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prince Harry kills Taliban commander in afghanistan
NaB asks for complete president inaugurates record of Lahore first wind power metro bus project project in Thatta
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Tuesday,25December,2012Safar11,1434
Rs15.00VolIIINo17819Pages IslamabadEdition
Another nine fall prey to Karachi targeted killings Zardari expresses anger over law and order, orders arrest of culprits g
Hoti wants political, military leaderships to take decisive action against terrorism
KARACHI StAff RePoRt
Nine people were killed and several others were injured in a fresh spate of violence in various parts of the city on Monday. Three people, including two brothers, were killed when unidentified gunmen fired at a general store in Nazimabad. The brothers died on the spot, whereas the third person succumbed to his injuries on way to a hospital. Separately, armed assailants killed one man, Abdul Sattar, and injured another in the Ayub goth area. Police said the shooting incident was a result of personal enmity. Meanwhile, one man was killed near Doa Minute Chowrangi, one near Nagan Chowrangi, one near Anda Morr and two people in Macchar Colony and one person near Northern Bypass Mor. Separately, a blast occurred near a garbage collection site in Quaidabad’s Rehri goth area. However, no casualties were reported. Separately, President Asif Zardari said all possible measures should be taken to ensure law and order. He was presiding over a special meeting to review law and order situation in Sindh, particularly in Karachi, at the Bilawal House in Karachi. The meeting reviewed targeted killings and the postscenario of attacks on anti-polio teams in the city. The president said that maintaining law and order and ensuring safety and security of citizens was the government’s responsibility and all efforts should be made in this regard. He said joint check posts of police, rangers, and Frontier Corps (FC) should be established in order to improve law and order in the province. The three forces would carry out joint operations against criminals in the province. The meeting also decided that 100 armoured vehicles and 5,000 bulletproof jackets would be provided to Sindh Police. President Zardari has expressed anger over the law and order situation in the cosmopolitan city of Pakistan and ordered arrest of the culprits. The meeting was attended by Sindh chief minister, chief secretary, inspector general and Rangers director general.
pakistan Today wishes its Christian readers Merry Christmas. Today’s issue carries special supplements on Christmas and the birth anniversary of Quaid-e-azam Muhammad ali Jinnah.
See pageS 02 & 06
PESHAWAR
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AyINg glowing tributes to late senior minister Bashir Bilour for his firm stance against militancy that finally led to his assassination, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti on Monday called upon all political and military leaders to make “a final decision” on how to purge the country of terrorism. During a provincial assembly session called to pay tribute to Bilour, who was killed in a suicide attack on Saturday, Hoti said, “It’s time all of us get united and make a final decision as to how we should get rid of this menace which has badly damaged our whole society.” To express grief over the tragic demise of the lawmaker, the assembly staff had put a floral wreath on his seat, covered with red shawl and an Awami National Party cap. Addressing the House, the chief minister said paying tribute to the services of Bilour was not enough, adding, “We have to take proper action”. “Not taking a proper action at this stage will be a criminal negligence on our part,” he said. Hoti said the final decision did not mean “taking the law in our hands but to find out the proper solution to the problem, either through negotiation or through action”. “It is ironic that the militants, who have formed separate groups in their respective areas, get united for their ulterior motives, but we are still not united.” Hoti clarified that his offer of dialogue should not be taken as a weakness on the part of the government, but “in fact as our resolve to fight the forces bent upon taking the country back towards the dark ages”. The chief minister said his government would completely support any decision that was made after a consensus, whether it was negotiating with the militants or taking a military action against them. He also suggested giving Bilour’s assembly ticket to one of his sons. The proceedings of the House were adjourned until January 4.
MQM seeks stay against SC’s Karachi delimitation order KARACHI
ISMAIL DILAWAR
The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) on Monday filed two review petitions with the Supreme Court, seeking a stay against the court’s ruling on delimitation of constituencies in Karachi, saying any re-demarcation without a fresh census would be unconstitutional and an exercise in futility. “Without a fresh census, the act of delimitation which, in essence, is meant to create equality in the constituencies without any gerrymandering, would be nothing but an exercise in futility,” reads the petition filed by MQM’s Parliamentary Leader in National Assembly Dr Farooq Sattar at the SC’s Karachi registry. A fivemember larger SC bench on November 26 decreed that constituencies in the violence-hit Karachi district be demarcated so that political “polarisation” could be avoided in the city in the future. “Delimitation without a fresh census is tantamount to pushing the MQM and its mandate against the wall,” Sattar told reporters at the Supreme Court premises after filing the petitions. Seeking review of the SC verdicts issued on November 26 and 28, the MQM leader said the decisions were in contra-
vention of the law and constitution. According to Farooq, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had done away with its earlier stance on delimitation. He said constitutional provisions, not “someone’s wishes”, could be the basis for re-demarcation of electoral limits. “This Honourable Court in the Watan Party case PLD 2011 SC 997 was pleased to hold that delimitation in Karachi was to be undertaken strictly in accordance with law,” says a “concise statement” of the Civil Review Petition in which
APP
the petitioner, the MQM, has made “Pakistan and others” as respondents. The petition said the law with regard to delimitation, as explained in detail in the petition, was that delimitation could only be undertaken after a fresh census. The petitioner recalled that the last census was held in 1998 and the last delimitation took place in 2002, which was upheld by the ECP and the courts of the country. He said two general elections and local bodies’ elections took place in the
country on the very demarcations. “Therefore, the delimitation of 2002, so also the census of 1998, constitutes a past and closed transaction,” it said. In view of the above, the petition said, no power of delimitation under the relevant laws was available to be exercised unless and until there was fresh census, which in any event, “is at its fag end but unfortunately the same has been disbanded for reasons not known”. Therefore, the petitioner said, without a fresh census, the original order of this court in the Watan Party case was “not implementable”. The petition added it was for this reason that the ECP vide its comments dated October 24, 2012 had confirmed that there could be no delimitation in Karachi for want of a new census. However, the Supreme Court rejected the considered stance of the ECP on November 26, after which the ECP secretary appeared in court on November 28 and conceded to expedite the exercise of delimitation. The petitioner said, “It is the case of the petitioner that when the Hon’ble Court could not have interfered with the discretion of the Election Commission exhibited through its comments dated 24.10.2012 and the Hon’ble Court ought to have clarified that for want of census no delimitation could proceed.” “Thus, the orders dated 26.11.2012 and 28.11.2012 are liable to be reviewed”. In the second petition, the MQM took the ground that the SC order in connection with preparations of voters’ lists be put in place for the entire country. The petitioner prayed the court to stay implementation of its interim orders dated November 26 and 28 until the decision on review petitions.
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Sunday, 16 December, 2012
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News 03 ArtS & entertAInMent
ISLAMABAD
SPortS
Aamir Khan plays host for Imran’s party
no operational plan in sight to purge Islamabad of..........
Pakistan, India resume rivalry after five-year break
eDItorIAL Mischief is afoot:
Be warned: this could bring chaos.
CoMMent Waqqas Mir says; Sitting on the fence: In Pakistan, it seems, convenience trumps concern for human life.
Aima Khosa says; Egypt: Talking points: Consensus, even a manufactured one, can work.
bashy Quraishy says; Amazing Pakistan: How I again fell in love with the country.
Story on Page 06
Story on Page 12
Bhootani to move court if no-confidence motion is submitted QUETTA APP
Balochistan Assembly Speaker Aslam Bhootani on Monday said that he would go to court if noconfidence motion was moved against him in the Balochistan Assembly on December 26. He was addressing a news conference on the assembly premises. “No-trust motion presented against me in the Balochistan Assembly has several faults and shortcomings as it does not meet constitutional and legal requirement,” he said. He said that according to rules and regulations of the Balochistan Assembly, a member would submit no-confidence motion notice with the assembly secretary, who would inform all lawmaker through notices within seven days. He said that in his case, no constitutional and legal ways were adopted as a minister moved the no-trust motion, adding that a minister could not table the motion and only a member has the right to table it. He said that the assembly secretariat does not dispatch notices regarding no-confidence motion on postal address of the lawmakers so far, adding that voting on No-trust motion could not be held on December 26 according to rules and regulations. He said he would move court and if the court declares the voting null and void then the movers would have to think where they stand. He would not compromise on his principled stand, adding that whether he stays in office or not. He said that Nawabzada Tariq Magsi was declared opposition leader in the Balochistan Assembly as two members supported him.
45 children die of measles in Kandhkot KANdHKOT AGenCIeS
The government has imposed an emergency in hospitals after 45 children died of measles within a month in Kandhkot. According to the locals, at least 45 children had fallen victims to the disease in 21 days while hundreds of children were being treated in various hospitals. The Health Department has taken a notice and imposed emergency in government hospitals. According to sources, blood sample of more than 100 children had been sent for medical tests. On the other hand, the locals have blamed the unavailability of vaccines at local hospitals for the outbreak.
Story on Page 15
Articles on Page 10-11
The Hizbut Tahrir files – part-1 lAHORE
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ShAhAb JAfRy
AKISTAN Today’s investigative features, and subsequent online HT response, prompt a unique participatory series regarding the organisation’s roots, mission and functioning in Pakistan Friends familiar with intelligence matters speak of a line that does the rounds in Israel’s secret service Mossad, that when Muslims can boast Friday prayer numerical strength in Fajr (morning) prayers, the Islamic world would have become invincible. The covert world, where these outfits operate, is often savagely double-edged, and the very tactics they are known to employ for national security purposes –surveillance, reconnaissance, spying, etc – can and do sometimes become their own vulnerable points. And as Pakistan Today investigated alleged attempts at infiltrating important cadres of the military in the aftermath of Brig Ali’s arrest last year, for links with banned extremist organization Hizbut Tahrir, our findings were met with strong online rebuttal from HT loyalists, prompting
this series of articles regarding the party’s working and main mission in Pakistan. This is the first of a multi-part series in which arguments from online responses will also be accommodated. So the more HT affiliates partake in this exchange, the more they can air views in an environment they accuse of usurping their freedom of expression. Caliphate Coming full-CirCle Despite its mid-‘50s roots in Palestine, when the immediate aftermath of the naqba (catastrophe of the Israeli invasion) provided fertile ground for movements envisioning the caliphate, HT is now headquartered in the UK. And even though it is banned across much of Europe, the Middle East and Asia, it continues to receive diplomatic safe haven from London. The organisation dismisses democratic politics as well as free market capitalism, insisting on the system of caliphate as the only way forward for an integrated Islamic world, yet it remains suspiciously vague on specifics, especially its large funding base that enables operations in more than 40 countries.
Current British Prime Minister David Cameron repeatedly called for banning the organisation before coming to power, but has avoided the question since winning the election, raising more uncomfortable questions for the party. For example, how strange that the country (great Britain) at the centre of the last caliphate’s demise (Ottoman) is presumably encouraging (and funding) a claim to reestablish the institution. Sharia and SubverSion In calling for an overthrow of the ruling elite, and encouraging the military officer corps to turn against its high command, HT officially advocates mutiny and subversion. According to Islamic principles as mentioned in the Quran (Surah al-Ma’idah), which HT proposes to establish as the cornerstone of jurisprudence in its caliphate model, subversion is to be accorded one of four punishments: i) death penalty, ii)crucifixion, iii)cutting off hands and feet from opposite ends, or iv) exile. “The strong punishment is meant to discourage subversion against the state to the last stage possible,” says religious scholar Amanat Rasool, the
main purpose being avoiding a state of civil conflict. yet according to information available online and in the press, such tactics are central to HT’s operating strategy, not a measure of last resort. “It’s not their wish for establishing an Islamic way of governance that upsets governments,” most analysts told Pakistan Today. “It’s their method of dismissing competitive politics and instead advocating overthrow of governments and takeover of armies”. In its sermons, HT has yet to explain its disregard for Quranic injunction by deliberately promoting subversion and treason. The Brig Ali episode was the perfect example of an outside force trying to incapacitate a central institution of the state. And since HT’s influence comes from the outside, as no doubt does its funding, security agencies face an active threat of infiltration of the army from external forces. It is a potentially more potent threat than the TTP insurgency in the tribal area, say counterinsurgency (COIN) officials. It cannot be cordoned off and physically constrained. It influences minds, quietly infiltrates sensitive official and military cadres, and complicates the wider war against terrorism.
Parents should inform children Zardari mulling giving up party office? about puberty: Mufti Naeem ISlAmAbAd StAff RePoRt
It is extremely important that parents impart knowledge to their adolescent boys and girls about sexual health and hygiene, Maulana Mufti Muhammad Naeem, dean of Jamia Binoria Al Aalamia, Karachi, said in a statement on Monday. Only 29 percent girls and 41 percent boys have access to correct information about puberty and hygiene in Pakistan and most parents are uneasy discussing sensitive but vital health issues with their growing children. This communication gap makes children vulnerable to exploitation, abuse and life threatening diseases, Mufti Naeem said. Naeem stressed on the importance of communication between parents and children about intimate health issues. Equipping children with this knowledge would prepare them in advance for the challenges of puberty and prevent them from being
exploited, he said. The Journal of Pakistan Medical Association (JMPA) published the findings of a survey titled “Understanding of Puberty and Related Health Problems Among Female Adolescents in Karachi, Pakistan”. Data was collected from 150 females between the ages of 10 and 19. The survey revealed that majority of participants had limited knowledge about puberty and sexual health. About 72 percent of participants believed they should be given proper information about puberty and the changes of adolescence so they can deal with them better. “Mothers must talk to their growing daughters about the emotional and physical changes of adolescence,” Mufti Naeem said. Absence of right information from right quarters on puberty and related issues misled the adolescents and exposed them to wrong, illegitimate, immoral, exploiting and abusive sources of information and misconduct.
Malik Riaz to sue Arsalan in UK, says Bukhari lAHORE onLIne
Zahid Bukhari, counsel for real estate tycoon Malik Riaz, on Monday said he would leave for the UK on Tuesday (today) to register a case against Dr Arsalan Iftikhar there. Talking to reporters outside the Lahore High Court, he said Arsalan Iftikhar, son of the chief justice of Pakistan availed all the perks and facilities provided by his client in the UK so the courts there should be contacted. He said the Supreme Court had also said the matter was between two parties and both could knock justice’s door. “During the UK visit, I will consult legal experts there after which a case would be registered against Arsalan there,” he said.
ISlAmAbAd onLIne
President Asif Zardari is considering resigning from the office of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) co-chairman amid pressure from the Supreme Court (SC) to retain only one post. According to a private TV channel, former prime minister yousaf Raza gilani is the most favourite contender to replace the incumbent cochairman. “The president is consulting with legal experts and senior leadership in the party in this regard.” The TV channel also added that the president’s son and PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari would lead the party in the next general elections. President Zardari will make important announcements on the 4th death anniversary of slain PPP chairwoman Benazir Bhutto at garhi Khuda Bukhsh.
Gas blast kills 9 coalmine workers near Hangu HANGU onLIne
At least nine labourers were killed in an explosion in a coalmine in a remote area of Orakzai Agency, officials said on Monday. government officials said the blast was caused by methane gas in the coalmine. As a result, nine workers were killed and two were seriously injured. Local administration carried out relief efforts with the help of local residents.
tuesday, 25 December, 2012
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04 Egypt judges review ballot on contentious constitution CAIRO
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AGenCIeS
gyPTIAN judges were on Monday investigating complaints of voting irregularities before declaring the result of a referendum set to show that a controversial new constitution has been approved. Opponents of the constitution, drawn up mostly by Islamists and fast-tracked to a vote by President Mohamed Mursi, have demanded a full probe into what they say were a litany of irregularities. A tally by the Muslim Brotherhood, which lifted Mursi into elected office, indicated a 64 percent “yes” vote, although only a third of the 51 million eligible Egyptians
took part. An opposition count was similar, but they said the ballot was skewed by abuses in both rounds. The constitution was intended to draw a line under the era of Hosni Mubarak, the autocrat ousted almost two years ago, and provide the basis for a new, stable, civilian-led democracy. But the opposition National Salvation Front has said it deepens a rift between the liberals and Islamists who combined to overthrow Mubarak, and will extend the turmoil that has taken a heavy toll on society and economy. If the “yes” vote is confirmed, a parliamentary election will follow in about two months, setting the stage for Islamists and their opponents, united and rejuvenated by the political crisis, to renew their battle. “The commit-
tee is currently compiling results from the first and second phase and votes from Egyptians abroad, and is investigating complaints,” Judge Mahmoud Abu Shousha, a member of the committee, told Reuters. He said no time had been set for an announcement of the final outcome of but it was unlikely to be on Monday. The relatively low turnout prompted some independent newspapers to question how much support the charter really had. “The referendum battle has ended, and the war over the constitution’s legitimacy has begun,” the newspaper Al-Shorouk wrote in a headline, while a headline in Al-Masry Al-youm read: “Constitution of the minority.” “neW page” But the newspaper
of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party carried a big tick on its front page, with the headline: “The people have commanded: yes to the constitution.” The party head, Saad alKatatni, wrote on Facebook that the group’s members were “extending our hands to all political parties and all national forces”, adding: “We will all start a new page.” But the opposition, made up of liberals, socialists, more moderate Muslims and the Christians who account for one in 10 Egyptians, said they would continue to challenge the charter through protests and other democratic means. “We do not consider this constitution legitimate,” liberal politician Amr Hamzawy said on Sunday, arguing that it violated
personal freedoms. “We will continue to attempt to bring down the constitution peacefully and democratically.” Opponents say the charter favours Islamists and tramples on the rights of women and minorities, notably the large Coptic Christian community. The run-up to the referendum was marred by protests, originally sparked when Mursi awarded himself broad powers on November 22. At least eight people were killed when rivals clashed in protests outside Mursi’s official palace in Cairo, and violence flared in Alexandria on the eve of both voting days. By forcing the pace on the constitution, he may have squandered the opportunity to build consensus for the austerity measures needed to rein in a crippling budget deficit.
Pakistan’s loneliest church celebrates Christmas in Taliban country mONITORING dESK This Christmas, Pastor Nazir Alam will stoke up a fire, lay a fresh cloth on the altar and welcome parishioners as they arrive at his church in Waziristan, a tribal area known as an al Qaeda haven. “The lights are all up, and the choir boys are ready. The church is looking its best,” said 60-year-old Alam, a former missionary who has celebrated his last ten Christmases there. “There’s not much left to do but to pray and rejoice.” Outsiders might see little cause for joy. Pakistan is the sixth most dangerous country in the world for minorities, says London-based watchdog
Pakistan allowed to cross-examine witnesses iSlamabad: Pakistan and India on Monday signed an agreement to allow the former to cross-examine Mumbai attack witnesses. Under the agreement‚ a Pakistani judicial commission will visit New Delhi to cross-examine the witnesses. Dates of the visit have not been announced but it is likely to be in the first week of January 2013. Pakistan decided to send another panel to Mumbai as the findings of the first judicial commission were rejected by an anti-terrorism court as the members were not allowed to cross-examine four key witnesses - the police officer who led the probe into the attacks, the magistrate who recorded Ajmal Kasab’s confessional statement and two doctors who conducted autopsies of nine terrorists killed in the attacks. The agreement was reached during Interior Minister Rehman Malik’s meeting with his Indian counterpart Shushilkumar Shinde in Delhi recently. ONlINE
tuesday, 25 December, 2012
Minority Rights group International. Christians, Shia Muslims and Ahmadis are victims of a rising tide of deadly attacks. But Alam’s church, and the homes of most of his 200 parishioners, are nestled inside a Pakistani army base in South Waziristan, a mountainous region that was a hotbed of militancy until a military offensive in 2009. “When the US went into Kabul, things became bad for everyone. But we are safe here. The army protects us,” says Shaan Masih, who helps clean the church and likes to play the drums and sing carols. For two decades, the church was little more than a room and the tiny community worshipped there under light protection. In 2009, the army
set up a base in South Waziristan as part of the offensive against the insurgency and invited the church inside. “It was a longstanding demand of the community to be given a proper space,” Col Atif Ali, a military officer, told Reuters during a rare trip to the region arranged by the military. Many of the Christians work for the army in clerical or domestic positions. So far, they have been sheltered from the bombings, raids and drone strikes, violence that rocks the region on an almost daily basis. Less than a 100 miles away lies North Waziristan on the border with Afghanistan and one of the last areas controlled by the Pakistani Tal-
iban. The United States has repeatedly urged Pakistan to launch an operation against militants sheltered there including remnants of al Qaeda and Pakistani groups targeting the nation’s minorities. Pakistan says it is doing everything it can to fight the militancy and needs to consolidate the campaign in South Waziristan before opening a new front. freShlY painted: The small blue and white church building has been freshly painted and the main hall covered in new ceramic tiles. A small chandelier hangs from the ceiling and a cloth spread over the altar reads: “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”
Prince Harry kills Taliban commander in Afghanistan lONdON onLIne
British Prince Harry, who is an RAF helicopter pilot deployed in Afghanistan, has killed a Taliban leader in an airstrike, notching up his first ‘kill’, British media reported on Monday. The 27-year-old, the third in line to the British throne, was called in to provide air support to troops tracking a commander-level Taliban chief and hit the target with a 100 lb Hellfire missile fired from an Apache helicopter. It is the first time the prince has been involved in a fatal airstrike against a Taliban commander, a report in The Sun said. According to the Daily Mail, the attack was said to have happened in late October, shortly after the prince returned to Afghanistan for his second deployment as gunship co-pilot. A defence insider said, “We were on patrol and the Apache helicopters were called in. We heard this posh voice come over the radio and knew it was Big H They were tracking a Taliban leader – he was commander-level.” Captain Harry Wales - as he is known in the army – is a copilot gunner in the Apache unit which has the highest ‘kill rate’ in the war. As the co-pilot gunner, Harry commands missions, fires the weapons, navigates and sometimes take over the controls. The twocrew gunship – nicknamed the ‘flying tank’ – is used by the UK forces in Afghanistan to smash the Taliban, gather intelligence and provide support for soldiers on the ground.
Pakistan, Afghanistan trying to turn Taliban into political movement ISlAmAbAd AGenCIeS
Pakistan is genuine about backing the nascent Afghan peace process and shares the Kabul government’s goal of transforming the Taliban insurgency into a political movement, a senior Afghan government official told Reuters. “They have told us that they share the vision contained in our roadmap which is basically to transform the Taliban from a military entity into a political entity to enable them to take part in the Afghan political process and peacefully seek power like any other political entity in Afghanistan, he said. “This is the vision that they share.” The official, who is closely involved in reconciliation efforts, said recent face-to-face talks between senior Taliban members and Afghan officials in France were an
“enormously helpful” step in building a wider environment for peace. Until now, the Taliban and Afghan officials only made indirect contacts. The official’s remarks signalled unprecedented optimism from Afghanistan that Pakistan - long accused of backing Afghan insurgent groups - was now willing to put its weight behind reconciliation efforts, which are still in early stages and are vulnerable to factionalism. “We are very optimistic. We believe that they are genuine in this discussion with us,” said the senior government official. The senior official cautioned, however, that in order to sustain that optimism, Pakistan would need to take further concrete steps after releasing some mid-level Afghan Taliban members from detention, who may be useful in promoting peace.
Afghan policewoman kills coalition contractor in Kabul Kabul: An Afghan woman wearing a police uniform shot dead on Monday a civilian contractor working for Western forces in the police chief’s compound in Kabul, NATO said. The incident is likely to raise troubling questions about the direction of an unpopular war. It appeared to be the first time that a woman member of Afghanistan’s security forces carried out such an attack. There were conflicting reports about the victim. A spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said a U.S. police adviser was killed by an Afghan policewoman. Then ISAF said in a statement only that it was a “contracted civilian employee” who was killed. Mohammad Zahir, head of the police criminal investigation department, described the incident as an “insider attack” in which Afghan forces turn their weapons on Western troops they are supposed to be working with. He initially said the victim was a U.S. soldier. After more than 10 years of war, militants are capable of striking Western targets in the heart of the capital, and foreign forces worry that Afghan police and military forces they are supposed to work with can suddenly turn on them. The policewoman approached her victim as he was walking in the heavily guarded police chief’s compound in a bustling area of Kabul. She then drew a pistol and shot him once, a senior police official told Reuters. AGENCIES
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Merry Christmas Islamabad! ISlAmAbAd AnWeR AbbAS
o
BSERVINg religious and cultural celebrations in connection with Christ’s birthday, Christmas services in Islamabad that started about a week earlier, have touched its highest point with the participation of hundreds of Christians from the federal capital, various small and large churches including Saint Thomas Church, Islamabad Church
and Catholic Church. Small Christmas celebrations and events would continue in local churches in various sectors where the poor and needy would receive gifts, rations and other basic commodities of life. On the other hand, almost all churches in various sectors of Islamabad were beautifully decorated with liturgical colours including red and golden, accompanied with huge statues of Jesus in the main prayer halls. In the Catholic Church F-8,
Christmas celebrations were divided into two sessions following which around 9:30 pm a special prayer session was organised for the foreigners including diplomats and ambassadors from various countries. Later, the locals attended the second session for Christmas services that begin at 10:45 pm and lasted till 1 am in the morning. Large numbers of Christians from various areas of the federal capital participated in the services. A large model of “Bethlehem”
ISLAMABAD: Christian children hold their Christmas gifts during a ceremony in connection with Christmas celebrations at Sector F-6. INP
Justice Tassadduq Jillani takes oath as acting CJP ISlAmAbAd APP
Justice Tassadduq Hussain Jillani, senior most judge of the Supreme Court (SC), on Monday took an oath as the acting Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP). Justice Nasir-ul-Mulk administered the oath to him as acting CJP in a ceremony held in the Supreme Court Building Islamabad. Justice Tassadduq would act as CJP during the period as CJP Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhary would be outside the country. Representatives of the bars, prominent lawyers and law officers attended the ceremony. The SC Registrar Dr Faqir Hussain conducted the proceedings of the oath taking ceremony. Officers and staff of the SC were also present at the occasion.
Clarification Reference to a news report carried in Pakistan Today’s city pages on Monday, December 24, titled “TV channels eroding moral fabric of society”, the article was strictly based on remarks passed by Naib Khateeb of Lal Masjid Maulana Amir Siddique and was published as reported by the news agency. Pakistan Today regrets the inconvenience caused to Mr Absar Alam and in no way authenticates or backs the claims of the Lal Masjid cleric. The organisation and its management believe Mr Alam is a journalist among the very best in the trade and in no way cast aspersion over his character or his association with the foundation mentioned in the news report.
depicting identical conditions and circumstances of the time of Christ’s birth was decorated in the prayer hall of the Catholic Church F-8, with toy models of shepherds and grazing sheep also displayed alongside the main decorations. Prosperous people including the people from diplomatic circles delivered food items before the celebrations in the evening to facilitate poor Christians in celebrating the spirit of Christmas to the fullest. Previously, Christmas celebrations started with carol singing and ringing of bells in the church. Meanwhile, “Amand creed” was also performed by lighting the four candles for expressing delight and to apologise for past sins. Arshad Maseeh from the administration of the Catholic Church told Pakistan Today that keeping in view the loss of innocent lives in terrorism, this year the Christian community had decided to lead special prayers for the protection of innocent lives and the country. Christmas celebrations would continue until New year eve, during which various religious rituals would be performed. During the celebrations, tight security measures were observed at major churches and special walk through gates were installed to prevent any mishap from occurring. Special police guards and church volunteers were also deployed to ensure strict security of churches in the federal capital.
Federal Ombudsman to process 75,000 complaints on fast track basis ISlAmAbAd APP
The two year hiatus is over for the Secretariat Federal Ombudsman as it gears itself up to process over 75,000 complaints and grievances that have piled up over the past two years. Since the appointment of Salman Faruqui as the federal ombudsman some two weeks back, advertisements have appeared for appointment of advisors, consultants and investigating officers who would be appointed to process all the 75,000 pending cases as well as the new ones on a fast track basis, said a press release issued here on Monday. Since the advertisements appeared last week, the federal ombudsman Secretariat had already received nearly 500 applications from
retired BS-22 and BS-21 officers who had offered their services for appointment as advisors and consultants. To ensure transparency in these appointments, Faruqui had constituted a five member committee headed by the Federal Tax Ombudsman Dr Shoaib Suddle who carried a well established reputation for integrity and supremacy of merit. The committee included the federal secretaries for the Cabinet, Establishment and Finance with the secretary federal ombudsman Secretariat as the member/secretary. The five member committee was expected to interview the candidates who met the criteria beginning from the first week of January and the selected advisors and consultants would start processing the pending grievances soon after.
No operational plan in sight to purge Islamabad of encroachments
ISlAmAbAd InP
Despite directives of Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, encroachments have not been eliminated, and instead an alarming increase has been witnessed in the same in market places of the federal capital. On the other hand, the Capital Development Authority (CDA) had failed to come up with a special strategy to purge the encroachments which contributed to traffic jams and also caused inconvenience to visiting shoppers at market places. Abapara Market, Melody Market, Peshawar Mor, F-10 Markaz, Super Market, g-9 Market, g-8 Markaz and Blue Area were heavily encroached by handcarts and shopkeepers who had placed their tables bearing goods for sale on footpaths and in the corridors, thus leaving no walking space for pedestrians. In connivance of corrupt officials of the CDA, illegal transport stands, workshops, handcarts and booths have virtually occupied the entire area flanking Faizabad Flyover. Moreover, right of way on both sides of the IJP Road had also fallen to the encroachers. Sources said that officials of the civic body received monthlies from encroachers and therefore refused to act against their interests. Encroachments have also increased to an alarming level in the fruit and vegetable market in I-1, while Lehtra Road was also occupied by a large number of hand carts and illegal booths which resulted in major traffic jams at critical times of the day. In Sector g-12, opposite Kashmir Highway, illegal markets have been erected and the illegal construction in the area was increasing with every passing day. It should be mentioned here that the new administration of the CDA had claimed to devise a new policy for booths and hoardings but encroachments still persisted due to corrupt practices of officials concerned.
Lal Masjid probe: Adjutant General of Pakistan Army, Judge Advocate General made respondents ISlAmAbAd onLIne
The adjutant general of Pakistan Army and the Judge Advocate general, the senior most law officer in the general Headquarters (gHQ), were made respondents in a petition filed in the Supreme Court (SC) about the ongoing judicial probe into the Lal Masjid incident. The petition stated that the two officers were “duty bound to initiate legal proceedings under the Pakistan Army Act, 1952 against any person who violates the discipline of the Pakistan Army and this Court may ask them if any such proceedings lie
against any person in relation to his involvement in the Lal Masjid operation.” The SC was informed that Justice Shahzado Sheikh was proceeding with his probe in clear violation of the jurisdiction of the high court under Article 199. It was pointed out that no high court could hear an application by or about any person who was a member of the armed forces of Pakistan or came under “any law related to those forces”. The SC on December 4, by a full bench headed by the Chief Justice, appointed Justice Sheikh as a commission to “fix responsibility upon the personnel of the security agencies”.
Petitioner Shahid Orakzai asserted that two members of the bench had never heard the case before and no formal request was made by any party for the issue of commission. It may be recalled that general Ashfaq Pervez Kayani was the Director general of Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) when the Lal Masjid was besieged by troops for more than a fortnight. The SC was asked to stay the probe and to constitute a new bench to hear the matters related to Lal Masjid operation. In this connection, attention was also drawn to the fact that Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry was made dysfunctional twice by a gen-
eral in 2007, and in the Asghar Khan case he had put “criminal liability” on two retired generals including a former Chief of Army Staff (COAS). Drawing attention to last month’s “antithetical statements” made by the COAS and the CJP, the petitioner said the personnel of the armed forces shall not be made liable for “any act or word of the COAS”. The apex court was reminded that for the enforcement of the fundamental rights, its order should not prejudice the provision of Article 199 which had written a specific clause regarding the persons in the armed forces whom were barred from seeking any relief.
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06 Islamabad
SARAH ElEAzAR
LaHore dioCeSe BiSHop irfaN JaMiL Christmas is a joyous occasion for Christians around the world where we celebrate the birth of Christ as a fulfillment of prophecies. Christ came to save people from sin and give mankind abundant life and Christmas reminds us that his love is for everyone, god’s love extends to all mankind. Today we see our world torn by war and strife. Social, religious and economic pressures stifle the best of us and peace seems far from reach. Christmas reminds us that god brings peace to all. i pray that we all find our peace with god and spread His message of love and forgiveness among us all. Merry Christmas!
uLeMa CouNCiL CHairMaN TaHir aSHrafi
C
HRISTIAN households commence the season by decorating homes at the beginning of December. Out come the Christmas trees, the baubles, tinsel and boughs of holly (fake ones for the most part). Homes are decorated in their entire Christmas splendour and children build small nativity manger models. It is common custom for Convent schools and Christian institutes to organise nativity plays and carol singing events. Door to door carolling is an important tradition carried out every year. Church choir groups bundle up and spend Christmas Eve night going door to door with candles, dried fruits and carols. Several churches hold a Midnight Mass where people light candles, sing carols and pray for the country. Christmas service is held on December 25 and Christians all over the
world dress up in new clothes, greet each other and exchange gifts. Many people hold festive lunches and dinners for family and friends, while several families head towards parks and recreational centres to spend a relaxing day with their loved ones. Prayer meetings and caroling events continue through the month up to December 31, when all churches in the country pray for prosperity and peace for the nation in the year ahead. New year’s Eve is spent in church in prayer and worship and a service is held on January 1 to welcome the New year. Christmas and New year constitute the biggest religious festival for Christians around the world. Christmas decorations herald the happy season and carols ring all through the month. The season brings tidings of joy and peace among all men. May this year’s Christmas be joyous and in Charles Dicken’s words, god bless us, every one!
islam teaches us to believe in all divine books revealed by allah and Muslims have utmost respect for Jesus Christ. we celebrate Christmas in solidarity with our Christian brothers and extend our felicitations to Christians all around the world. on this occasion we need to reinforce the message of respecting each others’ beliefs, views and faith. we might disagree with each other’s beliefs but we must never turn it into an excuse for war and violence. islam does not give anyone the permission to kill one another based on differences of faith and we must incorporate this edict in our society.
aruN SHukeruLLaH Christmas is not just a season or an event to enjoy. it is a day for worship and prayer, and to thank god for His mercy and blessing. it is a time to cherish, love and spread peace to all mankind!
BeeNiSH MuCCaraM i pray for harmony and prosperity for my country and all brothers and sisters who lack happiness and peace in their lives.
ppp SeCreTary geNeraL JaHaNgir Badar i’d like to wish all Christians in the country a very happy Christmas. The Quaid had assured equal rights and status for all regardless of creed or faith and pakistan people’s party (ppp) respects that to the word. we have always upheld the rights of our Christian brethren and are mindful of the sacrifices they have made for this country. The Muslim faith is made complete when we believe in all divinely revealed books and that includes the New Testament. as Leader of the House of Senate and ppp secretary general, i wish everyone a very happy Christmas.
revereNd dr JoSepH C LaL This year when we celebrate Christmas and New year let’s not forget to spread warmth to all those in need. we don’t think twice before spending on clothes, decorations and food for festivals while so many around us work hard to put a single meal on their table. if we cannot include these people in our celebrations we miss the whole point of Christmas. it is also important not to hurt someone’s feelings or dignity by offering them charity. By sharing love and happiness with others we celebrate Christmas in its true spirit.
MQM iNforMaTioN SeCreTary NaSir JaMaL Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) believes that pakistan belongs to pakistanis irrespective of religious beliefs. pakistan’s religious minorities should have equal rights in all spheres of lives. They should have access to equal employment opportunities and freedom to practise their religion. The MQM believes that it is our responsibility to integrate religious minorities with the rest of the country in order to fulfil the dreams of the founding father who said in unequivocal terms, “you may belong to any religion or caste or creed that has nothing to do with the business of the State”. Christmas is an occasion for joy and happiness for the Christians. we extended heartiest felicitations to our Christian brothers and sisters and would like to assure that the MQM would continue to struggle for their rights.
tuesday, 25 December, 2012
aaMiN SHaikH Christmas is a reason to celebrate for all of us. we should all vow to create a spirit of peace, love, happiness and forgiveness in our society. Wash and dry the raisins and the currants. Wash, dry, pit, and chop the dates. Chop the raisins and the citrus peel. Slice the cherries. Blanch the almonds, and slice them lengthwise. Combine fruits and nuts in large bowl. grease and line 3 standard Christmas cake pans (these round pans are at least 3 inches deep and come in a set of three sizes- 5, 7, and 9 inch across) with 4 layers of heavy waxed paper, or 3 layers of brown paper. grease again. Preheat oven to 275 degrees F (135 degrees C). Sift together flour, baking powder, soda, salt, and spices onto a piece of waxed paper. Remove 1 cup of this flour mixture, and combine with fruit and nuts. Mix until fruit is well coated. Cream the butter until fluffy. Add extracts. gradually add sugar, mixing until creamy. Beat egg yolks until light and lemoncolored, and beat into the butter mixture. Stir in the molasses, and beat together well. Add half of the remaining flour mixture, and blend thoroughly. Beat egg whites until stiff but not dry; fold into batter. Stir in lightly the remaining flour mixture alternately with combined fruit juice and coffee. Add floured fruit and nuts, blending in until fruit is well distributed. Turn batter into prepared cake tins, filling each about 2/3 full and spreading batter evenly. Bake in center of oven. Bake small cake 2 1/2 hours, medium cake 3 1/2 hours, and large cake 4 to 4 1/2 hours. Remove from oven and allow to stand for 5 minutes and turn out on wire rack to cool. Serves 12.
6 cups sultana raisins 3 cups dried currants 1 1/2 cups pitted dates 6 cups raisins 3 cups candied mixed citrus peel 1/2 pound candied cherries 2 cups almonds 2 cups butter 3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour 3 teaspoons baking powder 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 2 teaspoons ground allspice 4 teaspoons ground cinnamon 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves 1 tablespoon vanilla extract 1 tablespoon almond extract 2 cups white sugar 12 egg yolks 1/2 cup molasses 12 egg whites 1/2 cup grape juice 1/2 cup strong brewed coffee
kaNwaL NadeeM deck the halls! Christmas is a reason to celebrate and be happy and i will definitely celebrate with my Christian friends.
aLi HuSSaiN Happy Christmas to everyone! please dont forget us when you’re eating all that cake.
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Islamabad 07
WeAther UPDAteS
Social welfare state under principles of Quaid-e-azam Muhammad ali Jinnah
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CIty DIreCtory eMergenCy heLP PoLICe eMergenCy AMBULAnCe reSCUe hILAL-e-AhMer eDhI foUnDAtIon BoMB DISPoSAL fIre BrIgADe Centre CIvIL DefenCe
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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
All the challenges that the nation is facing today demand us to further understand the message, guiding principles and the vision of Quaidi-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan. It is imperative to reshape the priorities to create a forward looking and progressive modern democracy as it was dreamt by our great leader. The nation needs to strive more to become a genuine democratic society as humanitarian democratic values were the conviction of our great political thinker and a matchless nation-builder. While looking back in the history, we can find the extraordinary characteristics of Quaid-e-Azam as an inspirational leader as well as an ardent and devout leader for whom, the welfare of the masses was prime objective of his movement. Personally, the Quaid not only followed a highly disciplined life but exhibited a spotless character, thus able to lead the nation towards unity, faith and discipline. The struggle of our great Quaid was based on premise of a country that offers equal economic opportunities and social justice to all the population without any discrimination of caste, creed and color. The political insight of the Quaid resulted in carving out a na-
tion from a subjugated and directionless minority besides establishing a modern nation state. Being a true demarcate, Mr. Jinnah prescribed democracy as the only way forward for the newly acquired country. Without any ambiguity, he made the priorities of the state clear right after the inception of Pakistan while stating that the government’s aim and objective should be to serve the people and devise ways and means for their social welfare, well-being and betterment. Regarding the democratic future of the Pakistan, Quid said that it is in the hands of people to put the government in power or remove it from power. This guiding principle of Quaid-e-azam still serves as a source of strength for the democracy loving people of Pakistan. The history of Pakistan is evident of the fact that Pakistan’s first democratically elected Prime Minister Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and his daughter Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto had laid down their life in the pursuit of the same mission and for the practical manifestation of the dreams of the Quaid. It is pertinent to note here that the Quaid, as a great leader and statesman, also underpinned the significance of welfare of the people of Pakistan as future roadmap of the state. We must re-
visit his historic speech delivered on August 11, 1947 when he said that “if we want to make this great State of Pakistan happy and prosperous, we should wholly and solely concentrate on the wellbeing of the people, and especially of the masses and the poor.” Therefore, the dreams of Mr. Jinnah revolved around a Pakistan that is an egalitarian modern democracy offering equity in the distribution of wealth and resources to enable the people of the country to live a happy, prosperous and meaningful life. The vision of our Quaid has special; significance as he had laid the foundation for the concept of an Islamic Social welfare state which is a need of our society and relevant as ever to strengthen the nation on the face of various contemporary challenges. We have observed that PPP has always actively followed the economic and social vision of Quaid-e-Azam and it is a hallmark of the economic policies of the PPP led Federal government. Under the firm commitment and persistent support from President Asif Ali Zardari, the democratic government has successfully advanced the notions of social justice, equal opportunities and wellbeing of the people of Pakistan. The writer is chairperson of Benazir Income Support Programme.
Students showcase talent to mark Quaid’s birth anniversary ISlAmAbAd APP
Students from various educational institutions of the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad showcased their talent in a beautiful cultural show to mark Quaid-e-Azam Muhammed Ali Jinnah’s birth anniversary here on Monday at the Pakistan National Council of Arts (PNCA). The event was organized in collaboration with the Ministry of National Heritage and Integration to pay homage to the founder of the nation for his constant and unwavering courage to mark this momentous occasion in a befitting manner. Students belonging to different age groups presented a puppet show and tableaus based on stories portraying the significance of December 25 as Quaid Day. In addition to this, speeches, national songs and tableaus were also presented on the occasion to depict the contributions made by national heroes in the history of the freedom movement and also to educate the participants about the importance of national days. While talking to APP, PNCA Director general Touqeer Nasir said, “Muhammad Ali Jinnah was a towering personality, who had changed the course of history and geography of the world through a peaceful struggle.”
Private institutes cheating parents in the name of quality education iSlamabad: The management of private institutes in the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi are cheating, rather fleecing the less literate parents of students in the name of providing quality education to their children. A survey conducted by APP had found that normally no strict admission criteria was observed by these schools and anyone who could afford the hefty fees could get his/her child admitted at any stage throughout the academic year. Parents have expressed reservations against the burgeoning culture of private schools. They complained of expensive fee structures, inefficient teaching faculty, substandard education, poor playground facilities for students and imposing hefty extracurricular charges by the school management on various pretexts. “We are asked to purchase textbooks and notebooks from the school bookshop. “you won’t believe that the school charged me Rs 1,000 for participating in the annual parents’ day and later charged Rs 500 because the management had arranged a bus for the students to bring them to the ceremonial hall. Another parent Asif Shah told APP that private schools were operating in every nook and corner of the city and many businessmen had started looking at the education sector as a lucrative business venture. APP
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08 News iraqis protest against 'sectarian policies' baghdad: Tens of thousands of people have staged protests in western Iraq, blocking a highway leading to Syria and Jordan, against what they have termed the "sectarian" policies of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. The protesters, including local officials, religious and tribal leaders, turned out on Sunday to demonstrate against the arrest of nine guards of Finance Minister Rafa al-Essawi. Their arrest on terrorism charges has sparked a call from Essawi for Maliki to quit or be removed. "We are gathered today not for Essawi and his bodyguards, but to change the course of this sectarian government and to overthrow Maliki's government," Hikmat Iyada, provincial councillor for Anbar, told the protesters on Sunday. More than 2,000 Sunni demonstrators took to the streets in the cities of Ramadi, the capital of Sunni province of Anbar, and about 10,000 appeared in Falluja on Sunday in response to a call for a civil disobedience to protest what they called the sidelining of Sunnis in Iraqi politics. A letter from Sheikh Abdul Malek al-Saadi, a leading Sunni cleric in Anbar, was read at the protest in which he called for Shias in the government to respect Sunni officials and the minority's entire population in Iraq. Maliki was also condemned in a separate statement issued by fugitive vice-president, Tareq al-Hashemi, who praised the demonstration. "Maliki is a prisoner of a sick mind, obsessed with power," said Hashemi, who has been handed multiple death sentences in absentia for charges he insists are politically motivated. "The Islamic and Arab world looks at him now as the sponsor of the Safavid [Iranian] project in Iraq." Hashemi also called for a no confidence in the prime minister, accusing Maliki of aiming "to get rid of his opponents". He said the current situation has reached a "deadlock". The Iraqi prime minister allegedly ordered for the arrest of the finance minister’s bodyguards on charges of terrorism on Thursday, in a move that has reignited a political crisis. Maliki has denied the allegations and expressed "astonishment" at "linking the issue of the detainees with political disputes" and spoke out against pulling "the whole country toward sectarian strife". The deepening political crisis seems to be getting worse as President Jalal Talabani, who has acted as mediator in the past, has been rushed to germany for medical treatment after suffering a stroke last week. Talabani also played a key role in mediating the growing dispute over oil between Baghdad and the autonomous Kurdistan region. AGenCIeS
venezuela rules out new elections CaraCaS: Venezuela will not call fresh elections if Hugo Chavez's cancer prevents him from taking office by January 10, the head of Congress said, despite a constitutional mandate that the swearing-in take place on that date. "Since Chavez might not be here in on January 10, [the opposition] hopes the National Assembly will call elections within 30 days. They're wrong. Dead wrong," said Diosdado Cabello, the National Assembly's president and one of Chavez's closest allies, during a ceremony to swear in a recently elected governor. "That's not going to happen because our president is named Hugo Chavez, he was reelected and is in the hearts of all Venezuelans." He suggested Chavez may need more time to recover from his surgery. Officials in recent weeks have recognised his condition was serious, and the garrulous leader's unusual silence has sparked alarm even among supporters. Chavez is recovering in Cuba from a six-hour cancer operation that followed his October re-election. The socialist leader has not been heard from for nearly two weeks, raising doubts as to whether he will be fit to continue governing. Opposition leaders may pounce on the issue of the swearing-in date to demand that authorities call fresh elections because of Chavez's apparently critical state of health due to an undisclosed type of cancer in the pelvic region. A constitutional dispute over succession could lead to a messy transition toward a post-Chavez era in the South American nation with the world's largest oil reserves. AGenCIeS
hAnoI: Members of a yoga club celebrate Christmas in a public park. AGENCIES
Top envoy Brahimi meets Syria’s Assad dAmASCUS
l
AGenCIeS
AKHDAR Brahimi, the UN-Arab League envoy to Syria, has met Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian president, in Damascus, a day after an air strike killed dozens of civilians in Hama province. "I had the honour to meet the president and as usual we exchanged views on the many steps to be taken in the future," Brahimi told reporters at his hotel in Damascus on Monday. "Assad expressed his views on the situation and I told him about my meetings with leaders in the region and outside," said the veteran Algerian diplomat, who took over his present task from former UN chief Kofi Annan. Assad described his meeting with Brahimi as "friendly and constructive," according to state television. "The government is committed to ensure the success of all efforts aimed at protecting the sovereignty and independence of the country," Assad said. State news agency SANA said Foreign Minister Walid Muallem, his deputy Faisal Muqdad and presidential advisor Buthaina Shaaban all attended Assad's meetings with Brahimi. Brahimi arrived in Syria on Sunday from neighbouring Lebanon. He had last visited the country on October 19. Fresh violence was reported on Monday, with the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) saying that warplanes had carried out airstrikes in rebel-held areas in Eastern ghouta, near Damascus. Violent battles were also reported overnight in the northeastern Damascus district of Qaboon, and on the road separating the Palestinian camp of yarmouk from al-Hajar al-Aswad. Heavy shelling was also reported in Hama on Monday, where anti-government activists said that at least 90 people had been killed in an air strike on a bakery in the town of Halfaya on Sunday. Halfaya was seized by rebels few days ago as part of a campaign to push into new territories in the 21-monthold revolt against President Bashar al-Assad.
Mali fighters destroy more timbuktu tombs
Mousab al-Hamadee, an activist in the suburbs of Hama said and added that nearby towns have witnessed heavy shelling since rebels began advancing in the province. Samer al-Hamawi, an activist in the town, said that more than 1,000 people had been queueing at the bakery. Shortages of fuel and flour have made bread production erratic across the country, and people often wait for hours to buy loaves. "We hadn't received flour in around three days so everyone was going to the bakery today, and lots of them were women and children," Hamawi said. Syrian state media, however, disputed that account, saying instead that a "terrorist" group had carried out the attack. SANA, the country's official news agency, citing residents of the town located in the central province of Hama, said: "An armed terrorist group attacked the town of Halfaya committing crimes against the population, killing many women and children." The report added that the Syrian army intervened during the assault and "killed and wounded many terrorists", a term Syrian officials and state media use to refer to rebels fighting to oust the Assad government.
bAmAKO AGenCIeS
Al-Qaeda-linked fighters occupying Timbuktu in northern Mali have destroyed remaining mausoleums in the ancient city using pickaxes, a leader of the group says. "Not a single mausoleum will remain in Timbuktu, Allah doesn't like it," Abou Dardar, head of Ansar Dine, told the AFP news agency on Sunday. "We are in the process of smashing all the hidden mausoleums in the area." The smashing of the mausoleum, part of what the fighters say is about defending the purity of their faith against idol worship, follows a United Nations approval of a military force to wrest back control of the conflict-ridden area. Historians say the rebels' campaign of destruction is pulverising a valuable part of the history of Islam in Africa. The AFP reported that witnesses confirmed the claims, which were also corroborated by a resident who said he belonged to al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), another group occupying the fabled city. "The Islamists are currently in the process of destroying all the mausoleums in the area with pickaxes," one witness said. "I saw Islamists get out of a car near the historic mosque of Timbuktu. They smashed a mausoleum behind a house shouting 'Allah is great, Allah is great'," another resident told AFP. Rebel groups with links to al-Qaeda took control of northern parts of the West African nation after a March 10 coup by low-ranking soldiers. "Anything that doesn't fall under Islam is not good. Man should only worship Allah," Mohamed Alfoul said of the mausoleums that armed groups consider blasphemous.
India's PM responds to gang rape protests NEW dElHI AGenCIeS
Manmohan Singh, India's prime minister, has vowed to protect women in the wake of violent demonstrations against the "national epidemic" of sex crimes. He spoke after police clashed with hundreds of protesters a day earlier in the Indian capital New Delhi over the gang rape of a medical student in the capi-
tuesday, 25 December, 2012
tal last weekend. "There is genuine and justified anger and anguish at this ghastly incident," Singh said in a televised statement on Monday, appealing for "peace and calm" as officials shut down roads in the centre of New Delhi - a city home to nearly 14 million people - in a bid to prevent further protests. "I assure you that we will make all possible efforts to ensure security and safety to all women in this country," said Singh. Police on Sunday had shot tear gas and water cannon, and used batons to disperse demonstrators, as the crowd at Delhi's landmark India gate monument defied orders banning the protests and swelled into the thousands. Scuffles occurred between protesters and police near government buildings, with demonstra-
tors shouting slogans against the authorities and throwing stones and bottles at their barricades. Angry protesters later overturned a vehicle and seized police vans. At least 30 people, including several policemen, have been treated for injuries at a nearby hospital, officials said. "Security has been tightened in the heart of New Delhi, with police in riot gear in every area of possible demonstration. Section 144, a criminal code that prohibits assembly of more than five people, has been imposed," reported Al Jazeera's Subina Shrestha in New Delhi. A delegation of protesters met Sonia gandhi, the leader of the ruling Congress party, to convey their demands. The gang rape of the 23-year-old on a bus has sparked public outrage across India, bringing thousands of people onto city streets.
Marches, demonstrations and candlelight vigils have spread during the past week. Six drunk men were joyriding in a bus when they picked up the physiotherapy student and her 28-year-old male companion last Sunday. They took turns raping her before throwing the pair off the speeding vehicle. During her ordeal the victim suffered serious intestinal injuries from being beaten with an iron rod. She remains in critical condition on respiratory support, but is responding to treatment, doctors said on Sunday. Five of the suspects in the case were arrested soon after the crime and a sixth was caught on Friday, the Press Trust of India reported. New Delhi has the highest number of sex crimes among India's major cities, with a rape reported on average every 18 hours, according to police figures.
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News 09 Pakistan to become UNSC’s president in January 2013 iSlamabad: Pakistan will assume the presidency of the United Nations Security Council for a month in January 2013. Pakistan’s Representative to the United Nations Masood Khan called on Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf at the PM’s House on Monday, according to an official statement. Khan informed the prime minister that Pakistan would assume the presidency of the UNSC for a month in January 2013. He also apprised Ashraf of the activities being organised by Pakistan’s Permanent Mission at the United Nations during the month. Khan said the mission was arranging sessions on “Comprehensive Approach on Counter Terrorism”, and “Role of Peace Keeping”. The prime minister said the election of Pakistan as president of the UNSC was an acknowledgement of its role in international relations as well as its standing in the comity of Nations. Ashraf expressed hope that Pakistan would continue to play its role for maintenance of world peace and security. StAff RePoRt
Shahbaz should not pretend to be a ‘Bhutto’: Kaira
PeShAWAR: no hearings were held at the Peshawar high Court on Monday as the judges and lawyers mourned the killing of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa senior minister bashir bilour on Saturday. INP
Political violence claims 75 in 3rd week of December: FAFEN g
violence affected 241 people in 41 incidents across the country leaving 166 people injured ISlAmAbAd
P deepalpur: Minister for Information and Broadcasting Qamar Zaman Kaira has said Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif cannot attain the status of great leaders like Bhuttos and should stop pretending to be late PPP founder Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. Addressing the oath-taking ceremony of newly-elected office-bearers of electronic media, Kaira said the leaders of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz could not be PPP leaders who sacrificed their life for truth. He said Shahbaz wasted funds worth billions of rupees in the name of providing bread to the poor. “Around Rs 70 billion have been spent on a single road giving instilling an inferiority complex in the population of the remaining areas of Punjab,” he added. “When the PPP came to power in 2008, there was shortage of flour, but now Pakistan is exporting millions of tonnes of wheat,” he added. “There is a hue and cry over inflation, but price hike is a global phenomenon,” Kaira maintained. “The Sharif brothers say they did not sign a pact with the dictator but when the agreement came to the forefront, they said the contract lasted for five instead of ten years,” he added. Kaira said if President Zardari wanted, he could have become prime minister and could enjoy immense powers, but he did not and instead delegated all his powers to parliament. Criticising the Punjab chief minister, he said the loyalties of youth could not be bought through the distribution of laptops, but only by introducing good policies and offering sacrifices. To a question‚ Kaira said the Muttahida Qaumi Movement had its own point of view regarding the delimitation in Karachi. onLIne
InP
OLITICAL violence in the third week of December affected 241 people in 41 incidents across the country, killing 75 people and injuring 166 others. According to a report by FAFEN, 22 incidents were reported in Sindh followed by 10 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, six in Balochistan, two in Federally Administered Tribal Areas and one in gilgit-Baltistan. No incident of political violence was reported in Punjab in the reviewed week. Compared to the second week, the number of incidents went down from
52 to 41, but more people died and were wounded – 75 and 166 – in political violence in the third week. In the second week, 61 people were killed and 51 injured in incidents of political violence. Most of the casualties – 15 killed, 69 injured – were reported in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Twenty-four people died and 75 were injured in FATA, while Sindh witnessed 25 deaths and seven injuries. In Balochistan, nine people were killed and 12 injured and gilgitBaltistan reported two deaths and three injuries. Incidents of terrorism claimed 47 lives and left 154 injured across the country. Nine incidents of targeted killings took 11 lives in Karachi, while
one incident in Swat resulted in one killing and another injury. A tribal conflict in North Waziristan Agency claimed five lives and wounded four others, while three people were killed in ethnic violence in Bolan In attacks on political workers, an MQM worker was killed while a PPP worker was injured in Karachi. Seven people died and six others were injured in sectarian attacks in the third week. Of them, four were killed in Karachi, two in gilgit-Baltistan and one in Quetta. The major tactic of political violence was bomb blasts, killing 19 people and injuring 79 others. The second most lethal tactic was gunfire that killed 48 people and injured 38 others.
A suicide attack in combination with gunfire killed five people and injured 46 others. Missiles and mortars killed and injured three each. Khyber Agency was the most violent place where a car bomb went off in Jamrud, killing 19 people and injuring 71 others. Peshawar was the second most violent place, where a high-profile attack on an airport claimed five lives and injured 46 others. Karachi remained the third most violent area with 25 deaths, mostly in acts of targeted killings and sectarian attacks. Additionally, five attacks were carried out against female polio health workers. In Nowshera, 18 people were injured in hand grenade attack on an army recruitment centre.
Quaid favoured change by ballot, not bullet: Zardari Power supply
to faisalabad factories suspended
ISlAmAbAd onLIne
President Asif Ali Zardari on Monday said the father of the nation Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah had rejected change through the bullet and had always favoured it be done through the ballot. “Let us pledge that we will not allow any change through force and intimidation and respect the power of ballot as the instrument of change,” the president said in a message on the 136th birth anniversary of the Quaid-e-Azam. “Let us on this day rededicate ourselves to the democratic ideals and principles of the father of the nation as well as reiterate our resolve to defeat the forces that seek to undermine the nation’s founding principles. Quaid stood for constitutionalism, rule of law, respect for human rights, pluralism and honouring the mandate of the people,” he said. Zardari asked the people never to lose sight of the national goals. “This indeed is our compass in a turbulent sea,” he added. He said the Quaid envisaged Pakistan as a democratic country driven by the welfare of the masses.
FAISAlAbAd InP
“Unfortunately due to dictatorships in the past, the welfare of the people took a back seat and security concerns became predominant as the country faced extremism and militancy.” He called for creation of conditions whereby the welfare of the people was the dominant concern of the state. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf urged the nation to pledge on this day to reclaim Quaid-e-Azam’s Pakistan and un-
leash the creative powers of the people through freedom, justice, the rule of law and an end to terrorism and violence. The prime minister urged the nation to forge unity in their ranks “to preserve and protect their democratic and political rights and make Pakistan a country where egalitarianism prevailed and in which every individual was allowed opportunities for the blossoming of his potential and shaping his own destiny”.
The Faisalabad Electricity Supply Company (FESCO) on Monday suspended power supply to more than 400 textile factories for an indefinite period. Continuous closure of the factories has left thousands of workers jobless as the units are facing gas and electricity supply suspension. According to FESCO officials, the electricity was suspended on the directives of the Water and Power Ministry. The officials said that the factories were capable of producing electricity through gas and furnace oil, adding that their share of electricity will be diverted to the domestic consumers. On the other hand, the All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA), the Kharianwala Industrial Estate Association, the Pakistan Textile Processing Mills Association and the Pakistan Textile Exporters Association have called an emergency meeting to review the situation. The factory owners have decided to announce a mutual-strategy to protest against the government in this regard.
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10 Comment Sitting on the fence
Dedicated to the legacy of the late Hameed Nizami
In Pakistan, it seems, convenience trumps concern for human life
Arif Nizami Editor Lahore – Ph: 042-36375963-5 Fax: 042-32535230 Karachi – Ph: 021-35381208-9 Fax: 021-35381208 Islamabad – Ph: 051-2287414-6 Fax: 051-2287417 Web: www.pakistantoday.com.pk Email: editorial@pakistantoday.com.pk
Mischief is afoot be warned: this could bring chaos
T
here were already rumours regarding the possibility of the postponement of the elections. With Tahir-ul-Qadri’s speech, these are going to gain strength. This despite every major party unanimous in one demand: the holding of elections on schedule. Qadri has issued the ultimatum that if his demands were not accepted by January 10, he would march on Islamabad at the head of four million people. The Minjah-ul-Quran leader knows that it is simply inconceivable to change the entire economic, social, political and electoral system in less than three weeks. Many think that if he was sincere he would have worked for the change after he got elected in 2002 instead of resigning from the National Assembly and leaving the country for newer, greener pastures. Qadri knows that even the so-called constitutional requirements he wants to be enforced cannot be implemented within three weeks unless through military courts. It is easy to declare, as he has done, that the vast majority of the parliamentarians are corrupt and can neither be called upright nor honest. But collecting evidence against hundreds of legislators and getting them prosecuted could take years. So, quite plainly, what a determined and inspired Qadri in essence wants is an indefinite postponement of the elections. Raising the question about the enormous funds at Qadri’s disposal to splurge on his Lahore rally is not enough. What should worry the political parties is that he was able to attract many more people at the rally than any of them have ever been able to. The parties have to ensure that the issues of governance, economic development and social justice that perturb the people’s minds are genuinely addressed within a reasonable time frame – irrespective of who comes to power. Unless the issue is at the centre of the electoral agenda, forces and individuals with all sorts of objectives and agendas would try to upset the applecart by acting like rabble-rousers. In his address, the Minhaj-ul-Quran chief has made overtures to the Supreme Court and the military which would provide further grist to the rumour mills. He wants the Supreme Court and the Election Commission to enforce Articles 3, 9, 37, 38, 39, 40, 218 (clause-III), 62, 254 and others before holding the elections. The articles, according to Qadri, require holding the elections after ending all discriminations, efforts for buying votes, ensuring social justice to all, impartial and threat-free voting, ending corruption, discouraging sale of party tickets and banning the entry of corrupt politicians and tax defaulters into the corridors of power. He wants a body to introduce electoral reforms and hold elections with representatives from the judiciary and military sitting with other stakeholders. While the political parties need to mind their store more diligently, improving massively on the delivery part of the bargain, the establishment has to realise that any encouragement to attempts of the sort to upset the system can only lead to chaos to the detriment of the country in whose name it is being manufactured.
Legally Speaking by Waqqas mir
T
here is hardly anything pleasant about this week. This was originally supposed to be a piece about killings of anti-polio workers and the plight of Christians as Christmas approaches. The plight of both had something in common with the late Mr Bashir Ahmed Bilour—his beliefs and actions, like theirs, were on the wrong side of a line that decides whether or not you will be allowed to live. The Awami National Party (ANP)—true to its creed, imbued by intellectual giants like ghaffar Khan, Bacha Khan, of standing up to bullies—has taken the firmest stand against violence in the name of religion too. And they have paid a heavy price for that. The KP information minister has faced multiple attacks and lost his son in one such attempt. Hundreds, if not thousands, of ANP workers at the grassroots level have been systematically targeted by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and their multiple off-shoots. Make no mistake about the magnitude of these sacrifices. Not only have hundreds of families lost their loved ones but a political party has lost grassroots level workers—meaning that come the elections the ANP party machinery will be significantly handicapped in mobilising its support base. As a friend from KP aptly reminded me recently, “you win elections if you can draw out the voters. For that you need people. ANP is running out of people.” ANP’s stance, the latest casualty
of which has been the martyred Mr Bilour, is nothing short of heroic. From the day they took office they have highlighted how the TTP and its ideology threatens everything that we want for ourselves and our children. Sadly, because of the Punjabi conditioning of Islamabad, Peshawar seems a long way off. Therefore, even the federal government and gHQ were slow to respond to calls for military action in Swat. Once the army began to feel the heat itself, it kicked into action but Peshawar has not become any safer and we, over time, have become immune to the plight of people there. Many can afford to believe, while living in Lahore and Islamabad, that Peshawar isn’t Pakistan. Convenience trumps concern for human life. The federal government has not done enough to protect the ANP and the message that it stands for. The security agencies should have done a more thorough job of anticipating the violence that anti-polio workers would suffer and adequate steps should have been taken. Their task has not been helped by the conspiracy theories on the media that turned Shakil Afridi’s story into a specter haunting the security of life of anti-polio workers. Even if Shakil Afridi did what he did, the media could have been far more responsible in distinguishing his actions from the general campaign against polio. An ad by the ministry of health can do little good if news channels follow it up with shows manned by people promoting conspiracy theories. Free speech? Sure. But a media house can and must invite those who want to challenge the absurd conspiracy theories being promoted. That is often lacking. The mortal fault of the martyred Mr Bilour, as well as the anti-polio workers, is that they stood up against systemic ignorance and hate and decided to challenge a reductionist narrative. They paid for this with their lives. The sad part is that many in this country will still blame the US, Israel and India for this. They will, despite blown up schools and bullet riddled bodies, support
negotiations with people who want nothing less than the destruction of Pakistan as we know it. They won’t even believe the TTP when they claim responsibility for this. Negotiations, apparently, is the way forward. Even Santa would find that absurd. you don’t need to have taken a class on negotiations to know that it helps to negotiate from a position of strength. By caving in to the TTP, we do not gain anything. Furthermore, in all this talk of negotiations, no one seems to be considering what will happen to those people who will be forced to live under TTP “rules”? Should the state of Pakistan abdicate all responsibility towards them? If they don’t want polio workers in their midst, should we accept that? And if we don’t accept that then, sure as Christmas, the battle can’t take place on the negotiations table. Who are we kidding? There are lines in Pakistan now that you shouldn’t cross now if you want to be safe. But people like Mr Bilour crossed them being fully aware of the consequences. And that is the choice that we must make now. Either take a stand or sit on the fence. The latter guarantees security in the short term but uncertainty in the long run—you will never know what about you irks the believers and they will come after you. The benefit of taking a stand, without prejudice to morality, is that you at least know the bargain that you are entering into. That you stand for the security of this country’s citizens and the education of its children. And maybe that is a far better ideal to die for than being naïve or being killed by a stray bullet while you are twiddling your thumbs, sitting on a fence. And by the way, Merry Christmas. Stay safe. The writer is a High Court Advocate and a partner at Bhutta, Khan & Mir (BKM). He is a Barrister and holds a Masters degree from Harvard Law School. Contact: wmir.rma@gmail.com or Twitter @wordoflaw. Views expressed here are strictly his own and not the law firm BKM.
Egypt: Talking points Consensus, even a manufactured one, can work
by Aima Khosa
E
gypt and its constitutional crisis has been a subject of intense debate among analysts worldwide. So much has been said and written that there is little more to add to the current situation; that is, unless Egyptian politics takes another shift in direction and momentum. So as things stand, the Egyptian government is bracing itself for a fresh wave of protests over allegations of polling violations on the referendum that was to decide the fate of the controversial constitution that Morsi has been pushing for. Morsi supporters have been arguing that this controversial constitution is what the country needs to step out of decades of military-backed regimes and enter a new era of democracy. His critics
tuesday, 25 December, 2012
have argued back that the new constitution ignores the rights of women and the minorities (Christians make up about ten percent of Egypt’s population). There has also been an international divide between pro- and anti-Morsi analysts over the constitution as well. Some have claimed that as Egypt is only just learning to be a democracy and the constitution is a solid stepping stone in that direction – since it is the ‘most’ democratic constitution Egypt has ever seen. It guarantees the right to start political parties and allows for freedom of the press. It also bans torture and allows for dignity of the prisoner. However, others have argued that this proposed constitution is just ‘bad’. It gives unelected religious figures the right of prior review of legislation and it allows the Armed Forces to function independently. Others still have insisted that it is not a question of the constitution. Instead, it is a much deep rooted problem of Egypt’s institutions. There have been fears that with this faulty constitution, the institutions, including the courts, legislature, central executive and even low level officials, would not be able to resist stepping back into old habits. Hence, the deep rooted mistrust by the people is not just the Muslim Brotherhood and its leadership, but the ability of Egyptian institutions to remain true to the constitution. The Muslim Brotherhood, led by
President Morsi, has not played a very positive role in neutralising the mistrust among the Egyptian public. On the contrary, they seemed to have antagonised every section of Egyptian society and political structures. A small example of this would be the promise of the Muslim Brotherhood that they would contest for only 30 percent seats in the parliament, then 50 and finally settled for contesting for 70 percent seats. They then promised that they would not nominate a candidate for presidency and even expelled one of its prominent members, Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh, when he announced his plans to compete. In the end, they nominated Morsi, reneging on promise after promise. Morsi’s decision to allow the army to enter the streets and arrest protestors has also been called a martial law of a weakened army, trying to keep watch over a society whose divisions are increasingly raw. It has also become a questionable if Morsi’s policies are deliberately designed to provoke and polarise. Under his regime, the same figures that were present under the Mubarak’s era have continued to survive, unscathed and unpunished for some of worst human rights crimes in the country’s history. But the blame does not lie with Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood alone. The liberals are beating drums about the potential threat of an authori-
tarian rule – Islamists taking control – without realising that the current regime in power may also be seen as moderates and reconstructed versions of the Muslim Brotherhood that existed in the 1980s. During that time, application of Islamic law was the core demand of the organisation. The demand was not just an idea that Muslim Brotherhood came up with out of thin air – Islamic revival was on the rise in the 1980s in Egypt, so much so that Sufi Abu Talib, the speaker of parliament and a close associate of President Anwar Sadat, was won over by the movement. By 1982, Abu Talib’s committees had produced hundreds of pages of draft legislation including 513 articles on tort reform, 443 on the maritime code, and 635 articles on criminal punishments. Back then, Muslim Brotherhood was more of a Sharia lobby than a political party. Since then, however, the Muslim Brotherhood has worked painstakingly to smoothen the rough edges of its ideology and political outlook. Today, they believe in a strong president (at the expense of the parliament, and local government). However, they still insist on being democratic, and say that the constitution was a consensus-driven document. While the Salafi and Muslim Brotherhood representatives oversaw the drafting of the constitution, their disdain for the liberals is not baseless. The liberals have had a history of tolerating
an oppressive regime as the lesser of two evils and more importantly, do not have a strong constituency. Liberalism as a concept is foreign to an average Egyptian man – so much so, that if he votes for a liberal leader, it would perhaps be only because he does not want to vote for the Brotherhood, not because he understands what ‘liberalism’ as a concept means. Having said this, as several writers have pointed out, there is still room for consensus despite the sad mismanagement of the transition. The liberals do not object to the role of religion in public life (the most liberal party in Egypt has carried banners saying ‘Quran is our constitution’). At the same time, the conservatives, now that they are in power, are also eager to look reasonable and responsible. Nour Party, the political arm of the largest Salafi organisation, says that “the state should be far from the theocratic model”. As Shadi Hamid, in the article ‘Is there an Egyptian Nation?’ pointed out, a manufactured consensus may, in fact, be easier to forge now, in this early stage of Egypt’s democratic transition. “Islamists” and “non-Islamists” may hate each other, but, on substance, the gap isn’t currently as wide as it might be. The writer is a staff member. This article was also carried by spearheadresearch.org
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Comment 11
Amazing Pakistan
Editor’s mail
how I again fell in love with the country
by bashy Quraishy
T
his November, I visited Pakistan after 10 year’s absence. This lapse was partly due to my heavy working schedule but mainly due to what I saw in the Western TV, Pakistani media and the scary stories told by my Pakistani and foreign friends living in Europe. The constant demonisation of Pakistan made me scared. I was indeed afraid to set foot on the ground of a land I so immensely love and am proud of. The situation became so absurd that every year I made plans to visit Pakistan but at the eleventh hour chickened out. Finally, I said to myself that in spite of all the problems, millions of other Pakistanis visit their motherland every year, so I should put aside my fears and make a leap of faith. One of the positive influences for this decision was an invitation from my niece who begged me to come to her wedding. I was told by friends, not to travel by PIA – Pakistan International Airline – because of the bad service, unreliable flying schedule, old planes and expensive prices. I was warned that I should not wear western clothes because it will make me a kidnapping target, do not go out in the street after 10 pm and certainly not to walk around with my expensive camera or use iPhone in public. On top of this, another very sound advice was dished to me by many: that I should not discuss Islam with anyone, even my own family because of blasphemy laws. Since I was very critical of religious monopolists, I may end up in jail if I was reported. In short, I was told to mingle with crowd, keep my mouth shut and appear poor. In all my world travels from Indonesia to USA, I have never been so warned and alarmed as of this trip to my own motherland. Against all warnings, I bought a ticket by PIA, which turned out to be a blessing. It was cheaper than other international carriers, the service was great, the plane was a new one and the flights were on time. First prejudice turned out to be false. In the ensuing three weeks I spent in Pakistan, I visited the capital Islamabad, large cities like Rawalpindi, Lahore and gujrat as well as numerous middle and small towns. I
wore suits, walked on foot, rode on motorbike and cars and other means of transport. No one even looked at me with any envy, concern or suspicion, let alone try to kidnap, harass or intimidate. As far as speaking openly, I delivered lectures at the prestigious Fatima Jinnah Women University, at Islamabad Rotary Club, was the guest of honour at a think tank in Islamabad, celebrating inter-culturalism, was interviewed at radio stations, by newspapers and had heated discussions at my brother’s home with relatives, guests and even two guys from Pakistan’s FBI. Issues discussed were Islam, the role of religious parties and how Pakistan can move forward. Not once, I was arrested, reported or even labelled as a blasphemous person. Actually, most people agreed with my criticism of the misuse of Islam and blamed the socalled religious leaders for misleading the innocent public by invoking religion. There were many other remarkable good changes that I witnessed during my stay. The flourishing of a fantastic amount of small businesses, the abundance of food, the schools, colleges and universities, internet cafes and youngsters striving to educate themselves, especially girls. I especially noticed the improved infrastructures, highways, super expressways, the extensive use of mobiles, very versatile electronic media with 70 channels – broadcasting 24 hours programmes regarding religion, sports, news, political discussions, family problems, music, arts, criticism of government, food, comedies, films and every other topic, you can think of. But above all, what impressed me most was the hospitality, graciousness, generosity, sincerity and willingness to please, which is the hallmark of Pakistani people. In the parties, at shops, in private get-togethers and at the homes of total strangers, the pleasure people exhibit in inviting and entertaining others to be their guests is indescribable. They do not correct you if you make a mistake, do not accuse you if you do not show good manners and are really apologetic if they feel that you are not eating a full meal. To someone who has not been to Pakistan, this may sound a very exaggerated tale of patriotism and a view of Pakistani society without any criticism. It may be so but after being witness to 10 years of Pakistan bashing in the west, which has declared Pakistan a failed state, called it a country on the verge of breaking up and where Taliban are running around in streets, my western acquired prejudices were laid to rest, once for all. Having seen things with my own eyes, experiences I had in the society at close hand and talking to ordinary Pakistanis, I came out with very beautiful and uplifting feelings about this land of the pure. No doubt Pakistan has huge problems, immense difficulties – economic, so-
cial, political and institutional – like all other countries in the developing world. I can also write pages upon pages of negative histories – high unemployment, extremism, deadly sectarian violence against minorities, especially Ahmedis, corruption, mismanagement of economy, electricity shortages, deteriorating institutions and what not, but what I want to achieve by writing differently is to inform the world that even though there is so much negative coverage about Pakistan in the mainstream media in the West, there is another side to the coin, which is there but is neglected intentionally. Pakistan is very strategically placed with neighbours like Iran, Afghanistan, China and India. The landscape of Pakistan ranges from lofty mountains in the north, the Karakoram and the Himalayas, through dissected plateaus to the rich plains of the Punjab. Then follows barrenness of Balochistan and the hot dry deserts of Sindh blending into miles and miles of golden beaches of Makran coast. Pakistan’s gross National Product is 500 billion dollars, its population is around 190 million, with 60 percent of the population composed of vibrant youth, very lively political culture, strong democratic institutions and a large NgO sector of various types. It is self-sufficient in food, has world’s 7th largest armed forces with nuclear capabilities and professionalism second to none. The Pakistani expatriates in the world send 30 billion dollars a year back home. Pakistan is not the same as it was few decades ago. The strong critical lobby against Pakistan should also remember that it is a country which appeared on the world map only 65 years ago. It started with no resources, very little money in the treasury and many odds stacked against it. It survived through the shear willpower of its people who have unshakable faith in its destiny. It is now progressing – slowly but steadily. To call it a failed state as some western countries and few international institutions gleefully claim, is not only unfair but smells of a calculated political agenda. I would advise such armchair analysts to get out of their comfortable offices in Washington, London and Paris and go visit Pakistan. They would be pleasantly surprised of the development, progress and tenacity of the people of Pakistan. They may not be rich according to western parameters of living standards but they are definitely, very rich in landscape, history, culture, resources, hospitality and are moving on the right path. The Pakistani leaders should tell the west categorically: If you cannot support Pakistan in its continuous efforts to improve, please stop putting it down and discouraging the Pakistanis. They need friends, not masters. The writer is Secretary General, European Muslim Initiative for Social Cohesion.
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.
no one can be the judge of his own actions The Supreme Court is final arbiter of constitution. In this sense, the SC is superior and all other heads of institutions as well as all individuals are bound to bow before it. However, the constitution allows all pillars of the state and constitutional bodies to form their own laws for smooth running of administration. The apex court can review these acts to ensure they do not conflict with any provision of the constitution. At the same time, the SC is also authorised to formulate its own judicial policy, rules and regulations. However, no one can oversee or criticise such policy and apparently there is no mechanism to oversee the SC policymaking, which seems to be discriminatory. No one can be the judge of his own actions, as it betrays the pretention that no one is above law. The SC judges might be competent, honest, and trustworthy, but as human beings they are prone to mistakes. Moreover, the superior judiciary is also subject to constitution, but it seems to overstep lines envisaged in the constitution and encroach upon the jurisdiction of other heads of institutions. It is involved in fixing of prices of commodities, promotions, postings, and transfers of government servants, dubbing some as honest and others incompetent without any trial or fair process. SC sometimes tries to solve social issues outside its original function – dispensation of justice – without which there is no rule of law and justice as often claimed. It issued directive to CEC to prepare electoral roll and redefine constituencies and if CEC conducts elections under the direction of SC, its own constitutional independence is in danger and slogan of free elections becomes meaningless and doubtful. Superior judiciary, being final arbiter of law and constitution, stands at high pedestal and one can expect it to bear greater responsibility with regard to solution of public problem, for peace and prosperity, economy, crumbling security and worst law and order problems persistent in the country. Efficiency lies in averting an unpleasant event to happen than becoming wise in the retrospect. Everyone is looking towards judiciary to act in a most fair, honest and neutral way to dispense justice, which is its primary duty. If judiciary assumes the duties of executive, probably Faiz’s poetic verse ‘kissey vaqil karien aur kiss sey munsafi chahien’ fairly fits in. RAJA SHAFAATULLAH Islamabad
tuesday, 25 December, 2012
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12 I wish, I was part of ‘Rockstar’:
DeePIka PaDukone
Jolie and pitt treat children to Steven gerrard kits for Christmas
Y
ou would expect Angelina Jolie and Brad pitt to splash out on expensive gadgets and toys for their large brood, but the couple has simply opted to splash out on liverpool football kits for their six children. The couple has spent a great deal of time in the uK this year and it seems they picked up a love of football while here, in particular liverpool player Steven Gerrard and have decided to buy their children a hoard of memorabilia. “They rang the club shop and spent hundreds. Son Maddox is a big fan and his favourite player is Steven Gerrard,” a source told The Sun, before adding that the Hollywood couple ordered several shirts, mugs, caps and tracksuits. Angelina is believed to have developed a passion for the team in 2002 when she and eldest son Maddox, 11, spent time in the Merseyside where she was filming a movie. neWS DeSK
I
NEWS dESK
F Deepika Padukone is satisfied after doing romantic comedy “Cocktail” in 2012, she wishes she had been part of the Ranbir Kapoor starrer 2011 musical hit “ Rockstar”. “I am more than happy I was part of ‘Cocktail’. It was the most satisfying experience to do the film. The audience really appreciated me a lot in ‘Cocktail’,” Deepika told IANS. “So this year, I am extremely happy about ‘Cocktail’ and have no regrets. But if you ask me about last year, then yes, I would say, I wish I was part of ‘Rockstar’.” The actress had dated Ranbir for some time and even featured with him in the hit movie “Bachna Ae Haseeno” before parting ways. “Rockstar”, a musical extravaganza that rocked the box office, was helmed by Imtiaz Ali who roped in Pakistani American Nargis Fakhri as Ranbir’s love interest in the movie. If Deepika pats herself for doing “Cocktail”, she candidly admits that some of her films disappointed her. “I don’t regret anything but, yes, I have been disappointed with two to three films that I did in the last two years,” the 26-year-old said. “I put equal amount of effort to each and every film but when it doesn’t work, it is very disappointing. All of us face ups and downs in our lives, but all we can do is we can learn from our experiences.” However, she refused to name those disappointing films, saying it would be “unfair to name any films because ultimately it’s me who had chosen the film ... so I would never name them”.
adeLe
trademarks her own name NEWS dESK
i always wanted to be a movie star: Tom Cruise
H
ollywood star Tom Cruise says healways wanted to be a move star. The 50-year-old actor, who split with actress wife Katie Holmes in June this year, says he dreamed of making films when he was just 4-years-old and always relishes the challenge of taking on a new character with every film he makes, reported Showbiz spy. “It’s always exciting to create new characters and I get to live the dream by travelling the world and meeting new people and new cultures. “I feel very privileged to be able to do something that I love. I remember being four years old and dreaming about making movies. It’s a great life,” he said. The actorproducer is currently working on his upcoming film All you Need Is Kill, where he is playing a soldier. neWS DeSK
neW york: hugh Jackman gets his hands on a tree just in time.
Demi Moore reportedly seeking big payout from Ashton Kutcher in divorce
aamir khan plays host for imran’s party
R
eCeSSIoN-proof Bollywood, now back on its feet, thanks to several rs. 100 crore blockbusters, seems determined to end the year with a lot of celebrations. The latest is Imran Khan’s house-warming bash on Saturday (december 22), which saw a bevy of filmstars partying till late night. Imran and wife Avantika played the perfect hosts, while Aamir Khan and wife Kiran, who looking ravishing in a fitted dress, also looked after the guests personally. Aamir’s ex-wife, reena, looking dazzling in a red sari, came with daughter Ira. The guest list included Karan Johar, priyanka Chopra, Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor, Alvira Khan, among others. The sprawling lawn of Imran’s newly acquired bungalow at pali Hill, called the NH Bungalow, once belonged to his grandfather Nasir Hussain. Naturally, the place still has a certain old-world charm to it. neWS DeSK
tuesday, 25 December, 2012
Ashton Kutcher may have to empty his pockets if he wants to officially close the chapter on his marriage to Demi Moore. The “Two and a Half Men” actor filed divorce papers last week, but his estranged wife is reportedly holding out on signing because she wants more cash, according to TMZ.com. Despite being worth millions, Moore, 50, apparently hopes she’ll get as much money from the split as she did in her divorce with Bruce Willis. Willis and the hard-partying actress never revealed the terms of their settlement, but Moore is thought to have scored a huge chunk of change. Kutcher filed for divorce in Los Angeles County Superior Court Thursday, a year after the May-December couple announced they were calling it quits. The 34-year-old actor finally decided to pull the plug on the six-year marriage because of his relationship with former “That ’70s Show” co-star Mila Kunis, a source told the Daily News’ Confidenti@l. neWS DeSK
Adele has reportedly trademarked her own name. The Sun has revealed that the multimillion selling popstar has made sure that her name can’t be used to sell perfume or jewellery without her consent. A source told the tabloid paper: “She doesn’t want anyone exploiting her name by using it on products which may trick punters into thinking she’s involved with it.” Adele was recently named Entertainer Of The year by the Associated Press. The title is given annually to the person who had the most influence on entertainment and culture. Previous winners include Lady gaga, Taylor Swift and comedian Tina Fey. Meanwhile, Adele’s ‘Someone Like you’ was named as the most popular karaoke song of 2012 by karaoke company Lucky Voice. The track also entered the Co-Operative Funeralcare’s chart of the top music played at funerals earlier this year. Though she didn’t release an album in 2012, Adele gave birth to her first child and recorded the theme to the latest Bond film, Skyfall. She also won six grammy Awards and two Brit Awards. Adele’s record label, XL Recordings, have stated that they do not expect her to release the follow-up to the best-selling ‘21’ for a while. Speaking to The New york Times a spokesperson for the label said: “The next Adele album may not come for some years...”
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hriStmaS 2012 is here! So, how are the stars celebrating this year? Will it be a lavish all the family party, or just a day in bed unwrapping gifts and watching home alone? most of these celebrities have made plans to be around friends and family for the holidays, and are making sure it’s an extra special event for their kids too. from baking mince pies to waking up at 6am to see what’s under the Christmas tree, these 6 stars are all set to enjoy a very fun festive season. many are heading back home to be with their parents for the holidays while others will be spending it with their own young kids taking part in their own traditions. neWS DeSK
Keira KnightleY
matt damon
mel C
niCole SCherzinger
Keira is now engaged to Klaxons frontman James Righton, so she’s torn over where to spend Christmas – with her own family or his: “It’s no longer ‘I’ but that big old ‘we’… I have no idea (where to spend Christmas); it’s a massive question. My family was just four and very simple. Now all of a sudden it’s breaking into different parts. I cannot imagine my mother letting us go.”
Matt’s family have mixed traditions which means two days of present opening which his children love: “We have this weird fusion for Christmas, but I think it just means more gifts for the kids, so they’re into it. I’m just going to hang out with my kids, we’ve been on the Promised Land train a little bit for the last week or so, and we’re looking forward to just settling down.”
The Spice Girls singer will spend Christmas with her 3-year-old daughter Scarlett: ”Having a little one around I don’t want to get too drunk, but I’ll have a Christmas Spice Girls night out. We’ll go to someone’s house and buy for each other’s children. I’m going to be in London with my family and Scarlett. My mum’s doing the cooking and Scarlett and I will make mince pies with Christmas music.”
Nicole plans to spend the holidays in Hawaii with boyfriend Lewis and her family: ‘Oh, that’s going to be fun. I totally forgot about that. I’m going to be with my whole family there. In Hawaii, our Santa Claus wears surf shorts, it’s so much fun. I spent one Christmas Eve travelling back from a tour in Europe to get back to my family in Kentucky, and I got stuck in the airport. It was devastating!”
rod SteWart
reeSe WitherSpoon
Kate hudSon
rob KardaShian
Life sure has changed for the veteran rocker, he told Hello! “There are a few more shillings about now, however, my childhood memories of Christmas are full of joy.” Stewart now spends the holiday with wife No. 3 Penny Lancaster, their two young sons and his multiple kids (eight altogether). The former model revealed their plans: “In the afternoon all the boys want to do is jump around in all the wrapping paper and empty boxes.
Reese Witherspoon indulges in some yummy food when the festive season rolls around: ”There is a lot of eating that goes on . . my whole family is with me. And we all hang out and just tear through all the presents and eat a bunch of Southern fried food and just have a good time.”
Kate Hudson says that she starts knitting, while her son likes to ski: “Christmas has always been a big holiday for our family and we’ve always been pretty crafty anyway. We all knit. The girls knit. This year I’m doing these great big knits. We’re going to ski like we always do. My son is skiing now.”
Rob will be at his family home surrounded by the entire Kardashian clan: ‘Christmas is home, so everyone will be home and we’ll all hang out together. My mom has a really big Christmas party every year on Christmas Eve, We all sleep over at the house, and on Christmas morning we wake up at like 6 a.m. and do presents. They all make breakfast, all the girls. We watch basketball. It’s a family day.”
raChel bilSon
neil patriCK harriS
Jane KraKoWSKi
Jennifer laWrenCe
Rachel Bilson also enjoys eating at Christmas, and gorges herself on her mother’s home cooking: “The things that I look forward to for the holidays is just being at home and eating all my mom’s food and cookies, and that’s really what I’m focusing on more because that’s the best part.”
The How I Met Your Mother star and partner David Burtk a will stay local with 2-year-old twins Gideon and Harper, he told People. “This year will be an L.A. Christmas. Both sets of our parents are flying in,” he says. “I’m very much looking forward to relaxing and not having to navigate airport madness.”
The 30 Rock star told Celebrity Baby Scoop she had fun picking out a tree and introducing her 20-monthold son Bennett to St. Nick. “We got the classic screaming photo on Santa’s lap.” As for shopping for relatives, the actress didn’t have to do much: “I have nephews who at this point really just want cash.”
The Hunger Games’ leading lady is going home to Louisville, Ky., she told the U.K.’s The Guardian. The trained archer plans to go first-time clay pigeon shooting with her brother. “I don’t know what his shooting skills are like — I’m sure they’re better than mine. I’m going to have to bring my bow and arrow.”
tuesday, 25 December, 2012
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Infotainment 14 Samsung galaxy Camera review
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ALK about tables being turned! The first step to integrating multimedia functions on a smartphone was enabling the handset to take pictures. Samsung is now playing the game the other way around. The new Samsung galaxy Camera is a shooter, based on an Android platform that lets you do all that you do on a smartphone except making calls! Oh, the irony of it all! We got our hands dirty with the pristine white Samsung galaxy Camera. The camera looks slightly chunkier than the thinner pointand-shoot models that you see in stores these days. Most of the ‘bulk’ of the all-plastic camera is attributed to the massive 4.77-inch screen which spans the entire back panel. A seamless fascia, the screen doubles up as a live view display as well as the interface medium for the user. The display supports HD resolutions of 720p and is a pretty bright and vivid screen to be using, almost on par with a good smartphone display. By default, the home screen already had widgets – a couple of apps ready for you. Fans will be happy to know that Instagram rests right next to the camera icon on the homescreen, saving them the bother of downloading it from google Play. Oh yes, the camera is Android-based hence you have access to all your favourite apps from the google Play Store.
Smart mode is the more interesting one where you have more than a handful of effects which kick into place before you take a picture. There are some common ones such as Continuous Mode, Panorama, Sunset and so on. But I had more fun with modes such as Beauty Face, Rich Tone and Silhouette. In the panorama mode, the stitches were easily visible despite holding the camera reasonably still while capturing the scene. The rich tone works well but you can always up the saturation after you’ve taken a pic so there’s no real need to activate it beforehand. We wish we were around a Waterfall or on a skateboard so we could try out the Waterfall and Action Freeze modes. The camera has a cool and convenient pop-up button for the flash on the side. The camera is capable of 21x optical zoom and while that’s a big number, a lot of the detail was lost when we tried taking pics in full zoom. It has a dedicated toggle button on top of the camera so you don’t have to bother with a virtual zoom slide. Also, because it’s a little bulky, singlehanded shots ended up
being blurry most of the time. The only mode in which the camera gives you complete control is the Expert Mode, and in doing that the galaxy Camera comes close to emulating a DSLR. I could choose between three different priority modes – Aperture, Shutter Speed and Exposure. appS: The smart-camera comes with pre-loaded apps such as google Local, Latitude and google+. you also have Samsung’s proprietary SVoice, game Hub and ChatOn. you can download many more from google Play as and when you want to but do keep in mind that the camera comes with only 4gB of internal storage. It is, however, expandable up to 32 gB with an external memory card. you can also activate Dropbox which is already installed in the cam so your pics get stored in the Cloud after you click them. Paper Artist and Photo Wizard are the two post-processing apps that are loaded on to the camera. Both offer a bunch of editing options and both are varied in how they post-process your pictures.
Shooting: Swiping away from the home screen directly takes you to the capture mode. All settings are centered around a virtual click-wheel where you flip through the various modes. I could choose among three options depending on how much control I wanted over the shots. The
Australian child escapes death as eggs hatched deadly snakes
A 3-year-old Australian boy was lucky to escape uninjured after a collection of eggs he found in his yard hatched into a slithering tangle of deadly snakes. Reptile specialist Trish Prendergast said Friday that young wildlife enthusiast Kyle Cummings could have been killed if he had handled the eastern brown snakes – the world's most venomous species on land after Australia's inland taipan. Kyle found a clutch of nine eggs a few weeks ago in the grass on his family's 1.2-hectare (3-acre) property on the outskirts of the city of Townsville in Queensland state, Prendergast said. He had no idea what kind of eggs they were. He put the eggs into a plastic takeout food container and stashed them in his bedroom closet, where his mother, Donna Sim, found them Monday. Seven had hatched, but the snakes remained trapped under the container's lid. The remaining two eggs were probably infertile and were rotten, Prendergast said. "I was pretty shocked, particularly because I don't like snakes," Sim told the Townsville Bulletin newspaper. Prendergast, who is the Townsville-based reptile coordinator of the volunteer group North Queensland Wildlife Care, was handed the container on Tuesday and released the snakes into the wild that night. She was relieved that no one had handled the snakes. "Their fangs are only a few millimeters long at that age, so they probably couldn't break the skin, but they're just as venomous as full-grown snakes," Prendergast said. "If venom had got on Kyle's skin where there was a cut or if he put it in his mouth, it could have been fatal," she added. neWS DeSK
batterY life: Unlike a regular digital camera, the battery life of the Samsung galaxy Camera is comparatively limited. Thanks to the Android platform and all the apps that come along with it, the camera’s hours are as good as any other big screen Android smartphone. you can slot in a 3g-enabled micro-SIM card but remember you cannot make voice calls through the galaxy Camera, unless you use Skype or something. Another possible roadblock to keep in mind is that at times you might not be around a Wi-Fi connection. So, using the camera to upload photos over 3g, especially if you are on roaming, might end up with you having to pay huge bills. verdiCt: The Samsung galaxy Camera does a real good job of integrating ‘smart’ features into what would otherwise be a Plain Jane camera. But the question you have to ask yourself is whether you can / need to put the cam to good use. Clicking pics is fine, but will you also use it to reply to mails, play games or read an ebook? If yes, will a smartphone/tablet at the same price do a better job of it? If not, then will another digicam in the same price range offer a better sensor or features? The Samsung galaxy Camera tries to give you the best of both worlds, it’s up to you to decide if you want to have your cake and eat it too! Love – Interesting integration, good touchscreen Hate – Bulky body, average battery life neWS DeSK
Where is Santa? Santa Claus is comin’ to town. yes, your child’s photo with him may not have gone as planned and you probably forgot to move the Elf one (or 20?) times this month. But with mere hours left of Christmas 2012, NORAD Tracks Santa is here to help make your everyone's holiday magical. NORAD (the North American Aerospace Defense Command) first got into the Santa business 57 years ago, thanks to a happy accident. On December 23, 1955, Sears Roebuck & Co. printed an advertisement with a portrait of Santa that read “Hey Kiddies, call me direct on my telephone...” with the wrong phone number. Instead of the store, children started calling CONAD (the Continental Air Defense Command which later became NORAD). Colonel Harry Shoup, who was in charge at the time, went far beyond being a good sport; he had his staff check their radar to provide updates on Santa’s location, and, as the official NORAD website says, “a tradition was born.” Over the years, trackers at NORAD continued to take phone calls from anxious kids on New year’s Eve, wanting to know where Santa was. They relied on radar, satellites and fighter jets (!) to locate Santa's sleigh. Then, in 1998, NORAD
debuted a Santa Cam Network -- “ultra-cool, high-tech, high-speed digital cameras that are pre-positioned at many locations around the world… [to] capture images and videos of Santa and his reindeer as they make their journey around the world.” In other words, NORAD went online -- and became even more fun and popular. Today, NORAD will be tracking Santa on their site and via the NORAD app with interactive maps and constantly updated videos.While you wait for him to get close to your hometown, explore Santa’s village to play holiday versions of classic games like tic-tac-toe (elves are x’s, snowmen are o’s) or head over to Facebook to hang out with the Santa tracking community on the NORAD Tracks Santa page, which has over 1.1 million fans. And yes, if you want your kids to have an old school Christmas, it's still possible to get Santa's location by phone -- call 1-877-HI-NORAD or 1-877-4466723 to speak to a real-life tracker. Clearly, NORAD is the granddaddy of trackers, but there are even more, entertaining options for kids in search of Santa on December 24. From personalized phone calls and videos to a hilarious photo-maker, NORAD has a bunch of interactive services for children around Christmas. neWS DeSK
facebook releases ‘poke’ app
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ACEBOOK released a little holiday surprise Friday with a new messaging app called “Poke.” The name, of course, is a play off of Facebook’s “Poke” function, which has always been the network’s way of sending a digital wave. Now Facebook users can send more complex greetings through the app, which lets you send text, a photo or even a quick video. The app, as rumored, is similar to the Snapchat service, which lets users send real-time messages that are only available for a few seconds. Poke lets users send messages to individual users or groups that are visible for up to 10 seconds. Snapchat has grown in popularity since its launch last year, reporting last week that it sees more than 50 million messages flow through its site a day. But the service has also gained a reputation as some users feel more free to send graphic or otherwise inappropriate messages because those messages disappear so quickly. Perhaps as a nod to this kind of behavior, Facebook mentioned that if Poke users ever see anything they’re “uncomfortable with” they can easily report inappropriate content to the network through the settings menu. Poke is currently only available on the iPhone, as a free download. The app adds to Facebook’s growing portfolio of mobile applications, including Facebook Messenger, Facebook camera and, of course, Instagram. neWS DeSK
phony 911 call distracts police from catching robbery
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HE week after the Newtown, Conn. massacre, jewelry thieves may have taken advantage of the nation's fears of a similar event, police in Texas say. Tuesday afternoon, Houston dispatchers received a 911 call stating that a man with a gun was in a local theater, KPRC reports. Officers rushed to the scene but found no signs of the alleged man or the caller. While police were occupied with the theater, however, four or five armed men with covered faces burst into a Jared's jewelry store just two blocks away. Officers say one suspect forced customers onto the floor while the others shattered display cases to steal the goods inside. They made off with nearly 1 million dollars worth of jewelry. Even if it's not part of a plan to stage a jewelry heist, misusing the 911 system is still a criminal offense. In September, one Florida teenager was arrested after he allegedly dialed 911 twice to inform dispatchers that his dreams had become reality. neWS DeSK
end of the world on Christmas instead?
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FTER months of bunker-stocking, NASAcalling, and party planning, Dec. 21, 2012 passed with the world still firmly in place. If you believed, however, that the end of the Mayan calendar's 13th baktun would indeed signify the end of the world, you might not want to breath easy just yet. Matching up modern calendars with Mayan predictions is tricky, german researcher Nikoali grube told Spiegel Online. He says the 13th baktun may not actually be over until December 24. Nevertheless, grube emphasizes that whatever the exact date, the end of the baktun -- a period of time lasting 144,000 days -- represents the end of a era, not the end of the world. The change is comparable to the turn of a millennium. In fact, grube says, Mayan artifacts include many references to dates that stem far beyond December 2012. neWS DeSK
tuesday, 25 December, 2012
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Pakistan, India resume rivalry after five-year break bANGAlORE
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AGenCIeS
UST the plain fact that this tour is actually happening is a gargantuan achievement for the Pakistan Cricket Board and its chairman Zaka Ashraf. How many diplomatic and political channels must have been traversed, how many meetings arranged and attended, how many people cajoled and persuaded, and how many prayers said in the hope that nothing goes wrong at the last moment. Well, Pakistan are finally here, on Indian soil, for their first bilateral tour in five years. It does not matter that it is apologetically short, it does not matter that it is barely squeezed between the two legs of England’s India visit. Thank heavens to Christmas then, for ensuring a gap existed in the first place for the two Twenty20 internationals and three ODIs to be sneaked in. The rivalry needs no introduction. In the earlier part of the previous decade, the historic Indian tour of Pakistan in 2003-04 - after another fiveyear break in ties - heralded a surfeit of
Pakistan has an edge over India in pace bowling: Tanvir bANGAlORE AGenCIeS
Left-arm Pakistan seamer Sohail Tanvir reckons his team will have an edge over the archrivals India in the fast bowling department in the upcoming limited overs series, adding that the hosts do not have permanent pace attack. “Pakistan has an edge over India in fast bowling as India lack good quality fast bowlers,” left-arm pacer Sohail Tanvir told reporters here in Bangalore. “Indian pacers are busy cementing their place in the team and they lack in confidence. India does not have permanent pace attack and we will try to take advantage of that,” he added further. Besides Tanvir, the Pakistan cricket team boasts the likes of T20 death overs’ specialist Umar gul, left-arm seamer Junaid Khan, and gangling paceman Mohammad Irfan. The visiting pace attack will be further strengthened by the inclusion of Wahab Riaz come the oneday leg of the itinerary, starting in Chennai on December 30. One the other side of the coin, the Men in Blue have struggled to find a set pace combination of late, and will be without frontline seamer Zaheer Khan, who has been dropped after having failed to impress the selectors with his performances this year. Tanvir, the 28-year-old Rawalpindi fast bowler, was also full of praise for his side’s spin department, led by wily off-spinner Saeed Ajmal. He, however rued the fact that fast bowlers’ performances get overshadowed because of the spinners. “With the arrival of Saeed Ajmal, Shahid Afridi and Mohammad Hafeez in Pakistan team and playing together in matches after matches, the performances of fast bowlers goes unnoticed,” he argued. Tanvir, a veteran of 50 One Day Internationals and 26 T20 Internationals, said that the experience of playing in Indian conditions in the past would help him perform better in the forthcoming series against the arch-rivals. “I have played in India and performed really well. I cherish 2007 series in India where I bowled well and got many wickets in Tests and ODIs,” said the leftarm seamer reminiscing about their 2007 tour of India, where he was the leading wicket-taker in the five-match ODI series with eight scalps from four innings.
bilateral series to the extent the rivalry began to feel a bit jaded. Since 2007, or more pertinently, since the Mumbai at-
tacks of 2008, fans have had to rely on crumbs - a Champions Trophy game in 2009, an Asia Cup match in 2010, a
World Cup semi-final in 2011, and a World Twenty20 clash in 2012. “We want him to stay at the peak. We don’t want to put too much pressure on him. At the same time, other bowlers also have to take wickets to give confidence to him,” said Mohammad Hafeez on Saeed Ajmal MS Dhoni might say it is just another series but it isn’t. Privately for the players, and openly for the fans, India v Pakistan will always be a coming together of shared history, culture, language, fear, hopes, love, hatred. India v Pakistan will always convert a neutral venue into a sea of flags of the two countries. India v Pakistan will always do strange things to players; it will drain flair out of those who have it, and it will inject flair into those who haven’t had it till then, and won’t have it thereafter. India v Pakistan will always make temporary fans out of people who run away from cricket otherwise. Too much cricket? Underperforming Indian team? No Sachin Tendulkar? All valid concerns and worries. But come the first ball in Bangalore on Tuesday evening, few will be able to resist watching.
Pakistan team’s first practice devoted to fielding bANGlORE AGenCIeS
The 15-member Pakistan squad including stars Shahid Afridi, Nasir Jamshed, Kamran Akmal, Umar Akmal, Shoaib Malik and Saeed Ajmal slogged it out at the Chinnaswamy stadium under the watchful eyes of coach Dav Whatmore. Having not played since last October’s semifinal match against Sri Lanka in the Twenty20 World Cup, the Mohammad Hafeez-led Pakistan side Sunday underwent a one-hour practice session to get into the groove ahead of the first T20 match against India. The practice session began around 10.50 am with the players doing warming up exercises. Whatmore and his boys mainly devoted their time on fielding practice. Almost all the players including Ajmal, Afridi, Hafeez, Umar gul, the Akmal brothers and Malik practised outfield catching and ground fielding. The team arrived here last night for the first bilateral series between the two sides since 2007.
Bomb squad combs match venue bANGAlORE AGenCIeS
Police bomb squad officers and sniffer dogs searched Bangalore stadium Monday as part of a massive security operation for the start of the first Pakistan cricket tour to India for five years. Hardline Indian nationalist organisations including Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Shiv Sena have both threatened to hold protests outside all the venues for the five-match series, which begins in Bangalore on Tuesday evening. The Indian government has said it will issue a record number of 3,000 visas to Pakistani fans attending the series — the first since the 2008 Mumbai attacks which led to a complete breakdown in relations between the two countries. “As the governments of both the countries have agreed to hold the bilateral series, no organisation will be allowed to disrupt the match,” Bangalore police commissioner Jyotiprakash Mirji told reporters. An AFP reporter saw bomb squad officers carrying out a painstaking inspection with their dogs
in and around the Chinnaswamy stadium in Bangalore, the capital of the southeastern state of Karnataka. As many as 5,000 security personnel, including a 100-member bomb squad, have been deployed to cover the match, fearing attempts to disrupt the game or even stage an attack. Shiv Sena, a Hindu nationalist party
based in Mumbai, has branded the tour a “national shame” and accused Indian cricket authorities of “betraying the country for sake of money”. The same organisation dug up the wicket at the Feroz Shah Kotla cricket ground in New Delhi in 1999 ahead of an India-Pakistan Test although the match did go ahead.
Indian bomb squad officials carry out a routine check outside the M. Chinnaswamy Cricket Stadium in Bangalore.
Cricket has been used in the past to mend diplomatic ties, with the prime ministers of both nations symbolically shaking hands as they watched their teams in the semi-final of last year’s World Cup in the northern Indian city of Mohali. But the prospects of a diplomatic dividend this time round appear slim and there has been no announcement of a visit by a Pakistani leader for any match. Ties were further strained on a trip to New Delhi by Pakistan’s Interior Minister Rehman Malik this month, when he compared the Mumbai attacks to the 1992 razing of a mosque by a Hindu mob which sparked a wave of sectarian violence. Boria Majumdar, a Kolkata-based academic and sports historian, said there was little reason to expect that the resumption of cricketing ties would herald any wider political thaw between the nuclear-armed neighbours. Schedule: Pakistan in India 2012-13 Dec 25: 1st twenty20 international, bangalore (d/n) Dec 28: 2nd twenty20 international, Ahmedabad (Motera) (d/n) Dec 30: 1st oDI, Chennai (d/n) Jan 3: 2nd oDI, Kolkata (d/n) Jan 6 3rd oDI, Delhi (d/n)
Akram, Waqar pay tribute to Tendulkar lAHORE StAff RePoRt
Pakistan pace legends Wasim Akram and Waqar younis on Monday paid glowing tributes to Sachin Tendulkar on his retirement from One-Day Internationals, terming the Indian cricketer as the “greatest batsman of the modern era”. The 39-year-old Tendulkar announced his retirement from ODIs on Sunday, just days before India and Pakistan clash in a three-match ODI series that will mark the revival of bilateral cricketing ties between the two countries since 2007. Akram, who played against Tendulkar many times in an illustrious career, said that he was fortunate to have played in an era that featured the Indian batting maestro. “I have no doubt in my mind that he was the greatest batsman of the modern era and I don’t see another like him coming soon,” Akram said. “It was a privilege to play against him,” he added. Tendulkar announced his retire-
ment after scoring 18,426 runs in 463 ODIs with 49 centuries — all three world records for most runs, matches and hundreds. Akram pointed out that for a batsman to play at the highest level and score 100 international centuries is a phenomenal achievement. “I credit him a lot for maintaining the fitness and level of endurance and concentration to play at this level for so long. It is a hard job,” he said. Akram said he had found Tendulkar to be a technically very correct player. “He was so passionate about his batting and always hungry for runs. I don’t see his records being eclipsed very soon.” Akram’s pace partner Waqar, who made his Test debut
alongside Tendulkar in the 1989 Karachi Test, said he had always felt that Tendulkar was “special”. “We knew from the first match he played against us that he was special. He was also very gutsy and courageous because he faced one of the best pace attacks in his first series,” Waqar noted. “In that series we slowly began to realise that here was a special talent and he proved this in years to come. It was always a challenge to bowling at him.” Former Pakistan captain Inzamam-UlHaq said that whenever he played against India he knew that the key wicket was always Tendulkar. “India
depended so much on him and what surprises me is that Tendulkar withstood all this pressure all these years to set so many records which will be difficult to break in years to come,” he said. “He was a gentleman and soft spoken and for a sportsman, who is idolised by millions, his conduct was always impeccable. He is truly a role model for young cricketers.” Former Pakistan captains Moin Khan and Rashid Latif also praised Tendulkar and said he has taken the right decision by retiring from ODIs. “He went out on a high. The problem is that he had set such high standards that people always expected big scores from him and he handled this pressure very well,” Latif said. Moin, though, was little surprised at the timing of Tendulkar’s decision to quit ODIs. “He should have played against Pakistan in the coming series but it is his personal decision and he knows best,” he said. “But as a cricketer he has left behind a legacy for Indian players which will be hard to live upto,” Moin added.
tuesday, 25 December, 2012
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Sports 16 32nd nATiOnAl GAMeS
Wapda maintain grip over the top lAHORE StAff RePoRt
W
APDA maintained its supremacy with 26 gold medals on the third consecutive day of the 32nd National games which are in full swing here at different venues of the city. Sindh finished second with 11 gold medals and HEC earned third with seven golds. Wapda defeated Punjab 36-25 in the kabbadi final to notch up gold medal while Wapda earned silver and KPK bronze. In the volleyball women event, Wapda won gold medal, HEC earned silver and Punjab won bronze medal while in volleyball men event, Wapda bagged gold, Police earned silver and Punjab bronze. Wapda also dominated in the lawn tennis event by winning the team event gold medal while Punjab won silver and HEC bronze. In the team event final, Wapda defeated Punjab 2-0 while HEC outclassed Sindh 2-0 to win the third position in the classification match. In the individual event events, Aqeel Khan of Wapda defeated Heera Ashiq of Punjab 2-6, 6-2, 6-2 and yasir Khan of Wapda thrashed Ahmad Babar of Punjab in straight sets 6-3, 6-4. The rugby event of the games commenced here at DHA Rugby ground on Monday as six league matches were decided on the opening day. In the first match, Punjab played superb rugby and crushed KPK 49-0. The main scorer for the winners were Arslan Zahid and Tahir Rafi who scored two tries each while Sahir Riaz, Khurram Ali and Vicky scored one try each. In the second match, Police outclassed Balochistan 39-0 with Naeem, Khalid and Babar scoring points for the winner. In the third match, Police outpaced KPK 29-0 as the key scorers were Naeem, Babar, Sajjad and Khalid Bahtti. The fourth match saw HEC defeating Balochistan 36-0 and points were scored for HEC by Waseem, Abdullah Jutt and Abu Bakar (two tries each). Punjab beat Police 24-7 with Arslan scoring two tries and Sahir and Tahir one try each for the winners while for the losers, Sajjad scored one try. HEC thrashed KPK 66-0. Waseem scored three tries and Naseer, ghalib, Mujahid, Khurram, Abu
Bakar and Abdullah Jutt scored one try each for the winners. In cycling 1000 m sprint (men), M Shakeel of Punjab clinched gold medal by completing the distance in 13 sec 59 points, Naveed Ahmad of Wapda won silver and Zafar Hussain of Wapda won bronze. The 1000 m sprint (women) gold medal went to Raheela Bano of Wapda who covered the distance in 14 sec 37 points while Rashida Munir of Wapda won silver and Fiza Riaz of Railways bronze. In the 1000 m team sprint (men), Wapda claimed gold medal by completing the distance in 1 min 16 sec 75. Punjab earned silver and HEC bronze. In the 1000 m team sprint (women), Wapda secured gold medal after covering the distance in 1 min 27 sec 76. HEC won silver and Punjab bronze. In the elimination race (men), Sabir of Wapda claimed gold medal while M Shakeel of Punjab earned silver and Sameer Ahmad of Railways bronze. Raheela Bano of Wapda clinched gold medal in the elimination race (women) while Mehvish of HEC secured silver and Fiza Riaz of Railways bronze. The 200 m individual medley gold medal was won by Soha Sanjrani of Sindh in the time 3:15.50 while silver went to Aleesha Mitha of Sindh (3:24.27) and
bronze was won by Rizma Farooq of Wapda (3:28.09). Sara Tajamal Hussain of Wapda won 200 m breast stroke gold in 3:56.80 time while Sania Nadeem of Wapda won silver (3:57.49) and Soha Sanjrani of Sindh bronze (4:08.04). In 200 m freestyle, Rida Mitha of Sindh grabbed gold covering the distance in 2:41.04 while Anaida Mitha of Sindh bagged silver (2:46.08) and Fatima Mehmood of Wapda bronze (2:54.45). The 800 m freestyle gold medal went to Fatima Mehmood of Wapda (13:31.40), silver to Kara Alam of Punjab (15:11.78) and bronze to Iman Aleem of Sindh (15:31.51). The 200 m back stroke gold was won Anaida Mitha of Sindh (3:05.32), silver by Aleesha Mitha of Sindh (3:14.12) and bronze by Rizma Farooq of Wapda (3:39.53). Soha Sanjrani of Sindh notched up gold medal in 200 m butterfly with the time line of 3:33.34 while Afia Shah of Wapda bagged silver (3:45.59) and Zaha Sheikh of Sindh bronze (4:20.68). The 4 x 100 m freestyle relay gold medal was grabbed by Aleesha, Soha, Anaida and Rida of Sindh in 5:19.86 time, silver went to Khadija, Fatima, Afia and Rizma of Wapda (5:39.04) and bronze was won by Javeria, Mehak, Mahnoor and Wardah of Islamabad (7:39.20).
In the swimming men events, 100 m butterfly gold medal was won by Sikandar Khan of HEC (1:01.73), silver by Farrukh Shahzad Butt of Wapda (1:03.88) and bronze by Adnan Hashim of Wapda (1:12.93). In the 100 m freestyle, Mazhar Hussain of Wapda earned gold medal (58.28), Sikandar Khan of HEC won silver (59.59) and Shahbaz Khan of HEC bronze (59.85). The 400 m individual medley gold went to ghulam Muhammad of Wapda (5:36.30), silver went to Hassan Kamran of Punjab (6:08.36) and bronze to Sikandar Khan of HEC (6:18.90). Abdul Aziz of Wapda clinched the 100 m breaststroke gold medal in the time of 1:17.08, Tanveer Ahmed of Wapda won silver (1:18.10) and Rohail Waqar of HEC won bronze (1:20.45). The 400 m freestyle gold medal was won by ghulam Muhammad of Wapda (4:43.65), silver by Mumtaz Ahmed of Wapda (5:03.48) and bronze by Sikandar Khan of HEC (5:15.35). Haseeb Tariq of Sindh won 100 m back stroke gold (1:10.67), Atif Khawaja of Wapda silver (1:12.18) and Harris Banday of Punjab bronze (1:12.32) while Abbas, Shahbaz, Mursil and Sikandar of HEC won 4 x 200 m freestyle relay gold medal (4:07.48), Mumtaz, Abbas, Rauf and Mazhar of Wapda won silver (4:08.41)
Eager fans await Pakistan-India matches NEW dElHI AGenCIeS
India and Pakistan will resume their competitive cricket ties with the first match of the series today, the fans on both sides of the border ate eagerly waiting the historic clash which would be the first in five years. The two sides continued to play each other in World Cup competitions and at third country venues.But this is the first time in five years that Pakistani cricketers are visiting India for an exclusive competition between the two rival nations. And that five-year gap has just understandably intensified the excitement and anticipation of India’s cricket fans. Pakistani cricket players have arrived in India to play their first official series in five years. The South Asian rivals will be playing three One Day Internationals and two Twenty20s, and it all begins on December 25. The last series between India and Pakistan held in either of the two home countries was in 20072008 when Pakistan visited India. But relations between the two countries soured after the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, in which 166 people were killed.
India blamed the Pakistanbased militant group Lashkar-eTaiba for the attack. Soumil Patel, a cricket fan in Ahmedabad city, said: “Expectations from this will be a good cricket, good competition and also some good relationship which can be made up between the two countries. Cricket is the best thing, we can improve our relationship between both the countries.” The matches will be played in five cities including Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata, Ahmedabad and Bangalore. Most Indian fans are
hoping for a good competition and, of course, a victory for their home team in the much-awaited series. In southern Chennai city, eager fans waited in long queues to buy tickets for the match to be played at the M A Chidambaram Stadium on December 30. Nitesh, a cricket fan in Chennai city, said: he had waited nearly eight hours in the queue to buy his ticket. Wasim Mushtaq, a cricket fan in Chennai city, said: “This is a dream come true for me. I am just here to inquire about the tickets.
Well, we are very excited about this match. Believe me or not, I am ready to remain here for the whole night to get the tickets.” India is likely to issue 3,000 visas to Pakistani cricket fans attending their team’s first cricket series in India after five years. The series is also likely to be a money spinner with private broadcaster ESPN demanding nearly US$18,000 for a 10-second advertising spot for T20s and US$11,000 for one-day matches. Meanwhile, police bomb squad officers and sniffer dogs combed Bangalore stadium on Monday as part of a massive security operation for the start of the first Pakistan cricket tour to India for five years. Hardline Indian nationalist organisations including Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Shiv Sena have both threatened to hold protests outside all the venues for the five-match series which begins in Bangalore on Tuesday evening. “As the governments of both the countries have agreed to hold the bilateral series, no organisation will be allowed to disrupt the match,” Bangalore police commissioner Jyotiprakash Mirji told reporters on the eve of the first match.
and Mustafa, Shahid, Haseeb and Saad of Sindh bronze medal (4:27.80). In 10m air rifle (men) team event, HEC scored 1,428 to clinch gold medal, Wapda scored 1402 to bag silver and Punjab scored 1,268 to win bronze medal. In the individual events, M Arif of Wapda scored 508 points to secure gold medal, Jamshed of HEC scored 491 points to earn silver and M Akhtar of Wapda scored 476 points to win bronze medal. In baseball men event, Wapda defeated Police to win gold medal while Sindh outpaced Balochistan to win bronze medal. In the softball men, Police downed KPK to win gold medal while Sindh overpowered Punjab to win bronze medal. In the football women league matches, HEC held KPK 1-1 and Punjab and Wapda played goalless draw. In the women football event, Wapda defeated Police 4-2. At the end of the third day, Wapda was on top with 26 gold medals, 13 silvers and 13 bronze, Sindh was second with 11 golds, five silvers and eight bronze medals while HEC claimed third position with seven golds, four silvers and 10 bronze medals. Punjab was at fourth with five golds, 10 silvers and four bonze medals.
POA celebrates Quaid’s birth anniversary lAHORE StAff RePoRt
At the occasion of Quaid-iAzam’s birth anniversary, the Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) celebrates the momentous moment of birth of the Father of the Nation. “This is not merely remembering him rhetorically, but the POA quite seriously cherishes the values and ideals of the Quaid, especially those enunciated with regards to democracy and nurturing a vibrant sporting culture”, said the President POA, Lt. gen. (Retd) Syed Arif Hasan, HI(M). Today we pay the Quaid a special tribute, by recalling Quaid-i-Azam’s message to the first Pakistan National games [then called Pakistan Olympic games], and his various sayings and speeches on the importance of sport and other views and pronouncements. “This is only appropriate that at the auspicious convergence of the Quaid’s birth anniversary falling in the middle of the games that he initiated in those extremely demanding im-
mediate post-Independence period, that we collectively recall his person and his vision”, said the President POA. A keen sportsman himself in his prime, the Quaid actively took part in cricket and golf, and in billiards till very late in his life, until he was thoroughly consumed by the political struggle for Independence. “His vision guides us today, when as he had warned, our ‘path is calculatingly cluttered’ [Quaid’s words] by some egos and considerations that are petty and narrow. We, the Olympic family, are trying our best to rise above ourselves and put our best foot forward. The organization of the ongoing National games 2012 is a living example, a clear manifestation of that resolve. “Let us follow the Quaid’s vision in all walks of life, a most cardinal part of which should be put on his philosophy on youth. Today let us resolve to follow the Quaid’s vision and work towards the attainment of his objectives. Let it not be said we could not prove equal to the task,” the POA President concluded.
tuesday, 25 December, 2012
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17 Sports Ferguson hails Persie’s impact at Man United lONdON AGenCIeS
UK paper to sue Armstrong over libel case lONdON AGenCIeS
A British newspaper is suing Lance Armstrong for more than $1.5 million after it settled a libel case over doping allegations, saying that revelations of the cycling star’s use of performanceenhancing drugs show the case was baseless. The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency concluded this year that Armstrong led a massive doping program on his teams. Armstrong was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles and banned from cycling for life. The Sunday Times paid Armstrong 300,000 pounds (now about $485,000) in 2006 to settle a case after it reprinted claims from a book that he took performance-enhancing drugs. The paper said in an article Sunday that it has issued legal papers against Armstrong. “It is clear that the proceedings were baseless and fraudulent,” the paper said in a letter to Armstrong’s lawyers. “your representations that you had never taken performance enhancing drugs were deliberately false.” The paper, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp., said its total claim against Armstrong is “likely to exceed” 1 million pounds ($1.6 million). “The Sunday Times is now demanding a return of the settlement payment plus interest, as well as its costs in defending the case,” the paper said.
Pattinson set to return for Sri Lanka ODIs mElbOURNE AGenCIeS
Pace bowler James Pattinson is set to resume from a rib injury in the one-day series against Sri Lanka in January, Cricket Australia’s team physio Alex Kountouris said on Monday. Pattinson broke down during last month’s second Test against South Africa in Adelaide but was able to train with Australia’s Test squad at the MCg nets on Monday morning. “James is making good progress from the rib injury he sustained against South Africa,” Kountouris said. “He has resumed bowling and building up his bowling workloads to be available for the series against Sri Lanka.” The five-match ODI series starts on January 11 at the MCg. Pattinson has a tremendous record in his seven-Test career of 31 wickets at an average of 22.09 and the 22-yearold is a key part of Australia’s plans for the 2013 Ashes tour. All-rounder John Hastings, who made his Test debut in Perth last month against South Africa before being rested from Big Bash League games for Melbourne Stars because of a back injury, is also returning to full fitness. “John has recovered from the back injury. He is preparing to play in the BBL for the Melbourne Stars later this week,” Kountouris said. The Stars’ next BBL game is in Adelaide against the Strikers on December 27.
tuesday, 25 December, 2012
R
OBIN van Persie is the “last piece of the jigsaw” for leaders Manchester United, Sir Alex Ferguson has claimed. The striker’s 12 goals in 18 games have helped the 29-year-old’s new club to a four-point Premier League lead. “I am reluctant to subscribe to the cult of an individual. But sometimes you find the last piece of the jigsaw,” the United manager said. United lost last season’s title on goal difference but are currently the top scoring team thanks to the Dutchman. The reigning Professional Footballers’ Association Player of the year and Football Writers’ Association Footballer of the year has made a huge impact at Old Trafford since he joined in the summer from Arsenal for £24m, scoring 15 goals in all competitions. Van Persie’s timing in the league has also proved crucial as he has scored the opening United goal in five games and the winning goal in five games, with the highlight being the crucial 3-2 victory away to rivals Manchester City.
If his strikes were subtracted from his club’s total, table toppers United would be 15 points worse off in eighth place. His tally in all competitions is well ahead of the other first team United strikers, with Danny Welbeck 14 behind, Wayne Rooney seven goals off and Javier Hernandez closest to him on nine. Van Persie’s influence has been compared to that of iconic Frenchman Eric Cantona when he led United to their first league title in 26 years despite the fact that when he arrived from Leeds in November 1992 Ferguson’s team were languishing in mid-table. Speaking in the programme for Boxing Day’s visit of Newcastle, Ferguson said: “We did it when we brought Eric Cantona to Old Trafford where he proved to be the right player at the right club at the right time. “He became the catalyst and springboard for our surge to success. “It doesn’t have to be signing someone for a record fee. Cristiano Ronaldo was not a record buy either but he certainly made a difference as he prospered with us to the extent that he came to be regarded by a lot of people as the world’s best player.”
Ashley defended by Martinez: Robin van Persie mANCHESTER AGenCIeS
Wigan boss Roberto Martinez says Ashley Williams is not a “nasty footballer” after the Swansea player was criticised for kicking the ball at Manchester United striker Robin van Persie’s head. United boss Sir Alex Ferguson said Van Persie was “lucky to be alive” and called for Williams to be banned. But Martinez, who signed Williams when in charge of Swansea in 2008, believes Sunday’s incident was not deliberate. “I can guarantee you he is not the type who would do that on purpose,” he said. Van Persie was lying on the ground when defender Williams kicked the ball from a couple of yards away as referee Michael Oliver blew the whistle for a foul. Ferguson said Van Persie “could have been killed” and labelled Williams “disgraceful” after the 1-1 draw. “Robin van Persie is lucky to be
alive. He (Williams) should be banned by the FA. Robin could have had a broken neck,” he added. Martinez signed Williams from Stockport County after a successful loan spell. The Spaniard admitted the incident was a “dangerous situation” and the player had shown frustration but he does not believe Williams would be so malicious. “It is an emotional game and it is very unfortunate that it hits Van Persie in a part of the body where he could have been hurt heavily, and you don’t want to see that,” he added. “If you see one of your players with a bang on the back of the head it is really dangerous and it can have bad consequences. you can understand that. “But from my point of view, I signed Ashley Williams for Swansea and I know his character inside out. “I can guarantee you without even looking at the incident that he is not a nasty footballer. “He is a winner and
fully committed, a leader and a captain, and I don’t for one second doubt that he did not do that on purpose.” Williams, 28, insisted after the game he did not deliberately kick the ball into Van Persie’s head. “I just kicked the ball in frustration and obviously not trying to hit him square on the head,” he added. “Everyone’s going to have their own opinion but from my point of view I tried to apologise on the pitch but it all flared up.” Brendan Rodgers, who was Williams’ manager at Swansea until he left to take charge of Liverpool in the summer, said he felt the issue had been blown out of proportion. “When you slow it down and look at it 20 times it does not look good for Ashley,” he said. “But I know the player well and it is just that split-second when you can see he is trying to clear the ball and unfortunately hits Van Persie right on the back of his head.
Starc out, Bird excited to move up the pecking order mElbOURNE AGenCIeS
Paceman Jackson Bird has been handed an early Christmas present after being named to make his debut for Australia in the second test against Sri Lanka starting in Melbourne on Wednesday. Bird, the leading wicket-taker in the domestic Sheffield Shield, will take the new ball in front of a bumper crowd at the Melbourne Cricket ground on Boxing Day as Australia seek to seal the three-match series 2-0. “I got the call from Mickey yesterday to say that I’m in the final 11,” Bird told reporters at the MCg on Monday, referring to Australia coach Mickey Arthur. “So yeah, it’s very exciting and I’m looking forward to it. “In the last 18 months I’ve been pretty successful in first-class cricket.
Aston Villa ‘unacceptable’ against Chelsea: Lambert lONdON AGenCIeS
Manager Paul Lambert admitted his Aston Villa side were not good enough against rampant Chelsea after they suffered a record 8-0 defeat at Stamford Bridge. The defeat was Villa’s heaviest ever in the top flight. “We were beaten up pretty badly from start to finish. The lads know themselves that that was not acceptable,” said Lambert. “We were second best all over the pitch, I am not going to stand here and make excuses.” Aston Villa came into the game unbeaten in their last six matches, including an impressive 3-1 win over Liverpool at Anfield last time out. But they fell behind after 129 seconds when Fernando Torres headed past goalkeeper Brad guzan and were soon buried by a ruthless attacking display by the Blues. “We cannot concede as early as that at places like these, you are on the back foot right away. It is vital that you come here and try and get a foothold in the game,” Lambert added.
“you can’t feel sorry for yourselves, you take your medicine in football and you have to go again. “We have got two days to mull over it and we have got to go again on Wednesday [against Tottenham].” The victory carried Chelsea up from seventh to third and interim manager Rafael Benitez, who succeeded Roberto di Matteo at the end of November, be-
lieves his side are starting to play the way he wants them to. “Everything impressed me the performance of the team,” said the Spaniard. “We have been talking before about the mentality of the team; attacking, creating chances, we had good movement, we were good in defence. As a team we had the balance we are looking for.” Defender David Luiz revived the
midfield role that he played in the Blues’ semi-final win over Monterrey in the Club World Cup, but Benitez says he does not foresee the Brazilian making the positional switch permanently. “No, I knew it could be an option,” Benitez added. “Now we can manage in a different way we can use him as a holding midfielder but also as a centre-back. “He’s good in the air, can use both feet, can score goals and he can tackle. He has a lot of attributes.” Benitez was coy on the future of two players who have been linked with moves away from the club. The 52-year-old confirmed that Daniel Sturridge was due to have a medical at Liverpool ahead of a proposed move, but said he had been concentrating on the match rather than the striker’s situation. He also stressed that Frank Lampard, whose contract expires at the end of the season, remains a key part of his squad for the moment. “He is an important player for us. He trained well and is doing well. His commitment is there,” said Benitez. “Everything is positive. It is still a long season to play but he is doing well.”
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Sports 18 LAHORE: Balochistan and Police players in action during the Rugby event of the 32nd National Games. MurTAzA Ali
Murray, part of 1996 school shooting, offers up support for Hook
watch it Live TEN SPORTS 1st T20: Pakistan vs India 06:30PM
Sue Barker recalls sharing the Wimbledon stage lONdON AGenCIeS
CONNECTICUT AGenCIeS
Model Town lift Yaseen Trophy lahore: Model Town Club lifted the trophy 4th time of 27th Mohammad yaseen Akhter Memorial cricket tournament when they beat Servis Club by 8 wickets in the final played at LCCA ground the other day. SCoReS: Servis Club 120/6 in 20 overs. Ali Zahid 19, Arshad naeem 10, Adnan Danish 22, farhan Asghar 18, nabeel Siddiqui 21, Sattar Khan 12(no). Ahsan Adil 2/23, Saad naseem 2/23, Zia ul haq 1/28, KAshif Siddiq 1/22 Model town Club 121/2 in 16 overs. Rashid Riaz 53, Sohail Ahmed 21, Immam-ul-haq 27(no), Amir Sajjad 15(no). Adnan Danish 1/22, Rana Mansoor 1/24. the President of LCCA Khawaja nadeem Ahmed was the chief guest who gave away the prizes, after the final Rashid Riaz emerged winner of man of the match award. earlier Waqar-ul-Munir the organizing secretary gave details of the event. the other prize winners were best batsman Umer Siddiq( Ludhiyana Gym), best bowler Sattar Khan (Servis CLub), best All rounder Rashid Riaz (Model town Club) and best Wicket keeper (farhan Asghar (Servis Club). the huge public were present at the ground. StAff RePoRt
i
N the minutes, hours and days following the terrible tragedy at Sandy Hook elementary in Newton, Conn., plenty of politicians, celebrities and athletes offered up support, donations and heart-felt sorrow for the victims of this horrible tragedy. But few people actually know from experience how tough this can be. Andy Murray, the 2012 U.S. Open champion, was part of a 1996 school shooting at Dunblane Primary in central Scotland that left 16 students and a teacher dead, and offered up his support for the Connecticut
community on his Facebook page this last weekend. “My heart goes out to all those poor children, their families and the community in Newtown in Connecticut, so, so sad,” Murray said. The shooting in 1996, according to this USA Today report, was a very similar situation to that of Sandy Hook, and while Murray doesn’t talk much about this, understandably, he has mentioned at times of what happened all those years ago. Murray and his brother took cover under a table in a classroom, and his mother even commented to ESPN that this particular day was, “The worst. The worst thing you could ever
imagine having to go through in your life. Sitting, waiting and not knowing if your child is alive or dead — you can’t imagine what that was like. It was quite horrific.” Murray mentioned in his book Hitting Back that, “The weirdest thing is that we knew the guy (Thomas Hamilton),” a former scout leader that took the lives of these 17 people before taking his own. The aftermath of the Dunblane shootings was then Prime Minister Tony Blair putting a stop to firearm sales in the United Kingdom, with similar reactions being thrown around in this country after Sandy Hook.
Australia hobble into Boxing Day test mElbOURNE AGenCIeS
A last-gasp victory over Sri Lanka in Hobart gave Australia a sorely needed boost after disappointment against South Africa, but a mounting injury toll has tempered the hosts’ Christmas cheer in the lead-up to the second test in Melbourne. Captain Michael Clarke, in white-hot form with the bat, remains a doubt to play the Boxing Day test after suffering a hamstring strain at Hobart, while front-line seamer Ben Hilfenhaus has been ruled out with a side strain. Top young talents Pat Cummins and James Pattinson have already been lost for the series, and have been joined in the casualty ward by fellow quicks John Hastings and Josh Hazlewood. Six months out from the Ashes, Australia’s hopes of using its home summer to hone a battlehardened attack lie in tatters. Australia’s selectors have compounded the angst, however, with a con-
troversial rotation policy that has seen injury-free bowlers rested for fear they might break down, drawing howls of criticism from former players and pundits. The in-form Mitchell Starc is the latest casualty of that policy, and despite taking a fivewicket haul to help Australia seal the Hobart win, will cool his heels in the Melbourne Cricket ground dressing room when the test starts Wednesday. “We’ve got to be very mindful of the fact that we’ve got such a lot of important cricket coming up,” Australia head coach and selector Mickey Arthur told reporters on Monday. “And Mitch will be integral to that. It’s tough on Mitch but hopefully he misses one test to make sure we don’t have another injury.” Paceman Starc’s enforced break and Hilfenhaus’s absence mean Australia will bring an overhauled pace attack for a third consecutive test. The mercurial Mitchell Johnson earns a recall after being dumped following the third and final test against South Africa in Perth. Although the Proteas’ batsmen bul-
lied Australia in the series-sealing victory at the WACA, the 31-year-old Johnson was the pick of the hosts’ bowlers and will hope for a big haul to remain in favour ahead of tours to India and England. Johnson, however, may have to wait his turn behind debutant Jackson Bird, who will open the bowling against Sri Lanka’s formidable batting lineup in front of a bumper crowd at the MCg. The 26-year-old Bird has played only 17 first-class matches, but is the leading wicket-taker in the domestic Sheffield Shield, and has enjoyed good form for his adopted Tasmania state in his two matches at the MCg. He is likely to share the new ball with fiery paceman Peter Siddle, who took nine wickets in a manof-the-match performance at Hobart and is the only pace bowler retained from the first test. Sri Lanka have their own pace bowling problems, with their raw attack struggling in Hobart, but they will again pin their hopes of a breakthrough first test win in Australia on their batsmen
and spinner Rangana Herath. With the team having lost the coin toss and the benefit of batting first, Sri Lanka’s batsmen frustrated the Australian bowlers for nearly four sessions on a deteriorating wicket at Hobart, only to collapse after tea and surrender the test within the last hour. They will hope to have better luck with the toss at the MCg, where the drop-in pitch traditionally rewards batting sides who survive a torrid first session on day one, before offering something for the spinners on days four and five. The Sri Lankans have additional motivation in their first Boxing Day test in 17 years, with master batsman Kumar Sangakkara needing only 40 runs to reach the magical 10,000-run milestone in tests. The 35-year-old would become only the 11th cricketer to reach the landmark and second Sri Lankan after captain Mahela Jayawardene. “I think Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela have played a huge part with the youngsters,” middle order batsman and captain-inwaiting Angelo Mathews told reporters.
In a year that contained so many sundrenched winning moments for Britons, Andy Murray’s tears in drizzly south London was one of the most memorable. The 25-year-old Scot had narrowly failed to end a 76-year wait for a British winner of the the men’s singles title at Wimbledon, succumbing in four sets to the great Roger Federer. The defeat was made harder for Murray by the fact it was his first time in the final at SW19 and because he won the first set only to be ruthlessly dispatched by Federer’s scintillating performance. As the Centre Court net was loosened for another year and preparations began to present the trophy to Federer, Murray was struggling to keep his emotions in check. BBC Sport’s Sue Barker then strode onto court to interview the players, not knowing the significance of her upcoming chat with the runner-up. Barker, who did not watch fellow Briton Virginia Wade win the 1977 tournament because she was so upset by her own semi-final defeat by Betty Stove, recalls speaking to a tearful Murray. “I was welling up I felt so sorry for Andy,” she told BBC Radio 5 live for a programme on Murray’s grand Slam year that will be broadcast at 19:30 gMT on Thursday, 27 December. “I kept wanting to say that you don’t have to do this but in my heart of hearts I thought that ‘you really do want to do this’. “It would have been very easy for me to say ‘Andy we’ll do it later’ but I kept the microphone there because I could see that he wanted to talk and I knew that the people wanted to share it with him. I think he knew that as well.” Murray had previously been accused by some of not showing enough emotion aside from the harsh dressings down he gives himself on the court. However, the Scot won the hearts of the British nation with his speech despite the fact it came after one of the cruellest defeats. “The speech he made showed everyone at home who thought he was a hard, heartless competitor what it meant to him,” said Barker. “He showed a real softer side. I thought that he won so many people over that day because all you want from your sportspeople is to give everything.” It showed in the backing Murray received when he returned to Wimbledon later in the summer to take the Olympic title - avenging his defeat by Federer. Murray then went on to win the US Open in September - ending Britain’s long wait for a male grand Slam singles champion.
Funny or racist? Wozniacki draws heat for her Serena impersonation SAN PAOlO AGenCIeS
Tennis players have a habit of impersonating one another for a laugh while in exhibition matches, and one of the more notable, for any number of reasons, is Caroline Wozniacki’s overstuffed take on her friend Serena Williams. This past weekend, playing a match in Sao Paolo against Maria Sharapova, Wozniacki added a bit of padding and played a point “as” Williams. Funny little goof, right? Be-
cause Wozniacki and Williams are friends, and especially because Williams herself has no problem making fun of her own figure? But no, this is an era where no joke goes unscrutinized, and no humor apparently exists without sinister subtext. In other words: People are actually saying Caroline Wozniacki was performing a racist act. One blogger on Tumblr wrote, “this isn’t ‘harmless fun’ as one article described it. its racist. out and outright racism. mocking and mak-
ing fun of the bodies of black women for a laugh? real funny, stupid white girl. real real funny.” (Link not provided because of nonstop profanity in the rest of the post. And the words “stupid white girl” in a post condemning racism presented without comment.) Another Tumblr blogger actually tried to make a point, wondering why Wozniacki’s routine is acceptable and Williams drew criticism for her “Crip Walk” after winning gold in the Olympics. It’s a fair question, if only because Williams
didn’t deserve the grief she got. Thing is, this isn’t the first time Wozniacki has done a Serena impression. For that matter, Wozniacki isn’t the only tennis player to do Serena impressions; Andy Roddick did the same thing in 2011. Both of those moments received plenty of publicity; why is this only a racial issue now? It’s a fine line here; had Wozniacki come out in blackface makeup, the line would obviously be crossed. Here? One could argue that Wozniacki was making fun of Williams’
figure outside the context of race; there are, of course, white curvaceous women’s tennis players. Throwing out accusations of racism is all too easy for such a serious charge, particularly on the Internet, and the likely outcome of this is simply that Wozniacki won’t do this particular gag again. An apology may be forthcoming, but it shouldn’t be.
tuesday, 25 December, 2012
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19 Russia, India sign weapons deals worth billions NEW dElHI
R
AGenCIeS
USSIA and India signed new weapons deals worth billions of dollars Monday as President Vladimir Putin sought to further boost ties with an old ally. Putin and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh hailed cooperation between their countries as officials signed a $1.6 billion deal for India to purchase 42 Sukhoi Su-30 fighter jets and a $1.3 billion contract for the delivery of 71 Mil Mi17 military helicopters. Singh said the talks included discussions on the security situation in the region, including Afghanistan. “India and Russia share the objective of a stable, united, democratic and prosperous Afghanistan, free from extremism,” Singh told reporters after the talks. While the volume of Russian-Indian trade has risen six-fold since 2000 and is expected to reach $10 billion this year, the growth has slowed in recent years. And even though India remains the No 1 customer for Russia’s arms industries,
Moscow has recently lost several multibillion-dollar contracts to Western weapons makers. Russia and India have shared close ties since the Cold War, when Moscow was a key ally and the principal arms sup-
plier to New Delhi. The ties slackened after the collapse of the Soviet Union, but grew stronger again after Putin came to power in 2000, seeking to revive Moscow’s global clout and restore ties with old allies. Russia has maintained its
strong positions in the Indian market with $30 billion worth of arms contracts with India signed in 2000-2010 that envisaged supplies of hundreds of fighter jets, missiles, tanks and other weapons, a large part of which were license-produced in India. The countries have cooperated on building an advanced fighter plane and a new transport aircraft and have jointly developed a supersonic cruise missile for the Indian Navy. But the military cooperation has hit snags in recent years, as New Delhi shops increasingly for Western weapons. The Indians also haven’t been always happy with the quality of Russian weapons and their rising prices. Putin’s foreign affairs adviser, yuri Ushakov, who briefed reporters ahead of the visit, said military cooperation with India will “expand and deepen,” adding that concerns about Russia losing its dominance in the Indian arms market were exaggerated. As part of its cooperation with India, Russia also has built the first reactor at the Kudankulam nuclear power plant and is building a second unit there. The project has been delayed by protests by antinuclear groups and local residents.
nAB asks for complete record of lahore metro bus project lAHORE onLIne
The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has sought the entire record of the Metro Bus Service project in Lahore that is nearing completion under the direct supervision of Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif. A private TV channel reported that NAB had issued notices to Punjab Communication and Works and Transport secretaries, as well as the Lahore Development Authority Dg, seeking all relevant record on the bus service project in Lahore, including copies of all contracts inked so far in this connection. The work on the project is underway in collaboration with a Turkish firm. Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif is directly overseeing the project and called the project part of efforts to give Lahore a place among modern cities of the world.
Hearing into memogate fixed for January 28 ISlAmAbAd StAff RePoRt
The relations between the government and the army are set to sour again as the Supreme Court on Monday fixed January 28 as the next date of hearing of the Memo Commission case. Notices have also been issued to all respondents in the constitutional petitions No 77 to No 85 of 2011. These constitutional petitions were filed in the Supreme Court by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Nawaz Sharif and others under Article 184(3) regarding an alleged memorandum to
Airports, Motorway closed due to dense fog in lahore ISlAmAbAd AGenCIeS
Allama Iqbal International Airport was closed for all domestic and international flights due to dense fog on Monday. A PIA spokesman said the prevailing weather conditions with the dense fog and zero visibility in Lahore, Faisalabad, Multan and adjoining areas had affected the schedule of PIA flights. He said due to heavy fog in Lahore and adjoining areas, the schedule of PIA domestic and international flights would now be subjected to the weather. The statement said the PIA flights affected due to fog on Monday were PK306 that was diverted back to Karachi, PK796, and PK348, adding that flights PK789 to Toronto and PK721 to New york might also be delayed. Meanwhile, the Motorway had also been closed from Babu Sabu Interchange in Lahore to Pindi Bhattian Interchange in Faisalabad as visibility was down to zero. The Motorway police appealed to the drivers to use fog lights and drive at very slow speed.
Admiral Mike Mullen authored by Hussain Haqqani, Pakistan’s former ambassador to the US. The matter was highlighted after Mansoor Ijaz, a US citizen of Pakistani origin, accused Haqqani of writing a memo to US army chief Admiral Mike Mullen seeking Washington’s help against a possible military coup in Pakistan. A nine-member SC bench, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry will hear the case. The case was heard on November 13 by a nine-member bench and an order had been passed asking the counsels for the respondent
to submit a written request to the interior secretary, pointing out Haqqani’s apprehensions regarding his security in Pakistan. “On receipt of the same, adequate arrangements shall be made by the interior secretary intimation whereof shall also be furnished to the registrar. Such arrangements of security shall be required to be made at least two weeks prior to commencement,” the court order said. Asma Jahangir, the counsel for Haqqani, had expressed her inability to show up in court during December 2012. Therefore, a hearing into the case had to be fixed for January.
Security personnel among five killed across Balochistan QUETTA ShAhZADA ZULfIQAR
Five people, including two personnel each of Frontier Corps and Balochistan Constabulary, were killed and five others injured in three separate incidents of violence across Balochistan on Monday. Per reports, a Frontier Corps party was moving from Mashkey to Quetta when armed men opened fire on it. As a result, two soldiers were killed and another was hurt. The deceased were identified as Saifullah and Shazad. Balochistan Home Secretary Akbar Hussain Durrani confirmed the incident and said two FC jawans had been killed in the attack. However, he rejected reports that army soldiers were among those killed in the attack. In another incident, an FC convoy was targeted with explosives fixed to a motorcycle on Sakran Road in Lasbela district. Four FC sepoys received injuries. An FC
spokesman confirmed the incident and said the condition of all of the injured was out of danger. Meanwhile, a party of Balochistan Constabulary was passing along the Eastern Bypass area near the cattle market when unidentified armed men sprayed bullets on it. Resultantly, three BC personnel sustained serious wounds. The injured were being rushed to a hospital when two among them succumbed to injuries. The deceased were then shifted to Civil Hospital Quetta where they were identified as Abdul Haleem and Muhammad Arshid, while the injured was named yar Muhammad, whose condition was also critical. Separately, a driver of a NATO supply container was killed in Sariab locality. Police said that the incident occurred in New Sariab police precincts when armed men opened indiscriminate fire on a container, killing the driver on the spot. He was identified as Muhammad Qasim.
Published by Arif Nizami at Qandeel Printing Press, 4 Queens Road, Lahore.
Editor: Arif Nizami
tuesday, 25 December, 2012