e-paper pakistantoday 07th june, 2012

Thursday, 7 June, 2012 Rajab 16, 1433Rs 15.00 Vol II No 341 22 Pages

PAGE | 04 PAGE | 03

General Kayani refused to help despite

US threats: bookPAGE |22

US will continue drone attacks on al Qaeda in Pakistan

Pakistan seeksrecording of Jinnahcalling for secular state

ISLAMABADStAFF RePoRt

The reputation of the institution, not son, will be protected as law applies to allequally irrespective of the status and relationship, Chief Justice IftikharMuhammad Chaudhry said on Wednesday while conducting suo motu hearing ofan alleged graft case involving his son Dr Arsalan Iftikhar Chaudhry.

The case surfaces at a time when the Supreme Court is seized with a number of corruptioncases against the government.While the case, which might turn out to be the mother of all conspiracies, has shaken the topjudge, the CJP categorically made it clear that if his son was found involved in the case,the law would take its course.Media reports said Dr Arsalan had received Rs 300 million to Rs 400 millionfrom real estate tycoon and Bahria Town Chairman Malik Riazon various occasions. however, Dr Arsalandismissed these reports.Bahria Town Vice Chief executive CommodoreIlyas said that Arsalan had not been givenany money from the five projectsunder him. A three-member SCbench headed by Chief JusticeIftikhar MuhammadChaudhry, heard the caseon Wednesday.

Iran ready tofinance gaspipeline in Pakistan

TEHRANAFP

Iran is ready to finance a multi-billion dollargas pipeline in Pakistan, which has beendelayed for two years due to Westernpressure, the Fars news agency said onWednesday, quoting an “informed source”.“Financial difficulties and obstruction bysome Western countries have slowed downthe construction of the pipeline on Pakistanisoil,” Fars said. “To speed up the progress,Iranian Oil Ministry officials have proposedthat Iran is ready to invest in theconstruction of the pipeline inside Pakistan”in addition to the one inside Iran, it added. In2010, the government signed a deal with Iranunder which Tehran would supply naturalgas to its eastern neighbour from 2014, withsales to reach 750 million cubic feet to onebillion cubic feet per day by mid-2015. Theproject envisaged a pipeline, 900 kilometresin length, be built from Assaluyeh insouthern Iran to the border with Pakistan.Another 800-km pipeline is also neededinside Pakistan to receive gas from Iran’sSouth Pars field in the Gulf. While Iran hasalmost completed work on its side of theborder, the plans in Pakistan have run intodifficulty over reluctance by investors whofear they could be hit by sanctions. Thegovernment insists the pipeline is vital toefforts in overcoming the energy crisis itfaces, but the United States has expressedstrong objections to the project. It is urgingthe government to abandon the projectbecause of sanctions against Iran over itscontroversial nuclear programme.

CJP laysdown thelaw for song Justice Chaudhry says judiciary’s reputation,not his son, will be protected in graft case

Lahore Edition

LHR 07-06-2012_Layout 1 6/7/2012 3:37 AM Page 1

02thursday, 7 June, 2012

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CnG ASSoCiAtion ‘has had enough’ Pakistani, tajik presidents agree to increase economic cooperation

Afghans accuse Pakistan over

schoolgirl ‘attacks’KABUL: Afghan intelligence on Wednesday accused Pakistanispies of poisoning schoolgirls as authorities battle to halt a string ofalleged attacks that have sown panic in parts of the north. At least15 suspects have been detained over mysterious illnesses, whichusually include mass fainting episodes that have struck scores ofschoolgirls in Takhar province almost daily for the past two weeks.“The regional spy agencies, namely ISI, are behind it. They aretrying to sabotage the Shanghai Conference and the success ofAfghan education,” National Directorate of Security spokesmanLutfullah Mashal told reporters. The Inter-Services Intelligenceagency is widely reviled in Afghanistan. A teacher and three femalestudents are among those arrested and all 15 have confessed tobeing involved in poisoning, Mashal said. But the ISI dismissed theAfghan accusations as “absurd and senseless”. “This is an attemptto strain ties between the two countries. Pakistan wants peace andstability in Afghanistan. A peaceful and stable Afghanistan is in ourinterest,” a Pakistani intelligence official told AFP. Afghan officialsregularly accuse Taliban insurgents, who banned schooling for girlswhile in power from 1996 to 2001, of poisoning school wells orusing “gas” or “toxic powder” against the girls. None have died,however, and no traces of poison have been found in bloodsamples, officials say. experts suggest that a phenomenon knownas mass hysteria — against a background of conflict — could beresponsible. The Taliban have denied any involvement and said anyculprits would be punished “according to the Islamic Law”. AFP

US, India must overcome

Pakistan problems: PanettaNEW DELHI: US defence chief Leon Panetta on Wednesdayacknowledged that India and the United States had “often deep”differences with Pakistan but said Washington and New Delhineeded to work to overcome them. “Pakistan is a complicatedrelationship for both of our countries but one that we must work toimprove,” he was to say in a speech in New Delhi where he ismeeting the country’s leaders to discuss China and Afghanistan.“India and the United States will need to continue to engagePakistan, overcoming our respective – and often deep – differenceswith Pakistan to make all of South Asia peaceful and prosperous,”he added, according to prepared comments released ahead of theaddress. Panetta welcomed steps taken by India and Pakistan tonormalise their trade relations, a new focus by the neighbours whoare hoping greater commerce can pull them together. AFP

SC to hear petitions against

NA speaker’s rulingISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) of Pakistan has admittedthe petitions filed by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N)and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) against the NationalAssembly speaker’s ruling in favour of the prime minister after hisconviction by the apex court. The court issued notices to the partiesconcerned, including the federation of Pakistan, the prime minister,and the attorney general. A three-member bench comprising ChiefJustice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Jawwad S Khawajaand Justice Khilji Arif hussain issued the notices after hearing thepetitioners in preliminary proceedings. In their petitions, the PML-Nand the PTI argued that Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani was aconvict and should be disqualified under Article 63-1(g) of theconstitution. A premier, once convicted, stands disqualified from hisseat, and the disqualification does not require any ruling from the NAspeaker, the petitions said. The Supreme Court had convicted Gilanion April 26 in the contempt of court case after his refusal to write aletter to the Swiss authorities for reopening money laundering casesagainst President Asif Ali Zardari. online

ISLAMABADtAyyAb HuSSAin

Poor planning and lack of focus on the 2012-13budget cost the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)-ledcoalition heavily on Wednesday when the actingNational Assembly speaker had to adjourn theproceedings for Thursday due to lack of quorum.

The protesting members of the oppositionPakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) re-mained successful in getting the proceedings ad-journed, as they confined themselves to theparliament’s lobby under a planned move. Oneof their members arrived in the assembly hall,pointing out the lack of quorum to disrupt theproceedings, and left before the counting of themembers could start. The mysterious absence ofPPP and its allied parties’ lawmakers also helpedthe opposition party’s plan, although the houseproceedings started an hour later than its sched-ule time. The lack of quorum also embarrassedthe leadership of the ruling party and its chiefwhip Khursheed Shah also looked annoyed withhis party members for delayed arrival in thehouse. It was PML-N’s lawmaker Chaudhry Saud

Majeed who pointed out the quorum twice, andimmediately rushed to the lobbies to keep him-self out from the counting, which started by theorder of Acting Speaker Faisal Karim Kundi.

During the first count, the house proceed-ings remained suspended for almost half anhour before the quorum was completed. Oncounting, only 59 members were present in thehouse against the required number of 86 tomaintain the quorum. On the second occasionwhen the proceedings were suspended brieflydue to the shortage of required strength, thePPP managed to bring back its members in thelegislature. however, as the house resumed itsproceedings, PML-N members present in largenumbers in the lobbies, rushed to the house byassembling before the speaker’s chair to protestagainst the government.

Anticipating protest from the PML-N mem-bers, the acting speaker adjourned the proceed-ings for Thursday, while two and a half hourswere consumed by the budget debate.

Despite the adjournment of the proceedings,the PML-N members remained in the house forsome time and raised slogans against the govern-

ment by taunting it for escaping from the house. earlier, Muttahida Qaumi Movement

(MQM)’s parliamentary leader in National As-sembly Dr Farooq Sattar picked up his speechwhere he had left the day before, saying that inview of the process of normalisation of rela-tions between India and Pakistan, the increasein defence budget was “unnecessary”. he alsocalled for opening trade with India through theborder at Bahawalpur, besides starting ferryservice between Karachi and Mumbai.

On energy crisis, Sattar believed that theissue could be resolved by allocating all fundsto this sector and discarding the amount al-located for construction of roads, laying ofnew gas pipelines and erecting new electricitypoles, saying those were not the priorities atthe moment.

he also urged the government to reduceindirect taxes from 68 percent to 55 percent,besides increasing direct taxes from 32 percentto 45 percent in order to shift the tax burdenfrom the poor to the rich. he also proposed forreduction in sales tax from the present 16 per-cent to 12 percent.

PML-N’s clever plan pushes

NA session to Thursday

Corps commanders

perturbed by increasing

cross-border attacksRAWALPINDI

online

The Corps Commanders Conference decided tofortify the security of Pak-Afghan border, whileexpressing apprehensions over the increasingmiscreant attacks on army and civilians fromacross the border. The 150th meeting of CorpsCommanders was held at GhQ under thechairmanship of Chief of Army Staff GeneralAshfaq Kayani. The meeting took stock of theproposed operation in North Waziristan Agency,however, no final decision was taken in thisregard. Peshawar Corps Commander Lt GenKhalid Rabbani gave a briefing on the securitysituation along the western border as well as inNorth and South Waziristan. The CorpsCommanders also talked about the missingpersons, as they were briefed on the issue by theISI. The conference decided to resolve the matterof missing persons in the light of instructionsissued by the Supreme Court. Mattes regardingprofessional preparedness and abilities of thePakistan Army also came under discussion duringthe meeting and the commanders expressedsatisfaction over it. Sources said the CorpsCommanders also held detailed discussion on thewar against terrorism and drone attacks by the USand termed these attacks against nationalsovereignty.

Lahore: Students watch the transit of Planet Venus across the

sun using welder's masks for eye protection on Wednesday.

astronomers around the world trained their telescopes on the

skies to watch Venus pass in front of the Sun, a once-in-a-

lifetime event that will not be seen for another 105 years. AFP



NewsCommeNtWhere’d the money go?

Articles on Page 12-13

Where’d it come from?

Sesame StreetKids, today’s number was 6.7 million

Kamran Rehmat says: Figuring out figures: PPP presents the fifth budget but what’s it worth

Amal Shakeb says: Walk away: The woes of a sedentary Pakistani

Dr James J Zogby says: Three years after Cairo: Partisan obstruction blocks change

foreIgN NewS

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ArtS & eNtertAINmeNt

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SPortS

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iraq PM blames ‘foreign influences’ in row Man roughs up kid for besting him in water balloon fight PHF orders probe into hockey team’s poor performance

BEIJINGAPP

PReSIDeNT Asif Ali Zardari onWednesday held a meeting withhis Afghan counterpart hamidKarzai, reaffirming Pakistan’s un-abated support towards the stabil-

ity, peace and socio-economic developmentof Afghanistan.

President’s spokesman FarhatullahBabar said Zardari recalled his meeting withthe Afghan president in Chicago in May andsaid he looked forward to the visit of hisAfghan counterpart to Pakistan later thisyear to attend a quadrilateral summit.

The president underlined the importanceof close interaction between the two coun-tries at the leadership level to deal with com-mon challenges.

Zardari said Pakistan had been partici-pating in the Istanbul Process meetings andit would also attend the Kabul MinisterialConference on June 14.

he expressed the hope that the scheduleof the summit, which was being worked outthrough diplomatic channels, would be final-ized soon. The president said Pakistanlooked forward to the visit of new high PeaceCouncil Chairman Salahuddin Rabbani toPakistan in the near future.

he said Pakistan firmly believed thatpermanent peace and stability could only beensured following an Afghan-led andAfghan-owned reconciliation process.

Zardari added that Pakistan sincerelywanted to help the Afghan brothers and fa-cilitate them in all possible manners in theirjourney towards socio-economic develop-ment and progress. he said Pakistan was infavor of strong Afghan National Security

Forces and announced an amount of $20million to support the ANSF.

The president said Pakistan was also pre-pared to consider any additional require-ment to be indicated by the Afghan side forthe purpose of strengthening and capacitybuilding of its security forces.

Karzai thanked Zardari for the supportPakistan had been extending towards peace,stability and development of Afghanistan.

Zardari meets Karzai, reaffirmssupport for Afghan stabilityg President announces $20m for strengthening Afghan security forces

NEWS DESK

The speech, made in Karachi in 1947,set out Jinnah’s vision for a demo-cratic, tolerant and well-governeddemocracy, but was largely ignored byhis successors, especially its late dic-tator General Zia ul haq, who “Islam-icised” the country in the late 1970s.

Recordings of the speech weremade and kept by the Pakistan Broad-casting Corporation but were later de-stroyed.

According to a report in the DailyTelegraph, the Pakistan BroadcastingCorporation’s director has now ap-pealed to his Indian counterpart atAll-India Radio for a copy of one ofthe last surviving tape recordings.

Its director-general Murtaza

Solangi wrote to AIR, explaining thatPakistan no longer has an audiorecording of the speech, which thecountry’s liberals regard as a source ofhope for the future.

“This speech is very important forpeople who want to direct the countryto the goal of a modern, pluralistic,democratic state,” he told an Indiannews group.

LD Mandloi, of All India Radioconfirmed the approach from the Pak-istan Broadcasting Corporation andsaid his colleagues were trying to lo-cate the tapes. he told The Daily Tele-graph he would need approval fromthe government before handing over acopy.

Mr Jinnah’s speech reassuredPakistan’s minorities that: “You are

free to go to your temples; free to goto your mosques, or any other place ofworship in this Pakistan you may be-long to any religion, caste or creed –that has nothing to do with the busi-ness of the State.”

But after his death Pakistan wasdeclared an Islamic republic in 1956and later under General Zia ul haq’smilitary dictatorship Sharia law wasintroduced and Christians, hindus,Parsees, Sikhs, Shia and AhmadiyaMuslims all faced persecution and vi-olence.

The late minorities minister Shah-baz Bhatti, a Christian, was assassi-nated last year for his campaign tooverturn the country’s blasphemy law,which is used to intimidate non-Mus-lims in the country.

Pakistan seeks recording of Jinnah calling for secular stateg Islamabad has asked India for a copy of the historic speech by Pakistan’s founder in which hepromised complete religious freedom and a modern secular state

Venus makes its transitacross SunISLAMABAD: Venus, the secondclosest planet to the Sun, onWednesday crossed the Sun’s facein a rare astronomical event thatwill not be seen again until the year2117. Venus, regarded by ancientRomans as the goddess of beautyand love, took about six hours tocomplete its transit, appearing as a small black dot on the Sun’ssurface. This celestial phenomenon known as the “Transit of Venus”is one of the most eagerly-awaited events for sky watchers. Theplanet passed between earth and the Sun, appearing through thetelescope as a tiny black spot. According to Pakistan Space andUpper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO), the planetVenus was visible between the Sun and the earth at 9:50am inPakistan. The citizens were warned not to see this event with anaked eye due to its dangerous affects on eyesight. APP

NAto deal with CArs won’t

end Pakistan negotiations: USWASHINGTON: NATO’s agreement with the Central Asian Republics on supplyroutes and withdrawal of their equipment from Afghanistan does not mean that theUnited States has given up on its negotiations with Pakistan on reopening of the groundlines of communication, US officials said on Wednesday. “No, I would not take thepursuit of this deal and this agreement as any kind of repudiation of the importance ofthose gates or the larger relationship with Pakistan,” Pentagon spokesman Navy CaptJohn Kirby told reporters at a news conference. “No, I wouldn’t take it that way at all,”Kirby said when asked if the US had given up on its talks with Pakistan now that NATOhad signed agreements with Central Asian Republics in this regard. he stressed theimportance of Shaman and the Torkham Gates in Afghanistan for the flow of coalitiontraffic. “We continue to be in discussions with our Pakistani counterparts about trying toget those gates open, and in general trying to improve the relationship with Pakistan atlarge,” he said. online

UK parliament

probes warsi’s

expenses

LONDONAFP

A parliamentary watchdog launched a probeWednesday into the expenses claims ofBritain’s first female Muslim minister SayeedaWarsi, the head of Prime Minister DavidCameron’s Conservative Party. The standardscommissioner of parliament’s upper house ofLords is to probe allegations that Warsi, theparty’s co-chair, claimed accommodationallowances while staying with a friend rent-free in 2008. Warsi, 41, a Cabinet ministerwithout portfolio, insists she paid NaweedKhan an “appropriate” sum for rent,equivalent to what she would have paid in ahotel, and referred herself to the watchdog lastweek. But the investigation comes two daysafter Cameron ordered a separate inquiry intowhether Warsi broke rules by taking businesspartner Abid hussain on an official visit toPakistan. Warsi apologised to Cameron onMonday for failing to disclose that she andhussain were both shareholders in a foodcompany before the 2010 visit.



News

WASHINGTONSPeCiAl CoRReSPonDent

The US intended to keepbetween 10,000 to 15,000counter-terrorism troops inAfghanistan, much beyondits troops drawdown in2014, which could cross overinto Pakistan in case of cri-sis, a top Obama aide hadwarned Pakistan Army chiefAshfaq Kayani.

A top Obama aide con-veyed this to the Pakistanarmy chief at a secret meet-ing in Abu Dhabi last Octo-ber in a bid to spur Pakistanto take strong action againstthe haqqani network, a re-cently-published book hasclaimed.

But the threat didn’t ap-

pear to have made the de-sired impact, according tothe book ‘Confront and Con-ceal’ by New York Timesjournalist David Sangerwhich hit the stands onTuesday.

The book depicts Presi-dent Barack Obama’s crisismoments soon after takingover the mantle from GeorgeBush.

Kayani refused to giveany guarantee of taking ac-tion against haqqani net-work, as being demanded bythe Obama administration.

The details of a meetingbetween a three-memberpresidential delegation ledby National Security AdviserTom Donilon and Kayani ata secret location in Abu

Dhabi have been made pub-lic for the first time.

Donilon was accompa-nied by Mark Grossman, theSpecial US Representativefor Afghanistan and Pak-istan, and Douglas Lute,Obama’s top adviser onAfghanistan and Pakistan.

“Donilon had sent aheada document laying out thelong-term American strat-egy, including a plan to keepsomewhere between 10,000and 15,000 American coun-terterrorism troops inAfghanistan, mostly atBagram Airfield, a large basejust outside Kabul, to protectthe interests of the US in theregion.”

“his meaning was clear:the US would remain, and

its troops would be ready togo over the Pakistani borderif they needed to,” Sangerwrites in his book.

The three Americanstold Kayani they had incrim-inating evidence about thelatest two bold attacksagainst Americans inAfghanistan, the journalistwrote, but noted that eventhis did not have any impacton Kayani.

Kayani sought assurancefrom the US that therewould be no repeat of a raidlike the one that killedOsama bin Laden, which ac-cording to him, violated thesovereignty of Pakistan.

“We will undertakewhatever steps we need toprotect our forces,” Donilon

had said.“We would prefer to act

jointly. But if you refuse....we will come in and do whatwe have to do.”

“he did not need to addthat the American model ofsuccess in this regard wasAbbottabad, where 70 com-mandos infiltrated Pakistaniairspace, landed forty milesfrom the Pakistani capital,killed bin Laden and his fewprotectors, and swept up hiscomputers all without set-ting off Pakistan’s defences,”the book said.

The unspoken messagewas, ‘We can do it again’.

“Kayani took anotherdrag on the cigarette andblew a little more smoke.”Donilon, Lute, and Gross-

man knew what that meant.“The Pakistanis had no

intention of turning over ortaking on the haqqani net-work it was their insurancepolicy for the moment whenthe Americans would in-evitably leave,” the booksaid.

“And when Donilon,Lute, and Grossman gothome a seventeen-hourflight aboard a military jet,they knew their first stop:the dry cleaners. Getting thefumes out of their suitswould be easy enough.

“Detoxifying the Ameri-can relationship with Pak-istan would be much moredifficult,” it said, reflectingthe relationship between thetwo countries.

Kayani refused to help despite US threats: book

ISLAMABADStAFF RePoRt/AGenCieS

The government hasfailed to convincethe All PakistanCNG Associationfrom carrying out an

indefinite countrywide strikeagainst the government’s plansof imposing a new cess on CNGtariff through the federalbudget 2012-13.

A complete strike was wit-nessed on Wednesday whenthousands of CNG stationsacross the country shut downin protest against the proposedincrease in gas infrastructuredevelopment cess, slapped inorder to import natural gas forbridging the deficit of 2 bcfd.

A statement issued by theAPCNGA said they planned tocontinue their protest onThursday and no CNG stationwould be open for customers.

The association had earlierheld talks with the governmentover the cess issue, but aftertheir failure, the associationsaid it would only hold talks ifthe decision was revoked.

Meanwhile, a statement is-sued by Petroleum Secretaryejaz Chaudhry vehemently de-nied the position taken by CNGAssociations for their “unjusti-fied strike”. The secretary saidthat the strike was uncalled for,unjustified and should there-fore be called off immediately.

It said the factual positionwas that the Ministry of Petro-leum and Natural Resourceshad not imposed any new tax orcess on CNG sector. The pro-posed increase in gas infrastruc-ture development cess is part ofthe money bill by Finance Divi-sion which is proposed to belevied in a phased manner on allsectors with a rational approachand understanding, the state-

ment said. The secretary alsotook notice of the incorrect fig-ures of gas consumption by theCNG sector as being propagatedby the CNG Association. “Thefactual position is that CNGconsumption is increasing bythe day and is at present over400 mmcfd on systems of boththe companies SNGPL andSSGCL. As a result, the fertilizerplants and power sector is badlysuffering,” the secretary said. Onthe other hand, citizens sufferedin scorching heat in almost allmajor cities of Punjab, KhyberPakhtunkhwa and urbanSindh due to the CNG strike.Long queues of vehicles wereseen in major cities late onTuesday in apprehension ofthe strike, with some CNG sta-tions charging up to Rs 96.97per kg from consumers.

however, CNG stations re-mained opened in some areasof interior Sindh and some

parts of Balochistan, whereCNG dealers refused to be partof the strike. CNG AssociationSindh Chairman Dr ZulfiqarYousafzai said weekly closureand growing inflation had af-fected CNG businesses of morethan 300 association members.In the ongoing circumstances,CNG dealers were not in a po-sition to bear tax surcharge ongas. The strike affected mo-torists and commuters, includ-ing students, laborers, women,public servants, office goersand factory workers alike. Thelittle public transport availableremained jam packed andcommuters waiting at variousbus stops in Rawalpindi, Is-lamabad, Lahore, Karachi,Multan, Peshawar and othercities said they were being vic-timized for no fault. Theyurged the federal governmentand CNG dealers to resolve theissue through dialogue.

In APCNGA-govt

tussle people sufferg Association says it will hold talks with govt only if cess decision is revoked g Countrywide strike of CNg stations irks citizens

Addressing the CJP, AttorneyGeneral Irfan Qadir said thathe could not be part of thebench as the case involved hisson. But the chief justice tookthe position that the court wasaware of the code of conductand it was a matter of the in-stitution’s respect.

“You are getting emo-tional on the matter that iswhy I am of the view that thechief justice should not sit onthe bench,” the attorney gen-eral said.

Justice Jawad S Khawajaobserved that they were notgetting emotional.

While hearing the case,the court asked the chief exec-utive of Geo TV to provide

whatever material anchorshamid Mir, Najam Sethi andKamran Khan had regardingthis case. hamid Mir, how-ever, appeared before thecourt and said that Malik Riazhad shown him some docu-ments and also claimed thathe had a video footage as well.he told the court that neitherhe nor Shaheen Sehbai hadany content regarding the ac-cusations.

The court then sum-moned anchor Kamran Khanand the channel’s chief execu-tive on Thursday (today).

The bench also directedthe Islamabad inspector gen-eral of police to take therecord of Bahria Town in hispossession and produce rele-vant evidence for the case in

the court.The Supreme Court had

on Tuesday summoned Dr Ar-salan, Attorney General forPakistan Irfan Qadir andBahria Town Chairman MalikRiaz. While Dr Arsalan ap-peared before the court, MalikRiaz remained absent.

however, he was asked tobe present in court along withcomplete record of BahriaTown.

Dr Arsalan said in thecourt that the allegations thathe had received Rs 300 mil-lion to Rs 400 million and lav-ish foreign tours from BahriaTown were baseless.

A personal staff officer ofBahria Town informed thecourt that Malik Riaz was inthe UK for medical treatment.

When the chief justice in-quired whether Malik Riazhad received the court’s sum-mons, the principal staff offi-cer said he had not been ableto get in touch with MalikRiaz.

When the court askedwho took care of the businessaffairs in Malik Riaz’s ab-sence, the officer took eightnames including that of MalikRiaz’s son Ahmed Ali Riaz.“Commander Illyas, WingCommander Ayaz, Genehtisham Zameer, ShaukatSultan, Maryam Rehman,Brig Ahad and Ahmed Ali Riaztake care of the business af-fairs in his absence,” he said.

Speaking to reporters out-side the courtroom, Dr Ar-salan’s counsel Sardar Ishaq

said the court had taken nodecision yet but had ad-journed the hearing.

he said the court hadstated that the data related tothe case would be provided tothe counsel in the next hear-ing. The Supreme Court alsoordered that Malik Riazshould be present in the court.

“I think it is a conspiracyto malign the Supreme Court,”Dr Arsalan’s lawyer said. “Wewill expose the people behindthis conspiracy and proceedagainst them,” he added.

earlier, TV channels re-ported that Justice Chaudhryhad expelled his son from hishouse and told him he is ‘’norelation’’ of his while he hearsa corruption case that in-volves him.

CJP lays down the law for sonCONTINUED fROm PagE 1

PeSHAWAR: CnG stations in the provincial capital remained open on Wednesday in contrast to

the strike called by the CnG Association in the country. sTAFF PhoTo

KABULAFP

Dozens of civilians were killedin a bloody day acrossAfghanistan on Wednesday asa twin suicide bombing rippedthrough a crowded makeshiftbazaar and a NATO air strikehit a home, Afghan officialssaid.

Two NATO soldiers werealso killed in a helicopter crash,the cause of which was underinvestigation, the InternationalSecurity Assistance Force(ISAF) said. Twenty-three peo-ple were killed and 50 otherswere wounded in the suicideattack in a car park crammedwith vehicles supplying thelargest NATO base in southernAfghanistan, police said.

A suicide bomber on a mo-torcycle struck first and as acrowd gathered to help the vic-tims a second bomber walkedinto their midst and set off ex-plosives strapped to his body,Kandahar provincial policechief General Abdul Raziq toldAFP. “All casualties are civilians— not a single military person,”he said. Taliban insurgentsclaimed responsibility for thebombing, saying on their web-site that “several dozen of theforeign terrorist forces andtheir puppets were killed onWednesday in a martyrdom at-tack”. hours earlier, at least 15civilians, including women andchildren, were killed in a NATOair strike on a home in Logarprovince south of Kabul, policesaid. ISAF said “multiple insur-

gents” were killed in the airstrike, which was ordered aftertroops were attacked “withsmall-arms fire and a grenade”.But deputy provincial policechief Rais Khan Sadeq Abdul-rahimzai told AFP: “18 civil-ians, including women andchildren, are dead”, adding thatseven Taliban insurgents werealso killed.

Provincial governmentspokesman Din MohammadDarvish said “around 15 civil-ians are dead” after the attackin the early hours of Wednes-day.

An AFP correspondentsaid he saw at least 15 bodiesthat had been loaded into fivevehicles and driven by villagersto the provincial capital of Pol-i-Alam.

Dozens of Afghan civiliansdie in bloody day

Kuwait rulerrejects deathpenalty forreligious offences

KUWAIT CITYAFP

Kuwait’s emir, Sheikh Sabahal-Ahmad Al-Sabah, hasrefused to sign a bill passed byparliament stipulating thedeath penalty for majorreligious offences, sources inthe assembly said Wednesday.The oil-rich Gulf state’sgovernment has sent the billback to parliament onWednesday, sources said,indicating that it had beenrejected by the emir. The emirhas the power to refuse billspassed by the electedparliament, but the assemblycan override the rejection bypassing the bill again with atwo-thirds majority of thehouse membership of 49 MPsand 16 cabinet ministers. Thebill, passed by parliament lastmonth, stipulates that Muslimswho curse God, the holyQuran, all prophets and thewives of Prophet Mohammed(PBUh) will be punished bydeath or life in jail.

India test fires Akash missileNEW DELHI: India on Wednesday successfully test-fired its indigenously developed surface-to-air Akash missile of Indian Air Force version from the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur,the fifth trial of the anti-aircraft system in the last fortnight. “The Air Force version of Akashmissile was test-fired from the ITR. The trial was successful and met all the missionobjectives,” a senior Indian defence official said. The anti-aircraft missile, with a strike range of25km and capable of carrying warhead of 60kgs, was test fired from a mobile launcher atlaunch complex-III of the ITR. The trial, which formed part of the country’s routine air defenceexercises, was conducted at 0757 hrs, an official of Defence Research DevelopmentOrganisation (DRDO) associated with the Akash missile project said. online

Kohistan girls

The bench observed that female

representatives from the NGOs,

social department or from the

judiciary could be taken to meet

those girls. The chief justice

observed that the incident had

brought a bad name to the country.

Advisor to the Prime Minister on

Interior Rehman Malik appeared

before the court, and said that he

had taken immediate notice of the

incident and spoken to hazara DIG

Khalid Khan Umerzai and

provided them with helicopters to

access the difficult terrain. The

bench waited until 2pm and later

until 6 pm, but the girls were not

produced. During the course of

proceedings, the home secretary

and the attorney general of

Pakistan apprised the bench that

the girls could not be produced

because of inclement weather and

assured their production on

Thursday. Meanwhile,

Muhammad Afzal – the brother of

two boys dancing in the video –

said the girls were killed on May 30

after a decree issued by Javed, a

cleric from Mansehra. Talking to

media after appearing before the

apex court, Afzal said the five girls

had been “slaughtered” on the

direction of a local jirga. “All the

five girls – Bazgar, Amna, Shaheen,

Begum and one more – were killed

by the jirga on May 30 and I have

four witnesses of the killing,” he

said. Afzal said the cleric, along with

local jirga members, had issued a

decree to kill the girls for dancing

with boys. he told the media that

three of the “deceased” girls were

sisters, and the other two were their

relatives. Afzal said that he and his

brothers had received death threats,

adding that the local police had

failed to protect them. “No action is

being taken against the murderers

of girls,” he said, adding that the

jirga had sent 40 to 50 persons to

kill him and his brothers.

CONTINUED fROm PagE 22



News

iSlAMAbAD: Police escort the two boys who featured in a mobile clip of a wedding in Kohistan for a hearing at the Supreme Court on Wednesday. oNLINe

My initiatives inspired reformsin India: Nawaz

DUBAIonline

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Nawaz Sharif has said thatreforms in India were inspired by theinitiatives taken by his government.Speaking at a dinner reception onTuesday night, Nawaz said that India’sreforms were initiated in the nineties bythe Narsehma Rao government aftergetting inspired by the industrialreforms introduced by the PML-Ngovernment in Pakistan, according toemirates 24/7. During his first term asprime minister in 1990, Nawaz adoptedneo-liberal policies, privatising severalstate-owned businesses. In June 1991,Rao became India’s prime minister andappointed Manmohan Singh as financeminister. Soon the rupee was devaluedand Rao, who also held the portfolio ofMinistry of Industries, abolishedindustrial licensing and other socialistmeasures which India had adopted untilthen. “If not for the corruptgovernments that followed later,Pakistan would have been on the pathof economic growth by now,” saidNawaz, while criticising the leadershipof both the Pakistan People’s Party(PPP) and former military ruler General(r) Pervez Musharraf. he also blamedthe two for the increase in conflict andmilitancy in Pakistan.

PR to soon add 275new locomotivesto its fleet

RAWALPINDIAPP

The Pakistan Railways (PR) has set anambitious target to add 275 newlocomotives to its fleet shortly in order torevive its passenger and goods trains.“Procurement of 225 new locomotives is inprogress, while a new project to purchase50 additional engines will be launched inJuly this year,” sources in the Railwaystold APP. They said that around 45 newpassenger coaches and five powerplants/electric generator plants had beenput in operation, while 152 new coacheswere in the pipeline. The sources said thataround 27 used locomotives were beingoverhauled at present, while repairs of 150locomotives currently in operation wouldbe carried out from July 2012 to improvereliability and performance. The projectfor doubling of track between Lodhran andLahore will be completed by December2012 and would reduce travel time, theyadded. They said that around eightsuspended trains had already beenrestored, and two passenger trains(Shalimar and Business express Train)were running between Lahore and Karachiin collaboration with private partners.

ISLAMABADAGenCieS

UN high Commissioner for humanRights Navanthem Pillay called onPrime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani onWednesday, and told him that politicalwill was needed to make a differencein the real sense by thwarting thetendencies detrimental to socialdevelopment.

The UN envoy also praised Gilanifor his “zero tolerance policy” againstterrorism and extremist. She alsolauded the legislations enacted byGilani’s government in empoweringwomen, minorities and the poorsegments of the society. The

establishment of an independenthuman rights commission in the recentpast is a major step forward to improvethe human rights situation in thecountry, she added. Pillay said thatdemocratic reforms in Pakistan wereencouraging and expressed the hopethat the state institutions wouldfunction in a way to strengthendemocracy on durable basis. She alsoexpressed concerns over life threats toAsma Jahangir, former president of theSupreme Court Bar Association, addingthat she was satisfied to know thatfederal government had takenimmediate steps to enhance Asma’ssecurity. Gilani paid rich tributes to theleadership of Nelson Mandela as one of

the greatest champions of human rightsunder whose leadership South Africagot rid of apartheid.

Gilani said that his government hadestablished the National Commission onWomen, passed scores of pro-womenlegislative measures, such as Anti-Women Practices Bill, and Protectionagainst harassment of Women atWorkplace Act 2010 etc, besides settingup Women Crisis Centres, Women inDistress Relief Fund and empowermentof the minorities. Gilani also referred tothe violations of human rights committedby India in the occupied Jammu andKashmir, besides raising the issue ofdrone strikes, which kill innocent people,including children and women.

Separately, while talking to a delegationof parliamentarians from Rawalpindi,Gilani said the opposition had not learntfrom history and was repeating the sameattitude inside the parliament andoutside. he said that the opposition wasmaking itself a laughing stock in the eyesof the people as they had no case to putforward in parliament and therefore, hadresorted to hooliganism which was a“glaring negation of establishedparliamentary practices”. The membersof the delegation included Minister forInformation and Technology Raja PervezAshraf, Benazir Income SupportProgramme (BISP) Chairperson FarzanaRaja, Rukhsana Bangish, Mehreen AnwerRaja and Fauzia habib.

Political will needed to make real differencein social development, UN envoy tells PM

Pakistani, Tajik presidents agreeto increase economic cooperation

Punjab govt’s protest

against outages

rebellion against

Centre, says Kaira

ISLAMABADonline

The Punjab government’s protest againstload shedding is rebellion against thefederal government, Information MinisterQamar Zaman Kaira said on Wednesday.Speaking to reporters outside theParliament house, Kaira criticised theSharif brothers, who he said were“fanning provincial prejudice and raisingslogans against the Centre”. “The Sharifbrothers left the country in the hour ofneed. They try to influence courtdecisions,” Kaira said, alleging that NawazSharif was promoting parochialism andreviving 90s politics. he describedShahbaz Sharif’s camp against loadshedding as a ‘political drama’, claimingthat it had enhanced miseries of thepeople. “The camp office seems to be adrama by Shahbaz Sharif. It is like Ziaulhaq’s going to the Secretariat on bicycle.”Kaira lashed out at the Punjabgovernment, holding it responsible for‘failed’ projects and schemes. “Shahbaz isnot implementing measures to minimisethe electricity problems, but trying topoliticise the issue. Punjab has thepotential to produce unlimited electricityunder the 18th Amendment but the chiefminister has taken no action despitehaving the authority to do so,” Kaira said.“Billions of rupees have been wasted onSasti Roti, Yellow Cab and employmentschemes. Punjab’s Danish School project isalso not viable,” Kaira said. To a questionabout Behria Town chief Malik Riaz, acentral character of allegations levelledagainst Chief Justice Iftikhar MuhammadChaudhry’s son, Arsalan Iftikhar, Kairasaid Riaz was a business tycoon sincemany years and the PPP rulers did notpromote him to such a status.

BEIJINGAGenCieS

PReSIDeNT Asif Ali Zardari and Tajikistan Presidentemomali Rahmon on Wednesday met on the sidelinesof a regional summit, and agreed to enhance economiccooperation by strengthening regional connectivitythrough road, air and rail links. The two presidents were

in Beijing to attend a meeting of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation(SCO). Presidential Spokesman Senator Farhatullah Babar saidZardari called for developing implementation mechanisms foreffective follow up on agreed decisions. The president pointed out thatthe existing formal trade between the two countries totalled to a $15million in 2011, saying it was much below the potential trade volumebetween the two countries, the spokesman said. Zardari called forliberalising trade through appropriate mechanisms, and in thiscontext proposed facilitating visas to the business community. Zardariwas also hopeful that bilateral trade would increase considerably byopening a branch of the National Bank of Pakistan in Dushanbe. hebelieved that Pakistan’s ports could offer great opportunities toTajikistan and other landlocked Central Asian countries by providingeasy access to the sea. he also called for signing a trilateral transitagreement between Pakistan, Afghanistan and Tajikistan. Thespokesperson recalled that during Zardari-Karzai meeting on thesidelines of NATO summit last month in Chicago, the two leaders hadagreed in principle to extend the Pakistan-Afghanistan Transit TradeAgreement to other countries in Central Asia. The spokesman addedthat Zardari’s call on Wednesday for signing a trilateral transitagreement was aimed at furthering the accord with Karzai.



News

loGAR: Afghan villagers search for dead bodies at a house which was hit by a nAto airstrike in Sajawand village on Wednesday. AFP

g White House

says

relationship

with Islamabad

in US national

security interest

WASHINGTONonline

The United States has an important rela-tionship with Pakistan that it endeavorsto work on every day, the White housesaid on Wednesday, a day after Islamabadsummoned its top diplomat to protestagainst drone strikes that apparentlykilled the al Qaeda number two leader.

“We have an important relationshipwith Pakistan that we endeavor to workon everyday because it is in our nationalsecurity interest to do so,” White housePress Secretary Jay Carney told reportersat his daily news conference.

Carney said the US continued its ne-gotiations with Pakistan on reopening ofthe ground lines of communication whichwere closed around six months ago. “Idon’t have an update for you on that.

Both, obviously this administration andthe government of Pakistan are commit-ted to resolving that issue. We believe thatit will be resolved, but I have no specificupdates for you on that,” he said.

“We have regular contacts and consul-tations with the Pakistanis,” he said in re-sponse to a question. Carney said USPresident Barack Obama was firmly com-mitted to carrying out his policy objectivein Afghanistan and in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region, which was to disrupt,dismantle and ultimately defeat al Qaeda.“he is committed to disrupting, disman-tling and ultimately defeating al Qaedabeyond that region, too. That’s why we co-operate with countries around the worldin efforts to counter al Qaeda and otherextremists,” he said.

he also confirmed the killing of alQaeda leader Abu Yahya al-Libi, who

helped steer the terrorist group afterOsama bin Laden’s death. Al-Libi’s deathwas “another serious blow to core alQaeda”, Jay Carney said. “his death ispart of the degradation taking place incore al Qaeda in the last several years.”however, Carney was unable to providefurther details. earlier Tuesday, US offi-cials said that al-Libi was killed by a CIAdrone strike in Pakistan launched onMonday.

Al-Libi’s death marks one of the mostsignificant blows to al Qaeda since the USmilitary killed Osama bin Laden in a dar-ing nighttime raid on his hideout in Ab-bottabad, near Islamabad on May 2 lastyear. Al-Libi was second-in-command be-hind al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri,who took the helm after bin Laden’sdeath.

“There is no one who even comes

close in terms of replacing the expertise(al Qaeda) has just lost,” CNN cited an un-named US official as saying. Al-Libi“played a critical role in the group’s plan-ning against the West, providing over-sight of the external operations efforts”,the official said adding, “Zawahiri will behard-pressed to find any one person whocan readily step into Abu Yahya’s shoes.”“In addition to his gravitas as a longstand-ing member of AQ’s leadership, AbuYahya’s religious credentials gave him theauthority to issue fatwas, operational ap-provals and guidance to the core group inPakistan and regional affiliates.” An Is-lamic scholar and high-ranking memberof the group, al-Libi frequently appearedin Internet videos, CNN said. he gavemany videotaped speeches praising alQaeda leaders, urging resistance and try-ing to recruit new members.

Pentagon deniesUs wants greaterIndian role in Afghanistan

WASHINGTONonline

Pentagon spokesman Navy CaptJohn Kirby on Wednesday deniedreports that US SecretaryDefence Leon Panetta had askedIndia to play a greater role inAfghanistan.Addressing a media briefing, thePentagon spokesman called allsuch reports “exaggerating”. “These reports have been slightlyexaggerated. I don’t think thesecretary asked them to do more,rather than to just express howmuch he appreciated what theywere doing to help providesupport in Afghanistan and someof the things that they haveexpressed interest in continuingto do in Afghanistan, and also inthe region. So I think it was morea statement of appreciation foreverything they have done andhope that they continue to stayinvolved as a leader in theregion,” he explained.Speaking generally about the roleof India and other regionalcountries in Afghanistan, he said,“It is a vital part of the world andour engagement in the region isnot about bilateral relations onlywith one particular country. Wehave long said the security inAfghanistan is tied very closely toour relationship with Pakistanand with other countries in theregion including India, which is aglobal power. They are meetingtheir responsibilities and wewelcome that.”he also clarified reports thatPanetta had asked India for adeeper involvement in trainingAfghan armed forces. “I think heexpressed gratitude for what theyhave done and his hope that theywould continue to remain furtherengaged in Afghanistan,” he said.On the reported death of alQaeda’s number two, Abu Yahyaal-Libbi in a drone strike inNorth Waziristan, he refused todiscuss the details. “We don tdiscuss specifics ofcounterterrorism operations, so Iam not going to speak to thespecifics of operations or toconfirm or deny these pressreports,” he stated.“Senior leaders of al Qaeda, nomatter where they are, byvirtue of what they choose todo for a living, are a threat tothe US but the people aroundthe world. The president andsecretary of defence have madeit clear that we are going todeal with these threats,wherever they are,” he said.

PESHAWARSHAMiM SHAHiD

WhATeVeR the claimsand justification of thequarters concerned be,Pakistan’s economic dis-order could be enhanced

by the recent agreement between NATOand Central Asian Republics (CARs) re-garding supplies to Afghanistan.

Pakistan banned supplies to NATOforces in Afghanistan in reaction to theSalala checkpost strike on November 26,2011. At least 24 Pakistani soldiers werekilled in the attack.

The case was later transferred to

parliament, which asked for resuming ofthe supplies under certain terms andconditions. But government has beenunable to restore the supplies as around40 religious parties, groups, factions andindividuals, who have established Pak-istan Defense Council oppose the deci-sion. Due to the unending delay, NATOhad approached CARs for supplies to itsforces. According to the latest agree-ment, NATO will send supplies to itstroops via certain CARs.

Zia Ul haq Sarhadi, who is affiliatedwith Pak-Afghan Transit Trade sincelong, said the NATO-CARs agreementwas “death of Pakistan’s economy ingeneral and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and

FATA’s in particular”. elaborating,Sarhadi recalled that almost all people inKhyber Pakhtunkhwa and FATA weredepending on trade with Afghanistan.he said Pakistan was already facing se-vere economic problems and loosingtransit trade with Afghanistan could bea blow to its economy. Sarhadi said thata couple of years back, Pakistan had in-troduced one-side amendments to the1965 Pak-Afghan Transit Trade agree-ment and as a result, more than 70 per-cent of the transit trade fromAfghanistan had shifted to Iran’s BandarAbbass and Uzbekistan-hairatan. headded that NATO was left with no otheroption but to approach CARs for contin-

uing supplies to its troops inAfghanistan. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa In-formation Minister Mian Iftikhar hus-sain told reporters on Wednesday thatthe NATO-CARs agreement was harmfulto the interests of Khyber Pakhtunkhwaand the Tribal Areas. he said almost alltransit trade had already shifted to Iranand other Central Asian countries andthe fresh agreement could bring an endto Pak-Afghan Transit Trade. hussainsaid that as a result of the ban on sup-plies to NATO troops camping across theborder in Afghanistan, Pakistan had be-come isolated in the global communityand held the religious forces responsiblefor the loss.

‘Us has an important relationship with Pakistan’

NATO-CARs transit agreement ablow to Pakistani economy


thursday, 7 June, 2012

LAHOREAPP

The All Pakistan CNGAssociation (APC-NGA) staged aprotest at the Shad-man Chowk on

Wednesday to oppose the pro-posed increase in CNG pricesand other issues.

holding placards andposters, hundreds of protesters,including the employees of CNGfilling stations, chanted slogans

in favour of their demands.APCNGA, CNG Dealers

Association and CNG OwnersAssociation had announced astrike and the demonstrationsto call attention to their is-sues.

Addressing the occasion,APCNGA Vice Chairman Cap-tain (r) Shuja said the govern-ment should resolve all theissues regarding the CNG sectorso that the employees of theCNG filling stations could earntheir livelihoods in peace.

he stated that almost allthe filling stations are facinga three-day weekly closure ofCNG while during the otherdays they have to face low gaspressure in the urban areas.

APCNGA Chairman GhyyasAbdullah Paracha said the pro-posed increase in CNG priceswas a big issue for the CNGsector as the industry is al-ready facing a lot of problems.he demanded that the govern-ment accept their demands atthe earliest.

cNG ASSOcIATION ‘has had enough’

APCNGA, CNG STATION EMPLOYEES PROTEST AGAINST INCREASE IN CNG PRICES

LAHOREonline

Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has or-dered to form a dengue brigade of studentswho won laptops. he was addressing a session held at the campoffice in Minar-e-Pakistan.Sharif stated that the Punjab government isready to combat dengue this year.During the session, he issued directions forthe formation of a dengue brigade that willcomprise students who won laptops throughthe Punjab government’s scheme.he also directed that the sewages pipes anddrainers be cleaned before the start of themonsoons.Shahbaz Sharif asserted that no compromisewill be made over the cleanliness of the city.

Punjab CM to launchdengue brigade

LAHOREAPP

Punjab Finance Minister Rana AsifMehmood resigned from his office followinga controversy over getting the provincial fi-nance portfolio on a reserved seat for mi-norities as well as for holding a dualnationality.

Sources in the Punjab Assembly con-firmed his resignation saying that the for-mer minister had obtained the slot throughfraudulent acts and that he had no optionbut to quit.

The Punjab chief minister had recently ap-

pointed Rana Mehmood as the finance ministerto present the provincial budget for 2012-13.

Rana Mehmood was inducted in thePunjab Assembly as a member on a seat,NM-366, reserved for minorities.

The former law minister told reportersat the Punjab Assembly that the party’s cen-tral leadership had asked him to resign dueto the controversy he was facing.

Rana Asif was elected as the financeminister on a reserved minority seat as agoodwill gesture.

Answering a question, the minister saidthe Punjab CM will appoint a new financeminister within a day or two.

LAHOREonline

Punjab Provincial Law Minister RanaSanaullah said on Wednesday that thecorruption scam against Chief JusticeIftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry’s son,Dr Arsalan as a conspiracy, adding thateverybody knows who is responsible forinstigating the scam.

Talking to the media outside thePunjab assembly, Rana Sanaullah saidthe elements backing the conspiracyagainst Dr Arsalan will be exposedsoon, adding that everyone knows the

person, who has relations with MalikRiaz. he expressed the hope that theChief Justice Iftikhar MuhammadChaudhry will the fulfill requirementsof justice during the proceedings of thefinancial corruption scam against hisown son. “I know the CJ personally hewill never make concessions for anyrelative in thecourse of justice,as he has alwaysstrived for thesupremacy oflaw,” he added.

Replying to a

question, Rana Sanaullah said the courtand the committee will decide the fateof cases against provincial FinanceMinister Rana Asif.

he said the committee was review-ing the dual nationality case against theminister while the change of religioncase was also pending before the court.

Rana Asif throws in the towel g former minister says party leadership asked for his

resignation over recent controversies

Dr Arsalan corruption allegations a conspiracy: Sanaullah


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LAHORE APP

PARLIAMeNTARY housing andUrban Development SecretaryZafar Iqbal Nagra told the PunjabAssembly on Wednesday thatWASA Lahore had detected 6,935

illegal water and 1,052 sewage connectionsafter a crackdown during 2009.

Besides, he said, a sum of Rs 26.39 mil-lion had been recovered in fines receivedfrom defaulters.

Answering the questions of members dur-

ing the question-hour session regarding thehousing and Urban Development Deprtment,he said illegal water and sewage connectionswere found at the Allama Iqbal Town, AzizBhatti, Shalimar, Ganj Bukhsh, Ravi Townand Nishtar Town.

he stated that the government was attachinghigh priority to the provision of basic amenitiesto the public and that a hefty amount would beallocated in the next budget.

“A number of new housing projects will alsobe launched aiming at providing shelter tohomeless families,” he added.

In reply to a question by MPA Nighat

Nasir Sheikh, he said a team was beingformed to carry out a crackdown on junkyards in Gulshan-e-Ravi. The secretary wasasked to explain whether or not the LDA hadtaken action against junk yards after a num-ber of explosions had already taken place inthe vicinity.

Replying to a question raised by Amna Ulfat,he told the house that special teams had beenconstituted for cleaning the gutters at UC-88.

Responding to PPP’s Sajida Mir’s question,Nagra said two tube wells had so far been in-stalled at the Sher Shah Colony Raiwind which,he claimed, were operational.

WASA PULLS THE PLUG ON 7,987ILLEGAL CONNECTIONS g Authority recovers Rs 26.39 million in fines from offenders

LAHOREAPP

Punjab Police Inspector General (IG) habib-ur-Rehman said on Wednesday that he wasnot satisfied with the performance of thePunjab police.

Addressing the media in Lahore, IGhabib-ur-Rehman said all possible steps arebeing taken to improve the efficiency of thepolice department.

he said the TeVTA GM was killed on

Tuesday by dacoits on resisting a robbery at-tempt and that the incident was not one oftarget killing. he added that the Dr Shabi-ul-hassan and Jawad Naqvi was a result ofsectarian violence. The Punjab IG statedthat the police will bring to justice the crimi-nals involved in robbing banks and jewelryshops. In response to a question, he saidAsma Jahangir has been provided completesecurity and that Rangers and police person-nel and a special vehicle had also beenplaced at her disposal.

Punjab IG: Pull up yoursocks officers!

lAHoRe: Members of the Sikh community hold a demonstration to commemorate the June 5, 1984 attack, called operation blue Star, on the Sikh Golden

temple ordered by then indian PM indira Gandhi to flush out Sikh separatists from the temple. sTAFF PhoTo

20 MAo teachers resignLAHORE

StAFF RePoRt

Around 20 professors belonging to various departmentsof the MAO College on Wednesday submitted their res-ignations in protest against the college’s principal “ego-centric behavior”.According to reports, a number of college teachershad complained against the principal’s insulting be-havior towards faculty members, saying the provin-cial’s arrogant attitude had resulted into growingsense of anxiety among both teaching and non-teaching staff.Pakistan Today made repeated attempts to contact DrFarhan Ibadat Khan for his comments but he did not re-ceive the calls.



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LAHORE APP

The Lahore high Court on Wednes-day disposed of 45 identical peti-tions challenging the allotment ofthe haj quota to the already regis-tered haj Group Organisers

(hGOs) and ordered the Religious AffairsMinistry to allot the haj quota to new hGOs,if they satisfy the conditions set in the haj pol-icy 2012. The court also ordered the ministryto allot a quota of not less than 5000 pilgrimsto the new hGOs. The court observed that theministry could manage the quota for the newhGOs from Saudi Arabia, the existing hGOsand the quota of the blacklisted hGOs.

The court also directed the ministry tocomplete the allotment of quota to the new

hGOs by June 18. LhC Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial was

hearing the identical petitions filed by TravelShop (PVT) Limited and 44 others.

As the proceedings started on Wednesday,a law officer informed the court that the hajquota had been allotted to the hGOs accord-ing to the haj Policy 2012.

The negotiations were under process withthe Saudi government for a haj quota of 10,000 pilgrims, he said, adding that the ministrycould allot the quota to the new hGOs aftergetting a go-ahead from the Saudi government.however, the CJ, after hearing the argumentsordered the ministry to allot the quota to thenew hGOs and disposed of the petitions. Thepetitioners had challenged the allotment of thehaj quota by the Religious Affairs Ministry to721 already registered hGOs only.

LAHOREinP

Film actress Meera submit-ted a petit ion in a civi l courton Wednesday against her f i-ancé Captain Naveed’s fa-ther.Meera, who filed the petitionthrough her counsel, said RajaPervaiz, the father of her fiancéCaptain Naveed, had occupiedher house located in the De-fence area of Lahore. On this,civil judge Asim hafeez sum-moned Raja Pervaiz in court.

LAHOREAPP

Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) AmeerSyed Munawar husan said onWednesday that Balochistanhas become a hub of interna-tional terrorist activities, inwhich several foreign agencies,including those of India and Is-rael were involved.

In a statement, he said theIsraeli and Indian agencies,under the supervision of theCIA, were creating a fake lawand order situation in Balochis-tan and providing money torebel groups for the dismem-berment of Balochistan.

he said the governmenthad failed to protect the coun-try as there was evidence that

attested to its involvement inforeign countries and inBalochistan, adding that itwas only working to save itspower.

he said the governmentand military should take firmaction for stopping foreign in-terference in Balochistan.

he appealed to theSupreme Court to take actionagainst the involvement of for-eign agencies in Balochistanand to order the state’s agenciesto play their constitutional rolein maintaining law and orderand stability in the country.

he said former InteriorMinister Rehman Malik haddone nothing to overcome theinterference of foreign agenciesin Balochistan.

LAHORE: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Women Wing La-hore President Faiza Malik Wednesday alleged that Punjab CMShahbaz Sharif’s surprise appearances in the protests were anact of drama to gain the political mileage. “People know realface of the PML-N leaders,” she said while addressing the partyworkers at her office. She confidently said that the political fu-ture of PML-N was bleak, whereas the PPP-led government hadsuccessfully presented its fifth budget under the policy of rec-onciliation, which she termed the victory of democracy and thePPP-led government. She also said that her party had provedits mettle in successfully running affairs of the country despiteconspiracies hatched by the opponents against President AsifAli Zardari and Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani. APP

LAHORE: The pioneer of the Pakistani nuclear programme,Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan has said US drones can be shot downwith the hamza missile. While addressing the lawyers of theLahore bar, the nuclear scientist said Pakistan was full of nat-ural resources but the leaders did not have any good motiva-tions. Dr AQ Khan added that if Pakistan could produceatomic weapons then it was not difficult for it to end its en-ergy crisis. “The prime minister should have been disqualifiedwhen convicted,” he said. inP

Shahbaz staging dramaprotests, says faiza

LHC orders ministry to allotHaj quota to new HGOs

Meera sues fiancé’s fatherover property dispute

Drones can be shot down withHamza missile: Dr AQ Khan

Balochistan is a hub of terroractivities, says Munawar

lAHoRe: CnG station employees protest agains the proposed increase in CnG prices and the

three-day CnG holiday. MURTAzA ALI



Lahore

LAHOREStAFF RePoRt

The Pakistan Water andPower Development Au-thority (WAPDA) hasagreed to construct an-other powerhouse of 375

MW at Warsak in addition to the ex-isting power station that has a powergenerating capacity of about 250MW. Resultantly, the generation ca-pacity of Warsak power station willrise to 525 MW.

A decision to this effect was madein a meeting presided over by WAPDAChairman Shakil Durrani at WAPDAhouse. WAPDA (Power) MemberMuhammad Qasim Khan, WAPDASecretary Muhammad Imtiaz Tajwar,representatives of the consultants forthe project and other senior WAPDAofficers attended the meeting.

The project will be completed incollaboration with a joint venturegroup comprising RSWI from Canadaand DeC from Pakistan.Claudio Vissa, team leader of the con-sultants told the meeting that with theaddition to the new underground pow-erhouse, the Warsak power stationwill contribute more than 1.6 billionunits of electricity to the national gridagainst the present contribution ofabout 0.9 billion units. This will resultin additional financial gains of morethan Rs 6 billion per annum, he added.Addressing the meeting, WAPDAChairman Shakil Durrani said the newWarsak hydropower Project was acomponent of the two-pronged strat-egy being implemented by WAPDA onpriority for the optimal utilisation ofwater resources. Besides constructingnew hydropower projects, the rehabil-itation and up-gradation of the old hy-

dropower stations are also being car-ried out under the strategy to help in-ject low-cost hydropower electricity tothe national grid, he added.

It is pertinent to mention here thatthe existing Warsak hydropower Sta-tion is located on the River Kabul,about 30 kilometers from Peshawar.

The project was completed in twophases. In the first phase, four unitswith a cumulative generation capacityof 160 MW were installed in 1960,while in the second phase, two moreunits with a capacity of generating 83MW were added in 1981, raising thecapacity of the power station to about250 MW.

After completing about 50 years,the power generating units of the pow-erhouse have deteriorated despite ex-tensive repair and maintenance due toheavy sediments in the water of RiverKabul

LAHOREAPP

Punjab Governor Sardar LatifKhan Khosa said the Pakistan Peo-ple’s Party (PPP) believes in free,fair and transparent elections tostrengthen the democratic processin the country.

he was speaking during ameeting with an eight-member eu-ropean Union delegation at theGovernor’s house. The eU delega-tion was led by eU Foreign Affairsand Security Policy representativeCatherine Ashton.

The governor said for the firsttime in the history of Pakistan, ademocratically elected governmentwas completing five years of itsconstitutional tenure.

he stated that all the powers

have been devolved to the parlia-ment under the 18th Amendment.

The PPP government was seek-ing collaboration with the euro-pean Union to enhance trade ties,he said, adding that Pakistan stoodwith the global community againstthe war on terrorism.

Catherine Ashton lauded therole of Pakistan in the war againstterrorism and said the eU stoodwith Pakistan. Ashton said the eUwanted to boost trade ties withPakistan as they were off the viewthat economic uplift could be ben-eficial in countering terrorism.

The other members of the del-egation included David O’Sullivan,Lars Gunnar Wigemark, Viorel Is-ticoaia, Steven everts, MichaelMann, Pierre Mayaudov andLouise Kornung.

Nephews stone

uncle to death over

property disputeLAHORE: Two nephews allegedly killedtheir uncle over a property dispute in theNawab Town area late Tuesday night.According to the police, Nazeer hussain,a resident of Sharfabad in the NawabTown police precincts, had fought withhis nephews over the passageway of thehouse they shared. Late Tuesday night,the accused Abdul Rehman and Faizanexchanged heated words with their unclewhile they were busy repairing the pas-sageway leading to their house. The ex-change turned violent when the two menpelted their uncle with bricks, leavinghim critically injured. hussain wasbeing shifted to hospital when he suc-cumbed to his wounds on the way. A casehas been registered against the culpritsand the police have started conductingraids to arrest them. StAFF RePoRt

lAHoRe: A woman uses sunglasses to observe Venus as it passed across the sun. INP

Warsak generation capacityto rise to 525 MW

eU envoys say trade ties couldhelp counter terrorism

lAHoRe: european union Policy Chief Catherine Ashton is accompanied by Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar on her visit

to the lahore Fort. INP


Editor’s mail 11thursday, 7 June, 2012

Justice before anythinghistory has a habit of repeating itself

in ways good and evil. We have a classiccase of hazrat Umer-i-Farooq (RA) whenhe as Amir-ul-Momineen learnt that hisson had drunk some alcoholic drink inegypt and took suo motu notice of thecase even though ruler of egypt Umro-bin-Aas had the boy punished as perShariah.

hazrat Umer-i-Farooq (RA) said thatthe punishment to his son was not deliv-ered properly and publicly. As such thegovernor of egypt was asked to send theboy to Medina on camel’s back dressed indress made of jute. When he reachedMedina he was properly punished as perShariah and as a result he died after onemonth due to severity of punishment.

Now we have a second similar casewherein the Chief Justice of Pakistan hashauled up his son and the financier be-fore his bench to find out the truth of thecase to decide it as per rule of law.

We are blessed with having a chiefjustice of upstanding character whowants to deliver justice in the case of hisown son which is as per Islamic injunc-tions of doing justice even in one’s owncase or in the case of close relatives. Weshould be proud of our superior judiciarywhich is the only beacon of light in theengulfing darkness in Pakistan.

We should pray that Allah Almightybestows courage to the Chief Justice torise above himself in the matter of deliv-ering justice to his own son and a tycoonbeing mentioned in this case.

DR MUHAMMAD YAQOOB BHATTILahore

Pay your taxesI watched with shock and disbelief

the arguments and rationale being putforward by members of NA and PunjabPA that if an individual has a right tovote, he must automatically have rightto stand up for elections as an electedmember of parliament. Are the mem-bers of our parliament not aware thateven convicted criminals and murder-ers have a right to vote, but they cannotstand up for elections in accordancewith constitution?

Those who volunteer to contestelections decide the fate and destiny of180 million people. These men andwomen must have neither criminalrecord nor should their loyalty to Pak-istan be in doubt.

Logically speaking only Pakistanicitizens who has paid taxes in preced-ing five years must have the right toseek elected representative public of-fice. An individual Pakistani who holdsno public office can cast his vote even ifhe is an expatriate who may hold a dualnationality, or is in the process of ac-quiring one.

however, since a dual nationalityholder has pledged an oath of loyalty toanother nation which overrides anyloyalty that he may have pledged to hisformer country, such a man is morallyand legally bound to take up arms inevent of war if called upon to do so, orperform any such duties including espi-onage duties which a national of thatcountry is expected to perform.

Such men with split loyaltiesshould never be trusted to hold publicoffice.

RIAZ CHAUDHRYDubai

Plight of housing societiesThe Islamabad high Court, in a vio-

lation of Layout Plan case, has directedthe Capital Development Authority towake up and take action against the de-faulting housing society.

The CDA was established to developa modern city at the foot of Margallas,with all amenities to serve as the newcapital of Pakistan. Credit goes to BrigYahya Khan, then Chairman CDA, formost of the development work. however,CDA has miserably failed to provide resi-dential accommodation to the growingpopulation of the capital. Private sectorwas associated with the development ef-forts of CDA to solve the housing prob-lem. In Zone V, all development work isbeing carried out by housing societies ofvarious hues and colours.

The members of housing societieshave complaints that the management ofthese societies have not been able to pro-vide the basic amenities, facilities, serv-ices and utilities. Most of the complaintsare regarding water, gas and electricity.The attitude of the management of thesesocieties is indifferent if not callous tothe complaints of the residents. Cleanli-ness is another issue which has been ig-nored by the management of housingsocieties in Zone V.

We live in O-9 NPF housing Scheme,on the fringe of Bahria Town. The differ-ence between the quality of services ismore than obvious. Residents of DhAare also satisfied with the services pro-vided by DhA management.

I would advise the concerned author-ities to carry out a survey in Zone V todetermine the violation of approved Lay-out Plans of these societies and quality ofservices being provided to the members/residents and consider appointment ofadministrators where necessary. how-ever, CDA will have to create and developa committed cadre for this task.There isalso another idea: Malik Riaz of BahriaTown may be appointed Advisor to thePM on housing. I am sure he is capableof giving new face to the capital.

ASGHAR MAHMOODIslamabad

Scandalising judiciaryThe superior judiciary of Pakistan,

headed by Chief Justice IftikharChaudhry, has become a thorn in thescheme of those who are bent upon ram-pant institutionalised corruption in thiscountry. All of them, from biggest landand drug mafia dons, to the corrupt civiland uniformed bureaucracy and mem-bers of the ruling political coalition, havegot together to scandalise reputation andcredibility of the sole institution of thiscountry, in which people have faith.

had it not been for our judiciary, therental power projects would have contin-ued receiving billions without producingany electricity and this country wouldhave become an economic nightmareheading for another Somalia. The deci-sion on dual membership has put obsta-cles in way of economic subjugation andcolonization of Pakistan by those whohave pledged their loyalty and allegianceto another country, yet occupy importantpublic offices.

We live in a country where the stateis unmoved about thousands killed intarget killings, while hundreds are kid-napped for ransom and where extortionhas become a booming business inKarach. Yet in this country the highestconstitutional office holders are arrang-ing payment of ransom to Somali piratesin violation of UN charter and SecurityCouncil resolutions which clearly do notrecommend such payments. We need toremember that it was the singular act ofdefiance by Chief Justice Iftikhar of a tinpot dictator, which set into motion achain of events that led to forced exit ofMusharraf.

When Chief Justice stood up, neitherBB nor NS were in Pakistan. The presentcampaign which allegedly involves ex-ploiting a young man in a sting opera-tion, was stage managed by those whofeel irritated by the pro-active role of ju-diciary to force an accountability processon an executive which seems committedto do otherwise. This is a conspiracy bythe corrupt to malign the role ofSupreme Court and replace it with amore subservient setup, which shouldnever be allowed to succeed.

MALIK TARIQ ALILahore

entrepreneurial successMany people feel entrepreneurship is

all about innovation and unique ideas.Successful business people have manyqualities in common with one another.They are self-assured and optimistic.They are disciplined self starters. Theyare open to any new ideas which crosstheir path.

here are some qualities of a success-ful entrepreneur. An entrepreneur shouldhave overarching strategies and highlightthe tactics to bring about him. Successfulentrepreneurs are disciplined enough totake steps every day toward the attain-ment of their objectives and goals.

The entrepreneur does not thinkquestions about whether he can succeedor not. he is confident with the aspira-tion that he will make his business besuccessful. he has a belief in everythinghe does. every entrepreneur has a beliefthat every occasion and state of affairs is

a business opportunity. Ideas are persist-ently keep on generating about workstream and competencies of the peopleskills and impending new business. hehas the ability to look at the whole lotaround him and his focal point is towardshis goals.

entrepreneur knows that if some-thing needs to be done, is he to take theinitiative. he sets the parameters andmake sure that projects follow that path.he is proactive, does not wait for some-one to give him chance or any opportu-nity.

Creativity is the one basic factorwhich we can see in every entrepreneur.entrepreneur often comes up with solu-tions which are the fusion of other items.he can create such unique products tomarket him to the new industries.

The entrepreneur has strong commu-nication skills to sell the product and in-

spire end users to buy the finished prod-uct. Most successful entrepreneurs knowhow to motivate their workforce so thebusiness expands overall. They are verygood at prominence the benefits of anysituation and instructing others to theirsuccess.

Nobody wants to talk about failure.We exist in a culture that worships suc-cess, no matter how you get it, and is re-volted by and afraid of failure, no matterwhat are the grounds. This is especiallytrue in case of entrepreneurs. We live inage that believes in overnight success.This is another inevitable reason why en-trepreneurs fail to do well in business.The worst thing about an entrepreneurthat lacks self discipline is that there isno remedy.

Cash flow is the blood of business.Insufficient capital can damage a busi-ness; in fact, lack of capital is the major

reason why entrepreneurs fail. entrepre-neurs sometimes might come up withwinning ideas or strategies but lack ofcapital will obstruct its execution. entre-preneurs have to be optimistic in accom-plishing his goals. however, too muchoptimism is also one of the most com-mon reasons they fail.

entrepreneurs need to keep in mindthat only the obsessed survive. As far asyou need to believe in your own success,at the same time you must never forgetall the things that can go wrong and planconsequently. entrepreneurs need to beinflexible. Many entrepreneurs fail tosucceed in business despite having bril-liant ideas and wonderful business team.These entrepreneurs fail not becausethey were destined to fail but because ofsome little overlooked factors.

ANAM ASHRAFLahore

Regrettably, the crime and corruption is afflicting thiscountry of ours today but it is indeed a crime to tell thetruth and say that our present and past political leaders,bureaucrats and technocrats are the partners in crime andcorruption which is ruining this country nowadays.

People may differ about their partnership in crime inother parts of the country but at least in my homeprovince, Sindh, their partnership is well-established andnotorious.

Corrupt and inefficient officers have caused a massiveloss to the province in all respects. Look at the

construction of various roads, buildings, anddevelopmental work of different projects.

It is not a rocket science to control crime and minimisecorruption in the private and public sector in the country.Select capable men – men who fear God, trustworthy menwho hate dishonest gain and appoint them as officials. It’sthat simple. Our dreaming and ailing rulers must keep intheir minds that the Lord of this universe loves justice andhates injustice, robbery, loot and plunder.

HASHIM ABROIslamabad

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

Crime and corruption

Dr Shakil’s doingsDr Shakil Afridi is “Our man in Pak-

istan”, so says the US through ‘The WallStreet Journal’. One fails to understandthat if he really was an American man, asthey now claim, then why in the firstplace US had to publicly announce DrShakil’s complicity in the secret opera-tion? Did CIA betray him? Yes! It suredid and dumped him once his serviceswere no longer required. There is anotherCIA mole who was recently nabbed byChinese authorities for spying for US.This Chinese man was working withChina’s top security establishment andused to forward sensitive information toAmericans on Chinese security appara-tus. What action the US will take in sav-ing CIA’s Chinese mole hired to serveCIA interests in this case. Only time willtell.

The two cases being similar let us seecan we equal Chinese standards in pro-tecting our national and sovereign valuesdespite unleashing of relentless pres-sures.

The US did punish its nationals thatworked for foreign intelligence services ofIsrael and Russia. None of them has beenspared and are languishing in US jails forlife for their crimes against the state ofUS.

Jonathans’, hanssens and many oth-ers can be quoted as being a few amongsta long list of US nationals who workedfor foreign intelligence services. None ofthem were spared and consequently sub-

jected to harsh punishments. US did notsuccumb to even Israeli pressures a largecommunity of which greatly influencesUS economy and politics.

Dr Shakil Afridi has been punishedunder FRC regulations for crimes com-mitted by him within the territorial juris-diction of Khyber agency. Those crimesincluded fraternisation with banned mili-tant outfits, using his clinic to treat mili-tants and his relationship with thedreaded militant leader Mangal Bagh. heused to support militants financially also.For his crime for colluding with a foreignintelligence service CIA against the inter-ests of Pakistan being its citizen, he is yetto undergo a separate trial.

Robert Fisk, the famous journalistichas prophesised that Dr Shakil Afridiwould be spared through appeals and re-duced sentences and one fine day hewould emerge in America. Can we proveourselves contrary to the prevalent im-pression that Pakistanis cannot with-stand pressures and succumb to USdemands?

Our politicians who are tirelesslyshown on TV boosting their achieve-ments and playing with the sentiments ofthe people to regain power footholdshave not dared to speak on the issue orlest they would earn US apathy and losetheir standings in its eyes.

Incidentally, in one of the social func-tions that I attended a few days back itcame to light that a US commercial at-taché, a lady in Islamabad’s US embassycontacted all the PAeC suppliers and in-

vited them to a feast in the commercialcounsellor’s house during summer of2009 at Street 1 of Sector F-6/3.

even those companies that were notregistered with DGDP but dealt in the re-lated supplies were also invited. Besidesthe pleasantries visiting cards were ex-changed on the occasion between the USembassy officials and the suppliers andthe function lasted for over three hours.Does it mean that more Shakil Afridis arein the offing?

ENGINEER JAVED IQBALIslamabad

Nato suppliesThe government has tied itself in

knots over the issue of resumption ofNato supplies by abdicating its own re-sponsibility for a difficult decision andhiding behind the parliamentary resolu-tion. The issue of resumption of Natosupplies should not be seen in isolationbut it must be linked to the overall strat-egy to deal with the situation in the re-gion after Nato troops’ withdrawal fromAfghanistan.

Pakistan has already paid a heavyprice for that. What complicates the mat-ter for us is that the Taliban, the enemiesof the US-led Nato coalition, were our al-lies in the 90s. They remain our best bet.But that Pakistan ditches them at thisstage, the US-Nato alliance seems to berunning out of patience.

AMIRULLAH KHAN ASTORIKarachi


Comment12thursday, 7 June, 2012

Arif NizamiEditor

Lahore – Ph: 042-36298305-10 Fax: 042-36298302Karachi – Ph: 021-34330811-3 Fax: 021-34330900Islamabad – Ph: 051-2287414-6 Fax: 051-2287417

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

Dedicated to the legacy of the late Hameed Nizami

Where’d it come from?

where’d the money go?

It all started with Malik Riaz, Chairman Bahria Town,calling certain media persons and showing them filesconcerning millions of rupees allegedly provided to DrArsalan Choudhry apparently for business purposes.

As the matter got soon leaked out through the grapevine, itwas bound to raise eyebrows. For quite a few days,Islamabad and Lahore were abuzz with rumours of alltypes. No one, however, was willing to speak about thematter publicly in view of the respect for the apex court. AsDr Arsalan was not a reputed businessman, questions werebound to arise about the motives of those who entrusted anovice with so much money. There were already questionsabout his lavish style of living. Some thought certainpowerful elements wanted to influence the CJ who washearing cases that mattered to them. Others believed themove was aimed at discrediting the CJ in particular and thesuperior judiciary in general. Things came to a head whensome of the overzealous media persons went to town overthe issue.

The SC did the right thing to take suo motu notice of thematter by calling Arsalan Choudhry and Malik Riaz before athree member bench. however, Justice Iftikhar shouldperhaps not sit in the proceedings of the case, lest thecritics find a way to malign his legal acumen on the basis ofhis relation with one of the respondents. Arsalan appearedbefore the court but Malik Riaz failed to turn up. It wasmaintained that he had gone to UK for treatment. The courthas ordered the 10 major executives of the constructionempire who are authorised to sanction big funds to appearbefore it. The one who turned up on Wednesday deniedhaving given Arsalan any money. It is now for Malik Riazand Bahria Town to produce whatever incriminatingevidence they have against Arsalan. They will also have toanswer what kind of business agreement, if any, they hadentered into with him that necessitated the advance ofcrores of rupees.

There are numerous examples of well connectedyoungsters misusing the family connections for their ownbenefit. hopefully Dr Arsalan is not one of them. Oneexpects him to explain the sources of his income that helphim maintain an expensive style of life.

Kids, today’s number was 6.7 million

Sesame Street

There’s a lot of money in poverty, says Arundhati Roy,the gadfly of the global neo-liberal project.

For those who claim to be, essentially, a set of do-gooders, the NGO sector surely is viewed by a measure ofsuspicion the world over. There are many reasons for this; apedantic approach for development that doesn’t take intoaccount the indigenous socio-economic ecosystem in whichthey operate being one of them. But the lion’s share of thebrunt is borne because of the lion’s share itself.

The high-flying life and gargantuan remunerations ofNGO operatives notwithstanding, the ever-recurringinstances of corruption in the sector is the basis of theresentment.

A news item that appeared in this very newspaperregarding the alleged corruption in the making of theUSAID-funded Pakistani version of Sesame Street quicklywent viral on the internet. The heady cocktail of the idea ofwrongdoing and the cute antics of elmo and his gangpiqued many people’s interest. Though the StateDepartment officials have confirmed the cancellation of theproject, the Rafi Peer group (who were the contractors forthe said project) have filed a libel suit of one billion rupees.All in a day’s work in the press business.

But this story is only the tip of the iceberg. Many othershave to be uncovered. The development rackets are toovast. Compare the total possible embezzlementopportunities in puppets with the same in health, educationand microfinance projects.

The corruption isn’t limited to local contractors oremployees. Featuring more prominently in the list areforeign viceregal officers who are empowered to makespending and hiring decisions. Regardless of how manyprotocols of accounting and control that the donor agenciesdevise, there is always a way to get around them.

And these are the projects where they spend themselves.In many others, the international agencies send thegovernment a fat bill at the end.

Figuring out figuresPPP presents the fifth budget but what’s it worth

Tahrir Square has no time to pause. The hundreds andthousands of people who flock to the venue that changedthe tide of history in the Middle east have a cherished

dream at heart.They want to see justice done and a new egypt is born out

of the upheaval. Though a new parliament is in place and thepresidential vote is in a run-off stage, people are quite restlessfor reasons lacking political pluralism. Apparently, this is whythey want to ensure that nothing from the yester regime is car-ried forth, and the new dispensation is free from the slurs ofdictatorial and repressive tendencies. The call to unseat the rul-ing military junta and to ensure that all those elements that hadindulged in vandalism and terror on the eve of uprising areprosecuted is gathering momentum.

The recent outburst after the sentencing of former presi-dent hosni Mubarak is not without a reason. People are disap-pointed with the toned down verdict, and especially the sparingof a number of senior officials, including former police chiefs,

who went on a rampage to net the agitators. The ensuingclashes that killed dozens of people is now in need of a fair trial.The acquittal of security personnel who were widely responsiblefor transgressing their jurisdictional limits in firing on the pro-testers and indulging in carnage is an issue that the next ad-ministration will have deal with earnestly.

It can’t be said that these police and security sleuths weremerely performing their duties, as the uprising was not some-thing that was confined to the desires of a select few. WhatTahrir witnessed from January last year is a revolution, andnothing but a break of status quo. It would be prudent of theadministration and the judiciary to recast light on the acquittalcases and broaden the scope of investigations so that all the ag-grieved sections of society are heard, and justice done, accord-ingly.

Those amassing on the Tahrir, however, should keep inmind that attaining justice is a sustained process, and couldn’tbe achieved in a fix or in isolation. There is no need to disturbthe order of the day, nor unnecessarily create a breakdown syn-drome. Let the infant institutions under an answerable set uptake their roots and exhibit confidence.

Issues on tahrirThe Khaleej Times

Foreign Press

The ruling PPP has done it. Ithas become the first electedgovernment to present fiveconsecutive national budgets.Much of its recent politics were

centred around getting to the pole.The party’s two major goals this year

were the Senate elections and presentingthe fifth budget of a fifth stint. To give thedevil its due, these were not easilyachieved.

Consider the enormous odds: towardsthe end of last year, the so-called Mem-ogate reared its ugly head when Ambas-sador husain haqqani was accused ofsecretly seeking American intervention toscuttle a military takeover.

The case taken to the Supreme Courtchiefly by PPP archrival and former primeminister Nawaz Sharif, had the full back-ing of a hostile military and a section ofthe baying-for-blood media.

President Asif Zardari then suddenlytook ill and was flown out to Dubai fortreatment, fueling wild speculation aboutthe imminent fall of the government astensions with the powerful army reachedfever pitch.

In the ensuing battle of attrition,Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani notonly publicly rebuked the ‘scheming’ mil-itary establishment but also dug in his

heels with the symbolic sackingof a khaki defence secretary –replacing him by a civilian, anda woman at that.

however, the refusal ofMansoor Ijaz – the prime ac-cuser in Memogate whoclaimed haqqani dictated thesecret memo – to appear in per-son to prove the allegationstook the wind out of the anti-PPP design of thwarting theSenate elections.

The party successfully at-tained majority in the upperhouse as a result of the elec-tions held on schedule. PrimeMinister Gilani meanwhile,continued to ignore the feverpitch arising out of SupremeCourt’s ‘final call’ to write a let-ter to have corruption casesagainst President Zardari inSwiss courts reopened.

All sorts of delaying tacticswere employed to prolong thecontempt case in the hope offinding space to present a fifthbudget.

The apex court eventuallyconvicted Gilani on April 26and even punished him “till therising of the court” but the ver-dict still had an air of ambiguityregards disqualification whenonly a reference was sent to thespeaker of the National Assem-bly in ‘post office’ avatar for on-ward delivery to the electionCommission.

The speaker – who owesthe custodianship of the house

to the PPP – however, declared it had nomerit and quashed it on the last possibleday of the legit 30 limit.

even as the jury is still out on whetherthe speaker’s decision holds – pre-dictably, multiple petitions have beenfiled with the Supreme Court since then –last week the ruling party managed topresent the budget against all odds.

To the extent it is a milestone, appar-ently shows the maturing of the system.however, the same cannot be said of thebudget per se.

Budgets this side of the Indus havesince long been surrounded by cynicism.Maybe, one cannot even fault this giventhe rather obtuse history of fiscal indisci-pline.

For even the most hardened econo-mist, a Pakistani budget is a complex doc-ument not easily given to waging exceptperhaps to suggest it may not be what itseems at the best of times, for, not only isfigure fudging rife but also the headsunder which they appear.

The gimmickry sometimes lends itselfto mini budgets and more often than not,the allocation for the top of the pops – likethe Presidency and PM Secretariat –shoots through the roof.

This year’s budget was preceded byinteresting speculation. Despite enduringfour years of hardship, the hoi polloi aswell as most pundits were somehow con-vinced a fiscal space would be found insync with the forthcoming elections. Thepremise had promise: which party would-n’t dig deep and even manipulate thingsin order to humour the electorate in a re-

election bid?however, the latest document ap-

pears to have trumped these expectationswith the PPP choosing not to play ‘out oftheir skins’ because – surprise of sur-prises – it is fully confident of returningto power again and understandably does-n’t want to hoist itself on its own petard!

The one apparent fudging is under theheads, which is likely meant to support or‘buy votes’ – in electoral parlance. Report-edly, the prime minister has kept Rs22billion at his discretion as part of People’sWorks Programme-11, with light refract-ing through a poll prism.

Another Rs5 billion have also been re-served for People’s Works Programme-1meant for distribution amongst partymembers to boost their poll chances.These allocations have been made under“special programmes” pertaining to thePublic Sector Development Programme.

In terms of the revenue rivulet, thisbudget was always going to be about threedeterminants: debt servicing, recoupinglosses of public sector entities and de-fence. Rs 1.1trillion – or more than one-third of the total (Rs2.96t) outlay – will betaken up by interest payments; Rs209 bil-lion will serve as subsidies for the publicsector; and at Rs643 billion, one-fifth willbe consumed by defence. It is instructiveto note that allocations jumped massivelyin the outgoing fiscal and there’s no guar-antee it won’t happen again.

The writer is a former newspaper ed-itor based in Islamabad and can bereached at [email protected]

By Kamran Rehmat


Comment 13thursday, 7 June, 2012

the woes of a sedentary Pakistani

Walk awayPartisan obstruction blocks change

Three years after Cairo

If there was one thing in Pakistan Iabsolutely detested it was the ideaof walking. I always ordered my

driver to park the car as close as pos-sible to the university, office and mar-ket gates, so that I had to makeminimum use of my delicate feet.

even though everyone suggestedwalking as a healthy way of losingweight, no one could ever motivateme enough to take on this heinous ac-tivity. Out of my whole family, onlymy father was fond of walking, andwe never wasted a moment to dis-courage him of this activity. ‘It’s sohot! Why do you want to tire yourselfout? Why waste time? ...’ My friendsin university would often suggestwalking to the next department or thelibrary, a mere ten minutes walk, butto me it seemed like ten hours.

That obviously was the Pakistanime, who when landed in europe, wasgreeted with a sports car waiting topick her up at the airport, but the nextday she realised that that fancy cardid not come with a full time driver.

My high-heeled stilettos that Ihad bought and packed with muchlove on my wedding remained nicelywrapped up in my suitcase as I wentout to buy a new pair of trainers todeal with my new european walkinglifestyle. Anywhere I wanted to go Iwas most welcome to use the publictransport, but I soon realised thatwaiting half an hour for a bus to covera ten minutes distance to a close-byshop was mere stupidity. Walkingwas the way to go. Not only was it‘healthy’ and ‘fun’, but it was also animportant way of saving euros, ahabit we learn to adopt very soonafter entering europe.

In the beginning, I would huff andpuff after walking at the speed of asnail for only ten minutes, while myeuropean-half would be feets aheadfrom me looking back at his Pakistaniwife struggling to catch up with him.I missed my dear driver back in Pak-

istan, especially at times when Iopened the refrigerator to realisethere was no bread, but instead ofwalking to the store I chose to stayhungry instead.

My husband wanted me to traveleurope with him, but while he madeplans of roaming around in Roam andParis I kept thinking about all thewalking I will have to do, and secretlywished for these vacation plans tofail. For the Pakistani me, anythingthat required physical exertion wasnot fun in any way. My idea of a nicevacation was one that required mini-mum use of my limbs and most of myeyes and mouth, to just eat and see.After all, I may come from a countrypoorer than this, but that doesn’tmean that I have lived a life less priv-ileged than any european child.

however, very soon, I masteredthe art of walking. In a matter ofmonths I was able to walk shoulder toshoulder with my man, like a confi-dent 21st century woman. Distancesstarted seeming shorter to me, andsurprisingly I did start enjoying mywalks.

The scenery is nice and clean,traffic is not an issue because of thepedestrian sidewalks, the passing bypeople are friendly, and it actually isa very effective way of sheddingpounds. It’s either one of these, orthat I have just forgotten what it feltlike to be seated in the back seat of anair conditioned, chauffer-driven car.

Anywhere i wantedto go i was mostwelcome to usethe publictransport, but isoon realised thatwaiting half anhour for a bus tocover a tenminutes distanceto a close-by shopwas merestupidity. Walkingwas the way to go.

By Amal Shakeb

One year ago, on the second an-niversary of President Obama'shistoric Cairo University ad-

dress to the Muslim World, we re-leased the results of our 2011 ArabWorld polling. The findings were dev-astating, though not wholly unex-pected. What we found was thatAmerica's overall favourable ratingsacross the Arab World were lower in2011 than they had been in the lastyear of the Bush Administration.

Domestic opponents of the presi-dent rather shamefully leapt for joy,refusing to acknowledge that this col-lapse of hope for change was in nosmall measure due to their obstruc-tionism. And they appeared uncon-cerned with the consequences this lossof trust was having on America's abil-ity to function across the region. Moretroubling than the precipitous declinein America's standing in the ArabWorld are the constraints this situa-tion has imposed on the ability of theUnited States to play a constructiverole in regional affairs.

We live in what I call, "the housethat Bush built". Both at home andabroad, the impact of the sometimesneglectful and other times recklesspolicies of the last administration areeverywhere in evidence. In the Middleeast alone, we witnessed: two failedwars that have been costly beyondmeasure in lives and treasure; abom-inable behaviours that sullied our na-tion's honour (torture, Guantanamo,Abu Ghraib, "black sites", renditionand more); an emboldened hard-linegovernment in Israel, coupled with thecollapse of the Palestinian Authorityand a failed peace process; an un-leashed and aggressive Iran, flexing itsmuscles throughout the region; andthe spread of destabilising extremistcurrents.

This was the mess that greetedPresident Obama when he entered the

White house. And what is mostgalling is not just the fact that his op-ponents had supported the policiesthat landed us in this mess in the firstplace, but that they have continued tooppose the President's every effort tochange direction.

They denounced the withdrawal ofcombat forces from Iraq and now ad-vocate an indeterminate involvementin Afghanistan. They have criticizedObama's condemnation of torture, re-buking him for "apologising for Amer-ica". They blocked all efforts to closeGuantanamo. They have publicly em-braced Israeli Prime Minister Ben-jamin Netanyahu, siding with theintransigent Israeli leader againsttheir own President while, at the sametime, attempting to cut off aid to thePalestinians. They have denounced ef-forts to negotiate with Iran to rein inits nuclear programme, advocating amore muscular approach, while pub-licly supporting Israel's "right" tobomb that country. And they have re-fused support for programmes thePresident has proposed that wouldprovide needed capacity-building inArab countries currently undergoingdemocratic transformations.

It is possible to see this destructivedynamic at work in the partisan de-bate that has developed in face of thehorrific violence that is now rockingSyria.

Responding quite soberly to thetragic Syrian situation last week, USAmbassador to the United Nations,Susan Rice, made clear that as horrificas the violence has been, it could getworse. She correctly cautioned againstan aggressive military approach to theconflict, laying out in detail her con-cerns, noting, for example, that "fun-nelling more weapons" into Syria riskscreating "an all-out civil war and re-gional war". Speaking for the Admin-istration, Rice made clear the US'sopposition to Assad's rule, but main-tained that she continued to believethat, as difficult as it may be toachieve, a diplomatic and negotiatedend to the fighting and to the regimewas preferable to the consequences ofthe regional conflagration that mightflow from outside parties pouringmore gasoline on the flames.

What the Administration alsoknows is that given the strategic posi-tion of Syria, the fragility of the coun-try and its neighbours, and America'slow political standing in the region,U.S. involvement in another groundwar in the heart of the Middle east isthe last thing we and the region need

at this time.The President's opponents, on the

other hand, have sought to take ad-vantage of the public's outrage overthe atrocities they see occurring inSyria and to irresponsibly use it forpolitical advantage. Republican presi-dential hopeful Mitt Romney, for ex-ample, criticised the White house lastweek, terming Obama weak and inde-cisive. No new policy was proposed,just harsh criticism. Romney's sup-porters went further, with SenatorLindsey Graham advocating US-ledaggressive military action, and Sena-tor John McCain calling on the admin-istration to arm the Syrian opposition.how could this be done without inter-national legitimacy? exactly howmight it play out, when we don't knowenough about the rebels we would bearming, their capacity to win or gov-ern, or their intentions should theywin? how would a US-led assault bereceived by Arabs, who despite theirdistaste for the Syrian regime are lesstrusting of America and are still reel-ing from Iraq and its aftermath. Andwhat would be the effect of all this onvulnerable populations in Syria, or onLebanon, Iraq, Jordan, or Turkey?These questions, as critical as they areto answer, don't matter to criticswhose only goals are to attack.

To be fair, the loss of Americanstanding across the region is not justthe fault of domestic opponents. Inseveral instances, the Administrationhasn't helped itself. Bowing to politicalpressure, for example, the President'sspeeches at the United Nations andAIPAC did grave damage to his stand-ing in the Arab World. And while un-derstandably not wanting to engage inan expansion of war into Yemen andPakistan, the reliance on drone strikesto assassinate suspected targets hasradicalised populations in both coun-tries, while delivering a blow to Amer-ica's claim to uphold internationallaw.

So here we are, three years afterthe President's remarkable speech inCairo. The Arab World is undergoingsignificant and sometimes destabilis-ing change, and the promised changein US policy is not yet on the horizon.We are now in the midst of an electionyear, and so we can expect that thepartisan attacks will continue and ef-forts for real change, if it is to come atall, will most likely have to wait untilafter November.

The writer is President of theArab-American Institute.

Washington WatchBy Dr James J Zogby


14 thursday, 7 June, 2012

iN liMelight

1

1 neW oRleAnS: StephenBaldwin arrives at a

district court ahead of hishearing.

2 neW oRleAnS: KevinCostner arrives withmembers of his legal

team at a districtcourt for his hearing.

3 nASHVille: Co-hostsKristen Bell and tobyKeith attend the 2012

Cmt music Awardspress conference.

4 Rio De JAneiRo: giseleBundchen promotes

the launch of the ‘topCufa’ contest for

models fromshantytowns.

5 neW yoRK: oliviamunn and actor JoelKinnaman attend the

screening of ‘lolaVersus’.

4

NEWS DESK

FOR the audience whowere lucky enough tocatch ‘The Best exoticMarigold hotel’ assoon as it came out,

this might sound like a nice tripdown memory lane. For others, itmight be a primer of sorts into analtogether unique genre of film-making. The crossover/cross-cul-tural phenomenon encompassesboth feel good comedies andthought provoking dramas.here’s a look at some films you’dwant to catch, just to feel a littleout of place, but to nevertheless,find yourself right back at home.As someone said, who caresabout the destination? It’s thejourney that counts.

‘Babel’: Alejandro GonzalezInarritu made a devastating filmwhich marks the third chapter inthe death trilogy. Sticking to histechnique of fractured narrative,Inarritu tells many stories linked by a single incident. Thistime, language plays the villain as the inability to communi-cate, whether on the home front, or in a foreign land bringsout the true colours of the denizens involved. ‘Nowhere inAfrica’: This is one of those films that you can’t quite put your

finger on. It centres on a refugee fam-ily of German-Jewish descent, whotake shelter in a Kenyan farm duringthe 1930s. The laidback life of thefarm might seem like a welcomechange. But adaptation is a game thatcomes with its own challenges as theties of the family are tested on allgrounds. Shot languorously, the Ger-man feature is a contemplative piecethat stands the test of time. ‘The edgeof heaven’: Turkish wonderkid FatihAkin gets under the skin of that neb-ulous concept called identity andmakes us question our own ideas ofit. Fatih’s film explores the lives ofTurkish citizens living in Germanyand Germans living in Turkey, theirexistential crisis playing out at alljunctures. There are questions of gen-erational and geographic divide, butit’s all expounded upon with compas-sion. ‘Lost in Translation’: SofiaCoppola’s wonderfully poignant filmabout two Americans battling lone-liness and ennui in Tokyo was a run-away hit. Bill Murray’s aging actorand Scarlett Johansson’s vulnerable

newly wed became the voice of a generation that was at aloss at understanding what they wanted from life. Rife withquote worthy dialogue and comedy, the tagline of the filmsaid it all, ‘sometimes, you have to go halfway around theworld to come full circle.’

hollywood’scrossover chronicles

Stewart slams ‘voracious’

critics for twisting the truth NEW YORK: Kristen

Stewart, who used to be more at

home in a pair of jeans and a

tatty t-shirt, has transformed into

a glammed-up socialite on the

new cover of Vanity fair. the

usually casual ‘twilight’ saga

actress channels an Upper east

Side woman on the July cover of

the magazine, in an image shot by mario testino. In the image, the 22-year-old has

slicked-back hair and sports far more eye-makeup than usual. the starlet wears a

blingy dress that looks borrowed from someone else’s closet. In her hands, she

holds a Pomeranian – the dog that is second only to the Chihuahua as the

preferred pet of society women. In the interview, Stewart addresses the fact that

in real life, she only aims to look perfect on the red carpet. “I have been criticised a

lot for not looking perfect in every photograph,” the New york Post quoted her as

saying. “I get some serious flak about it. I’m not embarrassed about it. I’m proud of

it. If I took perfect pictures all the time, the people standing in the room with me,

or on the carpet would think, ‘what an actress! what a faker!’…what matters to

me is that the people in the room leave and say, ‘She was cool. She had a good

time. She was honest.’ I don’t care about the voracious, critics who want to twist

the truth,” she said. Stewart said that, while she usually dresses down, it’s a big

improvement from how she used to look. “look at a picture of me before I was 15.

I am a boy. I wore my brother’s clothes, dude! I remember being made fun of

because I wasn’t wearing Juicy jeans. AGenCieS

Juggun Kazim debuts

latest garnier film NEWS DESK

on behalf of leading hair

and skin care brand garnier,

celebrity television

personality and actress

Juggun Kazim invited the

media to an event in

celebration of the garnier

Colour Naturals range at

Pace, link road lahore. At the event, garnier Spokeswoman Juggun

Kazim talked about her experience of colouring her hair with garnier

Colour Naturals’ extensive range keeping in mind the summer season

and also showed her latest garnier film to audiences in attendance.

Juggun Kazim was accompanied by her lahore-based expert hair team

comprising of Jennifer liu of Jenny’s Beauty Concept and ruby hasan,

founder and Creative Director of the salon Splitends, who shared their

garnier hair care tips with all those in attendance. Speaking about the

event and her experience with Color Naturals, garnier Spokesperson

Juggun Kazim said: “As a person, I always enjoy interacting with people

and imparting what knowledge I have. this event gave me an

opportunity to educate my fans about the garnier Colour Naturals

range. I personally have had a brilliant experience using garnier Colour

Naturals. I am also thankful to my team of hair experts for coming and

sharing their experience and knowledge.”

BRAD PITTto rescue stalled MarilynMonroe biopicloS AnGeleS: Brad Pitt has signed up to

produce an Australian filmmaker’s stalled

marilyn monroe biopic, according to reports.

the 48-year-old star has stepped in to help

director Andrew Dominik get his long-delayed

movie off the ground as the project’s

producer. Australian actor Naomi watts was

slated to play the iconic bombshell in

Dominik’s biopic ‘Blonde’, which stalled before

shooting began in January 2011. Pitt will

produce the movie through his Plan B

production company, although he has yet to

decide whether he will take on a role in the

film. “we’re going to get this one done,” the

Sydney morning herald quoted him as telling

24 frames. Pitt has previously worked with

New zealand born filmmaker Dominik on ‘the

Assassination of Jesse James’ by the Coward

robert ford and gangster thriller ‘Killing them

Softly’ which was in competition for the

Palme d’or at this year’s Cannes film festival.

Dominik, rose to fame with his first feature

‘Chopper’ and lives in melbourne. AGenCieS

Gwyneth Paltrowfaces flakfor N-wordtweet

loS AnGeleS: gwyneth Paltrow is

the latest celebrity who has been

slammed for using the N-word on

twitter. She apparently used it

while watching Jay z and Kanye

west in concert in Paris. Paltrow’s

intentions were pure - her tweet,

“Ni**as in paris for real”, refers to

the rappers’ hit song, Ni**as in

Paris - but the web didn’t see it

that way and criticised her for

using racist language, the Daily

telegraph reported. Stung by her

fans’ accusations that she was

using the word in a derogatory

fashion, Paltrow tried to explain the

reference and kill the negative buzz

around her. AGenCieS

Julia Robertsstill getsnervous onsetsloS AnGeleS: Despite having a

career that has spanned for almost 24

years now, Julia roberts reportedly

still gets nervous on a film set,

according to actress’s ‘mirror mirror’

co-star lily Collins. Collins revealed

that the 44-year-old veteran, who was

happy to advice her when they worked

together, told her that filming fears

never subside. “Julia was so lovely and

said, ‘you know, no matter how much

you’ve done this, you always have

scenes that make you nervous and

psych you out the entire time’,”

Contactmusic quoted Collins as

saying. “I mean I was hoping it would

go away! But it was quite a relief to

know nerves don’t just come from

being new, they come from passion

and really caring about something,”

she added. AGenCieS


15Syrianairhostessesclash causesflight delay

NEWS DESK

A fight between two Syrian airhostessesover the political crises in their countrybecame so passionate that it caused thedelay of their Saudi Arabian Airlinesflight, the Saudi newspaper al-Watanhas reported. The situation has becomeso serious that the Saudi ArabianAirlines officials called all Syrianairhostesses to a meeting in which theywere banned from any political activityor discussion whilst on duty, or riskdismissal. What began as adisagreement between the two flightattendants, one enamoured with theSyrian regime and the other opposed toit, turned into a fist-fight. The hostesses’flight was delayed as the womenslugged it out in Dubai Airport in abrawl that had to be broken up bysecurity officers, said airport sourcesquoted in the Arab media. This isthought to be one of more than a dozenbrawls and heated debates betweenSyrian flight attendants that haveincreased the cabin pressure in themonths since the conflict in Syria began.

Weatherman shotwith crossbow byformer roommate

JOHNSON CITYAGenCieS

Police say a TV weatherman waswounded by a bolt from a crossbowduring a break-in at his home by a manhe once lived with who has been chargedwith attempted first-degree murder. TheJohnson City newspapers report thatpolice say 53-year-old Gerald D Taylorwas arrested in the early morning attackon Rob Williams, a weatherman at alocal TV channel. Williams told policehe ran from his Johnson City homeafter the 4 am attack and said Tayloralso fired a pistol at him, but missed.Police said they found Taylor at a boatdock near Williams’ house with a pistolin his hand and arrested him. Williamssays he and Taylor had been livingtogether until recently, and an order ofprotection had been served.

2

3

5

NEWS DESK

A33-year-old Pennsylvania man was ar-rested and charged with two counts of as-sault after he allegedly beat up a9-year-old boy who bested him in a waterballoon fight. There seems to be no short-

age of embarrassing details for Joe Mongeon, whowitnesses say instigated the water balloon fight withthe child. however, The Times-Tribune of Scrantonreports Mongeon became “enraged” after the youngboy successfully targeted Mongeon with a water bal-loon of his own. That’s when witnesses say Mongeon

pushed the child to the ground and began kickinghim. When the boy’s mother, helen Flynn, at-tempted to intervene, Mongeon allegedly punchedher in the face. Thankfully, both mother and sonseem to be OK. Both refused medical attention afterMongeon was arrested. Police later charged Mon-geon with harassment, along with the counts of sim-ple assault. he was released after posting a $5,000bail. This isn’t the only recent children’s game thatturned violent when adults got involved. In May, aTexas man allegedly killed another man, stabbinghim in the back after getting into an egg-throwingfight with a neighbour.

NEWS DESK

A woman pleaded guilty to pretending to be her deadson in order to set up an insurance policy and thencollect a payoff. Donna ellis Gibbs received $151,000from Monumental Life Insurance Co. on a policy shetook out in her deceased son’s name two monthsafter he died, the Fulton County District’s Attorney’sOffice said in a news release. The insurance companywas notified of her deception when the scheme wasuncovered by her ex-husband, prosecutors said.Gibbs was charged with five counts of insurancefraud and one count of theft by taking. In December2002, Gibbs’ son died in a car crash. While acting asher son, she later submitted an application to the in-

surance company for an accidental death policy.When she submitted a claim, she used altered docu-ments — including police reports and a death certifi-cate — to show that her son died in April 2003,authorities said. Almost four years later, Gibbs’ ex-husband, the father of her late son, found out aboutthe policy. he investigated and sent authentic docu-ments on his son’s death to the insurer after notifyingthe company of the fraud, prosecutors said. Gibbswas sentenced to 20 years’ probation, which can belifted after five years if she complies with her pleaagreement. She must pay full restitution to the insur-ance company, perform 200 hours of communityservice, and undergo drug and alcohol evaluationand treatment, the news release said.

Man roughs up kidfor besting him inwater balloon fight

Mom posed as dead son tocollect insurance money

POINTED ATTACK

Demi Moore’s underagedaughter busted whiledrinking Pakistani beer neW yoRK: Bruce willis and Demi moore’s daughter Scout was arrested in New york. the 20-year old, who is

under the legal drinking age in the US, was allegedly caught sipping 8 oz. Pakistani beer in Union Square at

around 7pm on monday. Scout is said to have presented a fake ID with the name Katherine Kelly to police

when they queried her age, according to the New york Daily News. After further questioning by an officer, she

confessed that her real name was Scout willis, reportedly saying: ‘the first ID isn’t mine. my friend gave it to

me.’ Scout was booked for two misdemeanours, including criminal impersonation. the Brown University

student was then booked for two misdemeanours; criminal impersonation and open container violation. She

was released without bail early on 5 June and is expected back in court on 31 July. Scout larue willis is the

second daughter of actors Bruce willis and Demi moore who are also parents to rumer willis, 23, and tallulah

Belle, 18. She is currently studying at rhode Island’s Brown University. AGenCieS

AAMIR KHANrefuses toapologiseto doctors MuMbAi: Aamir Khan, who seldom believes

in giving clarifications for his actions, has

spoken about his stand against the Indian

medical fraternity’s demand seeking an

apology from the actor for allegedly

defaming them and their profession. talking

to a news channel, Aamir firmly said, “I will

not apologise to the doctors, I have not

insulted the medical profession. those

doctors who indulge in unethical practices

have defamed the profession, not me.” the

actor had spoken about the malpractices in

the medical fraternity in the country in the

fourth episode of his social awareness based

tV show ‘Satyamev Jayate’. A number of

medical institutions had accused Aamir of

sensationalising medical malpractices and

had also threatened to boycott the actor’s

films. they also sought an apology from the

actor. AGenCieS



16 Foreign News

DAMASCUSAFP

ChINA and Russia saidWednesday they were “deci-sively against” interventionor regime change in Syria asArab and Western calls

mounted for tougher international actionin the 15-month conflict.

As rebel fighters stepped up their at-tacks in and around Damascus, RussianForeign Minister Sergei Lavrov warnedthat regime change in Syria would leadthe Middle east to “catastrophe”.

US Secretary of State hillary Clinton,who has voiced mounting frustrationwith the Chinese and Russian position,was to discuss the situation with allies inIstanbul later on Wednesday, a Turkishdiplomatic source said.

In a joint statement issued after twodays of talks between Russian PresidentVladimir Putin and Chinese leaders, Bei-

jing and Moscow said they strongly op-posed intervention and regime change inSyria. “Russia and China are decisivelyagainst attempts to regulate the Syriancrisis with outside military intervention,as well as imposing... a policy of regimechange,” the statement said.

Speaking in the Chinese capital, theRussian foreign minister urged the inter-national community to resist calls fromthe exiled opposition to help oust Presi-dent Bashar al-Assad’s regime. “(Opposi-tion groups) outside Syria appeal to theworld community more and more tobomb the Assad regime, to change thisregime,” Lavrov told reporters in the Chi-nese capital. “This is very risky, I wouldeven say it is a way that will bring the re-gion to catastrophe.”

Lavrov hit out at the rebel Free Syr-ian Army’s announcement on Fridaythat it was no longer bound by a six-point peace plan brokered by UN-ArabLeague envoy Kofi Annan and endorsed

by the UN Security Council in a resolu-tion backed by both Beijing andMoscow. Lavrov said it was importantfor all states that have sway over Syria’sopposition groups to convince them tostop escalating the situation, addingthat Beijing and Moscow would con-tinue in lockstep over Syria, opposingforeign intervention and forced regimechange. Armed rebels went on the offen-sive in and around Damascus during thenight while 18 people were killed inshelling, blasts and clashes across Syriaon Wednesday, the Observatory said.

According to the Britain-basedwatchdog’s figures, at least 168 soldiershave been killed in the past week, in-cluding 76 at the weekend. Rebel fight-ers clashed with regime troops inharasta and at checkpoints nearDouma, Irbin amd Zamalka, all in theDamascus region, among several otherneighbourhoods of the capital, the Ob-servatory said. Clinton was to meet her

British, French, Turkish and some Arabcounterparts in Istanbul later ahead ofa briefing by Annan of the UN SecurityCouncil on Thursday. Clinton saidWednesday she would reserve judge-ment on a Russian proposal for a globalconference on Syria that would includeIran together with other powers. “It’shard to imagine inviting a country(Iran) that is stage-managing the Assadregime’s assault on its people,” shesaid. Washington gave its backing to anArab League’s proposal to invoke toughUN Chapter Seven sanctions againstDamascus — without mentioning mili-tary intervention. “We the UnitedStates hope that all responsible coun-tries will soon join in taking appropri-ate actions against the Syrian regime,including, if necessary, Chapter 7 ac-tion in the UN Security Council, ascalled for by the Arab League last week-end,” US Treasury Secretary TimothyGeithner said.

JERUSALEMAFP

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Ne-tanyahu vowed on Wednesday to ex-pand the Beit el settlement by 300homes after MPs voted down a bill toprevent the razing of buildings in one ofits neighbourhoods.

Netanyahu had opposed the bill,which would have circumvented aSupreme Court ruling ordering the dis-mantling of five buildings in the Ulpananeighbourhood — a settlement outpostbuilt on private Palestinian land — by le-galising outposts. But he warned afterthe vote that he would not allow peopleto “use the legal system to harm the set-tlement movement,” and announced

plans to add 300 new homes to Beit el,which is near the West Bank city of Ra-mallah. “Beit el will be expanded, the 30families will remain in Beit el, and 300new families will join them,” he said afterthe vote in remarks relayed by publicradio. Netanyahu has backed a plan tomove the five buildings in Ulpana, hometo 30 families, stone by stone to Beit elitself. “Instead of diminishing Beit el, ex-panding it. Instead of harming the settle-ment, strengthening it,” he said.Netanyahu has come under attack for hisdecision to oppose legislation to circum-vent the Supreme Court ruling, but in-sisted his government remained achampion of the settler movement.

“I understand your pain. I share it,” hesaid. “There is no government that would

support the settler movement more thanthe one I head, we will continue tostrengthen the settlement movement andstrengthen the democracy.” The Knessetvote earlier, which saw 69 MPs oppose thelegalisation bill against 22 in favour, effec-tively ended legislative efforts by the settlerlobby and its rightwing supporters to avoidthe court-mandated July 1 removal date.The bill sought to offer compensation toPalestinians whose private land had beentaken over by settlers rather than returningtheir land, if they had not lodged a legal de-mand to evacuate the land within four yearsof the settlement. A second, similar bill, wastaken off the parliamentary agenda beforethe vote. The planned demolition, whichwill affect 142 people, has sparked furyamong settlers and their backers, and ex-

posed a split within Netanyahu’s ownrightwing Likud party. Netanyahu madeclear both before and after the vote that heopposed the efforts because they couldspark an international backlash. “The lawrejected today would have harmed the set-tlement movement,” he said after the vote.But the movement has responded withanger, and outside the Knesset some 2,000people reacted with fury to the bill’s failure.“Jews do not evict Jews!” they chanted.“This is one of the most evil things that Jewsare doing to Jews, that this government isdoing to Jewish people only because theyare Jewish,” protester Yosef Yom Tov toldAFP of the planned eviction. Among thecrowd was a group of around 250 settlerswho had completed a three-day march toJerusalem from Ulpana.

luSAKA: Zambian police officers detain an opposition demonstrator during a protest against the suspension of Zambian Supreme Court judge Phillip Musonda and High Court

judges Charles Kajimanga and nigel Mutuna on Wednesday. AFP

China, Russia ‘decisively against’Syria regime change

Israel PM plans 300 settlerhomes after outpost vote

Swiss firmStadler buildsworld’s ‘mostpowerful’ train

GENEVAAFP

Swiss manufacturer Stadler Rail unveiledon Wednesday a train 50 percent morepowerful than its competitors, earning ita multi-million franc deal with aBrazilian buyer. Described by Stadler as“by far the largest and most powerfulrack-and-pinion locomotive ever built”, atotal of seven engines have been orderedby Brazilian purchaser MRS Logistica at acost of 60 million Swiss francs (48million euros, $62 million). The electrictrains — each weighing nearly 120 tonnesand measuring 18.7 metres (20.5 yards)— are to be put to work carrying iron orebetween Sao Paolo and Santos, thelargest port in South America. Capable ofgenerating up to 5,000kW, thelocomotives will be coupled together andtasked with pulling loads of up to 850tonnes up slopes with a 10.4 percentgradient.

Lawyers seekdismissal of 10 counts inWikiLeaks case

FORT MEADEAFP

WikiLeaks suspect Bradley Manningappeared at a military court outsideWashington Wednesday for a pretrialhearing at which his lawyers were seekingdismissal of 10 of the 22 counts againsthim. A frail-looking Manning was seatedbetween two members of his defenseteam as the hearing got underway afteran hour-long closed door hearingbetween lawyers for both sides. Thedefense are set to argue their case at athree-day hearing at the military tribunewhere Manning, 24, is on trial forallegedly leaking hundreds of thousandsof military logs from Iraq andAfghanistan and US diplomatic cables toWikiLeaks while serving as a low-rankingintelligence analyst in Iraq. In motionsfiled ahead of the hearing, defenselawyers said the US government used“unconstitutionally vague” or“substantially overbroad” language ineight counts of their indictment, in whichManning is accused of “possession anddisclosure of sensitive information.”

Iran doubts P5+1‘willingness’ forsuccess in talks

TEHRANAFP

Iran doubts the willingness of world powersto succeed in upcoming talks in Moscowover its nuclear programme, state newsagency IRNA reported Wednesday, quotingthe country’s top nuclear negotiator. “Delayby the other side in holding the meeting ofexperts and deputies is casting doubt anduncertainty over the willingness (of theP5+1 group of world powers) for success inthe talks in Moscow,” Saeed Jalili wasquoted as telling the group’s representative,eU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.On Tuesday, Iran said it had sent twoletters to Ashton deputy helga Schmidasking for a preparatory meeting as agreedin talks last month in Baghdad to lay thegroundwork for negotiations in Moscow onJune 18 and 19. Jalili, who made thecomments in a letter to Ashton, said hehoped the P5+1 would be ready to attendthe experts meeting between his deputy, AliBagheri, and Schmid so that preparationsare made for the upcoming talks. he alsoexpressed that “the process of talks only for(further) talks is fruitless.”


Foreign News 17thursday, 7 June, 2012

SAnAA: yemeni men dismantle the main protest camp against former president Ali Abdullah Saleh dubbed as ‘Change Square’ since protests began, as five bulldozers

deployed by yemeni authorities on Wednesday cleared the area. AFP

PARISAFP

US President Barack Obamaand British Prime MinisterDavid Cameron called oneurope to come up with an“immediate plan” to resolve

the eurozone crisis, but Germany turneddown Wednesday a plea for swift helpfrom Spain.

The european Central Bank also re-fused to toss recession-hit eurozoneeconomies an easy-money boost, keepinginterest rates steady at 1.0 percent. euro-pean leaders are under intense pressure totake bold action to try to resolve the twoyear old crisis at a June 28-29 summit.Obama and Cameron kept up that pres-sure, agreeing in a late-night telephone call

“on the need for an immediate plan totackle the crisis and to restore market con-fidence, as well as a longer-term strategy tosecure a strong single currency,” accordingto a Downing Street spokeswoman.

Teetering Spanish banks are now theurgent focus with Madrid asking for deepereurozone integration so european fundscan be directly pumped into lenders so itcan avoid the Irish trap where saving thebanks dragged the country into a bailout.Spanish Finance Minister Luis De Guindossignalled Madrid will have to move quick,making a decision within the next twoweeks on how to help its lenders who arestruggling to raise 80 billion euros ($100billion) in capital to shore up their books.europe “must help nations in difficulty,”Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoytold lawmakers on Tuesday as he called for

a laundry list of eU reforms viewed withsuspicion by Germany including depositguarantees, a banking union, and eu-robonds. The proposal gaining the mosttraction outside Germany is to integratethe eurozone’s national banking systems,which would sever the link between banksand sovereign finances.

But powerhouse Germany resisted thepleas, saying whatever help the eU can pro-vide to an increasingly desperate lookingMadrid should come from tools, and ac-cording to rules, that exist already. Govern-ment spokesman Steffan Sibert said thereforms asked for by Rajoy required long-term changes beforehand, while reiteratingthat only governments can apply for cashfrom the european bailout funds. “Theseinstruments must be applied for by govern-ments ... whether a government wishes to

apply is purely a matter for the govern-ment,” Seibert said. A leading member ofGerman Chancellor Angela Merkel’s coali-tion sarcastically called the banking unionidea “a new, admittedly creative, way to tapGerman solvency.” “every eurozone coun-try has to take responsibility for its ownbanks,” said Christian Lindner, one of theFree Democrats party’s rising stars. ButSpain has so far refused to seek financial as-sistance from the european Union thatwould come to the government with toughstrings and a politically humiliating auster-ity programme attached to it.

But some kind of rescue for Spainwas beginning to emerge, and FrenchFinance Minister Pierre Moscovici saideU partners are ready to “mobilise veryrapidly” to come to Spain’s financial as-sistance.

US and UK urge Europeto move quick on crisis

BAGHDADAFP

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki onWednesday blamed “foreign influences” for aprotracted political crisis that has seenpolitical blocs opposed to him press for hisouster.

Maliki’s remarks came as the spokesmanfor the political movement loyal to powerfulShiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr saidneighbouring Iran was working to avoid anoft-mooted parliamentary no-confidencemotion against Maliki. “Whenever we advanceone step, we face new challenges, and foreigninfluences are not far away from this,” Malikisaid in a statement without elaborating.“What is happening with the conspiracytargeting the political process and theexperience of democracy will end in failure,”he added defiantly. Maliki also appeared tocriticise parliament speaker Osama al-Nujaifi,a leader of the secular mostly Sunni-backedIraqiya bloc that has been sharply opposed tohim. “Parliament sessions see a lot of delaysin approving laws,” Maliki said in thestatement. “Isn’t this a weakness in theadministration of parliament?”

Iraq has been hit by a series of intertwinedpolitical crises that began in mid-December,with accusations by Iraqiya that Maliki wasconcentrating power in his hands. The criseshave escalated into calls to unseat him. Thecrises have paralysed government, especiallyparliament, which has passed no significantlegislation except for the budget, while otherimportant measures such as a hydrocarbonslaw regulating the country’s oil sector havebeen delayed.

Also on Wednesday, Sadrist spokesmanSalah al-Obeidi told AFP a delegation of seniorSadrist officials were visiting Iran to discussthe political situation in Iraq, “especially theissue of the no-confidence vote againstMaliki.” “There is Iranian pressure beingexerted on some parties in order to avoidthat,” Obeidi said, referring to the no-confidence vote. Obeidi, however, insisted thatthe Sadrist political bloc, which has around 40MPs in parliament and five cabinet ministersin the national unity government, wouldcontinue to call for a no-confidence motionagainst Maliki. Sadr himself has previouslycriticised the premier as a “dictator” hungryfor acclaim, and accused him of seeking topostpone or cancel elections.

Iraq PM blames ‘foreigninfluences’ in row

Sole survivor ofKazakh tragedyconfesses to murder

ASTANAAFP

The sole survivor of a tragedy at a Kazakh border post withChina which left 14 guards dead has confessed to murderinghis fellow servicemen, the Interfax news agency reportedWednesday, quoting an official source. On Tuesday, Kazakhauthorities had detained the 15th guard, who was believed tohave been on duty at the border post high in the Tian Shanmountains and had previously been unaccounted for. Officialssaid the survivor — named as Vladislav Chelakh — was in badpsychological condition and in a “stupor.” “Chelakh made aconfession. he took the blame,” a source in the Almaty regionwhere the remote border post is located told the Interfax newsagency. Contacted by AFP, a spokesman for the guard servicedeclined to either confirm or deny the report. The bodies werefound last week in the burned-out wreckage of theArgkankergen border control post in the mountains outsideKazakhstan’s biggest city Almaty. Kazakh President NursultanNazarbayev had earlier described the deaths of the borderguards as well as a local hunter as an “act of terror”, but detailson the tragedy have remained shrouded in uncertainty. Inanother report however, a government source told Interfax itwas too early for any conclusions as the authorities wereexamining various possible scenarios. “We are hoping he willshed the light on all these questions,” the source was quoted assaying, referring to Chelakh. “All his testimony is beingverified.... It is too early to draw a conclusion.”

Clinton warns of ‘disastrous’Azerbaijan-Armenia clashes

BAKUAFP

US Secretary of State hillary Clinton onWednesday warned of possible “disastrousconsequences” after a flare-up of deadlyviolence between ex-Soviet enemiesAzerbaijan and Armenia. Clinton held talkswith Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev inBaku as the reported death toll ingunbattles between the two neighbours thisweek rose to nine amid the worst clashessince 2010. After the talks, she said she was“deeply concerned about the danger ofescalating tension, which could haveunpredictable and disastrousconsequences.” “This cycle of violence andretaliation must end,” she said. Baku andYerevan are locked in a bitter unresolvedconflict over the disputed region ofNagorny Karabakh, which Armenia-backedseparatists seized from Azerbaijan in abloody war in the 1990s. An Armeniansoldier was killed in a firefight in Karabakhon Wednesday, separatist officials in theregion said — an incident that followed thedeaths of five Azerbaijani troops and threeArmenians in clashes on their mutualborder on Monday and Tuesday. TheUnited States is a co-chair with Russia andFrance of the OSCe Minsk Group, whichwas set up after the 1994 Karabakhceasefire to help bring a resolution to theconflict. But no peace deal has yet beensigned and the conflict remainsunresolved, leaving Armenia sufferingeconomically from closed borders withAzerbaijan and its ally Turkey, while Bakuhas grown richer on its Caspian Sea oildeposits. The United States has sought tobalance its relationship with bothcountries, pressed on one side by the largeAmerican Armenian community andWashington’s strategic interests in theCaspian basin on the other.

Witness hailsdiversity Breivikhates in oslo court

OSLOAFP

A leading member of Norway’s rulingLabour Party, main target of Anders BehringBreivik’s attacks that killed 77 people, tookthe stand Wednesday at his trial to praisethe multiculturalism he condemns. Partysecretary Raymond Johansen insisted in histestimony to the Oslo district court that“diversity is fundamentally positive andenriches us both economically andculturally.” “From my point of view, theLabour Party has decided to deconstruct theNorwegian culture and to declare war on it,”Breivik countered. Coming after testimonyTuesday from right-wing extremists who didnot back Breivik’s attacks but supportedmany of his views, including the alleged“Islamisation” of Norway, Johansen hadbeen called by the defence to testify abouthis party’s immigration policies. “Countriesthat are attractive to foreigners are thecountries that win in global competition,” hetold the court on the 32nd day of the trial,acknowledging though that “there are largechallenges linked to integration and we andthe other parties have not always been goodenough” at facing them. Breivik, 33, blamesthe Labour Party for paving the way for themulticulturalism he claims is disintegratingNorwegian society and culture and leadingto a “Muslim invasion” of the Scandinaviancountry and europe. Last July 22, the right-wing extremist first bombed a governmentbuilding in Oslo, killing eight people, beforegoing on a shooting rampage on the nearbyUtoeya island where the Labour Party’syouth wing was hosting a summer camp. hekilled 69 people in his island massacre, mostof them teens, with the youngest having justcelebrated her 14th birthday. “What does theLabour Party plan to do about the gradualdeconstruction of the Norwegian ethnicgroup,” Breivik asked in response toJohansen’s comments, maintaining thatpeople with blond hair and blue eyes, likehimself, will have completely disappearedwithin the next 200 years.



Page 21

Sharapova, Kvitovainto french open semi

LAHOREStAFF RePoRt

The Pakistan hockey Federa-tion (PhF) has ordered an in-vestigation into the nationalteam's poor performance in

the recently concluded Sultan AzlanShah hockey Cup Tournament 2012 inMalaysia where the three-time champi-ons finished last among seven teams.

Pakistan won their first matchagainst Argentina 4-2 but then losttheir remaining five matches -- to NewZealand (1-3), South Korea (0-4),Malaysia (2-3), India (1-2) and Britain(1-2). PhF president Qasim Zia askedthe team management, including themanager and coach, to submit their re-port about the reasons behind theshameful performance in the mega-event. The PhF has also called the four

players including Rehan Butt, ShakeelAbbasi, who appeared in the illegalWhS in India.

"The London Olympics are not faraway and we have (a very) short timefor its preparations so we intend to re-move our problems quickly to get readyfor the Olympics," said Zia, while talk-ing to local media Tuesday evening.

The recent performance has forcedthe federation to make some changesin the team, including replacing thecaptain.

"The PhF never thought about suchposition in the event. All the players es-pecially the captain was responsible ashe failed to perform on his first assign-ment and the federation can't take riskfor Olympics," said a source.

The Pakistan hockey team arrivedin Lahore from Malaysia Tuesdaynight. Quick changes are expected in

the team before it leaves for a euro-pean tour Friday. The tour to europeis the last chance for the Pakistan teamto tune up for the London Olympics,starting July 27.

The debacle in Malaysia has alsoprompted PhF to include eight rebelplayers who participated in the unoffi-cial World Series hockey (WSh) inIndia this year. Last month, instead ofimposing a two-year ban on these rebelplayers, PhF only imposed fines onthem so that they might be available forthe team selection.

PhF chief selector hanif Khan wel-comed the decision by the federationand said: "Now we have more optionsto finalize the team for the Olympics."

The new team for the europeantour is likely to be announced Thursdaywith some changes by calling back therebels to make the team stronger.

PHF orders probe into hockeyteam’s poor performance

Sammy backsNarine to makeengland ‘impact’

BIRMINGHAMAFP

West Indies captain Darren Sammy hasdropped the strongest possible hint that'mystery' spinner Sunil Narine will makehis Test debut against england here atedgbaston. West Indies, 2-0 down in thethree-match series, called up the Trinida-dian after fast bowler Kemar Roach wasruled out of the finale with a shin injury.The 24-year-old Narine, primarily an off-spinner but who also boasts a 'knuckle ball'that turns the other way, missed the startof this tour because of his commitments inthe lucrative Indian Premier League. In theIPL, he took 24 wickets at 13.50 and aneconomy rate of 5.47 from 15 matches,fully justifying his $700,000 price tag.

Strauss defendsAnderson absence

BIRMINGHAMAFP

england captain Andrew Strauss has insistedresting James Anderson from the third Testagainst the West Indies will enable the strikebowler to play more international cricket in

the long-run. england, 2-0 upin the three-match series,have decided now is the timeto give Anderson a breakwith a packed schedule infront of them, and reserve

seamers Steven Finn and Gra-ham Onions eager for ac-

tion. Anderson,however, has madeclear his unhappi-ness at beingrested for the thirdTest, which startsat edgbaston hereon Thursday.

The first Test match of the three-Test series between Pakistan andSri Lanka will be played at Galle

International Stadium from Friday(June 22). This will be the 41st Testmatch between the two teams and thirdat this ground. Pakistan have won 16,lost nine and drew 15 in 40 previous en-counters against Sri Lanka.

Pakistan and Sri Lanka have a pecu-liar head-to-head record, with bothteams being more successful in awayTests as compared to home matches.Pakistan, however, can take confidencefrom the fact that they are the team withthe most wins against Sri Lanka.

Overall, Pakistan have had the bet-ter of Sri Lanka in head-to-head con-tests, although the majority of these

victories came before Sri Lanka estab-lished themselves as genuine competi-tors in Tests. Since 1995, Pakistan wonthree and lost two Tests in Sri Lanka butfailed to match their away performancein home Tests. Sri Lanka won six Testsin Pakistan in the same period. In thelast series played between the two teamsin 2009, Sri Lanka won the three-Testcontest 2-0 after Pakistan’s batting col-lapsed in the first two Tests.

Sri Lanka have won three-match se-ries 2-0 against in the last series seriesplayed in Sri Lanka in July 2009 whilePakistan recorded a 1-0 series victoryover Sri Lanka in the last series playedbetween the two teams in United Arabemirates last year.HIGHEST INNINGS TOTALS: Pak-istan's 765 for six declared at Karachiin 2008-09 is their highest ever totalagainst Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka's highestagainst Pakistan, 644 for seven de-

clared also came in this Test match.LOWEST INNINGS TOTALS: SriLanka were bowled out for just 71 runsat Kandy in 1994 which is their lowestever total against Pakistan. Pakistan'slowest against Sri Lanka is 90 whichwas made at Colombo in July 2009.HIGHEST MATCH AGGREGATE:As many as 1553 runs were scored forthe loss of 18 wickets at Karachi in2008-09 which is the highest matchaggregate between the two teams. Thehighest match aggregate recorded inSri Lanka is 1348 runs for the loss of33 wickets at Colombo in July 2009.LOWEST MATCH AGGREGATE:The lowest match aggregate betweenPakistan and Sri Lanka was recordedat Kandy in 1985-86 when 440 runswere scored for the loss of 29 wickets.As many as 716 runs were scored forthe loss of 32 wickets at Sialkot in1985-86 which is the lowest match ag-

gregate between the two teams on Pak-istani soil.HIGHEST INDIVIDUAL SCORES:The highest individual score by a Pak-istani batsman in any Test against SriLanka is held by Younis Khan whomade 313 at Karachi in 2008-09.Sanath Jayasuriya who made 253 atFaisalabad in 2004-05 holds therecord of highest individual score forSri Lanka against Pakistan.BEST BOWLING IN AN INNINGS:Imran Khan's eight for 58 at Lahore in1981-82 is the best bowling perform-

ance in an innings for Pakistan againstSri Lanka. The record of best bowlingperformance for Sri Lanka is held byRavi Ratnayaka who took eight wicketsfor 83 runs at Sialkot in 1985-86.BEST BOWLING IN A MATCH:The distinction of recording the bestbowling in a match on either side is be-long to Imran Khan who took 14 wick-ets for 116 runs at Lahore in 1981-82.The best match aggregate by a SriLankan bowler against Pakistan isMuttiah Muralitharan's 10 for 148 atPeshawar in 1999-2000.

Pakistan have an edge over sri Lanka

BIRMINGHAMAFP

A series where plenty of attention hasbeen given to absent West Indies playersconcludes with the focus on englandresting spearhead seamer James Ander-son from the third Test here at edgbas-ton. In rising to number one in the worldTest rankings, england have rested play-ers along the way -- Anderson missed the2010 tour of Bangladesh.

The difference now is that the Lan-cashire star doesn't want a break. But theconcern for england is the sheer amountof cricket they have left this season -- fourTests (three against South Africa who willbe challenging them for top spot in therankings), 14 one-day internationalsand four Twenty20s. And then comesthe defence of their World Twenty20title in Sri Lanka and a Test tour ofIndia. england, 2-0 up in the three-match series, do have capable seambowling reserves in Steven Finn andGraham Onions and both could be inthe side on Thursday if the selec-tors opt to give Anderson's new-ball partner Stuart Broad a restas well. Anderson, in his Sun-day newspaper column, madeit clear he wanted to play atedgbaston but england coachAndy Flower insisted nowwas the right time for him totake a breather. "We came

into this series with one goal, and thatwas to win the series," Flower said Tues-day. "I'm not intending to demean theimportance of this Test -- but since wewon the series already, our priority doesnow shift to the South Africa series."

Flower, a former Zimbabwe batsman,likened Anderson's position to that of athoroughbred racehorse, saying: "Wouldyou enter your prize horse in every racethrough the year? "You wouldn't -- youwould target the races you want to win.We've won this race already. "I perfectlyunderstand the reasons why he (Ander-son) is disappointed...but it is beneficialto him in the long run." West Indies coach

Ottis Gibson has no qualms withengland's selectionpolicy. "If they restsix players and we

win, it's still WestIndies vs

england and we don't really care howmany people they rest," he said. Mean-while opener Adrian Barath was glad tosee the back of Anderson, saying Tuesday:"Any opener would say the same. It wasreally a challenge facing him."

But Gibson warned against thinkinglife was about to get any easier for a toporder whose struggles were exemplified bytheir collapse to 61 for six in the second in-nings of a nine-wicket second Test defeatat Trent Bridge. "We haven't made anysubstantial runs as a batting side for peopleto be resting on their laurels," said Gibson,whose side were without senior batsmenand former captains Chris Gayle andRamnaresh Sarwan after their respectivedisputes with the West Indies Cricket

Board -- although whether theywould have changed thecourse of this series is a de-batable point. "We still have

batsmen that have to provethey can play cricket in these

conditions." Former englandbowling coach Gibson added: "Steven

Finn has had a very good stint in Testcricket since he's come on board, GrahamOnions made his debut against West In-dies in 2009 and got five wickets at Lord's."West Indies, who've won just two of theirlast 32 Tests and haven't enjoyed a Testwin in england for over a decade, suffereda blow when Kemar Roach, their mosthostile fast bowler, dropped out of the tourwith a shin problem last week.

Anderson absence overshadowsengland-Windies finale

Barath welcomesgayle return for oDIs

BIRMINGHAMAFP

West Indies opener Adrian Barath has said"it's great" Chris Gayle is returning to theone-day squad -- even if the recall has come,in part, at his expense. Former captain Gaylehas been selected for the three-match one-day series against england later this monthafter a 14-month dispute with the West In-dies Cricket Board (WICB). The 32-year-olddynamic opening batsman, with a West In-dies record 19 hundreds in 228 ODIs to hisname, has not played international cricketsince a defeat by Pakistan in the quarter-fi-nals of the World Cup in March last year. Amonth later, Jamaica left-hander Gayle, oneof the world's most ferocious hitters and adazzlingly quick run-getter when in form,criticised the WICB and team coach OttisGibson after being left out of a squad for aone-day series against Pakistan. howeverseveral meetings between the WICB andGayle, brokered by senior Caribbean politi-cians, have ended the stand-off. Both Barathand Kieran Powell, who have struggledagainst england in a Test series where theWest Indies are 2-0down head-ing into thethird andfinal matchstarting atedgbaston hereon Thursday,have been left outof the one-daysquad.

S.PERVEZ QAISER

stats corner

TesT encounTers

VENUE M PAK WON S.L WON DRAW

In Pakistan 21 8 6 7

In Sri Lanka 15 6 3 6

In Bangladesh 1 1 - -

In emirates 3 1 - 2

TOTAL 40 16 9 15


Sports 19thursday, 7 June, 2012

LAHOREStAFF RePoRt

The Pakistan Cricket Board has made itclear that even if a player does not signthe central contract offered to him, hestill has to sign a tour contract beforeeach series in order to play for the na-tional team.

A senior PCB official told that anyplayer who didn't sign the central con-tract offered to him would have to forgothe monthly retainer offered to him plusthe full year medical insurance coverageprovided to him under the contract.

"If a player doesn't sign the centralcontract offered to him he will not getthe monthly retainer plus he will bepaid match fees in the category Cwhile he will only be medically in-sured for a particular tour and not forthe whole year as is the policy of theboard," an official of the board wasquoted by PTI.

"No player can be considered to playfor the national team unless he signs acentral contract or tour contract." Mediareports have said that some of the seniorplayers led by captain, Misbah-ul-haqwere not happy with some of the strin-gent clauses in the new central contractsoffered to them and also with the payhike given to them by the Board.

These players had also asked theboard to review the clauses. The official

admitted that the players had asked theBoard to extend the deadline for signingthe contracts when it was offered tothem around May 26. "The players con-tention was that since the contracts wereoffered to them just prior to leaving forSri Lanka they wanted more time tostudy the contracts," the official said. he

confirmed that some senior players hadalso spoken to the Board about review-ing the pay raise of 25 percent in thecentral contract monthly retainers and10 percent hike in the match fees offered

in the new contracts. "It was explainedto the players that it was for the firsttime after 2008 that the board had givena pay raise to the players and that it wasnot in a strong enough financial positionto enhance these raises anymore," theofficial said.

The official also confirmed that thePCB is still waiting for captain, Misbah-ul-haq, Shahid Afridi, Younis Khan andMohammad hafeez to sign the categoryA central contracts offered to them.

he said so far former captainShoaib Malik and many other playersincluding Ahmed Shehzad, AbdulRehman, Saeed Ajmal, AizazCheema, Faisal Iqbal, Taufiq Umar,Nasir Jamshed, Adnan Akmal hadsigned the contracts.

he said keeping in mind theplayers wishes, the Board had given

them an extra few days to study thecontracts before signing them and

sending them back to the board."Normally we give the players

around 10 days to study the contractsand sign them this time on their requestwe have given them an extension but weexpect all contracts to be signed duringthe Sri Lanka tour," he said.

he said one reason for giving theextension to the players was to allowthem to focus on the series in Sri Lankaand not complain about being pushedby the Board.

All players are bound to sign tour contract: PcB

PCB launchesCricket SkillProgramme

ISLAMABADStAFF RePoRt

The Pakistan cricket Board has plannedto launch "National Cricket Skill Consult-ant Programme - 2012". Legendary Fast-Bowler and NationalSkill Consultant Sarfraz Nawaz, Presi-dent Islamabad Region Mr. ShakilShaikh and PCB GM Media Mr. NadimSarwar addressed a press conferencehere at Diamond Cricket Club Ground Is-lamabad on Wednesday. The inaugural 2-day National CricketSkill Consultant Programme will belaunched on June 8 (2:00 pm through6:00 pm) at the Diamond Cricket ClubGround Islamabad. Players born between September 1st,1987 - August 31st, 1995 are eligible toappear for trials. Players must bring theirCNIC, B-Form for age verification beforethey are allowed to appear in the trials.

PSwf officialsfelicitated

LAHOREStAFF RePoRt

Qasim Zia, President Pakistan hockeyFederation and Muhammad Asif Bajwa,Secretary General have extended their fe-licitations to senior sports journalist,Shahid Shaikh and Amjad Aziz Malikwho were elected President and Secre-tary of the Pakistan Sports Writers Fed-eration (PSWF) and the newly electedoffice bearers of PSWF for their landslide victory in the election for the year2012-16.The president, PhF strongly believes thatthe new office-bearers would contributetheir professional competence for the de-velopment and promotion of hockey en-suring due coverage in print andelectronic media.Bajwa has individually congratulated eachoffice bearers named (President) ShahidShaikh, Punjab, (Senior Vice President)Naseem hameed, Balochistan, (Vice Presi-dents) Sohail Ali (Punjab), Abdul Rehman,KPK, (Secretary) Amjad Aziz Malik, KPK,(Associate Secretaries) Shahzad Malik,Punjab, Namood Muslim, RISJA, (Trea-surer) Aamir Raza Khan, Punjab, AdnanTariq, KPK, Nadir Khawaja, KPK, RanaIrfan, Balochistan, Mohammad Ajmal,Balochistan, ejaz Ahmad Bhatti, Balochis-tan and Syed Ali hashmi, Punjab on theirelection to this prestigious body.

lower tamghoexpectations, warnsfrance doctor

PARISAFP

Olympic expectations for troubled Frenchtriple jumper Teddy Tamgho should be low-ered, the France team doctor warned onWednesday. Tamgho is bidding to make acomeback after an operation on a seriousankle injury and a ban for a violent alterca-tion with an amateur female athlete that haveseen him out of action for 10 months, raisinga question mark over his participation at theLondon Games. France team doctor Jean-Michel Serra said the soon-to-be 23-year-oldworld and european indoor champion, whomissed last summer's world outdoors inDaegu because of his ankle injury, could notrealistically rush back into competition. "Theproblem for Teddy is to make a return pro-portional to the level of expectation," Serratold AFP. "There's the whole psychologicalcase surrounding him as well as the medicalone." Tamgho is set to appear in court in Sep-tember over the ugly incident in which helashed out at Glodie Tudiesche. he was alsogiven a three-year probationary period, or-dered to pay a 1,500-euro ($1,960) fine andundertake 50 hours of community service.

LONDONAFP

South Africa have received an officialapology from British hockey bossesWednesday after the apartheid anthem'Die Stem' was mistakenly played beforetheir match in the pre-Olympic LondonCup on Tuesday.

Marissa Langeni, chief executive ofthe South African hockey Association,in a letter to tournament organisers,said the country "watched with disbeliefas our team stood through what clearlywas a most embarrassing and uncom-fortable experience". South Africa'swomen went on to beat their Britishcounterparts 3-1 in their opening gameand GB hockey apologised Wednesdayfor their embarrassing error.

"Great Britain hockey, the organ-iser of the Investec London Cup, offersa full and unreserved apology to theSouth African women's hockey teamand their supporters for mistakenlyplaying the wrong national anthem be-fore South Africa's match with GreatBritain on Tuesday afternoon," chief ex-

ecutive Sally Munday said."The error was made by a contrac-

tor responsible for sports presentationat the event. "Standard procedurewould be to check anthems to be playedwith visiting teams in advance, how-ever, on this occasion that did not hap-pen and Great Britain hockey acceptsfull responsibility. "Great Britainhockey and its contractor appreciatethe sensitive nature of this unfortunatemistake and we apologise unreservedlyfor the offence caused.

"The correct anthem will be playedbefore all of South Africa's remainingmatches, beginning with the team's sec-ond fixture against Germany onWednesday evening."

Langeni added the incident hadovershadowed what had otherwise beena great day for the team.

"We are extremely disappointedthat an administrative blunder has beenthe source of much embarrassment forour team and all South Africans," shesaid in a statement prior to the apology.

"The anthem played caused ourteam much discomfort as they stood not

knowing what to do with themselves.This incident has robbed our team ofwhat should have been a moment ofpride."

Since 1997, the South African na-tional anthem has been 'Nkosi Sikelel'iAfrika' (God Bless Africa), a hybridsong of five languages which includesextracts of the anti-apartheid hymn anda verse of 'Die Stem'.

The multi-lingual song has facedprevious maulings, notably ahead of a2009 rugby test match with Francewhere reggae singer Ras Dumisani wasaccused of butchering his renditionwhich drew laughter from the Toulousecrowd.

"It was a joke out there. The guyscouldn't sing along to it and even thecrowd were starting to laugh. It wasvery disappointing," said Springbokvice-captain Victor Matfield of the offkey performance.

Last year, the anthem was bungledagain by well-known local musician ArdMatthews at the naming of the Spring-bok squad for the 2011 Rugby WorldCup which he later apologised for.

england hockey chiefs apologisefor south Africa anthem error

PALLEKELEAFP

SRI Lanka will look to improvetheir recent one-day recordagainst Pakistan when they clashin a five-match series starting in

Pallekele on Thursday. The World Cuprunners-up have lost five of their last sixone-dayers against Pakistan, four in theUnited Arab emirates last November andone in the Asia Cup in Dhaka in March. Thekey to Sri Lanka's success will be a solidbatting performance by Mahela Jayawar-dene's men against a side that boasts a richvariety in both spin and pace bowling.

The spin trio of Saeed Ajmal, ShahidAfridi and Mohammad hafeez have proveda handful for most rivals, helping Pakistanwin 16 of their last 22 one-dayers. The paceattack will be spearheaded by Umar Gul,Mohammad Sami and Sohail Tanvir, whowas drafted into the one-day squad in placeof injured batsman Nasir Jamshed.

Sri Lanka will rely heavily on theirtrusted trio of Jayawardene, Kumar San-gakkara and Tillakaratne Dilshan to test

the resurgent tourists, led by middle-orderbatsman Misbah-ul-haq. "Pakistan will bea challenge and what makes them compet-itive is the sort of bowling options available,apart from the specialists," Jayawardene

said ahead of the series. The rivals sharedthe preceding Twenty20 series in thesouthern town of hambantota as Pakistanbounced back to draw level after Sri Lankahad won the opening match. Afridi, who

scored a brisk half-century and grabbedtwo wickets in Pakistan's series-levellingwin last Sunday, will once again play a piv-otal role in the 50-overs-a-side games.

Misbah, who remains the Test andone-day captain despite being droppedfrom the Twenty20 team, called for a col-lective display from his side to tackle theSri Lankans. "It's not about one or twoplayers, the whole team has to contribute,because Sri Lanka are tough opponentsanywhere, especially at home," Misbahsaid. Pakistan's batting has been bol-stered with the return of Misbah and vet-eran Younis Khan, who was also not partof the Twenty20 squad.SRi lAnKA (FRoM): mahela Jayawardene (capt),

tillakaratne Dilshan, Kumar Sangakkara, Dinesh

Chandimal, Angelo mathews, lahiru thirimanne, Jeevan

mendis, thisara Perera, Nuwan Kulasekara, Sachithra

Senanayake, lasith malinga, rangana herath, Upul tha-

ranga, Nuwan Pradeep, Dilhara fernando.

PAKiStAn (FRoM): misbah-ul-haq (capt), mohammad

hafeez, younis Khan, Umar Akmal, Sarfraz Ahmed,

Shahid Afridi, Umar gul, rahat Ali, Saeed Ajmal, Abdur

rehman, mohammad Sami, Asad Shafiq, Aizaz

Cheema, Azhar Ali, Imran farhat, Sohail tanvir.

Misbah wants the whole teamto contribute against Sri Lanka

ICC prevents PCB from hostingmore than three T20 matches LAHORE: The ICC has initially rejected Pakistan Cricket Board's request toallow it to host more than three Twenty20 matches against Australia in August-September. The ICC has advised the PCB to take up the issue for discussion atthe chief executive's meeting to be held in Kuala Lumpur at the end of June. "Wehad requested the ICC to allow us organise a series of more than three T20matches against Australia in the coming series but the ICC instead has advisedus that this matter should be discussed at the chief executive meeting," PCBchief operating officer Subhan Ahmed reported to have said. The idea to convertthe ODI series into a full-fledged T20 series came after the emirates Board of-fered to host the series for Pakistan but suggested that due to the weather condi-tions and holy month of Ramazan, Pakistan and Australia should just play aseries of six to seven T20 internationals. The PCB is yet to decide on the neutralvenue for the series after the Australians refused to play in Pakistan due to secu-rity concerns. Ahmed said the PCB's head of international cricket operations In-tikhab Alam was in Malaysia to inspect the two grounds in Kuala Lumpur andwould also visit the UAR from Thursday. "Once Intikhab submits his report onthe ground conditions in both countries we will decide where to hold the Aus-tralia series. But one problem we face in organising the series in Kuala Lumpuris that in August the forecast is for 17 days of rain and that could spoil our se-ries," Ahmed said. The PCB official hinted UAe appeared to be the best bet tohold the series which would be begin after Ramazan ends around August 20th."We have to hold the series in a period from August 20 to September 11 as theteam has to reach Sri Lanka for the ICC T20 World Cup by the 13th," he said.The ICC has advised all cricket boards to submit their preliminary list of 30players for the World Cup by end of June. No Test playing nation has visitedPakistan since militants attacked the Sri Lankan team in Lahore in March, 2009killing six Pakistani policemen and a van driver apart from wounding some ofthe visiting players. Pakistan since then has played most of its "home" series inDubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah. StAFF RePoRt


Citta the elephanttrumpetsPolish victory

KRAKOWAFP

Paul the amazing clairvoyant octopusmay be dead but now he has a worthyheir, a Polish-based Indian elephantnamed Citta. Weymouth-born but Ger-man-based Paul went down a storm dur-ing the last european Championships andthe 2010 World Cup in South Africa withhis remarkable ability to predict the win-ners of various matches, mostly involvingGermany. his overall record from thetwo competitions was 12 correct predic-tions from 14 attempts, including a 100percent record in South Africa. And al-though he has passed onto pastures new,Krakow based elephant Citta has takenover the baton and so far has a 100 per-cent record. According to zookeeper JerzyPirog, Citta correctly predicted the out-come of the Champions League final lastmonth and has now been put to the testto predict the results of Poland's groupmatches. The co-hosts open their GroupA campaign against Greece on Friday andaccording to Citta, they can expect to win.Presented with a choice of three melons,each set out in front of either the Polishflag, the Greek one or a banner proclaim-ing a draw, 33-year-old Citta scooped upthe one in front of the Polish flag.

Platini warnsof life bans formatchfixing players

WARSAWAFP

UeFA president Michel Platini onWednesday warned that the career ofany player convicted of match-fixingwould be over, as euro 2012 begins inthe shadow of fresh illegal betting allega-tions in Italy. "They won't play footballagain," the former France captain told anews conference in Warsaw, where co-hosts Poland take on Greece in the Pol-ish capital in the tournament's firstmatch on Friday. Italy has been rockedby fresh claims of illegal betting in thenational game, which led to the arrestsof several top players, including Laziocaptain Stefano Maurio, and a dawn raidon the national team's pre-euro trainingcamp near Florence. Platini, whose for-mer club Juventus were relegated from

Serie A after a previousscandal in 2006, was

unequivocal aboutthe penalty for

guilty parties, de-scribing as "shock-ing" the possibilitythat professional

footballerscouldthrowgames.

Sports20thursday, 7 June, 2012

KraKoW: Citta, a

33-year-old female

elephant chooses

a melon above a

sign indicating a

win for the Poland

football team. AFP

DUBLINAFP

The Olympic flame lit up the Republicof Ireland on Wednesday on its onlyvisit outside Britain en route to the2012 London Games, in a symbolic ges-ture of reconciliation between the twostates. Ireland's President Michael D.higgins received the flame, which ismaking a 10-week, 8,000-mile (12,875-kilometre) relay ahead of the Gamesthat start on July 27, in Dublin follow-ing a handover at the border. The flamewas transferred across the border be-tween 1992 Olympic boxing medallistsWayne McCullough from Belfast andMichael Carruth from Dublin.

London Games chief Sebastian Coeand Irish Sports Minister Michael Ringwatched with a crowd of local onlookers

as McCullough lit Carruth's torch with hisown. "This is a truly historic day for Ire-land," said Ring. "Today we bring theOlympic spirit into the heart of our capitalcity, in front of a global audience."

The flame crossed the border aspart of its a five-day journey aroundNorthern Ireland as a token of closerties between Britain and the Republicof Ireland following Queen elizabethII's landmark visit there last year. Thetrip comes a day after Britain wrappedup four days of celebrations for thesovereign's diamond jubilee, markingher 60 years on the throne.

The flame was taken around Dublinahead of its return to Northern Irelandto visit Newry and Lisburn before finish-ing in Belfast. The Dublin relay startedat Croke Park stadium -- the home ofIreland's traditional Gaelic games -- be-

fore passing some of the capital's mosthistoric sites. It was also to be greeted byPrime Minister enda Kenny. Dublin's40 torchbearers included former Irelandrugby winger Denis hickie, and pop duoJedward, who represented Ireland atlast month's eurovision song contest.

Ronnie Delany, who won the 1,500metres gold at the 1956 MelbourneOlympics, jockey Ruby Walsh and formerManchester United footballer Paul Mc-Grath were also to carry the flame.

Final torchbearer Sonia O'Sullivan,who won the 5,000 metres silver at the2000 Sydney Games, lit an Olympiccauldron in the city's St Stephen's Greenpark. London Games officials decidedthe torch should stay in Britain apartfrom the Ireland trip, following Tibet-re-lated protests that dogged the globaltorch relay for the 2008 Beijing Games.

Flame makes symbolic Irish Republic visit

LAHORE StAFF RePoRt

east Zone Blues got to 312/9 while WestZone Whites reached 77/0 in the Senior Re-gional Inter-district Cricket event onWednesday.

east Zone blues has scored 312/9 in 70overs in ist innings while West Zone whiteshas scored 77/0 in 18 overs in the 1st day ofSr Reigional Inter district Cricket eventplayed at Model Town green ground onwednesday. Fine unbeaten century byFahad ul haq and equally good bowling byQaiser Ashraf were the main feature ofthematch. Now

Scores: east Zone Blues 312/9 in 70overs in 1st innings. Abid Ali 39, Naeem Ar-shad 25, Shoaib Akram 47, Zeeshan Ali 25,Fahad ul haq 128(no) including 1*6 19*4.Qaiser Ashraf 5/58, NAsir IQbal 1/73,

hAsan Dar 2/72, Wahad ur rehman 1/68. West Zone Whites 77 for no loss in 18

overs. Saad ullah 45(no), M Zahid 28(no). Menwhile, east Zone Whites has scored

229/8 in 70 overs in ist innings while NorthZone Whites has scored 95/0 in 25 overs inthe 1st day of Sr Reigional Inter districtCricket event played at bage Jinnah groundon wednesday. Fine ubatting by M hamza,Munatazar Mehdi, Inayat Saeed andMustafa Meeran were the main feature ofthe match.

Scores: eAst Zone Whites 229/8 in 70overs in 1st innings. Munatazar Mehdi 50,Mustafa Meera 45, Amir Gulzar 20, AhmedAkram 21, Yasir ALi 23, Inayat Saeed45(no). Rooni Gill 3/57, Sulaiman Ali 2/58,Umer Butt 2/30, Inam Javaid 1/54.

North Zone Whites 95 for no loss in istinnings. M hamza 59(no), Imran Butt32(No).

east Zone Bluesin solid position

DUBlIN: olympic torch-bearer ronald Delany (2nd l) and Bridget taylor (2nd r) pose with Irish Prime minister enda Kenny (l)and Deputy Prime minister eamon gilmore (r) on the steps of the government buildings. AFP

Ufone tent-peggingcontest kicks-off

JHANG StAFF RePoRt

Ufone-sponsored two-day tent-pegging com-petition and horse show on the 115th Urs ofPir Lakhi Shah kicked-off yesterday in thepremises of darbar. The colorful gala com-menced at 8:15 pm on Wednesday while thefinals competition will kick-off at 8:30 pmtoday (Thursday) and will continue till 10:00pm whereas finals for horse competition willbe held at 10:30 pm in which best ten horseswill be judged and prizes will be given away.There will be a spectacular firework displaybetween 10:15 pm to 10:30 pm the samenight. Team of Four Tent Pegging SectionCompetition will start at 10:00PM. PrizeDistribution for all Ufone Challenge Cupswill take place in the wee hours of June 8.


Sports 21thursday, 7 June, 2012

wATch iT Live

TENSPORTS1st ODI: Sri Lankav Pakistan 201202.00PM

PARISAFP

MARIA Sharapova onWednesday reached herthird French Open semi-final where she will take

on Petra Kvitova, the powerful Czech whocrushed her in last year's Wimbledonfinal. Russian second seed Sharapova,who was also a semi-finalist in 2007 and2011, eased past estonia's Kaia Kanepi 6-2, 6-3 while fourth-seeded Kvitova endedKazakh qualifier Yaroslava Shvedova'sdream run with a 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 win.

"I am happy to be back in the semi-finals. I love coming back here to chal-lenge myself to go further in thetournament," said Sharapova, who canreclaim the world number one spot if shegets to Saturday's final. "I won two tour-naments coming into Paris in Stuttgartand Rome and they gave me a lot of con-fidence. But every event is different. I amjust happy to improve and I know it'll gettougher from here." Kanepi was brokenseven times in the match and admitted

that Sharapova had too much firepowerfor her. "She attacked all the time, I did-n't have any time to hit my shots and Ijust couldn't get any rhythm out there. I

was also very nervous and I am just sorryI didn't get to spend more time on thecourt," she said. "Maria is playing reallywell, she can win the tournament."

Sharapova, Kvitovainto French Open semis

Pak U-19 teamnamed for ACCU-19 Asia Cup 2012

LAHORE StAFF RePoRt

The Pakistan Cricket Board on Tuesdayannounced the Pakistan U-19 Team andManagement for the ACC U-19 Asia Cupin Malaysia from June 21 till July 1.Pakistan U-19 Team: Sami Aslam,Imam ul haq, Umar Waheed, Azizullah,Mir hamza, ehsan Adil, Salman Afridi(W/K), Babar Azam (Captain), Muham-mad Nawaz, Syed Faraz Ali, Akhtar Wa-heed Kiyani, Muhammad Zia ul haq,Shahid Ilyas, Usman Qadir, Syed SaadAli, Jaahid Shoukat Ali. Team Management: haroon Rasheed(Team Manager), Sabih Azhar (Coach),Dr. Sohail (Saleem Doctor/Physiothera-pist), Yasir Malik (Trainer), Usmanhashmi (Analyst).

PARISAFP

Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic will gohead to head for the 26th time in the FrenchOpen semi-finals on Friday and both agreedthe outcome lay in the lap of the gods. At onestage in Tuesday's quarter-finals at RolandGarros it looked like both were on their wayout. Federer was two sets to love downagainst Juan Martin del Potro and at thesame time, Djokovic was being run raggedby Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

But, in keeping with their superstar sta-tus, both men found a way back, winning infive sets in each case. Federer leads theirhead-to-heads 14-11, but the recent out-comes between the two favours the Serb, thetop seed here who is bidding to become onlythe third man to hold all four Grand Slam ti-tles at the same time, 43 years after RodLaver achieved the fabulous feat for the sec-ond time.

Djokovic lost in four sets to Federer inlast year's French Open semi-finals, but thatwas his only defeat in their last six encoun-ters, which notably included an epic five setswin in the semi-finals of the US Open in NewYork last September. Djokovic, after savingfour match points against Tsonga in a quar-ter-final thriller, said he knew what to expect.

"I don't want to talk too much aboutRoger. We all know his quality and can al-ways expect him to perform his best at thisstage of the tournament," he said. "he cameback from two sets down today. We bothplayed tough matches in the last two rounds.Now we're going to have two days off and ex-pect an exciting semi-final. "Last year wewere part of a great match that went the dis-tance, and he played incredibly well. "I thinkfor me it's crucial to be very focused and ag-gressive from the first moment, becausethat's something that you can always expectRoger to have, you know, that control overthe opponent from the start. "Now there isno real favorite for that match. It's semi-fi-nals, so everything is open."

Federer, Djokovicset to joust again

ranking tennisfrom today KARACHI: The prestigious 4th editionof Maroof Trophy Ranking TennisChampionship will commence fromWednesday (7th June) at newly-buildplexipave surface courts of Defense Au-thority Central Club Karachi. Around100 plus entries have been received tothe organizers for various events, whichinclude two from Mirpurkhas and fivefrom hyderabad. Aqeel Khan will be thetop seed in men’s singles, Talha Zubairin juniors Under 17 and Dawar Rehan inUnder 15 Singles event. StAFF RePoRt

Djokovic to beSerbia’s Olympicflag-bearerBELGRADE: Tennis star Novak Djokovichas said he will be Serbia's flag-bearer atthis summer's Olympic Games in London,Beta news agency reported Wednesday."We are all very excited about the Olympicgames in London, such a magnificentsporting event, and it goes without sayingwhat a great honour it is for me to carry theflag for Serbia," Djokovic told the agency.Among the hundred athletes in the Serbiandelegation, the world tennis number one isone of Belgrade's main hopes for anOlympic medal. Djokovic, the Wimbledonand US and Australian Open champion, iscurrently in Paris where on Tuesday hereached the French Open semi-finals. AFP

PArIS: russia's maria Sharapova serves to estonia's Kaia Kanepi during their women'ssingles quaterfinals of the french open. AFP



22

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

MuZAFFARGARH: Garrison Commanding officer umar Farooq presents medals to the father of Major Zakaul Haq who was

martyred in Gayari Sector, during his funeral ceremony at Kot Sarwar Shaheed Chowk on Wednesday. oNLINe

BEIJINGAFP

China, Russia and four Central Asiancountries have vowed to play a biggerrole in Afghanistan, Chinese Presidenthu Jintao said in comments publishedon Wednesday, as NATO forces pre-pare to pull out.

he said the Shanghai CooperationOrganisation (SCO) – a group in-tended as a counterweight to US influ-ence in Central Asia and dominated byChina and Russia – had also decidedto strengthen Afghanistan’s role in theorganisation.

The comments came as leaders ofthe SCO member states met in Beijingfor a two-day summit on security andeconomic issues across the region.

“We will... play a greater role inthe peaceful reconstruction process inAfghanistan,” hu said in an interviewpublished in the People’s Daily news-paper, the ruling Communist Partymouthpiece.

“The SCO supports Afghanistanbecoming an independent, peaceful,prosperous, neighbourly country, freefrom terrorism and drugs,” he said.

hu said the organisation – whichhas invited Afghanistan as a guest at

this year’s summit – had decided togrant the troubled country observerstatus, amid general concern as NATOforces prepare to pull out by the end of2014.

Russia has criticised the with-drawal timeline, and PresidentVladimir Putin — who is currently at-tending the SCO summit in Beijing —has cited the stability of Afghanistanas an issue of “common concern”.

India, meanwhile, has voiced fearthat Islamic radicals will gain strengthonce Western forces pull out of thecountry.

Liu Weimin, spokesman forChina’s foreign ministry, confirmedon Wednesday that Afghanistan hadbeen given observer status, saying thedevelopment of the situation in thecountry was of concern to the SCOmember states.

“The two sides will be able to en-hance their cooperation in security,economy and social areas,” he told re-porters.

The SCO has experience and ca-pacity in fighting terrorism, narcotics,transnational crimes as well as eco-nomic development, and it is ready tostrengthen cooperation withAfghanistan.”

KOHISTAN DEATH DECREE

SC wants girls’proof of life

ISLAMABADAGenCieS

The Supreme Court on Wednesdayordered the authorities to airlift thefive girls decreed to death by a localKohistan cleric, to the capital inorder to assure the court that theywere alive, while a brother of twoboys dancing in the video once againclaimed that the girls had beenkilled on the orders of a jirga. Thelocal administration of Kohistanassured the apex court that the girlswould be presented on Thursday.The girls were allegedly killed undera punishment awarded by local jirgafor clapping during a weddingceremony to cheer two youngdancing males. A three-memberbench headed by Chief JusticeIftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry haddirected the authorities concernedto airlift the five girls in a helicopterto validate their stance that theywere still alive and had not beenkilled. Attorney General Irfan Qadirtold the bench that he hadsummoned all the officersconcerned, and enquired them aboutthe incident, but they had denied thereports of murder. he said that dueto the conservative culture in thearea, the girls could not be flown ina helicopter occupied by men.

LAHOREStAFF RePoRt

The Rafi Peer Theatre Work-shop has demanded Rs 1 bil-lion from Pakistan Today for“defaming” the group by re-porting the termination of aidfor its “Sim, Sim hamara’program by USAID becauseof alleged financial irregular-ities and abuse of aid money.

The legal notice served onthe newspaper states that theRafi Peer group had “adheredstrictly and transparently withall USAID compliance guide-lines pertaining to procure-ment, finance and humanresource, and all accounts per-taining to the abovementionedheads had been duly subjectedto internal and external auditsby independent auditors em-ployed by RPTW and USAIDand no iota of financial embez-zlement, misappropriation andfudging of accounts had beenraised against RPTW”.

however, a US State De-partment spokesman on Tues-day confirmed that funding forthe Pakistan Sesame StreetProgram had been terminatedafter allegations of fraud andabuse of aid money against theRafi Peer Theatre Workshopwere found to be credible.State Department Deputy

Spokesman Mark Toner saidthe Pakistan Sesame StreetProgram totaled $20 millionand that $6.7 million has al-ready been spent by the RafiPeer Theater Workshop.

The project was canceledafter several calls were madeto an anti-fraud hotline set upby the US Agency for Interna-tional Development (USAID)in Pakistan alleging misap-propriation of funds. The USlooked into the allegationsand found them credible. Afull investigation is still un-derway as to how and wherethe money was spent.

“No one is questioning,obviously, the value and pos-itive impact of this kind ofprogramming for children,”said Toner. “But this is about

allegations of corruption.”“We deemed that the alle-

gations were serious enoughthat we wanted to suspend orcut off the program until wewere able to complete this in-vestigation,” he said.

“We do acknowledge theprogramming is beneficial, butwe had what we believe werecredible allegations, so ratherthan continue to throw goodmoney after bad, we thought itwas prudent to cut off this pro-gram,” Toner said. “These arevaluable programmes teachingkids worldwide values as wellas math, reading skills, etcetera. This is simply two verydifferent cases – but in the lat-est case, in Pakistan, concernsthat US taxpayer money wasbeing misused,” he added.

NEW DELHIAFP

PeNTAGON chief LeonPanetta on Wednesdaysaid the US would con-tinue to launch drone at-tacks against al Qaeda in

Pakistan despite complaints from Is-lamabad that the strikes violate itssovereignty.

“We have made it very clear thatwe are going to continue to defendourselves,” US Defence Secretary

Panetta said in India, a day after theUS announced the killing of alQaeda’s number two, Abu Yahya al-Libi. “This is about our sovereignty aswell,” Panetta added, arguing that alQaeda militants who orchestrated theSeptember 11 attacks on the UnitedStates were in the Tribal Areas. “Theleadership of those who were involvedin planning this attack are located inPakistan, in the FATA,” he said.

Panetta confirmed the strike on“another deputy leader” of the terrorgroup, referring to Libi who once es-

caped from a US jail in Afghanistanand had escaped previous assassina-tion attempts. The former CIA chief,who oversaw an expansion in thedrone progamme during his stint ashead of the spy agency, said theUnited States had made clear to Is-lamabad that the US would go after alQaeda “and we have done just that”.“We have gone after their leadershipand we have done it effectively,” hesaid. A trusted lieutenant of Osamabin Laden, Libi appeared in countlessal Qaeda videos and was considered

the chief architect of its global propa-ganda machine.

Pakistan has lodged a protest withWashington over a recent uptick indrone attacks on its northwesterntribal areas which it has branded as“unlawful, against international lawand a violation of Pakistan’s sover-eignty”. But Panetta said al Qaedamilitants pose a danger to Pakistan aswell as the United States. “And veryfrankly, the terrorists who threatenthe United States, threaten Pakistanas well,” he said.

US will continue drone attacks on Qaeda in Pakistan

Peerzadas demandRs 1 billion fromPakistan Today

China vows biggerrole for regionalbloc in Afghanistan

g Us defence secretary says al Qaeda militants pose danger to Pakistan as well as Washington

lAHoRe: Faizaan Peerzada (R), head of the Rafi Peer theatre Workshop,which manages the ‘Sesame Street’ program in Pakistan, and his brotherusman Peerzada address a press conference on Wednesday. the uS hascut funding to a popular Pakistani version of the children’s program‘Sesame Street’ amid allegations of fraud and abuse, a uS official said. AFP

CONTINUED ON PagE 04


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