e-paper pakistantoday 01st January, 2013

tuesday, 1 January, 2013 Safar 18, 1434Rs 15.00 Vol iii no 185 19 pages Karachi edition

PAGE |05PAGE |04

2012 marks endwith 12 killings

Hillary Clinton hospitalised after doctorsdiscover blood clot

A year in headlines:glimpses of 2012’s top news

PAGES 06 & 07

ISLAMABADSHAIQ HUSSAIN

Pakistan on Monday re-leased a group of eight afghantaliban prisoners, includingformer justice minister Mul-lah nooruddin turabi, while

the Mullah Omar-led afghan taliban arealso likely to set up their ‘political offices’

in the kingdom of saudi arabia (ksa) andthe United arab Emirates (UaE) as part ofa process designed to kickstart peace ef-forts in war-ravaged afghanistan.

“Eight taliban prisoners have been re-leased,” the Foreign Office said in a state-ment. “they include former taliban justiceminister nooruddin turabi, ex-governor ofHelmand province, abdul Bari, allah Daadtabib, ex-minister Mullah Daud Jan and

former kabul governor Mir ahmed Gul.” However, two sources close to the

afghan taliban in northwestern Pakistansaid that four prisoners had been releasedbut said they did not include Pakistan’smost high-profile taliban detainee, formerdeputy leader Mullah abdul GhaniBaradar. Baradar was captured in 2010 andPakistani officials have said in the past thatno decision has been taken for his release.

it may be recalled here that PakistanToday was the first to report the release ofthe former taliban justice minister Mullahturabi.TALIBAN OFFICES: Currently, tal-iban representatives are operating fromDoha, Qatar, where they held month-long negotiations with the United states,

In bid for peace, Pakistan frees 8 more Afghan Talibann Afghan Taliban

to open offices in Saudi Arabiaand UAE

KARACHI: The sun sets on the year 2012 at Sea Viewon Monday. Pakistan Today wishes its readers andcountrymen a safe and blessed 2013. Photo by Imran GIllanI

Continued on page 04

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02News

tuesday, 1 January, 2013

today’s

lookQuick

newS

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cartoon

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infotainment

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Dialogue the only way forward to resolve Kashmir issue: Khar Brits planned ships made of ice during WWII

ISLAMABADSTAFF RePORT

Pakistan tehreek-e-insaf (Pti)Chairman imran khan on Mondaycalled the year 2013 the “year ofchange” and urged the people to votefor a change in the new year to get rid

of the corrupt, inept and untruthful rulers whowere the reason for the miseries they had been fac-ing for the past five years.

khan said that it was a blessing that the gen-eral elections were also coming closer after thecountry saw worst rule for five long years.

“With the advent of the new year, i wish andpray that my people take bold decisions and voteout those rulers who have done nothing for theircause in the past five years. Year 2012 proved to bevery tragic for the country. We saw that inflation,destruction and price-hike touched new highs.During this year, the government itself acceptedthat Rs 5,000 billion are being looted from mycountrymen every year. therefore, a change is in-evitable and we have to get rid of the corrupt lotruling the country for the past three decades,”khan said. “it is the right time for the people ofPakistan to choose honest and able leaders whocan feel and share their suffering and concerns. itis unbelievable for me to note that neither mo-torists are able to get CnG nor they are being pro-vided petrol at fuel stations even in the federal

capital. if this is the situation in capital, one caneasily understand the plight of the people in therural areas. Despite waiting in long queues forhours, the people are being given less than twolitres of petrol, which is the costlier source of en-ergy for their vehicles. such scenes have never beenwitnessed in Pakistan,” he added.

“Whether it was Punjab, sindh, Balochistan orkhyber Pakhtunkhwa, incompetence and corrup-tion was a hallmark and the PPP and its allied par-ties in the centre and the PML-n and a coterie ofturncoats from the PML-Q unleashed worst sort ofrule in Punjab”.

Imran says 2013 the yearof change in Pakistang Hopes people elect competent, honest politicians and parties

Measles claims 5 morelives, toll crosses 160KArAChI: Five more kids died on Monday due tomeasles outbreak in interior sindh bringing the deathtoll to 161 in the last 30 days. according to reportsgathered from different parts of upper sindh, includingsukkur, Ghotki, kandhkot, thal and tangwani, fivechildren lost their lives due to the measles virus onMonday. sindh Health Ministry had establisheddifferent centres for vaccination and more than 150teams were conducting door-to-door vaccination inkhairpur. according to statistics, 80 children died inkandhkot, seven in different areas of interior sindhincluding tangwani, kashmore and Pir Baksh, nine insukkur and the rest in Larkana, Jacobabad, Larkana,shikarpur and Ghotki. Meanwhile, hundreds ofchildren were still admitted to hospital. ONlINe

APCNGA rejects CNG closureschedule in Punjab, SindhISLAMABAD: all Pakistan CnG association(aPCnGa) on Monday rejected the schedule for closureof CnG stations in Punjab and sindh, terming it aconspiracy to benefit the liquefied petroleum gas (LPG)“mafia”. “We reject the schedule for closure of CnGstations in Punjab for six days and in sindh for four daysin lieu of low gas pressure, said aPCnGa ChairmanGhiyas abdullah Paracha. He said the Ministry ofPetroleum and natural Resources and Oil and GasRegulatory authority (OGRa) were heavily influencedby the LPG mafia and the politically connectedindustrial sector that represented the 22 notoriousfamilies known for manipulating most of the country’sresources. People have been facing great difficultiesbecause a majority of public transport vehicles went outof operation due to CnG closure, said Paracha. “thisproves the government is not formulating policy tobenefit the masses but protecting the interests of a selectfew,” he stated. He said the government’s persistence toprovide gas on a hefty tariff to CnG stations means it isnot interested in providing relief to the masses. theCnG sector is subjected to injustice which has beenaccepted on all important forums including the nationalassembly’s standing committees but no action has beentaken to empower the sector. Paracha said the situationhad forced many CnG station owners to sell their assetsin order to pay bills and the overall Rs 400 billioninvestment in the sector was under a serious threat dueto such policy decisions. He said despite closure of CnGstations and the textile sector, gas pressure remainedlow which merits questioning where the preciousresource was flowing. Requesting the supreme Court toprobe into purchase of scrap terminal of Progas Ltd bysui southern Gas Company (ssGC), he said the peopleinvolved in the scam were also responsible for plungingthe country into an energy crisis and forcinginternational exploration companies to wrap up theiroperations in Pakistan. ONlINe

Girls’ school blown up JAMrUD: Unknown miscreants blew upGovernment Girls Middle school, killing thegatekeeper of the school on Monday. according tomedia reports, the bomb was planted inside theschool. the deceased gatekeeper’s name was akhtarMunir. around 80 schools have been targeted duringthe year due to which several students of this areahave been deprived from getting education. Localadministration reached the spot and cordoned off thearea and started search operation in the area. ONlINe

Electoral reformsshould be demandedconstitutionally: Kaira

LAHORENNI

information Minister Qamar Zaman kaira has said thatno unconstitutional method should be adopted forbringing electoral reforms in the country. addressing theCentenary celebrations of Pakistan Engineering Councilon Monday‚ he said the constitution should be followed inletter and spirit. the PPP, he added, was the ‘role model’for those trying to make a tehrir square in Pakistan,therefore, they must shun the urge since the country’smedia, judiciary and election commission were enjoyingfull freedom. He said Dr tahirul Qadri should present hisproposed reforms to the Election Commission which wasthe competent authority to introduce such reforms. to aquestion, kaira advised Qadri to refrain from resorting toany unconstitutional move for attaining his goals. theminister said the PPP did not fear Dr Qadri or his party,adding that the MQM was indeed an ally in the PPP-leddemocratic government but it was working in its domain.kaira appreciated the role of the private sector inpromoting education in the country. the ministerstressed on the need to focus on education and healthsectors. He said the PPP had always paid attention toaddressing the basic issues of the masses whenever itcame into power. kaira said no mega dam had been builtin the country for a long period of time, but PPP efforts inthe last three years have initiated the land acquisitionphase for the Diamer Bhasha Dam‚ while work was alsounderway on eight small and medium dam projects. Hesaid the party was working for provision of security,education and health facilities to the public. kaira urgedthe media to play a positive role in the war againstterrorism by not showing live footages of personalitiesthat favoured extremists.

KARACHI: President

Asif Ali Zardari,

Mutawalli-e-Kaaba

Sheikh Abdul Qadir Al-

Shaibi and Aseefa

Bhutto Zardari

administer polio drops

to children at Bilawal

House on Monday.


03News


eDitoriallooking for greater gains:

comment

articles on Page 10-11

But then this is politics.

Waqqas Mir says;TTP is about power: The naked and absolute one.

Kuldip Nayar says;“I want to live”: The system requires overhauling.

Kunwar Khuldune Shahid says;Person of the Year 2012: Enlisting the 20 most influential individualsof the year.

artS & entertainment

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buSineSS

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SPortS

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I would like to participate in Aamir Khan’s show: Naomi Watts MFN to India delayed due to reservations by industry: Fahim Afridi loses cool over Pakistan journalist's question

ISLAMABADONlINe

MORE than 3,879 peoplehave lost their lives in theongoing war on terrorismin Pakistan during 2012.

according to islamabad-based ConflictMonitoring Center’s annual report, onethird of those killed in anti-state violencewere civilians while the security forces lost589 personnel during the year.

the report says that the militants, in-cluding ttP, al Qaeda and Baloch rebelscarried out 1,485 attacks during 2012 whilethe security forces conducted 570 opera-tions against militants, which included 44major and 285 minor military operationsin Fata and khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

the report says that security situationin islamabad improved but deterioratedalong the Pak-afghan border where Pak-istan has faced hostilities from afghan na-tional army and natO forces.

two third of the militant attacks tookplace in Fata and khyber Pakhtunkhwa.the report says that 1,114 civilians werekilled and 2,313 injured during militant at-tacks while 197 civilians lost their lives and340 wounded during actions initiated bythe security forces.

Pakistani security forces also appre-hended 1,138 militants while the militantskidnapped 185 people. Highest number ofkidnapping incidents (72) took place inBalochistan followed by Fata and kPwhere militants kidnapped 61 and 51 peo-ple, respectively.

Pakistani military lost 350 of its per-sonnel in Fata and kPk alone while 1,165were also wounded. Pro-government peace

lashkars also lost 148 lives during the year.the deteriorating security situation in

khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Fata can be de-termined from the fact that 67 percent ofthe militant attacks took place in these twoareas.

Conflict Monitoring Center’s datashows that in 2011, the militants carriedout 246 attacks in kP while in 2012, thenumber of attacks crossed the 400 mark.

sindh also witnessed unprecedentedescalation in militant attacks as 21 inci-dents were recorded by CMC in 2011 whilein 2012 it recorded 34 militant strikes.

number of ttP attacks in Punjab re-mained same as in 2011 however, securityforces lost more lives than in 2011.

the Conflict Monitoring Centre alsorecorded 745 cross-border attacks fromafghanistan which includes 371 attacks byafghan national army and natO whilerest of them were carried out by ttP and alQaeda militants hiding in safe havens in-side afghanistan.

Conflict Monitoring Centre’s datashows that during 2012, natO and Uswarplanes and helicopters violated Pak-istani air space and also bombed in somecases, for 53 times.

the airspace violation took place sixtimes in January, four times in February,eight times in March, four times in april,nine times in May, six times in June, onetime in July, three times in august, fivetimes in september, six times in Octoberand one time in november.

all but one of these violations tookplace along Fata border while one viola-tion took place in Balochistan. the year2012 also witnessed unprecedented in-crease in cross-border rocket and mortarattacks by afghan national army.

ISLAMABADAPP

some popular astrologers have predicted abright future for Pakistan starting from theyear 2013 with political stability, economicprosperity and restoration of peace.

“We have passed through our difficulttimes. 2013 will bring us political and eco-nomic stability besides improvement in lawand order situation, both at local and interna-tional level,” predicted samiah khan, a fa-mous astrologer. she said after June 26, 2013,the country would go on track of political sta-bility but added that the new Year would bedecisive for the political future of the country.

the country, she said, may face some po-litical tussles before elections that would fol-low the formation of some political alliances.

“Both Uranus and sun have formed asquare that brings revolutionary changes.Likewise Uranus is entering into aries bring-ing identical changes across the world at stateas well as individual level. the spell is likely toprevail for around seven years,” she fore-

casted. Moreover, she observed the worldwould witness an islamic unity with islamicstates forming strong alliances to competewith the western world.

she said the year 2013 would bring nonatural disasters in Pakistan and weather con-ditions would remain conducive for the peopleas well as for crops production.

However, she said the country may expe-rience some viral diseases like Dengue andcalled for preventive measures by the govern-ment in this regard. Moreover, she said during2013, women need to be more careful as somediseases may hit them harder.

abdullah shaukat Chaudhry alias Mamooalso forecasted economic and political stabilityfor Pakistan during year 2013.

He said after July, next year, the countrywould witness positive developments vis-à-visthe economy, politics and law and order.

nasib Hassan shah, another astrologer,said the country would see stability in mostspheres including politics, economy or indus-try. However, he said there may be some upsand down for the country in 2015.

Dense fog, cold wave to persist during the weekISLAMABAD: Dense fog and the cold wave which had gripped thecountry were likely to persist during the entire week, ChiefMeteorologist Dr Ghulam Rasool said on Monday. Rasool said thefoggy conditions would persist as no rain is being expected during theentire week. “Mainly cold and dry weather is being expected in mostparts of the country during the next few days,” he said. “Zero visibilityfrom midnight to morning, which is common in the plains of Punjab,will also continue,” he added. Very cold and dry weather was beingexpected in most parts of khyber Pakhtunkhwa and sindh, whereasshallow fog and misty conditions would be expected in Peshawar andsukkur. the lowest minimum temperatures recorded during the last24 hours were, skardu 14 Celsius, astore -12 Celsius, kalam andParachinar 11 Celsius, kalat and Quetta -10 Celsius, sibbi -05 Celsius.Very cold and misty weather were being expected in most parts ofkashmir and Gilgit Baltistan during the next 24 hours. APP

3,879 lost theirlives during waron terror in 2012

2013 to bring political,economic stability; no naturaldisasters, claim astrologers



04

but the talks collapsed in March 2012 dueto Washington’s reluctance to free key tal-iban leaders from the Guantanamo Bayprison. the Us is once again trying to restartdialogue process with the taliban representa-tives such as tayyab agha in Doha and asmany as five taliban leaders from Gitmo couldbe handed over to Qatari authorities to pavethe way for the resumption of talks.

the ksa and UaE have also been playinga vital role along with Pakistan to push for-ward the sluggish afghanistan reconciliationprocess and help start peace talks between theafghan government and the taliban.

in past, turkey also tried to have a taliban of-fice being set up on its soil so that it could play amajor role in the restoration of peace and stabilityin the war-ravaged country but that objective ofturk authorities could not be obtained owing tothe taliban reluctance as ankara was part of theUs led natO alliance in afghanistan.

“the taliban are likely to open their officesin saudi arabia and UaE now and that devel-

opment would go a long way in giving a thrustto the slow afghanistan reconciliation process,”said a diplomatic source, seeking anonymity.

He said that like Qatar, the ksa and the UaEwere also of strong desire to help facilitate theafghan peace process and the taliban offices inthese two important islamic states would be ahelpful step in this regard. source also said thatefforts were also being made for a round of peacetalks between the taliban representatives and theafghan authorities in the ksa, but there hadbeen no progress on that front. He said that onemajor reason of sluggish afghan peace processwas the taliban’s unwillingness to engage in ne-gotiations with the karzai administration as they(taliban) believed the afghan government wasnot the real player, but it was the United stateswhich had still the real power and authority totake important decisions. However, he said thatimportant nations such as the ksa and UaEwere trying for the start of negotiations betweenkabul and taliban believing that all afghangroups, including the karzai government, shouldbe taken onboard in the peace process fordurable peace in afghanistan.

in bid for peace, Pakistan frees 8 more taliban

ISLAMABADONlINe

SUPREME Court (sC) on Monday ordered provin-cial governments of sindh, Balochistan, khyberPakhtunkhwa, Capital administration and Devel-opment (CaD) secretary and islamabad ChiefCommissioner to submit a comprehensive report

regarding facilities available in government schools.a three-member bench of the apex court headed by ChiefJustice (CJ) iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry heard proceed-ings of the suo moto case regarding lack of facilities in gov-ernment schools. During the hearing, the Punjab governmentsubmitted a detailed report regarding facilities available inschools of the province. the CJ asked Balochistan Educationsecretary about the number of schools present in theprovince to which he said he did not know the actual numberof schools but said the total number of teachers was 48,500.khyber Pakhtunkhwa Education secretary told the courtthere were 27,808 schools in the province and the number ofteachers was 130,000. Out of these, he said 34 percent werefemale teachers, while the number of employees in educationdepartment constitutes 55 percent of the total governmentemployees in the province.the sC inquired about the number of ghost schools in allprovinces and asked the authorities to provide details aboutmeasures taken to resolve the issue of ghost schools.the session was adjourned till 1st January, 2013.

WASHINGTONPReSS ReleASe

an american Muslim commu-nity came under attack inRedhouse, Virginia by an is-lamophobic group whowalked onto the Muslims ofthe americas’ property andfired 13 shotgun blasts intothe sign which identified thepeaceful village.

this most recent attackhas been fomented by the un-provoked, criminal and hatefilled wave of anti-islam prop-aganda that is inciting vio-lence against law abidingcitizens of the United stateswho happen to be Muslims.Fortunately, there were nopersonal injuries or fatalities.

the intention of criminalsbehind this fallacious on-slaught of inflammatory prop-aganda seems to be toinstigate fighting and violencebetween Muslims and Chris-tians. this violence could beseen as a direct result of thepublication of a book ‘twilightin america’ written by MartinMawyer. He and his extremistcohorts, the Christian actionnetwork (Can) who havepublicised their intention to

destroy islam and Muslims,have resorted to all manner ofdeception and outright lies toframe and target americanMuslims in general, the Mus-lims of the americas inc., inparticular, and their leadersas a “terrorist threat” whichseeks to take over america.Mawyer repeatedly makes ref-erence to this in his book,going so far as to give an ad-dress of a peaceful communityon the web, appealing toamericans to “do something”about this alleged “terroristthreat”; stooping to theridiculous claim that the Mus-lim villages possess “weaponsof mass destruction”! in thebook, Mawyer extensivelyquotes ali aziz, an apparentnYPD informant plantedamongst the Muslims of theamericas (MOa) for eightyears. the book reveals thataziz has a grey past and crim-inal history as a felon, havingentered the United states ille-gally with fraudulent paper-work-issues which were usedto coerce ali into spying onbehalf of nYPD. Yet, althoughapparently known as a liarand criminal, his false ac-counts have been taken as fact

and fed the writing ofMawyer’s book. according toMawyer, “though the ‘deal’gave the nYPD complete con-trol over ali, there were someperks to becoming the depart-ment’s undercover agent. Be-sides being provided a greencard, ali would be paid moneyfor becoming a spy inside theMOa organisation.” (Mawyer,Martin; Pierucci, Patti (2012-10-11) twilight in america(pp. 191-192)

the attack in Virginia is ahateful spark ignited by therhetoric of extremists such asMawyer and his cohorts’ whobroadcast anti-islam rantingaimed at inciting unaware pa-triotic americans to violentactions against Muslims of theamericas. the shooting inci-dent in Virginia should beclassified by federal and locallaw enforcement officials as ahate crime, necessitating ourdemand that they preserveand protect our villages fromfurther assaults.

a recent Council on amer-ican-islamic Relations (CaiR)report documents the alarm-ing increase in hate-incitedattacks against Muslims, oneof the most recent being the

outright murder of a man whowas pushed in the path of asubway train in new York Cityby a woman who believed hewas a Muslim. in addition, itwas reported that:

a man of afghan ethnicitywas repeatedly stabbed by anattacker who is reported tohave said he “doesn’t likeMuslims”.

two teenage males beat a70 year-old man after askingif he was Hindu or Muslim.

anti-Muslim hate speechis delivered to a right-wingtea party gathering at a pub-lic school, during which it wassaid that “we are at war withislam” and that “Muslims willkill your children”.

an indiana man was pros-ecuted for setting fire to amosque in toledo, Ohio. Mus-lims in Fremont, Californiawere put on increased vigi-lance after a man reportedlyentered a mosque claiming hehad a gun and threatened tokill all inside of the house ofworship. a similar incidentoccurred in san antonio,texas.

an incident in Philadel-phia identified two membersof extreme white supremacist

groups who attacked twoMuslims and were appre-hended after bragging onlineof their crime.

these are a sampling ofthe epidemic of hate crimesacross america and the prolif-erating threat of domestic ex-tremism. Mawyer along withother deplorable, extremisthate-mongers such as PamelaGeller, whose organisationpaid the city of new York toadvertise their incendiarypropaganda on billboards onand around public transporta-tion systems, are uninhibitedfrom spouting their rabid is-lamophobic rhetoric - despitethe fact that Us law protectsits citizens against slander,libel and character defama-tion. their affiliation and con-nections to the Zionists havebeen documented and proven.as such, they have un-abashedly insulted and ma-ligned the sacred holy book ofislam and produced blasphe-mous, mocking films, andburned Holy Qur’an whichcan never be destroyed- all ac-tions which have been uncate-gorically rejected andcondemned by true Chris-tians.

SC seeks reporton facilities inpublic schools

AMERICAN MUSLIMS UNDER ATTACK

Continued fRom page 01

WASHINGTONSPeCIAl CORReSPONDeNT

Us secretary of state Hillary Clin-ton was hospitalised on sunday fortreatment after doctors discovereda blood clot during a follow-upexam related to a concussion shesuffered earlier this month.

Clinton, 65, is expected to re-main at new York PresbyterianHospital for the next 48 hours sodoctors can monitor her conditionand treat her with anti-coagulants,according to a statement.

a state Department Clinton aidesaid “in the course of a follow-upexam, secretary Clinton’s doctorsdiscovered a blood clot had formed,stemming from the concussion shesustained several weeks ago.”

“Her doctors will continue toassess her condition, includingother issues associated with herconcussion. they will determine ifany further action is required,”Deputy assistant secretary of statePhilippe Reines said in a state-ment.

Reines, who issued the state-ment, did not provide further de-tails. Clinton’ was expected toresume her office schedule thisweek. this summer Clinton de-

clared she would to step downfrom the post early in PresidentObama’s second term, to be inau-gurated in January.

the chief Us diplomat HillaryClinton has not been seen in publicsince the first week in December,when she reportedly contracted astomach virus during a trip to Eu-rope, according to the WashingtonPost.

in mid-December the state De-partment said that she had faintedat her home two days earlier, as aresult of dehydration from thevirus, and had sustained a concus-sion. the state Department saidthat her doctors had advised fur-ther rest.

During her absence, Clintoncancelled an overseas trip and herscheduled testimony before Con-gress about the sept. 11 attack on aUs diplomatic compound in Beng-hazi, Libya. she also did not appearat the White House on Dec. 21,when President Obama introducedDemocratic senator John F kerryas his choice to succeed Clinton.

according to a Cnn report,during her busy tenure as secretaryof state, Clinton has logged morethan 400 travel days and nearly amillion miles.

US media group Tribune Co. emergesfrom bankruptcy

NEW YORKAGeNCIeS

Media giant tribune Co,owner of the Los angelestimes and the Chicago trib-une, emerged from bank-ruptcy on Monday, endingfour years of Chapter 11 reor-ganization.Chicago-based tribune’s saidon sunday that its portfoliowould include eight majordaily newspapers and 23 tVstations. as part of the Chap-ter 11 exit, the company closedon a new $1.1 billion seniorsecured term loan and a new$300 million asset-based re-volving credit facility.the term loan will be used tofund certain payments underthe plan of reorganization andthe revolving credit facilitywill be used to fund ongoingoperations, the company said.Upon exiting bankruptcy,tribune will have issued toformer creditors a mix ofabout 100 million shares ofnew class a common stockand new class B commonstock and new warrants topurchase shares of new classa or class B common stock.

VCs displeased withamendments to universities actISLAMABAD: the vice-chancellors of pub-lic sector universities on Monday expressedtheir reservations over the Punjab govern-ment’s decision to keep intact amendmentsmade in the Punjab Universities’ act thatbring vice-chancellors under scrutiny.the views were expressed in the 11th ViceChancellors’ Committee meeting that washeld with Committee Chairperson syedimtiaz Hussain Gilani in the chair.Rectors and vice chancellors of over 70public sector universities attended themeeting. the VCs discussed the recentamendments to the Punjab Universitiesact that clipped the power of VCs for creat-ing and filling six-month posts.the Punjab government said thesepowers rested with syndicate and itcould create and fill temporary postsfor a period of six months. STAFF RePORT

Hillary Clinton hospitalised afterdoctors discover blood clot

RAWALPINDI: Rescue workers carry the coffin of one of the 19 victims of the Mastungbus bombing on Monday. InP

PML-Q assures completesupport for TahirulQadri’s long march

LAHORESTAFF RePORT

the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) has assured its complete support totehreek Minhajul Quran leader tahirulQadri for his long march towards islam-abad on January 14.the views were expressed by PML-Q leaderChaudhry shujaat Hussain after meetingtahirul Qadri at his residence on Monday.shujaat was also accompanied byChaudhry Pervez Elahi, Mushahid Hussainsyed and other leaders of the party.“tahirul Qadri has raised voice against theevil forces in the country,” shujaat said,adding that PML-Q would work alongsidePat in fight against the evil forces.Earlier, Muttahida Qaumi Movement(MQM) had also announced to participatein Qadri’s long march.

Govt will not stoplong march: malikISLAMABAD: interior Minister RehmanMalik on Monday said the governmentwould not stop long march, but would facil-itate its participants. talking to reporters‚he said he would meet those who havegiven the long march call. Earlier‚ speakingat a function organised by the islamabadPolice, Malik said security situation in is-lamabad had improved due to measurestaken by the government. He said politicalactivities would be allowed in F-9 Park‚ butpoliticians should not indulge in activitiesthat could endanger lives of the people. theinterior minister also announced sitara-e-shujaat for the islamabad inspector gen-eral. to a question, Malik said, “We areready for talks with [the] taliban if theygive up violence and terrorism.” He said ifviolence and terrorism continues then ac-tion would be taken. NNI



KARACHI: Police mobile vehicles seen parked at Clifton Sea View after police closed the roads leading to the area on Monday. onlInE

KARACHIAAMIR MAJeeD

At least 12 people includ-ing three women werekilled in different inci-dents of violence acrossthe metropolis on the last

day of 2012 here on Monday.Per reports, two people including a

worker of the Pakistan People’s Party(PPP) were killed during the last 24hours in incidents of violence and blood-shed in Bazata Lines, saddar. in protestthe enraged mob torched two motorcy-cles and two passenger busses. Later, aheavy contingent of police was deployedin the area to maintain peace in the area.

saddar police station House Officer(sHO) Ghulam nabi was suspended overhis alleged failure to maintain a peacefullaw and order situation in Bazata Lines.

Meanwhile, saddar Deputy superin-tendent of Police (DsP) told Pakistantoday that some armed gunmen tried tosnatch a sMG rifle from a cop of PoliceHeadquarter saddar and from a guard ofadvisor of sindh Chief Minister (CM)upon which he retaliated and killed oneof them. the victim was identified asabdul sattar and the cop later escapedwith weapon.

“killing of sattar sparked violence inthe area and an organised group of gun-men came out of their houses and re-sorted to aerial firing,” he said. On earlyMonday morning, unidentified armedpersons killed a teenager nawazish ali inBazata lines which sparked violence inthe area.” the enraged people torchedtwo motorcycles and two busses inprotest against killing of nawazish aliwho was active worker of the PPP. in an-other incident, three women and a manwere shot dead and another injured overa family feud in ayub Goth. sohrab Gothpolice sHO Fasih Zaman said some un-

known armed assailants sprayed a rick-shaw with bullets in ayub Goth killingthree women namely noreen and herhusband Malik Riaz, samreen and Jojiand another man who was identified asRiaz. another person namely sheraz wasinjured in the attack, the sHO said,adding that the reason behind the attackcould not be ascertained as yet. noreenwas an ethnic Pakhtun and belonged toQuetta, and police suspect family feud tobe the reason behind the killings.

Meanwhile, a security guard wasgunned down outside a hosiery factorynear Vita Chowrangi within korangi in-dustrial area police precincts. Policeclaimed that the security guard who wasidentified as Hassan Jameel s/o JameelZaman committed suicide. However, thereason behind his death could not be as-certained as yet. Furthermore, a man waskilled and another injured in separate fir-ing incidents at Punjab Chowrangi. Gizripolice sHO imran Zaidi said the victimwas identified as Mustaq while the iden-tity of the injured man and reason be-hind the firing incident could not beascertained as yet. separately, a 60-year-old man was shot dead by unidentifiedarmed men near Peoples Chowrangi,north nazimabad. Police said the victim

was identified as salahuddin s/o abdulsamad. in addition, another man wasshot dead in an incident of sectariankilling in the limits of iqbal Market Policestation. He was identified as Jawad Has-san. Furthermore, two hand-cuffed, bul-let-riddled bodies were recovered fromjurisdiction of Pak Colony and Maripurpolice jurisdiction but the identities ofthe deceased were yet to be ascertained.

it is important to mention here thatincidents of target killing and acts of vio-lence had been rife in the provincial cap-ital with over 1,363 lives lost at the handsof target killers during the past five years.

the deteriorating law and order sit-uation in the city was becoming worsedespite regular targeted operations car-ried out by the Rangers and police.

Meanwhile, the sindh governmenthad banned pillion riding in karachi tillJanuary 3 (thursday) due to deterioratinglaw and order situation in the city. theban came into effect from 12 am Monday,according to a notification issued by thehome department. senior citizens, jour-nalists, women and personnel of law en-forcement agencies had been exemptedfrom the pillion-riding ban. sources saidthe ban was also likely to be imposed inHyderabad and khairpur cities.

2012 MARKS ENDwith 12 killings

Security

arrangements

intensified in city

on new Year’s eveKARACHI

STAFF RePORT

The Sindh government has im-posed a ban on pillion-ridingand carrying of licensed armsfor three days as extra securitymeasures have been put inplace on New Year’s Eve inKarachi.The Sindh home departmenthad issued a notification whichbanned pillion-riding and car-rying of licensed arms inKarachi for a period of threedays. The ban would be effec-tive from 5:00 pm December 31,2012 to January 3, 2013. Thehome department had alsowithdrawn section 144 arms li-cense permit for the mentionedperiod. The provincial govern-ment also banned aerial firingin the metropolis on New Year’snight, while operating motorcy-cles without silencers had alsobeen prohibited on the occas-sion. The provincial government alsobanned entry in the Sea Viewarea on New Year’s Eve. Theroads leading to Sea View weresealed off by installing barri-cades. Meanwhile, the trafficpolice banned parking onShara-e-Faisal, Abdullah ha-roon road, Salahuddin road,Mai Kolachi and MT Khan road.roads from Korangi to AkhtarColony leading to Sea Viewwould also be blocked. Trafficpolice had been advising theresidents of Karachi to use theroute from Korangi to Shara-e-Faisal, regent Chowk and ClubChowk and from Teen Talwar toAbdullah Shah Gazi. Due to clo-sure of Korangi road, a trafficjam was reported earlier in Ko-rangi Industrial Area.

tehreek-e-minhajul

Quran invites anP

to join long marchKARACHI

INP

a delegation of tehreek-e-MinhajulQuran on Monday invited awami na-tional Party (anP) to join the longmarch on January 14. a delegation oftehreek-e-Minhajul Quran met anP(sindh) President shahi syed at his resi-dence in karachi. During the meeting,the anP senior leader said that a deci-sion in this regard would be taken by thecentral leadership of the party. theleaders in the delegation said that theinvitation of long march scheduled forJanuary 14 had also been extended tothe Muttahida Qaumi Movement(MQM), the anP and other nationalistparties. Earlier this month, tehreek-e-Minhajul Quran Chief tahirul Qadrigave a deadline of January 14 to the gov-ernment to form electoral reforms orelse face a million-man march towardsthe federal capital.

altaf, Qadri to

address rally todayKARACHI

STAFF RePORT

the Muttahida Quami Movement(MQM) chief altaf Hussain andtehreek-e-Minhajul Quran (tMQ)Chairman Dr tahirul Qadri are expectedto address a public gathering today inkarachi, said a statement issued by theMQM on Monday. the two leaderswould address their supporters in aziz-abad’s Jinnah Ground at 3pm and wouldmake important announcements regard-ing the long march being organized bytMQ on the January 14. the MQM tookits allies by surprise when altaf Hussainannounced this week that his partywould join Qadri’s long march.

Sindh govt orders

mandatory vaccination

against measlesKARACHI

APP

sindh Health Minister Dr saghirahmed during his visit to the districtsaffected by measles virus on Mondayordered that all children aged betweennine months and 10 years should begiven anti-measles vaccination.the minister suspended shikarpurHealth EDO Dr Qazi khursheed,Larkana and sukkur district health of-ficers and salehpat health town offi-cer for negligence in theirprofessional responsibilities.the health minister, who had been onan extensive visit to the affected areasduring the last few days, had asked theconcerned officials to ensure availabil-ity of doctors and paramedics at gov-ernment hospitals around the clock.the minister also met parents ofmeasles-affected children and urgedthem to notify the symptoms of theailment to other people in their locali-ties so that all parents get their chil-dren vaccinated as soon as possible.He also urged officials of ExpandedProgram on immunization (EPi) toensure that children and their parentsare adequately facilitated “the anti-measles campaign currentlyundergoing in sukkur, khairpur,Larkana, kambar, kashmore and Ja-cobabad will be fool-proof,” he said.all the 395 sites and 668 mobileteams constituted to run the campaignin the affected districts had been or-dered to report to their seniors onday-to-day basis regarding develop-ments.



06 Karachi

A YEAR IN HEADLINES Pakistan as a nation saw a tumultuousyear. From the Supreme Court-Gilanistand off, to the attack on the teeneducation activist Malala Yousafzai, theyear 2012 was a busy year for PakistanToday. As New Year celebrations hitour nation, it is time to reflect on theyear we witnessed and perhaps seewhere we can learn from our mistakesand where we stand strong.



Karachi07

A YEAR IN HEADLINES


08


News

BAGHDADAGeNCIeS

at least 10 people have been killed in a series of at-tacks across iraq.

according to police, Monday’s explosion’s alsoleft 46 wounded, and killed seven members of aniraqi family near their home in Mussayab, south ofthe capital Baghdad.

three consecutive road side bombs were set offearly on Monday targeting a police vehicle and thehouse of a prominent tribal sheikh leader in BaladRouz town, east of Baquba city, killing one police-man and injuring four.

the head of the Babel provincial council’s con-voy was also targeted with a car bomb parked infront of the provincial building killing one civilianand injuring five.

a string of attacks in restive Diyala province,north of Baghdad, wounded 19 people, including10 shia pilgrims who were on the traditional walkto the holy shrine city of karbala to mark arbaeen.

in the north, three policemen were killed andfour critically wounded in the ethnically mixed cityof kirkuk when a bomb went off nearby as theywere trying to defuse explosives, a police officerand a doctor at the city’s hospital said.

Four separate bombings in kirkuk city andnearby towns, three of them targeting police andsoldiers, wounded four people.

Meanwhile, a car bomb parked outside govern-ment offices south of Baghdad as the provincialgovernor was arriving killed two people.

the blast in the city of Hilla also wounded 19people, including a guard for the governor of Babilprovince and one of his photographers, a police-

man and a medic said. the governor himself wasunharmed. the explosion also badly damagedshops and cars.

the latest attacks come amid prolonged anti-government demonstrations in mostly sunni areasover the alleged targeting of their minority commu-nity by the shia-led government in Baghdad,sparked by the arrest of at least nine bodyguardsof finance minister Rafa al-Essawi on terrorismcharges.

Essawi, a senior member of the iraqiya blocthat is part of Maliki’s unity government but fre-quently criticises him in public, has called for thepremier to resign, further deepening tensions be-tween the two sides.

Violence in iraq is down from its peak in 2006and 2007, but attacks still occur almost every dayacross the country.

10 casualties reported in attacks across Iraq

SYDNEYAGeNCIeS

SYDnEY will kick off a wave ofdazzling firework displays welcomingin 2013 from Dubai to Moscow andLondon, with long-isolated Yangonjoining the global pyrotechnics for

the first time.australia’s famous harbour city will usher in thenew Year with a $6.9m display curated by popicon kylie Minogue who designed the colourscheme and soundtrack.“sydney’s new Year’s Eve celebrations are world-famous and reach over a billion people - not justbecause we have the first major display for 2013,but because it’s the best,” said the city’s lordmayor Clover Moore.City officials are expecting more than 1.5 millionpeople to crowd the waterfront to watch theseven tonnes of fireworks go up, includingcrackers launched from jet-skis and a show-

stopping finale on the Harbour Bridge.auckland, new Zealand was the first major cityto celebrate the arrival of 2013, with fireworkslighting the night sky.Major fireworks will also light up the thames inLondon, Moscow’s Red square and kremlin andHong kong’s Victoria Harbour, as well as centralkuala Lumpur, taipei, stockholm, amsterdamand cities across China.Revellers in new York will celebrate the stroke ofmidnight with the traditional new Year’s Eve balldrop over times square.in Rio de Janeiro, authorities have promised abumper 16-minute, 24-tonne display oppositeCopacabana Beach and fireworks will cap amammoth party at Berlin’s Brandenburg Gatefeaturing the Pet shop Boys, Bonnie tyler andBlue.Vying to become a permanent fixture on theplanetary map of new Year celebrations, the Gulfcity state of Dubai is planning a lavish gala at theBurj khalifa, the world’s tallest building.

Fireworks will engulf the spike-like tower,accompanied by a soundtrack performed live bythe Prague Philharmonic Orchestra.some 50,000 people are also expected to flock tothe revered golden shwedagon Pagoda in Yangonfor the Myanmar city’s first public countdownwith fireworks, seen as further evidence ofopening up after decades of junta rule.Organisers had to campaign for months to getpermission for the event from the quasi-civilianregime, which has embarked on dramaticreforms since President thein sein took officelast year.authorities in the Philippines capital Manila arebracing for the annual rush of injuries as familiescelebrate with do-it-yourself firework displaysand shoot celebratory bullets into the air.Hospitals were put on high alert.some 171 Filipinos have already been woundedsince the Christmas weekend including onepoisoned after eating a firework.seoul will usher in 2013 with a ritual ringing of

the city’s 15th-century bronze bell 33 times,reflecting the ancient practice of marking a newyear.Elsewhere in the south korean capital, includingthe glitzy Gangnam district made famous byYoutube sensation Psy, there will be fireworks,concerts and street parties. Psy himself will beperforming in new York.Millions of well-wishers will visit temples andshrines in Japan for “ninen-mairi” two-yearprayers and gather at family homes to feast onsoba noodles and watch the new Year varietyshow “kohaku Uta Gassen” or the Red andWhite song Contest.Up to 40 percent of Japan’s tV audience watchthe four-hour programme, which featuresestablished acts and J-Pop stars.Popular south korean performers were left outof this year’s line-up amid territorial frictionswith seoul, though taxpayer-funded broadcasternHk insisted politics had played no part in theselection of performers.

NEW YEAR CELEBRATIONS BEGIN

CARACASAGeNCIeS

nicolas Maduro, Venezuela’s vice president, has said Pres-ident Hugo Chavez is suffering from “new complications”following his cancer surgery in Cuba.

Maduro did not give details on sunday about the par-ticular issues, which he said came amid a respiratory infec-tion. He said Chavez’s condition remains “delicate”.Maduro delivered a televised address from Cuba, where hewas visiting the sick 58-year-old leader. He held up a copyof a newspaper confirming that his message was recordedon sunday. Below a picture of 19th century independencehero simon Bolivar - the inspiration of Chavez’s leftist Bo-livarian Revolution movement - the vice president spokewith a solemn expression alongside Chavez’s eldest daugh-

ter, Rosa, and son-in-law Jorge arreaza, as well as attorneyGeneral Cilia Flores. Maduro had arrived in Havana on sat-urday in a sudden and unexpected trip to visit Chavez. Hesaid on sunday that he would remain in Havana “for thecoming hours” but did not specify how long. Officials havesaid that Chavez already suffered unexpected bleedingcaused by the six-hour operation for an undisclosed formof cancer in his pelvic area. His resignation for health rea-sons, or his death, would upend the politics of the southamerican OPEC nation where his personalised brand ofoil-financed socialism has made him a hero to the poor buta pariah to critics who call him a dictator. Medical expertssay that it is common for patients who have undergonemajor surgeries to suffer respiratory infections and thathow a patient fares can vary widely from a quick recoveryin a couple of days to a fight for life on a respirator.

Venezuela’s chavez in‘delicate’ state

Speeding trainkills five elephantsin eastern IndiaBhUBANEShWAr: a speeding passengertrain killed five elephants when it ploughed intoa herd crossing the track in eastern india, arailway spokesman said Monday. the trainstruck the animals on sunday near thekhallikote forest range in Orissa state’sGanjam district, some 120 kilometres (74 miles)south of the state capital Bhubaneshwar. “thelocal forest department had alerted the railwaycontrol room about the possibility of themovements of the animals but by the time wegot the message the accident had alreadyoccurred,” spokesman R. n. Mohapatra toldaFP. the train was badly damaged and it tookrailroad workers several hours to clear thetracks. the state has a poor record of protectingits wildlife with as many as 250 elephants and504 other wild animals having died since 2009,according to official data. india is home toaround 25,000 asian elephants but theirnumbers are falling due to poaching, chiefly forthe precious ivory, and destruction of habitat byhuman populations. APP

UN peacekeepersexit East Timor

DILIAGeNCIeS

a final batch of Un troops and logistics staff left thesouth-east asian country, officially known as timorLeste, on Monday.“timor-Leste has now reached a stage in itsdevelopment, politically and developmentally, whereit can in fact stand on its own feet,” said FinnReske-nielsen, Head of the Un integrated Missionin timor-Leste.the government plans to boost development fromthe country’s offshore oil and gas reserves, whichexperts say, may benefit urban timorese more thanthe regional poor.“in the end we have to say goodbye to the Un with...high appreciation for what they have been doing intimor-Leste,” said Fernando La sama de araujo.,Deputy Prime Minister on sunday.He said East timor would first focus on improvingschools, hospitals and human resources in thepublic sector and expressed his optimism onovercoming the challenges faced by the country inthe next 10 years.Un forces entered the territory during a violentconflict in which an estimated 183,000 people werekilled in 1999 and organised a referendum which ledto the independence of East timor from indonesiain 2002.the current mission was established in 2006, whenfighting broke out between military groups andpolice which left 37 dead and tens of thousands,displaced. 1,500 Un peacekeepers were based theresince the political turmoil. the Un’s humandevelopment index ranks East timor 147th out of187 nations, below Pakistan and Bangladesh and theregional average.

Chinese fishing boat‘detained in Japan’TOKYO: Japan’s coastguard hasdetained a Chinese fishing boat withinJapanese waters, China’s Xinhua newsagency said, citing the Chineseconsulate general in Fukuoka, a city insouthwestern Japan. the captain of theboat, registered in the southeasternChinese province of Fujian, and twocrew members have been brought to thesouthern Japanese city of kagoshimafor questioning, Xinhua said on sunday.it said the captain had admitted he wasin Japanese waters. a spokesperson forthe Japanese embassy in Beijing couldnot be reached for comment late onsunday evening. the Chinese fishingfleet tends to range far into the waterseast of China to offset depleted stockscloser to shore. `AGeNCIeS

CARACAS: Members of the National police attend a mass for the health of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. aGEncIEs


09


News

ISLAMABADNNI

Foreign Minister HinaRabbani khar said allphysical battles andmind games over kash-mir had yielded nothing

and it was time to seek a peacefulsettlement to the problem througha process of dialogue.

“Pakistan and india have foughtwars, played mind games and usedevery other tactic on kashmir, buteverything has failed,” khar said inan interview at the Foreign Office inislamabad. she said the only optionavailable with the two countries wasto engage in dialogue.

“During my press conference

here in the same room with indianForeign Minister krishna, i issued astatement which was prepared bythe indian bureaucrat, mentioningthat the process should be uninter-rupted and uninterruptible,” shesaid.

she however advocated for theinclusion of kashmiris in theprocess. “there are three parties tothe dispute, Pakistan, india andkashmir, and true representativesof kashmir should be included inthe dialogue process,” said khar.

she insisted that the kashmirsettlement was the key to peace inthe region, and her government wasexploring every possible option toopen channels of dialogue with newDelhi for a permanent settlement of

the issue. she wanted the kashmirileadership to get united to see abreakthrough in the process. “Wewould like to see the separatist lead-ership getting united,” khar said.

she said Hurriyat conference(G) Chairman syed ali Geelani wasan important stakeholder in theprocess adding that Geelani was an“honourable” and “influential”leader in the ongoing movementand his importance cannot be over-looked. “Geelani is a very hon-ourable leader and represents alarge chunk of population and sen-timent. He couldn’t come becauseof his ailing health, but we areinviting him again and we wouldlove to have consultations withhim,” khar added.

Dialogue the only way forwardto resolve Kashmir issue: Khar

Pakistan ‘mostdangerous’ countryfor journalistsLAhOrE: Pakistan is the most dangerouscountry in south asia for journalists, according toa report by south asia Media Commission. southasia Media Monitor 2012 report indicated that atleast 25 journalists lost their lives in the region.Pakistan ranked as the most volatile nation forjournalists with 13 media men killed, closelyfollowed by india where five journalists lost theirlives. at least three journalists were killed inBangladesh, two in nepal and two in afghanistan.no journalists were killed in sri Lanka, Bhutanand the Maldives. the report indicated severalcountries, including Pakistan, failed to uphold Unsecurity Council Resolution 1738 regardingprotection of journalists in dangerous areas.Furthermore, the report said that physical securityof journalists posed a serious threat to freedom ofexpression in the south asian region. insurgency-hit province of Balochistan and northern parts ofPakistan were the most dangerous areas forjournalists, the report said. Moreover, the reportsaid that 13 journalists lost their lives in theseconflict zones. the report further said that killingsof five journalists in india pointed to growingthreats to freedom of expression in the country.the report indicated that journalists faced mostthreats in the conflict-zone of kashmir, addingthat journalists in the region were not providedany security. Furthermore, political polarisation inBangladesh was a cause of concern to the mediawatchdog. the report expressed concern thatacrimony between major political parties posed aserious threat to journalists working in thecountry. the report further said that increasedpolitical tensions had caused polarisation amongmedia companies, causing the death of threejournalists, including a couple. the report alsosuggested a decline in freedom of expression innepal with increasing government intervention inthe media. the report condemned the beheadingof a journalist in afghanistan, stressing thatjournalism continued to be a hazardous professionin the country. afghan media faced tightening lawsby the government and shortage of funds as mostforeign outlets prepared to leave the country, thereport added. Furthermore, sri Lanka, Bhutan andthe Maldives faced a growing challenge ofsustaining plural media as governments continuedto intervene in information sharing. the reportsaid that journalists of these countries wereunderpaid and overworked, adding that severalcorporations had laid off hundreds of journalistsin the wake of a general economic crisis in theregion. STAFF RePORT

9 bodies of Talibanfound in NWAMIrANShAh: authorities in Pakistan’s northWaziristan agency on Monday said nine bodies oftaliban had been found in the area. a talibanspokesman confirmed that the slain men weretaliban militants, accusing the security forces ofkilling them. the security forces have notcommented on the taliban claim. ihsanullah ihsan,the taliban spokesman, said the murdered talibanhad earlier been arrested by the security forces. thesources said all those killed were identified and theirbodies handed over to relatives. they belonged tothe tehreek-e-taliban Pakistan (ttP) led byHakimullah Mehsud and had taken shelter in northWaziristan. tribesmen said unidentified men hadthrown bodies of the taliban at Pir kaley area, 10kilometers from Miranshah, the agencyheadquarters. the bodies were found a day after aroadside bomb killed at least two soldiers andinjured two others in Datta khel area of northWaziristan. NNI

One policeman killed,two injured in MultanMULTAN: a policeman was killed while twoother constables received bullet injuries whenthree unidentified armed motorcyclists opened fireat them in noon Chowk area of Multan onMonday. Police claimed that the culprits wererobbers who had allegedly looted Rs 300, 000from an oil agency situated in Gulistan. “When apoliceman deputed at a security check post atnoon Chowk signalled the motorcyclists to stop,they opened fire at the police,” said a police officerwho witnessed the attack. as a resultant, onepoliceman was killed and two others receivedinjuries. the injured were rushed to nishtarHospital for medical aid. Meanwhile, police haveregistered a case against unidentified criminalsand have initiated an investigation. INP

ISLAMABADONlINe

a parliamentary panel on Monday said Pakistantelecommunication authority (Pta) had failed todeliver as a regulatory body owing to uncheckedgrey trafficking and 3G auction delays.

national assembly standing Committee on in-formation technology chaired by Barjees tahir ex-pressed displeasure over the role of Pta inauctioning 3G technology and curbing grey traffick-ing in the country.

the committee said Pta had failed to hold 3Gauction in the country for the third time, resultingin massive losses. Committee chairman tahir saidPta chairman had hired consultants on his ownand paid Rs 10 million in advance, but later can-celled the contract. He said the rationale behindsuch action was beyond the committee’s under-standing.

the body was of the view that the auctionprocess was not transparent and a delay for thethird time is proof of their allegation.

shafqat Hayat said Pta had given Pakistan abad name during the 3G auction process. He saidin the future no one would be ready to come for as-sistance in the auction process.

Member technical Dr khawar said Pta chair-man had taken all decisions in his personal capacityand should be held responsible for everything.

the committee, holding Pta Chairman Farooqawan responsible for delay in the auction, said ifany amount was paid to consultants it should be re-covered from awan’s account. the committee alsoexpressed disapproval over the role of Pta in elim-ination of grey trafficking from the country whichis yielding a loss of $1 billion per annum. tahir saidPta was reluctant to take action against influentialpeople. He said the legal department of Pta wasnot performing well and failed to defend its casesresulting in stay orders on cases of grey trafficking.

secretary it amir tariq Zaman admitted thatPta initiatives to reduce grey trafficking were notsufficient and the authority could only monitor 13%of the traffic. anusha Rehman said grey traffickerswere sitting in power corridors and government de-partments were facilitating them.

she said if the information ministry carried outits work diligently, the country would not need togo to iMF and other donor agencies.

the body was displeased with officials of Uni-versal service Fund (UsF) because UsF was award-ing contracts to companies who had defaulted ontheir liabilities. the committee recommended offi-cials of UsF to give a list of those companies whohad been awarded contracts and said the FBRshould also examine the business of UsF. tahir saidthe it ministry and Pta had failed to run theirbusiness smoothly and therefore the prime ministershould decide over the future course of action.

PTA a failed regulator,says NA body

QUeTTA: A mechanic repairs gas heaters on Monday as a severe cold wave has blanketed the entire country reducing the temperature to sub-zero in most areas. InP

Qadri’s long march:President advised toannounce polls

ISLAMABAD: thecoalition partners ofthe PPP governmenthave advisedPresident asif aliZardari to announcethe schedule of 2013election to make thecall of long march bytehreek-e MinhajulQuran chief Drtahirul Qadriineffective. Well-placed sources havesaid that the coalitionpartners of the PPP

believed that if the government announced the datefor upcoming election, it could make ineffective thecall for long march, which was announced by thetMQ chief on December 23. that Muttahida QaumiMovement, PPP’s major coalition partner, hasalready announced to support Qadri and confirmedits participation in the long march. Moreover, anPchief asfandyar Wali khan and other leaders wouldsoon meet PPP Co-chairman asif ali Zardari todiscuss the political situation in the country, thesources added. they said if the governmentannounced the date for the forthcoming election, itwould keep busy all political forces of the country toprepare for election and would contain the call forlong march. the PML-Q and anP leaders areexpected to meet Zardari in the next two days todiscuss the issue. ONlINe


Like an individual, the nation toohas a limit of tolerance. For Delhiand some other cities, the gang

rape at the national capital was theproverbial last straw. students filled thestreets to demonstrate and even had oneor two pitched battles with the police.One policeman has died and many stu-dents have been injured. such incidentsare bound to happen when anger issought to be fought with water canonsand lathi-charge.

no doubt, the demonstration atDelhi was ignited by deep anger over therape. But it was an outburst of piled-upresentment against the system whichneither delivers justice nor gives jobs. itis a sad commentary on non-governance

and ineptness of administrations whichhave been run by rulers of all shadessince independence, particularly afterthe early 70s.

Prime Minister indira Gandhi tried tosuppress grievances and disappoint-ments by authoritarian methods althoughshe had swept the polls on the promise ofeliminating poverty. nobody can accusemeek Prime Minister Manmohan singhof authoritarianism but almost nine yearsof his rule shows that he is too much of abureaucrat who knows rules but not howto take drastic steps. Even his belated ad-dress to the nation was bald and lackedpunch. at least he could have stopped thespectacle of ugly controversy among theDelhi chief minister, union home minis-ter and the police commissioner.

the students were angry and therewas disconnect between them and thegovernment. they expected some headsto roll. But mere statements could notallay their mistrust. the general feelingwas that none would be punished andsoon it would be business as usual. thegovernment should have transferred Po-lice Commissioner neeraj kumarstraightaway. His explanation was a poordefence of his failure. if nobody in hisforce was to blame, then who blundered?to maintain law and order in Delhi re-quires imagination and novel ideas, notthe outmoded ways to which the police

are used to. What was also lacking washuman touch or personal contact.

Delhi’s Lt Governor was on a vaca-tion and according to state Chief Minis-ter shiela Dikshit, he was notcontactable. Why should such a personremain at his post? Even his tenure ofsecond term has ended. His drama, afterreturn, of suspending a few lower func-tionaries lacked script.

the appointment of a judicial com-mission has not evoked response becausecommissions have ceased to have credi-bility. the one headed by sri krishna toprobe the 1993 communal riots in Mum-bai and the other by M s Liberhan onBabri masjid demolition remain on paper.the accused on both the reports are peo-ple who are politically powerful. Whatwould the commission on the Delhi gangrape prove when there is no faith left insuch attempts to silence articulate voices?

the mother of the raped girl hascomplained that the police put pressureon her, says a letter of the magistratewho went to record the statement of thegirl. shiela Dikshit has rightly taken upthe matter with the home ministry whichhas ordered an inquiry to find out howfar the mother was intimidated by thepolice, which denied the allegation.

in fact, the entire judicial process hasno respect in the eyes of the people. ittakes too long to get the guilty punished.

at present, there are 400 rape casespending for years to be adjudged. Even ifthe Delhi gang rape is listed for fasttracking, there are so many loopholes inthe law and there are courts of appealwhich will take their own time. Lawshave to be changed. More importantly,the legal system requires overhauling.Capital punishment does not deterrapists. Chemical castration is a must.there is a public demand for it.

Parliament members were up ontheir legs to ventilate their importance.two political parties demanded immedi-ate and drastic measures to deal with theguilty. strange, none asked at least theresignation of MPs sitting among themwith charges of rape. One explanationgiven is that the Election Commissionshould take action. Why not parliamentitself? (One third of Gujarat MLas facecriminal cases, including rape).

all political parties should realisethat the youth in the country does notfind the existing institutions giving an-swers to their questions: Why so muchpoverty? Why an increasing gap betweenthe rich and the poor? Why the strangle-hold of caste and creed? Why the failureof government to appreciate their aspira-tions? the Congress leaders did talk tosome students in batches but found noleader who could pacify or representthem. the leaderless mob is the worstthat can happen in a country. some lam-poon elements were able to introduce vi-olence. this means that the youth is acombustible material which can be set onfire by some demagogues.

Many years ago, alienated studentsat Osborne in France almost brought a

revolution. But the movement failed be-cause of ideological differences amongthe students. More recently, the arabspring in some Muslim countrieschanged the rulers. Mobs came on to thestreets and found a common cause: au-thoritarian rulers drenched in corrup-tion. in China, the students gathered atthe tiananmen square to protest againstthe dictatorial regime. But then Beijing,with no democracy, crushed hundreds ofthem to kill dissent.

the present rulers have nearly gotaway with all their excesses. this is be-cause india is an open flabby society. Peo-ple can express their views freely despitethe pressure and prize. But it lives undera delusion that the status quo can bemaintained. What has happened at Delhiis a warning. the system requires over-hauling. Even the election of membershas to be looked into because money andmusclemen have reduced the polling to afarce. the police in many states have be-come the private army of chief ministers.

Overall, the country is peaceful, notbecause the people are contended but be-cause they still have confidence of chang-ing the complexion of parliament andstate assemblies through votes. But thisconfidence is lessening election afterelection. More than that, the poor cannotlive in the cold, hungry and without fu-ture, for another 65 years, the span sinceindependence. they want to live. in an-other context, the raped girl, fightingagainst death, said: “i want to live”. thenation has to decide how?

The writer is a senior Indianjournalist.

Comment10


in 1976, one Mr kaikaus, having inthe past held an office no less than aJustice of the supreme Court of Pak-istan, approached the HonourableLahore High Court through a writ

petition. the retired justice argued that the1973 Constitution and the entire legal systembased on it were un-islamic. His LordshipJustice sardar iqbal did not grant the peti-tioner’s “prayer” and refused to hold that the1973 Constitution was un-islamic. Mrkaikaus went home and for all i know hemay have continued to disagree with our sys-tem. But he made an argument, fascinatingand disturbing in equal measure, and whenthe courts did not buy it, he walked away.

the idea of settling disagreementsthrough argumentation is precious. Butsome folks have other ideas.

36 years after Mr kaikaus’s petition,tehreek-e-taliban Pakistan (ttP), of the ter-rorists’ fame, has asked our government to(among other things) reject the existing con-stitution and rewrite it to make it more is-lamic. and if we don’t? Well, they seem in nomood to walk away. they have laid out broaddemands. But the devil is in the details.

You see, these people aren’t reasoningwith us. that is my first problem with themand those of their ilk.

Everyone who doesn’t fall in line withwhat the ttP wants is an infidel. the menand women of our police force and military—who take an oath to defend this countryagainst threats foreign and domestic—arepeople that the ttP thinks must be killed.and they are killing, nay slaughtering, themevery day. in fact they chop off heads of ourdefenders and make celebratory videosabout it. negotiate with them?

ttP claims to love Pakistan’s plainsand deserts but they have coloured our seasand rivers red with the blood of our sol-diers, our women, our children, our politi-cians. negotiate with them?

ttP hasn’t just written a letter asking forchange. it has sent us a box that contains theheads, blood and severed limbs of more thanthirty thousand Pakistanis. they are mockingus and saying, we can kill you by the thou-sands and ask you to do away with everythingyou have built till now. On top of that, theyhave the audacity to tell our constitutionallycreated state machinery what to do. negoti-ate with them? in the immortalised words ofDr Evil, of the Austin Powers fame, “Howabout no, you crazy bastard?”

Even Mr Gandhi’s call for non-violencehad limits. When Mr Gandhi told the Britsthat they should not take up arms againstnazi Germany and should spiritually resistHitler, his audience (including his party) hadgood reason to be shocked. i believe i do too.sure, resist the madness spiritually. But keepa gun handy too. a lot depends on it.

now, what does ttP mean by an “is-lamic” constitution? their version of islamtargets minority sects since they are not is-lamic enough. ttP’s islam makes Zia-ul-Haqlook like a progressive liberal — and that issaying something. their version of islam isclearly incompatible with what a majority ofpeople in Pakistan are used to and can livewith. in that version, the believers with littleor no training in law conduct trials. Womenare flogged for showing skin (including feet),boys and girls aren’t allowed to go to thesame schools—in fact girls are usually not al-lowed to go to school at all—let alone workalongside men. Barber shops are banned,music is outlawed, reciting Ghalib’s coupletsin public about love would probably be acrime too. in that system of government,questioning the ttP is a crime. Questioningtheir version of islam is a crime. Fightingtheir tactics based on terror is a crime.

the “poor” souls then say they don’t haveany choice except to manipulate young mindsto blow themselves up. and you explain their“added extremism” by pointing to drones?they were killing people long before drones.How on earth can we allow anyone to explainkillings of shias and anP workers (by ttP ortheir offshoots/sympathisers) by pointing todrones and saying “the drones turned me intoa crazy”. anyone who buys that reasoningneeds to be on a couch—with a shrink.

and the next time you want to negotiatewith them or explain their barbarism, askyourselves this: if a robber comes into yourhouse, kills your family and is taking awaywhatever you have earned, will you start ne-gotiating with him when he says that he didit only because he had one loaf of bread andnot the two that you had? Does it makesense for him to say that since you weren’tsharing your wealth in the way he deemed

fit (or that he saw someone else’s loaf beingstolen), you are a target? Why don’t we stopgoing after ordinary groups of dacoits too?Let’s negotiate with everyone. no bullets orguns. the logic is the same. i am sure theycould argue that an oppressive system ismaking people turn into criminals, so let’snot go after anyone breaking the law! Whyjust limit the “oh poor you, victim you” for-giveness to ttP in the context of drones?

ttP is not killing us over a territorial dis-pute. they are not even the LttE (sri Lanka).they are not taking up arms to protect a ma-jority subjugated to oppression by minority (ajustification used by anC, Mandela included,at one point). Hakeemuallah Mehsud is noMandela. ttP’s claim is not about religion.they are not competing in elections like otherislamist parties. their claim is about power—naked, absolute power. if you agree with them,you live. if you don’t, you die. they are tellingyou that they will tie a bomb to your seat at thenegotiations table and you say negotiate? Havewe completely lost our moral compass?

to those favouring negotiations, i say this:Why don’t you first set up neighbourhoodcommittees to negotiate with every band of“misunderstood” criminals looting your area?Why don’t you tell the police not to shoot at acriminal aiming a gun to your head, since “vi-olence is bad”? i might take you seriouslythen. till that day, i want to stand for therights of minorities, for the rights of thedaughters of Pakistan to go to school, to work,to wear and say what they want. and peoplewho blow up my cities, kill my country’s chil-dren, soldiers, politicians, its diverse sects?We are at war with them and their offshoots.

in the rewritten constitution of the tal-iban Republic of Pakistan, our worst night-mares will come true. no easy choices herethen. When they spill our blood, we can’t lookaway. no one is advocating denial of trials tothose who are caught but stop pretending weare not at war. and if you don’t like blood, isuggest you look away. But those favouringnegotiations have already been looking away.

the rest of us are in the fight of our lives.and we are doing it for the sake of our chil-dren, so that we can look them in the eye.knowing our children can go to school and canmake their own choices will be a better feelingthan telling our children, “You know what, youcan’t go to school, honey, but don’t worry, wegot here because we didn’t want to spill blood.”

The writer is a Barrister, holds a Mastersdegree from Harvard Law School and apartner at a law firm. Contact:[email protected] or Twitter@wordoflaw. Views expressed here arestrictly his own and not that of his law firm’s.

But then this is politics

looking for greater gains

as the almost five-year long PPP tenure nears its end, two ofits major coalition partners have started looking for newallies. When coalitions are made not on the basis ofprinciples or common political programmes but purely to

attain or retain power, this should not come as a surprise. the MQMand PML-Q provided the PPP the support that allowed it to remainin power despite it not enjoying a majority in the national assembly.in return, the two extracted as much benefit as they could garnerfrom sharing power. now that elections are about to be held they feelfree to choose new partners. the MQM tried hard to establish a basein Punjab or kP but failed. the PML-Q lost its erstwhile clout inPunjab after 2008. Both are keen to hitch a ride on what they see asan emerging juggernaut. is it the proverbial magician’s wand that isbringing tahir-ul-Qadri, imran khan and Ji together?

information Minister Qamar Zaman kaira has expressedfrustration over MQM’s decision to join tahir-ul-Qadri’s march onislamabad. He fails to understand why a party which is sitting in thegovernment should become a part of “a conspiracy to delay electionsand derail democracy in the country”. Fawwad Choudhry calls thedecision “illogical” at a time when the country was entering into theelection phase. But this is politics, not a game of chess playedaccording to set rules.

neither the MQM nor the PML-Q is coming out of the coalition.not yet. they still want elections to be held on time. What they arepresently doing is testing waters. it is not unusual to inventrationalisations for actions dictated in fact by personal or partyneeds. the MQM has suddenly discovered a soul mate it has beenwaiting for all this time in the form of tahir-ul-Qadri. it is nowitching to join the long march to put an end to “this feudal andoutdated system”. it would be futile to point out that the party hadnot only been a part of the ‘system’, if by that it means the PPP rule,but also instrumental in sustaining it all these four years plus. thePML-Q too has “cogent reasons” for abandoning the PPP, if it isforced to. Didn’t it have similar reasons when it parted company withnawaz sharif? as a PML-Q leader has explained it, the PPP is leavingthe field open for the PML-n in Punjab. Meetings to agree on jointcandidates have not been called in violation of the agreement. thePPP has failed to address the grievances of its ally.

the MQM and PML-Q have multiple choices, including formingjoint panels with their senior partner. the PPP has none other thanyielding to their demands called ‘reservations’. Call it illogical,immoral, or anything else. But this is what politics is all about: theart of the possible.

ttP is about powerThe naked and absolute one

legally SpeakingBy Waqqas Mir

“I want to live”

Arif NizamiEditor

Lahore – Ph: 042-36375963-5 Fax: 042-32535230Karachi – Ph: 021-35381208-9 Fax: 021-35381208

Islamabad – Ph: 051-2287273Web: www.pakistantoday.com.pk

Email: [email protected]

Dedicated to the legacy of the late Hameed Nizami

Border CrossingsBy Kuldip Nayar

The system requires overhauling


Comment 11


the writ of the statethe modern state may exist geographically

on the map of the world, but it collapses if withinits boundaries, militias, mafias or groups existwhich collect extortion in full knowledge of stateinstitutions and armed groups defy constitutionalwrit of the state to enforce rule of law, disregardjudiciary and threaten lives of law abidingcitizens. Pakistan has failed in performing itsvital task of regulating state institutions, itseducation, health or taxation systems andperformance of its security apparatus. it hasfailed to keep a check on entry and exit ofcriminals and foreign mercenaries. While thestate absolved itself of its primary functions tocollect taxes and protect lives and property of itscitizens, its various institutions became involvedin tasks which were never assigned to them, norwere such areas within their jurisdiction.

the armed militias under the banner of ttPor militant ethnic and sectarian groups, if allowedto exercise control over defined areas within thecountry, pose a threat to Pakistani state, which ismore dangerous than the threat of an externalaggression. While paid servants of the state live inislands of prosperity surrounded by a sea ofconfusion and anarchy, the state has failed toenforce its writ upon them. any institution, apolitical or religious group which raises funds andsupports armed militias has defied the writ of thestate and is guilty of usurping the constitution.Once such groups are allowed to be formed, theyalways turn on their mentors.

the world has seen how anarchy has ruinedsomalia and reduced it to a pariah state, whichwhile existing geographically, has been reduced to anon-functional territory where law of jungleprevails. somalia, once a functional country, hasbecome a dysfunctional society because pressuregroups and state institutions became morepowerful than the state. there is no doubt thatPakistan cannot be compared to somalia of today,nor can somalia be compared to what it was almostthree decades ago. We are in what in aviation isknown as a recoverable stall, which was the statusof somalia 30 years ago. it is only a matter of timethat somalia will either disintegrate or will bewiped out as a separate entity because it hasbecome a cancer, threatening passage ofinternational trade on high seas, in violation ofinternational laws and Un Charter. almost threedecades ago, the somali pirates and feudal warlordsspread terror in its cities and towns, exploitingeither religion or ethnicity to pursue their agendas,today they terrorise international ships.

MALIK TARIQ ALILahore

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Pakistan Today, 4-Shaarey Fatima Jinnah,Lahore, Pakistan

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enlisting the 20 most influential individuals of the year

Person of the year 2012

new Year’s Day is when we all take a lookback at the previous year, sifting the mem-orable moments from the not-so-memo-

rable ones. and while we do precisely that, we’dalso be mulling over the most significant people,and try to conjure the list of the most influentialindividuals of the year, culminating in the Personof the Year 2012. Here’s our top 20:

20. Suicide bomberstruck 36 times, killing 306, and injuring 559.

Few managed to make more headlines, and fewerstill managed to rubberstamp their entrance intoheaven.

19. Conspiracy theoristHad a remarkable year, even by his astronom-

ical standards. Creative highlights include the‘Malala and bullet’ theory, the tattoo hypothesisand the ‘taliban don’t exist’ revelation.

18. Dual nationality holdersat in the parliaments and the courts, governed

the country, with the possibility of an escape routeto a gaudy mansion abroad still very much intact.

17. Dollar and rupeetied for 17th, their achievements wouldn’t be

properly appreciated without juxtaposing one withthe other. the latter reached new lows as the for-mer skyrocketed to its apogee, nearing the 100-rupee mark. the Pakistani rupee would soon bethe new cent.

16. PTI criticFew have the cojones to tackle the predatory

beast that a Pti fan is. the Pti critic had to dealwith unoriginal abuses, hysterical threats, allega-tions of being sharif-funded, impolite referencesto his family members and unpleasant questionsregarding his birth as the beast continues to prowlaround for blood.

15. Ehsanullah Ehsanspokesperson of the year, Ehsanullah repre-

sented ttP with vigour and integrity. Remainingcalm amidst heated arguments with journalists, hecontinued to make a mockery of religious apolo-gists’ claims that accused the taliban of lackingideological understanding.

14. The gatekeeperHad to keep an eye on Familygate, Mediagate

and even remnants of Memogate, as journalists andeditors continued to be unoriginal with their head-

lines. the Watergate custodian still occasionallyscreams out in his grave owing to media’s banality.

13. Armchair revolutionaryPointed out everything that’s wrong with the

country, launched e-Jihad on social media andshowcased selective conscience to maximise ‘likes’and retweets. Might have invoked a fraction of theclamoured change, had he managed to log out ofFacebook and twitter.

12. Pakistan hockey fanDidn’t carry devotion on his sleeve, whine end-

lessly on social media or summon tedious ‘in-law’jokes every time we played india. He patientlywatched his team take baby steps towards retrac-ing old glory with a podium finish in the Champi-ons trophy and gold in its asian version. it was apromising year for Pakistani hockey fans – allthree-and-a-half of them.

11. DoctorsDr asim Hussain had remarkable gas troubles,

Dr Hafeez shaikh flaunted amazing budgetary the-atrics, Dr shakil afridi redefined “treason”, Dr aQkhan bolstered his plagiarising credentials and Drtahir-ul-Qadri threw a very popular spanner inthe political works. Meanwhile, YDa convenientlyforgot what they had signed up for, to generatevolumes of racket.

10. CNGHardly anyone was more in demand through-

out the year, but like a true rock star CnG kept thehordes waiting and waiting. One look was neverenough of course, which is why masses plannedtheir daily, weekly and even monthly schedulekeeping the celebrity’s timings in mind.

9. Dav WhatmoreComfortably the most influential person of the

year in the linguistic realm, Whatmore managedto add Punjabi to sinhala, tamil and Bengali in hisimpressive array of foreign languages. Pronouncesswear words with a seamless Faisalabadi accent;and his instinctive Punjabi expletives every timeshahid afridi attempts a cross-batted slog are atreat for the ears. He is the noam Chomsky of theindian subcontinent.

8. BlasphemyWith a larger than life persona, Blasphemy

shook the nation continually. Pointed fingers,brought the country out on the roads, burned peo-ple and property, generated fear in hearts andhogged editorials throughout the year. While Blas-phemy lived inside every single one of us, we onlymanaged to see her in others – that’s the magictrick she plays on all of us.

7. Iran-Pakistan pipelinea love polygon that had more sides than one

could imagine, iP is arguably the most romanticstory of the year. a grumpy american uncle, a half-hearted Chinese friend, a Russian businessmanand a turkmen beauty all played their part with ‘i’eventually giving ‘P’ the money to buy the bouquetthat’d win i’s heart. as an international sub-plot,many a leader threw their toys out of the pramover iP – one of those that Vladimir Putin threwhit s M krishna on his head in October.

6. rehman Malik’s barberEn route to completing his ‘cobbler to barber’

transition, he synthesised his masterpiece atopPakistan’s interior minister – one that Legros deRumigny would’ve been proud of. While his “Ex-ploded nest Cut” made Malik the fashion icon ofthe year, being the mastermind behind the milliondollar idea of blocking cell phones to ensure na-tional security, the hairdresser is also our militarystrategist and security analyst of the year.

5. ZionistRegularly getting undue credit, Zionist man-

aged to influence every crucial event in the countrywithout actually doing anything. some call himoverhyped, while the majority believes he has thestrings of this country tied to his belt. Rarely hassomeone enjoyed so much acclaim in a countrythey have nothing to do with.

4. BhuttoHe’s alive, emerges out of every house, and

rules the country with a rusty iron fist. His childrenwere regularly paid homage to, the ‘spiritual son’ –the president of the country – smiled teethfully onhis way to a historic term completion, the grandsonflaunted his political credentials as the quasiBhutto for the Generation Z. Remembered by themasses on January 5 and april 4, Bhutto’s achieve-ments were also recalled by many on December 16.

3. Veena Malikan ideological scholar who didn’t carry religion

on her sleeves, when she wore clothes that havesleeves, or other crucial fragments of dresses forthat matter. With ‘astaghfaar’ Veena beat competi-tors like Junaid ‘religious-authority-on-potato-snacks’ Jamshed, amir (insert swear word) Liaquatand Maya ‘you-shall-not-date’ khan as the most in-demand tV host during Ramadan. While many ascholar ridicules religion on a daily basis, Veena’smockery was the only one that caught the eye.

2. Swiss postmanOne former prime minister was always bad at

letter writing, be it in his grade 5 examination orwhen he wrote love letters to his college sweet-heart. and so he bit the dust when the supremeCourt tested his letter writing skills. His successorscribbled down what was asked of him. Our sec-ond most influential person of the year culminateda 30-month saga when he rang the bell at theheadquarters of the swiss authorities in Geneva.

1. YouTubeBecame public enemy number one in septem-

ber, and then left the country. it is 105 days andcounting since then, and masses don’t miss theirblood relatives as much as they miss Youtube.Even those who burned down the country protest-ing against Youtube used proxy servers to gain ac-cess. Like a true tease, Youtube played a cameo on29th December to give us a flashback of the beau-tiful – yet oh so distant – past. Youtube is withouta doubt the Person of the Year 2012.

The writer is Editor, Business/City (Karachi), Pakistan today. Email:[email protected], Twitter:@khuldune

By Kunwar Khuldune Shahid



12

KrISteN Stewart was spotted

wearing a sweater advertising a strip

club while arriving at LAX

airport on Saturday. Kristen, who

was heading to London to spend

New Year’s eve with r-Patz, apparently

gave some free publicity to Mary’s

Strip Club in Portland, Oregon - the

place where she made many happy

memories filming most of the ‘twilight’

movies. the club’s logo was emblazoned

on the back of the open hoodie, along

with a printed outline of a topless lady.

Apparently it boasts the “finest”

topless girls in the country. NeWS DeSK

Kristen Stewart a bigfan of strip clubs?

KhYBer Pakhtunkhwa Information Minister

Mian Iftikhar hussain said the stage drama on

the life of prominent Pashtun poet and writer,

Khushal Khan Khattak would be presented in the last

week of January 2013. he said this while chairing a

meeting called to discuss the preparation for staging

the stage drama on legendary Pashto poet. the

minister said that it was need of the hour to adopt

the philosophy and thoughts of Khushal Khan Khattak

for proper guidance of the young generation. he said

that KPK government has started a plan to stage

special theater plays and dramas on the life on

prominent Pashtun leaders. the participants of the

meeting reviewed in detail various aspects of the

scripts of the proposed stage drama and took various

decisions in this regard. Iftikhar congratulates newly

elected cabinet of PPC: the Khyber Pakthunkhwa

Minister for Information, Mian Iftikhar congratulated

Nasir hussain over his election as President Peshawar

Press Club. AGeNCIeS

After the critical disappointment of Quantum

of Solace and financial troubles at studio MGM,

a new Bond film may have seemed like a

gamble. Yet, Skyfall has paid off spectacularly after it

became the first film in box office history to take more

than £100m in the UK. the news comes a day after it

emerged the 23rd film in the Bond franchise had taken

more than $1bn worldwide, the most successful in the

50 year series. Skyfall, which stars Daniel Craig and

Judi Dench, has now taken more than previous record

holder Avatar in the UK, which raked in £94m at the

box office. Craig has signed up for two more films as

Bond, with the latest in the series expected possibly as

early as 2014. NeWS DeSK

Skyfall becomes first film in historyto take £100m at British box office

Stage play on Khattak life’s

NEWS DESK

2012 was the Year of the 100 crore film — some gotthere and some just crashed and burned trying. thethree khans – salman, sRk and aamir – had re-leases in 2012 and maintained their ruling status inthe business with profitable numbers, with salmanoutdoing everyone at the box office with his massivehits – Ek tha tiger in august and Dabangg 2 in De-cember.

2013 seems like the Year of the script & story,the biggest casualties in 2012’s biggest films, goingby the year’s first release. Matru ki Bijlee ka Man-dola will be the year’s first release, hitting theatreson 11 January.

Directed by the multi-faceted writer-director-musician Vishal Bhardwaj, it stars imran khan andanushka sharma in leading parts along with sha-bana azmi and Pankaj kapur. the film is set in a vil-lage, Mandola, and has the three principalcharacters engaged in each other’s lives in a comical,thrilling and romantic way.10 things about the film that you want to know: 1. imran khan and anushka sharma are paired

for the first time in a film, both having made

their film debuts in 2008.2. this is Vishal Bhardwaj’s seventh film as

director after Makdee (2002), Maqbool(2003), the Blue Umbrella (2005), Omkara(2006), kaminey (2009, and saat khoon Maaf(2011).

3. Matru.. too, like Vishal’s earlier films, has beenwritten and directed by him and he’scomposed the music too. But this time around,Vishal has sung a song too called khamokha, alove ballad which has been written by Gulzar.

4. Harry Mandola (Pankaj kapur) is amillionaire alcoholic, living in the village ofMandola, who has an Oxford-educateddaughter Bijlee (anushka sharma) with aMan Friday sort of Delhi-educated boy,Matru (imran khan), in their midst. a localpolitician, referred to as Mantriji (shabanaazmi), is highly revered in the area andMandola wants his daughter to marry herson. this is the general plot line of the filmthat looks very promising on theentertainment front, from its trailers.

5. Possibly after amar akbar anthony back in1977, a mainstream Hindi film has its

principal cast in the title of a film — Matru(imran khan), Bijlee (anuskha sharma), andMandola (Pankaj kapur).

6. Matru ki Bijlee ka Mandola is imran’s ninthfilm after his debut in Jaane tu Ya Jaane na in2008 and anushka’s seventh film after herdebut in Rab ne Bana Di Jodi, also in 2008.

7. imran and anushka share a wicked sense ofhumour off screen and are good friends in thereal sense of the very abused term inBollywood.

8. this is the third time Pankaj kapur is workingwith Vishal, having worked with him in theBlue Umbrella, Maqbool and now, Matru..

9. Matru.. is already a highly anticipated release,not only because it is Vishal’s film, but alsowith it’s quirky trailers that have a rustic edgeto them, including the dialogue and songs. Foxstar studios and Vishal Bhardwaj Pictureshave partnered with tabCab to promote thefilm with 200 cabs branded with saucydialogues from the film, including the popularkachcha one.

10. Matru… releases three days before imran’sbig 30th birthday.

MATRU KI BIJLEE KA MANDOLA— 2013’s first release

NEWS DESK

if things go as per plans, she may just be the firstHollywood celebrity guest to visit india as we usherin the new Year. But, actor naomi Watts will haveserious things on her mind this time, including thepossibility of being on actor aamir khan’s issue-based reality show, satyamev Jayate, that eventook him to the cover of the time magazine. “iwould like to participate in aamir khan’s show,which is a fantastic platform, to createawareness about the rehabilitation oftsunami and earthquake victims. it’sbeen eight years since this tragedyaffected so many lives and many arestill suffering. there is a sense ofurgency required to createawareness for these victims.and, i was told that aamirkhan’s show has a hugefollowing in india; i thinkthat’s one way to inducepeople to come forwardand help in their own way,”says the 44-year-old, who willbe seen playing the role of a real lifetsunami survivor, Maria Belon inher new flick, the impossible. thefilm is the true story of a spanishfamily who faced the natural disasterin 2004 while vacationing inthailand. the film will hit indianscreens this week and Watts isplanning to come to india topromote the same and meet real lifetsunami victims here.

MJ gets 15k poundsrug refundstaffs at a posh shop were left stunned when they wereasked for a refund on a rug Michael Jackson bought threeyears ago. the star’s entourage took the 15,000-poundcarpet that was still neatly rolled and unused at the WestLondon store for refund. they said Jacko had personallypicked out the lavish 12ft by 9ft silk and wool floorcovering after spotting it on the shopwebsite in 2009, the sunreported. the singer wantedto place it in his dressingroom at the O2 arena forhis final concert dates, butdied before he ever had achance to use it. staffs atthe Rug Company inexclusive Holland Parkwere left stunned whenaides returned with itasking if they couldhave their moneyback. Despite thelong time gap staffdid give back themoney. a RugCompany insider saidthat they paid a fullrefund as it wasunused and inimmaculatecondition. the firm,which also suppliesMadonna with rugsfor her tours, hassince put the rugback on sale.NeWS DeSK

I would like to participate inAamir Khan’s show: Naomi Watts


13


MIDDleTONS‘ Little Prince’ cash-in?

NEWS DESK

in time for kate’s pregnancy, theMiddleton’s Party Pieces website isselling a range of baby items. the siteincludes ‘Little Prince’ and ‘LittlePrincess’ party pack offerings. Earlierin 2012 the Middletons were quick tooffer Royal Wedding and DiamondJubilee paraphernalia. so, doaccusations of cashing in standup?

BUSINESS OPPOrTUNITYMany will think so. Howeverthe sort of things they sellproved popular some timebefore kate Middleton marriedPrince William. the Middletonsrun a private business. it mightnot be to your taste, butthey’re good at it (asevidenced by a new multi-million pound home). it alsoprovides employment for atleast 30 people. Partysupplies businessespromoting prince andprincess - not to mentionparty bags, plastic straws,christening and other stuff -from tot-land have been aroundfor ever. if they weren’t pushing somekind of prince-and-princess product, arival would.

DUMBO’S PArTYand if you’re daft enough to pay £22.80for the Middleton’s Dumbo Ultimate Partykit or £25.37 for the Princess Castle FunUltimate Party kit with FREE Castle FunLootbags (the wording is a bit unfortunate),that’s your issue. it’s not clear whether theLittle Prince or Little Princess party packsare actually new (we’ve asked the companyfor confirmation), though the PrincessCastle Fun pack is a new product. However,if you were kate Middleton you mightprobably feel a bit embarrassed: Mum &Dad churning out the animal bath toysand Princess-for-a-Day Party Cups(£2.69 for a packet of eight) andbunting in Berkshire while katemingles with the great, the goodand dull.

NEWS DESK

Off the back of news that reality tV star kim kardashian ispregnant with her rapper boyfriend kanye West’s child,2013 is shaping up to be great year for ‘Wombwatch’, writesEmma Barnett. not only is the Duchess of Cambridgeexpecting her first child in 2013, ‘Wombwatch’, (as myfellow journalist Rosamund Urwin brilliantly calls thepregnancy police) now have the joy of tracking kimkardashian’s growing bump for the next six months. Let thebattle of the celebrity babies in 2013 commence. in onecorner you have the royal baby – who, if born girl – willmake history by being allowed to assume the throne despiteher formerly disadvantageous gender. in the other? thelatest baby to join the growing kardashian brood, who, likethe Duchess of Cambridge’s offspring, will live its life in thefull glare of the paparazzi. However, unlike the royal babe,

the kardashian-West child will betweeted about every time it movesits designer-clad body by its famousparents and thrust into the limelightat all possible opportunities. afterall, being a kardashian means youhave to subscribe to a truman-show-esque existence to earn yourkeep. Even the announcement ofkim and kanye’s babyhappened very publicly indeed– much to the apparent‘surprise’ of kardashian. Lastnight West, the excitedexpectant father, decided totell the world byannouncing it on stage atone of his concerts inatlantic City. the rappersaid “stop the music”, andthen announced “makenoise for my baby mamaright here,” with a widesmile – gesturing to ablushing kardashian satin the crowd – bumpand all. shucks.

The Best Nonfiction ofA decade ago, Anne

Applebaum wrote a

magisterial history of the

Soviet prison-camp

system. Now she shows

how the Soviet Union

imposed its totalitarian

will upon eastern

european nations

ravaged by World War II.

It was an age of forced

migrations and state

suspicion of every

activity.

Some 1.5 million

Americans fought in

Iraq between 2003 and

2011. their story is

told in monumental

detail in “the

endgame,” which

despite its title

is a full narrative—from

early victories to

civil war, the

success of the surge

and the American

withdrawal.

three immigrants put the

early republic on sound

economic footing: robert

Morris (from Liverpool),

Alexander hamilton (from

St. Croix) and Albert

Gallatin. their very

rootlessness, in thomas

McCraw’s telling, helped

them see the value of strong

money, credit and banks at

a time when the political

class was dominated by a

landed aristocracy.

If “no man is

a hero to his valet,”

what must he

be to his wife? Leo

tolstoy, fyodor

Dostoevsky, Osip

Mandelstam,

Mikhail Bulgakov,

Vladimir Nabokov and

Alexander Solzhenitsyn

each had a long-

suffering and

immensely gifted

spouse.

fred Astaire was our most

elegant film star. But he

danced in the shadow of a

partner, his glamorous

sister, Adele, until she

retired from the stage in

1932 and he headed off

to hollywood. Kathleen

riley chronicles this

sibling non- rivalry and

gives us a broad portrait

of a very American art

form, the Broadway and

hollywood musical.

Sincerity is

an old idea—and not

one always

appreciated, as we

often find “straight talk”

too much honesty. r.

Jay Magill Jr. shows how

our search for

plainspoken wisdom in

politics and

“authenticity” in food is

in fact part of a desire

for something deeper:

the sincere.

two decades after his

gripping memoir of what

it was like to be an anti-

apartheid Afrikaner, “My

traitor’s heart,” rian

Malan is finally back

with this collection of

his epic investigative

journalism, from his

account of the first rock

band to hit South Africa

(in 1969) to a disturbing

exploration of Africa’s

AIDS industry.

Numbers don’t, in fact,

speak for themselves.

Much has been made of

Nate Silver’s electoral

predictions. But his

impressive book explores

the principles of

prognostication in fields

from sports and politics to

Wall Street and the

weather. his “breezy style

makes even the most

difficult statistical material

accessible,” our reviewer.

iron curTain By anne applebaum (doubleday)

The endgaMe By Michael r. gordon and Bernard e. Trainor (Pantheon)

The FounderS and Finance By Thomas Mccraw (harvard)

SinceriTy By r. Jay Magill Jr. (norton)

The lion SleePS TonighT By rian Malan (grove)

The WiveS By alexandra Popoff (Pegasus)

The aSTaireS By Kathleen riley (oxford)

The Signal and The noiSe By nate Silver (Penguin Press)

KIM KARDASHIANis pregnant: let the battle ofthe celebrity babies begin

olivia wilde & Jason Sudeikis cheering Jayhawks at the american university in Kansas.


14Infotainment


Neil Armstrong’s ‘One smallstep’ phrase prepared months ahead of time

tHE famous “One small step for man” phrasethat neil armstrong uttered after firststepping onto the Moon was long thought to

have been decided upon after the spacecraft’slanding. a new interview with armstrong’s brother,however, suggests that the astronaut scripted theline months ahead of the mission. in the BBC biopicneil armstrong – First Man on the Moon, Deanarmstrong reveals that neil asked him what hethought of the quote while playing a game of Riskbefore leaving for Cape Canaveral. armstrong’sbrother also confirms that the astronaut hadoriginally written “for a man” despite the omissionof the “a” from the line’s transmission. the interviewruns counter to what armstrong says in his 2005biography, clarifying that the quote evolved over thecourse of the flight mission. But as Dr ChristopherRiley — the director of the BBC program — pointsout, armstrong had a good reason for doing so: “itwas probably easier to just say that he’d thought itup after landing, thus dodging the issue of wherethe words came from, and who maybe suggestedthem, or influenced him.” NeWS DeSK

Curiosity rover shoots new self-portrait

TSA agents ‘laugh’ at nude images

aiRPORt security is no laughing matter—except to tsa agents who clown around inback rooms and chuckle over “some of your

nude images, dear passengers,” a blogger writes.Purportedly an ex-tsa officer, the blogger claims tohave never seen or heard about illegal goings-on inscreening rooms where officers review passengers’X-ray images, the Daily Mail reports. But “iwitnessed light sexual play among officers, a lot of e-cigarette vaping, and a whole lot of officers laughingand clowning.” What’s more, the rule against officerssneaking a peek at passengers after reviewing theirX-ray images is occasionally broken. Why the badbehaviour? the blogger blames the tsa for hiringpeople “who are often fresh out of high school or aGED program ... with minimal training and even lessprofessionalism.” But even worse are the screeningdevices themselves, which “are useless, as i andmany, many others have previously pointed out. ...the entire thing was, as usual, a hare-brained, taxpayer money-wasting, disaster of an idea.” NeWS DeSK

4 most insane rulers of all time

Brits planned ships made of ice during WWII

WinstOn Churchill was so afraid of nazisubmarines targeting supply ships duringWWii that he flirted with building aircraft

carriers out of sheer ice, new scientist reports.knowing Britain could starve without Us supplies, heapproved a test project aimed at delivering 2,000-foot-long ice ships with 40-foot hulls that German torpedoescould never sink. Canadian scientists helped out bybuilding a model-sized version and reported goodresults—but the chief scientist was mortified whenBritain ordered 11 full-scale vessels. He knew thathuge carriers needed hulls made of stronger stuff.Herman Mark, a refugee chemist from austria,suggested building the ships from a new materialcalled pykrete that froze wood pulp mixed withwater. He even impressed Churchill by tossing apykrete sample into the British leader’s tub while hebathed, proving how slowly it melted. But Britaineventually scuttled the idea in favour of less zanydevelopments, like air bases in iceland and longer-range bombers. newly unearthed archives show thatnew Zealand also tested unusual technology duringWWii: underwater bombs designed to triggertsunamis in the Pacific. But kiwis shelved the“tsunami Bomb” in 1945 despite success in small-scaletesting, reports australia’s news network. NeWS DeSK

THE boring thing about moderndemocracy is that we almost never electtruly crazy people. Oh, sure, we’ll vote insomebody with mild eccentricities and wemay refer to some extremist as “crazy,”

but back when rulers took the throne based onlyon their bloodline, a nation could wind up underthe fist of someone who was literally “howl nakedat the moon” insane. Don’t get us wrong -- we’resure it was a nightmare for everyone involved. Butit does make for hilarious stories down the line.

1. Justin II of Byzantine

Justin ii was a sixth century emperor ofByzantine. also, apparently they let pretty muchanyone be emperor in those days, because Justinii was nuts. History remembers Justin mainly asa kind of terrible leader who wound up losingmost of italy to Persia, which, if you’re the em-peror of Rome, is dropping the ball pretty badly.But the ancient historian John of Ephesus re-counts some interesting facts about Justin’s per-sonal life, like how he would hear voices in hishead and scream and hide under his bed to escapethem. apparently, the only way his servants couldhelp him out was to play organ music throughoutthe palace to drown out the voices. that part ofthe story is key: the fact that nobody knew how totreat mental illness back then. so it wasn’t muchfun to be around the palace when Justin ii wentinto full crazy mode -- it’s said that when his ser-vants were rushing around trying to restrain him,he would fight back by biting them, often on thehead. Eventually, the servants had to go to greaterlengths to entertain him, and came up with a so-lution that would appeal to any toddler -- buildinga makeshift throne on wheels and pushing Justinaround the palace on it, to his great delight.

2. Charles VI of France Charles “the Mad” Vi was king of France from

1380 (when he was 12) to his death 1422, all during

the Hundred Years’ War with England, and whenyour country is fighting something called the“Hundred Years’ War,” it’s really unfortunate if theman sitting on the throne is nicknamed “Charlesthe Mad.” in 1392, during a trip through a forestto look for a fugitive who had attempted to murderan adviser of his, Charles Vi randomly attacked hisown knights, killing some of them, until they allmanaged to hold him down and carry him back tothe castle. they concluded that he was probablyjust under a lot of stress, as it was the first timethat Charles had shown signs of not really beingtotally right in the head. in the following years,Charles would go through episodes of forgettingpeople’s names, including his own, and the factthat he was king. Oh, and he would also runthrough his castle pretending to be a wolf, howlingat people. and he freaked out when people touchedhim because he thought he was made of glass.

3. Zhengde Emperor of China

the Zhengde Emperor was emperor of China inthe beginning of the 16th century, having taken thethrone at the age of 14, and as far as anyone couldtell, he remained 14 for the next decade and a halfof his rule. For instance, Zhengde liked to playgames of make-believe instead of, you know, run-ning a giant empire like he was supposed to be

doing. in fact, he built a whole fake city block on theimperial grounds where he would pretend to be ashopkeeper, to the puzzlement of his subjects, whowere forced to go along with it. Occasionally, he pre-tended he was a general and went on raiding parties(almost getting captured) with an army dressed allin silk, for some reason. Weirder still, he inventedfor himself an alter ego he named Zhu shou, whomhe would “order” on pointless raiding parties, to theexasperation of his government, who had to pretendthey weren’t just talking to the emperor in a wig.

4. Farouk of Egypt

the last ruling king of Egypt, king Farouk, wasas nutty as most of the world’s leaders seemed tobe during World War ii, and was ultimately thereason Egypt decided to pack it all in with thiswhole monarchy thing. known early in his reignfor his excessive partying and gambling, Faroukwas once described as a “stomach with a head”after he grew to over 300 pounds. according to hissister, he would drink 30 bottles of soda a day andeat caviar straight from the can. But gluttony ispretty much expected, if not mandatory, for a des-pot. that alone certainly would not qualify him forthis list. But more bizarre for someone with infi-nite money, Farouk was a complete kleptomaniac,once stealing a watch from Winston Churchill. Helater claimed to have simply found it lying around,but neglected to mention that he’d “found” it inChurchill’s pocket. another time, after havingnightmares about lions attacking him, Farouk de-cided to take a trip to the Cairo Zoo to see thelions. and by see them, we mean shoot them whilethey were in their cages, because that’s a perfectlyreasonable reaction to night terrors if you are in-sane. Finally, when Hitler’s army was preparingto invade Egypt, it’s safe to say that Farouk wasthe only world leader to send Hitler a telegramthanking him for coming to occupy his country.He didn’t like the British forces occupying hiscountry, and apparently he figured nazis weresomehow a step up. NeWS DeSK

German magazine mistakenlypublishes Bush obituary

GERManY’s respectednews weekly Derspiegel mistakenly

published an obituary sundayfor former U.s. presidentGeorge H.W. Bush, hoursafter a family spokesman saidthe 88-year-old wasrecovering from illness,reported by Usa today newswebsite. according to reportBush was hospitalized in Houston nov 23 fortreatment of a bronchitis-related cough and movedto intensive care on December 23 after hedeveloped a fever. On saturday, spokesman JimMcGrath said Bush was moved out of intensivecare into a regular hospital room again after hiscondition improved. the unfinished obituaryappeared on Der spiegel’s website for only a fewminutes sunday before it was spotted by internetusers and removed. in it, the magazine’s new Yorkcorrespondent described Bush as “a colourlesspolitician” whose image only improved when it wascompared to the later presidency of his son, GeorgeW. Bush. “all newsrooms prepare obituaries forselected figures,” the magazine said on its twitterfeed. “the fact that the one for Bush senior wentlive was a technical mistake. sorry!” APP

nasa’s released a new, stunning self-portraitof the Curiosity Mars rover, stitched togetherfrom dozens of high-resolution images.

the pictures were taken on October 31 andnovember 1 by the Mars Hand Lens imager(MaHLi), and show the rover at Rocknest.this is the spot in Gale Crater where the mis-sion’s first scoop sampling took place, and fourscoop scars can be seen in the sand in front ofthe rover. a fifth scoop was collected later.

nasa doesn’t just produce these por-traits to hang on the dining room wall: theyhelp mission engineers spot changes such asdust accumulation and wheel wear. MaHLi’slocation on the end of the robotic arm meansthat it’s the only one of the rover’s 17 cam-eras that can image some parts of the craft,including the port-side wheels. it’s possiblyworth pointing out that the reason that the

robotic arm can’t be seen in the photo is thatit’s out of shot in each of the images or partsof images used to create the composite pic-ture. a previous self-portrait, similarly basedon multiple photos, sparked suggestions on-line that the whole thing was faked.

this latest picture shows the rover’s ulti-mate destination, Mount sharp, in the back-ground, rising three miles above Gale Crater.Curiosity’s due to head off to the mountainsometime in February, in a journey that couldtake nine months. On the way, mission scien-tists plan to stop and sample several rocky out-crops. First, though, Curiosity is on anotherrock-hunting mission. it’s currently in an areaknown as Yellowknife Bay, which has a differ-ent terrain to those sampled so far. Over thenext month, it will drill into another rock andextract powder for analysis. NeWS DeSK



LAHORESTAFF RePORT

BanGLaDEsH said onMonday it had shelvedplans to become the firstcricket team to tour Pak-istan since a 2009 attack

on sri Lanka's bus, with the head of theboard saying there were fears for play-ers' safety.

"Bangladesh will not visit Pakistanfor now," Bangladesh Cricket Board(BCB) chief nazmul Hassan told re-porters in the capital Dhaka.

"We've made the decision after con-sidering the overall security situation inPakistan and the concern that our peo-ple have expressed over the safety of

their players." Bangladesh had earlierindicated that they would play atwenty20 and a one-day on January 12and 13 respectively, both in Lahore.

However officials did say that the deci-sion was subject to a security review.

Pakistan have had to play their'home' matches in venues ranging from

Dubai to London ever since gunmenshot dead eight people and woundedseven sri Lankan players in an auda-cious attack near the stadium in Lahorein March 2009.

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chair-man Zaka ashraf said on December 22that that their Bangladeshi counterpartshad confirmed that the tour was defi-nitely on.

However Hassan said thatBangladesh had now informed the Pak-istan board of its change of heart.

"We've sent a letter to Pakistan threedays ago explaining our position. We'vedecided to wait and see," said Hassan.

Bangladesh had also agreed to tourPakistan in april this year but the eventwas blocked by Dhaka high court.

Bangladesh shelves Pakistantour over security reason

LAHORESTAFF RePORT

Dashing Pakistan opener imran nazirhas advised all-rounder shahid afridi totake a break from international cricket torecover his confidence and form. "thereis no doubt that shahid bhai is goingthrough a bad patch and his luck is alsonot good. i have not seen such a long badpatch for any player," nazir said.

afridi was recently dropped by thenational selectors for the one-day seriesin india. they were hopes that if he per-formed well in the two t20 matches hewould be retained for the one-day seriesas well but after a sluggish performancein both games he returned home lucklesson saturday. the former Pakistan cap-tain has been going through a roughpatch in batting and bowling in recentmonths and the biggest debate in Pak-istani cricket circles is now about his fu-ture as an international player. "i haveno doubt that shahid bhai can still playfor a couple of years but right now iwould say he needs to take a break,"nazir, himself dropped from the nationalteam after the t20 World Cup, said.

"i think he is taking too much pres-

sure on himself and it is not helping hisconfidence. He should take a break fromthe game, work on his basics and comeback fresh for a new stint," nazir said ina television interview.

"i think Pakistan definitely needshim but not in this form. His energy andenthusiasm is important for the teamand he needs to get it back," nazir said.

Pakistan's experienced all-rounderabdul Razzaq also backed afridi, insist-ing that he should have been retainedfor the one-day series.

Razzaq, who was also dropped forthe t20 and ODi series against india,said that afridi's experience was still in-valuable to the team and he needed to begiven some confidence.

Meanwhile, afridi got into a argu-ment with a journalist at the airport onreturning from india after taking part inthe t20 international series.

afridi lost his cool when a televisionreporter asked him a somewhat stingingquestion: "aap nay chaka lagaya aurphir thos hogaya (you hit a six and thandeflated)."

the former Pakistani captain re-acted angrily and said that the journalistneeded to be careful with his questions.

"aap ko apni umar ka khyal karmachaiya aur is kisim kay sawaal nahi kar-nay chaiya. (You should think of yourage and should not have asked this kindof questions.) aap ko kya pata t20cricket ka ab zamana badal gaya hai ussitara khelna parta hai. (What do youknow about t20 cricket, we have to playlike that only)," retorted afridi.

the all-rounder, who was not re-tained for the ODi series against indiacame out of the airport terminal build-ing in a hurry and asked the reporters toask their questions quickly.

as afridi got into the argument withthe reporter, television channels showeda somewhat bemused sohail tanvirstanding behind him and looking on.

Afridi loses cool over Pakistan journalist's question

KALKOTACRICINFO

While captain Misbah-ul-Haq was happyPakistan managed to get off to a winningstart in the three-match ODi seriesagainst india, he believes the team stillhas a lot to work on, especially in the field.Pakistan, he said, were fortunate to walkaway with the six-wicket win in Chennai.

"today we were lucky, india gave usa tough time in this situation. they lostfive wickets early but still went on tomake 227," Misbah was quoted as sayingby Pti. "to win the next match, we willhave to work hard and improve a fair bit.We have to really improve our fielding,and our death-over and Powerplay bowl-ing. after these [changes to the] ODirules especially, we have to improve thebowling. "also, we have to improve ourbatting performances; we couldn't chasethe target down easily."

While Pakistan's victory-margin wasultimately comfortable, they lost a wicketoff the first ball of their innings when Mo-hammad Hafeez shouldered arms to aBhuvneshwar kumar inswinger. From

there on, it was slow and edgy progress forPakistan, who were 21 for 2 in the 11thover when azhar ali lobbed a catch tomidwicket. Opener nasir Jamshed wasfirm though, batting through the inningsfor 101 not out, and Younis khan was rel-atively positive for his 58, ensuring victory.

the hosts' top order too had struggledin this, one of the rare day ODis in india.Junaid khan had india reeling with a re-markable spell of swing bowling, in whichhe bowled Virender sehwag, Virat kohliand Yuvraj singh in the space of eight

balls. Both Misbah and india captain MsDhoni said that while it was outstandingbowling, the toss too was important. "itwas a good toss to win, but it was an ex-cellent spell by Junaid. there was some-thing for the bowlers but of you don'tbowl in the right areas when the ball isseaming, you don't get results," Misbahsaid. Dhoni agreed: "i think it was the tossto start with. after that they bowled well.When the ball is seaming or swinging, ifyou pitch it in the right areas it works.

"if you see their bowlers, they bowled upwhich was good. Generally on these kind ofwickets there will be temptation to bowlshort because there will be bounce and carry,but they made sure they bowled up and leftthe batsmen in trouble." With india totteringat 29 for 5 in the 10th, suresh Raina andDhoni began the rebuilding, adding 73 runs.Raina was out short of a half-century butDhoni, in extremely humid conditions,paced his innings and finished unbeaten.He was 34 off 78 balls without a boundary,got to 50 off 86 and was battling dehydra-tion when he launched, finishing with 113off 125. the innings won him the Man ofthe Match award ahead of Jamshed.

Kohli doubtful

for second oDi

against Pakistan

KOLKATAAGeNCIeS

indian batsman Virat kohli was onsunday rendered a doubtful starter forthe second One-Day international(ODi) against Pakistan to be held inkolkata on thursday after he suffered afoot injury in the first match at Chen-nai.kohli suffered the injury while bowlingthe 41st over of Pakistan's run chase.His backfoot slipped in the deliverystride and he landed on his knees. Helimped off the field and suresh Rainafinished off the last ball of the over.the Board of Control for Cricket inindia (BCCi) said kohli's condition willbe monitored and a decision on hisavailability for the second ODi will betaken over the next couple of days."Virat kohli, who sustained a foot in-jury while bowling in the first airtelODi against Pakistan at Chennai earliertoday, underwent an MRi scan after thegame," BCCi secretary sanjay Jagdalesaid in a release."all his major ligaments are fine. thereis minimal injury fluid in his knee. Hewill recover after treatment. His condi-tion will be monitored, and a decisionon whether he will play the second air-tel ODi at kolkata on 3 January 2013,will be taken over the next couple ofdays," the release said.

mcGrath to be

inducted into icc

cricket Hall of fameDUBAI

AGeNCIeS

the international Cricket Council todayannounced that former australia bowlerGlenn McGrath will be inducted into theiCC Cricket Hall of Fame on 4 January2013 during the lunch interval of thethird test match between australia andsri Lanka in sydney.McGrath becomes the 68th male mem-ber of the Hall of Fame and joins fellow2012-13 inductees West indian BrianLara and England’s Enid Bakewell inbeing recognized by the iCC and the liv-ing members of the Hall of Fame. WhileLara and Bakewell were inducted in sep-tember at the LG iCC awards, McGrathwill be inducted at his home ground ofthe sCG. a fourth and final inductee of2012-13 will be announced next summer.McGrath, who represented australia in124 test matches between 1993 and2007 claiming 563 test wickets at an av-erage of 21.64, and he is still taken moretest wickets than any other seam bowlercurrently in the game or retired.He also represented australia in 250ODis, claiming 381 wickets at an averageof 22.02 and was part of the australianside that won three successive iCCCricket World Cups – 1999, 2003 and2007 and he still holds the record withthe most wickets in iCC Cricket WorldCup competitions, with 71 scalps and hisfigures of 7-15 against namibia are thebest in the competition’s history.

Pakistan, india teams

arrive in KolkataKOLKATAAGeNCIeS

india skipper Mahendra singh Dhoni,coach Duncan Fletcher, all-rounderRavindra Jadeja, ashok Dinda and Mo-hammad shami arrived today along withthe Pakistani contingent for the secondOne-Day-international slated for Janu-ary 3. the remaining team india playerswill arrive in batches tomorrow, CaBsources said. the players arrived by achartered flight from Chennai and weretaken to the team hotel amidst tight se-curity. they will remain at the hotel andwill be busy with private parties to usherin the new Year.the teams are slated topractice at the Eden Gardens tomorrowafternoon, the local manager said.

misbah keen on a moreclinical showing


Sports 16


LAHORESTAFF RePORT

InFURiatED PCB ChairmanZaka ashraf has shown hisfrustration by expressing dis-pleasure at the BangladeshCricket Board's (BCB) decision

to put on hold their proposed tour ofPakistan for the second time.

He reacted aggressively, saying thatPakistan will 'reconsider' its bilateralties with Bangladesh after the BCB, onceagain, backed down from going aheadwith the tour. Pakistan, he said, will notsacrifice their interests for those who donot honour their words.

ashraf as quoted by Cricinfo said, hehad not forced Bangladesh to tour. "ifthey don't want to come its their own de-cision and we didn't force them," Zakasaid. Bangladesh, he said, had con-firmed the tour to the PCB and the iCC,

"three times and still they backed off.now their own reputation is at stake. ifthey don't want to respect their bilateralrelationship then we will also respond ina same manner."

the most immediate consequencesof this breakdown of relations betweenthe two boards over the controversialtour, will be felt at the Bangladesh Pre-mier League (BPL) which will begin onJanuary 18. the BPL is clashing with theQuaid-e-azam trophy, Pakistan's lead-ing first-class event.

Reports suggested that the PCB isunlikely to release most of the top crick-eters for the BPL.

"We will take a principled stance onBPL," ashraf said, "but one thing is sureour players might not be free as we aremaking our own arrangements fromnext year." He said that PCB-relatedcommitments may occupy most of theplayers' time and that, "they may not be

bothered for other things."the PCB has begun its preparations

for an impending tour after getting apositive response from the BCB. tendershad gone out, inviting sponsorship bidsfor a series title sponsor, two co-spon-sors and in-stadia advertising rights fortwo international matches (one ODi andone t20). the PCB has also moved thedomestic first-class Quaid-e-azammatches, scheduled between January 7and 22 away from the Gaddafi stadiumin Lahore to accommodate the proposedmatches against Bangladesh.

ashraf said, it was "almost con-firmed" that Bangladesh would tourPakistan, but found it "strange" thatthey had pulled out from their commit-ment. the PCB's efforts to revive inter-national cricket in Pakistan, accordingto ashraf, was on track. "soon we willmanage to get a better team to tour Pak-istan than Bangladesh."

PCB reacts sternly toBangladesh refusal

laHore: Shaheen butt holds the Home child, which drew sixth win of the season, upset favourite little

baby at the lahore race club. bab Jee came second while little baby was third.

Man City draw on recent memory for New Year title fightLONDON AGeNCIeS

Champions Manchester City go into 2013facing a daunting seven-point deficit onPremier League leaders ManchesterUnited and a testing encounter againststubborn stoke City on tuesday.

Roberto Mancini's side ended theyear which delivered their first PremierLeague title with a gritty 4-3 triumphover norwich City, proving their high-profile players also have the mettle for afight. it is early days in the long title run-in but United, who travel to Wigan ath-letic on new Year's Day, are traditionallystrong in the second half of the campaign.

Mancini, however, does not need totrawl the memory banks too far for inspi-ration as United threw away an eight-point advantage with only six games leftto play last season.

"We showed we are there for the

title," Mancini said after his team dis-played their steely core to beat norwichdespite samir nasri's sending-off just be-fore halftime.

"We won't leave this title easily andwill fight every game. With 10 players theguys were fantastic. For us, now it is notimportant to look at the table.

"We only need to work, to win asmany games in a row as we can, andmaybe in February we will look again atthe table."

stoke's trench-warfare approach maynot win many plaudits from the aesthet-ically minded but they will certainly pro-vide City with a physical challenge.

they are one of the Premier League'smost resilient teams and have gone 10matches without defeat after clawingback from 3-1 down to draw 3-3 withsouthampton on saturday.

they are far from the league's besttravellers, however, having won only

once away from home all season, and willbe without suspended midfielder stevenn'Zonzi. United, who kept a clean sheetfor the first time in seven matches in the2-0 win over West Bromwich albion onsaturday, should be able to call on defen-sive reinforcements in Phil Jones andRafael for the trip to Wigan.

Jones missed last week's victory overnewcastle United after picking up aknock in the draw at swansea last week-end, while Rafael has not featured sincethe Manchester derby this month be-cause of a hamstring strain.

United's 1-0 defeat at Wigan late lastseason was a major factor in their failureto win the title but it was their first Pre-mier League loss to their north-westneighbours in 16 matches. two teamsenjoying a renaissance following mid-season wobbles are arsenal and Chelseawho have both won their last four leaguegames.

everton's colemansigns new long-term contractLONDON : Everton defender seamusColeman has signed a new five-and-a-halfyear contract, the Premier League clubsaid on Monday. the ireland interna-tional joined Everton in 2009 from sligoRovers and has made 49 appearances forthe club. "i'm over the moon," the rightback said on the club website (www.ever-tonfc.com). "i'm glad to get it all done andto sign for so long at a club like Everton isa great achievement - i want to be here foras long as possible."AGeNCIeS

everton boss

moyes sorry over

ref confrontationLONDON: Everton manager DavidMoyes has apologised to referee HowardWebb for confronting him to question adecision at the end of his team's 2-1 defeatto Chelsea on sunday. "it is a hard job thereferees have. i was wrong to do that,"Moyes told the BBC. "i thought it was afree kick on Leon Osman on the edge ofthe box in the 92nd minute by (Frank)Lampard and he didn't give it," he added."i've apologised to Howard Webb after-wards because i shouldn't do that com-ing off the pitch." Manchester Unitedmanager alex Ferguson was criticised forhis outburst at referee Mike Dean duringhis team's 4-3 win over newcastle Unitedlast week. the United boss was fumingafter Dean awarded newcastle's secondgoal, over-ruling his assistant who hadflagged for offside. AGeNCIeS

CAPE TOWN AGeNCIeS

new Zealand have done absolutelynothing to suggest they can upsetsouth africa in the first test of the two-match series beginning at newlandson Wednesday - and that may be theirgreatest weapon.

not for generations have expecta-tions been lower before a test series.the hosts hold a commanding five-point lead at the top of the worldRankings while new Zealand languishin eighth place, ahead only ofBangladesh and Zimbabwe.

the last time the Black Caps werein south africa, in november 2007,they were humiliated in both testmatches, failing to reach 200 in fourinnings and losing by margins of 358runs and an innings and 59 runs.

south africa fast bowler Dalesteyn began his ascent to the top of theworld bowling rankings by taking 20wickets at a little over 10 runs apiece.

steyn is still top of the world rank-ings but now he has two team matesfor company in the top 10, Vernon Phi-lander in second place and MorneMorkel in sixth. new Zealand's 38-year-old seamer Chris Martin is theleading kiwi in 17th place.

a look at the batting rankings iseven more bleak for the touring side.not only do south africa have anotherthree men (Hashim amla, Jacqueskallis and aB de Villiers) ranked in thetop 10 - with Graeme smith at number13 - but the tourists have just one, and

he is not on the tour. the saga of Rosstaylor's embarrassing sacking as cap-tain is still haunting the managementteam and further holes in the first-choice Xi have been created by in-juries to all-rounders Daniel Vettoriand tim southee.

But filled they will be, and by menwho will take to the crease with bat orball in the knowledge that even the op-timism of their closest friends andfamily will be based more on hopethan expectation.

the same cannot be said of thehome side. such is the weight of expec-tation on them that one suspects theycannot satisfy it. Certainly, victoryalone will not suffice. south africafans have not seen their test team onhome soil in 2012 and they are expect-ing to see them now in all their glory.

Coach Gary kirsten, understand-ably, has tried to play down those ex-pectations.

"the success of our team in 2012was based on the fact that we re-mained humble in our play, we nevertook any situation or any team forgranted," kirsten told reporters.

"We made sure that our prepara-tion was spot on and that, when we gotinto test match time, we set up solidfoundations to give ourselves the bestchance of success. We will treat thisseries no differently."

the Proteas need to win bothmatches simply to maintain theirlead in the test championship. adrawn series would see them loseground to second-placed Englandwhile an unlikely defeat would dropthem to second.

italy's aS romaplans new stadiumfor 2016 season

MILAN AGeNCIeS

italian top-flight soccer team as Romahopes to be playing in its own brand-newstadium in four years' time as the loss-making club seeks to raise its profile andboost revenue.as Roma's plan comes after Juventus,currently top of serie a, became the firsttop italian club to own its own groundhaving built a 41,000-seat stadium in-stead of relying on the stadio delle alpiwhich it had to share with torino.such purpose-built modern facilitiescould help italy in any future bid to hosteither a World Cup or European Champi-onship.as Roma said on its web site the sta-dium, which will be privately financedand located in the southwest of the city,will have a seating capacity of between55,000 and 60,000."it's been a long process but from thenew ownership point of view we've beenworking on it for the last year. it showsour belief in italy and the italian econ-omy," Roma President James Pallottasaid in a comment.as Roma, currently sixth in serie a, al-ternates with cross-city rival ss Lazio inborrowing the publicly-owned stadioOlimpico venue for its games.Public ownership of stadiums is commonin italy but leaves clubs unable to mod-ernise their facilities and make moneyfrom mega-stores and restaurants, as dothe likes of Manchester United and Bay-ern Munich.

redknapp

confident QPr will

avoid the dropLONDON AGeNCIeS

Queens Park Rangers manager HarryRedknapp is confident his side will es-cape relegation despite a 3-0 defeat toLiverpool on sunday that left the westLondoners rooted to the foot of the Pre-mier League.QPR have won only once this season andare now eight points from safety with arun of testing fixtures looming. Chelsea,tottenham Hotspur and championsManchester City are three of their nextfour Premier League opponents."i still think we'll get out of trouble be-cause i will get one or two (new sign-ings) in, and there are some good ladshere as well," Redknapp said on theclub's website (www.qpr.co.uk). QPR re-placed former manager Mark Hugheswith Redknapp in november but therehas been no drastic improvement in re-sults.they were woefully short of defensivenous against Liverpool, handing topscorer Luis suarez the freedom of thefield in an erratic first 16 minutes whenthe Uruguayan scored twice.Club owner tony Fernandes said on histwitter site it had been a "woeful per-formance".

new Zealand face south african mountain to climb


Sports17


BRISBANE AGeNCIeS

Maria Sharapova said 2012 had beenthe most memorable year of her ca-reer after her victory at the FrenchOpen and carrying russia's flag at theopening ceremony of the LondonOlympics."A lot of things came together," shesaid in Brisbane on Monday. "It wasthe grand slam that was going to takea little bit longer than the others forme."I knew that physically I needed a fewextra years to get stronger to movemore efficiently on that surface," shesaid of her win on the French clay."The Olympic experience was one thatI'll never forget because it was myfirst time being an Olympian. I wasthe first russian female athlete tocarry the flag for my country, so itwas very emotional. It was such an in-credible experience."Sharapova, competing in this week'sBrisbane International tournament,said there was more depth inwomen's tennis than at any stage ofher 12-year career."It's much more physical than it hasbeen," she said."Maybe five years ago you go into atournament and you would treat thefirst couple of rounds as, you know,not as a warm-up, but you don't haveto go into the first round thinking,okay, this is where I really have to

play my best tennis."Now it's certainly much different be-cause you can be facing an opponentthat's had good results, beaten topplayers, hasn't been consistentenough but is a really tough, toughplayer."The inconsistency obviously showsthat their ranking is not high enough,therefore you're facing them in thefirst few rounds."It is a much stronger sport. And alsowith technology and racquets and im-provements of all the things we have.There are so many things in tennisthat in other sports you don't con-sider: the balls, the racquets, thestrings. That changes yearly."World No. 1 Victoria Azarenka, whowill defend her Australian Open titlein Melbourne, labelled this the tough-est era in the history of the women'sgame."I truly believe women's tennis is thehighest competition right now," shesaid. "We have a lot of girls who anygiven day can win a title and beat eachother."That's very exciting for the public tosee and it's exciting for us, the play-ers."It gives an extra motivation to knowthat I have to work hard because if Idon't, there is somebody that's goingto take my spot. For me personally, Ihave a lot of excitement for women'scompetition because I know that I al-ways have to be there."

Petkovic out of

australian open

PERTHAGeNCIeS

Luckless andrea Petkovic has been ruledout of the australian Open after suffering aknee injury in the Hopman Cup - and cre-ated an unusual piece of tennis history.With no German players available to takeher place in the team, she is expected to bereplaced by Donna Vekic of Croatia, thefirst time in the 25 years of Hopman Cupthat a player has been asked to represent anation other than their own.the German had powered into the top 10in the world last year when she sufferedback and ankle injuries which forced herout of action for seven months, her rankingtumbling to 126 as a result.she had to retire after winning the first setof her match in Perth against australia'sashleigh Barty, and scans have revealedshe has ruptured her meniscus whichmeans a month of recuperation and no tripto Melbourne. "i had an MRi this morningand they found out it is a rupture of themedium meniscus," Petkovic said."they don't know yet if they have to trim it.if they do it will be fine and i will only beout for a month. i could probably be play-ing already after two weeks, hitting balls.that would be really great."if they have to sew it up again it will taketwo to three months, but nonetheless i'mquite relieved that it wasn't the anteriorcruciate ligament as it was a very similarpain and symptoms to 2008 when i hadmy aCL torn in australia."My team and i are able to take it as tragi-cally funny. People are strange and actuallyget used to chaos in their life, and i gotused to a lot of mess this year."Every bad thing that could happen hashappened to me so there's nothing there tosurprise me anymore. i'm just hoping i canhave a quick recovery."

early auckland

exits for Zheng,

Kuznetsova

AUKLANDAGeNCIeS

Defending champion Zheng Jie and for-mer world number two svetlanakuznetsova were knocked out of theauckland Classic in the first round onMonday.Zheng raced to a 3-0 lead before losing13 of the next 16 games to go down 7-56-1 to american Jamie Hampton.the Chinese fourth seed followed in thefootsteps of Hungarian Greta arn, whocrashed out in the first round last yearafter winning the previous edition.kuznetsova, returning from a knee in-jury, lost 6-7(5) 6-2 7-5 to unseededDutch player kiki Bertens.the Russian, twice a grand slam winner,prevailed in a tense tie-break to win thefirst set, then took an extended break fora foot injury after losing the second be-fore Bertens won the deciding set.

Wozniacki bundled out of brisbane International

BRISBANE AGeNCIeS

CaROLinE Wozniacki'spreparations for the aus-tralian Open were in tatterson Monday after she wasbundled out of the Bris-

bane international by kazakhstan's worldno. 103 ksenia Pervak. Wozniacki's de-feat completed a disastrous 12 months inwhich the Dane relinquished the no. 1ranking and failed to threaten at any ofthe major championships.

the world no. 10 started strongly butwilted as Pervak, a 21-year-old qualifieron the comeback trail from a seriouspelvic injury, committed 61 unforced er-rors but still completed a 2-6 6-3 7-6 (7-1) victory for her first win against a top 10player. "Had a lot of long rallies and a lotof even games, and it just didn't go myway," she said.

"Obviously it's tough to lose 7-6 in thethird. it was a tough match. Could havegone both ways. she just went for it andit went in for her. Hopefully i can getsome more matches in sydney and bemore prepared for Melbourne."

Wozniacki said knee troubles hadhampered her during the year.

"You know, i'm still 10 in the world,"she said. "Just the most important thingis that you're healthy. i had some strug-gles with my health. Obviously that makesa difference. "But as long as i'm healthyand i can fight and be competitive, that isthe most important thing.

"You play the sport you love to do,and obviously it's more fun when you'rewinning. Right now in these situations it'snot so much fun. there is always the nextweek - i guess that's the good part about

tennis." Wozniacki, sporting a ring on herwedding finger, downplayed speculationshe was engaged to the golfer Rory Mcil-roy, who was among the spectators onMonday. "it was a Christmas present andit fit on this finger," she said. "i put it on,and all of a sudden i hear that i'm en-gaged. i'm not. it's already twice we'vehad to shut down engagement rumours.

"Don't worry, we will let you know ifthat time happens. We're just taking oneday at a time."

PERTHAGeNCIeS

novak Djokovic was given a fitnessscare in the build-up to his australianOpen defence at the Hopman Cup.

the serbian limped away from courtfollowing his singles win over andreasseppi, with a railing falling on his legwhile he signed autographs for fans.the 25-year-old recovered sufficientlyto partner ana ivanovic in the dou-

bles, though, as his country beat italy3-1 on day three of the tournament inPerth. it capped a hectic day forDjokovic, who was a late arrival onthe west coast after winning an exhi-bition event in abu Dhabi. He stillbeat seppi 6-3 6-4, even if he admit-ted to not being entirely present oncourt. "i arrived quite late last nightand didn't get a lot of hours of sleepand i felt like i was dream-walking,"he said after the match. "i broke theice after the first set and felt a littlebit better." With ivanovic having al-ready seen off Francesca schiavone 6-0 6-4, the duo then saw off theircounterparts 6-0 6-4. the australianOpen starts on January 14, withRafael nadal, who Djokovic beat inthis year's final, having already with-drawn citing illness.

Djokovic fine despite injury scare


Qatar Open tennis

Sports 18


watch it LiveESPNHOPMAN CUP: USA vs France03:15 PM

ESPNBARCLAYS LEAGUE: Man City vs Stoke City08:25 PM

Van Gerwen, taylor

reach finalLADBROKES

AGeNCIeS

Michael van Gerwen will face 15-timechampion Phil taylor in the LadbrokesWorld Darts Championship final.Van Gerwen went going agonisinglyclose to historic back-to-back nine-dartfinishes in his semi-final win over JamesWade.Van Gerwen was leading three sets toone but trailing 2-0 in the fifth set whenhe produced a perfect leg, matching theachievement of Dean Winstanley earlierin the tournament.the Dutchman hit a maximum 180, 177and then finished 144 on double 12 tosend the alexandra Palace crowd wild.and the fans were still on their feet mo-ments later when the speedy right-han-der hit two more maximums to start thenext leg and narrowly missed double 12for a checkout on 141.Remarkably, Van Gerwen did not evenwin the set, with Englishman Wadeholding his nerve to win the fifth leg andreduce his deficit.the left-hander won the next set as wellto make it 3-3, but Van Gerwen regainedhis composure to open up a 5-3 lead andlooked set to seal the win when heneeded 52 to win the ninth set.However, he hit single five instead of 12and ended up missing his only dart atdouble 20, allowing Wade in to make it5-4.Wade was unable to take further advan-tage though, Van Gerwen racing throughthe next set 3-0 to complete a hard-fought 6-4 victory and set up a final withtaylor, who also beat Raymond vanBarneveld 6-4 after letting slip a four-setlead."it was unbelievable," Van Gerwen said."it was a very difficult game for me be-cause Wade is a very slow player and ihad not beaten him on tV, but it was anice one to win."asked about attempting to hit his sec-ond nine-dart finish, Van Gerwen addedon sky sports 1: "i was very concen-trated, thinking 'Just carry on' because iwas 2-1 down in the set and i still lost it,but it's not about nine-dart finishes, it'sabout winning games."it's nice to be in the final of the WorldChampionships."the second semi-final between taylorand Van Barneveld appeared to be turn-ing into a damp squib as taylor cruisedto a 5-1 lead.

LONDONAGeNCIeS

Derry Mathews admits a rematchwith Anthony Crolla is top of hiswish list as he targets more mem-orable fights in 2013.

Mathews halted Crolla in athrilling battle to claim theBritish title in April, but he alsosuffered defeats to Emiliano Mar-sili, Gavin rees and Terry Flanni-gan in a rollercoaster last 12months for the Merseysider.

The busy lightweight signedoff with two stoppage wins and istargeting a string of return bouts,starting with Mancunian Crolla.

Crolla's recent English titlewin put him back on a collisioncourse with Mathews and the Liv-erpudlian would also relish a

clash with Scottish world cham-pion ricky Burns after rejectingthe chance to face him at late no-tice this month.

"The lads I really want to fightnext year are Anthony Crolla,Emiliano Marsili, Terry Flanni-gan and ricky Burns," he told theLiverpool Echo. "I owe Crolla arematch, I want to see what I willbe like against Marsili withDanny Vaughan in my corner andI would love to test myself againstBurns.

"The Flannigan fight is to putthe record straight for Prize-fighter and to see what he's likeover 10 rounds."

Mathews was reunited withold trainers Danny and GeorgeVaughan for the Crolla fight andhe believes the duo have breathed

fresh life into his career."I knew that if I was going to

take this fight then I needed tomake a change from the lastcamp," he said. "So, before ac-cepting it I spoke to Danny andsaid the only way I would acceptit is if he trained me.

"he said 'I live in Scotlandnow so you'll have to pack yourbags'. he said I would have to livewith him for six or seven weeks.

"I knew I had to do it becausethis really was last chance saloonfor me. It was make or break be-cause if I had lost to AnthonyCrolla then I would have retired.

"But it has given me a newlease of life and having Dannyand George in my corner when Iwon that night was the highlightof my year."

Jimenez out for

several months

after breaking legMADRIDAGeNCIeS

spanish golfer Miguel angel Jimenezwill be out of action for at least threemonths after breaking his leg in a skiingaccident on saturday, the Europeantour said on sunday."i was skiing in sierra nevada, i lostcontrol and fell," Jimenez was quoted assaying in a tour statement."i felt a huge stab of pain and i knewstraight away i had broken something,"he said, adding that he had been oper-ated on at a clinic in his native Malaga."i broke the top of the tibia in my rightleg, just where it meets the knee, andthey put in two pins. "it will take three,four or five months to recover and beable to return to competition. i wasplaying very well but ... these thingshappen in life." Jimenez, who will be 49on saturday, was named European tourgolfer of the month in november afterhis victory at the Hong kong Open madehim the oldest winner in tour history at48 years and 318 days. a lover of finewines and cigars and known for histrademark ponytail, he said he had be-come a keen skier some years ago andwas well aware of the risks.

DOHAAlI AKBAR

THE news at the QatarOpen was less aboutthe tennis than aboutwhether or if Rafaelnadal would be back inaction on the tennis

court. Both top seeds, David Ferrer andRichard Gasquet were optimistic thatnadal would be back soon and playingat his best. Both are his close friends.Gasquet competed against him in thejuniors and Ferrer is a Davis Cup teammate. nadal even went out of his wayto support Gasquet during his troubleswith the dope testers.

there are all sorts of rumours fly-ing around regarding nadal, some ofwhich bear a veiled reference to Yan-nick noah’s accusations of a year ago.But the fact is that nadal’s hustlingcounter attacking style, with his kneeshaving to constantly stop and start onthe unforgiving hard courts, might justbe too much for Raffa to stand.

He might just continue to play on themore forgiving red European clay with aforay at Wimbledon. He is arguably thebest clay court player ever and would bethe man to beat at the French, which hehas won seven times. Wimbledon mightbe a bridge too far. Look for nadal to add

a French Open or two before sitting backto enjoy the spoils of his career. Rafaelnadal is a huge star and the value of hispresence on the tour cannot be over-stated, as Gasquet and Ferrer were atpains to point out.

the championships open today, withFerrer playing a qualifier. Ferrer has justfinished the best season of his career butin an interview, was very modest about

his prospects for 2013, saying that hehoped to be in the top 10 at the end of theyear. Gasquet was looking to win a fewmatches before the first major of theyear, the australian Open. He said thatthe Qatar Open was one of the bestevents on the atP calendar. Judgingfrom the organisation and the facilitiesat the khalifa international tennis Cen-ter, he would not be far wrong.

LONDONAGeNCIeS

Former sports minister Gerry sutcliffeclaims "a big mistake" was made in the di-vision of the new Year Honours betweenOlympians and Paralympians.

Paralympic cyclist sarah storey be-came a dame after winning four goldmedals at London 2012, while cyclistBradley Wiggins and sailor Ben ainsliewere knighted. there was one CBE for aParalympian - wheelchair athlete DavidWeir - and four for Olympians in katherineGrainger, Jessica Ennis, Mo Farah and Vic-toria Pendleton.

Labour MP sutcliffe, who is chair of theall Party Parliamentary Group on Disabil-ity sport, told BBC Radio 4's the Worldthis Weekend programme that opportuni-ties were missed.

Equestrian dressage rider Lee Pearson,who received a CBE in the 2009 new YearHonours list, told the independent on sun-day he believed he had a strong case for aknighthood after landing his 10th Para-lympic gold at the London Games

Pearson said: "Obviously 10 gold, one

silver and one bronze just isn't enough. i'mdisappointed because i do feel i've given alot to Paralympic sport and equestrianism."

Weir has also suggested Paralympianshave to work harder to earn recognitionthan their non-disabled counterparts.

sutcliffe said: "i can understand Lee.For the sake of a couple of knighthoods andperhaps one or two more higher awards,there's been a lost opportunity because we

want to make sure we maintain thisprogress for the Olympics and Paralympicsin Rio in 2016.

"Clearly it leaves a sour taste if peoplelike David Weir and Lee feel they couldhave been better treated and i think they'reprobably right on this occasion.

"if you remember, at the start of theyear there was confusion over whether theOlympians and Paralympians would get

honours; the committee said that it was un-likely. "We managed to get them to changetheir mind and have a separate category forthe Olympians and Paralympians. "But i dothink they've made a big mistake by notrecognising Paralympians like David Weir.

"they haven't been forgotten, but therewas also an opportunity to be consistentand if you look at David Weir's record overmany Olympics the very least i think heshould have got is a knighthood.

"the whole purpose of the Games wasto inspire a generation and what better wayto inspire a generation of Paralympiansthan to give somebody a knighthood."

sophie Christiansen, who won threeLondon 2012 Paralympic gold medals indressage, questioned whether Pearson -who won three golds at the sydneyGames and then repeated the feat inathens and Beijing - should receive aknighthood after adding just one furthertitle in London.

Christiansen, who was made an OBE,said: "i really think they're going about itthe right way, because i'm only 25 and haveso much more to give in order to be hon-oured in such a way.

Rafa is the talk of the town

MATHEWS KEEN FOR CROLLA REMATCH

Honours controversy rumbles on


tuesday, 1 January, 2013Published by Arif Nizami at Plot No 79, Sector 24, Korangi Industrial Area Karachi. Editor: Arif Nizami

ISLAMABADKASHIF ABBASI

THE Election Commission of Pak-istan (ECP) is in confusion overfixing the date for conducting theforthcoming general elections fornational assembly and provin-

cial assemblies simultaneously.as Punjab assembly will be dissolved 22

days after the dissolution of the national as-sembly, which provides no room to the ECP tocomplete necessary arrangement for holdingelections, as a minimum 45 days are requiredfor schedule and eight for logistic arrange-ments. the national assembly will completeits tenure on March 16 and as per electionslaws, the ECP is bound to conduct electionwithin 60 days after the completion of the as-sembly tenure. sources in the ECP told Pak-istan Today that under the law, the ECP couldnot dissolve any provincial assembly before itsprescribed time, april 8.

“We will send a request to the Punjab chiefminister to dissolve the assembly a couple ofweek before its scheduled time. in case thechief minister refuses to do so, we have to holdelections for na and provincial assemblies onseparate dates,” the source added.

the source said there could also be a prob-lem for other provincial assemblies as the kPassembly would complete its five-year tenureon March 27, sindh assembly on april 4,

Balochistan assembly on april 6 and Punjabassembly on april 8.

the source said in sindh and Balochistanprovincial assemblies, the PPP had its owngovernment, while the PPP enjoyed a coalitiongovernment in kP. “so the federal govern-ment could dissolve these assemblies anytime, but the Punjab assembly could be amajor hurdle in this regard,” he said.

talking to Pakistan Today ECP secretaryishtiak ahmed said polls for general electionson national assembly and provincial assem-blies’ seats would be held on the same day, how-ever, “under the law, these election may be heldon different dates”. He refuted a tV channel re-port that quoted him as saying that the ECPwould hold elections for national assembly andprovincial assembly seats on different dates.

another sources said that Representationof People act provided room to the ECP tohold elections for na and provincial assem-blies on separate dates.

article 25 of the said act reads: “Polls fora general election for an assembly shall beheld on the same day and the polls for na-tional assembly seats and the Provincial as-sembly seats may be held simultaneously:Provided that, if the Commission is satisfiedthat polls cannot take place in a constituencyon account of a natural calamity or for anyother reason beyond its control, the Commis-sion may fix another day for holding the pollin that constituency.”

ISLAMABADTAyyAB HUSSAIN

Expressing displeasure over the information provided by thePunjab inspector general of police that there was a strongpossibility that former Oil and Gas Regulatory authority(OGRa) chairman tauqir sadiq had fled to nepal, thesupreme Court on Monday directed the national accounta-bility Bureau (naB) and three iGPs to ensure sadiq’s arrestand present him before the court by January 2 (tomorrow).

the displeasure was expressed by a two-member benchof the apex court headed by Justice Jawwad s khawaja dur-ing the hearing of the case of implementation of a court orderto arrest the former OGRa chief.

Earlier, Punjab iGP Haji Habibur Rehman informed thebench that a special police team was making all out efforts toarrest sadiq, but according to his information, sadiq had fledto nepal on a fake passport where his two daughters were al-ready residing, despite the fact that his name was put on theExit Control List (ECL).

the iG also submitted a report in the court, stating thata joint team had been sent to nepal to arrest sadiq.

the court expressed its surprise over the possibility of is-suance of a fake passport to a criminal, observing that it wasa very serious disclosure if it was correct.

Justice khwaja questioned how sadiq could escape thesecurity despite installation of CCtV cameras at the airport.

“the Fia, not police, are deployed at airports,” the iG re-sponded, suggesting that the escape could have been in con-nivance with federal agencies. the bench enquired about theprogress made so far by the joint investigation team into thearrest, to which Rehman stood silent.

Justice khwaja said if the anti-terrorism cells ofpolice could not arrest sadiq, how would they appre-hend the criminals bigger than him. He remarked thatthe case against the accused pertained to embezzle-ment of billions of rupees, but he was not arrested evenafter all efforts were made by the Federal investigationagency (Fia), national accountability Bureau, policeand other law enforcement agencies.

islamabad iGP Bani amin, Motorways iGP Zaffar Lak,Fia Director Legal Dr azam and senior officials of the naBand police also appeared before the court and assured thebench of making utmost efforts to arrest sadiq.

PESHAWARAGeNCIeS

awami national Party (anP) chief asfandyar Walikhan on Monday said the government shouldhold talks with the taliban and other avenuesshould be explored if dialogue did not resolve theproblem, as interior Minister Rehman Malik saidthe government would hold negotiations with thetaliban only if they renounced violence.

addressing a gathering held in the memoryof Bashir Biliour, asfandyar said the centre of ter-

rorism was Fata, which was in the jurisdictionof the federal government. He said the anP couldonly play a role in the dialogue process with thetaliban when they were given the authority.Meanwhile, interior Minister Malik told re-porters in islamabad that action would be takenif the ttP continued on its path of violence. “thettP has given no response regarding renouncingviolence. When a reply is received, all stakeholderswill be consulted and the nation’s emotions will betaken into consideration before implementing anypolicy regarding the ttP,” Malik said.

eight suspected militantskilled in Khyber agency

PESHAWARSTAFF RePORT

as many as eight suspected militants were killed andseveral others were injured in a military offensive inthe Maidan area of tirah Valley in khyber agency onMonday. However, the tribesmen believe that 11 peo-ple, including two children, were killed when a mortarshell hit a home in the Maidan area of tirah Valley. theofficial and tribesmen’s claims could not be confirmedindependently.Official sources claimed that security forces with thehelp of fighter jets targeted the suspected hideout of amilitant commander in Maidan. the militant com-mander and his accomplices were involved in abductingand killing of 21 security personnel in Frontier RegionPeshawar. the military action was conducted after get-ting information, sources added.sources also said eight militants were killed and sev-eral others were injured. Whereas reports revealed thata mortar shell fired from an unidentified location hit ahouse. the shell damaged the house and also killed 11people. the deceased also included two children.the militants from banned Lashkar-e-islam (Li) andbanned Lashkar-e-ansar are hiding in the valley. Boththe groups are fighting against each others for the lastfive years. However, Li militants, led by Mangal Bagh,are involved in terrorist acts. the Li, now renamed asLashkar-e-tauheed, entered into an alliance with localtribesmen to form a peace militia.

QUETTA STAFF RePORT

Jamiat Ulema-e-islam-Fazl (JUi-F)lawmaker Matiullah agha waselected unanimously as the Balochis-tan assembly speaker on Monday.

On December 31, the BalochistanHigh Court (BHC) allowed electionsfor the new speaker during the hear-ing of a petition filed by formerspeaker aslam Bhootani against hisremoval through a no-confidencemotion.

Balochistan assembly Deputyspeaker Dr Fauzia Marri conductedthe assembly session. agha, who hasserved as deputy speaker, was electedspeaker unopposed. Later, FoziaMarri administered oath from agha.

the slot of speaker had fallen va-cant on December 26 with the oust-

ing of aslam Bhootani through aunanimous no-trust resolution.

the JUi-F and the Pakistan Mus-lim League-Quaid – two major coali-tion partners of the Balochistangovernment – were in the race for thespeakership.

the PML-Q, to which Bhootanibelonged, is the largest coalition

partner with 19 members in the as-sembly followed by the Pakistan Peo-ple’s Party with 15 members.

Later, speaking to media,Balochistan Chief Minister aslamRaisani said that the speaker’s elec-tion was not insult of the court. Hesaid that the assembly would conductre-election if the court would give

stay order against the speaker’s elec-tion. Raisani said they are faithfulwith democracy, adding that the restof democratic institutes should learnfrom the Balochistan assembly.

Earlier, the Balochistan HighCourt (BHC) had allowed thespeaker’s election. a two-memberbench comprising Justice Jamalkhan Mandokhel and Justice noorMuhammad resumed the hearingover a petition filed by the formerspeaker against his removal.

separately, Dr Fauzia Marri ofthe Balochistan national Party-awami (BnP-a) was elected deputyspeaker unopposed.

the assembly session for theelection of the Deputy speaker waschaired by speaker Matiullah agha.

speaker agha declared Dr FauziaMarri elected unopposed, saying thatno other candidate had contested forthe slot. He congratulated Dr Fauziaon her success, which he said, wouldbe a good omen for the province.

speaking on the occasion, ChiefMinister aslam Raisani felicitated DrFauzia and said that it was for thefirst time in the history of theprovince that a woman was electeddeputy speaker.

ECP in a fixover same dayelectionsg elections for national, provincial assemblies may be held on separate dates

Matiullah Agha elected Balochistan Assembly speakerg bnP-a lawmaker

Dr fauzia marri

becomes first woman

deputy speaker of

provincial assembly

sC orders ‘Operation Get sadiq’g apex court gives iGPs two days to arrest and

bring back former oGra chief from nepal

While asfandyar seeks talks with taliban,Malik wants them to drop weapons first

RAWALPINDI: As the world celebrates the New Year, citizensin this garrison city wait in a queue to get petrol from afilling station on Monday, the last day of year 2012. InP

QUeTTA: Dr Fauzia Marri, the first woman deputy speaker of the Balochistan

Assembly, talks to reporters after her unanimous election on Monday. InP

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e-paper pakistantoday 01st January, 2013