going toleave. The other side of the coin is thatit's an opportunity for guys to step up,not only as players but as leaders aroundthe change room, and that's an opportu-nity for a number of guys to combine to-gether and try to fill the void of hispresence.

"i think cultures evolve, and the cul-ture of this team has evolved sinceMichael's taken the captaincy, so it's aquestion of guys being willing like Rickywas to give of themselves to the teamlike no other. Put the team first, play to

win, and make sure the change roomsare a better place when the next personsteps into it. A massive loss off the field,but the identity of this team has beengrowing since Michael took over the cap-taincy, and that growth's been pretty ev-ident in the results."

That those results did not culminatein a series victory over South Africa wasdown to a major malfunction at Nos. 3and 4 in the batting order - of whichPonting was of course a part - the toll ofthree Tests on the hosts' bowlers, andthe resilience of the seasoned visitors.Cowan enjoyed a productive series per-sonally, making his first Test centuryand looking comfortable at other times,but the most resounding lessons of theseries were of the five-day game's un-remitting nature.

"From a team point of view it was agreat lesson that Test series are exactlythat," Cowan said. "it's not one or twodays of really decent cricket, to beat thebest you have to be consistent for 15 days.

Thai golf boosted

by fourth asian

Tour eventBANGKOKAGenCIes

Thailand's reputation as a hub for golfwas burnished Monday after Asian Tourorganisers said they will add the new Chi-ang Mai Golf Classic to the schedule nextyear, a fourth event for the kingdom.The inaugural tournament will starsome of Asia's best players includingThai heroes Thongchai Jaidee and Tha-worn Wiratchant -- the tour's currentOrder of Merit leader -- the Asian Toursaid in a statement. Thongchai, the onlyplayer to win three Order of Meritcrowns, hailed the Chiang Mai event as"a wonderful development for thegame" showing "the growing strength ofthe Asian Tour". Thailand's playershave enjoyed a strong season this yearwith Thaworn topping the tour moneylist with one event to play, Prom Mee-sawat in sixth and Chapchai Nirat inninth.There was more good news on Sundayafter 20-year-old ThitiphunChuayprakong came joint-second in theThailand Golf Championship behind2011 US Masters winner CharlSchwartzel and tied with this year's Au-gusta victor Bubba Watson."The launch of a new event is fantasticand exciting for the Asian Tour and ourplayers. it will have a positive effect onthe game here and inject new impetusfor many more great players to emergefrom the Kingdom," tour executivechairman Kyi Hla Han said.

Harris steps awayfrom bbl

NEWSDESK

Ryan Harris' recovery from shouldersurgery has consumed his BBL cam-paign for the Brisbane Heat, as thehighly regarded fast bowler strives to beconsidered for Australia's 2013 Testtours of india and england.Having undergone rotator cuff surgeryin August, Harris had originally hopedto be fit in time to take part in Aus-tralia's home Test series against SriLanka, starting on Friday in Hobart.But a careful recuperation process hastaken longer than first thought, firstruling him out of any cricket beforeChristmas and now extending into theBBL phase of summer. While Harrishas returned to the bowling crease, heis yet to deliver a ball at full pace or offhis long run, and it has been decidedthat he is better off not rushing backfor Twenty20 duty.

Rooney, Persie star asunited beat city 3-2

NEWSDESK

UNiTed won anotherclassic Manchesterderby with Robin vanPersie's deflected latefree-kick handing the

Reds a sensational 3-2 triumph afterCity had fought back from two goalsdown.

Wayne Rooney's two similar first-half strikes had the Reds on course toend the champions' unbeaten homerun in the Barclays Premier Leaguethat has lasted almost two years. Thematch looked to have turned com-pletely with half an hour left as AshleyYoung had a goal wrongly ruled out be-fore Yaya Toure netted within seconds.

it allowed the Blues to stage acomeback that led to Pablo Zabaletalevelling from a corner on 86 minutesbut the visitors were simply not pre-pared to settle for remaining threepoints clear at the top of the table. in-credibly, Van Persie had the final say instoppage time to end City's proud runand inflict their first league defeatsince last April.

There were surprises in both line-ups with Mario Balotelli starting forthe hosts while Antonio Valencia andTom Cleverley were fit enough to rep-resent the Reds. Balotelli had two earlychances as City began the better as hisambitious free-kick was helped wide bydavid de Gea before the italian couldonly muster a wild slash at a GaelClichy centre following a tremendouspass by david Silva.

Sir Alex's side had not threatenedbefore a glorious move on 16 minutescarved open the Blues' defence. Youngheaded Patrice evra's ball down theline on to van Persie, whose chest-passreturned it to the winger and had City

on the back foot. Young timed it rightto feed Rooney and the striker set him-self up with a fine touch before scuffinginto the far corner past a motionlessJoe Hart. it was not the cleanest ofstrikes but certainly a sweet one.

The way in which United hurt thechampions with the first attack of men-ace was encouraging and captain Vin-cent Kompany had to come off due toinjury with Kolo Toure taking his place.Undoubtedly, it was another boost andHart had to race from goal to preventYoung from reaching a van Persiethrough ball.

Sergio Aguero somehow workedhis way through four defenders butcould only manage a tame side-footshot that de Gea comfortably fieldedand, six minutes later, another rapierthrust by the Reds again had the de-sired effect. Valencia picked out Rafaelon a typically energetic burst forwardand Rooney advanced smartly onto theBrazilian's pull-back to clip anotherclinical finish wide of Hart.

A furious response was expectedbut, aside from a scare when GarethBarry choked his shot from the centreof goal two minutes before the break,the Reds looked assured as the halfended and good value for the two-goallead.

Some defensive reorganisation forUnited was required when Chris Small-ing replaced the injured Jonny evanswhile Roberto Mancini withdrew theineffective Balotelli in order to handCarlos Tevez another chance to upsethis former club. Although Cleverleysmashed a half-chance over the bar,City started to build up a head of steamwith Aguero sending a decent dippingattempt off target and Rio Ferdinandneeding to defend a dangerous SamirNasri cross brilliantly at the far post.

The whole complexion of the gamechanged around the hour mark asUnited had a goal erroneously ruledout for offside. Van Persie bent a beau-tiful right-foot shot against the insideof a post with Hart well beaten andYoung's rebound was disallowed, eventhough replays showed Zabaleta wasplaying him onside. Within a matter ofseconds, instead of being 3-0 down,City reduced the deficit despite the bestefforts of de Gea. The Spanish keepermade a superb double-stop to thwartTevez and Silva but Tevez showed greatcomposure to tee up Yaya Toure for aprecise finish not disimilar to Rooney'stwo efforts.

United gamely tried to use attack asthe best means of defence and evra wasangry to be denied a penalty by refereeMartin Atkinson after being caught byKolo Toure inside the box. The French-man showed his nous in a defensiverole to help eradicate the danger pro-vided by pal Tevez as the match swungfrom end to end but continued to getforward and misjudged a Rooney cor-ner from a promising position.

With 12 minutes left, United ad-vanced with menace again but Clever-ley's cross was misjudged by van Persie,who could only head wastefully wide.City responded in kind as Silva showedgreat skill inside the box to allow him-self plenty of space to fire goalwardsbut the ball cannoned off de Gea'sshoulder and against the woodwork.

it was a let-off for the visitors and,after Tevez blazed over from anothermove instigated down City's right,Mancini threw on edin dzeko at theexpense of goalscorer Yaya Toure. SirAlex had to replace Valencia with PhilJones and seemingly set the stall outfor the closing stages but Zabaletacame up trumps with four minutes left.

SAO PAuLOAGenCIes

Roger Federer saysBrazil needs to improveits tennis facilities if it isto hold future ATP WorldTour events. The 17-timeGrand Slam winner is cur-rently in Brazil for an exhibi-tion tournament at the10,000-capacity ibirapuera Gym-nasium here, reports Xinhua.Speaking after his 7-6 (7-3), 6-3 victoryover France's Jo-Wilfried Tsonga,Federer said Brazil needed "to thinkbigger" to stage elite tournamentsin future.

"i think some things need to beimproved if you want to make sure

the fans have the best experience possible," the SwissWorld No. 2 told estado de Sao Paulo. "The interna-tional media will always make comparisons. You haveto think big. Obviously the ATP sets high standardsregarding facilities. "This venue (ibirapuera) is a lit-

tle old and it needs to be bigger but the atmos-phere is great and the fans incredible. There is no

need to worry about that side of things." World No. 8Tsonga said the 2014 FiFA World Cup and 2016 Rio

Olympics could provide the boosttennis needs in Brazil. "i think in

the future Brazil is going to im-prove a lot," Tsonga said."it

will host the World Cup andthe Olympics which are

going to be great events. iam sure that in the fu-

ture Brazil will be ableto host a big tennis

tournament."

Brazil must improve tennis facilities: Roger Federer

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Tuesday, 11 December, 2012

Published by Arif Nizami at Qandeel Printing Press, 4 Queens Road, Lahore. Editor: Arif Nizami

ISLAMABADtAyyAb HUssAIn

Admitting the presidential reference onjudges’ appointments for regular hearing,the Supreme Court on Monday rejected aplea by the federation for sending a rec-ommendation to the chief justice of Pak-istan for formation of a larger bench tohear the case, with the bench observingthat the issue involved serious constitu-tional questions.

A five-judge bench of Justice Khilji ArifHussain, Justice Tariq Pervaiz, Justice ejazAfzal Khan, Justice Gulzar Ahmed and Jus-tice Sheikh Azmat Saeed also appointed twoamicus curiae for assisting it to determinethe role of the president in appointment ofjudges of the superior judiciary, arising out

of a pending matter related to islamabadHigh Court judges. earlier, the bench tookup the presidential reference moved underArticle 186 invoking its advisory jurisdiction.After initial discussion, the bench nomi-nated Makhdoom Ali Khan, former attor-ney general for Pakistan and KhawajaHaris, former Punjab advocate general, asamicus curiae in the case.

The bench was constituted to take upa 31-page reference containing 13 ques-tions related to the role of the president,as well as the Judicial Commission andParliamentary Committee on judges’ ap-pointment in the appointment of judgesto the superior judiciary. The bench alsoasked the secretary of the judicial com-mission to submit minutes of the twomeetings held over the appointment of

iHC judges and directed the islamabadHigh Court registrar to submit notifica-tion regarding appointment of additionaljudges, Justice Riaz Ahmed Khan andJustice Anwar Kasi.

About issuance of notice to the attorneygeneral for Pakistan, the bench in its orderobserved that the question whether hecould appear in the instant matter whilebeing a member of the judicial commissionwould be determined on next date of hear-ing. The bench, however, did not agree to arequest by Wasim Sajjad, the counsel forthe referring authority, for sending a rec-ommendation to the chief justice of Pak-istan for formation of a larger bench sincethe issue involved serious constitutionalquestions. during the course of hearing,Wasim Sajjad said the president had moved

the reference seeking the court’s guidanceover the significant constitutional issue. Hesaid the judicial commission comprised fivesenior judges of the court and this benchhad to examine their decision. Justice KhiljiArif Hussain observed that it involved pro-priety issue of the chief justice of Pakistan.He told the counsel that his apprehensionwas unfounded as the judicial commissionhad taken the decision on administrativebasis and they would have to adjudicateupon the issue on judicial side. JusticeGulzar Ahmed suggested that a petitionover the issue of appointment of iHCjudges was pending and would be dealtwith on judicial side and if he desired, hisquestions could be raised before that bench.

Pentagon presents mixed reporton Afghanistan

WASHINGTON speCIAl Correspondent

The existence of militant sacnturaries inPakistan, corruption and limited Afghangovernment capabilities are the greatestobstacles to stability in Afghanistan, whilethere has been improvement in cross-border cooperationn Pakistani and Afghansides, according to a Pentagon reportdelivered to Congress on Monday. TheReport on Progress Toward Security andStability in Afghanistan claims thecoalition surge accomplished its mission.The enemy has lost capability, the reportsays. The number of attacks is down and,while the Taliban and its al-Qaida alliescan launch a few flashy attacks, the terrorgroup’s capabilities have waned, thePentagon said. Pakistan remains aproblem, but there is some progress onthat front, according to the report. “Theinsurgency and al-Qaida continue to faceU.S. counterterrorism pressure within thesafe havens,” the report says. “U.S.relations with Pakistan have begun toimprove following the re-opening ofPakistani ground lines of communication,and there has been nascent improvementwith respect to cross-border cooperationbetween Pakistan and Afghanistan.” infact, the report continues, there has beensome cooperation on both sides of theborder in coordinating counterterroroffensives. Most security metrics haveimproved, the report says. it compares thefirst year of the surge – 2010 – with Aprilthrough September of this year, noting thatenemy-initiated attacks have declined by12 percent. detonations of improvisedexplosive devices declined 9 percent. Thepercentage of civilian casualties caused byNATO forces declined 28 percent. direct-fire attacks have dropped by 9 percent, andindirect-fire attacks are down by 24percent. However, civilian casualtiescaused by enemy attacks are up 11 percent,according to the Pentagon report. Thereport’s findings point to progress with theAfghan national security forces, which willtake over security operations when U.S.and coalition forces leave at the end of2014. “The ANSF has grown by 88,464personnel, and has dramatically increasedits capabilities,” the report states. “Theareas of the country influenced by theinsurgents and the ability of the insurgencyto attack the population have beensignificantly diminished.”

ISLAMABAD sHAIQ HUssAIn

PAKiSTAN on Mondaysought afresh a civil nu-clear with the UnitedStates on the pattern of theone that the US has with

india whereas American officials, whowere here for talks on strategic stabilityand nonproliferation, asked for islam-abad’s signatures on the Fissile MissileCutoff Treaty (FMCT).

Pakistan has been long seeking a civilnuclear deal with the US that has allowedNew delhi’s access to nuclear technologydespite being a non-signatory to the Nu-clear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).Pakistani officials say a civil nuclear pactwith the US would help the governmentovercome the ever-growing energy re-quirements. Besides, Pakistan also wantsto join the Nuclear Suppliers Group(NSG) and wants the US’ support in thisregard. The NSG is a multinational bodyconcerned with reducing nuclear prolif-eration by controlling the export and re-

transfer of materials that may be appli-cable to nuclear weapon developmentand by improving safeguards and protec-tion on existing materials. According todiplomatic sources, Pakistani officialsdiscussed the vital issues of a civil nucleardeal with the US and islamabad’s NSGmembership with their American coun-terparts at the meeting of Pakistan-USSecurity, Strategic Stability, and Nonpro-liferation (SSS&NP) Working Group.

Additional Secretary for the UnitedNations and economic CoordinationAmbassador Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhryand Acting Under-Secretary of State forArms Control and international SecurityRose Gottemoeller, co-chaired the vitalmeeting. in the past, the US authoritieshad turned down Pakistan’s demandsfor a civil nuclear deal. The sources saidthe American officials told their Pak-istani counterparts that they would con-vey islamabad’s demand to seniorAmerican authorities in Washington.Another issue that was discussed wasthat of Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty(FMCT), a proposed international treaty

to prohibit the further production of fis-sile material for nuclear weapons orother explosive devices.

The US and other western nationshave been blaming Pakistan for block-ing the start of negotiations of a globalhalt to the production of fissile mate-rial for nuclear weapons. However,Pakistani authorities say the FMCTcannot begin because it does no coverthe existing stockpiles of bomb-mak-ing material. Moreover, Pakistani of-ficials are of the view that the civilnuclear deal between india and theUS would allow New delhi to havemany new sources of fissile materialto make bombs.

“it was decided to continue withtalks on FMCT and other importantnonproliferation matters at the meet-ing held here between the US and Pak-istani officials,” a source seekinganonymity said. He said as for the USdemand of Pakistan to sign FMCT, is-lamabad’s stance remained the same,that the treaty should also cover the ex-isting stockpiles of fissile material.

10 killed in assault onBannu police

PESHAWARsHAMIM sHAHId

in a wave of terror incidents in KhyberPakhtunkhwa on Monday, at least 10people, including three policemen, werekilled and several others injured in amilitant ambush on Kakki Police Station inBannu district while seven peoplesustained injuries when a low-intensitybomb went off close to the venue of anAwami National Party public meeting inCharsadda where party chief AsfandyarWali was due to address supporters. in thefirst incident, four militants launched anattack on the police station in the weehours of Monday. The dead included fourcivilians who were returning from a nearbymosque after offering morning prayers,while the station house officer of KakkiPolice Station was also injured in theassault. district Police Officer WaqarAhmad said security guards opened fire ontwo persons moving towards the policestation when they ignored a warning tostop. The two then retaliated withindiscriminate fire and hurling handgrenades at the station. The dPO said athird assailant was apparently hidinginside a nearby mosque and made anattempt to rescue his accomplices byopening fire on the policemen. However,all three were killed by security officialsbefore any further damage. Locals saidanother assailant, however, fled the clashand police were making efforts to arresthim. The police recovered a rifle, 608cartridges and a hand grenade from thescene. The army was also called in to aidthe civil administration. Meanwhile inCharssada, police said unidentified menplanted a low-intensity bomb in the carparking set up in connection with the ANPmeeting. The explosives went off whenpeople started arriving for the meeting. Asa result, several people sustained minorinjuries. However, the ANP leadershipcontinued the public meeting despite theexplosion after the police tightenedsecurity measures around the area.Security sources said 500 grams ofexplosives were used to make the remote-controlled bomb.

Pakistan makes fresh bid forcivil nuclear deal with US

bAnnU: A police personnel shows the damaged barrel of an assault rifle after a terrorist attack on a police station on Monday. INP

Continued on page 04

Continued on page 04

SC rejects plea for formation of larger benchPRESIDENtIAL REfERENCE ON JUDGES’ APPOINtMENt

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