Thursday, 28 March, 2013 Jamadi ul Awwal 15, 1434Rs 17.00 Vol III No 270 19 Pages Lahore — Peshawar Edition

eCp delegation tomeet Baloch leaders today

A delegation of the Election

Commission of Pakistan (ECP) headed

by Chief Election Commissioner

Fakhruddin G Ebrahim will meet Baloch

leaders today (Thursday). The

commission will try to persuade

annoyed parties to take part in May 11

elections. However, main stakeholder in

the province, the Jamhoori Watan Party

(JWP) of Talal Akbar Bugti, has refused

to be part of this meeting. page 09

aspiring heavy-weights jeopardiseptI ticket distribution

The parliamentary board of the

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on

Wednesday had to put off its meeting

held for finalising the candidates for

party tickets for the upcoming

elections as lots of

political heavy weights have

submitted fresh applications, thus

putting the board members in a

quandary, Pakistan Today has reliably

learnt. page 03

Watch your tongue,north Korea warnssouth’s new leader

Tensions between Pyongyang and

Seoul reached a new peak on

Wednesday when North Korea

warned the new South Korean

president to “watch her tongue”.

According to details,

tensions soared when a South

Korean solider on guard at the

border threw a grenade at what he

described was a “moving object in

the dark.” page 04

rajputs hold the keyto na-100 nowsheraVirkan constituency

An analysis of polls’ dynamics in this

crucial constituency of Gujranwala and

other election-related stories. page 08

army clearsMusharraf for Islamabad visit

story on page 04

News aNalysis by Nadeem syed page 09story on page 03 story on page 04

story on page 03

story on page 19

story on page 02

LHR 28-03-2013_Layout 1 3/28/2013 4:56 AM Page 1

NThursday, 28 March, 2013

02

newS

Due to security reasons, Bilawal Bhutto will notparticipate in every public meeting during PPPelection campaign — Qamar Zaman Kaira

Gilani welComeSBnP deCiSion toConteSt PollS MULTAN: Yousaf Raza Gilani, former

prime minister of Pakistan and Senior

Vice chairman of the PPPP, has welcomed

the decision of the Balochistan National

Party to contest the forthcoming

elections, saying it clearly manifested the

victory of the democratic process over

the draconian rule. “Democracy believes

in plurality whereas dictatorship prefers

exclusiveness,” he added. He said

building bridges among the people was

the beauty of the democratic process

which in turn accelerated the process of

national integration and cohesion so

important for the political stability and

economic prosperity of the people on

permanent basis. He said that the

decision of the BNP was good for

democracy and for the federation of

Pakistan and must be appreciated by the

political leadership of the country. Gilani

said that the PPP government gave the

Aghaz-e-Haqooq-e- Balochistan package

to the people that was a sincere effort of

the democratic government to address

the feelings of political and economic

alienation of the people of the province.

He said the package was implemented to

a large extent during his watch and was

perhaps instrumental in winning the

hearts and the minds of the people to a

degree which might have convinced the

BNP leadership to join the mainstream

politics of the country within the

framework of the constitution. The former

prime minister said the National Finance

Award was a landmark achievement in

the context of Balochistan province

because it substantially increased the

financial resources of the province for

accelerating the pace of economic

development of the province to bring it at

par with the other provinces at the

earliest. sTaFF RePORT

muShaRRaf to file

nomination PaPeRS

foR na-32 today CHITRAL: All Pakistan Muslim League

(APML) President General (R) Pervez

Musharraf will be filing his nomination

papers for NA-32 today (Thursday).

According to details, Chitral APML

President Shahzada Khalid Pervez

announced that the nomination papers

for the former president would be filed

with the returning officer on March 28.

He said the party had decided to

nominate the former president from the

Chitral constituency where the party had

a strong vote bank. He expressed

optimism about the chances of the

former president from the said

constituency in the upcoming general

elections. Moreover, he said the

Musharraf had chosen this constituency

since the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

appreciated the construction of the

Loweri Tunnel in 2006. aPP

islamabadONlINe

THe Supreme Court has re-jected the ‘demand’ of for-mer prime minister RajaPervez Ashraf for setting upa commission to investigate

the issue of RPP case.A three-member bench headed by

Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muham-mad Chaudhry on Wednesday reviewedthe letter written by former PM Raja Per-vez Ashraf, and strongly criticised the act,saying, “In the capacity of a prime minis-ter, Raja Pervez Ashraf had tried to influ-ence the highest court of Pakistan, andthis was not the normal of court proce-dures.”

The advocate of Raja Pervez Ashraf,

Waseem Sajjad, prayed that Raja had notsent the letter to the court, directly, butthrough the registrar.

The CJP sent for the letter and dis-playing it in court said, “In the capacity ofprime minister, Raja Pervez Ashraf shouldnot have written this letter”, adding that“we are admonishing him (rather) in thesoftest of manner”.

The CJP further deliberated that “ thisletter has been penned on the prime min-ister’s letter pad, and also contained theseal of PM’s Secretariat”.

“This gives the impression that noticehas only been taken over this (VVIP) let-ter, while the poor and the ordinary haveno access to such exclusive legal privi-leges”.

“The court gets more than 500 lettersa day, but never has been there such kind

of letter, (demanding VVIP hearing pro-cedures),” the CJP regretted.

Justice Gulzar Ahmad said the PMhad all the resources available at his dis-posal and he should have directed his re-quest through some lawyer, but “writingsuch a demanding letter, after being nomore a PM, is definitely inappropriate”.

The CJP said NAB had included RajaPervez Ashraf among 22 culprits, and hadrequested due action, upon which theprosecutor general prayed that this issueshould be forwarded to federal ombuds-man, but the CJP acquiesced.

The CJP remarked, “Being the PMdoes not gives one liberty to addresscourt(s) directly through letters,” addingthat after the PM had accepted the courtverdict and any appeals had expired afterbeing withdrawn, the court could review

the case afresh. NAB Prosecutor General KK Agha

informed the apex court that although hedid not approve the contents of letter, butif the court handed over the investigationsto another person or organisation, NABwould have no objections.

The CJP remarked that if investiga-tions were to be carried out through oth-ers, “what would NAB do”?

He advised Sajjad that a chance wasbeing provided to hold immediate consen-sus with “your client Raja” about with-drawing, lest “the court be forced to takenotice of its contents and pass its judg-ment”.

The next hearing of the appeal toform an exclusive commission forhearing the RPP case would be heldtoday (Thursday).

rpps Case(

(

SC angry with Raja for demandingexclusive commission

laHOReaPP

Veteran journalist Najam Aziz Sethion Thursday took oath as caretakerPunjab chief minister in a solemnceremony held at the Governor’sHouse.

Punjab Governor MakhdumSyed Ahmad Mahmood adminis-tered the oath to the caretaker chiefminister. The oath-taking ceremonywas attended by parliamentary com-mittee members.

Rana Sanaullah, Iqbal Channer,Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman, ShoukatBasra, Chaudhry Zaheer-ud-din

and Major (R) Zulfiqar Ahmad,Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Pun-jab President Mian ManzoorAhmad Wattoo, US Counsel Gen-eral Nina Maria Fite, political per-sonalities and senior journalistsalso attended the oath-taking cere-mony. Caretaker Punjab ChiefMinister Najam Aziz Sethi saidmaintenance of law and order forholding free, fair and transparentelections is the top priority of hisgovernment.

Talking to newsmen soon aftertaking oath as chief minister at theGovernor’s House Wednesday, hesaid that caretaker governmentwould be tough on terrorism, sectar-ianism and violence against the mi-norities in Punjab. He said thatpolice should keep a vigilant eye onthe elements which egg on violence.

To a question, he said the care-taker government’s main task is to

ensure free, fair and bipartisan elec-tion to help the election commis-sion.

Sethi said that he would call onthe chief justice Lahore High Court(LHC) for taking instructions as wellas discussing matters relating toholding free and fair election. To aquery, he called upon the provincialadministration to maintain impartial-ity during the election, adding thatthe changes could be introduced inthe provincial machinery after rec-ommendations of the election com-mission. Sethi also hinted at thereshuffling of the public servantswho were reported to have politicalaffiliations with different parties.About his government’s priorities,the caretaker CM said he had no po-litical agenda but to hold free andfair election in a peaceful manner,adding that caretaker cabinet wouldcomprise non-political figures.

Sethi takes oath asinterim chief minister

SAYS LAW ANDORDER TO BE HISTOP PRIORITY

Commission submitsreport on missingpersons in SCISLAMABAD: The judicial commissionconstituted for the recovery of the missing personson Wednesday submitted its report in the SupremeCourt of Pakistan, stating it had traced 378 missingpersons cases while 633 cases were pending. Anapex court bench headed by Chief Justice IftikharMuhammad Chaudhry continued the hearing ofmissing persons’ case. In the report, thecommission said 24 cases were completed in Sindhwhile 100 were still pending. In Balochistan, 59cases were concluded and 48 were pending verdict.In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 125 cases of missingpersons had been concluded and 279 remainedpending. The commission said it heard 135 cases inPunjab and 148 were still pending, while inIslamabad, 16 cases were completed and 20 werepending. The report also stated that in FATA, 12cases of the missing persons were concluded andonly 26 were yet to be heard. In Azad Jammu andKashmir, nine cases had been decided and 11 werepending decisions. NNI

12 killed inroad accidents DERA GHAZI KHAN: At least 12 persons werekilled on Wednesday and several people were injuredwhen buses transporting passengers overturned.According to rescue sources, an accident took placenear the Sakhi Sarwar area of Dera Ghazi Khan when abus coming from Faisalabad with devotees on boardoverturned due to reckless driving. As a result of theaccident, two devotees were killed on the spot while 10others sustained wounds. Rescue teams rushed to thescene of the accident and shifted the injured to DistrictHeadquarters (DHQ) Hospital for treatment.Furthermore, at least 10 persons, including women andchildren, were killed and several others injured when abus turned turtle at Indus Highway. According to thepolice, a Kot Mithan-bound passenger bus comingfrom Dera Ghazi Khan overturned after hitting a carand rickshaw near Hameedwala area of Jampur due tofailure of brakes while reversing. Ten people includingwomen and children were killed in the accident andover a dozen others sustained wounds. ageNcIes

LHR 28-03-2013_Layout 1 3/28/2013 4:56 AM Page 2

newS N

03

Thursday, 28 March, 2013

I am among those who think

of the country and its people

— Pervez Musharraf

laHOReageNcIes

PAKISTAN Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) PresidentNawaz Sharif on Wednesdaysaid the continuation of thedemocratic process was must

to ensure sovereignty of the nation.Addressing the parliamentary board

of PML-N, Nawaz said that democracywas like a plant that bore fruits of socialwelfare and economic prosperity.

Moreover, he said that any hurdlecreated to block the continuation of thedemocratic process was a serious crime.He said Pakistan had learnt its lesson andhad allowed an elected government tocomplete its constitutional tenure.

The PML-N president said the peo-ple of Pakistan would now be have an-other opportunity to elect theirrepresentatives for five years in a free at-mosphere.

He said the PML-N’s main prioritywould be the continuation of democracyand economic revival of the country sothat it could become one of the top teneconomically sound countries. Hepledged to invest in education, energyand infrastructure if elected to power.

Nawaz said by the grace of Allah, an

elected government accomplished itstenure without umbrella of anyone,while Pakistani people acted like a civi-lized nation and showed extreme matu-rity.

He said since the general electionswere going to be held it was a responsi-bility of every voter to exercise right offranchise only in favour of pious anddedicated candidates.

Nawaz said future of the democraticsystem was the basis of states, sover-eignty and dignity of nations.

The PML-N leader hailed decisionof Sardar Akhtar Mengal to participatein the general elections.

Meanwhile, PML-N parliamentaryboard finalised aspirants for Nationaland provincial assembly seats from Pun-jab. According to board’s decision, theSharif brothers and Hamza Shahbaz willcontest from Lahore.

democracy mustcarry on: nawaz

PML-N PARLIAMENTARYBOARD FINALISESASPIRANTS FOR NATIONAL,PROVINCIAL ASSEMBLYSEATS FROM PUNJAB

islamabadTaYYaB HUssaIN

The parliamentary board of the PakistanTehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Wednesday hadto put off its meeting held for finalisingthe candidates for party tickets for the up-coming elections as lots of political heavyweights have submitted fresh applica-tions, thus putting the board members ina quandary, Pakistan Today has reliablylearnt.

“Due to the fast surging popularity

graph of the party among the masses, wehave received many fresh applicationsfrom several political heavy-weightswhich is proving to be a tough test for us.We have requested the party’s Punjabbranch to reassess the situation and nowthe Punjab chapter would meet againtoday (Thursday) at Lahore to thrash outtheir fresh recommendations. We willmeet again on Friday,” said a member ofthe PTI parliamentary board while re-questing anonymity.

The PTI leader said that some deci-

sions had already been made for the aspi-rants seeking party tickets.

“We have decided to award partytickets to some of our applicants. PTIchief Imran Khan has been awarded partytickets from NA-126, Lahore and NA-71,Mianwali.

Ayla Malik would be the coveringcandidate for Khan from NA-71. DrSalahuddin Khan would contest pollsfrom PP-44 and Jamal Ahsan Khan fromPP-43, Mianwali,” said the PTI leader.

Furthermore, he said Amjad Ali

Khan, the son of late Dr Sher Afgan KhanNiazi, had been awarded PTI ticket forNA-72, Mianwali while former PunjabMinister Sibtain Khan and Malik AhmadKhan Bhachar would contest election ashis wings from PP-45 and 46 respectively.

“Dr Arif Alvi has been awarded PTIticket from NA-250, Karachi, whileMakhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi hasbeen awarded party tickets from two con-stituencies, namely NA-148, Multan, andUmar Kot, Tharparker, Sindh,” the PTIleader concluded.

Aspiring heavy-weights jeopardisePTI ticket distribution

islamabadNNI

Hearing the case regarding the votingright of overseas Pakistanis, theSupreme Court (SC) on Wednes-day ordered the interim govern-ment to make legislationthrough ordinance as per theneeds of the election Com-mission of Pakistan (eCP).

A three-member bench ofthe court, headed by ChiefJustice of Pakistan IftikharChaudhry, heard the case.

During the proceedings,the eCP presented a reportstating that it was notpossible to pro-vide vot-i n g

right to overseas Pakistanis during the up-coming elections.

The counsel for eCP said that the com-mission had no issues if the governmentcould make proper arrangements for theoverseas Pakistanis.

Justice Chaudhry remarked that the courthad suggested making arrangements for 10polling stations only, adding that the eCP hadtaken no step in this regard.

The CJP also suggested that 10 sessionsjudges could also be sent abroad to conductpolling. The counsel told the court that legis-

lation was required for giving votingright to overseas Pakistanis.

Issuing interim order, thecourt said that the care-

taker governmentshould legislatethrough ordinance ac-cording to the require-ments of the eCP,adding that the For-eign Ministry could be

contacted for the estab-lishment of polling sta-tions abroad. The court

also directed to com-plete the arrangements

before the upcom-ing elec-

tions.

Interim govt urged tolegislate for overseasPakistanis’ voting

SC SAYS INTERIM GOVTSHOULD LEGISLATETHROUGH ORDINANCEACCORDING TONEEDS OF ECP

Custodial killing of youthsparks protests in IHKISLAMABAD: Several people were injured when police andIndian paramilitary forces resorted to brute force on hundreds ofpeople protesting against the killing of a civilian in police custodyin Indian Occupied Kashmir’s Islamabad district. “The personnelof Indian paramilitary forces and police fired teargas shells on theprotestors. Half a dozen policemen, including two top officers,were wounded during the clashes,” KMS reported. Tensiongripped the area after locals found the body of a youth, BilalAhmad Dar, lying near railway track on Tuesday morning atIslamabd’s Monghalla area. Dar had been arrested by the police acouple of days ago. Residents said that Dar was picked up by apolice party last night and was killed in custody. aPP

PPP, Pml-Q demandaction against Sharifsin asghar Khan Case

laHORe sTaFF RePORT

Former information minister Qamar Zaman Kairahas said immediate action should be taken againstthe Sharif brothers in the Asghar Khan Case verdictby the Supreme Court of Pakaistan, as it had beenestablished that they received hefty amounts tomanoeuvre 1990 elections. He was addressingreporters with PML-Q’s Senator Kamil Ali Aghaafter a meeting of both parties on the upcomingelections. He said the both parties would contest theelections together. “All matters are being settledamicably, seat adjustment is being done for entirePakistan,” Kaira said, seconded by Kamil Ali Agha.Briefing reporters about the meeting betweenChaudhry Shujaat Hussain, Chaudhry Pervez elahiand Mian Manzoor Wattoo, Kaira said the meetingwas held in a pleasant, positive and constructiveatmosphere in which Moonis elahi, Anwar Bhinder,Nasir Mehmood Gill and Yousaf Ahad Malik werealso present. Agha said besides amicably resolvingall pending matters, headway was made in anappreciable manner and all small matters croppingup now and then were also resolved. Kaira said theimpression of the meeting not being held waswrong. “Our talks are continuing in a pleasant andpositive manner, we have started the process ofadjustments of seats in Punjab, some names havebeen finalised and if the task is not completedtonight, the deliberations will continue tomorrowbecause we have to decide about the seats of theentire country,” the PPP leader added.

lahore: Nawaz Sharif presides over PMl-N Balochistan and KP Parliamentary Party Board on Wednesday. NNI

LHR 28-03-2013_Layout 1 3/28/2013 4:56 AM Page 3

newSN

04

Thursday, 28 March, 2013

Democracy believes in plurality

whereas dictatorship prefers

exclusiveness — Yousaf Raza Gilani

KaraChI: Leader of All Pakistan Muslim League and former president of PakistanGen (r) Pervez Musharraf addressing a press conference at a local hotel. ONlINe

eCP releases listof mPs defaultingon electricity bills

islamabadKasHIF aBBasI

nATIONAL Telecom-munication Corpora-tion (NTC) andIslamabad electricity

Supply Company (IeSCO)on Wednesday approachedthe election Commission ofPakistan (eCP) for the recov-ery of millions of rupeesfrom lawmakers, includingsitting senators.

While the entire nation hadbeen engulfed in darkness forhours on end due to load shed-ding, these politicians had beenprovided uninterrupted electric-ity supply. Despite this perk,these leaders failed to pay theirelectricity bills. According todetails, the defaulters includeformer prime minister RajaPervez Ashraf who owes Rs2,699, former education minis-ter Sheikh Waqas Akram whoowes Rs 2,9121; Senator Per-vez Rashid owes Rs 5,6354,Senator Raza Rabbani owes Rs5,219, Senator Zulfiqar Khosa6,078, PPP leader Imtiaz SafdarWarraich owes Rs 6,5498, for-mer MNA Noor Alam Khanowes Rs 46,697 and Amin Fa-heem owes Rs 33,071. eventhough former information

minister Qamar Zaman Kairahad defiantly defended corrup-tion charges against his party,he, too, owes the governmentRs 7,954. Moreover, former in-terior minister Aftab Sherpaoowes Rs 3,749. These billspiled up while the leaders en-joyed uninterrupted power sup-ply at their luxurious lodges.

Furthermore, these lead-ers have also defaulted onNTC with Rs 12.14 millionagainst telephone and DSLbills. eCP released the namesof the 733 defaulters withamount due against them onaccount of official telephoneand internet usage.

A total of 449 parliamen-tarians with operational tele-phone lines and internet havedefaulted an amount of Rs 9.56million in total. According tothe eCP, the benchmark for de-claring any parliamentarians asdefaulter was Rs 10,000 andabove and according to thisbenchmarking, a total of 228have defaulted out of 449 par-liamentarians.

However, the eCP decidedthat these defaulters would begiven a chance to submit theoutstanding amount. “Details ofelectricity and telephone de-faulters are being sent to all re-

turning officers. During thescrutiny period, candidates willbe told that if they want to takepart in elections, they firstshould clear all outstandingdues. I think, if they will paytheir dues, we will approvetheir nomination papers as ourprimary focus is recovery of themoney, not declare people inel-igible for taking part in elec-tions,” said Director Generalelections Sherafghan.

According to NTC de-faulter lists, Raja PervaizAshraf former PM is defaulterof Rs.6,28,874, Senator AbbasKhan Afridi Rs.11277, formerFederal Minister for FinanceDr. Hafeez Sheikh Rs.33,136,Senator Abdul Haseeb KhanRs.60405, Abdul Nabi BangashMNA Rs.54839, AnoshaRehman Khan MNA Rs.12720,former federal Minister for In-terrior Rehman MalikRs.1,38,515, Ayatullah DurraniMNA Rs.1,10,059, Ayaz AmirMNA Rs.20063, Senator BabarKhan Ghouri MNA Rs.13,958,Babar Khan Ghauri MNARs.11,999, Ch Ahmed MukhtarMNA and Minister Rs.86,225,Nadeem Afzal Chand MNAand Chairman PAC Rs.31,034,Ch Pervaiz ellahi MNARs.26,897 with three lines.

seOUlaPP

Tensions between Pyongyang and Seoulreached a new peak on Wednesday when NorthKorea warned the new South Korean presidentto “watch her tongue”.

According to details, tensions soared when aSouth Korean solider on guard at the border threwa grenade at what he described was a “moving ob-ject in the dark.” However, inspections in the day-light revealed no trace of infiltration from NorthKorea, a minister spokesman said.

While a precautionary alert, which had beenissued for South Korean units in the northeasterncounty of Hwacheon, was lifted, the South Korea’sfirst female president, Park Geun-hye, called onNorth Korea to abandon its nuclear ambitions tosave its starving people. She was marking the thirdanniversary of the sinking of a South Korean war-ship that killed 46 sailors. In wake of the incident,North Korea lashed out at Guen-Hye and accusedher of slander and provocation. Furthermore,North Korea announced to cut off a military hot-

line with South Korea, signaling that all directinter-government and military contact had beensuspended after it previously cut a Red Cross link.North Korea’s Committee for the Peaceful Reuni-fication of Korea, a state body in charge of propa-ganda and inter-Korean affairs, said Park wasfollowing the anti-North stance of her predecessorLee Myung-Bak. “If she keeps to the road of con-frontation like traitor Lee, defying the warnings ofNorth Korea, she will meet a miserable ruin,” astatement said. The committee urged Park to “be-have with discretion, clearly mindful that a wrongword may entail horrible disaster” at a time of el-evated military tensions on the Korean peninsula.Moreover, North Korea’s military put rocket unitson a war footing with a fresh threat to strike UStargets as well as South Korea. Furthermore, astate-run Korean channel announced, “From thismoment, the Supreme Command of the KoreanPeople’s Army will be putting into combat dutyposture number one all field artillery units, includ-ing long-range artillery units and strategic rocketunits, that will target all enemy objects in bases onits mainland, Hawaii and Guam.”

KaRaCHiIsMaIl DIlaWaR

The US-led International Security Assis-tance Force (Isaf), which is due to start itsdrawdown in 2014 from Afghanistan afterbattling a Taliban-led insurgency for over adecade, is weighing various feasibility op-tions that could ensure a safe and timelypassage to hundreds of thousands of its mil-itary hardware units from the landlockedcountry by the end of 2014.

To this effect, trial shipments throughPakistani land and sea routes have beenkicked off by the Isaf comprising most ofthe soldiers from member countries of theNorth Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato).

Local officials engaged with the Isaf au-thorities told Pakistan Today that the belliger-ent force had commenced the Proof ofPrinciple (POP) shipments through the Pak-

istani routes. The POP shipments, a ports andshipping expert explained, are carried out totry the route, security, transit permit, cost andcustoms procedures of the transit country.

So far, under the POP, three shipmentshad partially arrived at the Karachi Port,said well-placed officials.

They said two convoys, each compris-ing 25 equivalent containers (TeUs), hadarrived at the Karachi Port a couple of weekago, while the third convoy of 33 vehicleswas on its way. By March 19, the officialsrecalled, five vehicles had crossed the Pak-Afghan border at Torkham.

The shipments, the officials said,were being carried out by local logisticfirms Bilal Associates and Razik Interna-tional and international shipping lineslike APL and Maersk.

Also, the officials claimed, the Amer-icans were cautiously observing the secu-

rity situation in Pakistan, particularly inBalochistan, where the country borderswith the landlocked Afghanistan atChaman, one of the two major traderoutes for Pak-Afghan commercial andnon-commercial cargo.

The officials went on to claim thatowing to prevailing security situation inBalochistan, the Nato authorities were pre-ferring Torkham to Chaman border forwithdrawal of most of its war equipments.

“The Balochistan border is too danger-ous nowadays. Much of Nato’s militaryhardware would be transited out ofAfghanistan through Torkham border,” theofficials said. Torkham border is located inKhyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

The Isaf is reported to have at least 0.3million TeUs to be shipped out of thelandlocked Afghanistan either via Pakistanor other alternate but costly routes of

Northern Distribution Network (NDN)and Iranian port of Chabahar.

Of the total 0.3 million retrievableunits, at least 0.2 million are containers and0.1 million are the armored vehicles.

A high-level dialogue is going on be-tween Pakistan’s ministries of defence,commerce, ports and shipping, and FederalBoard of Revenue (FBR), and Americans-led Isaf for imposition of a $10-20 “securitysurcharge” to compensate additional expen-ditures the Pakistani port operators wouldbe incurring in taking extra security stepsto safeguard Nato’s war equipment whilebeing transshipped via local seaports.

The authorities in Islamabad might bedeluding themselves with the perceptionthat Pakistan was the only transit countryfor Isaf’s drawdown, the later is said tohave stopped local routes for the non-commercial supplies.

“Only the cargo of Nato is beingcleared which was stranded at our portsafter the Salala ban,” said CaptainHaleem Siddiqui, a ports and shippingtycoon and chairman of Pakistan Interna-tional Container Terminal (PICT). Ar-mored vehicles, he said, were beingcleared mostly from local ports.

The PICT chairman warned that ifPakistan failed to improve the law andorder at home, the Isaf cargo would even-tually divert to Iranian ports of BunderAbbas and the newly-developed Chabahar.“Much of the commercial cargo toAfghanistan is being shipped via that port(Chabahar),” said Siddiqui.

Pakistan, he viewed, however couldhave a lion’s share in the Isaf’s militarydrawdown given Tehran’s warning that itwould not allow the transit of Isaf’sweapons through its seaports.

KaRaCHiaaMIR MaJeeD

Former president and armychief Gen (r) Pervez Musharrafgot a clean chit from the topbrass of army for his visit to Is-lamabad. Although army couldnot send its men in uniform forproviding security to the AllPakistan Muslim League(APML) chief but it assuredhim of security by plain-clothesmen during his visit to Islam-abad. even in Karachi, the for-mer army chief is enjoyingsecurity by such officials.

However, the plain-clothessecurity men, who were de-ployed at a local hotel for pro-viding security to Musharrafpronounced themselves as offi-cials of the special branch.

A couple of well dressed se-curity officials having walkie-talkie like devices in their handswere roaming in the hotel wherethe APML chief is stayingpresently. They were seen en-gaged in checking people, whowere earlier checked thoroughlyat the entrance by the hotel se-curity, before entering the con-ference hall where Musharrafaddressed a press conference onWednesday. Doors of the con-ference hall were closed at thestart of press briefing and latecomers were not allowed toenter the hall. Those who didnot have press cards were alsonot allowed to attend the event.

The APML leadership sur-rendered himself to the plain-clothes security men andseemed helpless to get media

friends, having no press cards,into the hall. “There are manycolonels and generals ready inIslamabad to provide security toPervez Musharraf,” APML Sec-retary Information MuhammadAli Jaffery said proudly whenhe was asked about security is-sues to his party chief.

The army had assuredGeneral Musharraf of fool-proof security during his visitto the capital.” “Musharrafwill fearlessly go to Islam-abad,” Jaffery reiterated.

“Being former presidentand army chief, Musharrafshould be provided enough se-curity but officially army couldnot provide him security,” Inter-Services Public Relations(ISPR) Spokesman Major Wa-heed told Pakistan Today.

islamabadsTaFF RePORT

Rejecting the ministry of finance’s clari-fication on the appointment of State Bankof Pakistan (SBP) Deputy GovernorAshraf Mahmood Wathra, the electioncommission Wednesday gave final noticeto the government for de-notifying theofficer within 24 hours while in anotherdevelopment the commission re-de-scribed 128 National Assembly and 292provincial constituencies.

In deputy governor’s appointmentcase, the commission directed the min-istry to de-notify the officer and submitcompliance report within 24 hours.

On Monday, the eCP took notice ofAshraf Wathra’s appointment terming ita violation of the ban imposed by eCP onfresh recruitments. The same day, eCPsought the government’s point of view asto why the electoral body’s directiveswere violated in this case.

On Wednesday, the ministry of fi-nance submitted its report contending thegovernment appointed Wathra on meritas per the State Bank’s rule. However, thegovernment could not submit reasons forviolation of the eCP verdict.

The commission while rejecting theministry’s point of view directed the gov-ernment to remove the SBP deputy gov-ernor within 24 hours. “We have directed

the government to remove the deputygovernor within 24 hours. There is a banon fresh recruitments and transfer post-ing. Wherever we will note any recruit-ment or even transfer posting we willtake strict action,” said Director Generalelections, Sherafghan on Wednesday.

Rejecting some reports whichclaimed that eCP have done delimitationprocess across the country, Sherafghansaid no limitation process was conductedanywhere in the country except in someconstituencies in Karachi. To a query, theDG said the commission had completedthe process of re-description (change ofnomenclature) of the national and provin-cial assemblies constituencies.

52 talibaninsurgents killedin afghanistan

KabUlINP

Up to 52 Taliban insurgents havebeen killed and 45 wounded inoperations in Afghanistan, theInterior Ministry said onWednesday. The Afghan Na-tional Police (ANP) in partner-ship with the army and theNATO-led coalition forces con-ducted several cleanup opera-tions in Logar, Ghazni, Zabul,Kandahar, Kunduz, Kapisa,Paktika, Paktiya, Helmand andNimroz provinces. “As a result,52 armed Taliban were killed, 45wounded and 21 other armedTaliban were arrested,” a min-istry statement said. The ANPalso seized weapons and de-fused several bombs, the state-ment said, without saying ifthere were any casualties on theside of security forces.

army clears Musharraf for Islamabad visit

Us begins withdrawal of war equipment from afghanistan

eCp gives 24 hours for de-notifying sBp deputy governor

Watch your tongue, north Koreawarns south’s new leader

LHR 28-03-2013_Layout 1 3/28/2013 4:56 AM Page 4

laHOReUMaIR azIz

AS the election Commission of Pakistan(eCP) gets tougher on campaign spending,the battle for the next elections is beingfought on the 3 feet by 3 feet rear ofrickshaws in the metropolitan, providing a

panacea for all political players having rolled up theirsleeves before going to polls, Pakistan Today has learnt.

Rickshaws, being the popular mode of commutingfor the city dwellers for decades, has been traditionallyfamous for popular poetry and tongue-in-cheekcomments written on its back, being a source of delightfor the readers. The first shift in what appears at the backof rickshaws came with local academies ensuring abright future followed by quacks, faith healers and smallreligious groups each selling their own brand. A tingeof politics was seen with a few drivers putting up flexesof their favourite political or religious leaders in thestart, however what turned it into a proper market wasDr Tahir Ul Qadri’s long march when this previouslyunnoticed space was used as part of a proper mediacampaign on a large scale.

“Previously local academies, quacks, faith healersand local religious groups used to advertize on the rearsof rickshaws, however the shift came with Qadri’s longmarch when substantial amounts were paid to rickshawdrivers on a large scale,” former Lahore Rickshaw Union

president Majeed Ghori told Pakistan Today.With the current eCP restrictions setting Rs one

million and Rs1.5 million ceiling on the campaignspending by candidates for provincial and nationalassemblies respectively, all political parties reluctantly

swallowed the strict “code of conduct” amidst cut-throatcompetition in the metropolis. Besides, the eCP has alsospecified the size of billboards and flexes which can beput up on display by a candidate or a political party.

As a result of the cost-effective marketing campaign,rickshaws are now seen carrying flexes of all politicalparties including the PML-N, PTI, Tehreek Minhaj-ul-Quran and the PPP in all areas of the city.

Ghori, who is vying for the same slot again, estimatesaround 200,000 4-stroke rickshaws in the metropolitan,with single owners having up to 1,000 rickshaws incertain cases. The dynamics of rickshaw marketing havechanged over the years from Rs 50 being given to thedriver for a flex to Rs 500 given by Dr Qadri for his longmarch, setting the bar really high for all others, he says.

The dynamics are so interesting that each rickshawis carrying multiple flexes each for a particular area.

“The PTI started advertising on rickshaws only 10days before its recent procession and hired rickshaws ona large scale just like Tehreek Minhaj-ul-Quran. Theypaid up to Rs 500 for this period. The easy way is to goto one of the many rickshaw stands, take CNICs ofdrivers and note down the vehicle registration numbersand keep a check on them for an agreed period for whichthey are being paid,” Abdul Shakoor, a rickshaw drivertold Pakistan Today. “It has become so important thatsome local influentials even forcefully put their flexes onrickshaws without paying a penny. But at the end of theday the drivers use these flexes as tablecloths,” he added.

MarKetIng: Better, faster, Cheaper!(

(

election candidates make their mark on rickshaws

Majeed ghorIFORMER LAHORE RICKSHAW UNION PRESIDENT

Previously local academies,quacks, faith healers and local

religious groups used to advertiseon the rears of rickshaws,

however the shift came withQadri’s long march when

substantial amounts were paid torickshaw drivers on a large scale.

The caretaker government will come up to the expectations of

the people and efficiently discharge its national responsibility

of holding transparent elections. –Najam Sethi

lahore: The Hindus in the city celebrated Holi

with religious fervor on Wednesday. The

celebrations at Balmic Madir, Nila Gumband,

started with prayers followed by the traditional

extravaganza. The festivities included lighting up

small lamps and painting each other with colours.

Prasad was distributed after the concluding prayer.

Various temples in the city were decorated for the

occasion. Holi is most commonly believed to have

originated from the Hindu legend of Holika, the

sister of the demon king Hiranyakashyap. Beyond

the haze of color and bhang-induced highs, the

meaning of the festival comes from a number of

stories in Hindu mythology and is believed to have

been celebrated in some form for thousands of

years. RePORT & PHOTOs BY MURTaza alI

lAHoreThursday, 28 March, 2013

low

high

thUrSdAy FrIdAy SAtUrdAy27°C I 16°C 28°C I 15°C 29°C I 15°C

pArtly CloUdy

WeAther UpdAteS

300C

L

160C

05

PRaYeR TIMINgs

Fajr Sunrise Zuhr Asr Maghrib Isha

4:35 5:57 12:08 3:39 6:19 7:41

LHR 28-03-2013_Layout 1 3/28/2013 4:57 AM Page 5

L

06

Thursday, 28 March, 2013lAHore

The Punjab government has been a one-man show. We have seen a worst

case of law and order in the past five years where dummy ministers

ensured the execution of orders from Raiwind. –Abdul Aleem Khan

CIne StAr Jolly llb 02:00pMph: 35157462 oZ: the greAt & poWerFUl 04:15pM

olyMpUS hAS FAllen 06:30pMAAtMA 08:45pMolyMpUS hAS FAllen 10:30pM

SoZo World Jolly llb 08:00pMph: 36674271 AAtMA 12:30, 3 & 10:30pM

SoZo gold 3g- A kIller ConneCtIon 12:00, 08:00pMph: 111-999-977 Jolly llb 2:30, 5:00pM

A good dAy to dIe hArd 11:00pM

pAF AAtMA 04:00, 9 & 11:30pMph: 36688880 3 g 02:00 pM

Jolly llb 06:00 pM

aUDI-1SUper CIneMA I Me AUr MAIn 06:30pMAt royAl pAlM Jolly llb 08:45pMph: 111-602-602, 3g 11:00pM36118679

aUDI-2A good dAy to dIe hArd 02:15pMoZ: the greAt & poWerFUl 04:30pMJACk the gAInt SlAyer (3d) 06:45pMoZ: the greAt & poWerFUl 09:00pMolyMpUS hAS FAllen 11:15pM

aUDI-3Jolly llb 02:30, 11:30pMolyMpUS hAS FAllen 04:45, 09:15pMoZ: the greAt & poWerFUl 07:00pMAAtMA 05:00, 11:30pM

laHOReWaleeD MalHI

CITY district officers of theprovincial capital have beenassigned by the electionCommission of Pakistan (eCP)for the monitoring and

surveillance during the election period in thecity, Pakistan Today learnt on Wednesday.

There are 13 judicial and 13 city districtofficers assigned for the monitoring andsurveillance purpose. The officers have beengiven the charge of a magistrate.

A training session of district officers washeld at Jinnah Hall, for the allocation of dutiesof surveillance and monitoring in the electiondays. The teams will also ensure the numberand the sizes of billboards are according to the

directions of the election commission.each monitoring team will be provided

two video cameras, transport facility andsecurity. Training workshops for the teams willbe held in divisional headquarters and theprovincial election commissioners and otherhigher officials will impart training to them.

The monitoring teams will report to the districtreturning officials and returning officers about theviolation of the eCP by-laws by the candidates andtheir supporters. The reports of the teams will alsohelp in estimating the election campaignexpenditures of the candidates. As per the code ofconduct of election commission, all the provincialand national assembly candidates have to followthe rules for their political rallies or politicaladvertisements. every type of wall chalking willbe banned and all the advertisements on thepublic property have to pay the fee to Park andHorticulture Authority (PHA).

As per eCP documents, 350 pollingstations have been declared sensitive and 29out them have been labeled as ‘extra sensitive’.

lahore: The Health Department Punjab has started

registration of blood banks in the province and licenses

are being issued to run a blood bank. This was stated by

the Punjab Blood Transfusion Authority (PBTA) Secretary

Dr Jaffar Saleem while briefing about the functioning of

PBTA on Wednesday. Dr Jaffar disclosed that in future no

unregistered blood bank could be operated and if

anybody found violating the law, such blood bank would

not only be sealed but criminal proceedings would also

be initiated against the owner under “Punjab Safe

Transfusion Ordinance”. He said that there was nothing

more precious than the human life and safety of human

life was the number one responsibility of Punjab Health

Department. He said that Fatmid Foundation, Sundas

Foundation, Red Crescent Society and Hussainia

Foundation were doing well but these organizations have

to adopt more preventive methods during the collection

of blood donations for ensuring that only safe blood

should be transfused to the patients. He said that

registration of blood banks is continuing and for this

purpose free-of-cost registration forms were available

from the office of PBTA at Montgomery Road. INP

lahore: A state-of-the-art intensive care unit (ICU) funded

by hefty charity money amounting to Rs 5 crore has become

functional at Punjab Institute of Cardiology (PIC) recently.

PIC Surgery Department Head Prof Abdul Waheed said on

Wednesday that the unit had been equipped with all the

latest facilities and had been named Ali Block after the

generous philanthropist who donated for the construction of

this life saving facility. ageNcIes

lahore: As the election

fever grips the country

with politicians holding

rallies and striking

deals to grab larger

share of seats,

Lollywood actress

Meera also plans to

contest election for

Punjab Assembly on

reserved seats for

women. Speaking to a

private TV channel, Meera’s

mother Shafqat Zehra said her

daughter would take part in election on the reserved

seats for women in the provincial assembly. “Yesterday

Meera telephoned me from India and asked mom please

get nomination paper as I want to be elected,” said

Meera’s mother. When asked what plans Meera has after

being elected as an MPA, Zehra said the actress wanted

to serve the country’s women and work for their

education. ageNcIes

free medicalcamp at Kotlakhpat jaillahore: A medical campwas organized at Central JailKot Lakhpat on Wednesdayto provide free medicines toprisoners suffering fromvarious chronic diseases. Asmany as 20 specialists ofskin, eye, dental andgeneral physiciansexamined 300 patients whoturned up from various jailsof the province to get theirmedical check-up in the KotLakhpat jail. The doctorsprovided the patients withmedicines after theirmedical check-up. SeniorSuperintendent Jail MohsinRafiq Chaudhry said that onthe directive of Prisons IG,the free medical campwould be organized in thejail every month. ageNcIes

watch out onthose campaigns!

CITY DISTRICT OFFICERS TO MONITORELECTIONS CAMPAIGNS IN THE CITY

PIC geTS A new ICU

PBTA starts registration of blood banks

aN eVerYDaY aFFaIr: Two men, violating

the government’s restriction on burning

garbage, put litter to fire in the city. NNI

meera plans to contest elections

LHR 28-03-2013_Layout 1 3/28/2013 4:57 AM Page 6

uS SC heaRS GaymaRRiaGe aRGumentSWaShINGToN: The Supreme Court has

suggested it could find a way out of the case

challenging California's ban on same-sex

marriage without issuing a major national ruling

on whether gays have a right to marry. The

California case is one of two challenges to laws

barring gay marriage that the country's top

court is hearing this week. Justice Samuel Alito

appeared to advocate a cautious approach to the

issue on Tuesday, describing gay marriage as

newer than such rapidly changing technological

advances as cellphones and the Internet. "You

want us to assess the effect of same-sex

marriage,'' Alito said. "It may turn out to be a

good thing. It may turn out to be not a good

thing." ustice Anthony Kennedy, the potentially

decisive vote on a closely divided court,

suggested that the court could dismiss the case

with no ruling at all. Kennedy said he feared the

court would go into "uncharted waters" if it

embraced arguments advanced by gay marriage

supporters. But lawyer Theodore Olson,

representing two same-sex couples, said that

the court similarly ventured into the unknown in

1967 when it struck down bans on interracial

marriage in 16 states. There was no majority

apparent for any particular outcome and many

doubts expressed about the arguments

advanced by lawyers for the opponents of gay

marriage in California, by the supporters and by

the Obama administration, which is in favor of

same-sex marriage rights. ageNcIes

Ban PRoPoSeS maliPeaCeKeePinG foRCe

UNITeD NaTIoNS: Ban Ki-moon, secretary-

general of the United Nations, has proposed an

11,200-strong peacekeeping force in Mali. The

force, proposed by Ban on Tuesday, would work

alongside non-UN forces to conduct major

combat and counter-terrorism operations as

one option to maintain security after French

forces leave the West African nation. "Although

the extremists and criminal elements have been

dealt a heavy blow, they continue to pose a

significant threat to the safety and security of

the civilian population and any United Nations

personnel deployed in Mali", the UN chief said

in a report to the Security Council. Ban said the

option would give the African-led force in Mali,

AFISMA, a combat role and expand the UN

political mission. The United Nations would

work with the African Union and others to

rapidly build up and improve the operational

capabilities of the African force. Another option

presented by Ban, would be to strengthen the

UN's new political mission in Mali and give the

African-led force in Mali known as AFISMA,

responsibility for security and offencive combat

operations, in advance of a UN stabilisation

mission. ageNcIes

07

newSThursday, 28 March, 2013

Always remember that striving and

struggle precede success, even in the

dictionary. — Sarah Ban Breathnach N

SeVIlle: Spanish penitents from

the San Gonzalo brotherhood carry

their crosses as they take part in a

procession on Wednesday. ageNcIes

lONdONageNcIes

tHe British government has lost an appealagainst a court decision that blocked thedeportation of Abu Qatada, a Jordanianterror suspect. On Wednesday, threejudges delivered their verdict in the latest

stage of Britain's decade-long attempt to remove thecleric, who was convicted of terrorism in his homecountry in 1998.

"This is not the end of the road. Governmentremains determined to deport Abu Qatada ... In themeantime we continue to work with the Jordaniansto address the outstanding legal issues preventingAbu Qatada’s deportation" the Home Office, saidon Twitter after the Court of Appeal dismissed itschallenge. Wednesday's denial comes after the Spe-cial Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC)ruled in November that he cannot be deported overfears that evidence obtained through torture couldbe used against him in any retrial.

Abu Qatada was subsequently released fromcustody on bail, although he breached the condi-tions of his release earlier this month and was sentback to jail.'No REAL RISK': In a hearing on March 11,lawyers for Theresa May, home secretary, chal-lenged SIAC's decision to block his deportation,saying it had taken an "erroneous" view of the sit-

uation in Jordan."There is no real risk of a flagrant denial of jus-

tice. The Jordanian courts will consider all the ev-idence," lawyer James eadie told the court.

The Jordanian constitution "prohibits clearlyand expressly the use of torture and the reliance onany statement obtained under duress, including tor-ture", eadie said. edward Fitzgerald, Abu Qatada'slawyer, argued however that there was "concreteand compelling evidence" that Abu Qatada's co-de-fendants were tortured into providing evidence. Thecleric, whose real name is Omar Mohammed Oth-man, has been dubbed Osama bin Laden's right-hand man in europe but has defied a decade ofattempts by successive British governments to de-port him.

uK court loses bid todeport Jordanian cleric

UNiTed NaTiONsageNcIes

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon hasnamed Swedish scientist Ake Sellstrom tohead a UN investigation into allegations thatchemical weapons were used in Syria, Ban'sspokesman has said. The UN said last weekit would investigate Syrian allegations thatrebels used chemical arms in an attack nearthe northern city of Aleppo, but Westerncountries sought an investigation of all claimsabout the use of such arms, including rebelcharges that government forces used them.

"[Sellstrom] is an accomplished scien-tist with a solid background in disarmamentand international security," UN spokesmanMartin Nesirky said on Tuesday. If an inves-tigation adds credibility to the rebels' claimsthat the government has used chemicalweapons, it would represent another blowto Bashar al-Assad's efforts to retain power.

If it turned out that the rebels have usedthem, it could make countries even more re-luctant to support the opposition.

RUSSIA 'NoT REpRESENTED': It wasnot immediately clear who else would beon Sellstrom's team. Russia said on Mon-day that Russian and Chinese expertsshould be part of the investigation, butMoscow's UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkinsaid on Tuesday that Russia would "mostlikely not" be represented.

Sellstrom was a chief inspector for UN-SCOM, the UN inspection team that inves-tigated and dismantled Iraq's biological andchemical weapons programmes in the1990s. Sellstrom also worked with UN-MOVIC, the UN group that returned to Iraqin 2002 and found no solid evidence thatBaghdad had revived its weapons-of-mass-destruction programmes before the 2003US-led invasion as Washington and Lon-don alleged at the time. Nesirky said Sell-strom's investigation would be a technical,not a criminal, investigation, looking atwhether chemical weapons were used andnot at who may have used them.

US and european officials say there isno evidence of a chemical weapons attack,

but the allegations of the rebels are worthtaking seriously.

If one were to be confirmed, it wouldbe the first use of such weapons in the two-year-old Syrian conflict, which the UnitedNations says has cost 70,000 lives.

France and Britain wrote to Ban onThursday to draw his attention to rebel al-legations of an attack near Damascus, aswell as one in Homs in late December. Therebels blame Syria's government for thoseincidents as well as the Aleppo attack. Banmade it clear on Thursday that the investi-gation would initially focus on the Aleppoincident, in which the government andrebels accuse each other of firing a missileladen with chemicals, killing 26 people.

But he has left open the possibility thatthe investigation could be broadened.

In a letter to the Security Council onFriday, Ban said he had asked Britain,France and Syria for further information onthe other alleged chemical attacks "with aview to verifying any alleged use of chem-ical weapons in Syria".

israel army arrests fivehamas membersTEL AvIv: Israel's army has arrested five members ofPalestinian group Hamas, including a member ofparliament, a prisoners' support group said. The five werearrested at dawn on Wednesday at their homes in the cityof Hebron in the southern part of the occipied West Bank,the Ramallah-based Prisoners' Club told AFP newsagency. They included Mohammed Jamal al-Natshe, amember of the Palestinian Legislative Council, the supportgroup said. An Israeli army spokeswoman said that "sixpeople were arrested and taken for security questioning,"but gave no further details. Israel has stepped up arrests ofHamas members in the West Bank, in part to prevent whatit calls a rising tide of low-intensity conflict and civilunrest from turning into an uprising. Hamas has 74members in the 132-seat Palestinian Legislative Council,which is based in Ramallah. ageNcIes

Chinese navy exercisessurprise neighboursBEIjING: China has deployed some of its mostsophisticated Navy vessels to the eastern coast of Malaysia.Wednesday's report from the Xinhua news agency is thoughtto be a play by Beijing to reinforce territorial claims to partof the South China Sea. Al Jazeera's Rob McBride, reportingfrom Hong Kong, said military exercises, beginning onSaturday, have "taken many Asian neighbours and militaryanalysts by surprise". The exercises included the landing ofamphibious craft just off the James Shoal, 80 kilometres offthe Malaysian coast. The James Shoal is China's mostsoutherly territorial claim. It is among several disputed partsof the South China Sea, including the Spratly Islands, thatthe People's Republic says belong to Beijing. ageNcIes

Swede to probe Syria’s alleged chemical weapons use assad appeals to BrICs for help DaMaSCUS: Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has

appealed to the leaders of a five-nation economic forum

meeting in South Africa to help end his country's two-

year conflict. The embattled and increasingly isolated

president said on Wednesday that his country is

being subjected to "acts of terrorism backed by

Arab, regional and Western nations", a reference to

the Western-backed opposition fighting his regime.

Assad's appeal came in a letter sent to a forum of

BRICS nations; Brazil, Russia, India, China and South

Africa, whose leaders have gathered for a summit in

Johannesburg. The president's letter was published by

Syria's state media on Wednesday. It came a day after the Arab

League allowed opposition leader Mouaz al-Khatib to fill Syria's vacant seat at the

organisation's annual summit in Doha, the Qatari capital.

'TaINTeD oIl aND MoNeY': Syrian government on Wednesday vetted its wrath

at Qatar and the Arab League for handing its seat to the "deformed" Syrian

National Coalition."The emir of Qatar, the biggest bank for supporting terrorism in

the region, began his presidency of the Arab League by hijacking it with tainted oil

and money," said state news agency SANA. It said the League had compromised

its values for the sake of Gulf Arab and Western interests. ageNcIes

LHR 28-03-2013_Layout 1 3/28/2013 4:57 AM Page 7

newSNThursday 28 March, 2013

08 I regret, and apologise for, the

circumstances that led me to resign

from the CIA — David Petraeus

PesHawaRsHaMIM sHaHID

ON top of serious threatsfrom the terrorists withthe incumbency factortoo weighing heavilyagainst it, the Awami

National Party (ANP) is faced with rag-ing internal strife as stalwarts in vari-ous constituencies have revoltedagainst its parliamentary board’s deci-sions with regard to awarding of ticketsfor the 2013 general elections.

Fearing escalation in rifts, the ANPparliamentary board is yet to declarethe nominees despite having arrived atits final decision two days ago. Soonafter the ANP parliamentary board’smeeting here at Peshawar previous Sat-

urday, some of its leading lights rushedover to Islamabad for a powwow withAsfandyar Wali Khan on Sunday, withreports of simmering revolt emanatingfrom several regions.

The first voice of dissent came fromits diehard stalwart from Nowshehra,Ihrar Khattak, who while opposing theparliamentary board’s decision an-nounced his resignation as district pres-ident of the party. He however declaredretaining basic membership of theparty, but expressed his intent to keephis distance from campaigning. Khat-tak’s grouse: award to tickets awardedto people with poor credentials.

Late on Sunday evening, the outgo-ing MPA from Peshawar Atif ur Rah-man denounced his replacement by theANP’s provincial general secretaryArbab Tahir on PK-5. “I am not onlygoing to contest the polls from myprovincial constituency but I am alsogoing to fight for national parliamentfrom NA-2 – both as an independentcandidate.

However, another ignored formerMPA Aurangzeb Khan has chosen to

stay mum for the moment. Aurangzebis the elder brother of late MPAAlamzeb Khan, who was martyred in aterrorist attack in Feb 2009.

Beside Peshawar and Nowshehra,the ANP stalwarts from Swat have alsoopposed fielding of former MPs who,according to them, had remained absentfrom their constituencies post electionsfive years ago. In this respect, the ANPdissidents have constituted a committeewith aged Shah Alam Khan for decid-ing the future line of action.

In Buner, the former MNA IstiqbalKhan was replaced by former districtcouncil nazim Abdul Rauf Khan onNA-28. Istiqbal has earlier made at-tempts to move over to the PML-N forits ticket in the bargain but is now saidbe engaged in talks with the JUI-F. Sofar the JUI-F has declared MaulviAleem ur Rahman as its candidate fromthis constituency.

There exists rifts and opposition inSwabi as well; there two former MPAsalong with the MNA have been substi-tuted by newcomers. Pervez Khan wasreplaced by a former banker Sarwar

Khan on NA-13, Mukhtiar Ali gaveway to Ashfaq Khan on PK-33 andSikandar Irfan was switch with Mo-hammad Islam on PK-35. Former MNAHaji Rahman Ullah Khan was namedcandidate on NA-12 whereas his sonex-MPA Amir Rahman will be party’scandidate on PK-32.

Some diehard ANP stalwarts, partic-ularly those who were ignored whileawarding party tickets, are unhappy inthe extreme at the slight. And quite afew of them are planning to contest pollsin personal capacity or join other parties.

There exists unrest amongst theANP ranks also, such as in Mardanwhere a former MPA Ahmad Bahadarwas replaced by a newcomer Ali Khan.Ahmad Bahadar has already protestedat the decision along with a large num-ber of party cadre. The ANP may haveto pay a heavy price for ditchingAhmad Bahadar, for the former chiefminister Amir Haider Khan Hoti is anative of Mardan city. And he is aimingto get reelected not just on his provin-cial seat but shall also contest for theNational Assembly as well.

GUJRaNwala sTaFF RePORT

Nowshera Virkan NA-100 is a difficultconstituency of Gujranwala with a dividedvote bank on the basis of castes, PakistanToday has learnt.

The major castes are Rajput and Jutt.As the Rajput vote bank is greater than thatof the Jutt thus the former decide the fateof polls in the constituency. The Jutt canonly win the polls by dividing the Rajputvote. This is what happened in the lastelections.

Pre-election scenario of NA-100 re-vealed a dramatic change in the vote bankof the contestants. Current survey con-ducted by the newspaper showed that maincontest is likely between PML-N candidateRana Bilal Ijaz and PPP leader Rana Tas-saduq Masood. Mudasar Qayyum Nahra,who represents the Jutt, won the last elec-tions but he has been declared ineligible ina fake degree case and an FIR has been reg-istered against him with the Civil Lines po-lice station. His brother Azher QayyumNahra contested by-elections and was de-feated by Rana Tassaduq Masood with amargin of 4,000 votes. Azher’s position is

weak because his brother Mudasar is a no-torious land grabber. In spite of a divide inthe Rajput vote bank, Azher will not be ableto exploit the situation. On the other hand,the Virk and Gujjar clans are supportingPML-N candidate Rana Bilal Ijaz. Report-edly, PML-Likeminded MPAs Khalid Per-vaiz Virk and Irfan Bashir Gujjar haveannounced to support Ijaz.

Ijaz was elected to the National As-sembly in 2002 on a PML-Q ticket. Mu-dasar won as an independent candidate,but later joined the PML-N. PPP candi-date Rana Tariq Mehmood played amajor role in his success by dividing the

Rajput vote bank. Malik Nafees, a resident, told Pakistan

Today that the Rajput votes would the fateof election in the constituency. He said Ijazhas a better chance to win as Mudasar isinvolved in several land grabbing cases.

Ijaz said that Mudasar does not fallwithin the scope of Article 62 and 63 of theconstitution. He also said a fake degreecase had also been registered against Mu-dasar, aiming at his disqualification to con-test the upcoming elections. He said, “Ihave the support of the Rajput baradarialong with other leading castes, includingHamid Nasir Chattha from the Hamkhayal

(likeminded) group.” Mudasar Nahra, son of Haji Sultan

Nahra, was born on May 8, 1969 in Gu-jranwala. He won 2008 general elections,but his opponent challenged his degreewhich led to his disqualification. He waselected as MPA in 2002 elections andserved as parliamentary secretary for fish-eries from August 5, 2003 up to 2007.

Rana Tassaduq Masood said, “We areclinging to the ideology of Bhutto andwill materialise it after winning the polls.We have roots among people and will notallow land grabbers and mafia lords toexploit the masses.”

the politics ofelectoralalliance at KP

PesHawaRsTaFF RePORT

even though Pakistan People’s Party(PPP) and Awami National Party (ANP)had maintained a strong alliance inKhyber Phukhtunkhwa (KP), the leadersof both parties failed to keep a civilrelationship with leaders of other parties.The failure to maintain an alliance withother political forces may prove to bebeneficial for rival political parties in theprovince, including Pakistan MuslimLeague-Nawaz (PML-N), Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) and PakistanTehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). While candidatesof ANP and PPP had faced one another inthe 2008 general elections, this time eachof these candidates will face severalother opponents contesting for the sameseat. In 2008 general elections, four outof eight national assemblies seats fromPeshawar, Nowshehra and Charsada waswon by ANP, three by PPP and one byformer PPP-Sherpao, now renamed asQuami Watan Party (QMP). Furthermore,ANP had won 14 out of 22 provincialassembly seats; six went to PPP and twoto QWP. Now, however, ANP, PPP, JUI-F,Jamaat Islami and several other partiesannounced names of its candidates fromall eight national and 22 provincialassembly constituencies in Peshawardivision, which also comprisesNowshehra and Charsada districts. ThePPP leadership had pleased all of itsformer MPAs by awarding them electiontickets whereas ANP had made changesin its candidates and two former MNAsfrom Peshawar were replaced by newfaces. In Charsada, ANP nominatedyoung Taimoor Khan against formerfederal interior minister Aftab AhmadKhan Sherpao. Taimoor Khan was anMPA in outgoing parliament. So far thereis no any election alliance amongst anyof five big political parties at KhyberPakhtunkhwa. However, hobnobbingamongst leaders of JUI-F, PML-N, PTIand JI are in progress for a seat-to-seatadjustment. However, failure to forge anelectoral alliance may prove to bebeneficial for PPP and ANP who havehad a strong opposition in Peshawarvalley. Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao’sQWP has been a threat to ANP in half ofCharsada. However, Pervez Khattak andIqbal Hussain Khattak’s slipping to PTIhas already uprooted QWP in Nowshehradistrict. Both coalition partners havesuffered some damage as well. earlier,ANP lost some of its heavyweights likeHasham Babar and Fazal Shakoor. At thesame time, while PPP has pitted strongcandidates in the previous election, itcurrently has a weak constituency inCharsada.

RawalPiNdiaMIR saeeD

After the big guns of politics announcedto contest elections from Rawalpindi,police officials of the district looked de-pressed over security measurementsduring the elections, Pakistan Todaylearnt on Wednesday.

Last prime minister Raja PervaizAshraf, opposition leader ChaudaryNisar Ali Khan and PTI chairman ImranKhan are also among the candidatesfrom different constituencies of the city.

Keeping in view the security con-cerns, City Police Officer (CPO) AzharHameed Khokhar cancelled leaves of allpolice cops during the month of Mayafter the election date was announced.

The CPO said they were already

facing shortage of force. Since the gen-eral elections would be a mega event inthe history of Pakistan, the district po-lice had started all out arrangements forthe coming elections. All transfersand postings had been bannedafter the directives issued byelection Commission of Pakistan,he added.

We have also received a let-ter for extra security to theex-prime minister RajaPervaiz Ashraf, theCPO further said.

Ashraf will con-test elections fromN A - 5 1R a w a l p i n d i - I I ,Chaudary NisarAli Khan fromNA-52 and NA-53 Rawalpindi IIIand IV respec-tively while ImranKhan is likely tocontest from NA-56Rawalpindi VII,sources privy to the

development said. One of the Sharif brothers may also

contest elections againstImran Khan from NA-56Rawalpindi VII, an ex-MPAof PML-N said.

The Rawalpindi policecomprising 11,000 copsare hardly enough for thesecurity of all big guns dur-

ing the month of May,a police officer

said.O n

Wednesday, 66candidates ofdifferent par-ties obtainedn o m i n a t i o npapers forseven NationalAssembly and

14 provincialAssembly seats

of Rawalpindi andsix candidates sub-

mitted their nomina-tion papers.

mengalannounces totake part inelections

KaRaCHiageNcIes

Balochistan National Party (BNP) chiefAkhtar Mengal has announced that his partywould actively take part in the forthcominggeneral elections. The decision was taken in ameeting of BNP headed by the party chiefAkhtar Mengal in Karachi. Talking toreporters, Mengal said if any candidate of hisparty was harmed, the establishment wouldbe to blame. He said there was only one-pointagenda in the meeting and the situation ofBalochistan in the upcoming days was alsoreviewed. Mengal further said he was apolitical person and he had no enmity withanyone. He said a wall of hate had beenerected among several communities inBalochistan, which they all have to dismantlewith responsibility. Mengal said the SupremeCourt of Pakistan took a few good decisionsregarding Balochistan issue, adding that thenational-level parties showed sympathy withthe Balochs, but the issue was yet to beresolved. He said he had informed theSupreme Court of Pakistan about hisreservations regarding the general electionthrough letters and election would be of nouse if his reservations were not addressed.

Pml-Q finalises listof candidates forupcoming polls

islamabadaPP

The Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) leadership has almost fianlised the list ofparty candidates for the upcoming generalelections, but is reluctant to share it with themedia, fearing it might trigger moredefections within its ranks and file. Whencontacted, PML-Q Secretary InformationKamil Ali Agha confirmed that the partytickets had been finalised and the list wouldbe shared with media on Thursday (today). Atop party leader has said that the list of party’sticket holders include heavy weights fromacross the country who have potential to winpolls. As per the information, Sardar TalibHassan Nakai, Asif Nakai and Sardar Tufailhave been awarded PML-Q tickets fromKasur, Malik Nauman Langrial fromSahiwal, Chaudhry Zaheeruddin andChaudhry Ali Akhtar from Faisalabad, SardarNasrullah Khan Dareshak from Rajanpur,Mian Munir, Habibullah Bhatti, FayyazBhatti and Yousuf Ahad Malik from Lahore.

Cops deployed for extrasecurity to ‘party chiefs’

anP in serious disarray

rajput clan key to nA-100 nowshera Virkan

PARTY RANK ANDFILE RISE UP IN REVOLTACROSS KP

RAJA PERVAIZ, CH NISARAND IMRAN KHAN TOCONTEST ELECTIONSFROM RAWALPINDI

LHR 28-03-2013_Layout 1 3/28/2013 4:57 AM Page 8

newS N

09

Thursday 28 March, 2013

The PML-N’s main priority would be the

continuation of democracy and economic

revival of the country — Nawaz Sharif

KaRaCHisTaFF RePORT

FORMeR President Gen(r) Pervez Musharraf onWednesday said he hadnot struck a deal with any-body and returned to Pak-

istan in the interest of the country.“I am among those people who

think of the country and people,”Musharraf told reporters during hisfirst press conference after returning toPakistan.

Musharraf said that he could notsay how many constituencies he wouldbe able to win, but that he would runfor elections from Karachi, adding thathe had old relations with the MQM.

The former president said his sup-porters had recommended he run forelections from NA-250 Defence con-stituency in Karachi.

Musharraf claimed that Pakistanhad prospered during his eight-yeartenure, adding that he had been theonly one to raise his voice against anti-state elements and those spreading ter-rorism. Musharraf added that otherswere either scared to raise their voice

or were safeguarding their own inter-ests.

Asked about the Kargil issue, theformer president replied that he wasproud of the Kargil operation. He saidPakistan Army had the neck of IndianArmy in its hands at that time.

Musharraf denied handing over DrAafia Siddiqui to the United States,saying whoever did so was a traitor.

According to Musharraf, the deci-sion to join the US-led war on terrorwas in the interest of Pakistan and if hehad not taken that decision the coun-try’s destiny would have been drasti-cally different.

“Our sovereignty and atomic assetswere at stake after 9/11, and a militaryalliance between India and United atthat time would have been fatal forPakistan,” he said. The former presi-dent, who returned to Pakistan to con-test elections after a self-imposed exileof over four years, said he was ready toface all challenges come what may.

“I’m sitting here and I challengemy opponents to do whatever they can.I’ve come here to face all challenges,”said the former military chief. “I havegreat respect in every country, but I

have come back for the people of mycountry.”

Musharraf, who heads the All Pak-istan Muslim League (APML), facesthreats from extremist militant groups.Last week, the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pak-istan said it had set up a ‘special deathsquad’ to target the former militarygeneral.

Musharraf brushed aside all fearsof security and assassination attempts.

“There have been attacks on me inthe past. I didn’t back off then and Iwon’t back off now,” he said.

Justifying the Lal Masjid opera-tion, Musharraf said a state within statehad been established there and the allkinds of weapons and explosives werestored there, adding that everybodywas demanding operation against themilitants hiding in the mosque andmadrassa at that time.

He categorically rejected theclaims that women and children werekilled during the operation.

“The fact is that an army colonel,who was trying to protect the childrenfrom any harm, was shot dead by mil-itants in the mosque,” he said. Askedabout the killing of Nawab AkbarBugti, Musharraf said the army did notkill him, adding it might be the resultof a blast in the cave where he was hid-ing with his men.

He reminded the media personsthat four military officials were alsokilled by the gunmen of Akbar Bugti.

no deal for homecoming,says Pervez musharraf

FORMER PRESIDENTSAYS READY TOFACE ALLCHALLENGES

ARMY DID NOT KILL AKBARBUGTI, NO CHILD ORWOMAN WAS KILLED INLAL MASJID OPERATION

two foreignaircraft escapemidair collisionover Balochistan

QUeTTaINP

Two foreign aircraft carrying at least 600passengers escaped midair collision overBalochistan on Wednesday. Reports said aLondon-bound flight from Mumbai cametoo close to another plane which wasflying from Beijing to Doha. The midaircollision was averted due to sophisticatedequipment fitted in the two aircraft andguidance by the air traffic controller. Theair traffic controller has been facingdifficulties due to malfunctioning of aradar which could not properly locateairplanes flying through Pakistan.

eCP delegation tomeet Balochleaders today

islamabadsTaFF RePORT

A delegation of the election Commissionof Pakistan (eCP) headed by Chiefelection Commissioner Fakhruddin Gebrahim will meet Baloch leaders today(Thursday). The commission will try topersuade annoyed parties to take part inMay 11 elections. According to an eCPstatement, the delegation from thecommission will hold meetings in Quettawith the National Party, BalochistanNational Party-Awami, BNP-Mengal,Hazara Democratic Party, PakhtunkhwaMili Awami Party, JUI-F, PML-N, ANP,PTI, JI and other Baloch leaders.However, main stake holder in theprovince, the Jamhoori Watan Party(JWP) of Talal Akbar Bugti, has refusedto be part of this meeting. A seniorofficial of eCP said that representativesof 13 parties will participate in themeeting, however, JWP refused to bepart of this important meeting. CeCebrahim and three members of thecommission and the secretary left forQuetta on Wednesday evening topersuade disgruntled leaders for takingpart in the coming polls.

indian Pm greets

Khoso on becoming

caretaker Pm islamabad

ONlINe

Indian Prime Minister Dr ManmohanSingh has congratulated Mir Hazar KhanKhoso on becoming caretaker primeminister of Pakistan. In a letter ‚ Dr Singhsaid Pakistan was at the importantjuncture when Khoso had taken theresponsibility as the PM of the country.The letter said India wanted to seeflourishing democracy in Pakistan.

Cameron callszardari

islamabadINP

British Prime Minister David Camerontelephoned President Asif Ali Zardari onWednesday and exchanged views onAfghan peace process and bilateralrelations. According to reports, bothleaders exchanged views over prevailingworld scenario and new globaldevelopments. President Zardari andDavid Cameron also discussed Afghanpeace process and overall condition of theregion. Both leaders also exchanged wellwishes for people and respective countryand vowed to expand bilateralcooperation in several fields.

NaDeeM sYeD

The top priority of Punjab caretaker ChiefMinister Najam Sethi, in the eyes of allmajor political parties except PML-N,should be the placement of neutral officersin place of the ones posted by the Nawazgovernment, to ensure free and fair polls.

Leaders from most parties were of theview that the main challenge for the newcaretaker regime in the province would beto do away with the present bureaucracywhich was considered loyal to the formerPunjab chief minister Shahbaz Sharif andPML-N.

PTI, PPP and PML-Q leaders have ac-cused the provincial bureaucracy of har-bouring a strong bias in favour ofPML-N’s leadership.

PTI leader Inamullah Niazi had beenquite vocal against the provincial bureau-cracy in the last days of the PML-N gov-ernment.

“We can name officers who take their

orders only from Raiwind and fromnowhere else. Most officers in the presentadministration are loyal to their politicalboss Shahbaz Sharif,” Niazi had said.

PML-Q Information Secretary SenatorKamil Agha said, “I do not think the pres-ent administration in Punjab could providea level playing field to all the contenders.”

All three parties know that the incum-bent top bureaucrats like chief secretary,IGP, the civil and police bureaucracy ofdistricts have a vital role to play during theelections.

The provincial government underShahbaz Sharif nurtured specific groupswithin the bureaucracy over the last fiveyears, which were highly loyal to thePML-N. The detractors of Shahbaz alwaysaccused him of politicising the bureau-cracy.

From the very onset in 2008, whenShahbaz took over as chief minister, hepreferred bureaucrats who were loyal tohim and harboured grudges against hispredecessors. He was not ready to enter-tain any officer who had served in impor-tant positions during Pervaiz elahi’stenure.

Political analysts were of the view thatbureaucrats were likely to listen to leadersof the party which had a greater chance ofwinning the election. Therefore, as PML-N are the favourites in Punjab, other polit-ical parties fear that the presentbureaucracy would help Nawaz league inthe upcoming elections.

A senior leader said that Najam Sethiwould have to bring neutral and impartialofficers in Punjab against the wishes of theSharifs, without which his objective tohold free elections would remain apipedream. He said only a strong leadercould implement the guidelines and ordersof the election commission in pursuit offree and fair elections.

A bureaucrat requesting anonymitysaid that he expected a complete reshufflein the country.

“I think it will start from the centre. Ifthere is a reshuffle in the centre, thensurely there will be a reshuffle in Punjab,”he said.

He said that it would be difficult forofficers to perform their duties as both PPPand PML-N have an equal chance to winthe upcoming elections.

Cut in fiBeR CaBleSlowS inteRnetSPeed in PaKiStanBy 60 PeRCentKaraChI: There is reportedly a cut in the

South East Asia-Middle East-Western Europe

4 (SEA-ME-WE 4) fiber cable which has

caused degradation of internet speed by 60

percent in several countries including

Pakistan. The cut took place on Wednesday in

the Mediterranean Sea close to Alexandria in

Egypt. Internet service is being provided

through a substitute cable in the region. The

optical fiber cable system is the internet

backbone between Europe, Middle East, sub-

continent and Europe. A time-frame for the

restoration was not given. INP

Quetta PoliCe foilteRRoR Bid,ReCoveR 200KGSof exPloSiveS QUETTA: Police on Wednesday foiled a

massive plan of terrorism by recovering a huge

quantity of explosive material from a truck and

arresting two suspects in Quetta. Talking to

reporters, DIG Investigation Mobeen Ahmed

said that on a tip-off by the secret agencies,

police stopped a truck at Nawabi Gate near

Kuchlak and upon search recovered at least 80

sacks filled with potassium chloride with a

combined weight of 200 kilogrammes. He said

it was a great success on part of police team to

have seized the explosives ahead of elections.

He said that police also arrested the truck

driver and cleaner from the spot. The DIG said

the truck-driver belonged to Qila Abdullah,

while the cleaner belonged to Gulistan area of

Balochistan. INP

ShahzeB muRdeRCaSe: atC deClaReSwitneSS aamiR a ‘liaR’KARACHI: An Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC)

has declared Muhammad Ali Aamir, a witness

in Shahzeb Khan murder case who retracted

his earlier statement, a “liar”. However, BN

Qureshi, the counsel of Aamir, has filed a

power of attorney in the court for challenging

the remark that declared his client a ‘liar’.

During the hearing the murder case here,

Judge Ghulam Mustafa Memon of the ATC-III

remarked that Muhammad Ali Aamir recorded

his false evidence in favour of the accused on

March 25. Two prosecution witnesses, —

Sheharyar Ali and Mohammad Ali Amir — had

deviated from their respective statements

earlier given to police in which they had held

prime accused Shahrukh Jatoi and others

accused responsible for the incident. NNI

Political parties await Sethi to reshuffle PunjabNeWS aNalYSIS

ISlaMaBaD: Balochistan Governor Nawab Zulfiqar ali Magsi meets Prime Minister Justice (r) Mir hazar

Khan Khoso at the PM house on Wednesday.

LHR 28-03-2013_Layout 1 3/28/2013 4:57 AM Page 9

“TALK against themilitary cannotbe tolerated,” wasthe gist of state-ment made by the

Supreme Court of Pakistan on Mondayon the eve of election campaigning. Apetitioner was contesting the militarybeing given civil powers in the Feder-ally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).Someone has had the audacity to chal-lenge the Actions (in Aid of CivilPower) Regulation, 2011.

Back in the day, when the law waspassed, observers criticised it as “pro-viding legal cover for unlawful actscommitted during military operationsin both FATA and PATA”. Serious ob-jections were also raised against themanner of military operations and re-cent incidents brought to light of inno-cent people being killed in militaryoperations.

But then of course the military hasresponded to the SC petition in a suc-cinct manner. 6,000 search operationswere conducted in FATA and PATAwith over 9,000 people having beenkilled since 2008 in a total of 237 sui-cide attacks, 9,257 rocket attacks and4,256 bomb explosions. If anything,these are astonishing figures, and thelack of evidence against the militaryfor in absence of any civilian monitorin the regions under attack perhapsopens up a line for the lack of account-ability for the military.

Perhaps this is why the honourableSC judges stated: “We cannot toleratesuch type of talk against the army.Strife-torn areas cannot be left at themercy of terrorists. The special powers,including calling in the army, are as-signed under specific situation as perthe Constitution. eighteen personswere targeted a day before. Where thesituation will stand if the army returnsfrom there? No military operation isbeing conducted in Balochistan and thedead bodies in gunny bags are beingdiscovered daily. You say peace pre-vails therein. Please tell the court ifpeace was there from April 12, 2008,till now and we will order for the with-drawal of the army from there.”

So I suppose one must tow the lineand sign a declaration stating the manythings that the military must not be crit-icised for. Here is a draft of such a dec-laration. I am certain no one woulddisagree as to the contents:

I shall not criticise the military forany civilian casualties in FATA/PATAor anywhere else in the country. Inno-cent people are killed in a war againstan enemy as dangerous as the Taliban.Collateral damage is merely an accept-able side cost that is merely a necessaryinconvenience in a decade long battle.So what if there is no list of names pro-vided when a press release declares 18terrorists killed? Terrorists haveno names and do not deserve to be doc-umented.

I shall not criticise the military forany people who are reported missing.even though there is a stack of evi-dence documenting that intelligenceagency officials have picked up hun-

dreds, if not over a thousand, peoplefrom Balochistan, Khyber Pak-thunkhwa, Sindh and Punjab. The factis that these were necessary measuresagainst threats to the state. Thosepicked up are either terrorists or nation-alists, both of whom reject the writ ofthe state and are weakening the countryand working on foreign agendas. Let usnot feel sympathy for those picked up,the processes of law are not reservedfor the enemies of the state. The kill-and-dumps are too few if you ask me.

I shall not criticise the military foraccepting money and dictation from theUS to fight the ‘war on terror’. The factis that it had two options: accept thebillions of dollars on offer or be “sentinto the stone ages”. It certainly doesnot matter that the US was the one whofunded the creation of the very ‘terror-ists’ we were now asked to fight. Thereis no contradiction. We sway where thefunds sway us. We are a poor country.God-forbid had the military said no tothe US offer, we would have been in aworse position. That there has been abomb attack almost every day since thedecision to join the US war on terror isonly a minor cost and reminds us of thethreat we have to face.

I shall not criticise the military forbreeding Islamist militias and sectariangroups. When the Taliban were built upin the 1980s, General Zia took a coura-geous decision to fight CommunistRussia. They would have come intoPakistan and filled the ‘land of thepure’ with objectionable literature andnotions of justice that we cannot sub-scribe to. Therefore, it was essential tofill the ‘land of the pure’ up with De-obandi madrassas that breed hateagainst anyone who is not them. TheSipah Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) wasneeded to curb the possibility of anIran-style revolution too. And of coursethe Lashkar-e-Taiba and Hafiz Saeedare strategic assets to check againstIndia’s evil designs against Pakistan.

I shall not criticise the military forinflaming relations with India, at vari-ous moments. One should always bewary of opening our arms and hands to-wards India in embrace: a Hindu willalways stab you in the back. But ourpoliticians are too feeble and do not un-derstand that trade and people-to-peo-ple contact cannot resolve our hatred.The military is the guardian over thefounding Two Nation Theory that pitsus in conflict with the Hindu-state ofIndia. Its evil designs against Pakistanare well known, it funds terrorism inPakistan, and it has been hoping to takeover us whenever the right momentcomes. The decisions to send armedforces into Kashmir in 1948, sendingproxy militias into India in 1965 andopening up the Kargil front in 1998were all necessary operations, requireddespite civilian orders to the contrary.India needs to know we are ready toteach them a lesson and one of ourjawans is equal to ten of their soldiers.Remember the Sialkot tank battle in1965: surely the myth that our bravesoldiers’ suicide bombed Indian tanksinto retreat is true. And of course let usnot ignore the fact that the militaryneeds a raison d’taire if it is to continueto do all the good it does for Pakistan.‘India as our eternal enemy’ as a logicshall do well to justify the one-thirdof the budget which gets spent on themilitary.

I shall not criticise the army forfighting its own people at variouspoints in our history. Taking over Kalatin 1948 was necessary for the survivalof the country and so were all five mil-itary operations in Balochistan. Sepa-ratism is not tolerable. The 1971 war ofsecession in Bengal should be an exam-ple. So what if a hundred thousand ormore Bengalis were killed? So what if

military men raped Bengali women?Sheikh Mujibur Rehman’s AwamiParty was always a band of traitors andshould not have been allowed to con-test elections. The truth is that the onlymistake the military made was thatYahya Khan decided to hold electionsin 1970. A recipe for disaster theyproved. If he had retained control, Pak-istan would still not have broken. TheHyderabad operation, the operationsagainst the Movement for Restorationof Democracy in the 1980s and theKarachi operations in the early 1990swere all also essential for national se-curity. The fact that even now half thecountry, including Balochistan andmost of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, is un-dergoing military operations is merelynecessary.

It should be quite clear that I shallnot criticise the army for imposingmartial law four times. It was the needof the hour and, if nothing, it is ex-hibiting remarkable patience now.Ayub Khan, Yahya Khan, Ziaul Haqand Pervez Musharraf were all greatmen who took over at the right mo-ment and kept the country steady. Theaccumulation of wealth by a few inAyub’s period, Bengal’s independencein the Yahya era, the Islamisation ofZia’s era and the rise of terrorism dueto the war against terrorism and finan-cial bubble of the Musharraf periodwere all necessary to solve internalcontradictions that would have eatenup Pakistan. If anything, some militarymen have been too patient with civil-ian governments. For example, Je-hangir Karamat should have taken overinstead of resigning in his battle withNawaz Sharif and General Kayani, asHizbut Tehreer pamphlets continue toremind us, has been too nice to corruptcivilian rulers.

I shall certainly not criticise themilitary for land allotments, becomingproperty developers, running uncount-able businesses, running coal mines inBalochistan, or producing Pacpads inairforce bases. If anything, they arecontributing to a stale economy andregulating the unregulated propertymarket. Who can deny that DefenceHousing Authority, Bahria Town andAskari Housing Society represent thebest of urban development? And whocan argue against military officials re-ceiving newly irrigated farmlandsacross Pakistan? Military men must beduly rewarded for the great servicesthey have rendered for the country.

I can certainly not criticise the mil-itary when they call me a ‘bloody civil-ian’, nor when my ID is checked atcheckposts outside all military canton-ments. I have not taken an oath to de-fend the country and am a securitythreat. We civilians are definitely theinferior beings. Take for example ourredundant civil courts system. It wouldnot make sense for military officials tobe tried outside the ultra efficient andsecretive military court system. Peoplewould have criticised the military if thethree retired generals who were foundguilty of corruption in National Logis-tics Cell tenders were tried in civilcourts. Criticism of the military cannotbe afforded. We are a security state andface numerous threats internal and ex-ternal.

So the SC is right and so is the con-stitution. I pledge not to criticise themilitary for anything, especially as,true to its legacy, it has pledged to‘help’ the Caretaker PrimeMinister Khoso in conducting ‘free-and-fair’ elections. I shall not criticisethe military.

The writer is the general secretary(Lahore) of the Awami Workers Party. Heis a journalist and a researcher. Contact:hashimbrashid@gmail.com

A declaration of all the ‘good things’ the military has done

CoMMenT

Arif NizamiEditor

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

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

Email: editorial@pakistantoday.com.pk

Dedicated to the legacy of the late Hameed Nizami

C

Leadership vacuum haunts the party’s campaigna setback for PPP

the specter haunting minorities

DO religious minorities have a place in Pakistan? The recent attack on thehome of an Ahmaddiya family in Lahore has again served up an answer in thenegative. Worse is that the attack comes in the wake of the furor over the

Joseph Colony mob attack which left around 200 Christian homes burnt. Manypromises were made that such an incident would not be repeated but the fact is that thesituation on the ground reveals that Pakistan’s track record on the question of how ittreats its religious minorities is getting worse by the year.

And while an attack on Christians or other religious minorities do provoke publicoutrage, attacks on Ahmaddiya’s are considered kosher. The trouble is that the problemis reinforced by the attitude of the state. When two Ahmaddiya worship places wereattacked in Model Town and Garhi Shahu, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) led Punjab government remained silent. From being declared ‘legitimate to murder’on live television, having their graves desecrated and being disallowed to preach theirfaith, the Ahmaddiya community faces both social and state persecution. The fact isthat Ahmaddiya’s are not considered equal citizens in the state of Pakistan – and moreso than other minority groups. In many ways, it has been forced to reject all practicalmanifestations of Pakistani citizenship. It deserves being reminded that the communitywill not cast votes in the 2013 general elections in their tradition of protest againstreligious discrimination against them. This means that neither does the communityhave a stake in the electoral process nor does any member of it reach any of thelegislative assemblies.

The Lahore incident appears to have been the response to a failed attempt toconvert an Ahmaddiya family. Forced conversions, as these are known, are becomingmore and more regular. So much so that over 200 Hindu families from Sindh, theprovince with the most religious diversity in Pakistan, fled to India in the year 2012.The incident raised the spectre of the partition of the subcontinent once again. Cases offorced conversions that have been taken to the Supreme Court have also not beenaddressed in a satisfactory manner.

Within such a polarised situation, the Lahore attack has only served to accentuatethe sense of insecurity that religious minorities in Pakistan face – and the JosephColony response appears to have been only electoral point scoring. The real problem isthat the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is equally complicit in reducing minorities tosecond-class citizens. No amount of repeating the narrative that Islam preaches thatminorities be treated well means anything concrete. On the ground, attacks onreligious minorities have become so frequent that it appears as one is repeating thesame narrative to deaf ears each time.

BILAWAL Bhutto has left Pakistan at a crucial moment for the PPP. The partywill now have to conduct its election campaign in the absence of the mostcharismatic figure in its leadership. For the common PPP worker Bilawal

represented Benazir and was a reincarnation of the party founder, Z.A Bhutto. Thedeparture of the young Bhutto was sudden and entirely unexpected. He was beingprepared to lead the party since he settled in the country after completing hiseducation, When he delivered his speech at Garhi Khuda Bux in December last year itwas presumed that he would lead the party in the elections. Last week when Zardariresigned as co-chairman of the party, Bilawal was tasked to lead the PPP. There werereports about plans to get him elected in a by- election soon after he attained therequired age limit. All this is now in doubt.

Did Bilawal leave on account of threats to his life? Maybe the story is correct. Butknowing the way he disregarded the dangers of the sort all this while he must havebeen prevailed upon to go out of Pakistan. Another story doing the rounds hints atdifferences with his father and aunt over stands taken by the party leadership onmilitancy, sectarianism and award of party tickets cannot however be dismissed out ofhand. The statement he made after the killing of Salman Taseer and the assurances ofsupport to the minorities was the boldest from any PPP leader. Surrounded by ahardboiled and worldly-wise team practicing realpolitik, a bold and liberal idealist likeBilawal was a square peg in a round hole.

even if the sole reason behind Bilawal’s departure were security concerns, theseare likely to persist during the entire election campaign. His absence from the countrymay not therefore be for days or weeks but for a much longer period. Under thecircumstances, the elections would pose a challenging task to the PPP leadership. In2008 the PPP rode to power on the sympathy wave caused by the unfortunateassassination of Benazir Bhutto. The party had never before contested any electionwithout a Bhutto figure leading it. While Bilawal’s absence will be noted by the PPPvoters all over the country, the biggest impact of the departure is likely to be felt inSindh. Inside the PPP Bilawal’s departure has created a leadership vacuum. WithZardari already having resigned as co-chairman the party is left with no chief in thefield. While Faryal Talpur has displayed enough energy during the last couple of years,it remains to be seen if she can acquire the mantle of a Bhutto scion. As things stand,deprived of its strongest asset, the PPP will have to enter the electoral battlefieldwithout a rallying figure.

Attack on Ahmaddiya family is reminder of polarisation

Thursday, 28 March, 2013

10Assimilation: This is at the root of all the

troubles and constraints facing the non-Western

and Muslim countries. – Ali Shariati

i shall not criticisethe military

comradely speakingHasHIM BIN RasHID

LHR 28-03-2013_Layout 1 3/28/2013 4:57 AM Page 10

CoMMenT CThursday, 28 March, 2013

11

togetherfor peace

The Aman 2013 Naval exercises

THe Arabian Sea is located in the northwestern part of theIndian Ocean, situated between the Arabian Peninsula andthe Indian subcontinent. Sea lines of communicationswhich pass through the Arabian Sea have been part of the

principal trade route between europe and India for centuries; its chiefports are Aden, Karachi, Gwadar and Mumbai etc. Growing economicpotential of the region has increased the maritime challenges forstates, like terrorism, piracy, and weapons, drugs and human traffick-ing. As these challenges are grave and threaten both economic andsecurity interest of all regional states, policymakers seem to be infavour of combined efforts to counter these challenges. Both regionaland global stake holders have realised the significance of real mar-itime co-operation. Many of them have responded to its significanceby resorting to pragmatic ways such as arranging joint naval exercises,highlighting areas of mutual benefits and long term interest. This notonly provides a better understanding of maritime domain but also en-hances capabilities of the naval forces.

Pakistan, whose dependency on the Arabian Sea route for its tradeis over 95 percent, seems vigilant to secure its interests in the ArabianSea. In addition to the aforementioned maritime challenges, domi-nance of any regional power can jeopardize other states’ interests andignite conflict. It is obvious that no power can be able to counter thesechallenges single-handedly. A multilateral endeavor to overcome allthe challenges was the rational demand of maritime security, wherestates could peacefully cooperate. This was the prime theme behindlaunching the series of multinational naval exercise “Aman” in March2007. Since then Pakistan Navy has been successfully arranging thisexercise with a gap of two years between each exercise. exerciseAman-09 and exercise Aman-11 were held in March 2009 and 2011respectively. Aman is basically an Urdu word which means “peace”which clearly reflects the purpose of this exercise i.e., to promotepeace among states.

Pakistan hosted the fourth exercise of Aman series, “Aman-2013”from 4th to 8th March, 2013. The exercise was not merely a peacefulshow of power or discipline by Pakistan Navy, but it signified thealertness of Pakistan’s naval command to respond timely to the chang-ing geo-strategic realities of maritime domain as well.

In essence the Aman exercise is a demonstration of unifiedstrength against maritime challenges and terrorism. It will not onlyenhance states’ contribution to regional peace and stability but alsobridge up the gap among regional and extra regional naval forces byproviding them with a common platform of sharing and learning mar-itime tactics.

Gradual increase in number of participants in Aman exercise hasgrown up which shows the growing interest of international commu-nity in this series. In the recent one, almost fifty participant states werescheduled; half of them participated with their assets, observers andSOF/eOD teams, whereas the rest were given their consent to partic-ipate as observers only. The exercise comprised of two main phases,harbor and sea phase. The harbor phase included flag hoisting cere-mony, wreath laying ceremony at Mizar-e-Quaid, maritime confer-ence (IMC-2013), maritime counter terrorism demo by SSGN, crossship visits, city tours, etc. Moreover, to maintain the interest of ob-servers and intermingling of nations, depiction of their respective cul-tures through socio-cultural activities like sports events, food gala andinternational cultural display was also the part of the harbour phase.

The sea phase included purely technical events like go fast exer-cises, search and rescue exercise, surface firing, anti piracy demon-stration, cross deck landings etc. The true significance of theseexercises lies in the fact that they would provide equal opportunity toparticipant navies to find areas of common interests and mutual un-derstanding. Whether it is the blue water navy of United States witha global agenda or Chinese navy aspirant to be blue water navy innear future or regional states which do not have any global or expand-ing agenda like Pakistan itself, all will be operating on one platform.This would enable them to develop and practice maritime tactics,techniques and procedures against asymmetric and traditional threatsduring the sea phase of the exercise.

To facilitate the guest navies and observers/scholars during bothphases, availability of all necessities had been assured. They couldavail mess accommodation with meals and local transport. For guestships, emergency repair facilities, ferry services, SAR facilities andfresh water during their stay in port were also available.

This endeavor by Pakistan to invite and gather regional and globalnavies is remarkable. As it would not only set the soft and responsibleimage of Pakistan as a state, but also give more credibility to PakistanNavy’s efforts in countering maritime threats. This is especially sig-nificant in view of the current critical phase through which the wholePakistani nation is passing. This peaceful multinational exercise givesan overt message that any effort by miscreants to threaten regionalpeace and security would be paid in same coin with joint response.Participants from different ethnic backgrounds and geographical lo-cations are together on one platform thus Aman exercise strengthenan old saying “the land divides and the sea unites”.

It is hoped that the exercise Aman will enable participant statesto achieve their stated goals. That is, to enhance maritime cooperationamong states and help them to maintain regional peace and stability.To counter threats of miscreants, piracy, maritime terrorism, drugs,arms smuggling and human trafficking through a multilateral effort.These threats are common, and countering them requires strong com-mitment from all states. By resolving to hold this exercise, PakistanNavy has very well demonstrated its will to counter these challengesin cooperation with other states. Securing sea lines of communicationof this region for trade and energy supply is beneficial for all. Stateshave to stand together to gain mutual economic and strategic benefits.That is why, the slogan of Aman exercise states “Together for peace”.

The writer is a research analyst.

WITH China’s President Xi Jin-ping planning to make his firstforay into international diplo-macy since his election at the

BRICS annual summit in Durban and his singerwife slated to perform, the organization will hitthe headlines. Again, there will be talk about thisloose grouping of Brazil, Russia, India, Chinaand South Africa filling the emerging void leftby the troubled US and european Union. But yetanother summit and ritual show of unity won’thide the emptiness at the core of BRICS. Thestrong display of China’s newfound power by itspresident will only underline the organization’slopsided nature and lack of actual clout.

Representing around 40 percent of the world’spopulation and nearly a quarter of its economicoutput, BRICS does offer promise of clout. Theeconomic profile of the five nations, especiallythat of China, has continued to grow with sugges-tions that BRICS collectively could become big-ger than the US by 2018 and by 2050 even surpassthe combined economies of G7 states.

Yet a major challenge for ongoing influencefrom BRICS is China’s dominance over the otherfour members. For all its promise, BRICS has re-mained a talk shop aspiring for greatness.

The first formal summit meeting was held inRussia in June 2009 with South Africa joiningthe group in December 2010, changing thenomenclature from BRIC to BRICS. The Yeka-terinburg summit called for “a more democraticand just multipolar world order based on the ruleof international law, equality, mutual respect, co-operation, coordinated action and collective de-cision-making of all states.” Since then the jointstatements of the various BRICS summits haverepeatedly underscored need for a realignmentof the post–World War II global order based onthe untrammelled supremacy of the US. As theUS is preoccupied with internal troubles and theeurozone is mired in a debilitating debt crisis, avacuum is increasingly being felt in the interna-tional system. This presents an opportunity forthe BRICS to emerge as major global players.Plans are underway for some joint projects. TheNew Delhi summit resulted in a proposal to cre-ate a joint BRICS development bank that wouldfinance investments in developing nations, andthis year’s summit is expected to conclude nego-tiations for setting up this bank.

But overall momentum for BRICS, a much-hyped initiative, seems to be flagging. Growth-

rate estimates for all the BRICS are steadily de-clining. Fluctuating economic trends, however,are not the leading reason behind the unworka-bility of the BRICS idea, but rather the structuraldisparity at the heart of the grouping.

China’s rise has been so fast and so spectac-ular that others are still trying to catch up. TheChinese economy is not only the second largestin the world but also larger than the economiesof the other four members combined. China’spower makes the other members nervous, lead-ing them to hedge bets by investing in alternativealliances and partnerships even as China’s rapidaccretion of economic andpolitical power adds to itsown challenges to makefriends. Given the leveragethat China enjoys in BRICS,it should come as no sur-prise that Beijing has sug-gested that IBSA – thegrouping of democraciesIndia, Brazil and SouthAfrica – be shut down infavor of BRICS.

China’s manipulation ofits currency has resulted insignificant problems formanufacturing sectors ofother emerging powers.India, Brazil and SouthAfrica all have expresseddisenchantment with Bei-jing’s economic policies atvarious times. New Delhihas even imposed anti-dumping duties on a rangeof Chinese goods. China’sdominance of the intra-South trade remains over-whelming with other emerging powers strugglingto get a share of the pie. Central bankers fromBrazil and India spoke against the undervaluedyuan in 2009 and 2010 to little effect.

economic ties between China and Brazilhave grown, but so have frictions. China is notviewed as a fair competitor with Brazilian man-ufacturers accusing China of dumping divertedexports from europe even as Brazilian manufac-turers face steep non-tariff barriers in trying toexport to China. Worried about the influx of in-vestment and cheap imports from China, Brazil-ian manufacturers are losing market share toChinese counterparts, and Brazil is also wary ofChina’s growing economic profile in SouthAmerica, which Brazil considers its own sphereof influence.

Russia and China are united in their aversionto a US-led global political order, but elite dis-trust of each other remains. Though they coordi-nate in trying to scuttle western policies, as hasbeen the case on Iran and Syria recently, the part-nership is one of convenience. Russia’s failureto develop its Far east has allowed China to gaina toehold in this strategic region and allowedBeijing to define the Asian security landscape.And though China is the largest buyer of Russianconventional weaponry, many in Russia see thisas counterproductive: China could emerge as thegreatest potential security threat to Russia.

Likewise, Sino-India ties have witnessed asteady deterioration over the last few years on avariety of issues – from land border to maritimedisputes. Despite the public pronouncements bythe two sides, New Delhi remains skeptical ofChina’s intentions. Beijing’s refusal to acknowl-edge India’s rise and a lack of sensitivity on coresecurity interests are leading to pushback. Withoverall bilateral trade worth $55 billion, India’strade deficit with China rose to $23 billion in2012.

South Africa’s relations with China are alsonot as wrinkle-free as so often made out in the

popular media. Concernshave been rising thatChina’s economic power isstrangling South Africanmanufacturing while lock-ing up vital resources foryears, as the flood of Chi-nese finished goods toAfrica has created a largetrade imbalance. Textilemills in South Africa haveclosed down under the on-slaught of inexpensive Chi-nese imports, leading topublic protests. In a some-what surprising outburst,former South African Presi-dent Thabo Mbeki hadwarned that Africa riskedbecoming an economiccolony of China if the grow-ing trade imbalance betweenthe two was not rectified.Though China has its shareof supporters in South

Africa, its extractive economic policy is leadingto growing calls for a more equitable economicrelationship.

The fascination with BRICS is partly an off-shoot of the discussion on the emerging so-calledpost-American world. Many commentatorsargue multipolarity is likely to be the norm. Yetwhile BRICS may have growing economies, it’snot clear this can translate into power at theglobal level. even if the BRICS get their eco-nomic act together, the grouping will find it dif-ficult to turn that strength into a unified politicalforce. China’s dominance makes most of thegoals articulated by the BRICS states wobbly.The point of this coalition was always to showthat the balance of power is shifting towardemerging countries, away from the West’s his-torical dominance. But a multipolar world isn’tthe same as China just trying to tilt the balanceof power toward itself.

The narrative surrounding the rise of BRICSis as exaggerated as that of decline for the US.The tectonic plates of global politics are certainlyshifting, but their movements are unpredictable.BRICS will remain an artificial construct, merelyan acronym coined by an investment banking an-alyst, for some time to come.

Harsh V Pant teaches at King’s College,London. This article was also carried by Yale-Global.

BRiCS not that sturdyChina dominates BRICS with an economy larger than that of four other members combined

Economic tiesbetween China andBrazil have grown,

but so have frictions.China is not viewedas a fair competitor

with Brazilianmanufacturers

accusing China ofdumping diverted

exports from Europe.

The oppressed are allowed once every few years to decide

which particular representatives of the oppressing class are to

represent and repress them in parliament. – Vladimir Lenin

HaRsH V PaNT

UMM-e-HaBIBa

LHR 28-03-2013_Layout 1 3/28/2013 4:57 AM Page 11

Endurance is the crowning quality,

and patience all the passion of great

hearts — James Russell Lowell

arts

AThursday, 28 March, 2013

12

i wanted the lead in‘dJanGo unChained’:will SmithSuperstar Will Smith, who was once

tipped for Quentin Tarantino’s “

Django Unchained”, said he had

turned down the offer because it was

not the lead role. The 44-year-old

also said that he passed on the part

because of a scheduling conflict, said

the Hollywood Reporter. “Django

wasn’t the lead, so it was like, I need

to be the lead. The other character

was the lead! I was like, ‘No,

Quentin, please, I need to kill the

bad guy!’ “I came really close, it was

one of the most amazing screenplays

I had ever ever seen. I was in the

middle of ‘Men In Black 3’ and

(Tarantino) was ready to go, and I

just couldn’t sit with him and get

through the issues, so I didn’t want

to hold him up. That thing’s going to

be ridiculous. It is a genius

screenplay,” Smith said. “Django

Unchained” won the original

screenplay at the 85th Academy

Awards. NeWs DesK

Kate winSlet waSall i wanted to Be:amandaAmanda

Seyfried has

confessed

to being a

big fan of

Kate

Winslet

and

revealed

that the

‘Titanic’ star

would be the

first person on

her list to work alongside. The 27-

year-old model, who starred opposite

Meryl Streep in ‘Mamma Mia!’,

admitted that Winslet was all she

wanted to be for a while after

watching her over and over again in

Titanic, the Daily Express reported.

The ‘Dear John’ actress added that

she had grown up watching Winslet in

the James Cameron’s 1997

blockbuster movie about a thousand

times. NeWs DesK

News desK

Hollywood film “Million Dollar Arm”,about two Indians who get to playbaseball in the US thanks to agent J.B.Bernstein’s unconventional recruitmentstrategy to lure talented cricket players,will be shot in three Indian cities. Thefilm stars “ Mad Men” actor Jon Hammand is in pre-production stage. “We’ll beshooting in Mumbai, Agra and Delhi.Very exciting,” Palak Patel, the movie’sexecutive producer, told IANS in anemail interview from Los Angeles. Patel,who is originally from Ahmedabad, saidhe would visit the country in April tofilm the Disney movie based on the real-life story. The India connect of themovie goes beyond just the locations, ofcourse. It focusses on two Indianyoungsters - Rinku Singh and DineshKumar - who created history in 2008when they were signed up by prestigiousbaseball team Pittsburgh Pirates asprofessional players. The two won thedeal after winning the “Million DollarArm” contest held in India, in whichmore than 30,000 Indian youths weresaid to have participated. The film isbeing directed by Craig Gillespie, withscreenplay by Thomas McCarthy. Patel,who has been in the US since 1983, isalso keen to tell more Indian stories towestern audiences. “I’ve always thoughtabout bringing the Ramayana or theMahabharata to western audiences, anddoing it in a contemporary way. I’veeven had conversations with ShekharKapur about it,” he said. He believes the

mythological epics have global appeal.“They are amazing stories, on the levelof Greek mythology, the heartbeat ofIndia, and I have always thought aboutbringing them to life worldwide on a bigbudget level,” he added. Having worked

on fantasy films like “Snow White andthe Huntsman” and “Oz the Great andPowerful”, Patel said the underlyingeffort behind all genres of movies is“entertainment”. “We can’t forget thatwe work in the entertainment business.

It’s our job to make a product thatentertains the world - we love escapism -we love building worlds, findinginteresting exotic colourful characters,and taking old existing properties suchas ‘Alice In Wonderland’ and now‘Oz...’, and introducing them withmodern technology to a new youngergeneration. “Ultimately, we thrive onfinding stories and worlds that offer theultimate escapism,” he said. Sam Raimi-directed “Oz the Great and Powerful” hitIndian screens earlier this month. Somedescribed it as a prequel to the 1939 film,“The Wizard of Oz”. What were some ofthe factors you had to keep in mind tomatch that era and feel, as well as maintaina contemporary touch to appeal to today’saudience? “We wanted to stay as true aspossible to the spirit of L. Frank Baum’sbooks, in terms of descriptions, colourpalettes, atmosphere, and environments aswell as the colourful characters you meetin the film. “Adding a contemporary touchreally came from our director Sam Raimi.Sam has a talent for staying true to theperiod while making contemporaryaudiences identify with the characters,themes, and storylines,” said Patel. Hebelieves classics like “The WonderfulWizard of Oz”, originally written over acentury ago, still resonate with today’saudience because of the “central theme”.“The central theme is ‘goodness is moreimportant than greatness’. Being a goodperson is far more important and selflessthan being a great person, which involvesbeing selfish. I think it’s a timelesstheme,” he said.

another hollywood filmto be shot in india

News desK

Ryan Gosling and Charlize Theron are beingconsidered by the movie bosses to star as OscarPistorius and his late model girlfriend ReevaSteenkamp in a forthcoming biopic, according toreports. The 32-year-old actor recently said thathe was taking a break from acting but it isbelieved that he could be tempted to play thishigh-profile role, the Sun reported. The 26-year-old sportsperson- currently on bail - deniesmurder and claims that he mistook ReevaSteenkamp as an intruder. According to a source,two scripts are currently being developed to tellSouth Africa’s Paralympic hero’s story and thefateful Valentine’s Day morning in which hisgirlfriend was shot and killed, with anannouncement expected soon from one of themajor film studios. A source said that one of the

world’s most famous sportsmen was under arrestand a beautiful young woman met aviolent death, the scripts began doingthe rounds within days of the scandalbreaking. The insider asserted thatGosling has the kind of quietmagnetism that would make thisproject work - plus there issome mystery about him.The source added thatalthough Gosling hasbeen saying publiclythat he wants to takea break from actingto relax, movie bosseswill be falling overthemselves to rope himin once the scripts arefinalised.

angelina sportsgold band onring finger

Actress Angelina Jolie was spotted wearing a`mysterious` gold band on her ring finger, where hergiant platinum engagement sparkler used to be,during a trip to a rescue camp in the DemocraticRepublic of Congo this week. The Maleficentactress and special envoy of the United Nations’’refugee agency was in Africa with British ForeignSecretary William Hague to raise awareness of warzone rape in the Congo and Rwanda, the USMagazine reported. earlier Brat Pitt and Jolie havesaid that they wouldn’t tie the knot until the ban ongay marriage would be lifted, but in January 2012,Pitt hinted that they had changed their minds. OnMonday, March 25, the Academy Award winnervisited a rescue camp to meet with survivors ofsexual violence. Jolie, who has six kids withlongtime love Pitt, pledged last year to devote moretime to her humanitarian work. NeWs DesK

Funnyman Jim Carrey has released a spoof video‘Cold Dead Hand’ which mocks the gun rights lobbyand features actors dressed as Mahatma Gandhi, JohnLennon and Abraham Lincoln. In the video, 51-year-old Carrey is dressed as late actor and formerNational Rifles Association President CharltonHeston, reported New York Daily News. “Somepeople hate when I talk about guns so I decided tosing about it! ‘Cold Dead Hand’ is about youheartless unwilling to bend for the safety of our kids.Sorry if you’re offended by the word safety,” hetweeted. “Over a million people have been killed byguns in the US since John Lennon was shot. Look nofurther than your own back...” His reference toLennon comes days after Beatle’s wife Yoko Onoposted a picture of his blood stained glasses to raiseher voice against gun rights lobby. NeWs DesK

Jim Carrey’s anti-gun video featureLennon, Gandhi, Lincoln

Ryan Gosling tipped toplay `Blade Runner`

LHR 28-03-2013_Layout 1 3/28/2013 4:58 AM Page 12

Real wisdom is not the knowledge of everything, but the knowledge of

which things in life are necessary, which are less necessary, and which

are completely unnecessary to know — Jean Jaques Rousseau

13ArTSThursday, 28 March, 2013

A

apolo ohnoGood morning minute to win

it contestants and family.

Good luck today on your

journey to a quarter million

bucks!!! Every second counts!

KIM KardashIanThat fake tweet is very

disturbing & I would

NEVER EVER tweet

something like that

sherrI shepherdWhy do men not put thetoilet seat DOWN! Sleptwalked to bathroom &just fell into an ocean ofwater - that’ll wake youup something quick!

Marlon WayansWhat’s up people? Wake up!

Lets go be great!

MaxWellWe are forever changed and

what was once will never be

again

notaBle tWeets

hOLLYWOOD actress Lindsay Lohan’s father Michael Lohan is

terrified she will be dead within a year. He has repeatedly

insisted that his 26-year-old daughter needs help for drink and

drug abuse problems. He admits he is expecting to hear the

worst about the actress and is convinced she will overdose if

she doesn’t get the treatment, reports femalefirst.co.uk. “I hate to refer to Amy

Winehouse, but she was so talented and wouldn’t listen either, then she passed

away,” femalefirst.co.uk quoted him as saying. “I don’t want that to happen to my

daughter. Lohan turns 27 in July. How many other kids have died at that age of

overdoses? It’s a fear that sticks in my head. I’m always sitting by my phone,” he

added. He blames himself for Lindsay’s problems as he thinks her difficulties began

after he divorced her mother Dina in 2007, the same year she was arrested twice

and went to rehab three times. “It went wrong for Lohan when I got divorced

from Dina, so of course I feel I’m to be blamed,” he said. “I look at pictures of

when she was 18, just before my divorce and when she filmed ‘Mean Girls’, then

I look at photos from each year after that and they tell a sad story,” he said.

“Seeing her like that was horrible. I was heartbroken. When I held her in the

hotel room recently, right after court case, it’s not the same Lohan I used to

hold. She’s just not all there,” he said. NeWs DesK

lohan’s dad worriesshe will die

aShley GReenebrandedneighbourfrom hellAshley Greene - who was leftdevastated after a fire broke out inher apartment in West Hollywooddue to an unattended candle lastFriday killing one of her petpooches ‘Marlo’ - has been accusedof being a nightmare neighbour.The Twilight Saga actress’ fellowresidents have alleged that the fireaccident was tragic but it was adisaster waiting to happen, TMZreported. The 26-year-old’s fellowbuilding tenants revealed to thewebsite that they were notsurprised by the incident. Sheinvited friends and fellow actorsover to her pad at all hours of theday, resulting in the people livingbelow her having trouble sleepingdue to the excessive commotion,said some neighbors. On top ofthat Greene didn’’t control herdogs, who were incessant

barkers. Residents arethought to have complained

to the building’’s managerabout the star’’s

behavior, but no actionwas taken. NeWs DesK

danny Boyleto make nextBond film

Filmmaker Danny Boyle is tipped to make the next 007blockbuster after Skyfall director Sam Mendes shotdown the offer. Bond producer Barbara Broccoli is saidto have chatted with the Oscar-winner director atLondon’s empire Film Awards on Sunday, reported SunOnline. Trainspotting director, who won the empireOutstanding Contribution to Film gong, was hailed anOlympic hero for last year’s opening ceremony. VeteranBond producer Michael G Wilson had recently said, “Hecertainly could be a Bond director.” NeWs DesK

Bobby sues uStabloid overbad scoop

Whitney Houston’’s ex-husband Bobby Brown hasreportedly sued an American supermarket tabloid forreporting the couple was going to remarry before hertragic death. The1-million-lawsuit against the Nationalenquirer and its source, Georgia music industry veteranDerrick Handspike, comes a week after the troubledperformer surrendered to authorities in Los Angeles tobegin serving a 55-day prison term for a driving underthe influence conviction. The 44-year-old Americansinger filed the case at the Manhattan Federal Court onMonday, taking issue with the March 26, 2012 story thatran six weeks after the legendary pop star was founddead, the New York Daily News reported. He was alsoaccused of cheating on his fiancee, Alicia etheredge,with the doomed diva, in the story. NeWs DesK

Radcliffe wantsto direct filmsHollywood actor Daniel Radcliffe says that he would love totry his hand at direction. The actor has been very selectiveabout his movie roles since wrapping up “Harry Potter”franchise and it seems that he is very much interested indirection. “I would love to direct, definitely and I hope I get todo that soon,”femalefirst.co.uk quotedRadcliffe as saying. Theactor has alreadycompleted MichaelDowse’s “The F Word”and Alexandre Aja’s“Horns”. Both the films areexpected to hit the bigscreen later this year. He isalso said to play Igor in PaulMcGuigan’s “ Frankenstein”.Radcliffe was recently spottedat the Jameson empire Awardswhere he was named empireHero. NeWs DesK

Rihanna has reportedlybeen advised to take restand stop partying if she

wants to fulfil her touringcommitments. The singerwas suffering from amedical condition called

laryngitis and doctors havesuggested her to make somelifestyle changes. “Rihanna’sillness was so severe that

doctors warned it could takemonths for her to fully recover.There were worries that she’d

have to cancel her entire DiamondWorld Tour,” thesun.co.uk quoted a

source as saying. “She was forced to cancel twoconcerts in Baltimore and Boston after comingdown with laryngitis. She has since resumed thetour and promised to reschedule the cancelledshows,” the source added. “Rihanna isscared.She loves to smoke, drink and stay uplate. Her body was bound to need a break atsome point. She’s now on a mission to startlooking after herself,” said the source. Insidersalso claim that Rihanna recognises herrelationship with Chris Brown isn’t having apositive influence on her. “Rihanna has receiveddeath threats, verbal attacks and has fallen outwith some of her best friends recently, includingKaty Perry. This has taken a huge emotionaltoll,” the source added. NeWs DesK

Doctors advise Rihannato stop partying

LHR 28-03-2013_Layout 1 3/28/2013 4:58 AM Page 13

InfotaInMent

IThursday, 28 March, 2013

14Natural objects, for example, must be

experienced before any theorizing about

them can occur. — Edmund Husserl

Some scientists seem to take their cues from science fic-tion or fantasy novels. Physicists in Texas have developeda method to make objects “invisible” within a limitedrange of light waves. It’s not Harry Potter’s invisibilitycloak just yet, but scientists say it has a lot of potential.

The desire to become invisible dates to the ancientGreeks, if not further. In mythological literature, gods andgoddesses donned a headdress to disappear from sight.Like Potter’s cloak, the “cap of invisibility” was imbuedwith magical powers. A fixture in magic, the invisibilitycloak has now advanced to science.

Researchers at the University of Texas in Austin havedeveloped a thin material called a ‘mantle cloak,’ accord-ing to a report published in the New Journal of PhysicsTuesday. If an object is wrapped in it, it ‘disappears,’ butthe effect only applies to a limited range of light waves— specifically microwaves.THE fUTURE IS NoT HERE jUST yET: In their ex-periment, the physicists covered a cylinder about a footlong and an inch or so in diameter with the material. Mi-crowave detectors could no longer plainly ‘see’ it, al-though it was still visible to the human eye. But the sameprinciple could be transferred to the range of perceptiblelight, researchers say.

Doing so would then make objects invisible to thehuman eye. The effect only covers a very small band of

electromagnetic waves at one time, and in the visiblerange of light, it would only work on objects much thin-ner than a single strand of hair.USEfUL IN NANoTECHNoLoGy: Scientists, on theother hand, find this development exciting because itcould prove useful in nanotechnology by letting light by-pass microscopic objects that would otherwise block it.The discovery could advance the fields of specialty opticsand biotechnology, according to the physicists.

This is not the first time scientists have made an ob-ject ‘invisible,’ but previous methods have involved hulk-ing devices and more cumbersome methods.

The new cloak is made of a sheer, handy material that

can be applied to many surfaces, even irregular ones, ac-cording to the report.LIGHT AND INvISIBILITy: We see things becauselight reflects off of them and hits our eyes. Or, in thiscase, microwaves bounce off of them and hit a detectiondevice. Light has properties that can be manipulated,which is how objects can be rendered invisible. It can bereflected away, for example. Illusionists such as DavidCopperfield can use mirrors to make an object disappear.

Light also refracts — or breaks — when it passesthrough a prism or raindrops, resulting in the palette ofcolors we see in a rainbow. It also bends ever so slightlydue to gravity, when it passes by a planet.

Previous attempts at achieving invisibility have in-volved bending or reflecting light around the object thatis meant to vanish. The mantle cloak takes a new ap-proach. Light is a wave that can be disturbed. That’s whatthe mantle cloak does.THE CLoAK’S MATERIAL: It is made by combiningcopper tape with polycarbonate, a material commonlyused in DVD’s and CDs. The resulting cloak has a minis-cule pattern — like a finely checkered shirt — that neu-tralizes the waves bouncing off of it. For it to work, thematerial’s pattern has to be roughly the size of the wave-length of light to be canceled out. That gives it a tightlylimited range of waves it will work on. NeWs DesK

tHeRe'S now officially no wordfor "ungoogleable", meaning"impossible to find via websearch" in Swedish – althoughthere was a term until this week.

The Language Council of Sweden,which oversees the addition of officialnew words to the Swedish lexicon, hadlined up ogooglebar, defined as "some-thing that cannot be found on the webusing a search engine".

The term had become a notable newuse or neologism during 2012, it decided,alongside emoji, emoticons used in instantmessages; drinkorexi, an eating disorderinvolving barely eating while drinking al-cohol instead; and conversesjukan, orConverse disease, bad feet or posturecaused by wearing trendy trainers.

Google's lawyers, however, got windof the council's intentions and told it thecompany did not want its trademark di-luted by being used to apply to all search-ing. Instead, the definition should be"something that cannot be found on theweb using Google". And include a trade-mark notification, the search giant added.

The council refused, and simplydropped the word from its list of new ad-ditions instead. "Google asked the Lan-guage Council to amend the definition ofthe word. Today, we instead are deletingthe word, marking our displeasure withGoogle's attempts to control the language,"the council's director, Ann Cederberg, saidin a statement on Wednesday.

Cederberg, clearly miffed at Google'ssearch for brand immortality, said the dra-

matic step of deletion had only been takenafter long email exchanges with Google'slawyers. "We have been trying for ages, butit has taken too long and too many resources,"she said in an interview with SVD Kultur."Google has not won anything on this."

As a verb, "google" has been part ofthe english language for a long time. Oneof its first uses in print came in January

2001 in the Telegraph-Herald ofDubuque, Iowa, when the city editor AmyGilligan asked readers "Have you beenGoogled yet? It's the latest thing. I wasjust sitting here Googling myself, in fact."She also added, for those who wondered:"Don't worry. It's not a euphemism."

But the search engine was only twoyears old then, and keen for all the pub-

licity it could get. Now, it seems morepicky about how it appears in languages.

"One purpose of the neologisms list isto show how society and language devel-opment interact with each other. Googlewanted to amend the definition and add adisclaimer about its trademark. The Lan-guage Council has tried to explain the pur-pose of the list. We do not deviate from ourbasic approach to language …

The definition the Language Councilprovides has been formulated based onhow the word is used in Swedish," Ceder-berg's statement said. "We have neither thetime nor the inclination to pursue thelengthy process that Google is trying tostart. Nor will we compromise and changethe meaning of ogooglebar to what thecompany wants," she added.

Google, she said "has forgotten onething: language development does not careabout brand protection." A Google repre-sentative said: "While Google, like manybusinesses, takes routine steps to protectour trademarks, we are pleased that usersconnect the Google name with greatsearch results." NeWs DesK

aStRonomeRSdiSCoveR new,thiRd tyPe ofSuPeRnova

Supernovae, the massive, exploding

stars that hurl cosmic material into

space, were once thought to occur

only in two main types. Now,

astronomers have discovered a new,

third type of supernova called Type

lax. In the past, researchers divided

these exploding stars into two main

categories: core collapse and Type la.

A core-collapse supernova occurs

when a star about 10 to 100 times the

size of our own sun explodes. A Type

la supernova, in contrast, is the

complete disruption of a tiny white

dwarf. This new type, though, has

characteristics that are different from

both. Type lax is both fainter and less

energetic than Type la, even though it

also comes from an exploding white

dwarf. It's also rarer--only about a

third as common as a Type la

supernova. This possibly explains why

researchers haven't seen the

phenomenon before. The faintest of

this category are only one-hundredth

as bright as a Type la. In addition,

this new type may not completely

destroy the white dwarf--it's essentially

a mini supernova. "It's the runt of the

supernova litter," said lead author,

Ryan Foley, in a press release. In order

to categorize the tiny supernova,

researchers examined 25 examples of

the new type. None of these

supernovae appeared in elliptical

galaxies, which are filled with old stars.

This suggested that the supernovae

are unique to young star systems. The

Type lax supernovae may shun older

star systems, but they seem to thrive

in binary star systems. Researchers

saw the new category in systems

containing a white dwarf and a

companion star that had lost its outer

hydrogen, leaving it helium dominant.

The white dwarf collects helium from

the normal star. NeWs DesK

india dePloyS dRoneS

to PRoteCt RhinoS

Problem: Poachers are killing more and

more protected rhinos in India's

Kaziranga national park, and the

sanctuary is too massive to effectively

patrol on the ground. Solution: Drones.

Officials in the state of Assam plan to

deploy the aircraft—presumably the

inexpensive, unmanned variety—to help

save their one-horned rhinos, reports

the Wall Street Journal. Park rangers

also now have automatic weapons and

the authority to kill poachers in the line

of duty, a development that has

alarmed human rights groups but has

the rangers sounding defiant. "I'm not

answerable to anyone to protect the

rhinos," says one ranger recently

involved in a shootout that left two

poachers dead. NeWs DesK

PoPe ShunS PalaCeaPaRtment

Pope Francis, much like his saintly

namesake, is keeping things simple. He

has shunned the fancy robes favored by

his predecessor, and now he's broken

with a tradition more than a century old

by declining to move into the grand papal

apartment in the Vatican's Apostolic

Palace, Reuters reports. For now, he

plans to stay in a simple two-room suite

in the hotel-style Vatican building where

he stayed during the papal conclave. The

palace quarters he has declined have

more than a dozen rooms, along with

staff quarters and a terrace overlooking

Rome. As archbishop of Buenos Aires,

Francis declined to move into the Bishop's

Palace and lived in a simple apartment,

often cooking his own meals, the BBC

reports. His current quarters are in a

communal building shared by priests,

where he eats his meals in a communal

dining room. NeWs DesK

It's hard not to be a little bit wowed bythe latest tale of tech riches: A 17-year-old Brit has sold news app Summly toYahoo, reports AllThingsD, whose KaraSwisher was told by sources that the pur-chase price was $30 million. Not tooshabby for an app with just under a mil-lion downloads and no monetizationplan—not that Yahoo likely cares. It'sshuttering the actual app and will weaveNick D'Aloisio's algorithmic summationtechnology into its own products.D'Aloisio has also agreed to work forYahoo—for the next 18 months.

Reports on the acquisition are focus-ing on how the buy will go a long way

toward helping Yahoo beefup its desired mobile-first image. Butthey're also sharing the kinds of quirkydetails you'd expect in a story like this.Some highlights from the New YorkTimes and the Telegraph:

D'Aloisio's 1996 birth date comestwo years after Yahoo's 1994 founding.

He released his first app when hewas 12, a finger-exercise app called Fin-ger Mill; over subsequent school vaca-tions he made apps like SongStumblrand Facemood (which assigns a happi-ness/sadness rating to your friends' Face-book posts).

He's the youngest person in history

to receiveventure capi-

tal funding:$300,000, which hewas wired on his 16th

birthday. He used that, plusanother $1.2 million, to makeSummly. He's not moving tothe US, but he will abide by

Yahoo's much decried newwork policy: He'llcommute to thecompany's London

office.The courtship was a

quick one: Summly officiallylaunched in November; Yahoo (and oth-ers) began a conversation with D'Aloisiothe next month. Among D'Aloisio's big-name investors: Stephen Fry, AshtonKutcher, Yoko Ono.

What he's doing with his windfall:"It’s going to be put into a trust fund andmy parents will help manage it."

Meanwhile, over at Gizmodo, youcan read all about the time Casey Chanmade 15-year-old Nick cry.

Summly does technically whatNewser does by hand: Summarize long-form news into briefs. NeWs DesK

Google and Sweden in warof words over ogooglebar

scientists come a step closer to invisibility cloak

17-year-oldmillions richerthanks to app

LHR 28-03-2013_Layout 1 3/28/2013 4:59 AM Page 14

SPorTS

SThursday, 28 March, 2013

15Argentina have so many good players who like to fight for their country.

So it is going to be a very good match. But I think Argentina have the

advantage because they are playing at home. – Jo Wilfried Tsonga

laHOResTaFF RePORT

THe Pakistan Cricket Board(PCB) has again formallyrequested the Cricket SouthAfrica (CSA) to send its

team to Pakistan for the Test and one-dayseries in October-November this year.Sources in the Board said PCB chairmanZaka Ashraf had, during his recent visitto Johannesburg, approached the SouthAfrican cricket officials and invited themto play in Pakistan. "Although, it's aforegone conclusion that South Africawill not tour Pakistan in October-November because of existing securityconcerns but Zaka has still tried toconvince them that security conditionsare such that an international team can

play in Pakistan," a source said.He said Ashraf reminded the South

African officials that Pakistan hadalways been in the forefront of helpingother countries and now it was the turnof other countries to support and help

out the strife-torn nation."Ashraf pointed out that Pakistan

just needed one high-profile team tobreak the ice and visit Pakistan. But theSouth Africa officials declined to makeany promises or commitments and itappears as if the series will be held inthe UAe," the source said. even in2010, Pakistan had to host its 'home'series against South Africa in the UAeas the Proteas had declined to tour thecountry. Meanwhile, the PCB chairmanhas expressed his satisfaction over theperformance of the national team inSouth Africa. "I think the team's overallperformance has been satisfactory. Inthe Twenty20 format, our performancewas very good. We must not forget thatthe South Africa team is number one inthe world," Ashraf said.

zaKa inviteS Sato Play in PaKiStan

sydNey ageNcIes

Former Australia captain Ricky Pontingsays he will play another season withTasmania after they won the SheffieldShield competition.

The 38-year-old retired frominternational cricket in December andhad been expected to make the currentdomestic season his last, but said he wasin good touch and wanted to carry on.

“I've told Tasmanian cricket thisweek that I'm really keen to play onagain next year,” said Ponting, who waslast week named Sheffield Shield playerof the year, having topped the inter-statecompetition's run-scoring list.

“But in the same breath, I've alsotold them not to contract me.

“I don't want to take a contract spotand pull out at the last minute.

“If I get through the (Australian)

winter really well and I'm still keen toplay again next year, then I'll obviouslygo round again.”

Ponting, the second-highest Testrun-scorer behind India's SachinTendulkar, is due to play in the IndianPremier League, for english countySurrey and at a Caribbean Twenty20tournament throughout 2013.

After winning the Sheffield Shieldon Tuesday, his first trophy with theisland state two decades after his debut,Ponting said he was still enjoying thegame.

“It's been a special time in mycareer, the last few months, to comeback around these boys and feel likeyou're having a bit of an influence overthe way they're playing their cricket,”he said.

“I love the culture and I wanted togive as much back as I could to Tassiecricket.”

Ponting to play on for Tasmania

Probables forChampionstrophy to benamed on friday

laHOResTaFF RePORT

The Pakistan's national selectioncommittee will meet in Lahore on Fridayto name the probables for the ICCChampions Trophy to be held in englandin June. PCB selectors are ready to makewholesome changes for the ChampionsTrophy but certain senior players YounisKhan, Shahid Afridi and Umar Gul arelikely to be retained for the tournament."The chief selector, Iqbal Qasim, has beentold by the Pakistan Cricket Board to holda meeting of its selection committee toname the probables for the ChampionsTrophy. The participating nations willhave to submit a preliminary list of 30players by April 4 and then the finalsquad of 15 by May 4," reports said. Theselectors will also examine the reasonsbehind Pakistan's disappointing tour ofSouth Africa, where they lost both theTest and ODI series. "The meeting whichis to be held on Friday could also seeserious discussions on the future of somesenior players," the source added. "Theselectors are ready to make wholesomechanges for the Champions Trophy butsome players Younis Khan, Shahid Afridiand Umar Gul are likely to be retained forthe tournament," he added.

Qadir lashes atindian wicketsfor aussie series

laHOResTaFF RePORT

Former Pakistan leg-spinner Abdul Qadirhas criticized the pitches prepared by Indiancurators for the recently concluded Testseries against Australia. "It is true that Test cricket is supposed to bea test of the batsmen and bowlers who mustshow the required skills to adapt themselvesin different conditions and pitches but toask any touring team to play on surfaceswhere the ball turns square on the first dayis not justified," Qadir said. The master spinner said he wasdisappointed to see the quality of some ofthe pitches prepared in the series. "I thinkthere needs to be some definite policy andguidelines from the ICC and it's memberboards on preparation of pitches for tests inany country," Qadir said. "even on Pakistan's recent tour to SouthAfrica most of the pitches were not evenand double paced," he pointed out. Qadirsaid India deserved to be 4-0 winners asthey had played the better cricket thanAustralia. "But as a former player andspinner. I don't think it is fair that anybatsman should be asked to play spinnerswho are turning the ball square from thefirst day of a match or you have surfaceswhere the bounce is uneven and there is apuff of dust most of the time a ball isbowled," he said.

Pietersen in linefor swift return

lONdONageNcIes

After their thrilling escape in the thirdTest against New Zealand at Aucklandengland have received more good newswith the announcement that KevinPietersen does not need surgery on histroublesome knee and is due to beavailable for the first Test of the summer,against New Zealand at Lord's on May16. Pietersen flew home after the secondTest and it was feared he would be out forup to eight weeks but subsequent scanshave shown that there was no cartilagedamage. Coach Andy Flower praised histeam after they salvaged a draw from theTest series with a memorable fightback byhis batsmen on the last day. "I thought Belland Prior were especially magnificent,"he said. But Flower conceded: "Weexpected, in these conditions, to playbetter. One of the factors is that the NewZealand swing bowlers did swing it, andwe didn't consistently."

lahore team named

for women CricketlaHORe

sTaFF RePORT

A 14-member Lahore Region Team has beenannounced for participation in the 8th NationalWomen Cricket Championship 2012-13. Thechampionship will be held on April 2 to 20 andthe team will be led by Marina Iqbal.The TeaM: Marina Iqbal (Captain), Namra

Imran (V.Captain), Hina Azam, Farah Naeem,

Bakhtawar Iqbal, Elizbeth Barkat, Mahlaqa

Mansoor, Hafsa Amjad, Kanwal Francis, Ayesha

Naz, Sidra Nawaz (W.K), Maham Rafique,

Sabahat Rasheed, Farzana Shafi.

STaND BY: Shamaila Fakhruddin, Arfa Talib

and Mehwish Tariq. Manager: Ammara Rubab.

FORMER AUSTRALIA CAPTAIN RICKY PONTING SAYS HEWILL PLAY ANOTHER SEASON WITH TASMANIA AFTERTHEY WON THE SHEFFIELD SHIELD COMPETITION

laHOResTaFF RePORT

Allan Donald the South African bowling coach, isextremely impressed by Mohammad Irfan, the tall fastbowler from Pakistan, and said that the Green Shirts shoulduse him carefully, saving his energies for the ICC CricketWorld Cup 2015, which is going to be played in Australiaand New Zealand jointly. The cricketer from Gaggu Mandimade his international debut in 2010 during the tour ofengland; however, the lanky pacer failed to make animpression at the ultimate stage of the game. The 30-year-old cricketer kept working hard in domestic cricket, makinghis way back to the international sport during the tour ofIndia earlier this year.

Irfan helped Pakistan win the ODI series against the Menin Blue and also impressed one and all during the recent tourof South Africa, picking up 11 wickets in just four matchesto end up as the highest wicket-taker of the series.

Donald, who himself is considered to be one of the finestfast bowlers of the modern-day sport, feels that Irfan shouldbe played only in important Test matches. The Proteas’bowling coach is of the opinion that the lanky speedster canplay an important role for Pakistan in the next World Cup.He expressed, “I wouldn’t play him in every Test but I wouldmake sure to look after him for the World Cup in 2015.” Theformer great is also impressed by Irfan’s attitude on the pitchand said that the 30-year-old cricketer will continue toimprove with the passage of time.

“He is definitely not shy to get down the pitch and intothe impact area, so it looks like he wants to get involved,”Donald said. “But he doesn’t come across as a spit-and-bloodkind of guy. He seems to be quite placid, and as he playsmore Tests he will learn when to get more in batsmen’s facesand when to try and provoke some sort of reaction.”Pakistan’s next major assignment in international cricket is

the ICC Champions Trophy 2013, which is going to beplayed in england in June. Prior to that, the Green Shirts willplay a couple of ODIs against Ireland and Scotland each.

Pakistan must use Irfancarefully: Allan Donald

LHR 28-03-2013_Layout 1 3/28/2013 4:59 AM Page 16

laHOResTaFF RePORT

SHOAIB Malik led SialkotStallions to a five-wicket victoryover Abbottabad Falcons inGaddafi Stadium. Falcons

batted first, but were reduced to 39 for 3

through some incisive bowling from RazaHasan. Yasir Hameed (43) and HammadAli (30) were the only meaningfulcontributions, as the rest of the battingfolded quickly, to leave them 135 for 9 atthe end of their 20 overs. Hasan had bestfigures of 3 for 35.

Shakeel Ansar was dismissed for a

duck, and Faisal Naved and ShahidYousuf didn't last long either as Stallionswere at a precarious 18 for 3. An 89-runstand between Shoaib Malik and AdeelMalik categorically took the game awayfrom Falcons. Shoaib Malik top-scoredwith 68, and Adeel Malik with 36. Thechase was finished off by Ali Khan and

Mansoor Amjad, as Stallions won withfour balls to spare. Falcons have lost twostraight now, after losing to MultanTigers yesterday.SCoRES: Sialkot Stallions 141 for 5(Malik 68, Hasan 3-35) beatAbbottabad Falcons 135 for 9 (Hameed43) by 5wickets.

sUper eIght t-20 CUp(

(

SPorTS S

Thursday, 28 March, 2013

16We stopped passing the ball and that's

when we lost control and I think they

deserved the equaliser. – Steven Gerrard

maliK GiveS StallionS viCtoRy

aUCKlaNd ageNcIes

Redemption was not a word New Zealandcaptain Brendon McCullum would botherto countenance after his side were denied atest series victory against england after thefinal match on Tuesday. McCullum's teamhad come into the series ranked eighth in theworld after a humiliating series loss in SouthAfrica marked by a first innings dismissalfor 45 runs in the opening test. AlastairCook's england arrived having overhauledIndia 2-1 in a rare series win in the

subcontinent and with few punditsregarding the New Zealand tour as muchmore than a warm-up for back-to-backAshes series later in the year. The touristsinstead found a combative New Zealandside who held the upper hand for most of thedrawn series and but for Matt Prior's defiantfifth-day century in the third and final testat eden Park, would surely have clinched it.“It was never about redemption,”McCullum said of his team's revival sincetheir South Africa doldrums. “For us it'sabout standing up and doing justice in yourrole as a New Zealand cricketer.”

Pride but no redemption for NZ

aUCKlaNdageNcIes

Alastair Cook's team return to england under noillusions they pulled off a great escape againstNew Zealand and can ill afford any furtherlapses in intensity ahead of back-to-backAshes series later this year. The world'ssecond-ranked test side were expected to wincomfortably over a New Zealand teamskittled for 45 runs by South Africa inJanuary and rocked by the clumsy demotionof former captain Ross Taylor. Instead,despite benign pitches and patchy weather,they found a New Zealand side intent onensuring that whatever advantage theygleaned on the field, they were made to earnit. The hosts bowled them out for under 200twice and but for a dropped catch and a set ofbails that refused to drop on the final day ofthe final test, Cook's team could well have losttheir first series to New Zealand since 1999. "Wehave to give a lot of credit to New Zealand," Cooktold reporters after the tense third test at eden Parkended in a draw and the series 0-0. "They haveplayed well and we haven't played as well as we cando. They put us under a lot of pressure ... atcertain times, we have just about managedto respond and hold on." Cook, whothroughout the tour denied his side weretaking the hosts lightly, struggled to taketoo many positives out of the series,other than their ability to save twoof the matches. In the first test inDunedin, Cook and Nick Comptonboth scored centuries in england's

second innings to resurrect their side after they werebowled out for 167 in the first. The Wellington weatherprobably saved New Zealand in the second test but most

concerning for england was how comprehensivelythey were outplayed in the deciding test in

Auckland. Shoulders slumped and disciplineflagged as england struggled in the field. Cook,at one point, seemed so bereft of ideas on howto stop opener Peter Fulton and captainBrendon McCullum feasting off theirbowlers ahead of a third innings declaration,that he scattered all nine fielders to theboundary. Matt Prior's match-saving centuryat eden Park will have restored some moraleahead of a busy home summer that includes areturn series against New Zealand, theChampions Trophy one-day tournament and

the first of their Ashes series against Australia.The result also showed that with wicketkeeper

Prior, who scored 73 in the first innings at edenPark, anchoring the lower middle order, they can

fight their way out of trouble. "We aredisappointed that in this series we haven't played as

well as we can," Cook said. "We haven't been beaten,and I think that's an important thing to have for a side,

to have that toughness when you are behind theeight-ball to fight and make yourself a very

difficult team to beat." There are furtherpositives on the horizon for Cook and histeam, with spinner Graeme Swann and

paceman Tim Bresnan expected to returnfrom elbow surgery for theinternational programme at home.World class batsman Kevin Pietersen,pending tests on his knee, shouldalso be back to strengthen the squad.

Pwf violatesworld body rules

laHOResTaFF RePORT

Pakistan Weightlifting Federationorganized Ist National WomenWeightlifting Championship on March 23at Lahore on single event clean and jerkcompetition basis whereas according toInternational Weightlifting Federationrules only in Olympic Game weightliftinghave two events snatch and clean and jerk.The PWLF against pressure of IWF toinduct women teams also according toOlympic charter was in hurry and did notarrange training of women in both events.So it ignored the event of snatch and heldcompetition with only clean and jerkevent which is a bit easy and declared it asa National Championship. I the backdropof the fact it would be illegal and unfair tocall it a national championship asprotested by former veteran internationalweightlifters, referees, coaches,organizers, upcoming new talent womenpowerlifters and weightlifters etc. Theyprotested and criticized PWLF for such anact which only favored WAPDA womenteam winning easily whereas such singleevent competition with clean and jerkcontest is called a tournament and not anational championship.In an emergency meeting held at Muslim Health

Club Shadbagh, former vice president PWLF Col

Asif Dar, former South Asian Champions

Ch.Mohammad Ameen, Kh Samiuddin, Adrees

Butt, Awais Akber, referee Zobair Yousaf Butt,

Akbar Ali Ghakkar, Baba Aslam Khan, Naveed

Malik of Wapda, former Pakistan coach, Khizer

Hayat, Prof Azher, Akeel Javed Butt and others

appealed to PSB and POA to enforce ad hoc on

PWLF and announce impartial elections.

lahore lionsrule the field

laHOResTaFF RePORT

Lahore Lions beat the Sialkot Stallionsby restricting them to 118 for 8, andwinning the match by 44 runs in Lahore.Opting to bat first, Lions were led byopener Nasir Jamshed who carried his batwith 71 off 56, which included sevenfours and a six. He did not get muchsupport from the top order as threewickets fell in the first ten overs. ButKarman Akmal and Jamshed put on 69runs for the fourth wicket to take theirrun-rate to over seven, and their scorebeyond 100. Once Akmal departed, AliAzmat's cameo of 21 off 11 addedimpetus to their innings, with Jamshed'sfifty helping them to a respectable score.Sialkot captain Shoaib Malik picked uptwo wickets, but gave away 35 runs,lacking practice because he he had notbowled during the one-dayers in SouthAfrica. Raza Hasan, playing a matchafter over three months, gave only 18runs in his four overs.Stallions were never in the race, losingwickets at regular intervals, as only oneplayer passed 20. The openingpartnership was broken in the third overby Aizaz Cheema, with Zia-ul-Haqstriking in the next over. No. 4 ShahidYousuf counter-attacked with a 11-ball17 before he was caught behind offWahab Riaz. The opener Shakeel Ansarwas run out on the very next ball. Malikcouldn't survive for more than five balls,and offspinner Adnan Rasool took overfrom there, picking up three wickets inhis four overs for 17 runs, which almostsealed the win for Lions. No. 9 batsmanBilawal Bhatti scored an unbeaten 24 totake them past 100, but the target provedtoo steep as Stallions eventually fell shortby 44 runs.SCoRES: Lahore Lions 162 for 6(Jamshed 71, Kamran 33, Bhatti 2-32)beat Sialkot Stallions 118 for 8 (Bhatti24, Rasool 3-17) by 44 runs.

taylor not happywith nz set-up

welliNGTON ageNcIes

ex-New Zealand skipper Ross Taylor,replaced as captain late last year, admittedon Wednesday he was not entirelycomfortable in the team following adramatic Test series draw against england.Taylor also indicated there was more to theway he lost the captaincy to BrendonMcCullum than has been revealed. “Iwouldn't say I'm as comfortable as I wouldlike to be but I guess time will tell,” Taylortold Radio Sport when questioned aboutthe atmosphere inside the New Zealanddressing room. Taylor would not go intodetails but said the full story of hisdemotion may yet be made public.“There's a lot of things that havehappened. Maybe over the next couple ofweeks or months, things might get told butas of now, it's probably not a great time totalk about it,” he said. Taylor, who sat outthe recent tour of South Africa, praised theperformance of his New Zealand team-mates, who came within a whisker ofrecording a rare Test series win against thepowerful england side on Tuesday. “Asone of the senior batters, it's nice for othersto come in and score some runs.Something I haven't done very much in aNew Zealand team is have to wait a coupleof sessions to bat. Hopefully I can startgetting used to that trend,” he said. Thethree-Test series against england ended inthree draws, with New Zealand just onewicket away from winning the third Test.

relieved england head homeafter wake-up call for Ashes

REDEMPTION WAS NOT A WORD NEW ZEALAND CAPTAINBRENDON MCCULLUM WOULD BOTHER TO COUNTENANCEAFTER HIS SIDE WERE DENIED A TEST SERIES VICTORYAGAINST ENGLAND AFTER THE FINAL MATCH

LHR 28-03-2013_Layout 1 3/28/2013 4:59 AM Page 17

SPorTSS

Thursday, 28 March, 2013

19They said that I had in recent months resisted the urge

to box but that is soon to change, however. Heavyweights

be warned, ‘The Hayemaker’ is back. – David Haye

els eyes shortcut to Chiangmaivictory

CHiaNGmaiageNcIes

Four-time Major winner ernie els will revertto the short putter at the inaugural ChiangmaiGolf Classic starting on Thursday as he seekshis first title of 2013. The reigning BritishOpen champion headlines the full-fieldAsian Tour event alongside Asia's first Majorwinner Y.e. Yang of Korea, New Zealand'sMichael Campbell and the region's topplayers including last week's winnerKiradech Aphibarnrat, Thongchai Jaidee,Arnond Vongvanij, Gaganjeet Bhullar andAnirban Lahiri at the immaculate AlppineGolf Resort-Chiangmai. Leading Japanesestars Tetsuji Hiratsuka, who has won ninetimes in Asia and Japan, MasanoriKobayashi, last season's Rookie of the Yearand Kenichi Kuboya are also tipped tocontend in the newest event on the AsianTour which is celebrating its milestone 10thseason this year. els, nicknamed the Bigeasy for his languid swing and easy-goingnature, has been frustrated by his lack ofsuccess during the first quarter of the year.With the Masters Tournament looming, he iskeen to get back into winning form.

asian tourchief predictsstart of new era

CHiaNGmaiageNcIes

Asian Tour supremo Kyi Hla Han believesa new wave of exciting talents will start todominate the region's premier Tour. Hisproclamation comes following stand-outperformances by the region's young gunsover the past month. India's Anirban Lahiri,25, started a glorious run for the youngguns by claiming his third Asian Tourvictory at the SAIL-SBI Open on home soilearlier this month before countrymanGaganjeet Bhullar, who is a year younger,settled for second place in the co-sanctioned Avantha Masters as his bid for afifth career Asian Tour title fell just short.

amar Cables beatlahore tigers

laHOResTaFF RePORT

Amar Cables beat Lahore Tigers by 75runs in the 15th National Senior VeteranCricket Cup. Playing at the played atShah Faisal Ground, Amar Cables Battingfirst 251/5 after 30 overs. Amer Ilyas Buttbatting well 59, Ameer Akbar 37 &Dastgir Butt 121 runs not out. MuhammadHashim 2/35, Muhammad Fayyaz 2/42 &Saifullah 1/66 wickets. In reply LahoreTigers 176/7 after 30 overs. MuhammadMunir 37, Saifullah 24, MuhammadYaqoob 40 runs not out & Saif Butt 24runs not out. Tariq Hussain Raju bowlingwell 3/34, Tariq Rasheed 2/33, AhmadShohab 1/14 & Rauf Wain 1/34 wickets.Masood Khan, Irfan Dilshad umpire &Farrakh Raja was the scorer.

Security 2000win polo match

laHOResTaFF RePORT

Security 2000 defeated Sea Gold in theelan Polo Cup here at the Lahore PoloClub ground on Wednesday. 2013Security 2000 cracked in six goals andopened up their danger area five times.While Maj Omer Minhas and SufiMuhammad Aamir supervised the match.

CHiaNGmaiageNcIes

Thongchai Jaidee is seeking divineintervention as he chases victory atthe inaugural Chiangmai GolfClassic which will secure him areturn to the Masters. Currentlyranked 59th in the world, the three-time Asian Tour number one needsnothing less than a win at the AlpineGolf Resort-Chiangmai this week tobreak into the top-50 which is thefinal cut-off to earn a place in theyear's first Major. The 13-timewinner visited one of Chiangmai's

most famous temples on Tuesdaymorning - the Wat Phrathat DoiSuthep - ahead of the ChiangmaiGolf Classic which starts onThursday. He is praying for a strongshowing against a stellar field whichincludes Major champions ernie els,Michael Campbell, Y.e. Yang andthe in-form Kiradech Aphibarnrat,who won in Malaysia on Sunday.

"It's my dream and if I win,then I will qualify. I will try mybest. I want to play well this week,there's a good chance. If not, thenno problem," he said. A start-stopweek at the Maybank Malaysian

Open due to weather disruptionssaw Thongchai finish tied 33rd."Last week, it was hard because ofthe weather. You start and stop,hang around the clubhouse and youcan't get any momentum going. Ifyou play well, the stops will makeit difficult for you in your mind,"said Thongchai. "I hit some balls atthe range today [Tuesday] andyesterday [Monday], the feeling isthere. Last week was tough as thecourse was not easy. If you hit goodshots, sometimes, the fairway is notflat and you have a tough angle." Areturn to Chiangmai brings back

fond memories for Thongchai as hewas part of the Thai amateur teamwhich won the 1995 SoutheastAsian Games team gold medal.

He also lauded the launch ofthe Asian Tour's newest and firsttournament in the northern city ofChiangmai. "This is the first AsianTour tournament in Chiangmai andI'm very proud of it. A lot of Thaipeople are very excited to see anew tournament here. I played herein the 1995 SeA Games andalthough the course has nowchanged, it is fantastic and thecondition is very good."

Thongchai prays for win in Chiangmai

miamiageNcIes

Serena Williams remains on course for a sixthSony Open title after defeating Li Na 6-3 7-6 (7/5)to reach the semi-finals on Tuesday. Williams, whohas now levelled Steffi Graf's record of 59 winningmatches at the event, battled back from 5-2 downin the second set to clinch a straight-sets win.

Breaking Li three times in each set, Williamssurrendered her own serve on three occasions towin after one hour and 50 minutes. The powerfulAmerican fired down three aces and coughed upsix double faults.

Williams will face either defending championand fourth seed Agnieszka Radwanska of Polandor 30th-seeded Belgian Kirsten Flipkens for aplace in the final. Williams now boasts a 7-1head-to-head record against Chinese star Li,whose only win came at Stuttgart in 2008. "I'mexcited," said the five-time champion in her on-court interview. "It's just great.

HOUsTONageNcIes

RORY McIlroy will this weekattempt to ensure his rivalTiger Woods' stay at the topof the rankings will be the

shortest possible one. Woods returned toworld number one on Monday for the firsttime since October 2010 after winning theArnold Palmer Invitational, his thirdtournament victory of the year. This weekwill be his 624th at the top but, withWoods not playing again until the Masterson April 11, McIlroy has the chance totake the position back straight away withvictory at the Shell Houston Open.

The 23-year-old's struggles thisseason have been well documented butthere are signs McIlroy is rediscoveringhis form, as evidenced by his seven-under-par 65 in the last round of the WGC

Cadillac Championship earlier thismonth. Woods' elevation ends a period ofeuropean dominance in the rankings,with Lee Westwood, Martin Kaymer,Luke Donald and McIlroy all topping thestandings since the American's fall.Woods admitted after his victory it hasbeen "a few years" since he felt as goodheading into the Masters and he is a clearfavourite to win his first major since theUS Open in 2008. The 37-year-old toldreporters: "Over a period of time it's beenyears since I've hit the ball thisconsistently day in and day out. "I'mgetting there. I'm very pleased that someof the shots that I struggled with last yearare now strengths. One of the things thatwe need to continue to work on is gettingit more refined.

"Because my good ones are reallygood. It's just making sure the bad onesaren't that bad, whether it's a driver, three

wood, long iron, wedge, whatever it is,that I'm missing the ball in the correctspots. "That's getting way better. I canstill continue to improve and clean upmy short game." Putting has beenWoods' major Achilles heel in the fiveyears since he won a major and theimprovement in that part of his gameprovides the main source of optimism forthe Masters and beyond.

He said: "The three events that I'vewon, I've putted well. It certainly helpedme out there at Doral and got me intoposition where I felt like I was nowputting like I did at Torrey. "And I'vebasically carried that on in the last coupleof weeks that I've played, and that feelsgood, especially when the wind isblowing like this. "To be that steady andhit the ball that solidly, that flush into thegrain where the wind is blowing and youcan't miss and get away with it.

Pressure on mcilroyto oust in-form woods

Serena downs Li Na to reach Miami semis

MIaMI: Novak Djokovic

plays a shot in the fourth

round of the Sony open.

LHR 28-03-2013_Layout 1 3/28/2013 5:00 AM Page 18

SPorTS SThursday, 28 March, 2013

18There are so many games at the moment,

and all of them are important. – Oscar

wAtCh It LIve

GEO SUPERStags v R Rams 12:00 PMWolves v K Dolphins 04:00 PMFalcons v Lahore Lions08:00 PM

veteran haas endsdjokovic dominance

miamiageNcIes

Germany's Tommy Haas recorded the upsetof the tournament when he stunned two-time defending champion Novak Djokovic6-2 6-4 in the fourth round of the SonyOpen at Miami on Tuesday. Haas, whoturns 35 next week, needed just 80 minutesto end Djokovic's 14-match winning streakat the tournament and consign the worldnumber one Serb to just his second loss ofthe season. "Playing against someone likeNovak and coming out on top at this time ofmy career, it's unbelievable," Haas toldreporters. "These are the moments Iappreciate the most, going on those bigstadiums, big stages, playing against thebest people in the world." Haas's win washis second over a world number one, some14 years after felling Andre Agassi in thequarter-finals of the 1999 Grand Slam Cup.

Grass Root levelCycle Race

laHOResTaFF RePORT

Grass Root Level Cycle Race will be heldon March 31 here to promote the sport atall levels of the society. Punjab CyclingAssociation Secretary Waqar Aliannounced that the Grass root level roadcycle race for promotion of cycling will beorganized at 08.00 am from Babu FishCorner, Ashraf Pan Shop Saddar ChowkLahore Cantt, will go to Mughalpura, LalPul, Fateh Garh, Harbanspura, Dyal Houseto Jallo More where the race will take turnback and terminate at Saddar Chowk, thestarting point of the race. MuhammadAshraf will be the Chief Guest of theoccasion and give start to the race.

waPda defeat Police

in inter-dept Baseball

laHOResTaFF RePORT

Pakistan WAPDA defeated Police by 12 runsto 5 on the second day of the NBP-Inter-departmental Baseball Championships at theUniversity of Central Punjab Complex hereon Wednesday. Wapda’s Usman Azemremained the main scorer with four runs.Sumair, Zubair Nawaz, and Zaheercontributed two runs each. Umair and AbuBaker also added one run each for WAPDA,who remained ahead throughout the match.For Police, which had won its opener againstHigher education Commission onWednesday, but lost to Wapda without givingmuch fight, the only scorers were ShahzadButt and M Abdullah, who made two runseach. Nadir earned one run. WAPDA willplay second match against HeC on Thursday.

uS hold mexico;Panama to go top

meXiCOageNcIes

Panama took sole lead in theCONCACAF qualifying group forthe 2014 World Cup thanks to a 2-0home win over former leadersHonduras. Strikers Luis Tejada andBlas Perez gave Julio Dely Valdes'side their first win in the six-teamround robin that offers three directberths to the World Cup finals andone play-off spot. After three roundsof matches, no team has won morethan one game and only three pointsseparate the six sides. Panama took avery early lead at the estadioRommel Fernandez as Tejada put histeam ahead in the second minute ofthe game, while Perez netted a long-distance shot to widen the gap at the75th minute. Panama boss DelyValdes said: "I'm very happy becausethe two forwards scored tonight."Also, we managed to correct somedefensive errors we made in theprevious match against Jamaica. "Butwe have gained only three points.Nothing else has happened yet.everything is quite even and willcontinue that way until the end of thefinal round." The United States took avaluable point against Mexico with agoalless draw at the estadio Azteca.Mexico had the best opportunities tocelebrate their first victory in the six-team group but their forwards werenot accurate and US keeper BradGuzan was in inspired form. USforward Herculez Gomez, who playsin Mexico for Santos, told TV stationTelevisa: "Taking something positivein a big venue like the Azteca isvery important for us. "We camehere with an intelligent strategy andfocused in an extraordinary way. Ihave to congratulate my team."

mUHammad bUTT

SUNDAY’S defeat brought thecurtains down on Pakistan’s tour ofSouth Africa. A humbling was

expected in the longer format and it dulyarrived. The shorter format was supposed tobe more even and it turned out to be just that.On the face of it, triumph in the one-off T20International and a narrow defeat in the ODI’sis not a bad result but one cannot help feelthat the ODI series could have been clinchedas well given that the South Africans were notat full strength.

AB De Villiers made sure that did nothappen in more ways than one. The SouthAfrican captain combined his leadership andwicket keeping duties with a superlativeperformance with the bat and proved to be thedifference between the two sides. Suffice tosay, his Man of the Series award was welldeserved.

Another player who played a crucial rolewas the seemingly innocuous Ryan Mclaren.The all rounder did not do too much with thebat but was more than a handful with the balltaking important scalps in all but one of theODI’s. His presence served to highlight aglaring weakness in the Pakistani camp; thelack of not just a quality backup fast bowlerbut a fast bowler who can contribute with thebat. Riaz could be afforded some leniency forhe was making a comeback but the all-rounder Pakistan did employ returned homewicket less while contributing with the batwhen the pressure was off. When it wasactually required and the heat was on, Boom

Boom predictably went bust.Misbah gets a lot of unjustified criticism

but his place-despite the fact that he finishedas the leading run scorer-and his overallstrategy in limited overs cricket arequestionable at best. Asad Shafiq was ourmost accomplished batsman in tests but couldhardly get a game in the shorter format.Admittedly he has never quite set the limitedovers stage on fire butpart of it is down to thefact that he continues to be made thescapegoat for the failure of others.

The axing of Nasir Jamshed after failingto perform in the first 3 games boggles themind. More so when you consider thealternatives; Hafeez continues to occupy theopening slot because he can bowl andFarhat’s main asset continues to be his father-in-law. Granted, he played a match winningknock in the 4th ODI for which he deservescredit, the left hander looked out of sorts even

when batting in the nineties.The bowling front looks more

encouraging. Fitness is the only obstaclestanding in the way of Junaid Khan andMohammad Irfan who were for the most partexcellent. Gul’s Jekyll and Hyde act wouldhave been disappointing had it occurred forthe first time but ten years on, the wiry fastbowler continues to blow hot and cold,sometimes even in the same over.

Overall it would not be amiss to say thatPakistan failed to take their chances over thecourse of the tour. Pakistan had a goldenopportunity to level the test series but failedto capitalize and had

Younis Khan grasped De Villier’s chancein the final ODI, the outcome may well havebeen different. As it stands they did not whichtells you that this lot is not quite there but thefact that they are getting into such positionsindicates they are not that far off either.

A chance lost

laHORe sTaFF RePORT

Lahore Garrison University (LGU) arrangedAnnual Sports Gala 2013 at Ayub Stadium,Lahore.

Students of LGU Main Campus and JinnahCampus participated in different sports like 100Meter race, Chatti Race, and Jado Karate.

The function was started with the marchpast and the parade commander asked thepermission from Vice Chancellor to start therace and competition between students. Withthe due permission of Vice Chancellor Prof. Dr.Jamil Anwar Ch & Registrar Brig WaqarHussain, male and female students of both

campuses participated in 100 M racerespectively.

Female Students of both campuses took partin ‘Chatti Race’ and ‘Jado Karate.’ ZahoorAhmed, Haris Hameed and Saira Batool gotFirst prizes in all the races respectively.

Besides of students male and female staffof Jinnah Campus and Lahore GarrisonUniversity participated in ‘Tug of War’ andmusical chairs competition. Female students ofUniversity participated in Aerobics as well.

Vice Chancellor Prof. Jamil Anwar Chaddressed the participants and congratulated theorganizers to arrange such wonderful event. Hevowed to create disciplined and skilled studentsto face the challenges of life confidently.

LGU Annual Sports Gala

LHR 28-03-2013_Layout 1 3/28/2013 5:00 AM Page 19

Published by Arif Nizami at Plot # 7, Al-Baber Centre, F/8 Markaz, Islamabad. Editor: Arif NizamiPublished by Arif Nizami at Qandeel Printing Press, 4 Queens Road, Lahore. Editor: Arif Nizami

Thursday, 28 March, 2013

KaraChI: Rangerspersonnel partol the streetsduring a search operationin Lyari on Wednesday. NNI

islamabadTaYYaB HUssaIN

fOR the first time in the country’s his-tory three top offices are being occu-pied by Sindhis while it is also ahistoric fact that no politician from

Sindh is a potential candidate for the primeminister’s slot.

Moreover, a critical analysis of the polit-ical scenario reveals that for the first time inhistory, Pakistan’s two top officers are beingheld by people having Baloch origin who canalso speak Sindhi and Seraiki. While twoPunjabi politicians - Nawaz Sharif and ImranKhan - are fighting for the top slot - a rareevent in the country’s history.

It is also one of its kind that all peopleat the helm of affairs are from the smallerprovinces, especially from Sindh andBalochistan - both the provinces where thenationalists have been raising their voiceagainst the dominant Punjabi establish-

ment. Moreover, none of the top decision-making slots have been captured by anypersonality from Punjab - a rare occasionfor the nationalist forces to have full faithin the upcoming polls.

For the first time in the country’s 65-year history, Sindhi politicians and tech-nocrats are at the helm of affairs asPresident Asif Zardari, National AssemblySpeaker Dr Fehmida Mirza and Chief elec-tion Commissioner (CeC) Justice (r)Fakhruddin G ebrahim are holding the topslots. Besides both President Zardari andcaretaker Prime Minister Justice (r) HazarKhan Khoso are Baloch who can speakSindhi and Seraiki languages simultane-ously. Traditionally, the match had alwaysbeen between the forces of centre-left andcenter-right and were supported by forcesof both extremes, but this time no centre-left party is there and the real match is be-tween the centre-right forces.

To add fuel to the fire, it would be firstelection since 1985 when no Bhutto is in

the field to challenge the establishment andrather a person related to Bhutto clan, hasbecome a part of establishment while thePunjabi politician Imran Khan is challeng-ing the forces of status-quo. Moreover, theother Punjabi politician Nawaz Sharif is in-volved in traditional ploys to keep the sta-tus-quo intact and also to keep the thronewithin his family.

Interestingly, for the first time in thecountry’s history, with Sindhis having theirhands on the top positions, two politiciansfrom Punjab - Nawaz Sharif and ImranKhan - are being dubbed as top contendersfor winning the upcoming polls that madethe forthcoming elections more attractive.

According to the political experts, owingto the presence of the Sindhis on the dominantpositions and the emergence of the Punjab-based politicians as the strong competitors forthe top slot, have multiplied the responsibilityof those who are at the helm of affairs to en-sure free, fair and transparent polls. As, thePML-N has already expressed its reservation

on the nominees of the PPP and strongly re-sisted the move to appoint its nominee for theslot of the caretaker premiership during eight-member parliamentary committee formed toreach a consensus. Due to which the matterhad to be refer to the election commission,which eventually appointed the PPP’s nomi-nee, Hazar Khan Khoso.

On the other hand, Imran Khan and Ja-maat-e-Islami (JI) chief Munawar Hassanhad also voiced concern over the appoint-ment of Khoso, saying that his past was notimpartial. However, they said they re-spected the eCP decision.

In such scenario, the role of the in-terim government and the eCP becameimportant, as how all these forces couldbe convinced with the results of the forth-coming general elections in case of theirdefeat. Talking to Pakistan Today, politi-cal analyst Dr Rasul Bakhsh Raees saidthat it was a unique opportunity that allthe people at the helm of affairs werefrom the smaller federating units. He saidthe role of President Zardari, the interimPM and CeC Fakhruddin G ebrahim inthe electoral process would be neutral. Hebrushed aside the assumption that holdingof free, fair and transparent polls undertop Sindhi leaders was doubtful.

“The role of the president is non-parti-

san and all other at the helm were electedconstitutionally. Hence, one cannot raisedoubts over their credibility mere on thebasis of ethnicity,” said Raees.

To a question about Khoso’s appoint-ment that he was nominated by Zardari sohe might have a leaning towards the PPP,he said all the proposed names for the PM’sslot were first presented before the eight-member parliamentary committee.

He, however, said that the parliamen-tary body had failed to choose any one ofthem in three days, resultantly the matterhad to refer to the eCP, which took the de-cision after thorough consultation “Weshould not raise any question about hiscredibility and efficiency, as the matter wassorted out constitutionally.”

He defended the political role of the pres-ident and went on saying that without in-volvement of Zardari in political matters, itwould not have been possible for the outgoinggovernment to complete its five-year tenure.

When asked about the PTI and JI’sreservations about the caretaker premier,Raees refused to comment, but said thatKhoso was a non-partisan individual anda man of good repute, hence one shouldnot point a finger at him because of hisold association or ethnicity at this junc-ture of time.

PesHawaRsTaFF RePORT

A Shia official of the Peshawar MunicipalAdministration was shot dead and his son in-jured on Wednesday.

The police said it was a sectarian attack.Peshawar Municipal Corporation Sub-Divi-sional Officer Khawaja Imran and his son Alihad left home in the morning in his officialjeep. When they reached near Izat KhanChowk Gulberg two terrorists riding a motor-cycle opened fire on them.

Witnesses said Imran died on the spotwhereas his son sustained serious bullet in-juries. The assailants fled from the scene. Ali

is said to be in serious condition.Imran had kept himself away from socio-po-

litical activities in the last couple of years. Thepolice registered a case and started investigation.Target killing of Shias is on the rise in Peshawarand its surrounding areas for the last severalweeks. Imran is the sixth victim since February.

Meanwhile, two volunteers of peacelashkar at Shakardara in Matta Swat wereshot dead late on Tuesday. The police saidthat Zakirullah, son of Fazal Muhammad;Shaukat Ali, son of Aitebar Gul; and AzizAli Shah were on night patrol duty in vil-lage Maira, Shakardara in Matta Tehsil ofSwat District. Unidentified people openedfire on them. Zakir and Shaukat died on thespot whereas Aziz survived. The frequentattacks on peace militias are causing unrestamong the people.

On March 25, Rahimullah was shot deadby unknown people at Charbagh whereasChaman was shot dead by unknown people atMalam Jabba on March 24 last.

islamabad aPP

Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) IftikharChaudhry on Wednesday observed that theelection Commission of Pakistan (eCP)knew better how to implement articles 62 and63 of the constitution.

He said this while heading a three-mem-ber bench during the hearing of a petitionfiled by Dr Mubashir Hassan against ̀ pre-pollrigging’. During the proceedings, JusticeChaudhry remarked that the petitioner wantedto ensure implementation of articles 62 and63. However, the court had already directedthe eCP to ensure voters access to the candi-dates’ data and sought detail over the stepstaken in that regard to avoid pre-poll rigging.

The bench was apprised that the condition

of holding a degree had also been quashed.Azhar Siddique, one of the lawyers rep-

resenting Dr Hassan, apprised the court thatthe eCP was giving wrong information aboutthe verification of degrees as revealed by theHigher education Commission (HeC).

The CJP asked him to identify the personsabout whom the eCP had provided wrong in-formation so the court could summon them.

He remarked that that how could the eCPhandle elections and the court proceedingsside by side. either it should conduct elec-tions or attend court proceedings, he added.

Another counsel for the petitioner con-tended that the Supreme Court, in its July 31order, had declared November 3 steps takenby former president Pervez Musharraf as nulland void. Musharraf, who had violated theconstitution, was now preparing to contestelections, he added.

On this, the CJP said that the objectionshould be raised from where Musharrafwould submit nomination papers.

Later, the court adjourned the hearing forone week.

Dr Hassan has alleged that Rs 50 billionwere being used to rig the elections.

PesHawaRsTaFF RePORT

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa caretaker Min-ister for Information, Public Rela-tions, Culture, education, SocialWelfare, Ushr and Zakat MusarratQadeem on Wednesday took seriousnotice of the poor representation ofwomen in the decision making fo-rums of all her subordinate depart-ments, especially education.

She established a committee ofsecretaries and directors of the de-partments of primary, secondaryand higher education to devise a vi-able strategy to ensure equal repre-sentation of women in the decisionmaking process.

Presiding over a briefing arrangedby the heads of information, public re-lations, culture, social welfare, ushrand zakat departments in Peshawar,the provincial minister declared thatshe would not tolerate any sort of cor-ruption in her departments and warnedthat ‘those found guilty of this cancerwould be dealt with iron hands’.

She said that in the present cir-cumstances, the information and cul-ture departments were of great

importance. Qadeem said terrorismand extremism had spread every-where around the globe and peoplehad to be kept informed regarding theday to day happenings.

“For this purpose the departmentof information should play the vitalrole as per its duty,” she said.

She said the information depart-ment should be equipped with the lat-est info-tech tools and assured thatshe would do her level best for theoverall improvement of the depart-ment. She promised that along withthe restructuring of the informationdepartment, efforts would also bemade to establish a TV and FM radiochannels in Peshawar.

Referring to the social welfare de-partment, Musarrat Qadeem statedthat the department was the only waythrough which the government couldsupport the poor and the downtroddensections of the society.

Information and Culture Secre-tary Azmat Hanif Orakzai and SocialWelfare and Zakat Secretary SyedKhalid Hussain Gilani also briefedthe minister on the performance andfuture line of action of their respec-tive departments.

Corps commandersmeeting discussespeaceful polls

RawalPiNdisTaFF RePORT

Chief of Army Staff Gen Ashfaq Kayani onWednesday chaired the 159th monthly corpscommanders meeting at the General Head-quarters, Rawalpindi. The meeting discussedmatters pertaining to professional prepared-ness and peace situation in the region and ex-pressed satisfaction at the army’s vigilance.According to sources, Gen Kayani took theparticipants of the meeting in confidence overhis recent visit to Jordan and meeting with USSecretary of State John Kerry there. Themeeting also discussed the strategy for ensur-ing peaceful elections in the country witharmy deployment in sensitive areas as desiredby the election Commission of Pakistan tomaintain peace. Meanwhile, the Interior Min-istry has decided to formulate a task force toprovide security during the upcoming elec-tions. The ministry decided that the represen-tatives of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), theMilitary Intelligence (MI), the IntelligenceBureau (IB) and the eCP would be includedin the task force. The ministry also shared areport, regarding the security threats duringthe polls, with the eCP. It was decided thatthe provinces will be asked to provide infor-mation about the sensitive areas that will needprotection by army during polls.

Sindhis at helm of affairs for the first time in country’s historyPRESIDENT ZARDARI, NA SPEAKERDR FEHMIDA MIRZA AND CECFAKHRUDDIN G EBRAHIM AREHOLDING COUNTRY’S TOP SLOTS

NO BHUTTO IS THERETO CHALLENGEESTABLISHMENT IN POLLS

TWO PUNJABI POLITICIANS,NAWAZ SHARIF AND IMRANKHAN, ARE FIGHTING FORCOUNTRY’S TOP SLOT

shia official shotdead in peshawar

TWO TERRORISTS OPENFIRE ON KHAWAJA IMRANAND HIS SON ALI NEAR IZATKHAN CHOWK

COUNSEL SAYS ECP ISGIVING WRONGINFORMATION ABOUTVERIFICATION OF DEGREES

eCp knows how to implementarticles 62, 63: Cjp

Kp minister concerned by poorrepresentation of women

19

LHR 28-03-2013_Layout 1 3/28/2013 5:00 AM Page 20