in face of nro, memo

LegendaryBollywood actorDev Anand dies

Govt to appoint Chinesebank as financial adviser for IP project

PAGE 19 PAGE 10PROFIT PAGE 01

pakistantoday.com.pk monday, 5 december, 2011 muharram-ul-Haram 9, 1433rs15.00 vol ii no 159 32 Pages lahore edition

ISLAMABAD TAHIR NIAZ

PERTURBED bythe SupremeCourt (SC)orderspertaining to the

National ReconciliationOrdinance (NRO) and thememo controversy,President Asif Ali Zardarihas decided to explorepolitical avenues to pleadhis ‘case’ on both of thecontentious issues beforethe elected representativesof the people when he willaddress the joint session ofparliament after Muharramends. Another issue that does not affect him as an individual butbecomes his official responsibility as head of state andcommander-in-chief of the armed forces is that he is also expectedto speak in detail on the NATO-ISAF attack in Mohmand Agency,which changed the diplomatic scenario after Pakistan’s refusal toparticipate in the Bonn Conference, despite international pressure,as a protest against violation of its sovereignty. “President Asif AliZardari, who is also supreme commander of the armed forces, hasdecided to address a joint session of parliament after Muharram,”Presidential Spokesman Farhatullah Babar said in a press release.The contents of the release are also reflective of the worry andconcern of the president on the issues of the NRO and the memo.“The president also called upon the party workers to showpatience, strictly observe democratic norms and refuse to beprovoked into any aggression.” The spokesman quoted thepresident as saying: “Aggression is the mindset of the weak andnot the strong.” Though the press release did not mention againstwhat or whom the president felt his party workers could beprovoked, he called upon them to show patience. The SupremeCourt orders are, however, what he probably considered as anaggression against him, which could provoke his party workers. The press release further quoted the president as saying:“Democracy calls for tolerance, patience and steadfastness asdemonstrated by Aung San Suu Ki in standing up to mountains ofhardship for the cause”. It clearly appears that frustrated by the apexcourt’s orders, particularly on the two issues, the president hasdecided to take parliament into confidence, particularly on theobligations attached to the decision on the NRO review petition.Writing a letter to the Swiss authorities to reopen cases against him,memogate and the NATO attack, which has put relations betweenPakistan and the US at the lowest ebb since the start of the waragainst terrorism, are clearly weighing on his mind. When asked whythe president felt the need to address a joint session of parliament,PPP South Punjab President and Textile Industries MinisterMakhdoom Shahab-ud-Din said: “Basically, the president wouldtake parliament into confidence over the NATO attack… the issues ofNRO and memogate might also crop up during the address.” Hesaid the president may discuss the allegations leveled by a ‘dubious’character, Mansoor Ijaz. When PML-N Information SecretarySenator Mushahidullah Khan was asked about his party’s strategyfor the joint session, he said it was too early to say anything on it. JI’sProfessor Khurshid said his party had yet to decide a strategy. UnderArticle 56(1) of the constitution, the president may address eitherHouse or both Houses assembled together and may for that purposerequire the attendance of the members. Usually, the presidentaddresses both Houses assembled together at the commencement ofthe first session after each general election to the National Assemblyand at the commencement of the first session of each year.

Zardari toaddress jointsession ofparliament g president decides to explore

political avenues to argue his ‘case’

NaTO attack not

deliberate, Obama

tells ZardariISLAMABAD

SHAIQ HUSSAIN

The serious nature of differences thaterupted in Pakistan-US ties in the aftermathof the NATO attack in Mohmand Agency, inparticular Islamabad’s decision to boycottthe Bonn Conference, forced PresidentBarack Obama to make a phone call to hisPakistani counterpart Asif Ali Zardari andexplain that the “regrettable” incident wasnot a “deliberate attack”. The phone callfrom President Obama that lasted foraround 30 minutes led to consultationsbetween President Zardari and PrimeMinister Yousaf Raza Gilani on the phoneand both also spoke separately to Chief ofArmy Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayanion the phone later. “The conversationbetween the Pakistani leadership was meantto discuss the two presidents’ telephonictalk and also to once again deliberate uponthe vital issue of going or not going to theBonn Conference now that even the USpresident has made the request in thisregard,” said a senior Pakistani official privyto the late night developments. He said asthe consultations were still underway, hecould not say with authority what would bethe decision but as it was the top mostrequest by US, it had been taken veryseriously here. If it was decided to send thecountry’s ambassador in Germany to theconference to represent Pakistan, thatwould not be something surprising, headded. Meanwhile, a White Housestatement said President Obama telephonedPresident Zardari on Sunday to express hiscondolences. “Earlier today the Presidentphoned President Zardari to personallyexpress his condolences on the tragic loss of24 Pakistani soldiers,” the statement said.“The President made clear that thisregrettable incident was not a deliberateattack on Pakistan and reiterated the UnitedStates’ strong commitment to a fullinvestigation,” it added. It said that duringthe roughly 30-minute call, the twopresidents reaffirmed their commitment tothe US-Pakistan bilateral relationship.

ISLAMABADARIF TAJ

Declaring his assets on Sunday,Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI)Chairman Imran Khan urged theleadership of the Pakistan People’sParty (PPP) and the Pakistan MuslimLeague-Nawaz (PML-N) to make theircomplete assets public as well,otherwise his party would launch acivil disobedience movement. “We shall not ignore the issue of theassets of political leaders. They havekept the details of their assets hiddenand now the responsibility lies withthem to declare all details of theirassets voluntarily, otherwise the PTIwill take the issue to the people, hold protests and launch a civildisobedience movement and no one should blame us then that we are usingundemocratic means or destabilising democracy in the country,” Khan saidat a press conference. Without naming the leadership of the PPP and thePML-N, Imran said the issue of assets was a matter of national importanceas increase in assets was directly related to corruption by the parties whichhad been or were in power at present in the country. Slamming thegovernment for not implementing the decisions of the Supreme Court, thePTI chief said the PPP-led government was adopting undemocratic tacticsand avoiding implementation of the decisions of the apex court. He alsosaid his party would render sacrifices to uphold

ISLAMABADSTAFF REPORT

Expressing reservations over PresidentAsif Ali Zardari’s proposed address to ajoint sitting of parliament, NationalAssembly Opposition Leader ChaudhryNisar Ali Khan demanded on Sunday ajudicial review of the Inter-ServicesIntelligence (ISI)’s past and presentpolitical role in the country.Addressing a press conference inresponse to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf(PTI) Chairman Imran Khan’s pressconference in which he declared hisassets, Nisar said Khan had not declaredhis complete assets. He challenged Khanto approach the Supreme Court on theissue. “Choose any independent tribunal, either the Supreme Court or thehigh courts of Sindh, Balochistan or Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, to challenge theassets of the PML-N (Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz) leadership andpresent evidence there … we will also bring evidence against you (Khan) onthe same forum so that the nation can learn the reality,” he added. Nisar alsoasked Khan to go to British or Saudi Arabian courts if he had any proof aboutthe Sharifs’ illegal business and property in those countries. He said the PML-N would welcome reopening of the Asghar Khan case in the Supreme Court.“We seek a judicial review of the past and present political role of the ISI,” hesaid. “He concealed some assets which he earlier declared in 2002 beforethe Election Commission of Pakistan,”

Nisar demands judicial review of ISI’s political role

Imran declares assets,warns of civil disobedience

continued on Page 04continued on Page 04

Without Taliban, Bonnpromises little

LAHORE: Rangers take part in an anti-terror drill on Sunday. afp

isi out of government control, claims mansoor ijaz | Page 24

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g Federal, provincial government departments, security forces

occupying PR land without paying anything

g FPSC, ed, law Ministry at loggerheads after open merit and woman’s quota clubbed together

02Monday, 5 december, 2011

News

Today’s

LookQuick

lAHoRe

Story on Page 05

NewS

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woRld ViewEdging closer towards war with Iran?

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‘We can’t face them!’ Where art thou, containers?

IN MOURNING: Shias self flagellate

during a procession of 8th Muharram

at Sector G-9/4 in Islamabad. ONLINE

ISLAMABADJALALUDDIN RUMI

As the Pakistan Railways (PR) sinks deeper into a fi-nancial crisis, the government looks uninterested inimplementing a 14-year-old decision by the Councilof Common Interest (CCI), which recommended thesale of surplus PR land to help the derailed nationalentity get back on tracks.

The CCI, in its meeting on May 29, 1997, sup-ported the Railways’ efforts and authorised it to sellthe surplus land to improve its financial position. TheNational Security Council (NSC) and the cabinet alsogave a decision on December 29, 1999, authorising theRailway Board to sell the surplus land in a transparentand discreet manner. In 2000, the PR administrationstarted long-term leasing of its available land.

However, the governments of Sindh and Punjabopposed such moves, as they refused to agree on aformula according to which the provinces would hold40 percent and the PR would hold 60 percent of thetotal 167,690 acres of available land.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) par-liamentarian Sardar Ayaz, who is also the chairmanof the National Assembly Parliamentary Committeeon Railways, told Pakistan Today that several re-quests from the committee to call a CCI meeting tosettle the PR land issue were denied. He said the landissue was complicated as several federal and provin-cial departments, and security forces were occupyingthe PR land. He criticised the government for failingto form a Railways Board in the last two years, as theministries of Law and Justice, and Railways could notdecide how to notify the committee. He said the gov-ernment had announced to form the Railways Board

in January 2010, but could not implement its owndecision even after two years, which “shows its in-competence to run the state owned enterprise”. PRGM (Operations) Saeed Akhtar told Pakistan Todaythat PM Yousaf Raza Gilani had announced the for-mation of a Railways Board three months ago, butdue to a presidential order it drafted a new ordinanceto implement the PM’s approval for the board. Hesaid the railways minister would head the board,which would include two former railways officials,the Railways secretary; the Railways chief executive(not appointed yet), a representative from the cabinetcommittee on railways and seven government-nom-inated members from the private sector. Figuresshow that the total revenue of the Railways in the fis-cal year 2008-09 was Rs 24 billion, which went downto Rs 22 billion in 2009-10, and further down to Rs18 billion in 2010-11. In the current fiscal year, it isexpected that the PR would reach an expected loss ofRs 45 to 50 billion, with revenue of Rs 12 billion.

Security forces are occupying 861 acres of PRland without paying any dues, Railways officialsclaim. Out of the total 861 acres, the Pakistan Armyis occupying 92.65 acres, Pakistan Rangers is occu-pying 607.25 acres, and the Frontier Corps is occu-pied 161 acres in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa andBalochistan. The occupied land is worth billions ofrupees, the PR officials said. The provinces are alsooccupying 106 acres, with Punjab holding 33 acres,Balochistan 10.36 acres, Khyber Pakthunkhwa 22.7acres, and various federal government departmentsoccupying 40.6 acres. Similarly the provincial gov-ernment departments are occupying 33.113 acres inPunjab, 227 acres in Khyber Pakthunkhwa, 242.30acres in Sindh, and 79.22 acres in Balochistan.

ISLAMABADTAHIR NIAZ

THE implementation of 10percent reserved seats forwomen in the Civil Servicesof Pakistan (CSS) Exams hasgenerated a controversy

amongst the departments under the FederalPublic Service Commission (FPSC) and theMinistry of Law on one side and the Estab-lishment Division (ED) on the other, Pak-istan Today reliably learned on Sunday.

The controversy started in a petitionwhen the Lahore High Court (LHC) di-rected the FPSC to implement the quotareserved for women in letter and spirit,while the latter submitted that an anom-alous situation had arisen after clubbingthe open merit and introducing reservedquota for women.

According to ED sources and docu-ments available with Pakistan Today,Nergis Shazia Chaudhary passed the CSSexam of 2008 with an overall merit posi-tion of 344. However, she could not be al-located to any group due to her low meritposition. She sent petitions to the FPSCchairman to review her selection on thebasis of the women’s quota, but they werealso rejected. She approached the LHC toplead selection on quota basis. The LHCallowed the appeal, but the FPSC filed a

review petition in the Supreme Courtwhich was dismissed and the commis-sion was ordered to implement the LHC’sjudgement. Consequently, Shazia was al-located the Information Group on quotabasis. She submitted an application tothe ED stating that the allocation of fe-male candidates made against reservedquota was not being observed in the truespirit as given in ED Office Memoran-dum dated May 5, 2007 and the LHCjudgement in her case. The ED consultedthe FPSC on the issue and was told thatShazia had been rightly allocated the In-formation Group against a vacancy whichbecame available after adjusting highscoring candidates according to theirorder of merit and group preferences.The FPSC added that Shazia was not eli-gible to choose a position, which was theright of female candidates with higherscores. The commission stated furtherthat the LHC judgement had created ananomalous situation after orders to re-place the open merit vacancies with thewomen quota vacancies. It added that theconfusion would continue to haunt thegovernment, the FPSC, and the prospec-tive candidates unless it was corrected bythe government by amending the Rulesfor Competitive Examinations (CSS) andInstruction regarding reservation of 10percent vacancies for women.

However, ED officials said that sincethe court judgement in Shazia’s case hadbeen finalised, therefore all futureamendments should consider the SC or-ders, and any change in the applicationof the women’s quota would be tanta-mount to contempt of court.

The ED objected to an FPSC proposalthat in the case of a female candidate, shewould be first considered for open meritvacancies, but if no vacancy was found inthe overall open merit according to herchoice, then she would be consideredagainst open merit vacancies reserved forher province. If no vacancy was foundthere, then she would be consideredagainst the 10 percent vacancies reservedunder women’s quota of her province,and the open merit vacancy released byher would go to the next female candi-date in order of merit.

Similarly, the ED said that if a va-cancy of minority quota was utilisedthen the open merit vacancy releasedby candidate shall go to the next candi-date in order of merit and shall be re-served for minorities, contrary to theFPSC proposal that it shall not be re-served for minorities.

However, the ED endorsed theFPSC point of view that in case of a fe-male candidate belonging to minorities,she will be considered first against the

open merit vacancies, if no vacancy isavailable in open merit then againstopen merit vacancies of her province, ifno vacancy is available there thenagainst women’s quota vacancies and ifno vacancy is available in the women’squota, she will be considered againstminorities’ quota vacancies.

However, the Law Ministry rejectedthe ED’s proposal that the vacancy re-leased by a female candidate shall go tothe next female candidate, saying that ifa female candidate is considered againstthe women’s quota of her province, andonce she avails that option, the openmerit vacancy released by her cannot bereserved for the next female, as the seatreleased by the female candidate was ofopen merit, which does not include gen-der. Moreover, the ministry called theproposed amendment “impractical”, say-ing the women’s quota was in addition tothe open merit and there was no otherpriority in the said seats except merit.

It also objected to another suggestionby the ED that if a vacancy of minorityquota was utilised then the open meritvacancy released by him/her shall be re-served for minorities. It said the openmerit vacancy could not be reserved forminorities. The final decision in this re-gard is still pending with the depart-ments concerned.

Veena serves FHMRs 100m notice

Veena Malik has filed a lawsuit of Rs.100,000,000 (Indian currency)against “For Him Magazine” (FHM)for publishing nude photos of theactress. A legal notice was delivered toFHM chief editor Kabeer Sharma andphotographer Vishal Saxena. It wasclaimed in the notice that “our clientwas assured that no nude photographin any manner would be shot by you.”The notice stated that Veena’s photoshad been morphed. According to thenotice, Veena had agreed to be shot in“shorts and tee shirt and boots;wearing a fur coat up to thighs andboots; hot pants and a broad big beltwith the upper portion of her bodycovered with her hands and an ISItattoo on her hand; an image with atattoo of “ISI” appearing on one hand,in which Malik would wear a bikiniand/or a thong posing with foldedhands with the upper portion of herbody covered with other tattoos.” Thenotice called on FHM to ensure themagazine issue would not go intoprint, remove the tampered photosfrom the FHM website and paymillions in damages. MONITORINg DESk

Govt departments in quandary over 10% women’s quota in CSS

CCI decision to allow Railwaysto sell surplus land still pending

LHR 05-12-2011_Layout 1 12/5/2011 2:36 AM Page 2

03Monday, 5 december, 2011

NewsCoMMeNtNever a dull moment:

Articles on Page 12-13

Ijaz and his Pandora’s boxes.

It’s called a democracy: The Ikhwan in Egypt.

Basharat Hussain Qizilbash says:Spokesman of the middle class: We need to hold Imran to what he has said.

Waqqas Mir says:Blindsided?: Not being totally rational on the Nato issue.

Dr Hasan Askari Rizvi says:Power struggles: Now harming democracy…

FoReigN NewS

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ARtS & eNteRtAiNMeNtNo media please, warn Tom cruise, Pitbull on India tour

Story on Page 18

SPoRtSPattinson destroys Black caps in big Australia win

Story on Page 20

Foul play claimed as Russia votes in Putin test

ISLAMABAD IRFAN BUkHARI

While the Ministry of Information hasfinalised regulations for the journalistendowment fund set up especially onthe instructions of the Prime Minis-ter, the Finance Ministry is withhold-ing the release of Rs 200 million forthe last four months.

The grant was announced by thePrime Minister in August this year forthe establishment of endowment fundas seed money for the welfare of jour-nalists including indigent and disabled

journalists. Many journalists were in-jured or killed during the last fewyears. Separately, the Finance Ministryhas also not released Rs 5.5 million tothe information ministry as allocatedin budget 2011-12 (current financialyear) under head of ‘A05270’ for thewelfare of journalists.

The Information Ministry has al-ready moved a summary for the ap-proval of regulations for providingfinancial assistance to journalists in dis-tress and provision of funds by the Fi-nance Ministry will help the endowmentfund become operative.

The government had provided a fundof Rs. 5.5 million to Information Ministryin the financial year 2011-12 in the headof account ‘A05270’. This amount wasmeant to provide financial assistance tothe press clubs, journalist organisationsand the deserving journalists, which wastoo meager for the purpose.

The Ministry of I&B has recentlyframed regulations to operate thefund and devise procedure for dis-bursement of the fund in consultationwith leading press clubs and journal-istic bodies like PFUJ.

Talking to Pakistan Today, Pakistan

Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ)President Pervez Shaukat expressedconcerns over delay on part of financeministry in releasing the promisedamounts. “Many journalists are ap-proaching us for grants for their severetroubles including chronic diseases butthe finance division has not providedfunds to information ministry to makeschemes operative,” he said.

A recently released report of HongKong-based Asian Human Rights Com-mission (AHRC) has indicated that asmany as 16 journalists were killed and 47injured in Pakistan during 2011. “Among

the 16 journalists, five journalists wereallegedly abducted by agencies and theirbullet riddled bodies were found dumpedon the roadside.

Five journalists were killed in bombblasts while reporting and six weregunned down in target killings. One jour-nalist remains missing after he was re-portedly abducted by an unidentifiedperson,” the report said, adding thatabout 35 working journalists, 10 camera-men, one photographer, two drivers andone satellite engineer working for theprint media and television channels wereinjured during separate attacks.

PeSHAWAr/LAHoreAgENcIES

PROTESTS against theNATO attack on theMohmand Agency secu-rity checkposts contin-ued in different parts of

the country on Sunday.In Peshawar‚ Islamic Students

Federation took out a protest onTorkham-Peshawar Road andchanted slogans against US andNATO troops. In Lahore‚ KhaksarTehreek Pakistan staged a protestagainst the Nato attack on a Pak-istani checkpost in front of the La-hore Press Club.

Similarly, the Pakistan AwamiTehreek and Tehreek Minhaj ulQuraan took out a rally from

Aiwan-e-Iqbal on Sunday to ex-press solidarity with the Pakistanarmy in the aftermath of the NATOattack. Rally participants supportedthe government decisions to sus-pend NATO supply line‚ vacateShamsi Airbase and boycott theBonn Conference.

Elsewhere, the PakistanCatholic Bishops’ Conference heldat Catholic Church Faisalabad con-demned the NATO air strike. Themeeting was called by Bishop ofFaisalabad Rt. Rev. Joseph Couttsin his capacity as the President ofPakistan Catholic Bishops Confer-ence to offer condolences to thefamilies of the killed soldiers.

Elsewhere, Khaksar Tehreekheld a meeting in Larkana to con-demn the NATO attack.

WASHIngtonAFP

An influential Republican lawmaker on Sundaysaid the United States should link its military aidto Pakistan’s cooperation on security, amid a crisisbetween the two countries over a NATO air strikethat killed 24 Pakistani soldiers.

Senator John McCain, a leading Republicanvoice on security issues, charged that Pakistani in-telligence continues to support a militant groupthat kills Americans, and he noted that Pakistanitroops in the past have fired across the poorlymarked Afghan border.

“This is a fog of war situation. Investigation isgoing on,” McCain said on CNN’s State of theUnion programme, referring to the November 26air strikes on a Pakistani border post that plungedrelations between the two erstwhile allies into cri-sis.

“But also the fact is that the ISI, the intelli-gence arm of the Pakistani army, is still supportingthe Haqqani network which is killing Americans.That is unacceptable,” he said.

He said materials in roadside bombs that havekilled US forces in neighbouring Afghanistan havebeen traced to two fertiliser factories in Pakistan.

Asked how the United States should proceed,McCain said a complete break with Pakistan hadbeen tried in the past for a ten year period and it

did not work. “But we have to address it in a real-istic fashion and aid has to be gauged on the de-gree of cooperation that they are showing us inhelping us prevent the needless deaths of youngAmericans,” he said. “So I would gauge our aid,particularly military aid — and we’ve given manybillions, as you know — directly related to the de-gree of cooperation they show us, and we have toexplore all alternatives.”

Security forces shoot deadmentally challenged civilian

SWAtHAROON SIRAJ

Security forces allegedly shot dead a mentallyhandicapped civilian in Kuza Bandai area of Kabaltehsil here in Swat on Sunday on suspicion of ill intent.According to locals, Zahir Khan Bacha, a resident ofKuza Bandai, was mentally challenged by birth and wasnot capable of living on his own, so he used to roam thestreets of the area. On Sunday morning, he was roamingon the roads of Kuza Bandai as usual when securityforces ordered him to stop for checking, which he didnot acknowledge given his state. The security forcespersonnel got suspicious and opened fire on him,believing him to be a suicide bomber, and seriouslyinjured him. Locals rushed to the spot and took him tothe hospital, where he succumbed to his wounds. Policedid not file a murder case complaint. Security forceshad shot dead another citizen in Khuwaza Khela some35 kilometres from Mingora days previously.

US lawmaker urges tyingpakistan aid to cooperation

Finance Ministry withholding Rs 205.5m for journalist’s welfare fund

Protests express solidarity withPakistan Army over NATO attack

Sharif brothers metsecretly with USofficials: Babar Awan

MonItorIng DeSk

Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leaderBabar Awan has blamed the Sharifbrothers for secretly meeting with USofficials, according to a report by DawnNews on Sunday. He said that PunjabChief Minister Shahbaz Sharif held asecret meeting with a US diplomat onNovember 2, adding that such meetingsshould be discouraged. He said that Sharifbrothers were chanting anti-US slogansbut still receiving tens of millions of rupeesfrom it for their Ittefaq Hospital. Awanalso criticised the Punjab government forthe “worst law and order situation” inPunjab.He said that Amel Kansi was handed overto the US in the government of NawazSharif, saying the chief of the PakistanMuslim League-Nawaz should also betried under Article 6.The former minister also suggested thegovernment to call American-Pakistanibusinessman Mansoor Ijaz in AbbotabadCommission’s investigations. He calledIjaz the “biggest liar of the century”,suggesting that he should be called tocourt by “red warrants”.

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04Monday, 5 december, 2011

News

MonItorIng DeSk

Ten years ago a seminal con-ference in the German city ofBonn ended the Afghan warand helped broker a post-Taliban government. Ac-cording to a report by BBC,writer Ahmed Rashid con-siders whether a secondBonn conference can securea long-term peace now thatone of the crucial players,Pakistan, has pulled out.

The talks in Bonn wereall set to reassert the com-mitment of the internationalcommunity to helpingAfghanistan after 2014 whenmost Western militaryforces will have left. Such acommitment is seen as criti-cal for the many Afghanswho fear a breakdown in lawand order after 2014 and in-adequate levels of aid. Therehad been hopes for a break-through on reconciliationbetween the Afghan govern-ment and the Taliban tobreak the mould of theplethora of sterile confer-ences held this year - untilPakistan pulled out of theBonn gathering.

The government took thedecision after pressure fromthe army following NATO at-

tacks on Pakistani borderposts which killed 24 soldiers.

Talking without Pak-istan?

Some still hope that abreakthrough may takeplace with the announce-ment at Bonn that the Tal-iban, the United States,Qatar and Germany willagree to open an office forthe Taliban in Doha, Qatarso that talks between allsides can continue in a morepermanent manner.

However, much dependson how quickly the Ameri-cans, who are deeply dividedon the issue of talks with theTaliban, agree among them-selves. The state departmentis deeply at odds with thePentagon which wants tocontinue fighting until 2014.

But Pakistan, whichhosts the bulk of the Talibanleadership, is critical to anysettlement. Unless the Pak-istan military cooperateswith the Afghans and the in-ternational community andunless ever worsening US-Pakistan relations improve,progress on reconciliationwill be deadlocked becausePakistan has far more lever-age than any other state.

Pakistan is a member of

the critical “contact group”that also comprisesAfghanistan and the US. Allthe major Afghan Talibangroups and their leaders arebased in Pakistan - althoughIslamabad denies this - andcan be influenced by the mil-itary to cooperate or notwith international efforts tobring them to the table.

Pakistan demands amajor role in any US negoti-ations with the Taliban andis already angry with theAmericans for opening se-cret talks with the Talibanwithout taking Pakistan intoits confidence. Nevertheless,all players understand thatwithout Pakistani coopera-tion a peace settlement isnot achievable.

Earlier hopes that theTaliban may send represen-tatives to the second Bonnconference appear also tohave been dashed by the lackof progress in the secrettalks, following the murderof Afghan peace envoyBurhanuddin Rabbani inSeptember.

Well-informed sourcessay that the secret talks,which started earlier thisyear between the US and theTaliban, and brokered by

Germany and Qatar, havecontinued - even after Rab-bani’s death - but progresshas been slow. ECoNomIC fEaRS: De-spite Pakistan’s absence,what the delegates must alsopledge to do at the secondBonn conference is grapplewith the problems the West-ern alliance is leaving be-hind in Afghanistan andhelp the Afghans find solu-tions for them. The secondconference will be wellstaffed: 90 foreign ministerswill be leading more than1,000 delegates, 34 mem-bers of Afghan civil societyand 3,000 journalists.

It begins on December 3with Afghan civil societyrepresentatives meetingtheir German counterparts,followed the next day withAfghan-to-Afghan politicalmeetings and a meeting ofthe contact group. It endswith all delegates drawingup the conference’s ‘declara-tion of intentions’.

The 90 nations will nodoubt give a rhetorical en-dorsement to continued eco-nomic aid, training for theAfghan armed forces andhelp in governance after2014, although many Afghan

officials question whethereconomic aid will flow in re-ality given the worsening re-cession in the US and Europe.

However, there are sev-eral problems which the in-ternational community isignoring at its peril. First isthe danger of an economiccollapse in Afghanistan afterWestern forces leave. Tensof thousands of youngAfghans who work at West-ern military bases and em-bassies will be renderedjobless - the very generationthat the West has nurturedover the past decade. Of the$17 billion Afghan budget,90 percent is foreign funded,while $5-6 billion is neededto maintain the newly-trained Afghan army. Futurefunding for all this is prom-ised by the West but no con-crete steps have been takento guarantee the money andreassure the Afghans.

The Afghan economycannot sustain its popula-tion at present let alone theinfrastructure the West hasbuilt. TRICky NEIgHboURS:Secondly, the internal prob-lems faced by Afghans mul-tiply. They include increasedethnic tensions between

Pashtuns and non-Pashtuns(which are described bysome Afghans as deteriorat-ing rapidly), the reluctanceof many non-Pashtuns to ac-cept reconciliation with theTaliban, the continued un-certainty about the reconcil-iation process and the futureof the Afghan constitution.

2014 is also when thenext presidential electionsare due. Although HamidKarzai cannot stand for an-other term and the fieldwill be open to all, thereare growing demands thatthe constitution be re-ex-amined and changed froma presidential form of gov-ernment to a parliamen-tary system. There aredemands that the highlycentralised powers of thecentral government be de-volved to the provinces anddecentralisation and devo-lution take place.

Moreover, if peace talkswith the Taliban bring abouta ceasefire and then thereare substantial power-shar-ing negotiations between thegovernment and the Taliban,it is likely that the Talibanwill also want to reopen theconstitution and demandchanges to it. All sections of

Afghan society are demand-ing political changes withinthe next 24 months, but nei-ther the Afghan governmentnor the international com-munity are prepared for this.Any such changes must becarried out peacefullythrough debate and notforce of arms.

Thirdly, there is the re-gional problem, the role ofthe neighbouring states andthe continued interferenceby some of them includingPakistan, Iran and India.Last month’s Istanbul con-ference was supposed toease regional tensions. Infact it worsened them by ex-posing how deep the divi-sions are between countries. An enormous amount is atstake in Afghanistan and agreat deal needs to be donebefore Western forces leave.Bonn must take a deep lookat all these problems andcome up with some an-swers. — Ahmed Rashid’sbook, Taliban, was updatedand reissued recently onthe 10th anniversary of itspublication. His latest bookis Descent into Chaos - TheUS and the Disaster in Pak-istan, Afghanistan andCentral Asia.

Without pakistan in Bonn, will afghan peace be possible?

the dignity of the SupremeCourt and save democracyin the country. Khan said allhis assets were in his nameand he did not have anyabroad, apart from aroundRs 1 million. He also addedthat he did declare that sumowing to litigation over themoney.

Giving details of the as-sets, he said that he hadpurchased Banigala land in2002 for Rs 43.5 million (Rs145,000 per kanal) in thename of Jemima Khan, hisex-wife, as she had paid themoney at the time of pur-chase, which he returned toher after selling his flat inthe UK for £715,000. Hesaid the Banigala land wasgifted back to him by his ex-wife upon divorce.

He also said he had paidtaxes for all his property andfunds for the purchase ofland had been transferred

via banking channels andshown in his tax returns tothe Federal Board of Rev-enue (FBR). He said furtherthat he had inherited 530kanals of agricultural landin Mian Channu from hisgrandfather, two plots hadbeen gifted to him by thePunjab chief minister forwinning the World Cup in1992 and being named Manof the Series in 1987, andboth plots were later do-nated to Shaukat KhanumMemorial Cancer Hospital.

He also said all his in-come came from overseassources such as cricket com-mentary, corporate lecturesand article writings and allhis accounts were in Pak-istan. He also said that re-cent bank transactions weretax free as there was no taxon foreign remittances inPakistan under the Eco-nomic Reforms Act intro-duced by Nawaz Sharif in

1992. Imran said further thatall details of his assets weretrue and he would leave pol-itics if any discrepancy or ir-regularity was found in thedetails. He added that allmembers of his party’s cen-tral executive committeewould also declare their as-sets shortly.

Later, answering ques-tions of the media, Imransaid Pakistan’s former am-bassador to the US HusainHaqqani’s statement abouthis meeting with the Britisharmy chief should also beprobed. He added that Pak-istani-American business-man Mansoor Ijaz’s newdisclosure that PresidentAsif Ali Zardari andHaqqani knew of the StealthOperation was an allegationof a serious nature.

Answering a questionabout funding to the PTIfrom the Inter-Services In-telligence (ISI), Khan said it

was mere propaganda andsaid he wanted the SupremeCourt to reopen the AsgharKhan case as it would makeclear who had receivedfunds from the ISI.

The PTI chief also saidno member of the Board ofGovernors of the ShaukatKhanum Memorial CancerHospital had received anyfunds from the ShaukatKhanum Trust. QURESHI VICE PRESI-DENT: Later, he an-nounced that he hadappointed former foreignminister Shah MehmoodQureshi the vice chairmanof the PTI.

Meanwhile, Qureshisaid the Bonn Conferencehad lost its significance afterPakistan’s refusal to attendit. He said Pakistan shouldhave downgraded its partic-ipation and sent its ambas-sador to Germany to attendthe moot.

Imran declares assetssaid Nisar, adding that the de-tails of Khan’s assets would beshared with the nation afterAshura. He said Khan hadconducted a media trial of thePML-N leadership and wasnot telling the nation the truthabout his real assets.

He said Khan’s “palace” atBanigala sprawled over 300kanals of land. “Khan told themedia that his ex-wife giftedhim that palace at the time ofhis divorce … does anyonepresent gifts at the time of di-vorce?” he asked.

Nisar said he had an at-tested copy of Khan’s generalpower of attorney bearing thestamp of the Notary Public,London which was contradic-tory to Khan’s declaration ofassets. He said the PTI chair-man was not targeting Presi-dent Zardari, who had beenconvicted by the Swiss courts.

Challenging Khan’s claimthat Nawaz Sharif’s govern-

ment’s tax reforms of 1992were meant to benefit taxevaders, Nisar said: “The saidtax reforms were meant tocurb ‘hawala’ and documenttransactions… if the reformswere wrong why did Khantransfer his money using thesereforms?” he said.

He asked Khan to tell peo-ple how much tax he paidfrom 1979 to 2002. He saidNawaz Sharif paid Rs 2 mil-lion in taxes in 2010 and Rs2.5 million in taxes in 2011,while Shahbaz Sharif had paidRs 6 million in 2011.

Speaking about PresidentZardari’s announcement thathe would address the joint sit-ting of parliament afterMuharram, Nisar said the an-nouncement was part of thePakistan People’s Party(PPP)’s new game plan. Hesaid if the president and gov-ernment had to clear their po-sition on the memogate, theappropriate forum was theSupreme Court.

Nisar said he had talked toPML-N chief Nawaz Sharifabout Zardari’s planned ad-dress and added that the partywould have consultations afterAshura on the issue and de-cide whether to participate inthe joint sitting.

He said the PML-N wasthe only party that was pursu-ing the cause of accountabilityin the country. “For the lastthree years, we have beenpressing the government topass the accountability bill inwhich our party has proposedaccountability of all public ser-vants including politicians,judges, generals and bureau-crats … no political party sup-ported us practically in thiscause,” he added.

Nisar said that in the newaccountability bill, the PML-Nwanted accountability startingfrom 1947 and it was in favourof appointment of a servingjudge of the Supreme Court ashead of the accountabilitycommission.

Nisar demands judicial reviewcontinued from Page 1

continued from Page 1

ISLAMABADIRFAN BUkHARI

WHILE thegovernmenthas failed tofully honourits commit-

ment to the Pakistan MuslimLeague-Quaid (PML-Q) parlia-mentarians and members ofthe provincial assemblies togrant them development fundsbecause of the “persistent fi-nancial crisis”, Prime MinisterYousaf Raza Gilani’s pledge toprovide Rs 70 million to eachPakistan People’s Party (PPP)MPA in Punjab for develop-ment schemes is unlikely tomaterialise because of the samereasons.

At the time of the power-sharing deal between the PML-Q and PPP in May this year, thePPP leadership had assured theChaudhrys that PML-Q mem-bers of the Senate, National As-sembly and provincialassemblies would be given ad-ditional development fundswhich were not released fivemonths after the deal. Subse-quently, the PML-Q ministerssubmitted their resignations toparty President Chaudhry Shu-jaat Hussain after a parliamen-tary party meeting . “After thisthreat, President Asif AliZardari and Prime MinisterYousaf Raza Gilani assured thePML-Q leadership again thateach of the party’s MNAs andsenators would be given Rs 100

million for development proj-ects while the PML-Q MPAs infour provincial assemblieswould be given Rs 50 millioneach,” said a PML-Q MNA. Hesaid the PML-Q MNAs wereannoyed over the inordinatedelay in the release of develop-ment funds. “When we sentproposed lists of developmentschemes to Prime Minister’sSecretariat, we were asked toprioritise the schemes as the Fi-nance Ministry was unable torelease funds for all projectsdue to scarcity of resources,” headded. On the other hand, offi-cials of the Finance Ministryclaim that the fiscal space of thegovernment did not allow theministry to allocate huge devel-opment funds to MPs. “We

need around Rs 10 to 12 billionto appease all PML-Q lawmak-ers,” they said. Another officialof the ministry said revenuecollection in the first quarter ofthe current fiscal year (2011-12)was not up to the mark as thegovernment collected only Rs533 billion, while the fiscaldeficit remained around Rs 257billion mainly because of thehuge debt servicing of Rs 186billion. “How can the FinanceMinistry appease all lawmakersfrom the ruling coalition whenit is already introducing cuts inthe federal government’s PublicSector Development Pro-gramme (PSDP) and releasedonly Rs 47 billion in the firstquarter of the current financialyear for the PSDP?” he said.

Pm’s UnfULfiLLeD PLeDges

After PML-Q, funds for

PPP MPs also unlikely

Suleman seeks toquell assets rowSuleman Shahbaz, the sonof Punjab Chief MinisterShahbaz Sharif, said in aGeo TV talk show onSunday that the PakistanMuslim League-Nawaz(PML-N) leadership hadacquired its wealth andassets through completelylegal means, beginningwith the businesses andagricultural land theSharif brothers hadinherited from theirfather. Suleman said theallegations of corruptionagainst the partyleadership held no groundbecause all assets hadbeen declared in the formof public documents thatdetailed each and everyenterprise of the Sharifs.Earlier, Chief MinisterShahbaz Sharif said hehad been declaring hisassets in and outside thecountry every year since2008 and they werepublic documents.MONITORINg DESk

ISLAMABADSHAIQ HUSSAIN

With a firm ‘no’ by Islamabadto the calls from Washingtonand its allies to participate inthe Bonn Conference, theUnited States has now focusedits attention on preventing thecollapse of its relations withPakistan and save the alliancefrom a breakup and RequestedChina, Saudi Arabia and theUnited Arab Emirates (UAE)to play a mediatory role.

With the help of its allies,the UK, Germany and others aswell as some Muslim states, theUS administration has tried topersuade Pakistan to partici-pate in the Bonn conference onsecurity in Afghanistan sched-uled for today (Monday), but tono avail. “The US and its allieshave so far come up with noneof these things that couldlessen the deep anger in the

Pakistani people as well as theranks of the armed forces, andhence the stalemate continueswith business between the twostates coming to a standstill onalmost all fronts,” said a Pak-istani official here on Sunday,requesting anonymity. “The in-telligence cooperation is zero,military ties have sufferedgreatly, diplomatic relationsare restricted to a few phonecalls and everything has almoststopped,” he said. “In order toprevent the breakup of the al-liance with Pakistan, the UShas sought the help of closefriends of Pakistan such asChina, Saudi Arabia and theUAE, but their response is notyet clear,” he said. AnotherPakistani official, onanonymity, confirmed that theUS was pressing Islamabad tomaintain counter-terrorismcooperation and sought thehelp of friendly states.

US seeks help frompakistan’s friendsto save ties

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Monday, 5 december, 2011

Rangers join police to protect city PAge 07

LAHoreADNAN LODHI

PAKISTAN Tehreek-e-Insaf’sparty members might not beon the same page with theirchairman, Imran Khan,when it comes to ‘represent-

ing the poor’ in politics. Lahore PTI president and former

Jamat-i-Islami (JI) leader Mian Mah-mood-ur-Rashid has a reputation of ac-quiring large acres of land and currentlyhe has over 22 acres of Punjab Univer-sity land under his ownership for over 25years, Pakistan Today has learnt.

Sources said the land was acquiredon lease 25 years ago when Rashid wasa don of JI and was controlling IJTIqbal Town colleges’ wings, adding thatthe ‘good cultivation land’ was obtainedon the basis of Rashid’s influence andpower.

“Even though he says he has left theJI and has joined the PTI, Mahmood-ur-Rashid has not left his old ways. He isstill occupying that land under hisbrother’s name, which means he doesn’tsupport Khan’s agenda from his heart,”the sources said.

Khan’s declaration of assets on Sun-day was highly appreciated by the ad-ministration of the PU, varsity’s poor

employees and students but they con-demned Rashid for not following inKhan’s footsteps and for holding ontoPU’s land through his wealth and power.A number of poor PU employees re-quested Khan to instruct Rashid to va-cate the land and to not to deprive the

poor of their rights. “Even though the PU cultivates the

land, the poor employees of the univer-sity are given jobs on it so that they canmake extra income,” a PU official said,adding, “We do not know how MianMahmod got this land on lease, he

should respect the rights of the poor em-ployees to work on it.”

“He occupied the land 25 years agoon his brother, Mian Habib-ur-Rashid’sname and now the poor employees can’twork on it. He should leave the landsince they are suffering,” said another

employee. “He should either leave the land or

leave Imran Khan’s party. We loveImran Khan and we don’t want to asso-ciate those who deprive us of our rightswith him,” said a PU sweeper.

“It is not just Rashid, other politi-cians including PML-Q MPA ArshadImran Sulahri , former Lahore nazimand other feudal lords have also occu-pied land,” another official said, adding“Rashid also made a daira on the loca-tion which was destroyed by the PU.”

“We supported Imran Khan evenwhen he was manhandled back in 2007but it is disappointing to see that MianMahmood is depriving poor people oftheir right,” said Amir Malik, a PU stu-dent, adding “the land is located behindmy department and it is going to wasteinstead of being a source of income forthose who deserve the politicians’ atten-tion.”

“We will bring this issue to ImranKhan’s notice. Mian Mahmood shouldhave known better,” said a senior PTIleader while talking to Pakistan Today.

“I don’t own any land in the PU andneither does my brother. These allega-tions are false. Even if we did then wepay the lease money what is the bigdeal?” Mian Mahmood-ur-Rashid saidwhile denying all allegations.

Toeing Imran Khan’s line too hard, is it?

Lahore PTI President Mian Mahmood-ur-Rashid sitting on PU’s 22 acres, violating poor employees’ right to cultivate it to earn extra

LAHoreYASIR HABIB

Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif’ ‘open courtsplan’, unveiled to maximise people’s accessibility tohighly-ranked officials and ensure speedy disposal oftheir complaints, has run into troubles in its very be-ginning. Even after the passing of 25 days, the opencourts could not be held fully and it is likely that theplan would be rolled back, with ‘security concern’being cited as the main reason.

Lack of interest among the ministers, advisors andparliamentarians who were assigned by the CM to holdopen katchehris in November 10 was the main stum-bling block on the way of full actualisation of open

courts plan, an official in CM secretariat told Pak-istan Today. Some Pakistan Muslim League-Nawazhawks advised CM to shelve the open courts fearingpublic backlash if the plan is not implemented prop-erly. “Red tapism and officialdom is rampant in everydepartment of the province. These open courts willturn in criticism centres against the Sharifs and PML-N government in Punjab,” the official added.

In the past, government introduced open courtswith the vision that they would provide an opportunityfor the common man to approach the highest publicoffices for resolution of their problems to ensure goodgovernance, service delivery and transparency in thepublic sector. However these open courts could notperform up to mark. Complainants also branded such

open courts as photo shoots and as ways to earn cheappublicity. Hence, government had to suspend them forindefinite period

However, last month, the CM directed ministers,advisors and parliamentarians to hold open courtsacross the province on regular basis. According to thenotification issued by the Chief Minister’s Secretariat,the area of responsibility of MNA Hamza ShahbazSharif was Lahore district whereas Law Minister RanaSanaullah Khan was supposed to hold open katcheryin Faisalabad Division. Prison Minister Malik IqbalChanner had to hold open katchery in Bahawalpur Di-vision, Religious Affairs and Auqaf Minister HajiEhsanuddin Qureshi in Multan Division, Commerceand Industry Minister Sirdar Dost Muhammad Khosain Dera Ghazi Khan district only, Agriculture MinisterMalik Ahmad Ali Aulakh in Layyah and Muzaffargarh,Advisor to CM Begum Zakia Shahnawaz in SargodhaDivision, Zakat and Ushr Minister Malik NadeemKamran in Sahiwal Division, Food Minister Ch AbdulGhafoor Minister in Gujranwala Division, Special As-sistant to CM Muhammad Mansha Ullah Butt, inSialkot and Narowal District, Advisor to CM Raja Ash-faq Sarwar in Rawalpindi Division, Mian Mujtaba Ex-cise and Education Minister Shuja-ur-Rehman inLahore and Human Rights and Minorities MinisterKamran Michael Minister will hold open katchery allover Punjab in majority areas of minorities.

Michael said the open courts would become func-tional Ashura, adding that they had been suspendeddue to security threats. “I have already held open courtin Yazman, Bhawalpur and next would be in Multanon December 13,” he added.

Ghafoor said a number of ministers had alreadystarted organising open courts in their respectiveareas. “People do not talk about them since PML-N isdealing with real issues instead of pulling publicitystunts,” he said. Punjab government spokesman Per-vaiz Rashid did not respond despite repeated contact.

CNg to be available on Ashura

LAHoreSTAFF REPORT

The Sui Northern Gas Pipelines has decided toprovide gas supplies to CNG stations on Mon-day and Tuesday on account of Ashura.According to SNGPL schedule, the CNG stationsin Lahore region were to be closed on Monday,Tuesday and Wednesday but because of Ashurafalling on Monday and Tuesday, the companydecided to provide relief to the consumers andannounced to provide gas supplies. However,there would be closure of CNG stationson Wednesday.SNGPL Deputy Secretary Muhammad Imtiazsaid the company had provided relief to theconsumers in special days by providing gas sup-plies to CNG stations.“We give relief to the consumers on special holi-days,” he said. It was not made clear if the CNGstations would remain open on Thursday or not. Meanwhile, long queues of vehicles were ob-served at every CNG stationson Sunday evening. The consumers were notaware of the relief provided by the SNGPL andwere filing their vehicles to cope with comingthree days closure. A number of CNG stationsand domestic customers in the city also facedlow gas pressure. The CNG stations in JoharTown, College Road and Shalimar areas experi-enced low gas pressure. The automobile ownerssaid they were used to filling their vehicles inadvance before three-day closure. The CNG sta-tions in Township, Gulberg, Herbanspura,Walled City and other areas faced problems be-cause of low pressure of the gas. The CNG sta-tion owners said due to low pressure they facedproblems in filing vehicles. However, they ap-preciated the decision of SNGPL for openingCNG stations during Ashura. “The decisionwould help the consumers during Ashura,” saida CNG station owner Muhamamd Siddiq.

‘We can’t face them!’ g PMl-N advisers ask CM to shelve open courts plan since they would become ‘criticism centres’

against the Sharifs and the Punjab govt

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06Monday, 5 december, 2011

Lahore

CiNeMA FilM tiMe

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PeF to cater tothe needs of special childrenLaHoRE: With a view to fa-cilitate special children live anormal life through education,the Punjab Education Founda-tion (PEF) has envisaged anambitious plan to arrangeneed-based education for spe-cial children in their nearbyschools. The pilot projectwould be launched from La-hore and it is expected that thiseducational ‘socialisation’would sensitise the masses tothe needs of special personsaround them. PEF ChairmanRaja Muhammad Anwar saidthis while talking to a five-member delegation of officebearers from various NGOs as-sociated with the welfare ofspecial persons, at his resi-dence on Sunday. High officialsof PEF briefed the delegationabout the PEF public-privatepartnership model. Anwar saidthe Punjab government wasworking towards strengtheningthe institutions for special edu-cation in the public sector,adding that Rs. 35 millionwould be spent on setting-up ofcomputer labs in 37 special ed-ucation institutions in theprovince. This would providean environment conducive tolearning for special students,he said. STAFF REPORT

This Week

65

Last Week

65

ginger

This Week

14

Last Week

16

spinacH

This Week

35

Last Week

50

onion

This Week

148

Last Week

145

cHicken

This Week

50

Last Week

50

green cHillies

This Week

40

Last Week

35

lemon

This Week

40

Last Week

45

cucumber

This Week

80

Last Week

85

garlic

This Week

150

Last Week

120

pomegranate

This Week

50

Last Week

50

banana

This Week

55

Last Week

52

tomato

This Week

160

Last Week

160

grapes

This Week

28

Last Week

30

potato

This Week

110

Last Week

120

apple

This Week

50

Last Week

50

guava

per dozen

sUnDay bazaar UPDate

prices remain stableat Sunday bazaars

LAHoreSTAFF REPORT

The prices of most of the vegetables re-mained stable in the 10 Sunday bazaars ofthe city while an increase was witnessed infruits prices.

The prices potatoes, spinach, garlic andcucumber decreased. The prices of tomatoesand onion increased and the prices of gingerand green chilies remained stable. In fruits,the prices of pomegranate and guava in-creased while the prices of apples decreased.

The price of potatoes decreased by Rs 2per kg and they were sold for Rs 28 per kg.The price of cucumber decreased by Rs 5 perkg and they were sold for Rs 40 per kg. Theprices of ginger remained Rs 65 per kg whilegarlic price decreased Rs 5 per kg and it wassold for Rs 80 per kg.

The prices of tomatoes increased Rs 3per kg and they were sold for Rs 55 per kg.The prices of onions also showed an upwardtrend and they were sold for Rs 42 per kg.The price of lemon also increased by Rs 5 perkg and it was available for Rs 40 per kg.

The number of customers also remainedhigh and the sales of shopkeepers increased.“There was more rush this time since it is thestart of the month,” said a shopkeeper As-ghar Chaudhry. He said normally he soldaround 40 to 50 kg of potatoes but this Sun-day he had sold around 70 kg. He saidAshura was also coming therefore the salesof other vegetables like onion, tomatoes, gar-lic and ginger had also increased.

Meanwhile, the city district governmentcollected Rs 9,000 fine from different shop-keepers for overcharging and selling sub-standard fruits and vegetables.

Increasing crime takes 7 lives in a day

LAHoreSTAFF REPORT/AgENcIES

Aman allegedly gunned downhis two nieces in the name of‘honour’ here on late Satur-day night. The incident tookplace in the Shad Bagh police

precincts. Police said the accused, a localresident named Akram, was angry abouthis nieces’ ‘loose character’ since they hadmarried against their family’s will.

On late Saturday nigh, the infuriateduncle of Zainab and Robina barged intotheir house, where they had been living to-gether and open gunfire. Robina report-edly died on the spot while Zainab wasbrought to a hospital in critical condition.She too died later on at the hospital duringthe treatment. The accused fled from thescene after the incident. Local police reg-istered a case against the accused andstarted a hunt for the suspect.maN INJURED IN SCUffLE DIES:A former security guard of PPP leader Zul-fiqar Mirza succumbed to the knife in-juries he had received during a domesticscuffle. The incident took place in the Fac-tory Area police’s jurisdiction on Sunday.

The victim was identified as Hakim Ali,35, who hailed from Sindh. Police said Alihad been settled in Lahore for the last 8years and ran a grocery shop on Ravi Road.

They said the victim’s uncle had a dis-pute with his brother-in-law Nadeem andon Sunday they both had quarrel that gotintense. Hakim Ali tried to intervene intheir fight when Nadeem whipped out aknife and got seriously wounded. He wastaken to a nearby hospital where he suc-cumbed to his injuries.

The local police moved the body to acity morgue for autopsy and registered acase against the accused persons on thecomplaint of victim’s brother Shahab. Noarrests were made till the filing of this story.maN INURED DURINg RobbERyDIES aT HoSPITaL: In another vio-lent incident, a 50-year-old man namedProfessor Adnan, who had received seri-

ous injuries while resisting an armed rob-bery died at hospital late on Saturdaynight. The incident had taken place inTownship police precincts

Adnan was a resident of Faisal Gar-den and on Saturday night he was havinga stroll along with his wife in their streetwhen three muggers riding a bike ap-proached them and demanded cash andvaluables. One of the robbers shot Adnaninjured when he offered some. The rob-bers fled from the crime scene and the in-jured was brought to a hospital. He,however, died because of excessive bleed-ing. Police moved the body to a citymorgue for an autopsy and registered acase. The police investigators, however,claimed on Sunday to have arrested threesuspects from Green Town. They wereidentified as Ghazanfar, Habib and BilalSTRaNgULaTED: Separately a 60-year-old man was strangulated by uniden-tified persons. The incident was reportedin the Lower Mall police jurisdiction hereon Sunday. The deceased was identified asRahmat Ali, a resident of Farooq Azam,Bilal Ganj. Police said the deceased was areal-estate dealer and had contracted twomarriages. They said Ali had a monetarydispute with his business partner namedNaidr. Sabir Ali, the son of the deceasedtold the police he tried to contact his fa-ther on his mobile phone on Saturday butto no avail. He said when he reached hisfather’s home, he found him dead. Policestarted the investigation. In yet anotherincident some suspect jacked a car fromthe Jaain Mandir neighborhood on Sun-day. A resident, Abbas Haider, had parkedhis white Mehran bearing number plateLZF-4948. When he returned his car wasgone. Lytton Road police registered a case.DEaD ‘RobbER’ IDENTIfIED: Sep-arately, Ghulshan Ravi police on Sundayclaimed to have identified the robber whohad been killed by his accomplices on Sat-urday. The suspect was identified as Ziapolice said no one had come to claim thebody. The robber was killed by his accom-plice during a robbery bid in Nishtar Block

on Saturday.JaIL INmaTE CaUgHT WITH700g HaSHISH: Meanwhile, the offi-cials of Kot Lakhpat Jail recovered over700 grams of hashish from a prisoner andmoved him to a smaller barrack (Chakki)as punishment. The prisoner was identi-fied as Faheem Ali.WomaN SETS HERSELf oN fIRE:A woman set herself ablaze over a domes-tic issue in Naulakha police precincts. Ac-cording to details, Kiran, a resident ofPathi Ground Naulakha, had a clash withher husband Tariq for not allowing her tovisit her brother’s engagement. She setherself on fire and was taken to MayoHospital by Rescue1122 where her condi-tion is said to be critical. goVERNoR HoUSE’S DRUNkSTaffER ESCaPES: A drunken stafferof Governor House, admitted to hospitalafter sustaining injuries in an accident,managed to flee from hospital in Ravi Roadpolice limits. Per details, MuhammadShahzad, an employee in Governor House,was driving A motorbike on Ravi Road indrunken state when he was hit by anothermotorcycle and was taken to local hospitalin injured condition from where he escapedafter getting first aid. Police said search wasbeing conducted to arrest him.RICkSHaW kILLS WomaN: Aspeeding rickshaw crushed a woman inShahdra police jurisdiction on Sunday.Naheed Bibi, 42, a resident of RachnaTown was hit while crossing the road andwas taken to Mayo Hospital where shesuccumbed to injuries. The residents of lo-cality held the rickshaw driver and handedover to police after beating him. Policeregistered case against him and handedthe body to heirs of deceased.SWINDLERS kILL maN: Swindlerskilled an elderly man by intoxicating himin Manga Mandi police precincts. As perdetails, Muhammad Tasleem, seated in Is-lamabad bound bus from Lodhran, wasfound dead near Manga Mandi. Policetraced his relatives and handed over thedead body to them after due process.

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07Monday, 5 december, 2011

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LAHoreSTAFF REPORT

ON request of the Punjab gov-ernment, Rangers on Sundayjoined police and other lawenforcement agencies for en-

suring security during Muharram proces-sions and congregations as the mournersgeared up for larger gatherings on Youm-e-Ashur.

Out of the 11 companies of Rangersdeployed in the province four are kept forLahore with one each for Gujranwala, At-tock, Chakwal, Dera Ghazi Khan, Multan,Bahawalpur and Jhelum.

In the provincial capital, police haveacquired two helicopters from the CivilAviation Authority (CAA) for aerial mon-itoring of the processions on 9th and 10thof Muharram. The choppers also flewover the city on Sunday to check securityarrangements along the route of mainprocession of the day.

Rangers also hold an exercise to ex-hibit their skills of handling any unto-ward situation during processions.

Over 12,000 cops are deployed in thecity to maintain law and order on the twodays. Moreover, Rescue 1122 and Edhipersonnel are also assigned duties to pro-vide first aid to mourners in case of anyemergency.

Capital City Police Officer (CCPO)Ahmad Raza Tahir has ordered specialsecurity cover to all Ashura processionsat the time of dispersal and directed thatno irrelevant or suspicious person should

be allowed to enter into the dispersingcrowd. The CCPO said that in order to en-sure foolproof security, the Quick Re-sponse Force (QRF) had also beendeployed, along with regular police andRangers personnel.

He also ordered Lahore Police to pro-vide extraordinary security cover towomen’s gatherings and processions,whereas a comprehensive checking andscreening of motorcycles with pillion rid-ers should also be carried out.

The CCPO said a comprehensivemonitoring through CCTV cameras alongwith aerial monitoring, would be madefor all Muharram processions passingthrough the approved routes.

Tahir said all kinds of traffic wouldremain suspended on the said route,whereas close circuit cameras had alsobeen installed alongside the routes.

Police officials in civvies, cops fromElite and Mohafiz forces, mounted force,mobile squads and sniffer dogs had alsobeen deployed on the route of Zuljinnah,the CCPO added. He ordered the police toconduct checking and screening at allentry and exit points of the city.

He further directed that duringAshura, no one would be allowed to dis-play weapons, and in case of any viola-tion, strict legal action would be initiated.

He said metal detectors should beused at the entrance of all imambargahsand no one should be allowed to enterwithout checking to avoid any untowardincident.

The CCPO directed all divisional SPs

to personally check the force deploymentand patrolling of mobile squad in theirrespective areas, besides paying randomvisits to sensitive places.

Meanwhile, on 8th day of Muharram,

over 100 processions were carried out inthe provincial capital with main processionof Zuljinnah replica emerged from Islam-pura Bazaar. Processions of alam (flag),taboot (coffin) and jhola (swing) symbol-

ising the martyrdom of different accom-plices of Imam Hussain were also carriedout through out the city. Strict securitymeasures were ensured for the proces-sions and congregations.

Rangers join police to protect city

LAHoreSTAFF REPORT

Chief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharifhas given approval to the Researchand Development Programme forDengue Punjab and directed the offi-cials concerned to establish an inde-pendent and autonomous authorityfor the purpose.

A special committee headed bythe chief secretary will formulate andsubmit recommendations on the mat-ter within next few days.

The decision was made on Sun-day at a meeting, presided over byShahbaz Sharif, which reviewed theimplementation of a strategy evolvedfor eradication of dengue in theprovince.

The chief minister said a coordi-nated system of research would beevolved under the programme.

He directed that an independentand autonomous authority should beset up for running the programmeand recommendations regarding es-

tablishment of authority be submit-ted at the earliest keeping in viewvarious aspects of briefing given onthe issue.

Earlier, renowned entomologistDr Wasim Akram gave a detailedbriefing on the programme. He in-formed the meeting that the initiativewas of great importance for eradica-tion of dengue, which would also helpeliminating other epidemic diseases.

He promised that the programmewould be of international standardsand best scientists and experts wouldbe a part of it. He said the main focusof the programme would be the re-search.

The participants also gave theirsuggestions on the issue.

Member National AssemblySaood Majeed, Member ProvincialAssembly Khawaja Salman Rafique,chief secretary, Planning and Devel-opment chairman and secretaries ofAgriculture, Health and Educationalso attended the meeting.oRDERS fooLPRoof SECU-

RITy DURINg mUHaRRam:Punjab Chief Minister Mian ShahbazSharif on Sunday directed the offi-cials to make foolproof securityarrangements throughout theprovince on Youm-e-Ashur.

He ordered all senior police offi-cers to ensure patrolling in their re-spective areas personally andimplementation of a plan evolved formaintenance of law and order and re-ligious harmony. He also called forkeeping an eye on suspects besideschecking hotels, inns and other im-portant places.

He said the cabinet committee setup for reviewing the arrangementsduring Muharram would monitor thesituation in the province at its centralcontrol room and also keep him in-formed about the latest develop-ments.

He appealed to the clerics to playan effective role for maintaining lawand order, brotherhood and religiousharmony during Muharram-ul-Haram.

Shahbaz okays anti-dengue initiative dengue team departsfor thailand, Srilanka for training

LAHoreSTAFF REPORT

Upon Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Shah-baz Sharif’s directives, a 110-memberdelegation, comprising entomologists,experts, doctors, nurses and officialsfrom concerned departments who ren-dered services to control the dengue epi-demic and treated patients in hospitals,is leaving for Thailand and SriLanka today to receive training on treat-ment and eradication of dengue. Envi-ronment Secretary Saleem SajjadHotiyana is leading the delegation.The delegating would receive trainingfrom master trainers and upon returnthey would impart training on treatmentand eradication of dengue to others.This is part of the CM’s long-term planfor the eradication of dengue, and mem-bers of the delegation were selected onmerit. Elected representatives, govern-ment officers of various departments,doctors and family physicians of pri-vate sector were also included in thedelegation. Moreover, district govern-ment officials of the districts affectedby dengue, Institute of Blood Transfu-sion, Agriculture University Faisalabad,local government and community de-velopment, Lahore Development Au-thority, Pakistan HorticultureAuthority, finance, environment andfisheries departments, officials and ex-perts of Institute of Public Health, be-sides Lady Health Supervisors, werealso included in the delegation.

LAHoreAPP

The Children Emergency Department of Sir Ganga RamHospital (SGRH) is running without medicines, several pa-tients complained here on Sunday. Over 200 children in-cluding infants visit the hospital department daily. Aftercheck-up, doctors on duty hand over the prescription to pa-tients with directions to buy medicines from market, peopletold APP here. When contacted, officials of the departmentsaid medicines were not available with them. It was alsolearnt that despite tall claims of the health department offi-cials, including its secretary, the provision of free treatment

FReSH offers servicesto Punjab govt

LAHoreSTAFF REPORT

Foundation for Rehabilitation and Edu-cation of Slow Children (FRESH), anNGO dedicated to learning disabilitiesand remedial education among childrenin Pakistan, offered its services to thePunjab government to operate primaryeducation schools in major cities of theprovince, including Lahore, Sargodhaand Rawalpindi.FRESH General Secretary Ashba Kam-ran said the key to success for the Pak-istan education sector was designing atailor-made primary syllabus, inlinewith the socio-economic background ofthe Pakistani people.She said learning disabilities were an im-portant factor behind the high dropoutrate in Pakistan. The UNESCO reportsuggested that 3.8 million childrendropped out at primary level in Pakistan,while only 33 percent of Matric and 47percent of FA. students got through theexaminations this year, she said.

SGRH children emergency centre without medicines

at emergency departments of public sectorhospitals in the province could not be madepossible. Parents of ill children appealed thehigh-ups of the health department to lookinto the matter and provide them relief.

LHR 05-12-2011_Layout 1 12/5/2011 2:37 AM Page 7

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dAte: NoVeMBeR 30-deCeMBeR 05,VeNUe: JillANi (RACe CoURSe) PARk, JAil RoAd

Horticultural Society of Pakistan-lahore is holding itsAnnual Chrysanthemum Show-2011 with a flowerarrangment show and other fun-filled activities.

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dAte ANd tiMe: NoV 11 to JUN 1, 2012, 4PM to 6PMVeNUe: HASt-o-NeeSt CeNteR

08Monday, 5 december, 2011

Lahore

LAHoreSTAFF REPORT

THE Old Ravains Union on Sundayexpressed grief over the demise oflegendary actor and Old Ravian DevAnand. Dev had graduated in Eng-lish Literature from the Government

College, Lahore in the early 1940s. He was proudto be an Old Ravian and at many occasions in hislife, he expressed love for his alma mater.

People from all walks of life, including politi-cians and students have condoled over the deathof the Indian actor. The fans of Dev Anand ex-pressed grief over his death through their sta-tuses on Facebook also, terming him as one ofthe best actors of his time.

Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N)President Nawaz Sharif said that Dev Anand was

not only a popular artist but he was among hisfriends also, adding that he had had a number ofmemorable meetings with Dev Anand.

Nawaz said that he and Anand were bothOld Ravians and he wished that Anand wouldcome to Lahore again and the two would refreshtheir memories of the Government College.However, life did not give him time for the re-union, Nawaz added.

Dev Anand was born in Narowal, the eastern

city of Pakistan in 1923. He studied English lit-erature and Law and moved to Mumbai, Indiaduring his 20s, where he began his illustriousacting career. He was a charismatic and flamboy-ant Bollywood figure who died of a heart attackin London at the age of 88.

He will be remembered for his roles in sev-eral movies, including the ‘Jewel Thief’ and‘Guide’. He has also directed and producedmany films.

ASHURA MOURNINg: A boy walks on burning coal to mark the 8th day of Muharram on which Hazrat Abbas (AS), Hazrat Hussain’s stepbrother, lost his life. IRfaN CHaUHDRY

Old Ravians, fans mournDev Anand’s death

LHR 05-12-2011_Layout 1 12/5/2011 2:37 AM Page 8

09Monday, 5 december, 2011

NewsAnjum Aqeelgiven 5-dayphysical remand

ISLAMABADSTAFF REPORT

A civil judge in Islamabad handed overPakistan Muslim League –Nawaz (PML-N) MNA Anjum Aqeel Khan and formerNational Police Foundation (NPF) direc-tor Abdul Hanan to the Federal Investiga-tive Agency (FIA) for a five-day physicalremand on Sunday for their involvementin the Rs 6 billion NPF land scam.Amid tight security, the FIA officials pro-duced Anjum Aqeel and Abdul Hanan inthe court of duty judge Islamabad UsmanAli Awan. FIA investigators pleaded be-fore the magistrate that investigations inNPF land scam were underway and theyrequired a five day physical remand of theaccused to make recoveries.However, defence counsel Zafar Ali Shah

argued that Anjum Aqeel was a heart pa-tient and could not be sent on physical re-mand for his alleged involvement in theland fraud case. “This is not a criminalcase therefore there is no justification ofphysical remand,” Shah maintained. He also pleaded that FIA had alreadybeen given physical remand of Anjum andthere was no need of further remand.However, turning down Shah’s argu-ments, the magistrate sent Anjum Aqeeland former director NPF on 5 day-physi-cal remand. MNA Anjum Aqeel, IftikharAhmed, former NPF managing directorand Abdul Hanan, former director NPFwere arrested on Saturday from court-room of a special court Rawalpindi whencourt dismissed their bail. NPF had chosen the lawmaker’s companyLand Linkers to procure land for a housingscheme in Sector E-11. However, AnjumAqeel in connivance with NPF allegedlycommitted fraud of Rs 6 billion in landdeal. Later, Supreme Court took a suo motunotice of the scam and ordered for registra-tion of FIRs against Khan and others.

House blown upPeSHAWAr

STAFF REPORT

Unknown miscreants blew up a housewith explosives at Sado Khel area in Khy-ber Agency on Sunday.Officials said a heavy improvised explo-sive device at an under constructionhouse owned by Ejaz Afridi in Sado Khelarea went off at midnight. The explosion destroyed 4 rooms and averandah and damaged the walls par-tially. No casualty was reported. Securityforces personnel rushed to the scene forcollecting evidence. The political adminis-tration lodged an FIR against unknownmiscreants and started investigation.

cATcH ME IF YOU cAN: A man runs away from police during a search operation against drug addicts in Quetta. ONLINE

transport bannedwithin 500 metres ofMuharram processions

ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT

Interior Minister Rehman Malik on Sun-day directed all provincial home secre-taries and Police inspector generals of thecountry that no transport should be al-lowed to enter into the 500 metres radiusof the routes of processions and Majalis-e-Aza venues during Muharram-ul-Harram.According to a press release issued by theMinistry of Interior, all means of trans-port, including buses, cars,motorcycles/cycles and animal cartswould not be allowed to enter into the 500metres radius of the routes of Muharramprocessions and Majalis-e-Aza venues. Malik directed the concerned authorities toensure that these instructions were circu-lated amongst all concerned departmentsfor strict compliance in letter and spirit. Hesaid that the Ministry of Interior and theNational Crises Management Cell will re-main open 24 hours to monitor the law andorder situation throughout the country.

LonDonMAJID kHATTAk

BRITISH Foreign and Com-monwealth office (FCO)have decided to take up theissue of British Asians kid-

napped in Pakistan with officials in Is-lamabad. FCO sources told PakistanToday that they were alarmed by theincreasing numbers of cases in whichcriminals in Pakistan were targetingBritish Pakistanis when they visittheir homeland. Figures obtainedfrom the Serious Organised CrimeAgency (SOCA) by the BBC shows that22 people were kidnapped last yearand officials says the figures repre-sented cases reported to the UK au-

thorities while actual figures could bemuch higher.

A number of families and commu-nity leaders said family members ofvictims are often too frightened to re-port the matter to authorities and de-cide to deal with it themselves, payransom and return home to Britain.They said the Punjab government setup a task force for the overseas Pak-istanis and Zubair Gul, UK-basedblue eyed boy of Sharif brothers wasappointed as chairman but it alsofailed to resolve the difficulties con-fronted by the overseas Pakistanisback home.

North West MEP Sajjad Karim be-lieves criminals in Pakistan were in-creasingly targeting visiting British

Asians because they were seen as easytargets. Karim has supported a num-ber of British people whose relativeshave been kidnapped or killed whilevisiting family in Pakistan. He said,“Currently we have an absolutely hor-rendous situation whereby BritishPakistanis are being actively targetedwhilst they’re in Pakistan because theyare seen as easy targets.” He said thePakistani justice system requires vic-tims to be present in the country inorder for a case to proceed. “Whilstthese circumstances exist, Britons vis-iting Pakistan are much more of a tar-get. We need to put proper systems inplace to ensure people don’t simply getaway with targeting British Pakistanisin this way.”

UK to help in 22 kidnapped

British Pakistanis’ recoveryg Punjab govt commission delegated to Sharif favourite ‘ineffective’

LHR 05-12-2011_Layout 1 12/5/2011 2:37 AM Page 9

10Monday, 5 december, 2011

News

Where art thou, containers?

ISLAMABADMASOOD REHMAN

Over 95,374 containers of the US militaryen route from Karachi Port to Afghanistanwent missing during January 2007 to De-cember 2010, causing over Rs 55 billion inlosses to the already deteriorated economyof Pakistan. Like other financial scamsworth billions of rupees, this harsh factalso came to the surface after the SupremeCourt took suo motu notice of news’ re-ports and directed the Federal Board ofRevenue (FBR) to probe the matter.

A FBR report recently submitted to theSupreme Court revealed that from January2007 to December 2010, cross-borderelectronic acknowledgement of 95,374 outof a total 157,736 containers imported inthe name of the US military for transit toAfghanistan is missing in the system –some 60 percent of the total cargo traffic -raising apprehensions that the bulk ofthese missing containers might not havereached their destination.

According to FBR, it unearthed dutiesand tax evasion of over Rs 55 billion as28,802 containers carrying InternationalSecurity Assistance Force (ISAF) commer-cial cargo under the Afghan Transit Trade(ATT) went missing en route from Karachito Afghanistan. The report stated that theavailable data revealed that the electronic

acknowledgement at the border collec-torates, known as the “Gate-In event” of77,884 containers, was missing and“Cross-Border event” into Afghanistan of95,374 containers was also missing fromthe system.

The figure is over and above the28,808 missing commercial containersunder the ATT as well as 18,995 NATO andISAF non-commercial containers. TheFBR is currently determining the fate of‘suspicious’ NATO/ISAF transactions andhas so far found 3,396 containers belong-ing to these organisations to be missing.

“It appears that the computerised sys-tem put in place for proper reconciliationof cross-border transfer of US cargo was ig-nored by the authorities concerned,” thereport states.

Unlike commercial cargo, where goodsdeclaration is filed with the Customs author-ities, the US military is assigned a uniqueidentification number for cargo clearance.After ‘gating out’ from Karachi port, the in-formation is flashed on screens accessible toborder collectorates. The report states thatit is the responsibility of the border collec-torates to record the ‘gate in’ time at borderstations and then cross-border events in thesystem using the ID assigned to them.

According to legal experts, there is aneed to review the entire cargo handlingprocess. The FBR authorities also believedthat such a huge number of containers beingmissing from the system also exposed thefailure of the command and control systemput in place by the Customs authorities in

the last few years. But top bosses of the FBRdo not agree with the report, saying theremight be procedural loopholes that would beidentified and rectified accordingly.

However, according to another reportsubmitted in the apex court by the FBRprobe committee on the ATT, the data pro-vided by Pakistan Automated CustomsComputerised System (PaCCS) showed that157,736 containers were imported in thename of the US military for transit toAfghanistan. For clearance of US cargo, noGoods Declaration (GD) is filed in PaCCS,and a specific user ID, assigned to the USmission at Karachi, is used for clearance ofcargo by the US military.

In the PaCCS system, however, after

‘gate out’ from ports/terminals in Karachi,the information gets flashed on the screensaccessible to border collectorates. It is theresponsibility of the border collectorates torecord the ‘gate-in’, ie due arrival of cargo atthe border, and ‘Cross-border events’ in thesystem by using the ID assigned to them.

According to FBR, though it is improb-able that such a huge number of containerscould have gone missing, the fact is that asfar as the PaCCS software was concerned thesystem relied solely on the confirmation ofcross-border events to be confirmed onlineby the border collectorates. It appears thatthe computerised system put in place forproper reconciliation of cross-border eventsof US cargo was ignored by the authorities

concerned and now a massive exercise is re-quired to reconcile cross-border events ofeach consignment through manual records.

The FBR has informed the SupremeCourt that the initial list of 18,995 containerswas compiled and sent to border collec-torates of Peshawar and Quetta for furtherverification of records, whereas further in-vestigation for the remaining containers wasin progress. ‘Electronic acknowledgement’establishing whether 95,374 US militarycontainers crossed into Afghanistan is miss-ing from the system, reveals an official re-port, heightening the need to review theentire cargo handling process.

The FBR probe committee has admittedthat collectorates had failed dismally and noreconciliation was made of the containersthat entered Pakistan and safely crossedover into Afghanistan. It is the primary dutyof the collectorates to ensure timely recon-ciliation and manifest clearance.

The FBR has informed the apex courtthat draft FIRs with regard to 580 containershad already been sent to the FBR DirectorateGeneral of Intelligence and Investigation di-rector general to initiate criminal proceed-ings against the culprits. Out of them, 6 FIRshave been lodged by the directorate so far.The FBR has alleged that former presidentPervez Musharraf’s nephew and the formerKarachi corps commander’s son played amajor role in the scam. The Supreme Courthas directed the National Accountability Bu-reau (NAB) chairman to cooperate with FBRchairman to initiate proceedings againstcriminals involved in the scam.

g over 95,374 containers of US military have gone missing in Pakistan since 2007

kABULAFP

THE Taliban’s boycott of theBonn conference onAfghanistan, 10 years after theywere absent from its precursor,

raises grave doubts about what progressit can make towards peace, experts say.

The leaders of the country’s brutal,decade-long insurgency will not attendMonday’s much-heralded internationaltalks in Germany, saying the meeting will“further ensnare Afghanistan into theflames of occupation”. Pakistan is alsoboycotting the event after an air strike byNATO troops stationed in Afghanistankilled 24 Pakistani soldiers last week.

Islamabad is considered key to bring-ing the Taliban to the negotiating tabledue to its historic ties to the militia andclaims that elements in its military stillsupport the insurgency to offset themight of arch-rival India.

The absence of two major players hasdampened expectations of progress onreconciliation among ordinary Afghansas well as officials. Fazal Rahim, a 37-year-old money exchanger in Kabul, said:“The Afghan government and the inter-national backers should encourage theTaliban to take part in this conference be-cause the Taliban are part of this land andwithout their participation, the Bonnconference will not give positive results.”

Their non-attendance also risks mak-ing Bonn part of what Britain’s former am-bassador to Kabul, Sherard Cowper-Coles,called the “charade” of international con-ferences on Afghanistan, dogged by“diplomacy for diplomacy’s sake”. NATOand the UN may dispute whether violenceis up or down in Afghanistan, but a stringof high-profile attacks on Western andgovernment targets in Kabul has fed per-ceptions that security is declining.

“What everybody expects is to findways to bring security and stability to

Afghanistan,” said Ahmad Wali, a 29-year-old economics student in the city.

With foreign capitals determined towithdraw combat troops by the end of2014, Western diplomats in Kabul earlierthis year talked up the possibility of theTaliban attending Bonn as part of a singleAfghan delegation. But such hopes camecrashing down after tentative contacts col-lapsed and the assassination of PresidentHamid Karzai’s peace envoy, Burhanud-din Rabbani — blamed on the Taliban —derailed any prospects of progress.

Diplomats now say the West’s rela-tionship with Afghanistan after 2014 andthe transition to Afghan control will dom-inate the conference agenda.

“I’m not expecting a huge amount onreconciliation,” Britain’s ambassador toKabul, William Patey, told reporters.

“I’m not expecting much other thanan affirmation that the Afghan govern-ment, supported by the internationalcommunity, stands ready to talk peace

and reconciliation with the Taliban whenand if they’re ready.”

Another Western diplomat, speakingon condition of anonymity, was moreblunt. “Nothing will happen at Bonn re-garding the Taliban,” he said.

Organisers are playing down expecta-tions that the conference will rival one ex-actly 10 years ago which established aninterim administration led by Karzai andmapped out a roadmap for elections.

Soon after that conference, the Tal-iban surrendered Kandahar, their heart-land and last major Afghan stronghold,on December 7, 2001.

But some argue that decisions takenat the 2001 Bonn conference caused someof the problems facing the country today.

Cowper-Coles wrote this year in hismemoirs that the conference had been “avictor’s peace from which the vanquishedhad been excluded”.

The “original sin” was not to have theTaliban at Bonn, author Ahmed Rashid

quotes the former UN special representa-tive to Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi, assaying, in the book “Descent Into Chaos”.

Whether or not the Taliban couldhave been persuaded to attend, there is agrowing feeling that Afghanistan’s prob-lems are now too serious to be solved bya very public international meeting.

“The tough work on resolving con-flicts like these necessarily takes place be-hind the scenes,” Brian Katulis, a seniorfellow at the Center for AmericanProgress think-tank, wrote last month.

Open meetings “are the least likelyarenas to address some of the thorniestissues at the core of the conflict, includ-ing the role played by neighbours such asPakistan and Iran and the diplomaticstrategy for dealing with the Taliban.”

Analyst Javid Ahmad wrote in a blogfor Foreign Policy that many Afghans be-lieve the Taliban’s exclusion means “themeeting will merely be for show and notfor a political settlement”.

Without Taliban, Bonn promises little

OF A SPEcIAL HORSE: A procession of Zuljinah on 8th Muharram in Qissa khawani Bazaar in Peshawar. STaff pHOTO

Honey-farm owner among 3 gunned down

DerA ISMAIL kHAnSTAFF REPORT

Three persons, including the owner of ahoney–farm and his workers, weregunned down 25 kilometers away fromDera Ismail Khan in the limits of YarakPolice station, police and hospitalsources conformed on Sunday. The FirstInvestigation Report lodged with PoliceStation Yarak, Noor Diaz resident ofDomail, from Bannu, told police that heand his brother Riaz used to work at amake-shift honey (collecting) farm ofLakki district resident Faizaullah KhanMarwat. The farm was near Giloti vil-lage some 35 kilometers from D I Khan-Pezu road. He said that when he left forsleeping at the tent camp last night, hisbrother Riaz and another farm workerFarman remained with farm ownerFaizullah in his mud-hut . Noor said hefound all three persons dead early in themorning. They had been shot in theroom. Noor did not attribute any reasonto the murders, saying they had no en-mity. Police shifted the bodies for au-topsy to District Headquarter TeachingHospital DI Khan and registered a case.

LHR 05-12-2011_Layout 1 12/5/2011 2:37 AM Page 10

Editor’s mail 11Monday, 5 december, 2011

illegal occupationThe University Town of Peshawar

was a very posh area of Peshawar, butsince the past few years a powerfulminister has taken control of theUniversity Town Committee and all hellhas broke lose. The town is mushroominginto a giant commercial zone, withschools, colleges, universities, offices,shops, guest houses, NGOs, hospitals andeven government departments’ officessetting up among each road and area.

The land for town’s parks and clubs isbeing taken over by anyone with a stick.First the University Town Club has beentaken over by a minister's stooge, defyingPHC stay orders, now a local mosque’smullah has decided to take over the localcemetery. The first year a mosque wasconstructed on the cemetery land, thenext year the mosque was enlarged. Twoyears later, three double story homeshave been constructed, encroaching oncemetery land.

The encroachment was reported inthe newspaper a few months back but themullah was able to grease the right palmsto avoid any eviction. The problem now isthat if the University Town Committeeand local police are not willing to takeany action, who do the residents of thistown approach to stop this mullah fromtaking over the entire cemetery?

DR SULIAMAN DURRANIPeshawar

Clean politics?Imran Khan has given a commitment

to his supporters that only clean politi-cians will be awarded a ticket for parlia-mentary elections. He has appointed aprominent lawyer to head a committeewhich will scrutinise all prospective can-didates. This leading lawyer was a veryvocal supporter of the movement forrestoration of judiciary and was a promi-nent member of the lawyer community.It is also a fact that the lawyer leadershiphad called for boycott of the PCO judgesas part of the movement to restore judgesremoved by Gen Pervez Musharraf.

It is an unfortunate fact that thislawyer and members of his chamber kepton appearing before the PCO judges, inspite of being amongst those who playeda vital role to call for the boycott. Is thisnot a breach of trust and susceptibility tocompromise for financial benefits interms of heavy legal fees? This gentlemancontinues to plead cases of his clients inCourt 1, although many others like AitzazAhsan have chosen not to do so.

GULL ZAMANPeshawar

Airbase for hunting“Shamsi airbase was built in 1992

during Nawaz Sharif regime by UAE gov-ernment for hunting [killing partridges]”,a news item. Wish Nawaz could have of-fered them to try nihari instead – eat toplease yourself but dress to please others.Our PMs must watch their cholesterollevels and should advise other heads ofstates to do the same. Next time, the verynoble Arab monarchs should be shown away to Siberia for hunting for a change.

By the way, may I ask how thisunique favour was rewarded?

TARIQ RANAIslamabad

drug addictionThe old era of peace and plenty, good

manners and morals shall never return.Rise of civilisation is fall of morality. Thenew era of material progress has broughtworldly prosperity for many; but it hasgiven a death blow to religion and moralvalues. Now every thing foul appears fairdue to lack of moral scruple.

Material progress of which peoplesare very proud has brought in manyincurable social evils in its wake andgiven birth to faulty habits among thenew generations all over the world.Corruption, use of drugs, killings andother social ills have become order of theday. They are so firmly rooted in theworld communities that various socialinstitutions and even governments arefighting losing battles.

The worst evil rather a curse is drugmafia; the very phase in stinking andrepulsive. Drug trafficking, drug mafiaand addiction are more than justproblems. Drug addiction has swept likeplague through the world, sowing crimesand destroying lives.

According to dictionary meaning'drug' is a substance used to poison orstupefy, or for self-indulgence, anddrug addicts are habitual users ortakers of drugs narcotics. The mostdangerous, rather a killer, is the heroinwhile the other narcotics are marijuna,hashish, cocaine and the 'cut drugs' thatare more deadly.

Heroin is chewed or smoked incigarettes. Drug addiction is multi-faceted problem. It has now cut acrossnational boundaries and internationalbarriers. Once the habit of using drugs isformed it cannot be overcome.

Clinical studies have shown that bythe time the addict is undergoing thetrauma of melting, suffering from acuteanxiety, restlessness, yawning,shivering, vomiting, a hightemperature, muscle cramps, loss ofappetite and weight are the results.

The human race needs to correct itspath. There is no salvation except moralreformation and strict punishments tothe culprits.

KAINAT ABDUL MAJEEDKarachi

South Asian politiciansIn a survey, to a question posed to

explain the reason for violent removal ofpublic leaders in South Asia: Pakistan(Bhutto and Liaquat), India (Indira andRajiv Gandhi), Sri Lanka (Bendranaike),Bangladesh (Mujeeb and Irshad), Burma(U Aung Sang), Nepal (The gentle King),the answer preferred was that theyascended the driving seat through mobaction and subsequently it was mobdynamics that removed them.

Well, in the case of Indira Gandhi,it was perceived that she had arrivedthrough a democratic process but afterimposition of emergency, sheconverted or morphed herself into amobster. M K Gandhi suffered from hiscountryman’s hot blood.

It is interesting that the expletivesused in the common languages in SouthAsia remind us of the brutal culturewhich existed in the years of yore. This isalso evident from present dayhappenings and in earlier decades. Wehave also witnessed torture and brutalityexhibited in cutting to pieces women andchildren in 1947 and 1971.

Hence, political leaders aspiring forhigher offices better not depend onemotions alone but work on solidplatforms cemented by propermanifestos and organising politicalparties, not just movements.

ZAFAR OMERIslamabad

A plan to end gas loadsheddingThe winter chill has descended on

Pakistan a little early this year. Sweaters,heaters and hot drinks are in demand.Once more with the increasing use of gasheaters, gas pressure in the pipes startsdropping and SNGPL has to resort to gasloadshedding to industries, CNG pumpsand even commercial areas. The peopleprotest out in the streets, burning tiresand effigies of our leaders till the coldwater rush from the anti-riot police watercannons make them go home to warmup. Since the past four years, when thewinter chills descends on Pakistan, thesame vicious cycle has been in action.

This year the local CNG stationstook advance precautions againstSNGPL by taking a stay order from theIslamabad High Court against any gasloadshedding. The SNGPL has tried tocontest this and I am sure in theirdefence they will use the same old storyabout high demand creating lowpressure etc.

I want to inform the public today that

this is not the whole truth. There is noshortage of gas, just a big problem withthe supply network. The Pakistan gassupply pipeline does not have enoughvolume capacity, therefore when all theconnections are working at the sametime, the pipelines are not capable ofinjecting enough volume of gas and weface a low pressure situation.

To alleviate this problem, there is ashort term and a long term solution. Theshort term solution involves increasingthe gas pressure in the pipelines, but thissolution can damage the networkinfrastructure and allow gas leakage.

The long term solution involvesincreasing the size of the supplypipelines or adding more pipelines.Another long term solution, used inmany countries, involves adding gasstorage tanks in different locations.These tanks are like water storage tanks,but they have a moving roof, that movesup when gas is being stored. These tanksstore the gas during low peak hours, and

then during high peak hours the locationhas enough volume of gas to supplyample supply to every home.

In Pakistan the government andorganisations like SNGPL have no longterm direction for solving the gas crisis.And the government agencies are notcapable of honestly completing suchstorage tanks in quick time. Therefore, Iwould like to suggest that thegovernment authorities should plan toallow a small gas storage unit forhouseholds that can be installed byindividual citizens through governmentlicensed local manufacturers andinstallers. These units would be used bythe households in the winter season onlyand they would be able to store a smallquantity of gas that will be used by thehousehold. The storage unit will store gasduring off peak hours and then duringpeak hours the stored gas would be usedby the house first, reducing the pressureon the national gas supply pipeline andthus reducing the gas load shedding.

The government would first have tofind a safe design that can be locallymanufactured. Then the governmentwould have to form a regulating unitthat will license, inspect and regulatemanufacturers and installers of theseunits. This entire industry should bekept tax free for 10 years and exportsbanned as it will cater to local demand.After that the exports should be allowedand taxes levied.

This solution will allow the privatesector to create such units quickly –allowing each individual person toinstall these units at their own (tax-free) cost. This will also create new jobsand start a new business sector and anexport industry in the future.

I would like to request theIslamabad High Court to consider theSNGPL's long term planning beforedeciding on the stay order against CNGgas loadshedding.

ENGR SHAHRYAR KHAN BASEERPeshawar

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

True that Imran Khan appears to bethe cleanest of the available lot. Also truethat he appears to be the most honestand true to his word as well. Owing tothis repute and the desperate desire ofthe nation for a 'change', Mr Khan hasbecome immensely popular. Crowds inlarge numbers at his rallies are a clearsign of his growing popularity, regardlessof what his opponents have to sayregarding the said numbers.

However, there is one concern thatneeds to be immediately addressed by MrKhan; the free for all entry to his party.

Despite tall claims of making PTI a partyof honest and clean politicians, Mr Khansuddenly seems to be open to any and allpoliticians regardless of their repute intheir respective districts and their pastrecord of corruption. The reason for thislenient policy appears to be the fact thatMr Khan knows that entering an electionwith a team of unknown candidatesmight not bring him the desired numberof seats in the assemblies and so PTIneeds people who are seasoned politi-cians or have at least won or contested inan election. But is it worth it?

Even if PTI gains a large number ofseats in the next elections at the cost ofcompromising its policy of entertainingonly clean and honest people, what goodwould those seats do? Who would thenstop these 'seasoned' politicians frommanipulating Mr Khan who is clearly noteven close to being as shrewd a politicianyet, his honesty and integrity may havesomething to do with that.

Wasn't it the idea in the beginning totake only the educated and honesttaxpayers, including the youth, onboardas candidates by the PTI?

People have very high hopes from MrKhan now and it scares me to see thembeing disappointed yet again. I amalmost certain Mr Khan has nointentions of doing that but if this pre-election leniency results in a post electiondisaster, it will certainly be the final blowfor us. If at all the people have found asincere leader whose intentions are notdoubted, they ought not to suffer at thehands of his negligence or any erroneouspolicy or decision.

ZAFAR ZULQURNAIN SAHILahore

lest he goes astray

Out with the truthThere is a new development in the “Memogate” on a daily

basis. Now that the PML(N) leader Nawaz Sharif has taken theissue to the Supreme Court of Pakistan, it would be even moreinteresting to see what transcribes out of this entire episode.Already it has become the talk of the town, a favourite topic forthe TV talk shows and a new game for the politicians. Thegovernment does not appear to be serious about the issue

except that it has replaced its ambassador to the US HussainHaqqani with Sherry Rehman. Mansoor Ijaz has been labelledas a man with no integrity. If so why Hussain Haqqani was soclose to him that both of them flew to London together to meetBritish Army’s Chief of General Staff on 10 May 2011?

MUHAMMAD AZHAR KHWAJALahore

impact of televisionTelevision is mostly a negative

influence for the young. TV promotes asense of unreality to its young viewers.It promotes violence andpermissiveness. There have been severalinstances where reality has beendistorted that has been influenced by TVprogrammes. There was a recent casewhere in the US a 12-year-old boypractised what he had seen on wrestlingprogrammes on a young four-year-oldgirl; she was killed in the process.

There have been incidences wherelittle boys have jumped out windows ofhigh-rise apartment in attempts to flylike superman. Continuously watchingtheir heroes and heroines doingimpossible stunts with so much easecauses young children to try out stuntsfor themselves, leading to terribleresults. So, it is not a good thing to let

children watch too much TV or withoutparents’ guidance.

MEHAK NAQVIKarachi

Real privatisationTo do nothing is in everyman’s

power. The impossible is often the un-tried. Like “nationalisation” of decadesback, “privatisation” is a new catch-word. Literally speaking to privatise isto make private what was formerly apublic property. That is, of course,much too wide a category of action to beclassed as a clear concept. A more spe-cific, or less generic, description wouldbe to take it as reversal or retroversionof nationalisation.

Unfortunately, in Pakistan there hasbeen a lot of rhetoric and politicalsloganeering but no real substantialanalysis of the intricacies of privatisation

have ever been conducted. Privatisationhas become like self-reliance, a muchabused term by politicians who fail tounderstand the intellectual rationale andprocedures involved.

An attempt can be made to navigatethrough the maze of complexitiesinvolved. What is the exact meaning ofprivatization? What is its history? Whatare the prospects and obstacles ofprivatisation in Pakistan? Privatisationmust be carefully distinguished fromliberalisation, its close associate.

While privatisation refers to atransfer for ownership rights,liberalisation refers to an enhancementof competition and efficiency.

One can privatise without liberalisingby transferring an organisation from apublic monopoly without making it morecompetitive.

HARIS RIZWANKarachi

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Comment12Monday, 5 december, 2011

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

ijaz and the sea of stories

Never a dull moment

He’s being regarded almost universally as a shadycharacter, even by his supporters, but USnational Mansoor Ijaz is doing nothing to dispelthat impression. His most recent bombshell

(never the full story in one go; always the cheap crime novel)is that the president knew not only about the now famousmemo but also about the May 2nd attack in Abbottabad.Both the presidency and the White House have denied thestatements. Hussain Haqqani, his target - or, as Ijaz likes tocall him, “friend” - has used the latest revelation to point outthat his bete noire is nothing but a publicity hound.

Public discourse, however, is very selective in itsstandards. When it likes someone, nothing can smear theimpression; when it hates someone, the best spin can’t coverit up. The media will believe Ijaz. Not because, as discussedabove, they like him but because they hate our erstwhileambassador more.

Ask not whether it is implausible that an ambassador asshrewd and as well-entrenched in the US as Haqqani wouldentrust a person like Ijaz to pass sensitive information to theAmerican military command. Ask whether it is possible? If itis, it is what must have happened. The burden of proof hereis Haqqani’s lot. Guilty till proven innocent. Former FIAchief Tariq Khosa’s refusal to be the one-man commissionconstituted by the apex court to look into the affair isn’texactly a spanner in the works; the mood of the powers thatbe is clear. It won’t matter who carries out the investigation.

The fear that this neo-McCarthyism won’t stop atHaqqani is not entirely unfounded. PML(N) supremo NawazSharif’s new, post-exile avatar as a principled pro-democracystatesman is being questioned ever since his party filed for apetition in the supreme court over the issue. Though thethird-force bogeyman has been used more than it was worthby the PPP government to cover up for its own badgovernance, is this the final act of the boy-crying-wolf tale?

they won fair and square

it’s called democracy

And they were happy when the Arab spring camebut not very much so at the flowers it let bloom.Many liberal quarters in the West (and here athome) are in full ‘I-told-you-so’ mode as ‘Islamists’

have swept the polls in Egypt – as they did in Tunisia andMorocco earlier. Gone is the rejoicing of the advent ofdemocracy in the Arab world and has been replaced bypolitical soothsayers predicting radical Islamisation of theregion and all the much-feared allied paraphernalia it issupposed to bring with it (despite the winning partiesallaying such fears).

That these parties have won in their respective countriesshould not surprise anyone. Electoral politics is not justabout having a platform people can hop onto but to ensurethat these people will also hop to the polling booth comeelection day. This requires having a well-organisedgrassroots machinery that churns out the required numbers.The Ikhwan in Egypt, the PJD in Morocco and the Nahda inTunisia had cultivated their ground rank and files (and thattoo under the previous repressive regimes) which helpedthem run impressive campaigns which then translated intochecked ballots. Voter turnouts as high as 62 percent returnrepresentative leaders even if the still-nascent process hasglitches: these kinds of numbers don’t lie.

But just commending these parties on their electoralmachineries is a bit of a gyp. They after all had clearlydefined manifestoes which the people chose to support. It’shypocritical to cry foul at the process simply because thepeople it turned out belong to a certain side of theideological spectrum. ‘They-aren’t-ready-for-democracy-because-they-elect-fundoes’ arguments are the kind ofcanard despots like Mobarak and Musharraf hide behindbefore they abscond.

The people have spoken and (purported) liberals shouldlearn to respect that. Conflating genuine religious sentimentwith radicalism is a mistake many analysts make especiallythose who have a bad case of PTSD after witnessingphenomena like Zia, Taliban and the Al-Qaeda. But adistinction needs to be made. The very fact that these partieschose to participate in the electoral process shoulddifferentiate them from your average gun-totingfundamentalist. They are at the end of the day answerable tothe electorate and if the people have issues with theirIslamist projects, they shall so speak next elections. It’s aprocess, let it work.

Spokesman of the middle class

Imran Khan is the talk of thetown as his bombast of bringing‘change’ and building a ‘new Pak-istan’ has caught the imaginationof the youth - the biggest stratum

of country’s population - who throng hispublic meetings in thousands. The youthof today should not forget that hemade similar tall claims, fifteen yearsago, when he launched ‘Tehrik-e-Insaf’. The teenagers of 1996 are intheir thirties now, a bit disappointedand disillusioned because he failed todeliver what he had promised, then.

One remains sceptical about theyouth’s enthusiasm for Imran, beingbowled out by his charisma, without re-alising that he has no solid politicalagenda as to what and how he will sortthe political, economic and social malaiseafflicting Pakistan. Charisma is nothingin itself if it is not backed by a program oran ideology to pursue. Quaid-e-Azamused charisma to achieve the Muslimhomeland of Pakistan on the ‘two-nation’agenda; Mahatma Gandhi capitalised oncharisma to fight for Indian independ-ence on the philosophy of ‘non-violence’whereas Adolf Hitler built a ‘new Ger-many’ on the ideology of Nazism.

What is Imran’s philosophy for a ‘newPakistan’? So far, like Mussolini of Italy,he has just indulged in the politics of neg-ativity, criticising others, without present-ing any comprehensive positiveprogramme of his own. What we do knowis that he disapproves of a secular statebecause he thinks that Pakistan was ac-quired in the name of Islam thus a secular

polity would be a negationof the very rationale of itsinception. Does this meanthat he stands closer to theright-wing conservatives? Ifso then what new or differ-ent he has to offer from thealready existing centre-rightPMLs or the myriad religio-political parties such asJamat-i-Islami, JamiatUlema-i-Islam, etc. In 1997,he is on the record to havesaid that he would usher anIslamic revolution of thetype of ‘Khulfa-i-Rashideen’(the first four righteouscaliphs in Islamic history)yet his role models includesuch varied figures as Ma-hathir Muhammad, Quaid-e-Azam, Allama Iqbal,Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and thepious Omayyad CaliphHazrat Omar bin AbdulAziz (RA), the last one wasmentioned as the classicalrole model, when he pre-sented his fourteen-pointmanifesto (a reminder ofJinnah’s fourteen points)back in the first week ofJanuary 1997.

Today’s Pakistan isstruggling between liberal-ism and religious conser-

vatism. Where does Imran Khan stand?Has he deeply studied the plethora ofproblems faced by the nation and has hisparty come up with any workable solu-tions? Keep your fingers crossed! In De-cember 1997, he had announced that hisparty had a number of think tanks whichwere busy day and night to formulate vi-able policies on pressing issues likehealth, education, economy, law, etc.Where is the output of these thinktanks? Similarly, in April 1997, he prom-ised to launch a social developmentmovement by opening schools and dis-pensaries for the poor. Where are they?We do know about his cancer hospital -a great monument for which generationswill remain grateful to him - but whereare Imran’s dispensaries for the pooramong the deluge of private clinics andhospitals fleecing the people. Similarly,while ‘madrassahs’ and private schoolshave seen a mushroom growth, onedoesn’t come across Imran’s schools.Khan Sahib! Mujhey sub hai yad zarazara, tumhey yad ho kay na yad ho!

On top of such a track record, he isclaiming to be the harbinger of a ‘politicaltsunami’ and ‘mini-revolution’. Why doeshe tout ‘mini-revolution’ and not a ‘totalrevolution?’ Is it because he is just a re-formist and not a committed revolution-ary? Over the years, the widening gapbetween the rich and the poor has hit thePakistani middle classes, the most. Theyare being crushed under the burden ofprice hike, inflation, unemployment anddiminishing opportunities of decent liveli-hood. The problem with the middleclasses is that they can never support atotal revolution because it threatens theirsafe middle position in the society, thus,they crave for reforms to ensure somemore breathing space for themselveswithin the existing system. In the longrun, the middle class favours the statusquo and the Pakistani middle classes havefound their spokesman in Imran Khan.That is why Imran advocates that “abloody revolution is not the answer to ourproblems as it would trigger many moreproblems.” Such statements have a lot ofappeal for the middle classes that mostlyreside in the urban areas and it is theywho crowd his public meetings, the most.

Incidentally, a leader that just insistson reforms and doesn’t threaten to rock

the boat happens to suit the Pakistani es-tablishment as well because at the end ofthe day, it is often they who decide as towho should don the crown of power. Ofthe available lot of discredited politicians,Imran has the advantage of being ‘MrClean’ and the powers-that-be also think,like many others, that his ‘clean’ imagecan put a new life in the otherwise demor-alized nation that is teetering on the brinkdue to religious militancy, economicdownhill and political incompetence.

The trickiest question is: will Imranplay ball with the arbiters of power? Inthe past, he has not only been offeredminister ship on different occasions butalso the prime ministerial office, twice,according to his own admission to theCalcutta weekly ‘Sunday’, in March 1996,however, he flatly refused to enter thecorridors of power through the backdoor.A bit of an alarming fact for those, whomatter most in the power game, mayhave been his statement at the launchingof ‘Tehrik-e-Insaf’ in April 1996, when hestated that even “becoming prime minis-ter is too small a thing for him.” It can beanybody’s guess as to what he meant bythis? Does he desire unchallenged ab-solute power that he would not like toshare with anyone? Well! In the past, hewillfully abstained from forming electoralalliance though he was offered about30/35 seats by PML(N) before the Febru-ary 1997 general elections, and is re-ported to have said, “We don’t likecoalitions.” Either he is naive of country’scontemporary political history of coali-tion governments or is dangerously bold.

Moreover, he has already warned thatthough he would welcome ‘political heavyweights’ yet he would not allow them to‘hijack’ the party, meaning thereby thatthe absolute authority would vest in him.His critics have accused him of being ‘ar-rogant’ and a ‘dictator of cricket’. Whilehe may not have been so lest he shouldnot forget that the kingmakers don’t tol-erate such autocratic tendencies, and theexamples of Z A Bhutto and NawazSharif should serve as stark reminders.How he resolves this dilemma will deter-mine his political destiny.

The writer is an academic andjournalist. He can be reached atqizilbash2000@yahoo.com

That’s what he said

Currently, while on the one hand the country confrontsissues of militancy, unemployment and an ever-growingprice hike, on the other hand the issue of ‘selling out the

country’ such as the memo scandal have also surfaced andadded to the worries of masses with greater intensity.

The Pakistani-American businessman Mansoor Ijaz hasblamed Hussain Haqqani (former Pakistani Ambassador toAmerica) for writing the memo to Admiral Mike Mullen. PrimeMinister Yousaf Raza Gilani denied time and again any in-volvement on the part of the government in the issue that hassent ripples amongst top army officials.

The prime minister sees a conspiracy against PresidentAsif Ali Zardari in the Memogate episode. The parliamentarycommittee has started inquiry into the matter maintainingthat if the government is found involved, they will surely

shoulder the responsibility and undertake the required stepsto deal with the fallout.

Prime Minister also claimed that conspiracies have been hatched against the incumbent government time andagain during their rule but all of them have failed in the faceof the government’s perseverance and the fact that it hasclean hands.

The government has rejected all allegations against itselfbut only a thorough enquiry can bring the entire matter tothe fore as to who was the real player behind the memo writ-ing and the intended manoeuvring.

The people demand strict action against the involved per-sons in the whole memo affair as it has been termed by the pub-lic as being tantamount to ‘selling the country out to aliens’ andmaintained that no matter who was involved, the law of thecountry should reign supreme and bring culprits to the justice.

– Translated from the original Pashto by Abdur Rauf Khattak

on MemogateDaily khabroona

Regional Press

Eye on HistoryBy Basharat Hussain Qizilbash

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Comment 13Monday, 5 december, 2011

Tragedies have a danger-ous and unstable rela-tionship with confusion.

As Pakistan buries and mournsits fallen soldiers, in the after-math of NATO actions worthyof great condemnation, wemust decide what to salvageand what to bury for good.

As NATO announced aninvestigation, many in Pak-istan screamed that it wouldnot be acceptable. For its part,NATO seems to have a policyof not apologising whenever itsammunition leads to unin-tended deaths. This policy hasbeen followed in other theatresof war including Libya. Eachtime it did offer condolencesand regrets. Strictly from apolicy perspective one coulddebate the merits of this policyeither way but this is not thespace for such an exercise.

But what about the viewfrom the other side? How im-portant is the difference be-tween condolences and saying,‘we are sorry’? If you intend onbeing a literalist then, sure, thereis a difference. However if youare just looking for an acknowl-edgement of a mistake havingbeen made then that exists inwhat has been said. What I doagree with is that the delay hasnot helped. For some inexplica-ble reason, President Obamaforgot the sense of empathy thathis alma mater, Harvard LawSchool, prides on inculcating inits students — it took him ill-ad-visedly long to offer condo-lences. He should have spokensooner. And when it comes toPakistan he needs to speak infavour of its people more often.We Pakistanis are a sensitive lot.Visiting a neighbour and notcoming to our house is a sure-as-death-and-taxes way of offend-

ing a Pakistani. Sounds silly?This does not have to makesense to the Americans. This justneeds to be accepted as a lessonin cultural sensitivity.

The people and the civiliangovernment need to be viewedseparately from what the mili-tary does. All that Pakistanisread is the USA carrying outdrone strikes and then askingPakistan to ‘do more’. Whetherthe White House likes it or not,it needs to hear this: you need tosay it more often that you careabout the civilian deaths in Pak-istan. In lawyerly terms, youneed a better (revised) brief anda different communicationstrategy. Do not throw stats ofaid to our military at us. Talk tous, the people. We Pakistanis,just like Americans, respondbetter when you talk to us ratherthan whisper in someone else’sear to give us the message.

For our part, we need to re-alise that if America’s powerbreeds its arrogance (and fartoo often ignorance) then ourown manipulated insecuritiesbreed fears and conspiracy the-ories. Our media and the armyneed to stop screaming that theattack was deliberate whilethere is an investigation under-way. For the right-wing mediaand the military establishmentevery tragedy is an opportunityto grind their rotten axe — andthat axe makes Pakistan bleedmore than any number of for-eign bombs. There can be nogreater disservice to our fallensoldiers than using their bloodto colour the military’s designs.Sure, the Pakistani govern-ment should register its protestat all appropriate internationalforums. But do not let anyonefool you into believing that ourmilitary establishment isblameless in the larger context.

The world has legitimateconcerns about the PakistanArmy shielding the Haqqaninetwork and its sympathies forthe Taliban. Why not questionthe army and those who act asits apologists? Those demand-ing cutting off all ties with theUS over this tragedy would dowell to raise their voices for adifferent cause. Let me see youprotest as you thump your chest

(for good effect) and demandthat the Pakistan Army disclosehow many ‘suspects’ it has extrajudicially killed and imprisoned.Also, how many officers of thisarmy have been held account-able for this? Or was that all aconspiracy too? Question andmourn the deaths of Ahmadis,Shias and Christians at thehands of militant bigots. Protestthe loss of those innocent lives.

The electronic media’s ex-ploitation of anti-American sen-timent deserves the highestcondemnation too. Talk showhosts need to get a grip and rubout their anti-US fetish. The de-cision of the cable operators toblock ‘anti-Pakistan’ news chan-nels is ridiculous. We may notlike all that we hear but we needto hear it to engage with it. Thelast thing we need is to turn intoan even more self-righteous anddeaf nation. Why don’t our TVchannels question, with thesame rigor, the role of the armyin hiding Osama Bin Laden andsheltering Haqqani? Why nothave a genuine debate about thebenefits of drone strikes? Andany politician ascribing radical-ism to drone strikes is a liar,plain and simple. Questioningof motives is only reserved forVeena Malik, USA and electedgovernments while the armyand its cronies like Mansoor Ijazreceive deference. Shame on us!

By believing opportunists,blaming foreign powers foreverything, we insult our ownintelligence. The more we allowof it the greater the tragedy andthe quicker the death of our col-lective conscience. There will beno rockets fired or official funer-als held as our conscience dies.The ghosts, however, of such atragedy will continue to hauntour children. By abandoningreason and giving into mindlessrhetoric we are the on the vergeof leaving only one thing for ourchildren; nightmares awaken-ing them to a hellish reality.

The writer is a Barristerand an Advocate of the HighCourts. He is currentlypursuing an LL.M at a lawschool in the United States.He can be reached atwmir.rma@gmail.com

Loss of perspective on both sides

Blindsided?

By Waqqas Mir

The major weakness in democracy is that it canbe undermined by using the principles ofdemocracy and constitutionalism in violation

of their spirit. The notions of tyranny of majority andstubbornness of the minority represent threats todemocratic governance. The best example of how thedemocratic process can be used to destroy democracyis that of Adolf Hitler who first came to power in Ger-many in 1933 by winning elections but later estab-lished an oppressive and dictatorial political order.

Democracy cannot be secured by sloganeeringalone. The holding of public meetings and rallies isa democratic right but these activities can threatendemocracy if public rallies are used as a substituteto democratic institutions like the legislature orrecognised conflict management procedures or anenvironment of commotion is created.

Democracy becomes credible and sustainable onlyif the key players practice its norms in letter and spiritand publicly abide by constitutionalism, rule of law andpractice political accommodation and socio-culturalpluralism. The key constituent units of a democraticorder are the institutions, processes and political enti-ties that complete with each other for political powerwithin a democratic-constitutional framework.

How the state institutions function or perform theirassigned tasks is crucial to sustainability of democracy.Four principles of democracy govern the disposition ofthe state institution and their interaction with eachother and the people. First, each institution shouldwork within its constitutional domain. Second, theseinstitutions must respect each other’s constitutionaland legal position. Third, the state institutions inter-de-

pend on each other for per-formance of their constitutionalrole and duties. Fourth, the pri-macy of the elected institutionshas to be respected by the non-elected state institutions. Theelected institutions are theparliament and the politicalexecutive. Non-elected institu-tions are the bureaucracy, thejudiciary and the military.

Democracy will run intotrouble if one institution at-tempts to overwhelm otherstate institutions. Similarly, ifone state institution assumesthat it can rectify the ills of allstate institutions there is boundto be an institutional clash anddemocracy will falter.

At one stage in Pakistan’shistory the military top brassthought that they could rectifythe ills of all civilian institu-tions. They failed to improvethe working of other institu-tions and adversely affectedthe prospects for democracy.

Now the provincial HighCourts and the Supreme Courtappear to have come to the con-clusion that they would rectify

all weaknesses of other state institutions, especially thefederal government. This perception is so widespread inthe society that individuals and political parties areusing the courts as a forum to pursue their politicalfights. Most of administrative steps adopted by the fed-eral government are being challenged in the courts.

Judicial activism is a recognised practice in demo-cratic states but its excessive use can create institutionalimbalance and make the task of governance difficult forthe political executive. Some legal experts in Pakistanmaintain that High Courts cannot exercise ‘suo motu’power. The judges often make remarks in the course ofproceedings of the cases with strong political orientationsthat have political implications in Pakistan’s polarised po-litical context. This increases political controversies andsome people drag the court into such controversies.

The political leadership has the most vital role in sus-taining democracy. In Pakistan, every leader vows to pro-tect and promote democracy but at the operational levelthey have endangered democracy. Their political dispo-sition and conduct is inimical to participatory democracy.

The political parties and leaders are unable to riseabove their narrow partisan interests and often equatetheir party or personal interest as the national interest.Nowadays, the PML(N) is bent on dislodging the federalgovernment and removing President Zardari from of-fice. As it does not have the required votes in the parlia-ment to achieve these agendas it is using all possibleextra-parliamentary means, including propaganda,street protest and courts, to build pressure on the federalgovernment. On the other hand, the PPP is spending allits energy to hold on to power and it appears to be inconflict with the opposition and the SC which has be-come the opposition’s latest “battlefield”.

The brute struggle for power between the PML(N)and the PPP is taking place at a time when Pakistan isfacing acute internal problem like a faltering economy,terrorism, and the strained relations with the US andAfghanistan. They hardly pay meaningful attention tothese problems. The PPP often denies the acuteness ofthe problems and it is engaged in survival struggle inface of its own policy blunders and poor governance.

Democracy and constitutional rule are more inse-cure now than was the case in 2008. The civilian politi-cal leaders continue to be engaged in an incessant powerstruggle devoid of any moral and democratic restraint.The PML(N) has expanded the scope of power struggleby dragging the federal government as well as the armyand the ISI in a political case before the SC. The PML(N)can make whatever argument it likes to justify its action,Pakistan’s experience suggests that when politicians at-tempt to drag the army establishment in their powergames, they cannot control the direction of events.

The political leaders need to step back and reviewthe situation dispassionately otherwise their politicalfights can hurt them most. Without delivering theirpromises to the people they are engaged in self-servingpolitics. In a free-for-all struggle for power that drags allstate institutions and political entities into conflict, thesure victim are the people and democracy. If this stateof affairs persists the initiative can shift to those whowield guns - with or without uniform.

The writer is an independent political anddefence analyst.

The game of thrones, Pakistani style

power struggles

By Dr Hasan Askari rizvi

LHR 05-12-2011_Layout 1 12/5/2011 2:37 AM Page 13

Monday, 5 december, 2011

14 Foreign News

MoSCoW REUTERS

RUSSIANS voted onSunday in parlia-mentary polls seenas a test of VladimirPutin’s personal au-

thority ahead of a planned returnto the presidency, and an electoralwatchdog complained of ‘massivecyber attacks’ on a website alleg-ing violations.

Putin remains by far the mostpopular politician in the countrybut there are some signs Russiansmay be wearying of his cultivatedstrong man image. The 59-year-old ex-spy looked stern and saidonly that he hoped for good re-sults for his United Russia partyas he walked past supporters tovote in Moscow.

“I will vote for Putin. Every-thing he gets involved in, he man-ages well,” Father Vasily, 61, abespectacled and white-beardedmonk from a nearby monasterysaid. “It’s too early for a new gen-eration. They will be in charge an-other 20 years. We are Russians,we are Asians, we need a strongleadership.”

A Western-financed electoralwatchdog and two liberal mediaoutlets said their sites had beenshut down by hackers intent on si-lencing allegations of violations.Sites belonging to the EkhoMoskvy radio station, online newsportal Slon.ru and the watchdogGolos went down at around8.00am.

“Massive cyber attacks aretaking place on the sites of Golosand the map showing violations,”Golos said on twitter.

Golos said it was excluded

from several polling booths in theSiberian Tomsk region. Moscowprosecutors launched an investi-gation last week into Golos’ activ-ities after lawmakers objected toits Western financing.

Washington said it was con-cerned by “a pattern of harass-ment” against the watchdog.

Ekho Moskvy editor-in-chiefAlexei Venediktov wrote on Twit-ter: “It is obvious the election day

attack on the (radio) site is part ofan attempt to prevent publishinginformation about violations.”

President Dmitry Medvedev,who is stepping aside in March sothat Putin can return to the pres-

idency, has dismissed talk of elec-toral fraud. Neither the generalprosecutor’s office nor the CentralElection Commission could bereached for comment.

Communist Party leader Gen-

nady Zyuganov, voting at a cul-tural centre decked with Soviet-style hammer and sickle flags,said there appeared to be electionviolations in several of Russia’s 93regions spanning 9,000 Km(5,600 miles).

“I just spoke to our people inthe Siberia and the Far East andthe situation is very worrying,” hesaid.

Polls show Putin’s party islikely to win a majority but lessthan the 315 seats it currently hasin the 450-seat lower house ofparliament, known as the Duma.

If Putin’s party gets less thantwo-thirds of seats, it would bestripped of its so called constitu-tional majority which allows it tochange the constitution and evenapprove the impeachment of thepresident.

Independent Russian votemonitor Golos defiantly exposedviolations in Sunday’s parliamen-tary polls despite being publiclyvilified by Prime MinisterVladimir Putin and having itswebsite attacked.

Within the space of a week,the group has seen itself com-pared by Putin to Judas Iscariot,and been the subject of a smeardocumentary on pro-Kremlin tel-evision.

On election day, its “Map ofViolations” website which wouldhave allowed Russians to seewhere abuses were most concen-trated in the country, was downdue to a cyber attack while its ownemail systems were paralysed.

Yet still it carried on chroni-cling violations, with a telephonehotline and observers deployed inpolling stations in 40 regions towatch for fraud.

Foul play claimed as Russia votes in Putin testg Media websites ‘attacked’ during Russian polls, defy pressure to expose abuses

teHrAnAFP

Iran’s regime has started to distance itselffrom militant protesters who stormedBritain’s embassy, after seemingly beingcaught off balance by the retaliatory clo-sure of its mission in London. Two seniorclerics on the weekend sought to portraythe hundreds of protesters who invadedand trashed the embassy and a secondBritish diplomatic compound last Tues-day as having acted without official en-dorsement or orders. One of them,Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami, who is closeto Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah AliKhamenei, called the assaults and occu-pation of any embassy “illegal” and tan-tamount to invading another country.

The criticism of the protesters - de-scribed by officials on the day of therampages as student members of theBasij militia controlled by Iran’s Revo-lutionary Guards - was an abrupt U-turnfrom previous comments defendingthem. The reversal in the official line fol-lowed Britain’s decision to close itsTehran embassy and order the closure ofIran’s embassy in London in retaliation.

The European Union has also said it

could add further sanctions on top ofthe ones already imposed over Tehran’scontroversial nuclear programme.British officials said the ransacking oftheir embassy could only have occurredwith the consent of Iran’s leaders.

The evacuated ambassador, Do-

minick Chilcott, highlighted initial inac-tion by Iranian police as the protestersentered the embassy, ripping portraits ofBritish monarchs, rifling through papersand computers, spraying graffiti every-where and starting fires. Although Iran’sforeign ministry expressed “regret” im-

mediately after the violence, other fac-tions in the regime were defiant.

Ayatollah Khatami, leading Fridayprayers, instructed worshippers to add“Death to Britain” to their cycle of“Death to America” and “Death to Is-rael” chants, and warned other Westerncountries not to join Britain in retaliat-ing - “or else our nation’s hatred towardBritain will also befall them.” But sud-denly, the tone changed markedly.

“I explicitly say that I am against at-tacking embassies and occupyingthem,” Khatami was quoted as saying bythe ISNA news agency a day later.

“Attacking an embassy and occupy-ing it is like invading a country and is il-legal,” he said. Khatami stated that “wemust not compare” the storming of theBritish embassy with the 1979 taking ofthe US embassy in Tehran that resultedin US-Iranian diplomatic ties being bro-ken off entirely. Another senior cleric,Grand Ayatollah Naser Makarem Shi-razi, on Saturday said it was possible that“elements” had infiltrated the protestersto prompt the backlash against Iran. Shi-razi also said his country “could pay ahigh price” for the embassy assault.

Iran regime distances itself from UK embassy attackg top iranian cleric says British embassy attack ‘illegal’

TEHRaN: Iran’s Foreign Ministry believes that if the West seriously consideredblocking Tehran’s ability to export oil, the global price of crude would more thandouble, Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast was quoted as sayingon Sunday. “As soon as such an issue is raised seriously the oil price would soarto above $250 a barrel,” he said. Talk in the West of tightening sanctions on Iranover its nuclear programme has increased since the United Nations nuclearwatchdog issued a report in November containing what it said was evidence thatTehran had worked on designing an atom bomb. The US Senate voted onThursday to penalise foreign financial institutions that do business with Iran’scentral bank, the main conduit for its oil revenues, and the European Union isconsidering a ban on oil imports from the Islamic Republic. But so far, neitherWashington not Brussels has finalised its move against the oil trade or thecentral bank amid fears of the possible impact on a fragile global economy ofrestricting oil flows from the world’s fifth biggest exporter. Mehmanparast saidhe doubted they would take that step. REUTERS

oil would go over $250 ifexports banned: iran

MoSCow: Policemen detain an opposition activist during a protest rally called ‘People against illegal elections’, organised by the left Front movement on

Sunday. Putin’s ruling party could see its vast parliamentary majority cut back in elections widely seen as a test of his popularity ahead of an expected return

to the presidency early next year. the paper reads, ‘i did not vote’. REUTERS

Clinton criticismsparks israeli anger

JerUSALeMAFP

Israeli ministers reacted angrily onSunday after local media quoted USSecretary of State Hillary Clinton assaying she feared for the future ofIsrael’s democracy and the rights ofwomen in the Jewish state.Clinton’s remarks, reportedly madeSaturday behind closed doors at theSaban Forum in Washington, madeheadlines in most Israelinewspapers.Top-selling Yediot Aharonot saidClinton had expressed concernabout a slew of “anti-democratic”bills proposed by right-wingmembers of Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu’s government.And the newspaper said Clintonhad described shock at hearingthat some buses in Jerusalem weregender segregated and somereligious Israeli soldiers refused toattend events where women wouldsing. The comments sparked aquick backlash in Jerusalem,where Israeli ministers holding aweekly cabinet meeting accusedClinton of hyperbole.

australia overturns India uranium export banSYDneY

AFP

Australia’s ruling Labor partyvoted Sunday to lift a long-stand-ing ban on exporting uranium toIndia after a passionate debateabout nuclear weapons and reac-tor safety following Japan’s quakecrisis.

Labor passed Prime MinisterJulia Gillard’s proposal with 206votes to 185, reversing a decades-old policy excluding New Delhi

from Australia’s uranium tradebecause it is not a signatory to theNuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Gillard argued that it was nei-ther rational nor intellectually de-fensible to sell uranium to risingpowers such as China and not toIndia, “the world’s largest democ-racy” and a fast-growing nation ofincreasing global clout.

“Let’s just face facts here - ourrefusal to sell uranium to India isnot going to cause India to decidethat it will no longer have nuclear

weapons,” Gillard told the Laborsummit.

Foreign Minister Kevin Ruddwarned that India would need tomeet “onerous” conditions beforetrade could begin and said itwould be “a very long, detailedand, I think, tough negotiation.”

Although Australia does notuse nuclear power, it is theworld’s third-ranking uraniumproducer behind Kazakhstan andCanada, exporting 9,600 tonnesof oxide concentrate each year

worth more than Aus$1.1 billion.It also has the world’s largest

reserves of uranium, holding 23percent of the total, according tothe World Nuclear Association.

Defence Minister StephenSmith backed Gillard’s proposal,saying India had voluntarily sub-mitted to civilian nuclear checksby international regulators andwas a “rising power... which is de-serving of being accorded that sta-tus”. New Delhi agreed toseparate its civil and military nu-

clear facilities and abide by Inter-national Atomic Energy Agencysafeguards under a 2005 agree-ment with the United Stateswhich Gillard has cited as a prece-dent for her decision.

Peter Garrett, former front-man for the rock band MidnightOil, got a standing ovation for hisimpassioned speech, as didTransport Minister Anthony Al-banese, who criticised the movefollowing Japan’s Fukushima re-actor disaster. “Nine months after

Fukushima we are being asked tosell more uranium for more nu-clear reactors to a country thatdoes not have nuclear safe-guards,” Albanese said.

Anti-nuclear campaignerssaid it was a “major blow to theglobal nuclear non-proliferationregime”. “The Labor Party has putprofits before the peace and secu-rity of the region,” said TimWright, Australian director of theInternational Campaign to Abol-ish Nuclear Weapons.

LHR 05-12-2011_Layout 1 12/5/2011 2:37 AM Page 14

Foreign News 15Monday, 5 december, 2011

SRiNAgAR: indian police try to disperse Shia Muslims at a rally in the centre of the city on Sunday. indian Police detained hundreds of protesters and fired teargas to disperse the

procession, after several hundred Shias marched from the Amira kadal area of the city despite a ban on religious processions there. afp

Syria ignores Arab deadline,faces new sanctions

24 hurt as policecrack down onmarchers in iHk

SrInAgArAFP

Some two dozen people were injuredSunday when police broke upreligious processions by ShiaMuslims who defied a ban and strictsecurity lockdown in Indian-administered Kashmir, police said.Police in riot gear used batons andfired teargas to disperse Shias inSrinagar, the summer capital ofIndian Kashmir, a police officer said,asking not to be named as he wasnot authorised to speak to media.Authorities have forbidden mostprocessions in Kashmir since theoutbreak of insurgency againstIndian rule in 1989 on grounds thatthe emotional religious rituals couldbe used by separatists to stoke anti-India sentiment. They allow onlysmall mourning rallies andprocessions in areas with sizeableShia populations, leading to annualfriction between police andmourners. “We had to detain somethree dozen mourners for defyingthe ban (on procession),” the officersaid, adding nearly two dozenmourners and policemen were hurtduring ensuing clashes.

Bangladesh capitalshut down by strike

DHAkAAFP

Thousands of police patrolled theempty streets of Dhaka, theBangladeshi capital, on Sundayduring a one-day strike called by theopposition over splitting the city intotwo administrative zones. Schoolsand businesses were shut and roadslargely deserted as the BangladeshNationalist Party (BNP) and itsIslamist allies enforced the strike inprotest at the government’s decision.Several BNP activists were injured inscuffles with police at a dawn rally.Mobile courts that are empoweredto hand out on-the-spot jail termsto any law-breaking protesters weredeployed at key locations in thecity, Dhaka police spokesmanMasud Ahmed said. The government recently ratified anew law splitting Dhaka into twoadministrative zones, which it saidwould improve services and utilitiesfor the city’s 15 million people.The opposition criticised the move,saying it was politically motivated asthe new system forced the city’selected mayor, a senior BNP official,out of office. Bangladeshi policefired teargas at scores of protestersas violence broke out during theopposition’s strike.

liVeRPool: Competitors take part in the annual Santa dash on Sunday. the five-kilometre race sees thousands of

entrants run through the streets of the city centre dressed as Santa Claus. afp

DAMASCUSAFP

SYRIA faced new sanc-tions after flouting Sun-day an Arab Leaguedeadline to accept ob-servers to monitor the

unrest sweeping the country, whichthe UN says has killed more than4,000 people. A senior Qatari officialsaid Damascus had asked for “newclarifications and further amend-ments to be made to the protocolwhich was proposed” to cover the de-ployment of the observer mission.But the Arab ministers had “refused.”

The Arab League ministerialcommittee late on Saturday gaveDamascus until Sunday to allow anobserver mission into the countryand thereby avoid further sanctions.

The meeting in Doha listed 19Syrian officials it said would bebanned from travel to Arab countries

and whose assets would be frozen bythose states. The panel also called foran embargo on the sale of Arab armsto Syria and cut by half the numberof Arab flights into and out of Syriawith effect from December 15.

The national carrier Syrian Airwill be affected by the flight reduc-tions, while among the 19 officialsbanned from travel to Arab countriesare the defence and interior ministersand other top intelligence officials.

President Bashar al-Assad’sbrother, General Maher al-Assad, whoheads the feared Fourth Armoured Di-vision, and his cousin Rami Makhluf,a telecommunications tycoon, are alsoamong those banned from travel.

The Arab panel also tasked a com-mittee with drawing up a list of Syrianbusinessmen involved in financing therepression, ahead of slapping themwith sanctions. “This is a message tobusinessmen who have kept silent, sothat they will choose what side to be

on,” said Najib Ghadban, a member ofthe opposition Syrian National Coun-cil which represents most of Assad’sopponents. An analyst in Damascussaid there were “very few chances”that the government would allow inobservers under the conditions set bythe Arab League. Syria says the con-ditions undermine its sovereignty.

The latest standoff between theSyria and the Arab League comes asthe death toll from violence acrossthe country on Saturday and Sundayrose to at least 31, and after the UNHuman Rights Council accused Dam-ascus of “gross violations” of humanrights. On the ground, three childrenaged 11, 14 and 16, were among eightpeople killed across Syria on Sundayby security forces and pro-regime“shabiha” militiamen, the Syrian Ob-servatory for Human Rights said.

“As Arabs we fear that if the situ-ation continues things will get out ofArab control,” Sheikh Hamad said.

afghan rights situation still‘critical’ 10 years on: HRW

kABULAFP

The human rights situation remains “critical”in Afghanistan despite the Taliban’s ouster 10years ago, Human Rights Watch said Sunday,accusing Kabul and its Western backers of fail-ing to prioritise rights conditions.

The US-based group said the governmenthad missed opportunities to put the rights ofAfghans at the top of the agenda since the Tal-iban fell from power in the US-led invasion thatfollowed the September 11, 2011 attacks.

“Afghans still struggle, often unsuccessfully,to exercise their basic human rights and free-doms,” HRW said in a report ahead of a majorinternational conference on Afghanistan’s fu-ture in Germany’s Bonn this week. “Ten yearslater, many basic rights are still ignored ordownplayed,” Brad Adams, Asia director atHRW, was quoted as saying in the statement.

“While there have been improvements, therights situation is still dominated by poor gov-

ernance, lack of rule of law, impunity for mili-tias and police, laws and policies that harmwomen, and conflict-related abuses.” The reportespecially pointed the finger at Afghanistan’sjustice system, which it said was so weak thatmuch of the population relies on traditional jus-tice mechanisms and sometimes Taliban courtsto resolve disputes. But these traditional sys-tems perpetuate human rights abuses, it said,with some illegal practices still alive and well.

It said women have taken on more leadershiproles since the rule of the Taliban, under whomgeneral repression was particularly brutal to-wards women. Their lives were heavily curtailedand they faced punishments such as public exe-cution for victims of rape. But women in the pub-lic eye still face threats and even violence, HRWsaid. Infant and maternal mortality remainamong the world’s highest, the report said. Mean-while, in the attempt to establish security, the UShas ended up backing abusive militia command-ers and the Afghan Local Police programme hascreated unaccountable armed groups, said HRW.

Blast near Britishembassy in Bahrain

DUBAIAFP

A small explosion took place in a bus parkednear the British embassy in the Bahrainicapital on Sunday, the interior ministry said inthe Gulf state swept by unrest earlier this year.“A blast from the front part of a bus parkednear the British embassy in Ras Rumman,” thediplomatic district of Manama, the ministrytweeted, without reporting casualties.

yemen unity cabinet expected within 2 days

SAnAAAFP

Prime minister-designate MohammedBasindawa is expected to announce anational unity government within two days,a European diplomat and a Yemeni officialsaid on Sunday. Half of the govt must beopposition members while regime loyalistsmake up the other half, based on a Gulf-brokered and UN-backed power transferplan signed by President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

LHR 05-12-2011_Layout 1 12/5/2011 2:37 AM Page 15

16 Monday, 5 december, 2011

IN LIMELIGHT

MUMBAI: kareena kapoor attendsthe top gear Awards 2011 Ceremony.

AMRITSAR: Miss Canada world denise garrido, Miss ireland world emmawaldron, and Miss Slovenia Universe Marika Savsek pose during their visit tothe Sikh Shrine golden temple. the women are visiting various cities acrossindia for charity events for the Healthy kids Happy kids Foundation.

MARRAkEcH: Festival director Melitatoscan du Plantier poses with Frenchactress Helene de Fougerolles at the 11thMarrakech international Film Festival.

ISLAMABADAgENcIES

PAKISTANI actress Veena Malik de-fended on Saturday her front coverphotos for men’s magazine FHM,where she appeared with ISI tattooedon her arm, but denied the photo

shoot involved any nudity. “In India every thingis referred to ISI (Pakistan’s top spy agency InterServices Intelligence)”, she told a private TVchannel in Pakistan. “Even if a very small thinghappens, they say ISI is behind it. Everybodyblames ISI for everything.” The actress said theoriginal idea had been Kabeer Sharma’s, editor ofFHM’s Indian edition, but that the photos hadbeen “morphed”. “He told me that (the tattoo)will be very bold and will cover the upper portionof the body, which it did not. “I agreed to a photoshoot and having an ISI tattoo in a humorous waybut I did not have any nude photos. My pictureshave been morphed,” said Malik, who shot tofame in Indian TV show ‘Big Boss 4’. “They havethe videos of the shoot but it would be in clothesand not without clothes”, the actress said. Alsospeaking to the channel, Sharma said Malik hadbeen “very excited for this shoot” and the tattooby the make-up artist had been “in very thin font,but (Malik) asked to make a bold tattoo of ISI”.Reacting to the controversy, Pakistan’s Interiorminister Rehman Malik said that the governmentwould verify the nudity matter. “If she has doneso, she did wrong. But, these pictures are tem-pered many times and we will look into thisissue,” he told reporters.

Veena criesfoul, defends iSi tattoofor photoshoot

VAtICAn CItYAgENcIES

Cardinal GianfrancoRavasi breaks off fromhis rounds at the Vat-ican at least once aday to whip out his smart-phone and shoot off a note to hisfollowers: “Good morning, goodpeople!” he tweets. The Vatican’s topculture man, “CardRavasi”, tweets snappyquotes from the Bible, famous philosophersand dons, or passes on details about art fes-tivals. The aim, he says, is to keep religionrelevant for a younger generation. “The con-cise and pithy language of Twitter can teachreligious communication a great deal,”Ravasi has said in interviews. His mission?To revitalise what faith means for “the chil-dren of television and the Internet”.

President of the Pontifical Councilfor Culture since 2007, Ravasi iskeen to get priests, bishops and

other cardinals to useTwitter, Internet blogsand social networkingsites to bring to life the

Bible’s wealth of stories.Humorous or serious,

Ravasi’s tweets - much like theblog he writes for Italy’s Sole 24 Ore

financial newspaper - often include words ofsupport for the country’s disaffected youth,caught in the grip of an economic crisis. Heis not the only cardinal who is riding theTwitter wave. Brazilian Cardinal OdiloScherer, American Sean Patrick O’Malley,Italian Angelo Scola and South African Wil-frid Fox Napier also tweet - out of 200 pluscardinals in the world many of whom mightnot be quite as tech-savvy.

tweeting cardinals spreadthe word in 140 characters

MUMBAI: Ranveer Singh, who will be seen conning girls in his

forthcoming film ‘ladies vs Ricky Bahl’, says that his character

Ricky Bahl in the film is not that of a casanova but of a

charmer. “Ricky Bahl is a professional conman. He’s not a

casanova or a heart breaker. He has a natural skill of charming

the ladies and he thinks why not use his natural skill and get

some money from them,” Ranveer said. “His purpose is not to

break hearts or be a casanova but money is his main focus. He

does not play with emotions,” he added. the 26-year-old actor

also admits he is a self-critic. “i am very over-critical of myself. i

hate my own performances in the films,” said Ranveer, who hit

the jackpot with his first film ‘Band Baaja Baraat’. ‘ladies

vs Ricky Bahl’ also features

Anushka Sharma,

Parineeti Chopra,

Aditi Sharma and

dipannita

Sharma. directed

by Maneesh

Sharma, the

film releases

dec 9.

AgENcIES

I am not a casanova in‘Ladies vs Ricky Bahl’,says Ranveer

No media please,warn Tom Cruise, Pitbullon India tourMUMBAI: Hollywood actor tom Cruise is on his first ever visit to india. the tour is slated to be extreme private and

strict instructions on ‘no media interaction/ interviews’ were given to the media beforehand. ironically, the actor calls

it a ‘promotional tour’ for his film, ahead of its dubai premiere. the actor’s publicity team has encouraged his fans to

cover his tour by posting their pictures and experience of spotting/meeting the actor instead on social networking

sites. Media however stays ignored. immensely popular American rapper, singer, song writer Pitbull is to performed in

Mumbai on dec 3 and shockingly the media invites were cancelled out at the last minute. “we got a strict warning

from Pitbull crew that no media should be allowed inside the event,” said one of the PR executives of the Pitbull

concert apologising for the last minute cancellation of media entry. international artists and their ‘no media in india’

stand was also taken by pop star lady gaga who n delhi during the Formula one indian grand Prix. AgENcIES

LHR 05-12-2011_Layout 1 12/5/2011 2:37 AM Page 16

17

MUMBAI: Sameera Reddyattends the top gearAwards 2011 Ceremony.

YEREvAN: 14-year-old katya Ryabovaof Russia sings a song during Junioreurovision song contest.

legendaryBollywood actor

deV ANANdLonDon AgENcIES

DEV ANAND, the ‘Evergreen Romantic Superstar’ of Indiancinema, has passed away here last night following cardiac arrest.He was 88. Dev, who had come here for medical check up, was not

keeping well for the last few days, family sources told PTI. His son Sunilwas with him when he breathed last.

fILmogRaPHy

Dev made his debut as an actor in 1946 in ‘Hum Ek Hain’. By the timehis ‘Ziddi’ was released in 1947 he was a superstar and has never lookedback. Versatile Dev Anand has given countless hits like ‘Paying Guest’,‘Baazi’, ‘Jewel Thief’, ‘CID’, ‘Johny Mera Naam’, ‘Amir Garib’,‘Warrant’, ‘Hare Rama Hare Krishna’ and ‘Des Pardes’. For hisoutstanding contribution to Indian cinema, Dev Anand was honouredwith the prestigious the ‘Padma Bhushan’ in 2001 and ‘Dada SahebPhalke Award’ in 2002. He established his film production company‘Navketan International Films’ in 1949 and has produced more than 35movies. Dev Anand has won two Filmfare Awards - India’s equivalentof the Oscars - in 1958 for his performance in the film ‘Kala Paani’ andin 1966 for his performance in ‘Guide’. ‘Guide’ went on to win FilmfareAwards in five other categories including ‘Best Film’ and ‘Best Director’and was sent as India’s entry for the Oscars in the foreign film categorythat year. He co-produced the English version of ‘Guide’ with the NobelLaureate Pearl S Buck (‘The Good Earth’). In 1993, he received aFilmfare ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’ and in 1996 he received aScreen Videocon ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’. Of late he was involvedin the direction of a new all American film Project ‘Song Of Life’ - amusical love story which was to be shot in the United States. He was toplay the central character in the film which was to have apredominantly American star cast. Dev Anand is the second of threebrothers who were active in Hindi Cinema. His brothers are ChetanAnand and Vijay Anand. Their sister, Sheel Kanta Kapur, is the motherof renowned film director Shekhar Kapur. AgENcIES

die s

Celebs mourn loss ofDev Saab on Twitter

8 AMITABH BAcHcHAN: An era has come to an end .. devAnand leaves a void never perhaps to be filled again .. hisnever give up belief, his joy of life !

8 SHILPA SHETTY: RiP dev saab, still remember my 1stmeetin with him, so kind, full of life nd positive.A legendwho always thot ahead of his time.will miss you.

8 AMEESHA PATEL: Sad news about dev anand sahab pass-ing away. was v close to my grandfather n v close 2 r fam-ily. May he rest in peace

8 Sonam kapoor: watching devsaabs songs with my dad wasmy bonding time with him. He is my father’s favourite actor.

8 ANUPAM kHER: Had once asked dev Saab why did hespeak so fast? His reply,”life is too short Anupam. i don’t‘ve time to speak slowly.”

8 PURAB kOHLI: the sad demise of a truly evergreen man.dev Saab 1923-2011.

8 ARJUN RAMPAL: woke up to the saddest news and anemptiness in the heart, dev Saab the man who lived everymoment to the fullest with greatest energy. RiP

8 SHABANA AZMI: dev Saheb robustly lived life on his ownterms. he will be missed by millions but will live on thruhis movies. i salute his spirit

8 R MADHAvAN: RiP dev Anand Saab.. you taught us thatthere is no retirement if u do not desire so..you will re-main evergreen.

8 LUv SINHA: good bye dev saab. you cant refer to manypeople as being legendary..he is one of the few that youcant refer to as anything else..

8 gUL PANAg: RiP dev Sa’ab. you were truly the stuff leg-ends are made of.

8 vIvEk OBEROI: Bollywood’s evergreen superstar devAnand passed away in london. the legendary actor was88.RiP deV SAAB. you will live forever in our hearts!

8 AkSHAY kUMAR: one of the worst years so far, evergreenromantic actor/director dev Anand Saab, the one who ro-manced with life is ...

8 NEIL NITIN MUkESH: Just got the sad news that devAnand sahab passed away. i’ve always been a huge fan ofhis. And grown up watching his dynamic films. RiP.

8 SHEkHAR kAPUR: My Uncle dev Anand. V spoke abouthim as if he wld live forever. Mayb he will.that whichseemed immortal passes into myth.

8 ABHISHEk BAcHcHAN: Shocked to read of the passingof dev Saab. Such a great man and actor. A symbol ofpositivity. Never believed i would ever wake up to thisnews. Very sad!

8 TUSSHAR kAPOOR: the most energetic man and humbleperson dev Saab is no more with us but his life and per-sonality will always be an inspiration. R i P.

8 SHAH RUkH kHAN: dev sahib`s sad demise makes mefeel that the film industry is incomplete & has lost itsmagical energy. May Allah bless his soul.

8 SOPHIE cHOUDHARY: So many amazin songs in devSaab’s films but most fittin “Main zindagi ka Saath nibhatachala gaya,har fikr ko dhuein mein udata chala gaya”

8 FARHAN AkHTAR: Very saddened to hear of the passingof a cinematic legend and a thorough gentleman. RiP devsaab.

8 NEHA DHUPIA: indian cinema looses a true legend... RiPdev Sa’ab.

Craig won’tdivulgeweddingdetails

LOS ANgELES: Actor daniel Craig

is adamant he will never open up

about his wedding to Rachel

weisz. the ‘James Bond’ star

married weisz in a secret

ceremony in the New york in

June this year and since then the

pair has been tight-lipped about

their d-day, reports

dailystar.co.uk. “we got away

with it. we did it privately. And

i’ve got a lot of people to thank

for that. But that was the point.

we did it for private reasons. we

didn’t want it to be public

because that would be like

sharing a secret. And the whole

point is that it was a secret. A

secret is a secret in my mind,”

he said. AgENcIES

one ofits own

LAHORE: the old Ravains Union has

expressed deep sorrow at the sad

demise of legendary actor and old Ravian

dev Anand. dev graduated in english

literature from government College, lahore

in the early 1940s. dev was known to have

expressed love for his alma mater on many

occasions. A charismatic and flamboyant

Bollywood figure, dev died of a heart attack in

london, his family said Sunday. He was aged

88. dev was known for his roles in scores of

movies, including "Jewel thief" and "guide".

the veteran actor has also directed and

produced films. Born on September 26,

1923, the son of a Punjab lawyer, dev

studied english literature and law.

He moved during his 20s to india's

film capital of Mumbai, where he

kicked off his acting career.

STAFF REPORT

Old Ravians Unioncommemorates

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Monday, 5 december, 2011

Blatter vows to restoreFiFA’s reputation

BrISBAneAFP

DEBUTANT paceman JamesPattinson spearheaded Aus-tralia to a crushing nine-wicket victory in the firstTest against New Zealand

inside four days at the Gabba on Sunday.Pattinson snared five for 27 including threewickets in four balls to help rout the BlackCaps for 150 off 49.4 overs and leaveMichael Clarke’s Australians with the for-mality of chasing just 19 runs for victory.

Another debutant, David Warner, hitthree fours off four balls to get the winningruns for the loss of Phil Hughes’s wicket asthe hosts took a 1-0 lead in the two-Test se-ries to Hobart on Friday. Pattinson nar-rowly missed a hat-trick as he rippedthrough the New Zealand top order to putAustralia on the path to victory.

The 21-year-old fast bowler, on theback of just nine first-class matches, cap-tured 5-7 in seven overs as the Kiwis capit-ulated under the fierce onslaught. “It hasn’tsunk in right now, I’m just happy we’vewon the first Test and got that rolling forus,” Pattinson said. “The selectors pick usso we can try to do a job for them and I’mjust happy to do that for the Australiancricket team. It is a great achievement per-sonally, but it’s great for the team as well.”

Clarke, who now has won three ofseven Tests since taking over from RickyPonting in January, said the New Zealandwin was important for the team’s momen-tum. “I said after South Africa it was impor-tant we continued building momentumfrom Sri Lanka, and it is no different at thestart of the summer. It was important westarted well here,” he said.

“We know we’ve got some toughcricket ahead of us, starting in Hobart, butobviously throughout the summer againstIndia as well.” Skipper Ross Taylor saidNew Zealand had to be tougher on them-selves if they were to be competitive in thisweek’s second Hobart Test.

“James Pattinson put the ball in theright areas enough times for us to nick it,but we’ve still got to be harder on ourselvesas a batting unit,” he said. “We know Aus-tralia are going to come at us hard again.We need to play a lot better than we played

today.” Finger-spinner Nathan Lyonchipped in with three for 19 to finish withseven wickets for the match.

Pattinson, bowling an impressive fulllength at searing pace, removed MartinGuptill (12), Kane Williamson (0) and skip-per Ross Taylor (0) in the space of fourballs in his opening over of the day.

Guptill could not keep down a lifterand popped a catch to Usman Khawaja at

bat-pad to start the rot. Williamson was outtwo balls later, edging to Ponting at secondslip and Taylor was out next ball snickingto wicketkeeper Brad Haddin to leave Pat-tinson on a hat-trick. Jesse Ryder barelysurvived Pattinson’s hat-trick ball, a 150km/h yorker to finish his fifth over with fig-ures of 4-1. Damien Fleming is the onlyAustralian to have taken a hat-trick on hisTest debut, in Pakistan in 1994. England’s

Maurice Allom and New Zealander PeterPetherick are others with hat-tricks on Testdebut. Nightwatchman Doug Bracewell be-came Pattinson’s fifth victim, caught be-hind by Haddin for two, leaving the BlackCaps at 28 for five in the 13th over.

Pattinson, who received a Cricket Aus-tralia contract this year and was picked forthe tour of Sri Lanka, surpassed his previ-ous best first-class figures of 4-52 for hisstate Victoria. Clarke introduced Lyon inthe 22nd over and Ryder (36) was lured onhis second ball into a false shot to MikeHussey at mid-off.

Daniel Vettori fell when he attemptedto cut part-timer Hussey to Clarke at slipfor 17 with two balls left to lunch. Afterlunch Peter Siddle removed Dean Brown-lie for 42. Lyon dismissed Tim Southeeand Chris Martin.

BRiSBANe: Australian paceman James Pattinson (l) celebrates dismissing New zealandbatsman kane williamson (R). afp

Pattinson destroys BlackCaps in big Australia win

NEW ZEALAND, 1st innings: 295 (D. vettori 96, D. Brownlie

77 not out; N. Lyon 4-69)

AUSTRALIA, 1st innings: 427 (M. clarke 139, B. Haddin 80, R.

Ponting 78; c. Martin 3-89)

NEW ZEALAND 2nd innings (overnight 10-1)

M. guptill c khawaja b Pattinson 12

B. Mccullum c Ponting b Pattinson 1

D. Bracewell c Haddin b Pattinson 2

k. Williamson c Ponting b Pattinson 0

R. Taylor c Haddin b Pattinson 0

J. Ryder c Hussey b Lyon 36

D. Brownlie c Warner b Siddle 42

D. vettori c clarke b Hussey 17

R. Young not out 11

T. Southee c Warner b Lyon 8

c. Martin c Starc b Lyon 0

ExTRAS (15lb, 2w, 4nb) 21

TOTAL (all out, 49.4 overs) 150

Fall of wickets: 1-10 (Mccullum), 2-17 (guptill), 3-17

(Williamson), 4-17 (Taylor), 5-28 (Bracewell), 6-69 (Ryder), 7-

121 (vettori), 8-123 (Brownlie), 9-141 (Southee), 10-150 (Martin)

Bowling: Pattinson 11-5-27-5 (1nb), Siddle 16-3-44-1 (3nb, 1w),

Starc 6-0-33-0 (1w), Lyon 11.4-2-19-3, Hussey 4-1-7-1, Warner

1-0-5-0

AUSTRALIA 2nd innings

P. Hughes c guptill b Martin 7

D. Warner not out 12

U. khawaja not out 0

ExTRAS: 0

TOTAL: (for 1 wkt, 2.2 overs) 19

Fall of wickets: 1-11 (Hughes)

BOWLINg: Southee 1-0-11-0, Martin 1-1-0-1, Bracewell 0.2-0-

8-0

RESULT: Australia won by 9 wickets

Australia lead series 1-0

Man-of-the-match: James Pattinson (AUS)

TOSS: New Zealand

UMPIRES: Aleem Dar (PAk) and Asad Rauf (PAk)

Tv UMPIRE: Nigel Llong (ENg)

MATcH REFEREE: Andy Pycroft (ZIM)

ScOREBOARD

RICKY Ponting hit a gloriousboundary off the back footthis week to bring up a sec-

ond successive half-century in Testcricket. Doesn't sound like much ofan achievement for a batsman whohas amassed more than 12,000 runsin Test cricket, but it was confirma-tion that the rejuvenation of the for-mer captain is progressing well.

The first sign that things inthe Ponting world were on the im-prove was a pull shot he hit at theWanderers on the way to helpingAustralia claim a pulsating victoryover South Africa. Where Pontinghad been over-committing on thefront foot and playing his pullshots in the air for about 12months, this time he transferredhis weight onto the back foot andhit the ball like a rocket into theground and to the boundary. That

was a Ponting-in-his-prime pullshot.

When Ponting is a little anx-ious or in the mood to dictate at allcosts, he often has a tendency toover-commit to the front foot.When that happens, his back-footplay is not authoritative and he'smore vulnerable. Consequently,those two shots, the one at theWanderers and then the satisfyingone at the Gabba, were good signs,as he tries to prolong his success-ful career.

Throughout his careerPonting's honest approach hasbeen a strong point in his develop-ment. From the time he an-nounced publicly that he had aproblem with alcohol, to calling ateam meeting after the 2005 Ashesloss, he has been able to face hisdemons. Once again he has facedup to a lean trot with the bat andthrough hard work been able to re-habilitate his game.

It's doubtful if Ponting canconsistently produce big inningslike in his glory days, but if he'sprepared to play at a slightly lowerstandard, he can still be a usefulcontributor to this young team.

The hardest thing for an age-ing batsman to do is to dredge uppeak concentration on a regular

basis. There are days when theconcentration is still strong butthere are times when the mindwon't do as it's told. Those are thedays when batting is a real grind,and it often results in starts thataren't converted into somethingsubstantial. If Ponting is preparedto put up with those frustrations,and more importantly, the selec-tors' patience isn't thoroughlytested, he can still be valuable.

For some players their pride issuch that it won't allow them toplay at a slightly lower standard.Those players generally retire be-fore the selectors can wield theaxe. But even though Ponting hasenormous pride in his perform-ance, his desire to remain a com-petitor on the international stageis so strong, he's been prepared tolower his sights a little. The down-side is, he could leave himself atthe mercy of the selectors. As longas the selectors are prepared to"give him a wink" when they be-lieve his time is up, he can stillplay a little longer and retire withhis dignity intact.

Ponting is genuinely enthusedabout the young talent in the Aus-tralian side and he loves the role ofmentor. Michael Clarke is happywith that situation and regularly

refers in glowing terms toPonting's contribution being fargreater than the value of his runs.

One of those young talents toexcite is the attacking offspinnerNathan Lyon. His style of bowling,with deceptive flight, good bounceand a little turn, will always testbatsmen, and even if he's not tak-ing wickets he helps the cause.Following a stagnant period afterShane Warne's retirement, wherespin bowling has been in the dol-drums, Lyon is a breath of freshair.

Clarke's handling of Lyon hasalso been refreshing, and this isone aspect of captaincy where he'ssuperior to Ponting. It can some-times be a disaster when a recentlyretired skipper remains in theteam. Often it can hamper the newcaptain, but the current arrange-ment seems to be working well.Clarke has stamped his authorityon the job and Ponting remains inthe background when it comes toon-field tactics.

Judging by the back-foot shotsthat are again flowing fromPonting's bat, he has broughtabout an adjustment to his use-by-date. His last two innings havepushed it back rather than broughtit forward. CRICINfO

There are runs in Ponting stillExPERT cOMMENT

iAN CHAPPell

england ghostwon’t haunt us inAustralia: dravid

MUMBAIAgENcIES

Indian batsman RahulDravid believes that thenightmarish Englandtour is a thing of the pastand a full-strength TeamIndia would do well inthe upcoming Test seriesin Australia. "The tourof England was a hugedisappointment for usand there were fitnessproblems too. We could have done betterthere. However, that is history now and thetour Down Under gives us another opportu-nity to do well. Hopefully, we will have full-strength side and do well there," Dravid toldthe mediapersons in Jaipur on Saturday.Dravid has often spoken about ticking a few"mental boxes" prior to a series and it's hisown expectations that is more importantrather than what the world expects of him."Everyone thrives on doing well and expecta-tions from one's inner-selves are high. Whichis the rival team - England or Australia -nothing matters but the pressure from inner-self and the desire to do well," he added.Asked about India's inexperienced bowlingattack, 'The Wall' expects that Zaheer Khanwill be fully-fit to don the mantle of a pacespearhead. "He has been included in theteam and is getting back to his full fitness. Hebowled in a Ranji match and there are allchances that he would be fit and raring to gofor Australian Tour. His presence would bol-ster the Indian bowling," he said. Talkingabout Ravichandran Ashwin and aboutchances of him being sorted out like SriLankan Ajantha Mendis, Dravid said that theyoung offie is still on a learning curve.

Rain washes out playat Champions trophy

AUCkLAnDAFP

Heavy rain washed out play on day two ofthe Champions Trophy men’s field hockeytournament in Auckland on Sunday. Or-ganisers said that, weather permitting, thefour matches scheduled for Sunday wouldbe played instead on Monday and Tuesday.

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Sports 19Monday, 5 december, 2011

SeVILLeAFP

RAFAEL Nadal got the win-ning point as Spain won afifth Davis Cup title here onSunday. The world numbertwo beat Argentina’s Juan

Martin del Potro to give the hosts an un-beatable 3-1 lead, rallying from a set downto see off the 2009 US Open champion 1-6, 6-4, 6-1, 7-6 (7/0). “It was an unbeliev-able match. These guys are great and that’swhy we were in the final,” said Spanishcaptain Albert Costa. “Rafa tried to playdeeper and harder because at the start DelPotro was inside the line and hitting sohard. He fought hard so that’s why wewon.” Nadal and David Ferrer had wonFriday’s opening singles before David Nal-bandian and Eduardo Schwank kept Ar-gentina’s hopes alive by beating FelicianoLopez and Fernando Verdasco in Satur-day’s doubles. Spain previously won the ti-tles in 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2009.

But there was more heartbreak forArgentina who become the first nation tolose four finals -- they also lost to Spain inthe final three years ago at home. DelPotro, who lost a marathon five setter toFerrer on Friday, had gotten off to astrong start leading 6-1, 1-0 and 40-0 onhis service against Nadal. But Nadal hungon to get back into the match as Del Potrobegan to show signs of the fatigue fromFriday’s five-hour marathon playing withboth of his thighs bandaged.

Despite looking dead and buried afterlosing his serve early in the fourth set, DelPotro managed to claw his way back intothe tie with some magical shots which sawhim serve for the set at 5-3. Nadal dugdeep however and the momentum swunghis way again and once into the tie-break

there was no looking back as he sealedvictory after just over four hours on court.It’s the first time that Nadal had securedthe winning point for his country and itcame on the court where in 2004 he be-came the youngest Davis Cup winner aged18. The victory finishes a difficult sixmonths for Nadal since winning RolandGarros in June. “It was a very emotionalmatch and I am happy for the team,” saidNadal. “It was the most amazing atmos-phere I have ever played in. The crowdwere crazy. Everything was perfect. “Itwas complicated at the start of the match,but the beginning of the second set wasvery important and at 1-0 and 40-0 thatwas the turning point for me.”LaST 10 WINNERS of THEDaVIS CUP aND oVERaLLNUmbER of WINS:2011: Spain bt Argentina 3-12010: Serbia bt France 3-22009: Spain bt Czech Republic 5-02008: Spain bt Argentina 3-12007: USA bt Russia 4-12006: Russia bt Argentina 3-22005: Croatia bt Slovakia 3-22004: Spain bt USA 3-22003: Australia bt Spain 3-12002: Russia bt France 3-2Overall titles1. USA 322. Australia 283. France 9. Great Britain 95. Sweden 76. Spain 57. Germany 38. Russia 29. Croatia 1. Czech Republic 1. Italy 1. South Africa 1. Serbia 1

Hong kongAFP

World number two Rory McIlroy sealed theUS$2.75 million UBS Hong Kong Open Sun-day by holing a birdie chip from a bunker onthe last, keeping alive his slim hopes of deny-ing Luke Donald an historic Order of Meritdouble. “I think that’s the most excited I’veever been on a golf course,” said the 22-year-old. “It was just incredible to see the ball dropand realise that I had won this tournament.”

A final-round 65 clinched a two-strokevictory for the Northern Irishman and thewinner’s cheque of $458,330 means the USOpen champion still has a chance of overtak-ing current Race to Dubai leader Donald withvictory at the season-ending Dubai WorldChampionship next week.

McIlroy has collected 3,066,605 euros($4,110,477) for the season to world numberone-ranked Donald’s 3,856,394 euros. Theevent in Dubai is worth just over 930,000euros to the winner. Englishman Donald, whohas already won the US PGA Tour money list,skipped the Hong Kong event as did Ger-many’s Martin Kaymer, who had been placedsecond in the Race to Dubai until McIlroy’sheroics on Sunday. “Everything’s dependenton Luke because he has got such a big leadbut that was one of my intentions going outtoday, to win this tournament to keep myselfin with a shout next week,” said McIlroy.

“Another bit of motivation was I woke up

this morning and saw Lee Westwood had shot62 at the event in Sun City (South Africa) andI thought I really needed to win to stay abouthim in the world rankings. “So it was nice tobe able to do both.” McIlroy had started thefinal round three strokes behind overnightleader Alvaro Quiros of Spain, but five birdiesover the course -- three coming while thepressure was building in the run-in to theclubhouse -- ensured victory for a player who

had finished runner-up here in both 2008and 2009. “If feels like it has been a long timecoming,” he said. “I played my first HongKong Open in 2007 and I felt like it owed mesomething after losing the playoff (to Tai-wan’s Lin Wen-Tang) in 2008. To get myhands on this trophy and to win this tourna-ment is very special.”

After finding the sand next to the 18thgreen with his approach shot, McIlroy blastedup, out and into the hole to thunderous ap-plause while pumping his fists in celebration.

He had earlier announced via Twitterthat he had brushed off the ailment that hadbeen bothering him all week thanks to “11.5hours sleep and a 5km run” and he returnedshortly after finishing his round to declare tohis followers: “Winner winner chicken din-ner”. “I’ve not been feeling well all week so Iwent down this morning and got a really goodsweat up,” said McIlroy. “It seemed to work.”

McIlroy had certainly been lookingfragile over the first three days of this event-- which is co-sanctioned by both the Euro-pean and Asian Tours -- but his staminawas never in doubt today and a birdie onthe par-five second set him off in just theright mood. France’s Gregory Havret fin-ished in second place on 10-under-par aftera storming five-under 65, while Sweden’sPeter Hanson was placed third on nine-under after closing with an even-par 70. “Ihad a chance going into the last one behindRory,” said the 35-year-old Havret.

Nadal securesfifth Davis Cuptitle for Spain

SeVillA: (From l) Spain’s Marcelo granollers, Feliciano lopez, david Ferrer, Rafael Nadaland captain Albert Costa celebrate holding the davis Cup trophy. afp

LAHoreSTAFF REPORT

Ahmed Ali Tiwana steered Pessi to victoryin the final of the Seasons Canola PoloCup at the Lahore Polo Club here on Sun-day. In the match for the third position,Shah Qublai Alam earned Uniwear thirdplace in the event.

Excelling in front of the cheering Sun-day gathering and watching chief guestMNA Syed Samsam Ali Shah Bukhari wholater gave the trophies and other prizes tothe participants, Pessi hit seven goalsagainst five by Adisseo. With Moin Yaqubopening the account for Pessi, it wasAhmed Ali Tiwana who hit six goals tomake the win look easy which was by nomeans a smooth sailing.

Pessi had to fight all ends up andAhmed Ali Tiwana with his superlativeperformance was also named the Man ofthe Match. The winners faced tough re-sistance when every time they ride totheir rivals danger zone, Bilal Haye re-sponded with grit and in the process hehit five goals, all that were scored by thelosing team. In the subsidiary final,Uniwear beat Security 2000 by 6 to 5-

½. Shah Qubilai Alam began to hit hardand got four goals while Zain KhanKhakwani and Sufi Muhammad Haroon

shared one goal each for the winners.Shaukat Ali Malik and Bilal Hayat Noondid try to repair the damage done by

Qublai but they could get two goals eachwhile Mian Khurram Munir scored onefor a losing cause. Omar Asjad Malhi,

Agha Murtaza Ali Khan, Shah QublaiAlam and Zain Khan Khakwani super-vised the matches.

HoNg koNg: Rory Mcilroy of Northern irelandposes with the winner's trophy. afp

Rory McIlroy wins Hong Kong Open

lAHoRe: Riders in action in the final of the Seasons Canola Cup Polo tournament. lAHoRe: the winning team with chief guest with Samsam Shah Bokhari. STaff pHOTOS

Ahmed helps Pessi lift Seasons Canola Cup

Brazilianfootball legendSocrates dies

SAo PAULoAFP

Former Brazil captain Socratesdied Sunday aged 57 from an in-testinal infection, a spokespersonfor the Albert Einstein Hospitalannounced. Socrates -- who in1982 captained what is widely re-garded as the best Brazil sidenever to have won the World Cup-- was taken to the hospital lateFriday after suffering food poi-soning. The hospital said he hadgone into septic shock and placedhim on a ventilator and a dialysismachine but he was officially an-nounced dead at 0630GMT. Hehad already been hospitalisedtwice in August and Septemberthis year with bleeding in his di-gestive tract, and recognisedafter these incidents that he hadproblems with alcohol, especiallyduring his playing days. A reportin the newspaper Folha de SaoPaulo claimed that Socrateswould be buried later on Sundayin a private ceremony in thetown of Ribeirao Preto, 300kilometres outside Sao Paulo,where he began his playing ca-reer in 1974 for Botafogo.

tokYoAFP

Russia stormed back from match pointsdown to defeat Poland and win the men’sWorld Cup volleyball tournament on Sundaywith Brazil taking the last ticket to the Lon-don Olympics next year. The Russians, whohad already booked their Olympic place onSaturday along with Poland, were down 10-14 in the final set before scoring a 25-23, 23-25, 25-22, 17-25, 17-15 victory.

Two-time defending champions Brazil,ranked top in the world, wound up the two-weekround robin competition by beating Japan 25-21, 25-19, 25-22 in the last match, and in doingso nabbed the third and last Olympics berth.

“I am the happiest person on earth today,because today is my birthday and my playersgave me a wonderful gift,” said Russian coachVladimir Alekno. “I also congratulate Poland fortaking the ticket to the Olympic Games. It wasthe goal for each team.”

Poland appeared satisfied as they won theirfirst medal since winning silver in 1965. “Weare really glad that we qualified for theOlympics. We came here to qualify, but still wewere fighting to end at the first place. They(Russia) were better than us,” said defencemanKrzysztof Ignaczak. Polish coach Andrea Anas-tasi said it was “an incredible tournament”after winning the silver medal against the bestteams in the world. “We took the second place,we are very happy, but we have to do another

steps if we want to arrive at the top of theworld,” said Anastasi. Brazilian coach BernardoRezende was also satisfied with the result: “Themost important thing today was that we won 3-0 and qualified for the Olympics. We came toJapan to get the ticket to the Games, so we arevery happy today.”

Captain of the Brazil team Gilberto GodoyFilho said: “I’m sad that we didn’t win thischampionship, but the ticket to the Olympicswas the objective, so I’m happy to accomplishthat.”

In the final standings, Russia, who won thetitle in 1999 and four times previously as theformer Soviet Union, finished with a 10-1 win-loss record for 29 points, beating Poland intosecond place with an 8-3 record on 26 points.

Brazil ended with the same 8-3 record asPoland and Italy, but finished third on 24points ahead of Italy in fourth place thanks totheir better set ratio.

A winning team received three points from3-0, 3-1 wins, two points from a 3-2 win, whilea losing team received one point from a 2-3 de-feat.

Earlier, Italy defeated Iran 25-13, 25-17,20-25, 25-18 but their Olympic fate dependedon the outcome of the Brazil-Japan match.

In other action, Cuba defeated Egypt 26-24, 23-25, 25-23, 25-20 for a 7-4 win loss ratioto finish fifth on 20 points.

European champions Serbia outgunnedthe United States 25-23, 25-17, 25-19, while Ar-gentina downed China 25-23, 31-29, 25-18.

Russia win World Cup,Brazil book Olympics

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Sports20Monday, 5 december, 2011

BIRMINGHAM: Aston Villa’s English defender

Stephen Warnock (L) vies with Manchester

United’s English striker Wayne Rooney (2nd R)

during the English Premier League match. afp

geneVAAFP

FIFA President Sepp Blatter spoke on Sunday of his mis-sion to improve the image of the international footballbody knocked by corruption and bribery claims.The Swiss, re-elected unopposed earlier thisyear, said he had no plans to quit while therewas work to do restoring FIFA’s reputation. “Icannot go now. I haven’t finished my mission.The organisation’s image needs to be im-proved,” he said in an interview with Le MatinDimanche. Blatter, who recently found himselfat the centre of a storm over comments he madeon racism, said: “An institution that saveslives, that helps people, that pro-vokes emotions, is being consis-tently put down.” FIFA came infor some harsh press after thebidding for the 2018 and 2022World Cup hosting rights,awarded last year to Russiaand Qatar, was tainted by cor-

ruption allegations. The body also suffered after presiden-tial hopeful, Asian football chief Mohamed bin Hammam,was banned from the sport over bribery claims. Blatterwas forced to defend himself last month following his sug-

gestion that disputes on the pitch involving racist abuseshould be resolved by a handshake. The remarks

were decried as “appalling” by both British PrimeMinister David Cameron and English star DavidBeckham. England’s Premier League has beenrocked by high-profile investigations into allegedon-pitch racism by England captain John Terryand Liverpool striker Luis Suarez. Blatter wasasked in Sunday’s interview why the British press

“hated” him and cited the country’s fail-ure to secure the 2018 World Cup.

“When they came here, withBeckham, Prince William,and the Prime Minister(David) Cameron, they weresure of winning,” he said.“Since then, they have been

looking for any means tojustify their defeat.”

Blatter vows to restore fIfa’s reputation

DUSSeLDorFAFP

German Formula One stars Michael Schu-macher and reigning world champion Se-bastian Vettel won the Race of ChampionsNations Cup for the fifth successive yearon Saturday. The duo defeated Denmark’sTom Kristensen, eight-time winner of theLe Mans 24 Hour Race, and Finnish rallydriver Juho Hanninen, two rounds to nil.“Five, that’s great,” said Vettel, who thisyear wrapped up his second successive F1world title. Seven-time F1 world championSchumacher added: “We’re proud to haveour names on the trophy once again.” OnSunday, the two drivers will be rivals inthe individual event.RESULTSfINaL:Germany (Schumacher/Vettel) bt Nordicteam (Kristensen/Hanninen) 2-0SEmI-fINaLS:Germany (Schumacher/Vettel) bt Eng-land (Jenson Button/Andy Priaulx) 2-1Nordic team (Kristensen/Hanninen) btFrance (Sebastien Ogier/Romain Gros-jean) 2-1

Aqeel, Maheenwin rankingtennis titles

LAHoreSTAFF REPORT

Aqeel Khan and Maheen Dada won theprestigious SSB Saeed hai NationalRanking Tennis Championship men’sand women’s singles titles after defeat-ing their respective rivals in the finals atthe synthetic hard courts of KarachiGymkhana on Sunday. Kh Saeed Hai was chief guest while Di-rector Sports Zulfiqar Ali Shalwani wasthe guest of honor. A total of Rs208,000 were distributed among theplayers as prize money. Department ofSports Government of Sindh was themain sponsor. RESULTS:mEN’S SINgLES: Aqeel Khan beatYasir Khan, 6-0, 6-4.WomEN’S SINgLES: Maheen Dadabeat Mehek Khokher 7-6, 7-5.boyS’ UNDER-14: Mazher beat Nofilkaleem 6-2, 6-2.

President, PMfelicitatecricket team

LAHoreSTAFF REPORT

Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari andPrime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilanilauded the national cricket team fortheir convincing 76-run victory in thesecond one-day international againstBangladesh in Dhaka Saturday. The President and the PM, in separatemessages, spoke of the outstanding per-formance of the team in the second one-day international against Bangladesh,which gave Pakistan a decisive 2-0 leadin the three-match series.

Pakistan, Maldivesplay drabbed draw

neW DeHLIAgENcIES

The 166th ranked nation Maldives failedto earn full points in the competition asthey were held to a goalless draw by asturdy Pakistan in the SAFF Cup FootballGroup B match at the Jawaharlal NehruStadium, New Delhi. Tournamentfavourites Maldives got off to a ‘not sogood’ start to their SAFF Championshipcampaign and drabbed goalless was notthe prediction of experts. Maldives areplaced second in the group standings,tied on points with Pakistan, and need avictory against Bangladesh to confirmtheir place in the final four. Maldivescoach Istvan Urbanyi made one changeto the starting line-up from the lastmatch as Ismail Mohamed was broughtin. Pakistan started with Jadeed KhanPathan as the lone striker in a 4-5-1 for-mation. The two teams took a while be-fore they settled into the match. The firstchance fell to Maldives when Ali Ashfaq’sglancing header missed the far post bynot much from a free-kick in the eighthminute. Pakistan were aggressive in theirapproach and the tackle by Atif Bashir onAsad Gani was the best example of thesame. Adnan Ahmed tricked ShafiuAhmed and his cross saw JadeedPathan’s header find the back of the netthough the linesman raised his flag foroff-side. At the other end, Ismail Mo-hamed’s cross from the left saw AhmedThariq’s effort being parried away bygoalkeeper Jafar Khan. In the second halftoo, the pace of the game was slow andthere were several mispasses in the mid-dle of the park which never really allowedthe game to flow.After some changes made by Pakistancoach Zavisa Milosavljevic , HasnainAbbas' ball across the face of the goalsaw Shakir Lashari miss by not much inthe 74th minute. Ali Ashfaq missed a sit-ter in the 88th minute as he shot widefrom close range which left the assem-bled Maldives fans disappointed. Thedraw was a fair result as neither teamcreated enough chances to win thegame. Going into the last round ofmatches, Pakistan and Maldives need awin against Nepal and Bangladesh tomake it through to the knockouts.

dÜSSeldoRF: german Formula one drivers Sebastian Vettel (l) and Michael Schumacher celebrate after winning the Nations Cup. afp

Vettel, Schumacher win fifth Race of Champions

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Sports 21Monday, 5 december, 2011

WATCh iT LiVe

TEN SPORTSFIH ChampionsTrophy 201101:55AM

NEO CRICKETIndia V WestIndies 3rd ODI02:00PM

LonDonAFP

MANCHESTER City remainedfive points clear at the top ofthe Premier League after theleaders thrashed Norwich 5-1,while Manchester United kept

in touch with their title rivals thanks to a 1-0 winat Aston Villa on Saturday. Roberto Mancini’sside took the lead in the 32nd minute at East-lands when Argentina forward Sergio Aguerowriggled free of several Norwich defenders be-fore flicking a clever finish into the far corner forhis 13th goal of the season. Samir Nasri got thesecond when his floated free-kick caught Nor-wich goalkeeeper John Ruddy flat-footed andcrept into the net in the 51st minute.

Yaya Toure scored in the 68th minute and,although Wales striker Steve Morison got oneback for Norwich in the 81st minute, substitutesMario Balotelli and Adam Johnson struck lateon to secure a 12th successive home league win.

“It was not easy in the first half because Nor-wich defended with all their players behind theball but Aguero scored a fantastic goal,” Mancinisaid. Sir Alex Ferguson’s United kicked off thelate game at Villa Park eight points behind Cityand suffered an early blow when Mexico strikerJavier Hernandez was stretchered off with ankleligament damage that could keep him out forfour weeks. However, the champions sealed thepoints in the 20th minute when England inter-national Phil Jones scored the first senior goalof his career, volleying Nani’s cross past ShayGiven. “We deserved the victory, we had greatpossession at times,” Ferguson said. “It was a

lovely move for the goal. Nani put in a greatcross and it was a lovely finish from Phil. It wasa great time to score.”

At St James’ Park, Chelsea manager AndreVillas-Boas was able to silence the critics as goalsfrom Didier Drogba, Salomon Kalou and DanielSturridge secured a 3-0 win over Newcastle.

Villas-Boas got an early break as Chelseawere fortunate not to be reduced to 10 men inthe fourth minute when David Luiz hauled downDemba Ba. Referee Mike Dean ruled in Chelsea’sfavour again in the 14th minute when the officialgave a penalty for Yohan Cabaye’s trip on Stur-ridge. However, Frank Lampard’s low spot-kickwas weakly struck and Tim Krul pushed it ontoa post. Chelsea took the lead when Drogbastruck with a bullet header in the 38th minute.

Kalou’s 88th minute strike and a Sturridgegoal in stoppage time secured Chelsea’s secondwin in their last five matches in all competitionsand ended Newcastle’s unbeaten home run.

“The referee made a decision that he thoughtwas right not to send off David Luiz, maybe thedecision fell our way,” Villas-Boas said. “But itdoesn’t overshadow the performance of theChelsea players. It was a win that nobody wasexpecting.” Tottenham are third, seven pointsoff the lead, after an emphatic 3-0 victory over10-man Bolton at White Hart Lane.

Gareth Bale prodded Spurs into a seventhminute lead and moments later referee StuartAttwell sent off Gary Cahill, harshly ruling theBolton defender was the last man when hefouled Scott Parker. Aaron Lennon got Totten-ham’s second goal in the 50th minute and Jer-main Defoe sealed their sixth successive leaguevictory 10 minutes later.

Five-star Citymaintain lead,United sink Villa

MADrIDAFP

Real Madrid defeated SportingGijon 3-0 while Barcelona ham-mered Levante 5-0 on Saturday asSpanish football’s two superpowerswarmed up for next weekend’s ElClasico by preserving their grip onthe title race. Real stretched theirwinning run to 14 games in all com-petitions and lead Barcelona bythree points with the defending LaLiga and European champions hav-ing played a game more.

Angel Di Maria, CristianoRonaldo and Marcelo were on tar-get against a Sporting Gijon sidewho finished the game with 10 menwhen Sebastian Eguren was sent offlate on. “We’re winning in differentways, with quality, with team spirit,with counter-attacks,” said Realboss Jose Mourinho.

Di Maria struck in the 35thminute. Ronaldo found the Argen-tine with a long raking pass whichDi Maria controlled well before ex-ploiting a mistake by Sporting full-back Damian Suarez to advanceinto the penalty area.

He then surprised goalkeeperJuan Pablo Colinas with a shot thatsqueezed inside the near post froma tight angle to conjure an impor-tant lead for his side out of nothing.

It was a full 30 minutes laterbefore Madrid could relax and DiMaria was again prominent whenhis defence-splitting pass foundRonaldo who rounded Colinas be-fore slotting home his 17th leaguegoal of the season.

Sporting then had claims for apenalty turned down after substi-tute Gaston Sangoy was felled inthe penalty area. Sporting’sUruguayan midfielder Eguren re-

ceived his marching orders on 79minutes for a second yellow cardand his side’s chances of gettinganything from the game ended.

Brazilian full-back Marcelo in-creased Madrid’s lead in the lastminute. Barcelona eased past Lev-ante to ensure they remain threepoints behind ahead of next Satur-day’s clash at the Santiago Bern-abeu. Cesc Fabregas hit two goalsfor the champions with youngsterIsaac Cuenca scoring his secondgoal for the club while LionelMessi and Alexis Sanchez werealso on target.

“It was an excellent perfor-mence from the boys tonight. I’mvery happy for the two goals. Nowis time to rest for the two importantgames next week,” said Fabregas, inreference to Tuesday’s ChampionsLeague clash with BATE and Satur-day’s trip to Madrid.

giJÓN: Real Madrid’s forward Cristiano Ronaldo (l) vies withSporting gijon’s defender gregory Arnolin (R). afp

Madrid, Barcelona wins boost El Clasico hype

MUrIDkeSTAFF REPORT

Lahore Region clinched the title of the U-19National Women’s Cricket Championship afterthrashing Rawalpindi Region by eight wicketsin the final here at the Country Club MuridkeGround A on Sunday.

After batting first, Rawalpindi were al-lowed just 119 runs for the loss of six wicketsin 20 overs. Aliya Riaz with her 33 runs off 30balls helped the Rawalpindi gain strong foot-ing. She achieved the score with the help of sixfours and also got a perfect support at the otherend from Zara Iqbal 28. Namra Imran andSania Ashraf halted their runs flow by takingtwo wickets each for four and 19 runs respec-tively.

In reply, Lahore reached the target for theloss of two wickets with six balls to spare. La-hore got Farheen Mahmood to do the needfulwith her unconquered 43 runs off 62 balls stud-ded with two fours. Sidra Nawaz with 28 andMaham Rafiq with 20 got the target for Lahore.

Farheen Mahmood was declared the playerof the match. Kausar Shah and Tassaduq Jamalwere umpires while Ashraf Ali act as match ref-

eree and Azhar Hussain was scorer.The winning team Lahore Region earned

Rs 75,000 while runners-up Rawalpindi Re-gion bagged Rs 50,000. The player of thematch Farheen Mahmood (Lahore) received Rs2,000 while the player of the tournamentAreeb Shamaim (Multan) got Rs 10,000. Like-wise the best batter of the tournament FazeelaAkhlaq (Islamabad), the best bowler NamraImran (Lahore), the best fielder Ayesha Siddi-qua (Quetta) and the best wicketkeeper S Mar-ium Bukhari (Karachi) received Rs 10,000each from the chief guest PCB Chairman ChZaka Ashraf.SCoRES: Rawalpindi Region U-19 – 119-6 in20 overs: (Aliya Riaz 33, 30 balls, 6x4s, ZaraIqbal 28, 47 balls, 3x4s, Ayesha Furqan 15, 9balls, 2x4, Namra Imran 2-4, Sania Ashraf 2-19) v Lahore Region U-19 – 120-2 in 19 overs:(Farheen Mahmood 43*, 62 balls, 2x4s, SidraNawaz 28, 26 balls, Maham Rafiq 20, 26balls, 2x4)Result: Lahore Region U-19 won by 8 wickets.Toss: Lahore Region U-19Umpires: Kausar Shah and Tassaduq JamalMatch Referee: Ashraf AliOfficial Scorer: Azhar Hussain. lAHoRe: Chief guest PCB Chairman zaka Ashraf with winning team of U-19 National women’s Cricket Championship. STaff pHOTO

Lahore clinch U-19 National Women’s Cricket title

PHF seeks securityassurances beforeChinese team’s visit

LAHoreSTAFF REPORT

The Pakistan Hockey Federation hastaken the federal and provincial govern-ments in confidence for providing fool-proof security for the Pakistan andChina hockey series.The Chinese hockey team will reachPakistan on December 20 and will playthree-match test series at Karachi,Faisalabad and Lahore. The series isbeing seen as a step forward for the re-vival of international teams to Pak-istan. Pakistan became a no-go areaafter the Sri Lankan cricket team wasattacked by terrorists at Liberty Chowkin March 2009. The PHF sees the Chinese team’s visitan opening of new horizon for Pakistansports. PHF President Qasim Zia said:“The tour of China hockey team to Pak-istan will open the new horizon and helpin brining international tournamentsback to the country.”He further informed that he had a de-tailed meeting with the Sindh govern-ment officials and have also met PunjabChief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif. “I met Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif togive details of the team’s stay here anddiscussed the security arrangements forthe visitors. We also discussed the mat-ters regarding promotion of game in theprovince,” the PHF chief said. He further said that for the provision offoolproof security, he has talked to In-telligence Bureau, Home Ministry andChief Secretary and asked them to man-age all the security arrangements of theseries befittingly.“I also asked the CM Punjab to assureinfallible security for the visiting teamand he, responding positively, assuredme the best-possible security arrange-ments for Chinese team and orderedthe concerned officials to complete allthe security measurement in theprovince,” he added.

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Published by Arif Nizami for Nawa Media Corporation (Pvt) Ltd at Qandeel Printing Press, 4 Queens Road, Lahore.

Monday, 5 december, 2011 22

ISLAMABAD MIAN ABRAR

IN complete defiance of SupremeCourt orders in the National Rec-onciliation Ordinance (NRO) case,the government has decided not towrite a letter to the Swiss authori-

ties to reopen the cases against PresidentAsif Ali Zardari, clearly suggesting that it isgoing to confront the superior judiciary.

A source told Pakistan Today onSunday that the federal government hadtaken a principled decision not to writethe letter and would implement a three-pronged strategy to deal with the situa-tion instead. “The party has decided tolaunch a media campaign to portray thejudiciary as biased and selective, take theparty workers into confidence and rallythem against the biased attitude of the ju-diciary, while in the meantime the PPP

leadership would gear up a mass contactdrive to take the people on the streets intoconfidence over the conspiracy againstthe government,” said the source.

When contacted to ask whether thegovernment would write a letter to theSwiss authorities or not, Law MinisterMaula Bux Chandio told Pakistan Todaythat the government had no plans to seeka reopening of the cases against the presi-dent in Switzerland. “Why should we writea letter to the Swiss authorities? The pres-ident enjoys immunity and no cases can beopened, registered or prosecuted againstthe president,” he said. A full bench of theSupreme Court last week had rejected thereview petition by the government in theNRO case. In its verdict given in 2009, thecourt had directed the attorney general towrite a letter to the Swiss magistrate ask-ing that the previous letter written by for-mer attorney general Malik Mohammed

Qayyum be shelved and cases againstPresident Zardari be reopened.

President Zardari enjoys indemnityunder Article 248 of the constitution and ac-cording to a legal expert the president cannotbe prosecuted in a new or old case as long ashe holds the office of the head of state. How-ever, another expert said there was no legalclause that barred the government from writ-ing a letter to the Swiss authorities to reopenthe cases against the president as this wouldnot mean that the president would also beprosecuted. Dr Khalid Ranjha said the gov-ernment viewed the court verdict as biasedbecause the Presidency claimed that therewas no case against the president. “If the at-torney general writes a letter, it would be tan-tamount to admission that there were casesof corruption against the president. Now thegovernment claims that there is no case sothere is no reason for writing a letter to Swissauthorities,” he added.

Asked what, in his view, was the situa-tion, Dr Ranjha said the NRO saga hadmade a mockery of the country. “Once theattorney general wrote to withdraw casesagainst a person. Now how can his succes-sor write contrary to this? This would bemutual embarrassment,” he added. For-mer chief justice Saeeduz Zaman Siddiquisaid those individuals who had initially ben-efited from the NRO and got themselvescleared from the courts using their influencecould be prosecuted by the court under Ar-ticle 184(3) of the constitution. “I supposethat the apex court has already taken noticeof such cases under which influential politi-cians have got benefit of their positions andthey have been cleared by courts as theprosecutors refused to contest the cases andsaid they had no evidence against them. Ithink the court has already formed a com-mission to review all such cases which shadycharacters have been cleared,” he added.

LAHoreNASIR BUTT

Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani saidhere on Sunday that the memogate scandalhad not imperiled the government, and norhad it created a crisis in the country. Talk-ing to a group of reporters at State GuestHouse, the premier said governments couldnot be toppled with the publication of an ar-ticle in a foreign newspaper. He said therewas no danger to the government as every-one wanted the completion of the assem-blies’ constitutional tenure.

Coming down hard on Pakistan Mus-lim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief NawazSharif, he said there were bigger concernsthan just the memogate scandal in Pakistanat the moment but Sharif never went tocourt for those and it was unclear why hewas pushing only this issue. He said thememogate issue was not a big one but hadbeen blown out of proportion. However, headded, had democracy in Pakistan fully ma-tured, there would have been no need to go

to the apex court as all such issues of na-tional interest could have been discussedand deliberated in parliament. The primeminister told reporters that his governmentwould use parliament to develop uniformpolicies on all national issues by taking onboard all stakeholders. However, he addedthat this policy would have no military in-terference as was the case in the past.

He said there should be no interferencein the national uniform policy as the affairsin the country had worsened because ofthis. Citing the example of former presidentPervez Musharraf, the premier said that ina single phone call he bowed down andcompromised on national issues, while thedemocratic government did take a firmstance in a similar situation and tackled thematter with confidence by taking all stake-holders on board. He pointed out that par-liament was the best forum to formulatenational policies through debate and dis-cussion. In this regard, he mentioned thatoutstanding issues such as relations withthe US, NATO, ISAF, Kashmir, India and

the nuclear programme, which had directbearing on the sovereignty and security ofthe country, would be debated in parlia-ment to evolve national consensus.

Responding to a question, the primeminister said democracy in Pakistanwould have strengthened and been sta-bilised long ago had there not been fre-quent military interventions. Democracyin Pakistan, he added, was no longer aone-man show. He said Pakistan’s nu-clear assets were in safe hands under acomplete command and control systemwith the prime minister in charge overall. PoLITICS of 1950S: Speaking ondemocracy in Pakistan, Gilani urgedpoliticians to stop describing their fellowpoliticians as ‘traitors’. Asking politiciansto shun the politics of the 1950s and1960s, he said they should adopt modernways of politics and work together for thegreater national interest. About the deci-sion of boycotting Bonn Conference onAfghanistan following the killing of 24Pakistan soldiers in a NATO/ISAF attack

on a checkpost in Mohmand Agency lastweek, the prime minister said the decisionwas taken by the Defence Committee ofthe Cabinet (DCC) and supported by thepeople of Pakistan. Gilani recalled numer-ous meetings with the Afghan leadershipin the recent past in Turkey, Kabul andMaldives and Pakistan’s efforts for peacein Afghanistan. Gilani said the NATOstrike on the Salala checkpost clearlyshowed that the US and NATO had yet torealise the sacrifices of Pakistani soldiersand people in the war on terrorism.

In his telephonic conversation withAfghan President Hamid Karzai and USSecretary of State Hilary Clinton, he said hehad explained reasons behind the Pak-istan’s decision to refrain from attendingthe Bonn Conference, which offered littlebenefit to Islamabad. Responding to aquestion, the prime minister said his gov-ernment was in favour of local bodies’ elec-tions, but the subject had been devolved tothe provinces and it was now up to theprovincial governments to hold polls.

Marked by protests,Bonn conferenceopens today

BerLInONLINE

Protesters have taken to the streets in Bonn,Germany, calling for an immediate conclusionof military operations in Afghanistan ahead ofan international conference in the city on thewar-torn country’s future set to open onMonday. The demonstration also turnedagainst the German army’s long-term stationingon foreign soil and demanded Afghanistanresume peace as soon as possible, Xinhua newsagency reported. Delegates from some 85countries and 16 international organisations,including UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon,are expected to attend the international moot.The conference is overshadowed by Pakistan’sboycott, which has cast great doubts overwhether it could come up with a completesettlement. Afghan President Hamid Karzai,who arrived in Germany on Friday and heldtalks with German Foreign Minister GuidoWesterwelle, will address the opening of theconference, which places primarily its agendaon shifting the responsibilities of maintainingsecurity onto the Afghan government afterNATO leaves.

iran downs US drone teHrAn

AFP

Iran’s military on Sunday shot down a USArmy RQ-170 unmanned aerial vehicle afterit “briefly violated” Iranian territory in theeast, near the Afghanistan and Pakistanborders, local media said. Al-Alam Arabiclanguage satellite channel, quoting a militarysource, said the drone was shot down “a fewhours ago”. Fars news agency said the dronehad violated Iran’s airspace at its easternborders. Fars has close ties to theRevolutionary Guards, an elite force incharge of the country’s air defence andmissile programmes. “Our air defence andelectronic warfare units managed to identifyand shoot down an advanced unmanned spyaircraft — RQ-170 — after it briefly violatedthe eastern border territory,” Fars said,quoting an unnamed military source. Thedrone “was downed with slight damage. It isnow under the control of our forces,” thesource added, calling the incident “a blatantterritorial violation”.

iSi out of govt’scontrol, claims ijaz

MonItorIng DeSk

Pakistani American businessman MansoorIjaz opened yet another Pandora’s Box onSunday when he claimed that the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), especially its “Swing”, was not only out of the Pakistangovernment’s control but also directlyaffected the results of elections in thecountry. In an interview with CNN, Ijazaccused the ISI of intervening in the politicalaffairs of Afghanistan using the Haqqaninetwork. He also said there was a lot ofevidence available on the secret agency’sinvolvement in setting the political stage inits own country. “Many times in the past,”he elaborated, “it has been authentically andvery authoritatively reported by the Pakistanmedia that the ‘S’ branch was involved inmanipulating the results of elections anddoing things of such nature inside Pakistan.”The same “S wing” of the ISI was alsomentioned in the controversial memo sent toGeneral Mike Mullen. He also said this wasan organ of state that nobody could controland the army tried to obstruct whatever thegovernment planned to do through it. “Therehappened a lot of bad things after May 2behind which there definitely were somesecret hands,” said Ijaz. It would take some30 to 40 years for Pakistan’s civiliangovernments to bring the army under itscontrol, he added.

g Source says PPP has decided to launch media campaign to portray judiciary as ‘biased and selective’

Newspaper article can’t topple govt, says pM

Govt won’t ask Swiss authorities to reopen Zardari cases

g Gilani lambastes Nawaz Sharif for ignoring ‘bigger concerns’ and pushing memo scandal

QUETTA: Officials monitoring sensitive areas of the city at a control room through closed circuit cameras on Sunday. ONLINE

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