The Spokesman

MOHAMMED RIZWAN

LLAAHHOORREE:: The bi-partisanparliamentary committee ofPunjab to pick a caretaker chiefminister on Tuesday eveningpicked journalist Najam Sethi asthe caretaker chief minister ofPunjab at the last moment. The committee — after meeting

just for 90 minutes on Tuesdaymorning — had expressed itsinability to resolve the issue andannounced to the media it wassending the matter to theprovincial election commission forfinal arbitration. But around 3pm,the opposition team received a callfrom the government team thatthe latter wanted moredeliberation on the names fromthe opposition. The opposition, ledby PPP, has sent the names ofJustice (retd) Zahid Hussain andNajam Sethi.On Tuesday, the meeting started

on a dismal note as thegovernment team led by RanaSanaullah refused to consider theopposition's names and clearlyindicated that the matter should besent to the provincial electioncommissioner. The opposition alsodug up and rejected the names ofboth Justice (retd) Amir Raza andbureaucrat Khwaja Zaheer bysaying that both the gentlemen

were paid employees of theprovincial government, so theycould not be impartial.The matter looked dead and buried

but a phone call from RanaSanaullah after he took freshinstructions from caretaker chiefminister Shahbaz Sharif who wasbusy at Model Town in a PML-Nparliamentary board meeting,rekindled the hope of a settlement oncommittee stage. It is widely believed that if the

matter had gone to the provincialelection commissioner for finaldecision, Sethi could sprung a surpriseanyway as the objections to the otherthree names from both sides werelogical and strong. And so far duringall these three days of deliberations,the government team had not taken afirm stance against Sethi.

WedNesday March 27, 2013 Jamadi-ul-awwal 14, 1434 I rawalpindi/Islamabad I Vol, V, No. 342 I www.thespokesman.pk Pages 12 I Price 10/-

TTOODDAAYY’’SS WWEEAATTHHEERR

a shower possibleHIGH: 29 loW: 15

PG I 07

THE BILLY IDOLSAND SILVER KINGS–ATHAR MIAN

PG I 06

REDOUBLINGEDUCATIONAL EFFORTS–MOHAMMAD JAMIL

cMyk

BILAWALESTRANGED:

NO WAYPG I 03

SNEAK PEEKIHc restrains dentistfrom running PIMs

The Islamabad HighCourt on Tuesdayrestrained PIMSExecutive Director DrRiaz Waraich fromperforming his duties.

Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui heard thecase filed by the institute’s Joint ExecutiveDirector, Dr Altaf Hussain.

Page 02

land mafia occupiesliterary body’s building

Seraiki writers andscholars have demandedto the districtgovernment for use itspowers to end thepossession of the Seraiki

Adbi Majlis from some non-literarypersons and land mafia.

Page 05

GsP opposes Bhashadam on technical grounds

Director GeneralGeological Survey ofPakistan (GSP) Dr ImranAhmed Khan hasopposed the constructionof upstream mega

projects like Bhasha Dam on Tarbela thatis located in zone-4 because it isvulnerable to severe earthquakes.

Page 09

amitabh saysno to cameo role

Contrary to reports,Bollywood superstarAmitabh Bachchan, whoplayed the iconic copVijay in Prakash Mehra'sZanjeer in 1973, won't be

making an appearance in the remake byApoorva Lakhani which stars southIndian actor Ram Charan Teja and alsofeatures Priyanka Chopra and SanjayDutt in lead roles.

Page 10

Prior’s defiant ton helpsengland snatch unlikely draw

A defiant, unbeatencentury by Matt Prior sawEngland snatch an unlikelydraw in a dramatic end tothe third Test Tuesday anddeny a fired-up New

Zealand an historic series victory by onewicket. England were holding on by a threadat the close as Prior sought to shield last manMonty Panesar from the bowling for the lastthree overs in a cliQhanger finish.

Page 11

EC tells public o+cials to stay neutralOUR STAFF REPORTER

IISSLLAAMMAABBAADD:: The ElectionCommission of Pakistan (ECP) Tuesdaysaid that, after the issuance of generalelections schedule, the president, primeminister, chairman, deputy chairmanSenate, federal minister, ministers ofstate, governors, chief ministers,provincial ministers and advisors to theprime minister and the chief ministersand other public oPce holders willneither visit any constituency nor shallannounce any donation to anyinstitution, nor shall inaugurate, committo undertake any development project, to

prove their neutrality in the process.According to a notification, the

prime minister, chief ministers, federalministers, state ministers, advisors tothe president and the prime minister,provincial ministers and advisors tothe chief ministers or any person ontheir behalf shall not visit theconstituency or a polling station till thecompletion of the poll.It said the executive authorities in the

Federation and in the provinces shall notuse state resources anywhere in thecountry for unfair advantage of aparticular candidate or political party norexercise undue influence aQecting the

interest of a candidate or party forparticipating in any election to be heldhereinafter adding the violators will maybe punished with imprisonment for aterm which may extend to two years orwith fine which may extend to twothousand rupees, or with both.Similarly, the ECP banned bulk

transfers/postings of the civil servants tillthe completion of elections. Individualtransfers/postings of civil servants shallalso not be made after the issuance ofschedule of election except underexceptional circumstances, in exigency ofservice and in public interest, with priorapproval of the ECP, the notification, a

copy of which is sent to the chiefsecretaries, said.Meanwhile, Secretary ECP, Ishtiaque

Ahmed said that the Commission willmeet disgruntled Baloch leaders toconvince them to participate in thecoming elections. Talking to the media,Ishtiak Ahmed said that the ECPmembers will meet BalochistanRepublican Party chief BrahamdaghBugti, Balochistan National Party-Mengal leader Akhtar Mengal and allother annoyed Baloch leaders toconvince them to participate in theelections. He said that the commissionwill address their concerns.

IISSLLAAMMAABBAADD:: The Supreme Court(SC) has directed ElectionCommission (EC) to initiateproceedings against fake degreeholders within two days as per lawbesides summoning details of thecases against fake degree holdersfrom subordinate courts.A 3-member bench of SC headed

over by the Chief Justice of Pakistan(CJP) Iftikhar MuhammadChaudhry took up for hearing fake

degree implementation caseTuesday.The chief justice remarked “ no

one should remain under anydelusion. Those contesting theelection will be subjected to all typesof scrutiny. Why the action has notbeen taken against the fake degreeholders so far. No other matter canbe of more public interest than thisas to why names of such candidatesare not being published. Voters

should have all information abouttheir respective candidates. Enoughis enough. No corrupt elements willbe allowed to go to parliament. Fakedegree holders have not onlydeceived the nation but also theyhave made mockery of theirmandate. Such elements don’tdeserve any leniency”.Secretary EC Ishtiaq Ahmad

appeared in the court on behalf ofEC and he told the court action was

under way against fake degreeholders and matters in this regardhad entered into final phase.Verification process in respect ofdegrees of 1170 publicrepresentatives who hadparticipated in 2008 generalelection was initiated and 68 degreeswere declared bogus this way. 27degrees were found in order and thematters related to 34 degrees werestill pending. Cases of 8 persons are

pending with district and sessionsjudges so far, he said.He prayed the court to allow two

days more to EC in connection withverification of degrees and initiationof action against fake degreeholders. The court allowed two daysmore for initiation of proceedingsagainst the fake degree holders.The court ruled that it was right of

all citizens and voters to seek access toall information under article 19 of the

constitution. Nomination paper beposted at websites and mode ofwebsites should be simple. The courtdirected registrars of all the four highcourts and Islamabad High Court tosend details of the action takenagainst the fake degree holdersbesides filing the reply as to whyproceedings against the fake degreeholders has not been initiated so far.The hearing of the case was adjournedtill tomorrow (Thursday). –ONLINE

KARACHI: Men seen in hoods after their arrest during a search operation by rangers in the area of Jumma Goth, Malir. –ONLINE (RELATEDSTORY, PICTURES ON PAGE 4)

AHMAD NABI

KKHHYYBBEERR AAGGEENNCCYY:: Afemale primary teacher wasshot dead by unknownarmed motorcycle riders onTuesday here in Shahkasarea of tehsil Jamrud, sub-division of Khyber, oPcialand local sources said.The sources said that the

government teacher,Shenaz Nazli was on herway to a communal schoolIjaz Hussein, Shahkas,Jamrud along with herthirteen years old son,when two unknown armedpersons intercepted andopened indiscriminatefiring on here. Shereceived multiple bulletsand was shifted to Jamrudhospital where from shewas referred to Peshawarhospital due to precariouscondition, sources said.Her son also sustainedinjuries, sources said. Thecriminals successfullymanaged to escape aftercommitting crime, sourcessaid. The woundedteacher underwent anurgent surgery butsuccumbed to her injuriesafter three hours, hospitalsources said. The slainteacher had served inregular school in Bara.

enough is enough

No corrupt element will enter parliament: CJP� Supreme Court orders action against fake degree holders

Bilawal o, to Dubaiamid security concerns

Femaleteacher killedin Jamrud

� Party dismisses his di%erences with Zardari

Najam Sethiis Punjab’scaretaker CM

� Bans mass transfers/postings of civil servants � Commission will meet disgruntled Baloch leaders

OUR STAFF REPORTER

IISSLLAAMMAABBAADD:: PPP Chairman BilawalBhutto Zardari will not be leading theparty’s election campaign as partyofficials confirmed his departure forDubai on Tuesday, days before theparty launches its official campaignon April 4.A PPP official confirmed that Bilawal

had departed for Dubai. “The youngBhutto would not be ‘physically’ takingpart in the party’s election campaign,however, “security concerns” is thereason behind the decision.”It may be mentioned here that

Indiannewspapersreportedthat thePPPchairmanhad leftafter anargumentwith hisfather,President AsifAli Zardari.

Hasham Riaz, Bilawal’s chief of staff,also confirmed that Bilawal had leftfor Dubai. However, he dismissedreports of a rift between the father andson as “rumours”.According to the report by the Press

Trust of India, the PPP chairman had aquarrel with President Zardari and hissister Faryal Talpur over the party’sstance on several importance issuesincluding militancy, sectarianism andthe awarding of party tickets for theupcoming general elections.The departure of the PPP chairman

raises concerns for the PPP with pollslooming overhead and the party set tokick-off its election campaign.The PPP is to launch its election

campaign on April 4 in Garhi KhudaBuksh. It is pertinent to

mention thatBilawal, who turns25 thisSeptember, willbe eligible tocontestelections bythe time of theby-elections.

TAHIR ALI

PPEESSHHAAWWAARR:: The recent clashesbetween various militant factionsin Tirah valley of Khyber Agencyhave left more than 300 peopledead whereas around 40,000others have been left homeless.The clashes erupted amongst

diQerent militant factions in TirahValley in early February thatintensified with the passage oftime. Tehrik e Taliban Pakistan(TTP), Ansarul Islam (AI) in BaghMaidan and Lashkar e Islam (LI)are fighting this war for control ofthe area. TTP and LI have joined tofight AI while the AI is fightingback well, as it has the support oflocal population. The clashesintensified last week when TTPoccupied an AI center in BaghMaidan on March 18 and the latterresponded with two suicide attackskilling at least 30 people on a singleday. According to local sources, “Sofar more than 300 people,including militants and commontribesmen, have been died duringinfightings amongst the militantsplus the bombardments ofPakistani security forces”, adding,the infighting also left around40,000 locals of the areahomeless”.According to FATA Disaster

Management Authority (FDMA)

10,000 of the aQected familiesbelong to Bagh Maidan area ofTirah Valley following the recentclashes amongst the militants. Asthe clashes intensified the numberof migrants also rose high.Amongst the victims tribal peoplemajority are of women andchildren. After registration processwith FDMA these people aredispatched to diQerent IDPscamps.The aQected people are going to

Peshawar, Nowshera, Kohat,Hangu, Kurram and other saferplaces of the country. Those whocan aQord have rented houses whilethe poor tribesmen are compelledto live in camps built for internallydisplaced persons (IDPs). Thesepeople are faced with a number ofproblems at the IDPs camps.The Human Rights Commission

of Pakistan (HRCP) has expressesdeep concern at the prevailingsituation in the Tirah valley. TheCommission implored thegovernment to take the necessaryand proper measures required toimmediately re-establish control inthe Valley. “The government shouldmake all adequate provisions toensure the well-being and speedyrehabilitation of all those who havebecome Internally DisplacedPersons (IDP) due to this conflict”,said a statement of HRCP.

‘taliban’ infighting

300 dead, 40,000homeless in Tirah

� Najam sethi’s profile on Page 4related story

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 27, 2013

SHANEL KHALIQ

IISSLLAAMMAABBAADD.. For every 100,000 livebirths in Pakistan, 276 women losetheir lives due to pregnancy-relatedcauses. This disheartening figure wasreleased by the Pakistan DemographicHealth Survey for the year 2006-07.Owing to these circumstances,Pakistan also has the second highestmaternal mortality rate in South Asia. A healthy mother is the strength ofa family unit and child rearingresponsibilities can only be fulfilledoptimally if the mother has access tothe required nutrition and healthfacilities. A large part of the problem lies inrestrictive socio-cultural norms thatinhibit females from openly talkingabout these issues or even realisingtheir existence and hence acquiringthe required medical check-ups andhealthcare attention. In rural areas the

situation is worse as not only is there awidespread prevalence of these normsbut healthcare facilities are alsounreliable and insuKcient.Nevertheless the void left by the publicsector is being somewhat filled bynon-governmental organisationsworking across rural centres. The Rural Support ProgrammeNetwork’s initiative, funded byResearch and Advocacy Fund, tries todeal with this threat in the district ofDadu in Sindh. The project waslaunched in 2012 and is an example ofresearch that digs deep into the issueand is a move in the right direction.Three major delays have beenidentified globally that preventwomen from receiving neo natal careand so lead to the loss of precious lives.First and foremost there is a lack ofawareness among females who manya times disregard the pressing need toseek medical care. Secondly, the most

major issue remains one of mobility.There are financial as well as logisticalhindrances in reaching the medicalfacility. Finally whether the patientsreceive adequate care upon reaching adoctor is also unsure. By formingVillageHealthCommitteesfunds wereraised andtransport wasarranged forunderprivilegedpregnantwomen in thecommunity. Theywere also successful in raising aconsiderable amount of money thatwould ultimately be used forhealthcare purposes in thecommunity particularly for neo natalcare. Furthermore male and female

Community Resource Persons areselected from each village and areprovided trainings to further transferthe knowledge to the communitypeople at large. These steps have paidoL considerably, for instance since

the advent ofthe project inone particularvillage 11 out ofthe 14 birthstook place in ahospital asopposed to theage old practice of

at-home deliveries. Fehmida Iqbal, a 29-year-oldwoman from the Abdullah Khushkvillage of Dadu, recounts herexperience since the initiation of thisproject, “During my past fivepregnancies my husband used to payno attention to my health, but thistime he himself took me to the

hospital for checkups” she tells. Sheacknowledged that the financialassistance was also a major reasonthat they were able to access thehealth facility. Positive responses from thecommunity signify that there is a lot ofroom for development sectororganisations to step into the field andput funding to the right use. This willnot only help the country cope up withperils such as high maternal mortalityrates but will also provide a chance tonongovernmental organisations toprove to critics that their eLorts aremaking a diLerence on ground. Moreover, the problem of maternalmortality exists in urban centres aswell since lack of awareness andknowledge on these issues plague themajority of females in the country. Dr.Rubina Fareed, a renownedgynecologist of the capital, who hasalso worked in areas of Khyber

Pakhtunkhwa, in this regard, identifiesthe lack of awareness even amongeducated females as a tragic dilemma.While talking to “The Spokesman” shesaid that it is disheartening to see eveneducated females without theawareness and the willingness to listenand act upon the practitioner’s advice,“antiquated ancestral practices are stillpreferred by the majority”. However she emphasised the lack ofmobility and the dearth of femaledoctors as a major obstacle particularlyin areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwawhere socio cultural norms restrictfemales from visiting male doctors.Furthermore she also added thattraditional issues such as the desire fora male child, and hostility towardsfamily planning are still in practice anda lot of work needs to be done in thisregard to improve female health anddecrease the unfortunately highmaternal mortality rate.

Non-government initiatives to protect women’s health

CMYK

CMYK

Successful bidding of CDAplots to boost economy

IISSLLAAMMAABBAADD:: Capital DevelopmentAuthority Chairman Syed TahirShahbaz has said that the successfulbidding of residential and commercialplots in the developed sectors of thefederal capital will further promote theeconomic and development activitiesin the city. Shahbaz said this on theoccasion of two-day auctionsuccessfully concluded here at theJinnah Convention Centre on Tuesday.The CDA chairman lauded theperformance of the auction committeefor conducting auction of the plots intransparent manner. The committeeheaded by Azhar Ali ChaudhryMember Finance and comprising ofPlanning and Design Member SyedMustafain Kazmi, Estate MemberShaista Sohail, Finance deputy directorgeneral, Estate Management-Idirector, Estate Management-IIdirector and Public Relations directoras its members has eKcientlysupervised the bidding process. Theauthority, on the second day, presentedseven numbers of commercial plots forbidding including three plots in BlueArea, one in Markaz D-12, two inMarkaz E-12 and one plot in Markaz I-12. The Blue Area plot received thehighest bid of Rs 483,000/- per squareyard. The commercial plots oLered forauction would fetch around Rs2463.160 millions. CDA is likely to getaround Rs 3239.466 millions from theauction of both the residential andcommercial plots. �STAFF REPORT

Big Islamabad policeshuffle ahead of electionsIISSLLAAMMAABBAADD:: Inspector General ofIslamabad Police Bani Amin Khan onTuesday issued a notification in whichseven assistant/deputy superintendentsof police (ASPs/DSPs) and two otherpolice oKcers transferred ahead ofgeneral elections. According to policesources, the police chief has issued thetransfer orders through a notificationin which ASP Muhammad AshraL,DSP Liaqat Hayat Niazi, DSP AshraLAli Kohkar, ASP Muhammad AmeerKhan Niazi, DSP Fida Hussain Satti,ASP Rizwan Umeer Gondal, InspectorQasim Niazi and InspectorMuhammad Akram transferred. ASPAshraL transferred to SDPO city, DSPLiaqat Niazi transferred from theSDPO Secretariat to SDPO ShahzadTown, DSP AshraL Kohkar from SDPOShahzad Town to DSP CID, ASPAmeer Niazi from ASP Special Branchto SDPO Saddar while DSP Fida Sattifrom SDPO Saddar to security division.ASP Afzal has transferred from CID toSDPO Secretariat while ASP cityRizwan Gondal from SDPO city toVVIP Route. �ONLINE

SALMAN ABBAS

IISSLLAAMMAABBAADD:: The Islamabad High Court onTuesday restrained PIMS Executive DirectorDr Riaz Waraich from performing his duties.Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui heard the casefiled by the institute’s Joint Executive Director,Dr Altaf Hussain.Dr Hussain challenged Dr Waraich’s eligibility,saying that being a dentist Dr Warriach was noteven qualified to run the PIMS. “Thegovernment, through a piece of legislation aimedat setting up the proposed Shaheed Zulfikar AliBhutto Medical University is going to appoint DrRiaz its vice chancellor,” Dr Hussian had earlierstated in his petition. According to him, a medical specialist,cardiologist and orthopedic surgeon may beappointed to run the PIMS and as vicechancellor of ZAB university. Justice Siddiqui on

February 15 after initial hearing of the petitionrestrained the federal government fromchanging the status of Dr Warriach and had alsosought comments from Dr Warriach and CapitalAdministration and Development Division.Syed Nayyab Hassan Gardezi on March 8presented Dr Warriach’s reply to the court, andclaimed that the qualifications for the PIMSED position were amended in December 2011and Dr Warriach is eligible for becoming EDPIMS. Gardezi also told the court that DrWarriach had joined PIMS on a deputation,and could be “repatriated” to his originaldepartment after completion of three yearsterm in PIMS. His appointment as the first vicechancellor of ZAB Medical University would,according to his lawyer, also be temporary innature, until a high-level committee couldmake a regular appointment. Dr Hussain’s lawyer, Shuaib Shaheen, told the

court that the requirements for Dr Warriach’scurrent BPS-21 ED position are an MBBS, withcertain specializations, and a minimum of 22years of experience in public health. Dr Warriachholds a Bachelor of Dental Surgery and has onlyteaching experience. According to Mr Shaheen,Dr Warriach used “political connections” to getappointed to his position at PIMS.According to the counsel the post of PIMSExecutive Director is of BPS-21 and the requiredqualification for this post is MBBS withspecialisation in some selected fields. Aminimum 22 years experience in the field ofpublic health is mandatory for this post. Healleged that the government in the recentlegislation regarding establishment of ZABmedical university suggested that the incumbentPIMS ED will run the university and DrWarriach being the ED would be notified as firstvice chancellor of the said university.

IISSLLAAMMAABBAADD::The SupremeCourt has allowedfather of the lateKamran Faisal,the NAB inquiryoKcer in rentalpower case to become party in his sonmurder case. A 2-member bench of SCpresided over by Justice Jawad SKhawaja took up Kamran Faisalmurder case for hearing Tuesday.Prosecutor General NAB KK Aghaappeared and requested the court thathe was preoccupied in other cases,therefore, hearing of the case beadjourned. The father of KamranFaisal told that he had filed applicationin the court based on evidence inregard to murder of his son. He requested the court to hear hisapplication as well. The court allowedhim to become party in the case andissued notices to concerned persons.The hearing of the case was put oLuntil April 3. �ONLINE

Faisal’s fatherbecomes party inson’s murder case

IHC restrains ‘dentist’from running PIMS� Petition by fellow doctor may ruin Dr Waraich’s dream to become proposed medical varsity’s first VC

Maulana Abdul Aziz showing a copy of holy Quran which was damadged during Lal Masjid operation. �ONLINE

OUR STAFF REPORTER

IISSLLAAMMAABBAADD:: Charge-sheet was submitted onTuesday against Abrar, the Bharakahu murdercase accused, in the sessions court and the courtcalled him again on 28th for next hearing. IbrarQazi and his accomplice in the murder of twogirls -- Sawera Hakim and Shahzadi Bibi -- werepresented in the courtroom to hear Judge KausarZaidi announce the charge-sheet. On the next date of hearing the court will seeevidences against them, The Spokesman haslearnt. Advocate Rukshanda, the counsel for theaccused, told The Spokesman that her clients had

confessed their crime in front of a magistrate butnot in front of a sessions court. “The future courseof the case will depend upon the evidence. Thepolice have already been given orders to exhumethe graves of the victims to provide the evidenceto the court.”Ibrar Qazi and his lover Zahra Mehek werearrested in February for murdering ShahzadiBibi, aged 11. Qazi has already told police thathe raped Bibi fefore killing her. During theinvestigation, the couple disclosed that they alsovictimised four more girls whom Zahra gavetoxic medicine before Ibrar raped theunconscious girls.

Murder charge-sheet submitted

Students of di+erent countries, including Palestine, China and Kenya present shades of their nations through their stalls at 25th International Cultural Exhibition and Cultural Week at Islamic International University, Islamabad. �STAFF PHOTOS

HOMER BALOCH

IISSLLAAMMAABBAADD:: Once considered the safehaven of Pakistan, the federal capital hasturned into a stronghold of criminals,especially the carjackers and kidnappers. Theregistration of 330 FIRs during the lastfortnight is a testimony of the fact.In last two weeks, there have been 10 deathcases, including four murders, nine attemptsto murder, eight kidnappings, two suicides,20 car thefts, 25 thefts and robberies, 43fraud cases, including 34 dishonouredcheques and 36 narcotics cases in the federalcapital. Interestingly enough it has emergedthat nine police stations in the capital’s urbanareas have registered a glaring 55.16 percentof the total crimes committed in the capital.The rest goes to the remaining nine rural areapolice stations.

The carjackers mostly liked to pick Civicand Mehran cars, with only four motorbikesfrom the core of the capital during the last 15days, imprinting a question mark on theperformance of the Islamabad Police. Thecops, it seems, have completely failed instopping the cars from being stolen, despite awebcob of pickets all over the city. The Margallah police station seems to havebecome an attractive hunting ground for carthieves where during the last fortnight fivecars were stolen from different areas,including G-8/2 School, G-9/1 School, F-8Markaz, and Nori Hospital. On the otherhand, four cars were lifted from the areasunder the Kohsar police, two cars and onemotorbike were lifted from G-10 Markaz,under the jurisdiction of Ramna police, twocars and one bike were taken away fromAabpara area, one car from I-8/2 in

Industrial Area, one car from Garden Town,near Shahzad Town police station, one carfrom Lake View Park in the area ofSecretariat police station, one motorbikefrom the area of Koral police station, one carfrom Tarnol, one from Shalimar policestation’s area and one from Bharakahu. The sad story does not end with the carsand bikes being lifted. The fortnight inquestion also saw seven women/ girls andone teenage boy being kidnapped fromdifferent areas of the city. The four abductedgirls belonged to the Bharakahu area, whichis fast turning unsafe for women. Awais (aboy) and Iram Shehzadi (a girl) werekidnapped in an area in the jurisdiction ofthe Shalimar police while Zahida Bibi wasabducted from Golra. Meanwhile, the capital police have recoveredhundreds of weapons and ammunition in 49

recovery cases. The most unsecure area,during the last two weeks, was Margalla policestation, where police registered 36 FIRswithin the said time. The registered cases wereregarding theft, intimidation, and breach oftrust, car lifting, frauds, liquor and narcoticsrecovery, and attempt of murder. On the other hand, SSP Yaseen Farooquehas told “The Spokesman” that the Islamabadpolice was taking strict action against the car-lifters. “The capital police have raided manyareas, including Peshawar and Mardan, torecover the lifted vehicles,” SSP Yaseen said.He, however, maintained that mostkidnapping-for-ransom cases were fake. “Themajor cases like the case of Shahzadi Bibi havebeen solved. Other abduction cases are notmuch diKcult to solve as most of these girlsthemselves go with their ‘kidnappers’,” SSPYaseen maintained.

Capital becoming a den of carjackers, kidnappers

The story about Bilawal Bhutto Zardarileaving for Dubai after a tiR with hisfather, President Asif Ali Zardari, may

not be true.Actually, it is quite the opposite. Bilawal stays

in Dubai as part of Daddy Zardari’s politicalstrategy. He will not be overly exposed to the

election but may be—just maybe—brieflyexposed in the final days of the electioncampaign in some crucial public meeting.Otherwise, Bilawal is being kept away from thecurrent elections.This rumour was being fed to local hacks

for quite some time. The story goes that thekid developed diRerences with Zardari andhis sister, Faryal Talpur, over “the party'shandling of key issues, including militantviolence, sectarian attacks against Shias andthe award of party tickets for the pollsscheduled for May 11. “The story somehow was not picked up here

despite our love for such gossip. The story wasthen introduced through the Press Trust ofIndia (PTI) which has developed quite areputation for propaganda here in Pakistan.Remember that wild allegation about Bilawalhaving an aRair with the former Foreign

Minister? The story was published in a Londontabloid but propagated here through the PTI.PTI quoted two sources privy to the

development saying that “Bilawal had made itclear to his father that he felt the PPP had notstrongly taken up issues like the shooting ofteenage rights activist Malala Yusufzai byTaliban fighters last year and three devastatingbomb attacks on Shias in Quetta and Karachithat killed nearly 250 people.” The story further states that Bilawal was also

upset with the PPP's handling of issues thataRect the youth, especially in the wake ofeRorts by other parties like Imran Khan'sPakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf to woo the youthahead of the polls.”However, Sheeshnag confirmed that Bilawal

was sent to Dubai. A source was told inBilawal’s presence by Zardari that, “I amsending him to Dubai; we don’t need him inthis election.”The Sheeshnag source said the President

mentioned that Bilawal needed more exposureto be involved in politics full time and he was“too sensitive” about things here. Bilawal isbelieved to have smiled over it.However, PTI claimed Bilawal was

angered by Faryal Talpur's refusal to awardtickets to certain candidates in Sindhprovince that he had recommended. Itquotes a source, saying "last month, Bilawalhad recommended the names of some 200PPP workers and asked former Sindh ChiefMinister Qaim Ali Shah to give them jobsbut Talpur had intervened, causing badblood between them." PTI wove a whole picture saying that Bilawal

discussed these matters with his father andsought authority to take decisions in partymatters. But Zardari sided with his sister, whoplays a key role in the PPP's aRairs."When Zardari told him that he would be

handed over the command of the party after heis groomed politically, Bilawal got upset andleft for Dubai," said PTI quoting a source.Bilawal was quoted saying: "If I had to vote,even I wouldn't vote for the PPP.”Sheeshnag can tell you this is all trash.

SATURDAY, MARCH 16, 2013

Venom Inc. This should not be

held against me in a court of

law as I solemnly declare thatthese a˘e absolute lies, dirty whispersand wild speculation that I have heard

while crawling in the dark power

corridors of the creepy Capital. You

will believe them at your own risk

Shh...If you have venom to spill please

don’̂ hesitate to share with us on ourblog aˆ ˛˛˛ .thespokesman.pk

POWER ALLEYS|CMYK

Today's take: Caretaker Cabinet

Mir Hazar Khan Khoso:Burdened by this massive load on his oldshoulders. He was leading a quiteretired life but has suddenly been putunder so much pressure. Limelight isgood and especially at the fag end of hiscareer and perhaps life. And now he isbeing pushed for the inclusion of myriadnames for his Cabinet. Should he talk toZardari, Fhakru Bhai, listen to Kayanior his Khoso tribe? Some say he shouldalso talk to Nawaz Sharif. But then other politicians willfeel neglected. The last person he wants to talk to is FazlurRehman. He hates it when people criticize his age. ForPete’s sake, he is not getting married so no worries that ageshould hamper his ‘performance’. At least he was able torecognize Kayani when he called on him. That’s what reallymatters.

Asif Zardari:Upset over the selection of Khoso. Theold man was just a decoy. Everybody saidthat Ishrat was sure to become the PM.Now, what about those crucialappointments in Finance, Petroleum,CBR and SHO Sihala that Malik Riazwants to retain at all costs? Here he isworried about big stakes and Malk Sahbis worried about SHOs. He is cursing thepeople who proposed his name. The oldman is not listening to him and has rejected all his names.He too will retaliate. If his names will not be accepted, hewill make sure he opposes ‘their’ names. Mallo as FM, overhis dead body.

PTI makes entry into Saraiki heartland

Biliwal estranged: No way

Khoso — his own manCaretaker Prime Minister Hazar Khan

Khoso is definitely taking time toannounce his Cabinet.The more important issue is who is

deciding the Cabinet. We are told that the oldman is not the rubber stamp that manythink. He received the COAS General AshfaqKayani and took his advice. Khoso is alsoconsulting others, the most importantperson being the Election Commissioner,Justice (Retd) Fakhrudding G Ibrahim. Forevery name that comes up he seeks the adviceof Fakhruddin. Yes, there are all kinds ofnames in the air including that of ShafqatWajahat as Petroleum Minister and formerSECP President Raziur Rehman as theFinance Minister. But nothing is final asthese names keep changing.Sheeshnag gets positive vibes from the PM.

He seems clear that his primary job is tofacilitate the EC in holding fair elections. Hemay be talking to the President or even the

Opposition parties but, primarily, he is hisown man. That’s good to hear.

TAHIR NIAZ

ISLAMABAD: As the political parties arebusy in finalizing their candidates for theupcoming general elections, the ‘weaker’aspirants from the respective strongholds ofthe political parties are facing a dilemma ofits own kind.Keeping in view the popularity of a

political party in its stronghold, even theweaker candidates consider themselvesmore than secure but at the same time theyfeel equally insecure at the hands of theparty leadership which will ultimatelydecide who would contest the electionsfrom the party platform. If they get partyticket, success is assured as they would haveto do a little work to win the elections. Ifdenied, they would hardly risk betrayal andcontest elections as an independentcandidate and sit at home in the hope ofbetter days ahead.Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N)

contested the 2008 general elections whichwere held under the supervision of General(R) Pervez Musharraf under unfavorablecircumstances. The popularity of the Nawaz-led party was touching the depths at thattime and the party could not even findcandidates, let alone selecting the mostsuitable one. Now with the analystsprofessing PML-N to be the single largest

party at the Centre as aresult of the next generalelections, it has more thanone choice, particularly inits strongholds as Lahoreand Rawalpindi when itcomes to selection of thecandidates.According to the

sources in the PML-N,some of the outgoing MPseven are not sure ofgetting party ticket tocontest the 2013 generalelections. Shakeel Awanand Haneef Abbasi wereelected from Rawalpindi.Anjum Aqeel Khan waselected from theIslamabad seat.Muhammad Riaz Malikand Mian MargoobAhmad were elected from Lahore. Thesources said that except Haneef Abbasi, theothers are unlikely to be awarded partytickets for the coming elections as the‘powerful’ are going to take their place andthe party leadership is not worried aboutthe results in view of the popularity of theparty in that particular constituency. Thecase of Haneef Abbasi has been linked withhis acquittal in the ephedrine case, the

sources said. In the 2008 elections, all theRawalpindi seats, except NA-51Rawalpindi–II from where Raja PervaizAshraf of the PPP-Parliamentarians hadwon, had fallen to the PML-N and the partybelieves that candidates do not matterwhen it comes to a party stronghold. Sameis the case with Lahore which is thehometown of the Sharifs. In 2008, the PPPcould win only two seats from Lahore; NA-

129 Lahore-XII (TariqShabbir Advocate) andNA-130 Lahore-XIII(Samina Khalid Ghurki).Sukkur and Larkana arethe two strongholds of thePPP and it makes littlediRerence to whom theparty awards the ticket forthe coming elections.Similarly, Karachi belongsto MQM and even anunknown face couldbecome a member of theparliament if awarded theparty ticket from the cityconstituency. The case of the seats

reserved for women andminorities is also not verydiRerent. It all dependsupon the party leadership

whose name is included in the list of thecandidates to be submitted with the ECP. Ifthe party leadership is happy with you, youget the ticket from the stronghold of arespective political party and a seat in theparliament is guaranteed. Getting the ticketis the real challenge for the candidates in therespective strongholds of the parties and therest would go in their favour, with littleeRort on their part.

Is the joining of Nawab Salahuddin Abbasi a game changer in the Saraiki belt? It has suddenly caused lots of tremors. The Nawab is sure towin a seat or two for himself and PTI in Bahawalpur. Morever, this extends PTI's reach outside Multan. The PTI was seen just as a Multan partyas the only heavyweights it had were from Multan. Now, it's extended to Bahawalpur and beyond. The Nawab has influence in Bahawalnagarand Rahim Yar Khan for sure with small pockets in other areas too. Most importantly, this will have an overall e0ect in the Saraiki belt becauseof Nawab's stance regarding the Bahawalpur province. Nawaz League is already troubled because of his 'too little, too late' support for Saraikiprovince. Many also see PPP's move more as politics than concrete action. Imran Khan sounded more sincere. This may win him small votesin every Saraiki area. The most a0ected is Nawaz League as this impacts the settler vote. Districts Bahawalpur and Bahawalnagar have ahistory of settlers voting for the favoured candidate of the Nawab. With the Nawab’s alliance with PTI, Nawaz League will su0er theconsequences. Riaz Pirzada recently joined the party but it looks like it will be to no avail. Mumtaz Matiana and other PML-N candidates fromdistrict Bahawalnagar are likely to su0er a similar fate.

ZEESHAN JAVAID

ISLAMABAD: The controversial in-duction of newly appointed ManagingDirector National Engineering ServicesPakistan (NESPAK), Tahir Shamshad,in haste by former premier Raja Per-vaiz Ashraf was a mystery as to how thePM Secretariat approved the with-drawal summary of Ministry of Waterand Power regarding the appointmentof MD NESPAK.The state actors including Secretary

Water and Power, Sikander AhmedRai, Principle Secretary to Prime Min-ister, Muhammad Ayub Qazi and thefinal authority, the former chief execu-tive of the country Raja Pervaiz Ashraf,went out of their way to induct such abureaucrat as MD NESPAK, just be-fore the natural demise of former PPPgovernment on March 16th.A thorough investigative study con-

ducted by “The Spokesman” revealedthat a summary for the approval ofPrime Minister for appointing a newMD NESPAK was sent on March 11under the signature of Secretary Waterand Power Sikander Ahmed Rai, withthree names Qazi Iftikhar Ahmed,Amjad Khan and Tahir Shamshad, tak-ing the plea that the term of formerMD Asad I.A.Khan would expire on6th April 2013, therefore an immediateappointment was needed.However, for some inexplicable rea-

sons, secretary water and power with-drew the last summary and immediatelywrote to Prime Minister Secretariat inthe name of principle secretary to pre-mier saying “The summary referred to

ibid may be treated as withdrawn and thepresent incumbent Mr. Asad I.A. Khanwill continue as Managing Director,NESPAK till the age of his superannua-tion.”, the document maintained.On the very next day of oQcial com-

munication, March 12th, secretarywater and power moved a new sum-mary to PM Secretariat for approval,stating that former Federal Minister forWater and Power, Ch. Ahmed Mukhtar,had already approved the submissionof said summary regarding the contin-uation of MD NESPAK oQce by AsadI.A.Khan, till the age of his superannu-ation, April 6th 2014.The former Primer Syed Yousaf Raza

Gillani, during his term at the PM of-fice, had already approved the exten-sion in services of former MD NESPAKtill the age of superannuation as statedin a letter issued from PM Secretariatto the then Secretary Water and Poweron June 11, 2012.A senior oQcial of Ministry of Water

and Power, on condition of anonymity,revealed that sitting MD NESPAKTahir Shamshad called on SikanderAhmed Rai in a personal capacity onMarch 13th at the ministerial secre-tariat. NESPAK service rules clearly specify

a five-year tenure for the managing di-rector, extendable by another five term.However, in case of former MD, the ap-pointment in 2009 specified a threeyear period, on completion of which in2012, got extended for another year upto 6th April 2013.An oQcial at the ministry confirmed

that on March 15 the former premier

picked the name of Tahir Shamshadfrom the withdrawal summary submit-ted by Ministry of Water and Power.Nevertheless, the Ministry, aware of theillegality, wrote back to PM secretariaton March 15, informing them that thesummary submitted on March 11 waswithdrawn on the same day and re-quested that approval of the PrimeMinister on the fresh summary regard-ing continuation of Asad I.A Khan asMD NESPAK till the time of superan-nuation, moved by the Ministry onMarch 12 may kindly be conveyed.As early as midnight of March 15-16,

Deputy Secretary Water and Power,Umar Farooq, prepared a notificationof appointment of new MD and issuedwith immediate eRect, breeching therules of business against its own with-drawal summary.Interestingly, following his strong

satellite network, Shamshad urgentlyrushed to NESPAK house Lahore andhad the oQce opened on Saturday,which is a holiday at 4 pm and gave hisjoining report, without the former MDrelinquishing charge.Commenting over the whole episode,

a NESPAK senior oQcial, terming it anout of turn appointment, added thatQazi Iftikhar Ahmed, the senior mostVice President would be deprived of hislegitimate expectation of becoming thenext MD after his retirement.When contacted, the newly ap-

pointed MD Tahir Shamshad categori-cally termed his appointment as perrule of law, adding “I was the 3rd mostsenior in the list and according to sen-iority list it was my turn”.

The mystery of MD NESPAK

So secure yet so insecure, politically

Dasti’s review petitionadjourned until 28thIISSLLAAMMAABBAADD:: The Supreme Courtheard review petition on court’s verdictfiled by senior leader of PakistanPeople’s Party, Jamshed Dasti. A three-member bench headed by Chief JusticeIftikhar Muhammad Chaudhary heardthe case on Tuesday. The case againstfake degree holders was already beingheard. That is why the court clippedhearing of the case with the other one.The bench adjourned the hearing untilMarch 28. �ONLINE

ANF recovers huge cache of hashish, opiumQQUUEETTTTAA:: The Anti-Narcotics Force onTuesday recovered a huge cache ofdrugs, including hashish and opiumfrom the drug smugglers who managedto escape after exchange of intensefiring. According to the details, theANF seized 5173 kg of hashish and1,077 kg of opium during an operationstarted out against the drug smugglerson the information received by theauthority. During the first operationthe Anti Narcotics Force Balochistanraided a house in Village Auram Zai ofDistrict Qilla Abdullah and recovered5173 Kgs of Chars (Garda). While inanother operation, the ANFintercepted a Land Cruiser near VillageAmri of District Chaghi and recovered1,077 kg of opium, but the smugglersmanaged to escape after the exchangeof intense firing with the force. It maybe mentioned here that in the recentpast ANF made record seizures ofdrugs that speaks devotion of the forcetowards making this region a DrugFree Society. �ONLINE

Punjab spent Rs 481bn onuplift, says ShahbazLLAAHHOORREE:: Chief Minister ShahbazSharif has said that Punjabgovernment has completeddevelopment programmes worth Rs481 billion during the last five years.The CM expressed these views whiletalking to senior leaders and office-bearers of PML-N here on Tuesday.He said that the forthcoming generalelections are extremely significant forthe bright future of the country andhoped that May 11th will change fateof the masses. “Those who claim tobring about change should realizethat change does not come throughhollow slogans and jugglery, as realchange needs hard work andcommitment,” he added. Whiletalking on the occasion, he said thatPunjab government introducedrevolutionary reforms in education,health, infrastructure, livestock,industry, agriculture and other sectorsthat have moulded the province innew outlooks. The Chief MinisterPunjab, Muhammad Shehbaz Sharifadded claimed that Danish schools,Punjab Educational EndowmentFund, Education Foundation’svoucher scheme, green tractorsscheme, internship programme,laptop scheme, Ujala programme andthe self-employment broughtdramatic changes in the lives ofmasses. �ONLINE

PML-F challenges SindhCM’s appointmentKKAARRAACCHHII:: Pakistan Muslim League(F) on Tuesday challenged theappointment of Sindh caretaker chiefminister in the Sindh High Court.According to Media Reports, JamMadad Ali and Nusrat Sahar Abbasifrom the PML (F) filed a petition at theSindh High Court. They maintained inthe petition that the appointment wasmade by following unconstitutionalprocedure. They prayed before thecourt to declare the appointment asnull and void. �ONLINE

Dr Rahat new PU deanLLAAHHOORREE: Punjab Governor andChancellor Punjab University hasappointed Principal College of Art andDesign Prof Dr Rahat Naveed Masudas Dean Faculty of Arts andHumanities of the university Anotification has been issued in thisregard, which would be implementedwith immediate eMect. �ONLINE

KKAARRAACCHHII:: Residents of Kharadar blocked Tower Road during a demonstration for release of those arrested during the Rangers search operation. �ONLINE

OUR STAFF REPORTER

KKAARRAACCHHII:: Former president General(retd) Pervez Musharraf will contest inupcoming election from three NationalAssembly seats of Karachi, Chitral andKasur. A close aide of Musharraf told aprivate TV that the decision was takenafter a Parliamentary board meeting ofthe All Pakistan Muslim League (APML)leaders at a local hotel here.Musharraf is expected to make aformal announcement in this regard at apress conference on Wednesday. Theformer president, who failed to get thewelcome he desired upon his returnfrom self-imposed exile, would initiatemeetings with the Muttahida QaumiMovement from today. Musharraf alsoaddressed a meeting of ticket hopefuls atthe hotel. He called on them to garnersupport for him to get him elected.

Musharraf tocontest polls from Karachi,Chitral, Kasur

KKAARRAACCHHII:: Residents of Kharadar blocked themain Tower Road and staged a protest againstsecurity agencies, as Rangers apprehendedseveral suspects during ongoing searchoperation on Tuesday.The protesters, including women andchildren, burnt tires, chanted slogans andblocked the road that caused traLc jam. Theyclaimed that the Rangers arrested innocentpeople while avoiding terrorists and criminalsduring the search.According to reports, Rangers raided JummaGoth area of Malir and rounded up 25 personswhile searching houses. During the search,entry and exit points of the area were sealed.Earlier, the rangers launched raids in MacherColony, adjacent to Maripur Road and alsodetained few suspects which are beinginterrogated.The paramilitary personnel also carried out

raids in Naya Abad, Darya Abad and MemonSociety areas of Lyari and captured a wantedaccused. However, a spokesman of the Rangershas not yet informed the media about thedetails of the arrests.FIRING INCIDENTS: At least two personswere killed and one injured in separate

incidents of firing in the metropolis. Accordingto police, a man was killed when unidentifiedgunmen opened fire on a car near NorthernBypass, Manghopir. In a separate incident,Badshah Khan, 32, was gunned down nearKhajoor Bazar, Lee Market. A man was receivedbullet injuries in SITE Area. �ONLINE

Residents rise againstsearch as 25 more held� Protesters burn tires, chant slogans, block roads

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 27, 2013

IISSLLAAMMAABBAADD:: Chief Justice of Pakistan(CJP) Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry hasremarked elections will not be allowed to bedelayed in any way.He gave these remarks while presiding overa 3-member bench of Supreme Court (SC)Tuesday during the course of hearing of apetition filed by Dr Mubashar Hassan ontransparency in elections and prevention ofmisuse of public funds therein.Azhar Siddique advocate appeared onbehalf of Dr Mubashar Hassan in the court.He took the plea that it is essential pre-pollsrigging of all kinds be curbed beforecommencement of election to ensure

transparency therein. Federal and provincialgovernments are indulging in pre pollsrigging by committing serious lapses andspending the national exchequerextravagantly. They be restrained from doingso, he prayed.The court directed him that his petition washaving a lot of typing mistakes and due towhich the meaning of the petition is notbecoming clear.The counsel for petitioner requested thecourt to allow him time till Wednesday and hewill correct the mistakes.The court remarked “if your petition isaimed at causing delay in holding of elections

then we may not likely to extend any help toyou in this matter.The CJP remarked “elections are ahead andtheir schedule has been issued. The peoplehave started receiving nomination papers tocontest the elections. Such type of petitionscan create difficulties. Any delay will not beallowed to occur in general elections in anyway. Dr Tahir ul Qadri petition was dismissedfor this reason. Obviously it was consideredthat the petition can lead to delay in holdingof polls”. The court adjourned the hearing ofthe petition till today directing the petitionerto re-file it after removing the typingmistakes. �ONLINE

Elections not to be delayed in any way, says CJP

IISSLLAAMMAABBAADD:: Former HumanRights Minister and Ansar BurneyTrust International Chairman AnsarBurney has once again requested toPresident Asif Ali Zardari to convertall death sentences of the condemnedprisoners in the greater interest ofhumanity, human dignity, justice andhuman rights.Burney sent another fresh appeal tothe president under Article 45 of theconstitution with a request to saveinnocent people before it could be toolate. “I once again request to your

honour please announce theconversion of all death sentences intolife, as former prime minister YusufRaza Gilani promised in his speech tothe nation on June 21, 2008.”In his appeal, he claimed that up to60 percent condemned prisonerswere most likely innocent or victimsof a faulty justice system. He said thatthe government has so far failed totake any positive action in the greaterinterest of human dignity to savethese thousands of innocent livesincluding women.

In his letter, he said that manyamong these condemned prisonerssome have already spent more thantwo to three decades in prison’s deathcells (one day in death cell is equal toone year of normal prison) and thatprolonged detention in worst andinhuman circumstances on deathrow is at the very least crueltreatment and worst kind of humanrights violations, as Pakistan votedagainst a UN General Assemblyresolution for a moratorium on thedeath penalty. �ONLINE

Burney demands conversion ofdeath sentence into life term

SHANEL KHALIQ

IISSLLAAMMAABBAADD.. The Pakistan Academy ofLetters on Tuesday arranged an eveningof intellectual and literary discourse inthe federal capital. Intellectual andprofessor of history Dr Aslam Syedaddressed the gathering. He said,“Literature knows no boundaries and theworldwide access that writers possessmust be used to represent a cultureeffectively. The PAL, as an institution,holds the responsibility of introducing theglobal community to literature in variouslanguages spoken in Pakistan.”PAL Chairman Abdul Hameed thankedthe dignitary and also presented acertificate of PAL’s Life Fellow Memberto him. Ishfaq Saleem Mirza, YasirJawad, Asghar Abid, Nighat Saleem anda number of other writers, scholars andintellectuals from the twin citiesparticipated in a ceremony.

IISSLLAAMMAABBAADD:: The newly-appointed CaretakerChief Minister of Punjab Najam Sethi is arenowned journalist and political commentator.Born in May 1948, he is married to Jugnu Mohsin.They have two children Ali Sethi, a novelist, anddaughter Mira Sethi, who works as journalist inThe Wall Street Journal in New York.Sethi graduated from the Government College(University) Lahore in 1967. He was awarded withthe Gold Medal when he topped in the PunjabUniversity. He took a BA Hons degree inEconomics from the Cambridge University, UK,in 1970 and was awarded the Davies Prize byClare College, where he later spent a year as a PhDresearch fellow.Sethi was a political prisoner from 1975-1977during the government of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto forprotesting military action in Balochistan. In 1984,the administration of General Zia ul Haq put himin prison for a month for publishing “From JinnahTo Zia,” a book authored by Justice MohammadMunir, a former chief justice of Pakistan.The book was a sort of mea culpa in which theauthor had admitted his grave error inlegitimizing the first martial law in Pakistan in1958, thereby paving the way for Gen Zia’s martial

law in 1977. In 1999, he was again imprisoned bythe government of Nawaz Sharif on trumped upcharges of treason. The reason was relentlessexposure of corruption in the Sharif family by TheFriday Times. Later, the Supreme Court rejectedthe charges and freed him after a month. Indetention, he was tortured and suMered a heartattack, which necessitated heart surgery in 2000.The Nawaz Sharif government harassed him laterby slapping dozens of income tax cases, accusedhim of being a ‘non-Muslim’ and tried to deprivehim of his voting rights. But all the cases weredismissed by the courts and his rights wererestored by the Chief Election Commissioner.He is an award-winning journalist and mediapersonality and is the editor-in-chief of The FridayTimes, a Lahore-based political weekly. He waspreviously the editor of Daily Times and DailyAajkal newspapers. He is currently the Editor-in-Chief of Geo News televition channel where hehosts a popular political programme: aapas ki baat.He is the only journalist in Asia to receive threeinternational press freedom awards in a decade.In 1978, he established Vanguard Books, anindependent and liberal publishing house, whichhas published over 400 titles since then in history,

politics and economics. Newsweek magazinedescribed him in the 1990s as a crusading editorfor exposing corruption in the government. Hehas unfailingly written the editorials of the paperevery week since 1989. In 2002, he launchedDaily Times. Its editorials constantly argued forpeace with India, supported the war againstTaliban-Al-Qaeda terror; and opposed religiousfundamentalism and extremism.In 2007, he set up Beyond Borders, a publicinterest production company for South Asiatelevision channels. The mission statement of thisproject is to promote South Asian cultures, buildconfidence and trust; and sustain democracy, civilsociety and human rights in the region. He hasbeen awarded the 2009 Golden Pen of Freedom,the annual press freedom prize of the WorldEditors Forum/World Association of Newspapersfor courage in upholding secular values, humanrights and press freedom.He has also received Courage in JournalismAward 1999 from the Amnesty International,Press Freedom Award 1999 from theCommittee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) NewYork, and Hilal i Imtiaz, the highest civil awardof the country, in 2010. �ONLINE

Caretaker Punjab CM Najam Sethi’s profile

BBAAHHAAWWAALLPPUURR:: Teachers and students of Saddiq Girls College demonstrating against upgrading the college to women’s university.�ONLINE

IISSLLAAMMAABBAADD:: Awarding ticket for NA-101 to Hamid Nasir Chattha has becomea painful test for PML-N, as IftikharCheema is resolved to contest from thisconstituency. In its earlier seatadjustment with PML-LM, PML-N hadagreed to award nomination forGujranwala’s NA-101 to Chattha. Whencontacted by ONLINE, sources, on thecondition of anonymity confirmed thisarrangement. PML-N’s senior leader Rafiq Rajwanasaid that Mian Nawaz Sharif would beable to tackle the “not so big an issue,personally”. Rajwana also said that ifPML-N’s Justice (Retd) IftikharCheema was awarded Provincial seat,then Hamid Nasir Chattha would beawarded the NA seat; while if Chattha’sson was ever awarded the Provincialseat, than Cheema would take over theN.A seat. When questioned about the issue ofbeing awarded an provincial seat byPML-N, Justice (retd) Iftikhar AhmadCheema, he strongly rebutted anychances of contesting the Provincialseat from PML-N’s platform. �ONLINE

NA-101 ticket aPML-N test

Writers canrepresent cultureeMectively

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 27, 2013

ATHAR LASHARI

BBAAHHAAWWAALLPPUURR:: The political atmosphere inBahawalpur changed once again after themeeting and press conference of Imran Khanand Nawab of Bahawalpur in Islamabad. In thepress conference, Imran and Nawab decide togo for a seat adjustment in Bahawalpur thecoming elections. “I found a man whose normsmatch with me then why should not I workwith him,” Nawab Salahuddin Abbasi toldmedia persons on Tuesday.But on the other hand, people ofBahawalpur are not giving any importanceto the decision. According to Riaz HussainPirzada, former MNA from NA-187 whichcovers Tehsil Hasilpur, there is personalityvote. “Every candidate will gain his own seatas his personality vote or family politicallegacy. Nawab is just struggling for hisfriend Farooq Azam Malik’s seat from

Bahawalpur city,” he added.Pirzada, who recently switched over to PML-N from PML-Q, also said the move would haveno eNects on the political situation in thedistrict. “Nawab will definitely his seat and hehad no need to get support from any otherparty,” Pirzada opined.But the central information secretary ofBahawalpur Awami National Party (BANP),Javed Khan Daulatzai, told The Spokesmanthat his party would now participate in theelections with the PTI in Bahawalpur. “Afterthe meeting and press conference of Nawaband Pervaiz Elahi with Q League, there wasno proper announcement for seatadjustment; therefore, we are joined handswith the PTI,” Daulatzai said.He further claimed that in collaborationwith the ‘Tsunami’, they would clean sweep inthe coming elections. But Tariq BashirCheema, a PML-Q leader and former district

nazim of Bahawalpur, hoped that the BANPwould respect its earlier decision of seatadjustment with his party. “I am sure that wewill go to the elections with the seatadjustment formula with the BANP,” Cheemastressed, adding that they had alreadydecided seat adjustment on five NationalAssembly seats in the district.On the other hand, Usman Abbasi - formerdeputy speaker of Punjab assembly andNawab’s close relative who joined the PTI sometime ago - is not happy with the decision.“Nawab is just now losing his respect. Nawaband PTI has no vote bank in Bahawalpur. Ithink Nawab is just fighting for his partypresident Farooq Azam Malik from theBahawalpur city,” Usman Abbasi argued.Around a month ago, The Spokesman hadpublished a story which stated that therewere chances of Nawab making decision ofseat adjustment with the PTI as Nawab has

a close relationship with PTI’s Vice-Chairman Makhdoom Shah MehmoodQureshi. Nawab’s brother Falahudin andMakhdoom Shah Mehmood Qureshi are theson-in-laws of Rahim Jan.According to Sami Hassan Gilani, the formertehsil nazim of Ahmedpur East and a strongcandidate from NA-183, Nawab is now seekingfor support from every possible grouping.“People are fed up with Nawab; therefore, thecoming elections will bring a real change,” SamiGilani said. He added that Nawab had becomea toy of his non serious companions. PPP’sdistrict president and former MNA Malik AmirYar Waran also commented that Nawab wasjust losing his respect.The ground reality in Bahawalpur is thatNawab has only some vote bank in NA-183which covers Ahmedpur East and NA-185Bahawalpur city. Now the voters are ready toreject the persons who have no time for them.

Nawab-Imran duo will not aNect Bahawalpur politics

OUR STAFF REPORTER

GGHHAALLAANNAAII:: The developmentalworks are in full swing in Mohmandtribal region. In a bid to provide besttransportation facilities, improvepoor drainage system and protectagricultural lands from flooding, thepolitical administration ofMohmand Agency has completedseveral projects of link roads,retaining walls and street pavementsin various villages including ZaoMomin Kor, Badsiah, BandKoroona, Mustafa Khan Rawal

Korona, Rasheed Advocate Kallayand Lakhkar Kale of Baizai Tehsil.More than 14,600 communitymembers would benefit while adeveloped farm-to-market roadnetwork would help boosting upbusiness activities and ensure timelytransportation of agricultural productsto markets. According to details, thepolitical administration constructed1,957 meters long link road and builtup 122 meters retaining wall in villageZao Momin Kor Dawezai of TehsilPindiali. Similarly, 1,566 meterextensive link road was rehabilitated

and 280 meters retaining wall and368 meters extensive drain was laiddown in Badsiah village of TehsilHaleemzai. A 2,017 meters extensivelink road was rehabilitated in BandKoroona of Tehsil Safi apart fromconstructing 123 meters long drainbeside the road to protect it fromfuture flood damages.A press release further added that inits ongoing eNorts, the administrationrehabilitated 1,425 meters long roadand paved 352 meters streets inMustafa Khan Rawal Korona. Toprotect the road and agricultural land,

171 meters retaining wall was alsoconstructed in the village.In another project of RasheedAdvocate village Tamanzai, TehsilPandiali, about 1104 meters long linkroad was established followingconstruction of 137 meters drain. Invillage Lakhkar Kale of Baizai Tehsil,1485 meters link road and 223 meterslong retailing wall was built uprespectively. Construction of this roadis widely appreciated by thecommunities in the far-flung area atPak Afghan border.The poor road conditions and

absence of basic infrastructurefacilities in many areas of MohmandAgency are seen a major cause ofbackwardness of the rural masses.However with the completion of theseuplift schemes not only more than14620 community members wouldfacilitate, but farming communitywould able to transport theiragricultural products to markets andconnected many villages with eachother. According to local inhabitants,these uplift projects would bringcomforts in lives of students and othercommunities as well.

Several link roads constructed in Mohmand

OUR STAFF REPOTER

MMIIRRPPUURR ((AAJJKK)):: Britain-based globalhuman rights organization the KashmirWatch International on Monday stronglycriticised the recent suspension of themembership of the Kashmir-born seniorBritish parliamentarian Lord Nazir Ahmedby the Labour Party, the main opposition inthe House of Lords.“Lord Ahmed has, in fact, been made thetarget of a deep-rooted vendetta by therivals – mostly the Jewish lobby for his‘crime’ of exposing the increased anti-Muslim approach and policies of the Jewsincluding their backed British media,”observed Mir Muhammad SiddiqueKhawaja, the chairman of Kashmir WatchInternational (KWI) while addressing acrowded news conference on Monday ontelephone from his organisation’sheadquarters in Nottingham.The KWI chief continued as saying “theExecutive Council of Kashmir WatchInternational takes it with severe concernthat under a deep-rooted pre-plannedconspiracy, an extensive character-assassination drive has been launchedagainst Lord Nazir Ahmed, the Pakistan-origin life-time member of the House ofLords, upper house of the British Parliament,since he suNered an alleged road accidentwhile taking an alleged cell phone call duringdriving “The action of suspension of theLabour Party membership of Lord Ahmed,a by-birth resident of Mirpur (Azad JammuKashmir). is not only an immoral act butalso the blatant violation of human rights inthe civilized world”, Mir Siddique observed.The KWI chief also pointed out that beingthe Kashmir-born, Lord Nazir Ahmed couldbe described as the unoMcial ambassador ofthe people of Jammu and Kashmir in Britainwho always exposed Indian brutalities,oppression and atrocities in Indian-heldKashmir by raising the issue in Europe.

OUR STAFF REPORTER

MMAARRDDAANN:: JUI chief Maulana FazlurRehman on Tuesday said the country’sforeign policy had been proven to be a failureand that was the reason it was facing theissues of terrorism, uncertainty and thekilling of innocent peoples.He further argued that Pakistan had beencreated in the name of Islam, which would bethe country’s future. Addressing a publicgathering in the Lund Khwar area ofMardan, Fazl said, “We adopted the others’war and dragged it on to our own soil. Wemust now leave the US war.”He added that there were two schools ofthought in the country. “One is representedby the religious minds and the other issecular and liberal, but we will never allowanyone to destroy the Islamic and socialvalues of our society,” the JUI-F chief warned.He said it was Islam that gave independenceand peace to humanity.He reiterated his party’s commitment tofight for the Islamic ideology and thereligious values of the country and to defeatthe Western concepts in Pakistan. Fazl saidthe country was passing through the mostcritical times of its history and only the JUI-F had the ability to get the country out theprevailing critical situation. Elaborating his

party’s policies, Fazlsaid the JUI-Fwould bring peace inthe country throughjirga. He added thatthe JUI-F wantedthe people to live inpeace in the countryand enjoy theirfundamental rights.

He criticised the previous government onKhyber Pakhtunkhwa, saying the provincetopped the list of corruption and uncertainty.He claimed that the JUI-F was the name ofan ideology and vision and the people ofKhyber Pakhtunkhwa would ensure hisparty’s success, as they would reject the so-called liberal and progressive politicians.Maulana said Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was abackward province and all the previousgovernments ignored the development andprogress of the province, but the JUI-Fwould bring a revolutionary change after itssuccess in the coming general elections. Onthis occasion, former chief minister AkramKhan Durrani, former MNA MaulanaMuhammad Qasim and candidate for PK-27Shahid khan also addressed the gathering,while the president of PML-N Takht BhaiZakaullah Khan announced quitting theparty and joining the JUI-F.

Fazl vows toprotect Islamicvalues

BBAAHHAAWWAALLPPUURR:: Local writers are perturbed about the future of Seraiki Adbi Majlis, established in 1970s, as an additionalcommisioner has submitted an inquiry report to the commisioner for a final decision about the property. –STAFF PHOTO

�People, politicians term the shift as unimportant �Salahuddin has only some vote bank in NA-183 and NA-183

Imran Khan with Nawab Falahuddin, brother ofNawab Salahuddin Abbasi and also related toMakhdoom Shah Mehmood Qureshi. –FILE PHOTO

�Says JUI-F will defeat Western concepts�Terms foreign policy a failure

ATHAR LASHARI

BBAAHHAAWWAALLPPUURR:: Seraiki writersand scholars have demanded to thedistrict government for use itspowers to end the possession of theSeraiki Adbi Majlis from some non-literary persons and land mafia.The 50-year-old Seraiki AdbiMajlis was established by BrigadierNazir Ali Shah and leader of Seraikimovement in 1970s Seth Ubaid-ur-Rehman. According to Seraiki poetsand writers, a land mafia group andsome others have taken control ofthe premises for the last many years.“This is purely literary institutionbut it is currently occupied by landmafia. Our demand is that thedistrict government should tacklethe issue,” Jahangir Mukhlis, a poetand former caretaker president ofthe body, said. The Seraiki AdbiMajlis has two bodies. One is theCaretaker Council while the other isWorking Body. A few days ago, theCaretaker Council announced a newpresident for the organisation butthe police and district governmentcame into action and registered anFIR against the Seraiki writers.It is important to note that theproperty is located at one of the city’smain crossing - Chowk Seraiki which

is the most expensive location in thecity. According to Prof IsmatullahShah, an amendment is necessary inthe Majlis’ constitution. Only thepure literary persons should becomeits member and not the non-literaryindividuals,” he suggested. The landof Seraiki Adbi Majlis was taken bythe TMA Bahawalpur on lease. Thislocality is also a part of cantonmentboard area. Some days ago, anenquiry was held to tackle the issuewhich was headed by AdditionalCommissioner ConsolidationMuhammad Ramzan.“I have sent my observations andsuggestions to the commissioneroMce. He will now decide aboutwhat should be done,” the additionalcommissioner said, adding thataccording to his observation, themembers should be verified afterwhich election should held to choosea new body. “We will soon take adecision according the enquiryreport. I have been in touch withDCO on the matter,” BahawalpurCommissioner Asadullah Khan toldThe Spokesman. Three days ago, aprotest was also held outside theCommissioner OMce, which waslargely attended by Seraiki poets andwriters. They demanded to thecommissioner to play his role toresolve the issue on merit.

Land mafiaoccupies literarybody’s building

SSAARRGGOODDHHAA:: A passenger coach onTuesday collided with a trailer onAjnaala Road as a result of whichnine persons, including three women,died and around two dozen of travellerswere injured.Three of the injured passengers arestated to be in a critical condition. Soonafter the crash, the rescue workersmoved the injured to DistrictHeadquarters Hospital Sargodha,where an emergency was declared totackle the situation.

As per details, the passenger coach wasgoing from Sargodha to Bhera. The deadpersons are identified as TasmiyaBegum, Sabiri Begum, Iman Fatima,Muhammad Iqbal, Ahmed Ali,MuzaNar, bus-driver Muhammad Rafiqand conductor Zafar Ahmed Shah. Onthe other hand, oMcials said they wereunable to identify one body so far.The passengers who got injuredinclude Adnan, Muhammad Ahsan,Iqbal Ahmed, Noor Muhammad, AhmedHassan, Rabia and others. –ONLINE

QQUUEETTTTAA:: The AntiNarcotics Force (ANF) onTuesday recovered a hugecache of drugs, includinghashish and opium, fromthe drug smugglers whomanaged to escape afterexchange of intense firing.According to the details,the ANF seized 5,173 kgs ofhashish and 1077 kgs ofopium during an operationstarted out against thedrug smugglers on theinformation received bythe authority.During the firstoperation, the ANFBalochistan raided a housein Village Auram Zai ofDistrict Qilla Abdullah andrecovered 5,173 Kgs ofchars (garda). While inanother operation, the ANFintercepted a Land Cruisernear Village Amri ofDistrict Chaghi andrecovered 1077 Kgs ofopium but the smugglersmanaged to escape after theexchange of intense firingwith the force.Cases under CNS Act-1997 have been registeredagainst the unidentifiedculprits and furtherinvestigation is in progress.It may be mentioned herethat in the recent past ANFBalochistan has maderecord seizures of drugs thatspeaks devotion of the forcetowards making this regiona Drug Free Society. –ONLINE

Nine dead in road accident

FFAAIISSAALLAABBAADD:: Policemen ‘perfoming duties’ outside the DIG O:ce and (inset) at the district courts inconnection with submission of nomination papers by candidates. The country is gearing up for electionsamidst fear of terror threat and poor law and order situaion. –ONLINE

�Commissioner to decide about propertylocated in Bahawalpur’s most expensive locality

PPEESSHHAAWWAARR:: Peshawar HighCourt (PHC) Chief Justice DostMuhammad Khan administeredoath to seven additional judges onTuesday. The swearing-inceremony held at the PHC.Those who took oath as

additional judges include SyedAfsar shah, Lal Jan Khattak,Ikramullah Khan, Abid LatifKhan, Muhammad Daud Khan,Musarrat Hilali and MalikManzoor Hussain.The number of judges in the

PHC has been reached to 18 afterthe appointment of the additionaljudges. On March 23, PresidentAsif Ali Zardari on the advice ofthe prime minister approved theappointment of these judges for aperiod of one year. –ONLINE

PHC gets seven additional judges

Restoration ofLord Nazir’smembershipdemanded

PPEESSHHAAWWAARR:: A tortured body of a younggirl was found from a washroom of theLady Reading Hospital, media reportssaid on Tuesday.According to police sources, she was killedwith a sharp knife. The body, which wasfound from a washroom of emergencyoperation theatre, was sent for the postmortem. Police registered the case againstunidentified killers and the hospitaladministration formed a committee to probeinto the murder which would report in thenext 48 hours. –ONLINE

Girl’s body foundfrom hospitalwashroom

OUR STAFF REPORTER

GGHHAALLAANNAAII:: On the special directives ofMohmand Agency Political Agent Dr AmberAli Khan, Haleemzai Tehsildar ShamsulIslam with the help of Levies and OMcials ofPublic Health Department Ghalanairestored the water supply facilities to theCivil Colony, government oMces, GhalanaiBazaar and Agency Headquarter HospitalGhalanai on an emergency basis Shamsul Islam told journalists that it wasfor the first time the political administrationrestored the water supply to all the residentialareas of civil colony. “We consulted the PublicHealth Department about the estimated coston the scheme,” he said, adding that theoMcials said it would be completed byspending Rs 1.2 million. He said the politicaladministration had completed the work onwater supply to the agency headquarters onlyin some thousands rupees. Meanwhile, theshopkeepers in Ghalanai Bazaar praised thelocal administration on restoring the watersupply to the bazaar and also hailed theimproved cleanness in the market.

Water supplyrestored toGhalanai

Huge cacheof hashish,opium seized

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 27, 2013

THE SPOKESMANChief Editor: Huma Ali

Executive Editor: Atif MateenResident Editor: Saeed Minhas

Consulting Editors: Jalees Hazir Samina Choonara

Redoubling educational e#orts

No aspect of lifemeritsmore urgentattention and greater investment ofresources today than the eradication ofilliteracy and improvement in thequality of education. This hasremained one of themost neglectedsectors in the development of thecountry which has not only broughtdown its international profile but itmay be conjectured that the state oflawlessness being experienced in thecountry is an outcome of an under-educated and poorly educatedpopulation.The decade of the 1990s witnessed

some initiative on the part ofgovernment at improving the keysocial sectors, butmismanagement bya callous leadership brought aresourceful country like Pakistan to thelevel of one of the least developedcountries of the world. Despitespending billions of rupees under theSocial Action Programme,improvement in the social indicatorshas remained unimpressive.The present state of education and

less than 30 per cent literacy rate inPakistan is themost glaring reflectionof underdevelopment. And thatconcept of literacy has been challengedby newermethodologies designed inIndia according to which it isindicators like howmuch a child canread and comprehend at diWerent agesand not just the discernment of thealphabet thatmakes for literacy.Unfortunately, educating the citizens inPakistan has not been the pursuit ofany government since independence.And the worst hit is primary schoolingthatmakes up the base in anyeducational pyramid.It is claimed that Pakistan is spending

2.1 per cent of theGrossDomesticProduct (GDP) on education. Pakistan’sGDP is estimated at Rs 21,000 billion,and 2.1 percent of theGDP is Rs. 441billion. But going through federal andprovincial budgets reveals the amountspent to be much less. With thousandsof “ghost” schools that exist only onpaper, mismanagement andcorruption, a lot of money goes downthe drain, with the small sumsearmarked for education sometimesremaining unspent.The new trends reveal that despite an

unprecedented increase in the

population, the ratio of studentsattending government primary schoolshas declined. A survey reveals that thedrop in enrolment in governmentschools is due to substandardeducation, inadequate teachers andlack of facilities. Often there is noschool for girls in smallermore remoteareas. There is the problem of corporalpunishment in boys’ schools thataccounts for a high rate of drop outs.The quality of instruction is anotherissue with a weak infrastructure oftraining public sector teachers. Perhapsall that is needed is that thegovernmentsmake recruitments onthe basis ofmerit and not as a personalfavour being granted to someone.Another trend that has taken hold overthe past decade is for children of

impoverished families to be sent to themadarassah or faith based schools,where there is ever harsher corporalpunishment and limitations onwhat achild learns.After the lost-decades of the 1980s

and 1990s, former president PervezMusharraf had prioritised thedevelopment of higher education byconstituting theHigher EducationCommission (HEC) in 2002 andappointing an ableman to chair it.This is perhaps the singularachievement of this government. TheHECwas granted completeindependence and jurisdiction over allprovincial universities. Thegovernment had allocated additionalresources to double the number ofPhD’s with a view to enhancingeducational standard in Pakistan.Today, theHEC is the regulator of 137universities across the country. Thenumber of universities during 2002 to2008 had gone up from 59 to 137, and

access to higher educationopportunitiesmore than doubled.TheWorld Bank, British Council,

Royal Society of London andUNCommission for Science andTechnology laudedHEC’s prodigiousperformance and acknowledged thepositive impact of the programme onhigher education. Six universities ofPakistan were included in the 500best universities of the world, and atleast two are included in 300 suchuniversities. Till 2003, not a singleuniversity had achieved that status.In 2003, there were 270 000students while today the number isone million. The number of researchpapers has increased from 600 to8,000 during this period.But on 21 October 2012, the Sindh

Assembly announced theestablishment of a provincial highereducation commission, showing utterdisregard for the Supreme Courtverdict. The apex court had declaredthe establishment of provincial HEC asunconstitutional. On 12 April 2011, theSupreme Court had ruled against themuch-debated devolution of theHigher Education Commission (HEC)and directed the commission tocontinue functioning until furthernotice. A three-member bench, headedby Chief Justice IftikharMohammadChaudhry, also nullified the federalgovernment’s previous notificationissued on 31March 2011 regarding theHEC’s devolution. The AttorneyGeneral of Pakistan had aVrmed thecourt’s ruling that theHEC’s status iscovered under theHigher EducationCommissionOrdinance 2002 andhence cannot be devolved under the18th Amendment. Lauding the role oftheHEC and its founding chief Dr

Attaur Rehman, the chief justicestressed that ‘education is thebackbone of any country and the roleof such commissions should not beundermined’.According to the present chairman

of Pakistan’s Higher EducationCommission, the number ofdoctorates awarded in the past eightyears is more than all doctorates givenin the earlier 55 years. Yet, Pakistan isone of the countries on the lowestscale as far as the production ofdoctoral students and research fellowsare concerned. Over the years, thequality of higher education had beendeteriorating with the exodus ofqualified professionals and also due todecline in the professional capacity offaculty members.Unfortunately, the progressmade

and gains achieved by the Commissionare not being preserved by abandoningsome development projects andreducing the expenditure on others onthe plea that Pakistan’s economy is indire straits. Also, by placing highereducation under the provinces after thepassage of the 18th Amendment,standards are likely to plummet again.Themost important factor after the

allocation of adequate resources foreducation is human resourcedevelopment to eWectively implementthe policies. Historical evidencesuggests that countries of thedevelopedNorth have invested heavilyin human capital to achievedevelopmental goals. In the eighteenthcentury, France introduced aneducation system under which allchildren attended schools, financedand regulated by the state. Nowonder,today it is one of themost stableeconomies of the world. In Britain, 80percent of students prefer admission ingovernment sector schools rather thanin private ones. Germany and Japanwere destroyed in the SecondWorldWar, but they quickly rebuilt theireconomies by concentrating eWorts onlaying a solid foundation for a soundeducation system.In Pakistan, the governmentwill have

to think again of how the future of thiscountry is to be envisaged by investingin the educational infrastructure andre-thinking the idea of devolution of theeducation sector to the provinces.

THE WRITER IS A FREELANCECOLUMNIST

Block 11, G-6/1, Aabpara, IslamabadTelephone: 051 260 7153-4

Fax: 051 260 [email protected]

The most important factor afterthe allocation of adequate resourcesfor education is human resourcedevelopment to effectively implementpolicies. Historical evidence suggeststhat countries of the developed Northhave invested heavily in human capitalto achieve developmental goals

Musharraf is back

Former president Pervaiz Musharrafis back. He landed at Karachi airportfrom Dubai. We are relieved that thegeneral is here in the midst of hiscountrymen. The TTP has issueddeath threats against him, but he isnot afraid of such threats. He has

seen it all. He is a man of action anda brave commando of the army whohas fought battles. As far as therumours of his arrest are concerned,he cannot be arrested on anyfrivolous and baseless charges as theSindh High Court has issued pre-arrest bail to him. He is not afraid ofany death threats.With regards to protection and

security, the government is bound toprovide him that as he is the ex-president of Pakistan. It is the dutyof the government to provide fullprotocol and security to him. Wetrust the government that it will takecare of the necessary security. We areall relieved and rejoice at thishistoric occasion.He wants to contest elections and I

see no problemwith that. He isqualified and capable of winning theelections. The people are with him.Tomorrow will be the new dawn, and

new life will begin for him and thenation. He is a patriot and anintelligent operative. He knows how to

move and shake things.Good luck general in your journey topower and democracy!

JAVAID BASHIRLAHORE

Saving the earth

“Save electricity! Save water!” That’swhat everyone says but no one does itpractically. Everyone has the habit oftelling others to do things they don’tpractice themselves.Earth Hour is an event organised to

encourage household and businessesto switch oW the non-essential lightsfor one hour to create awareness. It is avery important event as we are tryingto save the earth by switching oW allnon-essential lights.It takes place between 8.30pm and

9.30pm for one hour during the night.Instead of switching the lights on weswitch them oW and light candlesinstead. On 23rdMarch 2013, we

celebrated the 7th earth hour.Even though most of us are aware

that we should avoid squanderingaway electricity, we still end upwasting it on a daily basis.Switching off the non-essentials willactually end up reducing ourelectricity bill.

MAHAM ALIISLAMABAD

The enigma of Imran Khan?

In my constituency the NA seat wastaken over by the wife of formerParliament member after resignationon account of fake degree; twice. SCbanned him for life time but he iscontesting again and I know he willwin the election.Personally I know he or his family donot have any moral or ethical or lawful

grounds to contest. Who will changethis mindset?

RAZA [email protected]

Open letter to an artist

I can relate to this. This is exactly whathappened when we attended aconference/seminar with the titleTradition & Art at Indus Valley Schoolof Arts, Karachi. Among all theparticipants, who were educators,philosophers, thinkers, etc, the worstpresentation was from a celebratedartist, Naiza Khan, who didn'teven have a clue of what “tradition”really means.This is why people from other

disciplines of liberal arts can't have adialogue with the artist community,because they don't know anything. Andon top of that there are the commentson each and every aspect of life fromsocio-political to religion, gender, sex,etc. I sometimes feel embarrassed to be

a part of this so-called artistcommunity because they are so stupidand disconnected from the truth. Theycan only package something trendy tofit in the current art world and theultimate goal is only fame andmoney.Themost unfortunate thing is that

they also control all the art schools inPakistan and are training youngmindsto only produce what themarket isdemanding. They are not capable ofencouraging true inquiry and debate.

[email protected]

Thank God somebody has stood upagainst the utter hypocrisy in the artcommunity of Pakistan.

MUDASSAR [email protected]

Very well written &makes a lotof sense!

[email protected]

Please email your letters [email protected] or post themto our address in Islamabad.

MOHAMMAD JAMIL

Unfortunately, educating the citizens in Pakistan has not been the pursuitof any government since independence. And the worst hit is primaryschooling that makes up the base in any educational pyramid

The MQM has now taken their case against the delimitation ofconstituencies in Karachi to the Sindh High Court (SHC).Hearing the petition filed by the party against the delimitationof three national and eight provincial assembly constituenciesof Karachi notified by the Election Commission of Pakistan(ECP), the SHC issued notices to the attorney general, ECP,secretary Statistics Division and the census commissioneramong others on Monday. Other than coming up with newobjections, the MQM is raising issues that have already beenset aside by the Supreme Court. For instance, its insistencethat the process of delimitation could only be undertaken aftera fresh census is conducted in the country did not cut any icewith the apex court when the matter was raised before it bythe ECP. The court had then observed that there is no pre-condition to wait for holding of fresh census in the wholecountry for carrying out the delimitation of constituencies.The MQM has also been objecting to the singling out ofKarachi for the delimitation exercise and terms it asvictimisation of the party and its voters. Its stance overlooksthe fact that all major parties contesting elections fromKarachi had approached the court against the blatantgerrymandering of constituencies in Karachi that was done inthe name of delimitation under General Musharaf. The MQMhas come up with new objections in its petition against thedelimitation of eleven constituencies notified by the ECP. Itscounsel submitted that any order of delimitation issued afterthe commencement of election schedule is against the spirit ofthe Constitution. He also said that the Supreme Court did notdirect how and in what manner and extent the delimitation ofconstituencies was to be effected. The MQM counsel told thecourt that due to the delimitation notified by the ECP on 22March, persons from a particular origin have been facilitatedand clubbed together, creating more ethnic-basedconstituencies in violation of the Supreme Court judgment.While the court will decide on the issues raised, by moving thepetition at this stage, the MQM has added to the long list ofchallenges that the ECP is faced with in Karachi.The law and order situation in the city has consistentlyworsened in recent years. Terrorism, targeted killing ofpolitical workers and leaders, extortion and an assortment ofmafia wars have created an environment that is hardlyconducive to the participation of voters and holding of freeand fair elections. The police is politicised and it is no longera secret that political parties in the city are patronising armedgroups. Though the new caretaker set-up has taken somepositive steps to alleviate the prevailing lawlessness, it isbeyond its capacity to bring about the stability that isrequired for the holding of elections. To conduct credibleelections in Pakistan’s largest city, the Sindh caretakers andECP need all the help they can get from Islamabad. It isclearly a case where the government needs the assistance ofthe security forces that have both the muscle and credentialsof neutrality needed for the task.

Fair elections inKarachi

Liberal and conservative Americans alike havecelebrated Cuban blogger Yoani Sanchez. She’sbecome the new “resistance to Cubancommunism” heroine, a world-renownedtroublemaker inside communist Cuba.Yoani also acquired semi-princess status in

western Europe thanks to the wide internetcirculation of her weekly Gen Y blog. (Cubansof a certain era got names beginning with Y.)Her columns, descriptions of daily life in Cubasupported by unverified rumors, that she spinsto badmouth the Cuban government, appear intheHuVngton Post, El Pais, Die Zeit and otherprestigious journals.) Inside Cuba, few read herblog; nor wouldmost Cubans have heard hername; nowwould they recognize her face ifthey saw her. Last week Yoani, after visitingBrazil, Argentina andMexico stopped inNewYork,WashingtonDC, andMiami. Herhighlights came in the nation’s capital, includingamuch publicized talk withMembers of bothHouses andWhiteHouse staW. She had justcome from presenting her case to Brazil’slegislature, where shemade three importantpoints about US relations to Cuba, points sherepeated inWashington.“My position is that the blockade should end,”

she said, “because it’s an interventionist stance,

in which one country wants to change theinternal situation of another. Secondly, becauseit hasn’t worked. If the original idea was tocreate popular unrest so the people would taketo the streets and change the totalitariangovernment, it has not worked; even as apressuremethod it failed. It should end asquickly as possible because it’s the reason givenby the Cuban government to explain itseconomic failure.” She had already registeredher opposition to theUS travel ban on itscitizens travelling to Cuba. “If restrictions oncoming to Cuba are lifted,” she wrote toCongressmanHoward Berman onNovember19, 2009, “Americans would enjoy a right thathas been infringed in recent years — that oftraveling freely to any latitude without penalty.”When asked about her position on theUS

base in Guantanamo, Cuba, Yoani respondedthat she thought theUS should withdraw fromthe base, because she was a “civilist, a personwho respects the legal system, and I could notagree with occupying a space, which shows theoccupier doesn’t respect the law.”And, in Brazil, she also answered a question

on the Cuban 5,members of theMinistry ofInterior now inUS prisons. TheUS should free

them because “the amount ofmoneymycountry’s government is spending in this world-wide campaignwith plane trips around theworld. Occupying space in the press and thehours wasted in schools talking about these fiveprisoners,” she explained.She also decried the lack of internet freedom

in Cuba – an exaggeration. She trivialized herexplanations of desired policy changes.Her dismissal of the task that involved the

intelligence agents sent to south Florida in theearly 1990s, typified her banalization of theworld. The Cuban Five and their extendednetwork of agents had as an assignment theinfiltration of violent Cuban exile groups whohad bombed tourist spots inHavana. Their jobwas to help preventmore bombings. Cubanintelligence re-circulated what their Floridaagents learned to the FBI, who on one occasionused the agents’ data to seize a boat docked ontheMiami River filled with arms and explosivesand destined for Cuba.In 1998, the FBI arrested the Cuban spy ring

members. They got charged with conspiracy tocommit espionage, but not with espionage.GerardoHernandez, their coordinator also gotcharged with conspiracy to commitmurder, on

the false assumption he had providedHavanawith the flight schedules of Brothers to theRescue planes that invaded Cuban airspace andgot shot down, killing 2 pilots and 2 co-pilots.The government had no evidence to back up itscharges. Indeed, Jose Basulto, leader of theBrothers group had announced the flightschedules. But a Florida jury convicted Gerardoand the judge gave him two consecutive lifesentences. The others also received long prisonterms. As Cuba compared the five to the worstcases of flase political imprisonment, YoanioWered a banal pretext for freeing them.Similarly, she reduced the political andmoral

significance Cuba’s government attached to theissues of Guantanamo and the embargo.The irony of Yoani, virtually crowned by anti-

Castro forces, including theUSmedia andCongress, as the virtual Queen of Dissidents isthat shemade the key points the Cubangovernment has beenmaking formore than adecade. But no one seemed to hear them.Neither government oVcials nor the press corpsacknowledged them. Themedia focused onoccasional interruptions of her speeches byangry leftists instead of reporting the contents ofher talks.When she arrived in Congress and at

theWhiteHouse she received celebrity status,meaning theMembers andWhiteHouse staWcelebrated the visit of an important person,paying little attention to the coincidence of herpoints and those of the Cuban government.Not onemainstream story caught the irony of

having Cuba’s leading dissident stating the verycase the Cuban government has been presentingfor years. Yoani represents for theUSmedia thetechnological age of communication, sendingher weekly internet column, which she doesfromCuban hotels for a small fee, and by flashdrive from theUS Interest Section and fromother embassies. She spins each column as anattack on the communist government for failingto providemore eVcient welfare state servicesto her and her son.The princess of technological communication

made her triumphant debut. But apparently, noone in power or belonging tomainstreammediacared about what she said. The Cubangovernment, however, should be proud of her,nevertheless. Shemade their case, in diWerentlanguage, to theUS Congress andWhiteHouseand to the public. Alas, eyes saw, but ears closed.

(COUNTERPUNCH)

Cuba’s Princess of the InternetSAUL LANDAU AND NELSON P. VALDES The irony of Yoani, crowned by anti-Castro forces, as the virtual Queen of Dissidents is that she made the key

points the Cuban government has been making for more than a decade. But no one seemed to hear them

Feedback from the web

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 27, 2013

The partition of India in 1947, asdescribed in the literary works ofManto, was undoubtedly one of thedarkest periods in the history of thesubcontinent. The violent nature ofthe separation was tragic andcondemnable. Most of us havegrown up listening to heinous storiesnarrated by our forefathers, whowere there when it all happened. Sowhen I visited India in the summerof 2008, and then later in 2012, Iwanted to experience what it wouldhave been like had the division nottaken place.Unlike some Pakistani families

who still have relatives settled inIndia, most of my paternal andmaternal sides migrated to Pakistan.Hence, I did not have muchincentive to retrace my roots. We(mymother and I), took the PTDCbus from Lahore to Delhi lastsummer, crossing Jalandhar,Ludhiana, Patiala and Panipat onthe way. So accustomed to the scenicjourney of the motorway fromLahore to Islamabad, the drab andunder-developed surroundings werea turn oW. The suburbs of the Punjabacross the border were not as greenas we had expected, but as we drovepast these areas, it was as if a part ofme went back in time to the pre-partition days.Delhi, with its old architecture and

humid, dusty weather resembledKarachi. The congested roads werenamed after oldMughal emperors,reflecting their prevalent influence inthe city. And then there were timeswhen certain areas in central Delhigave oW vibes of the old Lahore. Ametropolitan city by nature, Delhioozed cultural heritage and, as I thinkof a polite way to phrase this, Delhiandwhatever little of India I saw, inessence, was pretty filthy. Aftermyvisit, I came to termswith the factthat cleanliness is a blessed virtue weshould never take for granted.Our mode of transport within

Delhi was the “auto” (auto-rickhshaw), as they are famouslycalled; although the human-powered cycle-rickshaw was also apopular means of travelling for theDelhiites. With halal meat noteasily available, we resorted tobecoming vegetarians for theduration of our stay. South Indianthaalis, dosa, bhel puri, gol gappayand paneer comprised our meal. Ihave always taken great pride in theLahori cuisine, but nothing beatsthe chaat and gol gappa of AnandaBhavan in Green Park, a regular pitstop when we were in Delhi.Gurgaon, the industrial and

financial centre of the state ofHaryana was at an hour’s drive fromDelhi. When I went there in 2008,New Gurgaon was still developingwith its towering skyscrapers andfancy malls. In contrast, Old

Gurgaon was a congested, scrappyvillage. But it was remarkable howeven in this remote place, they hadmanaged to set up a propernational tennis academy with fivesynthetic hard courts and livingfacilities for the players.The highlight of our trip was the

visit to Agra, home to many splendidMughal era buildings including thegreat Taj Mahal. We took an earlymorning tourist bus fromDelhithrough a phone reservation. Froman American grad-student, a Britishscientist, a Keralite engineer to aBengali family, we were part of atruly international group oftravellers. As we stopped over formeals and bathroom breaks at theshabbiest of dhabas, where hygienewas an after-thought, there was agreat sense of irony for someonewho’s pretty much lived oW home-cookedmeals.Our first stop was the Agra Fort.

Red bricks, white marble,outstretched green lawns andbeautiful engravings so typical of theMughal era, every corner of the forthad a story to tell. Built around thesame time as the Lahore Fort or theShahi Qila, we could see the obvioussimilarities in the architecture ofthe two forts. But there is nodenying that the Indians have donea better job in maintaining theircultural heritage. With no eatablesallowed inside the Fort boundaries,and the monument in its originalstate we witnessed a well preservedpiece of history.At a short distance from the Agra

Fort was the Taj Mahal. Without theslightest exaggeration, I wasawestruck when I first laid eyes onthat white marble mausoleum. Itwas like a dream; never before had Iseen something like it. No postcardor picture could do justice to its reallife beauty. No wonder it classifies asone of the SevenWonders of theWorld. It was a fairly long walk fromthe entrance up to the monumentand, since we only had an hour, wequickly scanned the Taj Mahal. Wewere made to wear shoe covers toavoid any damage to the pricelesswhite marble.On our way back to Delhi, we took

a few detours in the city of Mathura.Having done the booking throughphone, I had no idea we had signedup for this. As soon as we entered thecity, an overzealous tourist guidehopped on to our bus and startednarrating the life history of LordKrishna in a language that soundeddistinct fromHindi. After a shortstop at the Krishna temple, we weremade to visit another Hindu templeor mandir, as they are called.It is quite natural for a Pakistani

visiting India to draw comparisonsbetween the two nations. And whilewe may find countless similarities,there are some obvious diWerencestoo. The people, their way of life,their culture and religion isessentially diWerent, and you onlyget a sense of this when you’re therein person.

THEWRITER IS A FREELANCER

While US President Barack Obama and theWestern media lied in concert to the worldregarding America's role in supportingterrorists operating in Syria, it is nowrevealed that the US Central IntelligenceAgency (CIA) has been shipping weapons toSyria via NATO-member Turkey and Jordansince at least early 2012.The New York Times in their article titled,

Arms Airlift to Syria Rebels Expands, WithC.I.A. Aid, admits that:With help from the C.I.A., Arab

governments and Turkey have sharplyincreased their military aid to Syria’sopposition fighters in recent months,expanding a secret airlift of arms andequipment for the uprising againstPresident Bashar al-Assad, according to airtraffic data, interviews with officials inseveral countries and the accounts of rebelcommanders.The airlift, which began on a small scale in

early 2012 and continued intermittentlythrough last fall, expanded into a steady andmuch heavier flow late last year, the datashows. It has grown to include more than160 military cargo flights by Jordanian,Saudi and Qatari military-style cargo planeslanding at Esenboga Airport near Ankara,and, to a lesser degree, at other Turkish andJordanian airports.The New York Times piece attempts to

spin America's role in arming militants inSyria:The American government became

involved, the former American official said,in part because there was a sense that otherstates would arm the rebels anyhow. The

CIA role in facilitating the shipments, hesaid, gave the United States a degree ofinfluence over the process, including tryingto steer weapons away from Islamist groupsand persuading donors to withhold portableantiaircraft missiles that might be used infuture terrorist attacks on civilian aircraft.This is categorically false. Already, in 2007,

US officials had divulged plans to destroySyria by arming sectarian extremists, usingSaudi Arabia and other regional actors asproxies to launder US and Israel supportthrough - maintaining a degree of credibilityamongst the terrorist receiving the aid, aswell as a degree of plausible deniabiliy forWashington and Tel Aviv politically.In Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist

Seymour Hersh's 2007 New Yorker article,the strategy was described as follows:In Lebanon, the Administration has

cooperated with Saudi Arabia’sgovernment, which is Sunni, in clandestineoperations that are intended to weakenHezbollah, the Shiite organization that isbacked by Iran. The U.S. has also takenpart in clandestine operations aimed atIran and its ally Syria. A by-product ofthese activities has been the bolstering ofSunni extremist groups that espouse amilitant vision of Islam and are hostile toAmerica and sympathetic to Al Qaeda.Perhaps more importantly, the report

would also state:Some of the core tactics of the redirection

are not public, however. The clandestineoperations have been kept secret, in somecases, by leaving the execution or the

funding to the Saudis, or by finding otherways to work around the normalcongressional appropriations process,current and former officials close to theAdministration said.Clearly, that "sense that other states would

arm the rebels anyhow" was gleaned frompremeditated conspiracies long-ago hatchedbetween Washington, Tel Aviv, and Riyadh.And as the terrible consequences of thisconspiracy come to fruition with tens ofthousands dead, the West is eager todisclaim any and all responsibility, hopingsincerely that the public hasn't the collectivememory or intelligence to pick up anewspaper from 2007 and read what theyhad already admitted to planning."Mystery" of Al Qaeda's al-Nusra

sponsorship revealedThe confirmed admission implicates

NATO directly in militarily intervening inSyria's ongoing conflict and reveals thesource of arms and cash that have ended upprimarily in the hands of Al Qaeda's Syrianfranchise, US designated terror front, Jabhatal-Nusra.The CIA, Western media, and Western

politicians insist that they have taken everyprecaution to ensure the now admittedtorrent of cash and weapons that have beenflowing into Syria to compound andperpetuate the bloodbath, did not end up inthe hands of terrorists. However, noplausible explanation has been given as towhere al-Nusra is getting its cash andweapons from, or how it has managed toeclipse the extensively Western-backed

"moderates," to become the premier front inthe fight against the Syrian people, asreported by the New York Times article,Syrian Rebels Tied to Al Qaeda Play KeyRole in War.Money flows to the group, the Nusra

Front, from like-minded donors abroad. Itsfighters, a small minority of the rebels, havethe boldness and skill to storm fortifiedpositions and lead other battalions tocapture military bases and oil fields. As theirsuccesses mount, they gather more weaponsand attract more fighters. Iraqi officials andformer Iraqi insurgents say the group is adirect offshoot of Al Qaeda in Iraq, whichhas contributed veteran fighters andweapons.In October of 2012, the Land Destroyer

Report published, "NATO Using Al QaedaRat Lines to Flood Syria With ForeignTerrorists," which traced the logisticalnetwork now admitted to by the New YorkTimes. This logistical network was thenoverlaid with Al Qaeda's regional networks,documented extensively during the USoccupation of Iraq by the US Army's ownWest Point Combating Terrorism Center.The very regions along the Turkish-Syrianborder, the Jordanian-Syrian border, and theIraqi-Syrian border which served asrecruiting and staging grounds for Al Qaedaterrorists during the Iraq War, now serve asthe primary logistical hubs admittedlyoverseen by the CIA.It is now admitted that thousands of tons of

weapons have been smuggled into Syria bythe US and its regional allies. While the

Western media has attempted in the past tofeign ignorance as to where Al Qaeda's al-Nusra was getting their weapons from, it isnow abundantly clear - al-Nusra's power hasexpanded across Syria in tandem with theCIA's ever-expanding operations along thenation's borders. If the US is working directlywith Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Turkey, to armmilitants, who else could possibly be workingto arm and fund al-Nusra on a greater scale ifnot this axis itself?This criminal conspiracy appears to have

escaped the UN's competence andcapabilities, requiring that states around theworld mobilise an expedient response to thedangerous, unhinged and genocidalcampaign being waged by the West againstSyria. If the West refuses to end its directfueling of the Syrian crisis or answer for howtheir weapons have ended up almostexclusively in al-Nusra's hands, Syria's alliesmust begin contemplating open andextensive aid to help the nation defend itselfagainst overt international terrorism.Reports indicate that it was al-Nusra who

used chemical weapons in Syria's northerncity of Aleppo, according to the LondonTelegraph. An Al Qaeda terror frontwielding WMDs, we are told, is the sum ofall fears and the ultimate impetus drivingthe unending "War on Terror". Throughdirect, intentional actions by the West itself,this nightmare has become a reality - onethat must be addressed, lest the worlddescend into global anarchy or worse.

(PRESSTV.IR)

Back in the early 1980s at theEngineering University in Lahore,when I was expandingmy readingbeyond textbooks, I stumbled upon anUrdu story, Silver King, by the writerNisar Fatima, then well known asGeneral Zia’s Shura councilwoman.It was diWerent from the textbookfiction of Ghulam Abbas’ ‘Overcoat’,or from Syed Ahmed Khan’s quotedspeeches to the ruling Britishwarning them of an Afghan invasionfrom the Khyber Pass if the demandsof IndianMuslim for equality werenot met. But there was a strangeappeal, something unarticulated, feltall around in real life.Years later, I learnt that the writer

belonged to the “gaddi nasheens”(hereditary aristocrats) of Narowal,Punjab, a district with the worst publichealth record, which probably remainsunbroken today. I had also readanother of her well-written books onpublic etiquette for families, couplesand singles. Incidentally, late lastDecember, I found a worn out bookc.1954 with the exact content, in USEnglish. Clearly, there exists StarTrek like teleportation or mindreading; otherwise, how would someAmerican author come up with atranslation years earlier? Unsolvedmysteries, I suppose.Silver King is about an old Indian

Muslimwaiter who had faithfullyserved the colonial British for decadeswith a deep appreciation of their ways.The reader learns how disciplined thesahibs were with their meeting,drinking, smoking, horse-racing,dining, and reading schedules; howthey would resolve the quarrels of thedisagreeable brown locals with theutmost degree of fairness; and theirunending toil to teach the locals goodmanners, enlightening themwith

European history and civilisation,something of course that the localswould take time to observe andabsorb.After all, they were inferior beings,

subjugated for centuries andabsolutely obedient, from the Indiansepoy’s salute of “Salaam sahib, Sabacha hai, sahib” (Greetings,everything’s fine, sir) to the local gaddinasheen’s supplication with gifts ofjewelry for thememsahib andmissybaba, and horses and cash (in Britishpounds, inevitably) for the sahib andbaba loug. It was the white man’sburden to uplift the Indian to somemodicum of acceptable behaviour, andto Silver King (who prided himself onbeing so named by one of the gracioussahibs owing to his brand smoking),this was a divinely inspired gesturewhichmade him look beyond themiseries of daily servitude.But there was a rude awakening in

Europe. The sahibs, with an empireover which the sun hardly set, werechallenged by another equallypowerful nation of sahibs creditedwith their own Austro-Prussianempire, who demanded that all otherEuropean nations share their Asianand African colonial bounties withthem. Upon clear refusal, two big warswere fought in which the civilisedsahibs killed a hundredmillion of theirown in Europe, with countless moreunaccounted in the colonies, who nowhad to be granted independence, as allthe European colonial empires wentbankrupt. A new breed of sahibs tookover, with their own AmericanExceptionalism.The story doesn’t mention all this,

except that Silver King wasdisappointed to see the real sahibsleave, having been handed over to thelocal babus, who hardly had themanners or talent of the originalsahibs. The bloodshed of Partition didnot concern Silver Kingmuch whoknew the brown sahibs were no good

anyway, and so they had only provedtheir barbarian-hood.Our aging hero had no respect, and

even a deep revulsion, for these newbabus, who would not tip him; werevenal, conspiratorial and acted as ifthey were the real sahibs, only tokowtow against their new mastersfromWashington. They were proneto recalling with shock and awe theirtrips to the new holy land on theoVcial business of training orbegging for more aid dollars, whilealso pooh-poohing those old sahibs’digs and lost glory, self-recounted inthe pensioners’ travails in BBC serialslike ‘Coronation Street’.To his horror, Silver King knew that

the brown ones had no discipline orclean eating habits - they would gladlydilute cooking oil in a new dish withold oil that should have beendiscarded, as laid out clearly in thosememsahib books on Indian cooking.Such uncouth babus not only couldnot speak English well, or write it; buttheir insecurities about their manhoodand their oppression of the poor knewno bounds. At least there were clearboundaries with the British sahibs,who would hold court, go throughtheir legal procedure, and decide onmerit. To them, there was nodiWerence between a landed brownsahib with an Oxford degree and anilliterate brown hari (sharecropper).The Silver King story ends with a

broken-hearted death, but the sagacontinues. Those brown sahibs havehad their own disappointments withthe new white sahibs, who turnedout to be loud and tough, andshowed no patience for thecomplexities of Pakistan and thevarious social and political classstructures. Like Billy Idol rock stars,all they wanted, as they stridentlydeclared on their shiny hi-techguitars mocking a raving, worldwidefan base, wasmoney, money.The old sahibs with their long

histories and comfortable mannerismunderstood themartial races, the not-so-ones, various religions, ethnicities,dialects and rituals and all thoseshifting alliances, just as theirMughalpredecessors did. And so they hadruled infinitely, sans the tragic folly oftheir own infighting on themothercontinent, with those helpless urchinssacrificing hundreds of thousands oftheir own sepoys to save a Crown thatcould not save itself. But the gratefulsahibs had established aCommonwealth where visas and aidand guidance would be available to thesucceeding elite. The empire is dead;long live the empire!The Billy Idols have shown no such

appreciation for the sacrifices of thedescendants of the older babus andsepoys. First, there was a long ColdWar, terminating in the Afghan Jihadagainst Soviet occupation wherebybillions of aid dollars flew to babucoWers across the Durand Line. Then,there was aWar on Terror when theold jihad was re-branded as terroragainst the US occupation, withbillions again inflowing to the samebank accounts. As the Billy Idolnarrative of war subtly shifted with theTaliban winning, from terrorism tomere insurgency and now cut-and-rundeal-making, the brown sahibs, whowere only protecting themselvesagainst another Billy Idol interimabsence, were branded as duplicitousand untrustworthy as middlemen. Noaid flows anymore, but the bills havebeenmounting, with the country in avirtual civil war, and no way out. Thepain of abandonment refreshes witheach new babu antic to draw thesahib’s attention, to no avail.Silver King would have understood.

But then nobody ever listened to themere waiter with discipline.

THE AUTHOR IS A SILICON VALLEYENTREPRENEUR WITH AN MS AND

MBA FROM COLUMBIA

The Billy Idols and Silver Kings

Confirmed: US shipping weapons to Syrian terrorists

It is natural for a Pakistani visiting India todraw comparisons between the nations. Andwhile wemay find countless similarities,there are some obvious di-erences too

SABA AZIZ

ATHAR MIAN

If the West refuses to end its direct fueling of the Syrian crisis, Syria's allies must begin contemplatingopen and extensive aid to help the nation defend itself against overt international terrorism

TONY CARTALUCCI

No aid flows anymore. The pain of abandonment refreshes with each newbabu antic to draw the sahib’s attention, to no avail

Postcard from India

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 27, 2013

Earthquakeshakes Mexico CityMMEEXXIICCOO CCIITTYY:: Earthquakes shookMexico City on Tuesday, causingbuildings to sway in the capital andsending thousands fleeing into thestreets as an earthquake alarmsounded. There were no immediatereports of damages or injuries. MexicoSeismology Service said the quake hada magnitude of 5.9 and was centeredabout 30 miles (50 kilometers)southwest of Pinotepa Nacional on thePacific Coast. –AGENCIES

Protesters arrestedat Sydney UniversitySSYYDDNNEEYY:: Several people have beenarrested following a "near riot" atAustralia's Sydney University afterprotests of the university staX becameheated in Sydney on Tuesday. A NSWpolice spokesman said five people hadbeen arrested during the prolongedprotests at the university's mainCamperdown campus Tuesday. Abreakaway group of studentsapparently with no aWliation oroWcial ties to organizers, allegedlycharged into a science lecture andwere followed by the NSW police,leading to an aXray. –AGENCIES

Bomb kills twopoliticians in IraqKKIIRRKKUUKK:: A roadside bomb onTuesday ripped through an armouredcar killing two local politicians andbadly wounding a third in a disputedtown north of Baghdad, oWcials said.The explosion struck just north of thetown of Tuz Khurmatu, 175kilometres from the capital, and alsokilled one of the group’s bodyguardsand wounded another, according to apolice colonel and a medic at the localhospital. –AGENCIES

Italian court orders newtrial for Amanda KnoxRROOMMEE:: Italy's highest criminal courton Tuesday overturned AmandaKnox's acquittal in the slaying of herBritish roommate and ordered a newtrial, prolonging a case that hasbecome a cause celebre in the UnitedStates. Knox called the decision"painful" but said she was confidentthat she would be exonerated. Italianlaw cannot compel Knox to returnfor the new trial, and her lawyer saidshe had no plans to do so. Theappellate court hearing the new casecould declare her in contempt ofcourt but that carries no additionalpenalties. –AGENCIES

France probes killing oftwo Indians in CA RepublicNNEEWW DDEELLHHII:: France is conductinga high-level inquiry into the killingof two Indian nationals by its troopsin the Central African Republic(CAR), French defence ministerJean-Yves Le Drian told his Indiancounterpart A K Antony on Tuesday.Drian also told Antony that Indiangovernment would be informedabout the outcome of the inquiry,defence ministry oWcials said. "TheFrench defence minister Jean-YvesLe Drian telephoned defenceminister A K Antony this afternoonto convey his regret over theincident at Bangui airport in CAR inwhich two Indian nationals werekilled and six others injured duringfiring by French troops guarding theairport," they said. –AGENCIES

ELLEN BROWN

ON Tuesday, March 19, thenational legislature ofCyprus overwhelminglyrejected a proposed levy onbank deposits as a

condition for a European bailout. Reuterscalled it ‘a stunning setback for the 17-nation currency bloc’, but it was a stunningvictory for democracy. As Reuters quotedone 65-year-old pensioner, ‘The voice ofthe people was heard’.

The EU had warned that it wouldwithhold €10 billion in bailout loans,and the European Central Bank (ECB)had threatened to end emergencylending assistance for distressedCypriot banks, unless depositors –including small savers – shared the costof the rescue. In the deal rejected by thelegislature, a one-time levy ondepositors would be required in returnfor a bailout of the banking system.Deposits below €100,000 would besubject to a 6.75% levy or “haircut”,while those over €100,000 would havebeen subject to a 9.99% “fine.”

The deal pushed by the “troika” – theEU, ECB and IMF – has beencharacterised as a one-oX event devised

as an emergency measure in this oneextreme case. But the confiscation planhas long been in the making, and it isn’tlimited to Cyprus.

The purpose of the plan, called theOpen Bank Resolution (OBR) , is todeal with bank failures when they havebecome so expensive that governmentsare no longer willing to bail out thelenders. The authors wrote that theprimary objectives of OBR are toensure that, as far as possible, any lossesare ultimately borne by the bank’sshareholders and creditors.

Most people would be surprised tolearn that they are legally considered“creditors” of their banks rather thancustomers who have trusted the bankwith their money for safekeeping, butthat seems to be the case.

The New Zealand OBR said thecreditors had all enjoyed a return ontheir investments and had freelyaccepted the risk, but most peoplewould be surprised to learn that too.What return do you get from a bank ona deposit account these days? And isn’tyour deposit protected against risk byFDIC deposit insurance?

The big winner here is the ECB, whichhas extended a lot of credit to dubiously-

solvent Cypriot banks and which istaking no losses at all. It is the ECB thatcan most aXord to take the hit, because ithas the power to print euros. It couldsimply create the money to bail out theCyprus banks and take no loss at all. Butimposing austerity on the people isapparently part of the plan.

From a drily technocratic perspective,this move can be seen as simply beingpart of a standard Euro-austerityprogram: the EU wants tax hikes andspending cuts, and this is a kind of tax.The big losers are working-classCypriots, whose elected governmenthas proved powerless. The Eurozonehas always had a democratic deficit:monetary union was imposed by theelite on unthankful and unwillingcitizens. Now the citizens are revolting:just look at Beppe Grillo.

But that was before the Cyprusgovernment stood up for the depositorsand refused to go along with the plan,in what will be a stunning victory fordemocracy if they can hold theirground.

Cyprus is a small island, of littleapparent significance. But one day, thebold move of its legislators may becompared to the Battle of Marathon,

the pivotal moment in Europeanhistory when their Greek forebearsfended oX the Persians, allowingclassical Greek civilization to flourish.The current battle on this tiny islandhas taken on global significance.

JPMorgan is the largest derivativesdealer in the world. Trillions of dollarsin such instruments sit on its and otherbig banks’ balance sheets. The ease withwhich the bank hid losses and fiddledwith valuations should be a majorconcern to investors. Pam Martensobserved in a March 18th article thatJPMorgan was gambling in the stockmarket with depositor funds. Shewrites, “trading stocks with customers’savings deposits – that truly has the ringof the excesses of 1929…”

The large institutional banks not onlycould fail; they are likely to fail. Whenthe derivative scheme collapses and theUS government refuses a bailout,JPMorgan could be giving itsdepositors’ accounts sizeable “haircuts”along guidelines established by the BISand Reserve Bank of New Zealand.

The bold moves of the Cypriots andsuch firebrand political activists asItaly’s Grillo are not the only bulwarksagainst bankster confiscation. While

the credit crisis is strangling theWestern banking system, the BRICcountries – Brazil, Russia, India andChina – have sailed through largelyunscathed. According to a May 2010article in The Economist, what hasallowed them to escape are their strongand stable publicly-owned banks.

Russia is an Eastern Europeancountry that weathered the credit crisisalthough being very close to theEurozone. According to a March 2010article in Forbes:

As in other countries, the [2008]crisis prompted the state to take on agreater role in the banking system.State-owned systemic banks . . . havebeen used to carry out anticrisismeasures, such as driving growth inlending (however limited) andsupporting private institutions.

In the 1998 Asian crisis, manyRussians who had put all their savingsin private banks lost everything; andthe credit crisis of 2008 has reinforcedtheir distrust of private banks. Russianbusinesses as well as individuals haveturned to their government-ownedbanks as the more trustworthyalternative. As a result, state-ownedbanks are expected to continue

dominating the Russian bankingindustry for the foreseeable future.

The entire Eurozone conundrum isunnecessary. It is the result of toolittle money in a system in which themoney supply is fixed, and theEurozone governments and theircentral banks cannot issue their owncurrencies. There are insuWcienteuros to pay principal plus interest ina pyramid scheme in which only theprincipal is injected by the banks thatcreate money as “bank credit” on theirbooks. A central bank with the powerto issue money could remedy thatsystemic flaw, by injecting theliquidity needed to jumpstart theeconomy and turn back the tide ofausterity choking the people.

The push to confiscate the savings ofhard-working Cypriot citizens is a shotacross the bow for every workingperson in the world, a wake-up call tothe perils of a system in which tinycadres of elites call the shots and therest of us pay the price. When we finallypull back the veils of power to exposethe men pulling the levers in an age-oldgame they devised, we will see thatprosperity is indeed possible for all.

(Counterpunch)

The stunning victory of democracy in Cyprus

DOHA: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas attends the opening ceremony of the 24th Arab League Summit in Doha. –WIRE SERVICE

KKAABBUULL:: Eight suicide bombersstormed the headquarters of aspecial unit of the Afghan police inthe eastern city of Jalalabad Tuesdaymorning, killing five oWcers andwounding four in the attack.

The assault began around 5 a.m.,when a car bomb exploded near theentry gate of the compound, saidMajor Gen. Mohammed SharifKhan, the police chief of NangarharProvince. The blast was followed byanother car bomb, detonated justinside the gate, clearing the way forthe insurgents to enter with suicidevests and weapons.

Three of those bombers succeededin blowing themselves up inside thecompound. The remaining threewere shot down before they coulddetonate their charges, Gen. SharifKhan said. Five civilians were alsowounded in the assault, whichended shortly after 7 a.m. It wasunclear if any coalition forces werepresent on the base at the time.

The Taliban claimed responsibilityfor the police attack, which came

during the second day of Secretaryof State John Kerry’s visit toAfghanistan.

In a separate incident Tuesdaymorning, a vehicle bomb explodednear the entrance of a joint Afghanand coalition base in Jalalabad,coalition oWcials said. The attackdid not result in any coalitioninjuries. Afghan oWcials said theywere unaware of the bombing.

Insurgents last mounted a largecoordinated attack in Jalalabadin December, when theyattempted to strike a majorcoalition base there. The attackwas repelled and no coalitionforces died in the assault.

In Helmand, a suicide bomber onMonday detonated a large truckbomb in the provincial capital ofNad Ali, injuring more than 14coalition forces, four of themseriously. The attack, whichoccurred around 6 p.m., caused awall in the base to collapse but didnot claim any lives, according tocoalition oWcials. –AGENCIES

Blast killsfive cops inAfghanistan

PPYYOONNGGYYAANNGG:: TheDemocratic People'sRepublic of Korea (DPRK)said Tuesday its strategicrocket and long-rangeartillery units have beenordered to enter combatposture targeting the UnitedStates and South Korea.

The Supreme Command ofthe Korean People's Army saidthat all the field artillerytroops, including strategicrocket units and long-rangeartillery units, were to be puton the highest alert, the oWcialKCNA news agency reported.

The units are combatready to strike bases "in theU.S. mainland and onHawaii and Guam and otheroperational zones in thePacific as well as all theenemy targets in SouthKorea and its vicinity," thesupreme command said in astatement. The UnitedStates allowed B-52bombers deployed inAnderson air force base onGuam to fly into the skyabove South Korea onMonday, according to thestatement. America alsoallowed the conservativemedia of South Korea to sayopenly that the operationalplan of "South Korea-UScombined forces" includestargeting of DPRK.–AGENCIES

DDAAKKAARR:: A rebel leader whose fightersseized the capital of Central AfricanRepublic over the weekend has taken to theairwaves to make his first declaration,announcing he has dissolved the country'sconstitution and will stay in power for threeyears, according to excerpts from thebroadcast carried on French radio.

Michel Djotodia, one of the leaders of theSeleka rebel coalition, said late Mondaythat he plans to stay in power until 2016,the length of time left in the term of thepresident he and his soldiers overthrew.

Ousted President Francois Bozize fled thepresidential palace over the weekend,resurfacing Monday in the neighboringnation of Cameroon, where the governmentissued a statement saying he had sought"temporary exile" on their soil.

The Seleka rebel leader justified his coupd'etat, saying Bozize had veered intodictatorship during his 10 years in power.

"Through us, it was the entire population ofCentral African Republic that rose up as asingle man against the president," Djotodiasaid, according to Radio France Internationale."To this eXect, we have decided to guide thedestiny of the people of the Central AfricanRepublic during this transitional period ofthree years, in keeping with the spirit of theaccords signed in Libreville in January 11, 2013... As a result, I have decided that it is, therefore,necessary to dissolve the constitution of Dec.27, 2004, as well as the parliament and thegovernment," he said.

Meanwhile, French forces protectingBangui's main airport opened fire on threecars that were speeding toward a securitycheckpoint, said the French Defense

Ministry. The cars, carrying Indian andChadian citizens, continued despitewarning shots. Two Indian citizens werekilled, and the wounded Indian andChadian passengers were taken for medicalcare, the defense minister said in thestatement Monday. France is investigatinginto the shooting, the statement said.

Pillaging, meanwhile, continued in thecapital, Bangui, days after the Seleka rebelstook the city. The rebels' advance startedlast week when they pushed past Damara, atown 75 kilometers (47 miles) to thenortheast, which had marked the line ofcontrol drawn by regional forces in January,following an accord signed in Libreville, thecapital of neighboring Gabon.

The rebels broke that accord last week,claiming that Bozize's government hadfailed to make good on a series of promises,including sending back the South Africantroops guarding the capital. The SouthAfrican troops came under an onslaught offire from the Seleka rebels, who shot andkilled 13 South African soldiers over theweekend, in their fight to take the capital.

Seleka is a loose coalition of fighters,many of whom fought in previousrebellions. They joined forces last fall,beginning their advance toward the capitalin December. The developments mirroreda similar rebellion in eastern Congo by theM23 rebels, who took the provincial capitalof Goma, pressing the government whichthen agreed to enter into talks with them.Seleka seemed to be taking a page from theCongolese rebels' playbook as theyadvanced to less than 100 kilometers (60miles) from the capital. –AGENCIES

Rebel leader dissolvesC African constitution

DPRKthreatenscombat posture

DDOOHHAA:: The 24th summit of the ArabLeague ( AL) started Tuesday inQatar's capital of Doha, with regionalissues such as the Syrian crisis set totop its agenda.

A total of 15 heads of state of Arabcountries attended the summit,including Egyptian PresidentMohamed Morsi, Qatari Emir SheikhHamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, andPalestinian President Mahmoud Abbas,while Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Algeria,Oman, Sudan and the United ArabEmirates are represented by high-leveldelegations. The two-day summit is the24th of its kind since the organization,formally called the League of ArabStates, was founded in 1945.

Earlier this month, some countries,

mainly oil-rich Qatar and SaudiArabia, led a push during an ALministerial meeting to invite theSyrian opposition to occupy the seatof Damascus at the league, whosemembership was suspended inNovember 2011. Lebanon, Iraq andAlgeria refused to endorse thedecision, saying it is against the ALCharter. However, Moaz al-Khatib,the resigned head of exiled Syrianopposition coalition, still took upDamascus' seat at the summit. In aspeech on Tuesday, he called for morepolitical and financial support to theSyrian opposition.

Iraqi Vice President Khudeir MusaAl Khuza, in his opening address,called on the AL to form a security

council to solve the long-time Syriancrisis. "Arab Security Council is apractical answer to our issues and tofend oX foreign intervention," he said.

After that, the Qatari emir, whoreceived the rotating presidency of theAL summit from Al Khuza, urged UNactions to help put an end to theSyrian crisis. The Qatari leadermeanwhile proposed holding a mini-Arab summit, led by Egypt andleaders of Fatah and Hamas, in Cairoas soon as possible to achievePalestinian national reconciliation. Healso called for Arab countries toestablish a fund of 1 billion US dollarsto support the Palestinians, pledgingthat his country will oXer a quarter ofthe amount. –AGENCIES

AL summit opens in Doha with focus on Syrian crisis

Egypt extradites twoGaddafi-era Libyan officialsCCAAIIRROO:: Egypt extradited on Tuesday two former Libyan oWcialsunder the rule of ex-leader Muammar Gaddafi, the state-run MENAnews agency reported. Former Libyan Ambassador to Cairo AliMohamed al-Amin Maria, and Mohamed Ibrahim Mansour, an ex-finance oWcial were extradited to Tripoli via a private Libyan plane,the report said. The deportations are in line with a decision issuedSunday by Egyptian Prosecutor-General Talaat Ibrahim Abdullah tohand over the two oWcials to the Libyan authorities, after aninvestigation confirmed that all legal conditions for extradition weremet. Maria and Mansour were arrested a week ago in Cairo overcorruption charges claimed by the Libyan authorities. Ahmed Gaddafal-Dam, former coordinator of Libyan-Egyptian relations, was alsoarrested over similar charges last Tuesday. But the papers requestinghis extradition have not yet been received, said counselor KamelGirgis, head of Egypt's general prosecution's international cooperationoWce. Gaddaf al-Dam was also being interrogated for opening fire atthe Egyptian police oWcers assigned by the Interpol to arrest him. Onepoliceman was wounded by him. Egypt and Libya signed Saturday alegal and judicial memorandum of understanding to guarantee fairtrial of extradited defendants to be applied once Egypt agrees toextradite recently-arrested Libyan ex-oWcials. –AGENCIES

The push to confiscate the savings of hard-working Cypriot citizens is a shot across the bow for every working personin the world, a wake-up call to the perils of a system in which tiny cadres of elites call the shots and the rest of us pay the price

Syrian Opp takes seat at Arab summitDDOOHHAA:: Syrian opposition representatives took the country's seat for the firsttime at an Arab League summit that opened in Qatar on Tuesday, asignificant diplomatic boost for the forces fighting President Bashar Assad'sregime. In a ceremonious entrance accompanied by applause, a delegationled by Mouaz al-Khatib, the former president of the main opposition alliance— the Western-backed Syrian National Coalition — took the seats assignedfor Syria at the invitation of Qatar's emir, Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani.The decision for the opposition to take Syria's seat was made at therecommendation of Arab foreign ministers earlier this week in the Qataricapital, Doha. The Arab League in 2011 suspended the Syrian government'smembership in the organization in punishment for the regime's crackdownon opponents. The Qatari ruler, who chairs the summit, said the Syrianopposition deserves "this representation because of the popular legitimacythey have won at home and the broad support they won abroad and thehistoric role they have assumed in leading the revolution and preparing forbuilding the new Syria." –AGENCIES

� In another incident on Tuesday, a vehiclebomb exploded near coalition base in Jalalabad

Smuggled vehicles’amnesty scheme will notbe extended beyond 31stIISSLLAAMMAABBAADD: The amnesty schemenotified by the Federal Government,for legitimizing the smuggled and non-duty paid vehicles upon payment ofduty and taxes will expire on 31stMarch, 2013. According to oTcials ofFBR this scheme will not be extendedbeyond 31st March and rumorssuggesting possible extension in thedeadline are absolutely unfounded. It isstated that those seeking to avail of thisfacility of the amnesty scheme musttherefore present their smuggled /non-duty paid vehicles to Customs,latest by 31st March, 2013. OTcialsfurther clarified that the Federal Boardof Revenue is determined to redoubleits drive against such vehicles after theexpiry of the amnesty scheme on 31stMarch, 2013. Instructions have beenissued to the Customs field formationsto impound such vehicles, besideslodging FIRs against the persons foundin the ownership or possession of thesevehicles, provided they are not gotlegitimized under the amnesty scheme,up to 31st March, 2013. –ONLINE

Pakistan is an agriculturalcountry, says KhosoIISSLLAAMMAABBAADD: Interim PrimeMinister Mir Hazar Khan Khoso onTuesday was given a comprehensivebriefing on country's economy.Interim Prime Minister Mir HazarKhan Khoso was briefed inIslamabad on Tuesday about thecurrent economic situation including‚balance of trade‚ budgetary positionand the role of remittances on theeconomy Interim Prime Minister wasapprised of the challenges beingfaced by the economy. Mir HazarKhan Khoso said that Pakistan is anagricultural country and we shouldfocus on this sector which has thepotential to lift the overall economyof the country. He also directed theMinistry of Finance to streamline thebanking system which will help inchecking Hundi and increasingremittances from the Pakistanidiaspora. The briefing was given bySecretary Finance Abdul Khaliq andwas attended by senior oTcials ofPrime Minister's Secretariat andMinistry of Finance. –ONLINE

Global shares rise on USdata, safe-havens fallNNEEWW YYOORRKK: Global equity marketsrose as safe-haven assets like debt andgold fell on Tuesday after more datapointed to an improving economy andhelped oUset any fallout from theCyprus bailout. Wall Street was higheron reports that showed demand forlong-lasting manufactured goodssurged in February while U.S. single-family home prices started the yearwith the biggest annual increase sinceJune 2006. But a report from theConference Board, an industry group,showing Americans in March turnedmore pessimistic about short termprospects, which caused consumerconfidence to tumble and added anote of caution to a market stillskittish over Cyprus. Michael Sheldon,chief market strategist at RDMFinancial in Westport, Connecticut,said investors needed to see furtherimprovement in the economic data forequity markets to hold this year's gains.The euro edged higher against the U.S.dollar but remained near four-monthlows on lingering concerns about thenegative implications of a rescue planfor Cyprus, and if it would serve as atemplate for other euro zone economiesrequiring bailouts. –AGENCIES

CUrrenCY BUYInG SellInGUS DOLLAR 99.20 99.45EURO 125.89 126.12BRITISH POUND 148.15 148.39UAE DIRHAM 26.70 26.95SAUDI RIYAL 26.25 26.43KUWAITI DINAR 342.79 349.34CANADIAN DOLLAR 95.73 97.43

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 27, 2013

‘Banking spreads’challenging 8-yearold levelsOUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

In today's Value Seeker, we present an update on theprevailing banking spreads as per the data recentlyreleased by SBP for Feb-13 coupled with our outlook.

BBaannkkiinngg sspprreeaaddss hhiitt aa rreeccoorrdd llooww aafftteerr AApprr--0055:: Bankingspreads (based on outstanding lending and deposit rates)struck an 8 yr record low of 6.18% in Feb-13. The last timesuch levels were witnessed was in April-05 when spreadson outstanding loans and deposits stood at 5.94% in April-05 consequential to a 7.49% average lending rate whereasaverage deposit rates stood at a meager 1.55%.OOuuttssttaannddiinngg sspprreeaaddss ddoowwnn bbyy 111122bbppss YYooYY iinn FFeebb--1133:: On ayearly basis, banking spreads have declined by a massive112bps YoY from a level of 7.30% in Feb-12. Whereasdeposit rates stepped down by 51bps YoY (to 5.34%) inFeb-13, the positivity induced by such was more thannullified by a turn down in average lending rates which fellby 163bps to a level of 11.52%. On a monthly basis thetrend was however the same but with much less intensityas the spreads on outstanding lending and deposit ratesfell by a slender 3bps. Such was the outcome of a sizeabledecline in average lending rates, down by 8bps, however5bps decline in deposit rates balanced the lattertranslating into a 3bps decline in spreads. SSBBPP ddiirreeccttiivveess ttoo eexxeerrtt ffuurrtthheerr pprreessssuurree oonn sspprreeaaddss:: Freshspreads depict a similar trend, falling by 4bps on a monthlybasis whereas the same declined by 166bps YoY to 4.45% inFeb-13. Deposit rates on fresh deposits prevailing at analtitude of 6.08% in Feb-13 whereas lending rates stutteringat 10.53%, directs the future path for banking spread.Given that the current political and law and ordersituation in the country has been failing to promoteinvestment and thus fresh disbursements by banks, weexpect lending rates to experience further descend. Wefurther anticipate an increase in deposit rates to realizefrom April-13 onwards as banks start paying interest onaverage balance of saving accounts instead of minimum asinstructed by SBP in a recent circular therefore giving wayto lower spreads going forward.

analYSIS

IISSLLAAMMAABBAADD: Director GeneralGeological Survey of Pakistan (GSP)Dr Imran Ahmed Khan has opposedthe construction of upstream megaprojects like Bhasha Dam on Tarbelathat is located in zone-4 because it isvulnerable to severe earthquakes.DG GSP made these remarks whilebriefing the Senate standingcommittee on Petroleum and Naturalresources that held here on Tuesdaywith Senator Muhammad Yousaf inthe chair. DG said that it is feared thatin future an earthquake withmagnitude of 9 may hit the zone-4

where Tarbela Dam is located andanother big reservoir over the damwill be aUected due to it, adding thatTarbela dam would also be at stake.He said that construction of waterreservoir like Bhasha Dam in the areamay result in another severe incidentlike Attabad Lake case.He said during last few decades eightsevere earthquakes erupted in thisarea, therefore major reservoirs shouldnot be constructed in this area. DG saidthat Gwadar port is also located inzone-4 where billions of rupees arebeing invested. He said that Geological

Survey of Pakistan has conveyed theauthorities about it and opposed theconstruction of Sighar houses inGwadar but no one took notice so far.Standing Committee recommendedhim to submit that report before thecommittee.Committee said if Bhasha Dam islocated in zone-4 is vulnerable tonatural calamities then why India isconstructing dams and Internationaldonors are providing financial aid forit? DG GSP was failed to satisfy thequeries of the legislatures in thisregard.

DG further added that seismichazards that destroyed the Taxilacivilizations are present in MargallaHills that may cause destruction incapital in future. Briefing aboutRekodiq landmine in Balochistan DrAmir Ahmed Khan apprised thecommittee that this landmine is worthof trillions of dollars and mostprecious gemstones in the world arepresent in this mine. He said that totalreserves in this mine are more thanfive billion tonnes.Legislative body directed him to givecomplete report regarding layer of

Rekodiq in the province. On thisoccasion, DG announced that afternext fifteen to twenty days a pilotproject of days 8 megawatt located inThar coal would be operation and ifit will succeed then coal culturewould further develop in the country.Standing committee showedconcerns over the performance of thedepartment and said that monthlyexpenses of the department are Rs250 million while no output has beenseen. Chairman of the committeeSenator Muhammad Yousaf said thatthis department has been failed todeliver therefore it should be closed. DG geological survey of Pakistan

informed the committee that inArsenic is present in few villages ofKPK and Punjab and 83% ofpopulation of these areas isvulnerable to cancer and other severediseases. Standing committeeshowed strong concerns over it andasked him to submit detailed reportin this regard. Senators said thatsituation is so critical in these areasand our health departments have notbothered to take action so far whichis very unfortunate. Standingcommittee recommended DG GSP toreduce the expenses of thedepartment as they are already burdenon the national kitty. –ONLINE

Gold (oz)

Rs. 1,605.08 Rs. 98.15

Dollar Interbank Cement (Bag)

457.00 6,900.00

Cotton (Maund) Urea/Bag

1,704

Coal Spot

$87.90/Ton 11.42%

10-Y PIB Furnace oil

76,188/MT

RAWALPINDI: SEVP Business Development and Chairman U Microfinance Bank Board Hamid Farooq, President U Microfinance Bank Board Arif Sirhindi andCEO Ufone and Director U Microfinance Bank Nadeem Khan cutting a cake to celebrate the start of operations of 2nd branch of U Microfinance Bank. —ONLINE

STAFF REPORT

IISSLLAAMMAABBAADD: PresidentIslamabad Chamber ofCommerce and Industry(ICCI), Zafar Bakhtawari hassaid that current energy crisis isholding back progress ofbusinesses and industries,therefore, any pending courtcases against oil and gascompanies should be decidedimmediately.While chairing a meeting ofenergy and petroleum sectorentrepreneurs, PresidentICCI, Zafar Bakhtawari saidthat resolution of the oil andgas company’s issues wouldbring new investments in the

oil and gas sector of Pakistan.He appealed to the ChiefJustice of Pakistan to takeurgent notice for settlinglitigation issues of gasexploration companies. ICCIPresident also called upon theGovernment to give highpriority to investments in theoil and gas sector to exploreand exploit these naturalresources for the benefit ofthe country.He was responding to thereports that litigationconcerning various oil and gasfields has caused a loss ofmore than $2 billion to thecountry’s largest oil and gasexploration company in one

year and delayed energyprojects.He said that payments foroil import bill is the keyfactors that has put pressureon fragile economy, adds tothe electricity generation cost,hitting hard the ordinaryconsumers as well as raisingthe cost of production formanufacturers. He said that Governmentshould give immediateattention to run the existingpower units by convertingthem form expensive fuels tocheaper options like coal-firedderiving coal from Thar coalfields and other renewableenergy sources for cutting the

oil import bill.ICCI President expressedconcern over soaring oilimport bill which is touchingthe alarming figure of$16billion and comprisesalmost 40 percent ofPakistan’s total import billthat resulting in a huge tradedeficit thus puts pressure onthe local currency. Therefore, he stressed uponexploration of domestic oilreverses that is essential tobring some stability in thefalling value of rupee bycontrolling oil import billwhich is possible by earlysettlement of litigation issuesof gas exploration companies.

Cypriot youth protest as banks stay shutNNIICCOOSSIIAA::Thousands of students and hundreds of bankworkers protested in the Cypriot capital Nicosia on Tuesday asbanks stayed shut to stop a run on deposits after the islandagreed a painful bailout to avert bankruptcy. The chairman ofCyprus's biggest commercial bank oUered to resign after aspecial administrator was appointed over his head to run thelender, which is being restructured as part of the package tobail out the oversized financial sector. Cyprus's banks wereordered to remain closed until Thursday, and even then willimpose capital controls to prevent depositors from strippingout all their funds. Cyprus had faced bankruptcy andpotential ejection from the European single currency withouta rescue deal with international lending bodies. Now that thedeal has been struck, it faces job losses and economiccontraction. Journalists estimated up to 3,000 high schoolstudents protested outside parliament, the first majorexpression of popular anger after Cyprus agreed the 10billion euro ($13 billion) bailout with the European Union. "They've just gotten rid of all our dreams, everything we'veworked for, everything we've achieved up until now, whatour parents have achieved," said a student who gave hisname as Thomas. Outside the central bank, about 200employees of the country's biggest commercial bank, theBank of Cyprus, demanded the resignation of the centralbank governor, chanting "Hands oU Cyprus" and "Disgrace"."We are scared. We were also so proud of the Bank ofCyprus. We worked with a lot of love, not just for themoney," said a Bank of Cyprus worker who gave her name asAnthoulla. The chairman of the bank, Andreas ArtemisoUered to resign on Tuesday, a source at the bank said. "Hesent a resignation letter this morning which will be examinedby the Board of Directors convening this afternoon," thebank source said, requesting anonymity. –AGENCIES

GSP opposes Bhasha Dam on technical grounds

OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

As mentioned earlier in theAHR Alert (dated 20thMar’13), the Supreme Court

(SC) will now hear proceedings ofthe ICH case today. TheCompetition Commission ofPakistan’s inability to present theirfindings in a 15-day time periodhas led the SC to schedule ahearing itself. Though uncertainty and furthercontroversy surrounds the matterat the moment, a dip in Telecomsector stocks does present anopportunity to invest, as LongDistance Int’l (LDI) operators, with

PTC being the dominant player(50% market share), remain firmon their stance to keep incomingint’l calling rates at USD0.088/min.LDI minutes decline 22% in Jan-Feb’13 over Nov-Dec’12With the 1QCY13 nearing its end,PTC has throughout booked theLDI revenues in this quarter onhigher incoming int’l rates, thoughan overall decline in LDI minuteshas been noted throughout thisquarter (Jan-Mar’13 provisional). The Jan-Feb13 saw a total of1.234bn LDI incoming int’ lminutes, a 22% decline from Nov-Dec’12’s total mins. We have

forecasted PTC’s1QCY13 EPS to bearound PKR ~1.16 with theassumption that Mar’13 LDIminutes will average 550mnminutes.Going forward for CY13 – ‘Buy’PTC with Jun-end Price Target atPKR 29.6/shWe have conservatively forecastPTC’s earnings assuming ~650mnminutes from Apr’13 onwards, withthe competition factor dropping callrates slightly that will result inincreased monthly minutes (thoughnot significantly dropping LDI callrates while also negating any threatof SC hearing on 27th of Mar’13, aswe feel the matter will further linger

on in court with no imminentconclusion anytime soon). The table below illustrates ourearnings estimates for PTC for Jan-Mar’13 quarter and earningsestimates for full-year CY’13(sensitivity -10-40% monthlydecline from Apr’13 onwards inLDI minutes.PPTTCC:: DDeettaaiilleedd aaccccoouunnttss 66MMCCYY1122

uuppddaattee:: Recently, PTC published itsdetailed 6MCY12 year-endaccounts; it is to be noted that theyear-end of PTC is now Dec-endbasis from its previous Jun-endbasis, to be in line with its parentcompany Etisalat’s year end.Positives can be taken from the

detailed accounts that include LDIrevenues at PKR 8.85bn in6MCY12 from PKR 5.74bn inFY12; this clearly indicatesrevenues from the LDI segmenthave been booked at significantlyhigher ICH rates. Further, net interest earned fromUfone’s Microfinance Bank (amode of Wireless Banking ofmoney transfer through CellularServices) has been booked at PKR5.9mn, going forward this may bea significant revenue stream as theState Bank of Pakistan has allowedthe Bank to open across thecountry as it is currently operatingonly with a single branch.

LDI rates remain firm despite controversy and uncertainty

CJP should decide cases relatedto oil and gas companies: ICCI

STAFF REPORT

IISSLLAAMMAABBAADD: FBR should refrain fromadopting any process that is illegal and ultravires of rules and laws while beingimpractical and detrimental to thegeneration of government revenue, say SmallCigarette Manufacturers Association andInternational Cigarette Industries.They point out that the haste shown inseeking proposals and adopting the“Procurement Tax Labels and SupervisionSystem” for cigarette packs has createddoubts that the entire process wasmotivated to favour a particular supplierwho wanted to sell FBR his outdated anduseless technology.They note that such an illegal and ultravires process about which even the Public

Procurement Regulatory Authority ofPakistan has raised issues, could scandalizethe government, both within and outsidethe country, and also create accountabilityand transparency issues.When Turkey and Brazil introduced suchtax stamps, counterfeit stamps appeared inthose countries within three weeks.Therefore, one fails to understand howwould FBR ensure that unscrupulouselements do not resort to using counterfeitstamps in Pakistan, or simply putting a newtiny stamp would help it in revenuecollection, especially when Pine cigarettesare being sold here illegally without themandatory health warning on 40% of itspack. In fact, the entire bidding process wasin violation of the Public ProcurementRegulatory Authority Rules, 2004 because

it violated Rule 10 which mandates widestpossible competition and not favouring anysingle contractor or supplier. Besides, itbypassed Rule 15 pertaining to themandatory pre-qualification process anddid not give bidders enough time to respondas required under Rule 13. Furthermore, it did not mention anyprocurement method which, under Rule36, was required to be on least cost basis,and also the evaluation criteria underRules 23 and 29. These lacunae not only nullify and vitiatethe entire bidding process but might alsocreate serious doubts about its bona fide,especially when Public ProcurementRegulatory Authority of Pakistan and manyinternational suppliers have expressedconcerns about the adopted process.

Stamps on cigarette packs impederevenue collection: manufacturers

� Dubs Tarbela ‘vulnerable’ to severe earthquakes

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 27, 2013

Bieber should stay away from showbiz: ChristinaLONDON: Singer Christina Aguilera hasadvised Baby hitmaker Justin Bieberto step out oO the limelight for a while following a troublesome week. The 19-year-old was criticized for turning up late to his sell-out London show andmanaged to get himself into a tussle with a cameraman during his stay in thecapital, reported Showbizspy. "You live life and it's hard to grow up in front of acamera. You learn as you get older to take moments for yourself, step away fromthe camera, re-inspire yourself as an artist, rejuvenate and refresh," Aguilerasaid. The 32-year-old also advised the Canadian singer to be true to himself andignore outside influences. "I would tell Bieber, don't let anything morph you orpush you around or have you be something you're not. I've always been reallyhonest and true to my own roots and been really grounded, not letting myselfstray too much," she added. -SHOWBIZ DESK

director danny Boyle to direct nextJames Bond filmLONDON: Danny Boyle could direct the next James Bondmovie afterthe Skyfall director, SamMendes, refused to helm another 007 project.Bond producer Barbara Broccoli was seen having a chat with the 56-year-old director at London's Empire Film Awards, the Sun reported. TheOscar winner previously won a lot of appreciation for his extra-ordinaryperformance at the London Olympics' opening ceremony, which featured007 star Daniel Craig and the Queen double in a Bond sketch. VeteranBond producerMichael GWilson told that the SlumdogMillionairedirector could certainly become a Bond director. -SHOWBIZ DESK

CMYK

LONDON: Actor Ali Zafar attended a pressconference for Viacom 18Motion Pictures & TipTop Entertainment’s presentation ChashmeBaddoor recently in Central London. The filmwhich is due for release on 5th April is the remakeof Sai Paranjpe’s 1981 classic, Chashme Buddoor,in which Ali Zafar plays Farooque Shaikh’scharacter. In true Ali Zafar fashion, he was quickto charm the international press present inCentral London.Well versed in English and aseloquent as always, Ali looked the picture ofcomposure and professionalism. However, neverto shy away from beingmischievous, Ali didn’thesitate throwing a few fast balls at the presseither. Thoroughly at ease, he charmed theaudience with his quick wit and intelligentanswers, making sure that the press felt includedand appreciated. Ali who is famous for not onlybeing a generous and talented artist, but also anadvocate of humanitarian causes, is always theideal ambassador for Pakistan wherever he goes.This is Ali Zafar’s 4th Bollywood film and that,too, in a lead role. Not only is he the protagonist ofthe film, but has also contributed a fair bit to thefilms soundtrack.What with “Dhichkyaaon DoomDoom” one of the hottest tracks oO the OST andAli’s stellar performance, Chashme Baddoor isalready being slated as a hit both among fans andcritics alike. HKC entertainment is releasing themovie in Pakistan while Encyclomedia PR ishandling the PR. -SHOWBIZ DESK

Ali Zafar attends Chashme Baddoor press conference

NEWDELHI: Buzz is that Shah Rukh Khan has bookeda huge share of one of the most lavish resorts in Dubaifor more than a month, but not for a pleasure trip. Theactor will be shooting an important scene for hisupcoming film Happy New Year there, reports MumbaiMirror. The shooting will start there sometime inAugust. A source told, "While Farah has been busyfinalising the leading lady, her other crew members havealready finalised some of the places where the film withfive male and one female lead, will be shot. Thisunderwater resort is where an important sequence of thefilm is shot.” The source also added that thanks to SRK’sgreat rapport with Dubai, team Happy New Year willhave exclusive access to the property. -SHOWBIZ DESK

Srk to shoothappy new Yearin dubai's resort

SHOWBIZ DESK

LONDON: The latest James Bondfilm Skyfall has won 3 awards atJameson Empire Awards 2013 aftermissing out at Oscar and Bafta. Whilethe James Bond film was a huge boxoNce hit, it was overlooked at theOscars and the Baftas in the best filmand best director categories. At aceremony at London's GrosvenorHouse Hotel, SamMendes took homethe best director and best film awardsfor his 007 eOort Skyfall, along withthe Empire Inspiration award.Mendes later said that for him if his iffilms inspired a couple of people, orkids sitting in the back of a darkauditorium, then he feels it was worthit. HelenMirren received the EmpireLegend award for her screen career offive decades that includedextraordinary performances in TheCook, The Thief, HisWife, AndHerLover, Gosford Park, The Queen and

this year's Hitchcock. The 67-year-oldactress joked that she felt too young toreceive the award. She further addedthat why couldn't they wait for 20 oddyears before making her a legend.Danny Boyle, the British directorwho has enjoyed a career of criticallyacclaimed films like Shallow Grave,the Oscar-winning SlumdogMillionaire, Trainspotting andthriller Trance was celebrated for hisfilm career and was presented withthe Empire OutstandingContribution award. Harry Potterstar Daniel RadcliOe was named thisyear's Empire Hero, while his filmTheWoman in Black won the awardfor Best Horror.The Hobbit: An UnexpectedJourney, grabbed two awards. Thefilm was awarded for the Best Sci-FiFantasy and Martin Freeman got theBest Actor award for his outstandingperformance in the movie.

Skyfall takes 3 awards at JamesonEmpire Awards

MUMBAI: Contrary toreports, Bollywoodsuperstar AmitabhBachchan, who playedthe iconic copVijay inPrakashMehra'sZanjeer in 1973, won'tbemaking anappearance in theremake byApoorvaLakhani which starssouth Indian actorRamCharan Teja andalso features PriyankaChopra and SanjayDutt in lead roles.Reportedly the film'steamwas very keen toget Big B to do a cameo but to no eOect. AmitabhBachchan'sother commitments prevented him fromputting in a tokenappearance as a senior cop.When contacted directorApoorva Lakhia said, "Although it would be an honour forany filmmaker to have India'smost iconic actor in his film,Amitji won't be playing a role in Zanjeer." So once and for all,no Big B in the newZanjeer. -SHOWBIZ DESK

MUMBAI: After making her international singingdebut, actress Priyanka Chopra has lent her voice forDisney's animated film Planes. The actress has dubbedfor an Indian plane, called Ishani, in the movie, which isa spin-oO of Cars and Cars 2. The film is slated to releasein India on July 26. Film's director Klay Hall says he be-came a fan of the Indian beauty after watching her inDostana. "We decided to make India a stop on the racefor two reasons: practicality¿the planes needed to refuelin that region of the world and aesthetics India is a beau-tiful, exotic country that many of us had experienced. Ibecame a fan of Priyanka after seeing her film Film's di-rector Klay Hall says he became a fan of the Indianbeauty after watching her in Dostana," Hall said. "She's atriple threat an actor, singer and dancer and we noticedthat when she came in to record her lines, she attractedthe attention of a lot of people who'd stop by to watchher in action. Priyanka exudes heart, charm and warmth,and we're incredibly blessed to have her as part of ourcast," the director added. -SHOWBIZ DESK

priyanka lends hervoice for planes

SHOWBIZ DESK

LOS ANGELES: The Academy ofMotion Picture Arts and Sciencesannounced the dates and deadlinesfor next year’s Oscar season, withthe ceremony scheduled for telecastonMarch 2, one week later thanthis past season. The slight shiftsteers clear of the 2014WinterOlympics, which last until Feb. 23.But it still falls into the windowthat Oscar staked out in 2004,

when after years of holding theOscars in late March, the Academymoved its calendar up to reaNrmits preeminence among thegrowing glut of award shows. Ofgreater note is the new date fornomination voting to begin—Dec.27— 10 days later than last season,when there was some criticism thatvoting began before members hadan opportunity to see all thequalifying films. The extra timeshould enhance the prospects of

films that don’t open until lateDecember, like Nicole Kidman’sGrace of Monaco and David O.Russell’s untitled FBI sting movie,starring Christian Bale andJennifer Lawrence. The Academyalso announced that the 2015Oscars will take place on Feb. 22,2015, confirming their previouspreference for an earlier Oscars.

Amitabh says noto cameo role

LAHORE: Famous actor and the leadvocalist of the Entity Paradigm bandAhmad Ali Butt is set to tie the knot withhis UK based girlfriend Fatima at the endof this month. Ahmad Ali Butt is a knownTV artist and musician who has manyachievements throughout his career. He isthe grandson of legendary singer MadamNoor Jehan and is the son of renownedsinger Zille Huma. After splitting with hisband Entity Paradigm , Ahmad Ali Buttturned into comedian and got fame forPTV Home’s sitcom “Inspector Khojee”and then for Jutt and Bond, with FawadAfzal Khan and also the Rubber Band.Reportedly, Ahmad Ali Butt is now gettingmarried to his girlfriend for which thecouple and their friends are practicingdance performance. All of Ahmad AliButt’s fans will really be happy to knowabout his nuptials. We congratulate AhmadAli Butt for beginning this wonderfulrelationship. -SHOWBIZ DESK

Ahmad Ali to tie the knot soon

Oscar sidesteps Olympics� Pushes Academy Awards into March

MUMBAI: Dusky beautyChitrangada Singh lookedstunning in a handwovenRajasthani black kota sari asshe walked the ramp fordesigner at the Lakme FashionWeek Summer/Resort 2013.Gaurang, who hails fromHyderabad, presented hiscollection 'Gulbadan', anamalgamation of Rajasthanikota jamdani weaves andintricate Lucknowi chikankariembroidery. "It was the firsttime I wore a completely handwoven sari and I fell in lovewith it instantly. I love Indiantextiles and the craftmanshipsis beautiful. I am in love withsari again. Though I wasreluctant intitially butGaurang gaveme theconfidence that I will lookstunning and I went for thebeautifully black handwovenkota sari," she said. Thedesigner showcased 16 of hisclassic hand-woven designs,wovenmajestically to capturethe vibes of the comingsummer season. One of thegarments was created using 28metres of fabric. "Our wovencollection at LFWhavesilhouettes that are flowy andmanifold like the rose petals.The flowy dresses reflectgrandness with contemporaryas well as fashion forwardcaptivating look.We have used 12-15metersof fabric in each of ourcreation," he said. It took oversixmonths for Gaurang tocreate the collection since thetime he conceptualised thetheme. -SHOWBIZ DESK

ChitrangadaSingh walkS theramp at lFw

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 27, 2013

CMYK

CMYK

MMIIAAMMII:: Reigning US Open champsAndy Murray and Serena Williamsstepped up their bids for anothertitle while China's Li Na halted thegiant-killing run of a Spanish teen toadvance at the Miami MastersMonday. Second seed Murray blastednine aces en route to a 7-6 (7/3), 6-3victory over disgruntled GrigorDimitrov to reach the fourth roundof the hardcourt tournament.Murray, who won this event fouryears ago, needed one hour and 54minutes to oust the 29th-seededBulgarian Dimitrov.Murray said he started slowly but

soon figured out how to causeproblems for his opponent. "I wasleaving the ball a bit short. Once Istarted to improve my depth a bit Imade it tough for him and he startedto make mother mistakes after that,"Murray said. Dimitrov, last year'srunner-up to Novak Djokovic, wouldhave faced a tougher task had not the21-year-old lost his composure whenserving for the first set at 5-3.Dimitrov double-faulted three times

to allow Murray to break back and theScot duly prevailed in the tie-break.It is the second time in as many

tournaments that Dimitrov hascracked when serving for a setagainst a top-ranked player, servingup four double faults when he ledworld number one Djokovic 5-3 inthe third round at Indian Wells. "Heprobably got a little bit nervous, andthat helped me," Murray said.Murray, who committed 22 unforcederrors to Dimitrov's 38, will faceItalian Andrea Seppi in the fourthround, the 16th seed having beatenexperienced Brazilian ThomazBellucci 7-5, 4-6, 6-2.Meanwhile, eighth-seeded

Frenchman Richard Gasquet rolledover 28th-seeded Russian MikhailYouzhny 6-3, 6-4 and 10th-seededSpaniard Nicolas Almagro beatBelgian David GoPn 6-3, 6-4.Gasquet faces Almagro in the fourthround. Sixth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga,of France, cruised past Finland'sJarkko Nieminen 6-3, 6-3 asCanada's Milos Raonic withdrew

from the tournament with strepthroat just moments before his matchagainst Sam Querrey.In the women's draw, China's Li set

up a quarterfinal against worldnumber one Williams with an error-strewn 7-6 (8/6), 6-2 win over teenGarbine Muguruza. The 31-year-old Liis playing in her first tournament sincesuQering an ankle injury in January'sAustralian Open final. Williams alsostruggled having to come from a setdown to win 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 againstSlovakia's 13th seed DominikaCibulkova. Williams, who is biddingfor a record sixth Miami title, admittedshe had not been at her best and at 4-1down to Cibulkova in the second setand staring defeat in the face she hadhad to pull herself together. "I wasstruggling mentally, I was making somany errors," said Williams, whoregained the number one spot in Dohain February but has not played since."I could not pull myself together.Someone (a fan) kept telling me torelax and I listened to him."Li – the 2011 French Open

champion and two-time AustralianOpen finalist – made 39 unforcederrors, including four double faults,and allowed her 19-year-oldopponent to battle back to 5-5 in thefirst set having led 5-1. Even at 6-1 inthe tiebreaker Li faltered asMuguruza fought back to 6-6. Lipulled herself together to take thenext two points and the set, beforewrapping up victory in the secondset. In the night match, third seedMaria Sharapova routed Czech KlaraZakopalova in straight sets 6-2, 6-2.Sharapova, who is one of thefavourites, has never won in Miami."It would be special to win this andadd it to my collection," she said.Sharapova advances to thequarterfinals where she will faceeighth-seeded Sara Errani whorallied to beat former world No. 1Ana Ivanovic 1-6, 6-4, 6-2. Also,defending champ AgnieszkaRadwanska defeated SloaneStephens 4-6, 6-2, 6-0 to book aquarterfinal clash with BelgianKirsten Flipkens. –AGENCIES

Murray, Serena advance to 4th round in Miami Masters

Andy Murray of Great Britain plays a backhand against Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria duringtheir third round match in Miami Masters. –AGENCIES

AAUUCCKKLLAANNDD:: A defiant, unbeatencentury by Matt Prior saw Englandsnatch an unlikely draw in adramatic end to the third TestTuesday and deny a fired-up NewZealand an historic series victory byone wicket. England were holdingon by a thread at the close as Priorsought to shield last man MontyPanesar from the bowling for the lastthree overs in a cliQhanger finish tothe Test and the series. At the close,Prior was unbeaten on 110, hisseventh Test century, and Englandwere 315 for nine.A despondent New Zealand were

left ruing two regulation catches thatwere dropped in the final over beforelunch, as well as an incident when theball hit Prior's stumps but failed todislodge the bails. New Zealandcaptain Brendon McCullum admittedto "mixed emotions". "We came upagainst some of the best players in theworld at the moment and they werehell bent that they weren't going tolose the Test match. We gave iteverything but we came up justshort," he said. England skipperAlastair Cook conceded his side weremorally beaten. "There's a hugeamount of relief, we've had to fightover these five days," he said. "NewZealand have outplayed us in thisgame, but I can be very proud of theEnglish guys led by Matt Prior andIan Bell. The never-say-die attitudeand that fight you need in Testcricket, we showed a lot of that."All three Tests ended in draws,

denying New Zealand the chance ofa rare series win over England. Theyhave only won three of 32 seriesagainst the English and the last wasin England in 1999. New Zealand,with innings of 443 and 241 for sixdeclared, batted England out of theTest and the tourists were neverserious about chasing their 481-runsecond innings target. Instead theyfaced a battle for survival and whenthey resumed the final day at 90 forfour, the odds were heavily in NewZealand's favour. At lunch, the Teststill belonged to New Zealand withEngland at 158 for five and Joe Root

gone for 29. But there were signs ofluck going England's way with Belland Jonny Bairstow both survivingcatch opportunities when NewZealand took the second new balljust before lunch.Bairstow was gone for six soon after

play resumed but Bell made the mostof his luck as he and Prior put on 78,before he was removed in the last overbefore tea to leave England on 237 forseven. Wicketkeeper-batsman Priorfought on despite two appeals forcaught behind that went to review. On20 he was dropped by Neil Wagnerand on 28 the ball deflected oQ his

helmet and on to the stumps, but thebails stayed on. He marched towardshis seventh Test century after tea andwas joined by a record low-scoringStuart Broad who blocked andshouldered for 61 deliveries and 102minutes before finally getting oQ themark. His scoreless reign beat theprevious record of 101 minuteswithout scoring set by New Zealandfast bowler GeoQ Allott against SouthAfrica 14 years ago.With a possible victory slipping

away, McCullum again turned to part-time spinner Kane Williamson whohad removed Alastair Cook and

nightwatchman Steven Finn theprevious day. Again Williamsondelivered. In the space of threedeliveries he had Broad and JamesAnderson caught at first slip by RossTaylor, and England found themselvesnine down with only Panesar left tosupport Prior and 19 balls remaining.Prior was able to protect Panesar fromall but five deliveries which theEngland spinner somehow was ableto keep out. –AGENCIES

Prior’s defiant ton helps Englandsnatch unlikely draw against NZ

England's Monty Panesar dives in to make a run during day five of the Test match against New Zealand at Eden Park on Tuesday. –AGENCIES

SCOrEBOArdNNEEWW ZZEEAALLAANNDD FFIIRRSSTT IINNNNIINNGGSS 443 (P Fulton136, K Williamson 91, T Southee 44; Finn 6-125,Anderson 2-79)EENNGGLLAANNDD FFIIRRSSTT IINNNNIINNGGSS 204 (M Prior 73, JRoot 45; T Boult 6-68, T Southee 3-44)NNEEWW ZZEEAALLAANNDD SSEECCOONNDD IINNNNIINNGGSS 241-6 dec (PFulton 110, B McCullum 67, M Panesar 2-53, SBroad 2-54)EENNGGLLAANNDD SSEECCOONNDD IINNNNIINNGGSS (overnight 90-2)A Cook c Brownlie b Williamson 43N Compton c Watling b Southee 2J Trott c Watling b Wagner 37I Bell c Southee b Wagner 75S Finn c Southee b Williamson 0J Root lbw Boult 29J Bairstow c Taylor b Southee 6M Prior not out 110S Broad c Taylor b Williamson 6J Anderson c Taylor b Williamson 0M Panesar not out 2EEXXTTRRAASS:: (LB 4, NB 1) 5TTOOTTAALL:: (9 wkts; 143 overs) 315FFAALLLL OOFF WWIICCKKEETTSS:: 1-2, 2-60, 3-90, 4-90, 5-150, 6-159, 7-237, 8-304, 9-304.BBOOWWLLIINNGGBoult 29-13-55-1Southee 30-6-77-2Martin 39-18-74-0Wagner 25-8-61-2Williamson 20-8-44-4Toss: England and chose to bowlUmpires: Paul ReiEel (AUS), Rod Tucker (AUS)Third umpire: Steve Davis (AUS)Match referee: Roshan Mahanama (SRI)

OUR STAFF REPORTER

LLAAHHOORREE:: Noukhaz Zahid Khan will leada 10-member Pakistan team in the 2ndBoys Under-16 Asia Cup to be played fromApril 4-7 in Singapore. “It is a balancedcombination that is capable of producinggood results in the event to be participatedby seven teams,” former Olympian TahirZaman, the camp commandant, told a newsconference at National Hockey Stadiumhere on Tuesday. Also present on theoccasion were coaches of team Rehan Buttand Rana Zaheer. He said the team had two goalkeepers

because in fast paced hockey goalkeeperswere at injury risk and to avoid this factorthe team management had decided to havetwo custodians. “It will be our first everparticipation in five-a-side hockey that isplayed on a shorter arena and we are quiteconfident that our team will live up to theexpectations by finishing at the top,” headded. The camp commandant said theSingapore event was the qualifying roundfor the next year’s U-16 Youth Olympics tobe held in China. The camp will continuetill March 31 and the team will fly toSingapore on April 1.Squad:Players: Muhammad Sheraz Hafeez,Mubasshar Ali, Sikandar Mustafa, AdeelLatif, Muhammad Atiq (vice captain),Nohaiz Zahid Malik (captain), MuhammadJunaid Kamal, Junaid Manzoor, Shan Irshadand Roman Khan. OPcials: Tahir Zaman(manager-head coach), Zaheer AhmadBabar, Rehan Butt and Sabir Ali (coaches),Mubasshar Mohsin (physiotherapist),Hassan Akhtar Rasool ( judge) and AmirHamza (umpire).

LLOONNDDOONN:: Tiger Woods is back at the top ofthe world rankings for the first time in twoand a half years following his win at theArnold Palmer Invitational in Florida. The37-year-old American was last in thatposition in October 2010 before a tangle ofpersonal problems, injuries and changes tohis swing pattern sent him tumbling downthe table. He eventually bottomed out at 58thin the world in November 2011 before finallystarting to find his way again.Three wins in five USPGA tournaments so

far this year, including back-to-back wins in hislast two outings, have seen him move past RoryMcIlroy to claim the number one spot. TheNorthern Irishman could, however, regain topspot should he win this week's Houston Open,with Woods opting not to take part as heprepares for the year's first major, The Masters,which starts at Augusta National on April 11.England's Justin Rose meanwhile has movedup to a career-best third place in the rankingson the back of his runner-up finish behindWoods in Florida on Monday. –AGENCIES

Pakistan namessquad for BoysUnder-16 Asia Cup

Field Hockey

OUR STAFF REPORTER

LLAAHHOORREE:: Skipper Misbahul Haqon Tuesday admitted Pakistancricket was in an ‘alarming’condition after the team sufferedseveral heavy defeats on adisappointing tour of South Africa.A miserable Pakistan were thrashed3-0 in Tests and lost 3-2 in the one-day series, despite fighting hard,losses which Misbah attributed topoor batting. “That wasdisappointing series,” Misbah toldreporters on the team's arrival backhome early Tuesday. “We werebetter in the one-dayers but couldn'tdo much in the Tests and it's analarming situation where we needimprovement in a lot of things.”Pakistan batting flopped against a

high quality South African paceattack led by Dale Steyn and VernonPhilander. They lost the first Test by211 runs, the second by four wicketsand the third by an innings and 18runs. In between the Tests and one-days, Pakistan managed to win atwo-match Twenty20 series 1-0after the first match was abandoneddue to rain. Misbah, who was theteam's leading batsman with 227 inthe one-day series, admitted it wasthe batting that let the side down. “Ithink our batting struggledthroughout the tour, whether itwere the Tests or one-days but thepitches were such that even a topquality batsman like Hashim Amlaof South Africa also struggled in afew matches,” said Misbah. “We alsoplayed irresponsible shots and we

need to address our battingproblems.”Misbah dismissed reports in the

Pakistan media of a rift betweenhim and Twenty20 captainMohammad Hafeez. “We didn't losebecause of any rift, we must admitthat South Africa were the betterteam in both the formats,” saidMisbah, who turns 39 shortly. Herefused to analyse playerperformances after former greatscalled for a clean out to prepare forthe 2015 World Cup. “It is up to thecricket board and the selectors togauge the performance of theplayers. I can't do that, everyone hasseen who has performed,” he said.Pakistan will now compete in theeight-team Champions Trophy inEngland in June.

Tiger Woods tops world rankingsWorld rankings

1. Tiger Woods (USA) 11.87pts

2. Rory McIlroy (NIR) 11.29

3. Justin Rose (ENG) 7.11

4. Luke Donald (ENG) 6.86

5. Brandt Snedeker (USA) 6.39

6. Louis Oosthuizen (RSA) 6.05

7. Adam Scott (AUS) 5.82

8. Steve Stricker (USA) 5.74

9. Matt Kuchar (USA) 5.38

10. Keegan Bradley (USA) 5.25

11. Phil Mickelson (USA) 5.24

12. Ian Poulter (ENG) 5.15

13. Lee Westwood (ENG) 5.12

14. Bubba Watson (USA) 5.07

15. Charl Schwartzel (RSA) 5.01

16. Graeme McDowell (NIR) 4.87

17. Sergio Garcia (ESP) 4.83

18. Jason Dufner (USA) 4.73

19. Webb Simpson (USA) 4.57

20. Dustin Johnson (USA) 4.41Tiger Wodds of the United States is presented with the trophy by Arnold Palmer of the UnitedStates after the final round of the 2013 Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill Golf and CountryClub on Monday. –AGENCIES

Misbah admits cricket in ‘alarming’ state

OUR STAFF REPORTER

LLAAHHOORREE:: The battle for second placeon the ICC Test Championship table atthe April 1 cut-oQ date resulted in aphoto-finish between England andIndia on Tuesday. In the end, thethrilling draw at Auckland in the thirdand final Test at Auckland against NewZealand handed England the number-two rank. England needed to win ordraw the Auckland Test to secure thesecond position, India not only neededto win the Delhi Test but also had tohope for a New Zealand victory in theAuckland Test. If New Zealand hadwon the series 1-0, then India couldhave finished in second position at thecut-oQ date. The championship tablealso reflects results from the WestIndies-Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka-Bangladesh series.South Africa have already sealed

their position as the number-oneranked Test side, which means theyhave not only retained the Test mace

but has also been assured of a rewardof $450,000. But a further $750,000was still up for grabs. This money willnow be distributed amongst Englandfor finish second ($350,000), India forfinishing third ($250,000) andAustralia for being fourth ($150,000)on the table. The increased incentive inthe form of prize money was approvedby the ICC Board in 2012 and wasaimed to promote Test cricket in theperiod before the ICC TestChampionship event in 2017.

England securesecond positionafter drawn match

ICC Test Championship

OUR STAFF REPORTER

LLAAHHOORREE:: Multan Tigers and FaislabadWolves defeated their respective rivals onthe opening day of the National Twenty20Cup at Gaddafi Stadium here on Tuesday.Multan Tigers beat Abbottabad Falcons by5 wickets while Faisalabad Wolves downBahawalpur Stags by 63 runs in the secondcontest of the day.Brief scores: 1: Abbottabad Falcons innings141-8 (Adnan Raees 34, Haroon 29,Zulfiqar Babar 3-20, Sohaib Maqsood 3-23) VS Multan Tigers innings 143-5(Zeeshan Ashraf 58, Sohaib Maqsood 45,Yasir Shah 3-29)22:: Faisalabad Wolves innings 154-4(AliWaqas 39, Asif Ali 34, Fahad Masood 2-14)vs Bahawalpur Stags innings 91-8(Hammad Tariq 28, Moinuddin 15,Khurram Shehzad 4-20).

Tigers and Wolvesscore wins

National Twenty20 Cup

TABLERRaannkk TTeeaamm PPooiinnttss1 South Africa 1282 England 114 3 India 112 4 Australia 1105 Pakistan 046 Sri Lanka 927 West Indies 928 New Zealand 83 9 Bangladesh 1 Zimbabwe are currently unranked, as they haveplayed insuDcient matches. They have 263points and a rating of 38.

TTOOKKYYOO:: Organisers of Tokyo's bid for the 2020 Olympics said Tuesdaypublic support for their campaign had risen to 77 percent as IOC inspectorscontinued a fact-finding tour of three candidate cities. The support rate wasup four points from January, the Tokyo bid committee said, citing its owntelephone surveys. The rate started at 58 percent in July last year. A teamfrom the International Olympic Committee (IOC) evaluation commissionvisited Tokyo from March 4-7 to scrutinise the bid and inspect existing andplanned facilities for the Games. The team was due to end its four-day visitto Istanbul on Wednesday after a similar trip to Madrid last week. The IOCinspection tour "enhanced public understanding of our bid activities andled to a rise in the support rate", a statement said. –AGENCIES

Tokyo 2020 Olympics bidboosted by record support

Pakistan team back home after disastrous South Africa tour

ecP registers PPPin Bilawal's nameIISSLLAAMMAABBAADD:: Rejecting theapplications of Naheed Khan andGhinwa Bhutto, the ElectionCommission of Pakistan (ECP)Tuesday registered the PakistanPeople’s Party (PPP) in the name ofBilawal Bhutto Zardari. The ECPrejected the application of NaheedKhan to register the PPP in her nameas the papers submitted by her wereincomplete. Naheed was the right-hand person of slain PPP chairpersonBenazir Bhutto. The commission alsoallotted two swords as election symbolto the party headed by Bilawal BhuttoZardari. A three-member bench of thecommission headed by Justice (r) RiazKayani had reserved verdict over theregistration of the PPP on Monday.The ECP also rejected GhinwaBhutto’s request for renaming PakistanPeople’s Party-Shaheed Bhutto (PPP-SB) as the PPP. –STAFF REPORT

army chief meetscaretaker PMIISSLLAAMMAABBAADD:: Chief of Army StaQ(COAS) General Ashfaq PervezKayani met caretaker Prime MinisterMir Hazar Khan Khoso on Tuesday.The internal security situation of thecountry was discussed in the meeting.The Army chief congratulated Khosoover his selection as the caretakeprime minister and apprised him ofhis meeting with US Secretary ofState John Kerry. General Kayani wason a scheduled visit to Jordan, wherehe met with US Secretary of StateJohn Kerry a day earlier. –AGENCIES

supply to karachi affectedas gasline blown upSSUUII:: An 18-inch diameter gaspipeline was blown up in Gobpat areaof Sui, on Tuesday, partially aQectingthe gas supply to Karachi. Accordingto Levies sources, unidentified peopleblew up a gas pipeline with explosivesin Gopat area and destroyed a longportion of gas pipeline, resultantly,gas supply to Karachi was aQected.The repairing work of the pipeline isin progress. –ONLINE

NaB chairmansacks NaB Punjab dGIISSLLAAMMAABBAADD:: Chairman NationalAccountability Bureau (NAB) Admiral(Retd) Fasish Bokhari sacked DirectorGeneral (DG) NAB Punjab KhursheedAnwar Bhinder on Tuesday. Accordingto the statement the notification hasbeen issued and the sacking wouldeQect from March 21, 2013. Sqd.Ldr. (Retd) Irshad-ul-Haq has beengiven the charge of Director GeneralNAB, Punjab temporarily until aregular appointment is made againstthe post. –ONLINE

Brahamdagh Bugti’sparty to boycott pollsGGEENNEEVVAA:: Balochistan RepublicanParty (BRP) chief Brahamdagh Bugtihas said that the Baloch nationals willboycott the coming elections inBalochistan as he doubts thetransparency of the polls. According toMedia Reports, Brahamdagh Bugtiwas talking to Mehran Marri, humanrights activist and Balochrepresentative in the United Nations."Our strategy is that people should notvote. It does not mean that we areagainst elections or political process,we have our own political party and webelieve in political process. But theseare not our elections, they are theelections of Pakistan and we believethat we were a separate country. Rightnow, we can't even imagine being thepart of the election process inPakistan," Bugti said. He said thatearlier political activists were used tobe picked and were later released, butnow they are being captured andtortured on daily basis. –ONLINE

article 62 & 63 willbe implemented: ecIISSLLAAMMAABBAADD:: Secretary ElectionCommission Ishtiaq Ahmed on Tuesdaysaid Article 62 and 63 of theConstitution would be fullyimplemented and any candidate notfulfilling the requirements of thesearticles will stand disqualified. Talking tomedia, Secretary Election CommissionIshtiaq Ahmed said that the SupremeCourt directives are that theforthcoming general elections shouldbe held in a transparent manner. Hesaid the Election Commission andother concerned organizationsexercise is that clean and honestpeople are elected for representationin the parliament. –ONLINE

WEDNESDAYMARCH 27, 2013THE SPOKESMAN - RAWALPINDI/ISLAMABAD

cMyk

KABUL: US Secretary of State John Kerry meets Afghan President Hamid Karzai. –WIRE SERVICE

IISSLLAAMMAABBAADD:: The Supreme Courtwas told through a reportpresented by counsel forintelligence agencies and army,Raja Irshad, that 49000 personswere killed in the country followingthe occurrence of 9/11 incident.A 3-member bench of SC presided

over by the Chief Justice of Pakistan(CJP) Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhryresumed the hearing of petition filedby Senator Ibrahim Khan againstenforcement of FATA regulationsTuesday. Counsel for intelligenceagencies and army Raja Irshad fileddetailed report based on the causesleading to military operation in FATA,incidents and facts and other details.It was said in the detailed report

that army was deployed in FATA and

PATA being their proximity to Afghanborder and infiltration of miscreantsfrom across the border of Afghanistantherein. Police powers were assignedto the army. Army is there to facethese challenges.Deployment of army had become

essential to save KhyberPashtoonkhawa (KP), report said.Army troops were deployed in 2007-08 and they were assigned powersunder section 241, report added.Government buildings were

targeted, schools were destroyed andlife of the people was made miserable.Operation was conducted in Mehsudand other areas. South and NorthWaziristan are independent areas butthey were epicenters of terrorist acts,report said. People entered into

Peshawar from Adam Khel pass andindulged in terrorist activities.Shabqadar and other territories hadcome under their occupation. Theareas of Swat, Dir and Bounir wererecovered from their possession.Sectarian riots were going on inKaram agency. Illegal FM Radioswere operating therein and theirbroadcasting was blocked. 24 per centarea of FATA and 37 per cent areas inSwat was recovered from possessionof the terrorists. It was further said inthe report that questions were beingraised on the sovereignty of thecountry and survival of the countrywas put at stake. Therefore, army wasdispatched under section 245.Militants were numbering over 10

million and they all went

underground. More than 400 majoroperations were carried out while 681soldiers were martyred. Over 6000persons were arrested through searchoperation. Report stated “we arefacing problems following 9/11incident. Security situation was verygrim. 49000 people were killedfollowing 9/11 events. Kidnapping forransom incidents escalated. Such alashkar was raised under whichattempt was made to win over waragainst sectarianism and terrorism.Report indicated “terrorism was at

its peak in 2007-08 and terrorists hadreached every nook and corner of thecountry. Law enforcement agenciessucceeded in taking control of theirterritories after conducting militaryoperations. The rioters targeted key

figures in Orakzai agency in 2010 andthe oPcers were killed through pickand chose method. Anti Pakistanelements were working withimpunity. Taliban and other groupswere operating and they werecollecting donations throughkidnapping for ransom incidents.Mosques, imambargah and churcheswere not even secure from them. Thelocal population joined hands withthe army against the miscreants after2008 successful operations. Militantsin large number were arrested.Several were killed and they all wereenemies of Pakistan.Counsel forpetitioner sought time from the courtfor preparation of reply and the courtallowed him to present his reply today(Wednesday). –ONLINE

49,000 were killed in Pakistan following 9/11

SAEED MINHAS

IISSLLAAMMAABBAADD:: To review the latestrequest made by ECP and reiteratedby the caretaker prime minister MirHazar Khan Khoso, Chief of ArmyStaQ Gen Ashfaq Pervez Kayani hassummoned an important meeting ofthe Corps Commanders for today(Wednesday).Chief of Army StaQ called on the

caretaker prime minister at PMHouse on Tuesday morning and spentsome time with him to review the

latest security situation in the countryin general and in Balochistan andKarachi in particular. Gen Kiyanireturned from Jordan a day earlierwhere he had a chance to meet the USSecretary of State John Kerry on hisway to Jordan in Dubai. PM Housesources confirmed that as per theprotocols of the blue book, Gen.Kiyani had informed the caretakerpremier of his talks with John Kerry.There are more than 80,000 polling

stations across the country to holdupcoming general elections in the

country and ECP has all long beenasking Army to provide more than160,000 troops to provide securitycover to all of them. However, fewdays back secretary ECP had called onthe GHQ authorities with a list of over30,000 sensitive polling stationsacross the country. GHQ authoritieswere reported earlier to have askedECP to review this list. GHQ oPcialswere of the view that already heavycontingents of army are deployed ininsurgency hit tribal areas whileRangers and FC are already

performing policing duties not only inKarachi but also across Baluchistan.Hurriedly called meeting of the

important corps commanders isconsidered important in this regard.Because senior army oPcials revealedthat army has to ensure a balancebetween protecting the sensitiveborders and sensitive polling stations.Since the caretaker prime ministerhas also asked for special help fromarmed forces, oPcial claim thatmeeting has been called to review thelatest engagements of army and the

demands of the caretaker PM andECP. Kayani is scheduled to chair thesession during which some key issues,including the Army chief ’s recentmeeting with US Secretary of StateJohn Kerry, are expected to bediscussed. Meanwhile, a PMspokesperson said that during themeeting between PM and ArmyChief internal security situation ofthe country was discussed. He saidArmy chief congratulated Khosoover his selection as the caretakerprime minister.

Corps commanders to discuss poll security today

Imran swearsnot to take oathfrom Zardari

OUR STAFF REPORTER

KKAASSUURR:: In a continuingvicious cycle of attacks onminorities, local clerics onTuesday attacked a housebelonging to an Ahmadifamily here.Police official said a mob

led by a local clericentered the house of anAhmadi family afterchanting slogans againsttheir community and theirreligious beliefs. The fivemembers of ravaged housetried to hide in a room.However, the mob brokeinto that room andproceeded to torture thefamily members.One of the victims was

beaten so badly that he fellunconscious while anelderly man and a womanwere also tortured.The victims were taken

to the nearest hospitalwhere one of them wasstated to be critical.Sources said the police

was present at the scenebut did not take any actionto prevent the mob fromentering the house andtorturing its occupants.Head of the Ahmadi

community at KasurSheikh Yousaf, whiletalking to journalists, saidhe had asked Kasur DPOto establish a check post inthe area since the Ahamdicommunity had beenreceiving threats over thelast six months.The minorities in

Pakistan have been facingthreats and feel insecuredue to rising militancy.

Ahmadifamilybeaten upby mob

SALMAN ABBAS

IISSLLAAMMAABBAADD:: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman ImranKhan on Tuesday reiterated hisresolve to not take oath from theincumbent President Asif AliZardari if voted next primeminister of Pakistan, saying thatAsif Zardari was a creation ofNRO which was unconstitutionaland the constitution did not allowhim to take oath from a person ofcriminal background.Speaking at a press conference

along with Nawab of BahawalpurSalahuddin Abbasi here on Tuesday,Imran Khan said that PTI andBahawalpur Awami National Party(BANP) led by Nawab ofBahawalpur Salahuddin Abbasi hadagreed to make an electoral allianceas both the parties were opposed tothe status-quo and no one couldraise finger at the long politicalcareer of the leaders of both parties.PTI leaders Makhdoom Javed

Hashmi, Shah Mahmood Qureshi,Jahangir Khan Tareen, Naeem-ul-Haq, Malik Amin Aslam, FaisalJaved Khan and BNAP leaderFarooq Azam Malik were presenton the occasion.Imran Khan said his PTI and the

Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) had yet tofinalise a seat-adjustment formula,however the JI leadership had beentold that they would have to eitherchoose PTI or Pakistan MuslimLeague-N (PML-N) for a seat-adjustment arrangement.Regarding the PML-N chief

Nawaz Sharif, Imran said that hethanked Sharif for cleansing hisparty of crooked politicians,vowing that all the political forcesmust keep in mind that after theparty polls, the PTI had turnedinto a robust political force,which would sweep away all thecorrupt forces in the forthcominggeneral elections.Imran Khan made it clear that

the PTI would prefer to leave theseats vacant rather than allocatingparty tickets to candidates with atainted past, adding that the PTI

had become a party of ideologues.“The PTI would announce itspolitical manifesto within threedays, wherein the redress of everypossible issue has been detailed,”he explained.Responding to a question about

the demand for new provinces,Imran said the PTI did not believein making false promises just to winthe elections like other politicalparties, which were fooling peoplewith flowery slogans. “Look, the newprovinces issue is a tricky one. Inprinciple, we believe in smallfederating units as in the rest of theworld, as this helps in bettermanagement and better governance.However, we want to resolve thematter properly and not by taking itup as an election slogan,” he added.Replying a query, Imran said thatrestoration of ‘Bahawalpur State’was a separate issue not to bediscussed at this juncture.Referring to Maulana Fazlur

Rehman, Imran Khan said that hehad enjoyed the coalitiongovernment of Zardari andcompany for three years and whenthe government was about tocomplete its five-year term, hejumped the ship and joined NawazSharif. “He also opposed myrepeated demand for talks withthe Taliban. But with only twoweeks left for elections heconvened an All PartiesConference (APC) to mock thethorny issue of war on terror,which was a joke with the nation”.To a question about possible

electoral alliance with Dr. Tahir-ul-Qadri-led party PakistanAwami Tehreek (PAT), ImranKhan said that Qadri did notcontest the elections so thequestion of an electoral alliancedid not arise. However, ImranKhan said that Dr Qadri wanteda change by staging sit-ins whilethe PTI firmly believed that achange could only take place bythe ballot.

KKAABBUULL:: US Secretary of State JohnKerry held a second round of talks withAfghan President Hamid Karzai inKabul on Tuesday after the two put on apublic show of unity in a bid to repairdamaged ties.After a series of fiery anti-US outbursts

from Karzai in recent weeks, both he andKerry were keen to make a public displayof friendship and stress that relationswere back on track. “Today was a goodday for Afghanistan. Bagram prison washanded over to the Afghan government…Finally after many years of eQort we havereached a deal,” Karzai told reporters ata joint press conference late Monday.Kerry said: “The US is committed to an

enduring partnership… The US supportsa strong and united Afghanistan. We arecommitted to Afghanistan’s sovereigntyand we will not let al Qaeda or theTaliban shake this commitment.”Responding to a storm of protest over

the collusion allegations, Kerry said he

was confident that Karzai “does notbelieve that the US has any interestexcept to see the Taliban come to thetable to make peace”. For his part, Karzaisaid: “I was interpreted as saying the USand Taliban are colluding, but I did notuse this word.” Karzai is due to stepdown at elections next year, 13 yearsafter he came to power with US backingwhen the hardline Taliban regime wasousted in the aftermath of theSeptember 11 attacks of 2001.The military and political calendars are

lending added urgency to the search for anegotiated settlement to resolveAfghanistan’s decades of conflict.Karzai said he plans to visit Qatar

shortly, with US backing, to discuss theproposed opening of a Taliban oPce inthe Gulf emirate as a prelude to possiblepeace talks. The Taliban, however, refuseto communicate directly with Karzai,whom they view as a puppet of theUnited States. –AGENCIES

� Salahuddin Abbasi announces alliance with PTI

Kerry manages towoo estranged Karzai� Karzai to propose opening Taliban o$ce in Qatar

SAHTAK BLAOCH

IISSLLAAMMAABBAADD:: Another NAB inquiryinitiated against former PrimeMinister Raja Pervez Ashraf aschairman Senate Standing Committeeon Information Technology has nowrecommended investigation againstthe appointment of Member (Finance)Pakistan TelecommunicationAuthority Farooq Awan. A meeting of the Senate body on Monday

under its chairman Muhammad Idrees toreview the suspension of Chief ExecutiveOPcer (CEO) Universal Service Funds(USF), committee’s recommendations and

the appointment of former PTA chairmanas Member (Finance) of the regulatoryauthority (PTA). The legislative body has now

recommended a NAB inquiry against RajaPervez over the appointment of FarooqAwan as Member (finance) andEstablishment Division within 15 days,calling for a report to the committee aftergetting the inquiry done. OPcials fromEstablishment Division told the meetingthat the former PTA chairman wasremoved on the orders of the Lahore HighCourt (LHC) while Raja Pervez Ashrafwanted to appoint Farooq Awan asMember (Finance).

NAB wants inquiry againstPTA’s Member (Finance)

Published by Ahmad Waleed from Nai Baat Printers, Plot No. 93, Street N0. 7, I-10/3, Islamabad

BNP to participate in polls: MengalQQUUEETTTTAA:: Balochistan National Party chief Sardar Akhtar Mengal onTuesday announced to contest the upcoming general elections. Talkingto media Mengal said BNP was a democratic party which believed indemocratic system therefore “we have decided to participate in thegeneral elections.” A three-member election panel has been formedwhich would meet other parties for seat adjustments, he said. He saidthat he met a three-member delegation of the Election Commissionwhich also included the Chief Election Commissioner. “I have verballyand in black and white in formed the Election Commission regardingthe concerns and threats during the polls,” he said. –ONLINE

� Nawab-Imran duo will not affectBahawalpur politics –Page 5

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