E-paper Pakistantoday ISB 20th January, 2012

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Stable democracy cherished dream of govt: Zardari PAGE 22

Rs15.00 Vol ii no 204 22 pages islamabad — peshawar edition

Gilani vetoed Awan’s reappointment as law minister PAGE 22

Friday, 20 January, 2012 Safar 25, 1433

President has immunity, why write the letter?

Gilani tells SC president enjoys complete immunity even under 18th amendment isLAMABAD

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pakistantoday.com.pk

Prime minister in court

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Pakistan thrash the world’s best

Aitzaz to file reply by Feb 1 PPP legal ace tells court no grounds for contempt as president enjoys immunity g

isLAMABAD STAff RePoRT

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani waves to supporters after appearing in the Supreme Court on Thursday. Staff photo

A seven-judge special bench of the Supreme Court directed Aitzaz Ahsen, counsel for Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, on Thursday to submit by February 1 a detailed reply in the contempt of court case against the premier for failing to write a letter to Swiss authorities to reopen corruption cases against President Asif Ali Zardari.

The bench, headed by Justice Nasirul Mulk and comprising Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa, Justice Sarmad Jalal Osmany, Justice

Ejaz Afzal Khan, Justice Ijaz Ahmed Chaudhry, Justice Gulzar Ahmed and Justice Muhammad Ather Saeed, also exempted the prime minister from personal appearance before the court on the next hearing in the contempt case.

Ahsen argued that under Article 248 of the constitution, President Zardari enjoyed immunity within the country and abroad, thus a letter to reopen cases against him could not be written to the Swiss authorities until he was the president, thus a Continued on page 04

MASooD ReHMAN

PPEARING in the Supreme Court in response to a show-cause notice issued to him to explain why contempt proceedings should not be initiated against him for failing to write a letter to reopen graft cases against President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani argued on Thursday that he did not write the letter because the president enjoyed complete immunity, not only in Pakistan but also in the world as enunciated by the constitution.

A special bench headed by Justice Nasirul Mulk and comprising Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa, Justice Sarmad Jalal Osmany, Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan, Justice Ijaz Ahmed Chaudhry, Justice Gulzar Ahmed and Justice Muhammad Ather Saeed heard the case.

Gilani became the second elected prime Continued on page 04

Mansoor issued visa Monitoring Desk Mansoor Ijaz, the protagonist of the controversial memogate scandal, was issued a one-year multiple Pakistani visa from the Pakistan High Commission in London, Geo News reported on Thursday. Ijaz is due to appear before the judicial commission investigating the case on January 24. He has however decided to keep the day of his arrival and location of his stay in Pakistan confidential. Earlier, Interior Minister Rehman Malik told reporters that complete security would be provided to Ijaz when he comes to Pakistan.

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02 News today’s

friday, 20 January, 2012

iSlAmABAd

NAtioNAl

foReigN NewS

PM’s entourage causes traffic nightmare

Musharaf likely to delay return to Pakistan ‘due to security concerns’

Iran has never tried to close oil supply route: fM

Story on Page 07

Story on Page 05

Story on Page 17

Quick Look

NAB won’t arrest Qayyum if he joins probe, SC told isLAMABAD STAff RePoRT

National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Prosecutor General KK Agha assured the Supreme Court on Thursday that NAB would not arrest former attorney general Malik Muhammad Qayyum on his arrival due to his indisposition, but insisted that he would have to join the inquiry against him per the court’s order. Appearing on notice, KK Agha told a seven-judge special bench headed

by Justice Nasirul Mulk and comprising Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa, Justice Sarmad Jalal Osmany, Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan, Justice Ijaz Ahmed Chaudhry, Justice Gulzar Ahmed and Justice Muhammad Ather Saeed, which was hearing the NRO implementation issue, that though they had issued warrants for Qayyum, they would allow him the time he required for recovery from his illness.

He said they had issued warrants as the former attorney general was not attending the NAB inquiry.

Wasim Sajjad, counsel for Malik Qayyum, pleaded that his client had been operated upon and his case should be transferred to Pakistan Bar Council as he was a lawyer.

Justice Sarmad Jalal Osmany remarked that the case against his client pertained to misuse of authority.

The court, rejecting the plea, remarked that people returned the other day after undergoing a operation like Qayyum’s. It questioned was Qayyum above the law for being a lawyer. The court said Qayyum misused his authority being the attorney general.

SC directs recovery of occupied Railways’ land isLAMABAD STAff RePoRT

The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the chief secretaries of all provinces as well as the defence secretary to retrieve the Pakistan Railways (PR) land occupied by security forces, Rangers, Frontier Corps (FC) and other private companies, and submit a report in this regard within three weeks.

The court also ordered the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to cooperate with the PR in reclaiming the illegally occupied land. More than 3,300 acres of PR land is occupied by the army, Rangers and FC across the country.

A three-member bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry praised NAB’s interim investigation report over the financial irregularities in the Railways. NAB Additional Prosecutor General Akbar Tarar appeared before the court and submitted the interim investigation report about the irregularities in the Railways. He said that NAB had recovered Rs 60 million under the head of sale of scrap contracts awarded at throwaway prices. He also mentioned that an investigation into the award of illegal lease of PR land to the Gulf Club was in progress.

ISLAMABAD: A female supporter of the Pakistan People’s Party shouts slogans outside the Supreme Court building on Thursday as Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani appeared in court to defend himself in a contempt of court case. INp

Pakistan not reopening NATO supply routes as yet: FO isLAMABAD SHAIq HuSSAIN

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O Pakistani mission abroad has so far received a visa application from Pakistani-American businessman Mansoor Ijaz, the main accuser in the memo controversy, the Foreign Office (FO) said on Thursday.

“Ijaz’s visa application or passport has not been received by any Pakistani mission so far,” said FO Spokesman Abdul Basit in a weekly press briefing. He was replying to a query on some media reports suggesting that Ijaz had applied for a visa to the Pakistani Embassy in Switzerland.

Ijaz is supposed to appear before the three-member judicial commission probing the memo scandal on

its next hearing slated for January 24. He was expected to visit Islamabad to record his statement before the commission on the last hearing on January 16.

The FO spokesman also hinted at the resumption of full spectrum of bilateral relations with the United States upon the completion of parliamentary re-evaluation of ties with the world’s sole super power. “We are looking forward to re-engaging with the US on issues of mutual interest and importance,” Basit said.

When asked how productive it is that Pakistan and the US are constantly saying that we need to cooperate but no one is actually trying to do so especially when Islamabad turned turn away US special envoy Marc Grossman, he said, “We want Grossman’s next visit to Pakistan to be productive. It is, therefore, im-

portant that he visits Pakistan after we have completed our homework.”

On the recommendations of the Parliamentary Committee on National Security (PCNS) on bilateral ties, he said, “We’ll lead to a positive outcome for both sides, Pakistan and the US.” He said Pakistan’s desire was to have a more stable relationship that was not prone to accidents.

“We want a relationship that is free from the ups and downs of a rollercoaster ride,” he added.

With resumed Pakistan-US ties, the most important development will be the restoration of the suspended NATO supplies to Afghanistan through Pakistani soil.

However, the FO spokesman denied knowledge of any proposal to reopen NATO supply routes while answering a query in this regard. But a Pakistani diplomat on condition of

anonymity said the PCNS’ recommendations could pave the way for the government to reopen the routes after an apology and assurance by Washington that cross border raids like the one on November 26 would not by repeated.

To a question on a recent statement by a Norwegian minister that Norway was maintaining an intelligence network in Pakistan, Basit said, “We are in touch with the Norwegian government and are seeking details on this issue.” Answering a query on escalating confrontation between Iran and Saudi Arabia on the Strait of Hormuz, he said, “We have always emphasised the importance of resolving all issues through dialogue and peacefully. We agree with Russia that restraint should be shown and all issues should be resolved peacefully.”

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friday, 20 January, 2012

ARtS & eNteRtAiNmeNt

SPoRtS

Ranbir, Deepika's piano connection

Afridi hits jackpot in Bangladesh auction

News 03

CommeNt first day in court: The overall mood of the defence was conciliatory.

Two resignations: There is no chance we can find a silver lining to this cloud.

qudssia Akhlaque says: Canons breached: Let’s save the slogans for political rallies.

Dr Taimur-ul-Hassan says: The system must go on: A win for democracy is a win for everyone.

Khan Shehram eusufzye says: The Pakhtun unarmed: Bacha Khan was firmly anchored to his commitment for peace.

Story on Page 14

Story on Page 18

music video seeks to tarnish my credibility: ijaz news Desk Controversial Pakistani-American businessman Mansoor Ijaz has alleged that supporters of President Asif Ali Zardari are drawing attention to a music video featuring him and scantily clad female wrestlers to tarnish his credibility, Hindustan Times reported.

The video features Ijaz as a commentator at a female wrestling competition and has created a buzz online, with bloggers and netizens putting Ijaz to ridicule.

The businessman, however, has claimed that supporters of Zardari have drawn attention to the clip in an effort to damage his credibility as a witness ahead of his testimony in the scandal, according to an article in the New York Times.

Pakistani blog Cafe Pyala, which unearthed the music video rejected Ijaz’s claim that it drew attention on behalf of either Zardari or former Pakistani ambassador to US Hussain Haqqani.

The bloggers said they wanted to “to assure him (Ijaz) that we do not have Haqqani goading us on and neither do, we think, any of the people on Twitter who first discovered and shared the video out of a love for, ahem, house music.”

“We would like to admit that we did find it — and him in it — really funny.”

They said Ijaz used to appear frequently as a “terror analyst” on TV channel Fox News. The blogger said he remembered seeing Ijaz on Fox News and recognised him as being the same man in the video.

“When I saw him on Fox News ages ago, I was like, ‘That’s that guy from that song,’” the blogger said.

Ijaz failed to appear before a Supreme Court-appointed commission that is probing the memo issue on January 16.

He has been directed to appear before it on January 24.

Quick Look

Articles on Page 12-13

Legal experts divided over immunity issue isLAMABAD

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today’s

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OLLOWING SC’s Thursday hearing in contempt of court charges against the PM, legal experts were left divided over whether the president enjoyed immunity under Article 248 or was he accountable for unconstitutional acts.

Barrister Farogh Naseem said if some acts were considered unconstitutional under the decisions of supreme and high courts, then no one could get immunity, while president’s case also come under a similar phenomenon.

He said the nature of amendment in National Reconciliation Ordinance was criminal.

On the other hand, former SCBA president Ali Ahmed Kurd said both the president and the prime minister enjoyed immunity per the constitution as well as under the international laws.

Renowned lawyer Athar Minullah said the constitution was supreme in the country and no society could survive in the world that did not respect its courts. “My viewpoint is clear that the verdict of the court has come. Writing letter to Swiss authorities has nothing to do with the immunity to the president. The attorney general repeated this many times that Zardari had legal immunity until the time he is the president,” he said.

Barrister Farooq Nasim said there was no precedent in the past of a president having immunity in a criminal case. “The court gets guidance form the previous cases. In the modern judicial system, no one has immunity,” he added. Justice (r) Saeeduz Zaman Sid-

winds of confrontation may blow again: Asma

only sc can decide on presidential immunity: nawaz isLAMABAD oNLINe

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Nawaz Sharif expressed strong reservations with the government’s deliberate violation of Supreme Court orders on Thursday and said the presidential immunity issue would only be decided by the apex court.

He told a private TV channel in an interview that immediate retrieval of laundered money and illegal assets should be ensured, and that one should not hide behind the “lame excuse of immunity”.

Stressing that president’s immunity should and would be decided by Supreme Court, he declared that the Swiss cases were based in fact.

Replying to a question, he said facts about $600 million deposits in Swiss banks should be ascertained, and arrangements should be made to return the money.

Nawaz accepted the vital role of Aitzaz Ahsen in the restoration of the judiciary but expressed surprise at the “change of his tone and policy at this juncture”. diqui said the PM did not enjoy immunity under the constitution of Pakistan.

He said the PM had been exempted only from appearing in person in the court. Justice (r) Tariq Mehmood said

it was not an appropriate attitude to pressure the courts. Representatives of various bar associations said they would not allow any compromise on the independence of the judiciary.

isLAMABAD oNLINe

Former President Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) Asma Jahangir on Thursday said that the atmosphere of confrontation will arise again, if courts change the constitution in the name of interpretation. Talking to the media, she said that chanting slogans outside the Supreme Court (SC) is not a healthy sign. She said people were no longer willing to tolerate the government. She said the tenure of the parliament should be fixed for four years and after that elections should be held.

“If the courts claim they are final authority and rulers pronounce they have full powers, it is not democratic behaviour. We have to wait and see how the court interprets the constitution,” she added. Asma said that people are getting tired of new clashes amongst institutions while their own condition gets worse. She said the current government was targeted from all sides after coming into power and has sometimes invited self-destruction. She said this game should now end.

Political leaders see tensions easing after PM’s appearance in SC isLAMABAD AGeNCIeS

Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain said on Thursday that the appearance of Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani in the Supreme Court would hopefully lower tensions between the state institutions.

He told reporters that the prime minister’s appearance also enhanced the dignity of the apex court. About the possibility of a decision on the contempt issue, he said certain issues should be resolved sooner so that attention could be focused on real public problems.

Meanwhile, Awami National Party (ANP) chief Asfandyar Wali Khan said on Thursday that the prime minister’s appearance in the Supreme Court was a negation of contempt of court.

He told reporters outside the Supreme Court building that he

had come to the apex court along with Pakistan Muslim LeagueNawaz (PML-N) President Nawaz Sharif and now he had come with Gilani.

Jamaat-e-Islami chief Syed Munawar Hassan also said on Thursday that the prime minister’s appearance in the apex court was a good sign, but that true respect for the judiciary demanded faithful implementation of its orders.

Central leader of the Pakistan People’s Party Minorities Wing Napolean Qayyum said the PM’s appearance in SC showed the deep respect the party had for the judiciary.

Qayyum, who is also aspiring for the party’s ticket for a Senate reserved seat from Punjab, said the PPP was ready to make any sacrifice for the continuation of democracy in the country and all minority communities would stand by the party in ensuring the rule of law and constitution.

ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and heads of allied parties chair a meeting of parliamentarians of the coalition parties at Aiwan-e-Sadr on Thursday.

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04 News

friday, 20 January, 2012

Effective economic policies showing good results: PM isLAMABAD STAff RePoRT

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RIME Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on Thursday said a number of economic targets had been met during the first six months of the current fiscal year due to the prudent policies of the incumbent government.

Giving a policy statement in the National Assembly on the economic situation of country in the first six months of the current fiscal year, Gilani said despite facing challenges of floods, rains, deteriorating

law and order and global recession, the economic indicators of Pakistan improved during the said period and inflation had been reduced to a single digit.

Gilani said political stability was a must to ensure economic stability and urged the media to play its role in this regard.

The prime minister said although the government had inherited economy from the previous government in a poor state, economic reforms introduced by the new government had started showing results.

He said the government controlled borrowing during

the first six months that helped reduce the inflation to a single digit (9.7%) for first time in the country’s history.

He said the expenditure was under control with only 45 percent utilisation of the government’s budget during the first six months.

The prime minister added that fiscal deficit, which was 9.4 percent, had been reduced to 7.6 percent and the inflation had been brought down to 9.7 percent from 25 percent.

Gilani said the government provided a number of incentives to farmers that improved the food supply situation in the country.

Baloch senators slam govt’s ‘criminal silence’ isLAMABAD STAff RePoRT

Severely criticising the federal government for its “criminal silence” over the deteriorating law and order situation in Balochistan, three senators from the restive province on Thursday said the people were now using the residences of provincial ministers to negotiate with the kidnappers.

Speaking on a point of order, Senator Abdul Rahim

Mandokhel of Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) said that lawlessness in Balochistan and the increasing incidents of kidnapping for ransom had wrecked people’s lives. “The houses and offices of provincial ministers are used for bargaining with the kidnappers … the federal government has become a silent spectator … and media is also not highlighting the deteriorating law and order situation in Balochistan,” Mandokhel

said.

Senators Abdul Malik Baloch and Wali Muhammad Badini asked the Senate chairman to refer the issue to the Senate Standing Committee on Interior. Badini said the killers and kidnappers were at large in Balochistan and the law enforcement agencies had arrested no criminal so far.

Senate Chairman Farooq H Naek referred the issue to the Senate Special Committee on Balochistan.

“It was made possible with the help of lower budget deficit and reducing borrowing from the State Bank of Pakistan,” he said. Gilani added that prices of essential items were brought down in the open market, and food inflation, which was 20 percent last year, remained in a single digit figure during the first six months of the current fiscal year.

The prime minister said the deterioration in the industrial sector had stopped and the industry was making progress. He said the GDP growth rate would be four percent due to enhanced agricultural production.

pak body asked to visit India from feb 1 isLAMABAD TAHIR NIAZ

India has set February 1-10 as the proposed date and duration of visit of Pakistan’s judicial commission to India that would interview key people linked to the investigations into the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.

According to the sources in the Ministry of Interior, India had finally responded to Pakistan’s request for setting a date for the visit of Pakistani judicial commission and conveyed it to Pakistan through diplomatic channels.

India has also sought the identity of the members and experts making up the judicial commission, the sources further said.

They said it was on De-

cember 26 that Pakistan had last asked India to fix a date for the proposed visit during a meeting with Interior Minister Rehman Malik and Indian High Commissioner in Pakistan Sharat Sabarwal.

Both sides had discussed various issues, including the Mumbai terror attacks.

The Pakistani commission will record the statements of Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate RV Sawant Waghule and Investigating Officer Ramesh Mahale, who have recorded the confessional statement of Ajmal Kasab, the lone survivor allegedly involved in the Mumbai attacks.

It also wanted to record statements of the two doctors who carried out the postmortem on the terrorists killed during the attack.

Norway’s intelligence chief resigns over Pakistan gaffe OSLO: The head of Norway’s intelligence service (PST), widely criticised after the July 22 attacks last year, has resigned after hinting the country has agents in Pakistan, the justice ministry announced on Thursday. Her remarks had led the Pakistani Foreign Ministry to summon Norway’s ambassador in Islamabad on Thursday, Norwegian paper of reference Aftenposten reported on its website. “PST chief Janne Kristiansen has informed me that she is resigning from her post effective immediately,” Justice Minister Grete Faremo told reporters. “The reason is that a possible breach of her duty to maintain confidentiality has been observed through the revelation of classified information,” she added, describing the facts of the case as “extremely serious”. AfP

president has immunity Continued FRom page 1

minister of Pakistan to appear in court on contempt charges. While it was being speculated that Gilani might opt to apologise for not obeying the court orders, he decided to contest the charge. However, he said he held the judiciary in high esteem and he was dutybound to appear before the court.

“I have come today to show my respect to this court,” Gilani told the seven judges in the packed court room. The prime minister stated that the president enjoyed complete immunity from prosecution even under the 18th Amendment, adding that a president elected with a two-thirds majority could not be handed over to the foreign courts.

“It will not give a good message to proceed against a president who is elected by a two-thirds majority.

There is complete immunity for heads of state everywhere,” Gilani said.

Recalling the days he spent in jail and making a point that he faced courts in the past but never disrespected them, the prime minister said the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leaders always respected and honoured the courts and complied with their orders. He said Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Begum Nusrat Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto also appeared in courts during their lifetimes, which indicated their respect for the courts. He said the presence of leaders of coalition partners in the court was reflective of their respect for the

judiciary as well.

He said he and his party leaders had highest respect for the judiciary and he could not even think of committing contempt of court or ridiculing court orders. He said he appeared in person to comply with the court orders that indicated his respect and honour for the court. “We respect the courts… my intention is to respect the constitution and my associates also respect the constitution. I decided to appear before the court immediately after getting the notice,” he added.

Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa appreciated the presence of the prime minister in the court and said it indicated there was rule of law as the chief executive of the country had appeared in court.

Pm goes to court! isLAMABAD STAff RePoRT

In a show of solidarity with Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, a large number of cabinet members and leaders of the coalition parties, except the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), accompanied him when he appeared before a sevenmember bench of the Supreme Court in a contempt of court hearing on Thursday. No doubt the premier’s fate is linked to the outcome of the proceedings, which were supposed to be held in a serious manner due to the sensitivity of the matter but a word-to-word commentary by electronic media reporters made it hard for the courtroom audience, particularly the backbenchers, to hear the proceedings clearly. The reporters, continuously murmuring over their cell phones and corresponding with the studios of their respective TV channels, remained a nuisance for the audience struggling to follow court proceedings. A large number of foreign journalists were also attending the proceedings.

After the hearing, Gilani’s lawyer Aitzaz Ahsan appeared before television cameras to brief about the court proceedings. However, he ran into an unexpected situation when a large number of lawyers started shouting slogans, “Zardari ka jo yaar hey… ghaddar hey ghaddar hey” (Whoever is Zardari’s friend is a traitor) and “Chief teray jaan-nisar beshumar beshumar” (Chief, your devotees are countless).

The lawyer’s onslaught against Zardari came in response to emotional sloganeering by some workers of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) in Gilani’s support. There were speculations that the PPP group was sponsored by Gilani’s former lawyer Babar Awan. Earlier, a number of important political figures and chiefs of the ruling coalition parties, except the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), accompanied Gilani to the court.

aitzaz to file reply by feb 1 Continued FRom page 1 contempt notice should not have been served on his client.

But he requested the court to grant him a month’s time to file a detailed response over the matter. He said time was required to access and go through the record of the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) case. Justice Nasirul Mulk said access to the record of the case could be availed in two days’ time.

He said this was not a case of a nominal nature, thus he required at least one month to get prepared to argue it. “I have no access to the record pertaining to letters to Swiss authorities, hence I should be given at least one month time to look into it,” he contended.

Justice Nasirul Mulk, however, said the court could direct the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and Law Ministry to provide him the documents pertaining to the issue. He told Ahsen that the record was

available and he could go through it within two days.

When Ahsen stressed further that the case was of a very important nature and should not be considered in haste, the court accepted his request and directed him to file the detailed reply by February 1.

Justice Sarmad Jalal Osmany observed that deliberately refusing to implement the court order was tantamount to contempt of court, adding that the prime minister had stated that he had no intention of committing contempt of court. Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa regretted that the media reported the ruling on the NRO implementation case in an inaccurate manner.

Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan enquired why the government had been silent on the issue of immunity for over two years. To a court query, Ahsen said the apex court’s decision would be implemented when President Zardari was no longer the president. He said he would

confine himself to argue on the issue of the contempt notice served to the premier.

To a court query, he said the law secretary could better brief the court on whether he had moved a summary to the prime minister for implementation of the NRO verdict. Justice Khosa asked Ahsen to give arguments on the question of immunity, but the counsel stated that he would advance his arguments on the contempt notice to prove that the premier had bona fide intention under the constitution by not writing the letter to reopen the cases against the president.

The court reminded him that it had directed the law secretary to repeat the summary to the prime minister for the implementation of the NRO verdict, but he had not done so. Ahsen, however, contended that this time the issue was not of sending a summary, but a criminal proceeding against the premier who also enjoyed constitutional protec-

tion. “No authority of the state could push the president into the foreign country’s courts as he enjoys immunity under Article 248 of the constitution,” he stressed.

Justice Osmany asked Ahsen whether the government would write a letter to the Swiss authorities if the court proved that the president had no immunity, but Ahsen skipped the question.

Justice Khosa asked him whether he wanted to argue the question of immunity, adding that the court - in its earlier order - had ruled that if anyone claimed to have immunity, they should come to the court.

Aitzaz said his client was an elected prime minister and the constitution gave him protection as well. He submitted that Para 178 of the NRO judgement related to President Zardari, who enjoyed immunity under the constitution.

The court then adjourned further hearing until February 1.

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friday, 20 January, 2012

News 05

truckers’ strike cuts oil, ghee production, price hike feared kArACHi GHuLAM ABBAS

An acute shortage of edible oil is looming in the country as a strike by private transporters has disrupted oil supply from Karachi terminals for the last ten days. As the existing oil stocks of various edible oil producers have hit the bottom, the prices of vegetable oil, ghee and other edible oil products are likely to increase by Rs 15-20 per kilogramme. “If the supply remains suspended for another 24 hours, the production of edible oil is feared to be halted completely,” sources in the wholesale and retail markets told Pakistan Today. The imported edible oil was being supplied in the country through private transporters, and the National Logistics Cell (NLC) has been recently hired to complement private transporters. The Edible Oil Tankers Owners’ Association (EOTOA) suspended operations on January 10 to protest against a decision by the Pakistan Vanaspati Manufacturers Association (PVMA), which signed an agreement with the NLC to distribute oil. As the commodity is now being supplied only through the NLC, the demand for oil is not being met and reduced production of vegetable oil and ghee has caused a shortage in the market. Despite the situation, the PVMA is adamant in its decision, and according to sources, the association was free to decide how to supply edible oil in the market. Sources said the agreement with the NLC was made after receiving repeated complaints of oil theft and contamination. On the other hand, EOTOA Chairman Bakhtawar Khan said the transporters would continue their protest against the PVMA decision, and oil supply would remain suspended until their demands were met. Almost 2,500 oil tankers are engaged in the transportation of edible oil.

Sherry presents credentials to President obama

isLAMABAD NNI

Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United States Sherry Rehman presented her credentials to US President Barrack Obama in Washington on Thursday. President Obama welcomed Sherry to the White House on the ceremonial occasion. Later‚ during her meeting with the president ‚ she spoke about US-Pakistan relations and highlighted the importance of a friendly relationship between two countries‚ based on mutuality of trust‚ respect and interests. Sherry also highlighted Pakistan’s important cooperation with the international community and particularly its key partnership with the United States in defeating violent extremism in the last decade.

PeSHAwAR: on a PfuJ call, KhuJ staged a protest demonstration against the killing of senior journalist Mukarram Khan Atif. Staff photo

Musharraf likely to delay return to Pakistan ‘due to security concerns’ isLAMABAD

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AfP

ORMER president General (r) Pervez Musharraf came under mounting pressure on Thursday to delay his return from self-imposed exile as he admitted that he would be in danger if he comes back to Pakistan.

Friends and supporters advised Musharraf to put off a homecoming announced between January 27-30 after Islamabad said he would be arrested if he returned. “Party leaders are convinced it is not a suitable time for Musharraf to come to Pakistan,” said Mohammad Ali Saif, Central Secretary for the All Pakistan Muslim League (APML), the political party Musharraf founded after being driven out of power in 2008. Aides fear that the civilian government, under massive pressure from the military and the judiciary, may exploit Musharraf’s return to divert attention from a series of crises likely to force early elections within months. “A meeting of the party central executive committee has been summoned on January 25-26 in Dubai to make a final decision. Musharraf will chair the meeting,” Saif added.

APML Senior Vice President Mohammad Amjad confirmed that Musharraf had been advised to postpone but that a final decision was pending. In an interview broadcast on BBC Radio 4 at the same time that Amjad spoke to AFP, Musharraf admitted he would be in danger in Pakistan.

“I do feel endangered. There is a danger certainly, but you take your own protection and then leave things to destiny. Nobody can ensure you 100 percent protection,” he

musharraf engages former congressmen to lobby his cause in us

said in what appeared to be a pre-recorded interview. He admitted that his arrest was possible but said he would “like to remain out” of the crisis currently engulfing the government, army and judiciary.

Musharraf faces two court warrants for his arrest - connected to the 2006 death of Akbar Bugti and the 2007 assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto. “I personally feel he should not come. The current situation is not in his favour and the atmosphere is hostile,” Hamid Nawaz, a former general and Musharraf’s former interior minister, told AFP. He said Musharraf’s fledgling APML was ill-prepared to contest elections and that the former ruler would not be safe in Pakistan. The military has not publicly announced that it would guarantee his safety.

LAHORE: Former president Pervez Musharraf is desperately trying to pave the way for returning home. He has recently acquired the services of a former Congressmen who claims that “no one knows the way around Capitol Hill (Washington) better than those who have previously served in Congress” for making inroads into Pakistan, Pakistan Today learnt on Thursday.

Official contract documents made available with Pakistan Today show that All Pakistan Muslim League (APML) chief Pervez Musharraf, through the former president of the Pakistani American Public Affairs Committee (PAKPAC) Raza Bokhari, has entered into an agreement with a US lobbyists firm, M/S Advantage Associates International Ltd, to engage members of the US Congress and Executive Branch Officials to promote his interest.

According to the contract documents, signed on September 1, 2011, Advantage Associates International will work with Pervez Musharraf’s North American Point of Contact, Raza Bokhari, to develop a strategy to represent the interest of General (r) Musharraf in the United States. Documents show that Musharraf will pay a total fee of $175,000 – in monthly payment of $25,000 for a period of seven months beginning on September 1, 2011 and ending on March 30, 2012. All monthly payments must be made on the first of each month. However, for the last two months and the first month, $75,000 will be paid to Advantage Associates International under this agreement. In addition, documents indicate, the APML chief will reimburse all reasonable expenses arising out of this agreement, with any expenses over $250 pre-approved in advance. However, it seems that the renowned US lobbying consultancy could not help the former president in returning home as Musharraf has delayed his return plan. Earlier, it had been announced that he would return Pakistan between January 27 and January 30. APML sources claim that Musharraf had delayed his return as few of his friends had indicated unfavourable circumstances for him in Pakistan.

Advantage Associates International is founded by former congressman Bill Sarpalius, who served six years as a United States congressman and eight years as a Texas State senator. It is the first bipartisan team of former members of the United States Congress to offer consulting and lobbying services. Its partners include former Congressmen Bill Alexander, Bill Grant, Dick Schulze, Lincoln Davis, Jerry Patterson and Robin Tallon. IMRAN ADNAN

Kp, tribal journalists protest Mukaram Khan’s murder PesHAwAr ABDuR RAuf KHATTAK

Local and tribal journalists on Thursday asked the Taliban leaders in Pakistan and Afghanistan to explain their position whether they were involved in killing of Mukaram Khan and other newsmen.

“No one can stop us from writing reality and we can’t be frightened into a gag by any one,” they vowed while addressing a protest against the

killers of Mukaram Khan.

On a call given by Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ), the protest demonstration was held under auspices of Khyber Union of Journalists (KhUJ) at the premise of Peshawar Press Club (PPC) on Thursday.

A large number of tribal journalists affiliated with Tribal Union of Journalists (TUJ) also participated in demonstration.

After registering their protest, the journalists walked out of the PPC to

record their protest opposite Cantonment Railway Station.

Holding placards and banners inscribed with slogans against the killers of the tribal journalist from Mohmand Agency, Mukaram Khan, they demanded the arrest of the killers.

While addressing the protesting journalists, PPC President Saiful Islam Saifi said Mukaram Khan kept a balanced reporting and never became controversial for any side, but his

work in Voice of America (VoA) in Pashto Radio Service had resulted in his murder. “A Taliban faction has already claimed killing of Mukaram Khan,” he added.

“If the militants kill journalists by working in any American broadcast, there are many Americans here in Peshawar,” he maintained, adding that working with any US institute related to broadcast did not mean to be killed.

“We all are labourers and earning livelihood for our family members

through this profession,” he said.

A senior journalist from Waziristan Agency said that there were several journalists were killed while performing their duty by unknown terrorists because they (reporters) wanted to acquaint the nation with the reality of the so-called war on terror.

Yousaf Ali, general secretary of KhUJ, also expressed deep sorrows over the killing of Mukaram Khan, saying he was the 24th journalists killed across the northwest.

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Rivals scuttle for Senate polls as PML-N ‘plays cool’ g

Party insiders say only a handful of applications received g Pml-N hawks’ interest in snap polls major reason for low interest in Senate election LAHore

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YASIR HABIB

T a time when all political parties are engaged in wheeling and dealing for Senate elections after ECP’s announcement, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) appears least worried and the level of activity can be gauged by the fact that only a few party leaders have submitted applications with the party’s central secretariat, despite six days left in the deadline set by the PML-N. The PML-N started issuing forms to party candidates for Senate polls on January 11 and set January 25 as the deadline.

However, the frequency of forms submission has remained low.

Amongst major reasons behind the low-spirited attitude is a lack of focus by

party leadership toward Senate polls, with the party’s top brass eyeing early general elections.

“Contrary to the notions of PML-N President Nawaz Sharif, party hawks want snap polls before Senate elections and that is why a majority of likely candidates are confused and have yet to decide whether to go for Senate polls or wait and vie for party ticket later,” sources said.

A PML-N senior leader was of the view that another factor behind the slow response was weak organisational setup and imposed decisions. Although the process has started, candidates already knew whose names were going to be announced eventually, he added.

Compared to the PML-N, the PPP has received more than 550 applications for Senate polls.

PML-N Senator Pervaiz Rashid told

Pakistan Today that he did not know the exact number of applications submitted so far. “It is basically an ongoing process and it is difficult to gauge the frequency of movement in this regard,” he added.

PML-N Finance Secretary Sardar Ayaz Saddiq said per tendency prevailing in the party, announcement for candidates were made at the last minute even after the deadline. He said though applications were being submitted, he did not know their exact number. According to the Election Commission of Pakistan, the Senate election would be held on March 2. Candidates can file their papers by February 13 and 14 to contest elections.

Statistics reveal that the PPP appears set to gain most and others parties lose all in the forthcoming elections.

The PML-N and the ANP, ruling Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, respectively,

would also gain significantly, but the representation of the MQM in the new Senate is likely to remain unchanged.

The Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) is expected to lose complete representation in both Houses of parliament.

The calculations manifested that if all members vote strictly for their party candidates and no seat adjustments are done, the PPP will emerge as the single largest party in the Upper House for the first time in the country’s parliamentary history.

The PPP is expected to improve its strength from existing 27 to 42 senators.

Only five of its 27 senators will retire in March, whereas the party is set to win 20 of the 54 seats for which elections will be held, thanks to its majority in Sindh Assembly and better position in the Punjab and Balochistan assemblies.

At present, the PML-N has seven sena-

3 policemen injured in Nowshera attack

tors and only Ishaq Dar will be retiring in March. However, due to its majority in the Punjab Assembly, it is expected to win another seven seats and its total membership in the Upper House will become 13. The PML-Q will be the biggest loser in the elections as 20 of its 21 senators will be retiring in March. Party President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain will be the sole representative of the party in the Upper House.

But the PML-Q is expected to get a maximum of seven seats in the next elections — thus PML-Q’s strength is expected to be reduced to just eight from the existing 21. The ANP is expected to improve its position in the Senate. At present it has six senators and only Ilyas Ahmed Bilour is to retire in March. However, the party is expected to secure five seats in the election, thus its representation is expected to increase to 10.

USC zonal managers’ conference held isLAMABAD

nowsHerA

PReSS ReLeASe

INP

The two-day Zonal Managers Conference of the Utility Stores Corporation (USC) was held in Islamabad. Senior USC management participated in the conference in addition to 10 zonal managers and Managing Director Major General (r) Malik Farooq presided over the conference. The conference’s objective was to examine the overall performance of the corporation and take concrete steps to further enhance its business and profitability.

Four persons, including three security personnel, were injured in an attack on a checkpost on Thursday. The attacker was also killed in police firing. Police sources said police had sealed Vatar entry point after receiving information that suicide bombers were going to attempt to enter the city from Punjab. Police claimed the police party on the check post stopped a vehicle for search when and an assailant hurled a hand grenade which exploded to injure a pedestrian and three police personnel, including an SHO. Police opened fire and killed the attacker. The injured were shifted to district headquarters hospital.

Raisani sees foreign hand behind Balochistan unrest

NHA to construct Karachi-Hyderabad motorway

isLAMABAD INP

Balochistan Chief Minister Nawab Aslam Raisani said on Thursday that foreign forces were involved in disturbing the law and order situation in the province. Talking to reporters at the Parliament House on Thursday, Raisani took exception to statements by the United States on human rights violations in Balochistan, saying “in fact the US has been involved in human rights violations all over the world”. As an example, he referred to the incarceration of Dr Afia Siddiqui, first in Bagram jail and then in the United States. In reply to a question, Raisani said his government was functioning well. He rejected rumours of early elections, saying that polls would be held on schedule, as “haste would be dangerous for them”.

isLAMABAD PReSS ReLeASe

NowSHeRA: A policeman gathers explosive materials from the site of a blast that killed a person and injured three others. Staff photo

Coup plot foiled in Bangladesh: army DHAkA AfP

The Bangladesh army on Thursday said it had foiled a plot last month by some “religiously fanatic” serving officers to overthrow the elected government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

“We have unearthed a heinous conspiracy to overthrow the democratic government through the army,” army spokesman Brigadier General Masud Razzaq said in a written statement.

“The attempt has been thwarted with the whole-hearted efforts of army soldiers,” the statement said, adding that the plot had been fomented by Bangladeshi expatriates in touch with “religiously fanatic army officers”.

Hasina’s government, which came to power in early 2009, made changes in June last year to bolster the secular character of the Bangladesh constitution, although Islam was retained as the state religion.

The move sparked a series of

angry protests by Islamic activists.

Razzaq said two retired officers including a colonel had been arrested in connection with the conspiracy and he named a serving officer, Major Syed Ziaul Haq, as a “co-planner”.

“In an effort to implement his anti-state conspiracy, Major Ziaul, now absconding, sent emails to different serving officers to execute his operation plans on January 9 and 10, 2012,” he said.

The spokesman named the outlawed religious group Hizbut Tahrir for circulating Ziaul’s messages.

There were rumours online late last month about a foiled coup attempt after the nation’s main opposition leader Khaleda Zia accused the government of “incidences of disappearances” in the army.

The army hit back, terming the allegations “provocative and misleading”.

The spokesman said the army has set up a court of inquiry on December 28 to try the alleged coup planners.

opp should present united front on early election: Iftikhar

The National Highway Authority (NHA) signed a Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) contract with Malaysian Company Binapuri Holdings for construction of Karachi-Hyderabad Motorway (M-9).

NHA Chairman Syed Ali Gardezi and Senator Tan Sri Datuk Tee Hock Seng signed the agreement on behalf of their organisations. The cost of the project was Rs 24.93 billion and it will be completed in three years. Under this project, the existing 4-Lane KarachiHyderabad Super Highway will be upgraded into 6-Lane Motorway. The ceremony was also attended by Federal Communications Minister Dr Arbab Alamgir Khan.

PesHAwAr STAff RePoRT

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Minister for Information Mian Iftikhar Hussain said if opposition parties feel the need for an early election is an appropriate step in the given time, then they should contact the parliament with a unanimous proposal.

“Political parties without representation in parliament and provincial assemblies want the government dismissed but their dream would not be fulfilled” he remarked while briefing the journalist at Bacha Khan Markaz Peshawar on Thursday. He hoped that the Senate election will be held on time and opposition parties will play a positive role to allow the government to complete its tenure.

About the Prime Minister’s (PM) decision to appear before the Supreme Court (SC), he said that Awami National Party appreciates the PM’s decision which strengthened institutions. He appreciated the role of Pakistan army for supporting the fragile democratic system and not interfering to derail democracy.

He said the constitution has specified the limits of each organ of state and if these limits were followed, no clash between institutions was possible.

He said the independent media had

BiSP shows women that state is mother: farzana isLAMABAD PReSS ReLeASe

made the government responsible to people and acted as a watchdog. He said before it came into play dictators were endorsed by state run television channels but no it was different.

He said the ANP will hold a public gathering in Tehmash Stadium on 26 January and hoped the media would cover it well.

The Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) is the first initiative in Pakistan which proves to women and the poor that the state is like a mother for them, BISP Chairperson Farzana Raja said on Wednesday. She was addressing a seminar titled, “BISP making difference in the lives of the people”. Farzana said that at present 44 such programmes were going on in different countries, whereas, BISP had been termed one of the best among them. Rachid Bin Masood, country director of the World Bank, Iftikhar Malik, senior social protection specialist of the World Bank, a visiting delegation of the Ministry of Planning Cambodia, journalists, students and members of civil society also participated in the seminar.

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Cubic art exhibition held at Tanzara Gallery PAge 08

PM’s entourage causes traffic nightmare g

All roads leading to apex court closed ahead of gilani’s arrival in connection with contempt case isLAMABAD

T

STAff RePoRT

HE extensive security measures adopted on Thursday, when Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani appeared before the Supreme Court in the contempt of court case regarding the non-implementation of the NRO judgment, caused all major roads of Islamabad leading to the SC to be blocked.

The office-goers, working in a number of public and private sector offices situated at the Constitution Avenue, including the Foreign Office, Radio Pakistan, Pakistan Science Foundation (PSF), Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR), Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), Pakistan Television (PTV), Prime Minister Secretariat, President House (Awan-e-Sadar), Pak Secretariat, National Library of Pakistan (NLP) and Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP), suffered greatly due to the extensive security measures that caused a massive traffic snarl.

With the freezing cold and rain at the time of court proceedings, the government employees reached their workplaces quite late, as the security personnel consumed a considerable time in checking their vehicles. They complained that the establishment of pickets everywhere had brought their routine life to a virtual standstill.

The commuters said that the government could come up with other solutions to uproot terrorism and ensure peace, rather than keeping the city abuzz with security officials. “The prime minister reached the SC at 9:30 am and came out of the building at 11:30 am but still I managed to reach my office at the time of lunch break, while majority of the employees reached after me,” commented a Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR) employee.

Driving his white Prado, the prime minister reached the Supreme Court at 9:30am to appear before a bench of the apex court in a contempt notice issued to him. He was accompanied by a number of the federal cabinet members, while many of them had arrived before the arrival of Prime Minister Gilani. Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) leader Aitzaz Ahsan also accompanied the prime minister as his counsel.

Thousands of personnel of police, Frontier Constabulary and Paramilitary forces were stationed on various roads of Islamabad to guard the city. They barri-

caded all the important roads, including the Constitution Avenue, Margalla Road, Zero Point Road and Radio Pakistan Chowk. “About 10,000 personnel have been deployed in the city to protect public life and property,” a security official told Pakistan Today.

The snarl-ups were seen from dawn till mid day on the Club Road, Islamabad Highway, Khayaban-e-Suharwardy, Attaturk Avenue and the Kashmir Highway.

The conversion of normal routes of public transport vehicles into zigzag ones also irked the commuters. The public transport vehicles on routes 1C and 24 remained off from the said routes, which were heavily manned by security officials.

The commuters in private vehicles also suffered greatly due to the thorough

check of vehicles in various localities.

Even ambulances were seen stuck in the traffic. Kashif Pervaiz, a businessman, said that it had taken him almost two hours to reach the Super Market from Rawalpindi as the security officials had searched his car on several points. Farrah Hussain, a private TV news channel employee whose office is situated at the Main Margalla Road, accused the police of blocking all roads under the pretext of general public’s safety, while only the VIPs were being protected.

Yousaf Raza Gilani is the third prime minister in the political history of Pakistan to have appeared before the Supreme Court as former prime ministers Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif had also appeared before the apex court in such notices.

Pm appears in court amid tight security isLAMABAD STAff RePoRT

The Red Zone remained sealed for the general public during the appearance of Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani in the Supreme Court for a contempt case on Thursday. The Prime Minister appeared before the SC amid tight security as 2,000 police personnel (commando, security division, traffic police), Rangers and Frontier Constabulary and lady police personnel performed security duties in the Red Zone. Islamabad Police Inspector General Bani Amin, Security AIG Majeebur-Rehman and other police officers were present at the occasion. Five police prisoner vans and six armoured personnel carriers were deployed. Police officials and Rangers also patrolled the Constitution Avenue. Un-authorised people were banned from using the incoming routes to the court and only bonafide lawyers and card holders were allowed to enter the Red Zone. Three cordons of security were maintained around the Supreme Court building.

woman arrested for axing husband to death isLAMABAD STAff RePoRT

ISLAMABAD: firefighters busy extinguishing fire which erupted in a car outside the State Bank Building in Islamabad.oNLINE

The police arrested a woman on Thursday, who had axed her husband to death after developing differences him in the Bara Kahu Police Station precincts.

According to the police, Waseem Ahmed used to quarrel with his wife Uzma Saeed often. For the last several months, the couple had been living separately, however Waseem used to visit Uzma’s house often to meet his two daughters and one son. Uzma was living in the Nain Sukh Mohallah in Bara Kahu.

On December 30, 2011, Waseem went to Uzma’s house to give her money to buy medicines. He stayed at Uzma’s house, where Uzma and her sister allegedly killed him, the police sources said. The following day, Waseem’s brother told the police that he found his brother murdered with wounds on his body at Uzam’s house. The police had registered a First Information Report (FIR) of the incident and started investigation into the murder. A team constituted by Assistant Superintendent Police Yasir Afridi succeeded in arresting Uzma Saeed and her sister Fozia Saeed, who confessed to killing Waseem with an axe death during his stay at their home on December 30, 2011.

After preliminary investigation, the police also recovered the murder tools, an axe and a dagger, which had been hidden in the mattresses. The mobile phone of the deceased was also recovered.

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Cubic art exhibition held at Tanzara Gallery

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MAHTAB BASHIR

ARACHI based artist, Salman Farooqi opened his contemporary cubic art exhibition on Thursday at the Tanzara Gallery. Capitalising on his talent for linear work brought alive through luminous colours, he worked in ‘oil on canvas’ form.

Farooqi’s 26 large size paintings depict a sense of joy and relief, which is a stark contrast to the country’s current situation.

His rendering of subject matter is stylised and the forms are simplified in various geometrical configurations that are created with both skill and spontaneity.

Quickly drawn lines in his work traverse the canvases, creating a variety of forms where both bold shapes and delicate details intersperse and overlap with ease. While the lines tend to be delicate, the colours are bold. However, they do not negate the impact of the lines because the artist applies the paint in thin layers and maintains the

clarity of the brilliant hues.

Cubic forms, which are immediately striking have symbolic significance in his work. In some paintings, complete forms of various objects like houses, pole and electricity wires, buildings and the setting sun are clearly portrayed while others are in abstract form.

All the paintings are done on acrylic. In one of the paintings Farooqi has portrayed the downtown residential areas of a city. The sun is visible behind the buildings while electric wires and poles also occupy an important space in the painting. Though the city isn’t known, one can relate to the scene, as it is quite common in all the major cities of Pakistan.

Born in Karachi, he graduated with distinctions from the Karachi School of Art and has been an artist for over a decade. He studied under the guidance of Eqbal Mehdi and has also worked with Sam Abbas as an artist.

He has participated in various group exhibitions and has also held solo shows in various Karachi galleries. Farooqi has worked on several murals for private collectors and has done com-

mission work for Pakistani and Irish clients.

Although he is known to experiment with realism and modernism, his current work of landscapes focuses on impressionism and it is this that has garnered him further acclaim and recognition in Pakistan.

The artist himself was not present at the exhibition, as he could not make it to Islamabad due to some personal reasons, however, talking to Pakistan Today, the Tanzara Gallery owner Noshi Qadir said Farooqi’s work had a strong identity and his paintings exuded a refreshing energy. Qadir added that Salman’s paintings were well balanced and their energy captivated the eye. The rich color palette and bold compositions help create brilliant effects making the painting aesthetically pleasing.

Anum Ijaz, an art lover, while commenting on the work said: “Salman Farooqi’s work was appealing due to its skilful handling of colours and objects and the abstract work was innovatively done.”

The exhibition will remain open at the Tanzara Gallery till January 27.

AioU postgraduate admissions Food outlets insPected to continue until 23rd Fine imposed over poor sanitation ISLAMABAD: Admissions for postgraduate programmes at the Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) for Semester Spring, 2012 are in progress simultaneously across the country and the last date for submitting the admissions forms is January 23.

Admission forms and prospectuses for MS/M.Phil and PhD programmes can be obtained from the main campus of the university at Sector H-8, Islamabad, as well as from its 36 regional campuses around the country.

For admission to MS and M.Phil programmes, passing the test of GAT (general) of NTS and to PhD programmes, passing the GAT test is compulsory. NTS (general/subject) results are valid for the period of two years.

Those who have already passed their GAT (general/subject) test are advised to submit their applications with the previous results. For more details, students can visit the website www.aiou.edu.pk of the university. STAff RePoRT

isLAMABAD STAff RePoRT

Islamabad Assistant Commissioner Muhammad Ali conducted a surprise checking on Thursday of hotels and restaurants in the Sector F-6 markets and imposed fines amounting to Rs 1, 00,000 on 8 restaurants for failing to observe hygiene and sanitation rules.

According to a press release, the inspection team headed by the assistant commissioner inspected many food outlets, including Al-Majlis Restaurant, Khaywara Restaurant, Gloria Restaurant, Table Talk Restaurant, Mouqa Restaurant and Street

numun 12

Kafe.

The district health department sanitary inspectors also accompanied the inspection team. They took food samples from the restaurants and sent them to the laboratories for testing.

The AC said the hotel and restaurant kitchens were in poor sanitary conditions and the workers had also not been vaccinated, which is mandatory under the rules.

He directed the food outlet owners to improve the sanitation conditions immediately and to vaccinate their employees. He also directed them to ensure the provision of quality food to their consumers.

conFerence

caPoeira isltown

CollegeS / UNiVeRSitieS iNteRNAtioNAl iSlAmiC UNiVeRSity 9260765 BAHRiA UNiVeRSity 9260002 NUml 9257677 QUAid-e-AzAm UNiVeRSity 90642098 ARid AgRiCUltURe UNiVeRSity 9290151 fJwU 9273235 RiPHA iNteRNAtioNAl UNiVeRSity 111510510 NCA RAwAlPiNdi 5770423 PUNJAB lAw College 4421347

dAte: JAN 26 — 29, 2012 VeNUe: NUSt, H12 oPPoSite to PoliCe liNe

dAte: JAN 09 — 16, 2012 VeNUe: NAtioNAl CeNtRe foR PHySiC

After two highly successful intra-NUSt episodes, NUSt now invites you to its first ever All Pakistan event- NUmUN 2012. this January, we'd like to welcome you here at H-12 and change all that you know about this place for the better.

organised by Centres of excellence in Science and Applied technologies, islamabad. in the last eight conferences more than eleven hundred papers have been presented and more than four thousand participants attended the conference. it is the largest scientific event in Pakistan which is held regularly.

dAte ANd time: eVeRy fRidAy 6:30-7:30Pm VeNUe: KHAAS ARt gAlleRy iSlAmABAd Capoeira is an Afro-Brazilian martial art that combines elements of dancing, ritual combat & music in a unique synthesis of self defense and rhythm.

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Regional dress show held at arid University 7 held, 2 stolen cars seized isLAMABAD

isLAMABAD STAff RePoRT

A

‘Regional Dress Show’ was held at the Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi on Thursday.

The show was a depiction of the lifestyle and cultural traditions of the different provinces and regions of the country.

The event was organised to allow students to learn about other cultures and to create an atmosphere of harmony and intercultural integration.

More than 50 students of different university departments, attired in colourful dresses

embroidered with traditional motifs and designs, participated in the catwalk.

The variety show included skits, parodies, plays and mimicry of singers. Famous folk love stories of Pakistan such as ‘Heer Ranjha’, ‘Laila Majnu’ etc were dramatised in the show.

The final item of the event was a cultural show diplayed the different colours and shades of Pakistani culture.

The ‘Brides Catwalk’ was the highlight of the show and was highly appreciated by the audience.

The Pathan group stood first in the Dress Show competition, while the Sindh and Modern groups got second and third positions respec-

tively.

The university’s Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Khalid Mahmood Khan, the chief guest at the occasion, said the Pakistani society comprised of diverse cultures and ethnic groups and that each province and region had its own indigenous folk culture which was fully reflected in the traditional costumes.

He appreciated the efforts of the Students Affairs directorate for organising a memorable event and congratulated the students for participating in it and making it into a brilliant evening. A large number of university students and faculty members also attended the function.

STAff RePoRT

The city police on Thursday claimed to have arrested seven persons, including a woman, and recovered two cars, 1.2kg hashish and 16 wine bottles from their possession. According to details, Margallah police arrested a car thief, Hayat Khan, and recovered a stolen car from him. Similarly, Industrial Area police nabbed Waheed Farooq and recovered a car from him. In another raid, Tarnol police nabbed one Ali for having 1.2kg hashish while Niolre police nabbed bootleggers, Daud and Khurram Shehzad, for having a total of 13 bottles of liquor. Aabpara police also arrested Boota Masih for possessing three bottles of liquor while Ishrat Bibi was arrested by the women police station for swindling Wasim Hider Kayani out of Rs 130,000.

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Paraguay consulate general inaugurated isLAMABAD STAff RePoRT

The honorary Consul General office of Paraguay was formally inaugurated in the federal capital on Thursday. Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs Chairman Senator Salim Saifullah Khan was the chief guest at the occasion.

Addressing the gathering, he said: “The opening of the Paraguay Consul General Office would facilitate trade between the two countries.” He stressed upon enhancing cultural and economic ties between the two nations. Foreign Office Protocol Chief Ghalib Iqbal said the relationship between Pakistan and Paraguay would flourish in the days to come. He added that he hoped the representative would prove to be a foundation stone for future relationships.

The Republic of Paraguay ambassador to Pakistan Ausberto Ro Dri Gaze Kara said it was a landmark for a Latin American country to open its consul general office in Pakistan. He added that it would strengthen the growing relationship between Pakistan and Paraguay in the fields of trade, culture, education and the textile industry.

The Honorary Consul General Kanwar Muhammad Tariq said the Consul General office would facilitate the businessmen and other experts in investing in Paraguay as well as the Paraguayan businessmen’s participation in trade with Pakistan. The Consul General office was inaugurated by raising the national flag of Paraguay. Various parliament members, diplomats and other notables were also present.

ISLAMABAD: Girls take keen interest in queen elizabeth-II’s pictures during Diamond Jubilee exhibition of her portraits at a local hotel. Sajjad aLI QUREShI

‘minorities should be included in mainstream politics’ isLAMABAD STAff RePoRT

Minority community members appealed to the government on Thursday for the minorities to be included in mainstream politics along with the Separate Electoral College. Addressing a seminar organised by the World Minority Alliance (WMA), Muslim Friends of the Labour Party of United Kingdom Chairman and chief guest Muhammad Sarwar criticised the steps taken by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) regarding the prohibition of dual nationality holders to contest elections in Pakistan.

The Federal Parliamentary Secretary and chief patron Mahboob Ullah Jan said the aim of WMA was to get a special seat reserved in the United Nations to represent the minorities all over the world and to set up the World Minority Uplift Bank to help improve the economic conditions of the minorities and highlight their legitimate privileges.

The WMA convener Julius Salik paid tribute to the democracy and said the British democracy was a good example regarding the observance of human rights and safeguarding the minorities’ rights and privileges.

SUPARCo, AioU to impart education to far-flung areas isLAMABAD APP

Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO) Pakistan and Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) would soon sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to extend educational facilities to the students belonging to far-flung areas of the country. The MoU will be signed to ensure access of the students living in the backward areas to educational facilities.

PNCA concert, talent hunt show mesmerise audience isLAMABAD STAff RePoRT

T

HE Pakistan National Council of the Arts (PNCA) arranged a musical night titled the ‘Fusion of East and West’ at the council’s auditorium to promote Pakistani music globally.

The event featured performances

by Raja Kashif from UK, Amir Munawar and Mugheera Ahmed from Pakistan.

Munawar and Ahmed presented a delightful rendering of old and new Urdu hits including ghazals, filmi songs and folk songs.

The show started off with Mugheera Ahmed, who has won gold medals thrice in the ‘Music Conference’, singing ‘Tum Sung Naina Laagay’ followed by other ghazals, and folk and film songs.

Munawar sang ‘Bohat Khubsurat Hay Mera Sanam’, ‘Pyar Bahray Do Sharmeelay Nain’ and a few of Faiz Ahmed Faiz’s ghazals, including ‘Aay Kuch Abr, Kuch Sharaab Aay’.

Kashif’s performances were the highlight of the evening as he presented a number of ghazals, and songs, starting off with a song dedicated to mothers titled ‘Maan Andheron Mein Roshni ki Tarah’ followed by other film songs and ending with the Punjabi hit ‘Sajna Nay Bohay Agay Chik Taan Lai’.

PNCA Director General Tauqir Nasir said on the occasion that the Pakistani youth was achieving performing arts milestones globally.

Talking about the 9 year-old Sitara Akbar who holds the world record for the youngest person to appear for O levels, Nasir said the country was proud of its youth and Sitara’s performance was a beacon of hope for other youngsters. He added that the PNCA would continue to promote art and culture.

Meanwhile, the PNCA also arranged a cultural show as part of the ‘Talent Hunt Bank Project’ at the France Colony slum area on Thursday.

The programme started with a puppet show by the National Puppet Theatre followed by singing, and dance

performances by the young artists of the slum.

Nasir distributed prizes among the participants and said the PNCA was trying to reach out to the country’s corners and specially the remote and undeveloped areas and wanted to introduce new talent into the mainstream.

“These programmes were aimed at providing opportunities to the unprivileged children. We are here to entertain you and educate you about art and culture,” he said.

Sonia Naasir, sung ‘Ay Waton, Ay Waton’ at the occasion and was accompanied by Alina Waris, and Hashim Waris singing ‘Deindy Gali Gali Ro Ro Duayan’, while Aurangzeb and Aftab Khan Sono performed a break dance routine and Shahbaz Gulzar Masih sang ‘Tere Qadmoon Main’.

Asif Sonu, Danish Bazmi, Kirin Ashfaq, Mariyam Maqsood, Zeeshan Arif also performed on the occasion.

Many senior artists, including Meena Gul and others also presented items for the audience.

NHA signs moU with universities isLAMABAD STAff RePoRT

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed on Thursday regarding collaboration in Highway Research & Engineering Technology between the National Highway Authority (NHA) Highway Research Training Centre (HRTC) and three leading engineering universities.

According to a press release, the universities were the National University of Science and Technology (NUST) Islamabad, University of Engineering and Technology, Taxila, and University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore.

National Highway Authority (NHA) Planning member Sabir Hassan, UET Taxila Vice Chancellor Dr M Abbas and the NUST director signed the MoU. Speaking on the occasion, NHA Chairman Muhammad Ali Gardezi reiterated the commitment to realise highway, motorway and expressway projects in a well-coordinated manner, as 98% of the country’s traffic was associated to the road network.

He termed the availability of a reliable and durable highway network, a dire need of the time to meet the domestic and regional transit trade requirements. He said that the NHA desired to further expand the scope of collaboration with all the universities of Pakistan. The objective of such endeavors was to build, operate and maintain a safe and sound road network in the country, he concluded.

Youth can bring positive change in society: seminar isLAMABAD STAff RePoRT

Change in Education (CIE), in collaboration with foreign and Commonwealth offices, United Kingdom (UK) and British High Commission (BHC), organised a seminar and dialogue on community, Islam and youth engagement in a mainstream Britain.

The seminar was a discussion on the experiences of Muslim youth in British and Pakistani society and the issues faced by them in today’s world.

The seminar was attended by no-

table stakeholders, government officials, dignitaries and intellectuals.

Change in Education CE0 and Founder Faisal Mushtaq, Roots School System Principal Imrana Naeem, British High Commission Second Secretary Ms Tasha Reilly and many other distinguished guests attended the ceremony.

The ceremony was graced by a delegation of youth from Britain and a large number of local youth.

Speaking on the occasion, Faisal Mushtaq said: “I believe youth are the untapped resource that must be utilised in the 21st century; and this driving force will be responsible for

growth and development of Pakistan and Britain.

An empowered youth can singlehandedly change a society and the picture of these regions, so I welcome you all to rise for the benefit of our communities.”

The seminar was divided into two sessions at which all the panelists had detailed discussion on the experiences of Muslim youth in British and Pakistani societies and the issues they face in today’s world. All the guests admitted that it was a great chance to have an open interaction with independent British Muslim youth and community

leaders visiting from UK. The British High Commission representative, appreciating the event, said: “This was one of the most important seminars of the year because of the positive issues it highlighted. Its messages were completely based on Islam as a religion of peace; life as a Muslim in UK and the role of youth in a peaceful future. It immensely encouraged the youth of our nation.”

At the concluding ceremony, a moderator, Mishaal Javed Sehgal, appreciated all his team and thanked the British High Commission for sharing a common vision.

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friday, 20 January, 2012

Editor’s mail 11

the conflict of institutions It is imperative that the judiciary must be independent, strengthen democracy, promote rule of law and constitutionalism in the land of the pure. Due to the Supreme Court’s indifference to the cases that are pending for many years such as the alleged involvement of the ISI in using taxpayers’ money and to bribe the politicians and conjuring up IJI against the Pakistan Peoples Party. The petition about this matter was submitted

by Asghar Khan in 1997 to the Supreme Court but it has shown no enthusiasm and urgency in that case as it has shown in the Memogate case.

Similarly, in the suo motu case regarding the Kharotabad incident, no action has been taken as of yet even though the police surgeon who had conducted post mortem reports of the victims has been mysteriously killed. This gives an impression to the thoughtful Pakistanis that the SC is not a neutral arbiter while dealing with the cases in which the establishment is involved.

The PPP perceives a nexus between the higher judiciary and military against President Asif Ali Zardari, who has never been accepted by the establishment as their Supreme Commander. He has been

Political restraint never been invited by the army to any of their important functions. The government’s refusal to write a letter to the Swiss authorities for reopening cases against Zardari has become a contentious between the judiciary and the executive.

The PPP, MQM, and ANP in the National Assembly are the ones with secular political ideology as they don’t use religion to gain political power, whereas the judges of the higher courts are protecting the Islamic ideology of the state.

The PPP’s mistrust of the judiciary and the army’s mistrust of the PPP are deep rooted. PPP founder and Chairman

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was ousted by the army and was later hanged by General Zia-ul-Haq on the verdict of judiciary.

Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto’s government was twice removed under military’s influence. She was also assassinated when military dictator General Pervez Musharraf was ruling the country.

President Asif Ali Zardari also suffered long imprisonment during the military rule. This past history is causing mistrust and conflicts between the state institutions.

ENGR S T HUSSAIN Lahore

form of government Political thinkers and philosophers have given different theories on political institutions and various systems. They have present different theories of government. Mostly six forms of government are suggested: namely, Monarchy, oligarchy, aristocracy, democracy, mobocracy and autocracy or dictatorship and the best is democracy – the golden mean rule. It is the most popular form of government practiced in the world. Two kinds of this system are important: Parliamentary form of government and Presidential form of government, the ‘Westminster model’ and the ‘American model.

Separation of powers is one of the cardinal principles. Fundamental rights and liberties are ensured in both the forms. Electoral system is based on adult franchise and one vote for each individual. Equality before law and rule of law are two important precepts. Parliament is supreme and has the primary function of making laws. Judiciary interprets the law and is the final arbiter. They have the power of judicial review to create the balance of power.

Executive takes care of the governance and is ultimately accountable and answerable to the people. All the three institutions must work within their limits, in order to preserve and protect democracy. We have been grappling with this idea for the last 64 years and still are at a loss. We should realise the importance of democratic system in our lives.

No nation can progress without strengthening its political system.

The progress of a nation depends on its system and reflects the psyche of the nation. We are impatient, incompetent and intolerant people. Tolerance is the key to democracy. All the forces must unite together to make Pakistan a progressive and stable modern democratic state.

JAVAID BASHIR Lahore

Constitutional immunity It is time that the issue of immunity, its extent, applicability and jurisdiction be defined by the Supreme Court, so that sanity prevails and laws of natural justice and equality before the law is upheld. It is a universal law of jurisprudence that courts alone can interpret laws or clauses of constitution and not the executive exercising such powers. We live in times where even constitutional kings or monarchs do not enjoy such unlimited archaic powers, which place an individual beyond reproach and accountability. In the words of John Adams, the second President of the USA, in a democracy there is a “government of laws and not of men”.

People of Pakistan have suffered a lot because of excessive wrongs and abuses of powers by unethical individuals in government, most of them being military adventurers, or those opportunist politicians who have misruled this country through engineered polls. It is an unfortunate fate of 180 million people of Pakistan, that inspite of our vast natural and human resources, the vast majority lives below poverty line and their lives, or property are no longer safe because of poor governance and massive corruption perpetrated by greed and incompetence of those who have ruled us by default.

Pakistan’s survival lies in restoration of a democratic welfare state envisioned

by Quaid-e-Azam and Allama Iqbal, instead of a fiefdom that it has been reduced to by men like Ayub Khan, Yahya, Zia, Musharraf and others.

GHULAM QADIR Malikwal

A baptism of fire As anticipated the Prime Minister appeared in the Supreme Court in contempt case and presented his viewpoint. He was humble and very respectful to the court but took the same plea as was being advocated on the floor of the house: President enjoys immunity under article 248 of the constitution; therefore, the government did not write letter to Swiss court. The attorney of Prime Minister Aitzaz Ahsan had already spoken to the press about his stand that was to be taken in the court and he stuck to his plea and now will argue his point of view in the next hearing on 1 February, 2012.

The way the Prime Minister’s caravan came to the Supreme Court has disappointed the people at large. This could have been done in a low profile. PPP workers and lawyers commu-

nity who were shouting slogans outside the court was in a very bad taste. It is very unfortunate that our leaders continue to display immaturity in every field of life. Nowhere in the world such scenes are witnessed in any court of law as we experience in Pakistan. We must preserve the sanctity of the Supreme Court and not turn the premises into an ordinary office. Section of the media was expecting miracles to happen and they made all efforts to pass judgments and draw conclusions which were nowhere near to the ground realities. This is a lesson for all of them not to pass judgements suiting to their convenience; instead, they should show patience in such matters.

MUKHTAR AHMED Karachi

Another amendment

gas load management

Senior PPP leader Aitzaz Ahsan has said that President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari has complete immunity as president. “There is no harm in writing a letter to the Swiss authorities. He enjoys immunity in Pakistan and abroad as long as he is president,” Aitzaz Ahsan added.

If this is the case, then I think that an amendment should be made in the constitution of Pakistan. No one, not even the head of the state, should be above the law. Pakistan and all Muslim nations must dump this western legal system which gives immunity to the president.

Few days ago, PPP MNA Jamshed Dasti very rightly said that “history records that Caliphs appeared before the courts; therefore, the president should not avoid appearing before the court.”I am also sure that this government will not make any amendment in this regard.

But it is hoped that if PTI comes into power, they should change this law as PTI is talking about bringing change.

MUBASHIR MAHMOOD Karachi

I am a resident of Shahzad Town Islamabad and like most of the country my family and I have also been suffering from gas outages or what is preferred to be called as gas load management.

What I have observed is that the gas outages even continue during the days when the CNG stations have been shutdown. It has also been observed that in various other sectors of Islamabad there are no gas outages altogether.

My question to SNGPL or any authority dealing with this is why is there such a disparity? First of all, the schedule of the load management should be made public and secondly, it should be on equal basis as they claim that there is a crisis of gas in the entire country.

MUHAMMAD AHMAD Islamabad

Predicament of iran As Iran is allegedly developing its nuclear programme, it has become too difficult to swallow for the rival coun-

Given the gravity of political crisis that Pakistan faces today, it is time that politicians exercise restraint in public, especially on talk shows which have assumed a nuisance of their own.

On a recent talk show, a senator belonging to ruling party started flashing a pink folder, which he claimed to be documents implicating judges of superior judiciary. Such irresponsible behaviour by a channel, whose owner is a beneficiary of NRO is unacceptable in any democratic environment, which binds everybody to respect the superior judiciary and their judgments in letter and spirit.

Those who are calling for judicial restraint must understand that it is this restraint by our judiciary over the years, which has created in this country an environment where corruption is encouraged and paid establishment over the years has resorted to usurping constitution, while a pliant docile judiciary resorted to law of necessity in order to appease individuals at the expense of 180 million people, who have been driven to desperation by a crippling economic down-slide with no law and order.

No individual, whatever his status, can assume unto himself right to abuse laws, plunder state resources and demand that he be not subjected to judicial scrutiny, just because he is elected, or holds constitutional executive assignment.

This country desperately requires an environment in which laws prevail, instead of whims of individuals. It is time that criminals, whoever they maybe, must be prosecuted, instead of being let off on excuse of political exigencies or their compulsions to retain their coalition intact. Pakistan faces a crisis that threatens its very survival as a viable sovereign state, and our only remedy is rule of law, where nobody can enjoy immunity for crimes against the state, such as tax evasion, abuse of powers and complicity in organized plunder of state resources.

MALIK TARIQ ALI Lahore

Varsities in Sindh

tries. Although nuclear weapons have been a risk for the world peace, it is Iran’s right to have access to peaceful uses of nuclear technology.

A nuclear weapon is like a game point for a country. Powerful countries want to regulate the world as they wish. Israel has never felt at ease with the nuclear developments of various countries, including Iran, Syria and Libya.

It is trying its best to annihilate Iran’s developments in this regard.

But Iran has another card to play as it is developing its nuclear programme underground, which is a red sign for Israel.

Israel has been taking it as a security threat. On the other hand, there is an evolving flux in Iran’s defence development. Israel had recently launched a cyber attack on the computer system of Iran. In fact, there are a lot of wars in the world. Physical wars will soon be left behind by mental, electronic and cyber wars.

ABDUL REHMAN KHAN Lahore

Nowadays one can hear the anger and absolute frustration of Sindhi intelligentsia, educationists, academicians and intellectuals in and abroad in their stories and commentaries about the worsening plight of educational institutions functioning in the upper and lower Sindh regions, especially the University of Sindh, Jamshoro, what was once a crown jewel on the Sindhi educational and cultural scene is now an underfunded mess with no rescuers in sight.

Indeed, no varsity in the province is in a better shape. Greedy exploitation by the administration goes on – corruption reigns supreme in transactions between students, faculty and administrators. The brain drain of faculty continues. The future and the hope of this country, called the students, are crammed into overcrowded classrooms, without proper facilities for teaching and studying. The varsities are producing armies of unemployed youth in the market.

Concrete changes are required in the administration, especially in the appointment of Vice Chancellors and other administration personnel, coupled with revolutionary changes in the curriculum so as to make these varsities again the real seats of learning and birthplace of brilliant brains.

HASHIM ABRO Islamabad

facing 50 percent production loss which is causing loss of Rs 68.77 million daily.

There are 12 fertiliser units in Punjab which are closed due to discontinuation of gas and 4239 workers have been affected.

There is 100 percent loss of production in fertiliser industry. The net result is a loss to Punjab as industry owners are relocating their industry from Punjab to Sindh and abroad. The textile industry is adversely affected as it makes losses in the shape of taxes and earns less from low production.

The loss in export of textile is Rs 35 million per day which is a huge loss for

Pakistan. Alone in the textile industry around 191100 workers are unemployed but this segment of society is heavily taxed. Fertiliser rates are also going up and still at this hefty price the fertiliser is adulterated and impure.

For all this, the central government is not to be blamed alone because after the 18th amendment it is Punjab government’s responsibility to produce energy and use it for the provincial consumption but the Punjab government has also failed in living up to people's expectation together with the central government.

HAIDER ALI Lahore

energy crisis and the Punjab industrial sector Punjab contributes over 60 percent of the GDP but bears the entire brunt in terms of power shortages. The federal government is heavily dependent on Punjab in order to earn wealth to run the day to day affairs of the state but if it treats Punjab like a stepbrother, how would it expect Punjab to earn revenue for them? The most badly affected sector due to energy shortages is the industrial sector. Punjab is housing a huge number of industries but is unable to provide energy to these industries.

Punjab houses 60 percent of the industry with 21,000 industrial units. Punjab consumes 65 percent of the local

national consumption of electricity which means that energy shortage in Punjab means an end to the income from industries.

Another consequence is the mass unemployment in Punjab as over 10 million industrial workers, including daily wagers, earn their livelihood from industrial units. Punjab industry is facing acute shortages of both gas and electricity for the last three years with over 700 mmcfd shortage of gas in SNGPL system and 3300 MW shortage in electricity. This results in massive loss in national GDP growth.

Sports and surgical goods sector are

Send your letters to: Letters to Editor, Pakistan Today, 4-Shaarey Fatima Jinnah, Lahore, Pakistan. Fax: +92-42-36298302. E-mail: letters@pakistantoday.com.pk. Letters should be addressed to Pakistan Today exclusively.

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12 Comment first day in court Not too bad, as expected

A

itzaz Ahsan being in his element wouldn't have sprung any surprises. After all, the senior lawyer is defending his third prime ministerial client. The first was his party chairperson and prime minister Benazir Bhutto. The second, more significantly, was former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, who would rather have this PPP stalwart defending him rather than any lawyer from his own party. And now it is the incumbent premier that he defends. Third time's a charm?

His plea itself was reasonable. First, that this was an extremely important case and one that requires him to have more time to prepare his case. He asked for another date, which the court granted. Mr Ahsan also correctly pointed out how the current case is, primarily, about determining whether prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani has been contemptuous of the court or not. This, he claimed, was not the case.

This is an argument that is to be based on the government’s position on the issue of presidential immunity, on which he said he is going to present his case in the next hearing.

The overall mood of the defence was conciliatory. This tone was also helped by the fact that the defendant himself was his usual, cool self. The distancing of perpetual gadfly Babar Awan, not only from the case - though there, the government didn't have much of a choice since the court suspended his license - but also from his old portfolio at the law ministry would have also helped.

Whether Mr Awan has been marginalised or is being stored temporarily in the arsenal is not known yet.

That cool, however, could not be displayed by all concerned.

After the hearing, Mr. Ahsan could barely speak to the media due to the spirited slogans by lawyer-activists present at the court.

The slogans, interestingly enough, were from the era of the lawyers’ movement, the same ones that once cheered on Mr Ahsan himself.

Even though a sitting prime minister appearing in court is nothing more than the rule of law, it is still indicative of maturity on the part of the ruling party. The move from a political defence to a legal defence would not only be more effective but would also be more difficult to argue away. These are heady times but hopefully uninteresting ones.

two resignations mismanagement, inefficiency and intervention

T

he government has got a little more on its plate than it can handle right now with the resignations of two top officials (Ogra Chief Sabir Hussain, and Khwaja Maqbool Ahmad, Member from Sindh and Vice-Chairman, Nepra) from its energy regulatory bodies. For far too long, the government has dragged the issue of reforms in energy sector; this is something that has seriously undermined its claims of being a people-friendly government and its performance on the energy front has led to big dip in its ratings. What should ring more bells, though, are the reasons behind the resignations of these officials.

The Ogra chief claims that the body is disorganised, mismanaged and inefficient. He further states that his inquiry into illegal practices of the body is being hampered, rendering his efforts useless. Thus, the resignation. Khwaja Maqbool Ahmad has cited personal reasons for his resignation, though the provincial government’s meddling into the affairs of Nepra is thought to be the main reason. This in no way casts the management of these organisations in a good light and leaves a bad taste in the mouth regarding the government’s handling of the situation.

The mess that our energy sector has become is not easy to clean up. Beset with problems, ranging from mismanagement to too much focus on fossil fuel-based energy, it is seemingly nigh impossible to set them aright. The problem does become more complex with some factors being beyond the control of government or the regulatory bodies – such as the fluctuations in the international oil prices for one and less gas being available in the country.

The problem actually seems to be how our energy profile has become lopsided with too much insistence on fossil fuel instead of renewable energy resources. Using natural gas for electricity production leaves vital industries without power and raw material. Also, not providing the same to the domestic users has political ramifications. But that in no way exonerates the government from its obligations of proper management and energy sector reforms. If anything, these problems make it even more important to carry out restructuring in the fields of energy production, distribution and regulation. Unless some concrete action is taken in this regard, there is no chance we can find a silver lining to this cloud.

Dedicated to the legacy of the late Hameed Nizami

Arif Nizami Editor

Lahore – Ph: 042-36298305-10 Fax: 042-36298302 Karachi – Ph: 021-34330811-3 Fax: 021-34330900 Islamabad – Ph: 051-2287414-6 Fax: 051-2287417 Web: www.pakistantoday.com.pk Email: editorial@pakistantoday.com.pk

friday, 20 January, 2012

Canons breached Let’s save the slogans for political rallies

Cross Currents

By Qudssia Akhlaque

I

t seems there is no end to politics, intolerance and exaggerated reaction in Pakistan.

Patience is in short supply and display of disgraceful behaviour in abundance. Thursday was no exception with unwarranted and senseless political sloganeering doing the rounds.

It was not at an election rally or a public protest outside the parliament but the venue of divisive political sloganeering was the Supreme Court of Pakistan. And ironically this time not by politicians or the public but by professional lawyers who created a rumpus outside the apex court building.

The disruptive behaviour exhibited by jiyalas in ‘black coats’ just outside the Supreme Court’s main foyer on Thursday was downright undignified and most unprofessional. They blatantly and disgracefully violated the ‘Canons of Professional Conduct and Etiquette of Advocates’ prescribed in the Pakistan Legal Practitioners & Bar Council Rules, 1976. The Canons begin with the stipulation that “it is the duty of every Advocate to uphold at all times the dignity and high standing of his profession, as well as his own dignity and high standing as a member thereof.” Advocates are advised, by another canon of professional conduct, that “clients, not Advocates, are the litigants. Whatever may be the ill-feeling existing between clients, it should not be allowed to influence Advocates in their conduct and demeanour towards each other or towards the parties in the case.” Unfortunately, these were not the only canons of professional conduct brazenly flouted by a few dozen advocates assembled at the entrance to the Supreme Court on Thursday.

It is a pity that in Pakistan no opportunity is spared to politicise matters even if of purely a legal nature, and self-restraint is seldom exercised. The rowdy scene was witnessed on the premises of the Supreme Court when highly charged members of the legal community, many of whom were part of the lawyers’ movement for restoration of judiciary and advocate rule of

law, behaved like an angry mob expressing its opinion on a matter that is to be decided by the Court.

Two groups of lawyers in their uniforms emerged on the scene as Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani appeared before the Supreme Court for contempt of court notice in the NRO implementation case. While one group raised pro-judiciary and anti-government slogans, the other chanted slogans in favour of the government, as if some cricket match was going on.

While these lawyers polluted the atmosphere with full-throated sloganeering, no attempt was made by the court administration or management to stop this madness. Those who claimed to be there in support of “azaad adlia” screamed to high heavens with slogans: “chief teray jan nisar bay shumaar, bay shumaar” as if the Chief Justice was a party to the proceedings.

After the proceedings, the prime minister’s lead counsel Aitzaz Ahsan was unable to complete his press conference due to the screaming match.

He was threatened by some protesting anti-government lawyers who shouted: “Hakumat kaa jo yar hai ghadaar hai, ghadaar hai.”

One wondered what was all the fuss about when the proceeding went on smoothly and PM managed through his counsel to get the time and space he wanted. When the hearing ended on an apparently amicable note and tension between the judiciary and the executive stood diffused to some extent. This was expected given that the PPP’s seasoned and saner legal mind Aitzaz Ahsan was finally allowed to prevail by the government and chosen as lead counsel for the PM. Also wisely, the party’s belligerent vice president Babar

Awan, whose licence to practice law has been suspended pending contempt of court proceedings against him, was kept away from the court.

Debate and discussion in the coming days will revolve around Article 248 of the Constitution pertaining to immunity of President and Prime minister in civil and criminal cases. With Aitzaz sounding confident that he can satisfy the court on this score, the hype about this legal battle appears to have subsided for now.

The lawyers who raised slogans in favour of judiciary on Thursday actually did a disservice to it by unnecessarily dragging it into politics and by making it seem like a party instead of being impartial – a self-defeating exercise that conveys lack of maturity and flagrant disregard for rule of law.

It was no occasion and no forum for such distorted expression of freedom of speech. It negated the spirit of democracy and all norms of decency.

Activism of any kind must know its limits and be exercised with a level of responsibility.

Trampling of the sanctity of the court by anyone, least of all by the practitioners of law, must not be allowed to go unnoticed by those who regulate the license to practice and conduct of advocates. An example must be set so such uncivilised behaviour is not repeated.

The writer is a senior journalist and has been a diplomatic correspondent for leading dailies. She was an Alfred Friendly Press Fellow at The Chicago Tribune in the US and a Press Fellow at Wolfson College, Cambridge, UK. She can be reached via email at qudssia@hotmail.com

Regional Press

Peace in the tribal belt Daily Pashtun Post

T

he war on terror that started in the wake of 9/11 has cost no other country allied with the United States as dearly as much as Pakistan. Despite Pakistan’s sacrifices, it has never earned the credit it has deserved from its ally which has never bestowed its trust or respect on the beleaguered country.

It is a widely held opinion that the current worsening of law and order in the country is a result of the backlash from the military operations in the tribal areas of the country.

This argument is not totally without weight as action against miscreants in the tribal belt is always accompanied by a corresponding increase in terrorist activities and a worsening of the law and order situation not only in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa but also in other parts of the country.

During the Musharraf era, many agreements were made with the US whose fallout and gory aftermath is only surfacing in recent years. The dictator not only allowed the activities of the CIA in the country but also let the superpower use our airbases without any significant conditions. The fact that he was not answerable to the electorate meant that these policies of his do not have the backing of public will (quite to

the contrary). But the incumbent government has come to the saddle of power with a considerable mandate and the onus is now on them not only to control price hike, load shedding, unemployment but to effectively come up with a strategic policy to address the law and order situation.

The masses view their lot in life with increasing despondency, even after four years of democratic rule in the country. The incumbent government however is too besotted with other problems to carry the weight of the mandate they have been given and carry out the actions necessary to respect it.

One of the most pressing issues is how to deal with the law and order situation and the menace of terrorism and the government must address it without delay. The first step would be to bring the civilian and military establishments on the same page about how to address the issue of terrorists in the tribal belt. The people of the tribal belts are suffering a lot due to the ineffective military operations in the region. It is imperative that the militants must not be allowed to regroup and peace must be brought to the restive tribal regions of the country.

– Translated from the original Pashto by Abdur Rauf Khattak

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friday, 20 January, 2012

Comment 13

the system must go on

the pakhtun unarmed

A win for democracy is a win for everyone

Remembering Bacha Khan

By Dr taimur-ul-Hassan

I

n contrast to the assault that was mounted against the apex court when former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was summoned to face a contempt of court proceeding in 1997, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani’s appearance in the court was a unique experience: there were no slogans, no attack and no engineered gathering of diehard workers to repeat the scene of the court’s mauling. January 19, 2012, thus can be described as a historic day as an elected prime minister appeared before the judges and reposed his trust in the judiciary.

It must not be forgotten that prior to his appearance in the court, he was bequeathed with the support of National Assembly that passed a resolution for upholding democracy and reiterating confidence in the political leadership with a thumping majority. Will this government survive till the election of Senate, or are we heading for an early election, is inconsequential, as the issue is broader and crucial from the perspective of supremacy of democracy and parameters of institutions.

In his address to the National Assembly, the prime minister neatly summed it up when he said if democracy goes and if the system is derailed, everyone will suffer. He was of course alluding to the conspiracy theories whirling around suggesting an imminent fall of the present government through some out-of parliament machinations. No democrat worth his salt can take issue with Gilani’s statement, and to ignore it for petty motives would amount to ruining what little democracy we have been able to induct in our polity.

The government, under Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, has completed four years, and will complete its term in 2013. If the government, despite all the spanners in its works, is able to do that then it would be a brilliant feat, as no political government since the inception of the country, except Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s first government, has been allowed to complete its full term. Will the PPP-led coalition be the beneficiary, or will the ultimate advantage accrue to parliamentary democracy is the point that must be considered by political adventurers.

If the coalition under PM Gilani is able to survive by defying all the schemes and stratagems, the beneficiary will be the next government, nay parliamentary democracy. This is very simple and no rocket science is required to understand this; the method of sending a government home is written in the constitution, and the power to do so has been given to the electorate. Unfortunately, in our country where true democracy has yet to take root everyone who has enjoyed power has skeletons in his closet.

Our political history is but a tale of compromises, pacts and behind-the-scenes wheeling-dealing for acquiring personal fortune; no one is clean here. But whenever a representative government is at the helm, desperate measures are initiated to pull it down by creating a cacophony of allegations of wrongdoing.

Should this be allowed to continue? No. This must be borne in mind by opposition parties and some media-persons and all those who are visibly ‘sensitive’ about the problems facing Pakistan that their over-pouring desire to cut the life of this government is a sure-shot way of perpetuating the unholy cycle of democratic-undemocratic rule in the country. Liaquat Ali Khan (50 months in office) was assassinated. His successors, Khwaja Nazimuddin (17 months); Mohammed Ali Bogra (29 months); Chaudri Mohammed Ali (13 months); Shaheed Suhrwardy (13 months); I.I. Chundrigar (2 months); and Firoz Khan Noon (11 months), all became victims of palace intrigues.

Throughout the 1950s, two

bureaucrats, Ghulam Mohammed and Iskander Mirza, brazenly abused their powers as head of state to make or break governments. In April 1953, Ghulam Mohammed set an unfortunate precedent when, citing the government’s failure to resolve ‘the difficulties facing the country’, dismissed Khwaja Nazimuddin and installed Bogra in his place. When Bogra responded by trying to limit the Governor General’s power, Ghulam Mohammed dismissed him too. Add to this list, the toppled governments of Benazir Bhutto twice and Nawaz Sharif twice and one gets a pretty good idea of the state of democracy in this ill-starred country.

It is patently clear that Pakistan’s problems and maladies do not need palliatives under the garb of a technocrat dispensation or any other short-sighted innovation. Nor do they require an interruption in democracy; no do they require some advice from selfproclaimed saviours of the nation, or future tellers with not a modicum of commitment to civilian rule. In this circus where everybody is masquerading as a law expert, defence analyst and economic guru, the loser is the country itself.

The direction is clear: elections according to the prescribed timetable and government by the elected representatives of people.

Above all, there should be an environment of reconciliation as no single party can overcome the scale and magnitude of crises, ranging from power, economy to law and order, in the country.

After the establishment of Pakistan, the wrangling of politicians and dismissal of governments were accompanied by intense regional conflicts between Bengalis and West Pakistanis and between Punjabis and Sindhis, and Punjabis and Pakhtuns.

These fault-lines exist. In this milieu to think that a single party can correct things is unjustified.

To the credit of Prime Minister Gilani, he has been able to restore the original 1973 Constitution, revised the criteria for NFC Award and upheld the sanctity of parliament. There should be a forward movement from here not a plunge back into darkness.

The writer teaches at BNU.

L

eafing through the pages of history searching for heroes who envisaged a better world, we often come across great names such as, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela, whose dignity and poise left a deep impression on the lives of their people. One such person, lost to the world, is Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan famously known as “Bacha Khan,” a Pakhtun political leader whose politics revolved around the idea of peace and social reforms. These set of values raised him from a tradition of blood feuds and vendettas to one of history’s greatest peacemakers.

Born in 1890 in Uthmanzai, Bacha Khan came from the most volatile region of the British subcontinent and took the path of non-violent politics as a means of achieving independence from the atrocities of the imperialist. He believed that it was only through nonviolence that his people could possibly overcome social structures and hierarchies that have congealed over a long period of time. His philosophy of nonviolence could not be further from truism as his adherence to non violence was unconditional and as a matter of fact was his way of life. He embodied the ideals that he was espousing which were acknowledged by Mahatma Gandhi on his visit to the Pukhtoon province in the folBy khan shehram eusufzye lowing words, “Even if the non-violence movement fails in the subcontinent it will still thrive in the Pakhtun province because your leader Bacha Khan has made you commit yourself to non violence.” Such was the revolution sparked by the savant called “King Khan” that during the Qissa Khawani massacre of April 20th, 1930 the Khudai Khidmatgars took bullets to their chest but refused to retaliate.

Bacha Khan considered politics to be the highest form of public service and throughout his life humbled himself as a social worker whose objective was to liberate the masses of the South Asia in general and the Pakhtuns in particular from the ignominious depths of ignorance and obscurity so that they could rise to their full potential. He preached that the creed and fallacies held dear by the people as article of faith were nothing but socially regressive and bigoted elements.

Bacha Khan throughout his life indefatigably advocated social

justice, women rights, judicial reforms, land reforms, education for all and the peaceful co-existence between communities regardless of their religion, ethnicity, caste or clan. He struggled for a level playing field for the poor who were caught in the imbroglio of an antagonistic social order.

His philosophy of non-violence is still viewed by many as the creed of the weak but for Bacha Khan it was his strength, a gift from the heavens as he would call it. As J S Bright, a contemporary biographer of Bacha Khan would go on to say, “Ghaffar Khan is in complete accord with the principle of non-violence. But he has not borrowed his outlook from Mahatma Gandhi. He has reached it, and reached it independently. Independently like a struggler after truth.” He further adds, “Ghaffar Khan like Shelley has come from heaven to the earth, while Mahatma Gandhi like Keats is going from the earth to heaven.”

After partition, Bacha Khan swore allegiance to the newly found state of Pakistan but he and the Khudai Khidmatgars were looked upon with suspicion as they had been close to Gandhi’s Congress. Soon, the powerful and equally shortsighted mandarin class banned Bacha Khan’s and his organisation’s political activities after coming up with trumped up charges of him colluding with anti-state elements. Hence, for the first time the term “in the national interest” surfaced and has since then been open to many interpretations. But, he was firmly anchored to his commitment for peace in the region. Similarly his bluntly and incisively put ideas of devolution and power to the people drew strong reaction from different quarters of the civil-military establishment. Hence, he had to pay a price of living one-third of his life in prisons for his continuous struggle against the status quo.

Today, the teachings of a person once stigmatised as a traitor by his country have an important role in the contemporary discourse of the nation. If we take a realistic view of the storm we are caught in and the fast approaching deluge we may come to a conclusion that it is probably time we rediscover Bacha Khan’s message which follows the path of modern non-violent revolutions. He despised religious obscurantism and stressed his people to salvage all options to create a socially plural and egalitarian society and never to let anyone deceive them in the name of religion. Seen today, his teachings are some what prophetic and should be thought over seriously.

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14

friday, 20 January, 2012

Johnny Depp, Vanessa Paradis

near split Los AngeLes

J

ReuTeRS

OHNNY Depp’s 14-year romance with French actress and singer Vanessa Paradis has hit the rocks, People maga-

zine claimed, and the couple are living largely separate lives. In a cover story for this week’s issue of People called ‘Love Gone Wrong’, the celebrity magazine quoted several unnamed sources as saying the pair’s relationship is nearing an end. The ‘Pi-

Bruno Mars ‘clean’ of cocaine charge LOS ANGELES: A Las Vegas judge dismissed the cocaine possession case against pop star Bruno Mars after he successfully completed court-ordered drug education classes and community service, even exceeding the amount of hours he was told to serve. Mars, whose real name is Peter Hernandez, was arrested in September 2010 after a bathroom attendant at the Las Vegas Hard Rock Hotel caught him with “a baggy of white powder”, later found to be cocaine, according to a police report at the time. He pleaded guilty to a charge of possessing cocaine and received a $2,000 fine, 200 hours of community service, drug counselling and was told to stay out of trouble during a year of informal probation.

Bruno performed all the requirements and exceeded the 200 hours of service. Mars’ original guilty plea was nullified and will not show up on his record. The ‘Grenade’ singer, 26, burst onto music charts in 2010 after collaborating with rapper B.o.B on ‘Nothin’ On You’ and Gym Class Heroes’ Travie McCoy on ‘Billionaire’. He is currently nominated in six categories at the upcoming Grammy Awards in February. ReuTeRS

rates of the Caribbean’ star, 48, and Paradis, 39, never married but have been together since 1998 and have two children.

They divide their time between France and the United States. People magazine noted that the pair have not appeared on the red carpet together for more than a year, missing both the Cannes film festival in May 2011 and the Golden Globe Awards in Beverly Hills on Sunday, where Depp was a presenter. “According to multiple sources....(they) are all but officially finished,” People said. Depp’s representatives did not return calls for comment on the People story, which hits newsstands on Friday.

waseem Noor launches jewellery and bridal collection

IN LIMELIGHT

loNdoN: members of staff pose with awards amid waxwork models of film starsJudie dench, morgan freeman, Kate winslet, tom Hanks and Helen mirren at madame tussauds to mark the launch of the Awards Season Party display running from 18th January. afp

New yoRK: eric messinger and Jessica Alba attend the Jessica Alba launches Honest.com party. afp

New yoRK: (l-R) Actors Vanessa Redgrave, Ralph fiennes and Jessica Chastain attend the premiere of ‘Coriolanus’. afp

eASTMAN KoDAK: 130 years of history – in pictures once-dominant eastman Kodak – hit by the decline of the photographic film business – has filed for bankruptcy. in ‘the Corinthians’, a photo book more than 200 Kodachrome photographs have been brought together as a lasting reminder of the film stock of the last century.

the first Kodak camera came loaded and cost twenty five dollars in 1889

odak an early K an holds ld with the film m o w A so as 1895 hich was camera w camera w aded. the entire lm processing lo already the factory for fi returned to

news Desk Fashion designer Waseem Noor has launched his latest bridal dresses and jewellery collection at his flagship store in Lahore. Waseem Noor jewellery collection consists of formal elegant designs that can be worn at weddings or other formal fuctions whereas the bridal collection includes heavily embellished dresses that are crafted on wedding themes such as the mehndi ceremony.

Amir Mazhar of Savvy PR and Events organised the launch of Waseem Noor Jewellery and Bridal Collection.

The event was attended by many noted celebs, including fashion designer Saim Ali who appreciated this latest prêt line.

Ranbir, Deepika's

piano connection MuMBAI: they dated, parted and partied together again. Ranbir and deepika, who have done the full relationship arc, now seem to have hit a new, and more affectionate note. At one of the many parties that seem to bump into each other these days, the former lovers struck up a cordial conversation, during which deepika revealed that she was taking a keen interest in music. in fact, deepika reportedly told Ranbir, that she intended to take lessons on the piano. the next morning, when the bell rang at deepika's sprawling Prabhadevi apartment, there was a very special delivery waiting for her. it was a piano. while there are no points for guessing who engineered the very special surprise, we can tell you, it is a good time to sign up for the tutor's position. deepika's slender fingers, confident with a racket, are still discovering the keys to the musical world. AGeNCIeS

wistful dog, 1970

Big B-Akon

1980s A 'free Kodak film' sandwich board in New york

live concert in March MuMBAI: Bollywood icon Amitabh Bachchan and international pop star Akon are all set to jam together for a peace concert to be held first in mumbai and then in New york. And musician Aadesh Shrivatasva is the one who is making it all possible. Aadesh says, “that`s the plan i’ve quietly been executing.”

Aadesh plans to fly to the US early in february to finalise Akon for the concert to be held in mumbai in march. the music composer is quite confident of pulling it off. He says, “there’s no reason why it won’t happen. the cause is big. And both Amitji and Akon believe in it.” Aadesh’s album ‘Anthem of Peace’ is message-oriented album on global peace. even as Big B tweets, “music for Peace .. working on it with Aadesh for Concert!” Aadesh says, “i believe the message of peace would be far more effective through Amitji’s voice. when he talks, everyone listens. when he sings, the world sings with him. As for Akon, he is my friend and collaborator for anything i want him for.” Hail Aadesh’s role to bring two most influential being to promote world peace. ZeeNewS

ph a photogra irl taking 1920s A g

of a dog

4 June 2002 A policeman takes a picture with a Kodak disposable camera outside Buckingham Palace on the final day of Queen elizabeth's golden jubilee bank holiday weekend

LoS ANGeLeS: Angelina Jolie has reportedly told friends that she is expecting a baby again and is into the first trimester of pregnancy, sources revealed. the 35-year-old and her 48year-old partner Brad Pitt already raise six children together. the A-list couple has been dropping hints for weeks about wanting another baby and friends told oK! magazine their new bundle of joy is on the way. “it's not something she wants to officially announce but she's at a point where she is telling a select group of people.

Angelina is really savouring every moment. She's having a tough time with morning sickness but says it's all worth it,” the mirror quoted a source as saying. Angelina turned heads on Sunday in her elegant Versace gown at the golden globes - with no sign of a baby bump. the demands of pregnancy will, however, force the screen beauty to relax the eating regime that keeps her ultra-sleek.

“Because Angelina sees so much starvation up close, it's always hard for her to indulge in food,” a pal said. the ‘Salt’ star has already begun decorating for the new arrival to their brood. “Angelina has cleared out her bedroom and redone it in white. She wants it to have a zen-like feeling because she believes in the mindbody connection and wants her mind at peace,” a friend said. AGeNCIeS

ISB 20-01-2012_Layout 1 1/20/2012 12:41 AM Page 15

15 What is this ‘Artist’ movie that's winning all the awards?

CAlifoRNiA: (l-R) marc Anthony, Jennifer lopez and Jamie King attend a press event for their new show ‘Q'ViVA! tHe CHoSeN’. afp

Adele joins ‘Titanic’ in her 16-week chart reign Los AngeLes ReuTeRS

New yoRK: Actor Justin Bartha and actress elizabeth Banks attend the Cinema Society and Blackberry Bold screening after party for ‘Haywire’. afp

18 march 1947 A tiny mB camera (no larger than its namesake, a matchbox). eastman Kodak designed and built 1,000 of these cameras for use by oSS agents and underground forces during world war

British singer Adele’s multi-platinum selling album ‘21’ scored its 16th week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 album chart on Wednesday, entering an elite list of only five albums to cross the that mark in the past 20 years. ‘21’, which has been selling more than 100,000 copies each week for 33 weeks, joined the ranks of the soundtrack to the 1997 box-office phenomenon ‘Titanic’, Whitney Houston’s soundtrack to 1992 film, ‘The Bodyguard’, country crooner Garth Brooks’ ‘Ropin’ The Wind’ and Billy Ray Cyrus’ ‘Some Gave All’, also in 1992, all of which crossed 16 weeks at No. 1. Recently disbanded Christian rock group David Crowder Band made the highest chart debut this week at No. 2 with new album ‘Give Us Rest’, selling 50,000 copies. Irish alternative rock band Snow Patrol debuted their sixth studio album, ‘Fallen Empires’, at No. 5, following Black Keys’ ‘El Camino’ and Drake’s ‘Take Care’. Adele also snatched the top spot on the Digital Songs chart with ‘Set Fire to the Rain’ from last week’s No. 1, Jason Mraz’s ‘I Won’t Give Up’, which fell to No. 9.

Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt get

set

for baby no. 7!

• Like silent films from the early 20th century, the film is shot in a 4:3 aspect ratio, which means that the screen assumes the boxy outline of an old tele-

chromed in the lab.”

• It co-stars an awesome dog named Uggie.

• The Gallic team behind the

much about ‘The Artist’. It won a Best Picture prize at the Golden Globes this past weekend and is guaranteed to be one of the 5-10 Oscar best picture nominees when that list is announced next Tuesday, Feb. 26. The film, which has earned a mere $9.2 million domestically only opened on 4 screens in the US, later expanding to its current 216. Chances are, though, that you probably haven’t been able to see it. So what do you need to know before seeing the movie: • It’s silent. Duh! Everyone knows that, you say. Well, everyone does not know that.

As reported by The Telegraph, “a small number of refunds” were offered to unaware Brits. For those of you who have never seen a silent movie, this means that the people don’t talk and there are no sound effects (save for one or two scenes).

When people “talk,” the dialogue is presented in intertitles. The film does have a musical score, which we’ll mention later.

vision set, as opposed to the widescreen picture seen in today’s theatres.

• It’s in black and white.

Though that’s sort of fudged. It was “shot by cinematographer Guillaume Schiffman in colour and then mono-

film—director Michel Hazanavicius, Schiffman, composer Ludovic Bource and human stars Jean Dujardin and Berenice Bejo—have previously worked together on a pair of French spy spoofs.

• The film was shot in Los Angeles at a series of locations with Hollywood resonance: the Orpheum and Los Angeles theatres, the Bradbury Building (famous from several noir thrillers, Chinatown and as the gloomy setting for the end of Blade Runner), and even the former home of early film star Mary Pickford.

• The film’s soundtrack is an expert pastiche of silent cinema film scores, save for one section in which a huge chunk of Bernard Herrmann’s ‘Vertigo’ love theme is used to telegraph emotion during the film’s climactic scene. It’s one of the cinema’s most memorable pieces of film music, so it sticks out in a fairly obvious way.

So go forth and watch this black and white silent film. Don’t be afraid. You’re not going to fall asleep, trust us.

Iranian actress banned from returning home after posing nude in french magazine news Desk

8 Jan 2007 the Kodak eASySHARe V1003 zoom 10.0 mega pixel digital cameras are showcased at the international Consumer electronics Show in las Vegas

I

f you’ve paid even passing attention to end of the year lists/Academy Award prognostications, you’ve heard

An actress who has starred with Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe has been banished from her home country of Iran - because she posed nude in a French news magazine, the Daily Mail reported on Thursday. Golshifteh Farahani says she has been contacted by the Iranian government, telling her that she is no longer welcome in the country and advising her not to return home. The offending photo - a black-andwhite 'art shot' featuring the 28-year-old Farahani posing against a black backdrop with her hands strategically placed over her breasts - was first published in Madame Le

Figaro. The image was then posted on her Facebook page, drawing visitors from around the world - including Iran and the Middle East. While many criticised her 'indecency', others praised her for 'the courage to remove a taboo among the women in Muslim countries'. Iran's anger at the image is not just because of Farahani's nudity - she has also made it known that her decision to pose is in protest against restrictive Islamic codes. Indeed, it is why the now-Paris-based actress left Iran last year. Farahani has had a mercurial relationship with her home country. She began acting in theatre at the age of six and her first film, ‘The Pear Tree’, earned the

Man sues LiLo over role in

death of Osama Bin Laden LoS ANGeLeS: lindsay lohan has reportedly been served with a lawsuit by a man who believes that she played a role in the death of osama Bin laden. the man named thomas A. green also alleges that the actress “might be a high end prostitute”. green, who says he is a former U.S marine, claims that he spoke to lohan on facebook after she contacted him about an online business he was setting up. tmz.com claims to have obtained a copy of the lawsuit in which green is attempting to sue the actress for ‘engaging in unfair business practices’, with his representative serving lindsay with the lawsuit as she walked into her probationary hearing court on tuesday, the mirror reported. in the suit, green apparently writes that he questioned lindsay until she revealed a conspiracy about the death of Bin laden. “(thomas) set out to command (lohan) to twitter and stated if (lohan) acknowledges this is an osoma Bin ladden op all civilians in past wrong doing will receive clemency,” the lawsuit read. AGeNCIeS

then 14-year-old the Best Actress award at Iran's annual Fajr Film Festival. She immediately became a leading actress in her home country, yet her performance in the 2007 film ‘Santoori’ has never been seen in Iran and is still banned. She starred in ‘M For Mother’, which after a huge success in Iran was chosen to represent Iran for the Best Foreign Film at the Academy Awards in 2008. Farahani's role as a nurse in Ridley Scott's ‘Body of Lies’ made her the first Iranian to act in a major Hollywood film.

As a result she was banned from leaving Iran, and - now that she has left the country and is living in Paris - she appears to be banned from returning.

Don 2

to be screened at Berlin Film Fest

MuMBAI: Shah Rukh Khan's ‘don 2’ will be screened at the 62nd Berlin international film festival, to be held from february 9-19. the movie will have a mainstream release in germany, with a dubbed version in german. Along with Shah

Rukh, Priyanka Chopra and director farhan Akhtar too, will attend the screening. “it is an honour and a privilege for us to have our movie screened on an international platform,” producer Ritesh Sidhwani said in a statement. AGeNCIeS

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16 Foreign News

friday, 20 January, 2012

NAto chief worried by Russia’s Kaliningrad build-up ViLniUs AfP

NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen on Thursday urged Russia to refrain from building up its military near the alliance’s borders, saying it was a concern for the 28-nation organisation.

Rasmussen questioned Russian moves to bolster its forces in its Kaliningrad territory, which borders NATO members Lithuania and Poland, part of Moscow’s Cold War-era stamping ground.

“These Russian statements are of course a matter of concern for NATO allies,” he told reporters in Lithuania’s capital Vilnius. “It is a complete waste of Russian financial resources, because it is a buildup of offensive military capacities directed against an artificial enemy, an enemy that doesn’t exist,” he said.

“NATO has no intention whatsoever to attack Russia,” he added, speaking alongside Lithuania’s President Dalia Grybauskaite. Moscow has warned that it plans to deploy Iskander missiles in Kaliningrad, and earlier this month, Russian media reported that an S-400 Triumph anti-aircraft missile system would go into service there in April.

Russia repeatedly has said it will be forced to take additional measures if it fails to agree with NATO on a missile defence shield.

NATO powerhouse the United States insists a shield is needed against potential threats from Iran, but Russia counters that anti-missile facilities planned in Poland would undermine its own security.

Rasmussen said it was time for a reality check. “It doesn’t make sense to build up offensive military capacities in the Kaliningrad region. I would encourage the Russians to face a new reality, we are not enemies, we are not adversaries, we should be partners and it would be of mutual benefit if we develop peaceful cooperation,” he said.

libya number two flees protest in uprising cradle BengHAZi AfP

The deputy head of Libya’s National Transitional Council was manhandled by protesters on Thursday in the cradle of the uprising that ousted Moamer Kadhafi last year, witnesses said.

Abdelhafiz Ghoga, who also serves as official spokesman for the interim government, had to be escorted away after being mobbed by angry students at the the University of Ghar Yunis in Libya’s second-largest city Benghazi, the NTC’s wartime base.

Ghoga escaped unharmed from the assault but had to endure a tirade of abuse from the protesters who accused him of opportunism because of his belated defection from Kadhafi regime, the witnesses said. Students have been demonstrating on the Ghar Yunis campus for weeks to protest against the perceived lack of transparency of the administration that took over after Kadhafi’s ouster and the prominent position in it of a number of his longtime lieutenants.

KANDAHAR: uS soldiers inspect the site of a suicide attack near the gate of Kandahar international airport on Thursday. afp

Suicide attack kills seven at Afghan airport Bomber rams car into iSAf vehicles as they were leaving the first entry point to the vast airport complex g

kAnDAHAr

A

AfP

suicide bomber killed at least seven people and wounded eight Thursday in an attack at Kandahar international airport in war-torn southern Afghanistan, officials said.

Women and children were among the casualties and pools of blood and body parts were scattered around the burned-out wreckage of six vehicles at the scene of the attack, an AFP reporter said. Witnesses said two of the vehicles belonged to NATO special forces, but a spokesman for the International Security Assistance Force said there were no ISAF casualties and he had no information that military vehicles were involved.

“Seven civilians, including two children, were killed in today’s suicide attack. Eight civilians including two children and one woman, have been injured in the blast,” provincial spokesman, Zalmay Ayobi, told AFP. Witnesses said the bomber tried to ram his Toyota sedan into ISAF cars as they were leaving the first entry point to the vast airport complex, which has both military and civilian sections.

The Taliban, the militia leading a 10-year insurgency against the Afghan government and tens of thousands of NATO troops, claimed responsibility.

Spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmadi told AFP the target was “the bulletproof vehicles of foreign forces”.

The army commander for southern Afghanistan, General Hamid Wardak, said the attack was “on foreign special forces at the entrance gate of Kandahar international airport”.

The Taliban, toppled in late 2001 in a US-led invasion, are fighting national troops and a US-led foreign force of some 130,000 troops deployed to the impoverished and war-ravaged country. The Islamic hardliners announced earlier this month that they planned to set up a political office in Qatar, widely seen as a move towards peace negotiations with Washington and its Western allies.

They said this did not mean they had surrendered in the war against coalition forces but that they would use their political wing alongside their military to achieve their aims.

A key US demand for any progress in negotiations is that the Taliban abandon violence.

Kandahar is the spiritual capital of the Taliban and southern Afghanistan is a key battleground that

continues to see persistent violence despite a surge of US troops in 2010 and 2011. In neighbouring Helmand province on Wednesday, two attacks just hours apart killed 16 people and wounded more than 20 others.

A suicide bomber on a motorcycle killed 10 civilians and two policemen in the first attack at a bazaar, while an intelligence official was among the dead in a second blast caused by a mine, which was claimed by the Taliban. General John Allen, commander of NATO’s International Security Assistance Force, said that those attacks showed that “(Taliban leader) Mullah Omar has lost all control over Taliban insurgents”.

“Otherwise he would immediately denounce these attacks and order his ‘forces’ to stop attacking innocent Afghan civilians,” Allen said.

“This latest act of violence further confirms that the insurgency has declared outright war on the people of Afghanistan and will stop at nothing to continue to use terrorism and intimidation to advance their own malign and selfish ends.” The United Nations said the number of civilians killed in violence in Afghanistan rose by 15 percent in the first six months of last year to 1,462, with insurgents blamed for 80 percent of the killings.

Protests grip maldives amid standoff with judges CoLoMBo AfP

Hundreds of protestors have taken to the streets in the Maldivian capital Male amid a standoff between President Mohamed Nasheed and the judiciary, officials and residents said Thursday. Antigovernment activists demonstrated overnight keeping up pressure on Nasheed who initiated the arrest Monday of the head of the country’s criminal court on charges of misconduct and favouring opposition figures. A senior figure in the opposition Dhivehi Qaumee Party (DQP), Mohamed Jameel, was also re-arrested on Wednesday as police investigate him and the party for allegedly spreading hatespeech, DQP leader Hassan Saeed told AFP. The government has accused Jameel, a former justice minister, of making public remarks that Nasheed was working under the influence of “Jews” and “Christian priests” to weaken Islam in the Maldives. “Hundreds of people staged demonstrations early this morning, but there were no fresh arrests,” a government official in Male, who asked not to be named, said when contacted by telephone. The government on Wednesday raised fears of Islamic extremism taking hold in the Indian Ocean atoll nation, which is best known for its upmarket tourism and as a destination for honeymooners. The foreign ministry said it said it was “extremely concerned” by an increase in extremist rhetoric used by the government’s rivals that could lead to “stigmatization, stereotyping and incitement to religious violence and hatred”.

Britain used fake rock to spy on Russia, ex-official admits LonDon AfP

A former British official has admitted for the first time that Britain was responsible for a James Bond-style spy plot involving a fake rock in Moscow that contained electronic equipment.

Russia accused British diplomats six years ago of using the bizarre scheme to send and receive electronic messages, a charge London had until now denied.

But Jonathan Powell, chief of staff to then-prime minister Tony Blair, told the BBC that Russia had used the incident to

bring in a law to crack down on foreign non-governmental organisations.

“There’s not much you can say. The spy rock was embarrassing,” Powell said in a programme to be broadcast by the BBC on Thursday.

“They had us bang to rights. “Clearly they had known about it for some time and had been saving it up for a political purpose.” Russian television had in January 2006 broadcast footage of what it said was a British agent picking up a fake rock in a Moscow street.

It showed a transmitter hidden inside the rock and said it had been used by

British diplomats to pass messages.

Russia’s security service, the FSB, then alleged that Britain was making covert payments to pro-democracy and human rights groups.

Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin, the country’s president at the time, introduced a law shortly afterwards restricting all foreign funding to NGOs. A spokesman for Britain’s foreign ministry told AFP that the government did not have any inappropriate relationships with Russian NGOs. “But we don’t comment on intelligence matters or individual cases,” he added.

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friday, 20 January, 2012

Foreign News 17

Iran has never tried to close oil supply route: foreign minister g

Salehi says washington should be willing to hold talks with tehran with no preconditions AnkArA

I

Ali Akbar Salehi

AfP

ran’s Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi on Thursday denied Tehran had ever tried to close the Strait of Hormuz, the vital shipping route at the centre of increasing international tension.

“Iran has never in its history tried to prevent, to put any obstacles in the way of this important maritime route,” he said in an interview with NTV television during a visit to Turkey.

Iran threatened in December to close the narrow and strategic waterway

— a chokepoint for one fifth of the world’s traded oil — in the event of a military strike or the severe tightening of international sanctions.

That set up a tense standoff with the United States which sent a second aircraft carrier to the region as Tehran announced new naval maneuvers in the Strait within the next few weeks.

“We want peace and stability in the region ... But the Americans ... want to run certain countries from our zone,” Salehi added. “I appeal to all the countries of the region, please don’t let yourself be drawn into a dangerous position.” Washington should be willing

to hold talks with Tehran with no preconditions, he said.

Iran’s military in 1987 and 1988 laid mines in the waters of the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf to make the channel hazardous for oil tankers from Iraq, with which it was at war. In April 1988, a US warship struck one of the mines and nearly sank. The US military subsequently launched Operation Preying Mantis, destroying two Iranian oil platforms and several vessels. Mines left over from that conflict, and from the 19901991 Iraqi occupation of Kuwait, were being picked up in the coastal waters in the northern Gulf up to a decade later.

British Pm pledges to build ‘fairer’ economy LonDon AfP

British Prime Minister David Cameron pledged Thursday to build a “fairer” economy which hands power to individuals and prevents excesses that contributed towards the global financial crisis. Cameron, addressing a press conference in central London, said the current global debt storm provided a crucial platform for reform to create a “socially responsible and genuinely popular capitalism.” The premier added that his Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government would cap bonuses for the majority of workers at state-owned banks at £2,000 ($3,100, 2,400 euros) for a second year running.

“While our economic challenge starts with dealing with our debts and achieving growth, it mustn’t end there,” Cameron told reporters. “We must aim higher than just coping with the storms that are affecting the international economy.

“I believe that out of this current adversity we must aim to build a better economy, one that is truly fair and worthwhile,” Cameron said.

The Conservative leader gave little policy detail but said he would introduce simplified legislation for the creation of cooperatives, in an attempt to boost employee and customer involvement in businesses. The coalition will also introduce new anti-abuse rules to make it harder for big businesses to avoid paying their fair share of tax.

Syria forces kill four top activists niCosiA AfP

Syrian security forces killed four leading pro-democracy activists in an ambush in northwestern Idlib province on Thursday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The activists, who had gone into hiding with armed opponents of the Damascus government, were shot dead in the Zawiya hills close to the border with Turkey, the Britainbased watchdog said, without immediately releasing their names.

Elsewhere, one civilian was killed and seven others wounded during shelling of Bab Hud, a neighbourhood of the flashpoint central city of Homs, said the Observatory. In the eastern protest hub of Deir Ezzor, the body of a young man arrested after being shot during an antiregime protest was found. Government troops shot and wounded a soldier who tried to defect at a security checkpoint in Dael, in the restive southern province of Daraa, said the watchdog. The Observatory said security forces killed 13 civilians on Wednesday, adding to a UN estimate of more than 5,400 people who have died since March.

ISTANBuL: Thousands of Turkish people march to the offices of Armenian newspaper ‘Agos’ during a commemoration ceremony for slain journalist Hrant Din on Thursday. Dink, one of the most prominent voices of Turkey’s shrinking Armenian community, was killed by a gunman on January 19, 2007. afp

india book fest reaches out to muslims over Rushdie JAiPUr AfP

Organisers of India’s Jaipur Literature Festival met with Muslim groups on Thursday seeking an agreement to enable author Salman Rushdie to speak at the event after protests against his work.

Several Muslim leaders have called for Rushdie to be banned from attending the festival due to lingering anger over his 1988 book “The Satanic Verses”, which was alleged to have insulted the religion of Islam.

He had been due to appear at the first day of the festival on Friday, but his name was dropped from the schedule over fears for his security.

“We had a meeting today with different Muslim organisations,” festival producer Sanjoy Roy told reporters in Jaipur. “We presented our point of view and we heard their point of view.”

Roy confirmed that Rushdie would not be at the start of the five-day event, a free annual fair that attracts tens of thousands of Indian and foreign book fans, but added that he hoped Rushdie would attend at some stage.

Rushdie, a British citizen who was born in Mumbai, spent a decade in hiding after Iranian spiritual leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa in 1989 calling for his death over “The Satanic Verses”.

The row over Rushdie appearing at the festival was triggered by demands from the influential Darululoom Deoband seminary in northern India that he should be kept out of the country.

Roy gave no further details about Thursday’s discussions but said that the Jaipur organising committee was determined to uphold the principle of free speech. “First and foremost, we stand for the freedom of expression,” he said. “The festival has always stood by issues of minority communities and other religions. “This is a platform where we allow for free speech as long as it is done in a peaceful and democratic way.”

Political leaders in Rajasthan state, of which Jaipur is the capital, said they had been lobbied by Muslim groups opposed to Rushdie’s visit, which would pose a major security challenge amid the dispute. “Representatives of some Muslim organisations met us and appraised of their feelings and objections,” Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot said. “I wouldn’t like any untoward happening, and we will ensure it.” The Jaipur festival, which Rushdie attended without incident in 2007, has mushroomed in recent years into a major literary, business and social occasion in the Indian calendar. Among the speakers this year are biologist and author Richard Dawkins, Indian bestselling novelist Chetan Bhagat and US television star Oprah Winfrey.

Jude Law among new UK hacking settlements: lawyers LonDon AfP

Hollywood star Jude Law is among 19 new victims of phone hacking by Britain’s News of the World tabloid who have received payouts from Rupert Murdoch’s media empire, their lawyers said Thursday.

Former British deputy premier John Prescott and Chelsea footballer Ashley Cole were also among the claimants whose settlements, totaling tens of thousands of pounds each, were confirmed at the High Court in London.

Law, the star of “Alfie”, was paid £130,000 ($200,000, 156,000 euros), his lawyer said. Lawyers said Murdoch’s empire has now settled a total of 36 compensation claims arising from the hacking scandal, which led to the closure of the News of the World in July and embroiled the police and the government.

Mark Thomson, a lawyer for some of the victims, said the claimants had been “extremely brave to take on and succeed

against a massive and influential multinational media organisation.”

“They can take the credit for triggering the new police investigation, the parliamentary inquiries and the Leveson Inquiry. They should be very pleased with what they have achieved,” he added. He said the majority of people pursuing damages claims had now settled with News Group Newspapers, the publisher of the News of the World, but that others would press ahead with a trial scheduled for next month.

Other settlements confirmed Thursday were Jude Law’s ex-wife Sadie Frost, Australian singer Dannii Minogue, and Welsh rugby player Gavin Henson, the ex-husband of singer Charlotte Church.

Jude Law and the other victims were not in court for the announcement.

News International, the parent company News Group and British newspaper arm of Murdoch’s US-based News Corporation, has set up a compensation scheme for victims of phone hacking in a bid to avoid further costly civil lawsuits.

Among those it settled last year were those by British actress Sienna Miller, Law’s ex-girlfriend, who reportedly received £100,000, and James Hewitt, the former lover of Diana, Princess of Wales.

It has also made a payout of £2 million ($3.1 million, 2.4 million euros) to the family of murdered British schoolgirl Milly Dowler, while Murdoch made a personal donation of £1 million to charities chosen by her family.

Revelations that the News of the World hacked her phone caused public outrage when they emerged in July last year, turning the long-simmering issue into a major public scandal.

Prime Minister David Cameron launched the Leveson Inquiry into the ethics of the press which has heard from a string of hacking victims and media figures in recent months.

Police have arrested several people including Andy Coulson, a former News of the World editor and media chief for Cameron, and former News International boss Rebekah Brooks.

Jude Law

Allegations that police were too close to Murdoch’s papers also claimed the scalps of Scotland Yard’s top officer and another senior policeman.

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Kvitova struggles as Serena, Sharapova cruise Page 20

Pakistan thrash the world’s best JAZZ CuP

dUBAi: Umar gul (l) celebrates with his teammate Abdul Rehman (R) the dismissal of Jonathan trott. afp DUBAi AfP

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ACEMAN Umar Gul took 4-63 to help Pakistan beat the world's best Test team, England, by 10 wickets in the first Test inside three days here on Thursday, gaining a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.

The 27-year-old fast bowler dismissed Andrew Strauss (six) before lunch and then accounted for Alastair Cook (five) and Kevin Pietersen (nought) in his hostile nine-over first spell on a spin-friendly Dubai Stadium pitch. Spinners Abdul Rehman (3-37) and Saeed Ajmal (3-42) -- his second 10-wicket haul in Tests -- supplemented Gul to help Pakistan bundle out England for 160.

Pakistan notched the required 15 runs in 3.4 overs to hand England their first defeat in 10 Tests, since losing to Australia at Perth in the 2010 Ashes. England's batsmen, wrecked by Ajmal's career-best 7-55 in their first innings of 192, were again clueless against the spin and played some rash shots as they sought to score runs on the pace of Gul. Jonathan Trott top-scored with 49, but fell to an irresponsible shot, trying to force a

short delivery from Gul and being caught by wicket-keeper Adnan Akmal, who finished the match with seven catches. Trott, who passed the boundary of 2,000 runs when he reached 18 in his 24th Test, hit six boundaries during his 111-ball knock but became Gul's 150th wicket in his 41st Test.

Pakistan skipper Misbah-ul Haq admitted he had not expected to win so comfortably. "We didn't expect that it would come so easily," he said. "Ajmal put us in a strong position with his seven wickets in the first innings and we batted well to take a good lead." Strauss expressed frustration over his side's abject surrender.

"Obviously it's disappointing to lose in this manner," he said. "We lost five early wickets and it's disappointing to bat like this but we are not going to press the panic button and will show resilience in the second match." England had another disastrous start as Strauss was adjudged caught behind, pushing Gul to the leg side and seeing the ensuing edge well taken by the wicket-keeper. Strauss instantly challenged the verdict but was left to trudge off the field after television umpire Steve Davis of Australia upheld the

dUBAi: Saeed Ajmal celebrates after dismissing graeme Swann (not in picture) as James Anderson turns away. REUtERS

original decision. Soon after the lunch break, Gul produced a sharp rising delivery that caught Cook in two minds as the left-hander gloved it to Adnan, who had no trouble in gathering it. Kevin Pietersen, who has yet to score big on tour, made it 25-3 when he hooked a Gul bouncer straight into the hands of deep square-leg fielder Abdul Rehman, leaving England in more trouble at 25-3.

Ajmal then got in on the act when he trapped Ian Bell plumb in front of the wicket for four. Bell wasted England's second referral as television replays showed he was hit on the back leg, in line with the stumps.

Rehman ended a fifth-wicket partnership of 39 by dismissing Eoin Morgan (14) caught behind, while Ajmal trapped Matt Prior to leave England at 87-7.

Stuart Broad (17) and Graeme Swann (39) delayed the inevitable by putting on 48 for the eighth wicket before Rehman dismissed Broad and Chris Tremlett off successive deliveries. Ajmal took the last wicket by getting Swann caught, much to the delight of his team-mates and the few hundred people in the stands. In the morning, Adnan had boosted Pakistan's lead with a gutsy

SCoReBoARD eNGLAND, 1st innings: 192 (M. Prior 70, G. Swann 34; Saeed Ajmal 7-55) PAKISTAN, 1st innings: (overnight 288-7) 88 Mohammad Hafeez lbw b Swann 58 Taufiq umar b Broad Azhar Ali c Prior b Broad 1 Younis Khan lbw b Trott 37 Misbah-ul Haq lbw b Swann 52 Asad Shafiq c Prior b Anderson 16 Adnan Akmal st Prior b Swann 61 4 Abdul Rehman b Anderson 0 umar Gul c Morgan b Broad Saeed Ajmal c Cook b Swann 12 Aizaz Cheema not out 0 eXTRAS: (b2, lb5, nb2) 9 338 ToTAL: fall of wickets: 1-114 (umar), 2-128 (Ali), 3-176 (Hafeez), 4-202 (Younis), 5-231 (Shafiq), 6-283 (Misbah), 7-288 (Rehman), 8-289 (Gul), 9-319 (Ajmal) BowLING: Anderson 30-7-71-2, Tremlett 21-6-53-0 (nb1), Broad 31-8-84-3 (nb1), Swann 29.5-3-107-4, Trott 8-2-16-1 overs: 119.5 eNGLAND, 2nd innings: 6 A. Strauss c Adnan b Gul A. Cook c Adnan b Gul 5

J. Trott c Adnan b Gul 49 K. Pietersen c Rehman b Gul 0 I. Bell lbw b Ajmal 4 e. Morgan c Adnan b Rehman 14 M. Prior lbw b Ajmal 4 17 S. Broad c Shafiq b Rehman 39 G. Swann c Shafiq b Ajmal C. Tremlett c Hafeez b Rehman 0 J. Anderson not out 15 eXTRAS: (b4, lb1, nb2) 7 160 ToTAL: fall of wickets: 1-6 (Strauss), 2-25 (Cook), 3-25 (Pietersen), 435 (Bell), 5-74 (Morgan), 6-87 (Trott), 7-87 (Prior), 8-135 (Broad), 9-135 (Tremlett) BowLING: Gul 19-5-63-4 (nb2), Cheema 7.2-1-9-0, Hafeez 2-04-0, Ajmal 17.3-4-42-3, Rehman 12-2-37-3 overs: 57.5 PAKISTAN, 2nd innings: 15 Mohammad Hafeez not out Taufiq umar not out 0 15 ToTAL: (for no loss) BowLING: Anderson 2-1-7-0, Broad 1.4-0-8-0 overs: 3.4 Result: Pakistan won by 10 wickets Toss: england, umpires: Billy Bowden (NZL) and Bruce oxenford (AuS), TV umpire: Steve Davis (AuS) Match referee: Javagal Srinath (IND) Second Test: January 25-29, Abu Dhabi.

second Test half-century. Adnan scored a career-best 61, adding another 50 runs after Pakistan resumed at 288-7. Adnan, who hit eight boundaries during his 129ball knock, put on a 30-run stand for the ninth wicket with Ajmal, who made 12. His

previous best of 53 came against Bangladesh in Dhaka last month. Swann had Adnan stumped to finish with figures of 4-107. The second Test starts in Abu Dhabi from January 25, while the third will again be played here from February 3-7.

Afridi hits jackpot in Bangladesh auction DHAkA AfP

Pakistani all-rounder Shahid Afridi was the most expensive of a host of international stars sold at the inaugural auction for the new Bangladesh Premier League on Thursday as he fetched $700,000.

The former Pakistani captain hit the jackpot in a secret bidding process after he became the target of all six teams in the Twenty20 cricket tournament to be held next month.

"Shahid Afridi was bought for $700,000 dollars, the highest in the BPL auction, by our team Dhaka Gladiators," team spokesman Minhaz Khan told AFP. Hard-hitting West Indies batsman Chris Gayle was sold to Barisal Burners for $551,100 and his compatriot Marlon Samuels to Duronto Rajshahi for $360,000, according to live telecast by private Channel 9 Television.

The BPL is the Bangladeshi answer to Indian Premier League (IPL), which revolutionised cricket when it burst on to the scene in 2008 with a high-octane blend of international star play-

Uncle twenty20 drives cricket fans in UAe DUBAi AfP

dUBAi: Shahid Afridi (R) as he warms up with teammates during a practice session at the dubai Cricket Stadium in the gulf emirate. afp ers, Twenty20 matches and celebrity glamour.

West Indian Kieron Pollard was sold to Dhaka for $300,000 and Bangladeshi all-rounder Nasir Hossain for $200,000 to Khulna. Ex-Pakistani captain Shoaib Malik and West Indies batsman Dwayne Bravo each landed $150,000.

Seventeen foreign players were put on auction with a base price of $100,000 including Sri Lankan greats Muttiah Muralitharan and Chaminda Vaas, New Zealander Scott Styris and Zimbabwe captain Brendan Taylor.

Ex-Australian Stuart MacGill was one of 36 players auctioned with a base price of $50,000. The

leggie was sold to Dhaka at the base price.

Indian company Game On bought the rights of the first six editions of BPL for around $44 million dollars last year. Six franchises were bought by Bangladeshi companies with a minimum price of one million dollars.

Zaman Khan is fast becoming the face of cricket in the United Arab Emirates during international matches as he waves a green and white Pakistan flag to make his country's players feel at home away from home. The 54-year-old from Hafizabad in the central Punjab province in Pakistan is a chauffeur in Dubai and has not missed a single match ever since Pakistan was forced to play here due to security fears back home. On grounds, Zaman drives the fans crazy, chanting slogans for his players. His big moustaches he grows every time a match approaches make him recognizable in every stand he sits. "It is great fun," Zaman told AFP. "I love watching cricket and people around me love my attire, the flag, my moustache and my slogans, so I am happy to have this double enjoyment -- watching cricket and getting popular." Cricket had been a childhood interest for Zaman. His native town, in the Gujranwala district, was known for its export quality rice but the sprawling fields were mainly used for a game of village cricket by youth. "I used to play a lot of cricket," remembers Zaman. "Once television came to my village I used to watch cricket for hours and then I got a chance to attend a few games in Lahore before I came here for a living." Once Pakistan was forced to play its home series on neutral venues, Zaman along with his friends started to take time off to watch his team play. "It is deplorable that we can't hold our cricket in our homeland and problems in Pakistan also make us expatriates sad, but the plus point is that a lot of people here who have nothing for entertainment got the chance of their lives," said Zaman. And Zaman relishes the prospect of sitting besides Pakistan's most popular fan Sufi Abdul Jalil, famous as Uncle Cricket -- or Chacha Cricket in Urdu -- who is also touring here for Pakistan-England Tests and limited over matches.

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Kamran to play in Bd to regain place in team

Spot-fixing scandal made the team stronger LAHore STAff RePoRT

Pakistan’s former captain and coach Waqar Younis feels that the spot-fixing scandal and other controversies, which hit Pakistan cricket in 2010, only made the players stronger and is a one of the major reason for the team's consistent performance in the last 18 months.

Waqar, who stepped down as the head coach of the Pakistan team last September after the tour to Zimbabwe due to personal and health reasons, said the players have responded well to all the criticism. "I am really proud of them the

LAHore STAff RePoRT

Discarded Pakistan wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal has decided to skip Pentangular Cup - one of the country's premier domestic events - in order to regain his place in the national team. Kamran got permission to skip the Pentangular Cup tournament that began at different venues in Pakistan and play in Bangladesh Premier League in order to regain his place in the national team.

Dropped from the Pakistan team after the 2011 World Cup, Kamran said he had opted out of the Punjab team. "I have got clearance from the Pakistan board as I feel by playing in overseas events I have better chances of making a comeback and also keeping in touch with international cricket," Kamran said. In contrast former captain, Shoaib Malik has returned from Bangladesh to play in the Pentangular Cup in order to convince the selectors that he can still contribute to the national team. "I wanted to play in the Pentangular Cup and prove my form to the selectors because I want to revive my Pakistan career as soon as possible and I know I have a lot of cricket left in me," he said. Malik, who has been included in the Punjab team, was playing in the Bangladesh 50-over league before deciding he wanted to return home for the domestic event. The Pentangular Cup is a first class tournament played between the four provinces and the Federal areas team. The PCB in order to ensure that top players take part in the competition have only agreed to issue conditional NOCs to players interested in playing in the cash rich Bangladesh Premier League next month. Number of Pakistani players including Mohammad Sami, Shahzaib Hasan have been playing in the Bangladesh 50-over league this month but have returned home for the domestic event.

Sri lanka shakes up cricket after poor run CoLoMBo AfP

Sri Lanka shook up the domestic cricket scene Thursday by appointing a new panel to choose future players, following the national team's abysmal performance during their current tour of South Africa. Sports minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage named a fourmember panel of selectors headed by Asantha de Mel, a former national player, and gave them one year to put the team in order, his spokesman said. "The minister made the appointment for a period of one year and they will be entrusted with selecting the national team and suggesting ways to improve overall performance," Harsha Abeykoon said.

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way they have responded to all the criticism and skepticism that has come their way following the spot-fixing scandal," said Waqar while commenting in a television interview on Pakistan’s win against England. "After the spot-fixing scandal and controversies, I thought the players were determined to show everyone what Pakistan cricket is all about.

"I felt they realised that the only way to respond to the crisis was to perform well and let the results speak for themselves. It is not that this team has been doing well in recent months, it has been performing consistently well for the last 18 months," he added.

The former pacer also said the fact that Pak-

Misbah, Strauss surprised at England capitulation

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desperate PCB out to convince B’desh to tour Pakistan LAHore

DUBAi

STAff RePoRT

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The PCB has sent its chief operating officer to Dhaka to push the Bangladesh Cricket Board to go ahead with its tour to Pakistan in April. After some unusual delay on part of the Bangladesh board to give dates to the PCB for the visit of its security delegation to Pakistan, the PCB has sent COO Subhan Ahmad to meet with BCB officials. "The main purpose is to send someone to go and personally express condolences with the BCB and family of Manzur Ahmed the chief executive of the BCB who expired this month," a board official said. But there is no doubt that the PCB is desperate to see some progress being made on its invitation to the BCB to send its team to Pakistan. Reports that some Bangladeshi players and the team's foreign staffs are reluctant about touring Pakistan because of security situation has also left the PCB worried. "Yes we do want to see some progress about the tour and the first step has to be the visit of the Bangladesh security delegation which was supposed to come to Pakistan this month," the official said. Reports said that Subhan will also be giving a detailed security plan to the BCB, which was prepared after the PCB met with interior minister, Rehman Malik, and other interior ministry and police officials. "We intend to show them the detailed security plan for the tour so that their apprehensions can be dealt with," PTI quoted a source as saying. No Test-playing nation has visited Pakistan since militants attacked the Sri Lankan team in March, 2009 in Lahore, killing six Pakistani policemen, a van driver and injuring some of the visiting players. PCB chief, Zaka Ashraf, has in recent days, said in the media that the security situation has improved in Pakistan and will improve further so it is time for the ICC and member countries to start sending teams to the country.

IVAL captains Misbah-ul Haq and Andrew Strauss showed surprise at England's capitulation which saw them lose the first Test against Pakistan by ten wickets here on Thursday. Pakistan, led by paceman Umar Gul (4-63) and spinners Abdul Rehman (3-37) and Saeed Ajmal (342), wrapped up England's second innings at 160 before notching the required 15 runs for a win with two days to spare at Dubai Stadium.

Ajmal took a career best 7-55 to rock England for a paltry 192 in the first innings. Pakistan scored 338 to take a decisive 146-run lead. And the manner of victory surprised Misbah.

"Obviously we were not expecting it would finish so early, but I guess all the credit goes to the bowlers. No team would have expected such a victory against the world number one," said the Pakistan captain. The victory gave Pakistan a 1-0 lead in the three-Test series. The second Test will start in Abu Dhabi from January 25. It also gave Misbah seven wins in 13 Tests as captain since taking over in October 2010.

"We are trying to be one of the best teams in the world, but I think it's still a long way to go, we have to just improve much more than this, and we are just on the right path," said the 37-yearold Pakistani captain. Misbah praised his bowlers. "It's a wonderful performance by our bowlers, they stuck to their task and it was total variations of Ajmal on which they made mistakes. It's a very big win for us which will increase our self confidence," said Misbah. The Pakistan captain however expects England to bounce straight back. "When

you are number one team there is something that makes you number one, they have good quality cricketers, they are fighters and they can really come hard on us," he added.

England captain Strauss said Pakistan surprised them after they won the toss and batted on day one. "We were caught off guard in the first session of the first day on a very flat wicket, from then on Pakistan was in front and never let us back into the game and you need to congratulate them for the way they played," said Strauss, who made only 19 and six. Strauss, under whom this is England's first defeat in ten Tests, pointed a finger at batsmen.

"Obviously we are disappointed by the way we batted in the both innings, primarily in the first innings because it was not a 50 for five wicket. So you need to learn some lessons from that and move forward. "The most important thing is not to be too carried away

by the result and obviously learn the lessons from that and make sure you don't make those mistakes again," said Strauss, who added that he was not worried about the number one ranking.

"This is not the time for us to be worrying about number one or anything like that. What we need to do is make sure we don't play this type of cricket we played in this game in the next Test and that is what our focus is on. "The feeling of disappointment is a good motivation to make sure that it does not happen again," said Strauss.

Strauss, whose team played the first Test since beating India in August last year, refused to agree England were under-prepared. "Our preparations were good so there was nothing in the back of our mind that we were undercooked or underprepared and to that extent we are all surprised by how things turned out. "But it has happened, it is done and finished."

Interpol head warns of London Olympic cheats LonDon ReuTeRS

This summer's London Olympics are at risk from athletes cheating at the behest of illegal betting syndicates trying to fix results or parts of competitions, the head of Interpol said Thursday.

Ronald Noble, general secretary of the French-based international police agency, said the prevalence of sports events being fixed suggested that the Olympic Games would also be targeted by gambling rings.

"I've got to believe since it's occurring so much in football and other sports we have reason to believe there is a risk of it occurring in the Olympics," Noble told reporters in London. "The president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC)has said that he and the Olympics should be concerned about irregular or illegal betting occurring in the context of the Olympics."

Noble's warning echoes that of British Olympics minister Hugh Robertson who said this month the integrity of the Games could be shattered by the "enormous" threat from those trying to fix results.

That prompted Betfair, the world's largest betting exchange, to agree to share information with the IOC on potentially suspect gambling. Noble said the greatest problem was competitors rigging part of

istani team is doing well despite some adverse conditions, is a big plus. "Look at the adverse conditions we have faced in last few years. Teams are not touring Pakistan. Then we had the spot-fixing scandal. Still for the team to do so well it is a big plus for us," he pointed out. Meanwhile, another former Test captain Rameez Raja was also all praise for the team, said that the players were performing like a well gelled unit.

"The Pakistan team is playing like a well oiled unit and every player appears to be aware of his role. Misbah has led the side well. They now play the game at their own pace and wait for the opponents to wilt under the pressure," said Raja.

loNdoN: A Royal Navy lynx helicopter hovers of a passenger ferry on the thames near woolwich during a safety and security planning exercise for the london olympic games. afp events. Cricket has been a high-profile victim of this so-called "spot fixing" in Britain with three international Pakistan players jailed by a London court in November for rigging parts of a match against England in 2010. Earlier this month, an English domestic cricketer also pleaded guilty to taking money in order to bowl badly in a televised game. "What we're finding more

and more is not just the outcome but betting on something unusual that will happen during the competition itself," Noble said.

"That's becoming the area where most of the betting is occurring rather than the outcome." Noble, who said there was no specific intelligence that the Olympics were a target for any terrorist attack, said Interpol would be sending a team to London to

help British officials with identity checks of those trying to enter the country.

Thursday, a committee of British lawmakers said it was shocked at the number of times strict checks had been waived at UK airports and ports because they had become too busy, blaming the Home Office (interior ministry) for a lack of supervision.

Home Secretary Theresa May said last November Britain would never know for certain how many suspected terrorists were waved into the country since July 2011, when border officials suspended some checks on European Union nationals.

Noble praised Britain's border regime saying it was one of just a few countries which routinely checked the Interpol database which holds details of 31 million fraudulent identities, saying Britain had performed 139 million such inquiries.

"The only problem the UK appears to have is the number of people at the immigration posts," he said. He said that situation was far better than for most countries bound by the Schengen Agreement, which eliminated border controls between about two dozen European states. "Only a couple of the Schengen countries are systematically screening our database which puts all Schengen countries at risk," he said, blaming a lack of political will and the "absence of a tragedy."

President, Pm, PCB chief congratulate team LAHore STAff RePoRT

President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gallani and Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman Zaka Ashraf have congratulated the Pakistan team for their magnificent win in the opening test match against England in Dubai. Pakistan beat England in the first test match of the threematch rubber by 10 wickets with Saeed Ajmal and Umer Gul playing a pivotal role.

In his message, the President felicitated and lauded the PCB management and players for a convincing win against England, the top ranked test team in the world. The President expressed the hope that the national team will continue to perform with zeal and team spirit and win more laurels for the country in the times ahead. He wished the Pakistan team and its management every success in the next matches. Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani also congratulated the Pakistan team on winning the test match against England. The Prime Minister applauded the excellent performance of every member of the team particularly the superb bowling by spinner Saeed Ajmal.

“It’s the team work that brought such a big win for Pakistan team that made the whole nation proud. Captain Misbahul Haq, Ajmal, Gul and the other members of the team deserve a pat on their back for such a brilliant win, said Zaka Ashraf.

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20 Sports Aisam plays his second round match today

MeLBoUrne ALI AKBAR

The iconic MCG is only a high lob away from the Rod Laver Arena, the site of the Australian Open 2012. The river Yarra separates them, it's claim to fame being the swim Jim Courier executed in it's silty waters after winning the Open some years ago.

Australia is about the population of Karachi but is fanatical about sport, it's athletes punching much above their weight, winning major titles in almost every sport. Marcus Baghdatis, the colorful Cypriot who reached the finals here a couple of years ago, broke a record of sorts, destroying four racquets in an unprecedented display during his losing cause against Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland. Spurred on by his supporters in the crowd, Baghdatis first smashed the racquet he was playing with, then reached into his bag and smashed three more, much to the delight of the full house.

Baghdatis received a stiff fine from the referee for his troubles. Pakistan's Aisam Qureshi plays his doubles second round today. His draw looks promising and should he and his partner combine well, they could more than justify their 8th seeding.

friday, 20 January, 2012

Djokovic, Murray stroll as Roddick out

melBoURNe: Novak djokovic of Serbia hits a return against Santiago giraldo of Colombia in their men's second round match. afp MeLBoUrne

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OVAK Djokovic and Andy Murray hit top gear on Thursday as warhorse Lleyton Hewitt capitalised on Andy Roddick's retirement to reach the third round. Serena Williams was also at her destructive best with Petra Kvitova the only top seed given trouble on day four. And Hewitt was handed easy passage when Roddick strained a hamstring, ending the clash of the old stagers.

"It's a nightmare for both of us," said Hewitt, who was leading the night match 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 when Roddick called it quits. "He stretched something high in his leg and it was hard for me to concentrate at the other end.

"You know Andy is hurting and you try to block it out of your mind and it's hard to do. Without sounding too mean, you try to run him around a lot more."

The one-time world number one, still battling on despite five major operations in the past four years, now

melBoURNe: Andy murray of Britain plays a stroke during his match against edouard Roger-Vasselin of france. afp

faces another big server in Canada's Milos Raonic.

But the despondent Roddick, who tried to play on after injuring his right hamstring tendon in the second set, said he would probably be out for three weeks.

"You can try to ham and egg it against a lot of guys. But he's really intelligent. He knew what was going on," said the American.

"Then you're out there and you're wondering, listen, even if this goes your way, you're not going to play in two days. So it's a miserable, terrible thing being out there compromised like that. It really sucks."

Djokovic has been in commanding form at the year's first major as he bids to repeat last season's astonishing haul of three grand slams among 10 titles, with a 41-match winning streak along the way.

And the Serb expended little energy in his 6-3, 6-2, 6-1 hit-out against Colombia's Santiago Giraldo as he speeds towards an expected semi-final with Murray, his victim in last year's title match.

"I try to not underestimate any

opponents in early rounds," Djokovic said. "Santiago came out early hitting the ball quite flat. But I knew that sooner or later he's going to drop the rhythm and I just have to hang in there. I've done a good job," he added.

Two-time finalist Murray, whose new coach Ivan Lendl sat swathed in a towel against the evening chill, raced through the first set in just 23 minutes as he beat France's Edouard RogerVasselin 6-1, 6-4, 6-4.

Williams brought up her 500th career win, against Barbora Zahlavova Strycova, to keep up her record of reaching the third round in every grand slam she has entered apart from her debut, in Melbourne in 1998.

"It's fine, I just have really wobbly ankles," she said, after falling heavily in the last game. "I wasn't meant to be a ballerina."

Second seed Kvitova had a trickier assignment against Spain's Carla Suarez Navarro, but she kept her frustrations in check to survive a midmatch lapse 6-2, 2-6, 6-4.

Meanwhile former champion Maria Sharapova made it two wins for the loss of just two games.

Junior National Hockey semis today LAHore STAff RePoRT

The semi-final of the 31st U-21 National Junior Hockey Championship will be played today here at the National Hockey Stadium. Thursday was the rest day in the championship after the league stages of the event was completed on Wednesday.

The event will resume with the first semifinal between Wapda and SSGC at 9.30 am while the second semi-final will be played between NBP and Punjab Colours at 2.30 hours. Iftikhar Ali Malik, Chairman Guard Group of Companies will be chief guest of the prize distribution ceremony which will be followed after the conclusion of the second semi-final.

Kvitova struggles as Serena, Sharapova cruise MeLBoUrne AfP

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ECOND seed Czech Petra Kvitova battled her way into the Australian Open third round on Thursday as rivals Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova steamrolled their opponents. Russia's Vera Zvonareva and Serbian glamour girl Ana Ivanovic also won in straight sets as the cream continued to rise to the top of the women's draw.

Two-time grand slam winner Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia was pushed to the limit by young American Sloane Stephens before scraping through 7-6 (8/6), 7-5.

France's Marion Bartoli, the ninth seed, ended Australian interest in the women's draw, beating Jelena Dokic 6-3, 6-2. However, Wimbledon champion Kvitova had to survive a second-set meltdown against Carla Suarez Navarro, who bundled Venus Williams from the tournament in 2009.

Kvitova won the first set easily but grew visibly frustrated as she lost the second and had to come from a break down in the third to win 6-2, 2-6, 6-4. The reigning Wimbledon champion was in great touch in the first set, serving well and breaking the Spaniard twice in a commanding display. But at the start of the second Kvitova seemed to lose focus, missing easy shots and allowing Suarez Navarro to dictate the points. The Spaniard, one of only seven players in the top 100 with a one-handed backhand, used it to devastating effect to move Kvitova around the court. Suarez Navarro took the

melBoURNe: Petra Kvitova of Czech Republic plays a stroke during her match against Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain. afp

melBoURNe: Vera zvonareva of Russia watches the ball as she plays a stroke during her match against lucie Hradecka of Czech Republic. afp

melBoURNe: maria Sharapova of Russia waves to celebrate her victory over Jamie Hampton of the US in their second round match. afp

melBoURNe: Serena williams of the US hits a return against Barbora zahlavova Strycova of the Czech Republic. afp

second and broke to go 2-0 ahead in the decider, but Kvitova dug deep and slowly pegged back the gallant Spaniard, eventually winning a tense encounter in 1hr 47mins.

Earlier, five-time champion Williams

brushed off fears about her injured ankle as she beat Czech Barbora Zahlavova Strycova 6-0, 6-4 to record her 500th career win.

The American 12th seed, who pulled out of this month's Brisbane International

after rolling her ankle on court, fell awkwardly in the final game of the match. "It's fine, I just have really wobbly ankles," she said. "I wasn't meant to be a ballerina."

Sharapova lost just one game as she dis-

mantled US qualifier Jamie Hampton 60, 6-1. Sharapova, 24, dominated Hampton in all areas, hitting 23 winners to six and making 77 percent of her first serves to her opponent's 50 percent.

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DUBAI: Pakistan’s Adnan Akmal (L) and Umar Gul (2nd L) and teammates appeal for the dismissal of England’s captain Andrew Strauss (3rd L). REUtERS

wAtch It LIve STAR SPORTS Australian Open Tennis 05:30AM

ESPN Barclays Premier League: Norwich City vs Chelsea 06:10PM

Hamza in race for Asian tour Qualification?

LAHore STAff RePoRT

In the race for Asian Tour qualification for the 2012 Asian Golf Tour, a total of 240 top professional golf players from all over Asia and Europe converged to Thailand where the four days Final Qualification stage is in progress. Amongst these 240 competitors, four are from Pakistan including Mohammed Munir, Hamza Amin, Matloob Ahmed and Aadil Jehangir. After completion of two rounds, with two remaining, 151 participating professionals failed to make the cut and stood weeded out, and that includes Matloob and Aadil from Pakistan.

Only 89 professionals will be contesting over the remaining two rounds and at the end of the final Qualification stage, 40 top performers will stand eligible for the Asian Tour 2012. Mohammed Munir and Hamza Amin are strong contenders for selection and in particular Hamza Amin is also a frontrunner. With excellent scores of 69 and 66 and an overall aggregate of 135, Hamza is placed third behind Guy woodman (England) 133,and Yosuka (Japan) 134. Bunched with Hamza Amin at 135 are Sushi Ihigaki (Japan) and Martin Rominger (SUI).

Pff d Certificate Coaching Course begins in islamabad

Nishikori fights back as Zheng cruises

isLAMABAD STAff RePoRT

The Pakistan Football Federation in line with its emphasis on Vision Plan 2020 and Youth Development Program is hosting the PFF ‘D’ Certificate Coaching Course for Region-2012 at Jinnah Stadium, Pakistan Sports Board, Islamabad on Thursday.

The six-day course is being conducted

by Shehzad Anwar as instructor and will conclude on January 24.

Sajjad Mahmood will act as assistant instructor while Salah-ud-Din Awan, referee instructor and course coordinator will be Muhammad Zaman Khan.

Lt Col ® Ahmed Yar Khan Lodhi, General Secretary PFF, inaugurated the course as chief guest and said: “PFF is committed to provide coaches, from beginner to most advance, with up-to-date theoretical, physical and practical knowledge for coaches from all regions i.e. Islamabad, Gilgit Baltistan, Azad Jammu & Kashmir (AJK) and Federally Administrated Tribal Areas (FATA) can ensure that players develop their skill to full potential.”

“There is so much happening in modern football and this course where video analysis and practical lessons are involved, helps to get an insight into the game,” added Shahzad Anwar.

The course will enable the 26 participants to take this challenge. The participants are: Matti-ur-Rehman (Huma FC), Ali Agha (Islamabad Academy FC), Vaqas Ahmed (Islamabad Academy FC), Shafqat Ali Khan (Gilgit Baltistan FC), Muhammad Arslan Qureshi (Ghauri FC), Qaiser Ali (Quaid-e- Azam FC), Ghulam Fareed (Al-Qaim FC), Shafqat Munir Ahmed (Alfaisal FC), Misbah Ali (Baltistan FC), Mujahid Ghouri (Evergreen FC), M. Arslan Bin Zahoor (Islamabad FC), Shifat Ullah (Kiran FC), Naveed-ul-Hassan (Mehran FC), Nasir Ali (Youth Power FC), M. Abdullah Abbasi (Poona FC), Mumtaz Hussain (Millat FC), Shah Khalid (Mehran FC), Asjid Raza Mir (Falcon FC), Ashraf Alam (Gilgit Baltistan FA), Muhammad Ashraf Iqbal (Gilgit Baltistan FA), Ejaz Khan (AJK FA), Zeeshan Bashir (AJK FA), Sarfraz Haider (AJK FA), Muhammad Awais (AJK FA), Niaz Muhammad (FATA) and Wajid Ali (FATA).

melBoURNe: marion Bartoli of france celebrates winning a point against Jelena dokic of Australia. afp MeLBoUrne AfP

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ISING Japanese star Kei Nishikori fought back from two sets down to stay alive in the Australian Open Thursday, as China's Zheng Jie joined Roland Garros champion Li Na in the third round.

Nishikori, the highest-ranked Japanese men's player ever, at 26, won just four games in the first two sets as Australian Matthew Ebden threatened to run away with the match on Margaret Court Arena.

But the 22-year-old dug deep to turn the match around and dropped just two games in the final two sets to run out a 3-6, 1-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-1 winner against the home favourite.

"He started really well. I was missing at the same time but he was making a lot of balls and in the third set and fourth set I was trying to be more aggressive and trying not to make basic mistakes," said Nishikori.

"Finally I ended up winning," added the Japanese player, who said treatment he had received during the match was only for a tight muscle.

Tatsuma Ito, given a wildcard to compete in Melbourne, could not match his compatriot, crashing out in four sets to France's Nicolas Mahut, 61, 6-7 (6/8), 2-6, 2-6.

The last time there was more than one Japanese man in the second round

ViCtoRiA: Sabine lisicki of germany celebrates her victory over Shahar Peer in the Australian open tennis tournament. afp

melBoURNe: zheng zie of China plays a stroke during her match against Roberta Vinci of italy. afp

of a grand slam event with a draw of 128 players was the French Open in 1974, when there were three.

And the win for Nishikori means the 24th seed has matched his best result in Melbourne, which he achieved

last year.

Ranked as low as 98th at the end of 2010, the Japanese player enjoyed a breakthrough year in 2011, beating world number one Novak Djokovic and reaching two tour finals.

melBoURNe: maria Kirilenko of Russia plays a stroke during her match against Aleksandra wozniak of Canada. afp

Nishikori is aiming to top his best ever grand slam performance, the US Open fourth round in 2008, by making the quarter-finals in Melbourne.

But there were no problems for China's Zheng, who missed last year's Open with a wrist injury, as she joined compatriot Li in the third round with a convincing 6-4, 6-2 win over Italian Roberta Vinci, seeded 23rd.

Zheng, unbeaten this year after winning the Auckland Classic, broke her opponent five times in an impressive performance.

"It's given me confidence because she played so special, backhand slice then big spin on the forehand," she said. "It was tough playing against her but I'm happy I beat her in two sets."

When asked whether she and Li could match their showing two years ago, when both reached the semi-finals, Zheng said: "I'm not thinking too far ahead but it's a new year and I haven't lost a match yet, so I'm full of confidence."

Fifth seed Li, who reached the final of last year's Australian Open before becoming Asia's first ever singles grand slam winner when she won the French Open, plays Spain's Anabel Medina Garrigues on Friday.

The only other Asian player left at the Australian Open is Taiwan's Lu Yen-hsun, who faces a daunting task against Argentine 11th seed Juan Martin del Potro on Friday.

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Gilani vetoed Awan’s reappointment as law minister isLAMABAD MIAN ABRAR

It was none other than a firm Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani who vetoed the presidential decision to reappoint Dr Babar Awan law minister when he told President Asif Ali Zardari that he would not approve the resignation of Law Minister Maula Bux Chandio and - even if Awan was appointed law minister against - he would not attend the oath-taking ceremony.

A well-placed source told Pakistan Today that following the apex court decision to temporarily suspend Awan’s licence and after engaging Barrister Aitzaz Ahsen to represent the prime minister in a contempt of court case in the Supreme Court, when Gilani learnt of the president’s decision, he sent a ministerial delegation led by

Khursheed Shah to convince him not to reappoint Awan law minister.

Gilani’s opinion was that Awan’s appointment would send a negative message to the Supreme Court at a time when the executive and the judiciary were facing off. However, the source said, when the president did not budge, the prime minister called him and conveyed his unwillingness.

“On this, it was agreed not to administer oath to Awan and it was also decided that he would be given some other ministerial slot and not the portfolio of law minister,” the source added.

Another source told Pakistan Today that Awan would not be given any portfolio but would be accommodated in the Senate by getting him re-elected upon his retirement in March.

“There is a lot of resentment in the cabinet and the PPP (Pakistan People’s Party) over Awan’s

reckless legal advice, which is being considered a main cause of the situation the government is faced with,” the source said.

It was learnt that after his licence was suspended, Awan went to the president and convinced him to reappoint him law minister because he could no longer represent the federation in the presidential reference to revisit the Zulfikar Ali Bhutto case. The president had agreed and Chandio was asked to resign.

However, in the Senate, when Leader of the House Nayyar Bukhari, in the presence of Chandio, told the chairman to defer a bill as the law minister had resigned, the prime minister sprang into action, called Chandio to his parliament chambers and asked him to immediately dispel the impression before media that he had resigned.

Stable democracy cherished dream of govt: Zardari isLAMABAD

ISLAMABAD: Lawyers shout slogans against Aitzaz Ahsen outside the Supreme Court on Thursday. Sajjad QUREShI

SC stays by-polls on existing electoral rolls isLAMABAD STAff RePoRT

Issuing a stay order against the upcoming byelections on existing electoral rolls containing bogus voters, the Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Election Commission of Pakistan to first prepare verified voter lists and then hold elections in vacant constituencies.

A three-member bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry ordered this while hearing petitions moved by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf chief Imran Khan and PPP’s late chairperson Benazir Bhutto for the preparation of transparent voter lists.

The court, however, accepted a plea by Naseem Chaudhry, chairperson of the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Law

and Justice, to give time for the validation of the status of 24 parliamentarians who were elected through by-elections after the passage of 18th Amendment, at a time the ECP was incomplete under the provisions of this amendment. During the hearing, the court was told that the bill for 20th Amendment was moved in the parliament about the matter, therefore, time may be granted in this regard. The chief justice said they would not allow the ECP to hold elections on bogus voter lists because constitution demanded transparency in the elections. He said the court in its July 30, 2009, decision had buried the doctrine of necessity and if the court stopped these 24 parliamentarians, the system would be affected. He said there was no martial law in India because they did not back out from the constitution.

NA unanimously passes landmark women empowerment bill isLAMABAD MIAN ABRAR

The National Assembly on Thursday made a landmark achievement by unanimously passing an important legislation to ensure further empowerment of women with most of the male and female parliamentarians contributing to the legislation to make it meaningful and effective.

Unprecedented interest, commitment, cooperation and dedication were expressed by around half a dozen women parliamentarians along with two male members who introduced around 40 amendments into the bill which had already been improved by the respective standing committee. National Assembly Speaker Dr Fehmida Mirza played a pivotal role in improvement of the bill and held a special session with male and female MPs from various political parties, who wanted to present their amendments into the bill. A detailed session was held at the speaker’s chambers on Wednesday night and all necessary amendments were accommodated into the bill, which was unanimously passed by the House. Solidarity was also expressed by the members of the House as PML-N lawmaker Zahid Hamid pointed out to the speaker that some amendments in clause 3 of the bill had been left out due to misunderstanding and they should again be amended even if the bill had been passed by the House.

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STAff RePoRT

stable democracy is a cherished dream of the PPP-led coalition government and this objective will remain on top of the government’s agenda, President Asif Ali Zardari said on Thursday.

Addressing a meeting of parliamentarians of the PPP and its allies, held at the Presidency, Zardari congratulated Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani for appearing before the Supreme Court in a dignified and respectful manner.

Besides Prime Minister Gilani, National Assembly Speaker Fehmida Mirza and heads of allied parities were also present at the meeting which was held to express gratitude to the coalition parties in difficult times.

Recounting various achievements of the coalition government during its tenure, the president said, “We have done a lot and would continue to do much more for the welfare of the people of the country, especially the poor and the marginalised.”

Asfandyar Wali Khan, Shujaat Hussain,

Munir Khan Orakzai, Pervez Elahi, Abbas Haider Rizvi and Senator Kalsum Perveen also spoke on the occasion and said they had always stood by the government and would continue to support it.

The meeting reposed full confidence in the government and the leadership of Zardari and Gilani.

Gilani, Asifa Bhutto Zardari and Federal Minister for Religious Affairs Khursheed Shah also addressed the meeting.

Addressing the meeting, Gilani thanked the coalition leaders for the support extended to the government for the strength of democracy and for accompanying him to the Supreme Court, and reinforcing the government’s commitment to ensure rule of law and strengthening of institutions.

He described it as a historic and unprecedented occasion in the history of Pakistan where the chief executive of the country submitted before the Supreme Court to uphold law of the land. He said the government was trying to overcome gas and power issues, adding that he had already directed the finance minister to step up efforts to overcome the current power crisis.

Published by Arif Nizami for Nawa Media Corporation (Pvt) Ltd. Printed by Ghulam Akbar, AA & NHT Group, Plot 24, Shalimar Road, Lilly Market, Soan Garden, Islamabad.