e-paper pakistantoday 06th september, 2012

thursday, 6 September, 2012 Shawwal 18, 1433Rs 15.00 Vol iii no 70 19 pages Lahore edition

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shahbaz sharif doesn’t mind

going to nine Zero

Barack obama ‘counting on’ kal Penn for campaign

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ISLAMABADtAyyAB HUSSAIN

With the nation celebrating DefenseDay today (Thursday), two Senatetreasury members came down hardon the former military leadershipand held former generals responsi-ble for adopting flawed and faultypolicies that dragged the countryinto military adventurism that costPakistan dearly.

Speaking on a point of order,Senator Abdul Nabi Bangash of theAwami National Party (ANP) took totask former president Gen (r) PervezMusharraf for dragging the countryinto Kargil war that led to the mar-tyrdom of dozens of soldiers.

“Karnal Sher Khan Shaheed wasmartyred due to the adventurismadopted by Musharraf in Kargil.When the then army chief and corpscommanders refused to accept bodiesof our martyrs, Indians said theywould announce awards for the mar-tyrs. Only then we accepted the mar-tyrs,” he contended. Bangash said lotsof blood had been spilled and thou-sands of precious lives had been lost

due to the wrong policies of army gen-erals. He said there was a need to cor-rect the direction of the armyleadership. He also called for debatingthe defense budget and for adopting amechanism to monitor defensespending. “Civilian governments al-ways clean the mess created by gener-als. We lost Sir Creek, Siachen, WestPakistan and lots more. The militaryonly triumphed Presidency and thePM’s House in the past,” he alleged.

Calling for presenting the defensebudget in parliament, Bangash saidthe defense budget should be debatedthoroughly. Senator Kazim Khan ofthe PPP said Kargil war was a mistakecommitted by four generals, includ-ing Musharraf, General Aziz, GeneralMahmood and another general whohad even kept then prime minister ofthe country Nawaz Sharif in the dark.He said there was a need to highlightthe blunders made by the army lead-ership in the past. Khan said just inKargil, more soldiers had been mar-tyred compared to the losses sufferedin two wars fought in 1965 and 1971.Senator Sehr Kamran of the PPP saidshe saluted soldiers who laid down

their lives while defending the coun-try. Referring to the Defense Day, shelauded the first report of the SenateStanding Committee on Defense andsaid Senator Mushahid Hussain haddone a great job.

Mushahid Hussain Sayed of thePML-Q said the Defense Committeeof the Senate would work to formu-late a National Defense StrategyDocument taking all political forceson board. He said this would alsoplug gaps between the forces and thecivilian authority. He also laid thefirst report of the Senate Committeeon Defense and Defense Productionin the House. Mushahid said thecommittee would keep working forimproving civil-military relationsand parliament was the first line ofdefense of the country.

ANP leader Shahi Syed called thedialogue between Pakistan People’sParty (PPP) and Muttahida QaumiMovement (MQM) a conspiracyagainst the people of Sindh, but PPPand MQM members of the UpperHouse clarified that no conspiracywas being hatched. Speaking on apoint of order, Syed said it was

alarming to note when the threeprovinces had rejected the local bod-ies system introduced by GeneralPervez Musharraf in year 2001, whyhad the Sindh government decidedto revive it. “This has been donewithout taking three other coalitionpartners in the loop and only twoparties have decided the fate of Sind-his. The ANP, PML-Q and PML-Fhave been totally ignored,” he said.Syed said it was a conspiracy to di-vide Sindh into rural and urbanareas and said his party condemnedthe decision and would not bow to it.

Countering allegations, Col (r)Tahir Mashhadi of the MQM saidlocal bodies elections were the foun-dation of any democracy and holdingthe elections was mandatory underthe constitution. “Let me assure myhonorable colleague that no sinisterthing is coming due to local bodyelections. This is actually revivingthe fundamental right of the peopleof Sindh,” he added. He said aroundthe globe, all civic services were han-dled by local bodies and the ANPsenator should look into the matterby ignoring all conspiracy theories.

ISLAMABADStAFF REpoRt

THe federal cabineton Wednesday ac-corded approval totwo bills aimed at

tightening the noose aroundterrorists, their facilitators,collaborators and abettors byplugging the gaps and remov-ing flaws in the laws relatedto properly prosecuting mili-tants involved in terrorismand other related activities.

The cabinet accorded ap-proval to the Anti-Terrorism(Amendment) Bill, 2012, con-cerning terrorism financingand while “Investigation forFair Trial Bill,2012” was alsoconsidered by the cabinet be-sides giving approval to draftelectricity (Amendment) Bill2012 and Criminal Law(Amendment) Bill.

The legislation is longoverdue as terrorists afterbeing arrested have been suc-cessful in taking advantage of

the legal flaws to get bailsfrom courts. The Anti-Terror-ism (Amendment) Bill, 2012,which was approved by thecabinet, provides for address-ing flaws relating to the ter-rorism financing provisionsin the Anti-terrorism Act,1997. The bill strengthens theprovisions creating the of-fence of terrorism financing;covering all aspects of the of-fence in the light of interna-tional standards and providesfor more effective measuresfor law enforcement agenciesto investigate the offence.

Provisions on freezing,seizing and forfeiture of prop-erty involved in the terrorismfinancing offence have beenstrengthened to ensure thatthe funding of the terrorismfinancing offence is detectedand seized after due processof law. The cabinet also dis-cussed in depth the “Investi-gation for Fair Trial Bill,2012” and gave its approvalwith certain amendments.

The bill provides for investi-gation for collection of evi-dence by means of moderntechniques and devices toprevent and effectively dealwith scheduled offence and toregulate the powers of the lawenforcement and intelligenceagencies and to prevent lawenforcement and intelligenceagencies from using theirpowers arbitrarily. It was feltnecessary to regulate the saidpowers and provide for theirpermissible and fair uses inaccordance with law andunder proper executive andjudicial oversight keeping inview Article 10A.

It will also provide for ad-missibility and use of the ma-terial collected duringinvestigation under the pres-ent law in judicial proceed-ings and all other legalproceedings or processes toensure fair trial.

MUZAFFARABAD/KARACHI/LAHOREAGENCIES

Monsoon rains hit different parts of thecountry causing 15 deaths in rain-re-lated accidents Wednesday while heavyrainfall was reported in areas includingKarachi, Muzaffarabad, Hyderabad,Jamshoro, Badin, Nawabshah, Mir-purkhas, Sanghar, Umer Kot, Chor,Khokhrapar, Abbottabad, Mansehra,Swat and Chitral.

According to sources, heavy down-pour in Tehsil Nasirabad of Azad Kash-mir swept away 17 people includingtwo women and four children while thebodies of three persons were recovered.Police also confirmed the death of 13

other persons who were drowned. Theassistant commissioner confirmed theincident and said that landsliding alsooccurred in the area after the rainfall.

Rescue teams were at work in theMachiara ravine, around 40 kilometers(24 miles) from Muzaffarabad, AJK,said Raja Muazzam, director of Kash-mir’s Disaster Management Authority.“We have recovered three dead bodies.Those who were swept away in theflood waters and are still missing in-clude six men and three women,”Ansar Yaqoob, a senior government of-ficial, said. Police said three bodieswere retrieved by the rescuers includ-ing that of Muhammad Yusuf (45),school girl Tahira (13) and an uniden-

tified person while others could not betraced till filing of the story.

“The water level is still very highand has hampered the rescue opera-tion. It seems that there is no chancefor any survival.” A woman died whenthe roof of her house collapsed due torain in Makrani Para. Neelum Highwaywas blocked for all sorts of traffic dueto landsliding while the administrationhas instructed the residents living atthe banks of River Jhelum to shift tosafer grounds. Skardu, Astore, Chilasand other areas of Gilgit-Baltistan re-ceived rain while snowfall was also re-ported in upper parts of Skardu.

Recovery of missing persons top priority: CJP

QUETTAAGENCIES

Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry onWednesday said the recovery of missing persons remained the toppriority for the Supreme Court, adding that the security forces hadfailed to restore peace and order in Balochistan. Hearing theBalochistan unrest case at the Supreme Court’s Quetta Registry,Chief Justice Chaudhry said the court knew what law had to do. Heexpressed his anguish over the attitude of the defense and federalsecretaries who did not appear before the court. “It appears fromthe secretaries’ attitude that they have no interest in Balochistan,”he said. Frontier Corps Inspector General Obaidullah Khattakacknowledged that the performance of law enforcement agenciesin recovering missing persons was unsatisfactory. Reprimandingthe FC IG, the chief justice said the province’s security situationwas deteriorating by the day and judges, uniformed coast guardsand members of the Shia community were being targeted andkilled at will. Khattak said the court should consider the FC’sactions in the region and make a note of the sacrifices rendered byits members. “You have failed. We know what the law has to do.Give us in writing if you can’t do anything,” Justice Chaudhry said.“Who will provide relief to the people? The United Nations hastaken a notice of Shia killings. Shia-Sunni killing is bringing a badname to the country.” The chief justice also denounced TVchannels, saying what did they do except criticizing the judges.Khattak alleged that the FC was being maligned under a well-thought out plan. To this, the chief justice said much had also beensaid about the judiciary. Justice Khilji said a UN delegation was toarrive in Pakistan to review the situation.

Cabinet approvesbill to tackle terrorists, financers g legislation to remove flaws in existing laws that enablemilitants to win bails from courts g electricity theft, meter tampering also made criminal, punishable offences

Senators call for doing away withmilitary’s ‘adventurism’g Demand debate on defense budget g aNp says ppp-MQM dialogue conspiracy against people of Sindh

Monsoon hiTs PArTs of counTry, 15 killed

Continued on page 04 Continued on page 04

Continued on page 04

Pakistan spinnerswreck Australia in first T20

MUZAFFARABAD: Rescue workers take part in a search operation for missing people who were swept away in the flood

waters in Mandaal ravine, around 40 kilometres from Muzaffarabad, on Wednesday. afp

LHR 06-09-2012_Layout 1 9/6/2012 2:16 AM Page 1

02News

Today’s

LookQuick

newS

Story on Page 05

CArToon

Page 11

ediToriAlLip service isn’t enough

CommenT

Intentions and actions need to be clear

Dr James J Zogby says;Reflections on a DNC: Arab Americans have come a long way

Aima Khosa says;

Let’s be practical: Pak-US relations need to be mended

Articles on Page 14

SC directs Rehman Malik to appear in court

Thursday, 6 September, 2012

WASHINGTON AFp

THe United States is keepingup pressure on the Pak-istan-linked Haqqani net-work, a US official saidWednesday, just days ahead

of a congressional deadline on whetherto designate it a terrorist group.

“We’ve been pretty clear for a longtime… that the US policy is to put pres-

sure on the Haqqani network,” acting USState Department deputy spokesmanPatrick Ventrell told journalists.

“That includes both the sanctions wehave already disclosed, but also militarypressure as well.”

US Secretary of State Hillary Clintonhas said she will meet an obligation todecide by Sunday whether the Haqqanishould be considered terrorists.

US lawmakers have pressed her toblacklist the group, but some US officials

have warned such a move could furtherfray already fragile ties with Pakistan.

US officials have linked the Haqqaninetwork to some of the boldest attacks inAfghanistan including a June assault ona hotel near Kabul that killed 18 peopleand a siege last year of the US embassy.

Clinton last week declined commenton which way she is leaning, but said theUnited States was already “puttingsteady pressure” on the Haqqani net-work.

“That is part of what our militarydoes every single day along with ourISAF partners,” she said, referring to theNATO-led force in Afghanistan.

“We are drying up their resources,we are targeting their military and in-telligence personnel, we are pressingthe Pakistanis to step up their own ef-forts,” she said during a visit to theCook Islands.

The State Department has desig-nated certain members of the Haqqani

network as terrorists but has resistedblacklisting the entire group.

The United States has slowly been re-building cooperation with Pakistan,badly damaged after US forces found andkilled Osama bin Laden living last yearnear the military’s main academy.

Technically, however, Clinton is onlyasked to declare whether the Haqqaninetwork meets the criteria of a terroristgroup and is not being forced to make anactual decision on the designation.

us pressuring haqqani as blacklist deadline looms

WASHINGTONSpECIAL CoRRESpoNDENt

Advocating common cause in the fightagainst al-Qaeda linked terror, the Penta-gon has expressed U.S. commitment to con-tinued counterterrorism cooperation withPakistan in the years ahead.

The State Department, meanwhile, saidthe FBI is taking part in investigation intothis week’s deadly bombing on Americanconsulate vehicle in Peshawar.

“We believe that the Pakistani govern-ment shares our view that terroriststhreaten both countries, both Pakistan andthe United States,” Pentagon Press Secre-tary George Little said.

He noted at a Press briefing that ”scoresof Pakistanis have regrettably been killedby terrorists inside Pakistan.”

“And we, of course, have sufferedlosses, as well, inside Pakistan and else-where, from Al Qaida and from other ter-rorist groups operating along theAfghan-Pakistan border. So we have com-mon cause with the Pakistanis. We’reworking closely with the Pakistanis on thecounterterrorism issue, and we will con-tinue to do so,” he added.

Questioned about revelation of sensi-tive information regarding US raid on al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden’s hideout inAbbottabad last year, the Press secretarysaw no impact of it on US-Pakistan rela-tions.

“I think that we’re in a new place withU.S.-Pakistani relations. We are on betterfooting these days, so I don’t see any effectthis one book has on U.S.-Pakistani rela-tions. We certainly hope it doesn’t havethat effect,” he said in response to a ques-tion about information in the book “Noeasy Day”, ritten by a US Navy Seal, whoparticipated in the raid against al-Qaeda

Asked to comment on alleged attacksfrom Pakistani side of the border intoAfghanistan, the Press Secretary said “thisis really an issue for the government ofAfghanistan and Pakistan to work out.”

Meanwhile, in Charlotte, North Car-olina, the venue of Democratic NationalConvention, an advisor for PresidentBarack Obama’s election campaign and aformer defense official Michelle Flournoy,has said that the United States values Pak-istan as a strategic partner in the region.

“Pakistan has made enormous sacri-fices over the years in its fight alongside us

against terrorists like al-Qaeda,” she said.“We have had some ups and downs in

the relationship, frankly, but I think bothsides are very determined at this point toreinvest and to expand areas of cooperationparticularly focused on the common enemythat we both have to deal with in al-Qaedaand its affiliates in the region,” saidFlournoy, who served the Obama Adminis-tration as Under Secretary of Defence forPolicy for two years.

At the State Department, spokesmanPatrick Ventrell reiterated US condemna-tion of the attack on American personnel inPeshawar.

“We pray for the safe recovery of bothAmerican and Pakistani victims of this at-tack. We deplore this cowardly act of sui-cide bombing and terrorism that is - thattook the lives of Pakistanis and indeed in-jured two of our personnel ——- we’re ab-solutely investigating. The FBI is takingpart in that investigation, is leading that(American) investigation.”

“Diplomatic security will assist as well.But to our knowledge, no one had claimedresponsibility for the attack, and we’re notgoing to speculate at this period on whomay be responsible.”

Regarding investigation by both Pak-istan and the US into the Peshawar attack,Ventrell explained:

“Obviously, when you have U.S. per-sonnel involved, we do our own investiga-tion, but we’ll absolutely be collaboratingwith our Pakistani partners. And we reallyare thankful to the Pakistani Governmentand law enforcement authorities. We com-mend the bravery of Pakistani security of-ficials who saved lives, including the livesof our two personnel. So we’re thankful tothem, and I - if they have an investigationgoing forward, obviously we’ll work withthem. But the FBI will lead an Americanpiece of our own investigation.”

US stresses common causewith pakistan inanti-terror fight


03News



OPPOSITION Leader in theNational AssemblyChaudhry Nisar Ali Khandenied on Wednesday thatPakistan Muslim League-

Nawaz (PML-N) has been holding talkswith the government on interim setup.

Talking to media after the assemblysession on Wednesday, Nisar said that hisparty would not support the commission onnew provinces. Rejecting the current bodyby calling it “Zardari’s commission, Nisarsaid the government should constitute anew commission on the basis of Punjab As-sembly resolution. “Asif Zardari is usingthe issue of new provinces for political in-terests,” Nisar added.

The opposition leader said that the gov-ernment had not taken up the issue for thelast four years. “There were constitutionalamendments passed by this parliament, butthe government did not take up the issue dur-ing those amendments,” he said. He ques-tioned the credibility of the members of thecommission, and he said that the presidentialspokesman was the commission’s chairman.He said the PML-N supports the idea of newprovinces but “it is a very sensitive issue

which needs to be dealt with properly.”Nisar further said that the PML-N

would not hold talks with the governmentover interim setup in the country. He saidthe PML-N was already negotiating withother opposition parties for interim gov-ernment. “If the government tries to usedelaying tactics or tries to stop the generalelection in the country, then the PML-Nwill strongly resist this move,” he said. An-swering a question, he repeated his previ-ous claim that President Asif Ali Zardarihad been distributing the government’smoney among specific media groups in ex-change for loyalty.

Suddle vows to remain impartialin Dr Arsalan Iftikhar caseISLAMABAD: Federal Tax Ombudsman (FTO) Dr Shoaib Suddle, who wasappointed as one-man commission by the Supreme Court to investigate theallegations made by property tycoon Malik Riaz against CJP’s son Dr ArsalanIftikhar, said on Wednesday that all institutions were bound to obey Supreme Court’sorder under Article 190. Talking to reporters, Suddle pledged to play an impartialrole, saying he would not come under any pressure during the investigation. He saidhe had summoned a meeting of law experts to finalize the legal framework for theinvestigation of the case against Arsalan Iftikhar. NNI

Couple shot dead just aftercontracting marriage in court

SARGODHAApp

A couple returning from court aftercontracting marriage was gunned down inSargodha in Cantonment police precinctson Wednesday. According to details,Muhammad Nasir, a resident of Hadalidistrict, Khushab, came to Sargodhacourts with his beloved Yasmin tocontract marriage. The girl’s brother,Muhammad Farooq, came to the courtalong with another companion on amotorbike, and shot them dead at themain court road, just when the newly-married couple was going home. TheCantonment Police reached the scene,and arrested Farooq, while his companionsucceeded in escaping. Rescue 1122shifted both the bodies to DistrictHeadquarter (DHQ) Hospital for autopsy.

LHC admits ANF applicationfor placing Moosa, Shahab’snames on ECLRAWALPINDI: The RawalpindiBench of the Lahore High Court hasadmitted for hearing an applicationby the Anti Narcotics Task Force forplacing Ali Moosa Gilani andMakhdoom Shahabuddin, along with14 others, on the exit-control list(eCL). After admitting theapplication on Wednesday, the benchcomprising Justice MaqboolMahmood Bajwa and Justice AliBaqir Najvi asked the InteriorMinistry to submit a reply. The prosecutor of the ANF requestedthe court to order placement of thenames of the accused on the eCL asthe ANF feared that they might fleethe country. He also sought directionfor strict security of the accused. INp

KABULAFp

Afghanistan said Wednesday it had arrestedor sacked hundreds of Afghan soldiers overattacks on NATO troops, trying to stem anincrease in shootings that threatens to un-dermine Western withdrawal plans.

The scale of attacks is unprecedented inmodern warfare. Afghan personnel haveopened fire on their NATO colleagues morethan 30 times so far this year, killing atleast 45 foreign troops — the majority ofthem American. The shootings threaten toderail NATO’s flagship strategy of trainingAfghan security forces to take over whenthe bulk of the 130,000 US-led foreigntroops leave the country at the end of 2014.

US officials have expressed increasingconcern over the attacks and Defense Sec-retary Leon Panetta last month called onAfghan President Hamid Karzai to crackdown on them. Defence ministryspokesman General Zahir Azimi saidWednesday: “So far, hundreds of peoplehave either been arrested or expelled fromthe army. We have found evidence againstsome people and some suspicious peoplehave been arrested.” When asked for fur-ther details, Azimi gave no breakdown onprecise numbers. Nor was it clear when theaction was taken against the soldiers.

On Sunday, the US military announcedthat its special forces have suspended train-ing for about 1,000 Afghan police recruitsto vet existing members.

PMl-n not holdingtalks with govt overinterim setup: nisar

‘Hundreds’ held, sacked overafghan insider attacks



04 News

ELEcTRIcITy PILfERAgE:The cabinet also approved abill on Offenses and Penaltiesrelating to electricityAmendments in the PPC,CrPC and electricity Act 1910.

The Ministry of Water &Power is faced with a situa-tion whereby recoveries af-fected by the distributioncompanies from the con-sumers are insufficient andinadequate to meet the cost ofgenerated electricity.

As a result, the govern-ment of Pakistan has to pro-vide subsidy especially tothose distribution companieswhere leakages, pilferage andthefts are rampant. Primarily,this phenomenon emanatesfrom fragile legal and en-forcement structure.

The Criminal Law(Amendment) Bill 2012 enu-merates offence of dishonestabstraction, illegal interfer-ence or tampering with trans-mission and distributionpower systems with penalty

of rigorous imprisonmentwhich may extend to threeyears and fine which may ex-tend to ten million rupees fortransmission offence and twoyears and three million ru-pees, respectively for distri-bution offence.

Similarly, offence againstimproper use, interference ortampering with electric me-ters by domestic, industrial,commercial and agriculturalconsumers has been in-cluded.

The penalties for such of-fence may extend to one yearor fine which may extend to,one million rupees or both incase of domestic consumers,and three years or fine whichmay extend to six million ru-pees or both in case of indus-trial, commercial andagricultural consumers.

Moreover, offence fordamaging, destroying or de-structing the transmissionlines, distribution lines orelectric meters have beenspecified with punishment of

up to seven years imprison-ment and with fine whichshall not be less than threemillion rupees.

The cabinet consideredthe report of the committeeexamining the issue of seatsof non-Muslims in the legis-lature. A number of proposalswere made by the members ofthe cabinet and it was de-cided that the committeewould present its final reportto the cabinet in the light ofthe recommendations madeby the ministers.

At the onset of meeting,Prime Minister Raja PervezAshraf reiterated the govern-ment’s resolve to confront thechallenges of energy shortageand the scourge of terrorismwith all available resources ofthe state.

He said he would like toconvey the strong resolve ofthe government to overcomethe challenges being faced bythe people of Pakistan.

The prime minister alsoasked the provincial govern-

ment of Balochistan to imple-ment Supreme Court’s ver-dict in order to improve lawand order in the province.

He assured that the fed-eral government would ex-tend all out assistance to theBalochistan government andall possible measures wouldbe taken for improvement oflaw and order, not only inBalochistan but throughoutthe country.

The PM said he appearedpersonally before theSupreme Court in the con-tempt case for allegedly notimplementing apex court’sdecision in the NRO case,adding that the appearancewas a testimony to the re-spect held for courts.

“The government, itscoalition partners, and theSupreme Court jointly wantto resolve the issue pertainingto non-implementation ofapex court’s verdict in theNRO case according to thelaw and constitution,” theprime minister said.

Cabinet approves billContinued fRom page 01

monsoon hits

Meanwhile, widespreadmonsoon rains with scatteredheavy downpours are predictedin various parts of the countryfrom Thursday to Sunday.According to the advisoryissued by the Chairman FederalFlood Commission AsjadImtiaz Ali here on Wednesday,monsoon low pressure hasintensified as a “Well MarkedLow” and a low pressure hasmoved westward during thelast 24 hours and right now liesover Orisa (India) andadjoining areas of Chhattisgarh(India) and this weather systemwill move westward resultingstrong monsoon in variousparts of the country fromThursday to Sunday. As aresult, widespread monsoonrains with some heavydownpours in the country maygenerate urban and flash floodsin the vulnerable areas duringthe above mentioned period. Inthe Federal Capital and variousparts of Punjab, scatteredrain/thundershowers withisolated heavy falls are expectedon Wednesday whereaswidespreadrain/thundershowers withscattered heavy falls may occurin Punjab from Thursday toSunday (September 6 to 9) InKhyber Pakhtunkhwa,scattered rain/thundershowerswith isolated heavy falls areexpected onTuesday/Wednesday whereaswidespreadrain/thundershowers withscattered heavy falls may occurfrom Thursday to Sunday(September 6 to 9). In Sindh,scattered rain/thundershowerswith isolated heavy falls areexpected on Wednesdaywhereas widespreadrain/thundershowers withscattered heavy falls may occurin Punjab from Thursday toSaturday (September 6 to 8). InBalochistan, isolatedrain/thundershowers withisolated heavy falls are expectedon Wednesday/Thursdaywhereas widespreadrain/thundershowers withisolated heavy falls may occurfrom Thursday to Saturday(September 6 to 8).


THe opposition onWednesday camehard on the govern-ment and law en-forcement agencies

for their failure to curb sectar-ianism and for the worseninglaw and order across the coun-try.

The non-serious approachof the majority of the membersof parliament was visible dur-ing the 45th session of the Na-tional Assembly, openedunder National AssemblyDeputy Speaker Faisal KarimKundi, when various seriousissues such as rising sectarian-ism, growing intolerance andworst power situation werebeing debated.

Opening discussion on themotion moved by Minister forInterior Rehman Malik, PML-N MNA Saad Rafique raised a

question that nation should beinformed on who was respon-sible for the national securityof the country.

He said it was a great fail-ure of the government that apeaceful region Gilgit-Baltistan was on fire and noone was ready to defuse thesituation.

“It is shameful that peoplebelonging to a specific sect arebeing targeted, abducted andkilled throughout the country,and the government and lawenforcement agencies havefailed to restrict such inci-dents,” the PML-N MNA said.

Criticizing the role of theinterior minister, Rafique wasof the view that the situation inGilgit-Baltistan could not benormalized just by paying avisit to the region or issuingstatements, “it demands theground efforts”, he said.

“Balochistan has becomeno man’s land for the general

public, where targeted killingand abduction are at theirpeak,” Rafique said.

He said the governmentwas not ready to adopt seriousmeasures to improve the lawand order in the province, de-spite cries by the Baloch mem-bers of parliament.

Rafique held the govern-ment responsible for thekilling of 7,000 innocent peo-ple of Karachi, saying “they allbecame prey to the compro-mises made by the govern-ment to prolong its tenure”.

PPP MNA Nadeem AfzalGondal seconded Rafique.However, he defended the var-ious measures adopted by thegovernment to restrict thegrowing intolerance and sec-tarianism.

Gondal said unemploy-ment, lack of educational facil-ities and lack of justice werethe major causes behind risingsectarianism and intolerance.

He demanded politicaland religious parties summonan all parties conference overthe issue

Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl head Fazlur Rehmanstated that although parlia-ment was taking decisions inthis connection, no implemen-tation over the decisions wastaking place.

Fazl said the religiousleadership had always workedto bringing down intoleranceand sectarianism throughoutthe country.

He said neither the armedforces nor the people were safein the country anymore.

Demanding the institu-tions concerned to uncoverthose groups and individualsinvolved in promoting sectari-anism and intolerance in thesociety, the JUI-F chief said itwas not an issue concerning asingle party but it concernedthe entire nation.

Opp criticizes govt, lawenforcement agencies forfailure to curb sectarianism

PESHAWARSHAMIM SHAHID

A special team of Federal Bu-reau of Investigation (FBI) of-ficials reached hereWednesday morning to meetwith high-ranking police andcivil officers and discuss thesuicide car bombing on Mon-day that targeted an Ameri-can vehicle.

Four employees of USConsulate in Peshawar, in-cluding two US citizens, werekilled in the bombing, accord-ing to two provincial ministersand several other sources;however, the US embassy inIslamabad said that the fourstaff members were seriouslyinjured and under treatment.

Apart from the dead, 20 oth-ers have been reportedly in-jured in the attack – the fourthof its kind in the same posh lo-cality of Peshawar in a periodof five years. Highly-placedofficial sources told PakistanToday that the visiting US of-ficials reached Peshawar in aheavily guarded vehicle.Sources said that soon afterarriving, the FBI officials ap-proached the deputy inspectorgeneral of police (Investiga-tion) and sought a meeting todiscuss the attack. However,the DIG, who is also the chiefof Bomb Disposal Squad, re-fused to meet the visitors, say-ing that he was performing hisduties as an officer of the Khy-ber Pakhtunkhwa govern-

ment, and the visiting expertsshould instead approach thegovernment. He added that itwould be difficult for him toextend help to the team with-out taking the governmentinto confidence. However, theAmerican team later enteredPolice Lines, where they helda long meeting with CapitalCity Police Officer ImtiazAltaf. The meeting focused onthe recent suicide bombing inthe posh locality of UniversityTown. During the visit ofAmerican officials, policeblocked several importantroads and routes for traffic.The security in and around KPCivil Secretariat, Central Po-lice Offices and Police Lineswas further tightened.

Continued fRom page 01

“How dangerous will it befor the country’s sovereigntyif outsiders assess our secu-rity negatively,” he remarked.

The Supreme Court di-rected the Balochistan gov-ernment to file a finalresponse on the missing per-sons’ issue today (Thursday).

The bench also issuedsummons for the federal inte-rior and defense secretariesto appear in court today.

The bench said the fed-eral and provincial govern-ments and the Frontier Corps(FC) had assured the court ofresolving the missing per-sons’ issue, but had failed to

do so despite the passage ofthree months.

FC’s counsel Raja Irshadsaid the court had “forcibly”taken the assurance from thesaid institutions.

To this, the chief justicesaid the counsel should thinkcarefully prior to speakingbefore the bench, adding thathis response fell under con-tempt of court.

explaining the absence ofthe defense secretary, thedeputy attorney general saidthe secretary could not ap-pear for the hearing on ac-count of previously scheduledmeetings with several delega-tions.

Recovery of missingContinued fRom page 01

PESHAWARAFp

A suicide bomber blew him-self up outside a police sta-tion in Lower Dir afterofficers opened fire on himon Wednesday, police said,adding that there were noother casualties.

The incident took placeoutside Jandol Police Sta-tion in the mountainoustribal district borderingPakistan where Taliban andal Qaeda militants havestrongholds.

“A man was coming to-wards the police station,when police shouted to stop

him he began running, andblew himself up when po-lice started firing,” seniorpolice official Akhtar HayatGandapur told AFP. Therewere no other casualties ordamage, he said.

Nobody immediatelyclaimed responsibility forthe attack, but Taliban mil-itants have been carryingout similar bombings andsuicide attacks in Pe-shawar. Pakistan is on thefrontline of the US-led waron al Qaeda. Since July2007, a Taliban-led insur-gency has been fightingagainst the US-allied gov-ernment.

Bird strikes, faultsground 16 PIA planesLAHORE: The number of planes grounded by thePakistan International Airlines (PIA) has risen to 16 afteranother passenger aircraft was hit by a bird in Lahore onWednesday. According to PIA sources, out of 39, 16 planesare not operational due to non-availability of spare parts.Sources said that a bird crashed into Kuala Lumpur-bound PIA flight during take-off at Lahore Airport earlyon Wednesday morning. The plane was grounded. Inaddition, technical faults and bad weather condition innorthern areas and Islamabad led to cancellation of 10national and international flights. While another 20flights had to face long delays. INp

India to probe Pakistan’s ‘hand’in cross-border smuggling racketNEW DELHI: A case of seizure of arms, narcotics,fake currency and Pakistani phones from Amritsar inJuly has been transferred to the National InvestigationAgency (NIA) by the Indian Home Ministry forinvestigation into a suspected larger conspiracy by theISI, a report in the Times of India said. In July, PunjabPolice had seized 11 kilograms of heroin valued aroundRs 550 million in international market, Rs 500,000 inFake Indian Currency Notes (FICN), one ItalianBeretta pistol and 38 live cartridges, and a Pakistaniphone with Pakistan Telecommunications CompanyLimited connection following the arrest of three cross-border smugglers. The report quoted sources as sayingthe proposal to hand over the case to NIA was movedby Punjab Police. “The Home Ministry has given itsnod and a fresh case will now be filed by the NIA,” saidan official. The sources said the Home Ministry wantedNIA to investigate a larger conspiracy by Pakistan topush fake currency, narcotics and arms into Indiausing smuggling networks. INp

Suicide bomberblows himself upin Lower Dir

fBI team takes up Monday’s

suicide bombing with Kp police

DEAR DEPARTEDMukhtar Azmi of MAZAdvertising was gunneddown in a targeted killingin Karachi on Wednesday.His funeral prayers willbe offered at ImambargahIslamic Research Centre,Ayesha Manzil today(Thursday) at 10am.


05


News

WASHINGTONSpECIAL CoRRESpoNDENt

THe Democratic National Com-mittee has released its 2012 plat-form, which echoes PresidentBarack Obama’s policy goals to-wards elimination of al-Qaeda

safe havens from Pakistan-Afghanistan re-gion and seeks to reassure the world thatthe US has no intention of having militarybases on the Afghan soil at the end of thelingering conflict.

The platform, which is generallyviewed as a broad manifesto of politicalparties, will be officially adopted Tuesdayby the Democratic delegates to the Conven-tion in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Specifically on Pakistan, the documentsays the country can be a partner in peaceand stability efforts in South Asia.

The Republican Party had last week ap-proved former Massachusetts GovernorMitt Romney as the party’s candidate, set-ting the stage for what is being billed as a

stiff November 6 presidential election con-test against incumbent Obama.

Under the Obama administration, theDemocratic platform claims, the UnitedStates has been able to reverse the Talibanmomentum in Afghanistan and provideAfghans time and space to build their ca-pacity.

The party says, now, the U.S. is on itsway to ending the Afghan war responsiblyin cooperation with its allies.

“Now we have begun the process ofbringing our troops home fromAfghanistan, including removing 33,000by September 2012. And, with the supportof our allies, the President has outlined aplan to end the war in Afghanistan in 2014.

“Already, the United States and ourNorth Atlantic Treaty Organization allieshave begun to transition responsibility toAfghan security forces. At the same time,we are keeping up the pressure on the Tal-iban, pursuing the possibility of a politicalresolution to parts of the conflict, and con-tinuing our capacitybuilding efforts.”

Beyond 2014, the platform envisionsDemocrats’ continued counterterrorismand training assistance and to build an en-during relationship with Afghanistan, asoutlined by the U.S.-Afghanistan StrategicPartnership Agreement concluded in May.

“But we will not build permanent basesin Afghanistan,” it declares.

More broadly, the Democratic Party in-dicates that a re-elected Democratic Ad-ministration “will also continue to supportpeace and stability in South Asia.”

“Pakistan can be a partner in thatprocess. The United States will make clearthat we respect Pakistan’s sovereignty anddemocratic institutions, and that our inter-est is in putting an end to al-Qaeda’s safehavens and respecting Afghan sovereignty.”

At their convention last week, the Re-publican National Party, led by Mitt Rom-ney and Paul Ryan, endorsed a platform ,pledging to revive the “historic” US-Pak-istan ties, which, it noted, have sufferedunder the weight of Afghan war.

The Democrats, citing Obama Admin-

istration’s success, say in the platform that“al-Qaeda core in Afghanistan and Pakistanhas never been weaker.”

The platform recalls that as a candi-date, then-Senator Obama “committed tobringing Osama bin Laden to justice, evenif that meant crossing the border into Pak-istan.”

As a consequence of the PresidentObama’s decisions and the brave work ofAmerican military and intelligence profes-sionals, Osama bin Laden can no longerthreaten the United States and al-Qaeda’ssenior leadership has been devastated, ren-dering the group far less capable than it wasfour years ago, it adds.

“The al-Qaeda core may be on the pathto defeat, but the organization and its affil-iates remain active in Afghanistan, Pak-istan, Yemen, Somalia, and elsewhere. Forthat reason, we are committed to an unre-lenting pursuit of those who would killAmericans or threaten our homeland, ourallies, our partners, and our interestsaround the world.”

Democrats stick to Obama

policy on Pakistan, Afghanistan

LONDONINp

In order to condemn the US drone strikes andlaunch a vociferous protest against the killingof innocent tribesmen, a British filmmakerand campaigner, Carol Grayson, will partici-pate in the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI)peace march to South Waziristan.

The march has already created a stir, withthe Pakistani Taliban having threatened tokill Khan – and then withdrawing the threat.

Grayson – who has campaigned to exposethe infected blood scandal of the 1970-80s andhas also helped to make a film about a notori-ous incident in Iraq in which a US army heli-copter killed eight men, including two Reutersjournalists, in 2007 – told the Drone Wars UKwebsite that she refused to support “the USand British state-sanctioned terror of targeted

killing by drone, being used in the so-called‘war on terror’ which frequently annihilatescivilians in the Tribal Areas of Pakistan”. Shesaid she had been invited to join the marchinto one of the most dangerous areas in Pak-istan by Imran Khan. “I will be joining a peacemarch to Waziristan with international media,human rights activists and anti-war protestersin solidarity with drone victims. I plan to pub-licly disassociate, ditch and disown any con-nection to those drones manufactured asremote control killing machines operated outof airbases in the US and soon the UK.”

She said she did not think the marchwas a gimmick and revealed that Khan hadmet with tribal leaders this week who weresupportive of the march. An anti-droneprotest will take place in Bradford, York-shire – in advance of the Waziristan marchon September 14.

British campaigner to protest against

drones in pTI’s Waziristan marchKARAcHI: During an impressiveceremony held on Wednesday,Pakistan Navy inducted another P3CLong Range Maritime Patrol Aircraftin its Aviation Fleet, received fromUSA, under the Security AssistanceProgram. The Chief of Naval Staff,Admiral M. Asif Sandila, was the chiefguest on the occasion. A Navy pressrelease explained that the P3C Aircraft,being a potent air platform, will assistin maintaining protracted vigil over thesea to meet legitimate defense needs,and safeguard maritime interests ofPakistan. Capacity building of the Navyis essential to ensure security in NorthArabian Sea, and to keep sea routessafe for the maritime community.During the induction ceremony,Admiral Asif praised the effortsundertaken in enhancing the Navy’scapabilities and operational readiness.

emphasizing the importance of theNorth Arabian Sea and capacitybuilding, he reiterated Pakistan Navy’sresolve to remain part of a multi-national force present in the NorthArabian Sea and off the Somali coast.He added that despite resourceconstraints, our Navy ships, aircraft

and personnel are regularly tasked aspart of ongoing efforts by the globalcommunity. The Chief urged the Fleetto ensure smooth integration and fulloperationalization of the aircraft in anearly time frame. The inductionceremony was attended by PakistanNavy and US officials. App

Navy inducts P3C long range maritime patrol aircraft

4 killed in

Balochistan

violence QUETTAoNLINE

At least four people were killed andanother sustained injuries in variousincidents of violence acrossBalochistan on Wednesday. Quettapolice recovered an unidentified bodyof a man and shifted it to a hospital.Per details, police receivedinformation that a body was lyingnear Double Road in the jurisdictionof Industrial area police station.Police reached the spot and recoveredthe body and shifted it to a hospital.However, the reason behind themurder and the identification couldnot be ascertained so far. In anotherincident, a man was gunned downwhile a passerby was injured whenunknown men opened indiscriminatefire on Abdul Ghafar. Passerby Fazalsustained injuries in the attack.Separately, at least two people wereshot dead in Pasni area ofBalochistan. Per details, two menwere sitting in a shop in Pasni whenunknown armed person openedindiscriminate fire on them. As aresult, Ramzan alias Mashi andMushtaq sustained severe injuries.They were shifted to hospital formedical aid but they succumbed totheir injuries some time later. Policeregistered several cases and startedinvestigation into the killings.

SC directs

rehman malik to

appear in courtISLAMABAD

The Supreme Court, on Wednesday,directed Interior Minister RehmanMalik to appear in person on the nextdate of hearing, in connection with acontempt of court issue. A two-member bench headed by JusticeNasirul Mulk resumed the hearing ofthe issue. Azhar Siddique, counsel forthe interior minister, apprised thebench that the former judge of theSupreme Court, Justice(r) JavedIqbal had granted exemption to hisclient. Justice Nasirul Mulk told himthat the respondent was summonedthrough an order of May 18 inPakistan Steel Mills and on June 20,he had appeared in person and soughttime for the submission of his reply.The counsel pleaded that theyrequired time for the submission of areply. The bench adjourned furtherhearing for a date in office.

QUEttA: Activists of Hazara Students Federation hold placards during a protest outside Balochistan High Court on Wednesday against targeted killings of their community. INp



young doctors take to the streets despite lhc orders LAHORE

StAFF REpoRt

PUNJAB’S problems seem tobe escalating exponentially.From unscheduled load shed-ding to the most pervasiveand the longest drawn Young

Doctors Association’s (YDA) protests yet. The past few months witnessed a

deep conflict between the governmentand the young doctors. Very little wascommunicated regarding the healthstructure proposed by each party. Theethics of doctors, who boycotted OPDs,and put lives at stake, was questioned anddebated profusely. The Punjab govern-ment aired a campaign against the strikeworth Rs 40 million, and used army doc-tors to pressurize the ‘rogue’ doctors.

Following a crackdown by the PunjabPolice on July 1, on the doctors, and courtorders asking YDA to call off the strike, itseemed as if peace in the wards was fi-nally restored. Punjab government andrepresentatives of YDA held meetings toaddress the core issue of framing a serv-ice structure for doctors.

These talks however failed to reachan amicable end, and on Monday the La-hore High Court (LHC) warned YDAagainst going on strike or launching anagitation once again to press their de-mands for service structure and one-steppromotion. Additional Advocate GeneralFaisal Zaman had informed LHC that thegovernment and YDA had agreed on 42out of 45 points on the agenda, and the is-sues of one step promotion and direct ap-pointment in BS-18 were not viablebecause it was not par with doctors work-ing in other provinces. LHC warned YDAnot to launch a protest and asked formeeting minutes discussed between gov-ernment functionaries and the doctors.

Despite court orders YDA announcedits decision to carry out a mass protest

and sit-in on Wednesday, insisting that itwould be peaceful despite possible trafficjams. Mass protests and rallies were car-ried out in all major cities in Punjab, in-cluding Rawalpindi, Faislabad, Multanand Lahore on Wednesday.

The ordeal was twice as hard for La-hore as Monsoon showers persisted

throughout the day, flooding severalareas in the city. YDA conducted itsprotest on the generally traffic congestedJail Road, blocking it for several hours,leaving commuters standing in the rain.

An erstwhile general feel of sympathywith YDA seemed to trickle down withthe rain for all those stuck in the traffic

jam for three hours. An irate motorcyclist, Hussain Aleem

said, “I’ve been standing in the rain forhalf an hour now, how are any of their is-sues my fault?”

A father on his way to pick his chil-dren up from school was worried, “I hopethis clears out soon or I’m going to give

these doctors a piece of my mind.” Some stranded travelers however

lauded the doctors’ determination. “It’sraining so hard and yet they’re protest-ing,” said Mrs. Saima Naveed, “it’s hightime the government solved their prob-lems.” The cacophony of cars, buses andmotorcycles persisted for several hoursirking passengers and commuters duringschool rush hours, while rain poureddown mercilessly. While protests and sit-ins are a civil liberty indeed, inconve-niencing citizens, like in the proteststoday, are never welcome. There was ageneral feeling of irritation with thewhole situation that has been dragged along time at the expense of the commonman. It is perhaps time the governmentstepped up and resolved YDA’s concernsonce and for all. In Multan, YDA held aprotest demonstration in front of NishtarInstitute of Dentistry (NID) to press theirdemand for service structure. The rally washeld from Nishtar Medical Institute (NMI)to Nishtar Institute of Dentistry (NID).

YDA General Secretary Dr JehangirRiaz said that it was a peaceful protestand operations in different public hospi-tals were underway during the protest.He added that only those doctors whohad evening and night duties had partic-ipated in the protest. Jehangir said thatthe protest rally was joined by young doc-tors from the Children Complex andChaudhry Pervaiz elahi Institute of Car-diology (CPeIC) alongside doctors ofNID. He said that YDA would announceits future strategy after its next generalcouncil meeting.

Sit-ins outside Benazir BhuttoHospital in Rawalpindi and AlliedHospital in Faisalabad were organized.Protesters blocked the roads and in-sisted that the doctors in the hospitalweren’t shirking duties. However pa-tients and emergency cases suffereddue to the massive traffic jams.

g Massive traffic jams on city roads, including Jail Road, as young doctors protest for service structure

LAHOREAGENCIES

Punjab Governor Latif Khosa has saidthat no political elements would beallowed to enter into the interimgovernment setup and a consensuson a caretaker prime minister ishoped soon.

Talking to media persons hereon Wednesday, Latif Khosa

said that the local bodies’election, if held,

would notaf-

fect general elections, but delaying tactics in this regard werebeing used. The Governor said that the consultation for a caretakersetup was underway, but it would include only impartial people.He blamed Punjab’s Chief Minister for hording Rs 300 billion insecret funds, which were feared to be used for his election cam-paign. An Auditor General has been informed to probe this case,he added. He said that the Punjab government had adopted a dis-criminatory attitude towards the doctors’ fraternity, who were de-manding their constitutional rights.

LAHOREAGENCIES

Leader of the Opposition in the Punjab Assembly Raja Riaz Ahmad hasalleged that the Sharif brothers are using illegal tactics to suppress theiropponents. A Member of Provincial Assemble (MPA) and leader of Pak-istan People’s Party (PPP), Shaukat Basra, accompanied by Raja Riaz,arrived at the IG office on Wednesday, to present themselves for arrest.Basra is currently embroiled in a property dispute case over illegal pos-session of a property. He alleged that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz(PML-N) was continuing its politics of retribution, alleging that theproperty dispute was in fact the fourth case against leaders of PPP.Basra claimed that he was being punished for raising his voice in favorof new provinces. He added that the house, over which the case hadbeen registered against him, had been his family home since 1978. Hesaid that the opposition would protest in the assembly, against the filingof this fake case against him. He added that PPP leaders would not fleeto Jeddah like the rulers of Punjab.

LAHOREApp

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB)on Wednesday informed the Lahore HighCourt that $49 million were received askickbacks in the sale of the Pakistani em-bassy in Japan, and the amount was in-vested in Ayesha Steel Mills in Karachi.

NAB made these submissions throughreport/comments before LHC Chief JusticeUmar Ata Bandial, who was hearing a con-tempt petition against NAB for not holdinga probe into allegations of kickbacks in theselling of embassy land in Japan and In-donesia during former president PervezMusharraf’s era, despite court orders.

earlier, NAB’s counsel Abdul WahidQazi appeared before the court and submit-ted NAB comments in the matter.

The counsel informed the court that in-vestigations had begun in the matter afterthe appointment of Chairman NAB in De-cember 2011. He said that Kamran Niaz wasAmbassador in Japan when the embassybuilding and ambassador’s residence soldout. The counsel pointed out that USD 49million were received in kickbacks and theamount was invested in Ayesha Steel Millsin Karachi.

He submitted that the matter wasbeing investigated and the amountwould be recovered.

The court directed NAB to submit a de-tailed report and take steps to recover theamount. The court also summoned the in-vestigation officer on the next date of hear-ing, October 11. The court also ordered NABto file comments regarding an inquiry into

allegations of corruption in the sale of Pak-istan’s embassy in Indonesia.

The contempt petition was filed by DrQaisar against NAB authorities seeking con-tempt proceedings on a failure to act oncourt orders in the embassy land case.

The petitioner submitted that a singlebench of LHC, in April 2011, had orderedNAB to hold a probe into allegations of kick-backs in selling embassy land in Japan andIndonesia in 2002, on a petition filed byhim. He submitted that the court had alsoordered filing a reference, if made, to the ac-countability court.

However, NAB authorities failed to acton court orders, despite being approachedby him; the petitioner said and pleaded thecourt to initiate contempt proceedingsagainst them.

$49m received as kickbacks in sale of Pak embassy in Japan

Basra offers arrest at IG office

Khosa accuses Shahbaz of

hoarding Rs 300 billion in secret

funds for election campaign


07


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LAHOREApp

SPeCIAL Assistant to Prime Minister AslamGill said on Wednesday that the decision ofthe Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Co-Chair-man Asif Ali Zardari for local body polls inSindh before the general elections was a

message to the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz(PML-N) to do the same in Punjab to increase itspopularity.

Gill said that any reluctance to do so would ex-pose the hollow claims of PML-N in support ofdemocracy and would also decrease their popularitywhich had already eroded to the lowest level.

He said the president had squarely dispelled theimpression that the ruling parties would not holdlocal bodies election to give longevity to their rule.

He said the announcement of the president inthis regard showed that the PPP strongly believed inthe democratic process and its sanctity.

He said the leadership of the PML-N was notori-

ous for keeping everything under its thumb and thegovernance of the Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Shah-baz Sharif was a perfect example of the absolutepower exercised by the party.

He questioned the justification behind the Pun-jab CM keeping many departments under his com-mand on the pretext of collective responsibility, andtermed it the worst manifestation of the parliamen-tary democratic practices. Nowhere in the world wasthis practice in vogue and the only exception was thePunjab province, Gill added. He also questioned theimprovements the PML-N had brought in theprovince where the rate of street crimes and cases ofkidnapping for ransom had compounded and thepeople were suffering from extreme insecurity.

Gill said that the people of the province werefrustrated and disillusioned as they did not foreseeany improvement in the law and order situation.

He said the PPP derived its strength from thepeople who were the source of power and the ulti-mate arbiter, adding that the party would continueto strive for their welfare and empowerment.

Massive funds to be spent onMultan Road widening projectLAHORE: The Punjab government will spend Rs 2.65billion on the construction of the second phase of theMultan Road improvement and renovation project.The first section of the project, from Thokar Niaz Baigto Scheme Morr, has already been completed, whilethe road from Scheme Morr to Chouburji will be com-pleted by the end of the current fiscal year, said RanaMashhood Ahmed Khan, Deputy Speaker Punjab As-sembly. Talking APP on Wednesday, Rana Mashhoodsaid that the project’s completion would ensure unin-terrupted vehicular traffic in the city. App

LHC seeks govt’s reply on POL price hikeLAHORE: Hearing a petition against the recent in-crease in fuel price, the Lahore High Court (LHC) onWednesday issued a notice to the federal governmentseeking its reply on the issue by September 27. Advo-cate Azhar Siddiq submitted the petition in the LHCagainst the constant hike in petroleum prices. The pe-titioner said the increase in fuel prices would push theinflation to new heights which would create a crisis inthe country. During the hearing of the petition, thecourt issued notice to the federal government to sub-mit its reply by September 27 in relation to the in-crease in the prices of petroleum products. AGENCIES

Two new dengue cases, tollin Punjab reaches 29LAHORE: Two more cases of dengue have been de-tected in Lahore on Wednesday raising the total num-ber of dengue patients in Punjab to 29 during thecurrent year. According to details, two patients identi-fied as Wali Muhammad 76, hailing from NankanaSahib and Qasim 23, from Lahore city were shifted toMayo Hospital a couple of days earlier. According totheir medical tests, dengue virus was detected in bothpatients, thus taking the dengue patients toll duringthe ongoing year to 29. AGENCIES

Three die in road accidentsThree people including a woman died in a road acci-dent on Wednesday reported a private TV channel.According to the channel, a man named Sadaqat wasreturning home on a motorbike along with his sisterNadia and sister-in-law Farzana. An over-speedingtruck hit them near Manawan on the GT Road. Nadiadied on the spot, while Sadaqat got badly injured.Farzana luckily escaped with her life. In another inci-dent on the GT road, an 80-year-old woman Gul Bibiwas crossing the road when a Municipal Corporationtruck hit her to death. In a separate incident, a 16-year-old boy Sadiq was working as a labourer duringthe construction of a road when a bulldozer rolled himover at Allah Ho Chowk in Johar Town. The boy diedinstantly. In a similar incident, ex-MNA Ashiq Diyalreceived severe injuries during an accident which tookplace on the Canal Road. He was immediately shiftedto the Jinnah Hospital. MoNItoRING DESK

FIR ordered in four cases of spurious medicinesLAHORE: Additional Secretary Technical Health DrAnwar Janjua presided over a meeting of the Provin-cial Quality Control Board on Tuesday and gave ap-proval for legal action in 16 cases of substandardmedicines. The meeting considered 35 cases of sub-standard and spurious medicines and decided to giveapproval for legal action in 16 cases and registration ofa First Information Report (FIR) in four cases. Dr Jan-jua directed officials concerned to investigate 15 casesregarding which action would be taken later on. App

LAHOREApp

Lives of around 132 patients onwaiting lists for liver transplantsin Shaikh Zaid Hospital’s LiverTransplantation Unit (LTU) are atstake due to the non-provision ofRs 3.5 million to make the unitoperative, sources informed APP.

Around 1.2 million patients inthe country need liver transplan-tation, while over 150 patientswere on the waiting list at the livertransplant unit some threemonths back. The non-availability

of the required facilities includingan operation theatre, CT scan,high dependency units and atleast six medical officers for backup treatment in the ward aftertransplantation had caused 18 pa-tients, including men and womenon waiting list to expire during thepast three months.

Only a ten-bed ward is avail-able for patients who need trans-plantation. Only two surgeons areworking in the department includ-ing Associate Prof Dr Tariq Ban-gash and Prof Dr Amir Latif, whilefour surgeons are required.

All the required facilities canbe obtained in just Rs 3.5 million,APP learnt.

On the other hand, Rs 976.373million are being spent on theconstruction of a second storey forthe building, but patients in theliver transplantation unit are suf-fering due to the withholding of ameager amount.

This unit was inaugurated bythe Punjab chief minister on Feb25, in the Kidney Center of ShaikhZaid Hospital (SZH), but due tolack of facilities it did not becomeproperly operational since its in-

auguration.On an experimental basis,

some successful liver transplanta-tion had been conducted by shar-ing the operation theatre ofcardiac surgery.

At the inauguration of the unitin February, the chief minister an-nounced provision of equipmentto the unit, and directed the Par-liamentary Secretary of the Pun-jab Assembly, Dr Saeed elahi toresolve the matter within 15 days,but nothing was done practically,despite holding many meetingswith staff of the unit.

LAHOREApp

Special Assistant to Punjab Chief Ministeron Health Khawaja Salman Rafiq onWednesday said it was the need of thehour to enhance capacity-building of theHealth Department after the devolution ofhealth programs from the federation tothe provinces.

He expressed these views while talk-ing to the media after a meeting with adelegation of the World Health Organiza-tion (WHO), the World Bank, US-AID andthe Department of International Develop-ment United Kingdom, which called onhim at the office of the Punjab DirectorGeneral Health Services.

Punjab Director General Health DrNisar Ahmad Cheema, Director Health(ePI) Dr Tanveer Ahmad and other of-ficers were also present on the occa-

sion, while the WHO representative inPakistan Dr. Guido Saba Tinelli also at-tended the proceedings as a delegationmember.

During the meeting, detailed viewswere exchanged regarding successful im-plementation of strategy evolved by theProvincial Health Department and the dif-ficulties and challenges which it was con-fronting in this regard.

Kh Rafiq said that health and educa-tion were the top most priorities of thePunjab chief minister while the govern-ment was investing billions of rupees toensure provision of quality medical facili-ties to people due to which the healthbudget had increased six fold during thelast four years.

He added that the Punjab governmenthad evolved a successful strategy to com-bat dengue which was being effectivelyimplemented throughout the province.

Angry

mob kills

robberMONITORING DESK

A man in Nazimabad area of GujjarPura was shot injured by three robbers,one of whom was later killed by thepeople present nearby, City42 reportedon Wednesday.Per details, Waheed Bhatti, 30, wasreturning to his house when threerobbers stopped and tried to robhim. On resistance, the miscreantsopened fire and injured him. Wa-heed was rushed to the Mayo hospi-tal, where his situation wasreportedly out of danger.While escaping, area people caught twoof the robbers, one of whom was lateron beaten to death by the angry public.The channel reported further that inanother incident, a most wantedcriminal was busted by police fromGhalib Market.According to the report, the police, act-ing on a tip-off, raided in the area ofGhalib Market where two robbersopened fire on them.In retaliation, police killed one of themnamed Naveed and arrested the other,Raheel.Police said that Raheel was involvedin many robbery cases in the cityand was on the most wanted list.In yet another incident, police ar-rested two robbers from Gulberg andrecovered 2 pistols, gold and Rs200,000 cash from their possession.

Kooza launches e-newspaperLAHORE

pRESS RELEASE

The Kooza Communication Interna-tional has launched its e-newspaperin Urdu and english. It can be viewedon . The editor of the e-newspaper isAgha Iqrar.

lB polls in sindh, PMl-nshould follow lead: Gill

Need stressed to upgradeHealth Department

lives of 132 patients at stake due to lack of funds at sZh’s lTu

LAHoRE: people walk past large billboards installed on the Mall in connection with the Defence Day. MURTaza aLI


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PArTlY CloUdY

weATher UPdATeS

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08


Lahore

MUNIR AHMAD KHAN

BeING a man of vision, he has tack-led all the challenges coming hisway and fought his political rivalswith such a sagacity, deep insight,broad vision and unwavering re-

solve so far that even his opponents are com-pelled to admit that he has proved himself to bethe true successor of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, BenazirBhutto and one of the best politicians of Pak-istan. The most effective weapon through whichhe has conquered his political opponents duringthe last four years is his politics of reconciliation.

Of course, I am talking about the Presidentof Pakistan and the Co-Chairperson of the Pak-istan People’s Party – Asif Ali Zardari.Today (September 6, 2012) Asif AliZardari lected and successfullycompleted his four years as theHead of the State. As he isgoing to complete his five-year constitutional term thenext year as the president, itis time to evaluate his per-formance as the president ofPakistan, as well as the partyco-chairperson.

In these Four Years asHead of the State and Four andHalf Years of PPP Government,there are no scandals and corrup-tion allegations against the Presi-dent Zardari. To make it simple, we willlook at his achievements, one by one on dif-ferent fronts, including constitutional,parliamentary, war against terror-ism, political, economic, for-eign and domestic, etc.

I remember when in2007 I travelled withhim from New York to

Washington; he talked about the future of Pak-istan. AsifZardari was of the view that Pakistancan only progress as vibrant State if we startforgiving each other and resort to the politicsof reconciliation.

As General Pervez Musharraf had ruled thecountry before the PPP formed a coalition gov-ernment after the 2008 general elections, theConstitution of Pakistan existed in a subvertedform. Having assumed presidency, PresidentZardari willingly abdicated his authority andpowers to the parliament and the prime minis-ter of Pakistan. every succeeding leader in Pak-istan has been in pursuit of more and moreauthority and powers. But President Zardarishould be credited for relinquishing his powers

and restoring the Constitution to its orig-inal form.

The 18th Amendment wasmade to give long-sought auton-

omy to the provinces and the19th Amendment was car-

ried out to accommodatethe observations of the ju-diciary on the mode ofappointment of judges,prescribed in the 18th

Amendment and the20th Amendment to

ensure independ-ence of thee l e c t i o n

C o m m i s -sion of

Pakistan and the mode of appointment of acaretaker setup to oversee elections. Judiciary,one of the most important pillars of the state,was not only restored but also given completeindependence through the constitutionalamendments, brought about with the full sup-port of the president of Pakistan.

After delegation of its true powers byPresident Zardari, the parliament played avery active role in strengthening democracyand establishing constitutional and demo-cratic norms in the country. Very effectiveand meaningful amendments were intro-duced to the Constitution after thorough dis-cussions in the both houses of theparliament. Various ministries and depart-ments were devolved to the provinces on therecommendations of the parliamentary com-mittees. The Centre and the federating unitshad serious differences over the distributionof resources out of the federal divisible pool.The issue was resolved in the parliamentthrough unanimous adoption of the 7th NFCAward, giving the provinces increased sharein the federal divisible pool. PresidentZardari not only successfully completed his fouryears in the presidency but also steered the

lurching boat of democracy out of trou-bled waters. The consistent pro-democ-racy role of the president has proved tothe people of Pakistan that he is thereal friend of democracy and all thosewaging a campaign against him areenemies of democracy in Pakistan. It

is really heartening to see an electedgovernment completing its consti-tutional term, only because of po-litical wisdom of Asif Zardari.

The writer is a PPP leader andformer central secretary information ARD

THE NATION MuST SALuTE ZArdAri’s PoliTicAl sAGAciTy

LAHORE: A woman seen riding a

motorcycle outside the Lahore

Press Club on Wednesday. ONLINE

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on 100 ghazals of maulana rumi

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09


Foreign News

DAMASCUSAFp

SYRIAN troops backed by ar-tillery and warplanes foughtrebels on multiple frontsWednesday as peace envoyLakhdar Brahimi described

the death toll as “staggering” and destruc-tion “catastrophic.”

In the diplomatic arena, PresidentBashar al-Assad came under renewed firefrom Turkish Prime Minister RecepTayyip erdogan, who said Syria had be-come a “terrorist state”, and from egypt-ian President Mohamed Morsi, who toldhim to go.

The Syrian Observatory for HumanRights said fighter jets bombed rebelzones in the northern city of Aleppo be-fore dawn while ground troops simulta-neously unleashed a barrage of shells.

After the bombardment, the bodies ofat least 19 people were found, amongthem seven children, the Britain-based

watchdog said.Aleppo has been the target of a five-

week-old offensive by regime forces try-ing to dislodge rebels who took overswathes of the country’s commercial cap-ital in July.

Activists have reported relentlessbombardments and food shortages inthose neighbourhoods still held by rebels,while an AFP reporter who was in Aleppoon Tuesday said life in the loyalist-con-trolled central area was relatively normal.

Rebels meanwhile on Wednesday at-tacked Hamdan military airport nearAlbu Kamal town in the eastern provinceof Deir ezzor, the Syrian Observatorysaid.

Having failed to persuade the inter-national community to impose a no-flyzone over the country, the rebel Free Syr-ian Army has increasingly targeted air-ports used by regime attack helicoptersand warplanes.

“Fighting has been going on for hoursinside Hamdan airport between soldiers

and rebels, who have taken over largesections of the site,” Observatory directorRami Abdel Rahman told AFP, addingthat at least six rebels died in the assault.

In Deir ezzor city, two people werekilled, one of them by sniper fire, the Ob-servatory said.

Several blasts were heard in theJubar district of the capital Damascus asit came under heavy bombardment, andexplosions were also heard in the Yaldaarea just south of the city, the watchdogsaid. In the central city of Homs, the rebelbastion of Khaldiyeh came under fiercemortar fire, and three children werekilled in bombardment by regime forcesof the Ariha area in Homs province, itadded.

— ‘Staggering’ death toll —Brahimi, the newly appointed UN-

Arab League peace envoy for Syria, saidon Tuesday the death toll in the countrywas “staggering” and the destruction“catastrophic.”

The Algerian former foreign minister,

who took up his post on Saturday, alsowarned that the situation across Syriawas “deteriorating steadily.”

Turkey’s erdogan, who turnedagainst Assad when the Syrian presidentresorted to brutal force against unarmedprotesters, used his strongest languageyet against his erstwhile ally.

“The regime in Syria has become aterrorist state,” erdogan told his rulingAKP meeting in Ankara. “Syria is not anordinary country to us. We do not havethe luxury to remain indifferent to what’shappening there.” Assad also came underfresh attack from egypt’s Morsi, who tolda meeting of Arab League ministers inCairo that it was time for the Syrianregime to step down.

“I tell the Syrian regime ‘there is stilla chance to end the bloodshed’. Now isthe time for change... no time to bewasted talking about reform,” Morsi said.

He urged Assad to “take lessons fromrecent history” and step aside, in refer-ence to Arab Spring revolts that over-

threw the longtime dictators of Tunisia,egypt and Libya.

Morsi, who last week slammed theSyrian regime as “oppressive”, stressedthat a resolution of the crisis was the re-sponsibility of Arabs.

“The Syrian blood that is being shedday and night, we are responsible forthis,” Morsi said. “We cannot sleep whileSyrian blood is being shed.”

Less stridently, China said onWednesday it supported a political tran-sition in Syria and defended its recordduring a visit by US Secretary of StateHillary Clinton. Clinton, meeting in Bei-jing with China’s top leadership, reiter-ated she was “disappointed” by Chineseand Russian vetoes of UN resolutionsthat would have threatened actionagainst Assad to end the spiralling blood-shed. Chinese Foreign Minister YangJiechi called for all sides to end fighting,telling a joint news conference with Clin-ton: “Let me emphasise that China is notpartial to any individual or any party.”

Violence rages as envoy says Syria toll ‘staggering’

BANGKOKAFp

The United Nations on Wednesday hailed “concreteprogress” at week-long climate talks in Bangkok, but en-vironmental campaigners warned much faster action wasneeded to combat global warming.

The informal negotiations aimed to prepare for a No-vember 26-December 7 ministerial meeting under theUN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UN-FCCC) in Doha — a stepping stone towards a worldwideemissions pact. The UNFCCC said in a statement that thetalks had made “concrete progress on key issues”.

“We have a fertile ground for a successful Doha,”UNFCCC executive Secretary Christiana Figueres toldreporters.

“There are still some tough political decisions ahead,but we now have a positive momentum and a greatersense of convergence that will stimulate higher-level po-litical discussions ahead of Doha and set a faster pace ofwork once this year’s conference begins,” she added inthe statement.

If approved as scheduled in 2015, the new pact wouldtake effect in 2020, becoming the prime weapon in thefight against climate change.

For the first time, it would bring all major green-house-gas emitters under a single legal roof.

But who will make concessions and how the mootedtreaty will work are among the many issues to be agreed,and the process will be a marathon.

Governments began preliminary discussions on thedesign of the accord and ways to meet the UN target tolimit the rise in global average temperatures to two de-grees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-indus-trial levels.

“What I think more and more people see is that cli-mate change is happening. We will have to do somethingabout it,” said eU chief negotiator Artur Runge-Metzger.“The sense of urgency is creeping into the negotiations.”

Delegates also grappled for progress on a secondcommitment period for the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, whosefirst roster of legally-binding carbon curbs expires at theend of this year.

Agreement on the future of the Protocol — the onlytreaty that binds advanced economies to targeted emis-sions curbs — is key to a deal on the new treaty.

Kyoto’s future lies in the hands of the europeanUnion (eU), for it has been abandoned by almost everyother major industrialised emitter.

Developing countries representing over a billion peo-ple issued a joint statement saying they feared Kyoto’senvironmental integrity “is eroding before our eyes” andrich countries had to beef up their emissions pledges“without conditions”.

Global climate talksmake headway: UN

30 dead inIndian fireworksfactory blaze

CHENNAIAFp

A blaze at a fireworks factory in southernIndia on Wednesday killed at least 30people after triggering a mass explosion offirecrackers in several packed warehouses.Firefighter Shanmugaraju, who spoke fromthe scene, described a “huge explosion” asthe factory went up in flames in Sivakasi,which is the centre of the Indian fireworksindustry some 700 kilometres (430 miles)from state capital Chennai.“Thirty bodies have already been found.Some were factory workers, most of themwere local villagers,” said Shanmugaraju,who like many people in the region onlyuses one name.He told AFP that local people had walkedtowards the Om Sivasakthi plant afterthe fire broke out and were then caughtup in the carnage.Officials at two local hospitals confirmed toAFP that they had taken in 30 corpses aswell as many badly burned survivors.“We have already registered 40 injuredpatients,” administrator in the Sivakasigovernment hospital, Venkatalakshmi,told AFP.“We have very limited accommodationhere for patients. Already our burnsward is full.”Sivakasi, which is home to some 700fireworks factories, is running at peakproduction ahead of the forthcomingfestival season which includes Diwali, thefestival of lights which Indians celebrate byletting off firecrackers.

US embassyevacuated afterBrussels bomb scare

BRUSSELSAFp

The US embassy and several Belgiangovernment offices were evacuatedWednesday after police found a suspectvehicle nearby and called in the bombsquad, officials said.A US spokesman said staff from theembassy as well as the US mission to theeuropean Union left the building earlyafternoon after police informed them ofthe suspect vehicle.“It is correct,” spokesman ViktorSadabras of the US mission to the eUsaid when asked about reports of theevacuation.Police said the US action was takenindependently as a precaution whileauthorities ordered the evacuation ofBelgian government offices in the areain central Brussels.

morsi wants centralArab role for egyptcAIRO: egyptian President Mohamed Morsi told agathering of Arab foreign ministers on Wednesday thathe wanted to revive egypt’s pivotal role in the Arabregion after the country had been “marginalised.” Morsitold ministers at the Arab League headquarters that hewanted egypt to “regain its natural place in the Arabworld, contributing to help its people build a bright Arabfuture.” He said that egypt had “unfortunately beenabsent from Arab work for a while.” “We return fromthis marginalisation, where we have lived in recent

decades, back to egypt’s naturalhistoric role,” Morsi said. Since hiselection in June, Morsi has soughtto redefine egypt’s diplomaticpath, taking a strong stance onthe Syria conflict and visitingIran and China, both rivals of

egypt’s traditional ally theUnited States. Morsi lashed out at

the Syrian regime during a speechat the summit of the Non-Aligned

Movement (NAM) in Tehranlast week, calling it

“oppressive” whilepublicly urgingsupport for rebelsseeking PresidentBashar al-Assad’souster. AFp

NEVAy-DEH: An Afghan villager who had defied orders to stop during a joint security patrol is questioned by soldiers from the Afghan National Army (ANA) as soldiers from the

US Army’s 3rd platoon Delta company look on at Nevay-deh village in Kandahar on Wednesday. afp


This week I will be in Charlotte, NorthCarolina where I will be participatingin my eighth Democratic Convention.

I will be joining some 55 other ArabAmerican delegates and committee membersfrom 21 states who have been elected by De-mocrats to participate in this year's partygathering. This is a record number of ArabAmericans elected to any national conven-tion. It eclipses the 52 who participated inthe 1988 Democratic Convention in At-lanta—most of whom were elected either aspart of that year's Jesse Jackson for Presi-dent Campaign or as delegates for MichaelDukakis, that year's nominee.

In conventions before 1988, Arab Amer-icans had only managed to send a handful ofdelegates to the national meetings, and sothe '88 total represented a real breakthroughfor our community. In the years that fol-lowed, despite real challenges to our involve-ment in the party, there were consistentlyaround 40 to 45 Arab American delegates.And so, this year's total is quite remarkable—a tribute to the hard work of many activistsand the acceptance of Arab Americans by alllevels of the Democratic Party’s leadership.

In some ways this Charlotte meeting willnot be as thrilling as the 1984 San FranciscoConvention where Jackson electrified thenation with his "our time has come" speech—a theme that resonated not only for AfricanAmericans, but Arab Americans, as well. Ihad the honor of delivering one of the con-vention speeches placing Jackson's name innomination for the Presidency.

Nor will it be as exciting as the 1988 At-lanta Convention where we fought up to thelast minute for the right to insert 13 minorityplanks in the party platform. That year, Ionce again had the opportunity to addressthe convention leading the first ever nationalparty debate on Palestinian rights. It was sowonderful to be able to break the taboo thathad made it impossible to even say the word"Palestinian" in American politics. I willnever forget the thrill of looking down overthe convention floor as I spoke, watching

over a thousand supportive delegates wavingbanners and signs saying "Palestinian State-hood Now.”

This convention will be different. ForArab Americans, with our record breakingnumbers, it will represent a "coming of age.”Our hard work and perseverance hasbrought us from exclusion to being respectedand recognized as part of the mainstream ofthe Democratic Party.

In Charlotte, we will host an event for theArab American delegates—enabling them tomeet one another and prepare for the No-vember election, and our Arab American In-stitute will co-host with J-Street, a Jewishpeace group, a forum on the need for Amer-ican leadership to push for a just solution toIsraeli-Palestinian conflict.

I am looking forward to meeting some ofthe new Arab Americans who will be attend-ing their first convention and being a part ofthe events my Institute has organized fordelegates. There are some fascinating peopleto meet.

One of my personal favorites in the ArabAmerican delegation is Majid Al-Bahdali. Arefugee from Saddam's Iraq following theBasra Uprising, Majid spent years in a prisoncamp, until he was given refuge in the U.S.He became a citizen and just a few years laterhe was elected as an Obama delegate in2008. His is a great American story. This isMajid's second convention. Hindia Ali fromMinnesota has the distinction of being thefirst Somali American to be elected as a del-

egate. And Ferial Masry of California is thefirst American of Saudi descent to become adelegate.

They will be joined by a record numberof nine Arab American delegates from Michi-gan, led by Ish Ahmed, Vice Chair of theMichigan Democratic Party and "rising star"State Representative RashidaTlaib. St. LouisMayor Francis Slay, and St. Louis City Dem-ocratic Chair Brian Wahby will representMissouri. And former South Carolina guber-natorial candidate State Senator VincentSheheen will join Rhode Island CouncilmanMichael Solomon and labor leaders BillGeorge (former President of Pennsylvania'sAFL-CIO) and Tom Balanof of Illinois.

And so we go to Charlotte having realizedthe promise of 1984's "our time has come.”But we also go to this convention knowingthat real challenges remain. Arab Americansstill face serious threats to our civil libertiesand our voices are desperately needed in thenational debate over America's still one-sidedand misguided foreign policy. We are betterpositioned today than we were a generationago. For decades we have fought to form andprotect our community, and we won. Wefought against exclusion and for inclusion,and we won. Now we must fight to make adifference—to make America better, smarter,more respected, and stronger—and this is afight we must not lose.

The writer is President of the Arab-American Institute.

Comment10

Arif NizamiEditor

Lahore – Ph: 042-36298305-10 Fax: 042-36298302Karachi – Ph: 021-35381208-9 Fax: 021-35381208Islamabad – Ph: 051-2287414-6 Fax: 051-2287417

Web:www.pakistantoday.com.pk Email: [email protected]

Dedicated to the legacy of the late Hameed Nizami

Intentions and actions need to be clear

lip service isn’t enough

For more than four years and a half, Pakistan’smainstream parties have witnessed the inhumantreatment meted out to minorities with unconcern andapathy. With the elections due within months, Rehman

Malik, Altaf Hussain, Mian Nawaz Sharif and Imran Khan havesuddenly realized that the minorities are being cruellypersecuted. Interestingly, they are still not willing to go beyondempty expressions of sympathy.

Soon after the PML-N formed government in Punjab in2008, an entire Christian village in Gojra was burnt down andseveral Christians killed on the instigation of a cleric. Two yearslater, 94 Ahmadis were gunned down on a single day in Lahore.Balochistan, ruled jointly by the PPP, PML-Q and JUI-F, hasbeen turned into the killing fields for the Hazara Shia minority.In Sindh ruled by the PPP, MQM and ANP “secular and liberal”trio, kidnappings for ransom and forced conversions have ledhundreds belonging to the Hindu community to leave thecountry and opt for Indian citizenship. A sitting PPP MNA hasbeen accused of encouraging and facilitating the forcedconversions. Members of the Shia community continue to bekilled not only in Karachi but also in Peshawar, the capital cityof KP ruled jointly by the PPP and ANP. The opposition hasfared no better. While Imran Khan addressed mammothgatherings in Lahore, Karachi and Quetta, he consistentlyavoided to condemn the atrocities on the minorities. Thereligious parties have meanwhile maintained a conspiratorialsilence over the killings.

With elections in sight, every leader has suddenly startedexpressing solidarity with the minorities. One would welcomethis if this did not simply amount to impotent articulation ofsympathy. In case these parties are sincere they can do a lotthat can help bring the atrocities to an end. Instead of decidingnot to touch the blasphemy law, the PPP should pick upcourage to remove the loopholes which help the extremists tomisuse it. Unless it does so its claim of being the defender ofthe minorities is liable to be questioned. The PML-N ruling thelargest province which also happens to be the birthplace of allterrorist sectarian outfits needs to muzzle those who continueto incite hatred through sermons, videos and pamphlets. Itmust also take action against the banned organizations workingunder new names. Instead of launching a march to NorthWaziristan, Imran Khan should plainly tell the tribal leaders inFATA to stop harbouring the terrorist outfits which killinnocent Christians, Hindus, Shias and Ahmadis. Unlesspolitical leaders take practical steps to stop the ongoingbarbarities, few inside or outside the country are likely to taketheir words seriously.

Arab Americans have come a long way


Let’s be practicalpak-US relations need to be mended

It has been almost two months sinceNATO supply routes were reopened,and Pakistan got a big, fat cheque for

all its troubles. Analysts, here and in theUnited States, have been in a bind, tryingto figure out the key to Pak-US relations.Pakistan has been a rogue ally to theUnited States. And the United States’leadership has been suffering frombuyer’s remorse after realizing that theshort term placement of Pakistan by buy-ing it out in the face of grander schemeshas backfired. So what is a super powerand a third world country to do in such asituation? Pakistan is too volatile to beactively isolated by the United States.This policy has been tried before, in1998, and that did not bode well, neitherfor Pakistan, not for the entire regionaround Pakistan. Should Pakistan be pla-cated with more money? Does the key toregional peace and stability in Pakistanrely on incoming cheques?

There has been a general mood ofkissing and making up in Washingtonand Islamabad since the $ 1 billion CSFfunds was released for Pakistan, andsince Pakistan reopened the supplyroutes, but despite apologies, assurancesand promises, the fact remains that the

issues that had caused friction in the firstplace remain unresolved today. Yes,Washington and Islamabad are definitelyon their way to a better relationship(much better, perhaps than last year),but what is a good relationship if it doesnot produce desired results?

Both countries have great issues tosettle but before they do that, both lead-erships must ask themselves what kind ofa relationship they want. Former ambas-sador to the United States HussainHaqqani only very recently said that thenext move should be more focused on afriendship, not an alliance. That seems tobe the official line in Washington, as well.A US official very recently told me thatthe United States now intends to build apeople-to-people relationship. This is notout a sudden upsurge of love for the Pak-istani people, but because Pakistan’s re-lationship with the United States isincreasingly relying on regional factors,and less domestic (even though the issueof the Haqqani network and drone at-tacks still needs to be addressed – butwe’ll get to that). The economies in eu-rope – for the lack of a better word – arefaltering. emerging economies havetaken a whole new meaning and theUnited States is turning towards SouthAsia/South east Asia as a stabilizingforce. This means that a long-term in-

vestment in Pakistan’s future is an impor-tant factor the United States is unwillingto disregard, despite internal oppositionto Pakistan for being a schizophrenic ally.

This means the United States has fi-nally understood Pakistan’s place in itspolicies. Gone are the days when Pak-istan was a short-term ally for a muchgrander scheme. No, Pakistan is now animportant regional player, no matterwhat the domestic situation looks like.

But before Pakistani officials puff uptheir chests and look around impor-tantly, I must reiterate Pakistan’s ex-tremely dangerous relationship with theterrorist networks, the extremely fragiledemocracy, the alarming poverty, andrampant discrimination. And the army.Yes, the army. All these factors combinedhave played a strong role in Pakistan’sown blunders over the last one year. It iswith great indignation that we denouncethe drone attacks, as we rightly should.But we often suffer from convenientmemory losses and forget the role ourown leadership has played in allowingthese drone attacks to happen. Thesedrone attacks have been happening since2004. That makes it a total of 8 yearsthat these attacks have occurred on oursoil and have increased in intensity sinceBarrack Obama took over. But wait…howcan Pakistan’s government put its foot

down and say it cannot be allowed anyfurther? The government itself hasshared intelligence, and allowed thedrone attacks to happen from our veryown Shamsi Airbase. Or have we forgot-ten the WikiLeaks cable that was leakedwhere General Kayani not only agreed tothe drone flights but in 2008 also askedfor an increase? even when Pakistan wasplaying the moody lover to the UnitedStates and had cut off NATO supplyroutes, and Pak-US relations seemed tobe at their worst, these drone attacks hadonly seen a 2 months’ respite and had re-sumed in January 2012

The issue of drone attacks is not justa matter of sovereignty, but is also agreat human rights abuse case. Statisticson militant-civilian death ratio has var-ied under different organizations, butthere is a generally agreed upon senti-ment that these drones carry a heavycivilian death rate, which might just bethe reason for the growing number ofmilitants in the area.

The United States does want a longterm relationship with Pakistan; thatmuch is clear. And Pakistan does needthe United States to continue with theback-scratching, yes. This does not, ofcourse, mean that Pakistan’s relationshipwith the United States is all related to de-fense and security. But both the coun-

tries need to get it on and settle the mat-ter of drone attacks.Coming to an agree-ment on drone attacks, especially onethat favors Pakistan, will go a long way inbuilding people-to-people relationship.Both the countries have, in a nutshell,the same concerns. Building on that willbe crucial and the next logical steps for-ward should be assurance to both leader-ships from one another that they bothintend to move forward with mutual re-spect and mutual interests.

Given that an erratic relationshipthat has only resulted in thousands ofdeaths (mostly on Pakistan’s turf) in thisblack hole history has called War on Ter-ror, things need to be fixed. It might bedifficult given that both countries arenow in election years and politicians aremore inclined towards populism ratherthan pragmatism. But looking at how ter-rorists are rearing their head again, espe-cially given the recent spate of attacks inPakistan, it is absolutely essential thatwork be done on the intractable differ-ences be worked on so that Pak-US rela-tions can be established on termsbeneficial for both the parties.

The writer is a student of Interna-tional Affairs at the American Univer-sity of Paris and a staff member atPakistan Today.

By Aima Khosa

Washington WatchBy Dr James J Zogby

Reflections on a DNC


Comment 11


every democratic setup has threetiers of governance – central, provincial(or states) and local/municipal govern-ments. Unfortunately in Pakistan , bar-ing a few, most of the political partiesbelieve in first two tiers while for thethird one they prefer bureaucracy totake care. In my opinion, this third tierof municipal/city governments is farmore important as it allows direct par-ticipation of general public at town/vil-lage level. This tier is directlyresponsible for upkeep of the cities andtowns, however, our political partiesprefer to run the towns and cities byunelected administrators and commis-sioners. By doing so, there is no lovelost for the poor public, it’s a way to

keep the bureaucracy under the thumbof governing political party(ies) in thatprovince.

It’s now over three years since thepreviously elected local/city govern-ments were dissolved at the end of theirtenure, but no one knows when therewill be elections for new municipalsetup. All the provincial governmentshave chosen to ignore the advice fromSupreme and High Courts to hold thecity /municipal governments’ electionswithout any further delay.

All provinces, barring Sindh, havecarried out legislation to abolish thelocal governments systems, have re-placed with commissionarate system.In Sindh, both the coalition partners –

PPP and MQM have held a marathon ofmeetings (may be more than 100 meet-ings) during last three years to discussthe future setup for city governmentswith no obvious breakthrough. Just fewdays back, on President Zardari’ inter-ference, these two parties have got to-gether to conclude the task; to agreeupon a system more near to the one es-tablished during Musharraf era.

Both the PPP and MQM have beenclaiming to have reached on a consen-sus but I have reservation on this devel-opment. If we go by the history, it maybe tactical move by PPP to pacify MQMand then by doing so first postpone theupcoming general elections and laterget away with city governments elec-

tions as well putting up any excuse.MQM shall be aware that none of

the political parties (whether in govern-ment or in opposition) are ready to seeKarachi city government being handedover to MQM, therefore, it’s up toMQM whether to be pacified with lolly-pops PPP would be offering, or keepstruggling for the third tier governanceall across the country. I see not muchhope having a turnaround in our politi-cal parties thinking, therefore, shouldwe agree with British colonial system torun the cities by commissioners. Per-haps this is the fate of a democraticPakistan.

MASOOD KHANJubail, Saudi Arabia

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

Fax: +92-42-36298302. E-mail: [email protected].

Letters should be addressed to PakistanToday exclusively.

islamic valuesPakistan was created for the Muslims of the sub-

continent with only one argument that Muslims are adifferent nation and need a separate state to practiceits religion - Islam. The Muslims could not live withHindu majority population where Hindus worshipcows and Muslims eat cows besides host of other dif-ferences in historical and cultural values.

With this background of creation of a separatestate, Pakistan should practice Islamic values as dic-tated by Quran and Sunnah. No doubt our constitutionlays down in its Objective Resolutions that no lawwould be framed which is repugnant to Quran andSunnah, but what use this resolution is when nothing isseen according to Quran and Sunnah in the state. Thecase in point is the recent appearance of pictures of ourforeign minister meeting with foreign dignitaries. Sheshould not shake hand with male diplomats/officialsthus projecting wrong Islamic values to other countriesand not justifying representing a Muslim country.

Similarly, with the exception of very few, majorityof the lady parliamentarians are exhibitionists withfull makeup from beauty parlours before coming tothe parliament and mixing freely with male col-leagues. This observation by no means is extremistmindset. The conduct of women in the parliament orthe lady ministers is seen all over the world. If they donot follow Islamic values, the non-Muslims wouldmake a mockery of our Islamic values where a Muslimwoman is not supposed to touch a stranger (ghairmehrem) and they have to cover their body parts asgiven in Sura-e-Noor (Chap18 Ayat 31) and Sura-e-Ahzaab ehzaab (Chap 22 Ayat 59). I strongly feel ifour lady parliamentarians and ministers dress up ac-cording to Quran and Sunnah, they would look moregraceful and convey the correct Islamic values to theircounterparts of non-Muslim countries.

MUHAMMAD AZHAR KHWAJALahore

lg pollsPresident Asif Ali Zardari has out of sudden an-

nounced that LG polls will be held before generalelections. A common man shocked by this sudden an-nouncement. The question is what is the justificationof these polls before general elections? It seems that

the government deliberately wants to postpone up-coming general elections. The government has passedfour and a half year without local governments. Itwould have been better if the government had takenthis step in its first year. The country is faces internaland external threats. Such a move will add to the mis-eries of people. For instance, provincial issues are in-creasing day by day. Balochistan issue requires asolution. Similarly, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa also re-quires government attention. The government shouldspend the rest of its tenure in o resolving these issuesrather than opening new Pandora Boxes. I appeal toleave the LG polls to the new government.

TARIQ HUSAIN KHANKarachi

Safeguarding minorities rightsIt is good to note that the minorities in general

and members of Hindu community in particular havebeen assured at the highest level of the President ofPakistan that they would be provided full protectionand their constitutional rights safeguarded. Accordingto the reports in the media, President Asif Ali Zardarireiterated the government’s firm commitment in thisregard while receiving the report of the ParliamentaryCommittee he had set up last month to visit variousdistricts of Sindh, meet members of the Hindu com-mittee and present a report about their grievances tohim. The Committee Chairman Senator Maula BuxChandio along with other members presented the re-port to the President in Karachi.

The President was quoted as saying that nobodywill be allowed to impose his agenda upon the minori-ties as it is against the teachings of Islam and funda-mental principles enshrined in the 1973 Constitution.

While praising the parliamentary committee forits good work, as per the reports, the president quiteemphatically stated that the minorities have everyright to practice their faith freely and the governmentis duty bound to provide conducive atmosphere tothem in this regard so that they are also able to maketheir positive and effective share in the nation build-ing activities. It is also praiseworthy indeed that theparliamentary committee has not been disbandedafter submitting its report but has instead been di-rected by President Zardari to continue looking intothe grievances of the minorities and reports of viola-

tion of their constitutionally guaranteed rights andthat their grievances ,if any, should be redressed atthe earliest possible by the authorities concerned.

It would be all the more appreciated by all in par-ticular the Hindu community members if PresidentAsif Ali Zardari also directs to the official quartersconcerned that the report of the parliamentary com-mittee is made public in order to satisfy the commu-nities who must already been appreciative of the stepstaken at the highest level of the president.

ASMAAR BILAL MUSHTAQ SHAIKHLahore

resentmentI strongly resent against the friendly relations we

are developing with India. Trade delegations, parlia-mentary delegations and so on are being exchangedalmost on weekly, if not daily, basis. Movies are beingmade in India to demulsify partition. Borders arebeing kept as formality with free movement of peoplewith or without visas. Bollywood stars are being of-fered little that we are left with to work in our movies(I guess to co-star Shaan in ‘Jatt Sadde Passé Da’). Lotmore is being done to hurry up making India andPakistan as one. I resent it most ardently.

Hindus can never be our friends; we cannot live orwork with them. We are two nations and we have noth-ing in common except complexion, I think. India hasdone and is still doing massive violations of treaties andagreements we have had in the past. India is bent uponsqueezing the last drop of our waters to render us dryand barren. India has massively connived with Jews tomalign our religion through modern technology in com-munication, which somehow the impoverished peopleof India have excelled in. Indian females have lost allsense of morality and decency and they attract ouryouth very strongly who are being subjected to ‘hijab’. Ido not understand what has attracted our governmentto go into the lap of India? All I can think of is somehundreds of those females in Bollwood, who hardlycover themselves now and have nice swinging waists.Veena can be victimized, but not the entire nation. Let’shave decent neighborly relations and the underlyingprinciple of relationship is: do not interfere in Pakistanand reciprocally we won’t interfere in your lives.

AMJAD H MIRZALahore

local government system

The appeasement liaisonWhat do you do when you learn that a

high national award has been conferredupon your boss? People might respond invery different ways. Some would considerit sufficient to greet the boss the next timethey run into him. Those given to flatterymight avail this opportunity to gain somebrownie points and beeline in front of theboss’s office to pay an obsequious homage.Yet others seeking more intense favoursmight call on the boss at his residence,loaded with artificial enthusiasm and ex-pensive gifts. The Citizens Police LiaisonCommittee (CPLC), a prestigious and re-spectable organization of Karachi, how-ever, opted for a uniquely unbecomingmethod to express its overflowing ecstasy.It put in a quarter-page coloured adver-tisement in major newspapers to felicitateits boss, the Governor Sindh on being con-ferred the award of Nishan-e-Imtiaz.

It is not my intention to discuss if theworthy governor, given the situation inKarachi, did in fact deserve a very highnational award. But if the interior minis-ter could be conferred a PhD for restoringpeace, then the governor could well havea Nishan-e-Imtiaz for convincing theLord to relocate Heavens to Karachi. Theissue of real interest is not the governor,but what made the CPLC use its officialfunds to felicitate its own boss. Its fund-ing is provided partly by the state andpartly by the corporate donations. Peopletrust that the money would be spent forthe good of common citizens and not tomassage the ego of the governor.

One is surprised that no one from theCPLC staff took a stand on this blatantmisuse of organizational funds. This ex-ample, however small, speaks a lot aboutthe total collapse or absence of a checkand balance process in government insti-tutions. The silence of apparently sane in-dividuals in obviously unethicalsituations is itself mindboggling. While itmay not be possible to completely undothis blunder, can the CPLC managementtake at least two basic steps to restorepublic confidence? Refund the amountfrom their own pocket (a few million ru-pees) spent on this illegal extravaganzaand make a public apology.

NAEEM SADIQKarachi


12

kim kardashian not eligiblefor hollywood Walk of fame

KiM Kardashian won’t be getting the star on

the Hollywood Walk of Fame as Hollywood

chamber of commerce officials have said

that the reality TV star needs to have a real acting

career to meet the requirements to become a

candidate. The socialite recently said she wanted to

become the first reality TV star to unveil a plaque on

the sidewalk, reported Aceshowbiz. “Part of criteria in

being honored is receiving awards such as emmys,

SAG Awards, Oscars etc in the category of Television,

Live Stage Performance or Motion Pictures.” “They

have to have a career in the business of acting for

five years or more. can’t really say if reality stars will

ever be eligible. not on our radar right now,” said a

spokesman for the chamber of commerce. COURTESy HT

Priety reveals why she hidher face from paparazzi

RecenTLy, Priety Zinta did not show her face to

the camera and it was attributed to her look sans

makeup. An otherwise camera-friendly Preity

Zinta made sure that photographers didn’t get her at the

Mumbai airport. in a storm of aggressive tweets, the

usually straightforward actress lashed out at the

photographers and everybody who has criticized her for

the incident. in her first two tweets, @realprietyzinta

says, “Sitting at home with a twisted ankle post the

airport assault by photographers. First i shoot all night &

get on the plane n then get pushed” and “Pushed n

jumped on at the airport. it was raining so i slipped.

Wasn’t hiding my face was trying 2 recover frm the shock

of 40 camera flashes.” next she tweets, “if photographers

ask me politely i will oblige buy next time i will either

attack some1 or then file a police complaint cuz THiS iS

nOT FAir.” With palpable rage, she then tweeted, “i am a

human being not some animal in the ZOO ! if my security

would have pushed them then news would report my

staff assaulted the media!” The generally chirpy actress

tweeted, “And yes in the end i was pissed off so then i

definitely didn’t want 2 show my face. CoURtESy Ht

Prince harry asks kid not to embarrass him over nude pics

Prince Harry, who landed himself in hot water

after nude photos leaked online from his

infamous Las Vegas holiday, saved himself

from further embarrassment by stopping a six-year-

boy from raising the topic during his first official public

appearance since the scandal. When Alex Logan six-

year-old, who won an award for the most inspirational

three to six-year-old, was interviewed at lunchtime he

was asked what he would say to Harry, in response he

replied: “i’m glad you’ve got your clothes on Prince

Harry.” But the Prince left the little child in no doubt

that the incident was off limits, crouching down to his

level and telling him not to talk about it as he wagged

his finger at him and smiled. Debbie, 39, Logan’s

mother from Lincoln, describing the encounter, said:

“Harry said to Alex ‘you keep looking up at your mum,

looks like you’re dying to say something but you know

she will tell you off.’ “‘i heard you were on iTV earlier,

you said something cheeky, let’s not talk about that

here’,” he told the kid. COURTESy HT

it all started one evening, a few days agowhen ranbir kapoor was in london. We had aquick chat over the phone that went like this:Me: “hey ranbir, can we do the interview nowover the phone?’ RANBIR: ‘Hey buddy, why don’twe meet and do it. We can spend anhour talking about Barfi! and more.Text me in couple of days and we’lltake it from there.” Ok, so whatdid just happen? I question my-self, pause and ponder and inexactly two and a half minutesjump in excitement. TWO DAyS LATER:Me (text message): ‘Hey Ran-bir, let me know when andwhere are we catching up.’RANBIR: “Why don’tyou come to Film City.I’m here till 8.30 pmand we can drive downto my housefrom here.”

Ok, so what happened now? Inthe next one hour - Shower, Sham-poo, Trim, Shorts, Belt, Tee, eau DeHTlette....and I see myself at anarm’s length away from the greenscreen, in front of which RanbirKapoor was so effortlessly being Barfifor his movie’s promotions. TheKapoor off screen is a very differentcreature. He is frequently the ruggedeveryman, a simpleton, bit of rough,the man’s man and the woman’scraving, that equals sex symbol.

He walks out of the studio, greetsme with a hug and in a jiffy says, “Giveme 5 minutes, I’ll change and we cango.” It’s the 6th minute and Ranbir isbusy contemplating Barfi’s chances atthe box office by stretching his legsand resting his back. He leans forwardto open his Pepsi can. I ask, “Wow!That’s one brand ambassador.” Ran-bir takes a sip, sits back and delivers,“I endorse products that I genuinelylike and the same with films.”

one look at ranbir and you can tell thatthere are no rules to making great films. it’s

just the passion that makes them acult in years to come. he looks

at me, smiles and asks,“so, how’s it going?”

Was it not for that smile the mansitting opposite me could be a busi-nessman or diplomat. Like his face,Ranbir’s chequered shirt and cottonpants is handsome and well-cut, butunremarkable. It’s this unassumingdemeanour and general likeabilitythat makes him stand out from hiscolleagues, his very presence seem-ing to reject the notion of celebrity.

The conversation continues insidehis sparkling white Audi, but it’s onlyafter I leave his residence Krishna Rajlater in the evening that I realise - Ihad the most fun not because a jour-nalist was interviewing India’s nextsuperstar, oh no! It was as simple astwo friends talking about what theypassionately endorse - their love forcinema and that hunger to succeed. Soput on your headphones, tune in tothe Barfi soundtrack and start readingthis special Part 1 on Barfi...oops!Murphy....oops! Ranbir Kapoor! It’san exclusive!

You come across as an interest-ing mix of Hank Moody and VincentChase. So who are you exactly? As ofnow, I am a nobody yaar! These arealso characters I see quite often. Iwatch entourage. I aspire the goodlife that they live and lead. Honestly,I am just trying to be me by trying todo good films, have fun at it and try-ing to work with good directors andof course, I am a bit of a silent partyboy also. I have my share of funsometime too. With movies nowbeing seen as a 100 crore and 200crore film in definition, you havechosen the path of your own - thepath of quality cinema. Movies are acommercial medium. We don’t makemovies to impress our friends andcritics. It’s an expensive medium. Wehave to gain money from it. When amovie does business of Rs. 100crores and Rs. 200 crores, it meansthat the audience has lapped it andliked it. COURTESy HT

kissing onscreen is theworst thing in theworld: Bipasha Bipasha Basu, who will be seen locking lips withemraan Hashmi in Raaz 3, has made an inter-

esting revelation. The uninhibited ac-tress has admitted that while shehas no qualms about love-makingscenes, kissing makes her un-

comfortable. “Physical intimacy -it’s something I am

totally comfortable with. Itdoesn’t really bother me.But when it comes to kiss-ing, which for me is very,very intimate, I am very un-comfortable,” she told adaily. Bipasha revealed tothe daily that she tried herbest to avoid the liplock with

Ranbir Kapoor: “With Ranbir I hada very big problem, and for one month I

fought over it, but they would alllaugh.Kissing onscreen is the worst thing inthe world. I tried to cancel the Bachna AiHaseeno kiss with Ranbir for one month, butfailed. I tried to cancel a scene in Dum MaroDum; I succeeded.” “With Madhavan, it wasjust a peck. He’s a very dear friend and it wasvery, very awkward. It was terrible.COURTESy HT

In an attempt to createmore buzz for the US presiden-tial candidate, Barack Obamaand Indian-origin Kal Penn areseen in a new promotionalvideo. And the video is a MUSTSee. The video begins with USPresident Obama making aseemingly important call on thephone to a possible aide. The

tone is intense as he speaksto the person at the other end.“Hey, this is Barack,” the USpresident says. “Listen, I need toknow if you’re on board.” Re-ceiving an affirmative reply,Obama is heard saying, “Ok

good, ‘coz I’m counting on you,everybody is. We have to get thisright, so there’s a lot at stakehere. Just remember that I’mtrusting you on this and I’ll seeyou then.”Once Obama putsdown the phone, the camerapans to Kal Penn cutting thecall, while slumped on a couchwatching cartoons.

John Cho (Penn’s com-panion from Harold AndKumar movies) asks, “Dude,who was that? Sounded in-tense...” Pat comes the non-chalant Penn’s reply, “ThePresident” “Sweet,” says Cho.

Moments later, both breakinto laughter watching thecartoon. The video is promot-ing Live From Charlotte, aweb-only convention specialthat Penn will host on Thurs-day at 8 p.m. It will includeinterviews with celebrities in-cluding Marc Anthony, eliza-beth Banks, Aisha Tyler,Olivia Wilde amongst others,reported Huffington Post.The video is part of a largereffort by Democrats to castthe 2012 convention as themost open and accessible onein history. COURTESy HT

Barack Obama ‘countingon’ Kal Penn for campaign

new kid on the block sidharth Malhotra, sid to friends, is 27 (looksaround 24), handsome, and has an intense quality that sets him apartfrom others his age. compliment him for his looks and he jokes, “yeah,the camera doesn’t do me justice, haan?”The Delhi model, who’s making his debut in KaranJohar’s Student of the Year (SOTY), admits thatthe journey from the capital to Karan’s office has been awhirlwind one. “One day, I was assisting Karan on My Nameis Khan, and now I’m the leading man of SOTY. I have topinch myself to believe this is for real,’’ he smiles. The boy,who did a stint in modelling in Delhi, says his Bollywood trekhas just begun. But he can already feel people’s changing atti-tude and quizzical looks. “Relatives who haven’t botheredabout me for years have now started discovering me,’’ helaughs. “I’m enjoying every bit of the attention, though.’’Any nervousness while he waits for the release of his first film? “Yes and no,’’ he replies. “Sometimes, I’m a bit nervous. Butat most times, I’m confident. I have landed a dream debut.Karan, according to me, has the safest pair of hands in thefilm business.” Sid actually wants to emulate SRK, who isalso a Delhi boy, who rules the roost today. But he knowshis own personal journey has only just begun.What is he like in real life? The intense sort? or a happy-go-lucky-guy? “Well, I must admit that I’m a little quiet. I need to under-stand what I’m doing before I actually venture into it. Karanalways teased me saying, ‘Sid, you ask too many questions.’But I certainly am not the brooding type. I take a little timeto open up. Karan has tweaked my film character aroundthe way I am in real life.” He has no friends in Mumbai, butfinds the city to be moreprofessional andfast. He lovesDelhi, though,and admits it canbe a bit trying be-cause people inDelhi do judgeyou for theclothes you wearand the car youdrive. “Dad wasin the MerchantNavy, so I havetravelled exten-sively. Butmy heart beats forDelhi because that’swhere I grew up,” saysSid, adding, “Rightnow, my world inMumbai revolvesaround Dharma Pro-ductions, but hopefullyI will meet more peopleas I go along.” COURTESy TOI


A dream debut forSidharth Malhotra



13


14Infotainment


fACeBOOK is by far thelargest social network onthe web, and while MarkZuckerberg has madeplenty of great calls in its

design, the site — and the way peopleuse it — isn’t as streamlined as it couldbe. These 20 tips, tricks, and tools willgive help take your Facebook experi-ence to the next level. From simple set-tings options you may have overlooked,to browser plug-ins dedicated to mak-ing the social network even better,you’re sure to find something on thislist that will make your Facebook timeeven more addicting than it already is.

tWEAK yoUR FACEBooK SEttINGS

1. Appear offline to certainfriends

By opening your Facebook chatwindow, clicking the settings icon inthe upper right corner, and then navi-gating to “Advanced Settings,” you cancustomize your chat experience by ap-pearing offline to certain people onyour friends list. This tweak will be es-pecially helpful for those of you withchatty acquaintances who like to talkyour ear off when you’re online.

2. Reposition your Timeline pho-tos

When uploading a new photo, itmight not always appear on your feedthe way you intended. Particularly longor wide photos have a tendency to becropped awkwardly, but you can fixthis rather easily. By clicking “editPhoto” from your Timeline page, yougain access to a “Reposition Photo” op-tion. Using this tool, you can move yourphoto around the preview window sothat it appears as you intended.

3. Add photos to your worldlytravels

If you’re a fan of Facebook’s“Places” feature, you can very easilydecorate it with pictures to show offyour various activities all over theworld. On the main Places page, simplyclick “Add Photos to Map,” and starttagging away! If you frequently uploadphotos directly to your Facebook pro-file using a mobile app for iPhone orAndroid, you might find that your mapis already pretty well populated.

4. Easily hide app notificationsfor a cleaner experience

By going into your account set-tings, then navigating to the “Notifica-tions” tab on the left side of the page,you can browse the applications thathave permission to populate your newsfeed. If find that a friend has spammedyour feed with an excessive number ofapp notifications, simply deactivate the

offending app. It’s easier than breakingoff the friendship.

5. Upload photos in high resolu-tion

Sometimes you’ll find that a gor-geous photo you wanted to share withyour friends appears tiny and blurryafter adding it to your socialnetwork profile. Remedy this by goinginto your Facebook albums and, beforeuploading a photo, click the “HighQuality” box.

6. Use the “View As” option totweak your appearance to spe-cific friends

Knowing what your friends can seeon your Facebook Timeline is an in-valuable tool to ensuring your virtualreputation stays intact. From yourTimeline page, click the settings iconnext to “Activity Log,” and then click“View As.” From here you’ll be able tosee what specific friends see when theyvisit your page.

7. Download your entire face-book history

ever wanted to browse your en-tire Facebook profile at once — includ-ing every status update you’ve eversubmitted? Facebook makes it easy:Under your Account Settings page, asmall link will appear at the very bot-tom of the options list. Click “Down-load a copy of your Facebook data” tobegin the process of securing your en-tire archive.

8. forward your facebook con-versations

Having to repeat yourself is annoy-ing in day-to-day life, and it’s evenmore of a bother when online. Ratherthan copying and pasting directions orinstructions to multiple people, clickthe “Actions” tab at the top of any Face-book message thread to access the op-tion to forward it to others. Ta-da! Nomore double-talk!

9. Turn chat sign-in off by defaultCan’t stand endless chat when

you’re simply browsing your status up-dates? No problem. Click the settingsicon in the main Facebook chat win-dow, and click “Turn off chat” to haveall future messages sent to your inbox,rather than pop-up in realtime on yourscreen.

10. Use facebook to design yourbusiness card

If you’ve put a lot of work intomaking your Timeline page reflect ex-actly who you are, consider using it asa pre-designed business card. Clickingthe “About” link — located under yourname on your Timeline — lets you

browse your social network details. Inthe Contact Info window is a smallbusiness card icon that will direct youto Moo.com, where you can customizea Facebook-flavored business card andplace an order.Get the most out ofFacebook using these web tools

11. Analyze your facebook his-tory with Wolfram Alpha

For the most comprehensivebreakdown of your entire Facebookhistory, Wolfram Alpha can’t be beat.Simply type “Facebook Report” into themain search bar, approve the app’s useof your Facebook data, and wait for thesystem to break down your history.Once it’s finished, you’ll be treated to aseemingly endless number of graphsand data points showing your updatehistory, most liked photos, and muchmore.

12. Schedule facebook updateswith Sendible

Believe it or not, thieves are bigfans of Facebook. By finding out whenyou’ll be away from your home, secu-rity experts believe would-be robberstarget those who go on a Facebook hia-tus. Sendible — an application that al-lows you to schedule updates evenwhen you’re not near your computer —can keep your online persona active,even when you can’t.

13. Use Twitter to update face-book

Sometimes you just don’t haveenough time to keep all your social net-works up to date, but thankfully Face-book and Twitter play nice togetherwith a little tweaking. Head to the Twit-ter app page on Facebook to begin theprocess of syncing your virtual sociallives. After authorizing the Facebookapp via Twitter, all your tweets will ap-pear on Facebook as status updates.

14. Export your facebook calen-dar to your Pc

Make sure you don’t miss any im-portant events by exporting your Face-book calendar to either MicrosoftOutlook or Apple iCal. Head to yourFacebook calendar (located under the“events” tab on the Facebook naviga-tion bar) and click the settings icon.Click “export,” and then choose eitheryour Facebook birthday list or upcom-ing events. Your desktop’s calendar appshould launch immediately, makingthe process even more streamlined.

Make Facebook better usingChrome extensions

15. facebook Photo zoomUsing this extension, you no longer

have to click on the photos in yournews feed in order to view them in full

size. Simply move your mouse cursor

over the image thumbnail and the

larger version will pop up right in front

of you. You can even adjust the zoom

by moving the mouse back and forth

over the photo itself. It’s like magic.

16. Revert facebook Photo

viewer

If you’re not into real-time photo

zooming, this extension turns back the

clock on your Facebook’s photo feature.

Rather than displaying pictures in the

new “Theater” layout, photos will ap-

pear on their own pages, complete with

the full comments section and “Like”

options.

17. Facebook Chat notifications

Have you ever left a Facebook tab

open on your web browser and missed

an urget message from a friend? This

handy plugin produces a pop-up win-

dow on your desktop to notify you

when someone needs to chat, ensuring

you never miss an important bit of info.

Firefox add-ons that make Face-

book a joy to use

18. Like the Page

If you’re a Firefox user, you can

use this add-on to instantly share any

web page they come across, even when

the site doesn’t have a built-in Face-

book share button. A small “Like” icon

will pop up at the bottom of every

browser window, and all it takes it a

click to share your find with the world.

19. fB Purity

This plug-in returns your Facebook

to an earlier day, back when spammers

and useless clutter wasn’t a hinderance

to your browsing habits. You can hide

any type of notification you wish, in-

cluding birthdays, relationship up-

dates, tagged photos, links, and much

more. You can make your social expe-

rience as simple as you wish.

20. facebook auto-logout

Do you hate it when you acciden-

tally leave yourself signed in to the so-

cial network, only to come back to

missed chat messages and anxiety over

whether someone else was browsing

your digital life? This handy add-on

will automatically sign you out of your

Facebook windows if you’ve been inac-

tive for too long, ensuring that nobody

can snoop your info. NEWS DESK

Bride napping all the rage in Bucharest

Awhite limousine screeches to a halt and abride, resplendent in frothy gown and veil,is hauled outside by her abductors. It’s one

of Romania’s more colorful customs: bride-napping. And the tradition of snatching the bridefrom under the nose of groom and guests with thewedding party in full swing is getting bigger,brasher and an increasingly common sight in theRomanian capital, the Balkans’ undisputed partytown. every Saturday night, brides from Bucharestand beyond are dragged away in a mock abductionby friends and driven to a top tourist spot wherethey are “held hostage” – all the while pouting,dancing and striking provocative poses for thecameras. The ransom: a few bottles of whisky orperhaps something more romantic, like a publicdeclaration of love from the abandoned groom.`’everything was staged and ready in my case.

uMass students nosh on 6,700-pound seafood stew

THe University of Massachusetts hasagain welcomed students back to campuswith a world record-breaking culinary

treat. A year after starting the semester with atwo-ton stir fry, staff and students at theAmherst campus on Monday made and choweddown on a nearly 6,700-pound seafood stew.The stew was prepared in the same custom-built, 14-foot pan used to make the stir fry lastyear. The stew included 1,000 pounds ofmussels, lobster, clams, haddock and salmonfrom sustainable sources in New england andAlaska.It also contained 1,725 pounds of halfand half, 1,137 pounds of potatoes, 575 poundsof onions and 145 pounds of bacon, amongother ingredients.Ken Toong, executive director of auxiliary services,says only vegetables from local farmers and theschool’s student-run garden were used. NEWS DESK

20 tips, tricks, and tools to make your Facebook experience even better

Man swallows $14,000 diamondat sri lanka gem show

AChinese man was arrested for attemptedtheft and taken to hospital for a dose oflaxatives on Wednesday after swallowing a

diamond worth nearly $14,000 at a gemexhibition in Sri Lanka, police said. The 32-year-old had asked the stall owner for a closeinspection of the diamond on the opening day ofFacets Sri Lanka, an annual jewellery show in thecapital Colombo. He had taken the diamond out ofa display cabinet and appeared to be appraising itand suddenly put it in his mouth,” a police officerat the scene who declined to be named told AFP.The owner saw this and alerted us,” he said,adding that the man was arrested and taken toColombo National Hospital to be given laxatives.Aspokeswomen at the hospital said that an X-rayhad been taken and that officers were holding himunder observation. “I believe the X-ray confirmedsomething that looked like a stone. The man hasbeen taken away and he is in police custody,”Pushpa Soya said. Photographs showed the man,dressed in a black shirt and jeans with his headbowed, being escorted from the exhibition centreby uniformed policemen. Police said the stallowner valued the missing diamond at 1.8 millionrupees ($13,600). Sri Lanka does not minediamonds but it has a large gem and jewelleryindustry and is famed for its blue sapphires. AFp

Hurricane Isaac has washed the re-mains of a blockade-runner vesselonto the shores of an Alabamabeach, and many believe it could bea Civil War-era vessel, dating to1862, according to theBirminghamNews. However, a debate has ensuedover exactly which era the shipwreckis from. “Look what Isaac uncov-ered!” reads a Facebook postfrom Meyer Vacation Rentals, a localreal estate company that posted sev-eral pictures of the wreckage on itsfan page.A number of Confederateships attempted to circumvent aUnion Navy blockade of Mobile Bayduring the Civil War. And some be-lieve the wreckage may belong to theMonticello, a ship that burned andsank while trying to break the block-ade during the war. Could this be thewreck of a Civil War-era vessel? This

is actually the fourth time parts ofthe wreckage have become visibleover the years, after it first made anappearance following HurricaneCamille in 1969. It reappeared in2004 after Hurricane Ivan and againin 2008 after Hurricane Ike.

“Based on what we know ofships lost in that area and what I’veseen, the Monticello is by far themost likely candidate,” Museum ofMobile marine archaeologist SheaMcLean told the Birmingham Newsin 2008. “You can never be 100percent certain unless you find thebell with `Monticello’ on it, but thisdefinitely fits.”

Still, there’s no consensus onjust how old the 136-foot-long shipactually is, with some speculatingthat it may be a rum runner thatsank during Prohibition. NEWS DESK

Mysterious shipwreck washes onto Alabamashore, believed to be from Civil War


thursday, 6 September, 2012

Page 18

Azarenka struggles forsatisfaction guaranteed

LAHORECRICINFo

THe ICC ruled down thePCB's objection to SaeedAjmal's omission from theICC's Test Cricketer of the

Year award shortlist, stating that itwas an independent jury who cast outAjmal from the longlist. The PCB,however, questioned the ICC processand urged it to revise the selectionprocedure.

The PCB had lodged a protest withthe ICC after Ajmal was left off theaward shortlist last week. The ICC,though, refused to reconsider Ajmal'scase. "The ICC has no authority tochange the results of the academy," anICC spokesman said. "The voting re-sults are final and binding on every-one."

In 2010, england offspinnerGraeme Swann was omitted from thelonglist for the Cricketer of the Yearaward prepared by ICC itself but afterthe eCB put up his case, the ICC in-

cluded his name after admitting anoversight.

Unlike Swann in 2010, Ajmal wasin the longlist this year but missed outwhen an independent 32-memberjury that included former Pakistancaptain Aamer Sohail and Pakistanjournalist Majid Bhatti nominated SriLanka batsman Kumar Sangakkara,South Africa fast bowler Vernon Phi-lander, Australia captain MichaelClarke and South Africa openerHashim Amla for Test Cricketer of theYear.

Ajmal, 34, took 72 Test wicketsbetween August 4, 2011 and August 6,2012 - the qualifying period for theaward - including 24 at 14.70 as Pak-istan swept aside england, the thenNo. 1 side in the world, 3-0 in Janu-ary. He has climbed to No. 3 in theICC Test bowling rankings and is thehighest ranked spinner.

"His [Ajmal] tally is substantialenough to make him a notable per-former throughout the year," a PCBspokesman said. "It's very surprising

not just for Pakistan but for the wholecricketing world that such a deservingplayer isn't in the final list. The PCBunderstands that there is a seriousneed to revise the procedure thateventually overlooked the best man tobe picked."

Despite the PCB's concern, theICC will not reconsider Ajmal's name."It is important to understand theprocess which is very simple andtransparent, and monitored by inde-pendent auditor ernst & Young," theICC spokesman said. "The longlistsare prepared by a five-member Selec-tion Panel which is headed by MrClive Lloyd and this year includedClare Connor (england), Tom Moody(Australia), Carl Hooper (West Indies)and Marvan Atapattu (Sri Lanka).

"The shortlists are then createdafter the individual player awards arevoted for by an academy of 32 highlycredentialed cricket personalitiesfrom around the world. The top fourplayers in each category with mostvotes are included in the shortlists."

ICC rules out Ajmalaward inclusion

KARACHIAFp

Pakistan skipper Misbah ul Haq came under firefrom former players on Wednesday for his tac-tics and defensive approach in Pakistan's 2-1one-day international series defeat to Australia.

Pakistan lost the deciding match by threewickets on Monday, missing a good chance torecord their first win against Australia in a lim-ited overs series in 10 years. Former captainWasim Akram said Pakistan were short of bite.

"You need aggression to beat Australia,"Wasim, a member of the team which won 2-1 inAustralia in 2002, told AFP. "Misbah is not bat-ting well and not showing aggression in cap-taincy."

Wasim, who took 502 one-day and 414 Testwickets and was one of the best left-arm fastbowlers ever to play the game, said Misbahneeds to show courage after notching up threeone-day series defeats in a row.

"At his age Misbah needs to play his remain-

ing cricket with a big heart," said Wasim of the38-year-old. Pakistan lost 4-0 to england and 3-1 in Sri Lanka earlier this year.

Wasim criticised the decision to promote anout-of-form Shahid Afridi to number three inthe third match.

"Afridi is playing as a bowler these days ashe is not in the best of form with the bat, sosending him at number three was a mistake andI don't understand the strategy of sending Kam-ran Akmal low in the order when he can be goodas (the) opener," said Wasim. Former pacemanSarfraz Nawaz also criticised Misbah.

"It was his defensive approach that cost Pak-istan the series," said Nawaz. "Pakistan had agood chance of beating Australia but they lackedplanning and aggression."

Former batsman Basit Ali said coach DavWhatmore must share the blame.

"I think Whatmore's ability as a coach hasbeen exposed in this series," said Ali. "I used tothink that he was a good coach but his planningwas not up to the mark

Misbah under fire after Pakistan defeat

Sports source ofproviding healthyrecreation, Pm onnational games

LAHOREStAFF REpoRt

Prime Minister, Raja Pervez Ashraf has saidthat sports events are the source of provid-ing healthy recreation to the youth as wellas besides discovering fresh talent for thenational teams and raising the standards ofsports in general. In his message to the or-ganisers of the 32nd National Games beingorganized in Lahore from October 21 -27the Prime Minster said “ I am sure that thecompetitions will also produce new talent tojoin the ranks of national team. Sports rep-resent soft power of a country and it mustbe our earnest effort to regain our place inthe sports map”. He said the present demo-cratic government is committed to provideall facilities to the young sportspersons.“You have to excel in your field by dent ofhard work and commit to bring glory to thenation.” The Prmie Minister said that hefeels that such competitions should bearranged for our athletes to compete so thatthey can polish their talent and skill andachieve excellence in their respective fields.“I hope that the forthcoming NationalGames will attract the best of our talent andalso provide a great deal of festivity to thespectators besides cementing inter-provin-cial harmony,” he added. He wished the or-ganizers success in their efforts and goodluck to the participants.

defence day ofPakistan Cycle race

LAHOREStAFF REpoRt

The Defence Day of Pakistan 60 km CycleRace is being held on Sept. 6 at 7:00 am to9:00 am on the Ring Road, Lahore. Therace is being organized by Lahore DistrictCycling Association and is being supportedand sponsored by the Pakistan Cycling Fed-eration (PCF). Syed Azhar Ali Shah, the Sec-retary PCF informed that as per thedecision of the PCF General Council, vari-ous district and zonal bodies as well as Affil-iated Units have been assigned variousraces throughout the calendar year under aPCF plan to provide for grass root participa-tion and grooming of talent. The race willstart from the Abdullah Gul interchange fly-over, next to the Allama Iqbal InternationalAirport. The race is being participated byvarious cyclists from all over Punjab. Mr.Taimur Ali Khan former National RoadChampion and Pakistan color holder inAsian Games will flag off the cyclists. Thewinners of the first 6 positions will beawarded trophies along with cash prizes.

NOTTINGHAMAFp

england batsman Jonathan Trott has been ruled out of thefinal weeks of the domestic season with a broken hand, theengland and Wales cricket Board (eCB) announcedWednesday. However, he is expected to be fit for nextmonth's tour of India. Trott suffered the injury when hit onthe right hand while batting against South Africa fast bowlerDale Steyn during england's six-wicket win in the fourthone-day international at Lord's on Sunday.

The injury was severe enough for the South Africa-bornright-hander to be ruled out of the fifth and final one-day in-ternational at Trent Bridge on Wednesday, where he was re-placed by Jonathan Bairstow in a series england lead 2-1. AneCB statement said Trott had been sidelined with "an undis-placed fracture of the third metacarpal in his right hand".

It added: "Although initial X-rays were clear, a subse-quent MRI scan revealed a fracture at the base of his thirdmetacarpal.

"No intervention is required and the 31-year-old shouldbe able to resume batting in three to four weeks and is ex-pected to available for the tour of India next month."

Trott was not included in england's squad for the de-fence of their World Twenty20 title in Sri Lanka later thismonth so his injury has no bearing on that tournament. But

it does mean he will be unavailable to play in Warwickshire'sdomestic 40-over final against Hampshire at Lord's a weekon Saturday.

However, england will take heart from the fact that oneof their senior batsman is set to be fit for a tour of Indiawhere they will be without former captain and opener An-drew Strauss, following his retirement from all cricket, andcould still be missing international exile Kevin Pietersen.

england are expected to announce their squad for theIndia tour next week.

‘Ajmal deservedto be shortlisted’

LAHOREStAFF REpoRt

Pressure is mounting on the PCB to boycottthe annual ICC awards ceremony after theworld governing body refused to include off-spinner Saeed Ajmal in the final list of nomi-nations for any category. "Ajmal deserved tobe shortlisted for either the Test cricketer ofthe year or ODI player of the year award.The way the ICC has ignored him is unjustand the PCB must convey its reservations byboycotting the awards ceremony in SriLanka," reports quoted Pakistan's formercaptain, Rashid Latif as saying. Latif was notthe only one to express his displeasure at theICC's decision to not reconsider Ajmal de-spite a plea from the PCB. "This ICC processto shortlist players is clearly flawed becausecricket is all about performance, not per-sonal likes and dislikes. Better if the PCBboycotts the awards function," former Testplayer and ex-coach of the national team,Mohsin Khan said. "It will at least send out astrong message to the ICC. South Africa alsodid it in 2009 when their deserving playerswere ignored for the awards," Mohsin, whohas also remained a chief selector, said. Theannual ICC awards ceremony, due to be heldon September 15, has become the bone ofcontention for Pakistan cricket after the ICCpanel of experts omitted Ajmal's name. Theomission has already led to the PCB writingletters to the ICC, expressing its dissent withthe decision, and pointed out that Ajmal wasthe top wicket-taker in Tests in the qualify-ing period for the awards, taking 72 wicketsin 12 games and was also placed second inthe ODI top bowlers list. Latif said the ICCwas duty-bound to simplify the process of fi-nalising the rankings. Former Pakistan bat-ting legend Zaheer Abbas too was verycritical of the omission of Ajmal from thefinal awards list. In his views he was one ofthe bowlers who has kept the world cricketin a spin with his performance but the ICCsee must make the process of selectionsimple. "How can they ignore Ajmal whenhe has performed brilliantly and led Pak-istan to a 3-0 clean sweep over the world'stop Test side england this year.”

Injured Trott out of therest of English season


Sports 16


DUBAIAFp

P AKISTAN'S spinners Moham-mad Hafeez, Saeed Ajmal andRaza Hasan bowled Australiaout for just 89 to set up an easy

seven-wicket win in the first Twenty20international here on Wednesday.Ajmal (2-13), Hasan (2-15) and skipperHafeez (2-24) shook the Australianbatting before left-arm paceman SohailTanvir (3-13) wrapped up the inningsin 19.3 overs. Pakistan then rompedhome in 14.5 overs to take a 1-0 lead inthe three-match series.

It was an easy win for Pakistan atDubai Stadium after going down 2-1 inthe preceding one-day series.

Shoaib Malik hit the winningboundary, finishing with nine not outwhile Kamran Akmal finished with anunbeaten 31 with three boundaries anda six.

The victory was never in doubtonce Pakistan bowled well. Hafeez (17)and Imran Nazir (22) gave Pakistan asolid start of 30 before losing Hafeezand Nasir Jamshed (10) in quick suc-cession.

Akmal and Malik saw off the target

without any discomfort.The second match will be played

here on Friday.earlier Australia were let down by

poor shot selection against quality spinbowling after they were sent into bat.

Australia hit only three boundariesin the innings with their last coming inthe fourth over as Pakistani spinnersnever allowed them to settle on a turn-ing track, reducing their opponents totheir second-lowest Tweny20 total.

Opener David Warner top-scoredwith 22 off 25 deliveries, hitting twoboundaries.

Cameron White (15) and captainGeorge Bailey (14) were the only othersto reach double figures.

Paceman Umar Gul dismissedShane Watson (eight) in the third overwhile Tanvir accounted for MichaelHussey (one) in the next beforeWarner and Bailey put on the beststand of the innings, adding 33 for thethird wicket.

Pakistan's spinners then came intotheir own, as the last eight wicketswent for a mere 43 runs.

Australia's lowest Twenty20 totalof 79 came against england atSouthampton in 2005.

Pakistan spinners wreck Australia in first T20

NOTTINGHAMAFp

South Africa won the fifth and final one-dayinternational against england by sevenwickets at Trent Bridge on Wednesday toend the series all square at 2-2. South Africa,set a seemingly modest 183 for victory, col-lapsed to 14 for three before an unbrokenstand of 172 between man-of-the-seriesHashim Amla (97 not out) and captain ABde Villiers (75 not out) saw them home withmore than 15 overs to spare.

england, who remain the world's num-ber one side in ODIS, had earlier been dis-missed for 182 after opting to bat first in theday/night fixture with left-arm spinnerRobin Peterson taking three for 37. earlier,Robin Peterson took three wickets as eng-land collapsed to 182 all out in the fifth and

final one-day international.Left-arm spinner Peterson, enterpris-

ingly given the new ball by Proteas captainAB de Villiers, finished with figures of threefor 37 from 10 overs as South Africa lookedto level the series at 2-2. Fast bowler DaleSteyn, a more familiar new-ball operator,took two for 24 in nine with six of SouthAfrica's seven bowlers among the wickets.

Only england captain Alastair Cook(51), who won the toss on a sunlit afternoon,and wicket-keeper Craig Kieswetter (33)made more than 29 amongst a top six with-out the injured Jonathan Trott.

Recalled paceman Chris Woakes was acareer-best 33 not out. Peterson removedIan Bell, playing down the wrong line, lbwfor 10 with the opener wasting england'slone review on a plumb decision.

Ravi Bopara, promoted up the order inTrott's absence despite a run of low scores,was then caught behind by wicket-keeper deVilliers off Steyn for his second nought infour innings. england were now 24 for twoand, not for the first time in his brief inter-national career Jonathan Bairstow, in forTrott, who had his hand broken by Steynduring england's six-wicket win at Lord's onSunday, came in with his side in dire straits.Bairstow survived a tough chance to de Vil-liers on 10, and together with Cook shareda third-wicket stand of 55. But he fell for 29when a well-timed clip off fast bowlerMorne Morkel flew straight to Justin On-tong at deep square leg. Left-hander eoinMorgan then exited for a duck when hemistimed a drive off spinner JP Duminy toHashim Amla at mid-on.

Meanwhile Cook completed a 69-ballfifty with six fours. But just when englandneeded him to press on Cook fell in softfashion when he chipped a low returncatch off a full toss to Faf du Plessis, thefourth spinner used. Kieswetter thenholed out off Morkel's slower ball. Peter-son dismissed James Tredwell and JamesAnderson, going for a needlessly ambi-tious drive, with successive deliveries.Jade Dernbach survived the hat-trick, al-though he was soon out as the inningsended with 28 balls remaining.

SA win over Englandleaves series drawn 2-2

dUBAi: Pakistani spinner raza hasan (l)celebrates with skipper mohammad hafeez (r)during their first T20 match against Australia. afp

dUBAi: Shoaib malik and kamran Akmalcelebrate Pakistan’s win over Australia in thefirst T20 match. afp

AUStRALIA:

S. Watson lbw b Gul 8

D. Warner c and b Hafeez 22

M. Hussey c Malik b tanvir 1

G. Bailey c Umar b Hafeez 14

D. Hussey c Ajmal b Hasan 3

C. White b Ajmal 15

M. Wade c Nazir b Hasan 6

G. Maxwell c Jamshed b Ajmal 4

p. Cummins c Umar b tanvir 1

X. Doherty not out 6

B. Hilfenhaus c Kamran b tanvir 0

Extras: (lb6, w3) 9

total: 89

Fall of wickets: 1-12 (Watson), 2-13 (MEK Hussey), 3-46 (Warner),

4-51 (D. Hussey), 5-52 (Bailey), 6-72 (Wade), 7-81 (Maxwell), 8-

81 (White), 9-88 (Cummins) 10-89 (Hilfenhaus).

Bowling: Hafeez 4-0-24-2, tanvir 2.3-0-13-3 (w1), Gul 4-0-17-1,

Ajmal 4-0-13-2 (w1), Hasan 4-0-15-2 (w1), Malik 1-0-1-0

overs: 19.3

pAKIStAN:

Mohammad Hafeez c D. Hussey b Cummins 17

Imran Nazir c White b Watson 22

Nasir Jamshed b Hilfenhaus 10

Kamran Akmal not out 31

Shoaib Malik not out 9

EXtRAS: (w1) 1

totAL: (for three wickets) 90

Fall of wickets: 1-30 (Hafeez), 2-44 (Jamshed), 3-68 (Nazir).

Bowling: Maxwell 2-0-25-0, Hilfenhaus 3-0-18-1, Cummins 3-

0-14-1 (w1), Doherty 3-0-12-0, Watson 2.3-0-9-1, White 1-0-12-0

overs: 14.5

Result: pakistan won by seven wickets

toss: pakistan

Umpires: Ahsan Raza (pAK) and Shozab Raza (pAK)

tv umpire: Zameer Haider (pAK)

Match referee: Roshan Mahanama (SRI).

SCoREBoARD

ENGLAND

A. Cook c and b du plessis 51

I. Bell lbw b peterson 10

R. Bopara c de Villiers b Steyn 0

J. Bairstow c ontong b Morkel 29

E. Morgan c Amla b Duminy 0

C. Kieswetter c Amla b Morkel 33

S. patel c de Villiers b Steyn 9

C. Woakes not out 33

J. tredwell b peterson 6

J. Anderson c Morkel b peterson 0

J. Dernbach c de Villiers b parnell 2

EXtRAS (lb3, w3, nb3) 9

totAL (all out, 45.2 overs) 182

FALL of WICKEtS: 1-23 (Bell), 2-24 (Bopara), 3-79 (Bairstow), 4-

82 (Morgan), 5-99 (Cook), 6-124 (patel), 7-156 (Kieswetter), 8-175

(tredwell), 9-175 (Anderson), 10-182 (Dernbach)

BoWLING: Steyn 9-2-24-2 (1w); peterson 10-0-37-3; Morkel 8-0-

41-2 (2w); parnell 8.2-0-38-1 (2nb); Elgar 4-0-20-0 (1nb); Duminy

4-0-11-1; Du plessis 2-0-8-1;

SoUtH AFRICA:

HM Amla not out 97

GC Smith c tredwell b Dernbach 1

F du plessis c †Kieswetter b Anderson 3

D Elgar c Kieswetter b Anderson 1

AB de Villiers not out 75

EXtRAS: (lb 1, w 8) 9

totAL: (3 wickets; 34.3 overs) 186

Did not bat Jp Duminy, JL ontong, WD parnell, RJ peterson, M

Morkel, DW Steyn

Fall of wickets 1-8 (Smith, 1.4 ov), 2-11 (du plessis, 2.3 ov), 3-14

(Elgar, 4.4 ov)

Bowling: JM Anderson 9-2-4-1, JW Dernbach 7.3-0-56-1, CR

Woakes 6-0-35-0, JC tredwell 6-0-30-0, SR patel 2-0-11-0, RS

Bopara 4-0-12-0

toss England, who chose to bat, Series 5-match series drawn 2-

2, toSS: England, UMpIRES: Kumar Dharmasena (SRI) and Richard

Illingworth (ENG),

tV UMpIRE: Simon taufel (AUS)

MAtCH REFEREE: Andy pycroft (ZIM)

SCoREBoARD

noTTinghAm : South Africa's dale Steyn (C)celebrates with team-mates AB de Villiers (r)and Faf du Plessis after taking the wicket ofengland's Samit Patel during the fourth one daymatch against england at Trent Bridge. afp


Sports17


Third gold onfor ‘weirwolf’in london

LONDONAFp

British wheelchair racer David Weir onWednesday set the stage for yet anothertitle defence, making the T54 800mfinal just hours after successfully retain-ing his 1,500m crown. The 33-year-oldLondoner was again challenged by hisgreat rivals Kurt Fearnley of Australiaand Switzerland's Marcel Hug at theOlympic Stadium but saw off the chal-lenge to qualify for Thursday evening'sfinal. Combative Weir, dubbed the"Weirwolf" by team-mates, was compet-ing just over 12 hours after a partisan80,000 crowd roared him to victory inthe 1,500m final, four years after he wonthe middle distance double in Beijing.He has also won the 5,000m gold in theBritish capital and also goes in themen's marathon around the streets ofcentral London on the last day of athlet-ics competition on Saturday.

Bolt could playman Utd charitygame: Ferguson

LONDONAFp

Jamaican sprint star Usain Bolt, anavowed Manchester United fan, could ap-pear for the Premier League club in acharity game next summer, according tomanager Alex Ferguson. "Usain's a char-acter and a big United fan," Ferguson toldInside United magazine of Bolt, freshfrom his second successive triple goldhaul at the London Olympics. "But it's in-teresting he says he'd like to play in acharity game. It could be brilliant, andnext year when we play Real Madrid'sLegends again, there could be opportuni-ties to bring him up and see how hedoes." That game is scheduled for June 3,2013, at Old Trafford, but comes in mid-season for Bolt ahead of several lucrativeDiamond League meets and the August10-18 world championships in Moscow.

LONDON: Britain's

David Weir celebrates

winning the Men's

1500m T54 Final

athletics event during

the London 2012

Paralympic Games at

the Olympic Stadium

in east London. AFP

MADRIDAFp

Childhood friends now playing for archfoes, Real Madrid's Iker Casillas andBarcelona's Xavi Hernandez won a topSpanish award Wednesday for risingabove team rivalry. Casillas, 31-year-oldgoalkeeper for Real Madrid and Spain,and Xavi, the 32-year-old Barcelona mid-fielder, were awarded the prestigiousPrince of Asturias 2012 prize for sports.

The jury, meeting in Oviedo, northernSpain, said the pair "symbolise the valuesof friendship and comradeship beyond thegreat rivalry of their respective teams."

Casillas and Xavi have been friendssince their footballing youth, and they areoften credited for helping to anchor thenational side, which features a large blocof Barcelona and Real Madrid players.

Matches between Real Madrid andBarcelona are national sporting events,

known as "clasicos" because of the level ofplay and the intensity of the competition.

Rivalry between the nation's two topclubs famously exploded into an on-fieldscrap in August last year during RealMadrid's Spanish Super Cup loss toBarcelona at the Nou Camp. As playersfrom the arch-rival teams scuffled on thefield, Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinhopoked Barcelona's then assistant coachTito Vilanova in the eye in the full view oftelevision cameras. Last month, a yearafter the event, the 49-year-old Mourinhoconceded: "I obviously should not havedone what I did." Vilanova has since beenpromoted to the job of Barcelona coach.HALf Of BRAzIL WORLD cUPSTADIUMS HALf DONE: Less thantwo years before the 2014 World Cup kicksoff in Brazil, half of the 12 host stadiumsare at least 50 percent completed, thesports ministry said Tuesday. Work onRio's iconic Maracana stadium, which will

host the World Cup final, is 62 percentcompleted, according to a progress reviewposted on the government's official WorldCup page. Venues in Brasilia and thenortheastern city of Salvador are morethan 70 percent completed.

But the arena in the northeast city ofNatal is only 30 percent done and work onthe stadium in the southern city of PortoAlegre is just 33 percent completed.

Work on the venues in the northerncity of Manaus, the southern cities of Cu-ritiba and Sao Paulo, and in Cuiaba, capi-tal of the central-western state of MatoGrosso is nearly halfway done, theprogress review said. Last week, visitingFIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke saidpreparations for the World Cup -- renova-tion or construction of stadiums, as well asinfrastructure projects -- were progressingwell. "No stadium is behind schedule. Allthe projects are proceeding well and wehave reached cruise speed," Valcke told a

press conference in Rio after inspectinghost arenas in Manaus and Cuiaba.

"Things are working better. More isbeing accomplished. Things are speedingup," he said with former Brazilian footballgreat Ronaldo, a member of the WorldCup Organizing Committee, at his side.

His comments, made on his fourthvisit to Brazil to assess progress, con-trasted with his comments in Marchwhen he suggested World Cup organizersneeded a "kick up the backside" to hastenlagging preparations. He subsequentlyapologized for his comments, as did FIFAPresident Sepp Blatter. But experts be-lieve the country still has major chal-lenges to overcome, notably with respectto transport and housing. On Tuesday,the sports ministry cited good progresson the arena in the northeastern city ofFortaleza, which is 87 percent completed,and in the southeastern city of Belo Hor-izonte, which is 78 percent done.

LAHOREStAFF REpoRt

The Semi Finals rounds of FMC- 2nd Asian Mas-ters Squash Championship-2012 were playedhere at PSA Squash Complex on Wednesday.

The final of Over 60 & above will be playedbetween Gogi Alauddin (PAK) Vs Rajiv Reddy(India), Over 55-59 between Lalit Kumar Agni-hotri (India) Vs Mohammad Hanif Lodhi, exhi-bition Match between Ramy Ashour (eGY) VsGogi Alauddin (PAK), Over 50-54 between Has-san Raza (PAK) Vs Jaideep Singh Grewal(India), Over 45-49 between Sohail Qaiser (PAK)Vs Mohammad Fayyaz (HKG), Over 35-39 be-tween Zulfiqar Khan(PAK) Vs Jahangir Khan Jr(PAK) and Over 40-44 between Abdul Rashid(PAK) Vs Sajjad Ahmed (PAK).RESULT SEMI fINAL: Over 35-39: ZulfiqarKhan(PAK) bt Lal Wickrama Singhe (Sri

Lanka) 11-9, 11-5, 11-8. Jahangir Khan (PAK)bt Saurab Nayar (India) 11-6, 13-11, 11-6 Over 40-44: Abdul Rashid (PAK) W/o AseemVerma (India). Sajjad Ahmed (PAK) bt AdnanLatif (PAK) 11-7, 12-14, 11-5, 11-8 Over 45-49: Sohail Qaiser (PAK) bt DeepakMoolani (India) 11-9, 11-9, 11-9. MohammadFayyaz (HKG) bt Rohit Thawani (India) 11-6,17-15, 11-8, 12-10 Over 50-54: Hassan Raza (PAK) bt Ghulam Fa-rooq Butt (PAK) 11-6, 11-7, 11-3. Jaideep SinghGrewal (India) bt Ali Hassan Habib (PAK) 12-10, 8-11, 11-7, 6-11, 11-6Over 55-59: Lalit Kumar Agnihotri (India) BeatAbdul Qayyum (PAK) 16-18, 3-11, 11-9, 11-5, 11-4. Haneef lodhi qualify for final from othersemi finalOver 60 & above: Gogi Alauddin (PAK) VsMunir Sait (India) 11-4, 11-0, 11-1. Rajiv Reddy(India) W/o Sajjad Munir (PAK).

2nd asian Masters Squash finals today

Casillas, Xavi, win top Spanish award


watch it LiveESPNSPORTSCENTER

07:30PM

Sports 18


who are you?Ferrer happy tolive in shadows

NEW YORKAFp

Softly-spoken David Ferrer is happy to bethe US Open fourth seed nobody men-tions, preferring to let his racquet do histalking for him at Flushing Meadows. Fer-rer, 30, reached his fourth Grand Slamquarter-final of 2012 when he beatFrance's Richard Gasquet 7-5, 7-6 (7/2),6-4 on Tuesday in a last-16 tie which wasspread over seven hours because of twolengthy rain delays. In the absence of for-mer champion Rafael Nadal, he is hiscountry's only hope of a Spanish cham-pion this year. However, only Roger Fed-erer, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murrayare talked of as tournament winners. "Idon't care. That's normal. Djokovic andMurray and Federer, they deserve the at-tention because they are amazing players.So it's not a problem for me," he said. "I'mtrying do my best, do my best as possible"fERRER IN LAST EIgHT: Spain'sDavid Ferrer reached his fourth GrandSlam quarter-final of 2012 Tuesday whenhe beat Richard Gasquet 7-5, 7-6 (7/2), 6-4in a rain-hit US Open last-16 tie which tookover seven hours to complete. But defend-ing champion Novak Djokovic was left inlimbo by the torrential rain which causedmore than six hours to be lost from theprogramme, most of it from two lengthydelays which constantly pushed back theschedule. The second-seeded Serb only had10 minutes on court, which allowed him totake a 2-0 lead over Switzerland's StanislasWawrinka in his fourth-round match.Andy Roddick, the 2003 champion, who isplaying in his last tournament before re-tirement, was into a first-set tie-break with2009 winner Juan Martin Del Potro.

LAHOREStAFF REpoRt

The Neighbourhood and Village level of thePunjab Sports and Youth Festival which is thefirst phase of the three-month long activityhas entered into its final phase.

The Neighbourhood and Village levelstarted in 36 districts of the province onAugust 26 with competitions being held inathletics, badminton, volleyball, crickettape ball, billiard and arm wrestling whilethe general category competitions in-cluded naat khani and qirat.

All over the province on day 11, onWednesday, around 200,000 youngsters tookpart in 541 events of the PYF and from about6790 blocks and localities of 1435 Sports andYouth Development Councils saw over40,000 winning in different competitions.

In Lahore, the nine towns were in-volvement of 16 UCs and 100 blocks in 35events with participation of 1500 and outof them 541 won their matches and games.Wagha Town was most active in these Fes-tival competitions where 270 people par-ticipated in arm wrestling, badminton,billiard, tug of war and athletics in themorning while the rain that hit the city andmost parts of the province marred the out-field activities. Wagha’s three towns got 20

blocks involved in the six competitions.In Wahga Town, Union council 62,

Cricket Tape ball matches were held inwhich Asif XI beat Javed XI match while inUnion council 65, Jameel XI defeated JavedXI while Irfan club beat Ishtiaq club with asimilar margin of three wickets. In the Vol-leyball tournaments at union council 65,Super Volleyball club was declared winneragainst their neighbor Superior Club team.

In Iqbal Town’s union council 148 and149, 85 players from both union councilsparticipated in tug of war competitons andunion council 148 got the victory 2-0. In ath-letics events the same UC’s Ali Nawaz wonthe 100 metres race. In Billiard, union coun-

cil 148, Atif Kamal, Waqar, and Imran suc-ceeded. Muzammil, Sethi and Zeeshan fromunion council 149 were victorious in armwrestling. In the Cricket Tape ball at unioncouncil 148, Imran Munna XI and Iqbal XIwon the matches by 3 wickets against IqbalA. In the Arm Wrestling, Khurram Shehzadteam won Tug of War while in union council149, Sultan and Muzammil won their bad-minton competitions.

Meanwhile, the competitions at the Gul-berg Town concluded with win coming inthe way of 100 participants from a total of200 on the final day. On the final day, twoUCs of the town had nine blocks competingin four events. At Shalimar Town, union

council 46, Cricket tapeball matches, An-goori Bagh won by 6 wickets. In ArmWrestling, Naveed from Block 6, Mo-hammed Nadeem from Block 18, GhulamHussain and Waqas, Muneer Khan andMuzammil from block 10 won the events. InBadminton, Shafeeq and Ghulam Hussainwon the doubles matches against Naveedand Shahid 20-16 and 20-15.

On the other hand competitions con-tinued in the other districts of Lahore withSheikhupura having 2170 participants in 35events. They were from 24 UCs and 91blocks while in Kasur 65 UCs took part inthe in 27 events and the participants from91 blocks competed in all the seven events

of the first phase. And in Nankana Sahib1200 took part in 20 events and 733 wontop honours. Similarly, in the other districtsof the province, as Dera Ghazi Khan wasthe most active of all on the day with themass participation of around 85000. Theywere from 167 UCs and 727 blocks and 5126won their matches held in 42 competitionsof different category.

In Rawalpindi, 55 events were heldamong 320 blocks of 136 S&YDCs and 1569were the winners. Around 7011 participantsfrom Sargodha competed in 48 events and1925 were the winners from 203 blocks of 87UCs. Likewise Gujranwala had 11381 partic-ipants, Faisalabad 35558 and Multan 20901.

Sports Festival’s neighbourhood and village level in final phase

NEW YORKAFp

M ORe than six hours of rain de-lays struck at the US Open onTuesday, rescuing MariaSharapova from a woeful start,

extending Andy Roddick's career for atleast a day and leaving Novak Djokovic inlimbo. It marked the seventh year in a rowthat rain has caused major disruptions atthe season's final Grand Slam event onthe Flushing Meadows hardcourts andraised fears of a rain-delayed Mondaymen's finish for the fifth year in a row.

In the only completed women'smatch, top seed Victoria Azarenka of Be-larus shook off a 75-minute rain delayafter just 11 minutes to reach a semi-finalby beating defending champion Saman-tha Stosur of Australia 6-1, 4-6, 7-6 (7/5).

"It's never pleasant to stop the mo-mentum but it was the same for both ofus," Azarenka said. In the only men'smatch to be completed, Spanish fourthseed David Ferrer advanced to a quarter-final by defeating France's Richard Gas-quet 7-5, 7-6 (7/2), 6-4.

"The rain made it very difficult," saidFerrer. "But the fans have been great andI wanted to win it for them."

Four unfinished singles matcheswere suspended until Wednesday, withFrench 11th seed Marion Bartoli leadingRussian third seed Sharapova 4-0 untilbeing rescued by the rain that forcedthem off the court at Arthur Ashe Sta-dium. On the men's side, defendingchampion Djokovic, the second seedfrom Serbia, managed a break for a 2-0lead over Swiss 18th seed StanislasWawrinka in the 10 minutes they wereon the court before showers struck.Djokovic, or whoever reaches the finalfrom his half of the draw except Ferrer,might have to play four of the final fivedays of the event, provided weather al-lows for an on-time men's finish for thefirst time since 2007.

Rain, however, is in the forecastuntil the weekend. Serbian eighth seedJanko Tipsarevic seized a 5-2 lead on

German 19th seed Philipp Kohlschreiberbefore the last deluge shut down play atabout 9 p.m., 30 minutes before officialssuspended resumption to Wednesday.

That ensured one more day in thecareer of Andy Roddick, the 2003 USOpen champion who said last week thiswould be the final event before he re-tires. US 20th seed Roddick won thefirst point of a first-set tie-breaker

against Argentina's seventh-seededJuan Martin Del Potro, the 2009 USOpen winner, before their match washalted. In all, there were four rain de-lays for the day, the last for 30 minutesand the one before it for three hours.

early stoppages of about 75 and 88minutes kept the court-drying towelcrews on outer courts and electronicdrying machines at Ashe Stadium busy.

oCA baseball coachescourse concludes todayLAHORE: The closing ceremony ofOlympic Council of Asia (OCA) baseballcoaches course will be held here, Thurs-day at Sports Board Punjab Academy, na-tional hockey stadium. The primeobjective of the 13-day useful activity isto upgrade the existing knowledge of thenational coaches ,said a spokesman ofPakistan Federation Baseball here onWednesday. “ The participants are beingtaught the latest knowledge of baseballcoaching besides the changes made in theinternational rule “,he said. StAFF REpoRt

rain leaves sharapova,djokovic, roddick all wet

NEW yORK: World number one Vic-toria Azarenka moved within two winsof her second Grand Slam title of theseason on Tuesday, but admitted shemight never be satisfied with her ca-reer. The 23-year-old, who capturedthe Australian Open this year, is thefirst Belarusian to make the last fourin New York, achieving the feat with a6-1, 4-6, 7-6 (7/5) win over defendingchampion Samantha Stosur. Victory

also allowed her to maintain her worldnumber one spot. But happiness ap-pears to be a long way off for the stat-uesque, Monte Carlo-based girl fromMinsk. "I feel like I will never be satis-fied, you know, sometimes, that eventhough I'm at the peak of my careerright now, I feel like I want to do bet-ter," said Azarenka. "The ambitionsare really high, but I don't like to jumpahead too much. That's what I feltkind of was holding me back before isto have that image that I want it sobad that I'm going to go for it. "Now Ijust try to execute being a good player,improve myself as a player, my physi-cal aspect, and the result is second forme right now." It wasn't always so.Azarenka was long-touted as a star ofthe future when she started on thetour in 2006. But it took her 14 GrandSlam events before she made her firstquarter-final at the French Open in2009 and it wasn't until Wimbledonin 2011 that she reached her firstsemi-final at a major. Her worldranking mirrored her bumpy journeyon the WTA Tour -- a season-endingseven in 2009 slipped to 10 in 2010before a top-three place at the end of2011. She hit the top spot followingher Australian Open win in January,lost it briefly to Maria Sharapovaafter Wimbledon before regaining itahead of the Olympics. AFp

Azarenka struggles forsatisfaction guaranteed



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Published by Arif Nizami at Qandeel Printing Press, 4 Queens Road, Lahore. Editor: Arif Nizami

NEW DELHIINp

FReSH from the successfulopening of the Wagah-Attariborder trading post, India saidit was keen to throw open theKhokhrapar-Munabao border

point as well.Addressing a group of Pakistani parlia-

mentarians, Indian Commerce Minister

Anand Sharma said that India was alsowilling to start talks with Pakistan to openthe Husseiniwala-Sialkot border point.

The Attari-Wagah border post was re-cently opened for traffic, though he said,some infrastructures was still needed to beput in place. India and Pakistan havestarted talks on exporting electricity to Pak-istan, the minister said. The first step,Sharma said, would be grid connectivitywith Pakistan. This has been done between

India and Bangladesh in the past couple ofyears, and the Indian concept could bereplicated on the Indo-Pak border. India,the minister said, was willing to sell500MW of electricity as the first step.Arvind Mehta, Joint Secretary in the Com-merce Ministry, said the two sides in theirrecent meetings were looking to fast-trackthe process. Sharma said India was negoti-ating to sell petroleum products to Pakistanas well. Pakistan buys these products from

third countries, and Sharma said it wouldbe cheaper to source them from India.

Pakistani MPs asked for greater accessto tourists from either side. There was alsoa demand for Indian healthcare facilities toset up institutions in Pakistan. India, for itspart, would like Pakistan to allow Indiangoods to transit through its territory toAfghanistan. On the Munabao borderpoint, sources said a recent meeting of theexperts group in July discussed the possi-

bility of a dedicated rail route on the Ra-jasthan-Sindh border. Given that Barmerin Rajasthan is now a source of oil, Indiacould even export petrochemical productsfrom there to Pakistan.

The Khokhrapar-Munabao route hasbeen a consistent demand from the Indianside, because New Delhi believes it offershuge opportunities for local businessmenin Gujarat and Rajasthan as part of the oldKutch-Sindh trading practices.

ISLAMABADSHAIQ HUSSAIN

In a bid to give thrust to the‘sluggish’ Afghan reconcilia-tion process, Pakistan,Afghanistan and the UnitedStates on Wednesday dis-cussed the provision of safepassage to Taliban leaders toparticipate in the peace talksand agreed that these mili-tant representatives wouldbe given guarantee of secu-rity and facilitation in travel.

The crucial exploratorytalks on provision of safepassage to the Taliban lead-ers were held at the ForeignOffice with senior diplomatsand security officials fromIslamabad, Kabul andWashington taking part inthe negotiations.

The talks focused onevolving “mechanisms” on

how to provide the Talibanleaders, nominated forpeace dialogue by their topleadership, with the safepassage so that they couldtake part in negotiationswithout any fear and con-cern about their security,according to officials privyto the meeting. “The inau-gural meeting of the SafePassage Working Groupwas held today at Ministryof Foreign Affairs, Islam-abad. The Trilateral CoreGroup of Pakistan,Afghanistan and the UnitedStates in its meeting at Is-lamabad on 7 April 2012had agreed to establish thisworking group,” said For-eign Office spokesmanMoazzam Khan.

“Delegations fromKabul, Washington and Is-lamabad participated in

today’s meeting and agreedto continue further discus-sions aimed at promotingpeace and reconciliation inAfghanistan,” he said. An-other Foreign Office officialsaid it was decided at themeeting that the Talibanrepresentatives would befully facilitated in the rele-vant countries as for the is-suance of visas and otherlogistics meant for theirtravel were concerned. “TheTaliban leaders would begiven guarantee that theirtravel and stay in variouscountries during the peacenegotiations would be safeand secure,” he said. He saidthat it was a good positivestart and we hoped that incoming meetings of thegroup all the three sideswould be able to achievetheir shared goal.

ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardarihas said the dark forces of extremism, mili-tancy and sectarianism are posing a seriouschallenge to the integrity of the nation, butno one would be allowed to endanger thecountry’s existence. In a message on the De-fense Day of Pakistan, the president saidPakistan was a moderate, tolerant andpeaceful nation where political choices weremade through the ballot.

“Let us, therefore, pledge that we willnever allow anyone to endanger our exis-tence as a moderate, tolerant and peacefulnation,” he said. Stressing an urgent needfor clarity of purpose and national unity toconfront the challenges, the president saidthe demonstration of unprecedented cohe-sion among the people, singularity of pur-pose at the national level and valor of the

armed forces made September 6 a memo-rable day in the national calendar. He saidon this day in 1965, people from all overPakistan and representing all shades ofopinion joined hands in standing behind thevaliant armed forces in thwarting aggres-sion. “The commemoration of September 6revives our spirits and strengthens our re-solve to defend the country against all kindsof threats and to be always prepared for anysacrifice for its integrity and honor.”

In his message on Defence Day, PrimeMinister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf said Septem-ber 6 is a day which represents the nation’sunwavering commitment to unify in the faceof grave challenges. “We need the same zealand commitment today as we exhibited in1965 to defeat the forces of terrorism, ex-tremism and sectarianism,” he said. app

LAHOREStAFF REpoRt

Reissuing a notice to the principal sec-retary to President Asif Ali Zardari, theLahore High Court (LHC) on Wednes-day adjourned the hearing until Sep-tember 14 in the contempt of courtpetition against President Zardari fornot relinquishing the political office ofPPP co-chairman.

The hearing was conducted by alarger LHC bench headed by ChiefJustice Umar Ata Bandial. Othermembers of the bench include Jus-tice Nasir Saeed Sheikh, JusticeSheikh Najamul Hasan, JusticeIjazul Ahsan and Justice Syed Man-soor Ali Shah.

Wasim Sajjad represented thefederation during the hearing whereasno one appeared on the president’sbehalf. During the hearing, the deputyattorney general informed the courtthat Attorney General Irfan Qadircould not appear for the hearing dueto his engagements at the SupremeCourt’s Quetta Registry. The deputyattorney general requested the benchto adjourn the hearing. Addressing the

bench, the counsel for petitionerAzhar Siddique said the president hadreceived the notice through his princi-pal secretary, adding that the fact thatno one appeared on the president’sbehalf was also tantamount to con-tempt of court.

The bench subsequently saidthat if the president had any reserva-tions or objections pertaining to theLHC’s verdict in the dual office case,he could register those before thebench through a counsel or a repre-sentative. Sajjad said the govern-ment respected the judiciary, addingthat the question that needed ad-dressing was that whether or notcontempt of court had been commit-ted. The bench stated that the courtsrespected the president’s office andhis position, however, rule of law wasof utmost importance.

Adjourning the hearing untilSeptember 14, the bench issued sum-mons for Attorney General IrfanQadir for the upcoming hearing.Taking to reporters after the hearing,Sajjad said the federal governmentwould file a formal request to be-come party in the case.

Shahbaz doesn’tmind going toNine Zero

LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister ShahbazSharif on Wednesday said the meetingbetween Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz andMuttahida Qaumi Movement leaders wouldhelp both parties in moving in the rightdirection, adding that he was even ready to goto the MQM Headquarters Nine Zero ifneeded. Talking to reporters in London,Shahbaz said the Pakistan People’s Partygovernment had given nothing to the countryexcept unemployment, lawlessness, price-hikeand load shedding. He said the PPP was notsincere in holding the local bodies electionsand it was merely a political stunt. Regardingthe statement of Imran Khan that the PPP andPML-N were cooperating with each othercovertly, Shahbaz said everyone knew whichparty had exposed the corruption andplundering of PPP and who are the newentrants in politics and secretly get support ofPPP for public meetings. STaff REpORT

India looking at opening two border points with Pakistang Indian commerce minister says keen to open Khokhrapar-Munabao and Husseiniwala-Sialkot borders

Taliban to be assured security forAfghan peace talksg pak-afghan-US Safe passage Working Group mullsways to include Taliban in afghan peace talks

Zardari vows to thwartanti-Pakistan designs

LHC issues notices topresident’s secretary,AG in dual office case

LoWER DIR: police personnel inspect the site where a would-be suicide bomber was gunned down by security officials

before he could detonate his explosives on Wednesday. afp | STORy ON paGE 04


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