Saturday, 7 July, 2012 Shaban 16, 1433Lahore editionRs 15.00 Vol iii no 12 18 pages

PAGE | 18 PAGE | 18

No power outagesin Ramadan, says Mukhtar

Pentagon freeing $1.1 billion withheldfrom Pakistan

No new agreementwith Pakistan on NATOsupply: Hoagland

PAGE |03

KArAChI: Activists of religious parties shout anti-government slogans during a

protest on friday against the restoration of NATO supply routes. afP | story on Page 03

QUETTAShAhzAdA zulfIqAr

As many as 18 Pakistani illegal immigrants, ma-jority of who were Punjabis, were gunned downand two others injured in a deadly attack inKechh district, 1,200kms from Quetta on Friday.

The Baloch Liberation Tigers claimed re-sponsibility for the attack that was carried outin the Kadan mountainous area near the Iran-ian border.

Reports said a group of illegal immigrantsfrom Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwaprovinces were going to Iran through unconven-tional routes in four SUVs after dusk. Unidenti-fied armed men on four motorcycles stopped thevehicles and pulled out all non-locals, lined themup and opened indiscriminate fire on them.

As a result, 18 of them were killed and twoinjured, while one was lucky to escape unhurt.

Among the dead, 13 were from Punjab,while the remaining five hailed from KhyberPakhtunkhwa. The two people injured and theone who remained unhurt are also from Punjab.

Kechh Deputy Commissioner MohammadAslam Tareen said there was unauthenticnews about the incident involving illegal Pak-istani immigrants being hauled to Iran byhuman smugglers in the mountainous area ofKadan, 110kms from Turbat.

He said unknown armed men opened in-

discriminate fire on the vehicles that resultedin the killing of 18 people.

Tareen said a team had been dispatched tothe area to confirm the reports.

He said the district administration gatheredthe information through its tribal/local sources.

To a question, he said in the wake of anumber of incidents of armed attacks on ille-gal Pakistani immigrants at main border entrypoints, the administration had increased secu-rity around the main border crossing.

Tareen said following enhanced securitymeasures at main entry points, the smugglershad started hauling people who wanted toreach European countries for seeking work toIran through ragged mountainous routes.

A spokesman of Baloch Liberation Tigers,Meeran Baloch, called several newspapers’ of-fices and claimed responsibility for the killing.

Balochistan has been a hotbed of both eth-nic and sectarian violence for the last severalyears now. Baloch rebels, irked by the govern-ment’s alleged inattention towards the re-source rich province, have found solace infrequently killing non-Baloch residents acrossthe province, especially those from Punjab.

Just like sectarian cleansing of Shias, Pun-jabis have also been in the line of fire of Balochrenegades, who want independence for theprovince and want all non-Baloch settlers toreturn to their respective areas.

18 ‘non-Baloch’men murdered incold blood in Kechh g 13 Punjabis, 5 from KP among the dead g Deceasedwere being hauled by human traffickers to Iran

ISLAMABADAGENCIES

President Asif Ali Zardari on Fridayhad a late night meeting with his coali-tion partners to discuss the proposedamendments to the contempt of courtand dual nationality laws as the oppo-sition parties made their own strategyto oppose the amendment bills.

The meeting was co-chaired byPrime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf andattended by former prime minister

Yousaf Raza Gilani, Shujaat Hussain,Pervez Elahi, Haji Adeel, Afrasiab Khat-tak, Farooq Sattar, Nadeem Ahsan, MirIsrarullah Zehri, Abbas Khan Afridi andMunir Khan Orakzai.

Information Minister QamarZaman Kaira, Law Minister FarooqNaik and Spokesman to the PresidentFarhatullah Babar were also present.

Later, the president’s spokesmantold reporters that the law ministerbriefed the meeting on the legislativemeasures proposed to be placed before

the National Assembly and the Senateduring the current session.

Naik told the meeting about the ra-tionale and background of the pro-posed legislative measures which hadalready been approved by the cabinet.

He said a constitutional amend-ment bill, called the 21st ConstitutionalAmendment Bill, would be placed be-fore the National Assembly to increasethe family pension from 50 percent to75 percent for the widows of

Govt tweaks strategy forconstitutional amendments

Continued on page 04

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02Saturday, 7 July, 2012

News

today’s

LookQuick

NEWS

Story on Page 05

lAhOrE

Story on Page 07

CArtOON

On Page 11

The red spreads Jd to take the road toIslamabad

Committee for CEC appointment to

meet on Monday ISLAMABAD: The parliamentary committee for the appointment of a new chief electioncommissioner (CEC) will meet on July 9 (Monday) to consider candidates for the post. Thebipartisan parliamentary committee, headed by PPP’s Syed Khursheed Shah, is responsiblefor the final approval and would hold deliberations on the appointment of the next CEC.According to reports, the deadlock over the issue of CEC’s appointment was created when thePML-N rejected all three names proposed by former prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani andlater refused to hold further consultations with him, saying the party would not hold talkswith a convicted person. The PML-N later nominated acting CEC Justice Shakirullah Jan,Justice (r) Fakharuddin G Ebrahim and Justice (r) Nasir Aslam Zahid for the post. Thegovernment has proposed the names of Justice (r) Munir A Sheikh, Justice (r) Amirul MulkMengal and Justice (r) Zahid Qurban Alvi. The PML-N received a boost when a government’scoalition partner, Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), supported its nominee Nasir AslamZahid. Under the 18th Amendment, the tenure of the CEC has been increased to five yearsfrom three and the procedure for his appointment has been changed. ONlINE

68 MPs have fake degrees, confirms NaekISLAMABAD: Federal Law Minister Farooq H. Naek has said that the graduation degreesof more than 60 members of parliament were found to be forged and that action was beinginitiated against them. In a written response in the National Assembly Friday, Naek said thegovernment is initiating proceedings against 68 MPs for possessing fake degrees. He saidthat 22 members had given false statements at the time of submission of their documents.An application has been given to DPOs to lodge FIRs against nine MPs while eight cases arepending before the Election Commission. He said that a total of 274 people — 190 fromPunjab, 63 from Sindh, 12 from Balochistan and eight from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa —benefited from the NRO. All these cases, he said, were reopened after the NRO was struckdown by the Supreme Court, he added. INP

Price of petrol likely to be slashed againISLAMABAD: The price of petrol is likely to go down by Rs 2 per litre from July 15,a private TV channel reported on Friday. According to the channel, the governmenthad decided to slash the price of petrol in line with international prices. However, theprices of diesel and other POL products might go up by Rs 1 to 4. NNI

5 children die of polio in NWA, Khyber AgencyPESHAWAR/WANA: Polio has claimed the lives of three children in NorthWaziristan and two in Khyber agency while several others have been affected.According to reports from the tribal region, the disease of polio has spread in the areaand dozens of children have been affected because militants have not allowed theimmunisation teams to administer polio drops to children in the far flung areas.Agency Surgeon Dr Mohammad Sadiq said that dozens of children have been broughtto the hospital and admitted. The disease has also spread in the Ghundi area ofKhyber Agency affecting several children. INP

KARACHIISmAIl dIlAwAr

The federal government has sparkedan intense guessing game across thecountry by declaring the reopeningof its land routes for NATO supplieswithout issuing a formal notifica-tion.

Amid endless rumours, themedia is reporting round-the-clockthat the recent post-sorry patch upbetween Washington and Islamabadhad kick-started the transportationof war supplies to NATO-led Inter-national Security Assistance Forces(ISAF) in Afghanistan.

However, none of the concernedquarters, be it officials at the coun-

try’s two seaports or the haulers orthe intelligence agencies, are con-firming the reports of supplies re-sumption.

Even the General Headquarters(GHQ), perceivably one of country’smost active and influential centresof power, claims to have received noorder from the government.

“No, nothing has resumed. Wehave received no official order,” saida well-placed official at Port Qasim,country’s second largest seaport.

The official said the GHQ hadalso not received any instruction forthe restoration of NATO supply.

Some containers reported tohave been dispatched to Afghanistanfrom Port Qasim might belong to

Shaheen Freight Service and QasimFreight Service and not the PQA, theofficial said.

Fearful though, the transportersare awaiting a formal governmentorder to start the transportation ofover 2,843 containers, 8,658 boxes,3,326 vehicles, 27 plat racks andother cargo lying in various yards ofthe country’s two seaports, KarachiPort and Port Qasim.

Of the total, some 1,558 contain-ers are stranded at Pakistan Interna-tional Container Terminal andKarachi International ContainerTerminal of Karachi Port, while1,285 others are stuck at Qasim In-ternational Container Terminal ofPort Qasim.

gHQ awaits official order

on nato supplies

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03Saturday, 7 July, 2012

NewsEDitOriAlfor our own good:

COMMENt

Articles on Page 14-15

No alternative to cooperation.

Arif Nizami says;In the national interest: But, of course.

Aziz-ud-din Ahmad says;Friendship with benefits: Our enmity with India is impractical.

raoof hasan says;A new mask: Let hope take a back seat, let’s be sold to the devil again.

ArtS & ENtErtAiNMENt

Story on Page 12

NEWS

Story on Page 18

SPOrtS

Story on Page 14

rihanna sues ex-accountants over loss of money Tendulkar, Kylie in wimbledon royal box

KARACHITArIq hAbIb

THE Karachi policeand intelligenceagencies on Fridayfoiled an attempt tosmuggle antiquities

worth billions of rupees and ar-rested two persons in connectionwith the attempt.

In a recent meeting, the Na-tional Assembly’s Standing Com-mittee had unveiled that at least40 antiques were stolen from Na-tional Museum Karachi in 1986.

Further, the NA body hadsaid some 12 mummies of Bud-dha were also stolen from thesame museum in 1995.

Some mummies were also

stolen from the Archeology Mu-seum Taxila in 1995.

Eleven of those, however,were later recovered.

Around 138 antiques werestolen from Fort Museum Lahorein 1996, while 61 antiques of sil-ver and copper were burgled fromTaxila Museum in 1999, the com-mittee had said.

On Friday, law enforcementofficials acted on a tip-off and ar-rested a driver and a conductor ofa trawler which was transportinga container.

The security personnel inter-cepted and searched a containerin Awami Colony, Korangi and re-covered valuable, including an-cient idols, statues and variousutensils.

The antiquities included 10idols, a number of small statuesand various utensils, hidden un-derneath cleaning items, bales ofstraw and other miscellaneousitems such as furniture, slippersand water coolers.

Intelligence officials saidmost of the antiquities had beenstolen from various museumsacross the country, including theSwat museum. Some of the itemswere believed to have been smug-gled from Afghanistan. The antiq-uities cost billions of rupees, anofficial said.

The centuries-old antiquesare said to be remnants of ancientBudhist civilization from acrossSouth Asia, includingAfghanistan. Karachi police

started investigation and raidedvarious localities for the arrest ofthe member of the racket.

“The arrested men told thepolice that they were moving to-wards Rawalpindi while theypicked the container from BinQasim Port,” an official said.

The NA standing committeeon culture said 324 antiques werestolen from different museums ofthe country during the past 21years and the police had only re-covered 11 of them.

Several historical antiqueshave been smuggled abroad.

Of them, the United States re-turned 38 while authorities in theCulture Ministry are in talks withthe French authorities for the re-turn of 17 other.

Karachi police foil attempt tosmuggle antiquities worth billions

ISLAMABADAGENCIES

Several religious parties and groups onFriday staged demonstrations acrossthe county against the government’sdecision to unblock supply routes forNATO troops in Afghanistan.

Demonstrations were organized bythe Difa-e-Pakistan Council (DPC), ajoint platform of various religious andpolitical parties, in all main cities andtowns across the country to expressanger at the government’s decision.

In Quetta, demonstrators burnt

portraits of US President BarrackObama and US and NATO flags.

A large number of people marchedin Karachi and lashed out at the gov-ernment for allowing its land routes forsupplies to US and NATO forces.

Addressing the rally, Jamaat-e-Is-lami leader Muhammad HussainMehanti said the government’s move toreopen NATO supplies was against thewill of people.

Mehanti said the US had become amajor threat to the security of the re-gion, especially as it had turned apeaceful Afghanistan into a battlefield.

Jamaat-ud-Daawa and other groupsalso staged demonstrations in Karachi,in which the speakers vowed to mobi-lize public opinion against the govern-ment’s decision.

Demonstrations and rallies werealso held in other parts of Sindh.

In Lahore, Jamaat-e-Isalmi,Jamiat-e-Ahl-e-Hadith and severalother parties took out processions andcondemned the unblocking of NATOsupply line.

JI leaders Munawar Hasan and Li-aquat Baloch told a rally that the USeven did not tender an apology and Sec-

retary of State Hillary Clinton only said“sorry” and the Pakistani rulers just ac-cepted that.

They said the government ignoredparliament’s resolution which hadcalled for a halt to US drone strikes andimposition of tax on the NATO contain-ers. But the government withdrew itsdemand for levying the tax on theNATO trucks.

A demonstration was also held inIslamabad, in which the speakers de-manded the government withdraw itsdecision of reopening the NATO supplyline.

Rallies were also held in Hyder-abad, Sukkur, Multan, Faisalabad, Gu-jranwala, Rawalpindi, Peshawar,Mardan, Bannu, Dera Ismail Khan andDir.

The speakers expressed seriousconcern over the government’s decisionto allow arms supply to Afghan securityforces, saying it would pave the way forPakistan’s involvement in the Afghanwar.

The DPC has also called for a longmarch on July 8 from Lahore to Islam-abad against the resumption of NATOsupplies.

Demos against resumed NAtO supply held across the country

ISLAMABADAGENCIES

Deputy Chief of Mission for the US em-bassy, Richard Hoagland on Friday saidthere was no new agreement with Pak-istan regarding the reopening of theNATO supply route.

Talking to reporters, Hoagland saidrelations were resumed from the pointwhere they had been left in November lastyear.

He said the reopening of the supplyroute would help eliminate the trustdeficit in Pak-US relations.

“There are differences on the issue ofDr Shakil Afridi and the work of US diplo-mats but these issues were not part of therecent negotiations between the two coun-tries,” Hoagland said.

Earlier‚ addressing a pre-departureorientation session for the winners of Ful-bright Scholarship Programme‚ Hoaglandsaid thousands of Pakistani students hadacquired higher education in the Ameri-can universities under the programme.

He said the US had a tradition of em-bracing international students‚ includingthose from Pakistan.

Executive Director of US EducationFoundation in Pakistan‚ Rita Akhtar saidover 180 Pakistani students had beenawarded Fulbright scholarship in Masters

and PhD classes this year.She said presently there were greater

opportunities for Pakistan students tostudy in the United States.

Pakistan’s helpcritical in US’sefforts to stabiliseAfghanistan: report

NEW YORKAPP

A leading American newspaper on Fridaywelcomed the ending of a seven-monthblockade on Afghanistan-bound NATO supplyroutes, as it underscored the importance ofPakistan’s help to the US in stabilisingAfghanistan. “It (the reopening of the routes)took way too long, but the compromiseagreement is the best news in months,” TheNew York Times said in an editorial, ‘Detenteon Supply Routes’. “It gives both sides a chanceto halt a further slide in their troubled,mutually dependent relationship”. “Bothcountries needed a deal and got something forit,” the Times said, referring to accord underwhich the US finally apologised for theAmerican airstrikes that killed 24 Pakistanisoldiers at Salala last November and Pakistanresponded by reopening the supply routes. Theeditorial noted that the Obamaadministration’s refusal to offer an apology andits use of the longer ground and air routesthrough Russia cost Washington some $100million more a month. “Pakistan has paid aprice for the closure,” the Times said.

Pakistan to scan allNAtO containersKARACHI: All containers passing through Pakistan to supplyNATO troops in Afghanistan are to be scanned to ensure they donot contain ammunition and weapons, customs officials saidFriday. Islamabad reopened overland routes to NATO convoysearlier this week after closing them in protest at a US air raidthat killed 24 Pakistani soldiers at a border post in November. Anumber of trucks have already crossed into Afghanistan, but thevast majority are still at the Arabian Sea port of Karachi, wherethey have stood idle for the past seven months. “We scanned thecontainers randomly in the past, but now every container will beduly scanned,” Karachi customs spokesman Qamar Thalho said.He said any item “not mentioned in the agreements betweenPakistan and Afghanistan and Pakistan and NATO” could beseized. An official speaking on condition of anonymity said themove was intended to stymie opposition parties and religiousgroups — who have criticised the resumption of supplies. “Astrict scanning of the cargo is just one important measure not togive enough space to the opposition to exploit publicsentiments,” the official said. AfP

no new agreement with Pakistan

on nato supply: Hoagland

KARACHI:

Government

personnel offload

smuggled Gandhara

statues from a truck

on Friday. Imran aLI

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04Saturday, 7 July, 2012

News

wAGAh: released Pakistani prisoners, including Pakistan Army serviceman muhammad Anwar (C), cross into Pakistan on friday

after their release from India. afP

judges of the Supreme Court andhigh courts. He said the 22ndConstitutional Amendment sought toremove impediments in the way ofPakistanis holding dual nationalitiesfrom contesting election toparliament.Babar said many countries of theworld permitted the holding of dualnationalities/citizenships and thePakistan Citizenship Act alsopermitted dual nationality. Naik said it had been a longstandingdemand of overseas Pakistanis thatthere should be no impediments intheir way to run for the nationalparliament. “Through the proposedamendment in Article 63 (1)(c) theconstitutional bar on the dualnationality holders to be members ofparliament would be lifted,” he said.

He said the third legislative measurepertained to enacting a law relatingto the contempt of court. He said theproposed contempt law was a blendof the powers of the court to punishfor its contempt with the right ofcitizens in a democracy for faircomments and criticism.He explained that the proposed lawprovided for punishment forcontempt as well as full opportunityto the accused of a fair trial,including transparent procedures forright to appeal. He said the right forappeal was being streamlined in thebill.The law minister said the fourthlegislative measures was anordinance that would be placedbefore the National Assembly tovalidate acts, orders and otherinstruments made and issued fromApril 26 to June 19 by former prime

minister Gilani.Prime Minister Ashraf also briefedthe meeting on the current energysituation and the measures taken toaddress the issue. He said the powersituation was steadily improving andthe government was keeping a strictwatch on the progress in addressingthe issue of energy shortages.The president’s spokesman said thecoalition partners reiterated theirsupport to the government.OPPOSItION: Meanwhile, themain opposition party decided tooppose the dual nationality bill. Earlier, Leader of the Opposition inNational Assembly Nisar Ali Khanreiterated his party’s stance, sayingthat the PML-N would oppose thedual nationality and contempt ofcourt amendments in parliament.In a statement issued by his office onFriday, Nisar said the government

was trying to make parliament arubberstamp due to its policies andwould have to face protests by theopposition in the coming NationalAssembly sessions.Nisar said the government hadrestored NATO supply routesviolating parliamentary resolutions,which was not acceptable.The opposition leader highlightedthe issues of load shedding, pricehike, unemployment andlawlessness, saying that the commonman’s life had become a nightmaredue to these problems.The PML Likeminded also decided tooppose the bill with party leader,Kashmala Tariq saying that theamendment would endanger thesolidarity of the country, adding that thepeople who wanted to amend theconstitution were working for thepromotion of foreign agenda in Pakistan.

LAHOREAImA KhOSA

Civil rights activists and members of the mi-nority Ahmediya community on Fridayslammed the Pakistan TelecommunicationAuthority (PTA) for adding the group’s offi-cial website, alislam.org, to its ever swellinglist of banned websites without prior warn-ing or notice.

“Our community has been sufferingunder oppressive policies and laws for years,and this just comes as an unsurprisingblow,” Saleem-Ud-Din, a spokesperson forthe persecuted minority group said whiletalking to Pakistan Today. He said that thewebsite only displayed an introduction totheir faith and carried a profile of MirzaGhulam Ahmad, the group’s founder.

When asked if PTA had issued priorwarning or notice, Saleem-Ud-din said thatthey had been given no indication, and thewebsite was banned without the administra-tion of the website being informed as to rea-sons why. He rejected charges that thewebsite contained any blasphemous con-tent, saying it simply provided an introduc-tion to their religion.

“In today’s day and age, it is impossibleto shut down websites like ours. Today if onewas banned; tomorrow five new ones willappear,” he said.

Munawar Shahid, a human rights ac-tivist, also stressed that the sole purpose ofthis website was to educate the Ahmediyacommunity abroad and did not contain anyhateful or blasphemous material.

Condemning the PTA action, Shahidsaid that Pakistan had ratified the UN Dec-

laration of Human Rights and this move wasa violation of human rights, whereby thevoice of the Ahmediya community has beensuppressed.

Several civil society activists vehementlydenounced this step by PTA, which has re-cently taken several steps to bottleneck free-dom of expression and viewership on theinternet.

“If you notice the trend over the last fewyears, you will find that there has been a de-crease in tolerance by the very institutionsthat are supposed to protect the minorities,”said human rights activist and prominentlawyer, Hina Jillani. “Any action that cur-tails the freedom of speech and religion ofany individual should be condemned,” shesaid.

She also expressed the need for an inde-pendent body, which commands respect andfaith of the public and minorities, to reviewsuch cases and verify or invalidate suchclaims and complaints against websites, be-fore PTA decides to take countermeasuresagainst them.

The Constitution of Pakistan disbars theAhmediya community from propagatingtheir religion. According to news reports,the Muttahida Ulema Board (MUB) lodgeda complaint against alislam.org saying thatit violated that certain clause of the consti-tution. The website according to MUB car-ried blasphemous content as well.

Pakistan Today contacted the media co-ordinator for PTA in Lahore, Mustafa Pashabut he refused to comment on the policies ofthe authority. Repeated attempts were madeto contact the PTA chairman but his phonewent unanswered.

KABULAfP

AHEAD of the exit of foreigncombat troops, Afghanistanfaces pressure to tackle perva-sive corruption as it seeks bil-

lions in new aid at an internationalconference in Tokyo on Sunday.

Tens of billions of dollars havepoured into Afghanistan since the US-ledinvasion that toppled the Taliban in late2001, but graft is rife from local police tohigh officials, and patience among donorcountries is wearing thin.

Afghanistan wants to see around $4billion a year in civilian assistancepledged in Tokyo for its aid-dependenteconomy, amid fears that donationscould dry up when NATO pulls out in2014. But a principle of “mutual account-ability” will be stressed at the 70-nation

meeting, making continued payment ofaid conditional on Kabul makingprogress, particularly on transparency.

After more than 30 years of war, theAfghan economy is weak and the countrycannot survive without foreign aid. Ac-cording to the World Bank, spending ondefence and development by donors ac-counted for more than 95 percent of GDPin 2010-11. Without a functioning econ-omy, Kabul covers only $2 billion of the$6 billion it spends each year not count-ing security costs, said a Western diplo-mat, with donor countries making up thedifference. President Hamid Karzai, whowill be in Tokyo along with officials in-cluding US Secretary of State HillaryClinton and United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon, has called for $4 billion a year incivilian aid for Afghanistan.

That would add to the $4.1 billionpromised annually at a Chicago confer-

ence in May for security costs.The Western diplomat said the Afghans

were terrified that when NATO pulls out,the money will disappear with them.Sources expect a deal worth up to $3.9 bil-lion a year to be agreed in Tokyo, but aftermore than 10 years of sacrificing soldiersand tax dollars to the Afghan cause, leadingdonors are proving hard to persuade.

“We are not blind. We feel a consid-erable fatigue among the taxpayers,” saidanother diplomat.

European Union ambassador Vygau-das Usackas said the bloc was “commit-ted to continue to prioritise the supportto Afghanistan in the coming decade, en-hancing our overall support post-2014”.

But the money will come with stringsattached. A European diplomat said workwas needed in five key areas: better man-agement of public finances; improved taxcollection; guarantees on rights, particu-

larly for women; legal reforms; and“credible” elections in 2014.

“Without tangible progress in thesefive areas, it will be difficult for donors tomaintain their support to Afghanistan,”the diplomat said, speaking on conditionof anonymity. Japanese Foreign MinisterKoichiro Gemba, who will jointly chairthe Tokyo conference, said he was hopingit would result in pledges worth at least$3.0 billion a year. But in an interviewwith the Asahi Shimbun newspaper pub-lished Friday, he also warned of condi-tions for Karzai’s government.

“(Kabul) must improve its governancecapacity, including eradicating corruption,”he said, adding a mechanism to reviewprogress in these areas every two years hadto be developed. But there is resistancefrom the Afghans, who regard such condi-tions as attacks on their sovereignty.

“Many times, the international com-

munity wanted to tell us what to do or notand how to do it. But the Afghan govern-ment can only be fully responsible if it’sable to make its own decisions,” said asenior Afghan government official.

Aid organisations are also worriedabout what will happen to aid after 2014.

Since 2001, life expectancy has risenfrom 47 to 62 years for men and from 50to 64 for women, according to Oxfam,which warned the good work of the lastdecade could be undone.

“Development gains made inAfghanistan over the last decade are indanger of being thrown away if levels ofaid fall away in conjunction with thewithdrawal of international troops in2014,” the British aid group said.

Oxfam said the United States,Afghanistan’s biggest single donor, hasalready cut development aid by nearlyhalf in 2011, from $4.1bn to $2.5bn.

Kabul faces pressure on graft at Tokyo aid meet

Rights activistsslam ban onAhmediya website

Govt tweaks strategyContinued fRom page 1

ISLAMABADONlINE

Prime Minster Raja Pervaiz Ashrafon Friday made major changes inthe federal bureaucracy,reshuffling at least eight federalsecretaries and replacingKhushnood Lashari with AyubQazi as his new personal secretary.Sources said that the newly-appointed personal secretary,Ayub Qazi is considered a closefriend of Ashraf. According to PM House’sspokesperson, senior officer ofInformation Group ChaudhryRasheed Ahmed replaced Taimoor

Azmat Usman as the new secretaryInformation while Usman wasposted as secretary Establishment.Secretary Narcotics Javed Iqbal wasposted as secretary EconomicAffairs while federal financesecretary Dr Waqar Masood wasappointed as secretary Petroleumand Minerals.Additional Secretary Trade KamranQureshi was made new secretary ofKashmir and Baltistan Ministrywhile senior officer of FBR IsrarRauf replaced Imtiaz Inayat Elahias secretary CAAD. Imtiaz InayatElahi was posted as the new federalsecretary for National Regulationand Services.

ZAGREBAfP

NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen saidFriday that he believes Afghan forces arecapable of securing their own country bythe end of 2014 as the alliance’s missionchanges from a combat to a support role.“I’m confident that the Afghan securityforces will be able to take full responsibilityfor security all over Afghanistan by the endof 2014 according to our plan,” Rasmussentold a press conference in Zagreb aftermeeting Croatian Prime Minister ZoranMilanovic. “From 2015 we will continue ina supportive mission with a training mis-sion. So we are on the right track,” headded. A day earlier, speaking in Slovenia,Rasmussen called the transition inAfghanistan “a logistical challenge”. TheNATO-led International Security Assis-tance Force (ISAF) is to hand over securityto local forces by the end of 2014.

Awan’s contempt casehearing adjourned

ISLAMABADAGENCIES

The Supreme Court on Friday adjournedthe hearing of contempt of court caseagainst former federal law minister Sena-tor Babar Awan until July 11. A two-mem-ber SC bench comprising Justice Ijaz Afzaland Justice Athar Saeed was hearing thecase. During the hearing, Awan submittedan application and his medical certificatein the court. He told the bench that he wasunwell and wanted to take complete bedrest. Granting his request for adjourn-ment, the bench directed Awan to con-tinue with his medical treatment andadjourned the hearing until Wednesday.

PM reshuffles eight top bureaucratsNATO confident Afghanforces can secure thecountry by 2015

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Saturday, 7 July, 2012

05

NEW DELHIONlINE

AT a time when the relation-ship between India and Pak-istan reached an all-time lowin the wake of Abu Jundal’schilling confession, the bor-

der forces of two nations have issued ajoint statement promising not to indulgein unprovoked firing.

The statement came after amarathon four-day meeting of the Bor-der Security Force and the Pakistan

Rangers here, reported PTI.Addressing a joint press conference,

BSF Director General U K Bansal andChief of Pakistan Rangers Major GeneralRizwan Akhtar said both the forces willwork to ensure that such ceasefire viola-tions do not take place along the border.

“We talked in detail (on the issue ofcross border firing)...This should nothappen. We will better the mechanism,we will ensure that those parametersthat we have discussed here (during themeeting) will be told to every trooper onthe border and we believe that we will

have better results,” Akhtar said aftersigning a joint record of discussions.

Seconding Akhtar’s view, BSF DGBansal said steps should be taken to en-sure that ceasefire violations should nottake place. “We have existing methods offlag meetings and border talks. We willuse these modalities and with the jointconfidence, we both are in favour thatsuch instances should be controlled im-mediately. With this mutual confidencethe border commanders will deal withthis issue,” Bansal said.

However, Akhtar refuted India’s

claim over smuggling of fake Indian cur-rency notes and said Pakistan was notinto such kind of activities.

“No it is not correct to say that fakecurrency is being pumped (from acrossthe border)...Fake currency can be madeanywhere in the world...It can be manu-factured in India...The maximum con-sumption of fake Indian currency is inIndia only,” he claimed.

Both the forces also talked abouttaking a humanitarian and more lenientapproach in case of people crossing theborder unintentionally.

PESHAWARShAmIm ShAhId

Despite facing opposition on lingual and po-litical grounds in the regions, the rulingAwami National Party has made inroads inSouthern Dera Ismael Khan and the North-ern Hazara regions of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

An influential politician from Dera Is-mael Khan Syed Mureed Kazim – who be-

sides holding provincial ministerial portfoliosa couple of times has also been the provincialpresident of Pakistan Peoples Party (Sher-pao) – has joined the ANP whereas two otherinfluential politicians from Mansehra are ex-pected to become part of the nationalist partyby July 11th. It would be pertinent to mentionhere that the ANP’s political influence andclout in both Hazara and Dera Ismael Khanhad been non-existent for the past six

decades. But after emerging as a major polit-ical force in the February 2008 general elec-tions, the ANP leadership focused itsattentions on strengthening its position inthese parts of the province. The sittingprovincial religious and minority affairs min-ister, Haji Nimroz Khan, was the lone MPelected on ANP ticket from these areas. Butnow a number of sitting parliamentariansfrom both Hazara and Dera Ismael Khan

have become part of the party.Soon after the 2008 general elections,

Khalifa Abdul Qayoom from Dera IsmaelKhan, Qazi Asad and late Akhtar NawazKhan from Haripur, Taj Mohammad KhanTarand from Batagram and late MaulanaObaid Ullah from Kohistan had announcedtheir support in favour of the ANP. Qazi Asadwas the first one amongst this lot to formallyannounce joining ANP soon after the 2008elections and now plays an important role inpromoting ANP in his native Haripur districtand other parts of Hazara Division.

With the passage of time, the links ofthese parliamentarians with the ANP havestrengthened. After the death of AkhtarNawaz Khan, his brother Gohar Nawaz Khancontested polls on an ANP ticket and retainedthe family seat from Haripur. Similarly, afterthe death of Maulana Obaid Ullah, hisnephew Engineer Sajjad contested by-elec-tions from Kohistan on an ANP ticket.

Syed Mureed Kazim was earlier part of agroup that supported the PPP (S) but he an-nounced joining ANP a couple of monthsback in a well-attended public meeting, whichwas addressed by Chief Minister Amir HaiderKhan Hoti amongst others. A couple of daysback, former MNA Nawabzada Salah-ud-DinSaeed and MPA Habib-ur-Rehman Tanoliheld a meeting with ANP leadership and de-cided to join as well. Both these politicians aregoing to join the ANP in a public meeting atTanawal Hazara on July 11 next. NawabzadaSalah-ud-Din made the record of being theyoungest elected MNA when he won his seatback in 1985. Since then, he has retained theseat from Mansehra in 1988, 1990, 1993 and1997. He hails from a well-respected family

of Amb and is chief of the Tanolis. Habib-ur-Rehman Tanoli is also an accomplishedpolitician who has been elected to KhyberPakhtunkhwa Assembly in 1988, 1993 and2008. He was unable to contest 2002 generalelections due to some technicalities; there-fore, his daughter Ghazala Tanoli had occu-pied that seat on a PPP(Sherpao) ticket.

Though the political environment of Haz-ara has never been favourable for the ANP,but the hostility over there reached its peakwhen the province was renamed as KhyberPakhtunkhwa in April 2010. Certain sectionsof society there resisted the move of theprovincial government strongly but the ANPleadership in general and the chief minister inparticular handled the situation very carefully.Now, the ANP is considered an emerging po-litical force in Hazara and many people overthere view it in a positive light. The ANP lead-ership has discreetly tackled the issue of thecreation of a Hazara province. The ANP lead-ership has termed it to be a political and con-stitutional matter that will be dealt as per dueprocess. The ANP has also redrawn adminis-trative divisions to reflect the ethnic makeupof the district to enable itself to deal with thematter. It declared Torghar (Kala Dhaka) as adistrict and they are also going to establishTanawal district. The Tanawal tribe of Pash-tuns is scattered in Haripur, Abbottabad andMansehra district and this move will help set-tle them. Moreover, the provincial govern-ment has already assured the establishmentof Abaseen Division that will comprise of dis-tricts like Kohistan, Batagram and Shangla.These moves of the ANP have not only helpedthem tactfully deal with the Hazara provinceissue but have also strengthened the party.

More powerprotests

GILGITINP

Hundreds of enraged protestors blockedthe main Karakoram Highway at Jaglootarea to condemn the long hours ofloadshedding and also demanded of thegovernment to restore the supply ofelectricity. Protracted loadshedding hasbrought the residents of Jagloot to theend of their patience and they staged ademonstration against the governmentand blocked the main KarakoramHighway and no traffic was allowed topass for many hours. The enragedprotestors chanted slogans against thegovernment and demanded of theelectricity department to restore propersupply of electricity to the area whereresidents were being deprived of powerfor long hours. The blocking ofKarakoram Highway left the passengers,who were traveling from Rawalpindi andother cities of the country to Gilgit,stranded for long hours. The protestorsdemanded of the provincial and federalgovernments to play an active role in therestoration of electricity to the area onemergency basis as power cuts haveinflicted huge damages on the businessesof the locals.

MNAs pay tributeto Fauzia Wahab

ISLAMABADONlINE

Paying glowing tribute to PPP leaderFauzia Wahab, Prime Minister RajaPervez Ashraf on Friday underlined shewas an ‘asset’ for the party. PM RajaPervez Ashraf said on the floor of theNational Assembly on Friday that herdeath was a colossal tragedy. “Pakistanhas lost a very special person. Awoman who stood up for what shewanted, who spoke out in spite ofcriticism, who spread smiles with herwit and played a major part inempowering Pakistani women,” hesaid. NA Speaker Dr Fehmida Mirzasaid the demise of Fauzia Wahab wasan irrecoverable loss. She was of theview that if all parties agreed, acommittee could be constituted toinvestigate the reasons behind herdeath. On the occasion, PPP’s MNAYasmeen Rehman told NA that Fauziawas an absolutely admirable woman.Hamid Saeed Kazmi termed the lossirreparable, as she was a “kind heartedand outspoken person”.

Hold your fire

India, Pakistan not to indulgein unprovoked firing

THE RED SPREADSANP making inroads in hazara, Dera ismail Khan

IslAmAbAd: members of the National

Assembly offer fateha for Fauzia Wahab

during the assembly session on Friday.

ISB 01-07-2012_Layout 1 7/7/2012 4:30 AM Page 5

Saturday, 7 July, 2012

LAHOREONlINE

tHE Punjab Union of Journalists (PUJ)announced boycotting all activities ofthe ongoing doctors strike and decidedto become a complainant against thedeaths of patients after a fellow jour-

nalist was beaten and tortured in a local hospital.Nadeem Butt, a reporter of a state-run news agency,reached Ganga Ram hospital to get the latest infor-mation about the strike, but doctors on duty startedbeating him after an exchange of harsh words.Butt enquired about the strike from Dr. Abdul Basitwho got irritated and along with his paramedicalstaff and security guard tormented the reporter.They also snatched cash and a mobile phone fromhis possession.While receiving information regarding the torture,another reporter named Jahangir came to help Butt. Completely dismissing the reporters, Dr Basit andhis staff attacked Jahangir as well. It is pertinent tomention here that Dr. Basit was also involved infoul behaviour with women (earthquake victims ofNorthern areas), when he was in Mayo Hospital,and an FIR was lodged in Gawalmandi Police Sta-tion at the time. After the incident, many journalist organisationsreached in Ganga Ram and staged a protest, con-demning the incident.

LAHORESTAff rEPOrT

Activists of banned outfitJamat-ud-dawa (JD)staged a nationwideprotest on Friday, againstthe government’s decision

to restore the NATO supply route, an-nouncing that an all party conferenceunder the Difa-e-Pakistan Council ban-ner will be held today. Thousands of peo-ple gathered to chant anti- Americanslogans and shouted ‘Al-jihad Al- jihad’.They announced that a holy war needs tobe launched immediately against Amer-ica, India and the western world, as theyare out to grab our country’s resources.

The first step to which will be a longmarch on July 8th, from Lahore to Islam-abad. The protests will continue till theNATO route decision is reversed.

Religious scholars affiliated with JDvehemently opposed the decision to re-open the supply route in their Friday ser-mons and speeches. JD Chief Hafiz Saeedaddressed a convention of activists atJamia Qadsia at Chauburji. Thousands ofJD members and sympathizers throngedtowards Chauburji in vehicles waving tra-ditional banners and flags of their respec-tive religious groups shouting anti-stateslogans. Members of Jamat-e-Islami (JI),Ahl-e-Sunat , Jamiat Ulma-e-Islam, Pak-istan Ulma-e-Council, Jamat Ahl-e-Ha-dith and activists from several other

parties were present at the Jamia Qadsiameeting, where Hafiz Saeed delivered ananti- government and anti-US diatribeand invited all those present to launch amovement against the two. Senior mem-bers of JD were all present and many inaudience wielded weapons.

Saeed accused the government ofbeing complicit with the US in harmingPakistan’s interests and the country willnot stand for it; rulers who talk aboutAmerica’s imminent exit fromAfghanistan are liars and thieves whosold the country’s sovereignty for dollarsand will be soon be exposed. He men-tioned that America has in fact no plansof leaving Afghanistan and only wants toentrench its presence in this region; they

will end up creating more diffi-culty for Pakistan by taking overthe Gawadar port to establishhegemony in Central Asia. Hesaid that anti-Pakistan elementswant religious groups to turnfundamentalist and destroy ourown state property; and if ourleaders willed they could ridthemselves of the American men-ace within days.

A number of institutions, stu-dents and people of all age groupsand classes were present at the

conference and were committed to partic-ipate in the long march. JD spokesmanYahya Mujahid said, “We are preparing forthe long march and all preparations areunderway.” Another JD official said thataround three thousand activists will be re-sponsible for security at the long march.

He said that activists from all bigcities of the country including Karachi,

Faisal Abad, Bahawalpur, Vehari, Mul-tan, Rawalpindi, Peshawer and other sev-eral cities will carry out protest ralliesand people from the entire country willjoin us in the historic long march.

Lahore Police managed to break uptwo camps at Regal Chowk on Mall Roadand the other at Faisal Chowk, to recruitmembers for the long march.

JD to take the roaD to IslamabaD

Doctors torture journalistsIN GANGA RAM HOSPITAL

LAHOREAPP

A judicial magistrate on Friday ex-tended the physical remand of fourdoctors allegedly involved in a child’sdeath until July 9.

Earlier, the police produced fourdoctors, including Tajammul, Adil,Usman and Matloob before the courtand sought further physical remandfor investigation.

However, the defence counsel op-

posed the request contending that theaccused were innocent.

He said that the case was regis-tered on political grounds as a mur-der case could not be registered onaccidental death.

However, Judicial MagistrateNaqeeb Shahzad after hearing the ar-guments extended the physical re-mand of the doctors for another threedays and directed the police to pro-duce the accused again on July 9.

A large number of young doctors

were also present on the occasion,carrying placards and demanding jus-tice.

A child, Fahad, who was undertreatment in Mayo hospital died asthe medics did not attend him afterpolice crackdown on doctors.

The child’s father registered acase against the striking doctors atGawalmandi police station, accusingeight doctors including Tajammul,Adil, Matloob, Hannan, Usman, Asadand others.

Court extends doctors’ remand until 9th

BaBy’s deatH

ISB 01-07-2012_Layout 1 7/7/2012 4:30 AM Page 6

Saturday, 7 July, 2012

07

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Lahore

LAHOREONlINE

CHIEF Minister Shahbaz Sharif saidthat long lasting societies only existwhen justice is available whereasthose societies never survive whichhave a different yardstick for the rich

and the poor. Sharif was listening to the com-plaints of citizens from various districts on Friday.Providing relief to the suffering humanity, solu-tion to problems of the masses and the establish-ment of a welfare society is his sole mission andhe would never rest until these objectives areachieved, said Sharif.

He said that the culture of oppression, high-handedness and injustice would be interned for-ever. Sharif said protection of life, property andhonour of citizens is the prime responsibility ofthe police, and directed administrative and policeofficers to keep the doors of their offices open tothe public for providing succour to the aggrieved.The chief minister said that justice is the right of

every member of society, and it is the fore-most responsibility of the gov-

ernment to ensureprotection of this

right. He directed

government servants to perform their duties withhonesty and dedication for the establishment ofthe rule of law.

Sharif said that ensuring prompt and inex-pensive justice to the common man is the toppriority of the Punjab government, and anydereliction of duty or negligence in this regardwould not be tolerated.

The chief minister met a woman who wasseeking relief as her granddaughter had beenraped and abducted. She complained that theSHO of the concerned police station was prevar-icating and not taking action against the cul-prits. Ascertaining details from the DCONarowal, the chief minister expressed his ex-treme indignation over not conducting DNA testof the culprits involved in the case.

He directed SSP Investigations Abdul RazzaqCheema to investigate the incident and submit areport to him in this regard, besides ensuringthat the DNA test of the accused was carried out.An elderly complainant from Muzaffargarh in-formed the CM about injustice done to him in re-gard to division of joint property, and said thathis real brother had fraudulently usurped hisland. The chief minister directed the concernedDCO to look into the issue in detail and ensureequitable distribution of the property amongstthe legitimate owners.

lawyer boycottcourts proceedingsLAHORE: The Lahore Bar Associationobserved complete boycott of court pro-ceedings to record their protest againstthe resumption of NATO supply routesby the government. Owing to completestrike, no lawyer appeared in the courtsdisappointing the litigants who camefrom far-flung areas. Pending cases werealso adjourned due to the absence oflawyers in the courts. The lawyers saidthat the government compromised thecountry’s sovereignty to restore NATOsupply routes. They said the UnitedStates had not stopped drone attacks nordid they tender an apology while thegovernment opened the routes. INP

LAHORESTAff rEPOrT

Two representatives of LIRNEasia, a think tank thatresearches information and communications tech-nology (ICT) across Asia, spoke at the LUMS FacultyLounge for an event organised by the Internet andSociety Initiative.

Dr. Rohan Samarjiva, the founding Chair and CEOof LIRNEasia, and Sriganesh Lokanathan, LIRNEa-sia’s Senior Research Manager, presented their re-search on technology used in South Asia, as well aswhat it is used for, and discussed ICT development,particularly in regards to the poor. They looked at thesegment of the population that makes less than USD2per day. Among this demographic, 96% in Pakistanand 99% in Bangladesh reported having used a phonein the last three months, demonstrating the preva-lence of technology throughout society.

Sriganesh Lokanathan pointed out a gap betweenthis group of people and makers of apps for smart-phones, who he said are not creating enough appsthat are relevant to their livelihoods. Entrepreneur-

ship and innovation, he stressed, are needed to cre-ate apps that could potentially solve some of theproblems these people are facing.

Dr. Samarjiva called the growth of ICT the“greatest public policy success of our time”. He re-called a time when dial up Internet and CompuServewere just starting to connect the world, when a phonecall abroad was not something that most peoplecould easily afford. The digital age has taken us to aplace where most people are connected – and in in-creasingly sophisticated ways. The Internet, he ar-gued, is much more than a plug; it’s communications,information retrieval, transactions, publications, andmore. With this in mind, Dr. Samarjiva noted thatthey’re now going for “something more interestingand more useful than Angry Birds.”

Students, faculty, press, and members of thecommunity were present, engaging in the conversa-tion with questions for the speakers throughout.LUMS Vice Chancellor Dr. Adil Najam moderatedthe discussion, concluding with the notion that wewill one day “wear the Internet” on our eyeglasses orwristwatch instead of holding it in a phone or laptop.

‘Justice delayed is justice denied’

LAHORE: Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) chief Syed MunawarHasan on Friday, said that the corrupt rulers were bentupon striking down every law that harmed their selfishinterests but their efforts will not succeed. Addressinga large Friday congregation at Mansoora, he said thatallowing dual nationals to contest elections was againstnational interests. He said the bar on the dual nation-ality for lawmakers existed in several countries.

Similarly, he said the government-sponsored bill

to exempt the prime minister and chief ministers fromcontempt of court was a crude attempt to provide pro-tection to their corruption.

He said that any legislation to undo capital pun-ishment would be met with stiff resistance.

Hasan said that having accepted US slavery, therewas a conspiracy to make the country a slave of Indiaas well. The government and their allies stood unitedonly for their selfish ends. ONlINE

LUMS HOSTS SYMPOSIUMON ICTs IN SOUTH ASIA

rulers amending laws for selfish ends: Munawar

Contempt law same as

Sharifs introduced during

their regime: Naveed

LAHORE: Naveed Chaudhry on Fridaysaid, “there is nothing new in the con-tempt law his party was going to introducein parliament as it is almost the same aswas proposed by the last government ofNawaz Sharif”. He said the Sharifs evenhad brought the contempt bill in the par-liament after approval from the standingcommittee but Musharraf’s dictatorialregime removed it. He said that the lawwas not aimed at reducing powers of anyinstitution but to remove the lacunas inthe constitution. Such a law was requiredas there was no contempt of court law inthe country after the current law in this re-gard had lapsed in 2004. The 17th Amend-ment provided legal cover to the lawsissued up to December 31, 2003 while thatof 2004 were left uncovered, he added. APP

Woman weary of domesticfight sets herself on fire LAHORE: A woman attempted to commit suicide through

self immolation over domestic issues and was hospitalisedin critical condition at Mayo Hospital on Friday. A womanfrom the Ferozwala area of Lahore had a domestic row withher in-laws and an after exchange of searing words with herhusband’s family, doused herself with petrol and set herselfon fire. The woman’s parents accused the daughter’s in-laws of setting her ablaze maliciously and registered an FIRagainst them. Investigations are underway. AGENCIES

New transport fares to be introducedLAHORE: Punjab Transport Minister Mujtaba Shuja-ur-Rehman has said on Friday new fares will be implementedon all inter-city and urban routes by the provincial govern-ment, in light of the reduced fuel prices. In a press state-ment, Mujtaba said that on inter-city routes, maximum newfares are Re 1.00 per passenger per kilometer for diesel/petrol vehicle, 87 paisa for CNG vehicle on metalled plainroads, whereas new fare for plain roads Rs 1.05 for diesel/petrol and 92 paisas for CNG transport and on hilly roadsRs 1.10 for diesel/ petrol and 97 paisa for CNG transportper passenger per kilometre. APP

ISB 01-07-2012_Layout 1 7/7/2012 4:30 AM Page 7

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Lahore

100 GHaZals of MaulaNa ruMi

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on 100 ghazals of Maulana rumi

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LAHORESArAh ElEAzAr

AS the city scurries for sanctuaryfrom the sun’s fury and thoughtsof festivals and weddings fizzleinto the heat; clans of dholwaalas dotting every major

roundabout sit beside their dhols waiting invain for the odd enthusiast or booking.

A relic of Punjab, entire clans enter intothe profession generation after generationlearning the time-honoured art of sending en-tire crowds into a frenzy ofcelebration or deferen-tial trance. A key fea-ture at a variety ofcelebrations andevents, the dhol waalasdon their flashy yellowcostumes and are thevery soul of festivity.

“We are requested byclients to wear yellow tomehndis and weddings asit looks nice in weddingvideos,” says Ehsanullah,a dhol waala based inKalma Chowk, “Also it is ahappy colour.”

And yet as machinesreplace manuallabour and tech-nology takes overdaily life, manu-facturers and ar-tisans of classicsfade into obscurity. The instrumentmaker for example is often struggling toearn a good living, and as time ensues, fam-ilies with long lineages of craftsmen behindthem are turning away from the craft asyounger generations go into more commerciallines. Sad as it is, it’s inevitable just so long asthe criterion is maximum profit for minimumpay out. What motivation would someone haveto work for months building an instrumentthat it took them years to learn how to makewhen they can get other menial jobs and yettreble their money?

Such seems to be the fate of the dholwaalas as well.

Much like traditional drifters they migrateto cities in search for work. “We spend dayswithout work just sitting on green belts playingcards,” says Rehmatullah, a dhol waala atKalma Chowk. Their common occupation cre-ates a bond of fraternity such that territoriesare marked and encroachment on one’s turfoccurs rarely.

“Wedding season in winters and weekendsare the best times

for us,” says AliHussein, a dhol waala from Jhang, who can befound at the Liberty roundabout with histroupe. With festivals like Basant banned andDJs taking over musical entertainment at wed-dings, the dhol waalas are increasingly pushed

to the fringes of tradition. Shrines and Urs have now become the

major event markers for the dhol waala. PappuSaaein and Goonga Saeein at the shrine ofShah Jamal are among the most famous dholwaalas in the country. The Urs of Waris Shahthat takes place this month will also featuresome of the most exquisite eight-beat thaaps.

The occupation of dhol waalas once ex-tended beyond the domain of entertainment.Traditionally, the dhol (drum) was used to

rouse people for Sehr during themonth of Ramadan. Over time,

however, this trend has faced agradual demise. With mass

migration to posh areas ofthe city, this age-old tradi-

tion has been lost, rap-idly replaced by moderntechnology such as cellphones and alarmclocks, and it only liveson as part of the oldergeneration’s memory.

Rehman, a citi-zen, said dhol-playinghad a special signifi-

cance in sub-continen-tal history and that it was

an old tradition, as everyRamadan the drum-beaters

played a vital role in waking uppeople, and at the end of the month

people gave gifts and money as a form ofappreciation for their services. He

added that modern technologyhad replaced this old concept.

He said like other good histor-ical things we had in thepast, modern technology had

replaced dhol beating. While the art of dhol playing

is nowhere near extinction, theseartisans lead simple lives. What with

their meager earnings and intermittentemployment, it is important that this profes-sion be institutionalised to provide necessarysafeguards and stability to the lives of theseflamboyant remnants and custodians of tra-ditional Lahore.

mIssING a beat

NARRATING THE ANECDOTES OF DHOL WAALAS IN LAHORE, AS THEY DEAL WITH A WIDE GAMUT OF ADVERSITIES, RANGING FROM SEASONAL FLUCTUATION IN DEMAND TO PROLONGED UNEMPLOYMENT

ISB 01-07-2012_Layout 1 7/7/2012 4:31 AM Page 8

09Saturday, 7 July, 2012

Foreign News

PARISAfP

Aworld meeting on Syriaurged the UN Friday touse the threat of sanc-tions to force change inSyria as President

Bashar al-Assad was rocked by thedefection of one of his most seniorgenerals.

US Secretary of State HillaryClinton also rounded on Russia andChina, telling delegates from over100 countries gathered in Paris thatthe two veto-wielding UN SecurityCouncil members were blockingprogress towards peace.

The “Friends of Syria” meetinginsisted that Assad would have toquit and sought a resolution underthe UN charter’s Chapter 7, whichprovides for possible sanctions andmilitary action.

But it stressed that the immedi-ate action under Article 41 providedonly for non-military intervention.

German Foreign Minister GuidoWesterwelle backed the call for non-military action for the time being,saying force should only be dis-cussed “when the implementation ofthe sanctions has not really made theprogress they should have”. FrenchPresident Francois Hollande alsopushed for the Security Council toget tough with Damascus, while theSyrian opposition called for human-itarian corridors and a no-fly zone.

A peace plan drawn up by formerUN chief Kofi Annan, which insistson a cessation of violence by allsides, has made little headway andactivists say an estimated 16,500people have now died in the 16-month uprising. A meeting lastweekend of world powers in Genevaagreed to a transition plan that theSyria opposition, the West and Rus-sia have interpreted differently, butClinton insisted the plan amountedto a call for Assad to go.

“It is imperative to go back to theSecurity Council and demand imple-mentation of Kofi Annan’s plan in-cluding the Geneva communiquethat Russia and China have alreadyagreed to,” Clinton said.

“We should go back and ask for aresolution in the Security Councilthat imposes real and immediateconsequences for non-compliance,including sanctions,” ranging fromeconomic measures to military force,she added. The West insists Assadshould not be part of any new unitygovernment and the Syrian opposi-tion rejected the Geneva talks asmaking concessions to Damascusunder pressure from Russia.

Taking a tough tone, Clinton saidshe thought Russia and China did“not believe they are paying anyprice at all for standing up on behalfof the regime”.

“The only way that will change isif every nation represented here di-rectly and urgently makes it clear,

that Russia and China will pay aprice. They are holding up progress,blockading it. That is no longer tol-erable,” Clinton said.

Russia reacted immediately withDeputy Foreign Minister SergeiRyabkov “categorically” rejecting “theformulation that Russia supportsBashar al-Assad’s regime in the situa-tion that has developed in Syria”. Hol-lande said the uprising is now a threatto international security, echoing UScalls for a tough UN resolution.

“To those who maintain also thatBashar al-Assad’s regime, as dislike-able as it is, can avoid chaos, I tellthem that they will have both themost dislikeable regime and chaos.And this chaos will threaten their in-terests,” Hollande said. AlthoughMoscow did not attend the meeting,a diplomatic source insisted that“Russian political and security cir-cles are changing their position”.

“They agree that the situation isdeteriorating... even if they continueto defend Moscow’s policies,” thediplomat said on condition ofanonymity. The Paris meeting followsa gathering in Tunis and another inIstanbul, both of which called in vainfor tougher action against Assad’sregime. China did not attend either ofthose two meetings where the UnitedStates, France, Britain, Germany aswell as Saudi Arabia and Qatar led agroup of more than 60 members, in-cluding most EU states and manyArab League nations.

World powers pile pressureon Assad as general defects

NEW DELHIAfP

India’s prime minister has hit back atcritics of his graft-tainted government,stressing his own “high standard” of per-sonal integrity and lauding his adminis-tration as a beacon of transparency.

In an interview Friday in the Hin-dustan Times newspaper, ManmohanSingh also argued that the Indian econ-omy was healthier than media “pes-simism” suggested, and promisedfurther measures on tax issues thathave rattled foreign investors.

Singh rarely grants media interviews,but has ramped up his public statementssince taking on the finance ministry port-folio last month, in what analysts see asan effort to secure his legacy.

Singh is not expected to continue aspremier after elections in 2014 and hispersonal reputation has taken a beatingduring his second term, amid a series ofhigh-profile corruption scandals andaccusations of policy drift.

“Coming to the personal criticism,not only have I maintained a high stan-dard of integrity in my conduct, I haveendeavoured to raise the levels in the

system as well,” Singh said.Citing legislation like the Right To

Information Act and a WhistleblowersBill, the premier said his administrationhad made important strides in improv-ing official accountability that wouldbenefit future generations.

“Never before in the history of Indiahave so many steps been taken in sucha short time to bring in transparencyinto the functioning government, makegovernment accountable to the peoplefor its actions and bring in measures tocontrol corruption,” he said.

“Just as the pessimism over the

economy is more in the markets andless on the ground, even in the case ofcorruption, I do not think there hasbeen any explosion in corruption undermy watch,” he added.

Singh’s ruling coalition has beenembroiled in a series of scandals.

The most high profile case involvedformer telecom minister A. Raja, whoquit in November 2010 over the sale ofsecond-generation (2G) telecoms li-cences at far below their commercialvalue to selected companies.

Raja was later arrested and is cur-rently on trial.

no corruption ‘explosion’ on my watch: Indian Pm

PARIs: France's President Francois Hollande shakes hands with Us secretary of state Hillary Clinton prior to a meeting at the Elysee Palace on Friday. AFP

russian parliamentpasses ‘foreignagent’ NgO bill

MOSCOWAfP

Russia’s lower house of parliament gaveinitial backing Friday to a contentious billforcing internationally-funded NGOs tocarry a “foreign agent” tag, a move expectedto stigmatise scores of groups.Pushed through by the ruling United Russiaparty, the bill was supported by 323 StateDuma deputies in the first of three requiredreadings. Four voted against it and oneabstained. Under the wide-ranging bill, allRussian NGOs that are funded from abroadand ruled to be involved in politics, oracting in the interests of foreign states andother international donors, will have tocarry a “foreign agent” tag and submit tomore rigorous checks by the authorities.A breach of the law would be punishable byhefty fines or jail time.Russian officials say the bill is aimed atpreventing foreign states from influencingRussia’s domestic politics and emulates USlegislation on foreign-funded NGOs.Critics say the bill is a part of a broadcrackdown on the opposition that followedunprecedented winter protests againststrongman Vladimir Putin as well as athrowback to Stalin’s time, when nearlyeveryone deemed to be in contact withforeign nationals was branded a spy and aforeign agent. Irina Yarovaya, one of thebill’s authors, said the measure would nothinder the work of NGOs involved incharity work as opposed to politics.“Its purpose is the oppenness towardssociety, towards citizens,” she said in theDuma. But Ilya Ponomaryov, a lawmakerwith populist A Just Russia, said in theDuma the measure would further polariseRussian society. “Today you are deepeninga split in society,” he said in a fiery speech,a white ribbon, the symbol of the nascentprotest movement, pinned to his lapel.

romanian presidentfaces impeachmentamid furore

BUCHARESTAfP

Romanian President Traian Basescu facedan impeachment vote Friday in a spirallingpolitical crisis that has brought warningsfrom the country’s EU partners that itsdemocracy is under threat. Basescu’s arch-rival Prime Minister VictorPonta sought to allay the widespread fears,pledging to travel to Brussels next week to“give assurances” to the bloc that Romaniajoined in 2007. Lawmakers were set to votein a session beginning at 1400 GMT on amotion to impeach the centre-right Basescuover allegations that he improperly assumedthe powers of the prime minister when heannounced drastic austerity cuts in 2010.The ruling centre-left Liberal Social Union(USL) coalition accuses Basescu of violatingthe constitution, while critics fear thegovernment wants to take over thejudiciary. The Constitutional Court judgedFriday that Basescu had indeed committedsome breaches of his prerogatives but noviolations of the constitution. The USL hadgiven the court 24 hours to give an opinionon seven charges against him. The powerstruggle is one of Romania’s worst politicalcrises since it emerged from a brutaldictatorship little more than 20 years ago.

Police ‘attack’ asSudan protestersgather at mosques

KHARTOUMAfP

Sudanese police on Friday “attacked” withtear gas and rubber bullets asdemonstrators gathered at mosques forweekly anti-regime protests sparked byinflation, a rights group said.“Still large numbers of police forces aresurrounding the central mosques,” said anofficial of the Organisation for Defence ofRights and Freedoms, representing political,media, trade union and other activistspromoting human rights. “It seems rubberbullets and tear gas were used,” he said,adding that information was still preliminary.One of the mosques targeted was that of theopposition Umma party in Khartoum’s twincity of Omdurman, said the official, askingnot to be named. That mosque was a focusof demonstrators a week earlier, whenhundreds who gathered were alsoconfronted with tear gas and rubber bullets,witnesses said at the time. The official withthe rights group said there had been arrests.Dubai-based Al-Arabiya news channel toldAFP that its crew was briefly detained andthe cameraman roughed up while reportingat the Omdurman mosque.

Kazakhstan unveilsgiant mosque onleader’s birthday

ASTANAAfP

Kazakhstan on Friday unveiled a newmosque in its capital Astana, the biggest inCentral Asia, as part of festivities markinglong-serving President NursultanNazarbayev’s 72nd birthday.The gleaming white structure with Kazakhnational ornaments will have a capacity toaccommodate 5,000 worshippers. It tookless than two years to build.“This celebration is a celebration for allKazakh people. I congratulate you onopening Kazakhstan’s biggest mosque,”Nazarbayev said. “We are a multinationalcountry... We are a tolerant nation.”The mosque, called “Khazret Sultan”,stands on some 11 hectares (27 acres) ofland in central Astana. In January it wasdramatically engulfed in flames after thewooden scaffolding in its tall cupola caughton fire, setting off an ominous plume ofsmoke above the city.

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Comment10Saturday, 7 July, 2012

Arif NizamiEditor

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

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

Dedicated to the legacy of the late Hameed Nizami

No alternative to cooperation

For our own good

The outcome of the proposed meeting between Pakistaniand Indian foreign ministers in September depends onthe weight New Delhi gives to the evidence provided byZabiuddin Ansari aka Abu Jundal, reportedly an LeT

member extradited by Saudi Arabia. The man told his Indianinterrogators that Pakistani intelligence agents were in aKarachi control room helping coordinate the 60-hour siege by10 attackers. How far the statement is a result of the coercivemethods of extracting evidence characteristic of securityagencies in South Asia remains to be determined. Thestatement however contradicts the position taken consistentlyby Pakistan that no state agency was involved in the affair. Thestatement by Abu Jundal has led home minister Chidambrammaintain that the control room couldn’t have been set up“without some kind of state support.”

Differences over the issue turned out to be the majorstumbling block during the talks between the foreign secretariesof Pakistan and India. Pakistan’s foreign secretary rejected therole of any state agency in the Mumbai attack while he expressedwillingness for joint investigations into the 26/11 carnage. Theissue has assumed crucial importance in determining the futureof the ties of the two countries. While a more discreet S MKrishna maintained that information extracted from Ansariwould have to be corroborated with other sources, he tooemphasised that once this is done, “we will have to make a valuejudgment whether Pakistan can be trusted or not.”

There is a dire need on the part of Pakistan to improverelations with India. Pakistan’s stability is tied up with theAfghan peace. A return of the Taliban to Kabul after the Nato pullout in 2014 would again unite the non Pakhtun nationalitiesagainst the religious militia. A new civil war will start. This willsend millions of refugees in need of shelter through porousborders to Pakistan. The civil war can be avoided if both Pakistanand India discourage it. Pakistan faces the greatest challenge toits stability from the insurgency along the Durand Line while thebulk of its army is located along the Eastern border with India.This can be relocated to the tribal areas only if there is anunderstanding between the two countries. India too has to realisethat it needs Pakistan’s help against the rising phenomenon ofextremism. As the Indian foreign secretary put it, bringing theguilty to justice in Mumbai terror attacks would be the biggestconfidence building measure of all. While New Delhi shouldensure that there is no unwarranted finger pointing, Pakistanshould fully cooperate in locating and punishing the architects ofthe Mumbai attacks irrespective of their position.

In the national interestbut, of course

After a hiatus of almostseven months, the decisionto reopen the NATO supplyroutes has been reached inthe supreme national inter-

est. Or so our freshly inducted primeminister tells us.

It has suddenly dawned upon ourpolicy makers that it is not possible for-ever to be on the wrong end of the stickof the US as well as the entire EuropeanCommunity. According to the foreignoffice spokesman, “We have to takealong the entire international commu-nity; we cannot afford opposition of 50countries.”

Previously in the wake of the Salalaincident in which Pakistan lost 24 ofits soldiers, Pakistan suspended NATOsupplies through its territory, with-drew the use of the Shamsi airbase forflying US drones over its territory andasked for an unqualified apology fromWashington. At the time, we were toldall of the above was “in our nationalinterest.”

We were so adamant at the timethat when the US was reportedly will-ing to send Senator John Kerry with anapology, we advised against the visitand instead asked the US to wait forthe joint parliamentary session to de-bate the issue. At that time, it was con-sidered in the national interest to havea joint resolution of the parliament asa template for future negotiations withthe US.

Later, Washington balked at offer-ing an apology. In the past few months,the White House, the State Depart-ment, the Pentagon and the US Con-gress in unison have taken a hard lineon Pakistan.

Not only money due to Islamabadunder the Coalition Support Fund(CSF) remained suspended, there werestrident calls to teach Pakistan a les-son. Secretary for Defence LeonPanetta was in the forefront of the

campaign, accusing Pakistan of allow-ing the Haqqani network to operatefrom its territory against ISAF inAfghanistan. There were clear hintsthat the US could use boots on theground to teach Pakistan a lesson.

Suddenly both sides invoking na-tional interest have climbed down fromtheir stated positions. Now we are toldthat the US needs Pakistani routes tosend back its heavy equipment in thedrawdown process till 2014. It was pay-ing though its nose for a clogged north-ern route through Central Asia.

Perhaps Washington has belatedlyrealised that it is better to work with aweak and an economically dependentPakistan for its supplies than to rely onPutin controlled Russia. With an in-creasingly weakened ISAF presence inAfghanistan, Washington also needs Is-lamabad’s strategic co-operation. Sud-denly the wisdom has dawned upon thebelligerently anti-Pakistan US lawmak-ers that closure with Islamabad was inAmerica’s interest.

Islamabad - with few cards up itssleeve apart from its strategic location- nonetheless stuck to its guns, playingchicken with a superpower. To the sur-prise of many, the US blinked first anddecided to offer some kind of an apol-ogy. Islamabad has also shown flexibil-ity by not making good on its threat ofcharging the moon for allowing NATOtrucks through its territory.

Although it has been promised $1.1billion against what was due to it underthe Coalition Support Fund (CSF) as asweetener, Islamabad would needmuch more to navigate itself out of itspresent dire economic straits. The dealfor opening the Ground Lines Of Com-munications (GLOC) is only the tip ofthe iceberg.

Intractable and unresolved issueslike Pakistan’s role in future talks withthe Taliban, its alleged backing of theHaqqani network and the suspended orcurtailed intelligence sharing remain.Washington has also not agreed to sus-pend drone attacks over Pakistan’stribal areas.

With the Pakistani military reluc-tant to launch a putsch in N Waziristan,realistically speaking the US will nothesitate from using its most potent andlethal weapon against the Haqqani net-work said to be holed up there.

In this sense, one is not sure thattactically speaking Islamabad reallywants the drone campaign entirelysuspended. After all, Washington iswashing its dirty linen and getting theblame for it.

Getting the approval of the cabinet

rather than going back to the parlia-ment for approval of the US-Pakistandeal is the correct approach. Going tothe parliament in the first place was amistake. It only curtailed Pakistan’sdiplomatic manoeuvrability. Nor did itwork as a pressure tactic.

Pakistan’s ambassador to Washing-ton Ms Sherry Rehman has termed theresumption of NATO supplies as an his-toric turn in relations. We are also toldthat it all happened at a barbecue din-ner hosted by the ambassador at herhouse when US National Security Advi-sor Tom Donilon surprisingly showedup. According to the Wall Street Jour-nal, he played a key role in persuadingWashington to say sorry.

Interestingly, former ambassadorsHusain Haqqani and Cameron Munterboth have been casualties of thedownslide in US Pakistan relations inthe past one year. Munter had beencounselling some kind of apology andrestraint in dealing with Pakistan.When it was not forthcoming, he sub-mitted his resignation in disgust.

Husain Haqqani was a casualty ofMemogate. Although Haqqaniadamantly denies it, the SupremeCourt has declared that he was the au-thor of the memo. The alleged memowas written in the wake of the US raidon Osama bin Laden’s lair in Abbot-tabad last May.

The political opposition has criti-cised the reopening of the supplyroutes, but it has not threatened to dis-rupt them. The leader of the oppositionin the National Assembly Ch. Nisar Alithinks that the decision is beyond thescope of the joint parliamentary reso-lution on the subject. Imran Khan, onthe other hand, has declared that itdemonstrates the irrelevance of theparliament.

It is the DPC (Defence of PakistanCouncil), composed of disparate clerics,out of job politicians and a few retiredgenerals that have threatened to dis-rupt NATO supplies. It has called for anAll Parties Conference today and aLong March on Sunday. Without anyencouragement from its backers, theoutfit is unlikely to succeed in disrupt-ing supplies.

The DPC has outlived its usefulnessto keep the parliament and the civiliangovernment under check. The realthreat can come from the Taliban. ThePakistani Taliban are our existentialenemy while the Afghan Taliban is ourstrategic ally. Again, in the name of theoften invoked national interest.

The writer is Editor, Pakistan Today

By Arif Nizami

Pakistan’s Foreign Secretary hasdenied that any state actor wasinvolved in the Mumbai attackwhile he has shown readiness for

a joint probe. This is just one step aheadof the conventional state of denial thathas characterised our spokesmen when-ever presented with evidence regardingterrorists having used Pakistan’s territoryto plan or launch attacks abroad. Theoffer has come after Zabiuddin Ansariwho is in Indian custody started singinglike a canary. It is in Pakistan’s vital in-terest to actively investigate the case to

prosecute those associated with theMumbai attack in any capacity.

Developing good neighbourly rela-tions with India is crucial for Islamabad.Unless this is done, Pakistan will face in-stability, its economy will suffer and itsdefence expenditure will continue to sky-rocket at the expense of education,health and social development.

The stability in Pakistan is tied upwith peace in Afghanistan. To ensure this,there has to be cooperation, instead of ri-valry, between Islamabad and New Delhi.In case the two act at cross purposesthere is little hope of any enduring settle-ment in Kabul. Once the Nato forces areout, it will not take the Taliban long tocapture power. This will lead to a numberof developments harmful for Pakistan.

The return of the Taliban will boostthe morale of the TTP which will redou-ble attacks inside Pakistan, causing enor-mous civilian and military casualties.This would also strengthen concerns inthe US regarding the security of our nu-clear arsenal and the unpredictable con-sequences that might follow.

Once the Taliban capture Kabul, an-other Northern Alliance comprising eth-

nic minorities will come into existence.Keeping in view the economic decline inEurope and the financial crunch beingfaced by the US, there is little likelihoodof the international community honour-ing its commitment to provide the $10billion annually which Afghanistan needsto maintain the Afghan National SecurityForces (ANSF) and to sustain an econ-omy which is mostly dependent on theforeign presence. The downsizing of theANSF will contribute to lawlessness. Anycivil war in Afghanistan will send mil-lions of refugees to Pakistan bringing iteconomy under stress, causing economicand social problem in KP and further tilt-ing the ethnic balance in Balochistan.

Former Foreign Secretary NajmuddinSheikh, who knows the subject more thanmost, has estimated that Pakistan willhave to host between two million to fivemillion Afghan refugees. These would bein addition to the five million already liv-ing here. Joint attempts by Pakistan andIndia will discourage others from sup-porting rival factions in the civil war thatcould be disastrous for the region.

It is ironic that while heavy army ca-sualties are taking place along the West-

ern border with Afghanistan, the bulk ofthe troops and military resources remaintied up on the Eastern border. The rea-son is the army’s continuous perceptionof India as the principal enemy of Pak-istan. The TTP’s unending attacks insideheavily populated areas, on mosques,shrines and public gatherings have led tothe killing of thousands of Pakistanicivilians and rendered many more un-able to lead a normal life. The militantshave also attacked the GHQ and MehranBase, killed several serving and retiredhigh ranking military officers and are in-volved in the unending insurgency inseveral Fata agencies. While India mightbe involved here or there, the vast ma-jority of attacks are owned by the Pak-istani militant organisations orAl-Qaeda affiliates. There is a need toenter into talks with India to normalisethe ties so that the troops needed on theWestern border to suppress the insur-gency can be released.

The defence budget is already be-coming untenable. The official allocationof Rs 545 billion for 2012-2013 is consid-ered highly misleading by defence ex-perts. Independent estimates put the

actual budget at Rs 800-900 billion, al-most double the allocated amount. Thisis because the estimated budget does notinclude internal security expenditures,military pensions, interest on militaryloans, arms purchases, etc.

India’s military budget is roughlyfour to five times higher than Pakistan’stotal defence allocation in absoluteterms, but India allocates a lower per-centage of its government expenditure(15-17 % on average) than Pakistan (ac-tually around 25-28 %). But India’s econ-omy is also bigger and growing muchfaster than Pakistan’s. Pakistan cannotafford the existing levels of military ex-penditures on account of its muchsmaller economy.

Nations do not have permanentfriends or enemies. They only have per-manent interests. It is time to revise thepolicy of hostility towards India. Bringingthose who planned or executed the Mum-bai carnage can act as a major confidencebuilding measure leading to the resolu-tion of outstanding issues step by step.

The writer is a former academic anda political analyst.

Our enmity with India is impractical

friendship with benefits

By Aziz-ud-Din Ahmad

ISB 01-07-2012_Layout 1 7/7/2012 4:31 AM Page 10

Short-termismThe following headlines have been seen in

the papers: Zardari for expediting power proj-ects. The president orders no loadsheddingduring Ramzan etc. Why this flurry of state-ments when the power crisis has been with ussince long. Is this pre-election rhetoric to yetagain fool the public?

The cabinet committee pins hope on rainsfor reducing loadshedding. When the rainsswell, the rivers and bring on floods the cabi-net committee will then pin their hope on therains stopping. Pity the nation where the gov-ernment is hostage to the vagaries of theweather and looks to the skies instead of tak-ing practical measures. The government ismired in taking short term measures and hasno time to think ahead beyond its nose.

ENGR KHURSHID ANWERLahore

high-end smugglersA nation that cannot protect its history and

culture has no past, present or future.Smuggling of centuries old Lord Buddha’sstatues, coins and other important items dugfrom Mohenjodaro, Harrappa, Taxila etc hasbecome a regular business.

This multi-billion dollar illegal traffic thriveswith the connivance of powerful civilbureaucracy, foreign service officers, FBR andour political elite (especially those with dualnationalities). Our diplomats posted abroad andhaving dual nationality often abuse the

Diplomatic Baggage facility to help smugglethese items. Visit any rich Pakistani expatriate,retired bureaucrat or khaki living abroad andyou will see these stolen items displayed asornaments in their houses. We are anunfortunate country which does not treasure itsartefacts and casually treats such crimes, whichin other nations amounts to conspiracy againstthe state. Have we forgotten what happened inmid 90s when a VVIP was involved insmuggling these artefacts through PIA destinedfor UK. The PIA official who aided this crimewas later rewarded instead of being punished orsacked and appointed as MD of PIA. While ourmuseums are becoming empty halls, the itemsthat should be on display there are found inprivate houses of our corrupt elite living abroad.

ANEELA CHANDIOSukkur

More than a green passportSome of our political parties have made

the choice to allow individuals who haveadopted another nationality to continue todominate our politics and continue withplundering its assets, aid the flight of capitaland then flee to evade accountability.

The PPP and MQM have clearly come out insupport of this amendment, which compromisesour sovereignty and allows foreign passportholders to hold key sensitive posts likepresident, PM, CM, ministers, governors,ministers etc, and have control of our nuclearassets and state exchequer. These people onlypossess NICOP giving them multiple entries intoPakistan with unlimited stay, although theyhave voluntarily surrendered Pakistani passportupon acquiring foreign passport. Thisconstitutional amendment will give legitimacyto role of men who have sworn loyalty to othercountries and hence have little stake in this one.It is time other political parties like PML(N),PML(Q), PTI, JUI(F), JI come clear on thisissue, so that the people know actual facts, sinceANP alone has announced its opposition.

M TARIQ ALILahore

Comment 11Saturday, 7 July, 2012

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

Pakistan Today, 4-Shaarey Fatima Jinnah,Lahore, Pakistan. Fax: +92-42-36298302.

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

Pakistan Today exclusively.

This time around, London has been wet andwonderful. If you say that to a Londoner,you would unmistakably get a stare. Butfor us who are soaked to the bone in the

scorching heat of the sun with no electricity formost of the day and night, it comes as an indescrib-able blessing. Back home, even normal working hasbeen reduced to the mercy of electricity as it comesand goes of its own sweet accord.

This trip to London has also been made thatmuch more memorable as I have already had an ex-tended session with that incomparable ideologue,Professor Amin Mughal, and I look forward to an-other one later in the week. We started where wehad left off a considerable time ago and he wasquick at chastising me for my impatience at theslowness of change in the country. He reiteratedthat change would inevitably go through the histor-ical cycle and it is well nigh impossible to deter-mine its time-span. The query whether it wouldcome at all could only draw a broad smile whichcan be interpreted either way depending upon yourdisposition at a given moment in time.

It could also be that change is so slow in comingbecause we have so few of the likes of Amin Mughalnow. An ideologue cannot be manufactured or chis-elled from a raw mountain of talent alone. It is a pre-ordained phenomenon that, put together by nature’shands, is chastened through bouts of painful strug-gle, tonnes of inexhaustible energy and unfailing de-termination in the face of monumental odds. The

light that brightens it is inextin-guishable. Even when its spread isrestricted, it is seldom dark as theglow, somehow, finds a crevice toshow through. Meeting him has al-ways been a humbling experience,but meeting him this time aroundwas more so because the darkaround us is darker than ever be-fore and the remnants of hope arefast receding. Should one capitu-late to the darkness that punditspredict would soon envelope theentire spectrum? Left to AminMughal, these are times to sharpenyour strategies and add further willand substance to your pursuits.

Through decades, Faiz hasbeen an immortal inspiration formost of us. He inspires courage,invokes hope and fills you up withrenewed dreams when you are onthe verge. When one is lost forwords and thoughts – a morbidstate that most of us have nowbeen reduced to – he is alwaysthere with a thought-provoking in-terjection to propel you to greaterheights of aspiring. It is also so thatwhen one is on the verge of losinghope, Faiz’s poetry comes with itsincomparable serenading:

Is it the scent of blood or thecaress of the beloved’s lips?

Behold, whence cometh the morning breezeIs spring in the air or the prison overflows

again?Listen, whither cometh the sound of musicBut, then, it is also impossible to constantly hide

behind the edifice of poetry or the super-structuresbuilt by ideologues. For, in the end, we have to livein the present with its innumerable and unmistak-able limitations and learn not only to cope with them,but also find a way around them to our avowed des-tination. That is what puts us head-on confrontingthe stark realities that mark the present times andmake them so much more depressing in terms of direpaucity of intellect and capacities. There is a sea ofmediocrity that is systematically perpetuating a cul-ture of insensitivity and enslavement: so few of themcontrol the fate of so many with traditional instru-ments of slavery rendered sharper by the day. Theygloat over exploiting others’ hard work while thereare millions who are constantly toiling only to burythemselves deeper in the tentacles of exploitation.Wishing an end to all this is not going to hasten it. Itwill come only if we have the courage to fight thisrank injustice and cruelty. In addition to ideologuesthat are in short supply any way, we also need anextra ounce of resolve and a composite vision and de-termination to initiate something meaningful.

The three inherent mindsets – the political, themilitary and the clergy – that have led the country tothis sorry pass remain unbending in their failed ap-proach. They are corrupt, obscurantist, antiquatedand decrepit suffering from delusional bouts of infal-lible superiority. The new entrants – the political as-pirants attacking the status quo, the independentjudiciary and the belligerent media – have created aninformed environment, but that is not sufficient toforge a change. There has to be a catalyst that lightsthe fire and, apparently, there is no one around whocould do that. While the forces of the status quo, en-riched and empowered by the billions that they havelooted, are endeavouring to further strangulate theelectorate through coercion and incentives alike, theproponents of change are limited by their incapaci-ties in vision, personnel and resources. Intellectuallycorrupt faces today adorn every platform and thehope for change that had been so fondly created hasbegun to die an early death.

This is not because there aren’t enough peopledesiring change. In fact, there is an increasing num-ber of people who are yearning for it, but the ques-tion is who would bring it and how? With old handswho have sold their souls a million times over todespots of all hues and colours? With a cosmeticchange of apparel, will they also be able to hide theirspots and forsake their inherent intellectual dishon-esty that is perpetually on sale for temporal gains?My guess – and that of millions of others who areequally disappointed at the turn of events – is an as-sertive no. We have been sold to the devil again. Lethope take a back seat and let mediocrity take over– wearing a new mask, may be!

The writer is a political analyst and a memberof the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. He can be reachedat raoofhasan@hotmail.com

let hope take a back seat, let’s be sold to the devil again

a new mask

Candid CornerBy Raoof Hasan

whitelIESby Ess Aich

Disqualification of mere prime ministers at thefederal capital might be high politics for some.But the country’s swanky clubs are where the

real politics is. Recently, a member was blackballedat the country’s most elite club in Karachi.

The gentleman in question happens to be a closerelative of the head honcho of the ruling party. Thegentleman was blackballed by another from the busi-ness community who had been roughed up when theparty was in power last in ‘96.

So what if the party runs the government? Itdoesn’t run the clubs. And that is what affects thedashing rich the most.

For feedback, comments, suggestions and, most importantly, tips, contact us at whitelies@pakistantoday.com.pk

Glasshouse, meet stone.Stone, glasshouse. Conven-tional wisdom dictates that

if one wants to be a moralising gad-fly for the rich and powerful, onehas to have a squeaky clean reputa-tion oneself.

A gentleman who has the localfranchise of an international corrup-tion watchdog, however, isn’t quitethe choirboy he pretends to be.

Before investigating into hispast, it would do the media a lot ofgood not to be impressed with inter-national brand-names of think tanksand do a little research on who isrunning the show locally as well.

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12 Saturday, 7 July, 2012

Go, Shawty, it’s yourbirthday! 50 Cent turns 37

We all know how it goes: “Go, shawty. it’s

your birthday. We gonna party like it’s your

birthday…” Well, today actually is the one

and only 50 Cent’s big day. The multitalented rapper,

actor, entrepreneur and record producer turns 37, and

we can only guess he’ll be having a great party, that is

for sure. 50 Cent, born Curtis James Jackson iii,

gained his megastar status in 2003 with the release of

his first rap album, Get Rich or Die Tryin’, which has

since been certified eight times platinum by the

Recording industry association of america. (Did we

mention he was discovered by fellow rapper eminem?)

since then, he has released The Massacre (2005),

Curtis (2007), Before i self Destruct (2009) and street

King immortal, set to be released in november of

2012. Fiddy has also appeared in a few movies,

including the semi-autobiographical Get Rich or Die

Tryin’ (2005), Home of the Brave (2006) and Righteous

Kill (2008). and the Queens native founded the record

label G-Unit Records, which has signed famous rappers

like lloyd Banks and Young Buck. AGENCIES

Are Robert Pattinson andKristin getting married?

IT’s been four years strong for our beloved Robert

Pattinson and Kristen stewart, and ever since

that beautiful Breaking Dawn wedding, Twi-hards

everywhere have been dying for Rob to put a ring on

it. and the latest Kristin stewart sighting might confirm

just that, as Kris was reportedly spotted trying on

engagement sparklers in West Hollywood. so, what’s

the real deal behind the engagement speculation?! as

with all things Robsten, the couple’s playing it coy.

Kristen was reportedly seen checking out engagement

rings at a neil lane jewelry store in West Hollywood in

early June. Claude Morady estate Jewelry in los

angeles posted a link to the engagement story on

their Facebook page along with the caption “We can

neither confirm nor deny first hand knowledge of this

rumor. When pressed for further clarification, the

jewelry store told e! news, “We do not comment on

clients or customers who come into our store and we

protect their privacy.” Calls to Kristen’s rep have not

yet been returned. AGENCIES

Celina brings her babieshome for the first time

Celina Jaitly is in town with hotelier husband

Peter Haag and her twins, Winston and Viraaj.

This is the three-month old babies’ (they’re

fraternal twins) first visit to india. ays a source, “Though

the two came to india last month, they couldn’t get the

visas of their babies on time so last week they had to go

to Dubai back again to bring back the babies. The couple

also went to Mhow in Madhya Pradesh to visit Celina’s

parents who are based there. They’re currently in

Mumbai but Celina and Winston have caught a cold.”

Celina, who is in Mumbai after eight months for an ad

shoot says, “it’s great to be back in town with my babies

for the first time. and to think that i’m facing the camera

three months after the delivery!” COurTESy TOI

Q: Having Bol Bachchan as the titlefor your next film, are you trying toencash your last name?A: I haven’t encashed my name till today sowhy will I start doing it now? Ajay Devgnmentioned that they literally had to groomyou into their style of comedy. How was theexperience? Ajay and Rohit taught me thatthere is a pitch behind every film and youhave to match it. I cannot repeat mycharacters as it will not suit the script. Mystyle of comedy was very different from whatBol Bachchan required me to do. The twoliterally made me unlearn what I alreadyknew and adopt a different style of comedywhich was very difficult for me.

Q: So how would you define yourstyle of comedy?A: My style of comedy is more deadpan andstraight-faced whereas the comedy that I did inthe film was very demanding as a lot of energywas required. We all had to keep our energylevels high all the time. It took me a week toadapt to the Bol Bachchan. The first one week ofshooting was really tough for me. I came with aparticular mindset for the film and Rohit wantedsomething exactly opposite to it. I thought this

will be the easiest film to do and it turned out tobe the most difficult film of my career. It lookslike a fun film and I thought it is a comedy filmwhere I will enjoy but I was proved completelywrong. I have told Ajay if the film does well hehas to send me on a holiday (Laughs)

Q: You have worked with both Ajayand Rohit together in Zameenbefore. So was it easier for you towork with them this time around?A: I think the most important thing for an actor is toachieve a comfort zone. According to me, an actorhas to have implicit faith and trust in his director. Iknew Rohit since the time he was an assistantdirector and I was a production assistant. On theother hand, Ajay is like an elder brother to me sothere is a huge amount of faith for him. I think that iswhat clicked. He is the most supportive co-star I haveever worked with and he is a huge bully too (Laughs).

Q: the only similar thread betweenBol Bachchan and Gol Maal (1979) isyour character. Was it a wisedecision on Ajay and Rohit’s part tobuy the official rights of the film?A: Yes absolutely. I applaud Ajay and Rohit onhow they have dealt with it. I think it would have

been very convenient to make the film withoutgiving the original film any credit which wouldn’thave been right.

Q: Director Rohit Shetty has enjoyedhuge commercial success. What isthe difference that you see in himsince he directed you in his debutfilm Zameen (2003)A: I think Rohit has become more confident now.He is as hard working and humble as he was whenwe were making Zameen. He is one of the mostsuccessful directors that we have in our industryand his track record speaks for itself. He is like amachine who works for like 20 hours a day.

Q: For a while a lot of yourfilms did not make anymark at the box-officeneither were theycritically acclaimed.A: It is never nice to talk aboutflop films as it is never a pleasantexperience but I think you haveto deal with flops. Nobody wantsto make an unsuccessful film.Everybody works hard to makesuccessful films. All you need to

I N a lawsuit filed in Manhattan federal court thatsurfaced on Thursday, the 24-year-old singer andher tour company, Tourihanna, is seeking anunspecified amount of compensatory damages andloss of earnings from accountancy firm Berdon LLP

and former employees Michael Mitnick and Peter Gounis.The suit, first filed late inTuesday ahead of the July 4U.S. holiday, claims theaccounting firmcaused“significantfinanciallosses”between2005 and 2010by

charging “exorbitant” commissions from Rihanna’s 2010“Last Girl on Earth Tour.” It also accuses Berdon ofmishandling Rihanna’s foreign and domestic taxes andfailing to monitor unpaid song royalties.“Between 2005 and 2010, Tourihanna suffered significantlosses due to defendants’ financial mismanagement andother acts and omissions,” the lawsuit said.Ron Storch, a partner at Berdon, said the companycould not comment on pending litigation. Mitnick andGounis have since left the firm and could not be reachedfor comment.Rihanna, whose real name is Robyn Fenty, has produceda string of worldwide hits including “Umbrella” and “WeFound Love.” She is referred to in the suit as a financialnovice who found fame at a young age and relied heavilyon her accountants.Her music management introduced her to Berdon in

2005 when she was a 16-year-old and “a minor with abooming music career and no knowledge orunderstanding of financial matters whatsoever.”The lawsuit said the accountants concealed facts

regarding her finances and, in a deal Rihanna’s lawyerscalled unusual, earned commissions based on apercentage of Rihanna’s gross receipts that were“exorbitant and expensive.”In addition, the firm assumed control over the singer’saffairs beyond the industry standard and failed tomaximize her personal net worth and long termwealth, the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit said several of the Barbados-born singer’snational and international tours between 2005 and2010 suffered losses compared with her last tour,“Loud”, that was a financial success after she parted

ways with Berdon.The lawsuit said Rihanna lost millions of dollars during

“The Last Girl On Earth” tour after the firm failed toreconcile costs versus revenues while still paying itselfmillions in fees.

It estimated that between 2007 and 2010, theaccountants earned millions in commissions on tourgross receipts in an amount equaling 23 percent of total

tour income, compared with 6 percent for Rihanna.The firm did not do monthly planning reports andperformed little record-keeping of Rihanna’s personal andbusiness expenses, including those for Tourihanna. Forexample, during 2008 and 2009, the accountants keptonly 2 percent to 4 percent of all receipts for expensescharged on the singer’s personal credit card, the suit said.It also failed to uncover millions in unpaid royalties andproblems with the way in which Universal Music Group(UMG) label Recordings was tracking song royalties. Thesuit did not mention Rihanna’s direct label, Def Jam, also

owned by UMG. Accountants mishandled foreign anddomestic taxes by withholding more funds thannecessary, leading to “a significant losses of taxbenefits” and failed to file taxes on time, causing latepenalties. The singer further claims that, as a result,the IRS is now auditing her because Berdonmishandled tax returns between 2008 and 2010.The suit includes claims of breach of contract,negligence, breach of fiduciary duty and unjustenrichment. NEwS dESK

Rihanna suesex-accountants over loss of money

one-on-one with abhishe

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13

Justin Bieber and SelenaGomez ‘going through arough patch’

Teen pop star Justin Bieber and girlfriend

selena Gomez have reportedly broken up

multiple times in the last few months. The

duo apparently decided to end their relationship

last week but have since rekindled and are giving

their relationship another try, TMZ reported

quoting sources. Bieber and Gomez’s current

situation is tenuous and that they are not a “solid”

couple, according to sources. Gomez, 19 and

Bieber, 18, have been dating for around a year and

a half. Disney actor Gomez has maintained her

squeaky clean image but the Baby hitmaker was

involved in a fight with a photographer. People

magazine quoted a source saying that Gomez “was

crying about Justin and was upset” during ashley

Tisdale’s birthday bash last week. The couple is

yet to address break-up rumours. COurTESy hT

Katy Perry blamesRussel Brand for divorce

sinGeR Katy Perry has blamed Russell Brand for

their marriage breakdown, saying his refusal to

come visit her on tour caused their split. The

37-year-old filed for divorce from Perry December

2011 after 14-months for marriage. “if i could edit it

any other way i would but that is exactly what it was.

i always had plans to make this record (Teenage

Dream) and usually with a record, you tour. “Touring

is always important to me. it’s like a big ioU to my

fans, because i know they are the reason i exist,”

thesun.co.uk quoted Pery as saying. it had been

speculated that the couple split Brand wanted kids

but the 27-year-old wasn’t ready. she says she can’t

even think about having children until her career

slows down. COurTESy hT

Tom Cruise’s lawyer lashesout at Katie Holmes

ToM Cruise’s lawyer accused the actor’s wife of

“playing the media” after she was photographed

taking their daughter suri out for an ice-cream.

attorney Bert Fields suggested that the 50-year-old actor

will wait for his missus to “wear everyone out” with

publicity stunts before he gives his version of their break-

up. 83-year-old Fields launched his attack as suri was

seen for the first time in public since Holmes announced

on Friday that she is divorcing Cruise and wants sole

custody of the six-year-old. suri was seen gently stroking

Holmes’ face inside a new York ice cream parlour, near

an apartment where she and the 33-year-old actress are

staying. “We are letting the other side play the media

until they wear everyone out, and then we’ll have

something to say,” the Daily express quoted Fields as

saying. “it’s not Cruise’s style to do this publicly. He is

really sad about what’s happening,” he said. The lawyer

hinted that his client will file a counter-claim against

Holmes. “Tactically we can’t say where Cruise will file a

divorce case and if he’ll seek joint custody,” the lawyer

added. Holmes filed papers in the Big apple last

Thursday to end the couple’s five-year marriage citing

“irreconcilable differences.” COurTESy TOI

do is just keep working.

Q: So have your recentdebacles given you somelearning? For example,to not work in multiple

projects

simultaneously. A: When I was promoting Players peopleasked me why I was doing so many films at atime. Times have changed. I think an actor hasfar more responsibilities towards a film thanacting. I don’t want people to point fingers atvarious aspects of the film. I want complete

responsibility by saying that I dideverything that

I could do.

Q: Has this modification in yourapproach towards films come afteryou became a producer with Paa?A: No, my approach as a producer wasshaped based on the kind of actor I was. Ihave been and brought up in this industry. Imade Paa in a certain amount because Iwanted my distributors and exhibitors toearn money which they did. The same holdstrue with Buddah Hoga Tera Baap. I makefilms that I believe in.

Q: Do u think industry has givenyou your due as an actor?A: I think I have been given too much due asan actor. I think people have been too kind tome as they think that I am a much better actorthan actually I am. I think I have a lot more todo and improve.

Q: Is there a certain kind of change in your life after you became a father?A: The responsibilities have increased. I cando almost everything for her. She is just thefocus of everybody’s attention right now. Herinnocent presence makes everyone want tospend time with her. COurTESy STArduST

k Bachchan

ISB 01-07-2012_Layout 1 7/7/2012 4:31 AM Page 13

PALLEKELEAfP

PAKISTAN will look to deny Sri Lanka a long-awaited series victory when they take on thehosts in the third and final Test in Pallekelefrom Sunday. Sri Lanka, who won the first Test

in Galle and drew the second in Colombo, have their bestchance of winning their first series in three years since de-feating New Zealand 2-0 at home in 2009.

But Pakistan have been boosted by a gutsy display withboth bat and ball in the rain-hit second Test on a placid

wicket at the Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC) to aim for a se-ries-levelling win. "If the weather had not intervened, wecould have pushed for a result," said Pakistan captain Mis-bah-ul Haq. "But everyone is encouraged by the way weplayed the second Test. "Hopefully we can repeat that per-formance in the final Test and draw the series." The battingflourished with Mohammad Hafeez making 196 and AzharAli 157 in the first innings total of 551-6 declared after SriLanka surprisingly chose to field on winning the toss. Pak-istan then dismissed the hosts for 391, grabbing the lastfive wickets for 21 runs, after centuries from Kumar San-gakkara and Tillakaratne Dilshan had lifted Sri Lanka to a

comfortable 236-1. Young left-arm seamer Junaid Khanclaimed a five-wicket haul on a pitch that offered him nohelp and was deservedly named the man of the match inthe batsmen-dominated Test. But there was no time toforce a result after bad weather allowed just 71 of the stip-ulated 180 overs to be bowled on the second and third days.

Pakistan had enjoyed an impressive run before the cur-rent series, winning seven of their last nine Tests, includinga brilliant 3-0 whitewash of top-ranked England earlierthis year. But the tourists must first find a way to removeSangakkara cheaply if they are to win the final Test. Theaccomplished left-hander made 199 not out in the first Testand 192 in the second, toying with the Pakistani attack thatincluded prolific spinners Saeed Ajmal and AbdurRehman. Sangakkara's disappointment at missing out ontwo double-centuries in successive matches may havefaded by the news that he has regained the number onespot in the official rankings for Test batsmen. Sangakkara,who first shot to the top of the rankings in December 2007and then again in November last year, had slipped to num-ber two behind Shivnarine Chanderpaul of the West Indiesin March. But Sri Lanka's batting has proved vulnerable inthe current series with only Sangakkara and TillakaratneDilshan holding the innings together with centuries in bothTests. Middle-order batsman Thilan Samaraweera hasmanaged just 21 runs in the two games, while opener Tha-ranga Paranavitana and skipper Mahela Jayawardene havestruggled to stamp their authority.

Sri Lanka may also look for a new-ball partner forNuwan Kulasekara after Nuwan Pradeep claimed justone wicket for 235 runs in the two Tests. The PallekeleInternational Stadium, built in 2009 on the outskirts ofthe hill town of Kandy, has hosted two drawn Tests sofar, both of which were interrupted by bad weather. Lightrain has been forecast for next week, but that should notprevent a keen contest between bat and ball.

NEW DELHIAfP

Record-breaking Indian batsman SachinTendulkar on Friday scotched speculationover his future in one-day cricket, saying hehad no plans to retire as long as he was en-joying the game. The master batsman, 39,on Wednesday opted out of India's upcom-ing tour of Sri Lanka for a one-day seriesand a one-off Twenty20 match, leading tospeculation over his one-day career. Ten-dulkar said he skipped the Sri Lanka tourto spend time with his family.

"It's not about what XYZ thinks, it'sabout what I feel and I feel as long as I amenjoying and I feel like being part of it, I'llcontinue (playing one-dayers)," Tendulkartold CNN-IBN news channel. "I think it(speculation over retirement) has beengoing on since 2006. It's been six yearsnow. I am enjoying cricket and as long as Iam passionate about cricket it makes sensebeing part of team sport." Tendulkar saidhe decided to stop playing Twenty20 inter-nationals in 2007 because he felt he shouldnot be part of the squad. He has figured injust one T20 international and was not partof India's 2007 World Cup-winning squad.

"I felt I should not be part of T20 squadbecause the team did well. When I get thatfeeling in one-day cricket maybe I wouldtake that decision," said Tendulkar. "When I

feel like taking that decision (to quit one-daycricket) I will take that. I don't want the restof the guys to take that decision for me." Ten-dulkar holds four world batting records --

maximum runs in Tests (15,470) and one-day internationals (18,426) and centuries inTests (51) and one-dayers (49). He com-pleted an unprecedented century of cen-

turies during the Asia Cup in Dhaka inMarch. The one-day series in Sri Lankastarts in Hambantota on July 21 while theTwenty20 match will be played on August 7.

Saturday, 7 July, 2012

Page 17

Federer stuns Djokovic, makeseighth Wimbledon final

gayle, Afridi toplay in Sri lanka’snew t20 league

COLOMBOAfP

Pakistan's Shahid Afridi and Chris Gayleof the West Indies will star in Sri Lanka'sinaugural Twenty20 league next month,the cricket board said on Friday.The duo are among 56 foreign playerslisted to take part in the Sri Lanka Pre-mier League (SLPL) to be held inColombo and Pallekele from August 10-31, Sri Lanka Cricket said in a statement.The tournament, which aims to emulatethe success of the highly popular IndianPremier League (IPL), does not have anyplayers from India or England on the listreleased by the board. But the line-upincludes a host of current, former andupcoming players from Pakistan, Aus-tralia, Bangladesh, New Zealand, theWest Indies and South Africa. AustralianRyan Harris, South Africa's Richard Leviand Johan Botha, Misbah-ul-Haq andSaeed Ajmal of Pakistan and Shakib Al-Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim and TamimIqbal of Bangladesh feature in the list.The foreign players will play alongsideleading Sri Lankan stars like skipperMahela Jayawardene, Kumar San-gakkara, Tillakaratne Dilshan and LasithMalinga for seven provincial franchiseteams. Unlike the televised players' auc-tions in the IPL, the cricketers con-tracted to the SLPL were divided amongthe seven teams by a draft system thatwas held behind closed doors inColombo on Thursday. The cricket boardhas so far declined to name the ownersof the seven franchises or the amounteach player will receive for the 24-matchtournament. Recent media reports sug-gested that all seven franchises werebought by little-known Indian compa-nies after organisers received lukewarmresponse from local firms. It was unclearhow many matches the 13 Pakistanis inthe list will play since they are due toplay a limited-overs series against Aus-tralia in the United Arab Emirates fromAugust 28 to September 10.

Clt20 will reviveindo-Pak cricket

LAHORESTAff rEPOrT

Hailing the decision of the ChampionsLeague T20 Organising Committee, whichincludes Board of Cricket Control in India(BCCI), to invite Pakistan's Sialkot Stallionsin the qualifying stage of the tournament, aPakistan Cricket Board (PCB) official saidWednesday that this could be the first steptowards the revival of bilateral ties with India.Pakistan's domestic T20 champions got anofficial invitation from the organising com-mittee of the Champions League, which in-cludes the boards of India, South Africa andAustralia, to be one of the six teams to play inthe qualifying stage this year. “We see this asa very positive development and since Indiais one of the main stake holders in the Cham-pions League obviously it is the first step to-wards the revival of bilateral ties with India,”the spokesman was quoted as saying. SialkotStallions will have to compete with five otherteams in the qualifying stage to grab one ofthe two spots available to qualify for the mainround of the competition. Due to strained re-lations after the Mumbai terror attacks in No-vember, 2008 India has avoided invitingeither Pakistan players for the Indian Pre-mier League (IPL) or a team from Pakistanfor the Champions League. But at the BCCI'sworking committee meeting two monthsback, it was decided to invite a team fromPakistan for the Champions League, whichwas initially to be held in India. The PCB offi-cial said that an official invitation had comefrom the organisers, the executive coordina-tion committee of the PCB would discuss iton July 4. The cricket boards of India, Aus-tralia and South Africa jointly own and oper-ate the Champions League, which is atournament contested by the domestic T20champions from Test playing nations. SialkotStallions a team led by Pakistan's former cap-tain and all-rounder Shoaib Malik are thereigning national and super eights T20champions. The Sialkot side includes somestar players like Imran Nazir, Rana NavedulHasan, Shakil Ansar, Abdul Rehman, RezaHasan and Shahid Yousuf.

Still enjoy playing ODIs: Tendulkar

Buoyant Pakistan out toruin Sri Lanka’s party

SYDNEYAfP

Star striker Des Abbott has with-drawn from the Australian men'steam for this month's LondonOlympics field hockey tournamentwith a knee injury, Hockey Australiasaid on Friday.

Abbott will be replaced by Rus-sell Ford, who coach RicCharlesworth admitted had been un-lucky to miss original selection after

also missing out on the 2008 BeijingOlympics. "Des is a walk-up start, ifhis game is uncompromised, he isone of the world's most brilliantplayers, but the progressive knee in-jury has interfered in his game,"Charlesworth said.

"This is the most difficult thingI've had to do in my time. We ac-knowledge what Des, at his best, canbe but given the circumstances wefelt Russell Ford was the better op-tion." Charlesworth said Ford had

terrific ball skills, was an enduranceathlete with speed and the ability toscore goals.

The "Kookaburras" are strongfavourites for the gold medal inLondon after a dominant period.

Under coach Charlesworth, Aus-tralia have won the 2010 World Cup,three of their last four Champions'Trophy victories and have beenplaced in the top four in everyOlympics since 1980, including goldin 2004.

australia striker abbott out of olympics

LONDON: Indiacricket superstarSachin Tendulkar andAustralian pop starKylie Minogue were inthe Wimbledon RoyalBox on Friday towatch the potentiallyepic semi-final be-tween Novak Djokovicand Roger Federer.Tendulkar, who thisweek opted to sit outIndia's one-day seriesin Sri Lanka, was withwife Anjali. Minoguewas accompanied bySpanish modelboyfriend Andres Ve-lencoso. Also in theRoyal Box were for-mer Wimbledonchampions Rod Laver,Goran Ivanisevic andManuel Santana. AfP

tendulkar, Kylie in Wimbledon royal Box

ISB 01-07-2012_Layout 1 7/7/2012 4:31 AM Page 14

Sports 15Saturday, 7 July, 2012

LAHORESTAff rEPOrT

AFTER being suspected of de-liberately under-performingand having links with suspi-cious people, Pakistan's

wicketkeeper-batsman Kamran Akmalhas now also been given a final warningabout his conduct in the dressing room.

Reports quoting well-placed sourcessaid that when Kamran appeared beforethe integrity committee of the board twodays back, he was told in clear terms

that any attempts to create groupings inthe team or indulge in politics will notbe tolerated at all.

"Kamran got a final warning withreference to past complaints about hisconduct that he encouraged groupingsin the team," a source said.

Interestingly, as far as suspicionsabout his links with bookmakers wereconcerned, he was asked to furnishsome documents which he did and thecommittee then held a detailed discus-sion with him on some past issues.

"The position now is that the board

is still contemplating whether to offi-cially announce that Kamran can beconsidered for national selection orwhether to just tell the selectors to se-lect him without any announcements,"the source said.

Kamran was called before the com-mittee again after the national selectorsasked the board for clearance to con-sider Kamran for the forthcoming T20World Cup after including his name inthe list of 30 probables.

The source also said that after ini-tially pushing for Kamran's clearance,

the selectors had also now taken a backseat and were waiting for the final wordfrom the board.

"The board itself remains undecidedbecause there is no fresh complaintagainst Kamran and the factual positionis that he was cleared by the ICC to playin the 2011 World Cup," the source said.

He said the issue cropped up againas Kamran's name had been taken in thespot-fixing trial in London last year thatinvolved Salman Butt, Mohammad Asifand Mohammad Aamer. He was namedin the spot-fixing trial that took place in

the UK last year, but was not summonedby the court, or the InternationalCricket Council. However, the PCB ex-cluded him from the team.

Kamran was also accused of deliber-ately under-performing in the SydneyTest during Pakistan’s tour to Australiain 2010, reports said.

However, his chances of returningincreased after the selection committeeselected him in the preliminary squad.His final inclusion is, however, still sub-ject to clearance by the integrity com-mittee.

Kamran warned of conduct in dressing room

LAHORE STAff rEPOrT

Former Olympian Tauqeer Dar has saidthat Dar Hockey Acadmey Europe tourproved very beneficial and helpful foryoung hockey players in order to gaininginternational exposure as well as im-proving their skills and game.

Talking to the reporters, Dar HockeyAcademy president Tauqeer Dar said: “Itwas Dar Hockey Academy team’s third

successive successful tour to Europe. Thetour was made successful with the sin-cere efforts of Iftikhar Ali Malik, AnjumNisar, Farooq Dar, Khurram, FarooqKhan, Fahad, Ayaz, Asif, Sameer andAbbas and I am thankful to all of them.”

“Wherever Dar Academy goes for in-ternational tour, it surprises the peopleof that region and they can’t left praisethe team’s ability, skills and perform-ance,” he added.

He said that the academy had the

honour to defeat Europe’s one of the bestclubs. “When Dar Academy team de-feated former Pakistan hockey teamcoach Michel van den Heuvel’s club, hecame to team’s goalkeeper and asked hisname and city which he belongs to andpraised the club and its performance.”

“International Hockey Federation(FIH) also lauded the efforts of DarHockey Academy which is busy in serv-ing the city’s young, talented and deserv-ing children,” Dar concluded.

LAHORESTAff rEPOrT

The Pakistan Cricket Board Friday namedPakistan team for the Australia tour and forICC Under-19 World Cup being held in Aus-tralia next month. Pakistan team will be play-ing three one-day warm-up games againstAustralia U19 team before taking part in theU19 World Cup. Babar Azam, who led Pak-istan to share the trophy with India in ACCU19 Asia Cup has been retained as the captainwhile Umar Waheed will be his deputy.PAKISTAN SquAd: Sami Aslam, imam-ul-haq, umar Wa-heed (Vice Captain), Azizullah, Mir hamza, Ehsan Adil,Salman Afridi (wicketkeeper), babar Azam (Captain),Muhammad Nawaz, Syed Faraz Ali, zafar gohar, Muham-mad zia-ul-haq, Shahid ilyas, usman qadir and Syed SaadAli. haroon rasheed (Manager), Sabih Azhar (coach) Dr. So-hail Saleem doctor/physiotherapist), yasir Malik (trainer),usman hashmi (Analyst) are officials of the team.

PCB WELCOMES FOREIGNSECREtARIES’ StAtEMENt: The Pak-istan Cricket Board (PCB) has welcomed thestatements of Pakistani and Indian foreign sec-retaries on resumption of bilateral ties, which

were made in a joint press conference after theSecretary level meeting between the two.

The statements have come at a timewhen heads of both the Boards are in closecontact with each other. During the recentvisit of PCB Chairman Ch. Zaka Ashraf toIndia and at the sidelines of last month’sICC and ACC meetings in Malaysia, Chair-man PCB had several meetings with hiscounterpart BCCI President Mr. S. Srini-vasan. Both have agreed to resume the bi-lateral cricketing ties between the twocountries. As a first step Pakistan’s domes-tic champion outfit recently have receivedan invite to participate in the QualifyingTournament of Champions LeagueTwenty20 being played in South Africa.While commenting on this developmentPCB spokesman said, “We welcome thisstatement that is highly constructive. Bothboards are engaged at the highest level withthe objective of resumption of cricketing re-lations between the two countries and thisendorsement will further reinforce this al-ready improved environment”.

MUMBAIbIPIN dANI

The use of white balls is likely to continuefor the forthcoming matches between Pak-istan and Australia in August-September2012. The cricket committees of the ICCand the MCC have been in favour of usingpink balls for day-night matches and thePakistan Cricket Board has already an-nounced the schedule of the matches thatwill have late-evening start to avoid UAEdaytime heat.

"It's a PCB series, you need to askthem," Peter Young, CA General Manager(Public Affairs) said from Melbourne.

"Of course, we will continue with thewhite balls. The playing conditions arebeing worked out," Intikhab Alam, PCB di-rector said.

The ODIs are scheduled to begin at6pm local time, and end at 1.45am the fol-

lowing morning. The Twenty20s that fol-low are set to begin at 8pm and end at 11.

"The series in question is a Pakistanseries to which they have invited us. Youshould direct questions on issues such aspotential public interest to them," Youngfurther added.

"CA has liaised with the players andwith their representative association aspart of the planning for this series."

"We will also be travelling to the UAEwith the players’ association to do the nor-mal pre-tour inspection that we undertakebefore every Australian tour to any part ofthe world. That travel will be in the nextfortnight," he further said.

"Now that the PCB has finalised dates,venues and playing times, CA will be mov-ing to finalise arrangements for our UAEgame against Afghanisatan which we willplay immediately before the Pakistangames," Young signed off.

PCB unlikely to try pink balls in

night matches against Australia

Pakistan colts foraustralian tour, ICCU19 World Cup named

Kiwis bear thirddefeat as gayle,russell shine KINGStON: Chris Gayle smashed athird successive half-century andseamer Andre Russell bagged fourwickets as West Indies cruised to anine-wicket win over New Zealand inThursday's opening one-day interna-tional. Gayle, who made 53 ad 85 in theback-to-back Twenty20 matchesagainst the injury-hit tourists inFlorida last week, continued his richvein of form with 63 at Sabina Park asWest Indies coasted home with 52 ballsto spare. Dwayne Smith was also unde-feated on 65. Russell, the 24-year-oldseamer, had pinned back New Zealand,taking three wickets with the new balland then got a fourth with his final de-livery to end with 4-45 off 10 overs. AfP

Murray endsbritain’s 74-yearfinal waitLONDON: Andy Murray ended Britain's74-year wait for a male Wimbledon finaliston Friday as the world number fourclinched a 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 semi-final vic-tory over French fifth seed Jo-WilfriedTsonga. Murray's triumph consigned a mis-erable run of 11 semi-final failures by Britishmen to the history books and emulated theachievement of Bunny Austin, the lasthome challenger to reach the Wimbledonmen's final back in 1938. The 25-year-oldhad lost at the semi-final stage for the lastthree years, joining Tim Henman, RogerTaylor and Mike Sangster on the list ofBritish near-misses at the All England Club.But decades of anguish faded from view infront of a jubiliant crowd as Murray bookedfinal with Roger Federer in Sunday. AfP

‘Dar hA’s Europe tour proves a success’

ISB 01-07-2012_Layout 1 7/7/2012 4:31 AM Page 15

WImblEdON: switzerland's Roger Federer

serves during his men's singles semi-final

match against serbia's Novak djokovic during

the 2012 Wimbledon Championships. afP

Sports16Saturday, 7 July, 2012

hamza reiteratespledge ofreviving sportsculture in Punjab

LAHORE STAff rEPOrT

Mian Hamza Shahbaz Sharif, ChairmanSports Board Punjab, has reiterated hispledge of reviving sports culture in theprovince by providing proper sportingfacilities at every available ground forpeople of all walks of life. Talking tojournalists here at the Punjab SquashComplex, Hamza said that he feels hisduty to make the grounds available forthe public for sporting activities. “Wegot vacated more the 4000 grounds inthe province from occupants and nowits my pledge to provide the public withproper sports and exercise equipmentat these grounds so that people of allwalks of life return to the grounds forsports as it used to be the practice,” hesaid. “We organized one of the biggestPunjab Sports Festival earlier his yearwhich had a mass participation andhave now planned even a bigger eventwhich will start later next month in-volving youth of the province. “ThePunjab Youth Festival 2012 wouldsurely set new precedent which wouldgive the youth a line and direction tofulfil their dreams,” he added. “Prepa-rations for holding the event is under-way and we would make is big success,”he said. He further added that his gov-ernment will make the province a hubof sports in the country. Hamza alsoasked the Punjab Squash Association toorganize a squash competition withhaving Rs 50,000 cash award and alsopromised to put before the chief minis-ter the association’s request of Rs 20million grant.

lodhi gains handytwo points lead

KARACHISTAff rEPOrT

International Master Mahmood AhmedLodhi gained a handy two points leadover his closest rivals after winnning bothhis matches of the day in the 28th Na-tional Chess Championship at The BeachLuxury Hotel Here On Friday. Lodhi ofGujranwala secured eight points tostrengthen his claim to retain the crownand win a record 13th title. In the after-noon eighth round, Lodhi defeated Mo-hammad Ayub of Punjab in 39 points.Earlier in the seventh round match Lodhioutclassed Fide Master Umer Khan. In a17 move match Ayub rated fourth in Pun-jab overwhelmed Haseeb Ahmed ofSindh. In the seventh round to raise histally to six point besides Ayub NationalMasters, Anwar Qureshi, Waqar Ahmed,Madni, Asifur Rehman and Syed AhmedAlvi were tied at second spot with sixpoints each in the women’s competitiondefending champion Nida Mishraz andZenobia Wasif both hailing from Sindhare joint leaders with three points each.

KOHLERAfP

Americans Cristie Kerr, Brittany Lincicome andLPGA rookie Lizette Salas each fired a three-under par 69 to share the lead after Thursday'sfirst round of the US Women's Open. In swel-tering heat with no relief from wind at Black-wolf Run, the US trio seized the top spot at theyear's third major women's championship byhandling the conditions, their rivals and themost difficult layout they face all year. Sharingfourth on 70 were 17-year-old US star LexiThompson, American Jennie Lee, Japan's AiMiyazato and Spain's Beatriz Recari. Salasopened and closed her round strongly with afive-foot birdie at the 18th allowing her to jointhe top group, having earlier scored birdies atthe par-5 seventh and par-4 15th. Her lonebogey came at the par-4 11th.

"We just figured any putt on the green isa birdie putt," Salas said. "Down the stretch

we had some good birdie opportunities and Itook advantage of that last one." Kerr, rankedeighth in the world, began on the back nineand birdied the 11th, par-3 13th and par-516th then finished with 11 pars to claim herplace at the top of the leaderboard.

Kerr's 14 LPGA titles include a victory at the2007 US Women's Open while Salas has yet toclaim a pro victory. Lincicome made bogeys atthe first and fifth but each time answered witha birdie on the following hole. She added birdiesat the par-5 seventh and 10th holes and anotherat the par-3 17th to share a share of the lead.World No. 1 Yani Tseng of Taiwan, trying tocomplete a women's golf career Grand Slamwith a victory this week, opened with a 74 tostand five adrift. Tseng began with a birdie butstumbled with a double bogey 6 at the fourth.She answered with a birdie on the next hole buttriple-bogeyed the par-4 11th and sandwicheda bogey at the par-3 13th between birdies andparred the last four holes.

American trio share US Women’s Open lead

KOhlEr: lizette Salas watchesher tee shot on the tenth holeduring the first round of the2012 u.S. Women's Open. afP

KOhlEr: brittany lincicomesmiles as she walks off the ninth tee during the first roundof the 2012 uS Women's Open atblackwolf run. afP

KOhlEr: Cristie Kerr hits her tee shot on the par 4 14th hole duringround one of the 2012 u.S. Women's Open at blackwolf run. afP

KUALA LUMPURAfP

Malaysian badminton hero Lee ChongWei Friday said he has not fully recov-ered from an ankle injury and is un-sure of whether he will be in top formfor London, his last chance to winOlympic gold.

The world number two, who hasbeen receiving stem cell treatment ontorn ankle ligaments sustained at theThomas Cup in China in May, lost thetop ranking to arch-rival Lin Dan ofChina last month after missing twotournaments.

He said the London Olympics,which start on July 27, will be his lastand he hopes to regain the numberone ranking by winning a gold medal -- the first for him and his country.

Asked whether he is confident hewill be back in top form in time, hesaid: "I'm not sure.... Now I cannot

say I have 100 percent recovered. Istill have three weeks. I only concen-trate on my game."

With three weeks to go, the 29-year-old said he was about 80 percentfit. He will leave for England nextweek. Lee said he has been trainingsix to seven hours a day and is stillundergoing rehabilitation for his in-jury. "I'm quite happy with my recov-ery. I still want to prepare mentallybecause I have just come back frominjury," he told reporters after a train-ing session at a stadium in theMalaysian capital Kuala Lumpur.

"I just try my best. I hope I canplay well in the Olympics and comeout with world number one... I knoweverybody hopes I can take a goldmedal." Lee became world numberone in 2008 after the BeijingOlympics, where he lost in the final toLin -- who many consider to be thesport's best ever player. Lee said he

had decided to play for another twoyears after the London Olympics,competing in the Commonwealth

Games and the Asian Games beforeretiring. "I have played for a very longtime... It's good enough," he said.

Lee uncertain about olympic form

KuAlA luMPur: Malaysian badminton hero and world number two lee Chong Weispeaks to the media after a practice session. afP

ISB 01-07-2012_Layout 1 7/7/2012 4:31 AM Page 16

WATCh IT LIve

STAR SPORTSWimbledonTennis04:00PM

from athensto london

ThIrd OlymPIC GAmES IN 1904

VENuE: St Louis, United StatesDAtES: July 1 to November 23,1904NuMBERS OF SPORtS: 17(91 events)NuMBERS OF NAtIONS: 12NuMBERS OF PARtICIPANt: 651(645 men and 6 women)YOuNGESt GOLD MEDALISt:Samuel Berger (United States) aged 19years 274 days in BoxingOLDESt GOLD MEDALISt: GalenSpencer (United States) aged 64 yearsand 2 days in ArcheryOLDESt MEDALISt: Samuel Duvall(United States) aged 68 years and 194days in Archery

fINAl mEdAlS TAlly

COuNtRY G S BUnited States 78 82 79Germany 4 4 5Cuba 4 2 3Canada 4 11 -Hungary 2 1 1Great Britain 1 1 -Mixed Team 1 1 -Greece 1 - 1Switzerland 1 - 1Austria - - 1total 96 93 92

TrIVIA:n The problems of distance and travel

meant a few overseas entrants sothat 85 per cent of the competitorswere from host country and theywon 84 per cent of medals.

n A total of 651 athletes from only 12nations competed in St. Louis in1904.

n Anton Heida (United States) gainedthe record six medals, five golds andone silver, in gymnastics.

n One of the most remarkable athleteswas the American gymnast GeorgeEyser, who won six medals eventhough his left leg was made of wood.

n Frank Kugler won four medals infreestyle wrestling, weightlifting andtug of war, making him the onlycompetitor to win a medal in threedifferent sports at the same OlympicGames.

quIz:

Q: Who won the gold medal in men’shockey at Atlanta in 1896 ?A. HollandQ: How many world record were set inthe 1996 Olympic Games at Atlanta ?A. Twenty sixQ: When did Cycling make its debut inOlympics ?A. 1896Q 4: Until which year did Australia andNew Zealand enter as a composite teamin the Olympics ?A. 1920Q 5: When was the Basketball includedin the Olympics ?A. 1936

Sports 17Saturday, 7 July, 2012

LONDONAfP

Serena Williams reached a seventh Wimble-don final on Thursday, taking her aces totalto 85, an intimidating statistic which alsomakes her the second most powerful serverin the men's tournament.

The 30-year-old American buried Vic-toria Azarenka under a firestorm of 24 acesin her 6-3, 7-6 (8/6) semi-final win, a recordfor a women's match at Wimbledon, beatingthe 23 she hit in the third round againstZheng Jie. The four-time champion has nowpiled up 85 aces for the tournament, 51more than closest rival Sabine Lisicki.

It's a total which even puts her secondon the men's list where only Germany'sPhilipp Kohlschreiber hit more aces with 98.

Williams has fired down one more thanAmerican men's 10th seed Mardy Fish whofinished his campaign on 84. "Actually dur-ing the match I thought I didn't serve well. Ithought, Gosh, I got to get more first servesin. I had absolutely no idea about therecord," said Williams. "It really didn't feellike I hit 24 aces at all. I honestly felt like Ihit maybe 10. Like I wasn't going for thatmuch. I was just going to play well, to servewell, to do the best I could.

"I just got to watch the film. I thoughtmy serve was off, and apparently clearly itwasn't, so...maybe I should be off a littlemore." When asked to summarise her serve,Williams was more definite, especially hav-ing hit the 120mph mark, the fastest serve ofthe competition along with Lisicki. "Mean,"was her assessment of the weapon that is

widely expected to blow away third seededAgnieszka Radwanska in Saturday's cham-pionship match and allow her to claim a 14thmajor and fifth Wimbledon. Williams willstart as the hot favourite having beatenworld number three Radwanska, the firstPole in a major final in 73 years, in their twomeetings without dropping a set.

That includes the Wimbledon quarter-finals in 2008 where the American lost justfour games. "I've been working so hard, Ireally wanted it," said Williams, the first30-year-old to reach the All England Clubfinal since Steffi Graf in 1999.

"She was playing well and I got a littletight in the second set. I was looking too farin the future. I was so close, but I can't dothat. I was happy to get through that secondset tie-break." Williams, who won the first

of her four Wimbledons 10 years ago, in-sisted that the destination of the 2012 crownis far from a foregone conclusion eventhough she is widely expected to overwhelmthe slender Radwanska. The Pole made thefinal with a 6-3, 6-4 win over German eighthseed Angelique Kerber. "She's doing unbe-lievable. She's playing so great. Wow, she'sgoing to get every ball back," said the Amer-ican, whose serving prowess would not lookout of place in the men's game.

Serena played two doubles matches onWednesday with sister Venus, but showedno signs of fatigue against Azarenka, tak-ing the first set courtesy of eight aces and20 winners, while allowing her opponentjust four points on serve. That was the firstset dropped by the 22-year-old Belarusianat the tournament.

Record ace blitz puts Serena in man’s world

LONDONAfP

SIX-TIME champion RogerFederer reached a recordeighth Wimbledon final on Fri-day when he defeated world

number one and defending championNovak Djokovic 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3. In thepair's 27th meeting but first on grass, Fed-erer booked his place in his 24th GrandSlam final where he will face either AndyMurray or Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

Victory on Sunday will take the 30-year-old level with Pete Sampras's recordof seven Wimbledon wins, allow him toreclaim the world number one rankingand clinch a 17th career Grand Slamcrown. Djokovic, who was bidding toreach a fifth successive Grand Slam final,had defeated Federer six times in theirlast seven meetings. But Federer, playingin a record 23rd successive major semi-final, was not to be denied as he buriedthe heartache of having been knocked outin the quarter-finals in the last two years.

He also took his record of semi-finalvictories to eight out of eight at the AllEngland Club. With Indian cricket super-star Sachin Tendulkar and pop singerKylie Minogue watching from the RoyalBox, Federer provided the early entertain-ment by easing to the first set in just 24minutes. The Swiss earned the breakpoint he needed in the sixth game whenDjokovic, who fell on the surface madeslippy by the closed roof above, could onlynet a running backhand. A shout from thecrowd then caused Djokovic to check hisservice motion and Federer pounced witha low return which the Serb could onlydump into the net. Federer served up twosuccessive aces in the ninth game to laythe foundation for wrapping up the open-ing set. Djokovic, who came back fromtwo sets to love down to beat Federer inthe semi-finals of the US Open last year,

hit back in the second set, breaking witha razor-sharp backhand down the line fora 2-0 lead. The match was level when thechampion fired his fifth ace of the contestto take the second set.

A Djokovic double fault then gaveFederer break point in the sixth game ofthe third which the Serb saved after a bru-tal, 23-shot rally. Another fierce ex-change, this time 26 shots, gave Federera second break point but Djokovic's irondefence kept him level at 3-3. However,Federer carved out two set points in the

10th game when Djokovic missed an easyoverhead. The champion saved the firstbut Federer converted the second with aleaping smash into an open court.

Federer was suddenly and comfort-ably on top, capitalising on a looseDjokovic service game to break for a 2-0 lead in the fourth set. Djokovic wasunder siege and fought off three breakpoints to hang on at 4-2 down. But Fed-erer claimed victory in the ninth gameon his first match point when Djokovicnetted a service return.

LAHORESTAff rEPOrT

FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valcke announced that goal-linetechnology has been approved by the International Football Associ-ation Board (IFAB), football's law-making body and its ready to goahead with. According to reports received here, goal-line technologywill be used in incidents where it is not possible for match officials todetermine with the naked eye whether the ball has crossed the goalline. It would also include cases where the ball bounces down off theunderside of the crossbar and is cleared away by a defender.

There are many decisions which are still considered as contro-versial. The latest event took place during the Euro Cup 2012 in whichthe Hungarian referee Viktor Kassai did not awarded a goal toUkraine’s Marko Devic during a group stage match with England.Later the official publicly admitted that it was a mistake

Valcke said that two systems have been approved, the Hawk eyewhich is currently being used in tennis and cricket and relies on op-tical recognition with the help of cameras. The second one is the Goal-Ref which will use a magnetic field with a special ball to identify agoal. Even with the implementation of the technology the referee willhave the power to change the decision if he thinks so.

fIfa gives green signalto goal Line technology

Murray mania at$7,000 a ticket

LONDONAfP

Andy Murray was Friday attempting tobecome the first British man in 74 yearsto reach the Wimbledon final, an eventso rare that Centre Court tickets werebeing sold for up to £4,500 ($6,992).The 25-year-old Scot, who has lost inhis three previous semi-finals at the AllEngland Club, tackles France's Jo-Wil-fried Tsonga bidding to be the firstBriton since Bunny Austin in 1938 toreach the championship match. The lastBritish man to win Wimbledon wasFred Perry in 1936 and with history atstake, fans are splashing out to get aseat on Centre Court, where the roof islikely to be closed as heavy rain contin-ued to fall on Friday morning. Onlineticket market place Viagogo said thatsemi-final tickets were changing handsfor an average of £3,500 ($5,438), withthe highest sold for £4,500 ($6,992).

Federer stuns Djokovic,makes eighth final

S. PERvEZ QAISER

stats corner

federer deserves to beback on top, says djokovicLONDON: Novak Djokovic admittedon Friday that Roger Federer will thor-oughly deserve to reclaim the worldnumber one spot if he triumphs inSunday's Wimbledon final. Federerwill go back to the top of the rankings,a position he last held in May 2010, ifhe clinches a seventh Wimbledon titleand 17th career Grand Slam title. Vic-tory will also see Djokovic, beaten 6-3,3-6, 6-4, 6-3 in Friday's semi-final atthe All England Club, relegated to thenumber two spot having led the packsince winning his maiden Wimbledontitle 12 months ago. "Look, if he winsand becomes No. 1 it's going to be welldeserved," said the Serb. "He's playedfantastic this year. He's been so consis-tent. If he wins, he wins. There's noth-ing I can do about it. The best playerwill win this tournament. I'm out."Djokovic, who said he had been feelingunwell for the last six days, added thatit had been foolish for critics to write off 30-year-old Federer, whose 16th andmost recent Grand Slam title had come at the 2010 Australian Open. Six-timechampion Federer had also lost in the quarter-finals at Wimbledon in 2010 and2011, defeats which gave the doubters even more fuel for their attacks. AfP

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Saturday, 7 July, 2012

18

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

ISLAMABADTAyyAb huSSAIN

As the Supreme Court is all set to take upimportant cases against the Pakistan Peo-ple’s Party leadership next week, PresidentAsif Ali Zardari has directed his party’smajor mouthpieces to go hard at the judi-ciary in their media outings and use stronglanguage to build pressure on judges.

The strategy has been adopted to re-strain the apex court from taking any strictaction against Prime Minister Raja PervaizAshraf who has been summoned by thecourt in National Reconciliation Ordinance

(NRO) implementation case on Wednes-day, July 12.

“During a meeting of the PPP mediacommittee held at the Presidency onThursday evening, the president directed agroup of the party’s leaders who often ap-pear on TV talk shows to go ‘hard’ at the ju-diciary and use ‘strong language’ againstthe superior judiciary, especially in thecase of Dr Arsalan Iftikhar, son of ChiefJustice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry.They were also told to question the ‘biasedand selective’ approach adopted againstthe PPP,” a source who attended the meet-ing informed Pakistan Today.

“The meeting also decided that besidesusing TV channels to malign the judiciary,anti-judiciary campaigning would also bemade through social media networks in-cluding twitter, facebook and onlinemedia,” the source said.

He said during the meeting, Informa-tion Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira briefedthe president about the government’spreparations and assistance in promotionof the government’s view about the “selec-tive accountability” of the PPP leadershipby the judiciary.

Besides going hard against the judiciaryon media, the government also plans to clip

the judiciary’s wings through a new con-tempt law. The proposed bill will provideimmunity to federal and provincial govern-ment leaders from being charged with orconvicted under contempt of court law.

Ironically, the government-proposedbill is similar to what the PML-N govern-ment had introduced in 1997-98 to savethen prime minister Nawaz Sharif duringhis clash with then apex court Chief JusticeSajjad Ali Shah. Experts think that with theadoption of the proposed changes in thecontempt law by the parliament, a newround of confrontation might start betweenthe executive and the judiciary. Major op-

position parties, the PML-N and PakistanTehreek-e-Insaaf, have announced to standby the judiciary and oppose any such law.

However, the government needs onlya simple majority to amend the law, whichit can do easily. Former PM Yousaf RazaGilani was last month convicted in a con-tempt of court case for refusing to imple-ment an order of the Supreme Courtregarding writing a letter to Swiss author-ities against President Asif Ali Zardari.

After his ouster, his successor RajaPervez Ashraf has been asked by thecourt to submit his reply on the sameissue on July 12.

LAHORESTAff rEPOrT

The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Fridayordered striking doctors to join their dutiesin emergency wards of public hospitalsimmediately. The court expressed displeasure over thestrike being held by the Young DoctorsAssociation and issued summons for itsleadership.While hearing a petition against the ongoingstrike by YDA members across Punjab, theLHC ordered the protesting doctors toresume their services in the emergencywards by 9am today (Saturday). LawyerAzhar Siddique had submitted anapplication in the Lahore High Courtregarding the doctors’ strike and requestedthe court to order protesting doctors to

resume their duties.During the hearing, the petitioner informedthe court that the doctors had receiveddegrees from countries whose certificationshad no value in Pakistan. The petitionerrequested the court to issue directives for theverification of doctors’ degrees. At thebeginning of the hearing, the court told YDArepresentatives that continuing the strikedespite the Supreme Court’s directives was aviolation of the apex court’s order. The LHCsaid the patients could not be left at themercy of striking doctors.Justice Aijazul Hassan said complete enquirywould be held into the matter of youngdoctors and people who were involved in thechaos would be brought to book.The young doctors said the strike could notbe called off in the present circumstances aspolice were illegally harassing them.The judge ordered that YDA leaders shouldnot be tortured by police.Meanwhile, YDA representatives toldreporters that they would only work in theemergency wards of the hospitals until thePunjab government accepted their demandsfor a service structure.

PPP mouthpieces directed to go ‘hard’ at judiciary

Doctors resumeEmergency dutiesafter LHC snub

LAHOREAGENCIES

There will be no power outages duringthe month of Ramadan, Water andPower Minister Ahmed Mukhtar saidon Friday.

In a statement, Mukhtar claimedthat electricity supply would improvefrom Friday, while, according toPEPCO sources, electricity generationcurrently stood at 14,010MW againstthe demand of 18,174MW.

The sources said a decrease in theshortfall was due to the improvementin oil supply.

Mukhtar said, “We will achieve thelevel of demand by generating moreelectricity,” adding, “We will provide reliefto the general public during Ramadan.”He said President Asif Ali Zardari hadissued directives to this effect.

He said measures were being takento overcome the problem of loadshedding. The minister said thegovernment was taking all possible stepsto provide relief to the common man andall available resources were being utilisedto achieve the objectives. Mukhtar saidthe PPP government would continue towork for the welfare of the people.

Meanwhile, the Lahore Electric

Supply Company (LESCO) hasdemanded NEPRA increase the rate ofelectricity by Rs 2.79 per unit. NEPRAwould take a final decision in thisregard on July 19.

According to NEPRA, there was acut in the price of furnace oil by Rs3,000 per tonne, bringing downproduction price to 32 paisas from 99paisas. The Jamshoro Power Companyhas decreased its tariff to 86 paisasfrom 99 paisas and the Northern PowerCompany from 96 to 32 paisas. NEPRAwas of the view that effects of bringingdown the tariff would eventually trickledown to consumers.

g Say strike will continuein indoor and outdoorwards until Punjab govtaccepts demands

Pentagon says resumedsupply through Pakistanto save millions of dollars each month

g lESCO wants raise in power tariff by rs 2.79 per unit

MIRANSHAHAfP

A US drone attack on a militant compound inNorth Waziristan killed 21 insurgents and in-jured several late on Friday, security officialssaid. The unmanned aircraft fired two missiles

on the compound in Datta Khel village, some35 kilometres east of Miranshah, they said.

“The US drone fired two missiles. At least21 militants have been killed and several in-jured,” a senior security official based in Pe-shawar told AFP. Two security officials inMiranshah confirmed the strike.

US drone kills 21 in North Waziristan

No power outages inRamadan: Mukhtar

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