Lahore editionRs 22.00 Vol ii no 358 18 pages Sunday, 24 June, 2012 Shaban 3, 1433

CJP warns against ‘unConstitutional’ legislation ISLAMABAD

APP

Chief Justice Iftikhar MuhammadChaudhry on Saturday said that theparliament cannot legislate any law

repugnant to the constitution, injunc-tions of Islam and contrary to funda-mental laws, adding that no onecould claim supremacy over the law.

“If such law is promulgated, theSupreme Court under its power of

judicial review can review it. Theunderlying object of judicial reviewis to check abuse of power by publicfunctionaries and ensuring just andfair treatment to citizens in accor-dance with law and constitutional

norms,” Justice Chaudhry saidwhile addressing a 50-member del-egation of Youth Parliament at theSupreme Court. The CJP said: “Thesystem in our country is parliamen-tary system. From 1973 onward

there have been National Assemblyand Senate but on account of consti-tutional turmoil time and againthere had been intervention in par-liamentary system, therefore,

Continued on page 04

LHR 24-06-2012_Layout 1 6/24/2012 3:11 AM Page 1

02Sunday, 24 June, 2012

News

Today’s

LookQuick

newS

Story on page 05

laHoRe

Story on page 07

CaRtoon

page 11

Pervez Ashraf formally takes charge of PM’s office Dismiss and replace, demand patients of striking doctors

Faisal Saleh refuses to beRaja’s minister ISLAMABAD: The Chaudhrys’ efforts to convincePakistan Muslim League-Q Parliamentary Leader andformer housing minister Faisal Saleh Hayat to join PrimeMinister Raja Pervez Ashraf’s cabinet have ended in afiasco, as the latter is not ready to work under thecontroversial Raja. A reliable source in the Pakistan MuslimLeague-Quaid told Pakistan Today that though Hayat hadcast his vote for Pervez Ashraf on request of ChaudhryShujaat Hussain, Pervaiz Elahi and Moonis Elahi whovisited his residence on Friday (June 22), their efforts toconvince him to work in Raja’s cabinet had ended in vain.“Faisal Saleh has finally told the Chaudhrys that he wouldnot take oath as the federal minister,” the source said,adding that now the portfolio of housing ministry would goto some other PML-Q MNA. The source said apart fromintra-party differences on ministerial berths, the issue ofFaisal Saleh Hayat was also the reason behind PML-Q’sstaying away from the oath-taking ceremony held on Fridaynight. The source said that the portfolios of PML-Qministers would be decided today (Sunday) after which theywould take oath. “Senior Minister Pervez Elahi will havepowers nearly equal to the prime minister though the legalhitches in his way to become deputy prime minister maytake some time to be removed,” he added. stAFF rePort

2 ‘pakistanis’ found deadon adriatic sea ferryROME: Two would-be immigrants were found deadon a ferry that arrived in the Italian port of Anconafrom Greece Saturday and a third was in a coma,media reported. The daily Corriere della Sera said inits online edition that 18 migrants hid under lorriesand busses on the Superfast ferry and suffered fromthe extreme heat inside the hull. ANSA news agencysaid the migrants were inside a Hungarian lorry anddied asphyxiated. Two drivers were arrested, theagency added. There were conflicting reports aboutthe migrants’ origins, with the Corriere saying theywere from Pakistan and ANSA reporting they camefrom Afghanistan. On Tuesday seven migrants wentmissing after their boat capsized off the southernItalian coast. Four others were rescued. AFP

SHC asked to orderpM to write to Swiss KARACHI: An application was filed in the SindhHigh Court (SHC) on Saturday seeking direction forthe new prime minister to write the letter to the Swissauthorities. After making Raja Pervez Ashraf party tothe case, applicant Iqbal Haider said it was clear fromthe Supreme Court’s judgement that every primeminister was bound to write to the Swiss authoritiesfor the reopening of graft cases against President AsifAli Zardari. “Therefore, the court should direct newlyelected prime minister to write to Swiss officials and ifhe doesn’t write then it should be taken as a violationof court orders,” the petitioner said. The constitutionalapplication will be heard on Monday. AGeNCies

ISLAMABADAGeNCies

Prices of petroleum products are likely to reduceby up to four percent in the coming month.

According to sources, a decrease of four per-cent in the prices of petroleum products is ex-pected as price of crude oil has reduced to $4per barrel in the international market.

Petrol price will go down by Rs 3 per litrewhile a decrease of Re 1 is expected in the priceof diesel. Kerosene oil price will reduce by Rs1.50 and HOBC price by Rs 5 per litre.

Sources said that Oil and Gas RegulatoryAuthority (OGRA) will prepare the recom-mendations for the reduction in POL prices onJune 27.

Some analysts believe that the governmentwas continuing slashing POL prices to appeasethe public in the crucial election year.

On June 15, the government had cut petro-leum and CNG prices that have worsened infla-tion and fuelled the fury of citizens over the pastseveral months.

The prices of petrol was previously loweredby Rs 10.46 per litre, High Octane BlendedComponent (HOBC) by Rs 11.75 per litre,Kerosene Oil by Rs 5.26 per litre, High SpeedDiesel (HSD) by Rs 6.08per litre andLight DieselOil (LDO) byRs 5.02 perlitre.

A l o n gwith the cutin petro-leum prices,the govern-ment had also slashed the price ofCNG by Rs 4.82 per kg in Balochistan,Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Potohar, andby Rs 4.37 in Sindh and Punjab.

The petroleum minister had said in apress conference that the Economic Coordi-nation Committee (ECC) had decided to reviewoil and CNG prices on fortnightly basis to pro-vide relief to the consumers.

“If the fortnightly mechanism proved suc-cessful, then the review of oil prices on weeklybasis will be introduced,” he had said.

The government had alsofixed the price of CNG at

60 percent of petrol fora year after consult-

ing the CNG associ-ations.

ICT, RawalpindiPolice at loggerheadsover Malik Riaz

ISLAMABADKAsHiF ABBAsi

The Islamabad Police has booked officials ofRawalpindi Police and Anti-Corruption Establishment(ACE), who conducted a raid at the residence ofproperty tycoon Malik Riaz to arrest him in connectionwith the land fraud case, Pakistan Today learnt onSaturday. The raiding team was booked on charges ofobstructing ICT police officials while performing theirduties outside Malik Raiz’s house. A source toldPakistan Today that a team of Rawalpindi Police andACE, on Saturday raided the house of Malik Riaz toarrest him in the case registered against him, his sonand five others in 2009. The sources said during theraid, the property tycoon was not present at home.A large number of officials of the ICT Police havebeen performing duties at Malik Raiz’s house sincethe last many days. On Saturday, when policeofficials tried to enter the house, the officials of ICTpolice deployed there resisted and even tried toarrest the raiding team. Later, according to thesources, Abpara Police registered an FIR underSection 186/353 against the raiding team.

POL prices likely to drop by 4 percent

eArlier story — page 05

FAISALABAD: Local residents carrying sticks and stones

approach a rickshaw driver during a protest against

excessive electricity load shedding on Saturday. ONLINE

LHR 24-06-2012_Layout 1 6/24/2012 3:11 AM Page 2

03Sunday, 24 June, 2012

NewseditoRialthe standoff continues

CoMMent

articles on page 14

It’s helping nobody but the militants

Humayun Gauhar says;All over a letter: What a tamasha

M J Akbar says; As a matter of fact: The rich now want money from the poor

aRtS & enteRtainMent

Story on page 13

buSineSS

Story on page 19

SpoRtS

Story on page 14

‘the Amazing spider-Man’: swinging good or all bugged out? euro’s big four agree growth boost, split on bonds sl tighten noose on Pakistan

PESHAWARsHAMiM sHAHiD

AMPING up its efforts to com-bat militants and put a stop totheir activities, the governmentis likely to give a green signal fora decisive military action in

North Waziristan. The move is aimed at fa-cilitating the efforts for peace across the bor-der in Afghanistan, and in the tribal areas ofPakistan.

Pakistan Today has learnt through somehighly-placed sources that a decision in prin-ciple has been taken in this regard in a meet-ing of a high-powered committee a couple ofdays back in Peshawar. The committee com-prises the governor and chief minister ofKhyber Pakhtunkhwa and the PeshawarCorps Commander. However, the no date hasyet been finalised for the military action inNorth Waziristan.

The sources claim that the committee in-sisted on military action after the incident on15 April, 2012, in which over 200 militantsattacked Central Jail, Bannu, and releasedsome 384 prisoners. The prison held some ofthe terrorists convicted and sentenced by thecourts. Among those who escaped, AdnanRashid was prominent. He was sentenced todeath in a failed attempt on the life of formerPresident, Pervez Musharraf.

Though some 100 escaped prisonershave been re-arrested, as many as 150 ofthem, all hardcore militants, are now be-lieved to be hiding in scattered areas ofNorth Waziristan. The jail-breaking militantswere tasked with targeting high profile politi-cians, tribal elders who are loyal to govern-ment, bureaucrats and police officers. Theruling party of the province, Awami NationalParty, has been a particularly favourite targetfor them.

They say that in order to ensure safety oftroops and avert terrorist acts, the adminis-tration has been imposing a weekly curfewon Sundays. The troops move from one sta-

tion to another only on that particular day,and this has been going on for the last severalweeks, some of the tribal sources informedPakistan Today.THE NATO fACTOR: The situation in theneighbouring Afghanistan is also a factor inspeeding up the government’s reaction. Anattack in Kabul on a hotel the other day,killing 20 people, has pressed the govern-ment of Pakistan even further. The NATOand US forces in Afghanistan have blamedthe attack on the Haqqani network, based inNorth Waziristan.

“Afghan National Security Forces andcoalition military sources acknowledge thatthis attack bears the signature of theHaqqani network, which continues to targetand kill innocent Afghans and blatantly vio-late Afghan sovereignty from the safety ofPakistan,” Gen John R Allen, ISAF com-mander and commander of US troops inAfghanistan said.

They have been calling on Pakistan for amilitary action in the region for some timenow. Tension between the two countries, the

US and Pakistan, after the Salala incidenthave though apparently not subsided, thereclearly seems to be some movement. The op-eration, a long standing demand of the US,would offer a clear indication that both coun-tries want to move forward now.PuBLIC SuPPORT: Even though Pak-istan’s military is already conducting a mil-itary operation in South Waziristan, thegovernment is seemingly left with no optionbut to embark on a decisive military actionagainst the militants. Strategies are beinglaid down by the security forces to achievethe objectives. However, military leader-ship is of the view that public support is amust before they move into the area. Thearmed forces intend Swat-like scenariowhere common men vacated the area andendorsed the military action against thebanned Taliban, headed by Mullah FazalUllah. Tribesmen of North Waziristan,however, have pointed out the wide rangingfears among the locals regarding militaryaction. Some well-to-do families have al-ready shifted to safe places.

KP govt mulling operationin North Waziristan

Something might happen

before March: ImranTANDO MUHAMMAD KHAN

AGeNCies

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan has onceagain dismissed any possibility of a patch up with the PakistanMuslim League-Nawaz (PML-N). Talking to reporters on Saturday,Imran held the opposition party responsible for the crises facing thecountry, saying the party had once been part of the federal govern-ment. Imran said that President Asif Ali Zardari had inducted RajaPervez Ashraf as prime minister only to protect his corruption. Hesaid that transparent elections were not possible with Zardari sit-ting in the Presidency. When asked whether he saw election in

March, Imran said a lot of things couldhappen before March. However, he did

not provide any specific details abouthis claim. The PTI chief only hintedthat something might happen inconnection with the memogateissue. He said that Husain Haqqanihad sought US support against Pak-

istan’s army and nuclear weapons onthe behalf of Zardari. He said the alle-gations against the ex-envoy had been

proved true through a probe by ajudicial commission.

The PTI chief con-demned an incidentof shooting on a

rally of AwamiTehrik inKarachi, addingthat politicalparties were re-

sponsible forthe deteriorat-ing law andorder situa-tion in Lyari.

pre-monsoon rainforecast for next week

ISLAMABADAPP

A two-day rain bout has been forecast fromTuesday that would beat the oppressive heatof June to some extent after the mercurysurged to almost 50˚Celsius in some parts ofthe country on Saturday. “The pre-monsoonrain would hit the upper parts of the countryincluding Rawalpindi and Islamabad that willbe followed by the onset of regular monsoonseason from the first week of July,” PakistanMeteorological Department Director GeneralArif Mehmood said. He said the pre-monsoonspell would be mild but would help bring thetemperature down that would in turn have apositive impact on the human health as wellas the standing crop. According to the MetOffice, southwest monsoonal currents arelikely to penetrate southern and eastern partsof the country from Sunday evening. Underthe influence of southwest monsoonincursion, intermittent scattered rain-thundershowers are likely in Rawalpindi,Islamabad, Eastern Balochistan, Sindh coast,central and upper parts of Punjab, upperKhyber Pakhtunkhwa and most parts ofKashmir from Tuesday to Thursday.

LHR 24-06-2012_Layout 1 6/24/2012 3:12 AM Page 3

04Sunday, 24 June, 2012

News

They suggested the govern-ment to utilise the services ofscientists to exploit re-sources to overcome the cur-rent scenario.

The strike and violentprotests did hurt the public inother ways. A halt on busi-ness activities means thatmany daily wagers will sleepon empty stomachs while pa-tients in hospitals will alsoface severe difficulty in pur-chasing medicines. Adding tothe public’s difficulty was thetransporters’ decision to joinin the strike, putting millionsof travellers in trouble.

The situation was thesame in the south Punjab.There were protests in RahimYar Khan, Bahawalpur, Ha-roonabad, Dera Ghazi Khanand Layyah. In Jhelum, acomplete shutter down strikewas observed while they alsobesieged WAPDA office. Thesituation was no different in

other provinces of the coun-try as well. The protestersblocked main road, leadingto Quetta, in Ziarat becauseof load-shedding for over 18hours. Traders are on a strikefor the consecutive third dayin Bagh district of AzadJammu and Kashmir.THE ENERgy MEET-INg: To control the situa-tion and increase thegeneration of electricity, anenergy meeting was heldunder the chairmanship ofPrime Minister Ashraf herelast night at the PM House inwhich it was decided that theMinistry of Petroleum willensure the supply of 28,000tones fuel oil daily to powersector to add 1,200 MW inthe national grid system.

It was also decided toprovide 15mmcfd to GTPS,Faisalabad, which would addanother 65 mw in the na-tional grid leading to ease upthe pressure. The meeting

also discussed to provide 100mmcfd additional supply ofgas to Karachi ElectricitySupply Corporation to pro-duce 300 mw which couldhelp KESC in reducing theiroff-take from the nationalgrid of equal quantity ofpower, making it available tothe national grid improvingthe supply of electricity.

The allotted gas will beprovided to the power sectorby suspending its supply forone more day to the industrialand the captive power sectorsin Punjab, thus sparing the 66mmcfd of gas for use in themost efficient power plants toproduce electricity.

Similarly, 150mmcfd gas isproposed to be saved in theprovince of Sindh by cutting itssupply for one more day fromthe industrial and the CNGsectors which will be used byKESC for power generation.

In the meeting, it wasalso decided to constitute

two committees consistingof, Minister for Water andPower Chaudhry AhmedMukhtar, Minister for Infor-mation Qamar Zaman Kaira,Minister for Petroleum DrAsim Hussain and Ministerfor Kashmir Affairs MianManzoor Ahmed Wattoo tohold negotiations with therepresentative of the Punjabindustries and CNG sector inan attempt to convince themto agree to one more day cut-ting of the gas supply in viewof the acute requirement ofgas in the power sector.

The other committeeconsisting of Minister for Fi-nance Dr Hafeez Shaikh,Minister for Religious Af-fairs Syed Khurshid Shahand Minister for PetroleumDr Asim Hussain will holdtalks with the governorSindh and chief ministerSindh to take into confi-dence all the stakeholdersfor reduction of gas supply.

no power, no business!Continued fRom page 18

QUettA: A family mourns the killing of a relative in an attack on a laundry on saturday. AfP

WASHINGTONiNP

THE US and Pak-istan appear tobe heading forrenewed colli-sion after a top

American general blamed abloody attack on a Kabulhotel on Pakistan-basedHaqqani network and WhiteHouse vowed to take “neces-sary steps” to mitigate thethreat.

“Our concern about mil-itants using Pakistan as asafe haven from which tolaunch attacks against ourforces is well known,” WhiteHouse Deputy Press Secre-tary Josh Earnest told re-porters, traveling withPresident Barack Obama onAir Force One to Tampa.

“We’ll take steps neces-sary to mitigate that threat,”the spokesman said in hardcomments after US com-mander of NATO troops in

Afghanistan General JohnAllen accused the Haqqaninetwork of orchestrating a12-hour siege on a lakesidehotel in Kabul that killed 18people on Friday.

In a statement, Allenblamed the al Qaeda-linkednetwork just weeks after USDefense Secretary LeonPanetta said the US was run-ning out of patience withPakistan over its refusal toeliminate terror havens.

Earnest said Washing-ton had raised the issue“both publicly and privatelywith the Pakistani govern-ment”.

“We value our relation-ship with Pakistan and we’llcontinue to find ways towork together to combatthose terrorist groups thatpose a threat both to theUnited States forces, butalso to innocent Pakistanicivilians,” he said.

US vows to take stepsto mitigate threat ofPakistani safe havens

Blast at Afghan music

market, two deadKABuL: An improvised bomb exploded at a musicmarket in an Afghan city on Saturday, leaving two peopledead, officials said, a day after Taliban militants stormeda lakeside resort near Kabul, killing at least 18. The blastat the market in the eastern city of Jalalabad, close to theborder with Pakistan’s militant-infested tribal areas,wounded four people, local government spokesmanAhmad Zia Abdulzai said. AFP

CJp warns

the expectations of peopleattached with parliament couldnot be fulfilled. Parliament isrequired to give laws inaccordance with theconstitution for betterment ofpublic at large so that laws canbe made applicable.” The CJPstressed that the constitution isa complete document whichanswers all questions, addingthat every organ of the stateenjoys complete institutionalindependence within itsconstitutional domain,however, any excess or misuseof power beyond that domainbecomes the subject matter ofjudicial scrutiny. Speakingabout fundamental rights, hesaid, “Where any question ofpublic importance arises withreference to enforcement ofany of fundamental rightsensured by the Constitution ofPakistan; then the SupremeCourt has power to make anyappropriate order forenforcement of these rights.”The law applies to all,irrespective of their status,power, caste, creed andreligion. No one can claimsupremacy over and above thelaw, the CJP added. JusticeChaudhry said the youth, beinga crucial segment of society,formed the basis for futuredevelopment and were the faceand future of the nation.

Continued fRom page 1

hailed from Sindh and hadcome to Quetta for work.The owner of the shop Mo-hammad Shezad got in-jured, but escaped with hislife. Police officials said theincident was being thor-oughly investigated and thereason behind the deadlyattack could be old enmity.A case was registeredagainst unidentified people,however no arrests had

been made so far.No group or person

claimed responsibility forthe attack by the time thereport was filed. “At leasteight men were killed andanother man waswounded,” confirmed sen-ior police official IskandarTareen. Initial investiga-tions indicated the victimswere “settlers”, he said. Thecountry’s restive provinceBalochistan suffers from

militancy, sectarian vio-lence between Sunni andShia Muslims and a sepa-ratist insurgency that alsotargets non-natives. Mean-while, a man was gunneddown in Faizabab area ofQuetta on Saturday, policesaid. They said unidenti-fied men riding a motorbikeopened fire at KhudaeNazar who was on way to abazaar in his car. He waskilled on the spot.

Eight settlers killed in QuettaContinued fRom page 18

LAHOREAPP

Punjab Assembly Saturday ap-proved Rs 57.14 billion sup-plementary budget for fiscalyear 2012-13. During budgetapproval the oppositionpointed out quorum twicewhich the treasury succeededin fetching the requiredstrength in the House.

Today the session was com-menced with routine delay of 45minutes against its scheduled 10am time with Speaker RanaMuhammad Iqbal in the chair.Finance Minister Mian MujtabaShujaur Rehman winding upthe budget debate told the

House that the supplementaryamount was used under un-avoidable circumstances whileRs 23.90 billion were saved anddiverted for supplementarybudget. He said that suggestionsand proposals given by both thetreasury and opposition mem-bers were given serious thought,adding that the impressive oneswould be included in the nextbudget. He said the opposi-tion’s reservations about sup-plementary grant weregroundless and had no reality.The opposition on this occa-sion presented cut motions re-garding irrigation, land revivaland health sector which theHouse rejected with majority.

afghan flash

floods kill over 30HERAT: Flash floods inAfghanistan triggered by daysof torrential rain have killedmore than 30 people, officialssaid Saturday, with dozensreported missing. Waters sweptthrough villages and parts ofthe city of Cheghcheran incentral Ghor province early onSaturday, engulfing dozens ofhomes, provincial spokesmanAbdulhai Khatibi told AFP. “Sofor I can confirm that 24 peoplehave been killed in these floods,but some are also missing,”Khatibi said. The floodwatersalso destroyed hundreds ofhectares of farmland anddisplaced hundreds of peoplein the impoverished province,he said. AFP

PA approves Rs 57.14bsupplementary budget

LHR 24-06-2012_Layout 1 6/24/2012 3:12 AM Page 4

Sunday, 24 June, 2012 05

ISLAMABADAGeNCies

NEWLY-ELECTED PrimeMinister Raja Pervez Ashrafformally took over his officefollowing a guard of honorceremony held at the Prime

Minister’s House on Saturday.A reception was held at the PM’s

House, where Raja was presented theguard of honour by the armed forces towelcome him. He was introduced to thestaff and other senior officials of the PM’sHouse after which he left for his office.

Earlier on Friday, Raja along withhis 38-strong federal cabinet took oathat the Presidency. In an august cere-mony attended by the chiefs of the threearmed forces, President Asif Ali Zardariadministered oath to Raja and his cabi-net consisting of 27 federal ministersand 11 state ministers.

Meanwhile, all the 38 federal andstate ministers along with three advisorsto the PM were allotted their previousslots of ministries and divisions, whichthey had in the cabinet of Yousaf Raza Gi-lani. According to an official notification,three advisors to the prime minister in-clude Rehman Malik, Dr Asim Hussianand Dr Paul Bhatti. Rehman Malik hasbecome the senior adviser to the primeminister on interior, Dr Asim Hussain forpetroleum, and Dr Paul Bhatti for reli-gious harmony.

The new federal ministers,Chaudhry Pervez Elahi has been giventhe status of senior minister and as-signed the ministries of Defence Pro-duction and Industries; Farzana Raja asfederal minister and chairperson for theBenazir Income Support Programme;Makhdoom Amin Fahim as commerceminister; Arbab Alamgir as minister fortelecommunication; Hina Rabbani Khar

as foreign minister; Nazir M Gondal asminister for capital administration anddevelopment; Rana M Farooq Saeed asminister for climate change; NaveedQamar as defence minister; AbdulHafeez Sheikh as finance minister;Qamar Zaman Kaira as informationminister ; Meer Hazer Khan Bajhrani asminister for inter-provincial coordina-tion; Mian Manzoor Wattoo as ministerfor Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan affairs;Farooq H Naik as minister for law andparliamentary affairs; Farooq Sattar asminister for overseas Pakistanis; HajiKhuda Bux Rajad as minister for anti-narcotics; Firdous Aashiq Awan as min-ister for national regulation andservices; Samina Khalid as minister fornational heritage; Israrullah Zehri asminister for food security; Babar Ghorias minister for ports and shipping; Sar-dar Umar Gurgaig as minister for postalservices; Moula Bux Chandio as minis-

ter for political affairs; Haji GhulamAhmed Bilor as minister for railways;Khursheed Shah as minister for reli-gious affairs; Changaz Khan Jamali asminister for science and technology;Shaukatullah as minister for state af-fairs; and Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar asminister for water and power. Formercandidate for prime ministerMakhdoom Shahabuddin has beengiven the ministry of textiles, which hepreviously held in Gilani’s cabinet.

Among the ministers for state, AbbasKhan Afridi was assigned the portfolio oftrade; Dost M Mazari, telecommunication;Sardar Saleem Haider, defence; Malik Ham-mad Khan, foreign affairs, Sayeed SamsamBukhari, information and broadcasting;Chaudhry Imtiaz Safdar Wadaich, interior;Malik Azmat Khan, inter-provincial coordina-tion; Moazzam Ali Khan Gootway, food secu-rity; Rahila Baloch, science and technology;and Dr Nadeem Ahsan, overseas Pakistanis.

ISLAMABADoNliNe

Former prime minister Yousaf RazaGilani has moved to the President’sHouse along with his family members.A private TV channel reported onSaturday that a presidential suite offour bedrooms on the sixth floor hadbeen set up for Gilani, who remainedloyal to the Pakistan People’s Partyand kept flouting Supreme Court’sorders on write a letter to Swissauthorities for reopening corruptioncases against President Asif AliZardari. Earlier, Gilani had decided to

live in Islamabad Club but changedthe decision because of securityconcerns. Gilani will try to runthe show from the Presidency,and Raja Pervaiz Ashraf will just

be the public face as primeminister, and an agreement hasalso been reached with the new PM

in this regard, according to mediareports citing sources.

The reports addedthat Gilani’sbureaucratic aidessuch as NargisSethi, KhushnudLashari andothers wouldcontinueworking ontheir positionsand thus Rajawould bedependent and

surrounded bythe cronies of the

former PM.

Pervez ashraf formallytakes Charge of Pm’s offiCe

PML-Q continuesefforts to persuade faisalto join cabinet

ISLAMABADiNP

The PML-Q leadership continued efforts topersuade its parliamentary leader in theNational Assembly, Faisal Saleh Hayat, tojoin the federal cabinet. According todetails, Shujaat Hussain and Pervez Elahicontacted Hayat on Saturday to persuadehim to join the federal cabinet but he didnot agree. As a result, other PML-Qministers’ oath-taking has beendelayed. As soon as a decision istaken on Hayat’s joining of thecabinet, the other PML-Qministers would be administeredoath of office. According tosources, Minister of State forHousing and Works Raza HayatHiraj has expressed inability tojoin the new cabinet.According to him, hehad resigned fromthe ministry in Julylast year and hadvoted for RajaParvez Ashrafaccording topartydiscipline.Meanwhile,the PML-Qleadership hasdecided to makeTalib HussainNikai the ministerfrom its quota.

Manmohan congratulates Pervez Ashraf

NEW DELHIAFP

India’s prime minister has welcomed theappointment of new counterpart inPakistan and said that he was “confident”of strengthening ties between the twoneighbours. Pakistani MPs elected RajaPervez Ashraf as the country’s new primeminister Friday, seeking to end a politicalupheaval. India chose to refrain fromcommenting on Pakistan’s internal crisis,sparked by judges ousting ex-primeminister Yousaf Raza Gilani overcontempt charges and demanding thearrest of the first candidate to benominated as his successor. On Friday,Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singhcongratulated his Pakistani counterpart.“Our two countries will continue to makeprogress in their bilateraldialogue...(and) build good neighbourlyrelations by strengthening theircooperation in all areas for the benefit ofthe peoples of both countries,” he said.Relations between India and Pakistan,which have fought three wars since thesubcontinent was partitioned in 1947,have been plagued by border disputes,and accusations of Pakistani militantactivity against India. The neighbours arestill at loggerheads on the dividedHimalayan territory of Kashmir and nocloser to a full peace deal, but arechannelling their efforts into increasingtrade in the hope that business can bringthem together. Last month, they alsoagreed to enhance cooperation onterrorism, human trafficking, narcotics,counterfeit currency and cyber crime.

Gilani moves to President’sHouse with family

Abdul Qadir Gilanito contest NA-151Multan by-polls

MuLTAN: MPA Abdul QadirGilani, son of former primeminister Yousaf Raza Gilani,will contest by-elections forNA-151 Multan, left vacantafter his father’sdisqualification by theSupreme Court in thecontempt case. According tosources, the PPP announcedthe decision of giving partyticket to Abdul Qadir Gilani.Abdul Qadir will resign fromhis MPA seat to contest theelection. The ElectionCommission of Pakistan onFriday announced theschedule for by-election in NA-151 Multan-IV for the NationalAssembly seat. Per schedule,nomination papers of thecandidates will be received onJune 25 and 26 while pollingwill be held on July 19. INP

islAMABAD: Prime Minister raja Pervez Ashraf inspects a guard of honour during a welcoming ceremony at the Prime Minister House on saturday.

LHR 24-06-2012_Layout 1 6/24/2012 3:12 AM Page 5

06 Sunday, 24 June, 2012

Ex-Haj DG involved in

corruption of 3.6 m

riyals, parliamentary

body tells judge ISLAMABAD

AGeNCies

The special parliamentary committeeinvestigating the Haj corruption case hastold Central Rawalpindi Special JudgeKhalid Bashir in its 20 page report thatformer Haj director general was involvedin the corruption of 3.6 million riyals inhiring of buildings for pilgrims. Formerreligious affairs minister Hamid SaeedKazmi, former Haj DG Rao Shakeel andformer joint secretary Aftabul Islam werepresent in the courtroom when theproceedings were being conducted onSaturday. NAB prosecutors ChaudhryZulfikar and Chaudhry Azhar presentedtwo members of the parliamentarycommittee Bilal Yasin and Imran Shahand two pilgrims Tayyab Qureshi andMohammad Ali Khan as witnesses, whorecorded their statements in the court.The members of the parliamentarycommittee presented their 20 page reportto the court which was made part of thecase. In their separate statements, themembers said it had become clear thatformer Haj DG Rao Shakil had hired 87buildings at a distance of four-and-a-halfto five kilometers from Haram Sharif athigher rates and in this way there was acorruption of 3.6 million riyals. Both thepilgrims recounted the happenings of2010 Haj and said there were nobathrooms and no arrangement fordrinking water. In addition, the pilgrimswere not informed about their rooms andthe buildings were at such a distance thatthe pilgrims could not reach the mosqueat the time of the prayers.

Man severely tortures

grandparents for houseGUJRANWALAstAFF rePort

A grandson on Friday severelytortured his grandparents and oustedthem from the house which he hadfraudulently got transferred in hisname. Reportedly, Nawab Din, 95, wasliving with his wife, Khursheed Bibi,85, in a two-marla house in theFatomund area near Sialkot Road. Onthe day of the incident, Saleem oustedthem from their own house which theyhad built with great hardships. Onresistance, he severely tortured hisgrandparents. He also thrashed hismother for favouring thegrandparents. As the locals of the areareached the scene, Saleem locked thehouse and fled away. The residentsshifted the elderly couple to the civilhospital. Nawab Din, talking toPakistan Today, said that Saleem tookthe documents of the house from himon the pretext of getting loan from abank, but he fraudulently transferredthe house in his own name and oustedthem from their own house.

ISLAMABADAPP

PML-Q leader and Senior Minis-ter Chaudhry Pervez Elahi onSaturday said the party would

ensure full support and cooperation toPrime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf toresolve the energy crisis at the earliest.

Talking to reporters after meetingPervaiz Ashraf who came to Elahi’s res-idence to thank the PML-Q for its sup-port in the election, Elahi said theprime minister had made the promisethat finding a solution to the energy cri-

sis would be his top priority. “Theprime minister has said that he hadconvened his first-ever meeting at thePrime Minister’s House on his first dayin office to discuss the energy crisis.That indicates his seriousness towardsthe issue,” he said.

Elahi said the prime minister alsotold the PML-Q leadership that “ShujaatFormula” would also be discussed in themeeting on energy crisis being held tofind solution to the crisis. To a question,Elahi said the PML-Q would preparereferences against those members of theNational Assembly belonging to the

PML-Q who did not use their right ofvote in the election of prime minister onFriday. He said the members, who couldnot reach Islamabad, conveyed to theleadership of PML-Q while remainingmembers remained absent from thepolling process and references werebeing prepared against them. Criticizingthe Punjab government, Elahi said ithad been made clear that the Punjabchief minister was leading the proces-sions over the issue of energy crisis andin these protest rallies, public property,banks, government offices and other im-portant buildings had been damaged.

NEWS DESK

As the Obama administration revamps itsAsian strategy in response to a risingChina, the US military is eyeing a returnto some familiar bases from its last con-flict in the region, the Vietnam War.

In recent weeks, the Pentagon has in-tensified discussions with Thailand aboutcreating a regional disaster-relief hub atan American-built airfield that housed B-52 bombers during the 1960s and 1970s.

US officials said they were also inter-ested in more naval visits to Thai portsand joint surveillance flights to monitortrade routes and military movements,Washington Post reported. The Pentagonis also seeking greater accommodationsin the Philippines, including at the SubicBay naval base and the former Clark AirBase, once the largest US military instal-lations in Asia as well as key repair and

supply hubs during the Vietnam War.The US military either abandoned or

was evicted from its Southeast Asianbases decades ago. Amid concerns aboutChina’s growing military power and itsclaims to disputed territories, however,Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippineshave cautiously put out the welcome matfor the Americans again. In response,Pentagon leaders have flocked to the re-gion to speed up negotiations and fortifyrelations. The rapprochements so farhave focused on limited steps, such asport visits and joint exercises, but the ad-ministration hopes they will lead to amore extensive and persistent US mili-tary presence. “Symbolically, those placesare really attached to a very recent his-tory,” said a senior US defense official,speaking on condition of anonymity.

“Part of moving forward with a lot ofthese nations is making amends with

those symbols.” US officials said they hadno desire to re-occupy any of the massiveSoutheast Asian bases from last century.Nor do they have the money to create newones. So they’re looking for permission tooperate from the old installations asguests, mostly on a temporary basis.

“I don’t carry around a backpack withAmerican flags and run around the worldplanting them,” Army Gen Martin EDempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs ofStaff, told reporters after returning froma visit this month to Thailand, the Philip-pines and Singapore. “We want to be outthere partnered with nations and have arotational presence that would allow us tobuild up common capabilities for com-mon interests.” The US armed forceshave been allowed, to varying degrees, tovisit or conduct training exercises at itsold bases for several years. But talksabout expanding access have taken on a

new urgency since January, when Presi-dent Obama announced that the US wasmaking a strategic “pivot” to Asia after adecade in which it was preoccupied withwars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The administration has denied thatits resurgent interest is designed to con-tain China, which has alarmed manyneighbors by making expansive territorialclaims in the resource-rich South Chinaand East China seas. US officials saidtheir primary goal in Asia was to main-tain stability by ensuring freedom of nav-igation and free trade with the world’sfastest-growing economies, includingChina. But analysts said the US strategicpivot and fresh basing arrangementswere necessary to reassure allies thatWashington will maintain its Asian secu-rity commitments and remain an effec-tive counterweight to China, despitelooming defense cutbacks at home.

insane man axeswife, daughtersto deathSHAHDADPuR: A mentally-upset man axed to death his wifeand two daughters over domesticdisputes and set ablaze five houseshere on Saturday. According topolice, Sohrab Brohi, 55, a residentof the Saleh Zardari village ofShahdadpur, was in dispute withhis family over various domesticissues due to which he wasmentally upset. On Saturday,Sohrab, after exchanging hotwords, axed to death his wife KhairBibi, 50, and two daughters, 30-year-old Qehr Khatoon and LalShahzadi, 15. The accused injuredhimself after committing triplemurder and set ablaze his house.Four houses of the neighbours werealso burnt due to the fire. The policearrested the murderer and startedinvestigation after registering a caseagainst him. ONLINE

US eyes return to some Southeast Asian military basesg Obama

administration

revamping Asian

strategy in response

to China g Pentagon

interested in more

naval visits to Thai

ports, greater

accommodations in

the Philippines

Pml-Q assures support toPm to resolve energy crisis

News

islAMABAD: Punjab Police personnel return from the Aabpara Police station on saturday after failing to arrest real estate tycoon Malik riaz in a land fraud case. ONLINE

LHR 24-06-2012_Layout 1 6/24/2012 3:12 AM Page 6

Sunday, 24 June, 2012

LAHOREAGeNCies

THE outpatient departments(OPDs) of the public hospi-tals of the provincial metrop-olis literally kept the patientsout of the hospitals owing to

the young doctors’ strike which enteredits sixth day on Saturday.

The blatant denial of the health facil-ities to the masses in the intense heat andthe worst-ever power crisis, forced thepeople to visit private clinics and evenquacks in search of medication. The peo-ple, like in the past, criticised the youngdoctors and the Punjab government forits inability to bridle the ever rebelliousyoungsters of the medical fraternity.

The strike has caused immense hard-ships for the patients and their atten-dants who visit the public hospitals inthousands on a daily basis across theprovince.

The OPDs of the Mayo Hospital, theGanga Ram Hospital, Services Hospital,Jinnah Hospital and other public healthfacilities remained shut for patients in thewake of the strike by the young doctors.

The young doctors have been de-manding a revised service structure whiletheir boycott of duties at the outdoorwards is a part of their pressure tactics toforce the government into accepting theirdemands but so far, the Punjab govern-ment has remained unmoved.

A number of meetings were held re-cently which remained inconclusive,causing the masses to continue to suffer.

So far, the senior doctors have failedto persuade the protesting young doctorsto resume their duties at the OPDs. Iron-ically and unfortunately, most of theprotesting young doctors, who seem to beunfazed by the sufferings faced by thepeople, are working fulltime at privatehealth facilities.

The stakeholders have demanded thePunjab government to take stern actionagainst the protesting doctors if their de-mands for a revised service structure are

not genuine and unacceptable. They demanded that the services of

the young doctors be terminated and newappointments be made in their places as

thousands of unemployed doctors areavailable for the job.

Meanwhile, it was learnt that the gen-eral body meeting of the Punjab Young

Doctors Association (YDA) will be calledsoon to decide the future course of actionvis-à-vis the Punjab government’s indif-ferent attitude regarding the ongoing

protest. The YDA had earlier vowed to ex-tend the strike for an indefinite period oftime until their demand for a revisedservice structure was fulfilled.

Dismiss and replace, demand patients of striking doctorsg Doctors boycott govt hospitals but work at private health facilities g YDA says its demands are justified and should be fulfilled at the earliest

LAHOREstAFF rePort

Pakistani doctors are the most underpaid professionals inthe country as the salaries of doctors in Pakistan are lessthan what doctors earn in neighbouring countries. The Punjab government has kept Rs 17 billion in the cur-rent budget to build new hospitals and medical colleges inthe province without keeping a single penny for doctors’service structure and special salary packages in the budget. It is probable that the government planned to run thesehospitals without doctors. According to statistics, there wasnot even a single vascular surgeon, rheumatologist or ICUspecialists in the entire province but the government wasnot ready to accept their fault. 2, 000 doctors are esti-mated to have left the country in search of better salarypackages last year, causing an acute shortage of doctors inthe province. The YDA’s office bearers have expressed graveconcern over the fact that the Punjab government wasfalsely projecting in the media that the doctors in theprovince were paid the highest salaries among the govern-ment servants. They stated that the government had allo-cated Rs 17 billion for building new hospitals but was notready to give the doctors Rs 6 billion required to fulfill theirdemands. They added that Rs 760 million was required toraise the stipend of the 5,000 house officers and postgradu-ate trainees and Rs 860 million was required to raise thegrade of all doctors. The rest was required to raise the HPAand NPA. They demanded the Punjab chief minister to ful-fill the genuine demands of the doctors in order to settledown the unrest in the doctors’ community.

Underpaid and underappreciated

Defiant doctors standby their demands

LHR 24-06-2012_Layout 1 6/24/2012 3:12 AM Page 7

low

High

310CMonday tueSday wedneSday40°C i 30°C 40°C i 31°C 40°C i 31°C

pRayeR tiMingSFajr Sunrise zuhr asr Maghrib isha

03:18 04:57 12:04 15:43 19:10 20:49

City diReCtoRy

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

eMeRgenCy Help

HoSpitalS

blood banK

FatMid 35210834-8

iSlaMiC allianCe 37588649/37535435

CoMplaint

wapda 111-000-118

Sui gaS 1199

RailwayS

City Station (enquiRy) 117

ReSeRVation 99201772

Railway poliCe 1333

aiRpoRt

FligHt enquiRy 114

pia ReSeRVation 111-786-786

CollegeS / uniVeRSitieS

punJab uniVeRSity 99231257KinnaiRd College 99203781-4queen MaRy College 36362942goVt. College uniVeRSity 111-000-010uMt 35212801-10luMS 35608000uet 36288666lCwu 99203072SupeRioR College 111-000-078

Mid City 37573382-3

SeRViCeS 99203402-11

Mayo 99211100-9

geneRal 35810892-8

SHeiKH zaid 35865731

SiR ganga RaM 99200572

uCH 35763573-5

itteFaq 35881981-85

CMH 366996168-72

SHouKat KHanuM 35945100

JinnaH 111-809-809

adil (deFenCe) 36667275

CHildRen’S 99230901-3

deFenCe national HoSpital 111-17-18-19

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

DANCE FACTORY - LADIES

date: MaRCH 19 to auguSt 29, 2012Venue: tHe Knowledge FaCtoRy (tKF)

partly cloudy

weatHeR updateS

42°C

08Sunday, 24 June, 2012

Lahore

100 GHAZALS OF MAULANA RUMI

Hast-o-neest Centre for traditional art & Cultureinvites you to its Monthly Saturday Sitting withJanab ahmed Javed Sahib(director, iqbal academy pakistan)on 100 ghazals of Maulana Rumi3:30 to 5:00 pm, last Saturday of every month

date: MaRCH 31 to deCeMbeR 29, 2012 Venue: HaSt-o-neeSt CentRe, laHoRe

bored of usual dance routines? Fitness workouts comewith a 'yawn'?! whether you know how to shake ornot, this's the place to bring your groove! learn tofollow the rhythm, let loose, how to catch new stepsand master old ones. Mondays and wednesdays: 7-8pm, per Session: 500 only!, Monthly: pKR 2,500/-

lAHore: NGo activists protest on saturday against the abusive language used by PMl-N MPA sheikh Allaudin against his female colleagues. ONLINE

LAHOREstAFF rePort

PUNJAB Chief Minister ShahbazSharif said on Saturday that he wasnot expecting anything good in termsof a power crisis solution from thenewly elected Prime Minister Raja

Pervez Ashraf. Talking to the media outside thePunjab Assembly, Shahbaz Sharif blamed thePPP-led government for pushing Punjab intothe valley of darkness, adding that the govern-ment had taken revenge from the province per-taining to the power crisis.

He stated that the newly elected Prime

Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf could not resolvethe energy crisis in the country as he had failedto resolve the same issue when he was theWater and Power minister in 2010.

“Despite the assurance of the full cooper-ation of Punjab, including the announcementof two holidays a week, the Centre did noth-ing to solve the problem of load shedding inPunjab,” he added.

He said in Punjab the electricity wasavailable for four to five hours in 24 hours,adding that the PPP-led government was tak-ing revenge from the entire province, includ-ing the labourers and businessmen under thepretext of load shedding.

Not expecting energycrisis solution fromPM: Shahbaz Sharif

LAHOREAPP

Pakistan People’s Party Women Wing Punjab President Faiza Malik hassaid the election of Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf is a victory forthe democracy and the people. Talking to party workers at her resi-dence on Saturday, Faiza Malik said the PPP had defeated all its oppo-nents on every front and that it would continue its journey to success,which she said was troublesome for the opposition. She hoped thePPP-led government would complete its constitutional tenure and formthe next government. “Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Shaheed and Benazir BhuttoShaheed sacrificed their lives for democracy and the rights of peopleand the PPP workers are united for the defence of democracy,” sheadded. Faiza said the PPP will not allow any conspiracy to succeedagainst democracy. She said the PML-N wanted to topple the PPP-ledgovernment but the election of the new prime minister had proven tobe a setback to it.

new premier to

address all issues,

says Raja Riaz LAHORE

APP

Punjab Assembly opposition leader Raja Riazsaid on Saturday that the new prime ministerwill address all public issues, especially the en-ergy crisis. He stated that Prime Minister RajaPervaiz Ashraf was a seasoned politician andfully aware of the problems being faced by thecountry. Riaz added that Raja Pervaiz Ashrafwas a right choice for the PM’s post at theright time. He also lauded the contribution offormer prime minister Yusuf Raza Gilani indefending the constitution and the democraticprocess. “His role in upholding the supremacyof the parliament will always be remembered,”he added. In response to a question, he saidPresident Zardari had foiled all conspiracieshatched to create political uncertainty. Heurged Nawaz Sharif to stop his efforts to derailthe democratic system and to come up withpositive suggestions to strengthen the democ-racy and improve the economy.

New PM’s election a victoryfor democracy, says Faiza

LAHORENNi

Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah said on Saturday that RajaParvez Ahraf’s appointment as the prime minister of the country is‘slap on the face of democracy’.While talking to the media outside the Punjab Assembly, RanaSanaullah said such a type of prime minister was required to hidePresident Zardari’s corruption.Earlier yesterday, Raja Pervez Asharf was sworn in as the Prime Minis-ter of Pakistan.Ashraf replaced Yousuf Raza Gilani, who was disqualified by theSupreme Court of Pakistan following his conviction in a contempt ofcourt case. President Asif Ali Zardari administered oath to the new prime ministerat a ceremony in the Aiwan-e-Sadr.

New PM slap on the face ofdemocracy: Rana Sanaullah

LHR 24-06-2012_Layout 1 6/24/2012 3:12 AM Page 8

Sunday, 24 June, 2012

Lahore

Cine StaR teRi MeRi KaHaani 01:00 pM

pH: 35157462 wandeRluSt 03:15 pM

MadagaSCaR 3 04:30 pM

teRi MeRi KaHaani 06:00 pM

abRaHaM linColn VaMpiRe HunteR 08:30 pM

Cine gold teRi MeRi KaHani 12:00, 6:00, 9:00 pM

pH: 35340000 Rowdy RatHoRe 03:00 pM

Sozo woRld teRi MeRi KaHani 12 pM, 2:30 pM, & 11:30 pM

pH: 36674271 MadagaSCaR 3 04:45 pM

abRaHaM linColn VaMpiRe HunteR 09:00 pM

dHa CineMa wandeRluSt 02:30 pM

teRi MeRi KaHaani 04:20, 09:20 pM

wandeRluSt 07:20 pM

Men in blaCK 3 06:40 pM

09

LAHOREAPP

THE World Bank has agreed toprovide financial assistance forthe 4,320mw Dasu hy-dropower project which will beconstructed in phases after the

4,500mw Diamer Basha dam project isinitiated and a financial plan finalised.

According to a WAPDA spokesman,Pakistan Water and Power DevelopmentAuthority (WAPDA) Chairman ShakilDurrani stated on Saturday this whilechairing a meeting at the WAPDA Houseto discuss a report submitted by an inter-national panel of experts.

WAPDA Member (Water), Secretary

WAPDA and the general managers con-cerned attended the meeting.

The chairman said the InternationalFinancial Institutions (IFIs) had takenkeen interest in providing funds for theWAPDA projects due to the excellent Eco-nomic Internal Rate of Returns (EIRR) ofthe schemes.

The Dasu hydropower project ispart of a least-cost energy generationplan, being executed by WAPDA to har-ness indigenous hydropower resourcesof the country with a view to improvethe ratio of hydropower electricity inthe national grid.

The project is proposed to be con-structed on the Indus River, seven kilo-meter upstream of the Dasu village and

74 kilometers downstream of the Diamer-Basha project.

The site of the project is situated onKorakoram Highway, about 350 kilome-ters from Islamabad. WAPDA’s priority isto construct the Diamer Basha dam forwhich land acquisition has alreadystarted and 13 contracts for offices,colonies and roads awarded.

The World Bank is providing fundsfor preparation of a detailed engineeringdesign. On completion, the project willgenerate 21.3 billion units of electricityper annum. The completion of the projectwill also have a positive impact on the ex-isting hydropower stations including

Tarbela, Ghazi Barotha andChashma.

LAHOREAPP

Punjab Inspector General of Police Muham-mad Habib-ur-Rehman constituted teamson Saturday under the supervision of the Di-visional Police Officers across the provincein order to carry out the measurements ofthe waistlines of police officials. The committees will send their reports to theIGP within a week. According to details allthe DPOs will arrange for the measurementof the police officials of operational and non-operational duties in their respective areasand send the report to the IGP under whichthe continuation of their duties will be de-cided. After receiving these reports, it willalso be decided whether the police officialswill be granted further extension or not fortrimming their required waistlines.

LAHORE stAFF rePort

The legal fraternity is set to ob-serve a country-wide strikeand Black Day on Wednesdayagainst the ‘conspiracies’aimed at destabilising the judi-ciary. The decision was takenat the All Pakistan LawyersConvention held on Saturdayduring which the lawyers paidtribute to the superior judici-ary and vowed to foil all the‘conspiracies’ being hatchedagainst the institution.

Through a unanimouslyadopted resolution in themoot, the law practitionersannounced to observe a coun-try-wide strike and Black Day

in lower courts. The convention held at the

Al Hamra, was chaired by for-mer SCBA president HamidKhan and attended by the barassociation office bearers.

He said Raja ParvezAshraf is worker of PresidentAsif Zardari and that thelawyers’ fraternity does notrecognise him as the primeminister. He alleged that thePPP and its allies were con-spiring against the SupremeCourt, adding that the lawyerswill not allow any conspiracyagainst the courts to succeed.

Through various resolu-tions, the convention de-manded an end to the pricehike and the energy crisis.

LAHOREAPP

Punjab Labour Minister Haji Ehsaan-ud-DinQureshi said the department had providedRs 75 million in interest-free micro-credit tokilns workers in two districts for the elimi-nation of bonded labour, child labour and ex-ploitation of workers.

Talking to a delegation of industrialworkers on Saturday, he said veterinary staffhad visited 154 kilns and provided treatmentto 448 animals of labourers.

He stated that free education, includingbooks, stationery, transport and uniformwere also being provided to 28,000 childrenof workers in 49 workers welfare schools ofthe province.

LAHORE: The police arresteda female proclaimed offenderon Saturday for her involve-ment in dozens of crimes. Ac-cording to SP Liaquat Ali, theSaddar police, during a raid inits jurisdiction arrested awanted criminal identified asMehwish Liaquat. The de-tainee was among the ten mostwanted criminals in theprovince. She was wanted byvarious police stations in dozen

of cases of robberies, pursesnatching and other crimes. TIPPu TRuCKANwALA CASEwITNESS MuRDERED: Aman was shot dead by unknownassailants in the Tibbi policeprecincts on Saturday. Accordingto police, a witness of the TippuTrackanwala attack case, MianAsif, was sitting outside his housewhen the assailants riding on amotorcycle opened indiscrimi-nate fire on him. stAFF rePort

‘Lawyers do notaccept new PM’

Female proclaimed offender arrested

WB agrees to provide fundsfor 4,320mw Dasu project

lAHore: traders hold a sit-in at the Faisal Chowk in protest against load shedding. INP

Rs 75m in loans given tokiln workers: minister

Teams constituted to measure waistlines of police officialsFile PHoto

LHR 24-06-2012_Layout 1 6/24/2012 3:12 AM Page 9

it’s helping nobody but the militants

By the time the Chicago summit started, Pakistan’srelations with the US had already hit the nadir. Nowthese are marked by open hostility. What needs to bedone is to ensure that there is no head-on collision. Any

joint action by the US and Afghan forces to wipe out militants onthis side of the border would be a recipe for disaster. The US isgetting desperate for two reasons: An increase in lethal attacksinside Afghanistan by Taliban and Pakistan’s unwillingness toreopen the Nato routes. Islamabad maintains that US generals inAfghanistan tend to shift the burden of their military failures onthe Haqqani network. Islamabad also wants the US to apologiseover Salala attack and seeks an end to the drone operations aspreconditions for opening the Nato routes. The US is unwilling toagree to either of the demands.

The standoff between the US and Pakistan providesopportunities to militants to launch attacks both inside Afghanistanand Pakistan. The knowledge that the allied forces would be out ofthe country by 2014 has emboldened the Taliban. To demoralise the

civilian setup in Kabul, they are launching deadly attacks, the oneon Forward Operating Base Salerno on June 1 injuring as many as100 US soldiers being one. The attack had led Panetta to remarkthat Washington is “reaching the limits of (its) patience.” On Friday,US Commander in Afghanistan Gen Allen again accused theHaqqani network of orchestrating a 12-hour siege on a lakesidehotel in Kabul that killed 18 people. Inside Pakistan, while themilitary is fighting the TTP insurgents in several Fata agencies, theiroperatives are playing havoc inside Khyber Pakhtunkhwa andadjoining tribal areas. Early this month, 19 innocent persons werekilled in a bomb attack on a bus in Peshawar while 33 lost their liveswhen a car bomb exploded in the Landi Kotal bazar.

Both US and Pakistan need to display flexibility. An apologyfrom the US would help open the Nato supply routes while amilitary operation by Pakistan army inside North Waziristan wouldremove the need for drone attacks. Both sides have to realise that apeaceful and secure Afghanistan is the sole guarantee of peace inthe region. For this, the US, Pakistan and Afghanistan have to joinhands to eliminate the militants. Policy makers in Pakistan have torealise that peace and stability in Afghanistan is a prerequisite forthe opening of the trade-cum-energy routes from Central Asia to

India that can bring mega economic dividends to Pakistan and ridit of its decades old dependence on foreign aid and the IMF. Strongeconomic ties between Afghanistan and Pakistan can resolve thedifferences that military-cum-intelligence moves have failed to do.With the elimination of militancy, Pakistan can hope for foreigninvestments. Our policy makers have to realise that a country badlydependent on foreign aid cannot defend its sovereignty with thehelp of the army alone.

Comment10Sunday, 24 June, 2012

Arif NizamiEditor

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

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

Dedicated to the legacy of the late Hameed Nizami

the standoff continues

Facts come in every shape, size, vari-ety. Their survival is determined notby value but by how inexplicable they

are. The human being has 23,000 genes,only “half as many as a tomato”, I am told.But humbling as this formative fact of lifemight be, it does not quite catch the imagi-nation as much as the perplexity calleddeath, particularly when death escapes theboundaries of reason: A plague decimatesa continent, war murders a generation, or

an evil maniac orders a genocide.Statistics distil facts to stark simplic-

ity. Between September 1939 and August1945, the period of the Second WorldWar, 27,000 people were killed each day.(This figure does not include war-relatedcasualties like the three million-odd Ben-galis who died of a famine that was a di-rect consequence of war policy.) There isalways enough to be learnt from war, itsmachines and its machinations. Guesswho is the largest buyer of oil in theworld? If you thought it was a country,wrong. The Pentagon.

America’s military consumes moreoil each year than the whole of Africa.And yet, when you think about it, is thisvery startling? The armies of the BritishEmpire surely drank up more oil than allthe colonies they ruled. None of us werethere to count, and contemporary histo-rians had more delicious details torecord, but you can safely bet that Romealone had more chariots than the rest ofthe Roman Empire.

It has always been thus. To the victorgoes not only the spoils of war but also thefar more substantial rewards of its blanketpeace: A Pax Romana then, a Pax Ameri-

cana now. So what’s the story? The privi-leges of power have not changed, but theworld has.

If the ascent of America begins withvictory in the First World War; its su-premacy after the Second; and dominationafter the Third (also known as the Cold)War, then many of today’s contradictionsalso lie in the liberal ideas that America en-couraged as a template for the future ithoped to control. America sought the rightsof power without the problems or obviousinjustice of foreign rule. It tried to fashion,particularly after 1992, what might becalled the Good Empire as distinct from theEvil Empire (Ronald Reagan’s descriptionof the Soviet Union). The thesis, broadly,was this: All nations would be equal; post-colonial nations would be formed on thebasis of public will, with claims being re-solved by plebiscite; the world as well as itsparts would be governed by the broad prin-ciples of democracy.

Confusion is the bridesmaid of change,so after the applause died down there wasachievement, failure and bewilderment inroughly equal measure. The fault line ofdemocracy is that while it offers equalrights in theory, it does not guarantee

equality in practice. Every vote has thesame weight, but every voter does not pos-sess equal weightage, whether in a munici-pality or the United Nations. Wealth feedspower and power reinforces wealth, both atthe macro and micro levels.

In countries like India, the co-exis-tence of democracy with degradingpoverty cannot be easily justified, by ei-ther idealism or intellect. But poverty isboth absolute and comparative. America’spoor, famously, are better off than themiddle class in most of the world. How-ever, they do not compare themselves tosub-Saharan Africa, thank God for theirgood fortune, and live happily ever after.They get angry with their president whentheir comfort zone is threatened. No childsuffers the anguish of malnutrition inGreece, and yet Greek rage at loss of stan-dards of living has boiled over into avolatile crisis. The battles being foughtacross the world are over inequity, a per-ception of injustice. Democracy does not,unlike socialism, offer economic equality,which is impossible; but its spirit does in-sist on economic equity. When disparitybetween the top 5 per cent and bottom 50per cent becomes obscene, the deprived

do not remain silent forever.The establishment’s traditional re-

sponse has been to blame the victim. Butdemocracy permits a victim to scream,and the Greeks are doing so pretty loudly.Europe and America are rushing to itshelp, as they should if they want to. Itdoes seem odd, though, that India, where50 times the population of Greece livesbelow the poverty line, should gift $10 bil-lion to help resolve a problem it did notcause. Till two decades ago, rich nationsstill felt some mild moral obligation to re-duce poverty through aid. They now ex-pect aid from the poor.

Miraculously, they get it. Delhi cannotfind Rs 20,000 crore for Bengal, but handsover Rs 56,000 crore for Greece. Bengal’spoor can shout as much as the Greeks. WillIndia ever get this money back? Fact fromhistory: Greece is still waiting for Germanyto pay what it claimed as reparations afterthe Second World War.

The columnist is editor of TheSunday Guardian, published from Delhi,India on Sunday, published from Londonand Editorial Director, India Today andHeadlines Today.

the rich now want money from the poor

As a matter of fact

What a tamasha

All over a letter

From Jinnah the incorruptible toZardari who defies description,from Cornelius to IftikharChaudhry, from Liaquat to RajaRental, Prince of Darkness,

what a journey we have had. What a fall mydear countrymen, what a fall. If you havetears, prepare to shed them now. God hasshown us the mirror. We should be ashamedof ourselves. Raja Rental is our latest pun-ishment. We need a ‘Taubah Commission’.

Let not I, but a former Indian SupremeCourt judge say it: “I regret to say that thePakistani SC, particularly its chief justice,has been showing utter lack of restraint…Ithas clearly gone overboard and flouted allcanons of jurisprudence.” Don’t trash it justbecause he is Indian.

It’s all very well to uphold a principleand protect an institution, but sometimesyou have to protect an institution from itsprotectors if they fail to show moderation

and balance.Is it punch and counterpunch? In one

fell swoop the odious Sehbai’s YouTube in-terview put the CJ, the media and the armychief on the spot. Now in one fell swoop, theSC has put the parliament-legislature andthe executive on the spot and brought thesystem to flashpoint. If the native Sindhi isfeeling raw, I can’t blame him. Does hisparty have no place in Pakistan’s echelons ofpower despite winning elections? What ifZardari changes his mind and declares,“Pakistan na khappay – Pakistan doesn’twork?” What will they do then?

I only ask. I want to be educated.1. Can a country progress without an in-

dependent but balanced judiciary?2. Are judges the judiciary? Or are they its

employees, paid by the people throughtheir government, just as the foreignsecretary is not the foreign ministry,nor the foreign minister the foreignpolicy? All are employees of the govern-ment, all paid by your money and mine,aren’t they?

3. Can’t judges and their judgements becriticised and questioned rationally andrespectfully?

4. Can’t we also wonder about judges andtheir actions and ask questions on thebasis that when there is smoke theremust be fire? Isn’t that our democratic,Islamic and civilised right?

5. Shouldn’t justice not only be done butalso be seen to be done? Therefore,should not judges, above all, and thattoo of the highest court, not only behonest, impartial and aloof but also beseen to be so?

6. Are judges above the law?7. Is it not axiomatic that every institution

and branch of government, includingand especially the judiciary, must re-main in its domain and not transgressonto the domains of others?

8. Isn’t the National Assembly the peo-ple? Doesn’t God say that the peopleare His vicegerents? Hasn’t He de-volved some of his Sovereignty onthem, which is why the parliament-leg-islature is supreme amongst all threebranches of government?

9. Thus, doesn’t the Speaker more thanany other represent the people? Shejudged that the conviction of the PM forcontemning the court did not merit dis-qualification. The SC overruled her.Can it? Can it overrule the judgment ofthe elected head of the supreme branchof government and thereby overrulethe people, the vicegerents of GodAlmighty? Common sense says it can’t.

10. Isn’t it a cornerstone of democracy thatonly the people can elect and throw outtheir PM?

11. If the SC can ride roughshod over theexecutive and the parliament-legisla-ture in one go, shouldn’t we then handover the whole jing bang tamasha tothe judiciary and be done with it?

12. If the SC cannot overrule the Speakerand sack the PM, can the Speakercharge the SC with contempt of parlia-ment and the people?

As I said, I only ask to be educated. Iwrite on the assumption that the reader isfamiliar with the history and contours of thecase under which the appointed SC judges

threw the elected PM out of office retroac-tively from April 26, 2012, when it first con-victed him of contempt of court. All over astupid letter that the government didn’twrite. We the trampled spectators are nowseeing the system in jeopardy.

The hope that we would have a primeminister who completes his term was for-lorn. Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani did-n’t write the letter because the president hasimmunity under the constitution and hewould be violating his oath to preserve andprotect it by ignoring the immunity clause.There is much merit in this reasoning. Hechose to remain loyal to the constitution andlose office. Suddenly, we had no prime min-ister, no government and no budget. All de-cisions taken by the executive since April 26became illegal, even the appointment ofjudges. I assume they didn’t attend court tillthe new government was installed and themess cleared. Else, can the Speaker not haulthose judges up for contempt too?

It’s too late to bleat that the allegedlycorrupt Gilani was protecting a corruptpresident. You should have thought about itwhen you elected them. It’s too late to bleatthat the SC is throwing the system into jeop-ardy. They’re back thanks to you.

Speculation is rife. Did the SC proceedon the assumption that Zardari would dig inhis heels, a standoff would ensue, the courtwould ask the army to come to its aid andget its order enforced, the army would sendthe entire lot packing, appoint a caretaker-undertaker government with perchancesome judge to head it which would ask theSC for more time than the mandated threemonths to clean the mess before holding

elections? Was it a trap set for Zardari? Oneonly asks because many people are asking. Idon’t think the army chief is so naive. Butwhether he likes it or not, the emerging sit-uation could likely make it impossible forthe army not to intervene. I’ve always saidthat it is the civilian branches of governmentgoing loco over power and money tusslesthat throw the country into the lap of thearmy. If the system works well, the armywouldn’t dare intervene.

If the trap theory is correct, Zardari did-n’t fall into it. He decided to respect the SC’sjudgment with reservations and nominateanother to be elected prime minister. It wasa brilliant move. He took the wind out of thetrapper’s sails. Now what? The rigmarolestarts all over again? Will the SC ask the newsacrificial lamb – sorry, PM – to write thewretched letter to the Swiss, he refuses, itthrows him out too, Zardari gets anotherelected and so the musical chairs continuetill elections? If the PPP wins the most seatsand heads the new coalition governmentagain, its PM will also refuse to write the let-ter. Zardari gets elected to another term andthe music goes on for another five years. Im-possible. Something will have to give.

Much before that the SC could ask thearmy for help. Or, indeed, the army mightintervene even before the SC asks it to. Ofcourse, there’s always the possibility thatthey would write the letter, but I wouldn’tbet on it. The PPP is great at playing victim,not without just cause. Having achieved vic-timhood again, they might just decide to callelections and catch their opponents withtheir pants down. What a horrible sight toput before the king.

By Humayun Gauhar

third eyeBy M J Akbar

LHR 24-06-2012_Layout 1 6/24/2012 3:12 AM Page 10

Fierce nationalism is the hallmark of all great pow-ers. A sense of unity that holds individuals with con-flicting interests together is nationalism, a belief in ahigher ideal a grand reality and something better thanpetty self interest. A nation which prides itself in beinga melting pot of civilisation and so multicultural reliedon nationalist slogans and emblems in time of crisis.

The present wave of unrest that engulfs our coun-try owes its origin to the waning nationalist feelings.It’s not that periphery has lost hope in the centre; it’sjust that we have not been persuasive enough of ourgood intentions. Opportunists are known for exploitingsuch occasions for their own self interest. Individualswho provoke the masses for subversive action are hon-est to no one; not even their comrades and followersand their sway is nothing but temporary. Pakistan willsurvive and emerge from this crisis as a more progres-sive and vibrant Pakistan, by weeding out the poison-ous herbs. But it can only happen by reinforcing thenationalist creed which served as a foundation for ourcountry.

Our forefathers thought of having a separate coun-try and woke the dormant population out of slumberinto action. It was solely for nationalists urging thatour beloved Pakistan, "a laboratory for the practice of

Islam", came into being. Stanley Wolpert writes in"Shameful Flight" of British intensions of having Indiaas an undivided whole. A close reading of Cripps mis-sion in 1942 aptly demonstrates their intensions. Itwas only for the sheer nationalism and unrelenting ef-forts of Quaid that Muslims were able to carve a nichefor themselves and separate identity.

Mammoth is the responsibility of men in khakhifor once again the nation’s survival is at stake and adeft handling of the situation will ensure a better fu-ture. A surgeon intends no harm but cancerous cellshave to be removed to ensure the well being of thebody as a whole. An important step would be to en-courage dialogue between the civilian set up and themil establishment. To reassure everyone that we arenot usurpers rather the peacemakers, decentralisationand devolution of power accompanied by radical re-forms and welfare projects of civic nature would en-courage the population of the afflicted areas toco-operate and re-ignite their nationalist feelings.

Most important of all, strengthen the belief thatcollective survival depends on willing participation ofthe constituents and that ultimately the fruit ofprogress will trickle down and change the life of down-trodden. Karen Armstrong writes in "The Battle for

God" that the religious fundamentalism is a reaction tothe modernisation and globalisation. When people areafraid that their long cherished mode of conduct isthreatened by an alien lifestyle with which they cannotidentify, they are bound to react in an irrational man-ner. Thus to root out this evil that plagues our society amore equal distribution of wealth and dissemination ofbenefits that modernism procures will help a greatdeal. At the same time the unchecked rise of corporatepower and its detrimental effect on our culture andvalues is to be closely monitored and reigned.

Another important remedial measure can be dis-covering and celebrating new national heroes. Individu-als who have done well in their respective departmentsbut have not had their share of limelight. And to forge astrong sense of nationhood among the people, the ordi-nary man in the street must have a sense of security, ofbelongingness of being part of a bigger whole, as beingimbued with as much worth and import as anyone else,of having certain inalienable rights that would be pro-tected and ensured by a strong benevolent govern-ments. Only with this fundamental change can weemerge as a stronger whole and a better nation.

ZOYA MAQSOODLahore

a farewell lunchManaging Director, Pakistan Bait-

ul-Mal, M Zammurd Khan hosted afarewell lunch on Wednesday at theprestigious Islamabad Club in honourof Syed Yusuf Rza Gilani, the dethronedPrime Minister of Pakistan. The mediareported that the former prime minis-ter reached the venue in a self-drivenvehicle without protocol.

The Pakistan Bait-ul-Mal was es-tablished in 1991 to provide social pro-tection to the poor and marginalisedsegments of the society. For this pur-pose PBM is mandated to provide fi-nancial assistance to the destitute,widows, orphans, invalids, infirm andother needy persons. The PBM Act 1991does not authorise the managing direc-tor to squander PBM funds on lunchesand dinners for friends and benefac-tors.

Mr Yusuf Raza should not have at-tended the PBM lunch. He has eatenthe lunch at the expense of more de-serving and needy persons. He shouldapologise to the nation for this lunch.

The managing director has misusedthe funds of the Bait-ul-Mal for per-sonal and political ends. He should beheld accountable for this act of misuseof funds of an organisation created forthe benefit of the destitute only. Theguests of Mr Zammurd Khan did notqualify to receive benefits under thePBM Act 1991.

ASGHAR MAHMOODIslamabad

Raja Riaz as pMThe musical chairs game played by

the PPP supremo finally resulted in elec-tion of another party loyalist or a silentlamb to be sacrificed at the money altarof PPP. The appointment of Raja Riaz asPM has become a household joke playedon Pakistanis by a so-called guru of poli-tics who has little regard for the peoplebut only cares for invoking democracy asthe best revenge. Perhaps he wants totake revenge from Pakistan for his longprison term. It is said that when AllahAlmighty intends to punish a person hedoes not strike him with a rod but turnshis mind haywire so that he takes fool-hardy decisions that recoil on his head.

Nobody in his right senses wouldhave ever thought to see Raja Riaz as PMof Pakistan. He has a history of emphati-cally promising to end loadshedding yearafter year and miserably failing to do so.What miracles one can expect from himexcept total disaster.

DR MUHAMMAD YAQOOB BHATTILahore

tremendous discrimination!Discrimination is one of the biggest

evils that exist in our country. Only theother day, regarding some research workI had the opportunity to visit the web-sites of more than a dozen public sectoruniversities, including educational andacademic research institutes working inthe federal capital, Islamabad, andbrowse their human resource, adminis-

tration and faculty sections. I concludedthat the management of these public sec-tor institutes have not bothered to hire asingle Sindhi employee there. As a facesaving device, a few varsities have hired acouple of contractual Sindhi ancillarystaff members but sadly one cannot findeven a Single Sindhi in any important po-sition in the administration of those var-sities. So much so even the world famedvarsities, such as the Quaid-e-Azam Uni-versity, Islamabad, International IslamicUniversity, Islamabad, and NUML havenot honoured the constitution of Pak-istan. Ugly but true it is that there is onlyone vice chancellor, that of Allama ofIqbal Open University ( AIOU), Islam-abad, who is Sindhi and all others are ei-ther from Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwaor Kashmir.

This discriminatory and oppressivepolicy, which was put in practice duringthe past dictatorial regimes and is still invogue in various varsities, casts a gloomyshadow over the development of our na-tion. Indeed, discrimination against anyethnic group or religious minority isnever acceptable, never excusable andnever tolerable. Now is the time for ac-tion.The present elected government isrequired to live up to the expectations ofthe people by promoting social justice,equality and striving towards eradicationof discrimination existing in any form,especially, against versatile Sindhi intel-lectuals and academicians, in variousfederal organisations, in particular, Is-lamabad-based varsities.

HASHIM ABRO Islamabad

gilani’s exitYousaf Raza Gilani’s rule was an

obstruction to all that democracy everstood for. He was devoid of ethics,political vision and respect for rule oflaw, so essential for a man to hold such ahigh office. His rule was an insult to thefair name of democracy, a system evolvedafter centuries to deliver to the peoplewelfare, basic fundamental rights,security and hope for a better future. TheSupreme Court gave him a chance for anappropriate exit, but he chose thisdishonourable route. His family wasinvolved in all sorts of scams unworthy ofa family which by definition was the firstfamily. What can be so worse than areaction that the man on the streetstarted saying that the rule of thatdespotic tin pot dictator PervezMusharraf was better. He gave thiscountry nothing but miseries, frustration,poverty, hunger and insecurity.

I hope lessons are learnt by allpolitical parties that elected public officeholders are neither kings nor can theyassume role of emperors, who are notsubject to public scrutiny and judicialaccountability. Political power comeswith responsibilities which if notdelivered, deprives elected office holdersof any moral or legal authority tocontinue in office. It is better to bewarethe wrath of a nation driven todesperation by corruption, no electricityand poor governance, before it is too late.

MALIK TARIQ ALILahore

Comment 11Sunday, 24 June, 2012

traffic mismanagement Lahore carries tremendous historical

importance and is regarded as a promi-nent tourist hub. It also has notable signif-icance amongst the beautiful cities of theworld. However, the ever-increasing ve-hicular traffic on the roads of Lahore, inthe last couple of decades, has been a bigthreat to its beauty and historical signifi-cance. The situation is getting alarmingwhich makes one wonder as to why thistraffic chaos prevails despite the existenceof flyovers, underpasses and well-con-structed roads.

Many factors are attributed to the un-precedented traffic mismanagement in La-hore. The first and the foremost factor isthe lack of competent and efficient trafficmanagement police. There exists lessernumber of traffic wardens than required atthe traffic signals. This creates traffic jamsfor long, and leads to an unruly traffic flow.At times, the traffic wardens are merelybusy in claiming undue fines from the ve-hicle owners, who do not even violate thetraffic rules. This impedes the efficiency ofthe traffic police in effective regulation ofthe traffic flow. In addition, the failure ofthe Punjab government to design and im-plement a full fledge modern traffic man-agement system, in lines with the foreigncountries’ setup; despite many plans is an-other cause of traffic mismanagement.There stands a dire need for the Punjabgovernment to take action. It should adoptconcrete measures to employ a greaternumber of efficient and responsible trafficwardens. It should also allocate adequatefunds for the traffic flow’s improvement.All these measures, if implemented pru-dently will ensure a smooth and hassle freetraffic flow on the roads of Lahore.

AIYZA JAVAIDLahore

defender of democracyThe great democratic leader Fauzia

Wahab's untimely death is a big blow forPakistan and the vacuum created after herdeath will never be filled. She was an hon-est and the great lady, an outspoken secu-lar and visionary leader and a woman ofhighest integrity. She fought for democ-racy, human rights and women empower-ment. She is an iconic figure for all thelovers of democracy. Her sacrifices for herparty, Pakistan Peoples Party, were match-less and would be long remembered. She isno more but her legacy remains with us.We all should continue her mission. To ho-nour her efforts for democracy and herservices rendered for fundamental humanrights, the government should confer Pak-istan’s highest civil award, Nishaan-i-Im-tiaz, posthumously on her.

DR SAIFUR REHMANIslamabad

Send your letters to: Letters to Editor, Pakistan Today, 4-Shaarey Fatima Jinnah, Lahore, Pakistan. Fax: +92-42-36298302. E-mail: letters@pakistantoday.com.pk. Letters should be addressed to Pakistan Today exclusively.

waning nationalism

LHR 24-06-2012_Layout 1 6/24/2012 3:12 AM Page 11

12 Sunday, 24 June, 2012

iN limelighT

NiCe: elton John performs onstage at the palais nikaia concert hall. AfP

treNCiANsKe tePliCe: british oscar-winning actor ben Kingsley reacts on receiving aplaque on the bridge of glory during the 20th artfilm international Film Festival. AFP

MilAN: designers Stefano gabbana (l) and domenico dolce acknowledge the audienceat the end of the dolce & gabbana Spring-Summer 2013 Menswear collection show. AFP

LOS ANGELESCBs

WOODY Allen’s provided some insightinto the creation of ‘To Rome WithLove’, his new film. ‘To Rome With Love’follows a well-known American architectreliving his youth, an average middle-

class Roman who is suddenly Rome’s biggest celebrity, ayoung couple who find themselves in separate romanticencounters and an American opera director, who wants toput a singing mortician on stage. Alec Baldwin and Pene-lope Cruz are among the film’s stars. Allen told reportersthe theme of fame was “an accident” that had spawnedfrom a couple ideas he had. Allen said, according to CinemaBlend, “I thought, ‘It’s a funny idea that the guy sings in theshower. It’s a funny idea that a guy wakes up one day andsuddenly he is famous and doesn’t really know why. Andtwo young people come to Rome and they’re just married,and they get involved in the situation.’” The filmmaker,who is known for having an idea drawer, said he pulled sev-eral ideas for the film from his drawer filled with histhoughts scribbled on crinkled papers, matchbooks, nap-kins and whatever else he could find when they came to

him. Allen explained that while the theme of fame mayhave come from his “unconscious,” he thinks about famethe way the chauffeur does in his film. “Life is tough,whether you’re famous or whether you’re not famous. Inthe end, it’s probably, of those two choices, better to be fa-mous ‘cause the perks are better,” Allen said. Allen’s char-acter in the film equates retirement to death, and Allenhimself says he feels the same way. Said Allen: “There areother people that like to work all the time. I just like it.”

‘To Rome With

Love’ explores

accidental fame

LOS ANGELESAGeNCies

What do New Kids on the Block and the Backstreet Boyshave in common? Besides all of the really obvious similari-ties, the on-again, boys-to-men bands are two of the pop-culture fixtures in line to receive stars on the HollywoodWalk of Fame next year. And those guys-10 of ‘em all to-gether-are just the tip of the iceberg. Also in the recordingcategory are Jennifer Hudson, Usher, Jane’s Addiction,Latin star Thalía and posthumous inductees Janice Joplinand Luther Vandross. Helen Mirren, Javier Bardem, JamesFranco, Viola Davis and makeup artist Rick Baker will getstars in honour of their big-screen careers, while small-screen recognition is going to Ellen DeGeneres, BryanCranston, Jane Lynch, Katey Segal, Simon Baker andMatthew Perry. Comedian Steve Harvey and AM talk legend“Shotgun” Tom Kelly will get stars for radio and, last but notleast, Olympia Dukakis and enduring comedic-magicianduo Penn and Teller are being honoured in the Live The-atre/Live Performance category. Dukakis has also won anOscar and a Golden Globe and been nominated for multipleEmmys, but it’s her more recent, Obie-winning stage workthat will cement her legacy on Hollywood Boulevard.

Helen Mirren, James Franco,Backstreet Boys and moreget stars in lucky ‘13

MADONNA’S‘sterilising team’ preventfans stealing her DNA loNDoN: Madonna is so worried about her

obsessive fans that she reportedly orders

sterile wipes of her dressing room after each

show on her latest world tour. according to

the Mirror, the pop queen has set up a

“sterilisation team” to clean away any traces

of dna that she might have left behind from

her hair, skin or saliva. and she is believed to

have demanded that only herself and her

entourage are allowed backstage and no one

is allowed to even look at her dressing room

once it has been made ready. “we have to take

extreme care,” concert promoter alvaro Ramos,

who is looking after the portuguese leg of the

tour, said. “in the end it is all to protect her

and make her comfortable. i do understand it

but it is taken to extremeness,” Ramos added.

the star also makes sure that her personal

team build her changing room so there is no

danger of anyone planting any hidden

cameras. Madonna is currently on her Mdna

world tour and has already played in israel,

turkey, italy and Spain and arrives in portugal

this Sunday. AGeNCies

PATTINSON’Scareer in jeopardy afterboth post-Twilightflicks floplos ANGeles: Robert pattinson, who was looking to break away from

the film franchise ‘twilight’ and graduate from being a boy vampire to a

leading man, is having trouble in his career as both his movies post-

‘twilight’ have flopped badly. the beekman theatre on Manhattan’s

upper east Side was completely empty for a screening of the film ‘bel

ami’ in which the 26-year-old actor stars as a manipulative journalist

who sleeps his way up the social ladder. despite boasting a fine cast

pattinson romances uma thurman, Kristin Scott thomas and Christina

Ricci and literary pedigree, the movie has been an embarrassing flop in

the uS. “yet it has made just over 72,000 dollars which is staggeringly

low, little more than one screen’s average for the twilight movies,” a

source said. ‘Cosmopolis’, in which pattinson starred as a billionaire who

loses his wealth, also failed to make it to the top 10, making just a

measly 117,000 pounds. So far, the film-which had premiered at the

Cannes Film Festival and has been directed by acclaimed filmmaker

david Cronenberg - is proving to be another epic flop for pattinson.

‘breaking dawn: part 2’ will be huge when it is released in november

but outside twilight, it’s just not happening for Robert. the actor is

apparently unfazed by the hiccup as he is currently soaking up the party

lifestyle in la with girlfriend Kristen Stewart, claiming that they were

edgy films that were never going to attract large audiences. AGeNCies

Ashton Kutcherslaps $1.4mlawsuit onDMVlos ANGeles: ashton Kutcher is suing California’s

department of Motor Vehicles for 1.4 million dollars,

claiming that the car folk pulled out of a reality show deal

after he had already shelled out a huge amount of cash. in

the lawsuit, the 34-year-old actor’s Katalyst Media, which

produced ‘punk’d’ and ‘beauty and the geek’, claimed that

it inked a deal with the Ca dMV back in 2010 to

participate in a reality show, tMz.com reported. the show

was reportedly to be of the nature that would “capture the

variously humorous, emotional, dramatic, moving,

humanising and entertaining situations that arise on a

daily basis” at the dMV. in fact, the media company

claimed that it hammered out a “formal written

agreement” with the dMV to shoot footage in the summer

and fall of 2011. the deal called for four initial episodes

with an option of six more episodes. Katalyst had claimed

that it spent hundreds of thousands of dollars gearing up

for the show-only to get a five-sentence letter from a dMV

honcho six weeks later, trying to back out of the deal.

according to the suit, the dMV head had said that the

project wouldn’t be in the dMV’s “best interests.” agencies

LHR 24-06-2012_Layout 1 6/24/2012 3:13 AM Page 12

13Blake Lively namednew face ofGucci perfumeLOS ANgELES: Apparently ‘GossipGirl’ star Blake Lively smells as good asshe looks. Or close. Soon, we’ll know forsure: She’s the face of Gucci’s fragranceGucci Premiere. “I admire the qualitiesof the Gucci Première woman and feelhonoured to represent the fragrance,”the 24-year-old actress said in astatement. “It is a pleasure tocollaborate with Gucci’s creativedirector Frida Giannini.” Giannini said:“In conceiving this fragrance I wasinspired by timeless Hollywoodglamour and the iconic leading ladies ofHollywood’s golden era. Blake Lively’sunique style and charisma brings thatallure to life in a very contemporaryway.” Gucci Premiere hits stores in theU.K. in July and worldwide inSeptember. Lively hits the big screenthis summer in Oliver Stone’s film‘Savages’ and the small screen this fallin ‘Gossip Girl’ Season 6, the CW series’swan song. AGeNCies

Jay Z in copyrightlawsuit LOS ANgELES:The singer hasbeen sued byauthor PatrickWhite of stealingportions of hiswriting and usingthem without hisconsent on JayZ’s 2010 songbook ‘Decoded’.White claimed hislaptop was stolenin 2009. “Mypersonalcomputer wascompromised,resulting in mypersonal work tobe used in Jay-Z’sbook ‘Decoded’ which was releasedin 2010,” he explained in the hand-written lawsuit,” White wrote in aletter, reports aceshowbiz.com. “Thebook (Decoded) contains variousexpressions/colours/phrases, whichcorrelates to my work. Aftercontacting or attempting to contactthe co-author, I got no reply,” hesaid. White filed the legal documentsin United States District Court June13. He’s suing for copyrightinfringement and invasion ofproperty. AGeNCies

LoS AngeLeS: Say it with me now, people:

Bad has never looked so good. Disney has

premiered the first look at Angelina Jolie in

‘Maleficent’, the long-awaited retelling of

Sleeping Beauty’s magically gifted nemesis.

The movie is billed as “the untold story of

Disney’s most beloved villain,” one that

dives into “the events that hardened her

heart and drove her to curse the baby,

Aurora.” ‘Maleficent’ has been years in the

making already: First announced in January

2010 with Tim Burton attached as director,

‘Maleficent’ was little more than talk in the

months that followed. “I would love to make

‘Maleficent’. It’s all new and being

discussed, but I loved her when I was a

little girl, she was my favourite,” Jolie told

MTV News. “And Tim Burton…the chance to

work with him would just be extraordinary.”

It wasn’t until the beginning of 2012 that

the project finally started gaining traction,

with ‘Avatar’ and ‘Alice in Wonderland’

production designer Robert Stromberg

replacing Burton as director and Jolie later

confirming that ‘Maleficent’ would be her

first acting gig in two years. Fast-forward to

today and the movie is now in production,

with a great first look at Jolie as Maleficent

and a strong cast including Sharlto Copley

and Elle Fanning lined up- not to mention a

firm release date on the calendar to boot.

But like Jolie did many times over the

course of the project’s development, we’ll

gladly repeat ourselves now: ‘Maleficent’

can’t come soon enough. AgencIeS

MilAN: a model displays a creation as part of JilSander Spring-Summer 2013 Menswear collectionduring the Men’s fashion week in Milan. AFP

MilAN: a model displaysa creation as part ofdolce & gabbana Spring-Summer 2013 Menswearcollection. AFP

LOS ANGELESAGeNCies

‘The Amazing Spider-Man’ doesn’topen Stateside until July, but ahandful of critics have alreadyswung into action with their verdicton the highly anticipated reboot.And although the friendly neigh-bourhood webslinger has proven tobe one of pop culture’s mostbeloved superheroes, the flick isanything but a sure bet: It’s got anuntested leading man (AndrewGarfield) and a first-time big-bud-get director (Marc Webber). Not tomention the fact that this do-overcomes just five years after Tobey

Maguire hung up hisSpidey suit from Sam Raimi’s trioof Spider-Man blockbusters. So hasthis new webslinger spun gold?Sure looks like it: Many reviewersseem sold on the reboot, singlingout its fresh cast and darker tone,with just a few holdouts dingingthe flick for failing to live up to itspredecessors. “Leaping back ontothe screen with a new cast, crew,costume and a whole new array ofdaddy issues, ‘The Amazing Spi-der-Man’ reboots the top-grossingMarvel franchise to altogether sat-isfying results,” praises JordanMintzer of The Hollywood Re-porter. “Directed with emotional

depth and plenty of comedictouches, this somewhat darker de-piction inserts a touching portraitof adolescent angst into an other-wise predictable dose of CGI-fueledaction. “Webb’s film is slow onplot, skimpy on character develop-ment,” writes the Evening Stan-dard’s Nick Curtis. “The ‘RealD 3D’is fine for the flying sequences,confusing in the fights, and givesthat awful cardboard-cutout lookto narrative scenes. Webb saves upmost of the emotional punch for adownbeat, wet-eyed ending inwhich Garfield and Emma Stoneare superb.”

‘The AmazingSpider-Man’:Swinging goodor all bugged out?

Fire breaks out onSALMAN KHAN’S‘Dabangg2’setsMUMBAi: according to sources a fire broke out in the Mehboob

studio in Mumbai while a scene of Salman Khan’s ‘dabanng 2’

was being filmed on Saturday evening. initial reports suggest

that the fire broke out due to a short circuit. actor Salman Khan

is safe, but according to an eyewitness, Salman Khan drove an

injured on his personal motorbike to get him first-aid at the

nearby hospital. AGeNCies

MuMBAI: Rajesh Khanna has been admitted to

the hospital as his health is known to have

deteriorated again. The Bollywood iconic actor

has been rushed to Lilavati hospital after

complications in his health were reported. The

actor, recently seen in a TV ad had stopped

intake of food the past few days. His estranged

wife Dimple Kapadia is taking care of him right

now. The actor is believed to be suffering from

a stomach infection. The ailing superstar

Rajesh Khanna appeared on the balcony of his

residence on Thursday, along with wife Dimple

Kapadia and son-in-law Akshay Kumar and

showed the victory sign to the waiting crowd

outside indicating that all is well. Rajesh

Khanna, touted as Hindi cinema’s “first

superstar”, began his acting career with

‘Aakhri Khat’ in 1966 and rose to prominence

with his performances in films like ‘Raaz’, ‘Do

Raaste’ and ‘Aradhana’. He earned his title

following 15 consecutive solo super hits

between 1969 to 1972. Agencies

critical again; admittedto hospital

LHR 24-06-2012_Layout 1 6/24/2012 3:13 AM Page 13

belFaSt: brett lee (2ndl) celebrates with team-mates after bowling out ireland's ed Joyce (R)during the one-day international match against ireland at the Stormont cricket grounds. AfP

belFaSt: australia's cricketer brett lee leaps intothe air after bowling out ireland's ed Joyce. AfP

sunday, 24 June, 2012

page 17

paszek beats Kerberfor eastbourne title

GALLEAFP

KUMAR Sangakkara wasstranded on an unbeaten 199even as Sri Lanka took chargeof the first cricket Test against

Pakistan in Galle on Saturday. The left-han-der's monumental nine-hour effort saw thehosts recover from 335-5 in the morningsession to post 472 in their first innings onthe second day. Pakistan were tottering at48 for five in reply at stumps with seamerNuwan Kulasekara and off-spinner SurajRandiv both taking two wickets each off suc-cessive deliveries. Kulasekara removedopener Taufeeq Umar and Azhar Ali, whileRandiv dismissed skipper MohammadHafeez (20) and nightwatchman SaeedAjmal in gloomy conditions. Asad Shafiq fellto Rangana Herath, leaving veteran YounisKhan unbeaten on 15 with Pakistan still 225

runs away from saving the follow-on.Sangakkara missed out on his ninth

double-century in Test cricket partly due toan error in the scoreboard on the groundwhich showed him on 194 when his scorewas actually on 193. With last man Nuwan

Pradeep at the other end, Sangakkarasmashed Ajmal for a six and raised his armsin celebrations believing he had reached thecoveted double-century. Team-mates, whosaw the correct score on television, imme-diately signalled to Sankgakkara that he still

needed one more run -- but to no avail. Un-able to get a run off the last ball of the over,Sangakkara could only watch from the non-striker's end as Pradeep was bowled byHafeez for no score in the next over. San-gakkara, who was on 182 when the ninthwicket fell, scored all the 17 runs in the last-wicket stand, but found himself agonisinglyshort of the coveted mark. Sangakkara, a34-year-old veteran of 109 Tests, has eightdouble hundreds in his 29 three-figureknocks in Test cricket. The left-hander heldthe innings together after Ajmal claimed hissixth five-wicket haul in 21 Tests to restrictSri Lanka when the hosts resumed at 300-2. The off-spinner, who had taken bothwickets on Friday, struck thrice in themorning session. Ajmal dismissed SriLankan skipper Mahela Jayawardene for62, before removing Thilan Samaraweeraand Angelo Mathews off successive ballssoon after the drinks break.

sl tighten noose on Pakistan g Sangakkara misses double century, tourists 225 runs away to save follow-on

pak-india seriesto come underdiscussion iniCC Conference

ISLAMABADAPP

The formalities of the Pakistan-Indiabilateral series will be finalizedduring the ICC Annual Conference atKuala Lumpur beginning on Sunday(June 24). Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman ZakaAshraf after his successful visit fromIndia had said that formalities of thePak-India bilateral series will be fi-nalised during the ICC Annual Confer-ence in Kuala Lumpur. "Nothing has been finalised as yet be-cause India will come up with a pro-posal at Kuala Lumpur," Ashrafsaid.BCCI President NarainswamySrinivasan had promised Ashraf that hewill talk with other BCCI officials beforefinalising an agreement with the PCB.However at the ICC Annual Conferenceends on June 28 with the inaugurationof the eighth ICC President, Alan Isaac,at the Annual Conference, says a pressrelease issued here. Isaac will take overas ICC President from Sharad Pawar,who completes his two-year term at theend of the week.

dwayne bravo fined

over umpire commentsLEEDS

AFP

West Indies' Dwayne Bravo has been finedby the International Cricket Council aftercriticising officials for the dismissal ofChris Gayle in the second one-day interna-tional against England.Opening batsman Gayle had made 53 injust 51 balls, when he was given out lbw toEngland off-spinner Graeme Swann byNew Zealand umpire Tony Hill at TheOval on Tuesday.Gayle called for a review but third umpireKumar Dharmasena of Sri Lanka, afterseveral minutes' study, decided there wasnot enough evidence to overturn Hill'soriginal verdictIt seemed a close call either way as towhether the ball had hit the bat or padfirst but the upshot was that Gayle's exitsparked a collapse that saw the West In-dies decline from 63 without loss to 79 forfour. Bravo, who top-scored for thetourists with 77, said the umpires hadmade a mistake following an eight-wicketdefeat that gave England an unassailable2-0 lead in the three-match series.

BELFASTAFP

Brett Lee struck twice in the firstover before rain checked Australia'sprogress in their lone one-day inter-national against Ireland at Stormonthere on Saturday.

Ireland, inserted by Australiacaptain Michael Clarke, had slumpedto 36 for three in 10.4 overs when, ina match where the start was delayedby a wet outfield, a fresh downpourforced the players off the field.

Veteran fast bowler Lee got Aus-tralia off to the perfect start when,with the very first ball of the match,a full length, swinging, deliverybowled Ireland captain WilliamPorterfield.

New batsman Ed Joyce mighthave been lbw first ball but didn'tlinger long in any event as next ballLee produced another excellent de-

livery that seamed away to clip thebatsman's off-stump.

Ireland were now nought for twooff just three balls.

Ben Hilfenhaus's wide put thefirst run on the board.

Paul Stirling then struck succes-sive boundaries off the seamer be-fore square-driving fast bowler PatCummins for four as well.

But Cummins dismissed Stirlingfor 24 with the aid of a brilliant one-handed catch by Clarke.

Rain sent the players dashing forcover soon afterwards, with NiallO'Brien 11 not out and Gary Wilsonnought not out.

This fixture precedes Australia'sfive-match one-day series againstEngland starting at Lord's on June29, with the tourists having a warm-up game, against Essex on Tuesday,in between their international as-signments.

MUMBAIBiPiN DANi

Kumari Surangana, the mother of former Sri Lanka cap-tain Kumar Sangakkara was aware that his son is not theonly batsman having missed the milestone for want ofpartners at the other end of the wicket. In the ongoing Testversus Pakistan at Galle on Saturday, the 35-year-old San-gakkara was stranded on 199 runs when he lost all hispartners at the opposite end.

"Yes, I read somewhere that once the great Australianbatsman, Don Bradman remained undefeated on 299 runs(against South Africa in 1931-32)", she said over telephonefrom Colombo. "I am also aware about Andy Flower whoalso could not score 200 runs (he was unbeaten with 199runs) because all his partners were out". (Zimbabawe vs.South Africa, 2001)".

"I am certainly disappointed and little sad also forSanga, who was not able to complete his double centurytoday. He lost his partner at that very last moment.

Howqever, am happy for whatever contribution he couldmake for the team. He looked tired at the end. It is all partof the game and we can not do anything", she furtheradded. Salman, a muslim cricket-fan had wished Sanga, a"memorable 199" when the batsman was on a score ofaround 172.

"I would have loved to see his game to-day in Galle butwith prior commitements, the parents could not watchhim play", the mother added.

"We have been avoiding going to the ground but al-ways watch his game on TV", she added.

The mother never forgets to thank Leonard De Alwis,the former principal of Trinity School and College inKandy, whenever her son scores hundred. It was his schoolprincipal, Mr. Leonard De Alwis who advised mother toencourage the player to pursue career in cricket. "My sonwas also playing tennis but his principal insisted on himto adopt this game of cricket. Sangakkara's father, Kshema(Swarnakumar) coached him in this game", the mothersigned off.

Sangakkara’s mother little sad for his son

Hafeez walks back to the pavilion after hisdismissal during the second day of the test. AfP

Saeed ajmal celebrates after the dismissalof thilan Samaraweera. AfP

younus Khan plays a shot as Sri lankan wicketkeeper prasanna Jayawardenelooks on (R) during the second day of the opening test. AfP

Lee strikes before rain halts Australia

sri lANKA 1st innings (overnight 300-2):t. Paranavitana st Akmal b Ajmal 24t. Dilshan lbw b Ajmal 101K. sangakkara not out 199M. Jayawardene b Ajmal 62t. samaraweera st Akmal b Ajmal 6A. Mathews c and b Ajmal 0P. Jayawardene c Akmal b Hafeez 48s. randiv c and b rehman 8N. Kulasekara c Ayub b Hafeez 0r. Herath run out 0N. Pradeep b Hafeez 0extras: (b10, lb7, nb2, w5) 24total (all out, 153.2 overs) 472Fall of wickets: 1-63 (Paranavitana), 2-187 (Dilshan), 3-315 (M.Jayawardene), 4-335 (samaraweera), 5-335 (Mathews), 6-415(P. Jayawardene), 7-438 (randiv), 8-439 (Kulasekara), 9-455

(Herath), 10-472 (Pradeep).Bowling: Gul 27-8-76-0 (nb2, w5), Junaid 18-5-52-0, Hafeez19.2-3-55-3, Ajmal 46-9-146-5, rehman 43-7-126-1.PAKistAN 1st innings:Mohammad Hafeez lbw b randiv 20taufeeq Umar lbw b Kulasekara 9Azhar Ali c P.Jayawardene b Kulasekara 0younis Khan not out 15saeed Ajmal c Paranavitana b randiv 0Asad shafiq c P. Jayawardene b Herath 0Mohammad Ayub not out 1extras: (lb2, w1) 3total (for five wickets, 24 overs) 48Fall of wickets: 1-17 (taufeeq), 2-17 (Azhar), 3-43 (Hafeez), 4-43 (Ajmal), 5-44 (shafiq).Bowling: Kulasekara 7-3-15-2 (w1), Pradeep 4-1-17-0, Herath8-3-9-1, Mathews 2-2-0-0, randiv 3-0-5-2toss: sri lanka, Umpires: ian Gould (eNG) and steve Davis(AUs), tV umpire: ranmore Martinesz (sri), Match referee:David Boon (AUs)

sCoreBoArD

Missing 200 ‘part ofgame’: Sangakkara

GALLEAFP

Sri Lankan batsman Kumar Sangakkaraleft the ground fuming after beingstranded on an unbeaten 199 during thefirst Test against Pakistan in Galle onSaturday.The left-hander missed out on his ninthdouble-century in Test cricket partlydue to an error in the scoreboard on theground which showed him on 194 whenhis score was actually on 193.With last man Nuwan Pradeep at theother end, Sangakkara smashed Ajmalfor a six and raised his arms in celebra-tion believing he had reached the cov-eted double-century.

LHR 24-06-2012_Layout 1 6/24/2012 3:14 AM Page 14

Sports 15Sunday, 24 June, 2012

LONDONAFP

DANISH Kaneria was banned forlife and branded a liar and a''grave danger'' to the game buthas vowed to appeal as the Eng-

land and Wales Cricket Board handed downsevere punishments at the end of countycricket's first corruption case. Mervyn West-field, a former Essex teammate and accom-plice in the scam, was suspended for fiveyears but escaped a life ban by pleading guiltyto a fixing charge, appearing as a witness andagreeing to front future anti-corruption edu-cation programs. The panel hit Kaneria witha life ban for his role as a corrupter, havingdecided he ''approached a number of what hesaw as potential targets at Essex'' for recruit-ment as fixers. The case arose from events ata 40-over match in 2009.

The punishments are more severethan those levied by the InternationalCricket Council. ''We must take every ap-propriate step to protect our game fromhis corrupt activities,'' Gerard Elias, QC,who chaired the three-man panel, said.''We have no doubt that this is a cancer

which must be rooted out of cricket. As asenior international player of repute, heplainly betrayed the trust reposed in himin his dealings with fellow teammates, andwe regard his persistent efforts to recruitspot fixers as being a seriously aggravatingfactor in his case.'' The ban applies tocricket in England but all boards havesigned up to a ''mutual recognition of

sanctions''. The ICC expects the PakistanCricket Board to recognise it, preventingKaneria playing domestic cricket. Kaneriawas defiant. ''I'm innocent, and I'll fight toclear my name. This is an injustice. I cameall the way from Pakistan thinking itwould be a fair jury but it was very unfair:is that why they have done this to me, be-cause I come from Pakistan?'' His lawyerssaid he would appeal. Meanwhile, KumarSangakkara was stranded on an unbeaten199 as Sri Lanka were dismissed for 472on the second day of the first Test in Galle.Pakistan were tottering at 5-48 at stumps.NO REMORSE fOR KANERIA IfguILTy, SAyS Ex-gREATS: FormerPakistani greats Saturday expressed disap-pointment over a life ban on leg-spinnerDanish Kaneria but stressed the need fortougher action against fixing to avoid suchincidents in future. The 31-year-old wasbanned for life from any cricket under thejurisdiction of the England and WalesCricket Board (ECB) after being found guiltyof corruption by a disciplinary panel.

Essex paceman Mervyn Westfield, whowas jailed in February after admitting hehad accepted £6,000 to under-perform dur-

ing a Pro40 match between Essex andDurham in 2009, had named Kaneria as thelink between bookmakers and players.

A statement issued by the ECB panel de-scribed Kaneria as "grave danger to thegame of cricket" and branded him a "liar".Former Pakistan captain Aamir Sohail saidhe was disappointed at another Pakistanipunished for fixing. "I am disappointed, butnot shocked," Sohail told AFP. "We are nowaccustomed (to) it. But it is high time nowthat we should think seriously about it andavoid such happenings in future.

Kaneria becomes the third Pakistani tobe banned over fixing. Former captain SalimMalik and Ata-ur Rehman were banned forlife after a Pakistani match-fixing inquiry in2000. Rehman's ban was overturned on ap-peal in 2003. Pakistan was also in the spot-light for fixing when three of its players --Salman Butt, Mohammad Aamer and Mo-hammad Asif -- were banned by the ICC andlater jailed by a UK court in 2010 for fixingspecific parts of a Test match.

Sohail said Pakistan Cricket Board(PCB) needs to be more vigilant. "It (PCB)swallowed up what came up in the past,"said Sohail, referring to the match-fixing in-

quiry in 2000. "PCB should have thoughthard about things and now we cannot affordany such thing." Another former captainRashid Latif -- known for his fight againstmatch-fixing -- said he has no remorse.

"If he (Kaneria) was guilty then thereshould be no remorse or disappointment,"said Latif. "Anyone involved and foundguilty should be punished and the talk offorgiving players like Butt, Asif and Aamer(is) wrong," said Latif.

"In fact I would suggest that (the) assetsof these players should also be checked."Former paceman Sarfraz Nawaz, however,termed Kaneria's life ban as harsh. "A lifeban is harsh, it should have been two to fiveyears," said Nawaz. "This latest case has in-creased our responsibilities to avoid anysuch incident in the future."

Kaneria's ban could all but signal theend of his career as most of cricket's leadingnations, including Pakistan, have signed upto a doctrine of the "mutual recognition ofsanctions" put forward by the InternationalCricket Council (ICC) in a bid to stamp outcorruption. Kaneria took 261 wickets in 61Tests for Pakistan. He also had 15 wicketsin 18 one-day internationals.

kaneria to appeal life ban, acting as corrupter

HARAREAFP

Wayne Parnell spearheaded a much im-proved South Africa attack as they de-feated Zimbabwe by six wickets Saturdayin the final mini-league match at a non-cap Twenty20 tri-nations tournament.Zimbabwe failed to build on a bright startin perfect mid-winter conditions atHarare Sports Club and made only 124-6off 20 overs while South Africa reached130-4 with 14 balls to spare.

South Africa, Zimbabwe andBangladesh finished with eight pointseach after two wins and two losses and theAsian Tigers were eliminated as they hadthe poorest net run rate. So South Africa

and Zimbabwe clash at the same venueSunday for the third time within five dayswith each team having beaten the other ina warm-up tournament for the ICC WorldTwenty20 in Sri Lanka during Septemberand October. Parnell put a poor start tothis week behind him with figures of 3-16off four overs, including a maiden, and hisfirst victim was Zimbabwe dangermanHamilton Masakadza (36) before a big,lively crowd.

Leading tournament run getterMasakadza struck a half-volley into thecovers where Farhaan Behardien took alow catch off the first ball of a crucialeighth over. A couple of balls later andParnell struck again with MalcolmWaller out for a duck in his first appear-

ance of the week after edging the secondball he faced to wicketkeeper Dane Vilas.

Unbeaten Graeme Cremer (36) andStuart Matsikenyeri (22) helped lift Zim-babwe to 124 runs on a slow, grippingand turning wicket, but it was nevergoing to be enough, bar a South Africancollapse.

Big hitter Richard Levi got the Pro-teas off to the perfect start with 54 runsoff 30 balls -- including four sixes andfour fours -- and the dismisssal of cap-tain Hashim Amla for a duck hardly af-fected the run chase.

Justin Ontong (24) and Behardien(19 not out) scored many of the runs thatensured no shocks this time for a SouthAfrican team beaten by Zimbabwe and

Bangladesh during the week.A six from Albie Morkel won the

match and a South African team missingrested stars AB de Villiers, JacquesKallis, Morne Morkel and Dale Steynand injured Johan Botha will startfavourites to win the final. SCORES: Zimbabwe 124-6 (20 overs)(H. Masakadza 36, G. Cremer 36 notout, S. Matsikenyeri 22; W. Parnell 3-16)v South Africa 130-4 (17.4) (R. Levi 54,J. Ontong 24, F. Behardien 19 not out)South Africa win by six wicketsNote: South Africa and Zimbabwequalify for final and Bangladesh elimi-nated after the three teams finishedwith eight points each and placingswere decided by net run rates.

dar academy winfourth match in arow in germany

LAHOREstAFF rePort

The Dar Hockey Academy clinched fourthmatch of the tour in a row in Germany whenthey beat SW Neuss, Germany by 8-2 mar-gin. In early match Dar Hockey Academybeat krefeld club of Germany 2-1. Scorers forDar academy: Bilal Mahmood and Salman.For their third tie in Germany, Dar HA trav-elled to Krefeld near the West of river Rhine.Established in 1890, it is one of the oldesthockey clubs in the country. It finished 7thin the top tier of the Bundesliga this season.As recently as 2007, it won the EuroHockeyClub Champions Cup. The match was befit-ting the environment. A beautiful game waswitnessed though there were not manygoals. After a goal less but an eventful firsthalf, two spectacular goals in the 20th andthe 30th minutes of the second period, byDar HA’s two best performers during thisyear’s European tour,Bilal Mahmood andSalman, made it memorable for all thosepresent. The hosts reduced the margin inthe 33rd minute via a penalty corner.sCorers: dar Hockey academy, pakistan: 8 (aamir ali3, bilal Mahmood 2, adeel, asad, abid bhatti) Sw neuss,germany: 2 (lennard leist, philip weide).

bekele says he's backafter birmingham win

BIRMINGHAMAFP

Kenenisa Bekele said he was "100 percentback" after running the third fastest 10,000metres time in the world this year on Friday.Bekele, the reigning Olympic 5,000m and10,000m champion, and the world record-holder over both distances, was running hisfirst 10,000m of the year. He finishedstrongly to win in 27 minutes 02.59 seconds,a time he hoped would be enough to book hisspot in the Ethiopian team for the Olympics.

LAHOREstAFF rePort

Former Pakistan speedster Shoaib Akhtar believesTwenty20 cricket has caused immense damage to Pak-istani cricketers affecting their techniques and also pos-ing fitness issues for players. "I think T20 cricket hasnot been good for our players and their techniques havebeen affected negatively and too much of T20 cricket is alsoposing fitness issues for them," he said here. The formerpacer who retired during the 2011 World Cup said hewould advise players to focus on one-day and testcricket despite the lure of money in T20 cricket."I know there is lot of money involved for playersin the shorter form but I would advise them tofocus on one-day and tests because that is thereal test for a cricketer and improves his fitnessand techniques." Talking about reports aboutmaking a comeback for Pakistan, Shoaib whoremained a controversial figure in Pakistan

cricket said he had thought about it. "I thought I should try toplay for my country again but fitness issues have stopped

this from happening as doctors have advised me againstreturning to international cricket," he said. Shoaib saidhe intended to pay back Pakistan cricket by scountingout and grooming new talent for the country. "I want todo something for Pakistan cricket and I think I can dothat by scouting out talent from every nook and corner

and neighbourhood of the country because Iknow this is huge talent in our country and it

just needs to be tapped properly," he said.The former pacer said that he was saddenedby the recent life ban reports of DanishKaneria and the involvement of Pakistaniplayers in spot fixing issues. "If we had notlost Mohammad Aamir and MohammadAsif to the spot fixing scandal we could havewon the 2011 World Cup it is sad we arelosing players like and I always say greedleads to a person's downfall," he added.

Six share lead aftertight third-round

SEOULAFP

Brazilian Adilson Da Silva posted a five-under-par 67 Saturday to share the thirdround lead with five other players at the in-augural Volvik Hildesheim Open J Golf Se-ries. Thirteen-time Asian Tour winnerThaworn Wiratchant of Thailand, AsianTour rookie Javi Colomo of Spain and localhopes Park Jun-Won, Lee In-Woo, andPark Boo-Won joined him with totals of208 as the $300,000 event headed to anexciting finish Sunday.Overnight leader Mo Joong-Kyung, also ofSouth Korea, is a single shot behind theleaders after he posted 73 to take a share ofseventh place at the Hildesheim CountryClub in Jecheon, South Korea,He has the same score as Thailand's PariyaJunhasavasdikul and Thanyakon Khrong-pha, and fellow South Koreans Ma Soo-Kil,Byun Jin-Jae and Kim Dae-Hyun.The 40-year old Da Silva, who has wonmultiple times on the Sunshine Tour insouthern Africa, believes that he can alsostart winning on this region's elite circuit. "It will mean a lot to me if I win my firstAsian Tour title tomorrow. I've been work-ing really hard these past few years and Ihope that they'll pay off," he said, accordingto a press release from organisers. "The course is in very (good) conditionsand it's a perfect day for scoring. Hope-fully, I can put in some really low num-bers tomorrow," he added. Colomo,meanwhile, thanked his wife for providinginspiration as posted three-under-par 69,promising to reward her with a trip toNew York if he wins the event, that isjointly sanctioned by the Asian and Ko-rean Tours. "My wife Christina has beengreat all week," said the 28-year-old."This is a physically demanding golfcourse and she has never complained. Shehas been a great source of comfort and in-spiration and the only thing I need to dois to win it for us tomorrow."

Three-wicket Parnell leads South Africa to final

T20 affected technique ofPakistan players, says Akhtar

NAIROBIAFP

Three of the four Kenyan Olympicchampions prevailed over their rivalsin the last day of competition for theLondon Olympics at the Nyayo Na-tional stadium on Saturday.

The only exception was thewomen's 1,500 metres championNancy Jebet Lagat who decided toforgo the race won by the women's in-door 3,000m champion Helen Obiri.No explanation was given for Lagat'sabsence. Asbel Kiprop (1500m),Brimin Kiplimo (3,000m steeplechase)and the women's 800m championPamela Jelimo prevailed in an action-packed day which saw several newfaces announce their arrivals on thenational stage.

They were joined by world champi-ons David Rudisha, Ezekiel Kemboi

and Vivian Cheruiyot. Cheruiyot, thedouble world 5,000m and 10,000mchampion in Daegu, won the women's5,000m, finishing just ahead of SallyKipyego to complete her dream ofmaking a double representation inboth distance races in London.

"I am capable of doubling up inLondon," Cheruiyot said.

"I hope I am going to do wonders.I know both Dibaba (defending cham-pion in both 5,000m and 10,000m)and Defar (5,000m bronze medallist)of Ethiopia will be there but I am readyto face them again."

World youth 3,000m championIsaiah Kiplangat Koech obliterated astrong field to win the men's 5,000min an impressive time of 13:09.80, edg-ing out Olympic bronze medallistEdwin Soi (13:11.11) and Thomas Lon-gosiwa (13:11.28) to the tape.

Both the 800m specialists Rudisha

and Jelimo enhanced their Olympicmedal potential by dominating their re-spective races and winning by over 20metres against their next challengers.

"The last three years were so bad forme. Many people had ruled me out. NowI have won the ticket to defend my titlein London. I have to believe in myself,"said Jelimo, who was competing in herfirst major athletics trials in four years.

The 22-year-old, who won the worldindoors in Istanbul in March to an-nounce her comeback after a long lay-off, has responded well after losing tothe Ethiopian Diamond League 800mleader, Fantu Magiso in Rome in May.

Olympic and world 1,500m cham-pion Kiprop left it late in his race butmade up lost ground to finish third andtake the last qualifying place behindworld silver medallist Silas Kiplagat andNixon Chepseba, the 2011 DiamondLeague winner, who was second.

Kenyan olympic champions prevail in trials

LHR 24-06-2012_Layout 1 6/24/2012 3:14 AM Page 15

GDANSKAGeNCies

Germany manager Joachim Low describedGreece as 'survival artists' prior to kick-off,but it is Low's countrymen who know howto survive, and how to prosper, in interna-tional competitions. For the 20th time in28 tournaments, Germany are in the semi-finals. That's what you call a record, andwhether it be England who meet Germany

next Thursday in Warsaw, or Italy, it will bethe Germans who are favourites.

Displaying the sort of adventure, bothin selection and style, that has made evenpreviously hostile neutrals warm to them,Low's side gave a convincing account ofthemselves last night.

Greece did score twice, which will en-courage optimism in Germany's next oppo-nents, but then they could have concededseveral more. If there were German faults,

they were wastefulness in front of goal inthe first half, and being susceptible tocounter attack. Roy Hodgson will havenoted that. But it was the overall impres-sion of fluid movement, personified inMesut Ozil, that will linger.

That and two volleys, from SamiKhedira and Marco Reus, which came fromtheir dreams. Captain Philipp Lahm alsoscored a 20-yard belter, the only routinegoal being Miroslav Klose's close-range

header. Greece goalkeeper Michalis Sifakiswas at fault as Klose nodded in his 64th in-ternational goal, and he was maybe partlyculpable on Lahm's opener, too, but defeatwas hardly his responsibility.

Low had forecast wave after wave ofGerman attack crashing on to 'Greekrocks' and that was what transpired. Itmust not be forgotten that Greece playedwithout their captain and key man Gior-gos Karagounis.

gDAnSK: german forward Miroslav

Klose (c) celebrates after scoring during

the euro 2012 football championships

quarter-final match germany vs greece

on June 22, 2012 at the gdansk Arena. AFP

pakistan into beach

Volleyball final

HAIYANGoNliNe

Oman’s prospect of winning a medal inthe third Asian Beach Games being or-ganised in the Chinese city of Haiyangwent astray after they lost to Pakistan2-1 (16-13, 9-12, 14-16) in the semifi-nal. According to the information re-ceived here, while it was an easyvictory for Pakistan, they had a toughtime against the Wael Abdelatty-coached side. Qatar won the gold afterbeating Bahrain in the final 2-0 (12-14,18-24). The Oman squad comprised Jaber AlYaqoob, Nasser Tamtami, Moosa AlDughaishi, Hani Al Dughaishi, SaidHamad, Assad Al Hassani, Hisham AlWahaibi, Mahmood Al Harthy andMazen Al Dughaishi. Pakistan is toostrong but our boys played really well.Though we did not win any medal, wecan return with our heads held highbecause we have been in a brilliantform ever since this started and it willcertainly help us for the World BeachHandball championship which the Sul-tanate is hosting next month,” Waelsaid. Meanwhile, hosts China outpaced ri-vals Thailand to top the medals table atthe Asian Beach Games as it wrappedup yesterday, ending the third editionof an event featuring some obscureseaside sports. The hosts won 14 goldmedals and 35 overall medals, com-pared to 13 golds and 29 overall forThailand at the event, which saw morethan 2,000 athletes gather at China’seastern seaside city of Haiyang. Athletes from 45 Asian countries in-cluding Japan, Kazakhstan and Yemencompeted in the event that showcasedbeach sepaktakraw — a cross betweenvolleyball and soccer — and beachkabaddi, a highly physical mix of tagand wrestling. Among the more mainstream sports atthe seven - day event were sailing andbeach volleyball, with athletes in thosesports honing their skills ahead of the2012 Olympic showdown later thissummer. In beach volleyball, Indonesiaboosted its hopes for London by beat-ing Kazakhstan for the men’s title,while Thailand defeated China to takethe women’s gold medal.But it was themore obscure sports that wowed thecrowds in Haiyang. In sepaktakraw, Thailand dominated,winning all four gold medals on offer,while Iran won the championship inmen’s kabaddi and India took thewomen’s title. Other sports at the Asian Beach Gamesincluded powered paragliding, whereathletes wearing a propeller on theirback sit on a seat below a paraglider,and take to the skies to show off theirflying and landing skills. The next Asian Beach Games will behosted by Thailand in 2014, organiserssaid.

Sports16Sunday, 24 June, 2012

Sparkling Germans a step Klose to Euro Cup

The Wimbledon tennis fortnight is the cli-mactic sporting event of the English sum-mer. It also bisects the tennis season, withthe Australian and French Opens alreadydone and the US Open, Masters and theDavis Cup Finals in store. Few will argue thatthe Championships, as the British like to callthem are the crowning glory of the tennisyear. In the olden days, the WimbledonChampion was automatically considered theworld champion, although with the advent ofcomputer rankings, that is no longer thecase. Maj. Wingfield, the British army officerwho invented the game in the 1870s, market-ing it in a cardboard box, could never havedreamt that “Sphairistike” as he named it,would have evolved into such a mega world-wide extravaganza, with players competingin front of a worldwide audience, with aking’s ransom at stake.

Tennis was taken across the Atlantic tothe USA, reportedly, by Mary Outerbridgeand to India and the far reaches of the BritishEmpire, by the English. The first All India

tennis Championships were played at theLawrence Gardens Lahore around 1880 andthe District Commissioner in distant Gilgitbuilt one in his backyard at about the sametime. The sport really took off after the FirstWorld War with the emergence of Bill Tildenand the French musketeers. But it was tele-vision in the 1960s and 70s which catapultedthe sport to the preeminence it now has.

The winner of this year’s Wimbledon willearn close to a million pounds as well asabout another 10 million in endorsements.But, to the champions vying for the crown,the money has little or no significance. Theyalready have more than enough. It is thecompetition amongst their peers, mano amano, that drives them, the urge to play theperfect match and to raise the trophy at theend of two weeks of frenzied competition.

The sleepy little village of Wimbledoncomes alive for the two weeks in late Juneand early July, as the world’s tennis commu-nity and media converge on the verdant tri-angle that is the All England Club. Residentsrent their houses to the players at exorbitantrates and go off on holiday. The cricket clubacross the road uses its grounds as a parkinglot, earning over a million pounds in the fort-

night. The Wimbledon courtesy cars shuttlefrom the Gloucester Millennium and theCopthorne Chelsea to bring the players andtheir support groups as well as the media tothe grounds. The strawberry and cream stallsdo a roaring business, dipping a handful ofstrawberries in cream with a powder of sugarat sky high prices. The champagne flows inthe restaurants. It is a garden party, with theworld’s best tennis thrown in for good meas-ure. It is the goal of most players to survivethe first week of the Championships. Thatmeans that they are in the round of sixteenon the second Monday. Of course, the topplayers like Federer, Nadal and Djokovic arealmost always there. Federer has hardlymissed a Grand Slam semi final in the pastseven years, perhaps the crowning achieve-ment in his peerless career. But now, with hisconfidence shaken by the relentless retriev-ing and counter attacking of Nadal andDjokovic, he must consider himself an out-side shot at the title. The form player of themoment is Rafael Nadal, followed by theAustralian Open winner and current numberone Novak Djokovic. Nadal seems to haveunraveled the mystery of the Djoker’s game,which inflicted six straight defeats on him in

2011. He now has three straight wins overNovak. Wimbledon 2012 men’s event is par-ticularly intriguing because three playershave the chance of becoming number one inthe world should they win the title andshould their rivals cooperate by losing early.The permutations are given below:

After removing last year's Wimbledonpoints we will have this ranking: Djokovic10.280; Federer 9.075; Nadal 8.860. Thepoints available are: 2,000 for the winner,1,200 for the runner-up, 720 for the semi-finalist. This means that Roger can grabthe first spot only if he wins Wimbledonand Djokovic does not get to the final. Let'ssay that Roger wins over Rafa in the final(and Nole gets to the semis) the rankingwould be: Federer 11.075, Djokovic 11.000,Nadal 10.060.

What about Rafa? The King of Claycan also become world number 1 if he winsWimbledon and Djokovic does not get tothe semis. Let's say that Rafa wins overRoger and Nole gets to the quarters. Theranking will be: Nadal 10.860, Djokovic10.640, Federer 10.275.

Of course, Djokovic could foil all this bywinning and defending the 2000 points he

earned from last year’s win. Players with anoutside chance of winning include the muchimproved Tsonga, Thomas Berdych, JohnIsner and Milos Raonic although the last twomight yet be a year or two away.

In the women’s event, it will be thenew world number one Maria Sharapovawho should be the favourite. She has re-cently completed her career Grand Slam inParis, is healthy after years of injuries andhas the game to back up her ranking. TheWilliams sisters will be itching to have a goat Maria, as will last year’s champion Kvi-tova. Australian Open Champion VictoriaAzarenka will also be eyeing the Venusrosewater dish as will the big servingaussie Sam Stosur. Keep an eye out for Ser-ena Williams, although Venus will alsofancy her chances. After all, the rose waterdish is named after her!

Our own Wimbledon hope, AisamQureshi, will again be in the reckoning al-though one does not see beyond the quar-ters or at best the semi finals for Aisam andRojer. But stranger things have happenedand with a bit of inspired tennis and thevagaries of the draw, we might yet see amajor title for Aisam.

Wimbledon 2012 curtainraiser: Who’ll be number one?

ALI AKBAR

SportS thiS Week

LHR 24-06-2012_Layout 1 6/24/2012 3:14 AM Page 16

EASTBOURNEAFP

Tamira Paszek saved fivematch points to beat fifth seedAngelique Kerber 5-7, 6-3, 7-5on Saturday to win the East-bourne grass-court event andclaim her first WTA title since2010. Austrian Paszek, ranked59th, spent two and three-quarter hours in fighting forthe third title of her careerafter starting the week at theWimbledon tun-up with justtwo match wins this season.

It was her first title sinceQuebec in September, 2010.

Number eight Kerbermissed out on her third trophyof 2012 after finally finding fit-ness after a series of injuriesthis season.

The men's title will be con-tested between wild card AndyRoddick and holder AndreasSeppi of Italy.

WATch IT LIvE

TEN SPORTSFirst Test: Pakistan v Sri Lanka09:30AM

LONDONAFP

ROGER Federer insists he isstill hungry enough for grandslam glory and will do what-ever it takes to break Novak

Djokovic and Rafael Nadal's grip on thetop prizes. For years, Federer reignedsupreme at Wimbledon, winning thegrass-court grand slam six times, whilealso enjoying huge success at most of theother major events.

The Swiss star amassed a record 16grand slam crowns and occupied the worldnumber one ranking for a total of 285weeks. But those halcyon days must seemlike a distant memory to the 30-year-old,who heads into Wimbledon, which startson Monday, without a grand slam title tohis name since the 2010 Australian Open.That barren sequence includes successiveWimbledon quarter-final exits as Djokovicand Nadal have run amok, winning ninegrand slams between them since Federerlast lifted a major trophy.

Such is Nadal and Djokovic's stran-glehold on the sport that they have madethe last four grand slam finals a privatebattle for supremacy. Having won somuch in his illustrious career and withother priorities now -- Federer is a fatherto young twin daughters -- it has beensuggested that his appetite for success hasstarted to fade. But Federer is adamant heis still willing to put in the hard work re-quired to keep up with, and ultimately de-feat, Djokovic and Nadal.

"My confidence is very good. I've wonmany tournaments, so many matches thelast year or so that I feel perfect in this re-gard," Federer said on the eve of his 14th

Wimbledon appearance. "I'm match fitand I'm match tough right now. That'salso key going into a grand slam. "Thehunger is obviously big. I don't think Ineed to elaborate too much on that.

"I've explained many times how hun-gry and motivated I am to be playing,playing at this high level, wanting to winthe big tournaments." Federer's lastgrand slam final appearance came at the2011 French Open and he arrives at Wim-bledon on the back of a lacklustre semi-final exit against Djokovic at RolandGarros and then a surprise loss to Ger-

man veteran Tommy Haas in the Hallefinal. He is currently ranked third in theworld, yet could regain the number onespot if he wins Wimbledon for a record-equalling seventh time.

Moving level with Pete Sampras is asignificant motivation, but Federer,seeded third, is more concerned withbreaking the Djokovic-Nadal duopoly."They've done amazing the last years,"Federer said. "Obviously Novak stood outthe most because of his amazing streaklast year but then Rafa was able to defendhis French Open title.

Roddick racks up 600th victoryEASTBOuRNE: Former world number oneAndy Roddick racked up his 600th career vic-tory on Friday, a timely tonic ahead of Wimble-don where he has been runner-up three times.The American did it the hard way, however, hav-ing to play twice in one day at the windsweptsouthern English coastal venue of Eastbourne.First he beat Italy's Fabio Fognini 6-3, 3-6, 7-5before making Saturday's final when Belgian op-ponent Steve Darcis retired 6-3, 3-1 down intheir semi-final as Roddick reached his land-mark moment. "There's a lot of times when youmake plans where you draw the perfect scenario and you draw up a script and it doesn'twork out," said the American, who will be seeded 30 at Wimbledon which starts onMonday. "That's probably 90 per cent of the time in sports. This week has worked out.Regardless of what happens, I'll go into Wimbledon with some wins behind me andsome confidence on a surface I'm very comfortable on, so I feel like I got my game backa little bit this week," he told www.atptour.com Prior to Eastbourne, Roddick had beensidelined from March to May with a hamstring injury. He returned in time for the Euro-pean claycourt season where he lost all three of his round-robin matches in Dusseldorfas well as making a first round exit at the French Open. He also slumped to a first roundloss on grass at Queen's to Nicolas Mahut. As a wildcard in Eastbourne, he has madeSaturday's final, where he will face defending champion Andreas Seppi. AFP

federer stillhungry for success

Paszek beats Kerber for Eastbourne title

eaStbouRne: tamira paszek of austria poses with her trophy as she celebrates winning her women's final singles match against angelique Kerberof germany on the eighth day of the aegon international tennis. AfP

‘england t20 visionintact after Kp exit’NOTTINgHAM: England Twenty20 cap-tain Stuart Broad is confident his side canmount a successful defence of their WorldTwenty20 title in Sri Lanka this year despitethe absence of Kevin Pietersen. Star batsmanPietersen, man of the tournament whenEngland won the World Twenty20 title inthe Caribbean two years ago, recently quit alllimited overs internationals after officials re-fused his request to carry on playing T20swhile opting out of 50-over one-day games.England play their first T20 match since SA-born Pietersen's one-day retirement whenthey face the WI at Nottinghamshire seamerBroad's Trent Bridge ground on Sunday. AFP

England will look to maintain theirunbeaten record under Roy Hodgsonwhen they take on Italy in the lastquarter-final of 14th European Cup atOlympic Stadium, Kiev on Sunday(June 24). This match will start at11.45 hours (PST).

Roy Hodgson led England to firstplace in Group D but now faces anItaly side also unbeaten at this tourna-ment, having finished runners-up inGroup C. After drawing against Francein the opening match, Englandrecorded narrow victories over Swe-den and Ukraine. Italy, after holdingholders Spain to a draw, picking upanother point against Croatia beforeedging through with a 2-0 triumph

over Ireland.This will be 23rd international

match between the two teams and sec-ond in European Cup finals.

Italy took nine attempts to beatEngland for the first time, FabioCapello scoring in a 2-0 home friendlyvictory in 1973. The Azzurri neverthe-less hold a slight head-to-head advan-tage with a record of winning nine,drawing six and losing seven in 22matches played against England. Eng-land scored 28 and conceded 26 goalsin these matches.

Although the nations first playedin 1933 they did not meet in a compet-itive fixture until 1978 World Cupqualifying, trading 2-0 home wins –but it was Italy who made it to Ar-gentina. The Azzurri have won four oftheir six competitive meetings, Eng-land just one.

The quarter final meeting will befirst for ten years and only once beforehave they met in the European Cham-pionship final tournament, Italy win-ning 1-0 in 1980 to eliminate England.

Italy have only been knocked outat the quarter finals of a major tourna-ment on two of the nine occasions thatthey have reached this stage – bothtimes on penalty kicks, In 2008 Euro-pean Championship v Spain and In1998 World Cup v France.

In 10 quarter final matches at theEuropean Championships or WorldCup finals, including one replay, Italyhave conceded only four goals – andnever more than one in a game.

England have lost seven out of 10quarter-final games at major tourna-ments, with 1966, 1990 and 1996 theonly exceptions.

England have posted four wins

and one draw under Roy Hodgson andare now looking to reach only theirsecond European Championship semi-final since 1968.

England have won two and losttwo in four previous quarter finalsplayed in the European Champi-onship.

Italy, on the other hand, have wontwo and lost two in four previousquarter finals. When Italy finishedfourth in 1980 and reached the semi-final in 1988, there was no quarter-final stage.

Both Italy and England scored theopening goal in each of their firstthree games, with Germany the onlyother team to have managed to do so.

The Azzurri remain unbeaten incompetitive games under Cesare Pran-delli, winning nine and drawing fourin 13 matches.

Italy ready to test England’s mettle

williams sistersnot the retiringtype says Serena

LONDONAFP

Former Wimbledon champion SerenaWilliams has hit back at suggestionsthat she and sister Venus could be readyto retire from tennis.After over a decade as the sport's mostdominant forces, both Serena and Venushead into Wimbledon, which starts onMonday, without a grand slam title be-tween them since 2010.The American sisters are both in their 30snow and have never hidden their desire topursue off-court interests in fashion andshow business. That, combined with a de-cline in their performances, has led to a be-lief they could be ready to call it quits.Venus, 32, has struggled to recover fromSjogren's syndrome, an autoimmune dis-ease that causes fatigue and joint pain, andthe five-time Wimbledon champion will beunseeded at the All England Club for thefirst time since 1997 after dropping to 55thin the world rankings.Serena, 30, remains a powerful force, butshe hasn't won a grand slam since herfourth Wimbledon triumph in 2010 andher first round exit from the French Openagainst Virginie Razzano last monthranked as her worst ever result at a major.Even so, Serena is adamant she andVenus love the sport too much to con-template retirement."I have no intention of stopping and Idon't think she (Venus) does either.We're definitely connected at the hip (inthat respect)," Serena said.

Sports 17Sunday, 24 June, 2012

S. PERvEz QAISER

StatS corner eUroPeAN CUP FootBAll:

ITALy V ENgLAND:HEAD TO HEAD:

INTERNATIONAL MATCHES:Played: 22

Italy won: 9England won: 7

Drawn: 6Goals for Italy: 26

Goals for England: 28EuROPEAN CuP MATCHES:

Played: 1Italy won: 1

England won: -Drawn: -

Goals for Italy: 1Goals for England: 0

MEETINg IN EuROPEANCuP fINALS:

Date Venue Stage Result Score15-06-1980 Turin First round

Italy beat England 1-0

LHR 24-06-2012_Layout 1 6/24/2012 3:15 AM Page 17

Sunday, 24 June, 2012

18

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

g businessmen across

punjab pull down

shutters in protest

against electricity

load shedding

g petroleum Ministry to

ensure supply of 28,000

tonnes of fuel daily to

power sector to add

1,200 Mw in national grid

RAWALPINDIstAFF rePort

PROTESTING against the outra-geous load shedding in theprovince, the traders and business

community on Saturday observed a com-plete shutter down strike in Punjab.

Business activities in major cities, in-cluding the provincial capital Lahore, in-dustrial hubs Faisalabad, Sialkot,Gujranwala and many other cities andtowns across the province came to a haltas the business and traders communityjoined together on the call of the All Pak-istan Traders Union to observe the strike.Markets remained closed while therewere widespread protests.

In Rawalpindi, markets of the city

and cantonment area remained closedduring the protests, while in some areastraders and general public vented theiranger by burning tyres, blocking roadsand chanting slogans against the govern-ment. The police, however, brought thesituation under control and reopened theroads. Lahore, Faisalabad, Multan, Ve-hari, Mailsi, and Sialkot faced the samesituation. The people protested by burn-ing tyres and damaging private and pub-lic property. Many cars of the passers-bywere also damaged in Lahore.

Many urban areas are facing severelack of services and amenities that dependon electricity. Chief among them is water,which has gone scarce due to extremepower outages. With the sweltering heat,the demand of water automatically rises

up. People have been forced to make al-ternate arrangements as government pro-vided amenities have failed in delivering.The leaders of the business communitysaid that all traders expressed unity formaking the protest successful and theythanked their community for cooperation.They claimed that some of government’srepresentatives misled traders commu-nity as they posted banners againsttraders unions. They said that the govern-ment has elected Raja Parvez Ashraf asprime minister who was corrupt and wasinvolved in rental power plants case. Ourcountry had enough resources but gov-ernment was not interested in endingpower the crisis, they claimed.

eight settlers killed in quetta

QUETTAsHAHzADA zUlFiQAr

Eight people, including a policeman, werekilled and one man was left injured in adeadly armed attack here on Saturday.Police said unidentified armed men openedindiscriminate fire on a laundry shop in theSariyab area in the outskirts of Quetta. As aresult, five people were killed on the spotand four others sustained critical injuries.Another three died of their injuries at ahospital. Police said the attack was carriedout by two men on a motorcycle, whosprayed a volley of bullets on the shopwhile the people inside were having lunch.Most of the deceased were said to have

no poweR, no BuSIneSS!

Continued on page 04Continued on page 04

LHR 24-06-2012_Layout 1 6/24/2012 3:15 AM Page 18