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Pakistan reassessingcooperation withUS, says GilaniPAGE 02 PROFIT | PAGE 01

pakistantoday.com.pk Saturday, 10 december, 2011 Muharram-ul-Haram 14, 1433Rs15.00 Vol ii no 163 22 pages islamabad — peshawar edition

UK isolated as Europemoves ahead on fiscal union

Faltering hopes foreconomic growth,says central bank

PAGE 16

ISLAMABAD MiAn AbrAr

PRESIDENT Asif AliZardari was on Friday saidto have emphaticallybrushed aside rumoursabout his health, saying

he was completely alright and wouldreturn to Pakistan soon and disap-point his detractors.

“I was born in Pakistan and I willdie in Pakistan,” in an interview withPTV, senior journalist and televisionanchor Hamid Mir quoted PresidentZardari as saying. Mir said he had aconversation with Zardari on Fridaymorning, during which the presidenttold him that speculation and ru-mours about his health were baselessand completely wrong.

He said the president talked tohim for a long time and enquiredabout the well-being of other journal-ist friends, and also talked about thesituation in Pakistan.

“Those that run from the countryrun with their kids. My son is in Pak-

istan. I left him there,” Mir quoted thepresident as saying. He said Zardaritime and again said he was all rightand had undergone checkups forsome problems, and now the testswere clear and he would return toPakistan in a few days.

The doctors had advised thepresident to rest, Mir said. The pres-ident remarked that perhaps manyof his enemies do not want him to re-turn to his country, said Mir. “Theythink that I have fled but escape isnot an option. I will never leave as Iwas born in Pakistan and I will die inPakistan. God Willing, I will returnin a few days and my enemies will bedisappointed,” Mir quoted the pres-ident as saying.

Mir also said that during his con-versation with the president, he gotthe impression that he had deeplystudied Urdu literature as he quotedsome verses from Faiz Ahmed Faiz tohim. The president also talked aboutthe media and his critics, he added.

I’ll be back: Zardarig Journalist says president told him his enemies

and detractors will be disappointed

g Mystery continues to shroud Zardari’s ailment, sources say it might be TIA

ISLAMABADsHAiQ HUssAin

As Pakistan upgraded its defense system on the Afghanborder with the deployment of additional troops, anti-air-craft guns and shoulder-to-air missiles, Prime MinisterYousaf Raza Gilani said on Friday no attack on the coun-try’s sovereignty would be allowed and any attempt in fu-ture would definitely meet a detrimental response. The prime minister was talking to Chief of Army Staff Gen-eral Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, who called on him here at PM’sHouse. The prime minister and army chief discussed mat-ters pertaining to national security in the backdrop of theMohmand Agency incident, according to an official state-ment. The army chief told the PM about the steps taken onthe western borders to revamp the defence capabilitiesaimed at effectively countering the recurrence of an incur-sion into Pakistani territory. Gilani said the democraticgovernment would not allow a similar attack on the coun-try’s sovereignty again and any such attempt in futurewould be met with a detrimental response. An official privy to the meeting said Gen Kayani also briefedthe prime minister on steps being taken to beef up securityarrangements on the country’s western border in the after-math of the NATO air strike on border posts in MohmandAgency. “Gen Kayani told Gilani that the border defence sys-tem was upgraded and additional troops were being deployedon the Afghan border. The army chief told the PM that moreanti-aircraft guns had been deployed there along with shoul-der-to-air missiles, and the troops had also been ordered totake every possible step on their own to protect the coun-try’s sovereignty in the face of any external threat,” the offi-cial said. In addition to that the radar system had also beenupgraded, he said further. A security official seekinganonymity said alarmed by the covert US strike in Abbot-tabad on May 2 to kill Osama bin Laden, Pakistan was al-ready upgrading its border defences but the NATO strikebrought acceleration to the process. “First came the May 2incident and we were shocked and forced to take certainmeasures [at the border], but then came the NATO air strikeand we had to accelerate the process of the border defencesystem. Earlier, we were not expecting any such incident atthe Western border because allied troops were stationed onthe other side, but that is no longer the case,” the official said.The Pentagon said it was aware of the developments on thePak-Afghan border, but that upgrading defence arrangementswas Pakistan’s internal matter.

kArACHIstAFF rePort

A bomb targeting a PakistanRangers vehicle left three per-sonnel dead and four others in-jured in Karachi on Friday.

The explosives were re-portedly planted near theSafoora Chowrangi in Gulis-tan-e-Jauhar and detonatedas the Rangers vehiclepassed through the area ataround 7:30am.

The deceased were iden-tified as Abdul Rashed, thedriver, Mohammad Ibrahimand constable Ijaz Ahmed,while the injured werenamed Azam, MohammadAfzal, Nawaz and Fazil. Po-lice said that about five kilo-

grammes of explosives wereused in the blast.

“Three personnel fromPakistan Rangers were killedand four were injured … it wasa remote-controlled bomb,”Manzor Wassan, Sindh homeminister, said.

The Bomb Disposal Squadsaid the bomb had been plantedbesides a tree in the area.

Sources said the bomb wasplanted exactly at the placewhere Rangers officials used toset up a checkpoint everyday,but on Friday, the personnelparked their vehicle a few me-ters away from the usual spot,avoiding heavy casualties.

The funeral prayers for thedeceased were offered at Bhit-tai Rangers Headquarters.

MonItorIng DeSk

The United States has vacated theShamsi airbase and also moved fivedrones to Afghanistan and other loca-tions, Geo News reported on Friday. It isexpected that UAE officials will take con-trol of the airbase today (Saturday).

Citing sources, the channel saidAmerican barracks at the base hadalso been destroyed and FIA officialswere present to check the immigra-tion of US citizens. The Americanshad also expanded the runway of theairbase in order to allow the landingof large aircrafts.

ISLAMABADstAFF rePort

In response to Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Nawaz Sharif’spetition seeking a probe into the memogatecontroversy, Pakistan’s former ambassadorto the US Husain Haqqani, who is a mainrespondent in Sharif’s plea, filed a concisestatement in the Supreme Court on Fridayraising preliminary objections to the pleaand seeking a recall of the court’s Decem-ber 1 short order in the case, but the apexcourt’s Registrar Office rejected the appli-cation. The application contended that anadverse order was passed by the court onDecember 1 without giving an opportunityto Haqqani of being heard, which had re-sulted in serious infringement of the con-stitutionally guaranteed fundamentalrights of the respondent under Articles 4,9, 10-A, 15, 18 and 25 of the constitution.

Spare no aggressor,Kayani toldg Pakistan deploys additional troops,

anti-aircraft guns at Western border

Blast kills three Rangers in Karachi

Haqqani asks SC to

recall order, dismiss

Nawaz’s petition

US vacates Shamsi airbaseTerrorist sanctuaries inPakistan: Dempsey There are terrorist sanctuaries in Pakistan which need tochange along with the country’s influence onAfghanistan, the head of US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen-eral Martin Dempsey said on Friday said. According toGeo News, the US general said the NATO attack inMohmand Agency was not intentional. “We did not at-tack the Pakistani checkpost and are waiting for the re-sults of the investigation… what did we have to gainfrom this attack?” Dempsey asked. Dempsey said the USwas considering alternate supply routes for coalitionforces in Afghanistan. Monitoring Desk

Continued on page 23

Continued on page 23 KARACHI: Relatives mourn the killing of three Rangers personnel in a bomb attack on Friday. ONLINE

Pages For e-paper_Layout 1 12/10/2011 1:51 AM

02Saturday, 10 December, 2011

News


THE government on Fridaycontinued confusing thesituation regarding thehealth of President Asif AliZardari, with top PPP

leader Dr Babar Awan first saying thepresident had developed a clot in aveing in his neck, but later back-tracked from his comments.

At tea after a full court reference inthe Supreme Court, Chief Justice ofPakistan Iftikhar MuhammadChaudhry inquired after the health ofthe president from Awan, who, puttinga finger on his neck, said the presidenthad developed a medical complication

due to a clot in his neck.Before Awan could utter another

sentence, the CJ hurriedly said it wasa complicated ailment, adding thatlate Akbar Bugti had developed a sim-ilar complication and went to the USfor treatment that took a lot of time.The chief justice, however, prayed toAllah for speedy recovery of the presi-dent.

Later, a reporter asked Awan if hisconversation with the chief justicecould be run on the media, to whichthe PPP lawyer said, “You can do thaton your own behalf.”

However, when the news of con-versation was aired, Awan rejected it,saying no such conversation had takenplace.

He said president had been shiftedfrom the ICU of the hospital to a VIProom and all medical test results hadbeen declared normal by doctors.

About eight to 10 lawyers and fivemedia persons were present when theactual conversation between Awan andthe CJ took place. rehman maLIK forCed todIsmIss CouP rumours: Aprominent Pakistani cabinet ministerwas on Friday forced to dismiss ru-mours that a coup could overthrow thegovernment, saying that unnamed“people” would foil any attempt to dis-lodge the president.

Interior Minister Rehman Malikspoke to reporters outside parliamentamid a frenzy of speculation over the

health of President Asif Ali Zardari,who has been in a Dubai hospital forthree days with a heart condition.

Zardari faces a major scandal overwhat extent he may have been in-volved in alleged attempts by his am-bassador to Washington — sinceforced to resign — to seek US help tolimit the power of Pakistan’s powerfulmilitary. “We understand that the peo-ple have given us a mandate for fiveyears through elections and votes, andif someone tried to do something tothe government, people would foilsuch attempts,” Malik said. “The situ-ation is not as complex as you areviewing it,” he said in response to ajournalist who said the crisis facingthe government was serious.

President has a clot in his neck,

Awan tells CJ, then backtracks

KaraChI: Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shahclaimed on Friday that President Asif Ali Zardari wasreturning to Karachi from Dubai within two to threedays. He was speaking at a news conference afterpresiding over a meeting of the Sindh Council at theChief Minister House. He regretted the mediaspeculations and statements of political opponentsregarding President Asif Ali Zardari’s illness. The chiefminister said that members of the Sindh Councilexpressed confidence in leadership of PresidentZardari. On the occasion, the chief minister announceda public holiday in Sindh on December 27, the deathanniversary of Pakistan People’s Party’s (PPP)assassinated leader Benazir Bhutto. The PPP hasdecided to hold a large public gathering on BenazirBhutto’s death anniversary due to the current politicalsituation, especially to counter former foreign ministerShah Mahmood Qureshi’s public meeting held in Ghotki

last month and Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz(PML-N) President Nawaz Sharif’s political show inLarkana scheduled for Saturday. “Participation of thepeople in death anniversary of Benazir Bhutto will beimmense,” the chief minister remarked, adding thatPresident Zardari, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilaniand PPP Co-chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari will alsoparticipate in the even.BrItIsh hC to vIsIt ZardarI today: In asignificant development in the backdrop of thecontroversy regarding the fate of President Asif AliZardari, British High Commissioner in Islamabad AdamThomson is going to Dubai to meet the president.According to the diplomatic sources, the highcommissioner will leave Islamabad for Dubai today(Saturday). The UK has become active to clear theconfusion regarding President Zardari’s condition, thesources said. stAFF rePort

Zardari to return within 2-3 days: Sindh CM

Pakistanreassessingcooperationwith US: Gilani

ISLAMABAD stAFF rePort

Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani toldreporters at the Pakistan Institute ofMedical Sciences (PIMS) on Friday thatPakistan was reassessing its cooperationwith the United States by redefining termsof engagement with the NATO and ISAFforces. The premier said Pakistan wantedto improve its relations with the US asthere had been ups and downs in the ties.Responding to a question about the NATOattack on Pakistani security forces, Gilanisaid the matter was referred to theParliamentary Committee on NationalSecurity to formulate recommendations toredefine relations with the US. “Theserecommendations will be presented at thejoint session of parliament, which willrevisit and redefine terms of cooperationwith the US and NATO forces in future,”he added. “We are also holding an enquiryinto the incident,” he added. Earlier, theprime minister visited PIMS to observe acataract operation being conducted byChinese doctors under a programme of theChinese government titled “Bring LightTour”. Chinese Ambassador to PakistanLiu Jian accompanied the prime minister.

No obstructions tojudicial independencewill be tolerated: CJ


Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) IftikharMuhammad Chaudhry on Friday saidno obstructions towards independenceof judiciary and rule of law would betolerated in performing the sacred dutyof administration of justice.Addressing a full court reference at theSupreme Court on the eve of retirementof Justice Muhammad Sair Ali, the CJsaid it was incumbent upon thejudiciary to respond to cases ofviolation of fundamental rights and giveauthoritative opinion on issues andquestion of law and public importance.“The apex court will continue using itspowers in the best interest of nation andwithin well defined parameters set by theconstitution”, the CJ said. He said, “Weare aware that after the historic judgmentof July 31, 2009, which declared theNovember 3, 2007 emergency asunconstitutional, many consequenceshave flown including the removal ofjudges from the superior courts.

ISLAMABAD stAFF rePort

Terming the regularisation of Pak-istan International Airlines (PIA)employees, working on daily wages,on the orders of President Asif AliZardari an additional burden, mem-bers of the National AssemblyStanding Committee on Defense onFriday said the decision should bereviewed.

National Assembly StandingCommittee met with Abdul GhaniTalpur in the chair to discuss thePIA losses, flight delays, the Hajjoperation, the presence of cock-roaches on planes and PIA flightrates. The Committee was informedabout the details of aircraft to em-ployee ratio, the financial positionof PIA and viability of the present

fleet. PIA Managing Director Nadeem

Yusufzai told the committee thatPIA losses stood at Rs 140 billionand fulfilling the regularisation or-ders of President Zardari would costRs 61.4 million. He said while noone had been regularised so far, PIAhad planned to keep workers ondaily wage for two more years priorto regularisation.

PML-N MNA Sardar Mahtab Ab-basi and other PML-N MNAs ex-pressed reservations over PIA’sability to bear the regularisation ofdaily wage employees and asked forthe decision to regularise such em-ployees to be reviewed.

Moreover, the committee wastold that out of a PIA fleet of 39 air-crafts, 23 were nearly worn-out andcost more in terms of maintenance

and consumed more fuel. Yusufzaisaid PIA planned to replace aircraftsfrom March or April next year andall planes would be replaced by2020. He said PIA, as national air-line, could not stop operating onloss-making routes since it wouldtrouble people traveling to thesedestinations.

On the Hajj flights delay, thePIA MD told the committee PIA wasnot solely responsible since otherfactors such as the availablity ofspace on terminals in Saudi Arabiawas beyond PIA’s control. Mean-while, the committee directed theMinistry of Defense Secretary tosubmit a report on the issue of delayin the schedule and cancellation offlights after a through probe in thenext meeting of the NA body on De-cember 23.

‘Government should review

regularisation of PIA employees’g PIA MD claims PIA losses equal Rs 160 billion g Says 23 out of 39 PIA aircraft ‘worn out’

Lahore: The Higher Education Commission (HEC)notified on Friday an increase of 30 percent in the salaries ofTenure Track System (TTS) Public University teachers. Thesalary increment despite a dismal economic situation waslauded by academics. Sources said the increment took placeafter a pressure from TTS teachers and efforts from HECofficials. The TTS system was introduced four years ago whichkept a terminal degree or Phd degree a minimum qualification.The HEC notification increases the minimum salary ofProfessor from Rs 180,000 to Rs 234,000 and maximumsalary from 312,000 to 405,600. Similarly an AssociateProfessor’s minimum salary was increased from Rs 120,000 to156,000 and maximum salary from Rs 225,000 to 292,500.Assistant Professor’s minimum salary was increased from Rs80,000 to Rs 104,000 and maximum salary from Rs 162,500to Rs 211,250. HEC Executive Director Sohail told PakistanToday that an old demand of TTS teachers was met due toHEC efforts. He denied HEC lacked the recurring budget forsalaries though he accepted that the development budget had

been facing cuts over the past few years. He said any Phd orterminal degree holder can apply for the post of assistantprofessor under TTS scheme whereas Associate Professors andProfessors need to fulfill certain requirements to apply for theirrespective posts under TTS, requirements which include aspecific amount of experience and research papers. He said theHEC could not afford to lose Phd scholars and had designed agood salary package for them. He said the salary was a lumpsum which included all sorts of allowances. Sohail clarified noHEC foreign scholar had been called back due to the shortageof funds. HEC funds TTS whereas Basic Pay Scale (BPS)system is paid by the respective Government. TTS teachersdemanded salary increments after the BPS teachers received a50 percent salary increment last year. As TTS teachers work ona contractual basis and the HEC developed a mechanism toreview the performance of the teachers after a specific timeperiod. University teachers lauded the HEC decision and saidthat the step would encourage people aiming to becomeacademic scholars. HAssAn siDDiQUe

Anjum Aqeel and hisco-accused sent onjudicial remand


Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) Member National Assembly (MNA)Anjum Aqeel Khan and his co-accused inthe National Police Foundation (NPF)land scam were sent on judicial remandon Friday. The accused persons were notproduced before the court on Friday asthey were under medical treatment at thePakistan Institute of Medical Sciences(PIMS). Civil Judge Mahmood Haroonwho held the hearing of the case againstPML-N MNA Anjum Aqeel, expressedannoyance on the absence of the accusedpersons, questioning how all the accusedwere ill after they were completelyhealthy at the time of their arrest.

FC stops over 40 ATTcontainers in Chaman

CHAMAnAPP

On the directives of the Frontier Corps(FC) Balochistan inspector general, lawenforcement agencies on Friday stoppedover 40 Afghan Transit Trade (ATT)containers in Chaman which wereapparently loaded with supplies for NATOforces stationed in Afghanistan. ColTanvir of FC told reporters that theyreceived information that some containersloaded with goods for NATO forceswanted to enter Afghanistan on thepretext of Afghan Transit Trade. “On theinstructions of the FC IG, we have stoppedover 40 such containers and searchedthem” he said. He said search of suchcontainers and trucks would continue asthere was a ban on NATO supplies.Meanwhile, Balochistan Chief MinisterAslam Raisani has called for theimmediate removal of NATO oil tankersfrom the province.

HEC announces 30% increment for TTS academics


04 Saturday, 10 December, 2011


Saturday, 10 December, 2011

CDA ignores encroachmentsat official residences PAGE 08

isLAMAbAD: girls look at a Christmas stall at a local hotel. STAff PhOTO

ISLAMABADFAZAL sHer

HOUSING shortage is grow-ing in the federal capitalwith each passing day asthe Capital Development

Authority (CDA) has not so far com-pleted the development work of al-ready launched residential sectors,which will aggravate the problem.

These sectors include Sector I-15and E-12 while development of sectorsI-14, I-16 and D-12 is also not properlycompleted. All these sectors, exceptSector I-15 which was launched by theauthority in 2005, were started over 15years ago. The main reason for the in-ordinate delay in the development ofthese sectors is negligence of the CDA’sconcerned department which encour-aged slow development work, an offi-cial said.

The official said that these stalled

sectors had the capacity of 35,000housing units and the authority couldeasily control the housing shortage inthe city, if they sped up developmentwork on these sectors. “On one hand,the development work of these sectorsis very slow while on the other the au-thority has not yet hired a contractor tostart the development work of Sector I-15 even after seven years,” he said andadded the sector consisted of 5,560plots and 8,000 flats. The CDA hadfixed 54 percent quota in Sector I-15for the general public, 20 percent forthe affected people of Islamabad, 10percent for non-commissioned officersof Pakistan Army, 10 percent for theemployees of the federal governmentfrom BPS-1 to BPS-15, five percent forCDA employees and one percent forjournalists working in the twin cities.

He said the authority had launchedSector I-14 for the affected people ofthe federal capital, but to date the CDA

had failed to complete its development,due to which contractors in differentsectors were facing many problems.The inordinate delay in the develop-ment work would further intensityshortage of units and result in increaseof house rents in the metropolis, theyadded.

Owing to the current housing prob-lems, people with monthly incomes ofaround Rs 10,000 to Rs 20,000 find ithard to get affordable accommodationin the capital. However, they added asmall number of flats or quarters wereavailable on rent in the some sectorswith living conditions very deplorable.

He said Islamabad was currentlyfacing a shortage of 40,000 housingunits, which had inflated real estateprices in the city. The existing numberof houses was 80,000, but 110,000housing units were required while eachyear demand for housing rose by 5,000units, he added.

Slow work intensifyinghousing shortage

‘Pakistan must realignits policy towardsneighbouring states’


Speakers at a seminar said here on Fri-day that Pakistan could no longer affordto continue with its decades-long policyof hostile relations with its neighboursat the cost of good relations with themin economic, trade, and cultural fields They said it was about time when Pak-istan would have to choose to live ami-cably with its neighbours or continue itsjourney on the path to ‘international iso-lation and ultimate self-destruction’.They were speaking at a two-day interna-tional seminar entitled “Securing a Front-line State: Alternative Views on Peace andConflict in Pakistan”, which was jointlyorganised by Heinrich Boll Stiftung, Pak-istan, and Centre for Research and Secu-rity Studies here at local hotel.US scholar on the foreign affairs JeffreyLaurenti underlined that Pakistanshould awaken to the new reality thatmedieval fundamentalist regime inKabul would not unlock economic andsocial potential of that state.“For two decades Islamist generals inPakistan supported radicals inAfghanistan and the legacy continues tohaunt Pakistan even today”, he noted. He emphasised that Pakistan would findit utmost difficult to carry on its pastpolicies of ‘double-dealing’, especiallywhen America was on one side and radi-cal Taliban were on the other.Highlighting the importance of Pak-istan-Afghanistan relations for both thestates and the region, Abdul RahmanHabibzui from Kabul noted:“Afghanistan acknowledges strategicstrengths of Pakistan and in returnwants Pakistan to take into account thetransit vitality of Afghanistan.” He ex-plained that Afghanistan could poten-tially link the future energy hub of theworld, Central Asia with Pakistan andthe rest of the region. CRSS ExecutiveDirector Imtiaz Gul was of the view thatPakistanis should look afresh at theirsocio-economic, political and securitypolicies and there was a thumping needfor re-evaluation of our policies in thecontext of emerging global realities.

SLAMABADAsMA kUnDi

With the continued dry and chilledweather, the Islooites are being hitthese days by the seasonal infectionsand diseases such as skin condi-tions, chest and throat infections,dry cough and common cold andthey are frequenting the emergencyand the outdoor patient departments(OPDs) of major hospitals in thecapital.

One of major government-runhospitals in capital, Polyclinic Hos-pital is receiving almost around 400patients daily who have been in-fected by seasonal diseases.

Dr Sharif Astori, a spokesperson

for the Polyclinic, told PakistanToday that nearly 400 patients suf-fering from seasonal diseases in-cluding throat infection, chestinfection, dry cough and skin infec-tion would daily visit the emergencywards whereas were being treated atthe OPD. “Majority of them are chil-dren and older citizens who aremore vulnerable to these harshweather conditions,” he said.

Dr Zulfiqar Ghauri, the PIMSjoint executive director, when con-tacted, said that among those in-fected, skin conditions chestinfections and dry cough are com-mon.

Dr Astori said people should takeprecautionary measures to protect

themselves against seasonal diseasesand they should take a balanced dietcomprising eggs, milk, fish, brothand citrus fruits such as oranges.

“We advise our patients to staywarm and include a glass of milk,egg and broth in their regular diet,”said Dr Astori.

He said especially children andold people should be protected fromthe cold in the morning and eveningwhen the weather gets colder andchildren should wear warm clothswhen they are leaving for schoolearly in the morning.

Health experts have also advisedpeople travelling on motorbikes andcycles to wear windbreakers to pro-tect themselves against wind.

They advised that one shouldavoid close contact with those in-fected with contagious conditions.

While highlighting the symptomsof seasonal flu, Dr Astori said thatone could feel the symptoms likesudden fever, dry, chesty cough,headaches, tiredness, chills, achingmuscles, limb or joint pain, sorethroat, runny or blocked nose,sneezing, loss of appetite, and diffi-culty in sleeping.

“No rain also means more dust,which increases the chances of get-ting infections and any rainfall inthe twin cities can drastically reducethe number of patients sufferingfrom these seasonal infections,” hesaid.

8,000 litres of

fuel burnt in oil

tankers explosionrAWALPInDI

stAFF rePort

Over 8,000 litres of fuel was burnt whena minor blast caused a fire in one of thetwo oil tankers parked at the BermaShell Depot here on Friday. No loss oflife was reported in the incident.Police investing ting the case ruled outany possibility of a terror attack. Theblaze, however, caused a panic in theneighbourhood. Police force and Resuce 1122 staffrushed to scene where the latter aftersome hectic efforts extinguished the fire.Police told that a man named Saed Wali,son of Awal Khan, who is a resident ofMianwali lodged a case stating that hehad filled 24,000 litres of petrol and8,000 litres of diesel in the separateportions of his tanker (TLK-967) atBerma Shell Depot. Then, he said, hewent to a nearby office for some docu-mentation of the purchase.He said on his returned he witnesses aminor blast in the tanker. The explosion, he maintained, causedthe fire, which engulfed another oiltanker (LSC-693) parked nearby. The fire completely burned 8,000 litresof diesel but the petrol within the sametanker remained safe, police quoted thecomplainant as saying.Saed also told police the explosion couldhave been caused owing to increased gaspressure built due to diesel fumes. Hesaid he did not want to report any crimi-nal activity since it was ‘just an accident’.

Anti-CorruptionDay observed

ISLAMABADAPP

InternationalAnti-Corruption Day, withthe theme for this year, ‘Act against Cor-ruption Today’, was observed on Fridayacross the world, including Pakistan.December 9 was designated as Interna-tional Anti-Corruption Day by the Gen-eral Assembly of the United Nations toraise awareness of corruption and of therole of the convention, adopted in De-cember 2005, in combating and pre-venting it. As developing nationsbecome more involved in the worldeconomy, the strength of their financialand government institutions is put to atest. The quality of these institutionswill help to determine whether a coun-try benefits from globalisation or notand how the gains are distributedthroughout the society. According toTransparency International which pub-lishes a yearly index, corruption is a se-rious challenge and undermines thepotential benefits of globalisation.

Cold and dry weather ups seasonal infections



Islamabad

isLAMAbAD: Disabled children take part in a walk to mark international Disability Day and Peace Day. STAff PhOTO

Speakers say corruption a deep-rooted menace in country ISLAMABAD

stAFF rePort

The International Islamic University Is-lamabad (IIUI) organised on Friday aseminar to mark the Anti Corruption Dayat here at the varsity’s Female Campus.The IIUI held the even in collaborationwith Transparency International Pak-istan (TIP).

IIUI President Dr Mumtaz Ahmadwas the chief guest on the occasionwhile NAB Islamabad Director General(A&P) Col (Retd) Siraj Naeem, Advisor(A&P) to NAB Chairman Dr Ayesha Sid-diqa, IIUI Female Campus Director Prof

Qaiserah Mukhtar Alvi, Dean Faculty ofShariah & Law Dr Ziaul Haq also spokeon the occasion.

Meanwhile, faculty members, admin-istrative officers, staff members and alarge number of female students werealso present on the occasion. Dr MumtazAhmad said the corruption was the mainelement that should be tackled in all waysof our life and eradication should bestarted from the grass-root level.

“Elimination of corruption is very im-portant in social and economic develop-ment. First of all we should celebratePakistan’s achievements that we areworld champions in cricket, hockey,

squash and snooker on the other hand wehave also a 5th championship in corrup-tion as well,” he observed.

He said that in recent reports fourcountries were the most corrupt in theworld including Indonesia, Nigeria,Bangladesh and Pakistan.

He cited the example of financial cor-ruption in the regime of US PresidentRegan in which 800 million dollars werelooted from the fund of widows and or-phans and no money was recovered fromthat scam.

He said that in Pakistan Trans-parency International was creatingawareness through the media. He said al-

though the NOGs were playing a leadingrole in creating awareness but a prevent-ing role should also be played.

Dr Zia ul Haq said, “The history tellsus that the message of peace and har-mony were issued from the Islamic civi-lization only. He said the Islamiccivilization was never based on sword ormilitary rather it was based on honestyand faith.”

Prof Qaiserah Alvi said corruptionwas a threat to the country.

“Corrupt countries may formally havelegislation to protect the environment; itcannot be enforced if officials can easilybe bribed,” she said.

The speakers said corruption was amajor threat to the socioeconomic andpolitical development of a country.

They said corruption was a very com-plex phenomenon to be tackled with.There said there were so many forms ofcorruption such as political, moral and fi-nancial.

Speakers also highlighted that Pak-istan had well-trained bureaucracy and itcan be used to control and combat cor-ruption. The speakers said the country’syouth was very important and they urgedthem to work for a corruption-free soci-ety. Later, Prof Qaiserah Alvi presentedsome souvenirs to the speakers.


IN the wake of rapid urbanisationand industrialisation, pollutionand scarcity of water resourcesare becoming more serious con-

cerns than ever. To increase sustainabil-ity, water must be used efficiently andmultiple times by cascading from higherto lower quality needs. This emerging par-adigm requires establishing autonomousand decentralised water recycling systemsin which diverse water resources are cre-ated, conserved and utilized effectively.

This was the crux of a two-day inter-national workshop entitled ‘TechnologicalAdvances & Challenges in Water Recla-mation & Reuse’, which concluded here atSchool of Civil and Environmental Engi-neering (SCEE), National University ofSciences and Technology (NUST) on Fri-day. Eminent scholars from within andoutside the country attended the event.

Dr Samar Mubarakmand graced theoccasion as the chief guest during the in-augural session of the workshop. Address-ing the gathering, he said that thepopulation growth rate in Pakistan is veryhigh, which has direct impact on thewater sector for meeting the domestic, in-dustrial and agricultural needs. He fur-ther said that industrial and domesticwater occupying the major portion of totalwater demand could be provided by highgrade reclaimed wastewater using ad-

vanced technology. It is essential, hemaintained, that reclaimed water satisfiesphysical, chemical and microbiologicalquality relative to reuse type.

Earlier, the NUST rector said thatPakistan was rapidly depleting its avail-able water resources and was on the vergeof becoming a water-scarce country. Un-treated wastewaters from various indus-trial and domestic sources are not onlycontaminating open water bodies and

groundwater resources but also reducingthe water availability, he added. He said itwas imperative that Pakistan should im-prove efficiency in meeting the challengesregarding water reclamation and its reuse.

Prof Roger Ben Aim was of the viewthat membrane processes were regardedas a positive advancement in wastewatertreatment ensuring increased water recla-mation and reuse. “The main advantagesof this technology are no chemical re-

quirement, relatively low energy con-sumption and a lower footprint. Althoughits use has been increased in the recentpast there is, however, a need to enhancethe level of knowledge and expertise per-taining to the technology,’ he added.

Professor C Visvanathan, Dr ParneetPaul, Dr Nick Hankins and Dr SherJamal Khan, Dr. Zahir-ud-Din Khan andDr Imran Hashmi also spoke on the oc-casion.

Scholars completePhD from UK under HEC supportprogramme


Syed Hussain Shaheed Soherwordi and Li-aquat Ali have successfully completed theirdoctorate degrees under Higher EducationCommission’s Partial Support Programmefor PhD studies abroad. Soherwordi completed his PhD from theSchool of Social and Political Studies, Cen-tre for South Asian Studies, University ofEdinburgh, Scotland. He was awardedscholarship in the final year of his studies. His research is entitled “Pakistan ForeignPolicy Formulation: An Analysis of Institu-tional Interaction between Pakistani andAmerican Policy Making Bodies.” He hasto his credit five international and 20 na-tional publications in the field of interna-tional relations and Pakistan-US relationsduring the war on terror. His thesis isunder process of publication in a bookform from the Oxford University Press. Dr Soherwordi is currently working as asenior lecturer in the Department of Inter-national Relations, University of Peshawar. Similarly, Liaquat Ali, a resident of villageDagai, district Swabi, who was pursuinghis PhD degree in Earth Resources (Geol-ogy) under HEC Programme ‘Strengthen-ing of NCE in Geology, University ofPeshawar’ completed his PhD from Cam-borne School of Mines, University of Ex-eter, UK. He also proceeded abroad underthe Partial Support Programme. His doctoral research is focused on devel-oping exploration tools for precious andbase metals using advancemineralogical/geochemical techniques andGIS in remote and glaciated areas of NorthPakistan. His research entitled ‘Gold andBase Metal Exploration Studies based onMineralogical/Geochemical Characteriza-tion of Stream Sediments from Pakistan’proposes a novel way on how stream sedi-ment mineralogical/geochemical studiescan be used to predict deposit type (s). Dr Liaquat Ali is currently working in theNational Centre of Excellence in Geology,University of Peshawar.

Women journalistsdiscuss workplaceissues at workshop

ISLAMABADAPP

Women journalists shared their con-cerns and workplace experiences hereon Friday during a three-day mediatraining workshop organised by the In-ternational Labour Organisation.More than 20 journalists from all keyTV channels, newspapers and radio sta-tions from Islamabad, Rawalpindi andsome other districts are participating inthe workshop which started Thursdayand would conclude tomorrow (on Sat-urday). It is the first workshop amongthe series of 40 workshops beingarranged by International Labour Or-ganization in different parts of the coun-try in which more than 800 journalistswould be trained on women-related is-sues. Pakistani independent media andpolicy development and advocacy or-ganization Civic Action Resources areconducting the media trainings.

Experts voice concern over water depletion



Islamabad

isLAMAbAD: Activists of an ngo protest against the nAto attack. STAff PhOTO

World Human Rights Day being observed today

ISLAMABADMAHtAb bAsHir

WITH the theme “CelebrateHuman Rights”, the Inter-national Human RightsDay is going to be observed

across the globe, including Pakistan,today (Saturday), with a pledge to con-tinue efforts for protection of humanrights. However, despite the govern-ment’s serious efforts to curb violenceagainst women (VAW), the data on crimeagainst women has registered a slight in-crease in the cases in 2011 as comparedto the year 2011.

Coinciding the 16 days of activismagainst gender violence that is going toend today (Saturday) and the Interna-tional Human Rights which is being ob-served the same day, the AuratFoundation (AF), in its report (January-June 2011) titled ‘Situation of ViolenceAgainst Women’, said there were 4,448cases reported till June 2011 as comparedto 4,061 cases in the year 2010.

According to the report, out of thetotal 4,448 cases of violence, 3,035 cases

were reported from Punjab, 819 fromSindh, 389 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwaand 133 from Balochistan, whereas 72cases were reported from Islamabad Cap-ital Territory (ICT). The Ministry ofWomen’s Development, before it was de-volved, observed in a study that Pakistanhad been placed third regarding subjec-tion of women to violence. The study fur-ther claimed that in every second, onewoman in Pakistan became victim to do-mestic or sexual violence.

The human rights activists believethese figures are just the tip of the icebergas majority of cases of violence againstwomen remain unrecorded owing to so-cial and traditional obligations. “Anotherreason for not reporting cases to police islack of women’s access to reporting sys-tem of violence. Lack of legislation is oneof the main reasons behind increase incases of violence against women andthere should be a law for the protectionof witnesses in the country,” they ex-plained.

Human rights activists and non gov-ernmental organisations’ representativeswill speak out against abuse and viola-

tions, including discrimination, oppres-sion and violence on the day. They willadvocate justice and seek to protect thevictims of human rights violations, de-manding accountability of perpetratorsand transparency in government action.The Human Rights Day will highlight andpromote achievements of human rights’defenders and stress the primary respon-sibility of the state to protect their role.The story does not end after December10. The focus on the work of humanrights’ defenders will continue through-out 2012.

According to the 2010 report of theHuman Rights Commission of Pakistan(HRCP), the cases of burning, corporalpunishments, death penalty, domestic vi-olence, kidnapping, killing, sectarian vi-olence, sexual harassment, and suicideconsiderably rose in 2011. According toHuman Rights Watch (HRW), the secu-rity situation significantly worsened, withbombings and targeted killings becominga daily routine even in the country’sbiggest cities. Over two million peoplewere displaced during major fighting be-tween the government forces and the Tal-

iban. The economy suffered severe set-backs, food prices skyrocketed and therewas chronic shortage of energy and food.The military publicly undermined thecivilian government in the areas of thenational security, foreign policy, andhuman rights. The report says PresidentAsif Ali Zardari’s government, initiallykeen to promote human rights, madesome headway, but then lost momentumas it tried but largely failed to deal withthese issues.

The Ministry of Human Rights, onthe other hand, claimed that it had donea lot for the promulgation of the code re-garding human rights’ violations, butfailed to implement on a larger scalesince there were instances where the ju-diciary, government and state machineryitself did not uphold the law. It is felt thatthough the Women’s Harassment andDomestic Violence Bill has been passedfor gender justice and most of its provi-sions provided security to women, but itwas not so capable of dealing with theissue. It also does not focus on other vul-nerable groups such as minorities.

Pakistan Today also found that

http://mohr.gov.pk/ was not updatedsince many months as majority of itshigh-ranking officials had either retiredor been transferred. Talking to thisscribe, human rights activists said mostof the existing laws reflected the post-colonial impacts on state institutions’framework and had an adverse impact onpoor and powerless people, especiallywomen. They stressed the need to bridgethe gap between the affluent middle classand powerless people in the country tobring about effective institutional re-forms. The activists talked about the legalsystem, saying that despite the lawyers’movement, lower courts were not func-tioning in the required way.

When contacted, the Ministry ofHuman Rights official said they werecommitted to safeguarding and protect-ing fundamental rights of people en-shrined in articles 8 to 28, Principles ofPolicy’s Article 29-E and Universal Dec-laration of Human Rights without anydistinction of creed, race or religion. Hesaid Domestic Violence and HarassmentBill had already been passed and imple-mented in the country.

Green tea fightsdepression

ISLAMABADAPP

Elderly men and women who drink sev-eral cups of green tea every day are lesslikely to face depression.Several earlier studies have linked greentea consumption to lower levels of psy-chological stress. To look at the association betweendrinking green tea and symptoms of de-pression, researchers studied 1,058 rela-tively healthy elderly Japanese aged 70years and above, Health News reported.About 35 percent of the men and 40percent of the women had symptoms ofdepression. These symptoms were se-vere in about 20 percent men and inabout 25 percent women. Overall, 488 participants said theydrank four or more cups of green teadaily, 284 said they drank two to threecups daily and the remaining 286 re-ported having one or fewer cups daily. Itwas found that found men and womenwho drank four or more, versus one orfewer, cups of green tea daily were 44percent less likely to have symptoms ofdepression. The protective effect of greater green teaconsumption on symptoms of depres-sion did not fade even when the re-searchers factored in social andeconomic status, gender, diet, history ofmedical problems, use of antidepressantmedications, smoking, and physical ac-tivity. By contrast, there was no association be-tween consumption of black or oolongtea, or coffee, and lower symptoms ofdepression. A green tea component,amino acid, thought to have a tranquilis-ing effect on the brain, could explain thepotentially beneficial effect shown in thecurrent study. However, further studiesare necessary to confirm the antidepres-sant effects of drinking green tea.

PSF holds workshop

for science teachersISLAMABAD

APP

The Pakistan Science Foundation (PSF) incollaboration with the French embassy inIslamabad arranged on Friday the 3rd in-ternational training workshop called “Lamain a la pate (LAMAP)” (Inquiry-BasedScience Learning) for Pakistani teachers,here in the PSF Premises. Addressing thecertificates awarding ceremony, PSFChairman Prof Dr. Manzoor H. Soomrourged the participants to apply the scienceteaching skills, they learnt during theworkshop, to generate students’ interestin the learning of sciences. He asked themto impart their skills to their colleaguesand students. He appreciated the effortsof the PSF and the French embassy offi-cials for holding the event.


The new chairman of Capital Develop-ment Authority (CDA), Engineer Fark-hand Iqbal, assumed the charge of hisoffice on Friday.

Prior to his new assignment, hewas serving as senior chief (energy)(BS-21) in Planning & DevelopmentDivision where he was responsible forproject implementation, monitoring,policy, preparation review and interac-tion with WAPDA, AEDB, KESC, Oil &Gas and other government depart-ments to facilitate policy implementa-tion for sustainable energy supply toall types of consumers and maintaineconomic growth.

He has been supervising the as-signments awarded to Alternative En-ergy Development Board, WAPDA,DISCOs, GENCOs, Oil & Gas Sector,

Coal Department, provincial power de-partments, KESC, approval of PC-I,preparation of work plans for speedydevelopment as envisaged in themedium term development frameworkof the country.

He has been working for improve-ment of energy efficiency and conser-vation, including revision of existingpolicies for promoting energy effi-ciency in domestic and industrial sec-tor as well as promotion/developmentof energy appliances and research ini-tiatives. In addition, his responsibili-ties were to offer technical andfinancial comments on feasibility re-ports of different projects related topower, fuel and renewable energy andto make them in line with the policiesof the government.

He has been coordinating with in-ternational donors and aid-givingagencies in connection with circular

debt and improved economic growth at7 % and more. He is an expert inpreparation of long-term, medium-term and short-term energy plans forthe country.

He worked as director generalprojects in National Police Bureau,Ministry of Interior, from June 2009to May 2011, and joint secretary (ad-ministration and policy), Ministry ofTextile Industry, in July 2007.

He also served as deputy secretary(F&A) with additional charge of na-tional project director (Ozone Cell),Ministry of Environment, LG&RD,from December 12, 2000, to August 31,2002. He also served as deputy secre-tary in various ministries and divisionsof the federal government as well assecretary, Irrigation and Power De-partment, government of the Punjab,in addition to working on various chal-lenging posts in the public sector.

Eating dry fruits inwinter is healthy,energatic

ISLAMABADAPP

Eating dry fruit in winter in daily diet isvery energetic and good for health. Dry fruits are also used in making medi-cines Almond which is often called theking of dry fruits is used in many medi-cines and almond oil is used for manyhair treatments. According to a privatenews channel report, dry fruits are alsoused as gifts in winter and many peopleoften pack them in beautiful packetsalong with some chocolates and giftthem to their friends and relatives. Dry fruits are also used at weddings insome countries like Pakistan. It is atrend to distribute different dry fruitswith sweets and chocolates amongguests. Dry fruits are also used in many dishes.Especially in sweet dishes like cakes,pastries and in chocolates. It is alsoused in Arabian food in different graviesand rice. Many doctors and nutritionistsgive advice to their patients to use dryfruits for better and complete diet.

g Pakistan will mark this day amid rise in killing, murder, suicide cases and violence against women

farkhand Iqbal takescharge as CDA chief


low

High

06°CSUNDAy MoNDAy TUESDAy16°C I 04°C 15°C I 04°C 16°C I 04°C

PRAyER TIMINGSFajr Sunrise zuhr Asr Maghrib Isha

05:40 06:10 13:30 16:00 on sunset 19:00

CITy DIRECToRy

PolICE EMERGENCy 15

AMbUlANCE 115

RESCUE 1122

HIlAl-E-AHMER 9250488

EDHI FoUNDATIoN 2827844

boMb DISPoSAl 9270698

FIRE bRIGADE CENTRE 16

CIvIl DEFENCE 9262830

EMERGENCy HElP

HoSPITAlS

blooD bANK

PIMS blooD bANK 9261272

Poly ClINIC blooD bANK 9209123

CoMPlAINT

WAPDA 111-000-118

SUI GAS 1199

RAIlWAyS

CITy STATIoN (INqUIRy) 117

RESERvATIoN 9273614

RAIlWAy PolICE 1333

AIRPoRT

FlIGHT INqUIRy 114

PIA RESERvATIoN 111-786-786

CollEGES / UNIvERSITIES

INTERNATIoNAl ISlAMIC UNIvERSITy 9260765

bAHRIA UNIvERSITy 9260002

NUMl 9257677

qUAID-E-AzAM UNIvERSITy 90642098

ARID AGRICUlTURE UNIvERSITy 9290151

FJWU 9273235

RIPHA INTERNATIoNAl UNIvERSITy 111510510

NCA RAWAlPINDI 5770423

PUNJAb lAW CollEGE 4421347

MAHRooF INT 2222920

PIMS 9261170

Poly ClINIC 9218300

CDA 9221334

SHIFA INTERNATIoNAl 4603666

AlI 4444435

DISTRICT HqS 5556311-14

UlTRASoNIC ClINIC 2824862

Holy FAMIly 9290319

An iLLuStrAtion of pAkiStAn

Do you have a passion for photography?Are you the one whose click could change howwe see things?What about using your passion for a greatercause?If yES is the answer here’s your chance!

CApoeirA iSLtown

DATE AND TIME: EvERy FRIDAy 6:30-7:30PMvENUE: KHAAS ART GAllERy ISlAMAbAD

Capoeira is an Afro-brazilian martial art thatcombines elements of dancing, ritualcombat & music in a unique synthesis ofself defense and rhythm.

SUNNy

WEATHER UPDATES

17°C

AkCent Live in iSLAMAbAd

The band is set to visit Pakistan once again,this time to It's capital. Performing smashinghits like "That's My Name", "My Passion", "Staywith Me" & the new track " Feelings on Fire "they are sure to set the stage ablaze and makeyou sway.

DATE: TUESDAy DEC 27, 2011 6:00 PMvENUE: ISlAMAbAD

DATE: Nov 29 - DEC 25, 2011 vENUE: ISlAMAbAD


Islamabad

ISLAMABADsALMAn AbbAs

MOST of the government em-ployees living in the official res-idences in the capital city haveillegally extended their flats il-legally while the Capital Devel-

opment Authority (CDA) is playing the role of asilent spectator in this regard.

Pakistan Today has learned that most of thegovernment officials have built up unauthorizedrooms extending their flats in a blatant violationof the CDA’s bylaws.

Besides these illegal constructions, the civicbody also seems reluctant to renovate thesehousing apartments.

Sources privy to the matter told PakistanToday on Friday that most of these official apart-ments had been weakened by the 2005 earth-quake and they urgently needed repair.

They said the government employees livingthere were forced to spend from their salary onthe repair work of these dilapidated buildings.Some of these buildings, they said, had devel-oped big cracks since the earthquake but the rel-evant authorities were doing little in that regard.

Pakistan Today observed on Friday that the

officials living on the ground floors of theseapartments had built garages and rooms by en-croaching upon the government land thanks tothe negligence of the CDA’s departments con-cerned.

“Many people who have built these illegallystructures are the CDA employees living hereand they have been exploiting their official posi-tion,” alleged Husnain Moid, one of the resi-dents. He also alleged that some of those CDAofficials living there had also rented out some oftheir illegally built rooms.

Interestingly, the people living on the upperfloors of these government flats have extendedthe terraces of their flats to illegally built rooms.

“I do not think it is illegal because two roomsare not just enough to accommodate a family offive people,” said Jamshaid Azam, a resident ofthe flats in Sector G/10-3 who has also extendedhis terrace. The problems being faced by almostall the residents of these flats is the CDA’s inac-tion regarding renovation of the structuresweakened by the 2005 earthquake. The residentsfear that even a mild earthquake could flatten allthe structure.

A senior CDA official, however, told PakistanToday that though most of the government em-ployees’ apartments fell under the CDA’s juris-

diction yet some flats were directly the PWD’s re-sponsibility. Seeking anonymity, he said, it wasgovernment’s responsibly to take care of the ren-ovation of the weakened state buildings.

“The CDA has been waiting for governmentfunding for the renovation work. In the past, theCDA did carry out some work on those structuresbut the dearth of money hindered the project.The authority is now reluctant to do any workwhich cannot be completed. Yet the authority isplanning to start some whitewash work on theseflats to improve their apparent condition.” headded.

Several residents of those flats told PakistanToday that they had lodged their complaintswith the CDA but to no avail. Some of them alsocomplained about the paucity of potable water.

“We are living under a persistent threat be-cause our flats may cave in any time,” saidUsman Mahmood, a resident of G/9 flats. Hesaid proper utilisation of funds was needed forthe regular renovation of all the apartments.

A CDA spokesman, Ramzan Sajid, told thisscribe that the authority had always tried to pro-vide every facility to the residents and renovatethose apartments on priority basis. “We will re-solve all the problems being faced by the resi-dents,” he added.

CDA ignores encroachmentsat official residencesg Government employees annex illegal structures to their apartments

g Residents demand renovation of buildings weakened by 2005 earthquake



News


FOREIGN Minister Hina Rabbani Kharcalled on Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilaniat the Prime Minister’s House on Friday anddiscussed him the agenda of the upcomingenvoy’s conference scheduled to be held in

Islamabad from December 13 to 14. “The foreign minister requested the prime minister

to chair the concluding session of the conference andshare his vision on the foreign policy objectives,” saida Foreign Office statement. The envoys’ conference isbeing held in the wake of the NATO airstrike on Pak-istani border posts in Mohmand Agency to review thepolicy on future ties with Washington. Pakistan de-manded fresh terms of engagements with the US afterthe NATO strike as it resorted to the suspension of sup-plies meant for the US-led foreign troops inAfghanistan through its border and also asked the USto vacate the Shamsi Airbase before December 11.

The conference of ambassadors from importantworld capitals would give its recommendations to thegovernment on how to reshape the ties with the US inthe line with the national interests.

Khar, munter dIsCuss PaK-us reLatIons: US Ambassador to Pakistan CameronMunter called on Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Kharon Friday and discussed the current status of bilateral re-lations. The foreign minister said relations between thetwo countries must be based on mutual respect, adding

that the recent incidents had led to reevaluation of theterms of engagement with the US. The US ambassadorassured the foreign minister of an early conclusion of theinvestigation into the tragic incident of November 26 andof working with the government of Pakistan to normalisethe relationship at the earliest.

Gilani, Khar discuss agenda of

upcoming envoy’s conference

brother of rape

victim shot

dead in KarakkArAk

stAFF rePort

Alamzeb, brother of rape victimUzma Ayub was shot dead by armedmen in front of civil court at TakhtiNusrati in Karak district on Friday.So far no one was formally chargedfor the murder but locals said theyincluded close relatives of threepolice officers, who were chargedwith gang raping Uzma.The local people said the armed menopened indiscriminate firing onAlamzeb in front of the civil court.Alamzeb had approached the courtsoon after the relatives of policemen,who were behind the bars aftercancellation of their bails, staged asit in. Uzma had approached theprovincial government and thePeshawar High Court charging threepolicemen of raping her. In response,the high court directed thegovernment to take swift action.

LonDonAFP

Britain’s Prince Charles urged the worldnot to forget the victims of the Pakistanfloods of more than three months ago,

saying their suffering was being over-looked.

The Pakistan Humanitarian Forum, anetwork of the 41 largest internationalcharities, says more than five million peo-ple were affected by the floods.

Around 700,000 people remain dis-placed, at least six million acres were rav-aged and 2.3 million acres of crops lost, itsaid last month.

Charles, the heir to the throne, hosteda dinner Thursday night for the PakistanRecovery Fund (PRF) at the Natural His-tory Museum in London.

The prince said: “Despite the scale ofdevastation, the level of suffering and thelevel of need, the story seems to vanish alltoo quickly from the headlines as theworld’s attention turns to disaster and de-struction elsewhere. Yet the suffering inPakistan goes on.”

Charles, 63, is patron of the PRF,which seeks funding for community-based initiatives to help resolve the crisis.Charles and his wife Camilla visited Pak-istan in 2006.

Suniya Qureshi, executive director ofthe British Pakistan Foundation, said thecricket corruption scandal had con-tributed to poor public opinion of Pak-istan in Britain.

However, the “misbehaviour” of a fewshould not detract attention from theneeds of the rest of the population.

She said Charles was “highlighting theplight of 187 million people”.

Don’t forget Pakistan’s flood

victims, Charles asks donors

Army chief witnesses lowintensity conflict training

rawaLPIndI: Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani visitedKharian in relation to the operational and training activities, the Inter-services PublicRelations (ISPR) said on Friday. The COAS witnessed the low intensity conflicttraining at Pabbi Hills and appreciated the standards achieved by the troops. Later,he took an overview of the operational preparations with the local commanders, theISPR said. On arrival, the COAS was received by Mangla Corps CommanderLieutenant General Tariq Khan. onLine



News

tHe Dog WHo got AWAY: A dog shelters itself from bullets and fire near a nAto container as several oil supply tankers were attacked by militants near kharotabad. ONLINE

LAHoregni

THE Punjab Services and Gen-eral Administration Depart-ment (S&GAD) has opposedthe move initiated by theChief Minister (CM)’s Secre-

tariat and routed through the PunjabLaw Ministry to change the legislativemechanism or Rules of Business for en-gagement of eminent professionals fromthe private sector on an honorary basis.

“No legislative mechanism or changeof rules of business is required,” com-ments S&GAD Secretary (Regulations)Muhammad Ilyas in his remarks on theconcept paper forwarded by the CM’sSecretariat through the Law Ministry.

The Regulations Wing says the ad-ministrative departments are required to

perform the functions as reflected in theRules of Business 2011 and “in case anytechnical support is required, the admin-istrative department may hire the con-sultants as per Consultant SelectionGuidelines (CSG) issued by the P&D De-partment”.

It suggested the government to con-stitute a “Study Group” from which theadministrative departments would bene-fit according to their requirements. Theproposed Study Group would co-opt anyprofessional in the relevant field whomay be compensated adequately keepingin view the nature of assignment. Themembers of the Study Group may also becompensated upon completion of thetask.

The CM’s Secretariat had forwardedthe concept paper to the Law Ministryand Punjab advocate general with the di-

rections of the chief minister to examineand evaluate it to devise an enablingmechanism and rules of business.

Contrary to the opposition of theRegulations Wing, which is responsiblefor framing of policy regarding humanresources required by the Punjab govern-ment, the law department suggested thatmechanism/rules of business should bedevised to engage eminent professionalsfrom the private sector on an honorarybasis.

The Law Ministry pointed out thatpublic agencies in most countries wereoperating effectively by borrowing theservices of professionals and adoptingthe management approaches of the pri-vate sector.

However, in Pakistan no measureshad been taken to benefit from the latestmanagement techniques implemented by

the private sector, therefore, the gap be-tween public service delivery and expec-tations of the public was increasing dayby day.

It also pointed out that Pakistan ingeneral and Punjab in particular was en-deavoring to bring about changes in theculture of civil service in order to achievethe goals of good governance, however,despite numerous reforms the goal hadremained elusive. In order to ensure im-proved services delivery, it is imperativethat appropriate skills and expertise ofeminent professionals from private sec-tor is engaged to perform the functionsefficiently. The trend of hiring eminentprofessionals on a high salary may be dis-continued and only secretarial supportmay be provided to enable them to per-form the assigned functions on a volun-tary basis.

Punjab S&GAD opposes engaging

professionals from private sector

The Afghan government’s allegations re-garding Pakistani militants’ involvementin the latest terrorist acts in the war-torncountry and the subsequent responsefrom Islamabad has become a ‘war ofwords’, which is the outcome of distrustbetween the two neighbouring countries.

Most peace-loving people from bothcountries want trustworthy relations be-tween the two neighbours, which couldhelp them acquire their goals of stability,progress and prosperity. But unfortu-nately, certain elements from within theregion and the rest of the world are notallowing the two nations to have closelinks with each others.

No one could neglect the fact that therulers from both Pakistan andAfghanistan have been at loggerheadssince long. Despite hectic efforts to re-solve the rifts, mistrust is on the rise onboth sides. Along with the ‘war of words’,

cross-border violence has increased infrequency, which is affecting effortsaimed at handling the terrorism issuepolitically and strategically.

On the eve of Ashura, two tragic ex-plosions rocked both Kabul and Mazar-e-Sharif, killing scores of people. Theviolent acts occurred when PresidentHamid Karzai was abroad for the BonnConference. Soon after the tragic inci-dent, a section of the media circulatedstatement of an unknown man namedAbu Bakkar Mansoor claiming to be thespokesman of the “Lashkar-e-JhangviAl-Alami”. The group is already bannedin Pakistan.

A spokesman of the Taliban timelydisowned the statement and denied in-volvement in both tragic acts. But Presi-dent Karzai, soon after landing in Kabul,not only condemned the terrorist actsbut even said: “We are carefully investi-gating the matter and would talk to Pak-istan in this respect.”

Though President Karzai did notblame Pakistan directly, but his state-ment regarding “talks with Pakistan” wastime and again highlighted by media.

However, Interior Minister RehmanMalik has avoided commenting on Pres-ident Karzai’s statement, saying: “We aredetermined to act if the Afghan govern-ment gives us some evidence.”

On the other hand, certain sectionsof the media and self-styled analystshave twisted the statement and reactionof President Karzai and other high-ups inthe Afghan government.

Almost two weeks before the Ashuraattacks in Kabul and Mazar-e-Sharif, aNATO strike against Pakistani troops inMohmand Agency killed two dozens sol-diers. The NATO strikes occurred nearNawa Pass, where the Regional Coordi-nation Centre (RCC) comprising highranking security officials of both coun-tries is located. The basic purpose of theRCC is to share information regardingmilitant activity and help each other instrikes against them.

Unfortunately, Prime MinisterYousaf Raza Gilani, on the eve of hisApril 14, 2011 trip to Kabul along withChief of Army Staf General AshfaqParvez Kayani, Foreign Minister HinaRabbani Khar, Interior Minister Rehman

Malik and Inter-Services Intelligence(ISI) chief Lt General Ahmad ShujaPasha, give away a ‘blank cheque’ toPresident Karzai to resolve the rifts andmisunderstanding, and in response hereceived a positive reply from Karzai andhis associates.

But after such developments, vio-lence intensified throughoutAfghanistan, taking the lives of hundredsof people. Peace Commission ChairmanProf Burhanuddin Rabbani, Wali Karzai,Jan Mohammad Khan, Dr Abdullah Janand several others were prominentamongst the victims.

“Mysterious violent acts” have led tothe sabotaging of peace initiatives be-tween the two countries since 2004,when South Waziristan became a hotbedfor militant activity.

The second US drone attack occurredat midnight on June 17 against Com-mander Nek Mohammad, just when Pak-istani authorities had inked a peaceagreement with him. Similar was the fateof another peace deal with militants inBajaur, when US drones targeted amadrassa in early 2007. Likewise, a cou-

ple of other initiatives for ceasefire be-tween the government and militants notonly in Pakistan but also in Afghanistanfailed because of such incidents.

Now it is no longer a secret that the‘US-sponsored war on terror’ is anotherpart of the ‘Great Game’, initiated withthe landing of former Soviet Uniontroops in Afghanistan on December 27,1979.

With the passage of time, partnersand rivals have changed. Apart fromthree main stakeholders, certain others,especially western and regional coun-tries, are also making heavy investmentin the ‘Great Game’ to safeguard theirown interests.

Both Pakistan and Afghanistan arenot only suffering in the so-called war onterror but they are being made eachother’s rivals by certain ‘mysteriousforces’. Now it is time for the leaders ofboth countries to realise their responsi-bilities at this crucial juncture. By enter-ing trustworthy relations, rulers of bothcountries could easily foil such plots andcould evolve a fruitful strategy to returnpeace and stability to the region.

Mistrust between Islamabad and Kabul at its peakSITUATIoNER

sHAMiM sHAHiD

Mosque suicide

attack kills six

in AfghanistanASADABAD

AFP

A suicide bomber on Friday attacked amosque in eastern Afghanistan,assassinating a district police chief andkilling at least five other people, agovernment official said. The attackhappened as worshippers were leaving themosque after the main Friday prayers inthe Ghazi Abad area of the easternprovince of Kunar, which bordersPakistan, said provincial governorFazullulah Wahidi. “The target of theattack was the district police chief and theattacker blew himself up at the gate of themosque,” the governor said. The districtpolice chief, an intelligence officer, twopolice and two civilians were among thedead, with eight other people wounded, headded. The Taliban claimed responsibilityfor the attack. Kunar has been a flashpointin the Taliban’s 10-year insurgency againstthe Western-backed government and140,000 US-led foreign troops.Spokesman for the militia, ZabiullahMujahid, claimed in a text message toreporters that the district police chief hadbeen the target of the attack and that “sixpolicemen” had been killed.

veteran PPP leadermoves courtagainst Tv channel

PreSS reLeASe

Senior Supreme Court advocate andSenator (R) Iqbal Haider on Fridayrejected allegations against veteran PPPpolitician Meraj Mohammad Khanlevelled by the host of Dunya News’sprogramme ‘Cross Fire’. The host, MeharBukhari had uttered highly unwarranted,wholly fabricated, insulting, provocative,slanderous and defamatory allegationsagainst Mr Meraj Mohammad Khan, avery highly respected veteran politicianof Pakistan, and a founder prominentmember of PPP, who was declared by Mr.Bhutto as his political successor,” astatement said. Senator (r) Iqbal Haiderhas served notices on Mian AmirMehmood, CEO, Meher Bukhari,anchorperson and Imran Shafqat, seniorproducer at Dunya TV dated November28, 2011, calling upon them to withdrawall their concocted defamatory remarksagainst Meraj Mohammad Khan andoffer an unqualified apology for the saidbroadcast and present a programme withthe same prominence and duration onthe lifelong struggle of MerajMohammad Khan and/or pay jointly orseverally a sum of Rs 100 million asdamages within 10 days of the receipt ofthe said notice.


Send your letters to: Letters to Editor, Pakistan Today, 4-Shaarey Fatima Jinnah, Lahore, Pakistan. Fax: +92-42-36298302. E-mail: [email protected]. Letters should be addressed to Pakistan Today exclusively.

Editor’s mail 11Saturday, 10 December, 2011

Sincere politicians“Zardari goes abroad for medical

check-up”, reads a news item on 6 De-cember.

In fact, he is getting closer to Swissbanks and that is where the cure lies.Wish he could have this time trustedand preferred Armed Forces Institute ofCardiology Rawalpindi. Sooner or later,he will end up there (or a few milesaway near GT Road in class ‘A’ with hisfriend Haqqani).

By the way, Bilawal met PM theother day. He should have been with hisfather but you know love for countrycomes first. With such loyal and sincerepoliticians, who cares for the Memogateanymore?

TARIQ RANAIslamabad

Why thank the Taliban?Ashura of Moharam-ul-Haram was

observed with piety and peace with nountoward incident being reported fromany part of the country.

Instead of appreciating the law en-forcing agencies who worked round theclock and left no stone unturned inmaintaining peace in most sensitiveareas, Dr Rehman Malik has thankedthe Taliban for maintaining peacewithin the country.

Is it not a shame for us that the writof the government has been shifted tothe hands of the Taliban and that thesame has been acknowledged by our In-terior Minister?

IFTIKHAR MIRZAIslamabad

Ideals for successIn his historical speech at Lahore,

Imran Khan had rightly started withthe Quranic prayer, seeking Allah’sguidance for the success of his mis-sion to end the present endemic cor-ruption, which is the most importantelement in the present bad gover-nance.

This has been proved during thepast six decades that the parliamen-tary system, borrowed from the 1935Act of the British colonials, is the rootcause of political corruption and un-suitable in the present environment.The costly election itself leads to theurge to reclaim the investment inelection through foul means of cor-ruption.

This is apart from the fact that itis repugnant to the Holy Quran andthe Sunnah of the Holy Prophet andhis first four Caliphs who adopted theIslamic presidential system, appoint-ing ministers and governors on puremerit of high reputation and capabili-ties and not on the highest votes andsupport of the corrupt people. If youdepend on the opinion of all peoples,including non-believers and even mis-chief mongers, they will surely takeyou to the wrong path.

Thus, the only way left to end cor-ruption to save Pakistan from its pres-ent poor condition of a failed state isto implement the Islamic presidentialsystem which is easily possiblethrough Article 2A of the Constitutionof Pakistan itself, without requiringany amendment.

S M H RIZVIKarachi

Maligning PakistanMansoor Ijaz’s recent interview re-

garding Memogate seems to be still an-other stunt to malign Pakistan and anyinstitutions therein which might stand inthe way of US imperialist designs in theregion. A banker like Mansoor Ijazspeaking about technical intelligencestuff at a level that could affect Pakistan’ssecurity gravely is absurd. Every coun-try’s intelligence affects it’s elections inone way or the other. America’s very ownelections have been highly controversialrecently. Further, almost all Pakistanielection results sooner or later turnedout to be far from public expectationsand in favour of US policy. Does thatmean ISI manipulated elections for theUS? If so, what’s all the fuss about?

Mr Ijaz has referred to the ISI’s rolein Afghanistan. The US first used ISI forits own cause against Russia and locallords. After their military invasion, theytried to sideline ISI and Pakistan in re-gional affairs. It did not work more forthe reason of their incompetence, miscal-culations and local temperament thanlack of cooperation from Pakistan. It isjust that Karzai administration and theirNato allies always find a scapegoat inPakistan to put all the burden of theirfailures on.

Regarding ISI and army not in gov-ernment control; there has been an utterlack of sincerity among political leader-ship for which governments have alwaysbeen selfish, short-sighted and weak.This has created a power vacuum that isfilled by security institutions like army.The time to change this is now.

IMRAN HOTIANALahore

Restructure PTvThe regression in the national televi-

sion affairs has now echoed through theparliament. Minister for Information andBroadcasting Firdous Ashiq Awan toldthe National Assembly that the state-runcorporation was facing severe financialconstraints and that it was finding it dif-ficult to compete with private sectorchannels.

To questions by lawmakers on thestate of affairs in that national institu-tion, the minister said that she couldoffer no answers to the members as thePTV managing director gave a fig to herinstructions. The minister also lamentedthat she really did not know to whom thePTV MD was accountable.

Before finding out the causes of thedecay and decline, I must say that theminister fully knew as to how the affairsof the public-sector institution weremanaged over the years and where theactual authority rested.

As far as the financial constraints ofthis once self-reliant and earning corpo-ration are concerned, one need not learnrocket science to understand the causesof its recent nose-diving performancevis-à-vis private channels. The one andonly reason is sheer mismanagement.The organisation is overstaffed.

PTV has enjoyed monopoly for aboutfour decades. Now it is in competitionwith private channels. Administrators ofthese channels know as to how pro-grammes can be produced with mini-mum possible staff.

For getting rid of the present finan-cial constraints, the PTV will have to fol-low this strategy, besides doing awaywith maladministration.

MOHAMMAD AZIZKarachi

on the verge of destruction

My assets, your assetsImran Khan’s recent press conference about his assets

was a needless spectacle thrown together in true showmanstyle. Come every election, each and every politician is sup-posed to declare his/her assets with the Election Commissionof Pakistan and is bound to do so by law. Imran Khan juststaged this to grind the massive axe that he has with PML(N)and PML(N) did not disappoint by falling for his bait and ChNisar conducting an immediate press conference in its reply.

We cannot deny that clean politicians are the need of any

healthy democracy but corruption is a structural malaise thatis not as widespread as some would have us believe. It can becombated by doing and not just loud rhetoric. If Imran Khanreally wanted to flex his muscles on some issue, maybe heshould have done so on some substantive policy matterrather than engage PML(N) in this battle for cheap populistrhetoric.

NASEER BADARLahore

Last week’s phone call from Presi-dent Obama to President Zardari sentanother signal that the US is activelytrying to defuse tensions after lastmonth’s Nato strike.

It follows other high-level commu-nications, including a call from the Sec-retary of State to Prime Minister YousafRaza Gilani. These have been condo-lence calls, without apologies. AndPresident Obama hasn’t, likely for do-mestic compulsions having to do withthe Pentagon and US elections, followedreported State Department advice tooffer a videotaped statement.

That said, his reaching out, includ-ing a commitment to a full investiga-tion, should be acknowledged as aneffort to lower the temperature. US offi-cials’ attempts to convince Pakistan to

attend the Bonn Conference should alsobe welcomed as recognition of the coun-try’s importance in brokering an Afghansettlement.

Registering loud and quick protestagainst the Nato strike was the rightmove, but at this point some reciprocitywould be the constructive way forward.Pakistan may have refused to formallyjoin the investigation but it should atleast cooperate to the extent it can.

Another positive signal was theWhite House’s denial of Mansoor Ijaz’slatest claim that the Pakistani presidentand prime minister were aware of theOsama bin Laden raid before it tookplace. The US government did not needto respond to an allegation made bysomeone who is neither a security offi-cial nor a well-regarded analyst but

simply a well-connected Pakistani-American businessman.

In fact, it is known for its reluctanceto comment on sensitive matters, or atleast for taking time before responding.The quick response in this case was aclear signal of support for Pakistan’scivilian administration.

And the context that cannot be for-gotten in any evaluation of recent Pak-istani or US moves is that bothgovernments are facing severe politicalopposition in the run-up to elections.Republican candidates for the presi-dency are in attack mode as their pri-maries inch closer, and PresidentObama’s calculations will inevitably in-clude domestic political risk throughthis stage and over the next year as hefights the chosen Republican con-

tender. At home, PML(N) Chief Nawaz

Sharif has joined his party officials inthe fray, with his complaint to theSupreme Court over Mr Ijaz’s memobeing only the latest display of his polit-ical intentions.

Meanwhile, Imran Khan’s PTImakes quick use of any perceived kow-towing to the US. The next year, then, isgoing to be qualitatively different forUS-Pakistan ties than the last threeyears have been. Both administrationswill have to strike a delicate balance be-tween being sufficiently nationalist fordomestic audiences and cooperativeand sympathetic enough to save what-ever alliance remains.

MOHAMMAD JAHANZEBKarachi

Signs of a patch-up

Since beginning humans havetried to develop and enhance ways tocommunicate and interact with oth-ers. Instinct guides human behaviourin this but naturally that behaviourranges from pure good to pure evilfrom person to person based on theirmentality.

God occasionally sent prophetswho defined for the people rules to fol-low. Then there came from time totime intellectuals and philosophers toothat preached their own version of eth-ical values. These rules and valueswere meant to determine people’scourse of lives and it was expected thatthey will not diverge from this right-eous path.

Ethics is the branch of philosophythat deals with questions about morals– what is good and what is bad in oureveryday intents, decisions and ac-tions. Societies documented them in

legislative books and made constitu-tions. Law enforcement agencies wereestablished to ensure rule of law. Somefollowed the teachings of prophets ex-actly while some amended them. Somefollowed philosophers.

Different sources influence the eth-ical values and laws prevailing in a so-ciety. Without getting into the debateof which is the better source; aim hasalways been to have a set of values thatcontrols people’s actions and winsthem the title of being truly civilised.

Rules and values that are docu-mented in books of corporate gover-nance are termed professional ethicsor business ethics.

The aim is not to let business mis-treat the client and at the same time tosafeguard the veracity of profession.Both clients and the people belongingto that profession benefit from this.Most professions have devised some

sort of codes that people belonging tothem must follow.

It is expected from a true practi-tioner that they will adhere to thestandards set by these codes. This alsomakes sure that professionals who actin accordance with these standardswill not be undermined commerciallyby those who are ethically less enlight-ened. Moreover, it helps in maintain-ing public’s trust in that profession.

Today one of the major issues af-fecting our Pakistani society is lack ofethics and standards that has led us toa place where we see no hope. We havebecome apathetic society – not a na-tion anymore rather a mob of peoplein which everyone is pulling others’legs just to meet their own desires.

Socially dead, economics ruined,identity lost; we are living ugly liveswith deplorable minds harvesting vilethoughts. The only things we all are

running after like hungry animals aremoney and power. Voraciousness hastaken over our minds and souls. Weare more concerned with money andpossessions instead of spiritual, emo-tional, or cultural values.

The only way to end this rat race isto eradicate ethical misery. We need tolive lives we were supposed to live ashuman beings, not what we are livingright now. And this can only happen ifmen of good moral values group andstrive together. We should not letethics be limited to books only; rathertheir practice must be stressed.

Our interaction with fellow hu-mans must be subjected to ethical val-ues like humanity, love, respect andsincerity. We will have to step up, as-similate and adhere to our religiousbeliefs to get back what we have lost.

HANNAN KHALIDRawalpindi

House in GoRThere are surely discrepancy and

anomaly in allotment of houses to gov-ernment officers in Punjab by the con-cerned authorities. I was appointed aspharmacist after selection through Pun-jab Public Service Commission in BS 17in 13-02-1990.

I applied for the allotment of a housein Government Officer Residence (GOR).But I was shocked to know that eventhough there are many doctors and otherhealth professionals already living inGOR, there was no policy to allot a houseto a pharmacist. When I referred to theother doctors availing the facility, it was

informed that only Chief Minister Punjabcould allow such an allotment.

May I dare ask the worthy Chief Min-ister Punjab what is the fault of an officerif he had no access to his good office?Only hand picked people can enjoy theprivilege and all other amenities of life.

Does it conform to the Islamic princi-ples of equality, equity and fair-play?Should every aggrieved person knock thedoor of courts to get his right? It is a factthat only influential officers can enjoy theservice in this country. There are manyofficers who are occupying their resi-dences because of their links with higherauthorities even after their transfer or re-tirement. I request the Chief Minister

Punjab to please intervene and issue or-ders for allotment of a house.

FAROOQ BASHIR BUTTLahore

US interests“The Texas governor says Islamabad

should not be sent a single penny until itclearly shows that they have Americanbest interest in mind”.

Maybe, we need to boot someonefrom an important position in Islam-abad to send the right signal to our USoverlords?

Z A KazmiLahore


Comment12Saturday, 10 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: [email protected]

Dedicated to the legacy of the late Hameed Nizami

yes, but on all fronts

Clarity

On certain issues, there can be no nuancedapproach. It’s a with-or-against deal. It isheartening to know that PML(N) chief NawazSharif minced no words at a meeting with

senior journalists and columnist recently where hedeclared his categorical stance against martial law.

Is that enough, though? Because between the statesof democracy and military rule, there are a lot ofmutants. A neither fish nor fowl “national government”,for one. The rise of technocrats (a scary word thatconjures up images of a futuristic dystopia) in certainparts of the world, the west even, has emboldenedpundits here to harp along those lines.

Selling unequivocal statements about opposition tomartial law more than they are worth is setting the barreally low. The real test for born-again democraticstatesmen like Nawaz Sharif is the stance taken when itcomes to shades of grey, that most cruel of colours.How open is he to a disempowerment of ademocratically elected government because of aperpetual siege laid by other institutions, including themedia. He has the right - nay, duty - to oppose thegovernment because of his position as leader of theopposition but how much is crossing the line? It is here,perhaps, that his tightrope walk is even tougher thanthe government’s.

His party filed a petition in the Supreme Court overthe memo affair. As citizens, they have all the right todo so. It would be helpful, however, to speak up onanother petition filed in the apex court by Senator ZafarAli Shah, an N-League member himself. That petitionthat challenged the toppling of the second federalPML(N) government through a military coup. If thecourt can pick and choose petitions, should the Leaguebe playing along? The League has been around theblock for a while now and understands the importanceof timing. Does it think the memo issue was the rightwindmill to tilt at?

both countries stand to lose

Escalating tensions

As if the older disputes were not enough, the USand Pakistan have added a new one to the list.Differences over the reasons leading to theNATO attack on two Pakistani posts in

Mohmand that killed 25 Pakistani troops haveexacerbated misunderstandings and given birth to newsuspicions. Pakistan has now concluded that the airstrikes were a pre-planned conspiracy on the part ofNATO/ISAF. The US claims that before ordering theaction, it had checked with the Pakistan military to seeif there were friendly troops in the area and it was toldthere were not. This claim has led to outrage and hasbeen questioned. It is now being suggested byIslamabad that the CIA was behind the mischief. As therole of the American spy agency has increased in theconduct of war in Afghanistan, the charge may not beout of place.

The recall of some of the liaison officers from twoborder coordination centres by Pakistan was seen as anact of escalation by the US. On the other hand, the hintby Washington of the risk of another such incidentoccurring in the absence of the centres was taken as aconcealed threat. Pakistan has now upgraded its airdefence system on the Afghan border to make it capableof shooting down aircraft making any threateningmove. Reportedly, the system has also been upgraded toimmediately respond after detecting any hostile aircraftor helicopter. This will increase, rather than reduce, thepossibility of a clash between the two sides.

Another bloody incident on the Pak Afghan borderis bound to have horrendous consequences both forPakistan and the US. Pakistan will find it hard toreplace any military aircraft lost in the combat thusending up weakening its own defence. The US will facean unprecedented backlash of hostile public opinion inPakistan. What is more, its capacity to fight theextremists in Afghanistan will be badly affected. Anyhostilities on the Pak-Afghan border could lead to along term ban on the Nato supply convoys while endingwhatever assistance the two countries provide eachother in the struggle against extremist militants. It is inthe interest of both the countries to de-escalateconfrontation and give diplomacy a chance.

Rumours run amok

There is never a dull moment inPakistani politics. Just whenthe ubiquitous media punditsand discussants hopping fromone electronic channel to the

other were having a field day over Mem-ogate came the news of President Zardari’sillness and his sudden departure forDubai.

The news was manna for Zardari-haters who have been praying for and pre-dicting his downfall for a long time. Thesection of the media that has never hiddenits hatred for the ailing president has runamok at his expense. The PPP propagandamachine in its typical ham-handed fashionhas added to the confusion.

According to one media report,Zardari had a mild stoke and bleeding inthe brain. Another report buttressed by

the US-based Foreign Policy mag-azine’s scoop that the president wasincoherent while talking to Presi-dent Obama on the phone sug-gested that he had a nervousbreakdown.

The president’s spokesmanstrongly refuting these reportsclaimed that he had gone to Dubaifor a routine check-up. The PMhouse underplaying the president’sailment suggested that he had mildchest pains and had gone to Dubaionly on the insistence of his family.

Whatever the truth about hisreal ailment and condition, it is cer-tain that the president had not goneabroad for a routine medical check-up and his illness, although notcritical, is cause for serious con-cern.

The fact that the prodigal sonBilawal Bhutto arrived in Islam-abad on the eve of the president’sdeparture raised eyebrows. Undernormal circumstances, Bilawal, just22 years old, would have been in-stalled by his father. Based in Lon-don and Dubai, Bilawal is graduallybeing groomed for the job.

Under the supervision of Pak-istan’s high commissioner in Lon-don Wajid Shams ul Hasan, he wasbeing taught to read, write and

speak Urdu. The undue haste shown to in-stall him betrayed a certain sense of emer-gency pregnant in the situation.

Some reports claim that the presidentwill be back in a couple of days. Most in-dicators, however, suggest otherwise. ThePresident meeting Chairman Senate Fa-rooq Naek just before his departure prob-ably means that he himself was envisaginga longer absence from the country.

Contrary to speculations and wishfulthinking in certain quarters, Zardari hasnot thrown in the towel as yet. Short of im-peaching him, for which the oppositionlacks the necessary numbers, there is noeasy way to get rid of him.

However, there is no denying the factthat his illness came at a time when he wasbeleaguered from all sides. The tensionpermeating the air probably contributedto the medical episode.

According to speculations, the proac-tive role being played by the apex court inMemogate and upholding its earlier NROverdict has exponentially increased thestakes for the PPP-led coalition. Thewhistleblower US-based businessmanMansoor Ijaz has proved to be a one mandemolition squad, the proverbial bull in achina shop.

He claimed that he had gone to townon Haqqani when he saw US Joint Chiefsof Staff Admiral Mike Mullen’s namebeing sullied by Pakistan. And as a US cit-izen, he could not take it lying down.

In a revealing interview with FareedZakaria on CNN, Mansoor Ijaz lambaststhe ISI to no end claiming the “S Wing” ofthe intelligence agency and the Pakistanimilitary operates in very nefarious ways,not only in Pakistan but by intervening inAfghanistan as well.

When asked by Zakaria that the net ef-fect of what Mansoor had done was to un-dermine the democratically electedbranch of the (Pakistani) government andempower the very people he claimed to beopposed to, he lamely replied that “astrong Pakistan would emanate fromthis.”

There is a lot wrong with the ISI andits invasive role in Pakistani politics andin promoting jihadists in the past. WhenPakistani politicians like Nawaz Sharif or

media persons criticise the ISI for the sakeof reform, it is welcome. However, whenmavericks like Ijaz go to town on Zardari,ISI and Pakistan itself it should not bebought hook, line and sinker by the estab-lishment, the politicians and, for that mat-ter, the courts.

Ijaz has also made the fantastic claimthat Zardari and Haqqani had priorknowledge of the US Navy SEALS raid onAbbottabad on May 2, vehemently deniedby the US Ambassador to PakistanCameron Munter. According to Ijaz, theplan to send the memo was made by noneother than Zardari himself. It is obviouswho the ultimate target of the maverickUS-based Pakistani businessman is. It isnot Haqqani, Zardari, the military and theISI but Pakistan itself.

Nawaz showed undue haste in going tothe Supreme Court for a probe of Mem-ogate and as former president of theSupreme Court Bar Association (SCBA)Asma Jehnagir said, got immediate reliefwithout the accused party even beingheard.

The apex court will hear the case on 17December hopefully with the conscious-ness of the implications of its verdict onthe future of Pakistan. It will be interest-ing to see the written statements of theCOAS and the ISI chief. A lot will dependon the decision.

Bruce Riedel, the US expert whohelped Obama in formulating policy to-wards Pakistan, has predicted that “thefaçade of a civilian government with verylittle power is likely to continue in Pak-istan.” According to the former CIA officialand Clinton aide, the army is installing anew military dictatorship without even re-sorting to a coup.

Nawaz Sharif in his latest statementhas said no to military rule in Pakistan,claiming that country cannot afford an-other martial law. His commitment todemocracy will come under severe test inthe days to come. Independent courts, avibrant opposition and a free media arethe biggest guarantee for a stable democ-racy. Easier said than done, under the cir-cumstances.

The writer is Editor, Pakistan Today

By Arif nizami

A flurry of palpitations…

whiteLiesby Ess Aich

Had it been a country/democracy sensi-tive to public opinion, a simple state-ment about President Zardari’s

medical condition from the otherwise publicityhappy and often combatant media managerswould have been promptly issued. In that case,we would have been spared the range of spec-ulation and sheer gossip on the subject. It allstarted last week with the breaking news thatPresident Zardari had suddenly left for Dubaifor a medical check-up. One channel even dis-pensed the information that it was a routinecheck-up, nothing serious, and he actuallywalked down the steps of the aircraft on arrivalat Dubai Airport.

This gave rise to the obvious question, aroutine check-up for which Pakistani medicalfacilities were not good enough? Now we weretold, by a speculative media, that it was nothingserious but the President wanted to combine amedical check up with meeting his childrenwho are all in Dubai. At this point son Bilawalwas spotted in Islamabad, Sindhi topi andajrak clad, calling on PM Gilani. More top up on the story followed. Ac-tually it was not the first kids but Dr Hashmi, the president’s personalphysician who was in Dubai and the latter had to be consulted about aheart condition related to a procedure carried on President Zardari inthe US (by another cardiologist) years ago. Again we were informed by“informed sources” that the President was fine but was put in the ICUso that he could be protected from visitors though the UAE princes wereallowed in, not to discuss the Shamsi Base matter we are certain.

By now, Foreign Policy magazine had jumped into the fray with thepiece of news that a White House source revealed that when President

Obama rang President Zardari to offer his condolence on the killing of24 Pakistani soldiers at a Pakistani checkpost by NATO forces, he foundthe latter quite incoherent. In fact, Obama could not understand whatAZ was saying. At this point, the talking shops and drawing room politi-cians went wild. Many seemed to know some one in the presidency whohad actually witnessed “a heart attack” or “a stroke” or “very odd be-haviour” or even better “bipolar disorder”.

Can we have the facts on this one please before it snowballs into amajor medical conspiracy with CIA, RAW and ISI thrown in as a dress-ing?

It seems that the US ambassador has come tothe conclusion which his predecessors

reached a lot earlier. That he is actually theViceroy of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.Having realised that, he is seen taking his re-sponsibilities very seriously. He was heardquite openly and perhaps a little undiplomati-cally expressing his opinion that the civilian

government in Islamabad has no authority andthat the cabinet is merely a rubber stamp forthe military establishment. Well if the viceroysays so, it must be true.

* * * * * * * * * * *

We hear that the Punjab Club elections lastweek took an interesting turn. There

were eight seats for which there were 11 candi-

dates. With the skill matched only by thosewho know how to maintain their monopoly, aconsensus was reached. A few candidates qui-etly stood down. Now there were eight candi-dates for eight seats which meant there was noactual contest. Not surprisingly, the Presidentelected happens to be a member of anothervery elitist club also known as APTMA.

For feedback, comments, suggestions and, most importantly, tips, contact us at [email protected]


Comment 13Saturday, 10 December, 2011

Bilawal has been prema-turely thrust into thefrontline politics by

two circumstances: the deathof Benazir in 2007 and thesudden illness of Zardari thisweek. The PPP’s peculiar cul-ture which requires a Bhuttoas top leader to commandeveryone’s loyalty is also re-sponsible for burdening a 23-year old novice withresponsibilities that requireskills that he has yet to de-velop and a political maturitythat he has yet to display.

Since Benazir’s depar-ture, tasks have been set forBilawal by Asif Ali Zardari. Attimes, he showed reluctanceto comply but mostly ac-cepted the role he was re-quired to play. He wasappointed the chairman ofthe PPP at the age of 19 whilehe was still an undergraduateat Oxford.

Bilawal declined to at-tend the meeting addressedby Zardari in Birmingham in2010 to introduce Bilawal.When in July this year,Zardari announced that hisson would be Lyari’s futureMNA, Bilawal was quick totweet that he did not plan tocontest in the next elections.

Two months earlier,when Hakim Ali Zardari died,Bilawal was declared by hisfather to be the next chief ofthe Zardari tribe in his place.Interestingly the dastarbandi did not take place. Wasit due to reluctance shown byBilawal who did not want tobe involved in the rigmarole?

The biggest handicap Bi-lawal suffers from is that hedid not have the opportunityto pass through a period ofapprenticeship. He had notime to reveal his strongpoints. His drawbacks are

well-known. Unlike Benazirwho had had all her pre-grad-uation education in Pakistan,Bilawal has had his entire ed-ucation abroad. While he isrequired to lead a majormainstream party, he speaksno Pakistani language andthus cannot communicatewith the masses. He has seenno local school, hospital, vil-lage or slum and thus hisknowledge of the conditionsprevailing on ground in thiscountry is second hand.

Bilawal’s public exposureis limited. As compared tohim, Rahul Gandhi, a scion ofthe Ganhi family, has gonethrough the rough and tum-ble of politics for seven years.Despite the Congress being inpower, he preferred workingat the grassroots level ratherthan aspire for a cabinet post.With Begum Bhutto as partychair person, even Benazirhad a period of hard appren-ticeship, partly spent in de-tention. Bilawal’s exposureconsists of a few close doormeetings like the one in Au-gust 2009 when he addressedsome two score party workersin Islamabad. He spoke threesentences in Anglicised Urduand then rattled off a decla-mation in English, recount-ing the sacrifices rendered byhis mother, maternal grand-father and even his fatherwho he said had spent yearsin jail as he refused to sup-port a dictator.

Bilawal has inherited arich legacy. To retain thelegacy, however, he has toprove that he really deservesit. In case of Zardari remain-ing active, Bilawal will havetime to learn the ropes. Hecan develop a first handknowledge of the realitiesfaced by Pakistanis that hehas so far only read about,and develop a better under-standing of his own party, itsallies and opponents. Thetask will be daunting in casethe ailing co-chairman was tofade out of the political sceneat this stage.

In Zardari’s absence, Bi-lawal will be called upon toresolve the internal differ-ences within the party ranks.With some of the party dissi-

dents in Sindh strongly op-posing the alliance with theMQM and threatening togherao the Provincial Assem-bly if concessions were givento it over the local bodiesissue, the PPP faces an un-precedented challenge fromits traditional stronghold.

Bilawal will have to en-sure that the party remainsunited. A highly divisive issuehe would be required to settleis the awarding of party tick-ets for the Senate electionsdue in March. As differentlobbies in the PPP wouldhave different favourites, thefinal decision will finally haveto be made by the party chair-man. Soon after, the partywill have to settle the issue ofthe candidates it has tolaunch in the next generalelections for the National As-sembly and the four provin-cial assemblies.

Bilawal will be theyoungest leader in his party.He will be surrounded byparty veterans with decadesof parliamentary experience.For a while, the Bhutto legacywill help him but after a whilehe will be judged by his abil-ity to command the party.The PPP culture requires theparty chairman to be thechief executive also. Gilaniwas asked during a PTV pro-gramme last week whether hewould be the PPP’s primeministerial candidate in thepresence of Bilawal in the2013 election. "It is up to theparty... our Chairman shouldbe the Prime Minister and Iam with him," he replied un-easily.

Or will Bilawal show thedissident streak in him andtry to change the culture? Hecould empower the party or-ganisation, bringing the deci-sion making bodies of theparty out of the shadow of thechairman. Bilawal with hislimited experience anduntested clout provides thePPP a chance to developparty institutions with a dem-ocratic working. This will bea healthy development.

The writer is a formeracademic and a politicalanalyst.

Avile premonition has followed the incumbentgovernment each day of its four years in thehalls of power. And there is really nothing it

has done to cast it away. On the contrary, much ofthe stuff strutted in the name of democracy hasbeen nothing more than bitter ‘revenge’ heapedupon an aghast people.

The trail of misadventures of the PPP-led gov-ernment can be easily traced to hell itself. Everyproject its mafia dons have dipped their fingers inhas started smelling foul. Even its ministers havebeen forced to cough up billions of ill-gotten money,yet they have continued to enjoy the comforts oftheir offices and the confidence of their leader.Wearing the albatross of the NRO, the governmentstutters from one misadventure to the nextadamant that it solely deserves the credit for the in-duction of democracy in the country and cites withunending pride the sacrifices its leaders renderedtowards the cause.

The duplicity its leaders have consistently prac-tised with regard to the armed forces and the secu-rity agencies and the webs of woeful deceit theyhave woven to weaken them defies description.Every time they have been caught in the act, theyhave taken to wearing the cloak of democracy andcrying hoax. But, while each such failed attemptadded to their frustration, it also drove them to tak-ing more desperate measures to perform their partof the NRO quid pro quo, leading Pakistan to sub-servience to the US diktat. The reason they havefailed in doing so is inherent in the manner and the

extent to which the military, the nationalsecurity institutions and the people aregenerally sensitised to the defence re-quirements of the country.

Their lesser sins apart, the May 2 in-cident near Abbottabad sparked off a trailof reactions immeasurable in its inten-sity. Immediately, there were wide-spread concerns expressed that the rulingpolitical leadership may have been in theknow of things. This doubt received cre-dence through the publication of an op-ed in a leading US paper the very next dayin the name of President Zardari and thewarm felicitations extended on the floorof the parliament by the PM on the suc-cessful completion of the get-Osama op-eration on Pakistan’s soil. The concernswith regard to blatant infringements ofthe national security and sovereigntywere completely overlooked as they werenot reflected in the initial reaction of thegovernment.

The stealth operation elicited a bitterreaction from all sections of the society.The concerns expressed centred roundthe vulnerability of our security and thepossible complicity of some of the leadersin facilitating the night assault. Pakistan’sHigh Commissioner in the UK WajidShamsul Hasan, speaking to the BBC,CNN and NDTV on May 3 and later, ac-knowledged that “the Pakistan govern-ment was in the know of certain things”

adding that “whatever happened, happened withour consent. Pakistan was not totally in the dark”.On another occasion, he said that “the Pakistan gov-ernment was throughout cooperating with Ameri-can intelligence”. The mystery was furthercompounded by the 6-hour visit of the now deposedPakistani Ambassador Haqqani to the UK. Why washe in the British capital on that eventful day andwhat were his engagements there? Who all did hemeet and what was discussed?

Fast forward to the memo that was ostensiblydictated by former Ambassador Haqqani to the USgovernment promising to incorporate wide rangingstructural and functional changes in the way themilitary and the security agencies operated in thecountry. It also outlined the contours of specific ini-tiatives that would be undertaken to make the gov-ernmental system more compliant with the USinterests and requirements. The promises encom-passed the disbanding of Section ‘S’ of the ISI andthe prospect of accepting the US boots on ground toconduct necessary operations to capture or kill mil-itants on Pakistani soil.

The allegation was immediately met by the cus-tomary rejection of the existence of the memo. Thatstance could not stick for long as the US intermedi-aries including Admiral Mullen and General Jonesacknowledged the existence of the memo which hadbeen delivered to the US authorities as carteblanche offer of unbridled cooperation in exchangefor their assured support to the incumbent govern-ment in battling the influence of the military andthe security agencies. That’s when the dots weretraced back to May 2 and the puzzle began to un-tangle. The matter was given a potentially fatal twistwhen it was taken to the Supreme Court with theplea for initiating a comprehensive and transparentenquiry. The move was berated by the PPP leader-ship as another assault on democracy.

As pressure mounted and the fingers werepointed in the direction of Mr Zardari, he needed tostrategise an escape from the incriminating falloutof the twin-debacle. Health concerns came in handyand he took off for the ‘safer’ environs of Dubai andthe (symbolic) American Hospital where, under-standably, he may be negotiating his ‘exit’ strategyin an environment ripe with rumours of a ‘soft coup’or judicial intervention. While none of his close stal-warts was willing to give a definitive date of his re-turn, interestingly, it was the US Foreign SecretaryClinton and the US Ambassador in Pakistan Munterwho confirmed that he would indeed return to Is-lamabad.

When there are doubts expressed about thecommitment of the highest national leadership, theart of politics should take a backseat. December 19is the date when the SC tackles the memo issueagain which, understandably, would chart thecourse that Pakistan is to take in battling the cancerof subservience to foreign diktat filtering through adubious leadership and a system that has been cor-rupted beyond cure.

The writer is a political analyst and a memberof the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. He can be reachedat [email protected]

A system corrupted beyond cure?is the young one up to the task?

A reluctant leader The plot thickens

Candid CornerBy raoof Hasan

By Aziz-ud-Din Ahmad



14 Foreign News

BrUSSeLS reUters

EUROPE divided on Friday in ahistoric rift over building acloser fiscal union to preservethe euro, with a large majorityof countries, led by Germany

and France, agreeing to forge aheadwith a separate treaty, leaving

Britain isolated. Twenty-three ofthe 27 leaders agreed to pursuetighter integration with stricterbudget rules for the single cur-rency area, but Britain said itcould not accept proposedamendments to the EU treatyafter failing to secure con-cessions for itself. After 10

hours of talks, all 17 mem-bers of the euro zone andsix countries that aspireto join resolved to nego-tiate a new agreementalongside the EU treatywith a tougher deficitand debt regime to in-

sulate the euro zone against the debt crisis.Sweden, Hungary and the Czech Re-

public said they needed to consult their par-liaments. “Not Europe, Brits divided. Andthey are outside of decision making. Europeis united,” Lithuanian President Dalia Gry-bauskaite said in blunt English on arrivingfor the second day of the bloc’s eighth crisissummit this year. One senior EU diplomatcalled British Prime Minister DavidCameron’s negotiating tactics “clumsy”.

Active ECB support will be vital in thecoming days with markets doubting thestrength of Europe’s financial firewalls toprotect vulnerable economies such as Italyand Spain, which have to roll over hundredsof billions of euros in debt next year.BrItaIn outsIde? Merkel and FrenchPresident Nicolas Sarkozy had wanted toget the whole EU to agree to change the Lis-bon treaty so that stricter budget and debtrules for eurozone states could be enshrinedin the bloc’s basic law.

But Britain, which is outside the eurozone, refused to back the move, saying itwanted guarantees in a protocol protectingits financial services industry, roughly one-

tenth of the country’s economy. Sarkozy de-scribed Cameron’s demand as unacceptable.

Sarkozy and Merkel said the intentionwas to forge an intergovernmental treatyamong the euro zone countries and any oth-ers that wanted to join. They indicated thatcould be up to 25 countries in all, with onlyBritain and perhaps Hungary left outsidethe tent for now.

“This is a summit that will go down inhistory,” said Sarkozy. “We would havepreferred a reform of the treaties among27. That wasn’t possible given the posi-tion of our British friends. And so it willbe through an intergovernmental treaty of17, but open to others.”

Meanwhile, British Prime MinisterDavid Cameron said Friday he took a“tough but good” decision to block achange to the EU treaty presented byFrance and Germany as the way to resolvethe eurozone debt crisis.

“Where we can’t be given safeguards, itis better to be on the outside,” Camerontold a news conference after demandstermed “unacceptable” by French PresidentNicolas Sarkozy. “It was a tough decision,

but a good one.” Amid fears Britain couldbe sidelined by his decision not to go aheadwith the closer integration signed up by 23other EU countries, Cameron said he hadinsisted that European institutions wouldcontinue to work for all 27 members.

Unable to convince his peers thatBritain should be given veto power overany changes to financial regulation thatcould affect the powerful City of London,Cameron said he would not sign up to anEU-wide treaty change.

Meanwhile, Croatia signed an EU acces-sion treaty Friday, a move paving the wayfor the former Yugoslav republic to join thebloc in mid-2013, after almost a decade oflong and often fraught negotiations.

“You are warmly welcomed in the Euro-pean family,” said EU president HermanVan Rompuy. The signing ceremony at-tended by European Union leaders was theculmination of a long-held ambition.

Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor andPresident Ivo Josipovic signed the legal pa-perwork alongside the EU’s 27 heads ofstate or government. Croatia will then takeup observer status at the EU summit.

UK isolated as Europe moves ahead on fiscal union

lieberman praiseof Russian vote‘appals’ Israel

JerUSALeMAFP

Israeli officials squirmed in embarrassmenton Friday over Foreign Minister AvigdorLieberman’s ringing endorsement ofRussia’s contested parliamentary electionsas “free and democratic.”Lieberman’s comments, which werereported by Russian news agency Itar-Tass, come as Moscow struggles with awave of protests over allegations of voterigging in last Sunday’s elections.Top world diplomats have also expressedgrave concerns over the outcome of thevote, which observers say was marred bywidespread irregularities.“Such praise is appalling and deeplyembarrassing. These remarks in no wayreflect our official position,” a seniorgovernment official said, speaking oncondition of anonymity. Such comments give “an extremely badimpression” he said, adding that theMoldovan-born former bouncer had madehis remarks “without consulting” withother Israeli officials.In a televised meeting with Russian PrimeMinister Vladimir Putin in Moscow earlierthis week, Lieberman said he had beenbriefed by a small delegation of Israeliobservers, including an MP from hisultranationalist Israel Beitenu party. “Their answer was quite clear: The electionswere absolutely fair, free and democratic.This is my opinion because I rely on ourobservers,” he was quoted as saying.

Italy tax chiefwounded in letterbomb blast

roMeAFP

The head of Italy's tax collection agencywas wounded to the hand and eye by aletter bomb on Friday, two days afterItalian anarchists claimed responsibilityfor a bomb sent to the head of DeutscheBank. Equitalia's director general MarcoCuccagna detonated the device when heopened a letter at the agency'sheadquarters in Rome and has beenhospitalised.Prosecutors said they were launching aninquiry for suspected terrorism and werelooking into a possible anarchist link.A police spokesman said that the letterbomb had arrived by regular post.Prime Minister Mario Monti issued astatement expressing "solidarity" anddefending the activity of Equitalia at atime in which his government isproposing a series of painful tax increasesand pension reforms.

DUrBAnAFP

Brazil and South Africa have joined callsfor a new global climate pact, leavingChina, the United States and India still tocome on board, Europe said Friday as theUN talks went down to the wire.

The two emerging giants rallied to aproposal supported by the EuropeanUnion, least-developed countries and vul-nerable small-island states, said EuropeanClimate Commissioner Connie Hedegaard.

“Brazil (is) also in favour, South AfricaOK for a legally binding deal,” she toldjournalists in Durban.

“That is half of BASIC, now we arewaiting for the other half,” she added, re-ferring to India and China, the first andthird largest carbon polluters in the world.

They, along with the number two emit-ter the United States, have not endorsedthe European proposal for a mandate for anew accord embracing all major carbonemitters. “Although there are these encour-aging signs, we are definitely not there yetand time in Durban is now really short,”Hedegaard said, adding that closed-doordiscussions would now pick up after break-ing off at 4.00am. (0200 GMT).

Earlier Friday, the EU said it had

formed an alliance with some 85 of theworld’s most vulnerable nations to push forthe new global pact on greenhouse gases.

“The least developed countries, the Al-liance of Small Island States (AOSIS) andthe European Union are united in their de-sire for an ambitious outcome in Durban,”the three blocs said in a joint statement.

“We believe that the world has had alot of time to think. What we need is notmore thinking. What we need is more ac-tion.” But Hedegaard cautioned that thegap in positions remained wide and did notrule out a breakdown.

“If there is no further movement from4.00am then I don’t think there will bedeal in Durban. That is what we are facedwith,” she said. The EU is calling for a newround of pledges under the Kyoto Protocol,and a “robust mandate and roadmap for alegally binding instrument.”

Going into the talks, Kyoto - the onlyinternational curb on greenhouse gases -was hanging by a thread.

Key countries had announced their re-fusal to renew carbon-cutting pledges atthe end of next year when the treaty’s firstround of cuts expires. The EU said it wouldrenew its vows, but only if major emitters- including the US and China - would com-mit to forging a new climate deal by 2015.

g block on EU treaty change ‘tough but good’ decision, says Cameron g Croatia ‘warmly welcomed’ as it signs EU accession treaty

South Africa, Braziljoin climate alliance

DURbAN: An activist protests on Friday, as UN climate talks entered their second

week entangled in a thick mesh of issues with no guarantee that negotiators and

their ministers will be able to sort them out. AfP

g US, China, India yet to endorse proposal for a mandatefor a new accord embracing all major carbon emitters

nICoSIAAFP

Thousands of regime forces and loyalistmilitias have encircled the Syrian city ofHoms, poised to launch what may be afinal assault to crush dissent, the oppo-sition warned on Friday.

The Syrian National Council saidin a statement that President Basharal-Assad’s regime was using the pre-text of what it called a “terrorist” at-tack on an oil pipeline to overrun thecentral protest hub. “The regime (is)paving the way to commit a massacrein order to extinguish the revolutionin Homs,” said the SNC, the principleumbrella organisation drawing to-gether opponents of Assad’s regime.

Syrians meanwhile, took to thestreets of Homs despite an oppositionwarning of a “massacre” by thousandsof regime forces and militias who en-circled the protest hub for a final as-sault to crush dissent. Local rights

groups reported later that forces killed atleast six people, including two children,when they fired randomly on protestersin Homs, one of many areas where peo-

ple rallied after the main weekly Muslimprayers. Pro-democracy activists hadcalled on citizens to take to the streetsacross the troubled country in support

of a “dignity strike... which will lead tothe sudden death of this tyrant regime.”

Homs, an important junction city of1.6 million residents mainly dividedalong confessional lines, is a tinderboxof sectarian tensions that the SNC saidthe regime was trying to exploit.

“The regime also took a significantstep... in burning oil pipelines in theneighborhood of Baba Amr to blamewhat the regime calls ‘armed gangs; inan attempt to crush the peaceful upris-ing on the pretext of a war on terrorism.”

Witnesses on the ground in the cityhave reported a buildup of troops andpro-regime “Shabiha” militiamenbacked by armoured vehicles who haveset up more than 60 checkpoints, saidthe SNC. “These are all signs of a secu-rity crackdown operation that mayreach the level of a total invasion of thecity,” it said in the statement.

“We warn of the consequences ofcommitting such a crime that could re-sult in a massive number of casualties.”

Syrian forces poised for assault on homs: SNCg Protesters rally despite warnings of a ‘massacre’ by regime forces

ANKARA: Turkey is taking new economic measures against the Syrianleadership and will suspend a free trade agreement already frozen by Damascusin retaliation for sanctions by Turkey, a minister said on Friday. “We havesubmitted to (cabinet’s) signature a decree drafted by the economy ministrysuspending (the) free trade agreement with Syria,” Customs and Trade MinisterHayati Yazici said. Damascus had announced it had suspended the free tradepact with Ankara after Turkey followed the Arab League by announcing a raft ofpunitive measures targeting President Bashar al-Assad’s regime. Ankara is alsoplanning entirely to bypass Syria as a transit route for regional trade withMiddle Eastern countries. Turkey cannot stand by and watch if Syria’scrackdown on a popular uprising puts security in the region at risk, ForeignMinister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Friday. While Ankara has no desire tointerfere in Syria’s internal affairs, it has a duty to tell Damascus “Enough!” if itputs Turkey’s security at risk by fighting its own people and forcing people toflee the country, he said. Turkey, which has become increasingly critical of itsone-time ally, fears an all-out civil war based on sectarian lines in Syria couldspill across its borders and spark tensions among Turkey’s own people. AgenCies

turkey-Syria relations worsen


Foreign News 15Saturday, 10 December, 2011

KolKATA: A fire fighter evacuates a patient from a hospital after it caught fire on Friday, killing at least 89 people. REUTERS

‘US drone penetrated 250km into Iran’

virginia Techshudders afternew shooting

WASHIngtonAFP

Virginia Tech was in shock Fridayafter a school police officer andanother person were shot dead in achaotic scene on the campus wherethe deadliest school shooting in UShistory unfolded in 2007.Police refused to confirm reportsthat the second fatality might havebeen the shooter himself, as the31,000-student university lifted anafternoon-long lockdown anddeclared there was no longer an“active threat” late Thursday.But when asked if the gunman wasat large, Virginia State Policespokesman Bob Carpentiericryptically told reporters:“Investigators feel confident thatthey have located the person.”Slain police officer Deriek Crouse,39, a four-year veteran of VirginiaTech’s own security force, was shotand killed during a noon-hour“routine traffic stop” in a parking lotnear a sports facility. “Tragedy againstruck Virginia Tech in a wanton actof violence where our police officer,Deriek Crouse, was murdered duringa routine traffic stop.”Virginia Tech was the scene of thedeadliest shooting incident by asingle gunman in US history in April2007, when an English major,Seung-Hui Cho, 23, killed 32 peoplebefore taking his own life. Twenty-five others were wounded.

Gazan killed,20 injured inIsraeli strike

gAZA CItYAFP

A Gaza civilian was killed and at least20 others wounded, among themseven children, when an Israeli airstrike hit a home next to a militanttraining ground, medics said Friday.The raid destroyed a home in easternGaza City, killing Bahjat al-Zaalan,37, and injuring many of his familymembers, more than half of themchildren, emergency servicesspokesman Adham Abu Selmiya said.The strike, which targeted a Hamasmilitant training ground nearby,caused the house to collapse, andseveral other houses nearby werealso partly destroyed or burned.The Israeli military issued a laconicstatement confirming it carried outtwo overnight raids on “terroractivity sites,” one of which was innorthern Gaza, but made nomention of the civilian casualties.

lebanon blasthurts 5 French UNtroops, 1 civilian

tYreAFP

A powerful roadside bomb struck aUN peacekeeping patrol in theLebanese coastal town of Tyre onFriday, wounding five Frenchsoldiers and a civilian, a securityofficial said. The official, whorequested anonymity, said the bombwas hidden under dirt on the side ofthe road and was detonated as thesoldiers were driving by in a Jeep atan intersection in the eastern part ofthe southern town. Two of thewounded soldiers were taken tohospital while the three others - awoman and two men - were seenstanding by their badly damagedvehicle with bandages on theirheads. One of them had a bloodiedface. It was unclear how badlyinjured the Lebanese civilian was.

teHrAn / tokYoAgenCies

THE US drone which Iransaid it shot down pene-trated 250 kilometres in-side the Islamic republic’sairspace, state television’s

website reported on Friday.In a letter of protest to the United

Nations, the government said “theAmerican RQ-170 spy plane violated250 kilometres inside Iranian airspacebefore confronting the reaction of Iran’sarmed forces,” the website reported.

“Provocative and secret actions bythe American government against theIslamic republic in recent months” havebeen on the increase, it charged.

It said Tehran had lodged “a strongprotest against this violation of interna-tional rules by the US government” andwarned against any “repetition of suchactions.”

Iran called for the United Nations tocondemn “this violation,” in the letteraddressed to the UN secretary generalas well as the presidents of the SecurityCouncil and General Assembly.

State television also aired footage ofwhat it said was the captured drone,showing what appeared to be an RQ-170Sentinel aircraft with little visible dam-age. The Pentagon said American ex-perts were analysing the footage.

The footage showed a cream-col-

ored aircraft being examined by twocommanders of Tehran’s elite Revolu-tionary Guard Corps, who are in chargeof the country’s air defences.

Aerospace unit Brigadier GeneralAmir-Ali Hajizadeh said the drone hadbeen captured through a cyber attack.

The RQ-170 Sentinel is a high-alti-tude stealth reconnaissance dronemade by Lockheed Martin whose exis-tence was exposed in 2009 by spe-cialised reviews and later confirmed bythe US Air Force in 2010.

Iranian media said on December 4that the unmanned aerial vehicle wasshot down after making an incursioninto the airspace of eastern Iran, whichborders Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Meanwhile, Japan on Friday de-cided to extend its sanctions on Iranafter similar moves by other nations tobeef up international measures againstTehran’s nuclear programme.

The cabinet said it would increasethe number of Iranian people and or-ganisations subject to Japanese sanc-

tions, said Economy, Trade and Indus-try Minister Yukio Edano.

The government added 106 organi-sations, one individual and three Iran-ian banks to its sanction list, bringingthe total number to 267 organisations,66 individuals and 20 banks.

The move will not add to restric-tions on imports of crude oil from theIslamic republic, the fourth-biggest oilsupplier to resource-poor Japan.

European Union leaders will call formore sanctions against Iran at a summitin Brussels on Friday, in an effort toratchet up pressure on Tehran over itsnuclear programme, draft conclusionsof an EU summit showed.

They are not likely make an explicitcall yet for an embargo on Iranian crudeoil, which EU diplomats have began dis-cussing this month as a way tostrengthen Europe’s response tomounting Western concerns that theOPEC producer has worked to design anuclear weapon.

An EU diplomat with knowledge ofconclusions prepared for the summit ofEU heads of state in Brussels on Thurs-day and Friday, said governments willreiterate plans to develop new sanctionsin the coming weeks.

EU leaders will call for preparationsof sanctions to take place as “a matter ofpriority” and for them to be adopted bythe next meeting of EU foreign minis-ters in January, the diplomat said.

IRAN: A grab taken from the Iranian state-run Press Tv shows what Iranian officials claim

is the US Rq-170 Sentinel high-altitude reconnaissance drone that crashed in Iran,

displayed at an undisclosed location. AfP

g Japan extends sanctions against Iran, while EU leaders to call for more

MoSCoWAFP

Tens of thousands of Rus-sians prepared Friday tohold their biggest protest yetover a contested electionthat has sent Moscow’s rela-tions with Washington spi-ralling to a three-year low.

Saturday’s rally inMoscow - sanctioned by thepolice after days of talks withthe opposition - is expectedto draw around 30,000 peo-

ple to a square across theriver from the Kremlin fol-lowing last weekend’s legisla-tive polls.

But the opposition is alsoorganising rallies in at least13 other major cities in a rareoutpouring of mistrust in asystem put in place by PrimeMinister Vladimir Putinwhen he first became presi-dent in 2000.

Sunday’s vote was nar-rowly won by Putin’s rulingparty but accompanied by a

flood of video footage shot byordinary Russians andposted on the Internet ap-pearing to show ballot stuff-ing and other widespreadmanipulation.

The protests that fol-lowed have posed a surprisechallenge to Putin and sawthe Russian strongman onThursday launch a laceratingattack on US Secretary ofState Hillary Clinton for herexpressions of concern.

City authorities have al-

lowed up to 30,000 people togather on a square facing theKremlin across the MoscowRiver after capping capacityto 300 at the original site re-quested by the opposition.

But some protest organis-ers have vowed to show up atthe first location and thenstage a march through cen-tral Moscow - a threat thatdrew an immediate warningfrom Russia’s interior minis-ter.

“Any attempts to stage

unsanctioned events and toimpede order will bethwarted by interior ministrypersonnel in accordance withthe law,” said Interior Minis-ter Rashid Nurgaliyev.

Around 1,600 peoplehave already been arrested inthree days of protests inMoscow and Putin’s nativecity of Saint Petersburg - acultural capital with a tradi-tion of opposition thoughtgoing back to pre-Soviettimes.

Moscow braces for record anti-Putin rally


MUMbAi: Rumour has it Ash has already signed a couple of films.Motherhood spells doom for any woman; not for Mrs bachchansupposedly. Just weeks after giving birth to a baby girl, the 38year old beauty is already tired of resting at home. So, whenher director friend, Sanjay leela bhansali paid her a visit todiscuss a movie, Ash was overwhelmed with joy and sheimmediately agreed to start working on a film with him.Sources reveal that the yummy mummy has one otherproject in the works, namely, Raj Kumar Santoshi’s ‘ladiesand Gentlemen’ co-starring with her better half, Abhishekbachchan. If rumours are to be believed then Ash is alreadyin a fit to shed her pregnancy weight and look her best inher upcoming movies. We aren’t surprised at all that thelady is ready to get back to business already. Afterall, she didn’t let marriage (which often spellsdoom for any actress’ career) stop her frombeing one of he highest paid actresses inbollywood. Just a few months after hermarriage she started working on herHollywood Project ‘Pink Panther 2’ and‘Enthiran/Robot’; the latter went on tobecome an enormous hit at the box office.2010 became a whirlwind year for the formerMiss World with back-to-back releases: ManiRatnam’s ‘Raavan,’ Sci Film ‘Enthiran/ Robot,’ theAkshay Kumar starrer ‘Action Replayy’ and finallythe critically acclaimed film ‘Guzaarish,’ in whichshe played a nurse to a quadriplegic, EthanMascarenhas (Hrithik Roshan). AgenCies


A NIGHT OF FIRSTS

Kareena

by Vidya’s role in‘The Dirty Picture’

inspiredLos AngeLes: Anupam Kher has justconcluded a five-week shooting stint inPhiladelphia. It is perhaps the mostsignificant role for any Indian actor in amainline Hollywood production, ‘The Silverlinings Playbook’. A Weinstein companyproduction directed by David oRussell (who also helmed TheFighter), the film is about a teacher- played by bradley Cooper - whoafter having spent four years in amental institution, now returns tosociety. Kher plays his Indian-origintherapist. And the legendary RobertDe Niro, with whom Kher sharesscreen space, plays Cooper’sfather. The film is slatedfor a 2012 release.Kher says that towork with De Niro,whom he idolises,has been hisdream fordecades. “Ialways believethat dreamscome trueand this filmreaffirms my

faith,” says the veteran actor. According toKher, the five weeks have been one of themost challenging and satisfying times in his26-year long career. “I have learnt a lotabout the professional approach Hollywood

brings to a project. I was impressedwith the dignity of labour they

all display,” says Kher. He sayshe was totally absorbed andwould shut himself for hoursfrom the outside world toconcentrate on his role. DeNiro and Cooper personallygifted autographed posters for

Kher’s acting school, and DeNiro had a message for

aspiring actors too.“He said that oneshould stayfocused andenjoy acting;and if one didbecome a starin theprocess, itwas abonus,”

says Kher.AgenCies

Motherhoodhas not stopped Ash from signing new films

Anupam Kher’s tryst with De Niro

LoS AngeLeSAFP

AN independent US filmmakerhas made what is believed tobe the first feature-lengthmovie shot with a smart-phone, to be released next

week — with actress Gena Rowlands in thestarring role. ‘Olive’, is about “a little girlwho transforms the lives of three peoplewithout speaking one word,” and wasfilmed using only a Nokia N8 cellphone,with a high-resolution camera adapted witha 35 mm lens to give added depth of field.

“Technology is moving so quickly andcellphones are really going to be the thingthat does everything eventually,” directorHooman Khalili told AFP in an interviewahead of the US theater release of his movieon December 16. “They already do so much,and in January 2010 I came up with thisidea and I saw there was nothing out therethat existed,” added the 37-year-old, whobegan pre-production of the movie last year.

The first five minutes of ‘Olive’, view-able at www.olivethemovie.com, have al-ready set tongues wagging in Hollywood,where the movie industry is gearing up forits annual awards season. Set for release inLos Angeles next week, the movie is eligibleto be nominated for the Oscars in February.

In pictures posted on the Flickr photo-sharing website, the filmmaker, who alsohosts a radio show in San Francisco, holdsa cellphone taped to the 35 mm lens andmounted on a tripod, with a viewfindersticking out one side. “This is ground-breaking technology. You know someone isgonna be first, and there’s something spe-cial about being first. And yeah, our lensmight be big and clunky, but this is howfirst generations of new technology are.And the second and the third generationbecome slicker and better,” he said.

The movie cost less than $500,000 —

a fraction of a typical Hollywood budget —and is financed by Chris Kelly, an executivewith social network giant Facebook, andWilliam O’Keeffe, a San Francisco-basedphilanthropist. Strangely, Finnish cell-phone giant Nokia has had no particularinput into the film. “They sent me aphone,” said Khalili, adding: “After Marchof 2011 I never heard from Nokia again,they disappeared.” Technology aside, thefilm boasts the involvement of the two-time Oscar-nominated 81-year-old actressRowlands. “We sent her the script, and shesaid to me: ‘I read six scripts a week and Imaybe do one movie a year. This script isso good, (but) I need you to convince me todo this movie,” Khalili said.

“We knew that it doesn’t matter howamazing the technology is. If the story isn’tgood, nobody is going to watch it,” saidKhalili, who worked with co-directorPatrick Gilles. “I thought, how great wouldit be to have a central character thatdoesn’t speak but you understand every-thing she is trying to communicate,” saidthe filmmaker. That inspired the story of a10-year-old girl who “transforms” the livesof three characters: an old, bitter woman— played by Rowlands — an obese manand a foreigner adjusting to life in theUnited States. “Every single one of us atone time of our lives is down in a ditch...The way you get out of that ditch is by hav-ing someone reach you with their hand andpull you out,” said Khalili.

The film will be screened from nextFriday, for a week, at the Laemmle’s Fall-brook 7 movie theater in West Hills,northwest of Los Angeles. Khalili saidthey are hoping to raise the $300,000needed — via the micro-financing websiteKickstarter — to show the film on 100screens before Christmas. So far they have$30,000, but they hope publicity will helpgenerate the extra income. “We need a lit-tle bit of a miracle,” Khalili said.

US director makes first

smartphone movie

hrithik to turn AssociateDirector with ‘Krrish 3’

mumBaI: Due to his back injury and ongoing treatment HrithikRoshan is not acting in the first schedule of ‘Krrish 3’. After this

schedule that features his co-stars Vivek Oberoi, PriyankaChopra and Kangana Ranaut gets over, he will be joiningthem to reprise his role as ‘Krrish’. A complete workaholicHrithik preferred to be behind in the camera instead of tak-ing a break. He co-directed few shots and actively got in-volved in the creative decisions. Hrithik has previously

assisted his father in ‘Koyla’ (1997) and ‘Karan Arjun’(1995). He is currently recovering from his back injury and a

physiotherapist and nutritionist are helping him recover faster. ‘Kr-rish’ is one of the most widely speculated films for 2012 which willalso release in 3D. The film has been in news for the casting ofthe female mutant who plays antagonist Vivek Oberoi’s love in-terest. Kangana Ranaut will be finally playing the role. AgenCies

CAlIFoRNIA: Actress and musician Rainey qualley

is presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press

Association as Miss Golden Globe 2012 for the 69th

Annual Golden Globe Awards at “A Night of Firsts’.

Genesis Rodriguez

from 'Man on a Ledge'

Ashley Bell from

'The Last Exorcism 2'

Fergie from

'Black Eyed Peas'

Jamie Chung from

'The Hangover 2'


MUMBAIAgenCies

After ‘RA.One’, Shah Rukh Khan-starrer‘Don 2: The King is Back’ is set to beturned into a video game and directorFarhan Akhtar says this would allowfans a personal dose of action and ad-venture. “I felt that this could be an in-teresting yet fun way to let people havetheir personal dose of action and adven-

ture,” Farhan said in a statement.Farhan and Ritesh Sidhwani’s Excel

Entertainment has collaborated withGameshastra, one of the largest gameservice companies in the country, tolaunch a console game. The firm is de-veloping a third-person action adventureconsole game where a players gets toplay Shah Rukh and does actions similarto those done by Don in the movie. Therewill also be a social game called ‘Don -

The Social Mobsters Game’, which willbe launched on the Facebook and isbeing developed by Mango Games.

The game will be available onAndroid, iOS, and PSN for PS3platforms. While the game on Androidand iOS will be released along with themovie, the console version of the gamewill be released in March next year.“This is the first time a game is based onan Indian film that will be launched onfour platforms. When I saw the creativeof the game, I was very excited becausethe visuals were as real as the charactersin the film. For an iconic character likeDon, I think this was the best way tokeep the hysteria going amongst hisfans,” said Ritesh Sidhwani, producerof ‘Don 2’. Mohan Raju, director andfounder of Gameshastra, said: “We areproud to be associated with Excel andtheir ‘Don’ franchise and the successof this title will mark the beginning ofmany more joint endeavours withmajor studios in India.”

MUMbAi: Kareena Kapoor has alwaysbeen respected for her dedication toher work and it appears Kareena isturning to The Dirty Picture forinspiration. Kareena was spotted at aspecial screening for the film and its isrumored that bebo was so zapped byvidya’s performance that she has givenpermission for Madhur bhandarkar togo all out for her new film Heroine. Itis believed that Heroine follows similarlines of The Dirty Picture chroniclingthe rise and fall of bollywood actress.A source close to the productionrevealed that there had been somescenes earlier that the actress had feltuncomfortable about but since seeingvidya’s dare-bare performance, she hasnow given the go ahead for all suchsequences to be filmed. The sourcegoes on to say “She doesn’t want tohold back. Initially her approach wasquite mellow, but after watching vidya,she feels the need to do better.” Afternews spread of Kareena’sobservations of vidya’s performanceand source from Kapoor’s team told aleading news paper that it is notbebo’s intention to copy vidya inanyway but simply to admire hercritically aclaimed performance and to

gain some inspiration for herself. TheDirty Picture is currently in cinemas

while Kareena is currently filmingfor Heroine which is expected torelease in 2012. AgenCies

Los AngeLes: lady Gaga says she feels like agypsy at heart and does not fear beinghomeless. The singer, who is yet to buyher own home, admitted she is still“homeless” because she thinks itwould be a “waste of money” tosplash out on a property when shespends most of her time on tour,reports contactmusic.com. “I’m agypsy, you know. I can’t plan my lifeout like that so much. Then I thinkwell, gosh what a waste of money tobuy a place and I`m on the road,”Gaga said on ‘The Ellen DeGeneresShow’. “Even though it might notseem like a big deal because I`ma pop singer or whatever, it stillhurts to hand over that much.It`s a lot of money,” she added.

AgenCies

Tom Cruise to reprise his famous

17

I’m aloS ANGElES:Tom Cruise hasrevealed that hemight bereprising hisrole of lt. Pete‘Maverick’Mitchell in apossible sequel

says Lady Gaga

‘Top Gun’ roleto ‘Top Gun’ after 24 years. According to MTv News,the 49-year-old actor said that he and the film’sdirector Tony Scott were “working on” getting a ‘TopGun 2’ off the ground. last year Scott had confirmedthat he would direct the sequel. Cruise said that hehas been eager to make another film with the 67-year-old director for some time now. “I said to Tony I wantto make another movie with him,” the Daily Mailquoted the actor. “He and I haven’t made a filmsince Days of Thunder [in 1990]. We neverthought that we would do it again. Then, theystarted to come to us with these ideas ofwhere it is now. I thought, ‘Wow, what wecould do now’” he stated. The ‘Mission:Impossible’ star said that the sequel willpertain the same style of original box officehit. “I hope we can figure this out to go do itagain,” the actor said. “If we can find a storythat we all want to do, we all want to makea film that is in the same kind of tone asthe other one and shoot it in the sameway as we shot ‘Top Gun’,” he added.The mega-successful 1986 originallaunched Cruise onto Hollywood’sA-list and earned 350 milliondollars worldwide. AgenCies

LonDonAFP

Aposthumous album by Amy Wine-house, a rough and ready assort-ment of alternative versions of hits,unreleased tracks and covers, hasbeen hailed as a poignant snapshot

of the singer's troubled life. Critics said that ‘Li-oness: Hidden Treasures’ perfectly reflects thechaotic final years of the artist, whose death inJuly aged 27 after years of drug and alcohol abuseshocked the music world. “The random scrappi-ness of this collection of alternative takes, coversand sketchy new material is made poignant by thecontext in which it has been released,” wrote criticHelen Brown in the Daily Telegraph. “And as withthat exposed and emotional pavement collage ofbottles, candles, ashtrays, scrawled notes and bat-tered guitars. It lays bare what made her bothsuch a unique and such a troubled artist.” Herfans appear to agree, almost 100,000 copies havebeen sold since its release Monday in Britain andthe album is set to roar to number one at theweekend, according to the Official Charts Com-pany. But, as so often with posthumous recordshastily thrown together, there were questionsabout its quality -- and whether Winehouse her-self would have approved of releasing tracks shehad decided to leave on the editing room floor.“There are early recordings that would probablynever have seen the light of day had the artistlived,” wrote the Guardian daily's Alexis Petridisabout the album which comprises 12 tracksrecorded between 2002 and March this year. “Forsomeone who was seemingly cursed with fatallylousy judgement in most areas of her life, Wine-house was remarkably prudent when it came to

the matter of releasing records.” Winehouse's sec-ond album, ‘Back to Black’ released in 2006, pro-pelled her to international stardom and becameBritain's biggest-selling album of the 21st cen-tury following her death, although it has justbeen overtaken by Adele's ‘21’. Petridis sin-gled out a cover of ‘The Girl FromIpanema’, and asked what Winehousewould have made of the wider world beingexposed to a “ho-hum version” of the bossanova classic. Nevertheless, the critic concededthat the record did offer an invaluable insightinto the life of the artist, who an inquestfound was five times over the Britishdrink-drive limit at the time of her deathat her London home. “The shift in hervocals from the careful enunciation ofher early material to the smeared,ragged voice on her later recordings ispretty striking,” he wrote.Most strik-ing for many fans will be the hints atWinehouse's often anguished per-sonal life, such as on the second track‘Between the cheats’. “I would die be-fore I divorce ya I'd take a thousandthumps for my love,” she sings in thetrack recorded in 2008, a year afterher marriage to Blake Fielder-Civil.The pair had a violent relationship anddivorced in 2009. The album saves themost poignant, heart-wrenching trackfor last. Winehouse laments in an-guished tones a relationship that brokedown, and appears all too aware thatshe may not have much time left. “Andwhen my life is over, remember, re-member, when we were together and Iwas singing this song for you,” she sings.

Posthumous Winehouse album

‘reflects chaotic life’

Video game to be based on

is Jackie shroff gay?MUMBAIAgenCies

He started hiscareer with‘Hero’ and did anumber of rolesthat weremacho, mostlygun-toting cops,street-smarttaporis andtough guys who occasionally did cry.Over the years Jackie Shroff’s presenceon the big screen waned, and he waslast seen playing a godman in a sort-of-biopic. We heard stories of his battlewith the bottle, his whimsical nature inhis small screen appearances andvarious theories on why he wore hishead covered in a colourful bandannaall the time. Now comes a shocker –Jackie Shroff, all-male, studsy, girl-magnet, et al, told a website that he isgay. The site claims that the actor waschatting casually with a coterie ofjournalists and told them that heprefers men, “a natural feeling”, hesaid, which developed fairly recently; allthrough the 80s and 90s he wasattracted to women, but that has nowchanged, it is reported. Jackieapparently wept as he insisted he wouldbe moving abroad without his family, tosomewhere that his sexual orientationwould be respected as he did not havefaith in the Indian society and its way ofdealing with homosexuals.The actor married longtime girlfriendAyesha Dutt in 1987. The couple havetwo children. Interestingly, Jackie’s sonTiger will soon be launched inBollywood by Aamir Khan. We wait tohear Jackie’s official statement on thisissue and to find out whether thewebsite is next heard of in court.

Chris Cofer

from 'Glee'

Ariel Winter from

'Modern Family'

Peter Facinelli from

'Breaking Dawn'


firSt teSt, dAy one

Page 22


Panesar gets Englandrecall for Pakistan series

CHIttAgongAFP

MOHAMMAD Hafeezand Taufeeq Umarcracked unbeatenhalf-centuries to putPakistan in command

after Bangladesh crashed to 135 on theopening day of the first Test on Friday.Pakistan made a strong reply to reach132 for no loss in their first innings atstumps, with Hafeez hitting nine foursin his 74 not out and Umar sevenboundaries in his unbeaten 53.

Umar gave a chance in the last overof the day bowled by left-arm spinnerShakib Al Hasan, but Shahadat Hossainfailed to hold on to the ball at mid-on.

Left-arm spinner Abdur Rehmanearlier finished with 3-9 and off-spinnerSaeed Ajmal with 3-40 as Bangladeshwere dismissed in just 51.2 overs afterbeing put in to bat in Chittagong. Pace-men Aizaz Cheema and Umar Gul alsogave a good account of themsleves asthey wrecked the hosts’ top order beforefinishing with two wickets each.

“When we sent Bangladesh into batafter winning the toss, we had a plan tobowl them out at as low a score as pos-sible,” said Rehman. “In the morning,the captain and the coach told us to

maintain a good line and length and atthe end of the day we got the result.”Bangladesh also had their shot-selectionto blame for their dismal batting displayagainst Pakistan’s pace-spin combina-

tion as they kept losing wickets at regu-lar intervals. Lower-order batsmanNasir Hossain top-scored with 41 withthe help of one six and seven fours be-fore being the last man out. Debutantopener Mohammed Nazimuddin alsooffered some resistance as he battedmore than a session for his 79-ball 31with the help of five fours before he wascaught by Hafeez in the slips off Gul.Mohammad Mahmudullah (18) was theother batsman to reach double-figures.

“We didn’t play the best cricket. It’svery disappointing as our batsmen gaveaway their wickets cheaply,” saidBangladesh coach Stuart Law. “It’s notthe lack of skill as we have got very tal-ented players, but it might be a kind ofmental block. I really can’t explain it. Thewicket was not bad to bat on.”

Pakistan, playing their first Test inBangladesh in almost a decade, put thehosts in deep trouble in the morningwhen they took five wickets for 47 runsin the opening 23 overs. Cheema rockedBangladesh with two quick wicketswhile Gul, Ajmal and Rehman each tookone wicket after the tourists had wonthe toss and elected to field.

Pakistan skipper Misbah-ul-Haqopened the attack with off-spinnerHafeez, but had to rely on his fast bowlersto jolt the hosts on an easy-paced track.

Hafeez, Taufeeqput Pakistan on top

bAngLADesH 1st innings:

tamim iqbal c Akmal b Cheema 9

Mohammed nazimuddin c Hafeez b gul 31

shahriar nafees c Younis b Cheema 0

Mohammad Ashraful c Akmal b gul 1

Mushfiqur rahim lbw b Ajmal 4

shakib Al Hasan c Hafeez b rehman 8

Mohammad Mahmudullah lbw b Ajmal 18

nasir Hossain c Azhar b rehman 41

elias sunny c Younis b Ajmal 2

shahadat Hossain b rehman 8

rubel Hossain not out 3

extrAs (lb9, nb1) 10

totAL (for all out; 51.2 overs) 135

Fall of wickets: 1-17 (tamim), 2-19 (nafees), 3-20 (Ashraful),

4-28 (rahim), 5-47 (shakib), 6-71 (nazimuddin), 7-81

(Mahmudullah), 8-97 (sunny), 9-118 (shahadat), 10-135

(nasir).

boWLing: Hafeez 3-1-9-0, gul 13-5-33-2 (nb1), Cheema 11-

4-35-2, Ajmal 18-5-40-3, rehman 6.2-2-9-3.

PAkistAn 1st innings:

Mohammad Hafeez not out 74

taufeeq Umar not out 53

extrAs (lb3, nb2) 5

totAL (for no loss; 38 overs) 132

boWLing: shahadat 4-1-21-0 (nb1), rubel 6-0-25-0 (nb1),

Mahmudullah 12-3-46-0, shakib 6-2-19-0, sunny 9-2-17-0,

nasir 1-0-1-0.

toss: Pakistan

UMPires: billy Doctrove (Wis) and shavir tarapore (inD)

tV UMPire: enamul Haque (bAn)

MAtCH reFeree: Javagal srinath (inD)

sCoreboArD

CHITTAGoNG: Undefeated openers Taufeeq Umar (R) and Mohammad Hafeez (l) leave the field at stumps. AfP

POWERED thus far by a seem-ingly insatiable consumer and abuoyant economy, Indian cricket

might just be headed for a little bit ofturbulence. Television ratings are down,stadiums aren't as full as before, the so-cial media are giving voice to unrest at

the way the game is being offered, andtelevision companies are cutting costs.The cricket world must hope that all willbe well again soon, and that possessinga ticket to a big game will again be seenas a status symbol.

To be fair there is no challenger tocricket in sight, not yet, but this wassupposed to be the bumper year for fansand television networks. In the space of12 months, India were to host the WorldCup, the IPL, travel to England and fi-nally to Australia. Outside of India vPakistan, those are the four biggestevents in Indian cricket. But if it didn'tturn out to be the year it was meant tobe, it was because, apart from all those,fans also had the Champions League,two series against West Indies, and a setof one-day games against England.There was biryani on offer but there was

too much of it.Meanwhile football grows in popu-

larity every day, and while the numbersaren't challenging cricket yet, they arenotching up impressive growth. Formula1 was accepted with great excitementand there is a hockey league in thepipeline that deserves to be successful -if not for anything else, to remind arro-gant officials that an alternative exists.Marketers, though, are looking beyond,at what engages today's youth, and socialmedia and music are emerging as prettylikeable pastimes. Cricket cannot exist,and proclaim itself to be unchallenged,in the narrow definition of sport; it mustreign in the wider world of entertain-ment. The Economic Times this weekdid a lead feature on alternatives tocricket; at lower price points, it seemsmarketers are willing to buy into them.

This is not meant to be an obituary,just a wake-up call. A reminder thatseemingly unchallenged product cate-gories and brands can suddenly bethreatened. Kodachrome is gone, Nokiahas been to the brink, and AmericanAirlines is threatened. The euro is beinglooked at anew, countries are mullingtheir existences, and the 140-characterstatement is rampant. The owners ofcricket need to be vigilant too, need toconstantly review their product offeringfor relevance and quantity. And beready for the inevitable dip in viewer-ship once Sachin Tendulkar retires.

It means the game needs to be mar-keted in India. Only the IPL did that inrecent times, reaching out to people andoffering an entertainment package. TheBCCI needs to be aware that coming tostadiums is currently a cumbersome

process for spectators, and televisioncompanies will have to be careful to seethat the telecasts they produce are thebest possible. We sat on concrete stepsonce, five sitting where three weremeant to, and didn't complain. Theyounger generation, the current custodi-ans of the game, aren't going to be as pa-tient. And they shouldn't have to be.

Already the Test championship isgone, not because the ICC is insensitivebut because it didn't justify the rightsamount attached to it. It was a shootoutwith a one-day tournament and the Testchampionship lost. It is unlikely the nextset of ICC rights will attract the kind ofnumbers that exist now, and the latesttelevision rights to cricket in Indiashowed no increase over the earlier set.It has implications for the developmentof the game in other parts of the world.

Indian cricket headed for a little bit of turbulence

exPert CoMMent

HARSHA bHoGlE

Hafeez firstPakistanispinner toopen bowling

Bangladesh were dismissed for theirthird lowest total against Pakistan (135in 51.2 overs) on the opening day of thefirst Test match at Zahur Ahmed Chow-dury Stadium. Bangladesh's lowest against Pakistan is96 in 33.5 overs at Peshawar in 2003-04 while 134 in 41.1 overs at Multan in2001-02 is their second lowest.n Mohammad Hafeez became the

first spinner in 42 years, and thefirst ever from Pakistan, to bowlthe opening over of a Test. Themove was sound, given MohammedHafeez had dismissed Tamim Iqbalfor two ducks in the one dayers.Misbah’s decision to bowl came afew hours after Australia had sentNew Zealand in to bat at BelleriveOval, Hobart, the first time in sixyears that they chose to field afterwinning the toss. The last spinnerto open the bowling in a Testmatch was India's MotganhalliJaisimha. The off break bowleropened the bowling in the Testmatch against New Zealand at Hy-derabad in 1969-70.

n Shahriar Nafees received his thirdduck in 39 innings of 20 Testmatches. It was first duck in the firstinnings against Pakistan in Tests.

n The 132-run undefeated stand be-tween Mohammed Hafeez andTaufeeq Umar is the best openingstand for Pakistan againstBangladesh and third best overall.The 100-run partnership betweenShabad Kabir and Taufeeq Umar atDhaka in 2001-02 was the previousbest opening stand in Bangladesh forPakistan. This was the fourth centurystand between Mohammed Hafeezand Taufeeq Umar in 25 innings.

n Shakib Al Hasan became the ninthBangladeshi player to appear in 25or more Test matches. The left handmiddle order batsman and slow left-arm orthodox bowler from Magura,Jessore, who made his debut againstIndia at Chittagong on May 18,2007, took four years and 206 daysto reach this landmark.

S. PerveZ QAISer

stats corner

bAngLADesH’s LoWest totALs

AgAinst PAkistAn in tests

sCore VenUe seAson

96 IN 33.5 PESHAWAR 2003-04

134 IN 41.1 MUlTAN 2001-02

135 IN 51.2 CHITTAGoNG 2011-12

148 IN 56.4 CHITTAGoNG 2001-02

148 IN 41.1 MUlTAN 2001-02

Pakistanunlikely to getnew coachbefore next year

kArACHIAgenCies

Pakistan’s cricket team is unlikely to geta new coach before the Test and ODI se-ries against England in the United ArabEmirates next year in January. Insiders in the board also said while DavWhatmore was a leading candidate totake over as head coach of the team,there were still some other candidates inthe run who had not been identified. “It seems unlikely that the PCB will ap-point the new coaching staff before theseries against England. Since the com-mittee appointed to shortlist, interviewand recommend the final list of coachesfor appointment has yet to complete itswork,” one well-informed source said. The source expressed surprise over a re-cent statement from one of the commit-tee members, Colonel Naushad Ali whois also associate manager of the Pakistanteam in their ongoing series againstBangladesh. Naushad had told the media that thecommittee, which is headed by IntikhabAlam, had finalised its candidate for theposition of head coach and for the otherspecialist coaching positions for batting,bowling and fielding. “This seems unlikely because the wordin the board is that the committee is yetto finalise its list of coaching staff. Evennegotiations with Whatmore have notbeen held for quite a few days now,” thesource said. The names of Julian Fountain, AaqibJaved and Mohsin Khan are beingtouted to be appointed on the coachingstaff under the supervision of Dav What-more. But the source pointed out that the PCBitself was facing a dicey situation. “The team is doing well at present underthe supervision of Mohsin Khan the in-terim coach. There is uncertainty overwhether it would be a good idea tochange a winning management combi-nation before a crucial series like the oneagainst England and bring in a newcoaching set-up,” the source disclosed. Even Pakistan’s former captain ShahidAfridi, on returning home after the one-day series in Bangladesh, supported re-taining the same management and coachfor the series against England insistingthat Mohsin had done a good job. The source said that it was most likelythat the board Chairman Zaka Ashrafwill have a word with the players and of-ficials on a planned visit to Bangladeshon the coaching issue. “Ashraf is due to visit Bangladesh for thetest series and he will most certainlyhave a word with the captain, coach,manager and other senior players on thecoaching issue,” the source said.


Sports 19Saturday, 10 December, 2011

benAZir bhutto ShAheed internAtionAL boxing

HoBArtAFP

Pressure mounted on Phil Hughes after heagain failed with the bat as Australiachased New Zealand’s modest 150 on aneventful opening day of the second Test atBellerive Oval on Friday. The under-fireopener lasted just five balls before he wasagain caught in the slips off Chris Martinfor four, as Australia reached 12 for one be-fore rain ended play early. For the thirdstraight time in the series Hughes wascaught by Martin Guptill off Martin’s bowl-ing, scoring just 21 runs in the process,heaping pressure on his Test place aheadof this month’s series with India.

A total of 11 wickets tumbled in 50overs on a bowler-friendly Bellerivewicket with Michael Clarke winning per-haps the most crucial toss of his eightTests as Australian captain and sendingthe Black Caps into bat. At the close,David Warner was on seven and UsmanKhawaja, who had lived dangerously, wason one. Martin had 1-12 off 2.2 overs. Kiwi

skipper Ross Taylor set three slips andthree gullys for Hughes, who now hasbeen caught behind the wicket in 20 of his30 Test dismissals, raising questions overhis technique. Pace newcomer James Pat-tinson earlier starred with five wickets forthe second consecutive innings as NewZealand were skittled out in 45.4 overs.

hughes out cheaply after NZ rout

neW ZeALAnD 1st innings

b. McCullum c Haddin b Pattinson 16

M. guptill c Haddin b siddle 3

J. ryder lbw b Pattinson 0

r. taylor lbw b siddle 6

k. Williamson c Haddin b starc 19

D. brownlie b Pattinson 56

r. Young b Pattinson 0

D. bracewell c Clarke b siddle 12

t. southee b starc 18

t. boult not out 0

C. Martin b Pattinson 0

extrAs (b2, lb12, w1, nb5) 20

totAL (all out, 45.5 overs) 150

Fall of wickets: 1-10 (guptill), 2-11 (ryder), 3-25 (taylor), 4-

56 (Williamson), 5-60 (McCullum), 6-60 (Young), 7-105

(bracewell), 8-146 (southee), 9-150 (brownlie), 10-150

(Martin)

boWLing: Pattinson 13.5-3-51-5 (5nb, 1w), siddle 13-3-42-3,

starc 11-4-30-2, Lyon 8-4-13-0

AUstrALiA 1st innings

D. Warner not out 7

P. Hughes c guptill b Martin 4

U. khawaja not out 1

extrAs 0

totAL (for 1 wkt, 4.2 overs) 12

Fall of wickets: 1-7 (Hughes)

boWLing: Martin 2.2-0-12-1, boult 2-2-0-0

rain ended play at 5:20pm (0620 gMt), toss: Australia,

UMPires: nigel Llong (eng) Asad rauf (PAk), tV UMPire:

Aleem Dar (PAk), MAtCH reFeree: Andy Pycroft (ZiM)

sCoreboArD

“It was the best of times, it was the worstof times, it was the age of wisdom, it wasthe age of foolishness, it was the epoch ofbelief, it was the epoch of incredulity, itwas the season of light, it was the seasonof darkness, it was the spring of hope, itwas the winter of despair, we had every-thing before us, we had nothing before us,we were all going direct to heaven, wewere all going direct the other way - inshort, the period was so far like the pres-ent period, that some of its noisiest au-thorities insisted on its being received, forgood or for evil, in the superlative degreeof comparison only.” Charles Dickens saidthis about the times of the French Revolu-tion; how aptly it fits the English footballpicture in the current season. Englishfootball, as things stand, is at the cross-roads of ambiguity and the yoyo-ing for-tunes of two cities intrigues us all.

When the season kicked off it seemedas if Manchester United were going to con-quer all before them, and along with aresurgent Manchester City side, the twolooked like being the sole contestants forthe Premier League title and indeed beingEngland’s vanguards in the UEFA Champi-ons League. Then City took over as thedomineering side in England after the ‘Six

and the City’ episode, but there was noquestion as to which two teams were goingto be the top dogs. Arsenal had the worststart to their season in recent memory, andChelsea – coping with the rigorous de-mands of managerial changes – were for-mulating a stop-start season of their own.

And now in the preceding midweek, thetwo London sides have qualified as groupleaders whereas the Manchester duo aredumped into the second tier that is the EuropaCup. The fact that the top two sides in Englandwere knocked out when mighty APOELNicosia qualified as group leaders is one of themany reasons why we all love football!

ViLLAs-boAs’ strong retort

Chelsea were under the gun over the pastmonth or two and Andre Villas-Boas was in-deed feeling the pressure. It was clear thathis future hinged on his team’s result againstValencia. Needing a win to guarantee quali-fication to the knockout rounds, Chelseaturned back the clock towards their halcyondays and exhibited an awe-inspiring brandof football. Drogba, Mata and Sturridgecombined seamlessly and one gets the feel-ing that the latter two are going to be the faceof Chelsea’s attack for years to come. Back toback 3-0 wins against Newcastle and thenagainst Valencia have brought Chelsea’s sea-son back on track, and have restored self-be-lief in the side. There was a very palpablesigh of relief in Villas-Boas’ retort in the post

match press-conference.

gUnners going greAt gUns

Even though Arsenal lost their last groupmatch on Tuesday, but they did so by fieldinga second string side and after having earnedthe liberty to field such a side owing to thefact that they had already qualified as groupleaders. After threatening to nosedive intoobscurity in and around September,Wenger’s side are on an upsurge. Soaring upthe league table, and in the pot for the Roundof 16 draw there is every cause for optimismat the Emirates. There was a fear early onthat Arsenal might not even be able competefor the top four in the EPL – well they’veturned that impression around; and how!

CitY’s brieF UCL renDeZVoUs

Many of the superstars signed by City werelured to the Etihad Stadium by the pull ofChampions League football. And now withthat gone, one fears there could be a dip inmorale. City conjured up 10 points in theUCL group – normally considered goodenough to filter through to the next round;not so this year. Even though they foundthemselves in the toughest group in the com-petition, had they replicated something bor-dering on their domestic form in Europethey would’ve qualified without a shadow ofa doubt. Although as a team they were anewbie in the tournament but players likeYaya Toure, Aguero, Dzeko, Kompany,

Nasri, Silva et al have had ChampionsLeague experience. City’s league form couldsee a dip after this, or they could have evenmore of a reason to go full throttle at theleague title this year. Either way, the playershave a job to do in picking themselves witha big game coming up on Monday.

CoMPLACenCY kiLLeD tHe DeViL

United’s group stage exploits in the Cham-pions League this year have smacked offunprecedented arrogance and compla-cency. On paper their group was a cake-walk; how they managed to mess that up ismind-boggling! After Basel nearly did themin at Old Trafford, one felt that Sir Alexwould’ve known better and played his full-strength sides there onwards – wasn’t tobe. On Wednesday night United’s centralmidfield – quite often their Achilles’ heel –consisted of a 38-year old veteran winger,a young central defender and Park Ji-Sung– another question mark over Sir Alex’smidfield policy. United missed MichaelCarrick – the perennial scapegoat – in themiddle of the park, and most of the ‘estab-lished senior stars’ didn’t play ball on thenight. It seems as if most of United’sbrigade have had more success than theycould digest. The fact that barring a coupleof youngsters and Ryan Giggs no oneseemed up for the task divulges everything.Maybe Thursday night expeditions aroundEurope might do good for some of them.

big MAtCH PreVieW:CHeLseA Vs MAn CitY

A contest between two teams off the back ofcontrasting fortunes, and that might translateinto matters on the pitch. Chelsea should lookto persist with the same lineup that got the bet-ter of Valencia. The front trio of Drogba, Mataand Sturridge is an apt mélange of youth, ex-perience, pace, power, ingenuity and finishing.Young Romeu in midfield is also going fromstrength to strength and his run in the firstteam should be prolonged. Their defense hasalso beefed up off-late. However there is achance that Frank Lampard’s experiencemight be recalled for this massive game. Thespirits must be down in the City ranks, and thatis not when you’d want a trip to StamfordBridge – especially now that Chelsea are backin the groove. City should play all of the usualsuspects, with Aguero and Balotelli leading theline, well supported as always by David Silva.Balotelli is going to be the key man in thematch since words like morale, spirit, disap-pointment and form might not be present inhis dictionary. City need a maverick whowouldn’t ponder over the midweek events andtheir aftereffects and pulls out a surprise whenneed be – Balotelli fits that bill perfectly. How-ever, betting against Chelsea is difficult at themoment, since they are riding a confidencewave. A win against City would not only bolstertheir top four ambitions, it could signal a re-turn to the title race for them as well.

A tale of two citiesg Manchester mourns in Unison as london returns to centre stage in Europe

kUnWAr kHULDUne SHAHID

EPL CrystaL BaLL

Australian paceman James Pattinson (R) bowlsNew zealand batsman Chris Martin (l). AfP

LAHorestAFF rePort

FORMER world heavyweightchampion Mike Tyson andcurrent WBA and IBF light-welterweight champion AmirKhan, who will be defending

his titles later this month, would attendthe upcoming 2nd Benazir Bhutto Sha-heed (BBS) International Boxing Tourna-ment starting from December 20 atIslamabad’s Sports Complex.

Pakistan Boxing Federation presidentDoda Khan Bhutto informed in a pressconference that Amir is sure to come whileTyson have taken the dates of the eventand the likely chances is that he may comefor the opening or closing ceremony of thesecond edition of the championship.

PBF secretary Mohammad AkramKhan, PBF associate secretary and secre-tary Punjab Boxing Association YousufButt, Shaheer Bokhari of LXG marketingand Umer Toor of Nedia Guru were alsopresent on the occasion along with Goherof music band JAL, who would be singingthe theme song of the event involving localand foreign boxers.

Giving details of the event Bhutto saidthat the PBF has sent invitations to over200 countries and around 50 are expectedto participate. “Right now 25 countrieshave confirmed participation and anotherdozen have requested for a return tickets

for two of their boxers and an officials.“We are trying to arrange funds for

their visit to Pakistan and hopefully itwould be arranged,” he maintained.

He further informed that about 50 to60 million rupees would be required tohold the championship and there is nosupport from the government or either themultinationals.

“Had there been good quality sponsorsthe PBF would have been holding severalinternational events,” he added.

He further stated that even during the

holding of the 2010 event government fi-nances came after the event was over andeven this time round if there were no gov-ernment or multinational support the PBFwill sure hold the tournament on the givendates. The 10 day tournament will beginfrom December 20 till 30. The event willkick off with performance from JAL, theofficial band of the event and there willalso be cultural dances and march past ofthe participating teams.

"Asian and African countries haveconfirmed their entries while boxers of Sri

Lanka, Kenya and Nepal are already in Is-lamabad training for the tournament. Butwe have also sent a request to Poland,France and some other European coun-tries," he said.

The winner will be given $5000 withthe losing finalist getting $ 2500 and thebronze winners receive $ 1000.

Top security arrangements are to be fi-nalized in a meeting with the officials andmaximum protection will be given to theboxers and other sports dignities plannedto visit Islamabad during the event.

lAHoRE: PbF President Doda Khan bhutto with other officials addresses the press conference. STAff PhOTO

Amir, Tyson to visit Pakistan

Pakistani-Americanbuys football club

LAHore stAFF rePort

Pakistani American businessman ShahidKhan has bought football club Jack-sonville Jaguars. According to reports re-ceived here, owner Wayne Weaver agreedto sell the Jaguars to Shahid, an owner ofauto parts maker Flex-N-Gate Group. Fi-nancial terms weren't disclosed, but a per-son familiar with the deal put the saleprice at about $750 million. At a pressconference, Weaver said that the sale was"not about money, but finding the rightpartner to continue the legacy we'vestarted here." Weaver said that ShahidKhan, who is based in Illinois, will buy ahome in Jacksonville, and that he believesthe new owner is serious about keepingthe team in northern Florida. "I will al-ways be grateful for Wayne's trust andconfidence in my commitment to theJaguars, the NFL and the people of theJacksonville community," said Mr. Khan.

Shafiq, Matloobfront runners inquaid-e-Azam Golf

LAHorekHAWAJA PerVAiZ sAeeD

The 97 professional golfers of Pakistancompeting in the 1st Quaid-e-Azam OpenGolf Championship at the LahoreGymkhana Golf Course and supported byShezan International as the title sponsors,faced a real tough time on their favouritegolf course and a large number of themsaw their hopes of glory shattered as theycould not show consistency in their shotmaking and putting. There were othershowever, who touched the heights of excel-lence and their scores are a vindication oftheir winning spirit, as they managed toforce themselves to the higher levels of thegame with barely any shortcomings.Shafiq Masih of Lahore Gymkhana is anupcoming champion of immense talentand he made his mark on the first day witha round that is oozing with birdies, nine inall, achieved through strategic shots thatcan simply be labelled as shots of beauty,devoid of any flukes. Shafiq birdied holes 1,6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 14, 15 and 18 and yes therewere strokes lost on holes 4, 5 and 13 butall of them due to aggressive play. Hiscard for the day of 66, six under par gothim a pat on the back from M. Sharif Jan-jua, the inspiration behind this champi-onship who has promised a huge back upto support his efforts. The other championwho touched the highest level of excellencein the round was Matloob Ahmed whomatched Shafiq's brilliance with a similarcard of gross 66, six under par. Matloob isthe senior of the two and currently rankednumber two in national rankings. Quiet bynature he competes rather unassuminglybut always makes an impact through ex-tremely steady play. Here again he is thefront runner with a score of 66, made pos-sible by eight birdies, five of them on holes4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 coming in a row. Along theroute of excellent play he did encountertwo bogies on holes 3 and 14 but they in noway marred his brilliance. Some otherswho look accomplished are WaheedBaloch (Karacki) with a round of gross 67,followed by M. Afzal (Okara), gross 68,Amjad Yousaf (Karachi), 69, Latif Rafiq 70and M. Munir at 71. Six players are placedat par 72 and they are M. Tariq, M. Nazir,M. Siddique, Shakeel Fayyaz, M. Safdarand Nisar Hussain. Though a few shots inarrears these players look determined tochallenge Shafiq and Matloob over the re-maining two rounds. As for the senior pro-fessionals, they had a tough time onThursday as five of them ended the 18holes competition at a score of gross 74and had to go for sudden death play off. Itwas the experienced Manzoor Ahmed whoemerged as the successful one with ShafiqAhmed as the runners up followed by Dr.Aminurrehman and Ghulam Nabi.



NewsHaqqani asksSupreme CourtHe said the court placed him on the ExitControl Lost despite the fact that thepetitioner did not seek any such action.Rejecting the application, the RegistrarOffice noted that any order of the apex courtcould not be recalled, however a plea forreview of the order could be filed. The officeasked the applicant to file a proper reviewpetition against the order if he had anyobjections to it. In his application, filedthrough his counsel Asma Jahangir,Haqqani had said that in the interest ofjustice, the December 1 order may berecalled to enforce his fundamental rights,and requested the court to dismiss Sharif’splea because it was beyond the scope ofArticle 184(3) of the constitution, whichmandates the apex court to only take upmatters of public importance requiringenforcement of fundamental rights. Theapplication stated that Sharif’s plea did notdisclose any infringement of anyfundamental rights by Haqqani asenumerated in Part 1, Chapter 2 of theconstitution, nor had it sought any relief interms of enforcing any of the fundamentalrights, thus on this ground too, it deservedto be dismissed. He stated that thepetitioner had all the opportunity to invokethe apex court for the enforcement offundamental rights being violated everyday, including in terms of national security,however he did not do so until now, whichproved that the petitioner was biasedagainst the respondent. It said the petitionwas not maintainable and liable to bedismissed as it involved a controversy wherethere was a lack of judicially discoverableand manageable standards to resolve thecontroversy raised in the petition. It statedthat the issues raised in Sharif’s petitionwere primarily political in nature andjurisdiction of the courts was barred underthe Political Question Doctrine. Throughthe statement, Haqqani categorically deniedany connection to the controversial memo.His statement said the BlackberryMessenger conversations reproduced withthe petition did not in any way refer to thealleged memo and the record of theseconversations annexed with the petition wasnot a transcript of any oral conversation,rather it was an alleged exchange ofBlackberry Messages. The statement saidthe name of Haqqani was never mentionedin the article written by Mansoor Ijaz in theFinancial Times on October 10, 2011.However the name of President Asif AliZardari was mentioned in the article. It saida legal team was thus sought on behalf ofPresident Zardari from a reputed US lawfirm, which advised that in case ofdefamation proceedings, the mattersrelating to the working of the Inter-ServicesIntelligence (ISI) might come up fordiscussion in the US or the UK courts as theISI was central to the subject matter of thearticle in question. Thus the matter was notproceeded against in foreign courts purelyout of national interest and with the soleintention of avoiding any adverse mediaattention, which would tarnish the image ofthe country, said Haqqani’s statement.

PMl-q vows tosupport govt asmemogate dogs it


As the memo issue continues to dog thePresidency and the Pakistan People’s Party(PPP) government, with politicaluncertainty also increasing with everypassing day after President Asif AliZardari’s sudden departure to Dubai forhealth reasons, two political allies of thePPP — the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid(PML-Q) and a group of FATAparliamentarians — on Friday assuredtheir full support to the PPP leadershipthrough thick and thin. The Chaudhrys ofthe PML-Q, in a meeting with PrimeMinister Yousaf Raza Gilani and PPPChairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, assuredthat their party would not abandon thePPP leadership in time of crisis. “Themeeting was primarily meant to expresssolidarity with the PPP leadership amidrumours of President Zardari’s steppingdown from presidency,” said a seniorleader of the PML-Q.

Continued fRoM page 1Mir said Zardari seemed to haverecovered completely and saidhe would meet him after comingto Pakistan.

MYSTERY: Meanwhile, forthe third consecutive day afterZardari was flown to Dubai fortreatment, mystery continuedto shroud the actual cause ofthe president’s ailment as thePresidency refrained from mak-ing any clear comment onwhether the president’s indis-position was related to hisbrain, as being speculated inthe media and political circles.

When approached for com-ments, Presidential SpokesmanFarhatullah Babar avoidedmaking a specific comment onthe nature of the health prob-lem being faced by the presi-

dent. “Commenting on healthissues is the personal physi-cian’s prerogative. Asspokesperson I refrain fromcommenting on speculativehealth reports,” he said whenasked to comment on the natureof the disease ailing the presi-dent.

Meanwhile, an Emirati dailynewspaper reported on Fridaythat President Zardari is to re-main under medical observa-tion in Dubai and it could beweeks before he returns.

“It can take two days or evenmore than two weeks, it all de-pends on what doctors advisehim,” Gulf News said, citing oneof Zardari’s close aides at thehospital. “He may leave the hos-pital and rest in his houseunder observation of doctors,but we want him to stay here

because he needs rest,” the aidesaid.tIa:

Zardari likely suffered atransient ischemic attack (TIA),sources said, which can producestroke-like symptoms but nolasting damage to the brain. ATIA occurs when blood flow to apart of the brain stops for ashort period of time, and canproduce “stroke-like” symptomsfor up to two hours.

“The MRI is clear, but wesuspect it may have been that (aTIA),” said one party officialwho asked not to be identifiedby name.

Zardari also called PrimeMinister Yousaf Raza Gilani onFriday and told him about hiscondition. The president said hewould return home soon afterrecovering completely.

I’ll be back: ZardariContinued fRoM page 1

PPP Punjab MPA joins PTIIsLamaBad: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Member ofProvincial Assembly (MPA) Malik Khurram Ali Khan onFriday announced to join Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI).Addressing a press conference at the National Press Club(NPC), he announced to tender his resignation from the PPPmembership and the provincial assembly seat PP18 (Attock).He said that Pakistan was passing through the worsteconomic and political situation in the country’s history,adding that the problems were a result of the wrong policiesby the PPP leadership, which had failed to provide any reliefto the people. Khurram said that he had joined the PPP dueto the political sagacity of Benazir Bhutto (late), however, her



24

g PMl-N president does not want clash between

state institutions

LAHorestAFF rePort

RULING out en-bloc resig-nations from the parlia-ment and provincialassemblies, Pakistan Mus-lim League-Nawaz (PML-

N) President Nawaz Sharif said hisparty would resume its “Go Zardari Go”movement from Sindh with greater en-thusiasm, adding that there should beno clash between state institutions.

Talking to reporters after presidingover a meeting of his party leadershipat Jati Umra, Nawaz said the govern-ment, not democracy, was failing. Hesaid the Supreme Court had beenmoved on the “memogate” issue be-cause the current government hadmade the parliament ineffective.

He said the option of resigning fromthe assemblies would not be workableunless other parties joined the move.The PML-N decided that Nawaz wouldresume the “Go Zardari Go” movementfrom Larkana today (Saturday).

The party meeting also discussed ini-tiating contacts with Sindhi nationalistparties to bring them to mainstream poli-tics. Nawaz said the PPP would not be al-lowed to play the Sindh card and thePML-N would fight for the right of Sindhis.PmL-n muLLIng Pm’s requestfor son’s By-PoLL Contest:Meanwhile, Online news agency re-ported that Nawaz had referred a re-quest of Prime Minister Yousaf RazaGilani, to not field any PML-N candi-date against his son Musa Ali Gilani inthe by-election, to the party’s consen-sus committee.

Sources said the prime minister hadespecially telephoned Nawaz yesterdayto inform the PML-N president that hedesired his son, Musa Gilani, to contestthe NA-148 by-polls on a seat vacated byformer foreign minister Shah MehmoodQureshi and wished for Musa’s “unop-posed victory”. While expressing his in-ability to decide the issue on his own,Nawaz said he could only make a deci-sion according to the party’s consensus.

Nawaz is said to have summonedMultan-based party leaders, includingMakhdoom Javed Hashmi, Rana Mah-moodul Hasan and others for consen-sus over the issue.

Nawaz rulesout en masseresignations

Kolkata hospital fire kills 89koLkAtA

AFP

Nearly 90 people were killed when a fire en-gulfed patients at a hospital on Friday in theeastern Indian city of Kolkata, with officialsaccusing senior staff of abandoning those intheir care. The fire broke out at around 3amat AMRI Hospital when the vast majority ofthe 160 patients inside the privately-run,five-storey facility were asleep. KolkataJoint Police Commissioner Damayanti Sentold reporters that 89 people had been con-firmed dead. Initial investigations sug-gested the blaze had started in thebasement, and most of the victims were pa-tients who suffocated on the thick, acridsmoke that quickly filled the wards on thefloors above. By 9am, the blaze had largelybeen brought under control, but smoke con-tinued to billow from shattered windows forhours, as firemen struggled to reach thosestill trapped inside. A number of immobilepatients were evacuated down the side ofthe building using ropes and pulleys. It wasthe second fire in three years at the same fa-cility and West Bengal Chief Minister Ma-mata Banerjee, who visited the site,promised a full investigation.

ISLAMABAD tAHir niAZ

As rumours about Asif Ali Zardari’s fate asthe president of the country continue tomake rounds across political and social cir-cles inside and outside the country, PakistanPeople’s Party (PPP) Chairman and presi-dent’s son Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has for-mally taken the driving seat of the party, yeta long and bumpy political road lies aheadwithout “airbags” inside, particularly whenit comes to the Bhutto family.

The “political ring” of the country hasalways been cruel to the Bhutto family. Beit PPP founder Zulfikar Ali Bhutto,daughter Benazir Bhutto or son Mir Mur-taza Bhutto, all three met a sad end, leav-ing many to mourn.The PPP is the largestpolitical party of the country. The partywas launched at its founding conventionon November 30, 1967 in Lahore and Zul-fikar Ali Bhutto was elected its first chair-man by the participants. Only time willtell whether the entry of Bilawal in poli-tics was by design or PPP had no otherchoice in the ‘extraordinary’ situation.

As Bilawal has stepped into his father’sshoes and taken over the reins of the party,the months ahead are likely to be bumpy

and unpredictable in the context of the pre-vailing political crisis in the country, partic-ularly in the backdrop of the memo scandal.At a time when the “beleaguered” presidentis admitted to a hospital in UAE with hearttrouble, Bilawal formally made his entryinto the political arena with a meeting withPrime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on De-cember 7 and also jointly presided over ameeting of the senior party leadership along

with the PM. The very next day, Gilani’ssons Syed Abdul Qadir Gilani MPA andSyed Ali Musa Gilani called on Bilawal, sug-gesting that in the absence of his father, Bi-lawal was ready to take on the challenges.

Neat and clean as a newborn on the po-litical horizon, Bilawal may prove a rightchoice by the PPP to frustrate the PML-N’santi-Zardari drive. The PML-N targetedZardari for being the president and co-

chairman of the PPP at one time, saying hewas really at the helm of affairs of the coun-try and calling the shots. With Bilawal hold-ing the PPP reins, the PML-N would losejustification in its ‘Go Zardari Go’ move-ment, as Zardari would now be the presi-dent only. On the other hand, the move willalso satisfy the courts which objected toPresident Zardari’s holding the dual officesof president and the PPP co-chairman.

kHYBer AgenCYstAFF rePort

At least 12 people were abducted byarmed militants from the village ofSheen Pokh in Shalman near thePakistan-Afghanistan border in Khy-ber Agency on Friday.

Tribesmen and officials said overa dozen militants had entered thevillage from the adjoining MohmandAgency. They raided a hujra and ab-ducted five people, including a tribal

elder named Malik Sultan. Later they abducted another

seven people, most of them passers-by and labourers.

So far, no one has claimed respon-sibility for the kidnapping but officialsand tribesmen believe Taliban or Tal-iban-linked militants are responsiblefor the incident.

The Shalman area of Khyber Agencyis adjacent to Palosa in the border areasof Mohmand Agency, where the militantshave hideouts and compounds.

Sindh govt unlikely

to let PTI rally near

quaid’s mausoleumkArACHI

AFtAb CHAnnA AnD AAMir MAJeeD

The Sindh government has decided in prin-ciple not to allow the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) to hold a public gathering nearthe mausoleum of Quaid-e-Azam Moham-mad Ali Jinnah scheduled for December25, Pakistan Today learnt on Friday.The decision was made a few days ago in ahigh-level meeting of officers of law en-forcement agencies and was presided overby Sindh Home Minister Manzoor Wassan. Sources said the PPP and its coalitionpartner, the MQM, reached a mutual un-derstanding that the PTI would not be al-lowed to hold a public gathering inKarachi, and agreed that the Home De-partment would impose Section 144 in thecity to restrict the PTI rally.They said that the Sindh governmenthad asked the PTI to postpone its rallyin the city and hold the gathering onsome other day at some other venue,and in case Imran Khan insisted onholding the public gathering in the city,the Home Department would ban hisentry into the province for some time.The PTI Sindh leadership meanwhilevowed that the public gathering would beheld at the scheduled venue at all costs.PTI Sindh President Naeemul Haq saidthe PTI had written to the Sindh chiefsecretary asking for the permission to or-ganise a public gathering in the groundadjacent to Quaid’s mausoleum but thechief secretary replied after more than20 days that holding a public gatheringat the mausoleum was against Quaid-e-Azam Trust Resolution. The PTI thenwrote an application to the Quaid-e-Azam Trust chief engineer, who in turnwrote to Quaid-e-Azam Trust Chair-woman Samina Khalid but no clear replyhad been received so far. PTI leader Israr Abbasi said the party hadgone through the trust’s resolution and hadfound no clause barring a public gatheringin the premises.

KOLKATA: A rescue worker evacuates a patient after a fire engulfed the

Advance Medicare And Research Institute in this eastern Indian city. AfP

Militants abduct 12people in Khyber

Bilawal steers PPP on bumpy political road

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid leaders Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi called

on Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and Pakistan People’s Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Friday. ONLINE


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