e-paper pakistantoday 23rd January, 2013

Wednesday, 23 January, 2013 Rabiul awal 10, 1434Rs 17.00 Vol iii no 207 19 pages islamabad — peshawar edition

PAGE |03

New provinces accordingto people’s wishes, not Makhdoom’s!

PAGE |19 PAGE |02

ECP chief saysdelimitation in Karachiunlikely before election

Govt was ready forcrackdown on Qadri’smarch: Shujaat

ISLAMABADKASHiF ABBASi

PoLICE investigators probinginto the mysterious death ofNational AccountabilityBureau (NAB) official Kamran

Faisal do not fully agree with the initialpost mortem report and smelling a rat,say that circumstantial evidence isforcing them to cover all aspects of thehigh-profile case before arriving at a

conclusion. “It will bepremature to sayanything about the realcause of death…but thereare a lot of things thatrequire being investigated ascircumstantial evidences have beenforcing us to cover all aspects ofinvestigations,” a senior officer ofIslamabad police said on condition ofanonymity. The officer said so far it hadbeen established that Faisal was being

pressurised by his bosses inthe Rental Power Projectcase. Police also decided toquestion NAB HR DirectorGeneral Kosar Iqbal, who

allegedly pressurised Faisal in the caseand sought affidavit from him of an earlierdate. According to text message record ofFaisal’s cell phone, he was under immensepressure by his bosses and the HR DGforced him to submit a blank affidavit ofan earlier date. “The HR DG wanted

affidavit in back dates regardingrequest for transfer from the case,” saidone of the messages sent by Faisal tohis friend on January 16. It was alsoreported that Faisal was very concernedabout his security. His fellows had alsoexpressed concern about Faisal’ssecurity in several text messages, inone of which his friend wished himgood luck and prayed that God mightfree him of all worries.

Election will be heldon time...period!

ISLAMABAD Online

Prime Minister Raja Parvaiz Ashraf onTuesday reiterated that the general electionwould be held on time by an independentElection Commission. Addressing participantsof National Security and War Course at theNational Defence University in Islamabad, thePM reaffirmed that the government wascommitted to holding free, fair andtransparent election. He said the electedgovernment was completing its tenure despitechallenges and the nation was all poised forthe general election. He called it “a definingmoment” in national history and said thegovernment had pursued a policy of strategicpatience, toleration and reconciliation to laya foundation for sustainable and stablepolitical system in the country. Ashraf saidthe forces of doom and gloom thrived in anenvironment of chaos‚ uncertainty andinstability and “we need to guard against allsuch forces which are out to derail the systemso assiduously put in place after a protractedstruggle”. The prime minister said the recentIndian adventures on the Line of Control andwave of terrorist attacks in the countryamidst political flux ahead of nationalelections pointed towards the magnitude‚scale and enormity of the challenges faced bythe country. “Given the varied nature ofchallenges confronting the country‚ there isneed to increase the frequency of suchexercises so as to afford wider exposure toelements of national power.”Continued on page 04

Police decide toinclude ininvestigationNAB HR DG whoallegedlypressuriseddeceased official

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02News

Today’s

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NeWS

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cARtooN

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iNFotAiNMeNt

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Pakistan debunks indian claim that UnMOGiP has no role Gamma-ray burst ‘hit earth in 8th Century’

Wednesday, 23 January, 2013

Former air chief marshal

suffers brain haemorrhageLAHORE : Former air chief marshalRao Qamar Suleman has suffered abrain haemorrhage. According to mediareports, the former air chief marshal wasimmediately admitted to CombinedMedical Hospital (CMH) in Lahore. Hewent into a comma due to haemorrhageand was being kept under continuousobservation. Online

Four children die of

measles in Miranshah MIRANSHAH : Measles claimed the lives of four children in Mi-ranshah area of North Waziristan, media reports said on Tuesday.According to hospital sources, four children died of measles whilehundreds were admitted in different hospitals for treatment. Sofar, at least 123 children lost their lives due to Measles in interiorSindh in the last one and a half month. Measles is caused by themeasles virus; a single-stranded, negative-sense enveloped RNAvirus of the genus Morbillivirus within the family Paramyxoviri-dae. Humans are the natural hosts of the virus; no animal reser-voirs are known to exist. This highly contagious virus is spread bycoughing and sneezing, via close personal contact or direct contactwith secretions. Online

Kashmiris advised to

prepare for nuclear warJAMMU: Police in Indian Kashmir have warned residents to buildunderground bunkers to prepare for a possible nuclear war in thedisputed region, which is on edge after a string of deadly borderclashes. The warning comes despite a ceasefire which took hold lastweek in the scenic Himalayan region, after the Indian and Pakistaniarmies agreed to halt cross-border firing that had threatened to un-ravel a fragile peace process. “If the blast wave does not arrivewithin five seconds of the flash you were far enough from theground zero,” says the notice, headed “Protection against Nuclear,Biological and Chemical (NBC) Weapons”. It warns of “initial dis-orientation” from a nuclear attack, saying the blast may “carry awaymany prominent and familiar features”. The instructions were is-sued Monday in a local English-language Greater Kashmir newspa-per by the State Disaster Response Force, which is part of thepolice. They vividly describe a nuclear war scenario to prepare resi-dents to deal with “the initial shock wave”. The notice tells them to“wait for the winds to die down and debris to stop falling”. “Blastwind will generally end in one or two minutes after burst andburns, cuts and bruises are no different than conventional injuries.(The) dazzle is temporary and vision should return in few seconds,”it says. It tells residents to build basement shelters “where thewhole family can stay for a fortnight” and stock them with non-per-ishable food. Police confirmed they issued the notice but said it“should not be connected with anything else”, in an apparent refer-ence to border tension. The notice is part of regular year-round civildefence preparedness, Mubarak Ganai, deputy inspector general ofcivil defence in Kashmir police, told AFP. AGenCieS

Four soldiers injured in North

Waziristan blastMIRANSHAH: At least four security personnel were injuredwhen their vehicle was targeted with remote-controlled explo-sives in North Waziristan on Tuesday. officials said the army ve-hicle was traveling from Spinwam to Mir Ali when it wastargeted with IED, adding that the vehicle was badly damaged.The injured were taken to the hospital and security forceslaunched a search operation in the area. inP

LAHOREOnline

PAKISTAN MuslimLeague-Quaid (PML-Q) PresidentChaudhry ShujaatHussain on Tuesday

said there were confirmed reportsthat government had approved acrackdown against the long marchstaged by Dr Tahirul Qadri last week.

Addressing a press confer-ence, he said Interior MinisterRehman Malik was ready to con-duct operation against long marchparticipants on January 16, but hewarned the government that hisparty would leave the coalition ifany operation was carried out.

Shujaat said President Asif AliZardari resolved the issue withsagacity and saved the countryfrom a tragedy. He said the nationwould have gone into chaos andunrest if any operation was carriedout against the long march.

Shujaat also praised the far-sightedness and courage of TahirulQadri to resolve the issue through

negotiations. He dispelled the im-pression that the declaration thatcame out of the long march wouldnot be implemented, saying sevenfederal ministers were signatoriesto the declaration and would helpenforce the declaration.

Shujaat said the meetingscheduled to take place this Sunday

in Lahore would chalk out a strat-egy to implement the decisions ofthe declaration. PML-Q leaderMushahid Hussain Sayyed said DrQadri was unwilling to sit for talkswith anyone but the PML-Q.

Shujaat added that all matterswere being tackled amicably,adding that a survey was recently

conducted that unveiled the major-ity of Pakistanis wanted electoralreforms. To a query regarding theforce behind the long march,Mushahid said conspiracy theoriesshould end once and for all.

He said the credit of negotia-tions went solely to the politicalleadership.

Govt was ready for crackdownon Qadri’s march: Shujaat


03NewseDitoRiAlA well worded speech:

coMMeNt

Articles on Page 10

Not many takers for Obama’s promises though.

Dr Hasan Askari Rizvi says;Qadri and his ilk: The faltering state system gives enough space to suchleaders to flourish.

Malik Muhammad Ashraf says;

Pakistan, India and Kashmir: An out of the box solution is needed.

ARtS & eNteRtAiNMeNt

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BuSiNeSS

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SPoRtS

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Paris fashion week kicks off iran keen to do joint venture projects with Pakistan Pakistan ready for South Africa test


Medical reports say

Shahrukh Jatoi a minor

KARACHI Online

Medical tests carried out to verify the age ofShahrukh Jatoi, the key accused in theShahzeb Khan murder case, have declaredhim a minor.A private TV channel reported on Tuesdaythat the reports, compiled by police surgeonDr Jamil Qazi, were handed over to the inves-tigation team probing into the murder caseand would be submitted to an anti-terrorismcourt on Wednesday (today).Since, Shahrukh has been proven a minor, hiscase will now be referred to a juvenile court ora sessions court.According to the report, Shahrukh weighed70 kilogrammes while his height was stated tobe five feet and nine inches. Jatoi’s date ofbirth mentioned on the certificate was No-vember 29, 1995.He was presented before the police surgeon’soffice in Karachi on Monday upon court’s or-ders for the verification of his age by carryingout X-ray of different parts of his body.Additional Surgeon Dr Ejaz Ahmed shiftedShahrukh to the Civil Hospital for the X-ray,where the tests were carried out under the su-pervision of the police surgeon.

NAB, FIA given two days to arrest OGRA chiefISLAMABAD

APP

Legal experts of National Accounta-bility Bureau (NAB) and Federal In-vestigation Agency (FIA) on Tuesdayrequested the Supreme Court to granttwo days time for the arrest of formerchairman of oil and Gas RegulatoryAuthority (oGRA) Tauqeer Sadiq anda few others who were allegedly in-volved in embezzlement of Rs 82 bil-lion.

The two-judge bench comprisingJustice Jawwad S Khawaja and Jus-tice Khilji Arif Hussain started hear-ing on a pending case of the arrest ofTauqeer Sadiq.

NAB Legal Director Azam Khaninformed the court that NAB hadwritten two letters to Interpol for thearrest of Tauqeer Sadiq.

He apprised the court that the bu-

reau also wrote aletter to the UAEforeign officeand requestedthe deportationof Tauqeer’s ar-rest.

He statedthat the formeroGRA chief hadbeen spotted inUAE and now itwas the duty ofForeign office toexert pressure onthe UAE govern-ment for his ar-rest.

on this, Jus-tice Jawwad SKhawaja remarked that it was not theduty of the courts to put pressure andadded that this should be done by the

NAB.J u s t i c e

Khawaja said thecase was of hugeimportance, sothe court woulddispose it withindays and wouldnot take monthson it. He said aperson wasroaming freelyafter fleeingaway with Rs 82billion from thenational excheq-uer. He addedthat there weremany thingswhich the court

does not want to highlight because itwould malign many people.

Justice Khawaja asked the NAB

official that how would he like to betreated as the court would not let theabsconder escape.

Samina Marri, the wife of an offi-cial of oGRA, submitted in the courtthat her husband, who had flownaway to Switzerland, wanted to returnto his country and surrender beforethe law.

She said that her family was af-fected due to NAB’s policy of `pickand choose’ which only targeted smallofficers and did not tighten its grip onthe “big wigs”.

“My entire family is goingthrough mental torture and we wantto get rid of this situation,” she said.

The court remarked that as bothNAB and FIA had requested forsome more time to comply with theorders of the arrest of TauqeerSadiq, the case should be adjournedtill January 24.

Bill moved to hold

census every 10 yearsISLAMABAD

APP

Public Accounts Committee (PAC) member Yas-meen Rehman on Tuesday moved a bill in theNational Assembly seeking to hold national cen-sus after every ten years. As the bill titled “Gen-eral Statistics (Reorganisation) Bill 2013,” wasnot opposed by the government, NA DeputySpeaker Faisal Karim Kundi referred it to thestanding committee concerned for considerationand reporting back to the House.Moving the bill in the House, the member saidthat census was imperative for judicious distribu-tion of resources, seats allocation, collection oftaxes, and to address other important matters.She said the first census in the country was heldafter 17 years, while over 13 years have passedsince the last census was conducted. “This exer-cise will not only let us know about our actualpopulation, but will also help allocate funds andother facilities to people judiciously,” she said,adding that regular census would also help gov-ernment frame proper policies for provinces anddevelopment activities across the country on thebasis of population. She further said that regularcensus would not need much funding, addingthat without proper statistics about householdand population, all policies and projects would bebased on assumptions and not reality.

JUI-F continues Senate rant againstGovernor’s Rule in Balochistan

ISLAMABADAnWAR ABBAS

The imposition of Governor’s Rulein Balochistan continued to be aheated point of discussion betweenthe government and JUI-F in theSenate on Tuesday. The govern-ment came under fire in the Senateon Tuesday when members of theSenate crossed party lines to con-demn the imposition of Governor’sRule in Balochistan.

Members from the ruling coali-tion joined the opposition in ques-tioning the justification for thedecision that sparked countrywideprotests and took the political tur-moil in the country to an alarmingproportion.

The members expressed theirconcern over the imposition of Gov-ernor’s Rule and efforts to conquerthe major province by horse-tradingand other negative methods.

on a point of order, MaulanaAbdul Ghafoor Haideri said the im-

position of Governor’s Rule was abig mistake, and exhibited the gov-ernment’s ineffectiveness. Haideriwarned that the country wouldhead towards a disaster if no seri-ous attempt was made to resolvethe problem through the process ofdialogue. He said the growing in-stability needed to be addressed ona war footing, adding that the fightbetween the PPP and PML-N couldbe fatal for the future of democracy.“Why has governor’s rule not beenimposed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwawhere law and order is going frombad to worse,” he questioned.

He called for empowering insti-tutions and suggested that mem-bers of the Senate should also beelected through direct elections.Haidri observed that a change ofmindset on part of political leader-ship was needed as the countrycould not afford political confronta-tion at this juncture.

The JUI-F leader said the pres-ident needed to immediately with-

draw the order of imposition ofgovernor’s rule and requested otherarties to also oppose the decision.He said the JUI-F had opposed theimposition of governor’s rule inPunjab as well despite being acoalition partner at that time.

Haideri said until presidentwithdrew his orders, the partywould continue to protest against itin the Senate and would boycott theproceedings. He later walked outfrom the Senate proceedings alongwith other members.

Speaking on the floor of theHouse‚ spokesperson for the presi-dent Farhatullah Babar clarifiedthat governor’s rule had been im-posed in Balochistan under Article234(A) and (C) on the receipt of re-port from the governor of theprovince. He said under the article,the provincial government had notbeen dismissed. He said the deci-sion regarding Balochistan wastaken after consultation with chiefsof all political parties.

g Vows to keep boycotting proceedings until order is revoked

ISLAMABADOnline

NATIoNAL Assemblyopposition LeaderChaudhry Nisar AliKhan said on Tuesdaythat new provinces

would not be formed according to thewishes of “a Makhdoom” but accordingto the wishes of the people.

Speaking to reporters outside theParliament, Nisar, a senior leader ofthe Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz(PML-N), said the Pakistan People’sParty (PPP) was politicising the issueof formation of new provinces, andthat the party and its “cronies” werenot interested in forming provinces for

the people.The PML-N leader

said that his party hadinitiated the idea ofmaking newprovinces, adding thatnew provinces wouldonly be formed afterthe people of southernPunjab and Ba-hawalpur expresstheir desire for them.

“Provinces arenot formed by sloga-neering, but throughthe constitution andlaw,” he said, addingthat a unanimous resolution had beenpassed in Punjab Assembly for making

the two provinces.He further said

that negotiations overthe caretaker setupand smooth holding ofgeneral elections hadbeen going on for thelast two months andthey were now reach-ing their logical con-clusion.

Nisar, while pre-senting this demands,said that the Punjabgovernment would notlet Tehreek-e-MinhajulQuran (TMQ) chief Dr

Tahirul Qadri’s demands to be fulfilledunless PML-N’s demands were met. He

added that the PML-N feared that at-tempts were being made to delay thegeneral elections.

Stating the PML-N’s demands, hecalled for early elections, which he saidshould not be held in July. Nisar said theelection campaigns were being delayedin order to prolong the election dates.Secondly, he said the time to scrutinisecandidates should not be extended toone month.

Lastly, he said that the candidatesfor a caretaker setup should also benominated from Sindh and Balochistan.Nisar said that these two provincesshould not be overlooked. The PML-Nleader further said that the Punjab gov-ernment would not dissolve assembliesuntil these conditions were met.

Shahzeb murder caSe

neW YORK: Un Secretary General

Ban Ki-Moon speaks during the

photographic exhibition ‘Pakistan

for Peace’ at Un Headquarters. INP

New provinces according to people’s wishes, not Makhdoom’s!


04 Wednesday, 22 January, 2013News

KARACHIiSMAil DilAWAR

TAHIR Raza Naqvi,former chief execu-tive of the TradingCorporation of Pak-

istan (TCP), appears to be thefirst victim for resisting pressureon making appointments, as theElection Commission of Pak-istan (ECP) banned fresh induc-tions in public sector entities atfederal and provincial levels.

Strongly wary of the pre-poll rigging, the ECP on Mon-day barred the country’sfederal and provincial authori-ties from making appoint-ments in any of the publicsector organisations ahead ofthe general elections. However,sources said that it was too latefor Naqvi, who has been resist-ing pressure from higher upsfor making inductions in thecorporation on political basis.“Thousands of such job appli-cations are still pending at theTCP,” claimed sources privy tothe matter. Monday, the daythe ECP issued directivesagainst further appointments,saw Naqvi transferred by thefederal government to Islam-abad as the additional secre-tary of Kashmir affairs.

A TCP spokesman con-firmed that Abid Javed Akbar,chief executive of the Trade De-velopment Authority of Pak-istan (TDAP), had been giventhe additional charge of the TCPon ad-hoc basis. “The com-merce ministry will now notifythree names for the top slot atthe TCP,” the spokesmanadded. Sources went on toclaim that the former TCP chiefwas removed over his refusal tosuccumb to pressure from hishigher ups in the Pakistan Peo-ple’s Party (PPP)-dominatedfederal government to inductpeople on political basis. TheECP, in its Monday’s observa-tion, had termed such induc-tions as a sort of pre-poll riggingwhich could significantly influ-ence the results of the forth-coming general election infavour of the ruling parties.

Sources alleged thatKhursheed Shah, the PPP’schief whip in the National As-sembly, had been tasked withthe job of ensuring as manypolitically-influenced recruit-ments in the public sector en-tities as he could before thepolls. Naqvi, dubbed as an up-right man by a TCP insider,had also attracted the ire ofthe federal government for his

tacit opposition to rehiring ofthe employees of now-defunctPakistan Rice Corporation,TCP’s erstwhile entity. Theformer employees had availedthe “golden handshake”under previous government’svoluntary retirement scheme.“Ramazan, a former CBAleader at the TCP, had gone tothe court against the then TCPmanagement, which wantedto merge those staffers intothe TCP on political grounds,”said an insider. The sourcealso claimed that Naqvi hadan undeclared support for Ra-mazan’s drive against the ille-gal rehiring of those who hadavailed the golden handshake.

Despite repeated attempts,the former TCP chairman couldnot be approached for com-ments. A TCP spokesperson,however, said that Naqvi’s trans-fer was part of routine transfersof the civil servants who, accord-ing to him, “keep coming andgoing” when the governmentwanted them to. The spokesmansaid the ball was in the com-merce ministry’s court to pro-pose three names for filling thevacant slot. He said that TDAPchief Abid Javed Akbar would beofficiating as an additionalcharge of the corporation.

ISLAMABADAPP

Law Minister Farooq H Naikon Tuesday said that law andconstitution would be fol-lowed while implementingthe Tehreek-e-MinhajulQuran’s (TMQ) long marchdeclaration.

Talking to reportersoutside the ParliamentHouse, he said the declara-tion singed by the govern-ment and TMQ chief DrTahirul Qadri would be im-plemented.

He said the meetingscheduled to take place onSunday in Lahore would dis-cuss the issues related to thedeclaration. To a question,he said the government,

coalition partners and Qadrihad signed the agreement,adding that opposition par-ties had no link with it.

In response to another

question, he said that gov-ernor’s rule had been im-posed in Balochistan underArticle 234 (A) and (C) afterreceiving a report from the

governor of the province.He said that under the arti-cle the provincial govern-ment had not beendismissed, and the provin-cial assembly and courtswere still functioning. Hesaid the decision regardingBalochistan was taken afterconsultation with the headsof all other political parties.

To a question, he saidno date had been finalisedto dissolve the assemblies.He said the chief ministershad the powers to dissolvetheir respective assemblies.“If it has been decided tohold elections on one day -than the CMs of allprovinces have to dissolvethe assemblies to make itpossible,” he said.

Police sources were of theview that if it was establishedthat Faisal committed sui-cide, the HR DG and otherresponsible could be chargedunder Section 316 of the Pak-istan Penal Code for assert-ing undue pressure on Faisal.

The other day, police

came to know that Faisal hadbeen receiving psychologicaltreatment at Poly Clinic Hos-pital from Dr Najma Aziz.

on Tuesday, Dr Najmarecorded her statement andtold police that Faisal wasnot a psychological patient,as he came for checkup onlyonce and after finding himin stress, she prescribed

some pills for him. She clar-ified that Faisal was not psy-chological patient.

Meanwhile, police alsolearnt that in the last fewmonths, Faisal visited PolyClinic four times for routinecheckup and in all of the vis-its he only consulted generalphysicians, who usually pre-scribed Aspirin and Panadol

tablets for him.The investigators also

got close circuit camerarecording from SerenaHotel, which is situated nearFederal Lodges, the place ofFaisal’s purported suicide.

on Tuesday, police alsorecorded the statement ofNAB Deputy Director As-ghar Khan and NAB Sub-In-spector Mumtaz, who wasthe first to report the inci-dent. They also questioned aNAB peon, who broke intoFaisal’s room and found him

hanging from a ceiling fan.Faisal, a deputy director

in NAB, was investigatingthe Rs 22 billion RentalPower Project scam and wasfound hanging from the ceil-ing fan in his official resi-dence on Friday.

His death came threedays after the SupremeCourt verdict that orderedNAB to arrest Prime Minis-ter Raja Pervaiz Ashraf and15 others in connection withthe RPP scandal.

Commenting on the

case in a TV talk show, NABchief Admiral Fasih Bokharisaid that NAB would con-duct an investigation of itsown if the police probe wasfound unsatisfactory.

Bokhari denied that heand Kosar Iqbal had pressedFaisal to change his affidavit.“We only asked him to writea statement requesting thathe should be withdrawn fromthe enquiry as he was goingthrough mental stress. This isthe only communication wehad with him,” he claimed.

The plot thickensContinued fRom page 01

LAHOREAGenCieS

Tehreek-e-Minhajul Quran(TMQ) chief Dr TahirulQadri on Tuesday reiteratedthat he and his entire familywould not contest the up-coming general elections.

Addressing a news con-ference at Minhajul Quran’ssecretariat, he said that he,his sons and family mem-bers would not take part inthe elections. “My daughtersand daughters-in-law willalso not take part in the gen-eral elections,” he said.

However, the PakistanAwami Tehreek (PAT) is freeto decide whether it wants totake part in the electoralprocess or not, he added.

Replying to a query re-garding the validity of theagreement struck with thegovernment before endingthe long march, Qadri saidthe agreement had beenmade with the government.Whether the current regimestays in power or not, theagreement will remain in-tact, he added.

Qadri said had the armyintervened in the long

march, neither democracynor peace could have beensaved. He said people wereincreasingly getting disap-pointed with the prevalentsystem in Pakistan, addingthat democracy should havea mechanism of auto-ac-countability. The responsi-bility for everything cannotbe attributed to the previousgovernments, he added.

He said that his longmarch was “cent percentsuccessful,” adding that peo-ple had become aware oftheir political rights after thelong march.

Shia doctorgunned down inPeshawar

PESHAWARSTAFF RePORT

A doctor was gunned down inPeshawar on Tuesday at hisclinic in Liaqat Bazaar, Saddarin an apparent sectarian killing.Eyewitnesses said that theyheard several gunshots minutesafter three men entered Dr ShahNawaz Ali’s clinic. When theyrushed to the clinic, they foundhim dead with a bullet wound tohis head. The attackers man-aged to flee after the incident.Dr Shah Nawaz belonged to aprominent Shia family of thewalled city of Peshawar and wassaid to be a relative of SP HilalHaider who was killed in a sui-cide attack in the QisakhawaniBazaar last year. In the past fewmonths, several Shia Muslimshave been targeted including DrRiaz Hussain, a prominent Shialeader from Parachinar KurramAgency who was also the presi-dent of Pakistan People’s Party(PPP) Kurram Agency chapter.Additional Session JudgeIhtisham Ali was also attackedbut was lucky enough to escapethe assassination attempt inHayatabad, only sustainingminor injuries.

ISLAMABAD Online

Foreign Minister Hina RabbaniKhar said on Tuesday that Pak-istan would take up the issue ofdrone attacks with the UnitedStates. Speaking on the floor ofthe House‚ Khar said that Pak-istan considers US drone strikeson its tribal areas a violation ofits sovereignty. She said thegovernment had repeatedlyraised concerns on dronestrikes, which were provingcounter-productive in the war

against terrorism. She said thataccording to the emerging opin-ion in the entire world, as wellas the US, drone attacks areconsidered counter-productive.The world is also raising con-cerns on civilian casualties inthe drone strikes. About reportsthat Washington had prepareda new drone policy‚ the foreignminister said, “We have no clar-ification from the US in this re-gard. These are just mediareports but we take up this issuewith Washington and its am-bassador to Pakistan.”

KARACHI: Former minister for privatisation Ghous BakhshMahar of the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid has announced join-ing Pir Pagara’s Pakistan Muslim League-Functional (PML-F). InNovember 2012, Mahar was shown the door by Prime MinisterRaja Pervez Ashraf for reasons not announced. The minister, how-ever, said he himself had resigned from the ministry in protestagainst the controversial Sindh Local Government Act of 2012.PML-Q’s parliamentary leader in the Sindh Assembly, ShaharyarMahar is also likely to join the PML-F whose chief Pir Pagara onMonday joined hands with the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) for the upcoming general elections in Sindh. Online

Pakistani writersshould not attendJaipur Lit Festival,BJP warns

NEW DELHIAGenCieS

As India returned Pakistaniartists and athletes backhome following the Line ofControl tension between thetwo countries, the BharatiyaJanata Party (BJP) haswarned that Pakistani writ-ers should not Jaipur Litera-ture Festival, Times of India(ToI) reported on Tuesday.According to the report, thework of seven Pakistani au-thors including JamilAhmad and MohammedHanif are shortlisted for the2013 Prize for South AsianLiterature. Ahmad andHanif had attended the JLFlast year but because of therecent cross-border conflict,the BJP has decided to op-pose the presence of thesewriters. “We will not allowthem to enter the festivalvenue. There is no questionof welcoming the Pakistaniauthors here at a time whentheir country has disruptedpeace at the border,” saidBJP Yuva Morcha state pres-ident Rishi Bansal.

Constitution to be followed while implementing long march declaration: Naik

Qadri says he and his familywon’t take part in elections

TCP chief transferredfor ‘resisting pressureon appointments’

Pakistan to take up droneattacks with US: Hina

PML-Q’s Ghous Bakhsh

Mahar joins PML-F

FAiSAlABAD: A doctor checks patients

outside the OPD of Allied Hospital as

Young Doctors Association continued

with their strike on Tuesday. ONLINe



ISLAMABADSTAFF RePORT

Around 105 schools, out ofthe 170 government girls’ pri-mary schools monitored, hadnot received any oversightvisitations by government orelected officials during Sep-tember-November 2012, saida Free and Fair Election Net-work (FAFEN) report.

The report released onTuesday, highlighted that ofthe 71 government oversightvisits made to 65 monitoredschools, 31 had been made bythe education executive dis-trict officer and one by amember provincial assembly.The rest of the 39 visitationshad been made by other gov-ernment and elected officials.While most of these weremonitoring and routine visits,the lack of certain facilities inprimary schools calls formore frequent and informed

oversight, said the report. Thesupport staff necessary forday to day functioning wasnot available in most of themonitored schools, sanitaryworkers had not been presentin 160 schools, 108 schoolshad no peons and 106 schoolsdid not have a security guard.

Despite the absence of san-itary workers in 160 schools,classrooms in 155 schools hadbeen clean, indicating that ei-ther the school administrationshad made alternate arrange-ments, or the responsibility forcleaning classrooms had beentaken up by teachers and stu-dents themselves.

Classrooms in 70 schoolslacked desks and benches forstudents, while there was nositting arrangement forteachers in 13 schools.

Around 96 schools didnot have a playground for stu-dents, while 135 schools re-quired a staffroom for

teachers. on a positive note,168 schools had been housedin proper buildings and 157schools had boundary walls.Almost all schools also pro-vided free text books to stu-dents. With regard to staffappointment, the occupancyrate was 92 percent for sanc-tioned teaching posts and 93percent for non-teaching ones.

Attendance in schoolswas also satisfactory, as morethan 76 percent teachers andstudents had been present infour-fifth of all schools.

The average number of stu-dents-per-teacher in all moni-tored schools was 35, and belowthe set limit of 40 for primaryschools. KP had the highestnumber of students-per-teacher(40), followed by Punjab (38),FATA (36) and Balochistan(32). The number was impres-sive in schools monitored inSindh, where one teacher wasavailable for every 29 students.

Low government oversight ingirls’ primary schools: report

Over 45 schools functioning in residentialhouses in asghar mall Scheme

ISLAMABAD: Due to lax oversightby the Rawalpindi Development Au-thority (RDA), over 45 schools havebeen operating in the Asghar MallScheme, a residential housingscheme, without paying a commer-cialisation fee to the authority.

The Asghar Mall Scheme hasturned into a commercial hub as over45 private schools, beauty parlours,clinics, workshops and other commer-cial activities are being carried out

without paying commercialisation feeswhich inflicts huge monetary losses tothe RDA. Sources said that influentialpeople have illegally setup gardens infront of their houses on governmentland and others have installed two tothree gates, which is illegal.

RDA officials merely serve noticesto violators for defying rules and reg-ulations but don’t take strict action tocurb commercial activity in residen-tial areas. STAFF RePORT


Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)Chairman Imran Khan has ex-pressed deep anger over the bru-tal killing of 18 young men inmysterious conditions during theBara operation, and asked KPGovernor Bar-rister Ma-sood Kausarto play hisdue role inbringing theassassins to jus-tice.

In a letter tothe governor, Khanexpressed dismayover the apathy andsilence of the federaland KP governments fornot taking action againstthose responsible for killing18 citizens in the KhyberAgency. Khan called upon theKP governor to conduct a thor-ough probe into the matter andbring the culprits to book.

Khan said the alleged killing of18 civilians by government officialshad triggered protests which hadcaused anger and fury among themasses. He expressed apprehen-sion and said such incidents hadhurt public sentiments and the sit-uation could lead to further chaosand turmoil in the country.

PTI leader Mian Mahmood-

ur-Rasheed on Tuesday said thatclean and transparent electionswere the only option to savedemocracy in the country.

In a statement, he claimedthat people from all walks of lifewere joining hands with ImranKhan, adding that PTI would de-feat all its political rivals in theupcoming general elections.

He alleged that the provincialgovernment had been using ‘offi-cial resources’ to benefit PakistanMuslim League-Nawaz (PML-N)supporters. He criticised the lap-top scheme, saying that it wouldnot provehelpful inthe elec-tion cam-

paign.


THE National As-sembly on Tuesdaydirected the Min-istry of Educationand Training to

submit a report regarding thepayment of Rs 1.1 million by theHigher Education Commission(HEC), to obtain an IslamabadClub membership for its chair-man and foreign trips for offi-cers.

Education and TrainingMinister Sheikh Waqas Akramsaid the HEC chairman hadopted to go to the National De-fence College instead of re-sponding to the notice sent bythe parliament. ChairpersonYasmeen Rehman termed that abreach of the House. Akram saidaround Rs 40 billion had beenannually allocated to the HEC,but whenever the governmentquestioned its expenditures,HEC officials had propagatedthat as an attempt to underminethe HEC’s autonomy.

He said the commission had

violated several rules of the Estab-lishment Division, and referenceshad also been filed against officers,but no action had been taken.

The minister said the HECchairman must be punished andrequested the chair to issue di-rections in this regard.

He said the Islamabad Clubmembership had not been in-cluded in the perks and privi-

leges entitled to the chairman.He said the prime minister hadquestioned the commission re-garding their foreign trips, butthey had not responded.

He said that appointmenton the MP scale was illegal, ashad been notified by the Estab-lishment Division during PervezMusharaf’s tenure. He said onlythe prime minister had the au-

thority to recruit officials on theMp scale, but HEC officials hadbeen granting themselves thatprivilege, along with repeatedextensions. He said the ministryhad directed the HEC to recoverthe amount spent on such offi-cers, and references had alsobeen forwarded to the NationalAccountability Bureau.

Nawab Abdul Ghani Talpurrequested the government toplace the HEC chairman on theExit Control List as he was dualnational. He added that the NABshould be directed to probe intothe matter.

Akram said even privateuniversities had received hugefunding from the HEC in con-nivance with its officers andmentioned a project the HECwas going to approve for theBeaconhouse University. AbdulGhafoor Chaudhry said the par-liament could question all enti-ties it had approved funding for.

The minister said the gov-ernment wanted to make theHEC stronger, but it had theright to question its expendi-tures.

NA questions HEC’s Rs 1.1 million budget nNA asks Ministry of Education to present a report n HEC says govt trying to undermine its economy

PTI demands justice for the 18 killed in Bara


06 Islamabad Wednesday, 23 January, 2013

ISLAMABADAPP

Several commuters travelling betweenthe twin cities have complained thatpublic transporters do not complywith the official fare list or stick totheir designated routes.

Commuters have complained that trans-porters have been digressing from theirroutes to earn extra money from passengers.They have been forcing commuters to paydouble fare for an incomplete route, even

after a recent increase in fares by the Re-gional Transport Authority.

Commuters said they had been facing prob-lems on routes including 1, 1-C, 3, 111, 121, 136,24, 21 and 127.

They said there should be an effective mech-anism to ensure route completion by transportersand the commuters’ grievances should be ad-dressed on priority.

Commuters said the authorities should takestern action against transporters involved in thispractice.

A commuter, Iqbal Chaudhry at the Khanna-

pul Stop said, “I boarded a wagon on route 21, theconductor said they would only go as far as Faiz-abad, and when I asked him to complete theroute, he used harsh language.”

The same vehicle then departed for Islam-abad after charging double fare from passengers,he alleged.

An Islamabad Traffic Police official said asystem to check non-completion of routes, bypublic transport drivers, was already in place.Commuters could complain to on-duty officialsobserving duties on main roads of the city, headded.

Transporters violating designated routes


The PAIMAN Alumni Trust, in collaborationwith the European Union (EU), arranged afive-day training workshop to sensitise theyouth of KP and FATA on peace building.

The project titled “Waging Peace: Piece byPiece”, aimed to build the capacity of commu-nities, including the youth, to contribute tobuilding peace in KP and FATA regions. It hasbeen designed to build capacity for effectivelyengaging with local policymakers, students,mothers and women from Peshawar. The mainemphasis has been on providing participantswith insight into conflict transformation andpeace building techniques, so people can en-gage in mainstream decision-making

processes to find effective solutions to dis-putes at the grassroots levels, said a press re-lease. PAIMAN Executive Director MossaratQadeem said, “The youth of KP and FATA areat the fore of a courageous struggle to restorepeace, democracy and progress in their home-land.”

He said, “The local youth has tremendouspotential for effective leadership and socialtransformation which needs to be harnessedby women and policy makers to build commu-nity-level and sustainable peace in the re-gion.”

Participants appreciated the knowledgeand skills they have gained during the work-shop, and expressed solid resolve to apply al-ternative ways to resolve disputes in theircommunities.


The Delhi Dialogue, comprising 30 participantsfrom India and Pakistan, deliberated on a varietyof bilateral issues at a two-day conference. Keyareas of discussion entailed review of bilateral re-lations, trade, extremism and terrorism, highereducation and the Jammu and Kashmir dispute,said a press release issued on Tuesday by the Jin-nah Institute.

Participants included retired diplomats,academicians, civil society activists, media

personnel from both sides. This dialogue se-ries had begun in 2011. It maintains that in-creased people to people contact generatesthe momentum for policy change and allowskey stakeholders on both sides to devisestrategies for peace and regional cooperation.Participants unanimously agreed that 2012had been a year of progress for Indo-Pak re-lations, during which the robustness of theIndia-Pakistan dialogue had been tested. De-spite challenges to the process, considerableheadway had been made on issues of tradeand visa liberalisation.

Students receive trainingon peace building

Delhi dialogue deliberates over Indo-Pak ties

Notices issued to

demolish 15 illegal

constructionsRAWALPINDI: The Rawal Town Munici-pal Administration (RTMA) on Tuesday is-sued notices to owners of 15 buildings thatwere being constructed in violation of ap-proved maps in different localities of thecity. owners have been told to demolishthese illegal constructions, or the RTMAEnforcement Directorate would have totake action. According to an RTMAspokesman, Administrator Saif AnwarJappa had directed the authority to takestern action against violators of buildingby-laws in residential and commercialareas. He said the administrator had vis-ited Dhoke Ratta, Dhoke Mangtal, Saidpurroad, Satellite Town and Muslim Town,along with Superintendent Parvez Mughal,Inspector Nazirzada and other staff mem-bers on Tuesday for inspection, where theyfound operational commercial units in res-idential areas. APP

Police nabs 11ISLAMABAD: The police have arrested11 criminals, including two women, and re-covered 3kg charas, 1kg heroin, two bottlesof wine, as well as weapons, ammunitionand unauthorised pistols from their pos-session. According to a police spokesman,the police have also arrested 7 criminalsduring search operations in various locali-ties of the city. He said the Tarnol Policehad arrested six criminals includingShams-ul-Qamar Malik Mudsir, AttatullahKhan, Lal Bechia, and two women, GulKhuram and Sania. Around 1.40kg heroin,3.450kg charas and weapons had been re-covered from them. STAFF RePORT

WHAT ARE YOU LOOKINGAT?: A monkey sits neara board at Daman-e-KohView Point. ONLINe


07IslamabadWednesday, 23 January, 2013

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NEWS DESK

PREVENTABLE diseases likemeasles and polio are on the up-swing in Pakistan after years of de-cline, mainly due to growingwariness of vaccines — or, more

specifically, wariness of the programs and peo-ple that administer those vaccines, according toa report by Think Progress.

In a continuation of violence in Decem-ber that saw the murder of six aid workerson the streets ofPakistan’s cities,another sevencivilians havebeen killed sincethe start of 2013.All but one ofthose killed onJan. 1 were fe-male, continuinga disturbingtrend of genderdisparity in thosetargeted. Allseven of the mostrecent victims,five teachers andtwo healthproviders, werePakistani nation-als working at acommunity cen-ter providinghealth and edu-cation services inremote northernPakistan.

These attacks are taking a toll on thehealth and well-being of Pakistan’s children,with easily treatable diseases making a pro-nounced comeback. Measles in particularhas seen an amazing surge.

According to the World Health (WHo)the number of measles cases in Pakistan hassurged from 4,000 in 2011 to 14,000 in 2012.306 died of the disease in 2012, compared toonly 64 in 2011. The increase has promptedthe WHo to launch an emergency vaccina-

tion campaign in the Sindh state, where theoutbreak has been particularly severe.

In an interview with al Jazeera, Dr ZulfiqarAhmed Bhutta, a child health expert said thatthe outbreak could have easily been foreseen:

“This was a tragedy that was waiting tohappen. We have been predicting for a whilenow that without adequate cover with rou-tine immunisation in many parts of Pak-istan, notably in rural populations, thatthere was bound to be a situation where youwould have an outbreak like this …. So what

we are seeing this year is an absolute reflec-tion of dropping the ball in covering an ad-equate cohort of children in rural and poorpopulations of Pakistan, particularly in thesouth, against a completely preventable dis-order like measles.“

A large part of the opposition to vaccinecampaigns can be traced back to the UnitedStates’ decision to use one as cover for ob-taining proof that osama bin Laden was liv-ing within the Pakistani city of Abottabod.In the months and years since, aid workers

in Pakistan have faced growing violencewhile attempting to inoculate those mostvulnerable from diseases that have longsince been wiped out in other countries.

According to the report, over 35% ofPakistanis do not have access to safe drink-ing water. The report revealed that the qual-ity of water available for drinking is low. Anumber of water samples have ben foundcontaminated with bacterial contamination,arsenic, fluoride and nitrate.

The vast majority of the population doesnot have accessto safe drink-ing water, dueto which inci-dence of water-borne diseasesis increasingrapidly.

Accordingto officialsources in theMinistry ofScience andT e c h n o l o g y ,high popula-tion growthrate, urbanisa-tion, industri-alisation andnew environ-mental con-straints area g g r a v a t i n gthe problem.Pakistan’s es-timated cur-

rent per capita water availability of around1,066 M3, places it in the “high water stress”category, said an official.

Due to increased demand of water for irri-gation, industry and public use, the per capitawater availability will be further reduced to 858M3 by 2025, the official added.

The ST&I Policy 2012 suggests legislationto ensure compliance with standards for drink-ing water by individuals and institutions. Thepolicy also recommends development of inex-pensive desalination techniques.

nATTACk oN AId workErs CITEd As THE MAIN rEAsoN



ASMARAAGenCieS

Eritrea’s government has said the capital Asmara is“calm” a day after armed mutineers seized the informa-tion ministry, with opposition sites saying the stand-offwas settled.

“All is calm today, as it was indeed yesterday,” Ye-mane Gebremeskel, the director of Eritrean President Is-saias Afeworki’s office, said on Tuesday.

A group of dissident Eritrean soldiers laid siege to theinformation ministry on Monday, forcing state media toannounce a call for the release of political prisoners.

The renegade soldiers forced the director of state tel-evision to make an announcement, a senior Eritrean in-telligence official said.

“The soldiers have forced him to speak on state TV,to say the Eritrean government should release all politicalprisoners,” the source said on condition of anonymity.

Reports from Eritrea are difficult to independentlyverify, as the country restricts access to foreign media.

Selam Kidane, an Eritrean human rights activist anddirector of human rights organisation, Release Eritrea,told AlJazeera that details of what had happened werestill unclear. “After those announcements were made, thestate TV and radio were taken off air for about fourhours,” Kidane said.

“Early in the day, not many people had a clue as towhat was going on - but electrical outages happen, sopeople were not surprised.”‘MUTINEERS SURRENDERED’: opposition web-site Awate.com, based in the United States but with closeconnections inside Eritrea, said that the commander ofaround 100 rebel soldiers had agreed to surrender.

“The face-off was ‘solved’ when the government ‘ac-cepted his terms’” Awate said, although there were nofurther details as to what will happen next.

The reports were impossible to confirm, and it wasnot clear if the mutineers had formally surrendered.

The state-run Eri-TV television and radio broadcastswere taken off air on Monday, but resumed broadcastingon Tuesday, several sources said.

“Eri-TV, under regime loyalists, has resumed broad-casting live,” Awate added.

“All Ministry of Information employees have been re-leased.”

Multiple sources reported that one of those held in-side the information ministry was the daughter of Issaias,who has ruled the Horn of Africa nation with an iron gripfrom independence in 1993, following an epic 30-yearliberation war from neighbouring Ethiopia.

Kidane said that those that took part in this operationwere not senior personnel, but young people fed up withthe situation in the country.

“These were not army officers, these were young sol-diers - new recruits and those who were forced into thearmy,” she said.

“Instead of young people fleeing the country and isin the past, they are now standing up and acting.”

Awate claimed the mutineers were led by an armycommander called Saleh osman, a hero of the bloody1998-2000 border war with Ethiopia, when he refusedorders to abandon the key southern port of Assab, de-fending it and beating back invading Ethiopians.

“The ‘uprising’ appears to have been a caseof Saleh osman trying to jolt back negotiations for de-mocratisation he had been having with the president’s of-fice that have stalled,” Awate added.

News

DAMASCUS AGenCieS

RUSSIA is sending two planes to Lebanon toevacuate more than 100 of its citizens fromSyria, the Emergencies Ministry said, in theclearest sign yet that Moscow may bepreparing for President Bashar al-Assad’s

possible defeat.“on orders from the leadership of the Russian Fed-

eration, the Emergencies Ministry is sending two air-planes to Beirut (on Tuesday) so that all Russians whowant can leave Syria,” ministry spokeswoman IrinaRossius said. “It is planned that more that 100 Russianswill leave Syria (on these planes),” she told Interfaxnews agency. It was unclear whether the flights werethe beginning of a longer evacuation operation.

Russia has been Assad’s main foreign protectorduring a 22-month uprising against his rule, but adiplomat conceded last month the government had lostterritory and the rebels fighting Assad could win thewar.

Moscow is also carrying out what has been calledthe largest naval exercises since the 1991 fall of the So-viet Union in the Mediterranean and Black Sea, includ-ing off Syria’s coast, which analysts say are meant tounderscore its interest in the region. Preparing to fly

out its citizens is the clearest signal yet that Moscow be-lieves Assad’s fall may be possible, though it has madeno indication that it will abandon its position thatAssad’s exit must not be a precondition for a peace deal.

Moscow leases a naval maintenance and supply fa-cility at the Syrian port of Tartous and has had a largepresence of employees from Rosoboronexport, Russia’sstate arms exporting monopoly.

A number of citizens from Russian companies thatalso have a presence in Syria still live there too. Russianofficials say there are tens of thousands of Russian cit-izens in Syria, many of them also Russian women mar-ried to Syrian men. Meanwhile, around 5,900 Syrianrefugees crossed into Jordan in the last 24 hours, ac-cording to border police, the Petra state news agencyreported on Tuesday morning.

Around 200,000 Syrians have entered Jordanlegally since the start of the revolution and have rentedhomes or moved in with relatives. Jordan is concernedabout this large influx in light of little assistance pro-vided from the international community to host them.‘DEEP DISAPPOINTMENT’: Meanwhile, UN Sec-retary-General Ban Ki-moon and UN-Arab League me-diator Lakhdar Brahimi “deep disappointment andanguish” by the continued bloodshed in Syria, the UNpress office said.

“They also expressed their consternation about the

lack of a unified international posture that could leadto a transition as agreed at Geneva last June and put anend to the desperate suffering of the Syrian people,” itsaid in a statement.

Ban and Brahimi met in New York to discuss Syria.Brahimi has been trying to help Russia and the UnitedStates break their deadlock on Syria which has pre-vented the UN Security Council from taking any mean-ingful action on the conflict.

Russia and China have vetoed three council reso-lutions condemning Syria’s government over the con-flict, and reject the idea of sanctioning President Basharal-Assad’s government.

Separately, John Ging, a senior official with the UNoffice for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs,visited the battled-scarred Syrian city of Homs on Mon-day, UN spokesman Martin Nesirky told reporters.Ging led a delegation of seven UN humanitarian agen-cies. The United Nations had coordinated with both thegovernment and the Syrian opposition for the visit, Ne-sirky said. He said the delegation was in Syria to assesshumanitarian needs and find ways to improve accessto people in need throughout the country. Members ofthe delegation were shocked by what they saw in Tal-biseh and Homs, Nesirky said.

“It is planned that more that 100 Russians willleave Syria (on these planes),” she told Interfax news

agency.It was unclear whether the flights were the begin-

ning of a longer evacuation operation.Russia has been Assad’s main foreign protector

during a 22-month uprising against his rule, but adiplomat conceded last month the government had lostterritory and the rebels fighting Assad could win thewar.

Moscow is also carrying out what has been calledthe largest naval exercises since the 1991 fall of the So-viet Union in the Mediterranean and Black Sea, includ-ing off Syria’s coast, which analysts say are meant tounderscore its interest in the region.

Preparing to fly out its citizens is the clearest signalyet that Moscow believes Assad’s fall may be possible,though it has made no indication that it will abandonits position that Assad’s exit must not be a preconditionfor a peace deal.

Moscow leases a naval maintenance and supply fa-cility at the Syrian port of Tartous and has had a largepresence of employees from Rosoboronexport, Russia’sstate arms exporting monopoly.

A number of citizens from Russian companies thatalso have a presence in Syria still live there too. Russianofficials say there are tens of thousands of Russian cit-izens in Syria, many of them also Russian women mar-ried to Syrian men.

Israelis vote ingeneral electionsTEL AvIv: Voting has begun inIsrael’s general elections, which are expectedto return Prime Minister BinyaminNetanyahu to a third term with asmaller majority in a coalition government ofrightwing and religious parties. Security hasbeen tightened across the country forTuesday’s polls, which began at 7am(5:00GMT), and more than 20,000 policeofficers have been deployed to secure thevote. opinion polls predict that Netanyahu’sLikud party, which has forged an electoralpact with the ultra-nationalist YisraelBeitenu group, will take the most seats in theparliamentary election. But no Israeli partyhas ever secured an absolutemajority, meaning that Netanyahu, who saysthat dealing with Iran’s nuclear ambitions ishis top priority, will have to bring variousallies on board to control the 120-seatKnesset. Netanyahu has vowed to pursue theJewish settlement of lands seized during the1967 Middle East war if he stays in power,a policy that would push Israel away frompeace with the Palestinians, put it at oddswith Washington, and deepen thecountry’s international isolation. The nextgovernment is also facing challenges at home,including a major budget crisis and loomingausterity cuts which are likely to exacerbatealready widespread discontent over spirallingprices and the cost of living. AGenCieS

Turkish man chargedin France PKK murdersPARIS: Prosecutors in France are reported tohave filed preliminary murder and terrorismcharges against a Turkish citizen who workedas a driver for one of three Kurdish activistswho were killed in Paris earlier this month.The suspect, identified as omer Guney, 30,drove for the most prominent victim, SakineCansiz, a woman in her 50s who helped foundthe Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, anarmed group seeking autonomy for Turkey’sKurds. The other two victims were identifiedas Leyla Soylemez and Fidan Dogan, Kurdishactivists in their 20s. Guney has toldinvestigators he has been a member of the PKKfor two years, Francois Molins, prosecutor,said on Monday. Guney has denied allthe charges. There is “serious andcorroborating evidence” to show that Guneyhad a role in the January 9 killings, Molinssaid. The preliminary charges of murder inconnection with a terrorist operation andconspiracy were filed against Guney, who isbeing detained, Molins said. Guney was one oftwo ethnic Kurds detained by Frenchauthorities last week. The other man has beenreleased without charge. Monday’s moveopens the way to a fuller investigation whichwould lead to formal charges, if sufficientevidence is found. If there is not enoughevidence to support suspicions, thepreliminary charges will be dropped. AGenCieS

Calm returns to Eritrea after siege ends

08


09NewsWednesday, 23 January, 2013

UNITED NATIONSAPP

PA K I S T A N rejected anIndian argument in theSecurity Council onMonday that the role ofUnited Nations Mili-

tary observers Group in India Pak-istan (UNMoGIP), which monitorsceasefire along the Line of Controlin disputed Kashmir, has beenovertaken by the 1972 bilateralSimla agreement, saying thegroup’s mandate remained “fullyvalid, relevant and operative”.

“No bilateral agreement be-tween India and Pakistan has over-taken or affected the role orlegality of UNMoGIP,” PakistaniAmbassador Masood Khan told the15-nation council after his Indiancounterpart Hardeep Singh Puriquestioned the status of the 42-member observer group in thecourse of a debate on UN peace-keeping.

The open day-long debate wasconvened by Pakistan, which holdsthe presidency of the Security

Council for the month of January.“The United Nations Military ob-server Group in India and Pakistan(UNMoGIP) continues to monitorthe ceasefire in accordance withthe resolutions of the UN SecurityCouncil,” Khan added.

The Indian ambassador raisedthe issue after Pakistan’s ForeignSecretary Jalil Abbas Gilani, who

presided over the council meeting,underscored the “important role”UNMoGIP has played in monitor-ing peace along the LoC.

As Ambassador Khan set therecord straight, another Indiandelegate challenged Pakistan’sstand. Manish Gupta, a counsellorat the Indian Mission to the UN,said that UNMoGIP had been put

in place to supervise the ceasefireline as result of the 1949 Karachiagreement. That ceasefire line nolonger existed; the new one was es-tablished on December 17, 1971and followed by an agreement be-tween the two countries in 1972,which settled their issues by peace-ful means through bilateral negoti-ations, he said.

g Pak envoy says no bilateral agreement has overtaken or affected role or legality of uNMoGiP

Pakistan debunks Indian claimthat UNMOGIP has no role

NEW DELHIOnline

Indian media on Monday revealed thatIndian soldiers had beheaded threePakistani troops and mutilated theirbodies.

Renowned Indian journalist andanchor, Karan Thapar wrote a columnfor Hindustan Times published onMonday in which he said that for themost part, the Indian media failed toreport that Indian soldiers too have be-headed Pakistanis.

“The beheading of an Indian soldieron the LoC and the mutilation of an-other were undoubtedly unacceptableand unpardonable. This was barbaricbehaviour. The anger and revulsion itprovoked is understandable. There’s nodenying that. However, there’s onequestion we need to ask but mainlyfailed to raise. Have we ever been guilty

of similar behaviour ourselves?” Tha-par wrote.

“From what I can tell the answerseems to be yes. on the 10th, TheHindu reported that last year, during askirmish at Karnah, Indian SpecialForces responded by attacking a Pak-istani forward post, killing several sol-diers, and by the account of onemilitary official which The Hindu couldnot corroborate independently, be-headed two,” Thapar said.

“What makes this claim credible isthat it’s reported by military sourcesthat not only ought to know but wouldnot denigrate the reputation of Indiansoldiers,” he said. “Alas, there’s moreevidence. This time from eye-wit-nesses,” Thapar added.

In her ‘Confessions of a War Re-porter’, published in June 2001 byHimal, a well-known Nepalese maga-zine, Barkha Dutt, famous Indian an-

chor and journalist, recounted how shewitnessed a decapitated Pakistani sol-dier’s head at Kargil. This is what shewrote: “I had to look three times tomake sure I was seeing right. “Lookagain,” said the army colonel, in a tonethat betrayed suppressed excitement.This time, I finally saw. It was a head,the disembodied face of a slain soldiernailed onto a tree. “The boys got it as agift for the brigade,” said the colonel,softly, but proudly.”

Thapar said Harinder Baweja, theeditor (Investigation) of this paper,witnessed something similar. This isthe account from her book A Soldier’sDiary, Kargil-The Inside Story: “Theexperiences of 18 Garhwal show an-other side of the war … one of themtook out his knife and slit the head of aPakistani soldier in one stroke. Thehead was sent to Brigade Headquartersat Drass and pinned to a tree trunk …

the enemy head, a grisly trophy, be-came an exhibition piece. Major Gen-eral Puri came down from Mughalpurato see it. other officers dropped in toBrigade Headquarters to take a look. Sodid some journalists … it was therepinned on the tree for anyone whocould bear to look at it.”

Thapar wrote, “So is this proof thatIndian soldiers, both in the recent pastand during Kargil, have done to Pak-istanis what they did to our jawans lastweek? The Hindu report is clearly notproof. on the other hand, what Barkhaand Harinder saw seems like it. Theyare eye-witnesses. They are highly re-garded journalists. They have a reputa-tion for telling the truth. Moreimportantly, they have no reason tolie”.

“However, my intention is not toestablish moral equivalence betweenIndian and Pakistani soldiers, although

some might come to that conclusion.It’s to ask why the media, other thanThe Hindu, not point this out? You can-not argue it was irrelevant information.More importantly, it would have put adifferent complexion on the decapita-tion of our soldiers. And, certainly, itwould have tempered the furious dis-cussions on television,” Thapar wrote.

“As journalists we owe our audiencenot just the truth but both sides of itwhen that’s pertinent. To not be evenhanded is to leave them half-in-formed,” he said.

Thapar said in this instance, wewhipped up passions when we shouldhave helped audiences realise the LoCis a tough place, where brutal actionsoften happen and both sides retaliate inequally gruesome ways.

“When tempers cool and time lendsperspective, our audience won’t forgiveus for half-truths,” Thapar concluded.

Polio immunisationcounters to beset up at airportsISLAMABAD: The government has planned toset up polio vaccination counters at airports toensure that the children leaving the country arevaccinated against the polio virus. According toofficial sources, the steps were taken as a pre-emptive measure to reduce the possibility ofspread of the polio virus beyond Pakistan’sborders. Sources said Prime Minister’s PolioMonitoring and Coordination Cell had advised allprovincial governments and the federaladministration to set up permanent poliovaccination counters inside internationaldeparture lounges of all airports. The cell hadalready asked the Sindh Government to improveits polio immunisation efforts on an emergencybasis to stop transmission of the polio virus inthe province. The Prime Minister’s Focal Personon Polio Eradication, Shahnaz Wazir Ali, saidimportation of polio virus was a reminder of therisks associated with active polio virustransmission in the country, and stressed theneed to make urgent efforts to stop thetransmission in Pakistan. Prime minister’s cell,World Health organization, UNICEF andpartners in Pakistan’s Polio EradicationInitiative had called for urgent pre-emptivemeasures against exportation of the polio virusafter positive samples linked to the SukkurDistrict of Sindh were discovered in Egypt. Twosewage samples collected from the Al Salam andAl Haggana areas of the Cairo district whencollected and analyzed in a laboratory boreresemblance to a strain discovered recently insewage water tested in Sukkur. Though the virushad not infected any child in Egypt and thecountry remained polio-free since 2004, theEgyptian Ministry of Health had orderedimmediate vaccination of all children under fiveyears in the localities near Cairo from where thePakistan-origin virus was discovered. Dr Ahmedomar of the Ministry of Health and Population inEgypt stated that the Ministry would start acampaign to vaccinate children under the age offive against polio in Ezbet Hagana Peace andKaliobeya in Cairo. Recently, the IndependentMonitoring Board had also recommendedinternational travel restrictions for the threepolio endemic countries under the InternationalHealth Regulations. APP

Interim bail of JamYusuf, Sherpao,Nosherwani rejectedQUETTA: Balochistan High Court (BHC)rejected on Tuesday the interim bail of formerBalochistan chief minister Jam Yusuf, formerinterior minister Aftab Sherpao and provincialminister Shoaib Nosherwani who were accusedof Akbar Bugti’s murder. Sherpao, Jam Yusufand Nosherwani had obtained interim bailearlier in this case. However, the BHC took upthe interim bail for hearing on Tuesday andJustice Sajjad Khan Mandokhel rejected theinterim bail and directed them to approach thetrial court in this regard. Sohail Rajput, counselfor Nawab Akbar Bugti, asked the court that allthe accused named in the case should bearrested. Online

Indian soldiers beheaded Pakistanis in recent past: report

FAISALABAD: People gather around a man who got injured after falling down from an electricity pylon while repairing transmission lines

near Katchery Bazaar on Tuesday. ONLINe


Arif NizamiEditor

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Dedicated to the legacy of the late Hameed Nizami

not many takers for Obama’s promises though

A well worded speech

The speech was well worded – with the right mix of lyricismand passion. It pointed to goals that most of his audienceaspired for. Barrack Hussein obama’s speech was thereforewell received and applauded by those who had come to listen

to the President of the USA. The address however generated far lessenthusiasm in the world at large compared to obama’s earlierspeeches delivered soon after taking over power in 2009. And for goodreason! His domestic agenda with promises of immigration and votingreform, gun control, investment in highways and other infrastructure,equal pay for women and revamping the tax code to combat inequalitywould have to be put into practice to convince those in the US whoseearlier support for obama has gradually tapered off for lack ofperformance. Many of his frustrated supporters subsequentlyconcluded that much like the Republicans, the Democrats too were infact catering to the interests of big business rather than the commontaxpayer. Some subsequently joined the “occupy Wall Street” sit-ins –the longest series of protests against the system since the civil rightsmovement. Many will wait with fingers crossed to see if obama canthis time withstand the pressures from the gun lobby, military-industrial complex and the carbon lobby to fulfil promises like the endto domestic terrorism, a policy of peace through talks and alliancesand concentration on sustainable energy sources.

Many in Asia and the Middle East would take the promise ofunstinted support to democracy with a sizable pinch of salt. Theirexperience during obama’s last four years has taught them so. Duringhis first tenure, obama blatantly sacrificed what he calls Americanvalues like human dignity, justice and democracy for the materialinterests of his country. Washington provided moral and materialsupport to pro-US Arab autocratic regimes which shot and killedprotestors demanding reforms. The policy of targeted killings wasadopted as a state policy. Drone attacks multiplied under obama andthe pilotless killer planes were adopted as a weapon of choice. Whileobama’s nomination of Chuck Hagel as Defence Secretary raisedhackles in Israel, it has failed to inspire Palestinians who have reasonsto be wary because Israel was allowed to act with impunity against theWest Bank population.

There is little hope of obama taking into account Pakistan’ssensibilities regarding the drone attacks. All the more so keeping in viewthe divide between the military and the civilian establishments on theone hand and the government and opposition on the other. only afterthe major political parties have developed an understanding and are ableto take the army along, can Pakistan hope to get its concerns addressed.

The beauty of the truth is that it can-not be suppressed for ever and it ul-timately emerges triumphant. The

revelation by the Indian Home MinisterSushil Kumar Shinde that SSS and BJPwere running ‘terror training camps’ andspreading Saffron terrorism and that theywere involved in the bombing of SamjhotaExpress, Mecca Masjid and Malegaon, is aconfirmation of that universal truth. Boththese organisations are avowed enemies ofPakistan and it is no wonder that theyhave been carrying out these acts of terror-ism with the purpose of scuttling any ini-tiative taken for normalisation of relationsbetween Pakistan and India.

Mere acknowledging these realities isnot enough. It is now incumbent upon the

government of India to ensure the closureof these training facilities for the terroristsand also put in place legal and administra-tive measures to prevent such happeningsin the future. It is also a moral obligationof the international community, especiallythe world body and the US to condemnterrorism by these entities and employtheir influence and pressure on the Indiangovernment to take decisive action againstthese outfits and also declare them as ter-rorist organisations, like it has been donein the case of similar outfits in Pakistan.

It is also an undeniable reality that thenon state actors in Pakistan have alsoworked on the similar lines and jeopar-dised the chances of improvement of rela-tions between the two countries and theachievement of durable peace in the re-gion. Both countries are presently engagedin a dialogue to resolve the disputes be-tween them, thanks to a thoughtful initia-tive by the present government and thestrenuous efforts made by it to revive thesuspended dialogue in the wake of the at-tack on Taj Mahal hotel in Bombay.

The success of parleys depends on sin-cerity of purpose and the ability of the twocountries to neutralise the non state actorsas well as initiating concrete measures thatverifiably indicate a marked departurefrom the traditional posture of hostility andthe recognition of the new regional andglobal realities. Both sides will have to sus-

pend their support and patronisation ofcovert operations within the territories ofeach other. They must prevent incidents offiring across the Line of Control in Kashmirand prevent them from derailing theprocess of the revived dialogue. The gov-ernment of Pakistan has done well by notheeding to the advice of the hawks to takethe incident of firing across the LoC to theUN Security Council as it would have takenus back to square one in regards to the bi-lateral dialogue. The bilateral arrangementmust be given the chance to succeed. Thereis no doubt that the people on both sideswant this process of rapprochement to pro-ceed unhindered as is evident by the ‘AmanKi Asha’ initiative unfurled by the mediaand intellectuals in Pakistan and India.

The governments and politicians ofthe two countries must realise that for thepeace in the region and a change in theeconomic situations of the teeming mil-lions in both the countries, the resolutionof disputes between them through peace-ful means is an indispensable imperative.The recent developments like easing visaregimes and granting of most favoured na-tion status to India and efforts to reviveand expand trade and commerce betweenthe two countries are welcome moves.Similarly, the revival of sports ties is an-other encouraging event. India and Pak-istan, with nuclear capability, cannotafford any kind of military confrontation

which can have disastrous consequencesnot only for the region but also for theworld peace. So the military solution is outas an option. Both countries have to showcommitment to peace to be able to achievethe desired goals.

It is pertinent to note that the SimlaAgreement underlining the desirability ofresolution of disputes between the twocountries through bilateral dialogue doesnot change the status of the Kashmir dis-pute. It also does not preclude the possibil-ity of raising it again at the UN in case thebilateral agreement fails to deliver. Article103 of UN Charter says: “In the event of aconflict between the obligations of themembers of the UN under the present char-ter and their obligations under any other in-ternational agreement, their obligationsunder the present charter will prevail.”What it means is that the UN resolutions onKashmir will take precedence over all otherinternational agreements on the same issue.

Pakistan is very much within its rightto invoke UN resolutions, after havingbeen frustrated to find solution throughthe bilateral arrangement. The UN resolu-tions on Kashmir adopted under ChapterVII of the UN Charter remain legally bind-ing on the parties. Article 25 also reiteratestheir obligatory nature. The SecurityCouncil under the UN Charter has thepower to enforce its decisions and resolu-tions militarily or by any other means nec-

essary; the powers that it has used duringthe Korean War in 1950 and in Iraq andKuwait in 1991. It is abundantly clear fromthe foregoing that the legal status and ob-ligations of the parties to the disputeunder UN resolutions and that of the Se-curity Council to have its resolutions im-plemented, remains unaffected.

However, looking at the internationalenvironment and the changed realities Pak-istan will find it very difficult to enlist thesupport of the international communityand the powers like US, UK and their west-ern allies for any move to re-raise the issueat the UN forum. Even the UN has not beenenthusiastic about the implementation ofits resolutions. The US has a declared pol-icy of wanting both India and Pakistan toresolve their difference and the Kashmirdispute through bilateral dialogue. It iseven averse to the idea of playing a mediat-ing role. The resolution of the Kashmir co-nundrum, therefore, requires an out of thebox solution with the involvement of thetwo governments and the leaders of Kash-mir to settle this issue in conformity withthe new ground realities and keeping inview the long term interests of the peopleof India, Pakistan and Kashmir. All stake-holders need to adopt a futuristic approachthat ultimately brings peace in the regionand the resolution of the disputes amicably.

The writer is an academic.

Pakistan, India and KashmirAn out of the box solution is needed

It is a matter of satisfaction and re-lief that the political theatre stagedby Dr Tahirul Qadri in Islamabadhad an amicable ending. He threat-ened on more than one occasion to

unleash his loyalists on the government in-stallations but good sense prevailed on hisside and the federal government. His ap-peal for dialogue on his demands on thefourth day was quickly responded to by thefederal government because it wanted hisloyalists to leave Islamabad.

Dr Qadri has claimed victory because hisdemands have been accepted but as a matterof fact what he got in the declaration wasnothing more than a face-saving arrange-ment. These demands could have been ac-cepted without the march and the sit-in.

Dr Qadri’s position was weakened by theunanimous declaration of the opposition par-ties that rejected his demands and reaffirmedtheir faith in the constitution and the electoralprocess. These political parties declared thatthey would resist any attempt to postpone theelections. Even Imran Khan separately re-fused to join Dr Qadri’s sit-in. These develop-ments contributed to Qadri’s decision to seeka dialogue with the govt on his demands.

The sit-in ended peacefully but it fo-cuses attention on periodic challenges to po-

litical stabilityand democracyin Pakistan.The rise of self-styled saviourwith an aura ofrighteousnessc a n n o ts t r e n g t h e ndemocracy andconstitutional-ism. Even ifsuch a leaderprofesses toidentify withthe constitu-tion anddemocracy, hehas a tendencyto articulateevery principleof democracyto his advan-tage. As theself-styled sav-iour claims torepresent theultimate truthand the inter-ests of the soci-ety, he expectsothers to fall inline with him.

There is little room, if any, for consultationor sharing with other political and societalplayers on the agenda he wants to pursue.once everybody accepts the agenda, therecan be some flexibility on how to go aboutrealising his agenda.

Dr Qadri has developed a cult type lead-ership by combining Islamic ideologicalscripture and idiom with popular politicaland social slogans of the contemporary con-text. This brings together the traditional Is-lamic identity and religious scriptures withmodern ideas and societal notions. Withpowerful oratory he fully captured the mindsof members of his religious movement.

Most people who joined him in his longmarch were his religious followers, ac-tivists of his religious movement and thosestudying in his educational institutions.They had religious and emotional attach-ment with him and they could go to any ex-tent on his command.

The leader that seeks blind loyalty fromhis followers by invoking ideological-reli-gious appeals, selective historical narrativesand populist rhetoric cannot be helpful todemocratic political order. The insistence onthe people obeying his commands becausehe knows what is good for all cannot enduredemocratic and pluralist political order.Rather, such a leader at the operational levelbecomes arrogant towards and dismissive ofothers and he creates a personalised author-itarian political order, if not a theocratic state.This would be close to the Iranian politicalorder that has the trappings of modern anddemocratic politics but the ultimate powerlies with the Supreme Spiritual Leader.

History provides ample evidence ofcult-type leadership that emotionally con-trols the followers. It may use human shieldof his followers to protect itself and employviolence or threat thereof by his loyalists inthe name of the ideology either for pursuinghis political agenda or to contain dissidents.

It is a colonial style leadership that cre-ates top-down hierarchical social and polit-ical arrangements where the highestpremium is assigned to loyalty and obedi-ence from the followers. They may makesome suggestions but the final decision restswith the leader which is absolute and final.

The rise of authoritarian and self-cen-tred leaders with saviour complex is symp-tomatic of acute social, political andeconomic crisis in a society and the inabil-ity of the political and state institution torespond effectively to the basic needs andaspirations of the people. Internal crises ina society create an identity crisis amongpeople and they tend to lose confidence intheir capacity to change. They feel dis-em-powered, unable to control their future.

Lacking self-confidence the people arevulnerable to emotional and hardline ideolog-ical appeals. Such appeals tend to create con-fidence among them and mobilise them for abetter future. With the decline of Marxismand Socialism, religious ideologies seem to fillthe gap for the people and society in search ofself-confidence and socio-political identity. InIslamic countries literalist and fundamental-ist appeals have attracted a large number ofpeople. Hardline Islamic idiom or appeal can-not bring about an-all embracing Islamic rev-olution in Muslim societies because ofIslamic-denominational conflicts. As one be-comes literalist and fundamentalist in inter-preting Islamic religious scripture, sect or“Maslak” dominates interpretation and thusthe appeal is neutralised for those who iden-tify with a different school of Islamic thought.

Therefore, an Ayotollah Khomeini-typeleadership cannot emerge in Pakistan be-cause of pluralist nature of Islam as prac-tised in Pakistan. Even if a person is abovedenominational divergence, the competinginterests and the people will view that leaderin the existing denominational context.

Dr Tahirul Qadri has a strong appeal forthe followers of Barlevi Islamic tradition be-cause of his knowledge of Islam and modernworld and excellent oratory. However, hispolitical agenda is not supported by a largenumber of Barlevi religious leaders. The re-ligious leaders and followers of other Is-lamic Fiqah traditions reject him altogether.

The poor performance of the electedgovernments in governance, provisions ofbasic facilities to the people, growing inter-nal insecurity, energy shortages and pricehikes have alienated a large number of peo-ple. They are vulnerable to those who canexploit their present deprivations and as-pirations for the future.

There is strong tendency in Pakistan toseek an extraordinary person who will solvetheir problems rather than striving for so-lution of the problems through the politicalprocess and use of their democratic powerto elect the rulers. As they wait for somesaviour and messiah to come on the politi-cal scene and solve their problems, a reli-gious leader with strong oratory andunderstanding of their frustrations and as-pirations has a better chance to sway them.

Pakistan’s democratic and electoral ex-periment will have to cope with the Qadri-type saviours who try to build personalpolitical fortune by invoking Islam for thepeople in search of a better and secure fu-ture. The faltering state system givesenough space to such leaders to flourish.

The writer is an independent politicaland defence analyst.

The faltering state system gives enough space to such leaders to flourish

Qadri and his ilk10 Wednesday, 23 January, 2013Comment

By Malik Muhammad Ashraf

By Dr Hasan Askari Rizvi


All that has been happening on thepolitical front in the country, since thepast over six months, leaves everyonetotally confused. Widespreadspeculations vis-à-vis the rapidlychanging political scenario furtheradd to this growing confusion. Peopleare at loss to understand whichpolitical group they should believe inand which they shouldn’t. Withnational elections fast approaching allof them seem to be harping the sametune. They are vociferously makingtall claims of bringing about the muchneeded ‘Change’ that this country sobadly needs. They are also talkingabout empowering the electorate ofthis country who actually possess thepower of electing and placing peoplein positions of authority to govern.

These political groups are alsomaking big promises to the people ofPakistan to fulfil all their basic needsof life (food, shelter, education,health, employment etc) as enshrined

in the Constitution of the IslamicRepublic of Pakistan. Bringingprogress and prosperity to the countryand the nation, and making Pakistanstandout in the comity of respectedand developed nations of the worldare some other importantcommitments these political partiesare making to the people.

Undeniably, whatever they aresaying or promising are issues thathave always been central to theinterests of this nation. The fact of thematter is that such commitments werealso made by every government thatwas elected to power by the masses inthe past. Unfortunately, however,none of them made any sincere effortto fulfil them. It is a known fact that inthis country people mattered to therulers only for serving their personalinterest and greed to come to power.

once voted to power, neither thepeople nor this country ever matteredto them. Had they been sincere in

dealing with the affairs of Pakistan ina just and judicious manner and hadthey honoured the promises theymade to the people of this country,then today’s Pakistan would have beena different Pakistan. It would havebeen the Pakistan that was envisionedby its founding father Quaid-e-AzamMuhammad Ali Jinnah.

The question that now arises isshould people believe in the rhetoricof different political groups on theissue of bringing a change in thecountry? Should they vest their trust,once again, in those who havedeceived them over and again in thepast? If looked at from the point ofview of the past political history ofthis country, the spontaneousresponse should be ‘no’. Since,however, things have to keep movingin the lives of a nation some decisionin this regard will have to be arrived at.

The best and the only way for thepeople to ensure that they are not

deceived once again by the power-hungry rulers of this country, theyshould exercise their right to votejudiciously. They must vote thosepolitical parties out which have beenbrought to the citadel of power bythem, time and again, but have failedto deliver. on the contrary, theyshould make conscious efforts to votethose people to power who are peopleof unquestionable integrity andunparalleled competence and have notbeen tried before.

But all this would be possible onlyif the Chief Election Commissionerand the Election Commission ofPakistan are made independent andpowerful. Needless to say that itwould also be imperative to revampthe country’s electoral system andmake it absolutely infallible if theabove objectives were to be achievedsuccessfully.

M FAZAL ELAHIIslamabad

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Editor, Pakistan Today, 4-ShaareyFatima Jinnah, Lahore, Pakistan

Fax: +92-42-32535230E-mail: [email protected]

Letters should be addressed to Pakistan Today exclusively

our flawed democracyI wonder why the politicians don’t want to believe

that the army establishment wants democracy in thecountry run by honest, competent politician and whoare able to tackle and solve the problems issues facedby the people and country. Speaking on a point oforder in the Senate, PPP Stalwart Raza Rabbani whilereferring to Dr Qadri’s long march cautioned againstmore efforts to derail democracy in the coming daysto get the general elections postponed. He said, “Aconspiracy was hatched against the democraticsystem a few days ago, a failed attempt had beenmade to murder democracy in front of parliamenthouse.” The revolution never came about but hebelieves that it was not the last such attempt. MrRabbani also said that the role of the ruling elite inthe appointment of a caretaker setup and ChiefElection Commissioner had been eliminated through18th and 20th amendment.

He rejected Dr Qadri’s demands for a 30-dayperiod for scrutiny of nomination papers ofcandidates intending to contest election underArticle 62 and 63 of the constitution as having nobasis. Mr Rabbani is forgetting that just yesterdaythe CEC appreciated and welcomed the 30-dayperiod for scrutiny of candidate’s nomination papers.

My question to Raza Rabbani is who is the realenemy of democracy? Those who seek continuationof a dysfunctional democracy which failed to deliveron all key fronts during the last five years or thearmy establishment.

Due to the inability of the PPP coalitiongovernment to deal with the key challengesmanifested in the present crises of governance,economic mismanagement, rampant corruption,crime, terrorism and the crumbling writ of the state,they now pose the greatest threat to both democracyand the country. People have paid a heavy price topreserve the flawed democracy during the last fiveyears.

Which political party except MQM has membersin the assemblies from the middle class? Dr TahirulQadri’s agenda is to replace the mediaeval, feudal,tribal system with modern democratic institutionwithout which the real democracy is not possible.The majority of people are in the favour ofdemocracy but are not prepared to accept the testedold politicians for another five years.

ENGR S T HUSSAINLahore

Security and investigation

specialistsour worsening security, sick economy and

rampant corruption clearly point to failures of toolschosen to curtail them. Pakistan’s problem is thatinspite of worsening domestic security, targetkillings, rise in corruption and white collar crimes,we have failed to realise that both security and whitecollar crime investigation are a specialised field,where men who qualify to handle them, must acquirerelevant academic qualifications, computer skills andfamiliarity with tools of forensic financial and crimeinvestigation, which criminals are familiar with.

Unfortunately, our law enforcement agenciesare run by men who have no such training, otherthan perhaps what they had learnt in civil servicesacademies. Similarly, it is assumed that allretired/serving members of our armed forces aresuitable to handle vital civil law enforcementagencies, anti-terrorism units, NADRA, even serveas VCs of universities, heads of vital commercialcorporations and now even NAB. We need toappoint individuals trained for these specific fieldsfrom domestic or foreign universities of repute,which offer these specialised courses, rather thanreducing these vital services to serve as post-retirement rehabilitation welfare centres for our

civil and khaki bureaucracies.Chairman NAB, an organisation which has

acquired notoriety as a Corruption FacilitationBureau, should have accepted his failures instead ofinsisting that his former rank, excluding the mentionof word retired should be affixed as part of his nameduring the SC hearing of RPP scam. Perhaps he forgotthat Mansoorul Haq, a former admiral involved inmassive corruption, was not nabbed by much claimedin-house accountability within our navy.

The ugly reality is that hundreds of thousands oflabourers were rendered unemployed, witheconomy in shambles and billions of rupees gonedown the drain, no power was generated by theRPPs. This privilege of rank is only for those likeShaheed Major Shabbir Sharif, who died defendingthis country. The sitting Chairman NAB at best cancall himself a retired admiral, but cannot demandbeing called an admiral, for he is no longer inservice. He has badly failed to contain corruptionduring his tenure in NAB.

MALIK TARIQ ALILahore

A chanceCongratulations to the people of Pakistan. With

the agreement signed by the Prime Minister RajaPervaiz Ashraf with Dr Qadri for general electionsbefore March 16 this year means that PresidentZardari won’t be up for re-election. At least now wePakistanis get a chance to have an honest,chivalrous and educated person as the leader ofPakistan, who can inspire everyone in Pakistan to behonest and hard working. on the other hand, aperson, who is ordered by the courts of Pakistan tobe arrested, signing documents on behalf of thegovernment shows the duplicity of the NABChairman in this regard.

SHAHRYAR KHAN BASEERPeshawar

Winds of change in Pakistan

our baseless issuesWe in Pakistan are fond of

creating issues of one kind or theother to keep public busy andbewildered. Elections, for example,are constantly being kept as a bigdeal. on the one hand we haveattained democracy and every step wetake is a march towards democracybut one the other hand, elections,which are a part and parcel ofdemocracy, are facing one problem oranother. Sometimes, the delimitationof constituencies becomes a problem,sometimes enrolment of (bogus)votes becomes an issue and to top itall the very ECP comes under fire. SCissues judgement on RPPs and theinvestigation officer, a fairly seniorman, commits ‘suicide’ jeopardisingthe whole thing.

Hardly had we got over Malala’sepisode, when we see Dr TuQ’s dramakeeping men and women andchildren (including infants) out in thepiercing and cold wind in the openskies for four nights and in the endhugs and smiles with all ‘ex’ and‘Yazeeds’ and books himself to go toCanada on 27th. Diesel price reducedby Rs 0.001 per litre is the mostwonderful joke making me laugh afterCharlie Chaplin’s comedy. The entirecountry looks like a stage where shortskits are shown to played audiencebusy and amused. To tell you thetruth I don’t know if power, gas, fuelshortages etc have taken us to StoneAge or not but the comedy plays havecertainly taken us to 17th and 18thcenturies.

We, as a nation, have not grownfrom our embryo. This had to happenwhen we have our ministers who arenot the real representative of thepublic. This was inevitable when wehave our country’s future carved byremote-controlled people like Altaf,who is so fond of Indian songs andwho can speak for hours. There is nomatured leader on the horizon. It isby all means an alarming situationespecially when Indians fire and killour soldiers on LoC.

AMJAD H MIRZALahore

11Wednesday, 23 January, 2013 Comment


12Wednesday, 23 January, 2013

AFTEr working on “Django Unchained,” theupcoming “The Great Gatsby” and MartinScorsese’s “The Wolf of Wall Street” back-to-

back-to-back, the 38-year-old actor is “worn out,” hetold Germany’s Bild. “i am a bit drained,” he told theGerman newspaper. “i’ve done three films in two yearsand i’m just worn out.” DiCaprio won’t just be loungingaround — he also intends to use his time off to focus onhis other passion, environmental activism. “i would liketo improve the world a bit. i will fly around the worlddoing good for the environment,” he told Bild. Unlikemany other celebrities, though, DiCaprio doesn’t justtalk-the-talk, he walks-the-walk or at least drives anelectric car. DiCaprio has his own foundation providinggrants to organizations striving for wildlife protection,clean water and renewable energy. neWS DeSK

DiCaprio to take long breakfrom acting

POP star kylie Minogue will star ina one-off darkcomedy on British TV as she steps away frommusic to focus on acting. a representative for

the Spinning around hitmaker said that Minogue willbe taking a bit of a break from the charts to return toher first love of acting, reported Daily Express. Thedecision comes as she parts way with her manager of25 years, Terry Blamey, and she has now filmed aquirky new project for Sky’s Playhouse Presentsseries, reported Daily Express. She will star in heyDiddle Dee, a comedy based on pop artist andyWarhol, which is directed by Marc Warren. “When thescript was sent to me, i knew instinctively i wanted tobe part of this project. Marc has created a beautiful,quirky story,” she said. neWS DeSK

Shakira tastefully shows off her pregnant form(and her über-handsome boyfriend, soccer starGerard Piqué) in a gorgeous photo that she

recently posted on Twitter. Shot by Jaume Laiguana, theimage was unveiled in conjunction with the couple’spledge to donate proceeds of their world baby shower toUNiCEF to help save the lives of less fortunate children.On the online invitation to their “shower”, the couplesaid: “as you all know, we will soon be welcoming ourfirst child into the world, and to celebrate his birth we’veorganized a virtual baby shower in association withUNiCEF.” “in lieu of receiving gifts for our baby as with atraditional shower we would like to offer support forbabies who live in conditions of extreme povertythroughout the world.” neWS DeSK

Kylie Minogue chooses comedyrole to kickstart acting career

Shakira shows off her bumpfor a good cause

THE detractors ridiculed the film’s overblown sets, the accented voicesof foreign actors singing in Russian and Knightley’s allegedly contortedfacial expressions. Trud newspaper said “the English Anna Karenina istoo bony” – a view apparently shared by many cinemagoers – whileadmitting the costume drama, which premiered in Moscow earlier this

month, was “bright” and “convincing”. others were less charitable. Lidiya Maslova, acritic for the respected Kommersant newspaper, said Knightley’s expressions were “over-

energetic” and her portrayal made Karenina “too sure of herself”. “She angrily flashes hereyes, flares her nostrils and, before a kiss, sticks out her unique jaw as if she is about to bite

off Vronsky’s tongue,” the critic wrote, adding that Knightley’s hair looked like a “Medusa’shead of snakes”. Critics in Moscow have traditionally looked scornfully on Western attempts to

screen Russian classics. David Lean’s 1965 version of Doctor Zhivago with omar Sharif as theprotagonist was ridiculed when it was first shown in Russia in the 1990s. In the new film,British director Joe Wright sets the story in a theatre, a device that British and American

critics have praised as a fresh means for exploring the novel’s themes of pain, fidelity andlove. Some Russian commentators agreed, saying the drama – scripted by Tom

Stoppard and also starring Jude Law as Karenina’s cuckolded husband – wasinnovative and should not be compared with the sweeping original book. But

Dmitry Bykov, a popular poet and political opposition figure, said Wrighthad been “condescending, scornful and egocentric” in using one of Russia’s

greatest classics for an “experiment in theatricality” while “spitting on itshidden meanings”. In a tongue-in-cheek reference to the recent US ban

on alleged Russian human rights abusers visiting America, Mr Bykovsaid one potential response to the British film was “to introduce aparliamentary embargo on all Keira Knightley’s future works”.Another was to produce an insulting Russian film adaptation of “asacral English classic” such as Robinson Crusoe. “Wright’s filmcan be bought and shown in Russia only in a state of total moral

insanity,” the poet concluded testily. Wright and Knightley havenot responded to the Russian criticism.

ANNA KARENINArussian critics ridicule British adaptation of

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kelly Clarkson and Beyonce killed it! (President’sInauguration)

NEWS DESK

There are two kind of events — thosewith Salman Khan, and those without.The former kind is usually a success,and always has everyone excited. So, onSaturday, at the opening ceremony ofCelebrity Cricket League (CCL) SeasonIII, Salman broke his back (literally) tomake sure that he wasn’t letting downhis fans and fellow actors. Salman,looking stiff and in visible discomfort,performed atthe event inspite of asevereback ache.Which is

probably why he asked his friends to goeasy while hugging him. When AftabShivdasani greeted the actor, Salmansaid, “Don’t hug me tight.”Since hewasn’t in a condition to rehearse for theperformance either, he also askedeveryone to bear with him. “I don’tknow the steps properly. People hereare all friends from the fraternity, sothey will enjoy whatever I do,” he said.The actor took to the stage late in thenight to perform to a medley of hitsongs from Dabangg 2 (2012). Salmanis, unofficially, the face of brotherSohail Khan’s team, Mumbai Heroes, inthe CCL T20 league. It seems from thevery first season, Salman was keen to bepart of the team, but his “health

condition doesn’t permit” him to playthe game. Ask him if his fans

will ever get to see him on acricket pitch, and he

says, “I’m always withthe team, but I’m

not sure if I willever play.” The

tournamentwill take

place fromFebruary9 toMarch

10.

Asha Bhosle has invited Sachin Tendulkar to launchthe music of her acting debut. Prior to their film’srelease, most Bollywood celebrities seek all kinds ofgodly intervention for success in their endeavours. Butlegendary singer Asha Bhosle has gone a step further.She has invited the god of cricket Sachin Tendulkar tolaunch the music of her Bollywood acting debut. Everyone

knows the rapport the master blaster shares withAsha Bhosle as well as her sister Lata

Mangeshkar. They are his biggest fansand he respects them a lot. So for herbig moment, Asha Bhosle wantedno one but Sachin to release themusic. Says a source, “It wasentirely Ashaji’s idea to haveSachin at the event. Shecalled him and requestedhim and he agreed tograce the event. neWS

DeSK

don’t hug me tight, says salmankhan to fellow actors

sachin Tendulkar’s musicdate with Asha Bhosle

Controversial poll names Freida

Pinto ‘hottest Indian chick’Slumdog Millionaire star Freida Pinto has been crownedthe “Hottest Indian Chick” in GQ magazine’s US editionThe publication has become embroiled in a racism rowafter it included a series of new race-specific categories toits “100 Sexiest Women of the 21st Century” poll, theDaily Mail reported Critics have slammed the lads’ glossyfor suggesting some women “are only attractive in thecontext of their own ethnicity” after awarding titles for‘Sexiest Chinese Chick’, ‘Sexiest Indian Chick’ and, mosttenuous of all, ‘Sexiest Pregnant Sri Lankan’ Ziyi Zhangwas named ‘Hottest Chinese Chick’ while the somewhatdubious title of ‘Hottest Pregnant Sri Lankan’ went toBritish rapper M.I.A. neWS DeSK



PARIS FASHION WEEK KICKS OFF Versace kicked off Paris couture week with a colourful and luxurious collection awash influorescent hues and real 24-carat gold accents. Kevin Costner and Princess Charlene ofMonaco were among the celebrities at Donatella Versace’s Atelier Versace show, whichlaunched Haute Couture fashion week in the French capital. Versace’s Spring/Summer2013 collection explored the relationship between architectural shapes and etherealfabrics. The colour palette was a riot of fluorescent yellow and pink sprinkled with blackand gold numbers. Designer Donatella Versace said: “I have two fabrics in this collection.one is black pinstripe, but the stripe is real gold, so the silk is woven with real gold.Another one is a Japanese denim, woven with real gold again. But you cannot do this kindof thing for example for pret-à-porter, it would cost a fortune.” Versace was founded bythe late Gianni Versace in 1978. Donatella Versace took over the reins following the deathof her brother who was murdered in Miami Beach in 1997. The Italian label is best-knownfor its sexy silhouettes and over-the-top glamour. neWS DeSK

sanjay dutt-Aamir khan toshare screen for the first time

The star cast for Rajkumar Hirani’s P.K. is beginning toresemble the ever-changing Indian cricket team lineup— while a few names have remained constant, othershave been in and out of the list. Now, the latest news isthat director (and chief selector) Rajkumar Hirani hasroped in a trusted star — Sanjay Dutt. The director andactor have, of course, had a lot of success workingtogether in the Munna Bhai films. Sanjay is the latestaddition to a cast comprising Aamir Khan, AnushkaSharma and Sushant Singh Rajput. “Sanjay has beenfinalised. He will play the part of a rustic Rajasthani.He will have quite a few sequences with Aamir’scharacter in the film,” says an insider close to theproject. This will be the third time Rajkumar andSanjay will team up after Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. (2003)and Lage Raho Munna Bhai (2006). It will also be thefirst time Sanjay will act with Aamir. “AlthoughSanjay’s casting was confirmed late, his role is pivotal,”adds the insider. Interestingly, Sanjay seems to haveeffectively replaced his Munna Bhai co-actor ArshadWarsi, who was initially approached for the multi-starrer. neWS DeSK

Goldie Hawn tries not tointerfere in kate Hudson’s life Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn try not to interfere inKate Hudson’s relationship with Matt Bellamy. Kurt hasbeen in a relationship with Kate’s mother Goldie for 30years and although the trio are extremely close, Kurtsays they don’t offer advice unless Kate asks for it. Heexplained: “We stay out of their way, obviously. But ifwe find ourselves talking about each other and how wefeel about each other, we stand up and we say, ‘Wait thisis important!’ “I’m not going to lie about something likethat, and we try not to stick our nose in where it doesn’tbelong, but if we sense that perhaps there is somethingthat someone wants to talk about, I think we’re openenough to say a little something if it’s right andappropriate.” Although he and Goldie have beentogether for so long, Kurt doesn’t have any tips for howKate and Matt - who have an 18-month-old son namedBingham together - can emulate them. He added toPeople: “I don’t know what secrets there are, and likeany couple that’s been together for 30 years, we’veexperienced many, many different angles and avenues ofour relationship. “I think I’m incredibly lucky to havehad the experience, and evenmore fortunate to have itwith the person I have itwith.” neWS DeSK

NEWS DESK

This year’s Academy Awards race for Best Pictureis a lot like last year’s race for the Republican pres-idential nomination. only the stakes are so muchhigher!The early frontrunner, Argo may havepeaked too early, kind of like Mitt Romney did.Next came Silver Linings Playbook (the cuckoocandidate, à la Michele Bachmann), Life of Pi (ifonly Rick Perry could roar like that tiger), Lincoln(as reserved as Ron Paul), and Zero Dark Thirty (ascontroversial as Rick Santorum). I hate to compareLes Misérables to Newt Gingrich, but they both po-

larized voters. And the much-anticipated The GreatGatsby pushed back its candidacy (like ChrisChristie). As BuzzFeed’s Richard Rushfield ob-served last November, the oscar race for Best Pic-ture had never been so wide open.

But if there’s one thing the Academy loves, it’sa comeback story—and a funny thing happened onthe red carpet. The early precursor awards thatwere supposed to go to Lincoln went to Argo in-stead. Ben Affleck’s film about how the CIA (and

Hollywood!) heroically saved six diplomats duringthe 1979 Iranian hostage crisis swept top honors atthe Golden Globes and the Critics’ Choice Awardsin January. over at Gold Derby, which tracks vari-ous oscar races, 13 pundits still predict Lincoln willwin Best Picture compared with 10 for Argo. If any-thing, though, with a month until the Feb. 24 os-cars ceremony, the momentum seems to be movingin Argo’s direction, a movie that paints the showbizindustry as an international superpower.

Imam siddiquetakes digs at shahrukh khan, again

NEWS DESK

His notorious antics on the reality show, Bigg Boss, havemade him a household name. And now, Imam Siddiqueseems set with his television career. Apart from beingsigned on for a new comedy show, he has also beenapproached for a number of brandendorsements. “I will beassociated with a clothingline soon. I have eventold those approachingme that I won’t quote aprice and that theyshould decide how muchmoney I am worth,” saysImam, adding that his stinton Bigg Boss has been themost rewarding experience ofhis career.“I have never beenmore humbled orhonoured. In the lastseven days, I havereceived invitationsfrom Saudi royalfamilies to attendUmrah and Haj. Iam getting paid Rs.5 lakh to attendweddingreceptions, shakehands and clickphotographs. Thattoo just forattending theseevents; there isnoperformanceeven,” hesays. Imamalsocontinues totake digs atShah RukhKhan, afterhis offhandremarkduring BiggBoss aboutmaking thelatter’scareer.

Prince Harry has admitted he “let himself down” following lastyear’s nude photo scandal. The 28-year-old royal wasphotographed naked in a Las Vegas hotel room during a game ofstrip billiards with a bevy of beauties and while he is unhappy thatsomeone in the group leaked the pictures, Harry admitted he waspartly to blame. Speaking to reporters before he left Afghanistan,where he has been deployed for four months, the Apache helicopterpilot said: “I probably let myself down. I let my family down, I letother people down. “At the end of the day, I was in a private areaand there should be a certain amount of privacy ... The way Iwas treated ... I don’t think is acceptable. “Back home all myclose friends rallied round me and were great.” “It was aclassic example of me probably being too much army andnot enough prince”.Harry was backed by a former head ofthe Army following his antics with General Sir MikeJackson saying he had “no difficulty” with the imagesand the flame-haired prince’s only crime was gettingcaught. He previously said: “All young officers areprobably saying, ‘There but for the grace of God go I,’and even some older officers are remembering perhapsthe odd moment in their youth when they were being notas wise perhaps as they might have been. “No. I have nodifficulty with it. one does remember the 11thcommandment: Thou shalt not get caught.” neWS DeSK

why ‘Argo’ willwin best pictureat the oscars

admits he let family down innude photo scandal

PRINCE HARRY

The momentumseems to be movingin Argo’s direction, amovie that paints theshowbiz industry asan internationalsuperpower.

(L-r) Natalia Vodianova, Valentino Garavani, Jennifer Lopez, Casper Smart at the Paris Fashion WeekWomenswear Spring/Summer 2013.


Wanted: ‘Adventurous’woman to birth neanderthal

AHarvard professor has hatched a plan tobring back the Neanderthals—but he needsan “adventurous” female volunteer to

deliver a knuckle-dragging bundle of joy. GeorgeChurch, a geneticist who helped pioneer theHuman Genome Project, says it is now possible tocreate artificial Neanderthal DNA from bonesamples, put the DNA into stem cells, inject thosecells into an embryo, and then implant into awoman willing to give birth to a Neanderthal baby,the Independent reports. “It depends on a hell of alot of things, but I think it can be done,” theprofessor, who says the plan would require“extremely adventurous female human” to serve asa surrogate mother, tells der Spiegel. The benefitsof bringing back our long-extinct relatives includethe fact that they may prove to be more intelligentthan modern humans, and “when the time comesto deal with an epidemic or getting off the planet orwhatever, it’s conceivable that their way of thinkingcould be beneficial,” the professor says. neWS DeSK

British granny sentenced inBali for cocaine possession

AN Indonesian court sentenced a Britishgrandmother to death today for smugglingcocaine worth $2.5 million in her suitcase

onto the resort island of Bali—even thoughprosecutors had sought only a 15-year sentence.Lindsay Sandiford, 56, wept when judges handeddown the sentence and declined to speak toreporters on her way back to prison, covering herface with a floral scarf. She had claimed in court thatshe was forced to take the drugs into the country bya gang that was threatening to hurt her children.Click for more on her May 2012 bust. neWS DeSK

Cuba finally gets fasterinternet — in one direction

Afiber-optic cable to Venezuela is up andrunning and surfing the Internet in Cuba isno longer like watching Fidel Castro’s

beard grow, though connections are still prettyslow overall, analysts tell the Miami Herald. Butthe faster Internet only seems to be moving in onedirection, with inbound traffic to Cuba going viacable and outbound traffic going via the oldsatellite links that made the island’s Internetconnections among the world’s slowest. A researcher at Internet-monitoring firm Renesyssays the faster connection appears to be anothersign Cuba is becoming “freer and more open”—especially since it sped up on the same daythat new rules making it easier to leave theisland came into effect, the BBC reports. Theresearcher says he doesn’t believe Cuba has aChinese-style firewall operating, as the trafficpatterns do not show any sign of the periodicslowing down associated with censorshipsoftware. neWS DeSK

Cambridge University scientists say theyhave seen four-stranded DNA at work inhuman cells for the first time.

The famous “molecule of life”, which car-ries our genetic code, is more familiar to usas a double helix.

But researchers tell the journal NatureChemistry that the “quadruple helix” is alsopresent in our cells, and in ways that mightpossibly relate to cancer. They suggest thatcontrol of the structures could provide novelways to fight the disease.

“The existence of these structures may beloaded when the cell has a certain genotypeor a certain dysfunctional state,” saidProf Shankar Balasubramanian from Cam-bridge’s department of chemistry.

“We need to prove that; but if that is thecase, targeting them with synthetic mole-cules could be an interesting way of selec-tively targeting those cells that have thisdysfunction,” he told BBC News.

TAg AND TRACKIt will be exactly 60 years ago in February

that James Watson and Francis Crick famouslyburst into the pub next to their Cambridge lab-oratory to announce the discovery of the “se-cret of life”. What they had actually done wasdescribe the way in which two long chemicalchains wound up around each other to encodethe information cells need to build and main-tain our bodies. Today, the pair’s moderncounterparts in the university city continueto work on DNA’s complexities. neWS DeSK

Wednesday, 23 January, 2013 Infotainment 14

‘Quadruple helix’ DNA seen in human cells

Groupon yanks gun-related deals

GRoUPoN has dropped all current andfuture gun-related deals after what it sayswas pressure from customers, the Los

Angeles Times reports. The daily deals site says allshooting range, conceal-and-carry classes, and clayshooting deals have been suspended while it“reviews internal standards.” Groupon joinsseveral other firms that have backed away fromgun-related businesses in the wake of the SandyHook school shooting.A Texas gun shop owner affected by the move iscalling for a boycott, CNET reports. “I’m askingeveryone in the Second Amendment community toboycott Groupon, because the message they’resending is, ‘Look, we do not want to support law-abiding citizens taking time out of their schedule tolearn the safety surrounding firearms,’” he saidafter a promotion for his concealed-handguntraining course was abruptly canceled. neWS DeSK

NORTHUmBERLAND: A red

squirrel in the snow. The white

stuff has blanketed Britain,

resulting in school closures and

serious travel disruption. AGeNCIeS

agamma ray burst, themost powerful explosionknown in the Universe,may have hit the Earth inthe 8th Century.

In 2012 researchers found ev-idence that our planet had beenstruck by a blast of radiation dur-ing the Middle Ages, but there wasdebate over what kind of cosmicevent could have caused this.

Now a study suggests it was theresult of two black holes or neutronstars merging in our galaxy.

This collision would havehurled out vast amounts of energy.

The research is published in thejournal Monthly Notices of theRoyal Astronomical Society. Lastyear, a team of researchersfound that some ancient cedar treesin Japan had an unusual level of aradioactive type of carbon known ascarbon-14. In Antarctica, too, therewas a spike in levels of a form ofberyllium - beryllium-10 - in the ice.

These isotopes are createdwhen intense radiation hits theatoms in the upper atmosphere,suggesting that a blast of energyhad once hit our planet from space.

Using tree rings and ice-core

data, researchers were able to pin-point that this would have oc-curred between the years AD 774and AD 775, but the cause of theevent was a puzzle.

The possibility of a supernova -an exploding star - was put forward,but then ruled out because the de-bris from such an event would stillbe visible in telescopes today.

Another team of US physicistsrecently published a paper sug-gesting that an unusually largesolar flare from the Sun could havecaused the pulse of energy. How-ever some others in the scientificcommunity disagree because theydo not think that the energy pro-duced would tally with the levels ofcarbon-14 and beryllium-10 found.

So now German researchershave offered up another explana-tion: a massive explosion that tookplace within the Milky Way. one ofthe authors of the paper, ProfessorRalph Neuhauser, from the Insti-tute of Astrophysics at the Univer-sity of Jena, said: “We looked in thespectra of short gamma-ray burststo estimate whether this would beconsistent with the production rateof carbon-14 and beryllium-10 that

we observed - and [we found] thatis fully consistent.”

These enormous emissions ofenergy occur when black holes,neutron stars or white dwarfs col-lide - the galactic mergers take justseconds, but they send out a vastwave of radiation. Prof Neuhausersaid: “Gamma-ray bursts are very,very explosive and energeticevents, and so we considered fromthe energy what would be the dis-tance given the energy observed.

“our conclusion was it was3,000 to 12,000 light-years away -and this is within our galaxy.”

Although the event soundsdramatic, our medieval ancestorsmight not have noticed much. Ifthe gamma-ray burst happened atthis distance, the radiation wouldhave been absorbed by our atmos-phere, only leaving a trace in theisotopes that eventually foundtheir way into our trees and theice. The researchers do not think iteven emitted any visible light.

RARE EvENTSobservations of deep space

suggest that gamma ray-bursts arerare. They are thought to happenat the most every 10,000 years per

galaxy, and at the least every mil-lion years per galaxy.

Prof Neuhauser said it was un-likely Planet Earth would see an-other one soon, but if we did, thistime it could make more of an im-pact. If a cosmic explosion hap-pened at the same distance as the8th Century event, it could knockout our satellites. But if it occurredeven closer - just a few hundredlight-years away - it would destroyour ozone layer, with devastatingeffects for life on Earth. However,this, said Prof Neuhauser, was “ex-tremely unlikely”.

Commenting on the research,Professor Adrian Melott from theUniversity of Kansas, US, said thatalthough he thought a shortgamma-ray burst was a possibleconclusion, his group’s researchsuggested that a solar flare wasmore likely based on observations ofSun-like stars in our galaxy. Hesaid: “A solar proton event and ashort gamma-ray burst are bothpossible explanations, but based onthe rates that we know about in theUniverse, the gamma-ray burst ex-planation is about 10,000 times lesslikely to be true in that time period.”

Gamma-ray

burst ‘hit Earth

in 8th CEntury’



FIRDOSE MOONDA

THERE are some places Pakistanhave not played cricket in for evenlonger than their home country.

South Africa is one of them. Having lastplayed a Test here in 2007, India is theonly other place Pakistan have not fea-tured in whites for the last six years al-though they played a one-day series inIndia recently. South Africa remains anuncharted territory for much of thesquad. It has been so infrequently visitedthat none of the current Test bowling at-tack have played a Test in the country.

They have missed out. Known fortheir pace and bounce, South Africansurfaces are among the favourites ofquicks the world over and Pakistan'spack cannot wait to get stuck in. "JunaidKhan would love to bowl in these condi-tions and Mohammed Irfan will do wellif he can put the ball in the right areas,"Misbah-ul-Haq, the Pakistan captain,said after arriving in Johannesburg.

The closest Junaid has got to SouthAfrica is its neighbour, Zimbabwe,where he made his debut in September2011. He played second fiddle to AizazCheema in that match but has sinceovertaken Cheema with three five-wicket hauls from eight matches. Beinga left-armer he may have half an eye onGraeme Smith with the South Africacaptain having been susceptible to manysouthpaws over the years.

At 7' 1", Irfan had caught the eye ofthe South African media well beforePakistan's arrival in the country. Know-ing the kind of bounce Morne Morkelcan extract from surfaces, the hypearound what someone eight inches tallermay be able to do has grown.

So has the expectation over howSouth Africa's batsmen will deal with

Saeed Ajmal. They have seen him oncebefore, in a Test in 2010 in Dubai whenhe took three wickets but he has sincedeveloped into the magician that rancircles around the then No.1 rankedEngland. Facing Ajmal will be SouthAfrica's first significant test against spinsince becoming the No. 1 team.

Misbah suspects that Ajmal will alsoenjoy what South Africa has to offer."Saeed Ajmal is the world's top spinnerand in these conditions you get turn andbounce especially on the fourth and fifthdays," he said.

While the bowlers are looking for-ward to assistance, the batsmen are

readying themselves for a much sternerexamination. South Africa is regarded asone of the toughest places to score runs,especially for the top-order. of Pak-istan's line-up, Taufeeq Umar, Misbah,Younis Khan and Mohammed Hafeezhave all batted in South Africa before butthe younger players such as Asad Shafiq,Azhar Ali and Nasir Jamshed will havetheir first taste of these conditions.

The pace of the pitches will take somegetting used to. Shafiq has played in NewZealand, West Indies and the subconti-nent while Jamshed, who starred in theone-dayers against India, has yet to makehis Test debut. With limited touring op-

portunities because of their schedule,Misbah conceded that preparations havenot been ideal although they have madethe best of what they have.

"We have to bat well. Whenever wego abroad, we try to practice againstbounce and pace. We use different tac-tics for that and we make sure we getready before the Test matches," he said."It's really difficult when you are notplaying a format on a regular basis. Youreally have to work hard. But that's howit is. We are not playing more Testmatches. But we have to adjust becausewe are professionals."

Dav Whatmore, Pakistan's coach,

suggested batting could be rewardingfor those who employ some patience."It can be difficult, because of the gen-eral consistency of the slightly higherbounce and the pace might be morethan normal," he said. "But if you getover that they're pretty good battingconditions as well, a bit like Australia.our young guys who get through thatwill be in for good times."

Pakistan will play a three-day warm-up match against a fairly strong SouthAfrican Invitation XI in East Londonwhere the surface is traditionally slug-gish. That could be South Africa's way ofsoftening the batsman up especially ashistorically the hosts have preparedseamer-friendly pitches against subcon-tinent sides and tried to scare their bats-men out. They may be wary of trying thesame thing this time because Pakistanhave a good attack of their own.

While pre-series talk will rage abouthow competitive a less "unpredictable,"as Smith called them, Pakistan will beagainst South Africa, there is also an un-dercurrent of a campaign runningthrough the visitors' camp. It is both adrive to show off their consistency andresolve and to talk openly about promot-ing the return of cricket to their home.

"Every stadium was full at the T20tournament in Pakistan. There were noconcerns and everyone enjoyed thegame," Misbah said. "Ten of the playersin the current Test side played in thefinal and there were no issues. Pakistanis such a big cricketing nation and theworld really has to think about bringingcricket back there. Stadiums are full andnothing is happening."

The former ICC chief executive Ha-roon Lorgat, who is a South African, hasbeen doing some consultative work forthe PCB on the matter as well.

JOHANNESBURGAGenCieS

PAKISTAN may be touringSouth Africa with a rela-tively inexperienced squadbut they would be up for

the challenge of taking on the Pro-teas, Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq said in Johannesburg. “Thisteam has done really well over thelast two and a half years. It’s a bigchallenge to come here and playagainst the No 1 test side in their con-ditions - it’s really tough.

"But this team is ready to take onnew challenges, and we really want toperform well here in South Africa,”Misbah told a news conference aheadof the tree-test series against SouthAfrica. Misbah and coach Dav What-more were under no illusions as tothe size of the challenge that layahead of them as they attempt to beatSouth Africa in their own backyard.

“South Africa’s batting, withSmith, Kallis and Amla is very strong,and we will have to bat really wellagainst the bowling of Steyn, Morkeland Philander,” said Misbah.

“But this is a young side – none ofthe bowlers except Umar Gul haveever toured here, and they love totake on challenges. It’s time to take itone step further.”

For Pakistan, the South Africanconditions are a double-edged sword.on the one hand, as Misbah pointedout, their bowlers will enjoy the extrapace and bounce on offer.

“It’s a matter of adapting to theconditions. Junaid Khan, Moham-mad Irfan and Saeed Ajmal will enjoythe conditions, while the batsmenwill have to focus on dealing with thebounce and pace to be ready for the

first test.” “If we hit the right areas,we feel we have the players to putpressure on the opposition,” saidWhatmore.

one player who could do just thatis Mohammad Irfan, at just overseven-foot tall, the left-arm pacemanis hard to miss and should be wellsuited to South African pitches.

“He’s earned his place in thesquad, and while he is yet to play atest match, he’s done really well do-mestically and in the shorter versionsof the game. It remains to seewhether he gets selected, but he’llcertainly extract the bounce on thesepitches.”

one area which is a concern forthe tourists is the lack of test cricketthey have played recently. They arecoming off a morale-boosting 2-1one-day international away seriesvictory over India but have not

played a test series since losing to SriLanka in July last year.

Misbah was under no illusions asto how the lack of test cricket wouldhamper his team but he was confi-dent that they could overcome this.

“As a team it is very difficultwhen you not playing a format on aregular basis. You really have to workhard. But we have to adjust, youcould say it is a limitation for us butwe are professionals, we have to dowell,” he said.

Pakistan will play three testsagainst South Africa with the firstmatch set to start on February 1 inJohannesburg.

The second test begins on Febru-ary 14 in Cape Town before the finalmatch starts on February 22 in Cen-turion. The tour also includes twoT20 internationals and five one-dayinternationals.

Pakistan ready forSouth Africa test

clarke sprains

ankle at training

HOBARTAGenCieS

Australia's bid to salvage a 2-2 series drawagainst Sri Lanka is likely to be made with-out the captain Michael Clarke, who is anunlikely starter for Wednesday's fifth oDI inHobart after suffering a sprained ankle in atraining mishap. Clarke rolled his ankle asthe team prepared for the final match of aseries they can only level at 2-2 followingSunday's wash-out in Sydney, and was dueto have the injury assessed during Tuesdayafternoon. But he is extremely doubtful torecover in time, leaving George Bailey likelyto lead the team at Bellerive oval. Baileystood in at the pre-match captain's pressconference and said Clarke would be givenuntil the last minute on Wednesday to provehis fitness. "He's heading off for a scannow," Bailey told reporters in Hobart."Hopefully it's all clear. He'll be given rightup until the toss tomorrow to prove that he'sright to go. Hopefully that scan is clear.There will obviously be a little bit of pain butif he's 100% he'll play." If Clarke is sidelinedit will weaken Australia's batting line-up sig-nificantly. Unless the selectors call in an-other batsman as cover, Glenn Maxwell andMoises Henriques would likely both play asbatting allrounders at Nos. 6 and 7. "I thinkif you're replacing Michael Clarke with any-one it's a step down, and that's no disrespectto whoever needs to replace him, but he's anoutstanding player," Bailey said. "Wheneveryou're losing the experience and calibre ofplayer it's a challenge, which hopefully guysstep up into. That's what we're hoping.

Ross taylor

set to return to

competitive cricket

WILLINGTONAGenCieS

Former New Zealand captain Ross Taylor'sself-imposed exile from competitive cricketis set to come to an end this week when heturns out for Central Districts in the Plun-ket Shield, New Zealand's first-class com-petition. Taylor was removed from theNew Zealand captaincy in all formats inDecember and replaced by Brendon Mc-Cullum, who had the backing of the coach,Mike Hesson. Taylor decided to take timeoff from the game because of the mannerin which he was ousted, which led NewZealand Cricket to issue an apology for thebreakdown in communication within themanagement. New Zealand's home seriesagainst England begins early next month,and the Plunket Shield match allows Tay-lor time in the middle before that contest.Taylor had skipped New Zealand's ongoingtour of South Africa but had hinted hewanted to return against England. CentralDistricts coach Alan Hunt was thrilled tohave Taylor's experience in the side after adismal run in the HRV Cup, the Twenty20competition. "obviously when you get aworld-class player coming into the side,you're never going to turn that down,"Hunt told Fairfax Media. "I'm pleased tohave him. We can help him get back onthe cricket horse and get on with it."

Pakistan attack can challenge South Africa


LAHORESTAFF RePORT

Chairman PCB Ch Zaka Ashraf onTuesday visited Suhail Ahmad hometown to condole the death of hismother.

Talking to media in GujranwalaPCB Chairman said that holding ofPakistan Super League would let fansa chance to watch good cricket and thearrival of international cricketerswould present a good image of Pak-istan. The Pakistan Super League(PSL) would kick off as per schedule,he said, adding that the cricket boardwas in contact with other countries inthis regard.

He further said that Pakistan play-ers are talented and that series would

be a hard-fought series. He was confi-dent that Pakistan would put up agood show against the world’s topranked South Africa.

He also said that ICC is responsi-ble for providing security to Pakistanwomen cricket team in India. We intouch with ICC in this regard.

LAHORESTAFF RePORT

THE Pakistan Cricket Board isconsidering the option of hir-ing foreign security experts toset up the security plan for the

forthcoming Pakistan Super League T20tournament which begins from March.

A top official in the PSL secretariatconfirmed that there was a proposal tohire foreign security experts to not onlycoordinate the security plan for theleague but also ensure that ICC anti-cor-ruption measures were put in place forthe event which begins from March 26.

“We will be in touch with the ICC toinvite their anti-corruption unit officersto Pakistan to satisfy themselves that theleague is well guarded against corrupt el-ements,” the official reported to have said.

“The proposal to have foreign secu-rity experts is being looked into keepingin mind that most of the T20 leagues

being held these days have input fortheir security plans from foreign ex-perts. We are looking into hiring thesesame people because of their prior expe-rience,” he said.

The official said the proposal to haveforeign security experts was being

looked into also to send a clear messageto the overseas players and cricket worldthat security measures for the leaguewill be top class.

The PSL will feature five franchiseswith a pool of 30 overseas players to beavailable for signing on by these fran-

chise teams. The Pakistan Cricket Boardis already apprehensive about theprocess of convincing foreign players tocome to Pakistan and their respectiveboards to clear them for the PSL.

“The statement coming from Eng-land from the professional players asso-ciation is one indication about thedifficulties we will face in this regard,”the official said.

The players’ association representa-tive in England has said they would askcounties to not give NoCs to players forthe PSL because of security concernsabout playing in Pakistan. Sources saidthe PCB is already in touch with otherboards to convince them to support thePSL and make it a success.

“Haroon Lorgat, the former CEo ofthe ICC, who has been hired by the PCBis also playing a role in contacting otherboards and trying to convince them toallow their players to play in the PSL,”he said.

PCB may hire foreign securityexperts for T20 league

10 corps Reds win

coAS Polo cupLAHORE

STAFF RePORT

The 10 Corps Red Team won the Chief ofArmy Staff Polo Cup here at the Fortress Sta-dium on Tuesday. 10 Corps Red Team wondefeated 4 Corps in the final by five to fourand a half goals difference. Major HaseebMinhas scored four goals and Capt Ahad Sul-tan scored one goal in the last chukker whileMaj omer Minhas scored three goals and LtCol Shaharyar Munir scored one goal in 10Corps (Reds) win. In the subsidiary finalplayed between 10 Corps (Blues) and 30Corps, the formers won the third place. 10Corps Blue win came with a score of 10 tofour and a half goal margin. Maj Rab NawazTiwana was the top scorer with six goalswhile Lance Dafedar Saqib Rahim scoredfour goals for 10 Corps (Blues). From the los-ing side, 30 Corps team scored only twogoals and got two and a half goals on handi-cap. Later chief guest Maj Gen Shahid BaigMirza, General officer Commanding Lahore,gave the trophies to the winners.

Suarez is awinner: Gerrard

LONDONAGenCieS

Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard claimsstriker Luis Suarez transforms from a quietfamily man into a fighter the moment hesteps onto the pitch. The Uruguay interna-tional scored his 20th goal of the season -the first Reds player to do so since FernandoTorres in 2009-10 - in the weekend's 5-0win over Norwich. Suarez, who turns 26 onThursday, has become a talisman for theside, easing the burden on Gerrard who hascarried the club for the best part of a decade.Suarez has attracted his fair share of criti-cism after a race row with Patrice Evra andadmitting diving to try to win a penalty. ButGerrard believes the general portrayal of histeam-mate is often inaccurate, although heaccepts when it comes to playing footballSuarez has only one aim and that is to win."He is very quiet in the dressing room andaround the place," said the England captain."He is a family man: every time you ask himwhat he is doing he is with his family."When he comes onto the pitch he turns intoa fighter, he turns into a winner." Gerrardsaid Suarez deserved to play in the Champi-ons League but could not say whether notqualifying would result in the Uruguayanbeing lured away by other clubs. With Liver-pool seven points adrift of fourth place theirchances of re-joining Europe's elite clubcompetition may have to wait until at leastnext season. But the Reds captain was in nodoubt Suarez was integral to theMerseysiders' chances of success in the fu-ture. "I think he is world class. He has every-thing and we are very lucky to have him inour team and at our club," said the mid-fielder, speaking at a Football Writers' Asso-ciation gala tribute dinner in his honour.

Sports 16Wednesday, 23 January, 2013

LAHORESTAFF RePORT

Former Chairman, Pakistan Cricket Board,Mujeeb ur Rehman has said that PakistanSuper League is a step forward for bringingback international cricket to Pakistan.

“It is a heartening sign that PCB has of-ficially launched the details of PSL whichwill be participated by a galaxy of foreignplayers and once again Pakistan will be cen-tre of a major cricket activity when the megaevent will roll into action in March-April thisyear,” he said in a statement from Doha hereon Tuesday after 13 years since leaving theoffice way back in 1999.

He said Pakistan cricket suffered a lotowing to security reasons in past four yearsand the steps taken by PCB for launching itsown impressive league will ensure the re-

turn of international cricket to Pakistan.“With the visit of foreign players from

different cricket playing countries a majorcricket activity will be generated which willenhance the image of Pakistan as a countrywhich is safe to organize elite cricketevents “,he said adding “ The start of theleague will mark a new era of excitingcricket in Pakistan.”

Mujeeb said the 100 million US dollarsleague will lure leading cricketers to Pak-istani cricket grounds and by that way peo-ple will see high quality cricket in their owngrounds which become deserted during pastmany years as foreign teams declined to visitPakistan owing to security concerns .

He praised the leadership qualities ofChairman, PCB, Mohammad Zaka Asrhaffor taking constructive measures to startPSL and revival of international cricket in

Pakistan. “ PSL will not only be a moneyearning venture but also a step forward togive new dimensions to Pakistan cricketwhich badly needs the return of interna-tional cricket “,said the former chief of PCB.

Mujeeb ur Rehman said the PSL will bean ideal opportunity for the home players topolish their skills and underline their crickettalent by excelling in the league.

“ We should encourage PCB for startingt PSL because the successful holding of theevent will inspire to its following editionwith the help of new ideas and more organ-ized efforts “,he added.

He also acknowledge the efforts of In-ternational Cricket Council for supportingPCB’s stance for the resumption of interna-tional cricket in Pakistan.

“ That day is not far when foreign teamswill start touring Pakistan, ending a four

year drought of international cricket “,saidthe former Chairman of PCB, himself a keencloser of the game .

He praised the performance of Pakistancricket team in its recent tour of India andsaid the performance graph of the team isgoing up with each passing day despite thehard fact that it did not play any cricket inits own grounds in past many years.

“ Pak team is a mixture of experienceand youth and it is good to see that youngplayers are making their mark in the teamby putting up splendid show “,he saidadding“Nasir Jamshid, Mohammad Irfanand Junaid Khan are the few examples ofthe talent inducted in the team”.

He expressed the optimism that Pakteam will maintain the flow of its success bygiving much improved performance duringthe tour of South Africa.

LAHORESTAFF RePORT

As a part of AFC AID-27 Financial As-sistant Programme, in the first phase,trials, training and coaching camp forPFF U-13 Football Youth Cup-2013 hasalready started which is going to be heldfrom 27th January to 31st January,2013. After the completion of the PFFU-13 Football Youth Cup the four bestteams will qualified for PFF U-13 Foot-ball Festival.

An official of the Pakistan FootballFederation (PFF) said that under the su-pervision of Area Coordinators, the fol-lowing coaches will select the teams toparticipate in AID-27 Youth FootballCup-2013. From Punjab Province Mr.Muhammad Rasheed, Bilal Butt andSiddique Qadri (Lahore Red), Mr. ZahidNiaz and Mr. Asghar Khan Anjum (La-hore Blue), Mr. Muhammad Habib and

Mr. Shahzad Anwar (Lahore-FaisalabadZone), Numan Ibrahim and Altaf Hus-sain (Faisalabad-Sargodha Zone), fromSindh Province Mr. Hassan Baloch andMr. Khalid Nawaz (Karachi Blue), Mr.Muhammad Javed (Karachi Red), Mr.Zahid Taj and Mr. Javed Somroo(Karachi-Hyderabad Zone), from KPKProvince Mr. Saeed Ullah and Mr. Fazal-e-Ghaffar (Banu-Dir Zone), Mr. SaghirMuhammad and Saleem Khan (Pe-shawar-Nowshera Zone) and from Is-lamabad and Balochistan Province Mr.Muhammad Asghar and Mr. Muham-mad Karim (Quetta Zone), Mr. Muham-mad Dawood and Mr. Essa Khan(Chaman-Quetta Zone) and Mr. NajeebUllah Najmi and Mr. Abdul Sattar(Pindi-Islamabad Zone).

Area coordinators for AID-27coaches are Mr. Shahzad Anwar for Pun-jab, Sajjad Mahmood Khan for Islam-abad & Balochistan Province, Mr. Gohar

Zaman for KPK province and Mr. NasirIsmail for Sindh. They are responsible tosupervise the selection, training campand Youth Cup in their area for betterperformance of the players and coaches.Moreover, Area Coordinators are also re-sponsible to update PFF with all aspectsof selection, camp training, team build-ing and performance of all team coachesof Youth Cup and U-13 Festival.

AFC AID-27 Programme (AID27)was started in 1996 by AFC to help theparticipating Member Associations inorder to develop football at the grass-roots and youth level as well as to pro-mote women’s football and futsal byensuring that more qualified coaches areemployed, enhancing the education ofthose involved in the game, assisting inthe employment of administrative staffand increasing participation of the na-tional teams at AFC Youth Competitionsand Festivals of Football.

We want to winall trophies: Xavi

BARCAAGenCieS

Barcelona midfielder Xavi is targeting aclean sweep of trophies this season afterthe disappointment of missing out onseveral pieces of silverware last year.Barca lost their La Liga title to RealMadrid in 2012 and were also beaten inthe semi-finals of the ChampionsLeague by eventual winners Chelsea."The team is very competitive and wewant to do well in every competition.We'd like to win the lot but we have towatch our step," Xavi told Fifa.com."The talent is there for sure [to have an-other historic year], but we need luck tobe on our side too." Speaking about theChampions League semi-final, whenBarca led 2-0 in the second leg at homeand saw Blues' skipper John Terry getsent off, Xavi added: "Well, we've justbeen talking about how things either goyour way or they don't, and in that casethey didn't, especially in the gamesagainst Chelsea at Stamford Bridge andthen the Camp Nou, where we had thetie in the bag, with them down to 10men, only to let it slip. "The same hap-pened in the league. This year we'vebeen turning those kinds of things ourway, making every game count."My feeling is we were just a bit belowour usual standard last season and weended up paying for it."Tito Vilanova's side have been drawn toface AC Milan in the last 16 of theChampions League and Xavi is expect-ing a difficult contest."They're a tough side. They keep it tightat the back and they've always made lifevery hard for us defensively," he said."San Siro is not an easy place to go to ei-ther because the fans are very passion-ate. And if you look back throughhistory you'll see that they've won moreEuropean Cups than us."They might not be attheir best right now butthey always have play-ers who can make lifehard for you."

U-13 football trials, training begin

League a step forward in bringing cricket to Pakistan: Mujeeb

league to help fans see good cricket: zaka


MELBOURNE AGenCieS

DAVID Ferrer stared defeat fullin the face three times butstaged an epic comeback fromtwo sets down to beat fellow

Spaniard Nicolas Almagro and reach thesemi-finals of the Australian open on Tues-day. The fourth seed looked to be headingfor the exit when, having been dominatedby some brilliant play from the 10th seedfor the first two sets, he faced Almagro serv-ing for the match at 5-4 in the third.

It is not for nothing that Ferrer isknown as one of the best fighters in tennis,however, and he hustled along the baselineto claw his way back into the contest andtake the third set on Rod Laver Arena.

Twice more Almagro had chances toserve out for victory but he blew them bothand Ferrer, who had won all 12 of their pre-vious meetings, emerged a 4-6 4-6 7-5 7-66-2 winner after three hours and 44 min-utes on Rod Laver Arena. "It was a miracleI won this match," said Ferrer, who will faceNovak Djokovic or Tomas Berdych in thelast four. "I tried to fight and do my best(but) next round... I need to play my besttennis, better than today. Now I will needto rest but I have a day and a half." Almagro

contributed to his own downfall by stutter-ing when he had victory within his sightsand his body let him down in the last twosets when he was hindered by a leg injury.

"I think I played my best tennis todaybut it wasn't good enough to beat David,"he said. "I don't want think that it's a men-tality problem. If I had a mentality prob-lem, I think I wouldn't have won the firsttwo sets." Ferrer, 30, has lost all four of hisprevious grand slam semi-finals, includingdefeats to world number one Djokovic atthe U.S. open in 2007 and last year. He willundoubtedly be hoping the defending

champion is still tired after his marathonfourth round victory over Stan Wawrinkawhen he takes on fifth seed Berdych in thefinal singles match on Rod Laver Arena.

China's Li Na earlier showed she hadthe legs to go the distance when shereached her third semi-final in four years atthe Australian open with a 7-5 6-3 victoryover fourth seed Agnieszka Radwanska.Radwanska had come into the contest on arun of 13 successive wins but looked under-powered as she was bludgeoned into sub-mission by Li in their tight 102-minutecontest. There were 10 service breaks in the

21 games and Li grabbed six of them to setup a contest against second seed MariaSharapova, who blew away her Russiancompatriot Ekaterina Makarova 6-2 6-2 inthe late afternoon match.

The former French open championclearly likes the bright blue courts at Mel-bourne Park, even if she will probablyneed to get her unforced error countunder the 40 mark if she wants to reach asecond final after 2011. "I really don'tknow what it is here," the sixth seed said."It seems whenever I come down here myresults are always quite consistent, no bigsetbacks or anything. "I'm not surewhether it's the winter training but it doesseem like I'm just better at this tourna-ment." Radwanska, who had not lost a seton her way to the quarter-finals, said itwas possible that she had paid the pricefor playing and winning warm-up eventsin Auckland and Sydney.

"I could feel I was playing already alot of matches. But of course playing everysecond day helps a little bit that I couldrest between the matches," she said. "Butdefinitely I think I wasn't fast enoughtoday. Especially from the beginning ofthe match, I was really running a lot. Itcost me a little too much power in the be-ginning of the match."

Ferrer survives in ‘miracle’fightback, Li back in semis

mELBOURNE: Victoria

Azarenka plays a shot against

Ekaterina makarova.

Sports17 Wednesday, 23 January, 2013

MELBOURNE: Novak Djokovic showed no signs of any lasting fatigue to overcomeCzech fifth seed Tomas Berdych 6-1 4-6 6-1 6-4 on Tuesday and advance to the Aus-tralian open semi-finals. The world number one, bidding to become the first man towin three successive Australian open titles since the game went professional, hadbeen forced into a marathon five-set, five-hour fourth round clash against StanislasWawrinka on Sunday. Berdych had felt that energy sapping clash could give him anopportunity to secure his second career win over the Serb and first since their Wim-bledon semi-final in 2010. Djokovic, however, bounced on his toes throughout andeffortlessly scrambled and slid across court to wrap up victory in two hours, 31 min-utes and set up a semi-final clash with Spain's David Ferrer. AGenCieS

iron man djokovic intoaustralian Open semi-finals

MELBOURNE AGenCieS

Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray and otherleading tennis players calling for in-creased blood testing in tennis could gettheir wish in 2013 with the introductionof athlete biological passports to the sport.In the aftermath of Lance Armstrong's ad-mission last week that he was on drugswhen he won each of his seven Tour deFrance titles, several top players at theAustralian open have revealed that theyhave received relatively few blood tests.

World number one Djokovic said lastweek that he had not been blood tested "insix or seven months". The biological pass-port is a method of monitoring selectedbiological parameters over time, ratherthan trying to detect individual sub-stances, and was considered one of the

main reasons for the success in catchingcheats in cycling. "We're looking very,very closely at it and I think there's a rea-sonably good chance that will be opera-tional probably towards the end of 2013,"Dr Stuart Miller, the head of the Interna-tional Tennis Federation (ITF)'s anti-dop-ing effort, told BBC radio on Monday.

In 2011, the most recent set of fig-ures available, the ITF conducted only 21blood tests out of competition and 131 intotal, a figure well outweighed by urinetests, which numbered 2,019. At theParis Masters last october, U.S. openchampion Murray led the calls for moreblood tests in tennis, a view backed up inMelbourne by Roger Federer andDjokovic. Blood tests are more expen-sive to administer than urine tests andMiller admitted that they were subject tofinancial constraints.

MELBOURNE AGenCieS

Maria Sharapova's biggest challenge toachieving her second Australian open title,apart from Victoria Azarenka and SerenaWilliams, could actually be between herears. Not that anyone has managed to ex-ploit any mental deficiencies in the worldnumber two... yet. The Russian not onlycontinued her perfect run in Australianopen quarter-finals on Tuesday by swat-ting aside Russian compatriot EkaterinaMakarova 6-2 6-2 to set up a semi-finalagainst Li Na, she also set a record at thegrand slam. With her 66-minute victory,Sharapova has now dropped just ninegames in total, the fewest number concededby a semi-finalist at the tournament. Mon-

ica Seles conceded 12 games on her way tothe 1991 semi-finals. Seles went on to winthe title. The world number two, along withdefending champion Azarenka and 15-times grand slam winner Williams, havebeen a class above the rest of the women'sdraw at Melbourne Park with few now ex-pecting anyone other than the trio to winthe title. Sharapova has refused to get toofar ahead of herself, dragging out the "onematch at a time" cliche after each round,though she said after her demolition ofMakarova that she was pleased she wasstaying mentally switched on duringmatches despite their one-sided nature.

"That's always one of the toughestthings, keeping that focus, especially whenyou have when you feel like you're doing theright things and you have your opponent in

the right position," Sharapova said. "You re-ally have to follow through with what you'vedone and keep doing it (and) keeping yourhead in the right direction." The right direc-tion is lifting the Daphne Akhurst MemorialTrophy for the second time and Sharapovacame into the quarter-final brimming withconfidence. Not only had she not dropped aset, she had also not lost any of her previousfive Australian open quarter-final matches,with one of those victories againstMakarova last year. The 24-year-oldMakarova was expected to be a tough oppo-nent having already beaten 11th seed Mar-ion Bartoli and fifth seed Angelique Kerberto make the quarter-finals and despiteSharapova's rampage through the four pre-vious rounds, she thought her 19th-seededcompatriot would be a challenge.

Wolff leaves

Williams

for MercedesLONDON AGenCieS

AgenciesLewis Hamilton's MercedesFormula one team announced a majorshake-up on Monday with AustrianToto Wolff arriving from rivalsWilliams as a significant minoritystakeholder and executive director.Wolff, who will retain his shareholdingin Williams where his Scottish wifeSusie is a development driver, will alsotake over coordination of all of Mer-cedes motorsport activities, parentcompany Daimler said in a statement.The latter role was previously held byNorbert Haug, whose departure wasannounced last month. Austrian NikiLauda, the retired triple champion andnon-executive chairman of MercedesGP, will also acquire a 10 percent stakein the team in a management trio com-pleted by principal Ross Brawn.

Leading players to get their way on doping controls

Sharapova juggernaut rolls into semis


cavendish makeswinning start

SAN LUISAGenCieS

Mark Cavendish began 2013 bywinning the opening stage of theTour de San Luis in Argentina onMonday. The Manxman, racingfor new team omega Pharma-Quick Step after his winter switch,pipped Sacha Modolo andAlessandro Petacchi to the lineafter a crash in the final kilometremixed up the field. Cavendish heldon until 200 metres from the linebefore making his move andsnatching victory. Alberto Conta-dor is also competing in this event,but was not among the leaders onthe opening stage. Cavendish ad-mitted the last kilometres were"hectic". "All the teams are freshand motivated, so it was real, realchaos," he said. "It was hard tostay together. I had a few guyswith me, and in the finishingstraight, within 1km or 400m itwas just kind of about staying atthe front. "It was hard with a bit ofa dip into the finish and nothingreally marking 100m or 200m, soI just kind of jumped at 250m. Iknew when I jumped I'd have agood shot at it, even though therewas some wind. "It feels good tobe fresh with a good bunch of guysand on such a fast bike. The guysreally looked after me, so I had100 per cent energy at the finish.I'm so happy I could win."Cavendish added: "The team did agreat job for me today [Monday]."We were the first team to startriding, with Martin Velits at thebeginning, we were present at thefront the whole day. "We got helpfrom other teams too, the sprinterteams, but the guys just rode sostrong and stayed with me thewhole day. It is so nice to have ateam with me that is 100 per centcommitted. I'm so, so proud of theguys today [Monday]."

watch it LivePTV SPORTSAustralian OpenTennis 201305:00AM

STAR CRICKETHockey League:Jalandhar V Lucknow08:00PM

PBSF to hand

over PM’s cash

prize to snooker

champion AsifLAHORE

STAFF RePORT

Pakistan Billiards and Snooker Federa-tion has received the cash prize of Rs 1.5million announced by Prime Minister,Raja Pervez Ashraf for Muhammad Asiffor winning the IBSF World snookertitle . “As per the announcement of thePrime Minister during a Public Rally inFaisalabad for Asif for winning theWorld title has been released by thePakistan Sports Board”,said aspokesman of PBSF here on Tuesday.The cheque will soon be haded over toAsif at a ceremony, he added.The PBSF wish to place on record theirdeep appreciation for this magnanimousrecognition of this coveted title whichwill go a long way in encouraging theFederation to further promote the gameof Snooker in Pakistan as well as ourSnooker players to perform and excel inInternational Competitions and bringlaurels for our country, he added.The following cash awards have beenannounced for Asif,Federal Sports Minister, Rs.10 Million–as per the Sports Policy of the Govern-ment (Gold Medalist), Chief Minister ofSindh,Rs.01 Million, Chief Minister ofPunjab,Rs.01 Million,Sports Minister-Khyber PakhtunKhwa Rs.01 Million.

Weightlifting trials LAHORE

STAFF RePORT

The Pakistan Weightlifting Federationin collaboration with PunjabWeightlifting Association is organizingopen trials on February 26, at PunjabUniversity Ground weightlifting train-ing center near Chaburjee to selectprobables for national youth teamwhich will participate in the AsianYouth Games scheduled to be held inChina this year. Weightlifting playersborn in 1997, 1998 & 1999 will be eligi-ble to participate in these trials.All those desirous to participate inthese trials are advised to bring withthem the proof of their age and regis-tration with the respective DistrictWeightlifting Associations.

HUMANAAGenCieS

American Brian Gay won a three-manplay-off to claim the Humana Chal-lenge title in California after ScottStallings threw away a five-shot lead onthe final day.

one a day which included three62s, with only three men over par fortheir round, Stallings was four underthrough 15 and 26 under overall, whichwould have been enough to claim thecrown in La Quinta.

A bogey at 16 - his second of the dayafter going blemish-free in his firstthree rounds - looked to have con-demned him to a play-off, but there wasworse to come as he dropped anothershot at 18, leaving Gay, Charles Howelland Sweden's David Lingmerth to fightit out on 25 under.

Lingmerth, one of the three whowas 10 under for his third round, wasfirst to go, bogeying the first play-offhole - the par-five 18th - as he foundthe water while the other two menbirdied. The remaining two went to the

par-four 10th and while Gay birdied,Howell could only manage a bogey afterhitting the bunker at the back of thegreen with his second shot, leaving hiscompatriot to claim the crown.

Gay could have claimed the fourthPGA title of his career and first since2009 without the need for a play-offhad he not missed an eight-foot birdieputt on the 18th the first time around.

"It was a rollercoaster," Gay said."When I first finished, there was fourguys on the same score. I didn't knowwho was done, who was still out. Andthen Scott and Charles are long hitters,I knew they had a mid-iron into 18. Ifigured at least one, if not both of them,would birdie 18.

"So I was fortunate for that not tohappen and have another chance. Andboom, there we go. And I just felt like Ikind of had a second life, another op-portunity."

He added: "It feels amazing rightnow. I'm still in a little bit of shock. Itkind of happened so fast there at theend the way things went down."

Stallings' day started off with him

aiming to become the first player since1974 to play an entire PGA Tour eventwithout carding a bogey, but hedropped a shot at the seventh and it gotworse from there.

"It is what it is," he said. "Comingdown the stretch on the 72nd hole, youcan't make mistakes like that. And itstinks, but it's something that I'll defi-nitely learn from.

"It's disappointing, but the fact isthat at the end of the day, I get to playthis game for a living." on a day of lowscoring, there were stand-out perform-ances from James Hahn, Kevin Camp-bell and Richard Lee.

Hahn, joint leader after round one,took a share of fourth alongsideStallings on 24 under with a 10-under62, which was matched by Campbell,while Lee aced the par-three 15th.

Scotland's Martin Laird was theleading Briton on 16 under for a shareof 47th, while Ross Fisher was 15under and Greg owen finished lastamong those who made the cut oneight under after carding a final-roundthree-over 75.

Gay claims California title in play-off


LONDONAGenCieS

Fernando Alonso hit back at criticism by Red Bull advisor DrHelmut Marko and believes the Austrian is upset becausethe Ferrari driver rejected his team in the past. Alonsowas a free agent after opting to split with McLaren in2007 but despite being courted by Red Bull, heopted to join Renault that year. Since then, hejoined Ferrari and is widely hailed as one of the bestdrivers in the sport although he has yet to win aworld championship for the storied Italian outfit.Last season, he went really close as he led the stand-ings for a large part of the season but was eventu-ally overtaken by Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel.The two were still locked in battle until thefinal race but Vettel beat his rival by amere three-point margin. Marko hassince tried to portray Alonso in anegative light and stated recently

that Vettel was a focused driver while the Spaniard was al-ways "busy with politics and funny comments". The Ferraridriver hinted that Marko's animosity stems from the fact thatthe duo did not have successful talks in the past, possibly al-luding to previous attempts by Red Bull to sign the driver on

their roster. "After hearing 'no', it always hurts a littlemore each time," Alonso told Totalrace. "I don't think

I am good at politics, I just drive the car." "Some re-cent remarks have surprised me, but I can't see thesense in them. "Some say they don't read them, don't

hear them and don't see them, before adding thatthey are not influenced by them: so clearly they do

read them, maybe at night." He also declared thathe considers new Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton

to be the fastest driver within the circuit. "Whydo I say Hamilton is the strongest? Because

it's what I think, it's my personal opin-ion and there is nothing political inthat," he said at Wrooom 2013, Fer-rari's pre-season curtain-raiser.

Alonso hints at Red Bull snub in past

Sports



Published by Arif Nizami at Plot # 7, Al-Baber Centre, F/8 Markaz, Islamabad. Editor: Arif Nizami

ISLAMABADTAYYAB HUSSAin

THE Supreme Court of Pakistanon Tuesday admonished Attor-ney General for Pakistan IfranQadir and the FATA secretary

for not presenting evidence against themissing persons, directing the govern-ment to release the missing prisoners ofAdiala Jail if there was no evidenceagainst the accused.

The court warned that it would issuean order if the authorities failed in thisregard. A three-member bench of theapex court headed by Chief Justice

Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry resumedthe hearing of the case on Tuesday.

The bench, which also included Jus-tice Gulzar Ahmed and Justice SheikhAzmat Saeed, deferred the proceedingson a request by Attorney General IrfanQadir. The bench also allowed time untilJanuary 24 to the AG to seek instructionsfrom the relevant authorities over theissue of a person kept in an internmentcentre in Malakand Agency.

During the hearing, CJ Iftikhar Mo-hammad Chaudhry said the prisonershad been kept under illegal detentionsince June 26, 2011, but there was noproof submitted against the accused.

He said prima facie, the claim of re-covery of hand-grenade, Kalashnikov andbullets magazine had no ground.

The CJ said it seemed that the armedforces and intelligence agencies could notgather evidence against the accused and,therefore, they were kept at detentioncentres. He observed that prisoners couldbe not held for even a single second ifthere was no evidence against them.

The AG appeared before the bench inconnection with a plea moved by late Ro-haifa Bibi, the mother of a detainee, seek-ing release of her son from an internmentcentre in the Tribal Areas.

He apprised the bench that due to

paucity of time, he could not get in touchwith the relevant quarters on Tuesday,besides, he was performing functions asacting presiding officer in Pakistan BarCouncil elections. Qadir requested thebench to defer proceedings until Mondayto enable him to contact with the author-ities over the issue. The chief justice toldhim that the instant issue pertained toliberty of life of an individual.

“Now, the issue is related to the feder-ation as it is running the affairs of thetribal belt,” he said, adding that missingpersons should be shifted to jail instead ofdetention centre if evidence against themwere found. The CJ asked Raja Irshad,

counsel for agencies, to present a copy ofthe order that had authorised them tokeep the held persons for an indefinite pe-riod in detention centres. Irshad said theforces had detained them in national in-terest. He said all accused were sent to de-tention centres according to the law.

Upon this, the CJ said Pakistan had awritten constitution and “you are sayingthat the persons were detained on ethicalgrounds”. He said if left to “their” discre-tion, there would be no courts in the coun-try. The chief justice said action would betaken against those responsible if the de-tentions were proved illegal. The proceed-ings were later adjourned until January 24.

KARACHISTAFF RePORT

Chief Election Commissioner Fakruddin GEbrahim on Tuesday said the delimitationof electoral constituencies might not be pos-sible in Karachi before the general election.

Talking to reporters at Karachi airport,he said he had arrived to oversee theprocess of verification of electoral rolls inthe city that was so far going smoothly.

He said the commission had so farfaced no difficulty in terms of law andorder, adding that he had talked to theKarachi corps commander who had as-sured him that the army would fully sup-port the ECP staff.

To a query, Ebrahim replied that hewould go every mile to ensure free and fairelections in the country. He said: “I woulddo whatever is necessary to hold fair elec-tions.” The ECP chief said he wished tohold the election early, adding that thecommission would work in close collabora-tion with any future interim government to

ensure that the next polls were transparent.“only fair elections guarantee our fu-

ture,” Ebrahim, adding that all stakehold-ers were cooperating with the commission.

Asked if election could be held giventhe current poor law and order, the chiefelection commissioner said the law andorder in the country was satisfactory forholding polls.

NEW DELHI Online

Indian External Affairs MinisterSalman Khurshid on Tuesday said theLine of Control (LoC) issue would betackled with Islamabad bilaterally.

Addressing a news conference,Khurshid said India would analysethe situation and take steps forwardafter the atmosphere between thetwo countries returned to normal ornear normal.

Khurshid said until there was a vis-ible change in the atmosphere, nothingshould be said or done.

Stressing that the focus of the gov-ernment’s foreign policy was to “main-tain peace with our neighbours”,Khurshid said, “We don’t want to takeany decision in a hurry. We will con-sider the nation’s sentiment before tak-ing the next decision in the matter.”

Khurshid also came out in supportof Home Minister Sushilkumar Shindeover his remarks on saffron terror.

He said Shinde’s remarks that ter-ror training was being imparted incamps run by the BJP and the RSSwere factually correct.

“our stated position is fully sharedby the home minister. His statementsare based on facts,” Khurshid said.

“Any form of violence by extremistsof any kind, irrespective of religion, isnot good for India,” Khurshid said,

adding, “Terror does not have reli-gion... we should not get distracted bya phrase here or a phrase there.”

He appealed everyone, includingthose in the media, to “support us inour battle against terror”.

“We are fighting terror againstIndia. I urge the media and the peopleto help us fight unwholesome terror,”the minister said.

Earlier on Sunday, Shinde said theBJP and its parent body, the Rashtriya

Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), were re-cruiting and training Hindu militants.

However, later changing hisstance, Shinde clarified that he onlyquoted newspaper reports to pointout growing incidents of saffron mili-tancy in the country.

Shinde also claimed that the BJPused cultural nationalism to emo-tionally divide the country, whereasthe Congress worked on policy ofconsensus.

ECP chief says delimitation inKarachi unlikely before election

ISLAMABADAPP

Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muham-mad Chaudhry on Tuesday rejected a stanceof the Sindh advocate general over the issueof law and order in Karachi, saying the Tal-iban factor was not something that couldnot be controlled by the government.

The court ordered the Sindh Police toarrest the assassins of MQM’s slain MPAManzar Imam by Wednesday (today).

He made the observations while head-ing a three-judge bench conducting suomotu hearing in progress made in imple-mentation of its october 6, 2011 verdict onKarachi law and order. The CJ expressedhis displeasure with the ongoing recovery ofbodies and observed that when the policeauthorities had failed to arrest killers ofManzar Imam, the slain MQM MPA, howcould it long to protect the lives of ordinarycitizens. Addressing Advocate General forSindh Abdul Fatah Malik, he said after theirorder on the situation, a calm prevailed overmetropolitan city, but after a lapse of twomonths, the situation had started deterio-rating with each passing day.

“The reason is that you did not imple-ment the verdict completely. We havepointed out militant wings in political partiesand ordered its disbanding. We have askedfor depoliticising of police force,” he added.He said the concerned authorities frustratedthe orders of the high court and SupremeCourt. “How could you issue ordinance overshoulder promotion for police officers whenthe court verdict was in the field?” he ques-tioned and observed that there was even nolaw for awarding gallantry promotions.

He directed the AG to repatriate all of-ficer posted in the police on deputation byWednesday (today) and submit a report.

Abdul Fatah Malik maintained thatthey had implemented each order of thecourt and answered it in their replies.

He claimed that they arrested certainsuspects from Taliban ranks who had beeninvolved in the murder case of ManzarImam. Malik said elements from theBannu jailbreak were also involved in theincident, but for the time being, theywould not disclose it because of the sensi-tivity of the issue. However, upon bench’sobservation, he also admitted that themedia had information about the facts.

Malik further said they had a list of5,000 Taliban who had made their wayinto Karachi. To another question, he saidthe ordinance for shoulder promotions forpolice force had lapsed and the old law wasrevived, adding that for the time being,they could not do it away due to stalematelegislation after the stay of the court.

He requested the bench to grant thema specific timeframe so that they could dothe required legislation.

The chief justice told him that it wastheir prerogative to do legislation andqueried how could the court pass such anorder. He also took strong exception to re-ports about release of Ajmal Pahari fromdozens of terrorism cases and directed theAG to submit a report over his release.

on the formation of committees to re-solve the issues, Justice Gulzar Ahmed re-marked that such moves were initiatedwhen there was lack of intention to settlethe issues. Further proceedings were ad-journed until February 6.

Taliban are not somethinguncontrollable: CJP

LoC issue will be tackled bilaterally: India

ISLAMABAD Pakistan onTuesday decided to release allIndian imprisoned fishermen.Interior Minister Rehman Maliksaid this during a press conference.Malik also said that all Indianfishermen would be released soonalong with their ships after initialinterrogation. The minister saidIndian fishermen had been warnedto not violate the territorial watersof Pakistan. The decision to releasethe prisoners is a goodwill gestureto India. The minister directed tothe Karachi FIA director to have

the fishermen sign an affidavit,saying that they would not violatePakistani waters prior to theirrelease. “We have decided torelease all Indian fishermen inPakistani jails and the process ofscrutiny to decide how to go aboutthe task will begin soon,” Maliksaid. Meanwhile, India alsoreleased four Pakistani fishermenon Tuesday. Earlier, Pakistaniauthorities had released as many as15 Indian fishermen from the MalirJail on Diwali as a goodwillgesture. Online

Pakistan decides to releaseall Indian fishermen

Release suspects if you don’t have evidence, SC tells agenciesg CJ admonishes AG, FATA secretary for failing to produce evidence against ‘missing persons’

lAHORe: Tehreek Minhajul

Quran chief Dr Tahirul Qadri

addresses a press conference

on Tuesday. INP | STORY ON PAGe 04

19


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