Monday, 28 January, 2013 Rabiul awal 15, 1434Rs 17.00 Vol iii no 211 19 pages Lahore edition

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public funds beingmisused to win elections: pew

India will suffer forheld-kashmir atrocities,

says arundati roy

ppp not serious increating new provinces, says nisar

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ISLAMABADSHAIQ HUSSAIN

Foreign Minister hina RabbaniKhar has said Pakistan was commit-ted to pursue the Indo-Pak peaceprocess for the settlement of all out-standing issues, but its nuclearneighbour must also show maturityand avoid escalation of tensions asthat could impact the efforts forpeace and stability. In an interviewwith Pakistan Today editor ArifNaizami for SAMAA TV’s pro-gramme Zeir-e-Bahes, the foreignminister talked at length about im-portant foreign policy issues rangingfrom relations with India, Pakistan-US ties, war on terror, Afghanistanand regional situation etc.Unity: She said no doubt Pakistan

was facing serious challenges oneconomic and security fronts, butthe notion that the nation stood di-vided today on national issues wasmisplaced. “The credit goes to thisgovernment that despite hardships,the people of Pakistan stand untiedagainst the menace of terror andthis unity is unprecedented,” shesaid. “Then there are other issues ofsovereignty where the whole nationexhibited its unity. Look at theSalala incident, the nation gotunited after that. There are manyother examples during the tenure ofpresent government when the par-liament took important decisions onforeign policy matters. For instance,parliamentary review of relationswith the United States,” she said.india: “The present government

also showed great maturity as for Pak-istan’s relations with the nuclearneighbour, India. Both sides havebeen engaged positively to resolve dif-ferent conflicting matters during thetenure of our government.” “Duringthe recent escalation on the Line ofControl (LoC) in Kashmir, Pakistan’sresponse was very responsible andthat was noticed not only across theborder in India but also worldwidewith Pakistani leadership being ap-plauded for showing great level of re-straint in the face of disproportionateresponse showed by India,” she said.

When asked what has been India’sresponse to Pakistan’s offer of UNprobe into the LoC skirmishes as wellas talks on this contentious issue be-tween the Indo-Pak foreign ministers,she said, “We have offered India a dia-

logue on this important issue, whichwe believe is the best option. We standby this offer.” Khar said the Indians toohad now showed some maturity andthe process of de-escalation hadstarted on the LoC. “We don’t believein hostility and we shall be forthcom-ing in our response to any positive stepby India. It is now Indian turn to comeforward and show reciprocity,” shesaid. To a query on India’s allegationsof beheading of Indian soldiers onLoC by Pakistani troops, Khar said,“There is no evidence that India couldproduce to proof these allegations.Our three soldiers were also killed andwe feel pain for them but contrary toIndia, our response has been that of aresponsible and mature nation.”

ptI offers, thenrevokes, supportto pml-n’s sIt-In

ISLAMABADAGENCIES

In a topsy-turvy decision making process, thePakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf announced to join, butthen withdrew its support to the planned sit-inby Pkistan Muslim League-Nawaz outside theParliament house to demand more efficient andtransparent verification of voters’ lists in Karachiand a more power election Commission. TheJamaat-e-Isalami has, however, welcomed thePML-N plans and announced to join the party’sprotest in Islamabad. earlier in the day, PTIchief Imran Khan had said that the party wouldjoin the PML-N protest. however, the PTI calledan emergency strategic committee later in theday, following which Imran announced thechange of plans. PTI leader Imran Ismail said themeeting was attended by Chairman Imran Khan,Makhdoom Javed hashmi, Shah MehmoodQureshi and other leaders. A video-link was alsosetup for representatives from Karachi. he saidthe country’s political situation and theupcoming general elections were discussedduring the meeting. “It was decided that underthe present circumstances, an alliance with thePML-N was not possible, which is why the PTIwill not be taking part in the sit-in,” he said. Inhis earlier talk with reporters, the PTI chief hadsaid his party was ready to stand by any party forsake of reforms in the election Commission forfree and fair election. he had said transparentelections were crucial for the country’s destiny, aswithout fair polls, the rule of power would againbe transferred to corrupt politicians. ImranKhan also rejected the proposal by parliamentarycommission on new provinces in Punjab forinclusion of Mianwali district in the proposedBahawalpur Junoobi Punjab province. he saidthe proposals were election stunts by PresidentAsif Ali Zardari and the people of Mianwaliwould themselves decide their fate. “No onesitting in the Presidency can deicide the fate ofMianwali,” he said. he supported protestsagainst the decision in Mianwali and said theplan had proved that the removal of Zardari wasimperative for free and fair elections in thecountry. Meanwhile, Jamaat-e-Islami (JI)Secretary General Liaquat Baloch announcedthat his party would participate in the PML-Nsit-in in Islamabad. PML-N’s Leader ofOpposition Nisar Ali Khan telephoned Baloch onSunday and invited the JI to attend the sit-inagainst election Commission of Pakistan’s (eCP)violation of the Supreme Court’s ordersregarding verification of electoral rolls.

LAHOREAGENCIES

The government onSunday agreed toannounce the dates ofdissolution of Nationaland provincial assemblies

and date for general electionsduring next seven to 10 days.Talking to reporters after a meetingwith the government team, PakistanAwami Tehreek chief Dr TahirulQadri said during the talks‚ it wasagreed to reaffirm Islamabad LongMarch Declaration that assemblieswould be dissolved before March 16and elections would be held within90 days after the dissolution. hesaid it was also reaffirmed that 30days would be given for the scrutinyof nomination papers of candidatesin the light of Articles 62 and 63,adding that no candidate would beallowed to start his campaign beforegetting clearance from the electionCommission of Pakistan (eCP)

regarding his or her eligibility. hesaid practical implications andprocedures were discussed in thetalks. Qadri said that it was alsoagreed to provide legal cover to theIslamabad Long March Declarationbefore the dissolution of assemblies.he said that consultation is inprogress between the governmentdelegation and his party to formconsensus over the formation ofinterim governments at the federaland provincial levels.he said appointment of eCmembers was unconstitutional andthey needed to be reappointedaccording to the constitution. Qadrisaid his party would approach theSupreme Court if required. he saiddiscretionary funds of the primeminister‚ ministers‚ and chiefministers should be stoppedimmediately and funds should beallocated for provision of essentialsto the people. Subsidy on fooditems should be given to people andfunds should be allocated to bring

to an end gas and electricity loadshedding. Qadri said he wouldrecord protest before thegovernment team over the absenceof Law Minister Farooq Naik. hesaid that it was very depressing thatNaik who was the most appropriateperson for today’s talks was absent.Information Minister QamarZaman Kaira said the dates forelections and dissolution ofassemblies would be announcedwithin 10 days. he said it wasagreed that legal cover would beprovided to the Islamabad LongMarch Declaration throughlegislation. he said a consensuswould be developed between thecoalition government and thePakistan Awami Tehreek on namesof the caretaker prime minister andchief ministers. however,consensus on the issue ofdissolution of the eCP could not beevolved in the dialogue. “The constitution will be followedfor the caretaker setup by

developing consensus with theopposition separately,” he added.he said a committee wasconstituted to discuss thedissolution of the eCP and it hadsubmitted its recommendations tothe law minister. “According to thecommittee’s recommendations, thedissolution of election commissionis not possible constitutionally,” headded. Kaira said the caretakersetup would be establishedaccording to the law andconstitution. To a question, he saidthe eCP would become active justafter the announcement of electiondate. he said Dr Qadri had objectedto the release of funds to the electedrepresentatives. Since parliamentexists and several projects are inprogress, so technically it is notpossible for the PM to stop releaseof funds right now, he added. Kairasaid the federal government couldnot intervene in the matters ofprovinces, which were autonomousaccording to the constitution.

g Govt, Qadri agree to announce date for as-semblies’ dissolution within 10 days

g Qadri says 30 days will be given forscrutiny of nomination papers in light ofArticles 62 and 63

g Says appointments made in four provin-cial election commissions are illegal

g Protests absence of Farooq H Naik

g Information minister says legal cover to beprovided to Islamabad Declarationthrough legislation

A DATE IN

India must also act maturely for peace: Khar new provInce bIllheads to na todaylahore: The constitutional bill to carveout the “Bahawalpur-South Punjab”province in Punjab will be tabled in theNational Assembly today (Monday) fordebate and subsequent passage. TheParliamentary Commission on Creation ofNew Provinces on Saturday gave finaltouches to the bill, which has alreadyattracted controversy. Several politicianshave been questioning the scope of thecommission and others have alleged thatthe “partisan commission” had violated itsmandate granted by the presidentialreference and the unanimous resolutionspassed by Punjab and National Assemblies.Per the recommendations, the name of newprovince would be “Bahawalpur-SouthPunjab”, having 124 and 59 seats forprovincial and National Assembly,respectively. The recommendation draft,signed by members, has been sent toMinistry of Law and would be tabled in theNational Assembly through a bill – the 24thAmendment Bill 2012 – today. STAFF REPORT

In an exclusIve IntervIew, the foreIgn mInIster speaks at length on foreIgn polIcy, IndIa, pak-us tIes, war on terror, afghanIstan and the new us secretary of state

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02News

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US Senators introduce legislation after Malala Dog hunters plan big cull of Moscow strays

Monday, 28 January, 2013

61 killed in three days of Tirah clashes tiRaH: At least 61 persons have been killed and scores injured inthree days of fierce fighting between outlaw militants groups AnsarulIslam and Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which is still continuingunabated in Tirah valley of Khyber Agency. Sources said the fightingbetween the two militant groups began on Friday when militants fromTTP captured a base of Ansarul Islam. The clash began when AI mentried to retake possession of the base. At least 61 people have been killedand scores injured in the fighting that continues with heavy arms onboth sides. The clash has forced hundreds of families to leave home forsafer places. Most of the dead were militants, but some local tribesmenalso were killed, sources said. The AI has vowed not to let the TTP makehideouts in the valley that is in their control. INP

Can’t confirm date for arrival inPakistan: MusharrafnEW yORK: All Pakistan Muslim League (APML) President PervezMusharraf has said he will go back to Pakistan before the generalelection but confirm the exact date. Addressing a public meeting of theparty in New York late on Saturday, Musharraf said change wasnecessary in Pakistan in the upcoming elections, adding that theproblems would continue if change did not come. he said PakistanTehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan, and Tahirul Qadri, thefounder of Minhajul Qurran International, had tried to fulfil the desiresof the people. Criticising the current ruling setup, the former presidentsaid law and order in Karachi, Quetta and other cities was not goodand the country facing economic problems. “The current governmenthas not worked on a single mega project.” ONLINE

ECP demands more troops forverifications processiSLaMaBad: The election Commission of Pakistan (eCP) hasdemanded an increase in the number of army personnel for verificationof voters’ lists in Karachi. The chief election commissioner demandedthe government increase the number of army officials twofold to speedup the process. According to sources, the chief election commissionerhas written a letter to the Karachi corps commander, saying additionalarmy was required for the process. Presently, over 4,000 armypersonnel are involved in the process but this is still a small number forsuch a heavily-populated city as Karachi. INP

India tests nuclear-capable missilenEW dELHi: An Indian news report says India has successfully testeda medium-range, nuclear-capable ballistic missile fired from anunderwater platform in the Bay of Bengal. The Press Trust of India newsagency says the missile would soon be ready for deployment onplatforms, including a nuclear submarine. India’s Defence Ministryspokesman was not available for comment. Pallava Bagla, an Indiandefence expert, said Sunday’s test off the east coast was 14th in the serieswith a range of 700 kilometers. It would complete India’s nuclear triad –the capability to launch missiles from land, air and below the sea. INP

Malik’s native village to get passport office SiaLKOt: The federal government has approved a project ofestablishing a passport office in Jajjey village near Sialkot, the nativearea of Interior Minister Rehman Malik. According to Malik’s youngerbrother Khalid Malik, the federal government had issued a formalnotification for an early establishment of the office at Jajjey, which haspopulation of only 3,000. This new passport office would becomefunctional before the end of the running month and would be the thirdregional passport office in Sialkot. earlier, Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan hadgot established a regional passport office in her native village KoobayChak-Bajwat near Sialkot for facilitating the people of her electoralconstituency (NA 111, Sialkot-II Bajwat). PPI

ISLAMABADINP

LeADeR of the Opposition in theNational Assembly Nisar Ali Khanon Sunday said the Pakistan Peo-ples Party’s (PPP) governmentwas not sincere in the formulation

of South Punjab and Bahawalpur provincesand was only doing politics ahead of the up-coming general elections

Addressing a press conference, Nisarsaid the opposition had serious reservationsover the Parliamentary Commission on Cre-ation of New Province as it had membersfrom the ANP and the MQM with no repre-sentation from Punjab.

“Not even one of the Pakistan MuslimLeague-Nawaz (PML-N) leaders, who aremembers of the commission, belong to Pun-

jab that is being divided,” the oppositionleader said, adding that it was the party’sright to choose a member on its own.

“The chairman of the commission isPresident Asif Zardari’s staff officer. Thereis no MNA, MPA or senator from Punjab”.

he said the formulation of a newprovince was not a matter of grave concernas there were other major issues in thecountry, adding that if South Punjabprovince was formed, Punjab GovernorMakhdoom Ahmed Mahmood would be-come its chief minister and Yousaf Raza Gi-lani would become the governor. “Theproblems of the poor people will remain asthey are,” he added. Nisar said the PML-Nwould table its own amendment bill for thecreation of Bahawalpur and South Punjabprovinces in line with the resolutions passedby the Punjab Assembly.

Quetta-Chamanhighway openedfor traffic

QUETTASHAHZADA ZULFIQAR

The main Quetta-Chaman highway was opened onSunday after a 24-hour closure by protestersagainst extortionists.hundreds of truck and bus drivers backed bypeople blocked the National highway in KillaAbdullah on Saturday against extortion andvehicle snatching in the area. Thousands ofvehicles snarled up on both sides of the road. Theprotesters put barricades on the road and armedtribesmen patrolled the area on foot.The people, particularly women and children,travelling from Quetta to Afghanistan and viceversa faced difficulties due to the protest.however, the administration contacted theprotesters and after hours-long negotiations, thelatter were persuaded to call off their protest byopening the road for public. Assistant Commissioner Sohail Ansari has beensuspended over negligence and inquiry wasinitiated against him.Killa Abdullah Deputy Commissioner Dr BashirBungali said some tribal elements had startedgetting extortion from truck and bus drivers,adding that they were also involved in carsnatching and abduction. he said when the Levypersonnel reached the area the culprits woulddisappear. he said that the demands of theprotestors were genuine and action would betaken against extortionists, abductors andhighway robbers.

‘PPP not serious increating provinces’

CHAMAN: Trucks are stalled at Kojak pass on the Quetta-Chaman Highway following protests by truck drivers and tribesmen against the

deteriorating law and order in the area. INP

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03NewseDitoRiaLBury the hatchet:

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New province or new provinces.

Kamran Rehmat says;

Khantained: PTI resisted the urge but what if it had joined the road show?

Arif Ansar says;Future of Pakistan-Iran ties: Preventing the next regional conflict.

aRtS & enteRtainment

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Thoughts of wedding plans make Keira nervous Won’t cater to your needs, no more Pakistan women vow to do well

Monday, 28 January, 2013

ISLAMABAD NNI

The Pakistan econ-omy Watch (PeW)on Sunday saidpoliticians arerecklessly spending

public funds and misusingpower to ensure victory in up-coming election.

It is amazing that tax fraudis a punishable offence whilewastage of public funds on con-troversial projects is not, itsaid.

Politicians simply do notgive much thought to long-termconsequences of their decisionspreferring short-term electoralsuccesses, said PeW PresidentDr Murtaza Mughal.

he said that many recentdecisions were examples of

abuse of position as these stepshad nothing to do with welfareof people but were aimed tosupport influential busi-ness lobbies inreturn of theirsupport duringthe elections.

Dr Mughal saidthat the Punjab govern-ment has been distrib-uting laptops andyellow cabs whilethe federal gov-ernment has out-shined it bywasting awaybillions.

The coali-tion govern-ment isspending Rs50 billion an-nually on the

controversial Benazir IncomeSupport Programme (BISP),while the major chunk of

money rose to sup-port the flood-affected peoplehas been plun-

dered, he said.Similarly, recent

14.3 per cent hike inthe wheat support

price will notbenefit farmersor commonersbut the ruralp o l i t i c i a n s ;people willhave tospend someRs 360 bil-lion on foodalone, hesaid.

D r

Mughal said that the govern-ment which was already spend-ing Rs 436 billion on purchaseof food items would have to getmore loans from banks to pur-chase wheat on the new price.

he said that restriction onimport of used cars was also adecision to benefit auto mafiawhich does not want to com-pete to ensure windfall evidentfrom their balance sheets. Prof-its of a major automaker in-creased by 25 percent, whileanother car assembler’s profitclimbed almost fourfolds.

he also criticised the TCPfor promoting interests ofsugar barons by buying sugar athefty rates. Provision of gas tothe textile industry on the costof masses and economy is alsoa step to ensure election vic-tory.

g Dr mughal says Punjab govt has been distributing laptops and yellow cabs from public moneyg Criticises tCP for promoting interests of sugar tycoons by buying sugar at hefty rates

BAHAWALPUR AGENCIES

The Muttahida Mahaz Bahawalpur(MMB) has rejected the recommenda-tions of the parliamentary commissionon new provinces on Sunday, calling it a“puppet commission” and announcing tolaunch protests against its decision.

Former federal minister Muham-mad Ali Durrani, chief of ‘United FrontBahawalpur’ (MMB), announced the de-cision in a press conference flanked byleaders and notables from all ranks of so-ciety, including lawyers, traders, politicalparties, civil society, women, youth andjournalists of the region.

They later staged a sit-in to protestthe recommendation of creation of ‘Ba-hawalpur Janoobi Punjab’ (BJP)province instead of restoration of Ba-hawalpur as province.

“The commission’s decision isagainst constitution, a joke with the peo-ple of Bahawalpur and South Punjab andbeyond the mandate given to the parlia-mentary commission, which on dictationof Gilani and Makhdom turned itself intoa mere puppet commission.”

“We reject the proposal as it isagainst the wishes, aspiration and de-mands of the area and absolutely unac-ceptable for the masses,” Durrani said.

he pointed out that according to therecommendation, it would be a 750 kilo-

metre-long province whose capital willbe at a distance of 500kms from Mian-wali, another vexatious and painfulepisode for the residents.

“It is worst example of exploitationof the people of the area by the rulingelite, feudals and landlords who want topillage the resources of Bahawalpur andcapture the 6.4 million acre land ofCholistan,” he lamented.

Durrani said the people would notabandon the constitutional, historicaland legal right of Bahawalpur provinceand could not allow anyone to imposeanother LFO of Yahya Khan. The former

minister said those who claimed thatmasses were the source of power hadsold the rights of the people to feudal andlandlords and betrayed them.

“We will not let anyone repeat theevents of 1970s nor shall allow to use theissue for political bargain or as a tool toget some slots to opportunists,” he said.

The Bahawalpur high Court Bar As-sociation president, women leader AbidaDurrani, and traders’ leader hafiz You-nis also endorsed the demands andstance of MMB. Noted journalists of thearea also announced their support forBahawalpur province’s restoration.

Durrani rejects puppet commission’srecommendations on new province

Pakistani, indian troops exchange sweetsJaMMU: Pakistani and Indian troops exchanged sweets on the Line of Control in Poonch Sector even as cross-borderbus service and trade remained suspended in the wake of recent tension on the border. Indian and Pakistani soldiersexchanged sweets at the Chakan-da-Bag cross point along the LoC in Poonch sector as a goodwill gesture, armyofficials said. The flag meeting at the LoC was cordial, they said, adding that the Indian side was represented by ColPDS Bal and Major SS Sehgal and the Pakistani side by Lt Col Javid and Major Yasin. The Border Security Force andPakistani Rangers also exchanged sweets at Suchetgarh on the International Border in Jammu District. The exchangeof sweets and greetings between two sides is a continued tradition on LoC in Jammu and Kashmir on theIndependence Day and the Republic Day besides Diwali and eid festivals. The cross-LoC bus service and trade betweenIndian-held Kashmir and Azad Kashmir were suspended after LoC tension between the two countries. NNI

WASHINGTON/ISLAMABAD INP

The International Republican Institu-tion (IRI) has revealed that the Pak-istan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N)would emerge as the main party in theNational Assembly with 32 percent in-crease in its popularity while the pop-ularity of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf hasdeclined to 18 percent.

The survey carried out in 2012 re-vealed that the PML-N’s popularityhas increased from 28 percent to 32percent, while the popularity of PTIhas declined from 24 percent to 18percent and it attained second posi-tion, whereas the Pakistan People’sParty attained third position with 14percent vote bank. Balochistan is theonly province where the PPP’s popu-larity showed an upward trend.

The PML-Quaid could secure onlytwo percent votes.

The report revealed further thePTI in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa hasgained much popularity which is 32percent. The PML-N also gained pop-

ularity from 9 percent to 12 percent,JUI-F has also gained popularity in theprovince.

In Punjab the PML-N’s popularityincreased from 43 percent to 49 per-cent, whereas the PPP also gained pop-ularity from 7 percent to 8 percent,while the graph of PTI popularity is 19percent. In Balochistan, the popularityof all political parties increased, exceptPTI. The PML-N’s popularity has in-creased from 8 percent to 13 percent,the PPP from 5 percent to 18 percentand that of the JUI-F from 4 to 8 per-cent.

In Sindh, the PPP’s popularity hasdeclined from 39 percent to 32 per-cent, the PML-N popularity increasedfrom 6 percent to 8 percent, MQMfrom 11 percent to 16 percent, PTI 9percent and that of PML-Q is only 1percent. According to the survey, a ma-jority of people opposed the southernPunjab province. Around 32 percentpeople considered inflation as thebiggest problem in Pakistan, whereas20 percent considered unemploymentas the number one problem.

PML-N to emergeas main party inpolls: IRI survey

Public funds beingmisused to win polls: PEW

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04 Monday, 28 January, 2013News

PESHAWARONLINE

QAUMI WatanParty (QWP)C h a i r m a nAftab AhmadSherpao on

Sunday hailed the electionCommission of Pakistan’sdecision to ban recruitmentin government departmentsahead of the general elec-tion.

“We welcome this deci-sion as it will help bringtransparency in the elec-toral process,” he told apublic meeting at BakhshiPull situated on the out-skirts of the provincial cap-ital.

he said the next generalelections were drawing nearand making any recruit-ment in the government de-partment was tantamountto pre-poll rigging.

Sherpao said at a timewhen the election for theNational and provincial as-semblies were about to takeplace, transfer and postingof government employeeswas going on besides re-cruiting people in variousdepartments.

“It is making the elec-toral process doubtful. Thispractice should immediatelybe brought to an end as it isaimed at influencing theelectorates.”

Asking the electionCommission to take noticeof the pre-poll rigging, helauded the election body forbanning the diversion offunds that have alreadybeen allocated for variousdevelopments schemes.

Coming down hard onthe government for failingto bring peace, Sherpao saidthe rulers were claimingthat peace had been re-

stored, but the situation onthe ground belied all suchassertions. “The security sit-uation is not satisfactoryand it is deteriorating dayby day,” he remarked.

The QWP leader saidthe government had miser-ably failed to overcome thepower crisis due to whichthe country’s economy wason the verge of going bust.

“No solid step has beentaken over the past fiveyears to revive the economyfrom its moribund state. In-dustrial units are beingclosed due to the power cri-sis. employment has in-creased manifold, which is amatter of great concern,” hemaintained. Sherpao addedthat the people were ex-posed to a host of problemsand no effort had beenmade to give them any reliefin the face of skyrocketinginflation.

Banning governmentjobs before electionappreciable: Sherpao

Three of family killed, fourinjured in gas leakage blast PESHaWaR: Three children of a family were killed andfour others received burn injuries when a blast occurreddue to gas leakage in a house in the area of Matheera inNowshera. According to police, seven members of thefamily were asleep when a huge blast occurred due to gasleakage. Three children of Bashir Gul, Aleema (7), hamad(3) and Ahad Ahmed (two months) died on the spot. hiswife and three nieces sustained injuries and were takento Nowshera District headquarters hospital where theircondition was stated to be stable. APP

Water level in artificial lakein Skardu recedes iSLaMaBad: Gilgit-Baltistan Commissioner QamarShahzad has said high tides of River Baltoro have caused70 percent of the landslide to flow as a result water levelat the artificial lake, formed by a massive landslide hasreceded. Talking to a private news channel on Sunday, hesaid the water flow at the affected area had decreased to500 cusecs and there was no danger to low lying areasnow. earlier, the water level in the lake, formed by amassive landslide that blocked water flow of RiverBaltoro, had reached 140 feet, resulting in submerging oflarge areas and sparking fear among the residents innorth Pakistan. APP

Four Afghan policemenkilled in Chaman explosionCHaMan: Four Afghan policemen were killed in anexplosion in the border area of Spin Boldak on Sunday.Reports pouring form across the border said an explosiontook place close to the vehicle of Afghan CommanderAkhtar Muhammad when a bomb planted along theroadside went off in Spin Boldak. The area is about eightkilometers inside Afghan territory. As a result fourAfghan policemen were killed. At the time of theexplosion, Commander Muhammad was not present inthe vehicle, reports added. PPI

She said now that there hadbeen political consensus in Pak-istan on the need of improvingrelations with India and thepeople on both sides of the bor-der yearning for peace, it washigh time that New Delhishowed seriousness as for thenormalisation of ties.

“If President Asif AliZardari supports dialogue withIndia so does the former primeminister and leader of PML-NNawaz Sharif. Its time for Is-lamabad and New Delhi tomove forward,” she said. Kharsaid normal friendly ties be-tween Pakistan and Indiawould have deep positive im-pact on the regional peace andstability as well as its progressand development. “Unfortu-nately, SAARC legs far behindin collective progress as com-pared to other regional organi-sations like ASeAN and the

reason is the ‘ups and downs’ inIndo-Pak ties. SAARC has beenmade hostage to our bilateralties,” she added.tiES WitH US: Comment-ing on Pakistan-US relations,Khar said there had been hic-cups in ties between Islamabadand Washington during the last10 years, but efforts were alsomade during that time to keepthe relations on track.

“There has been darkshadow on Pakistan-US rela-tions and that shadow is ofAfghanistan,” she said.

She said some people in theUS saw Pakistan as a hurdle inefforts to bring back normalcyto the war-torn Afghanistan,but they should know that Pak-istan was the major beneficiaryof peace in Afghanistan.

“The people who believe inconspiracy theories shall knowthat Pakistan rendered great

sacrifices in the war on terror.Our 70,000 people embracedmartyrdom. There were innu-merable suicide attacks on oursoldiers and civilians and our fi-nancial losses were more than70 billion dollars,” she said.

To a query, Khar said ifPakistan’s strategic shift inAfghanistan was debated upon,then the same could be appliedto the United States as well.“After all, who were involved inthe making of Mujahideen andthe same Mujahideen becameTaliban later,” she said.

She said that Pakistan be-lieved that any group that con-sidered violence as means toincrease its power was itsenemy. “We consider terrorismas a clear and present danger,”she added.afgHaniStan: On theAfghanistan reconciliationprocess, the foreign minister

said Pakistan did not want anydriving seat in Afghanistan.“This is a wrong impression, wejust want to be the enabler ofpeace as is desired by theAfghan government,” she said.

“What we are doing to fa-cilitate the Afghanistan recon-ciliation process is all thatKabul has asked us for. We arereleasing the Taliban and weare also planning to hold ‘Pak-Afghan Joint Ulema Confer-ence for the sake of peace inAfghanistan and we haveagreed to facilitate the contactsof Afghan government with dif-ferent other Afghan groups,”Khar said.MiLitaRy LinK: Asked ifPakistan’s foreign policy wasdevised at the army headquar-ters, Khar said there had beenlong tenures of military dicta-torships in the country andPakistan, at present, too was in

the phase of transition towardsdemocracy.

“There is a civilian govern-ment, which for the first time iscompleting its constitutionaltenure and one shall under-stand this reality before talkingabout dominance of military inforeign policy making. Therewill be two or three more dem-ocratic governments and thingswould become all clear,” shesaid. “The foreign policy is thedomain of executive, a factwhich is accepted by all state in-stitutions.”

Commenting on the newUS Secretary of State JohnKerry, Khar said he (Kerry) wasa great friend of Pakistan andhad always played a key role indefusing the tensions in Pak-istan-US ties.

She also praised the role ofoutgoing US secretary of statehillary Clinton.

India must also act maturely for peace: KharContinued fRoM page 01

CAIRO AGENCIES

Four people were shot deadand hundreds were injured inegypt’s Port Said on Sundayduring the funerals of 33 pro-testers killed at the weekend inthe city, part of a wave of vio-lence piling pressure on Is-lamist President MohamedMursi.

An 18-year-old man andtwo other people were killed bygunshot wounds, Port Said’shead of hospitals, Abdel Rah-man Farag, said. More than 416people suffered from teargasinhalation, while 17 sustainedgunshot wounds, he said. Gun-shots had killed many of the 33who died on Saturday whenresidents went on the rampageafter a court sentenced 21 peo-ple, mostly from the Mediter-ranean port, to death for their

role in deadly soccer violence ata stadium there last year.

Some in the crowd chantedon Sunday for revenge orshouted anti-Mursi slogans.“Our soul and blood, we sacri-fice to Port Said,” they said, ascoffins were carried throughthe streets. A military sourcesaid many people in Port Said,which lies next to the increas-ingly lawless Sinai Peninsula,possess guns. But it was notclear who was behind thedeaths and injuries. elsewherein egypt, police fired teargas atdozens of stone-throwing pro-testers in Cairo in a fourth dayof clashes over what demon-strators there and in other citiessay is a power grab by Islamiststwo years after hosni Mubarakwas overthrown.

The protesters accuseMursi, elected in June with thesupport of his Muslim Broth-

erhood group, of betraying thedemocratic goals of the revolu-tion. Since protests began onThursday, 45 people have beenkilled, most in Port Said andSuez, both cities where thearmy has now been deployed.The violence adds to thedaunting task facing Mursi ashe tries to fix a beleagueredeconomy and cool tempers be-fore a parliamentary electionexpected in the next fewmonths which is supposed tocement egypt’s transition todemocracy. It has exposed adeep rift in the nation. Liberalsand other opponents accuseMursi of failing to deliver oneconomic promises and say hehas not lived up to pledges torepresent all egyptians. hisbackers say the opposition isseeking to topple egypt’s firstfreely elected leader by unde-mocratic means.

Balochistan is ina state of war,says Talal BugtiiSLaMaBad: JamhooriWatan Party (JWP)President Talal Bugti hassaid Balochistan is in a stateof war and as killing ofpeople belonging to variouscommunities continues inthe province. Addressing apress conference at theNational Press Club (NPC)on Sunday, Bugti saidbloodshed of variouscommunities includedhazara, Punjabi, Baloch andjournalists was going onwithout any fear. hedemanded the governmentimmediately stop theongoing operation inBalochistan especially inDera Bugti district. he madeit clear that Balochistanpeace was linked with theoperation and added thatpeace could not prevail untilthe ongoing operationstopped. To a question, hesaid PML-N President“Nawaz Sharif did notconsult us on therecommendation of sixnames for caretaker primeminister”. “I personallyknow three people includedSardar Ataullah KhanMengal, Mahmood KhanAchakzai and Asma Jahangirfor said business,” he added.To another question, Bugtisaid governor’s rule was nota solution to Balochistanproblems but added thatdissolution of assemblieswas the right decision. hesaid the JWP would contestelections in all constanciesof Balochistan, and inPunjab. AGENCIES

NEW DELHI ONLINE

The signs of business along theLine of Control (LoC) havestarted re-appearing, and thecross-border trade and travelwould likely be resumed onMonday (today), Indian mediaquoted officials as saying onSunday.

According to an Indiancivil administration official, thetension had eased and the rou-tine trade and travel betweenthe two sides of Jammu andKashmir would likely be re-sumed from Monday. This dra-matic turnaround came afterthe Indian and Pakistaniarmies exchanged sweets alongthe LoC on Saturday as a markof goodwill gesture on the oc-casion of India’s 64th RepublicDay.

The cross-LoC trade and

travel, described as one of thebiggest confidence buildingmeasures, was suspended onJanuary 8 due to killing of twoIndian soldiers. Pakistan hadrefused to open the gates atChakan-da-Bagh along the LoCin Poonch District.

India-Pakistan relationstook a hit after New Delhi ac-cused Pakistani troops ofkilling two of its soldiers. Pak-istan also accused Indiantroops of killing two Pakistanisoldiers on two separate days.

Indian Prime MinisterManmohan Singh declaredthat there could be no businessas usual with Pakistan.

The Indian and Pakistaniarmies have been traditionallygreeting each other on the LoC,which divides Jammu andKashmir between the twocountries, ever since a ceasefirecame into effect in 2003.

SC to hear Memogatecase todayiSLaMaBad: TheSupreme Court will take upthe hearing into thecontroversial Memogate caseagainst former ambassadorof Pakistan to the US husainhaqqani today (Monday). Anine-member SC bench,headed by Chief JusticeIftikhar MuhammadChaudhry and includingJustice Nasirul Mulk, JusticeJawwad S Khawaja, JusticeAnwar Zaheer Jamali,Justice Khilji Arif hussain,Justice Tariq Parvez, Justiceejaz Afzal Khan, JusticeGulzar Ahmed and JusticeSheikh Azmat Saeed willhear the case. A nine-member SC bench onNovember 13 had directedInterior Secretary SiddiqueAkbar to chalk out acomprehensive security planfor haqqani during his stayin the country. The SC hadalso directed Asma Jehangirto submit a written requestto the interior secretary,pointing out haqqani’sapprehensions regarding hissecurity in Pakistan. ONLINE

PESHAWAR: Leader of Jamiat Ulema Islam (F) Maulana Fazlur Rehman addresses a gathering on Sunday at a ceremony for

people who joined his party. ONLINE

Pak-India LoC

trade, bus service

likely to resume

Four killed, many hurt at

funerals in Egypt port city

BJP province shouldbe made beforepolls: ChandioiSLaMaBad: FederalMinister for PoliticalAffairs, Senator MaulaBukhsh Chandio onSunday said that theBhawalpur JanoobiPunjab (BJP) provincemust be made before thepolls. Chandio said thePPP-led government wassincere with the demandof the people of SouthernPunjab and was ready tocreate a new provinceaccording to theirwishes. APP

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Monday, 28 January, 2013

ISLAMABADONLINE

feDeRAL Minister for InformationQamar Zaman Kaira has assured ofthe information ministry full coop-eration for Allama Iqbal Open Uni-versity’s (AIOU) non-commercial

“educational TV Channel”, an initiative of edu-cational Media Institution.

Addressing the participants of the SeeratunNabi Conference held at Nusrat Bhutto Audito-rium of the AIOU, he said that he would try toaccomplish the task within the remaining tenureof the incumbent government, adding thatRadio Pakistan and Pakistan Television (PTV)would also be requested to train the manpowerfor the proposed channel.

The minister regretted that Muslims werefacing problems in their daily lives because they

had failed to apply the teachings of ProphetMuhammad (Peace be upon him) in their prac-tical lives, instead of leading hypocritical lives.

On the occasion, the AIOU Vice-Chancellor(VC) Prof Dr Nazir Ahmed Sangi said that theuniversity was striving to design its syllabuswith an objective of increasing the knowledgebase of students and to nourish the character ofthe youth.

he stressed that besides teaching moralitythrough radio and television channels, the uni-versity would print moral lessons on the coverof the 2.5 million books printed every semester,adding that refresher courses would also bearranged for muezzins and khateebs of mosquesto train them according to modern trends sothat they could spread the message to themasses through their sermons.

Furthermore, he disclosed that the AIOUhad launched a project to bring back drop-out

students towards education, adding that in thefirst phase, around 10,500 students had beenenrolled in the university.

The AIOU VC said that they had set a tar-get to teach another 15,000 in Chitral nextyear. We had always been utilising all theirpotential and resources for the cause of ex-panding and strengthening educational net-work in the country.

“AIOU has the best radio and TV studios.All educational radio and TV programmes ofthe university are prepared here under the su-pervision of the most trained producers and en-gineers,” Dr Nazir said.

Moreover, he said that the AIOU wasworking on a vision to promote its educationalactivities to the students living in the ruralareas to ensure that everyone had equal accessto quality education.

It was also announced on the occasion thatAIOU would also start an open-schooling pro-gramme titled “educate a Child”, and a targethad been set to educate one million childrenthrough this scheme. Besides, the initiativewould also focus on the introduction of socio-economic and skill-based courses, so that stu-dents would be able to earn their livelihood andtake part in the country’s overall development.

Meanwhile, Dr Sangi suggested including“Non-commercial TV channels” in the AIOUeducational Media Institution.

International Islamic University Vice-Pres-ident Prof Sajidur Rehman suggested to the in-formation minister to set up an exclusive unitat the university’s radio and TV channels to airresearch-oriented programmes in order to ac-quaint the community of basic Islamic morali-ties and guidelines.

13 criminals arrested, 635bottles of winerecovered iSLaMaBad: The Islamabad Police on Sundayarrested 13 criminals and recovered 635 bottles of wine,two kilogrammes of heroin, mobile phones, a car, fourpistols, ammunition and other stolen items from theirpossession. According to a spokesman of IslamabadPolice, on the directives of Islamabad Inspector Generalof Police (IGP) Bani Amin Khan and Islamabad SeniorSuperintendent of Police (SSP) Yasin Farooq hadassigned Station house Officers (ShOs) to arrestpersons involved in different criminal activities in thecity. In compliance with the instructions, policeinitiated action against unlawful activities and arrested13 criminals. Nelor Police Station ShO Inspector AsjidAltaf and Inspector Muhammad Shafiq arrested accusedMuhammad and recovered 600 bottles of wine from hispossession. Shahzad Town Police Station InspectorMuhammad, on tip off, arrested Samad Khan andrecovered around one kilogramme of hashish. TheTarnol Police Station’s Muhammad Idrees arrestedMuhammad Zameer and recovered around onekilogramme of hashish and 45 grams of heroin frompossession. Sabzi Mandi Police Station’s Inpector Javedduring a search operation arrested Muhammad Idreesand recovered 250 grams of hashish from him.Meanwhile, ASI Sayeed Akhtar during a searchoperation arrested an accused named Adnan Ahmed andrecovered a 30 bore pistol and four rounds ofammunition from his possession. In addition, RamnaPolice Station’s ASI Sagheer Ahmed recovered a stolenSuzuki Khyber car, numbered LJ-6515. The car wasfound to be tampered after undergoing laboratory tests.Later, the Islamabad SSP directed the ShOs to maintainstrict security of entrance and exit points of the city andordered them to remain extra vigilant in order to arrestscriminals. PPI

rtma confiscates fivetruckloads of goodsRaWaLPindi: Rawal Town Municipal Administration(RTMA), in its ongoing operation against encroachmentsin the city, has confiscated five truckloads of goods fromvarious localities. The RTMA also imposed fines worth Rs45,000 on shopkeepers in different markets forencroaching upon footpaths and roads in front of theirshops. On the directives of the Rawal TownAdministrator Said Anwar Jappa, a team of theadministration under the supervision of Tehsil OfficerRegulation Aftab Chohan, conducted the operation indifferent areas of the city including Muslim Town,Sadiqabad, Transfer Chowk, Raja Bazaar, Liaquat Road,Iqbal Road, College Road, Saidpur Road, Jamia MasjidRoad and Bani Chowk. INP

kaira assures settingup of educational tvchannel at aIou

Won’t cater to your needs, no more

Poor patients at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Science (PIMS)

are forced to undertake various medical tests at private labs

instead of the institute’s own labs on the demand of doctors. It

had been observed that the doctors at the PIMS were not

satisfied with the lab tests conducted in hospital’s own lab

facilities. However, the poor patients were unable to afford the

expenses of getting their blood tested from the costly private

labs. Per details, the doctors were intentionally referring the

patients to the outside facilities to undergo blood tests due to the

indifferent attitude of the hospital staff and underhand dealing of

the doctors with the private laboratories. The patients who were

present inside the hospital confirmed that the doctors were

rejecting the blood test reports issued by the PIMS laboratory,

while they were prescribed to perform various medical tests from

a certain few private laboratories. The patients said that the costs

of private laboratories were too high and they could not afford

the expenses on a continuous basis. While talking to this scribe,

the PIMS Executive Director (ED) Dr Riaz A Warraich said that the

influx of medical tests at the PIMS had increased ten times,

therefore, despite the efficient team of pathologists and

radiologists available at the facility, the quality and standard of

the tests were becoming highly questionable. “Ninety percent of

the tests are carried out at the PIMS laboratories and we are

overloaded with the increasing number of patients due to which

quality of the tests cannot be maintained,” he added. Patients at

the PIMS were compelled to head towards private laboratories for

CT scans, MRI, ultrasound and various other important but

expensive tests. Despite being the largest and prestigious health

organisation of the federal capital which was supposed to provide

relief to the poor people, it seemed that the institute was

committed to increasing their problems even further. The PIMS

had been receiving fees of Rs 2,500 for CT scan and Rs 1,500 for

ultrasound test which were the same as those of the private labs.

The PIMS ED replied to this situation by saying that the

government only charged the patients for the films only and

these charges would be written off on the recommendation of the

ED for the needy patients. When this issue was discussed with

the patients, they were of the view that no patient was ever

informed about relaxation of lab test fees by the hospital

management. Meanwhile, despite

repeated attempts to talk with

the Ministry of Capital

Administration and Development

(CAD) Secretary Riffat Shaheen

Qazi regarding the above

mentioned issue, she was not

available for any comment.

ISLAMABAD: Activists of Youth Initiative for Development and Peace holding candles as they call for peace between Pakistan and India. INP

Islamabad

sTaFF REPORT

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06 Islamabad Monday, 28 January, 2013

ISLAMABAD ONLINE

The participants of seminar organisedhere at the National Library Islamabad onthe topic of “Development of Country toCountry Relationships in higher educa-tion Sector of Pakistan”, said that highereducation is very crucial for the socio-eco-nomic development of the country. Inter-national cooperation had been greatlyhelpful in training human resource andundertaking faculty development inhigher education sector in Pakistan, the

participants said. The seminar was jointly organised by

Inter University Consortium for Promo-tion of Social Sciences Pakistan, theDiplomatic Insight and American Insti-tute of Pakistan Studies and was presidedover by National Committee on Develop-ment of Social Sciences chairperson andUniversity of Gujrat Vice Chancellor ProfDr Mohammad Nizamuddin. The semi-nar was attended by vice chancellors,diplomats, academicians, civil societymembers and scholars. Farhat Asif con-ducted the proceedings of seminar.

Delivering keynote address, Prof. DrSohail h Naqvi, former executive directorhigher education Commission (heC)said that the young bright minds were thegreatest asset of Pakistan. he said thatafter realising this fact, more attentionwas paid by the persons concerned to thisimportant segment of society in highereducation sector of Pakistan during thelast ten years.

he informed that young Pakistaniswere provided opportunities to equipthemselves with modern knowledge andtechnology in the leading universities of

academically advanced countries. The pool of these trained and edu-

cated young people had been very helpfulin overcoming the shortage of skilledhuman resource and qualified faculty inPakistan. These Pakistani scholars hadperformed exceptionally well and thesuccess rate of the attainment of PhD de-gree had been more than 95 percent. Thehard work and intelligence level of Pak-istani scholars had also been acknowl-edged by the officials and academiciansof partner countries.

Transparency of the process was en-

sured through an open advertisement innational newspapers and on the heCwebsite. The merit at each level for shortlisting was determined by test score/scores in previous exams. In addition,the final selection of candidates for for-eign scholarships was undertaken bypanels of professors and experts fromforeign countries, without the involve-ment of the heC.

All the scholarships were finallyawarded through National ScholarshipManagement Committee (NSMC), consti-tuted by the Prime Minister of Pakistan.

RAWALPINDIAPP

IN order to avoid gas load-shed-ding and to increase domesticgas pressure, some Sui gas con-sumers have installed compres-sors that are dragging gas from

the main supply lines, and has been acause of concern for other consumersin the area as installation of the illegalcompressors has disturbed gas supplyin many localities.

According to details, a number oflocalities in the town were facing theproblem of low gas pressure due towhich the residents were employing dif-ferent methods to increase domestic gassupply. Some domestic, as well as com-

mercial consumers have reportedly in-stalled gas compressors which draggedgas from the main supply lines in a verysimilar mechanism applied in watermotors that creates water pressure.

Several complaints had been re-ceived from the citizens on the issue ofinstallation of illegal gas compressors,which they said was creating problemsfor other consumers.

The practice had been continuingin blatant disregard of the laws of thedepartment concerned that had de-clared that the gas compressors werevery dangerous as they could causefatal accidents.

The Civil Defence Department hadalso sought permission to take actionagainst the residents who were in-

stalling illegal gas compressors in theirvicinities. It is important to mentionhere that during the crackdown againstthe installers of illegal gas compres-sors, the gas connections of the viola-tors would be immediatelydisconnected.

Meanwhile, the residents of Peo-ples Colony, Tench Bhatta, Dhoke Say-dian and adjoining areas havedemanded of the authorities concernedto end gas load-shedding in their local-ities and to find a permanent solutionto this long standing problem.

Talking to APP, habibur Rehman,a resident of Peoples Colony, said thatgas supply had dropped to the mini-mum level due to which people couldnot even use the stoves at homes.

Hotel owners asked to implementanti-tobacco lawsiSLaMaBad: Citizens have urged themanagements of hotels, restaurants andinternational food chains in the federalcapital to properly implement anti-tobacco laws. They said the ownersshould also stop allocating designatedareas for smokers in hotels andrestaurants premises to allow them usingcigarettes, pipes, cigars and sheesha.They said smoking in any form wastotally banned in all places of publicwork or use, including hotels andrestaurants under Section 2 ofProhibition of smoking and protection ofnon-smokers health ordinance 2002.The citizens said the concernedauthorities should ask the hotelmanagements to implement such anti-tobacco laws to protect the health ofnon-smokers, as there was no permissionof allocating designated areas forsmokers. They said the concerned bodyshould write a letter to Pakistan hotelsAssociation and Pakistan FoodAssociation and ask them to ensurecompletely ban on any form of smokingin the premises of hotels, restaurants andinternational food chains. Whencontacted, an official said that there was aplan to create awareness in citizensregarding negative effects of smoking andeducating them about the tobacco controllaws for proper implementation. he saidlocal authorities have been asked toeducate the citizens about such laws andstop open use of tobacco in public placesand offices besides implementing tobaccocontrol laws in departments, includingeducational institutions and offices. hesaid the country’s airports had removeddesignated areas for smokers and no onewas allowed to smoke there, while suchsteps had also been taken by PakistanRailways. APP

higher education crucial for country’s development

Citizens sans

water, gas

iSLaMaBad : Shortage of portablewater, unscheduled power outages andlow gas pressure have intensely irked theresidents of Sector-I of the federalcapital, who are demanding of theauthorities concerned to end their woes.Although all the sectors of the capitalcity were confronted with energy-relatedproblems, but the residents of I-8, I-9and I-10 in particular had been foundthe worst affected of all. Owing to thefaulty pipeline system in many parts ofthe city, flow of regular water to homeshad been discontinued. “Most of theresidents have to place orders for watertankers to fulfill their daily needs ofwater, which is not fit for drinking, buteverybody cannot afford to pay for waterservice due to inflation,” said SakinaSultan, a government employee.Government employees residing in I-8/1Sector of Islamabad were faced with theworst shortage of water supply alongwith long gas outages. Many waterfiltration plants installed in the federalcapital by the Capital DevelopmentAuthority (CDA) were not looked afterproperly which was tantamount tospreading various water-borne diseasesin the city. According to a surveyconducted by this agency the federalcapital, found that most of thecommercial areas, big hotels, restaurantsand various other influential marketswere facing no electricity or natural gasproblem, while numerous other localitiesof the city were entirely deprived of thesefacilities. It was also found that theMelody Food Park was also receiving acontinuous flow of gas from the main gassupply line. ONLINE

RAWALPINDI: Activists of Ahle Sunnat

Wal Jamaat protesting in favour of

their demands on Sunday. INP

RAWALPINDIAPP

A large number of stray dogs in Rawalpindi CantonmentBoard (RCB) areas have become a source of constant nuisancefor the residents as the authorities concerned have yet to takeeffective measures to eliminate them various localities.

Incidents of dog bite had also been increasing in the RCBareas due to lack of initiative regarding operations against thestray dogs by the quarters concerned. Residents of the area,particularly children, women and aged persons, could not gooutside their homes even during day time due to the fear ofbeing attacked by the stray dogs. “We cannot send our chil-

dren to schools alone and we have to accompany them up topick and drop points,” said a house wife residing in the can-tonment area. Stray dogs could be seen on the main roads andstreets of RCB areas, particularly Allama Iqbal Colony, TenchBhatta, Dhok Syedan, Kiani Road, RA Bazaar, Dhoke Chau-drian, Afshan Colony and several other RCB localities.

The residents of cantonment while talking to APP said thatthey were not only scared to walk on the roads and streets butmany of them were even stopping their children from playingoutside. “The numbers of stray dogs in our area are increasingrapidly for the last several months,” said Tariq, a PeoplesColony resident. he said that no proper planning to purge thearea of these stray dogs had been developed by the authoritiesconcerned. “I keep my doors locked at all times and neverallow my children to the park to play,” said Faha, a resident ofCantt. “The dogs are usually seen around garbage heaps duringthe day, while they wander on the roads and streets during thenight,” said another resident of the cantonment area. he saidthe dogs usually moved in small groups and would become vi-olent when pedestrians passed by any pack of stray dogs.

GettinG it from the source, eh!

Who let thedogs out?

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07IslamabadMonday, 28 January, 2013

Low

High

tUeSDay weDneSDay tHURSDay17°C i 07°C 15°C i 08°C 16°C i 07°C

PRayeR timingSfajr Sunrise zuhr asr maghrib isha

5:43 7:09 12:19 3:09 5:29 6:56

City DiReCtoRy

PoLiCe emeRgenCy 15

amBULanCe 115

ReSCUe 1122

HiLaL-e-aHmeR 9250488

eDHi foUnDation 2827844

BomB DiSPoSaL 9270698

fiRe BRigaDe CentRe 16

CiviL DefenCe 9262830

emeRgenCy HeLP

HoSPitaLS

BLooD BanK

PimS BLooD BanK 9261272

PoLy CLiniC BLooD BanK 9209123

ComPLaint

waPDa 111-000-118

SUi gaS 1199

RaiLwayS

City Station (enQUiRy) 117

ReSeRvation 9273614

RaiLway PoLiCe 1333

aiRPoRt

fLigHt enQUiRy 114

Pia ReSeRvation 111-786-786

CoLLegeS / UniveRSitieS

inteRnationaL iSLamiC UniveRSity 9260765BaHRia UniveRSity 9260002nUmL 9257677QUaiD-e-azam UniveRSity 90642098aRiD agRiCULtURe UniveRSity 9290151fJwU 9273235RiPHa inteRnationaL UniveRSity 111510510nCa RawaLPinDi 5770423PUnJaB Law CoLLege 4421347

maHRoof int 2222920

PimS 9261170

PoLy CLiniC 9218300

CDa 9221334

SHifa inteRnationaL 4603666

aLi 4444435

DiStRiCt HQS 5556311-14

ULtRaSoniC CLiniC 2824862

HoLy famiLy 9290319

Sunny

weatHeR UPDateS

17°C05°C

DANCe ClASSeS wItH NIGHAt

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starting november 5! Limited spaces

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Date anD time: 05:00 Pm, weeKLy eventVENUE: tHe CentRe foR aRtS & CULtURe

our drumming circle is a (free!) ongoing

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our drumming circle has children ...

Date: ongoing tiLL aPR 30, 2013

venUe: HUneRKaDa

YoGA wItH AlI tArIQ

this yoga course will creatively and mindfully

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kARACHIAPP

Rapid surge in investment in fixed-line,mobile networks and establishment ofsystems to aid in network growth hasestablished Pakistan’s telecom sector asthe third-fastest growing sector in theworld a few years back.According to figures released by thePakistan Telecommunication Authority(PTA), the telecom sector had remainedone of the most potential sectors duringthe last six years and had contributedmore than Rs 687 billion to the nationalexchequer besides providing a largenumber of employment opportunities tothe unemployed youth of the country.The mentioned sector made its highestever contribution during year 2011, whentelecom companies and PTA togetherbrought in more than Rs 117 billion tothe national exchequer while Rs 109billion were deposited last year, thusshowing a 7 percent growth. In addition, taxes collected from thetelecom sector remained the principalcontributor to the overall tax collectionsmade by the government. however, clouds of uncertainty hadstarted hovering over the sector lastyear, particularly over the mobile phonecompanies, as cellular suspensions andsome other factors made the year toughfor operators as well as for subscribers.Previously, as a part of securitymeasures, the government had bannedthe sale of Subscriber IdentificationModules (SIMs) at retail outlets, thuscutting down a slice of the sector’sincome. According to an estimate, theoperators had to close down around 0.2

million retail outlets across the countryin the wake of a new policy introduced togovern the practice of SIMs issuance,whereas two million SIMs were beingsold every month, the figure for whichhad presently dropped down to around 0.7 million.Currently, around 1,800 franchises of allthe mobile phone operating companieswere working in the country, mostly inurban areas, thus creating problems forthe rural areas subscribers in buying new SIMs.experts told APP that the AverageRevenue Per User (ARPU) for all mobilecompanies was currently only Rs 210and the basic objective of the companieswas to enhance the ARPU. “Companies invest to gain profit. In thecurrent unfavourable environment, thecompanies might increase their tariffsbesides controlling expenditures,” theexperts said.One of the leading mobile phone serviceprovider had already imposed call set upcharges of 10 paisas on every call whileat least two other operators had decidedto follow the same in a couple of months.Furthermore, the experts believed thatMobilink would likely be at the top interms of revenue generation, as after theintroduction of new rules it wouldprobably increase SIMs’ rates besidesimproving marketing tactics. Meanwhile, Ufone and Zong were likelyto remain price efficient networks andwould likely increase focus on “voicebundles” to attract additionalsubscribers. With “easy-Paisa” at the top, there werechances that the other three operatorswould not compete on with each other

over the prices. Instead they would focuson extending their reach to remote areasof the country.“Ufone might introduce mobile bankingsolution during the current fiscal year,”the experts informed.They predicted that the rates for mobilephone internet were likely to remain thesame or could go further down duringthe ongoing year. It was also expected that PakistanTelecommunication Company Limited(PTCL) would remain the dominantplayer as far as the broadband marketwas concerned.In addition, eVDO and DSL were likelyto remain the favourite technologies forbroadband users.eVDO would further strengthen itssubscription base to attain around 35percent market share in broadbandmarket as compared to its current 30percent shares.Furthermore, broadband rates werelikely to remain unchanged. however,customers would be offered betterdownload speeds to increase revenuesfor Internet Service Providers (ISPs).Khurram Iftikhar Bhatti, a seniorexecutive in a local mobile company,said he believed that mobile phonesubscriptions which had reached a figureof around 122 million and with tele-density of around 69 percent would notshow a substantial surge during thecurrent year.he said it was necessary to give relief tothe country’s telecom industry on issueslike unverified SIMs, illegal internationalincoming traffic and same InternationalMobile Station equipment Identity(IMeI) number for cell phones.

Telecom secTor awaiTingbalanced, healThy days

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Monday, 28 January, 2013News08

BAMAkOAGENCIES

fReNCh-LeD troops were ad-vancing on Mali’s fabled desertcity of Timbuktu on Sundayafter capturing a string ofother towns in their offensive

against Islamist militant groups in the northof the country. French air strikes destroyedthe home of the leader of an Al Qaeda linkedgroup in the town of Kidal overnight, 24hours after French and Malian troops seizedGao, the biggest victory so far in their 17-dayoperation against the militants.

French Prime Minister Jean-MarcAyrault said the troops were advancing onTimbuktu, a desert trading post and centre

of Islamic learning for centuries, where 333revered saints are believed to be buried.

Ayrault said the troops were currently“around Gao and (will be) soon near Tim-buktu.” Meanwhile, African leaders meetingin the ethiopian capital were discussingscaling up the number of African troops tojoin the offensive, after the African Union’soutgoing chief admitted the body had notdone enough to help Mali.

Gao is the biggest of six towns seized bythe French and Malian troops since theylaunched their offensive on January 11 towrest the vast desert north from the Is-lamists, who imposed their own version of‘shariah law’ in areas under their control.

French-led forces on Saturday took Gaofrom the Al Qaeda-linked Movement for

Oneness and Jihad in West Africa(MUJAO), one of the Islamist groups thathave controlled northern Mali for 10months. A Malian security source said thehome of Ansar Dine (Defenders of the Faith)chief Iyad Ag Ghaly was destroyed in airraids on Islamist bases in Kidal, 1,500 kilo-metres north of the capital Bamako.

Kidal has been a bastion of Ansar Dine,whose leader is a former soldier and a Tu-areg ex-rebel who formed the group lastyear. The Mali crisis erupted in April lastyear in the chaotic aftermath of a coup in Ba-mako. An alliance of Tuareg rebels seekingan independent homeland in the northjoined forces with several Islamist groups,seizing Kidal first and then Gao and Tim-buktu. The Islamists quickly sidelined the

Tuaregs, imposing their version of ‘Islamiclaw’ which saw offenders flogged, stoned orexecuted while the militants banned musicand television and forced women to wearveils. France launched a military offensiveon January 11 after Islamists captured a cen-tral town and pushed deeper into govern-ment territory towards Bamako. Residentsfleeing Timbuktu were jubilant, hailingFrance for stopping the Islamists’ jugger-naut while some clamoured for revenge.

“We have the feeling that we are soongoing to be liberated,” said Sidi Toure, a 67-year-old trader, speaking in the central townof Mopti about 250 kilometres south of Tim-buktu. “They looted… destroyed the mau-soleums of saints and amputated the handsof people they accused of stealing,” Amadou

Alassane Mega told AFP. “They beat us upwhen we smoked or listened to music,” the22-year-old student said. “They will have topay for what they did to us. We will beatthem up as well.” ‘France has done Africa’sjob’ The French offensive got a fresh boostwith Washington deciding to step up its rolein the conflict by helping refuel French war-planes, a Pentagon spokesman said. US De-fence Secretary Leon Panetta and Frenchcounterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian also dis-cussed plans for the Americans to transporttroops from African nations, including Chadand Togo, to facilitate the international effortin Mali. The US military has an unparalleledfleet of more than 400 tankers equipped torefuel fighters and other warplanes in mid-air. France has about 14 such tankers.

French-led troops advance on Timbuktu

WASHINGTON: Thousands of people participated in a ‘March on Washington for Gun Control’ on Saturday in response to last month's school shooting in Newtown, Con-

necticut. AgENCIEs

CAIROAGENCIES

Police fired teargas at dozens of stone-throwing protesters in Cairo on Sundayin a fourth day of street clashes thathave killed at least 42 people and com-pounded the challenges facing Presi-dent Mohamed Mursi.

In the worst violence, securitysources said 33 people died in Port Saidon Saturday when protests eruptedafter a court sentenced 21 people,mostly from the city, to death for theirrole in a deadly stadium disaster lastyear.

Thousands of mourners joined fu-neral processions for the dead in PortSaid on Sunday, a witness said by tele-phone, adding that he heard gunshotsand the sound of emergency vehiclesirens. But there were no immediate re-ports of new casualties.

Mursi’s opponents have also takento the streets across egypt since Thurs-day, accusing him and his Islamist al-lies of betraying the uprising thatoverthrew hosni Mubarak in 2011.

“None of the revolution’s goalshave been realized,” said MohamedSami, a protester in Cairo’s TahrirSquare on Sunday.

“Prices are going up. The blood ofegyptians is being spilt in the streetsbecause of neglect and corruption andbecause the Muslim Brotherhood is rul-ing egypt for their own interests.”

On a bridge close to Tahrir Square,youths hurled stones at police in riotgear who fired teargas to push themback towards the square, the cauldron

of the uprising that erupted on January25, 2011 and toppled Mubarak 18 dayslater.

The latest protests were initiallytimed to mark Friday’s anniversary ofthat revolt.

The US and British embassies, bothclose to Tahrir, said they were closedfor public business on Sunday.

The violence adds to the dauntingtask facing Mursi as he tries to fix a be-leaguered economy and cool tempersbefore a parliamentary election ex-pected in the next few months which is

supposed to cement egypt’s transitionto democracy.

It has exposed a deep rift in the na-tion. Liberals and other opponents ac-cuse Mursi of failing to deliver oneconomic promises and say he has notlived up to pledges to represent allegyptians. his backers say the opposi-tion is seeking to topple egypt’s firstfreely elected leader by undemocraticmeans.diViSiOnS: The army, egypt’s in-terim ruler until Mursi’s election inJune, was sent back onto the streets to

restore order in Port Said and Suez, an-other port city on the Suez Canal whereat least eight people have been killed inclashes with police.

In Port Said, residents had re-ported gunshots overnight and shopsand many workplaces were shut onSunday. Residents said the city hadbeen tense ahead of the funerals amidfears the burials could set off further vi-olence.

Many egyptians are frustrated bythe regular escalations that have hurtthe economy and their livelihoods.

The National Defence Council,headed by Mursi, has called for a na-tional dialogue to discuss political dif-ferences.

That offer has been cautiously wel-comed by the opposition National Sal-vation Front. But the coalition hasdemanded a clear agenda and guaran-tees that any agreements will be imple-mented.

Clashes in Port Said erupted aftera judge sentenced 21 men to death forinvolvement in 74 deaths at a soccermatch on February 1, 2012 betweenCairo’s Al Ahly club and the local al-Masri team. Many of the victims werefans of the visiting team.

There were 73 defendants in thecase. Those not sentenced on Saturdaywill face a verdict on March 9, the judgesaid.

Al Ahly fans cheered the verdictafter threatening action if the deathpenalty was not meted out. But PortSaid residents were furious that peo-ple from their city were held respon-sible.

Egyptian youths, police clash in fourth day of violenceBrazil nightclub fire

kills more than 200SaO PaULO: At least 200 people were killed ina nightclub fire in southern Brazil on Sunday aftera band’s pyrotechnics show set the establishmentablaze, local officials said. Bodies were still beingremoved from the Kiss nightclub in the southerncity of Santa Maria, Major Gerson da Rosa Fer-reira, who was leading rescue efforts at the scenefor the military police, told Reuters. Ferreira said159 bodies had been removed from the club, andthe death toll was likely to rise above 200. he saidthe victims died of asphyxiation or from beingtrampled, and there were as many as 500 peopleinside the club when the fire broke out. LuizaSousa, a civil police official in Santa Maria, toldReuters the blaze started when a member of theband or its production team ignited a flare, whichthen set fire to the ceiling. AGENCIES

Hacker group anonymous

downs US govt siteWaSHingtOn: hacker group Anonymoussaid it disabled the US Sentencing Commission’swebsite Saturday in revenge for the death of In-ternet freedom advocate Aaron Swartz, andvowed to release government data. The websiteof the commission, an independent agency of theUS Justice Department involved in sentencing,was apparently hacked into early Saturday.Anonymous threatened to make public the en-cryption keys to files that could potentially em-barrass judges and other federal employees,saying it acted in protest at the Justice Depart-ment’s alleged mishandling of Swartz’s case.Swartz was facing 35 years in prison and a $1million fine for breaking into a closet at the Mas-sachusetts Institute of Technology to plug intothe computer network. AGENCIES

north Korea warning

follows nuclear threatPYONGYANG

AGENCIES

North Korea has warned of “substantial andhigh-profile important state measures”, daysafter announcing plans for a third nucleartest.North Korean leader Kim Jong-un made thestatement during a meeting with top securityofficials, state media said on Sunday.The reports did not give details of what themeasures might entail.North Korea has issued a series of warningssince the UN tightened sanctions against thecountry this week over a recent rocket test.On Thursday, the North said it would proceedwith a “high-level” nuclear test in a moveaimed at the US, its “arch-enemy”. A daylater, it promised “physical counter-mea-sures” against South Korea if it participatedin the UN sanctions regime.North Korean state media reported on Sundaythat Kim had “advanced specific tasks to theofficials concerned”. The latest warning came after Rodong Sin-mun, a state newspaper, carried an essay onSaturday saying that a nuclear test was “thedemand of the people”.“It is the people’s demand that we should dosomething, not just a nuclear test, but some-thing even greater. The UN Security Councilhas left us no room for choice.”North Korea has conducted two nuclear testsin the past, in 2006 and 2009. It has given notime-frame for its third test.

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09NewsMonday, 28 January, 2013

LAHOREONLINE

PAKISTAN launched on Saturday a judicial in-quiry into the death of Indian national ChamelSingh, who was serving a five-year jail term forspying, following allegations that he died afterbeing beaten by the prison staff. Refuting reports

that Singh was beaten up, Kot Lakhpat Jail Additional Super-intendent Ishtiaq Ahmed said the Indian prisoner had devel-oped pains in his chest while having breakfast on January 15and was taken to a state-run hospital. “We shifted him toJinnah hospital where doctors pronounced him dead. Theapparent cause of death was cardiac arrest according to thedoctors,” Ahmed was quoted as saying by PTI. Following al-legations and media reports that Singh was assaulted byprison staff, authorities launched a judicial inquiry into hisdeath. Judicial magistrate Afzal Abbas recorded the state-ments of 14 Indian prisoners who were in the same barracksas Singh. “All the 14 Indian prisoners have recorded theirstatements. There is no question of torture either by the staffor other prisoners,” Mr Ahmed said. Other officials said thejudicial magistrate was awaiting autopsy findings to finalisehis report on Singh’s death. Syed Mudassar hussain, an As-sociate Professor in the Forensic Department of Jinnah hos-pital, said the autopsy of Singh’s body was yet to be done.“The cause of death can be ascertained only after the autopsy,which will be carried out shortly,” Mr hussain said. Singhwas serving a five-year prison term for alleged involvementin espionage. The records of Kot Lakhpat Jail state that Singhwas arrested near the border at Sialkot in 2010. he wasbrought to Kot Lakhpat Jail in June last year. “The body willbe handed over to Indian authorities once legal requirementsare met,” Additional Superintendent Ahmed said. A total of33 Indian prisoners were currently being held in Kot LakhpatJail and officials said they were all safe. Singh hailed fromJammu and Kashmir and was believed to have been in hissixties, Indian officials said. Initial media reports claimedthat Singh was aged about 40.

pakIstan launchesjudIcIal InquIryInto IndIan prIsoner’s death

WASHINGTONONLINE

Two top US Senators introduced leg-islation in the name of MalalaYousafzai, a 15-year-old Pakistani ed-ucation activist who was shot by theTaliban, to provide scholarship to girlsfrom Pakistan.

Introduced by Senators BarbaraBoxer and Mary Landrieu, the MalalaYousafzai Scholarship Act is designedto expand scholarship opportunitiesfor disadvantaged young women inPakistan. The Boxer-Landrieu billwould require a 30 percent increasein the number of scholarshipsawarded under the program for thenext four years, and that these addi-tional scholarships would be awardedsolely to women. The measure wouldalso expand the range of academicdisciplines that scholarship recipientscould pursue to improve graduates’chances of obtaining meaningful em-ployment. “Malala Yousafzai bravely

advocated for the education ofwomen and girls, something thatshould be a basic human right,” Boxersaid. “This bill not only recognisesMalala’s incredible courage, but willensure that more young women inPakistan are able to pursue theirdreams through higher education,”she said. Malala was brutally at-tacked on October 9, 2012 by a Tal-iban gunman when she was returningfrom school. Currently, she is recov-ering from near-fatal injuries in UK.

“The attack on Malala Yousafzailast October reminds us of the diffi-cult obstacles women and girls facearound the world every day, includ-ing poverty, low social standing andviolence, in their quest to espousethe basic freedoms enjoyed byAmerican women,” Senator Lan-drieu said. “Providing an educationis absolutely critical for the future ofevery girl and for the society as awhole. When women and men haveequal access to educational re-

sources, economies flourish, fami-lies strengthen and societies moveforward,” she said. “I am proud tointroduce the Malala YousafzaiScholarship Act alongside SenatorBoxer and to dedicate it to Malalaand the millions of other girls andwomen who risk their lives every dayto gain education. By lifting up therights of women internationally, wecan strengthen women’s rights hereat home, too,” Landrieu said.

The Malala Yousafzai ScholarshipAct would expand and enhance an ex-isting United States Agency for Inter-national Development (USAID)scholarship program called the Meritand Needs-Based Scholarship Pro-gram. The USAID program awardsscholarships for university studies inagriculture or business administrationto economically disadvantaged youngmen and women from rural areas ofPakistan. To date, of the 1, 807 schol-arships awarded, only 25 per cent ofthe recipients have been women.

It looks like Call of Duty: Black Ops IIand Medal of honor: Warfighter willboth be selling in one less countrynow, as Pakistan has officially bannedboth games from being sold within itsborders. The ban went into effect afterresidents complained about howPakistan was portrayed in the twogames. After the public outcry, the AllPakistan CD, DVD, Audio CassetteTraders and ManufacturersAssociation (APCDACTM) hasdecided to ban the two games fromsale in the country, saying that thegames “have been developed againstthe country’s national unity andsanctity.” The group also said that the

games depict Pakistan and thecountry’s intelligence agency, theInter Services Intelligence, assupporting terrorist and jihadistorganizations. Both Medal of honor:Warfighter and Call of Duty: BlackOps II feature scenes that are set inPakistan, and they essentially portraythe country as a hotbed for terroristactivity. Saleem Memon, president ofthe APCDACTM, said that “dozens ofcomplaints” prompted theorganisation to ban the two gamesfrom selling, ordered stores to removethem from display shelves. Memonalso said that the games “show thecountry in a very poor light,” and

they’re “an effort to malign the mindsof youth against Pakistan.” however,despite the ban, some stores arestill selling the games due toimpressive sales numbers.Islamabad’s largestgame store, forexample, still hasthe two gamesavailable for sale,and they endedup selling 5,000copies of BlackOps II sincethe ban tookeffect. NEWs DEsK

call of duty and medal of honor banned In pakIstan

uS Senators introduce legislation after malalatop Afghanairline haulingopium: uSAfghanistan’s leading private airline has beentransporting opium in “bulk” on civilianflights, the US military says. Central Commandhas now banned Kam Air from any militarycontracts, marking the first time the militaryhas slapped drug-related penalties on a majorAfghan firm, the Wall Street Journal notes.“Kam Air is too large of a company not to knowwhat has been going on within its organiza-tion,” says a US commander. The airline hasallegedly been carrying opium to Tajikistan, abase for worldwide distribution of Afghandrugs, Western officials say. Kam Air presidentand founder Zamari Kamgar “totally” rejectsthe allegations, calling them a likely ploy bycompetitors; Kam Air has been discussing amerger with the state’s Ariana Afghan Airlines.Afghanistan is already the source of 90% of il-licit opiates worldwide, according to the UN,which says that “export earnings from Afghanopiates may be worth $2.4 billion,” or 15% ofAfghanistan’s GDP. NewS DeSK

Osama hunt movie banned in PakistanLOndOn: Cinemas in Pakistan would not be showing ZeroDark Thirty after distributors decided not to risk the wrath of thecountry’s censors, military and terrorist groups with a movieabout the CIA’s hunt for Osama bin Laden. The movie, nominatedfor five Oscars, portrays the hunt for bin Laden through the eyesof a young CIA officer, played by Jessica Chastain, and isdescribed by the filmmakers as based on first-hand accounts.TheDaily Telegraph quoted Mohsin Yaseen, general manager formarketing at Cinepax, as saying that derogatory references toPakistan’s military and intelligence agencies meant that alldistributors would face awkward questions. “It’s a touchy subjectfor a Pakistani audience,” he said. The film, set largely in Pakistan,charts a CIA agent’s personal quest to track down the al-Qaedaleader, which ended when US Navy Seals launched a covert raidon a villa in the Pakistani town of Abbotabad, barely 30 milesfrom the country’s capital, Islamabad. Mr Yaseen said hiscompany had recently bought the rights to distribute an Indianfilm, ‘Tere Bin Laden’, which poked fun at the al-Qaeda leader.“Pakistan’s censors insisted on so many cuts, it was not possible toshow the film at all. So when Zero Dark Thirty came out, wethought it was best to keep away from it. But I’d love to see it. It’sjust a film at the end of the day,” he said. The film is available onpirated DVDs and has proved to be a hit with audiences despite itsinaccuracies and exaggerations, such as depicting Islamabad as adust-blown war zone. ONLINE

LAHORE: Ameer Jamaat-e-Islami Syed Munawar Hassan, Maulana Samiul Haq, Ameer Jamaatud Dawa Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, Shah Owais Noorani, HamzaShahbaz Sharif and Asif Luqman Qazi attend the Qaumi Conference organised by Jamaat-e-Islami at Al-Hamra on Sunday.

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Arif NizamiEditor

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

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

Email: editorial@pakistantoday.com.pk

Dedicated to the legacy of the late Hameed Nizami

New province or new provinces

Bury the hatchet

What they say about democracy being the best form of government is true,but so is the transient nature of politics; it changes with circumstances.For almost five years, the issue of new provinces in the country has beenallowed to simmer, but only now has it been allowed to become a raging

fire, courtesy of our politicians left, right and centre. how easy it is for the politiciansto turn a simple administrative issue into a political drama, hatching up all sorts ofpolitical machinations along the way, can be seen in the recent decision of theParliamentary Commission on Creation of New Provinces. Instead of working withinthe ambit of its terms of reference and mandate, it has recommended something thatstands in contradiction to what the people of the proposed provinces, provincialgovernment and the federal government had asked it to deliberate on and recommend.

Instead of looking into the viability of two new provinces, Bahawalpur andSeraiki province, the 12-member commission has recommended that they both bemerged and named Bahawalpur-South Punjab province, along with all the usualadministrative and infrastructural setup. The recommendations have drawn the ireof almost every political party, including the ones representing the people of theseareas. One wonders how the commission came up with a solution which thegovernment did not want, the opposition scoffs at and the people of the proposedprovinces never wanted in the first place. The problem lies with the politicians andtheir vested interests that forced them to play political games to score pointsagainst each other, even if it hurts the state and its populace.

The idea of smaller administrative units in a state is not a new one. It is as old asthe idea of democracy, for democracy is considered to be the best form ofgovernance not because it offers equality, justice or numerous other qualitiesassociated with it, but because it puts power into the hands of the ruled to electthose who they want to rule over them, and of course solve their problems. In otherwords, democracy is self governance. Wherever this right is denied or encroachedupon, democracy stumbles and political growth falters. That is exactly what ishappening with the issue of new provinces in the country.

The PPP wants to create new provinces before the elections, the N League wantsthe same; but where they differ is in how to approach the issue and how to see itthrough without hurting one’s interests. The PPP, though, seems to be holding theupper hand as it has pitched the PML-N in a dilemma where, on the one hand, itloses its credibility and a good part of its vote bank if it reneges from its publicsupport of new provinces. On the other hand, if it gives in, it could possibly facemoral and principle defeat and look like a weaker party while the PPP gloats over itssuccess. In either case, the issue is going to affect both parties in the upcomingelections. That, though, should not be a hurdle in resolving the issue as with theissue lingering on; it’s the federation and the people that would make up the losingside, not any one particular party. Bury the hatchet, so to speak.

Pakistan certainly seems to be pass-ing through one of it toughestphases, with turmoil internally and

in the neighbourhood. Since the dis-memberment of the country in 1971, theregion has gone through four decades ofcontinuous warfare. This has includedthe Iranian Revolution of 1979, Soviet in-vasion of Afghanistan and the Iran-IraqWar of the 80s, the Afghan civil war ofthe 90s, and the present phase thatbegan since 9/11.

It appears more than a simple coin-cidence that two of Pakistan’s immediateneighbours to the west, Iran andAfghanistan, were invaded at about thesame time. In any event, in both conflicts

religion got interjected. The repercus-sions of this are still playing out in the re-gion and beyond. There was also aconcern that after Afghanistan, Pakistanmight become the next victim of thedreaded Domino Theory. Moreover, USalso wanted to check the religious influ-ence emanating from Iran to spread anyfurther. That apprehension continues tobedevil the region.

While a lot is heard about the Sovietinvasion of Afghanistan in 1979, most ac-counts fail to mention the Iranian Revo-lution that started almost simultaneously.The Khomeini-led rebellion effectivelytransformed the nature of pro-Americanregime and this change has impacted thepolitics of the Islamic world to this day.Only a year later, in 1980, Iran-Iraq warcommenced and lasted until 1988, almostup to the time when Soviets started towithdraw from Afghanistan.

During this phase, while Iran wasmoving out from the American influence,Pakistan was getting fully embedded intoit. The nation helped facilitate the jihadagainst the Soviets with assistance of theArabs and US. The role of Pakistan in theIran-Iraq war, however, was based moreon maintaining a delicate balance.

Pakistan went out of its way in help-ing to protect the Gulf states against theIranian threat, and according to some es-timates, Zia-ul-haq placed close to40,000 military personnel in Saudi Ara-bia for security and training purposes.This, however, did not occur at the costof Iran. Reportedly, Pakistan also sup-

plied weapons to Iran, and both neigh-bours supported the Afghan jihad, albeitdifferent factions.

The global powers were playing asimilar game. For example, while Rus-sians were intermittently supplyingweapons to Iraq, the Iran-Contra affairproved that US was also equipping theIranians. Iraq had earlier broken rela-tions with US over the Arab-Israeli warof 1967, which were not restored until1986. Nonetheless, shady dealing hadcontinued between Saddam and the US.

What ended the Iran-Iraq war, ac-cording to many analysts, was the in-creased volatility of the sea-lanes, plus afear that Iran was beginning to have anupper hand in the conflict. This wouldhave had reverberations throughout theMiddle east, including Afghanistan andPakistan.

While Saddam’s decision to invadeIran in 1980 is believed to be a miscalcu-lation, he also feared that a strong reli-gious Iran would disturb the Shia-Sunnibalance of Iraq. Saddam repeated hismisjudgment when he invaded Kuwait inAugust 1990, but was met with a differ-ent response than his earlier mistake.ever since Iraq has come under Ameri-can-led intervention twice, and despiteall past attempts to contain Iran, its swayhas grown. In the end, it was the US thatdisturbed the ethnic balance of Iraq andAfghanistan. And, at the same time, thefear of Iran has helped in moving theArabs even closer to US and Pakistan.

In this sense, there is continuity in the

western policy of both propping Iran’s in-fluence, and at the same time preventingit from becoming a dominant power in theMiddle east. In Afghanistan, this hastranslated into checking any single player,whether Iran or Pakistan, to overshadow.And, lately Indian influence has been in-troduced as a balancing factor.

This historical context only raises theimportance of Pakistan-Iran ties. WhileUS lost Iran in 1979, the importance ofPakistan has only increased. 1979 provedto be a crucial year as far as Pakistan’s re-lations with Iran are concerned. With theintroduction of religion in both the Iran-ian Revolution and Afghan jihad, secu-larism took a backseat. To this date, thetwo events have transformed and dividedthe politics of the region and also re-sulted in the birth of Al-Qaeda.

Between the period of 1947 to 1971,Pakistan and Iran enjoyed very close ties.In both 1965 and 1971 wars against India,Iran supported Pakistan diplomatically,militarily and financially. The countryalso offered military equipment, trainingand intelligence to Pakistan in quashingthe Baloch insurgency in mid 70s.

Now, almost a decade after 9/11,Pakistan-Iran ties stand at a crucialjuncture, as do the US-Pakistan ties.President Obama’s reelection presents ahope that he may now take a differentapproach towards Iran. If an alternativeroute is indeed chosen, there is an op-portunity for tremendous regional coop-eration and economic boom, and thevision for the ‘New Silk Road’ can really

blossom. There remain apprehensionsthat Russia and China may benefit morefrom this boom than the europeans andthe Americans.

however, if fear plays a major role, itwould bring even more conflict and bust.The new sanctions connected to the IranFreedom and Counter Proliferation Act(IFCPA) are expected to go into effectfrom July 2013. Under the provisions ofthis act, US would impose sanctionsagainst any entity conducting energy,shipping and ship building dealings, andport operations with Iran. Iran-Pakistangas pipeline project and the developmentof Chabahar port are most likely to beimpacted by the new sanctions.

Such acts will impede regional cooper-ation and will hurt the economies ofAfghanistan, India and Pakistan. More-over, they will challenge PresidentObama’s claim made during his inauguraladdress that ‘A decade of war is now end-ing,’ and that ‘We (Americans), the people,still believe that enduring security and last-ing peace do not require perpetual war’.

As these choices loom on the horizon,Pakistan may end up invoking a para-digm it has consistently followed in itsforeign policy; good ties with US shouldnot be at the cost of friendly neighboursand elements.

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

Future of Pakistan-Iran ties

At the peak of Dr TahirulQadri’s long march, mysix-and-a-half-year olddaughter won a bet withher older sibling, who’s

all of eight-and-a-half, that ImranKhan would not join the march. I wasleft consoling the latter, saying evenI had suspected he would!

What does this say about the twoclaimants of the revolution? To beginwith, that the Pakistani landscape ispretty polarised. Both Tahirul Qadriand Imran Khan share the samemantra — they even admit to it. how-ever, they did not converge togetheron Islamabad for the same purpose.

The general perception was thatImran Khan was confused — a frankadmission of which he made in hissubsequent television appearances.his heart said yes, but his head, no.he now says he is grateful for resist-ing the temptation. he also admittedthat he was flooded with desperatecalls and messages from the restlessparty cadre, who wanted to unleashtheir street prowess.

Much of Khan’s premise is rootedin hindsight. Former Iron Lady Mar-garet Thatcher once said the wisdomof hindsight, so useful to historiansand indeed to authors of memoirs, issadly denied to practising politicians.In Khan’s case, it springs from thegeneral consensus that the containerdeal was a face-saver — sought byQadri and given by those with avested interest in the status quo.

however, few can say with cer-

tainty if that would have been thecase had Khan’s Tehrik-e-Insafjumped in and managed to pull in acrowd of say, even 50,000 plus.There’s no knowing what momentumshift would that have rung becauseunlike Qadri, Khan’s party has longprepared for a political plunge and acombo may have had a tremulous ef-fect in Islamabad’s corridors of power(although one can’t imagine Khanbeing contained in a container!).

even though Qadri appeared tohave miscalculated his potential tobring down the government andforce some sort of intervention, hestill managed to get more than whatin popular parlance would be de-scribed as a “lollypop”.

Four bitterly cold nights of whatwas a surprisingly resolute assem-blage had done enough to create aripple, and some of the manifestation— for all its contrived nature — is ap-parent. The election Commissionhas suddenly acquired a spine andbanned both jiyala recruitment andstopped the flow — and diversion —of funds that otherwise had the bear-ings of naked pre-poll rigging. Thepower stakeholders are beginning tofeel the heat.

If they survive the worst, ironi-cally, it would probably be down to adisparate opposition — much like theperception about Imran Khan’s PTIonly serving to divide the vote bankof PML-N to the PPP’s advantage.

even though President Zardari isa proven man of crisis for his party,and once again demonstrated hiscraft at selling a “paper” deal to thestatus quo challenger, the situationmay have been pretty nerve-rackinghad Imran Khan thrown his hat in thering — as admitted by many of thestakeholders in private. Alone, Qadrihad little choice, especially with nopolitical depth in the electoral sense.

This is, of course, not to suggestthat the Kaptaan should have com-promised his 16-year plus struggle forringing a change through the ballot.Rather, it is just an educated guess atwhat might have entailed if Qadri andKhan had converged on a single char-ter of demands and stuck it out at D-Chowk. The same had, indeed, at one

point become the focus of some de-bate, especially when Qadri wonderedwhy there was a “separation of pathwhen the ideology was the same” aftersingling out Khan for praise.

So has the Kaptaan saved the dayfor his party given the capricious face-saver that it looked like on the 17th

after the roar of the 14th? On paper, itdoes seem so. For instance, Khan hasbeen hailed for his ‘maturity’ in up-holding the democratic principle ofchoosing the ballot over any extra-constitutional means to dislodge apronouncedly unpopular government.Secondly, it will go some distance indissuading people from readily as-suming that he is the security estab-lishment’s man looking for a shortcut.

But what is clear is that Khanwould never play second fiddle toQadri, who, too, would be loathe tothe idea of playing the vice captainnow that he thinks he has shaken therafters. Politics, they say, is the art ofthe possible and if the MinhajulQuran chief were to pitch poll cam-paign tents as has been hinted at, analliance can still not be ruled out(Khan has also hinted at that).

Coming back to PTI’s decision ofnot upsetting the applecart, insiderssay, it was actually the overridingview of the ‘electables’ at the party’shelm. It was premised in the fact thatthere is very little time left for theelections. Be that as it may, it wouldrequire rigorous campaigning — par-ticularly, in rural strongholds where63 percent voters make the count —for PTI to regain the momentum itlost in the last year. This will have tobe done hitting the ground running.

having said that, by no means isit easy to predict what will happen.The battle between the forces of con-tinuity and the forces of change is un-likely to be fought on a level playingfield given how entrenched the for-mer are. Ironically, despite being ap-parent rivals, the former have unitedto protect their interests, but the lat-ter despite being on the same page,have yet to issue a one way ticket.

The writer is Editor, PiqueMagazine. He can be reached atkaamyabi@gmail.com

KhantainedPTI resisted the urge but what if it had joined the road show?

Preventing the next regional conflict

Monday MusingsBy kamran Rehmat

10 Monday, 28 January, 2013Comment

By Arif Ansar

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11Monday, 28 January, 2013 Comment

Bovine theileriosis is a tick borneprotozoan infection that affects manyanimal species around the globe. Ithas a significant adverse effect notonly on the productivity of animalsbut also sometimes it proves to befatal if left untreated. Mortalitycaused by T. annulata varies from 5percent or less (in indigenous breeds)to 90 percent (in introduced exoticbreeds). Nearly 80 percent mortalityhas been reported in young calves ascompared to adult ones that showsless than 10 percent mortality.

Etiology:Bovine theileriosis is caused by

intracellular protozoan that mainlyconsist of five different species. Thetwo most important among them are;Theileria annulata (T. annulata),widespread in almost all parts of theworld like Southern europe, NorthAfrica and Asia while Theileria parva,is prevalent in east and CentralAfrica. T. parva and T. annulata leadto lympho-prolipherative disease withhigh mortality and morbidity in cattlegenerally known as east Coast feverand tropical theileriosis, respectively.Throughout the world, tropicaltheileriosis is an economicallysignificant disease of cattle. T.annulata causes a severe and oftenfatal disease in bovine in tropical andsub-tropical region. Importantly it

causes acute and fatal infection insusceptible newborn calves and leadto death within 5-15 days after theonset of clinical disease.

Theileriosis results from infectionwith protozoa in the genus Theileria isan obligate intracellular parasites. Thetwo most important species in cattleand buffalo are T. parva, which causeseast Coast fever, and T. annulata,which causes tropical theileriosis.

transmission:Theileria spp. is transmitted by

ticks acting as biological vectors.Rhipicephalus appendiculatus is themost important vector for T. parvawhile T. annulata is transmitted byticks in the genus Hyalomma.Hyalomma spp.

Clinical signs:The parasite causes lymph

proliferation in its early phase(schizonts phase) manifested asenlargement of lymph nodes, whichsubsequently leads to lymph-destructive phase identified bymarked leucopenia. In theparasitaemia phase, the parasitebecomes infective for the tick. Generalweakness, anorexia, high rectaltemperature, weight loss, anemia, inconjunctiva mucosa petechialhemorrhages become prominent,swelling of enlarged lymph nodes andcough is the main clinical symptoms.

The clinical reactions in the infectedanimals were pyrexia (40.5–41.5 8C),enlargement of superficial lymphnodes, nasal and ocular discharges,salivation, anemia, and respiratorydistress. Although anemia mechanismis still not clear in theileria infectedcalves. even then anemia isconsidered as major characteristic ofT. annulata infection in animals.

diagnosis:Diagnosis of theileriosis is mainly

dependent on clinical signs as well ason microscopic examination ofGiemsa-stained lymph nodes andblood smears. Developments ofsensitive and specific diagnostic assayshave become possible only with theadvent of the polymerase chainreaction (PCR) for the detection ofvarious pathogenic agents, includingnumerous theileria species, in animals.

treatment:Buparvaquone, anti-protozoa drug

may be used in the treatment ofrecently infected animals with T.annulata in a single dose of 2.5 mg/kgbody weight intramuscular withefficacy varied from 88.7% to 100%.Alternatively, a single dose of 5 mg/kg is more effective. Calotropisprocera (Picture 1) commonly knownas ‘Ak’ or ‘Arka’ all throughout thetropics of Asia and Africa is a wildplant with multifactor characteristics

can also be used for the treatment ofbovine theleriosis. Peganum harmala(Picture 2) is an herbal; commonlyhabitant to arid and semiarid area ofcentral Asian deserts (Rehman et al.2009). P. harmala L. is commonlyknown as harmala. The plant hadmultipurpose medicinal activities andcould be used in chemotherapeuticpurpose against the bovine theileriois.

Control: Theileriosis is not transmitted by

casual contact. If the infection isnewly introduced to an area, it mightbe eradicated with movementcontrols, by culling infected animalsand by preventing ticks frombecoming infected. In endemic areas,the tick burden can be decreased withacaricides and other methods of tickcontrol such as rotational grazing. Thetransfer of blood between animalsmust also be avoided. Antiparasiticdrugs are effective in animals withclinical signs, but animals may remaincarriers. Treatment is most effectivein the early stages of the disease.Animals can be protected from botheast Coast fever and tropicaltheileriosis by vaccination. Attenuatedvaccines are used to control tropicaltheileriosis in some countries.

DR MUKHTAR AHMADDepartment of Clinical Medicine

and Surgery, UVAS, Lahore

Editor’s mailSend your letters to: Letters to Editor,

Pakistan Today, 4-Shaarey FatimaJinnah, Lahore, Pakistan Fax: +92-42-32535230

E-mail: letters@pakistantoday.com.pkLetters should be addressed to

Pakistan Today exclusively

attitude of the ruling eliteThe poor, illiterate and weaker sections in our

country suffer day in and day out in their strugglefor survival and look to those who have promisedthem equality – social, political and economic. Butwhere are these now? Their voters, in search ofthese promises to be fulfilled, particularly in Sindh,are in pitiable condition. Most towns and cities ofSindh province are suffering from acute potablewater problem. The situation is more pitiable indifferent civil hospitals where hygiene conditionsare deplorable. Several thousand positions are lyingvacant but those are not being filled up.

All roads and highways across the province arein a bad shape and that there has been no properdevelopment or repair of roads and highways duringthe past four and a half years of this presentgovernment. Funds were allocated but those fundswere not utilised honestly. Whenever the attentionof the ruling party members is invited to thosechronic problems, their attitude is absolutelyundemocratic and anti-people. While going throughthe villages, towns and cities, one will find that alland sundry lament the indifferent attitude of theleaders.

Is there anyone to remind our provincial rulersthat attitude is more important than the past,education, money, circumstances, even what peopledo or say? It is, indeed, more important thanappearance or skill. Please do behave well with your

voters and deliver to the people as is done in ademocratic setup and not otherwise.

HASHIM ABROIslamabad

Poor education systemAccording to media news Pakistan celebrated

education and Malala day with the hope that thegovernment will provide equal educationopportunities for everyone. The government hasalso launched a four year literacy programme underwhich more than three million children of poorfamilies, especially girls, will get free education inPakistan. Unfortunately, despite declining graph ofeducation system, the government is just doingcosmetic steps to satisfy people. Original conditionsof education are far from ideal in Pakistan. Recentstatistics are showing grim picture of educationsector in Pakistan. According to UNeSCO, someseven million children in Pakistan are out ofprimary schools in which 60 percent are girls. Only20 percent of girls have completed primary levelschooling in rural areas of Pakistan. Literacy rate ofgirls in Northern Pakistan is only six percent.

Despite all of these challenges Pakistan spendsless of its national budget on education than othersmall South Asian countries like Nepal, Maldivesand Bhutan. True reality is that several western andUNO funded schools are just alive on papers andhave no physical presence. Ghost schools and ghost

teachers are true reality of Pakistan educationsector. The world community has promised to spendaround one billion dollars to help Pakistan’s pooreducation sector but most of the people in Pakistanrightly believe that everything is politicallymotivated and will not serve the purpose. Onlycorrupt elements of government will enjoy thismoney and education sector will not feel anycomfort.

The true reality is that the biggest barrier topoor education in Pakistan is a lack of governmentinterest and powerful feudal system in villages andpoor areas. Political influence in educationinstitutions is also a main cause of worseperformance of education system in Pakistan. evenpublic service commission examinations are nottransparent and most of results are politicallymotivated. It seems true that due to increasingeducation expenditures and self-finance schemes,the government is limiting education only for upperclass people. Due to poverty, rising graph ofunemployment and tough financial conditions,thousands of children have been forced to leavetheir education and work in inhuman conditions asa child labourers. Despite huge increase ineducation expenditures and self-finance schemes,the education system has failed to providealternatives of Dr Qadeer Khan, Professor Saleem-uz-Zaman Siddiqui and hakeem Mohmmed Saeed.

KHAWAJA UMER FAROOQJeddah, Saudi Arabia

a study on bovine theileriosis

PPP’s dismal performanceThe Minister for Information, Mr Kaira,

tried to defend Raja Ashraf absolving himof responsibility for appointment of TauqirSadiq as Chairman OGDC and OGRA,charged with embezzlement and losses ofover Rs 82 billion. The issue is not who wasPM, but this controversial appointment.Can Kaira specify appointments made onmerit which yielded financial benefit tostate corporations?

It was a moral and constitutional obli-gation of the elected executive to make ap-pointments on merit, as per their oath touphold the constitution. All appointees ofthis government, selected to head PIA,PSO, OGDC, hajj Directorate, Railways,CAA, Auditor General, PePRA, PeMRA,CDA, FBR, NhA, NAB etc have only accu-mulated losses to these organisations andbrought nothing but misery for people andexchequer. This government selected a highschool crony to head PIA, under whosetenure PIA routes were sold for a song.

he was replaced by another crony whocancelled contracts with all manufacturerrecommended vendors and insteadawarded sole rights to an unknown firm lo-cated in Dubai, which resulted in groundinghalf the fleet. While PIA losses mountedand over three thousand more were addedto this overstaffed airline, a CFO related toco-chairperson was appointed in CAA, whoembarked on loot sale of traffic rights to allairlines, in violation of all rules for such bi-lateral agreements. What was the benefit topublic of Rs 2.4 billion taken out of BISPand spent on media projection?

It was during the tenure of his govern-ment that our state owned rail and air pub-lic transport system collapsed, our industryground to a halt because of crippling elec-tricity shortages, lawlessness breaking pre-vious records under the garb ofreconciliation, whereby target killings andextortion were endured. As if this was notenough, over 80,000 containers went miss-ing and FBR tax deficits broke records,which have even baffled IMF. The issuewhich Mr Kaira has forgotten is that poorgovernance, lack of transparency and cor-ruption stick to his government like glue topaper and yet they feel that all these abuseswere the perks of power they earned whenthey got 2008 mandate.

SHAHZAD KHALILSialkot

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12Monday, 28 January, 2013

the art of bIographyWade Davis, David Gilmour and Pico Iyer speak about the challenges of writing biographies

The authors spoke about the challenge of writing about lives that have already been

sketched, the joy of resurrecting obscure figures from history, the sheer weight of the

research that sometimes goes into the biography and the difficulty of negotiating

interviews with relatives and the subjects themselves, in the case of living subjects. NEWS DESK

David Gilmour spoke about the research

behind his work ,The Last Leopard: A Life of

Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa (2007), as the

most exciting part of the process. Sifting

through the ruins of Lampedusa’s old home, he

said, “I came across letters from his mother,

photographs, in one cellar the diary that he’d

kept when he was writing The Leopard.

Actually finding this and sitting in his house, I

knew it wouldn’t happen again.”

In response Pico Iyer—author of a work on Graham Greene, The Man Within Myhead (2012), and the Dalai Lama, The Open Road: The Global Journey of the Four-

teenth Dalai Lama (2008)—said he felt like an impostor. “I’m not a real biogra-pher,” he said. “I did no research. For Graham Greene I read all the books that

had been written so I knew what had been covered and then I sat in a roomand read his books again and again.” With the Dalai Lama, he said, “I’dknown him for 30 years before I did the book.” “People say to be a properbiographer you have to be a conscious enemy of your subject to avoid ha-giography,” Davis told the panel, asking Iyer how he managed to keep thatin mind while profiling a beloved figure such as the Dalai Lama, who spokeat the festival on Friday. Iyer responded that he was conscious of the bur-den of such adulation. “Just saying that is almost to diminish him,” he said.

“I’m not a Buddhist, I’m not a monk, I’m the opposite—a journalist. I triedto ask him the most difficult questions… To what extent has Tibet died on

his watch, how has he managed to transform celebrity culture without beingtransformed by it. he said, ‘I wonder if I’ve done enough.’” Gilmour, who also

wrote a biography of Lord Curzon in 1995 and had worked in Lebanon earlier inhis career, said he felt better suited to biography than political writing.

Wade Davis, a Canadian anthropologist, ethnobotanist, author and

photographer, whose biography of George Mallory and the team

that climbed everest took 12 years to research and write, began

with the statement in defence of the genre. “People have no idea of

the amount of work that goes into the construction of a biography,”

Davis said. “I had the idea to write it and got an advance in 1999,

and then three months later Mallory’s body was found on everest

and, within a year, there would be ten books out.” his publishers

were encouraging, he said, and pursued the project with the

assurance that they didn’t want any old biography on Mallory—

they wanted one written by him.

Renowned sociologist Ashis Nandy was on Saturday booked hereunder the SC/ST Act for his comment at a session at the JaipurLiterature Festival that dalits, tribals and other backward classes(OBCs) are more linked to corruption, police said. The sociologistwas whisked away from the venue by the back door even as activistsof the scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and OBC groups protestedat the venue — the Diggi Palace. “We helped him get out of the venuefrom a back door in the evening,” a police constable told IANS. Latein the evening dalit leader Kirorilal Meena filed an FIR againstNandy at the Ashok Nagar police station. This was despite festivalproducer Sanjoy K Roy explaining the import of Nandy’s commentsto Meena and other dalit leaders. “They have clarified their positionand have understood that it was a misunderstanding. Controversiesare easily created. Please be responsible,” Roy said. Nandy, who is inhis seventies, earlier apologized for the comments and said he wasmisunderstood. he said he was sorry that he had beenmisunderstood. “As should be clear, there was neither any intentionnor any attempt to hurt any community,” he said. The scholar said hehad been supporting the cause of the marginalized and dispossessedin the last 40 years of his academic and intellectual life. earlier in theday, Nandy had stirred a hornet’s nest at a panel discourse, “Republicof Ideas” when he said: “It will be an undignified and vulgarstatement but the fact is that most of the corrupt come from theOBC, the scheduled castes and now increasingly STs. As long as itwas the case, the Indian republic would survive.” “I will give anexample. The state of least corruption is West Bengal. In the last 100years, nobody from the backward classes and the SC and ST groupshave come anywhere near power in West Bengal. It is an absolutelyclean state,” Nandy said. Later Nandy set the record straightsaying that he had meant to endorse fellow panelist TarunTejpal’s statement that “corruption in India was an equalizingforce” after dalit activists descended on the venue to protestNandy’s remarks. A trained clinical psychologist andsociologist, Nandy works cover a variety of topics like politics,public conscience and dialogues of civilizations. Nandy has

been honoured with the Fukuoka Asian Culture Prize and has beennamed as one of top 100 public intellectuals by the Carnegie ForeignPolicy magazine. Panelist Tarun Tejpal, the editor in chief andpublisher of Tehelka said: “It is sad that in a literary festival, peopleshould be attacking the finest intellectual. When you come toliterature festival, you are coming to play with ideas.” Like in 2012,the Jaipur Literature Festival this year too has lived up its reputationas a platform for free speech and diverse voices with Saturday’scontroversy over Nandy remarks and a heated exchange betweenlyricist-MP Javed Akhtar and dalit writer Kancha Ilaiah from AndhraPradesh over religion. Protests by hardline Muslim groups followingspeculation that author of “Satanic Verses” Salman Rushdie wouldattend the festival last year had kept the heat on for five days.

in nandy’S dEfEnCE

The Rajasthan unit of the People’s Union for Civil Libertiescondemned the registration of an FIR against Professor Nandy anddemands to arrest him. “Professor Nandy was neither exhorting hate

nor being casteist. he was [only] making an academic point thatnobody is free from corruption,”

said PUCL general secretaryKavita Srivastava. Sheaffirmed that the institutionof criminal proceedingsagainst Professor Nandy, and

any move to arrest himwould amount to

restriction onacademicfreedom and

democraticdebate.

‘Bangladeshi literature facingthreats from extremists’Literature in “O Paar Bangla” — the other side of Bengal — whichdrew inspiration from Rabindranath Tagore, the poet-philosopher of undivided India, is grappling with threats andintimidation from extremist elements negating the spirit ofliterary movement of Bangladesh, rooted in the country’sfreedom struggle. Young Bangladeshi authors, on the other hand,are trying to promote secular and modern values through theirwritings. Bangladeshi author-dramatist Anisul hoque said at theJaipur Literature Festival here on Saturday that the Islamistinfluence, if any, on the literature of his country was restricted tothe period between 1947 and 1952, when there was a “euphoria”about the creation of Pakistan and the language issue had notcropped up with ferocity. “Things changed dramatically when[Pakistan founder] Mohammed Ali Jinnah came to Dhaka anddeclared Urdu as the only state language of the new country. Itpaved the way for the Bengali uprising. The language movement,which began in February 1952, culminated in the independenceof [the then] east Pakistan in 1971,” said Mr. hoque inconversation with two Indian authors. The session on “e PaarBangla, O Paar Bangla: Across borders” at the lit-fest was devotedto the subject of porous borders of culture and arts between thetwo Bengals, defying political boundaries of India andBangladesh. The panellists discussed the traditions of Bengaliliterature from Kolkata to Dhaka. Mr. hoque said his novel,“Maa” — the english translation of which has been published as“Freedom’s Mother” — had sold 1 lakh copies since 2003.“Bangladeshis are very fond of reading. There is lot of crazeamong youngsters for new books. They especially like the booksof Indian Bengali authors,” he said.

The reign of 19th century Afghan kingShah Shuja Durrani and that of thecountry’s current president hamidKarzai were alike in several ways, andso was the geo-political scenario ofthe country then and now, historianWilliam Dalrymple said during areading of his latest book TheReturn of a King: Shah Shuja andthe first battle for Afghanistan atthe Jaipur Literature festival onSunday. During the course of thediscussion, Mr. Dalrymple notedhow the situations that prevailed inthe country in the 19th century werebeing played out all over again inpresent day Afghanistan. Today, theUnited States is making the samemistakes that imperial Britain did

back then, henoted and thecountry’s geo-politics wasresponding in verysimilar ways. “Thesame cities areseeing an exactreplay of whathappenedhundreds of yearsago,” said Mr.Dalrymple. Despitethe strikingsimilarities, onemajor differencehe noted betweenthe two rulers was

that, “hamid Karzaiis much morepopular than Shah

Shuja was.” Mr. Dalrymple said hewent on Afghanistan on severalextended trips while researching hisbook, starting 2006, and found ahuge body of Afghan material onthe Anglo-Afghan wars. “TheAnglo-afghan wars are to theAfghans what the freedom struggleis to you guys (Indian people). Thefirst Anglo-Afghan war was thegreatest catastrophe suffered by theBritish army,” he said. In 1837, theBritish under Lord Wellesley hadconquered more of India thanNapoleon had of europe and werelooking to move up North whileRussians were moving down South;both countries evidently on acollision course, he said.

Ashis Nandy’s remarks against dalits draw ire

History repeats inafghanIstan

JAIPURJAIPURLITERARY FESTIVAL

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13Monday, 28 January, 2013

THE biopic jOBS may have received mixed reviews at

the Sundance Film Festival but critics have been

unanimous in their praise of Ashton Kutcher in his

portrayal of the late Apple co-founder. The Two And A Half

Men star held his own as Steve Jobs in the much-anticipated

movie, which closed the independent film event in Utah.

“This was honestly one of the most terrifying things I’ve ever

tried to do in my life,” Kutcher confessed at the world

premiere . “I’ve thrown myself into this massive gauntlet of

criticism.” All too aware of the enormity of the task at hand,

Kutcher said he studied “hundreds of hours” of footage of

Jobs, and met several of his friends, to get inside the skin of

the man who made Apple the most valuable company in the

world before his death in 2011. Kutcher later found himself

hospitalised after shooting had wrapped, having followed

Jobs’s unusual fruitarian diet too closely. NEWS DESK

kutcher impresses as jobs assundance hands out prizes

aCTRESS Keira Knightley,

who is engaged to musician

James Righton, gets stressed out when she

thinks about the amount of preparation

she will have to do for her wedding, whenever it

happens. “She gets flustered when it is mentioned.

She is getting ideas and trying not to stress. What

matters to her most is being with him,”

contactmusic.com. quoted a source

as saying. The 27-year-old had previously admitted

that she is not ready for marriage and

kids right now. “People keep trying to make me

pregnant! I am not ready for it. Yes, I would

love to at some point, but not this quick, stop trying

to make me pregnant,” she had said. NEWS DESK

aDElE’S father has opened up about his rift with his

superstar daughter, by revealing that she won’t

speak to him, or allow him to meet his new

grandson. The ‘Rolling in the deep’ hitmaker’s father, Mark

Evans, told in an interview with The Mail that his daughter

cut him out of her life in 2011 after he gave an interview

about the Oscar nominee, Radar Online reported. He also

said that not only has he not met her boyfriend Simon

Konecki, he hasn’t met her three-month-old son. He said

that he has left messages on her phone, and has written to

her and sent her birthday and Christmas cards but it’s like

he is dead to her. Evans further said that he is not interested

in her celebrity status or her money, but he just wants his

daughter back and he wants to be a proper granddad to the

little one. The ‘Skyfall’ singer’s 49-year-old dad claimed that

not only he heard that he was going to be a granddad for

the first time via the media, but he also found out his

grandchild’s name through the press. NEWS DESK

thoughts of wedding plansmake keira nervous

I’m dead to her, adele’s father

notable tweets

kamIla shamsIe (Author)

There’s personality in the sound of language...I’msometimes frightened by how much Englishflattens languages.’- Philip Boehm.

jaIpur lIt fest (Jaipur Literature Festival)

“I find it very ironical when people ask for factswhen speaking about mythology” - DevduttPattanaik

sabahat ZakarIya (Blogger)

I think that 2012 Wimbledon speech was thestupidest Federer ever made.

wIllIam dalrymple (Author)

“Islam is Judaism in Arabic.” Fahmida Riaz onthe Abrahamic religions during the Shah AbdulLatif session.

bret easton ellIs (Author)

Oscars 2013: “Silver Linings Playbook”—BestPicture, Director, Actress, Supporting Actor.

COURTESY THR

At the Santa Barbara International FilmFestival on Saturday, a theater full of peoplegot to know a little bit more about the manbehind such amazing film characters as ThereWill Be Blood’s Daniel Plainview, My LeftFoot’s Christy Brown, Gangs of New York’s Bill“The Butcher” Cutting and Abraham Lincoln.Day-Lewis started out by discussing hisupbringing in London in a home full ofcreatives, being the son of actress Jill Balconand Poet Laureate Cecil Day-Lewis. Day-Lewiswent to both public school and boardingschool, enjoying the former much more thanthe latter. “I grew up in a class-driven society,”said Day-Lewis. “It still is. The demarcationlines have become a little more obscure, butthey’re still there.” While attending theboarding school Sevenoaks in Kent (which hedid not enjoy), he was part of a play called Crythe Beloved Country. “What delighted me whatthe discovery that there was an alternativeuniverse. And that’s what the theater is – it’san alternative,” he said. Feinberg asked if Day-Lewis felt that his life changed after MyBeautiful Laundrette and A Room with a Viewcame out, showing the world that Day-Lewiscould play two characters who couldn’t bemore different. “I think things changed withoutme being full aware of it,” he said, adding thatit was luck that they opened up the same day inNew York. “And therefore as a result of that, Ithink people started to take an interest,” hesaid. Feinberg commented that most of Day-Lewis’ film work has been in projects set in anearlier time. he asked the Lincoln star if thatwas on purpose. “It certainly was never myintention to kind of claw my way through onecentury after another,” he said, getting laughsfor the crowd. “I hope that I might eventuallyemerge in the 21st century. I’ve still got a longway to go.” “I’ve no idea how that happened. Itwouldn’t have been my intention,” he added.“In fact, most of the performances that haveinfluenced me have been contemporaryperformances, so I can’t account for thatexcept I think it has something to do with mynose.” When Feinberg asked him to elaborateon that, Day-Lewis said, “Well, until I got itbroke doing The Boxer, it was just a nose that

people like to throwa cloak over. But thataccounts for most ofmy mistaken foraysinto Shakespeare. Ihave the look ofsomeone who ought toreally exist in anothertime.” Day-Lewis alsotouched on the gapsbetween hisperformances.There have beenseveralinstancesin hiscareerwherehe

wouldwait years towork on another project.“There’s no thought process behind it,but there’s a very strong sense, which Ithink I’ve been blessed with from anearly age, of my own rhythm,” he said. hesaid he’s often asked about this byjournalists because from their point of viewthey see a pattern of public presence andthen “what they consider to be a reclusiveneed to withdraw from that.” “But from my pointof view, these two things are mutually dependenton each other,” he said. “I cannot do the work Ilove to do unless I take time away from it. In thetime taken away from it when – god forbid – Ireengage with life; It allows me to do the work inhopes that I might bring something to thatwork.” After The Boxer, Day-Lewis took fiveyears off from acting in what he called a “semi-retirement.” Feinberg asked what specificallybrought him back to acting. “Martin,” he said,referring to Scorsese, who directed Gangs ofNew York. “I didn’t feel ready to work, but as hetold me the story, I knew I had no choice,really.” he met with Scorsese and LeonardoDiCaprio, and knew that he had to take the part.“No one’s ever had to sell it to me,” he said.“Anyone that’s ever had something of value,

doesn’t haveto sell it. I’d say it’s true ofeverything I’ve ever done.These directors that havegiven me these incredibleopportunities, they’ve nevertried to sell them to me;they didn’t need to.”

drew barrymoreseeks advice from‘godfather’ Spielberg

NEWS DESk

DReW Barrymore turned to hergodfather Steven Spielberg for advice onhow to protect her baby daughter fromthe paparazzi after crying over theinvasion of privacy for two months. The

‘Charlie’s Angels’ star grew up in the spotlight aftermaking her movie debut in Spielberg’s ‘e.T.’, whenshe was only seven. Since then, her every momenthas played out in the tabloids thanks to relentlessphotographers, but after becoming a mum to littleOlive last September, Barrymore has grown moredetermined to shield her tot from the intensespotlight she endured as a kid. “I’ve been crying fortwo months about having to take my daughteroutside into this very tumultuous world that has noprotection for people. I agree with other countrieswhen they won’t allow the kids to be photographed.

I think there has to be a limit and we teach ourchildren boundaries, and yet the world doesn’t have

any boundaries to our children and that is ananomaly that I do not support,” the Daily express

quoted her as saying during an appearance on U.S.chat show ‘The View’. The 37-year-old actress also

revealed that turned to the legendary filmmakerfor guidance on how to handle the shutterbugs,who have no qualms about snapping picturesof her child. “They make so much money, it’scrazy, it’s like going against the most evil forcethat you’ll never win against. But maybethere’s something we can do. I need to lookdeeper into it... Unless I was to moveunderground with no windows, there’s noway to avoid this, so I thought about thepeople that I look up to... “People who havegrace and they seem happy and they give us anexample of how to behave. I talked to myhusband (art consultant Will Kopelman)... he’ssomeone I think about when I think about thatkind of person; I talk to his family, who I love. Italk to my godfather Steven Spielberg; I seekadvice from him,” she added.

Santa Barbara Film FestDANIEL DAY-LEWIS REFLECTS ON HIS CAREER

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chinese girl portrait goes to auction

VLADIMIR Tretchikoff’s original painting ofthe Chinese Girl, believed to be the world’smost reproduced print, is to go on sale in

London. The Russian artist, who died in 2006,claimed that by the end of his career he had sold halfa million large-format reproductions of the printworldwide. The portrait of a young Chinese girl withdistinctive green-hued skin and ruby lips could fetchup to £500,000. The painting will form part ofBonhams’ South African art sale on 20 March.Tretchikoff, who grew up in Russia and Shanghai,eventually settled in South Africa in 1946 and paintedthe Chinese Girl in Cape Town in 1952. his model wasMonika Sing-Lee, then 17, whom he spotted workingat her uncle’s launderette in Sea Point, Cape Town.‘King Of KitSCH’According to Tretchikoff’s biographer BorisGorelik, the image - also known as the Green Lady -went on to become “one of the most important popculture icons in Britain and the Commonwealth inthe 1950s”. Its popularity led to Tretchikoff beingcalled the “king of kitsch” - a moniker he hated,insisting he was a serious artist.The painting was bought directly from the artist bya woman in Chicago when Tretchikoff was touringthe US in the 1950s. It has remained in the samefamily for the past 60 years. “The combination oflustrous golden silk and the blue-sheen of themodel’s skin combine to produce an otherworldlyglow: a luminescence that is the leitmotif ofTretchikoff’s best works,” said Giles Peppiatt,director of South African Art at Bonhams.The work will be exhibited in New York andJohannesburg prior to its sale. NEWS DESK

Monday, 28 January, 2013 Infotainment 14

dog hunters plan big cullof moscow strays

DOG owners in the Russian capital are onalert. A call has gone out on internetmessage boards for a massive cull of stray

dogs in Moscow on Friday evening. Anannouncement posted online vowed to “clean thecity of the fanged pests.” Organizers are askingsupporters to meet them at a metro station north ofMoscow. From there they will fan out to parks andalleys where the dogs are known to sleep, laying outtheir preferred trap: meat laced with deadly drugs.Animal rights supporters have taken to socialmedia to organize a counter-protest. According tothe Russian news agency RIA Novosti, police havevowed to be on hand to “prevent cases of cruelty toanimals.” The event is organized by a shadowyvigilante group derisively known as dog hunters.One animal rights group estimates they have killedover 1,500 dogs in recent years. On internetforums the dog hunters swap stories and tactics.Many post photos of the dogs they kill. They alsolink to news reports of dog attacks around theworld. Some posts attempt to answer critics,denying they kill the dogs for sport and saying theyfear Moscow’s huge stray dog population is gettingout of control. They say they are only doing whatcity authorities should be doing. NEWS DESK

police officer, wife facejail time for saving a deer

Acentral Indiana couple faces criminalcharges tonight for trying to save aninjured deer. “I’ve caught a guy that’s killed

three people,” explained Connersville police officerJeff Counceller. Counceller has spent his 14 yearcareer as a police officer, locking up the bad guys.“We’ve never had any criminal convictions. We’regood people,” added his wife Jennifer. TheCouncellers though, have found themselves on theother side of the law recently. The couple may face60 days behind bars. The reason comes down to alittle deer Jeff rescued two years ago, after hefound it injured on a porch during a police call.“I was gonna put her back in the woods, but I seenthe injuries and I knew they were life threateningso I called Jennifer,” recalled Jeff.Jennifer, a nurse, thought she could help.“I couldn’t let her just die there,” said Jennifer.“We called her little orphan Dani. She’s definitelychanged our lives,” she added. The couple nursedDani back to health, even bottle feeding her.“I had to set my alarm every two hours. We justkind of took turns. every two hours we had to feedher and irrigate her wounds and spray moremedicine on it,” explained Jennifer. “I had herstanding up on the second day that I got her backand she was you know, walking and I knew she wasmaking improvements,” said Jennifer. Not enough though, said the Councellers to justrelease the fawn back into the wild quickly. “Shewas just too small to survive,” Jennifer explained.At one point, the Councellers said they calledseveral deer habitats across the state to see if oneof them could take Dani. The couple said they weretold that they were too full at that point.So the Councellers built a pen for Dani in theirbackyard, right near the woods, until the deercould grow bigger and stronger. Last summer, theCouncellers said they were getting ready to letDani go, but were waiting for the corn crops tomature so she would have something to eat whenthey released her. “We had already starteddecreasing our contact with her, trying to kind ofdehumanize her and you know, get her used to usnot being there,” explained Jennifer. “We were aboutsix weeks away from turning her loose,” added Jeff.Last July though, the Councellers said they got avisit from an officer with the Department of NaturalResources. “he asked me if we still had the deer andI told him I did,” recalled Jennifer. “he told me thatI could maybe call Indianapolis and maybe get arescue permit until you know, we could get herreleased back into the wild. So that’s what I tried to do,”Jennifer continued. Jennifer said when she calledthe DNR’s state office, she was turned down. “Shebasically just told me that I was in illegal possessionof the deer and that they would not give me a rescuepermit,” recalled Jennifer. “It just kind of all wentdownhill from there,” she continued. NEWS DESK

Little Radha can’t be fednormally and may not beable to speak properlyunless she undergoesextensive plastic surgery -because her nose and upperlip have been bitten off. The man who did this to thefive-month-old was her ownfather, Bhadar Singh, afarm labourer in Siyanavillage of the Bikanerdistrict in Rajasthan. The father chewed off hisdaughter’s lips and nosebecause he was angered byher crying. he has been arrested andbooked under varioussections of the Indian penalcode (IPC) for causinggrievous hurt with

dangerous means, whichprovide for a sentenceranging from 10 years in jailup to life imprisonment. According to the police,Bhadar, 36, came homedrunk on Thursday around10pm when his wifeSantosh and his sister Sarojwere applying mehendi(henna) to their hands. he asked his wife to dosome work. Showing himher hands, she said shewasn’t able to, at whichBhadar started abusing andbeating her. When Sarojprotested, he warned heragainst intervening. Butseeing her mother beingassaulted, their elderdaughter, three-year old

Bhanwar Kanwar, startedcrying. This angered the drunkenBhadar, who duly turnedhis fury on Bhanwar. he isaccused of biting thetoddler on her back, handsand other body parts beforethrowing her on the ground. Baby Radha was asleep inanother room, but waswoken up by her sister’sscreams and began crying.her father then startedbiting his younger child. horrified, his wife andsister ran out to raise thealarm. The neighbours thenrushed in and grabbedBhadar, who was handedover to the police on Fridaymorning. Radha and Bhanwar weretaken to the government-run Prince Bijay SinghMemorial (PBSM) hospitalin Bikaner. Dr Girish Prabhakar, headof the paediatric surgerydepartment of the hospital,said that although Radhawas out of danger, shewould have to undergoextensive, drastic plasticsurgery. “We are treatingher, but to look normal shewould require plasticsurgery, which can be doneonly in Jaipur,” he added. Radha, accompanied by hermother Santosh and a fewvolunteers, was sent toJaipur’s Sawai Man Singhhospital in an ambulanceon Friday. But Santosh returned toPBSM and couldn’t giveexplain why she hadbrought her daughter back,Dr Prabhakar said. he saidthe Bikaner hospitalauthorities would try tocoordinate with the Jaipurdoctors to ensure propertreatment for the baby.

COURTESY DAILY MAIL

Father ‘chews off 5-month-olddaughter’s nose and upper lipbecause she wouldn’t stop crying’

Spanish momsraise schoolfunds withpinup calendar

SPAIN’S economic woes have forced municipalitiesacross the nation to cut back on all kinds of basicservices. In the small town of Montserrat, 20 milesinland from the Mediterranean, not even the schoolbus was spared. To restore service, neighborhood

mothers came up with a rather racy idea to raise money: Theytransformed themselves into calendar girls. Nestled amongorange groves, Montserrat lies just down a busy highway fromValencia, the regional capital. It’s the same highway whereeva Maria Casas Sancho’s children walked almost three milesto and from elementary school each day when the bus servicewas cut. “There’s no sidewalk and there are lots of trucksgoing fast,” Sancho says. “It’s one of the main roads. The truthis, it’s pretty dangerous for kids to be walking there.” SoSancho and some other unemployed moms decided to raisethe funds for a school bus by posing nearly nude for acalendar. “It started as a joke, but then we realized it mightjust be the most effective way to raise money for our kids’transportation,” Sancho says. Sancho, a 41-year-old motherof three, is Ms. June. “At first it was really embarrassing,”Sancho says. “One of my photos was taken outside at the busstop near my house — in November! It was so cold, and I wasnaked in the street, with my neighbors gawking.” But itworked. The pinup moms have raised $12,000 selling thecalendars — enough to rehire the school bus throughspring. They even sold copies to regional politicians whodecided to cut the school bus service in the first place. NEWS DESK

ISB 28-01-2013_Layout 1 1/28/2013 3:03 AM Page 14

womeN’S worlD CuP

Monday, 28 January, 2013

DHARAMSALAAGENCIES

iAN Bell’s third one-day centuryguided england to a consolationvictory in the fifth and final ODIagainst India to bookend an ul-timately disappointing tour with

a second success. Although the series wasalready lost, a 3-2 defeat represents amarked improvement on recent efforts inthe country, but Alastair Cook’s chief re-gret will be that his side took so long toput in a second accomplished perform-ance, after they had taken a 1-0 lead inRajkot a little more than two weeks ago.

The bowlers, lead by Tim Bresnan,Steven Finn and James Tredwell, hadmade good use of Cook winning the tossto restrict India to 226, despite a fighting83 from Suresh Raina, and englandlooked to have a modest hike ahead ofthem in order to secure only a third ODIwin against India at home in 23 attempts.At times, the target seemed to loomhigher than the himalayas visible behindDharamsala’s multicoloured pavilion butBell is an experienced climber these daysand eoin Morgan brought along his spareoxygen canister to ease the ascent at theend.

Like Raina, whose fourth half-cen-tury in as many innings helped dragIndia from a potentially disastrous 79for 5 earlier in the day, Bell was not en-tirely secure at the crease, twice edgingpast his stumps early on and strugglingto time the ball as the surface gotslower. But he stuck around as englandlost two wickets for 11 runs in 6.2 oversand after a diligent, restorative partner-ship with Joe Root, he began to lookmore imposing, stepping out of hiscrease to hit the disappointing R Ash-win for six and striking timely bound-

aries whenever the asking rate began toenquire a little more urgently.

Although Root was bowled by Ravin-dra Jadeja, slogging across the line in un-gainly fashion after another level-headedknock, Morgan buckled down beforeadding a few flourishes of his own to ease

england past their target with 16 balls tospare. At 1317 metres above sea level, thehimachal Pradesh Cricket AssociationStadium is among the loftiest interna-tional grounds in the world and Morganseemed keen to see just how far he couldhit a six in the thin mountain air.

Despite being described as a match of“no consequence” in some local papers,India chose not to experiment with theirline-up, again leaving Cheteshwar Pujaraon the bench. They could perhaps havedone with his monkish self-discipline, asRohit Sharma and Virat Kohli departed toconsecutive deliveries via loose drivesoutside off to trigger a top-order collapse.It was left to Raina, India’s leading run-scorer in the series, and Jadeja, who hasalso toyed regularly with england overthe last month, to pull things togetherwith a spiky, 78-run partnership, beforesome late hitting from the tail, combinedwith a rash of dropped catches, helpedthe score towards respectability.

Before the match, Raina had ex-pressed a desire to usurp one of his col-leagues up the order and he made gooduse of a longer spell at the crease aftercoming in during the seventh over. Aharsher judge, however, may concludethat he failed to construct the truly big in-nings that the situation provided an op-portunity for.

england have been quiescent oppo-nents in the past for Raina, who im-proved his average against them to47.47 with his 11th fifty, but he was al-lowed let-offs on 5 and 61 before pullingidly to midwicket with a hundred insight. The first was a difficult, divingchance that would have completed ahat-trick of slip catches for Tredwell butthe latter opportunity, grassed by Cookat backward square leg, was much morestraightforward.

Perhaps Raina was deserving of somebenevolence after the fiery start eng-land’s bowlers made in chilly, if bright,conditions. The Dalai Lama is based inexile at nearby McLeodganj but the earlyexchanges were far from peaceable on ahard, fast surface with enough juice in it

to make a Tibetan monk sit up and blink.There was initial seam movement on

offer for Finn but it was Bresnan whomade the first incursion, removing ersatzopener Rohit. having timed one exquisitesquare drive for four, Rohit attempted areprise to a slightly wider delivery thatdrifted further away from his crease-bound push, the ball slicing off the out-side edge to the right of Tredwell atsecond slip, where he took a tumblingcatch. The very next ball produced a fac-simile swish from Kohli, though Tredwellwent in for a bit of variety on this occa-sion, juggling the ball three times in frontof the kneeling Cook before grasping itfor good with a giddy grin.

When Yuvraj got a thick edge to pointtrying to turn Finn through square leg,the match was beginning to resemble anearly season encounter in england - atleast in temperature and bowling condi-tions, if not the setting. It could havebeen even better for england had Raina’sedge off Chris Woakes - replacing JadeDernbach - stuck but he battled pugna-ciously after being hit on the shoulder byhis first ball, from Finn.

Tredwell has spent the one-day se-ries doing a passable impression ofGraeme Swann, particularly to left-han-ders, and he had Gautam Gambhircaught by the sprawling Bell at point.The wicket came from Tredwell’s secondball, an immediate, Swann-esque inter-vention, and england’s delight ratch-eted up further when Finn won an lbwdecision against MS Dhoni. Only duringthe spells of the part-time bowlers, Rootand Samit Patel, did India’s batsmendisplay any sense of comfort. Their com-bined 11 overs cost 80 runs as Rainagave India one last spin of the prayerwheel in pursuit of 4-1 - but he could notturn a molehill into a mountain.

Bell century leads England to consolation win

INDIA

G Gambhir c Bell b Tredwell 24

RG Sharma c Tredwell b Bresnan 4

V Kohli c Tredwell b Bresnan 0

Yuvraj Singh c Morgan b Finn 0

SK Raina c Bell b Woakes 83

MS Dhoni*† lbw b Finn 15

RA Jadeja c Bell b Tredwell 39

R Ashwin c Finn b Patel 19

B Kumar c Finn b Bresnan 31

Shami Ahmed c & b Bresnan 1

I Sharma not out 0

EXTRAS (lb 4, w 6) 10

TOTAL 226

FALL OF WICKETS 1-13 (RG Sharma, 3.3 ov), 2-13 (Kohli, 3.4

ov), 3-24 (Yuvraj Singh, 6.5 ov), 4-49 (Gambhir, 12.2 ov), 5-79

(Dhoni, 21.1 ov), 6-157 (Jadeja, 38.4 ov), 7-177 (Raina, 41.4 ov),

8-211 (Ashwin, 46.6 ov), 9-225 (Kumar, 49.3 ov), 10-226 (Shami

Ahmed, 49.4 ov)

BOWLING

ST Finn 10-2-27-2, TT Bresnan 9.4-1-45-4, CR Woakes 9-1-45-

1, JC Tredwell 10-1-25-2, JE Root 5-0-34-0, SR Patel 6-0-46-1

ENGLAND

AN Cook* b I Sharma 22

IR Bell not out 113

KP Pietersen c Jadeja b Shami Ahmed 6

JE Root b Jadeja 31

EJG Morgan not out 40

EXTRAS (lb 8, w 7) 15

TOTAL 227

DID NOT BAT JC Buttler†, SR Patel, CR Woakes, JC Tredwell,

ST Finn, TT Bresnan

FALL OF WICKETS 1-53 (Cook, 11.5 ov), 2-64 (Pietersen, 18.1

ov), 3-143 (Root, 35.4 ov)

BOWLING

B Kumar 9-1-45-0, Shami Ahmed 9-1-46-1, I Sharma 10-3-37-

1, R Ashwin 10-0-50-0, Yuvraj Singh 2-0-15-0, RA Jadeja

7.2-0-26-1

Toss England, who chose to field

Series India won the 5-match series 3-2

Player of the match IR Bell (England)

Player of the series SK Raina (India)

Umpires S Asnani and SJ Davis (Australia)

TV umpire C Shamsuddin

Match referee AJ Pycroft (Zimbabwe)

Reserve umpire S Das

SCOREBOARD

Pakistan add

pace duo to

squad

LAHORESTAFF REPORT

Pakistan have added pace bowlers TanvirAhmed and Rahat Ali to their side inSouth Africa before the first test startingon Feb. 1, the Pakistan Cricket Board(PCB) said on Sunday.A PCB spokesman said the decision fol-lowed a request from the touring team’smanagement.“They have taken this decision after con-sidering the conditions and duration ofthe tour in South Africa,” the spokesmansaid. “Both players will arrive before thefirst test.”The team already includes pace bowlersUmar Gul, Junaid Khan, MohammadIrfan and uncapped ehsan Adil.Tanvir, 34, who has played four tests,made his last appearance in a one-daymatch against Ireland last year.Left-armer Rahat has played just oneone-day international against Sri Lanka.

MUMBAIBIPIN DANI

The International Cricket Council(ICC) has relocated some group andSuper Six Stage matches of theWomen’s World Cup involving Pak-istani team to the Odisha city of Cut-tack. Though the final, which remainedscheduled for the Brabourne Stadium,the home of the Cricket Club of India(CCI) in Mumbai on February 17, maystill get shifted to some other city.

It may happen only if the Pakistaniteam, led by Sana Mir enters the finalof the World Cup. “We will decide thatwhen it happens”, Colin Gibson, headof ICC Media and Communications,said from Dubai.

Interestingly, the entire Pakistanwomen team, before coming to India,had visited the Depilex Beauty Clinicin Lahore.

“Cricket in the sub-continent isviewed more as a men’s sport and al-though our men’s cricket team hasachieved a lot of success and is lovedunconditionally by everyone in Pak-istan. We felt not as much was high-lighted of the women’s cricket team.having had followed the teams successand hard work we wanted to showthem our support and appreciation byinviting them over to the salon andtreating them to a day of relaxingtreatments”, Redah Misbah, DirectorDepilex said.

“It was an honor for my organiza-tion and myself to have the team overhere and after spending the whole daywith them and getting to know themwe were thoroughly impressed by howgrounded, well spoken and disciplinedthe girls were. They are true represen-tatives of Pakistan and we are veryproud of them”, she further added.

“We wished them good luck and

gave them our prayers for the WorldCup. Its a win enough to have awomen’s cricket team representingPakistan in the World Cup amongst somany other countries”, she signed off.

The team also had few sessionswith the psychologist, Maqbool “Max”Babri, the man instrumental in men’steam success in the recent past. “Theteam is positive, excited and in highspirit to win the World Cup”, he said,again exclusively, from Lahore. “Theteam members are harmonious, confi-dent and highly committed to doingwell”, he added.

Meanwhile, an agency news fromthe venue said that ahead of the Pak-istan team’s arrival for the ensuingWomen’s Cricket World Cup at Cut-tack, the city police took 10 activists ofUtkal Bharat, including former MPKharvel Swain, into custody as theoutfit was agitating against their par-ticipation in the tournament.

The police picked up Swain andothers while they were on their way toBiju Patnaik Airport here. “The agita-tors are likely to be detained till arrivalof the Pakistan team,” a senior police

officer said.“Pakistani players are scheduled to

arrive here this evening. They will belodged in Cuttack close to the BarabatiStadium while three other teams fromAustralia, New Zealand and SouthAfrica are to stay in Bhubaneswar,”Odisha Cricket Association (OCA) sec-retary Asribad Behera said.

While all the matches involvingPakistani players will be played atBarabati Stadium, other matches willbe held at DRIeMS Ground at Tangi,20 km from Cuttack city.

“The (Pakistani) players may go toRailway Stadium in Bhubaneswar forpractice,” Behera said. however,sources said the movement of Pak-istani team would remain confined toBarabati Stadium. They would play apractice match against OdishaWomen’s cricket team at Barabati Sta-dium tomorrow and the day after.

Meanwhile, a delegation of OdishaPolice led by Director General of Po-lice (DGP) Prakash Mishra visited theBarabati Stadium and inspected thesecurity arrangements for the Pak-istani players.

australia aim

to level seriesMELBOURNE

AGENCIES

Sri Lanka’s impressive all-round perform-ance in the first match in Sydney has giventhem a 1-0 lead and their tour of Australiaends with the possibility of making it 2-0during the final game at the MCG. What-ever happens in Melbourne, Sri Lanka willremain the world’s No.1-ranked Twenty20side and Australia will stay at No.7, but forAngelo Mathews’ men this is an opportu-nity to at least claim superiority over Aus-tralia in one format on this tour. ForAustralia, victory or defeat in this outingmeans little in itself, but for individualplayers it is a means to show the selectorswhy they should win further opportunities.Australia have few T20 engagements thisyear and for men like Aaron Finch, ShaunMarsh, Adam Voges, James Faulkner, BenCutting and Ben Laughlin, every game is achance to firm up a claim on a T20 posi-tion for future contests. After all, the nextWorld T20 tournament is only just over ayear away. Aaron Finch is a batsman ofenormous potential but he hasn’t shownhis best during his outings against SriLanka so far this month. A clean strikerwho hit the roof of Melbourne’s etihadStadium while playing for the Renegadesthis season, Finch has the potential to be aan important top-order man for Australia’sT20 side alongside David Warner and,when he returns, Shane Watson. he justneeds to grab his opportunity. Before thelimited-overs games began, Kushal Pererawas almost unheard of in Australia. Butwhen he got a chance in the ODIs due toDinesh Chandimal’s injury, he showedhimself to be a promising strokemaker aswell as gloveman. On T20 internationaldebut in Sydney, he made a crisp 33 from22 balls opening the batting and was a keyfactor in Sri Lanka’s chase going sosmoothly. In the first match, DavidWarner’s unbeaten 90 from Australia’stotal of 137 was the highest percentage of ateam’s total ever scored by one batsman ina T20 international.

Pakistan women vow to do well

ISB 28-01-2013_Layout 1 1/28/2013 3:04 AM Page 16

australian duo

win mixed

doubles title

MELBOURNE AGENCIES

Jarmila Gajdosova and Matthew ebdenbecame the first locals to win a maindraw Australian Open title since 2005when they clinched the mixed doubles onSunday.The Australian duo, both aged 25, beatthe Czech-pair Lucie hradecka and Fran-tisek Cermak 6-3 7-5 in the final at RodLaver Arena in 73 minutes.Gajdosova and ebden both crashed outof the singles competition in the firstround, Gajdosova for the eighth time,and had never played together beforethey got together as a wildcard pairingfor the season-opening grand slam.South African-born ebden moved toPerth as a child and has been mentoredby Australian great Margaret Court, whowon 24 grand slam singles titles and 19women’s and 19 mixed doubles titles atgrand slams. Scott Draper and SamanthaStosur were the last Australian pairing towin a title at Melbourne Park when theyclinched the mixed doubles in 2005.

Spain appoint

Conchita martinez

as fed Cup coachMADRID AGENCIES

Spain have appointed former Wimbledonchampion Conchita Martinez to replaceArantxa Sanchez-Vicario as captain oftheir Fed Cup team, the Spanish tennisfederation (RFeT) said on Saturday.“Conchita is a Spanish tennis legend andit is fitting that those who have given alot to our sport have a chance to continuehelping the team,” RFeT president JoseLuis escanuela said on the federation’swebsite (www.rfet.es) on Saturday.Martinez, now 40, beat MartinaNavratilova in the 1994 Wimbledon sin-gles final. She reached the finals of theAustralian Open in 1998 and the FrenchOpen two years later and rose to numbertwo in the world rankings.As a player, she helped Spain to win fiveFed Cup titles and since her retirementhas worked as a coach, a television pun-dit and tournament organiser.

Pakistanis tighten grip with big leadSports 16Monday, 28 January, 2013

EAST LONDONAGENCIES

the Pakistanis put them-selves in prime position torecord a first victory ontheir visit to South Africaas they bowled the hosts

out and built a significant lead on thethird day in east London. NasirJamshed and Mohammed hafeez wereamong the runs again, while SaeedAjmal, Junaid Khan and Umar Gul allflexed their wicket-taking muscles.

Pakistan’s latest sensation, the 2.03metre tall Mohammed Irfan, onlybowled 12 overs in the first innings asteam management called for fast-bowl-ing reinforcements to be sent to SouthAfrica. he was not needed on the thirdmorning as it took Ajmal and Junaid just13.1 overs to get rid of the South AfricanInvitation XI’s tail. Both finished withthree scalps, while only Mohammedhafeez went wicketless.

For the second time in the fixture,

Pakistan’s opening pair appeared solid.hafeez and Jamshed put on a centurystand with both making half-centuries.hafeez was the more aggressive of thepair - his 83 coming off 109 balls beforehe was caught behind off the innocuousbowling of part-time medium pacer Sti-aan van Zyl.

Jamshed was more circumspect. hisspent four minutes short of three hoursat the crease to compile his 51. eventhough he seemed well set, he departedthe over after hafeez, bowled by KyleAbbot.

Jamshed’s performances in thematch give Pakistan an interesting prob-lem ahead of the Test series. Should theyopen the batting with the in-form debu-tant or, fitness permitting, return to thetried and trusted Taufeeq Umar?Taufeeq was forced to sit out the prac-tice match because of a leg injury. hewas assessed by a radiologist on Fridayin east London and is awaiting the re-sults before a call is taken on his avail-ability.

Pakistan may consider using bothplayers, with one batting at No.3, afterAzhar Ali, Younis Khan and Asad Shafiqall failed again to leave the middle orderlooking shaky. They were all caught be-hind suggesting that some adjustmentstill needed to be made for South Africanconditions and the Invitation side wouldhave sniffed an opening at 191 for 5.

But Misbah-ul-haq came good andreached a half-century as stumpsloomed. Sarfraz Ahmed was with him atthe crease. having already scored 93 inthe first innings, Sarfraz may not needtoo much more practice time and thePakistanis will look to let their bowlershave another run on the fourth day. ThePakistan squad will travel to Johannes-burg on Tuesday to begin preparationsfor the first Test, which starts on Friday.

Scores: Pakistanis 329 (Safraz 93,harmer 5-88) and 240 for 5 (hafeez83, Jamshed 51, Misbah 51*) lead SouthAfrican Invitation XI 257 (vanJaarsveld 92, Vilas 62*, Ajmal 3-66) by312 runs.

JAIPURAGENCIES

It’s not very often that cricket consid-ered to be a religion in India, and litera-ture come together on the sameplatform, but when it happens it’s boundto create magic and that is exactly whathappened once Rahul Dravid took to thestage at the Jaipur Literature Festival.

The 40-year-old Dravid, one ofIndia’s finest batsmen who scored closeto 25,000 international runs before an-nouncing his retirement early last year,said the game teaches one to be humble.

“Cricket teaches you to be humble.You fail more than you succeed in thegame,” Dravid told a packed audience atthe Diggi Palace on Saturday.

Dravid was speaking in a session ti-tled ‘highway to Nowhere’ before whichhe and Sharmila Tagore, wife of the lateMansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, launched abook on the former India captain titled‘Pataudi: Nawab of Cricket’, written by

noted cricket writer Suresh Menon.Cricketers have always remained

under media glare and though the acebatsman didn’t enjoy it all the time,Dravid said he understands that it’s partand parcel of the game.

“I can’t say I always enjoyed it but itcomes with the game and there are goodparts about it. Youngsters need to becareful that they do not get caught upwith the idea that one can become a heroinstantly without a body of work to backit up,” Dravid said pointing out that“today you can become a star quickly butearlier you had to do what Gavaskar did,what Kapil Dev did.”

even though there have been re-ports of ego clashes among topsportspersons, Dravid said he never hadany such encounters. Though he admit-ted that disagreements happen, egos didnot come in the way of dressing roombonhomie.

“I played in an era when everyonewanted to make the team better. ego

didn’t come in the dressing room.Agreements and disagreements mayhappen but there were no egos,” said thecricketer who was yesterday named forthe prestigious Padma Bhushan Award,adding another feather to his alreadyglittering cap. Dravid, who captainedRajasthan Royals in the last season ofthe Indian Premier League, said he hasnever been an IPL sceptical.

“There are challenges it throws uplike scheduling along with tough chal-lenges to adapt quickly to the shorterformat of the game, changes in gameplan and quick solutions. It changes theenvironment of the dressing room as wemeet players from different countries. Ithas been changing relationships amongcricketers for the last five years and weunderstand them better.” When askedabout the future prospects, Dravid, fa-mously known as the ‘Wall’ of the IndianCricket team during his playing days,declared that there was no paucity of tal-ent in the Indian cricket.

‘Humble’ Rahul Dravid backs youngsters

fury camp

considering

CunninghamSPORTS DESk

Former cruiserweight world championSteve Cunningham is being considered asa possible opponent for Tyson Fury’sAmerican debut in New York.Fury had been hoping for a St Patrick’sDay fight on 17 March, but the bout hasbeen pushed back to 20 April and Cun-ningham could be in the opposite corner.The American dropped a disputed pointsdefeat to Tomasz Adamek in Decemberand the Fury camp want to make a bigimpact in the US with a convincing winover Cunningham. Trainer Peter Furytold World Boxing News: “The date ofApril 20 is now 100% for Tyson and weare looking at getting Steve Cunninghamor one of two others for Tyson’s Ameri-can debut. “We have been in trainingnow for a March fight so we tried to get afight in between in Germany, but (pro-moter Mick) hennessy said not possibleso we will be easing Tyson back a bit.“A four month camp is too long, but weare looking forward to getting out thereand making a statement in the USA.“I think a fight with Cunningham is agood fight, especially when everyone sayshe beat Adamek. So if Tyson does a goodjob on him, it will send a message toeveryone and have no doubts he will do.”

Sailing-france’s gabart

wins vendee globe

round-the-world raceLES SABLES D’OLONNE

AGENCIES

Frenchman Francois Gabart became theyoungest sailor to win the Vendee Globe,a solo round-the-world race, when hereached the finish in record time on Sun-day. The 29-year-old Gabart needed 78days, two hours, 16 minutes and 40 sec-onds to complete his journey, smashingthe previous record set by compatriotMichel Desjoyeaux in 2009 by almostseven days. Frenchman Armel Le Cleac’hwas second ahead of Briton Alex Thom-son, who leapfrogged Jean-Pierre Dickafter the Frenchman lost his keel.Le Cleac’h was expected to cross the linelater on Sunday. Gabart fought off four-metre high waves in his final sprint be-fore he was greeted by thousands ofspectators in the western French port ofLes Sables d’Olonne despite bad weatherand gusts of wind at 80 kph. “You bluffedus. What you did is impressive,” Jean LeCam, fifth in the race and second in2005, told Gabart in an open letter. Therace, sailed non-stop and without assis-tance, started on November 10, 2012 andsaw eight of the 20 starters includingBritain’s Samantha Davies, the onlywoman in the contest, pull out.

Adebayor goal gives talisman hope for the future

RUSTENBURGAGENCIES

emmanuel Adebayor has had a problem-atic first half of the season for both hiscountry Togo and his club Tottenhamhotspur but is hoping Saturday’s goal intheir 2-0 African Nations Cup win overAlgeria is a pointer to a brighter future.

The singularly most important figurein Togo’s football history now seems fullyfit and appears to be at peace with na-tional coach Didier Six and the Togolesefootball federation.

he also looked more like his old selfon Saturday, scoring the opener in Togo’sshock win in their crucial Group D matchat the Royal Bafokeng Sports Palace andplaying an influential role throughout thegame.

“I am very happy especially as it wasbacks to the wall. We knew that to qual-ify, we must win this match against Alge-ria at all costs,” the striker told reporters.

Togo lost 2-1 to Ivory Coast in theiropening group game, but this win keepsalive their chances of advancing to theknockout round for the first time afterseven previous failed attempts.

“After the defeat against Ivory Coast,we all discussed what went wrong andquestioned ourselves. But we attackedwell today, played well and I congratulateall the players,” Adebayor said.

While injury disrupted his start tothe Premier League season with Totten-ham, a conflict over bonuses led to con-siderable doubt that he would be part ofthe Togo squad in South Africa. Six orig-inally left him out before the FA presidentoverruled the Frenchman and orderedhim to be included.

The move appeared justified as Ade-bayor seemed rejuvenated against Alge-ria, scoring with all his old magisterialconfidence and providing the platformfor only their third win in 19 matches inthe finals dating back to 1972. SubstituteDove Wome sealed the victory with an in-jury time second goal.

SYMBOLIC WINPerhaps, equally symbolically, it was

their first victory in the finals since the at-tack on their team bus before the start ofthe 2010 finals in Angola following whichthey withdrew from the competition.

The attack by separatists in Angola’sCabinda province left two Togolese deadand severely injured a reserve keeperwho was forced to retire.

While never forgetting the tragedy,Adebayor and his team mates were de-lighted with their victory which gives

them hope of progressing in the tourna-ment. “I am happy to have scored my firstgoal in the final stage of the African Cupof Nations. I hope there will be others,”he said. “I am aware that Togolese foot-ball is still sick but you know very wellthat we have experienced tragedies in re-cent years.

“We lost a coach, press officer andour third goalkeeper will definitely neverplay football again following the attack.

“But after losing to Ivory Coast, aplayer had to tap his fist on the table andit was me. I am the captain and leader ofthe team and now I think everything isback more or less in order.

“I hope we can continue like this. Ifthe government and the people supportus, we can try to do something extraordi-nary for our country. We are not far froman historic qualification.”

torres rescues fa Cup holders

Chelsea with late goalLOndOn: Much-maligned striker Fernando Torres rescued FA Cup hold-ers Chelsea from an ignominious fourth-round exit after his 83rd-minuteequaliser salvaged a 2-2 draw at third tier Brentford on Sunday. TheSpaniard swept home to secure a replay as Chelsea, who missed out on oneWembley appearance after losing over two legs to Swansea City in the Capi-tal One (League) Cup semi-finals, twice needed to come from behind at Grif-fin Park. Chelsea, who have lifted the trophy in four of the last six seasons,were second-best throughout the first half and went behind just before half-time when Italian Marcello Trotta lashed home. Brazilian Oscar equalisedwith some fine individual skill 10 minutes into the second half but the hostsstunned their London rivals by going ahead again with harry Forrester’spenalty on 73 minutes. In later games, Championship (second division)Leeds United host Tottenham hotspur at elland Road in a 2:00 p.m. kickoffbefore third tier Oldham Athletic take on Liverpool at 4:00 p.m.

ISB 28-01-2013_Layout 1 1/28/2013 3:04 AM Page 17

Relentless Djokovic rags valiant murray run

Sports17 Monday, 28 January, 2013

MELBOURNE AGENCIES

aNDY Murray ran and ranuntil the skin on his feetcame off and still it wasnot quite enough. TheBriton’s hopes of winning

his second successive grand slam titlewere ended by the resilience and defen-sive brilliance of world number oneNovak Djokovic in the Australian Open

final.The Serb’s 6-7 7-6 6-3 6-2 victory on

Sunday was Murray’s fifth defeat in sixgrand slam finals but having broken hisduck at the U.S. Open last Septemberagainst Djokovic, the pain is unlikely tolinger quite as long this time.

having played a five-set semi-finalagainst Roger Federer and with a day lessto recover than the Serb, a calm-lookingMurray did well to save five break pointsin the first set and then played a superb

tiebreak to move ahead.But his big chance came and went in

the second game of the second set whenhe had 0-40 on the Djokovic serve andfailed to convert. It was the turning pointof the match. “I was getting quite a few0-15s, 15-30s, 0-30s and I couldn’t quitecapitalise on my chances on his serve,”Murray told reporters. “That was a dis-appointing part. “I played a good secondset. I created quite a few chances anddidn’t quite get them. That was the dif-ference.” The two 25-year-olds, born justa week apart, are separated by two placesin the rankings but they showed againthat when they face each other across thenet, there is a hair’s breadth betweenthem.

Murray said he was a little stiff afterhis effort against Federer but of biggerconcern was a nasty blister that appearedon his right foot. his ability to stop andchange direction was affected and whenyou have a weakness, the last person youwant to play is Djokovic.

having lifted his energy at the end ofthe second set to level the match, he ranMurray side to side, relentlessly, slowlyincreasing the pain. Still it took until theeighth game of the third set, two hoursand 51 minutes into the match, for thefirst break of serve as Murray netted aforehand. The gruelling rallies were be-ginning to take their toll and withDjokovic’s tail up, Murray was broken inthe third game of the fourth. That, prettymuch, was that.

Murray denied that the blister hadaffected his chances and said he wasmore than happy with his efforts inreaching a third Australian Open finaland his third straight grand slam final.

ThE liTmuS TEST

MUHAMMAD BUTT

Calling the cricket team’s upcomingtour of South Africa a ‘litmus test’would be a cliché. That however does

not mean it is not true. The team,since 2010, has been on a steady up-ward spiral and a large chunk of thecredit for that goes to Misbah. It is in-deed ironic that for years, fans have

clamoured for a stable captain andteam and when they finally have it,they want to take him to the gallowsand replace him with someone whoshows less maturity than a five yearold even at the best of times.

The Misbah debate is likely tolinger on forever so it would be bestfor now to focus on the team which hasembarked on a tour that has tradition-ally been tough both on and off thepitch. While results under Misbah’sstewardship have been very impres-sive, they have largely come againstmediocre opposition and/or infavourable conditions. Misbah beganhis stint as captain by drawing a seriesagainst South Africa that took place inthe UAe. Suffice to say, South Africain South Africa will be a completelydifferent proposition.

The perennial batting woes are ex-pected to come to the fore once again.Asad Shafiq and Azhar Ali, in theirbrief careers, have shown plenty of gritand character. They will need all of

this and much more if they are to suc-ceed against the likes of Steyn, Philan-der and co. in their own backyard.Younis Khan, for reasons too obvious,will have to play a significant part ifthe team is to do well.

That being said, it is not the bat-ting over which too many people willlose sleep for these issues have existedsince time immemorial. The apparentlack of quality fast bowling options hasbeen a worry for a while now and thiscould become painfully obvious duringthe course of this tour. The spin trio ofAjmal,Rehman and hafeez have effi-ciently masked this deficiency over thelast two years but on pitches that willnot be so conducive to spin, the focuswill squarely fall on the faster men.

Gul maybe the most experienced ofthe lot but he is hardly the most reli-able especially in the longer format.Irfan could be a daunting prospect,both literally and figuratively butquestion marks remain whether he canlast a full test. Junaid Khan has al-

ready shown he can be more than ahandful even on placid tracks and willin theory enjoy the bowler-friendlyconditions but pinning all your hopeson a 22-year old facing up to the likesof Smith, Amla and Kallis in his firstmajor series could be asking a bit toomuch from the talented southpaw.

Combine all of the above with thefact that Pakistan has not played a testmatch for over six months and yousense a mauling coming your way.Man for man, the Pakistan team is nodoubt inferior. One could even arguethat the Pakistani teams that havetoured and performed ratherabysmally in the past were also supe-rior to the current one but what thoseteams of yesteryear lacked and thisone has in abundance are stability, co-hesion and fighting spirit (not to beconfused with in-fighting). The wholeis greater than the sum of its partsperhaps best describes the currentteam. The question is will that beenough?

LAHORESTAFF REPORT

Muhammed Munir, the number tworanked golf professional of the coun-try, added another significant mile-stone in Pakistan’s history books bybecoming the first Pakistani to gradu-ate from the Asian Golf Tour Qualify-ing School after four rounds ofcompetitive golf at Springfield RoyalCountry Club Golf Course, hua hin,Thailand, that concluded yesterday.

The Qualifying School included251 participating golf professionalsfrom all over the world, who wereseeking a place amongst the forty topqualifiers in the final four rounds ofgolf. The Qualifying matches were

held at two golf courses in Thailandand while 211 champions failed toqualify, Munir with rounds of72,70,66 and 74 and an aggregate of282,four under par found himself suc-cessful and an elevated one, his golfingtalent manifesting itself through thissuccess oriented performance.

Speaking on the phone Munirsaid: “I am very relieved and feel reallygood. It has been a long wait and I amgrateful to Taimur hassan of PakistanGolf Federation who backed me in thisendurance packed effort”. As forTaimur hassan, Secretary, PakistanGolf Federation, he felt upbeat aboutMunir’s chances in the Asian GolfTours chances during 2013.”hope-fully”, he said: “Pakistan’s golf will be

in the international news regularly”.Three years back Munir created

history when he steered his countryinto their first World Cup of Golf ap-pearance in the Omega Mission hillsWorld Cup in 2009.Now this is an-other supplement that the nationalgolf scene needed.

While Munir is the only qualifierfrom Pakistan, there is one qualifierfrom India and the others are fromAustralia, United Kingdom, USA,Canada, Sweden, Spain, Germany,Thailand, Taipei and China.

Munir will be travelling to Dubaito participate in the Omega DubaiDesert Classic to be held at the emi-rates Golf Club from 30th January to2nd February.

Munir of Pakistan securesAsian golf Tour slot

ISB 28-01-2013_Layout 1 1/28/2013 3:04 AM Page 18

Qatar masters wina dream: Wood

2013 win more emotional: AzarenkaMELBOURnE: Victoria azarenka admits the suc-cessful defence of her australian Open crown was“way more emotional” than her grand slam break-through 12 months ago. the Belarusian claimedher first major title in Melbourne in 2012 but shebelieves the roller-coaster of emotions she hasbeen on in the past fortnight - and, in particular,the past few days - means her latest achievementwill always be special. azarenka beat Li na in thefinal yesterday, two days after edging out SloaneStephens in a controversial semi after which shewas heavily criticised. the 23-year-old was accusedof taking a medical time-out against Stephens tosimply calm her nerves after squandering fivematch points deep in the second set. She later ex-plained she had required treatment for a rib injurywhich left her struggling to breathe. despite herlengthy protestations of innocence, there were astill a smattering of boos when she made her wayon to Rod Laver arena for the final with the major-ity of fans clearly rooting for her Chinese oppo-nent. although she lost the first set, azarenkamanaged to come through to win 4-6 6-4 6-3, afterwhich she broke down in tears. asked to compareher win with last January, she said: “it’s a com-pletely different mix of feelings. AGENCIES

watch it LiveSTAR SPORTSHockey League: Ranchi vs. Mumbai07:30 PM

18Monday, 28 January, 2013 Sports

PAKISTAN A SIDE OF MYSTERY STUART HESS

AGENCIES

With so much technology around, so-cial media providing up-to-the-seconddetails of mankind’s toilet breaks,breakfast habits and love life, Pak-istan’s cricket team deserves somecredit for retaining a sense of mystery.

They’re a largely unknown bunchaside from the skipper Misbah ul-haq,the vigorous old pro Younis Khan andof course the jolly Saeed Ajmal.

And the mystery makes them dan-gerous. They have a 2.16m left-arm fastbowler, a 24-year-old right-arm swingbowler, another teenage quick whoonly a year ago was facing the SAUnder-19 team, and a left-hand open-ing bat yet to play a Test, but who somein Pakistan reckon could be the nextSaeed Anwar.

Graeme Smith described them asan “unknown factor”, an indication

that in the coming days, he and the na-tional side’s management will be por-ing over as much footage of Pakistan’splayers as they can lay their hands on.While he may not know the individualsintimately, Smith is acutely aware ofthe consistency they’ve achieved underMisbah’s leadership over the past two-and-a-half years.

Since their tour of shame to eng-land in 2010, in which three playerswere fingered for spot-fixing at Lord’s,Pakistan have lost just one of eight Testseries, winning six and drawing a two-game series with South Africa in Mis-bah’s first series as captain.

“I guess with Pakistan, people talkabout the unpredictable nature of theircricket,” said Smith. “They seemed tobe playing with a lot more consistentlyagainst england and in ODIs againstIndia, so they will bring a lot of confi-dence.”

The 3-0 series whitewash of eng-

land a year ago was the outstandingachievement of Misbah’s tenure.

Of all the sub-continent teams,they are the one group capable of usingSouth Africa’s challenging conditionsto their advantage.

Misbah has express some concernabout his batsmen adapting to thebounce on South Africa’s pitches. Aswith most players from the sub-conti-nent, the extra bounce in South Africatakes some getting used to, but Misbahand Pakistan’s Australian-born coach,Dav Whatmore, believe that shouldthey manage to get used to the condi-tions, there will be opportunities tomake some big scores.

Younis will be vital in that regardgiven his experience of two tourshere. he made a vital half-century inthe fourth innings run-chase in Portelizabeth, helping Pakistan toachieve just their second Test win inthis country.

Perhaps just as important is theirchoice of opening batsmen.SQUaDS

South africa: graeme Smith (capt), Hashim amla, aB

de villiers, faf du Plessis, Dean elgar, Jacques Kallis,

Rory Kleinveldt, morné morkel, alviro Petersen, Robbie

Peterson, vernon Philander, Jacques Rudolph, Dale

Steyn

Pakistan: mohammed Hafeez, taufeeq Umar, nasi

Jamshed, azhar ali, younis Khan, misbah ul-Haq (capt),

faisal iqbal, Haris Sohail, abdur Rahman, Umar gul,

Junaid Khan, mohammed irfan, Saeed ajmal, ehsan

adil , asad Safiq

SCHeDULe

first test – 1-5 february, wanderers

Second test – 14-18 february, newlands

third test – 22-26 february, Centurion

first t20 – march 1, Kingsmead

Second t20 – march 3, Centurion

first oDi – march 10, Bloemfontein

Second oDi – march 15, Centurion

third oDi – march 17, wanderers

fourth oDi – march 21, Kingsmead

fifth oDi – march 24 Benoni – Sunday independent

Lahore Leads

University

Sports concludeLAHORE

STAFF REPORT

Lahore Leads University FoundationDay Celebrations 2013 concluded hereat Wapda Sports Complex, Lahore onSunday. The event, which lasted for five days,ended with a colourful prize distribu-tion ceremony. Chief guest of theevening was Director of Lahore LeadsUniversity Zahoor Wattoo while latergave the prizes to the winners ofcricket, football, athletics and singingcompetition. Sajjad Tafo graced the occasion as thejudge for singing competition. Stu-dents of Lahore Leads University par-ticipated in Qiraat, Naat, Debates,Cultural Day Representation, Theatre,Photography, Documentary makingand singing as well as various sportssuch as Badminton, Carrom, TableTennis, Foosball, Tug of war and Ath-letics during the Foundation Day Cele-brations of the Lahore LeadsUniversity.

Lahore Club

beat mt gym LAHORE

STAFF REPORT

Lahore Club beat Model TownGymkhana on a better run rate hereat the Ittefaq ground the other day. Lahore club scored 155/10 in 38.5overs, Usman Liaqat 65,WaheedAhmed 30, and Yaseen Abid 17 notout.Ahmed Bashir 15/3,Basit Sohail20/2 and Majid Rasheed 21/2 Model Town Gymkhana scored 155/10in 39.5 overs .Jamil Khan 54,AshrafAli 28,Ahmed Bashir 16,were theirmain run getters from Model TownGymkhana .Aqeel Arshad took 30/4,khuram elahi 32/2,waheed Ahmed33/2 Ruaf wain 16/1 and M.Imran28/1, now match is tie and tourna-ment playing condition better runrate team will be the winner. JaveedIqbal ,Masood Khan umpires andKhalid Waheed was the Scorer of thematch. Aqeel Arshad received man of matchfrom manger Abdul Qudoos LahoreClub.

SPORTS DESk

dARReN Clarkewas right after all- Bristol’s ChrisWood does havewhat it takes to be

a european Tour winner.A closing 12-foot eagle putt

gave Wood a thrilling first victoryon the circuit at the CommercialBank Qatar Masters in Doha.

It came two years after he wasfour strokes clear with a round toplay in Majorca, but shot 76 andhanded the title to stablemateClarke.

“We don’t have to worry abouthim - he will win and it will besooner rather than later,” saidClarke, who two months later be-came Open champion.

Wood, who a year earlierclosed with a 76 when leading theBMW PGA Championship, hadtaken his total of top-10 finishes to19, including three second places,when he stood on the final tee inDoha on Saturday one behind Ser-gio Garcia and George Coetzee.

having led by three at the startof the day, he was in grave dangerof suffering more bitter disappoint-ment.

Instead, however, he hit a 300-yard drive into perfect position, atowering six-iron over water to 12

feet and, after looking at the leader-board for the first time all day, sankthe putt.

“It feels amazing - a dreamcome true,” said the 25-year-oldwho came fifth in the 2008 Open asan amateur and then a year latermissed out on the play-off betweenTom Watson and Stewart Cink atTurnberry only by bogeying thefinal hole.

“I’ve been knocking on thedoor a few times and it’s not hap-pened. “Winning on the europeanTour is not easy. Now there’s anenormous weight off my shouldersand I feel I can go on and winmore.”

“You don’t get many chances ina play-off, so I knew that was my

chance - and I took it.”Although he had won the Thai-

land Open in August last year, thiswas on an entirely different levelwith two of the world’s top five -Justin Rose and Louis Oosthuizen- and a host of Ryder Cup stars andmajor winners in the field.

“I probably went to sleep aboutmidnight and woke up probablythree, four, five, six (times). I knewI was having a lot of support fromall of the text messages - a couple ofthem woke me up at one o’clock inthe morning!” he said.

he and Garcia now move on toDubai for the last leg of the Tour’sthree-week Desert Swing. LeeWestwood plays his first tourna-ment of the year there.

SAN DIEGOAGENCIES

Defending champion Brandt Snedeker had to endurea marathon day of putting practice and waiting aroundat the Farmers Insurance Open on Saturday beforeplay was finally abandoned because of thick fog.

The fast-talking American, who trails tournamentleader Tiger Woods by seven shots, arrived at thecourse at 5:30 a.m. local (1330 GMT) for a scheduledtee time at 7:40 a.m., and left at around 4 p.m. withouthitting a single competitive stroke after only five min-utes of third-round action was possible. Weather per-mitting, play will resume on Sunday at the picturesqueTorrey Pines venue where the $6.1 million PGA Tourevent is heading for a rare Monday finish.

“It’s frustrating,” Snedeker told Reuters afterspending a couple of hours chatting with his fellowplayers, caddies and officials on the practice puttinggreen. “everyone’s wants to play.

“I feel like on this golf course it would have been alot of fun today. There’s a great leaderboard lined upand a lot of action could have happened today. It’s re-ally frustrating when it doesn’t happen.

“It has turned into a long day. I’ve been here since

early this morning so you’re a little tired and you wantto get out there and play as much as you can.”

Asked how he had managed to while away the timeas a blanket of thick fog lingered at the coastal venue,Snedeker replied with a broad grin: “You tell a lot ofstories. I’ve been catching up with some guys I haven’tseen in a while. “You eat four or five times and you tryto pass the time as best as possible. You don’t want tothink too much about the golf course. You want to keepyour mind fresh.”

Snedeker is happy, though, that a Monday finish ison the cards as he needs to haul himself back into thetournament after following his superb opening roundof seven-under-par 65 with a four-bogey 75.

“As long as we get 72 holes in, that’s what I wouldlike to have happen because I am so far back,” said the32-year-old. “I need some help. I need to play as muchgolf as possible. It’s kind of weird for us to be in a situ-ation where there’s no really bad weather, just a littlebit of fog. “For us not to be playing, it’s tough, but wewill rebound tomorrow and try to put on a good show.”

Snedeker, who won last year’s title in a playoff withcompatriot Kyle Stanley, is regarded as one of the bestputters in the game but he surprisingly battled on thegreens during a rain-sodden second round.

Waiting game for snedekerin Torrey Pines fog

ESPNBD League: Barisal Burners vs Duronto Rajshahi05:00 PM

ISB 28-01-2013_Layout 1 1/28/2013 3:05 AM Page 19

19Monday, 28 January, 2013

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

LAHOREUMAIR AZIZ

The World healthOrganisation (WhO) hasfound toxic ‘levomethorphan’in the raw material importedfrom an Indian manufacturer

Kenduskar and used in cough syrups inPakistan which killed more than 50people, causing another blow to thealready fragile Indo-Pakistan trade ties,Pakistan Today has learnt. In itspreliminary findings shared with thePunjab health Department, WhOauthorities maintained that the rawmaterial used in the cough syrups Tynoand Dextromethorphan includes 22percent and 11 percent “lethal”levomethorphan content respectively.The matter surfaced after around 20people died after allegedly consumingTyno syrup (manufactured by RekoPharmaceuticals) in Lahore. Days later

the incident was repeated in Gujranwalawhere more than 30 people lost theirlives after consuming another coughsyrup Dextromethorphan (ethicalPharmaceuticals). They confiscated thestock of Tyno and Dextromethorphanfrom the distributors and retailers,bringing into the legal loop thedistributors and the manufacturers aswell. The government formed a specialcommittee in this regard. The DrugTesting Laboratory (DTL) found out thatthere was something “wrong” with theraw material. however, the drugregulation authority of the federalgovernment gave a clean chit afterconducting tests. WhO was then involvedto decide the matter, while the drugsamples were sent to the Medicines andhealthcare Products Regulatory Agency(MhRA) in the UK. The preliminaryreport shared by WhO is based onMhRA tests.A drug expert said the salt

Dextromethorphan is used in the rawmaterial and even 1 percent oflevomethorphan is toxic. “Overdose [ofsyrup with levomethorphan] can be fatalin a normal person, while normal dosecan prove deadly to drug addicts,” theexpert said, adding that to cover theirincompetence the police had not gathereddata of the deceased whether they wereaddicts or normal individuals.Seeking anonymity, a health Departmentofficial said WhO was in touch with thehealth authorities throughout theprocess. “A few weeks back, they asked us[health Department] if levomethorphanwas a registered drug to which we repliedin negative. A detailed conversation onSkype was also held with the healthsecretary and WhO representativesabroad to discuss the matter,” he said.Recently, WhO authorities visited themanufacturing factories after confiscationand dumping of the entire stock. Anothersenior official said the issue has the

potential to deliver a deadly blow to thealready fragile ties between the twocountries. WhO authorities have tracedthe entire chain, contacting not only theIndian manufacturer Kenduskar, but alsothe importers of the same raw material inegypt, Ghana and Kenya. The official saidthe matter goes beyond the ambit of thePunjab government, as the DRAP willhave to involve the Foreign Office tohighlight the matter on the internationallevel with the Indian authorities.A senior WhO official, seekinganonymity, said the fault lied with theDRAP authorities and the two firmsimported the raw material withoutperforming the requisite tests. “If the rawmaterial was coming from a new vendor,the authorities should have made sureabout its quality before allowing itsimport, but the authorities showed sheernegligence,” the official said, adding thatthe ultimate responsibility “of course lieson the original manufacturer”.

health Secretary Captain (r) ArifNadeem was not available forcomment. however, AdditionalSecretary (tech) Dr Anwer Janjua saidWhO had shared the preliminaryfindings and “we have dumped theentire stock from the market”. “Theimport and export of drugs comesunder the purview of the federalgovernment and one cannot blame anydepartment before a few reports whichare yet to come,” he added. Accordingto details, the two countries have yet tosign the memorandum ofunderstanding on the most favouritenation (MFN) status. “At present only a few anti-cancer drugsare coming from India while the tradewill increase only after the MoU is signedbetween the two countries,” he said. Thematter has been further hampered by therecent tension between the two countries.The report will prove another blow to thefragile relationship if made public.

WHO finds ‘lethal’ substance in cough syrupsg WHO shares preliminary report with Punjab Health Department g Official says issue can deliver deadly blow to already fragile ties between Pakistan and India

ANP responsible for worsening lawand order, says Fazlur rehmang juI-f chief says anp’s unrealistic policies led to pashtun genocide

PESHAWARSTAFF REPORT

holding the Awami National Party(ANP) responsible for law and order sit-uation across the country, FazlurRehman, chief of his faction of JamiatUlema-e-Islam, said the ANP has notonly forgotten political philosophy ofBacha Khan, but they are even helplessbefore the Americans.

“No other than ANP leaders are re-sponsible for killing of innocent Pakhtun,”Fazl said while addressing a public gath-ering on Dalazak Road Peshawar on Sun-day. The public meeting was alsoaddressed by Abdul Ghafoor haideri,Amanullah haqqani and Abdul Jalil Jan.

The gathering was arranged for welcom-ing what the JUI-F claimed the joining of10,000 people from 11 provincial assem-bly constituencies of Peshawar. The JUI-F leaders claimed that 4,000 of themresigned from the Pakistan People’s Party,3,000 from the ANP, 1,500 from the Pak-istan Tehreek-e-Insaf and remaining1,500 from the Jamaat-e-Islami and thePakistan Muslim League. however, not asingle name or identity of these 10,000was declared during the public meeting.Less than 10,000 people showed up at thepublic meeting, but the JUI-F leadersclaimed that the audience were the newentries in the party.

Levelling serious allegations againstthe ANP, Fazl said, “ANP’s unrealistic

policies lead to genocide of Pakhtun.” healleged that ANP leaders had failed todefend the Pakhtun from the Americanswho according to him now occupiedAfghanistan. he said that as a result ofUS presence in Afghanistan, there is un-rest in the region and terrorism wasbeing imported into Pakistan fromAfghanistan, adding that the ANP wasresponsible for this.

The cleric claimed that there was nodemocratic setup in KhyberPakhtunkhwa, but the province was vir-tually facing undeclared martial law. hesaid the rulers had failed to safeguardeconomic rights of the people. The ANPleadership, he said, had failed on allfronts. Referring to military action and

terrorism, Fazl said, “We are againstfighting and confrontation whether ini-tiated by the army or Taliban. But unfor-tunately, armed forces are undertremendous pressure from abroad.”

he claimed that only JUI-F was ca-pable to restore peace in the country. Re-taining soft corner for the Taliban, thecleric said nothing about Taliban terror-ism. Regarding ANP’s announced AllParties Conference (APC) on terrorism,Fazl said that he was approached byANP President Asfandyar Wali Khanand had supported JUI-F agenda in itstribal jirga. he said, “We have no inten-tions to issue certificate in favour of theANP.” he did not comment whether hisparty would attend the APC or not.

India will sufferfor held-Kashmiratrocities: Arundati roynEW dELHi: Underscoring the need to pun-ish the military and paramilitary forces for theheinous crimes they allegedly committed inKashmir, renowned writer and social activistArundhati Roy has said Indians would suffer inthe future for what the people of Kashmir hadgone through over last two decades. Roy ac-cused India of not being serious in punishingthe military, paramilitary, police and govern-ment backed gunmen who had been declaredaccused in various heinous crimes. “Troops andparamilitary troops involved in various heinouscrimes, including custodial killings, disappear-ances, rapes and declared accused through FIRsand other reports have evaded action which hasresulted in making them habitual offenders.These habitual offenders when deployed inother states will commit the same offencesagainst innocent people,” Roy said during a de-bate over the recent report released by Associa-tion of Parents of Disappeared Person (APDP)at Gandhi Peace Foundation Delhi, organisedby Peoples Union for Democratic Rights(PUDR). “To continue its occupation in Kash-mir, India has made its forces immune fromevery law there. If civil society of India andother human rights activist do not take appro-priate steps after going through the report ofAPDP, we will feel ashamed in the future,” shesaid. Roy said the State high Court and govern-ment established human rights commissionshad held military and paramilitary forces in-volved in various heinous crimes, but both thestate and government of India had not shownany seriousness in punishing them. Presentingthe report, APDP’s Parvez Imroz said India hadset free its forces in Kashmir to commit humanrights violations and no action was takenagainst the personnel involved in heinous andgruesome human rights violations. Quoting ref-erence from APDP’s report, he said more than500 accused troopers involved in 214 cases hadnot been brought to book. Terming the APDPreport based on facts, human rights activistKartik Markotla said the report was preparedafter obtaining official records through RTI Actand the reports filed in FIRs. he said the regis-tered FIRs in various police stations had held500 troops, paramilitary forces, policemen andgovernment-backed gunmen accused. “India isneither serious nor sincere in punishing theseaccused persons,” Markotla said. he said delib-erate silence of India against the alleged humanrights violations committed by troops in Kash-mir was unfortunate and the role of nationalmedia had been partial or irresponsible regard-ing it. expressing his views on the report,Nivedita Menon said: “Since day one India hasclosed its eyes from the facts pertaining tohuman rights violations in Kashmir, that is whythe violations continue to occur in the valley.Facts are being distorted in FIRs regarding cus-todial killings, enforced disappearances or rapeand other heinous crimes. NNI

LAHORE: Dr Tahirul Qadri, flanked by the government’s dialogue team, addresses a press conference at Tehreek-e-Minhajul Quran office on Sunday. INP

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