e-paper pakistantoday 4th march, 2012

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rs22.00 Vol ii No 246 22 pages

Karachi edition

Sunday, 4 March, 2012 rabi-ul-Sani 9, 1433

Sherpao survives yet another suicide attack

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Bomber kills girl and a policeman, injures 7 others, including 2 MpAs PESHAWAR AbduR RAuf KHAttAK

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PESHAWAR: Pakistan People’s Party-Sherpao chief Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao arrives at the Lady Reading Hospital on Saturday after a suicide bomber targeted his convoy, killing two people including a policeman and injuring seven others. online

Three missing FC men found dead in Machh QUETTA SHAHzAdA zuLfiqAR

Three bullet-riddled bodies of Frontier Corps personnel were recovered in Machh, 60kms southeast of Quetta, on Saturday. According to Levies Force officials, they received a tipoff that three bodies were lying close to a road in Machh, upon which the Levies personnel rushed to the site and moved the bodies to a nearby state-run hospital for autopsy. When contacted, FC officials confirmed the recovery of bodies of three missing FC personnel, saying the personnel were killed in captivity, which was against tradition. They said those involved in killing the FC men during custody would not be spared and such tactics could not discourage the forces from efforts to restore peace in the province. The banned Baloch Liberation Army had claimed killing of 14 personnel of FC in an armed attack in Margut last month and had also captured three personnel of FC along with their weapons and communication gadgets. The FC had confirmed the abduction by the BLA, which had also released photographs of the FC men in their custody.

Who Will be The nexT iSi DG? detailed article page 04

Government takes another jab at CnG sector Gas supply to 551 CnG stations in punjab blocked g Duration of CnG load shedding increased to three days

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ISLAMABAD AmER SiAL

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FTer failing to restrict the use of compressed natural gas (CNG) in public transport vehicles, the government has made another subtle attempt to throttle the sector by blocking gas supply to 551 CNG stations in Punjab for three months until May 31.

All Pakistan CNG Association (APCNGA) Chairman Ghias Paracha condemned the government’s move and called it unjustified and illogical.

He said the Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) had notified that all CNG stations set up after 2008 were eligible for only 9 months gas supply and their supply was being immediately suspended for the next three months.

He said the government had made an agreement with the association that the gas load shedding would be reduced from February. However, the SNGPL had notified an increase in the duration from two-and-half days to three days, which was illogical, as domestic pressure on gas reduced with the start of the spring season. He said the Oil and Gas regulatory Authority (OGrA) had cancelled 151 licenses of the CNG stations last week. Paracha said they had convened an emergency meeting of the association on March 5 to decide a future plan of ac-

file photo

tion. He said they had also sent a letter to the Petroleum Ministry to for a meeting to listen to their point of view on the new move by the SNGPL. He said the association would take strong measures if the government did not dissuade from its subtle attempts to throttle the CNG sector.

The government estimates that during the last decade, gas production has increased by only seven percent, while its consumption increased by 40 percent per annum. CNG sector is identified as the major user of gas whose consumption has increased by 39 percent per annum during the last decade.

More than 3.5 million vehicles

ply on CNG, which according to official estimates consume 390 mmcfd.

The government wants to reverse its CNG policy but alliance of transporters and CNG investors is seen as a major pressure group that could put on halt any such plans. The government has now opted for a plan B in order to bring CNG prices at par with POL prices The government has already imposed a ban on the import of CNG kits and cylinders on December 15, 2011, which raised serious concerns in the automobile sector, saying the move would jeopardise investment.

suicide bomber targeted the convoy of Pakistan People’s Party-Sherpao (PPP-S) Chairman Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao in Shabqadar area on Saturday, and killed two persons – a small girl and a policeman – and injured seven others, including two lawmakers of the provincial assembly.

Sources said the blast took place shortly after the PPP-S chief concluded a public meeting, and party leaders were returning from the rally venue near Kangra Public School, Shabqadar.

The bomber targeted a police van escorting the former interior minister’s convoy. His son, Sikandar Hayat Khan Sherpao, a member of provincial assembly (MPA), and Mohammad Ali, also an MPA, sustained minor injuries, while the PPP-S chief remained safe.

Soon after the attack, a large number of people and rescue workers rushed to the site and shifted the injured people to Lady reading Hospital, Peshawar. Contingents of police also reached the blast site and cordoned off the area. Sherpao also visited the blast site and examined the situation.

The dead include Constable Bashir and a minor daughter of PPP-S leader Syed Ahmad Shah, while those who were injured are: MPA Sikandar Hayat Khan Sherpao, MPA Mohammad Ali, Inspector Jamshed Khan, Constable Dawood Khan, Constable Anwar Ali and Constable Waqas.

Senior Minister Bashir Ahmad Bilour, PPP leaders Zahir Shah and Arbab Alamgir, and high-ranking police officers visited Lady reading Hospital to enquire about the health of the injured persons. District police chief Nisar Khan confirmed that the blast was a suicide attack and its target was the former interior minister.

The latest attack suggests that Sherpao remains on the hit-list of militants, as he was the interior minister when the military operation against Lal Masjid was launched in the heart of Islamabad. Soon after the operation, the number of suicide attacks multiplied in Pakistan, and in April 2007 a suicide bomber attacked a rally of PPP-S, killing 28 people and injuring dozens of others.

Militants later targeted him while he was offering eid prayers at a mosque in his hometown of Charsadda. The attack killed 50 persons and injured dozens of worshippers, but Sherpao survived. Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) spokesman for Mohmand Agency claimed responsibility for the attack, and announced that the attacks would continue.

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02 News today’s

Sunday 4 march 2012

lAhoRe

neWS

dengue: this time it’s for sure!

Sherry returns to Washington

Comment Senate polls Not many surprises there.

the memo commission

Quick

A thorough and impartial inquiry is a must.

Humayun Gauhar says: Happy times, sad times: Met a few friends of mine.

Saad Rasool says:

look

Bar’s unjustified ban: Ban on Shezan is not justified.

Ali Rizvi says: Why I hate Imran: Some soul searching before anything else.

Story on Page 06

Story on Page 07

Presidency, ISPR rubbish Ijaz’s claim

Slap victim pardons Waheeda Shah

ISLAMABAD: The claim of Mansoor Ijaz on Saturday fell flat on his face as the Presidency and the Inter-Services Public relations (ISPr) denied that President Asif Ali Zardari had intervened to stop interception of the US attack by F-16 aircraft on May 2. Mansoor Ijaz, the star witness in “memogate” case, had told media in London on Friday that Zardari had asked Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Asfhaq Kayani on May 2 not to send F-16 aircraft to bring down US choppers carrying Navy SeALS commandos who killed Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad. In a rebuttal, spokesperson to the President Farhatullah Babar dismissed the reported allegation of Mansoor Ijaz against President Zardari, calling it “absolutely untrue and unfounded”. referring to the statement of Ijaz, a spokesman of the ISPr said there was no telephonic conversation between the president and the COAS on the night between May 1 and 2, 2011. The spokesman further said that the military leadership had briefed the joint session of the parliament as well as the Abbottabad Commission on the subject matter and there was nothing more to add to it. While talking to media prior to appearing before the memo commission via video link from London, Ijaz had claimed that a telephonic conversation between President Zardari and General Kayani took place on May 2 night. He said Zardari had asked the army chief not to stop the US helicopters. Ijaz further claimed that Zardari had given permission to the US to kill bin Laden in Abbottabad.

KARACHI: Assistant Presiding Officer Habiba Memon, who was slapped by Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) by-election candidate Waheeda Shah Bukhari, on Saturday announced to pardon her aggressor. The Supreme Court on Friday had refused to accept an unconditional apology from Waheeda while hearing a suo motu notice of the incident. The court had also criticised the election Commission and the Sindh police chief for their failure to act promptly against the PPP candidate. Memon submitted her written statement before the election Commission, saying she had decided to pardon Ms Shah. Talking to reporters, Memon said the PPP candidate had visited her house to offer an apology, upon which she decided to forgive her. Memon said that she was under no pressure to accept the apology, and had not been offered anything in return. iNP

Articles on Page 12-13

StAff REPORt

US lauds Pakistani sacrifice in terror war ISLAMABAD: The United States offers sincere condolences to the people and government of Pakistan, especially to the Pakistani military, over the deaths and injuries to Pakistani soldiers in the fight against militants in Khyber Agency yesterday, the US embassy said in a statement on Saturday.

“Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families of those who fell,” a statement issued from the US embassy said. “The people of Pakistan and the American people together face the threat of violent extremists who use the bullet rather than the ballot to impose their will. The American people stand with all Pakistanis in confronting the common threat of violent extremism,” the statement said. APP

PPP investigates into Gill’s surprise defeat LAHORE: The PPP has compiled its initial report regarding the unexpected defeat of Aslam Gill in Punjab region in the recent Senate elections. The defeat of Aslam Gill, a diehard PPP activist, in the Senate elections in Punjab has cast shadows over the loyalties of six PPP members belonging to Naheed Khan group. A private TV channel quoting PPP sources reported that the party has decided to take oath from six suspected members who did not cast their votes. The members under scrutiny include rana rizvi, Samina Naheed, rana Babar, Nishat Ahmed Khan Daha, Javed Allaudin and Major (retd) Abdul rehman.

The sources further revealed that some members did not vote due to differences with the MNAs of their respective constituencies. The party offered to send special airplane to rana Babar in Dubai but he refused to return. The party alleged that Major (retd) Abdul rehman is in contact with the PML-N. iNP

Bikram Singh next Indian army chief NEW DELHI: The Indian government announced on Saturday that eastern Army Commander Lieutenant General Bikram Singh will be the next army chief. Singh will take charge of the top army post on May 31 when army chief General VK Singh will retire. VK had been embroiled in a dispute with the government over his date of birth and even took the government to court over it but the Indian Supreme Court had forced VK to withdraw his petition. Bikram was commissioned into the Sikh Light Infantry regiment on March 31, 1972. During his long career, spanning nearly 40 years, he served in a variety of command and staff appointments.

He commanded a corps in the Northern Command. iNP

Police to be sent to arrest Raisani’s son KARACHI: The Sindh government has decided to arrest Balochistan CM Aslam raisani’s son Yadgar raisani for torturing policemen, reports said. Sources said that police were conducting raids in Karachi to arrest Yadgar. Police believe that the CM’s son had fled the city. NNi

SWAt: People participate in a skiing competition at malam Jabba. ONLiNE

Above The lAW

lawyers to get prohibited bore arms licenses: Rehman Malik g

Urgent passports to be made on regular fee for lawyers LAHoRE StAff REPORt

Interior Minister rehman Malik has said that only unity of legislative, judiciary, executive and media can bring the country out of a dirty whirlpool of national solidarity risks and weaken the grip of the country’s enemies in pursuing their evil designs actively in and outside Pakistan.

He was addressing a gathering of lawyers on the occasion of passport office’s inauguration on the premises of the Lahore High Court bar Association (LHCBA) that has been set up to facilitate the lawyers community. He promised to the lawyers that NADrA office will also be set up at the LHCBA office. He said lawyers

will be provided urgent passport on regular fee.

The interior minister announced that soon arms license of prohibited caliber/bore will also be issued to the lawyers. The president of LHCBA had requested the interior minister that lawyers should be provided urgent passports on regular fee and the minister accepted it saying that fee will be regular for lawyers but service would be on an urgent basis.

Malik said he is with a community today which saw the dream of Pakistan and then established it. The lawyers he said have been fighting for rule of law for many years. He quoted the services of Allama Iqbal, Quaid –eAzam, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, ZA Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto for the country, terming them

unforgettable. He also applauded the lawyers for their struggle for independence of judiciary and supremacy of the constitution.

He said President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousaf raza Gillani believe in freedom of media and he assured that the government is not hatching any plan for curbing freedom of media as is appearing in the news.

He said free media is possible only in a country which has a democratic system in place.

He said uninterrupted democracy and unity of all pillars of the state is the first guarantee towards national solidarity and progress of the country which is being crippled by fight against terrorism and poverty. Malik said that it is high time to set aside personal interests for the betterment of the country.

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Sunday 4 march 2012

3 killed, one injured in Dera Bugti QUETTA StAff REPORt

According to Levy officials, unknown armed men opened indiscriminate fire in Patokh area of Dera Bugti that killed three persons on the spot and injured another.

The attackers escaped from the scene after committing the crime. Local law enforcement agencies rushed to the site after the incident and moved the dead and injured to a nearby hospital where the deceased were identified as razo Khan, Tando Khan and Bangul while the injured was identified as Lashkari Khan. Motive behind the killing could not be ascertained immediately nor any group claimed responsibility for the killings. Local administration has started investigation into the incident.

TETHyAN COppER COMpANy’S AppEAL DISMISSED: The appellate authority of Mines and Mineral Department Government of Balochistan has dismissed the appeal of Tethyan Copper Company (TTC) Pakistan for mining license for a multi billion dollar reqo Diq Copper-Gold project in Chaghi district. The company had submitted a feasibility report with a request with government mine department for issuance of mining license, pleading that it had completed the exploration of the project therefore was entitled to be granted a mining license. The Director General Mines and Mineral had rejected the application of TCC after pointing out many flaws in the application for seeking the mining license.

The company had filed an appeal against the decision of Director General in the appellate au-

thority comprising Secretary Mines and Minerals Department government of Balochistan. The appeal was pending in appellate authority for a long time. Supreme Court of Pakistan had also ordered the appellate authority for disposing off company’s appeal by March 3rd, 2012.

SMuggLINg ATTEMpT fOILED: A bid to smuggle huge quantity of heavy weapons to interior parts of Balochistan was foiled after the truck carrying weapons turned turtle near Chaman, a border town close to Afghanistan, on Saturday. According to Levy officials, the truck loaded with wooden boxes containing light and heavy weapons was heading towards Quetta when it overturned near Chaman after its tirerod broke. As a result, all weapons were littered on the road and the truck driver and cleaners succeeded to escape from the scene.

News 03

Gondal wants committee to probe into ‘mule trading’ in Senate polls ISLAMABAD StAff REPORt

Feeling the heat of protests by workers of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) over the loss of Aslam Gill in Senate elections, the party’s parliamentary leader in Punjab Assembly Maj (r) Zulfiqar Ali Gondal has requested President Asif Ali Zardari to form a committee to probe into the matter in detail.

The PPP received a major setback as it lost Gill’s confirm seat to independent candidate Mohsin Leghari. In a letter sent to the president, also the PPP co-chairman, Gondal drew his party chief’s atten-

tion towards what he called “mule trading” by a number of “our members of provincial assembly of the Punjab resulting into defeat of staunch PPP worker, Ch Muhammad Aslam Gill”. “The defeat has not only lowered the morale of workers but also eroded the authority of party leadership,” he said in the letter. “I request that a high powered committee may be constituted to ascertain (a) identification of ‘the mules’ and (b) circumstances which led to ‘mule trading’. It is also recommended that stern disciplinary action must be taken against the persons found responsible,” Gondal said.

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04 News

Sunday, 4 march, 2012

Who Will Be the next DG iSi?

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NEWS DESk

T’S appointment time at the Fortress on 7th Avenue.

Pakistan’s premier intelligence arm, the Directorate of Inter-Services Intelligence, is transitioning through a change of the guard.

According to an article posted at TacStrat.com, after an unprecedented two extensions at the helm of the ISI, infantryman (or as he prefers it, Piffer) Lt. Gen. Ahmad Shuja Pasha is getting ready for golfing. Or is he?

The deadline for the switchover is March 18, the day Pasha says goodbye to his Aabpara staff of at least six sub-directorates (‘Analysis’, ‘Counter’, ‘Internal’, ‘Media’, ‘Special’ & ‘Technical’) and goes packing. Assuming he will either not be offered an extension (which has to officially come from the office of the prime minister), nor accept an extension if it is offered (which may be likely as it will make him look good and the PM/government seem thankful and happy), the DG-I (preferred again, for only civilians call him DG-ISI) will be replaced by a man who will have to be battle-ready without the luxury of any ‘settling in’ period.

That’s because even though Pakistan is always on the brink-ofsomething, the country’s intelligence calendar for 2012 (which in no particular order includes: the Qatar talks with the US/Afghans/Taliban, the upcoming general elections, the Missing Persons/Memogate/Abbottabad enquiries, the Balochistan peace process, resumption of ties with US/NATO/ISAF and trade versus water security with India) will not allow any breathing space to the newcomer. Come the ides of March, Pakistan’s new ISI chief will not only have to hit the ground running; he will also have to implement a framework of consistency and success that keeps his army and its Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Kayani, stable till the COAS himself goes golfing in late 2013.

WHOSE CALL IS IT ANyWAy? As for the process of selection, the official bit about the prime minister deciding after being presented a list of names by acting Defence Secretary Nargis Sethi (which he will then talk over with President Asif Ali Zardari), well, that’s the stuff pipe-dreams are made of. Ultimately, and realistically, the call is only Gen. Kayani’s to make. So what is Chaklala’s top gun thinking? And in Kayani’s mind, what does his new ISI chief require?

Consistency (because that’s the way it works).

“The only thing harder than putting a new idea into the military mind is getting an old idea out of it”. So said the english soldier and historian, BH Liddel Hart – and he said it before the same chaps who had started WWI started WWII. Of course, militaries are conservative in their policies. But they’re even more conservative about themselves. especially considering Pakistan’s multiple fronts of civil and international conflict and the tight corner its army finds itself in, Islamabad’s 7thAvenue spymaster will have to be in a close synch with rawalpindi’s GHQ king.

Thus, there is little room today for a renaissance man in Aabpara.

Less than Conservative (but Tactical about Terror) That’s not just a personal qualification, but a professional one as well. Kayani will look for a man who has proven his credentials either reputedly or experientially for being familiar with the terrain and the command, staff and operational requirements for continuing Pakistan’s version of the ‘War on Terror’. That means either field experience in FATA/KhyberPakhtunkhwa (probably as the General Officer Commanding of a

frontline division), hands-on work with the Directorate of Military Operations or even the Directorate of Military Intelligence, and/or the right sub-directorates at the ISI. THE pASHA fORMuLA: The proof is already in the pudding.

Kayani chose Pasha for a variety of reasons, but the leading among them (barring the rumours about Pasha being green-lit by the Americans) is that Pasha had served, just like Kayani, as the Director General Military Operations (DGMO), a stint from 2006 to 2008 where he had overseen the entire ambit of military engagements across the country.

His predecessor, Lt. Gen. NadeemTaj, did not enjoy such a critical operational command (rather, he was a bit of a Musharraf hanger-on) and was promptly removed by Kayani soon after the COAS attained his four stars.

So, besides both being infantrymen, having similar offices and experience, Kayani and Pasha have thus implemented the former’s strategy to build and enhance the operational linkages between the ISI and the army – damaged greatly by the politicization of the ISI since the Zulfikar Ali Bhutto years and the founding of the ISI’s notorious ‘Political Cell’. essentially, and between their bouts, Kayani and Pasha have tried to recreate the ISI as a ‘fighting arm’ of GHQ. Thus, just like the infantry, the armoured corps, the artillery and other supporting arms, the ISI today also provides critical input as an enforcer of the army’s operational policies (though it does not have the formations or the firepower of the other arms). In a way, this is exactly what the ISI was founded to do: provide intelligence and support for war. It’s political role, though officially diminished, ends with a question mark. effectively, Kayani, a former DGMO and DG-I himself, has tried to create Pasha the spymaster in his own image. With a new spymaster ready to get appointed, he just might repeat that move.

Faculty vs Presentability (because the Americans are important) Looks will matter, but so will substance. However, interpersonal abilities may or may not reflect in the professional skills of the new DG-I. Both Kayani and Pasha are introverts who have depended on building personal trust with their counterparts. Also, they let their

propaganda arms do the talking, so do not expect a Hameed Gul type of hard-baller in the mix.

But do remember that the new DG-I will probably serve as chief negotiator for the army in the ongoing Qatar talks, and that means he will most certainly need to connect with the US State Department, CIA, CeNTCOM, NATO, ISAF, the Afghans and maybe their ANSF (Afghan National Security Forces) and NDS (National Directorate of Security, Kabul’s intelligence arm), and yes, even the Taliban and their sympathizers. That’s a lot of press, a lot of talking and a lot of diplomacy. Kayani will definitely need a man of substance who’s a wheelerdealer as well.

THE pROBABLES: The names that have been leaked to the press so far indicate a bifurcated set of choices for the COAS to make: Kayani will either go for someone who has worked closely with him (on his staff) or someone who knows the ropes (and has already been at the intel game), or maybe both. But experience versus intimacy will count, as will other oblique qualifications.

THE SENIOR, LT. gEN. RASHAD MAHMOOD: Arm: Baluch regiment (same regiment as Kayani) Current Job: Commander, IV Corps, Lahore (a choice posting, which means he’s in the boss’ very, very good books) The Spin: Mahmood got the creme de la creme gig of the Lahore Corps right after serving as a deputy DG ISI as a two-star.

The Complication: He’s not in the batch of three-star generals who will retire with Kayani in 2013, but he will reach his retirement age after only a couple of years at Aabpara.

The Qualification: That means the new COAS (who, if he takes over from Kayani, will assume office in 2013) will have to see Mahmood off soon after he himself gets the top job. In this way, Mahmood’s tenure will be short and sweet, as he will neatly fit in as Kayani’s DG-I (and retire soon after Kayani) and not worry the new COAS (who will thus quickly install his own man on 7th Avenue).

Intra-institutionally, this would be perceived as an unselfish winwin for Kayani and the rest of the crew, and shall most certainly be appreciated by the not-so-round table of Pakistan’s Khaki Knights.

Also, the Americans could be satisfied as Mahmood has intel/counter-terrorism experience.

The risk: If the ISI continues its trend (or keeps up its need) for its Director Generals’ extensions, Mahmood, due to his foreseeably short two-year stint, is a risky proposition. That’s because the incumbent democratic government in office at the time of his retirement (and/or the rest of the country) may or may not be in a mood for granting yet another DG-I another year. experience vs Intimacy: Both matter. With his stint at the ISI and his hot-shot Corps command, Mahmood hasn’t gotten this far without the favour or the good impression of the COAS. But he hasn’t worked closely with the chief.

THE CONTENDER, LT. gEN. MOHAMMAD ZAHEERuL ISLAM: Arm: Punjab regiment (which is infantry, same arm as Kayani) Current Job: Commander, V Corps, Karachi (also a cushy posting, which means he’s one of Kayani’s favourites) The Spin: Like Mahboob, Islam also served in the ISI as a two-star deputy DG (reportedly DG-Internal, dealing with domestic and counter-intelligence issues) before his promotion to the rank of a three-star. Thus, it’s no coincidence that Islam also oversaw Karachi during the turbulence of 2011, which claimed hundreds of lives in ‘target killings’.

The Complication: Islam retires after Kayani as well as Mahboob, which means that he could (or could not) pose complications for the next COAS (who will still see him as Kayani’s choice, not his own). That’s not much of an issue, for if Islam is not appreciated by the new boss, he could easily be slotted into a Principal Staff Officer slot as a reward, or maybe get another Corps command (though the latter is unlikely).

The Qualification: Pretty much the same as Mahboob’s. The trajectories of both Corps Commanders (ISI posts followed by important Corps appointments) are similar, but Islam also hails from a prominent military family. experience vs Intimacy: With his ISI background and his performance in Karachi, experience will surely count. But Islam has not worked on the COAS’s staff.

THE SpECIALIST, LT. gEN.

MuHAMMAD ASIf: Arm: Sind regiment (which is infantry, same arm as Kayani) Current Job: Director General Joint Staff (DG-JS), Joint Staff Headquarters, Chaklala (not the most connected of portfolios) The Spin: Asif served as the Defense Attache to Moscow for over two years. even more importantly, he was appointed as Kayani’s first DG-MI (Director General Military Intelligence, often joked about as ‘intra-services intelligence’, which it literally is). With his current stint at the Joint Staff Headquarters, Asif has also interacted quite often with the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) of the Peoples republic of China.

The Complication: Though they suffer from overlaps, the MI is a very different animal from the ISI. Also, Asif has been the GOC of Sialkot, not necessarily a FATA/KPK-centric division.

The Qualification: Asif could be the ‘readjustment’ candidate. If Kayani is seriously thinking about ‘looking east’ and building his military into a non-aligned (vis-a-vis the US) entity that is looking to build regional ties as well as streamlining the discrepancies between Pakistan’s three services – including the critical procedural and operational overlaps between the MI and the ISI – then Asif, with his Joint Staff background, is the man for the job. After all, the first round of Pak-China Staff Talks (where PrC and Pakistani brass actually huddle over the future) was started under his watch.

The risk: The Americans might not see Asif as the right fit for what they need. experience vs Intimacy: Probably neither. Asif has no ISI experience, and a JSHQ posting generally indicates a ‘not-a-buddy but-not-abad-guy’ status with the GHQ. THE guARDIAN, LT. gEN. JAvED IqBAL: Arm: Frontier Force regiment (infantry, same arm as Kayani and same regiment as Pasha) Current Job: Adjutant General (AG), GHQ (a stint that keeps him close to the COAS) The Spin: Schoolmate (though junior) of Kayani’s from Military College Jhelum. Also, like Kayani and Pasha, Iqbal has served as DGMO, which makes him operationally qualified, just like Pasha and Kayani before him, for the ISI’s increasingly important role as a ‘force multiplier’ in the military en-

gagements in FATA/KPK and even Balochistan.

The Complication: Just two weeks before the biggest intelligence failure in the country’s history and the Osama Bin Laden-centric Operation Neptune Spear by US Navy SeAL Team Six – Javed Iqbal was the DGMO of Pakistan Army. But by May 2, 2011, he had been promoted to the very ‘ear-of-the-chief’ post of Adjutant General. After the OBL raid, Iqbal was also immediately tasked with an inquiry by the COAS about the failures that led to the raid.

All of this means three things: that Javed Iqbal is very close to Kayani; that Javed Iqbal is very lucky; and that Javed Iqbal knows more about the OBL raid, both as former DGMO and inquirer, than anyone else.

The Qualification: ever heard of the Fauji Foundation’s Committee of Administration? No? Well, according the Foundation’s publications, the COA is the “policy board of the organization. It is responsible for defining the strategic direction of the Foundation without its involvement in the day to day functioning.” Lt. Gen. Javed Iqbal is on this committee. He’s also the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Askari Bank. He’s also got an MSc in Strategic Studies from Quaid-e-Azam University. That means that Iqbal is more than a good old boy. He is, literally, the army’s premier manager. Not due to retire for another three years, Javed Iqbal may well be Kayani’s personal favorite, a man who could very easily transition from the high risks of managing field operations to the risk-management of the army’s billions. If he is appointed DG-I, expect him to enhance not just the ambit but also the structure and systems of the agency.

The risk: If he is shipped of to Aabpara, then after the retirement (or maybe even promotion to fourstars) of the current Chief of General Staff, Lt. Gen. Waheed Arshad, GHQ might miss an able administrator like Javed Iqbal. experience versus Intimacy: Iqbal is definitely close to the COAS. And with two division commands as GOC and the DGMO gig, he is as, if not more, experienced than Pasha when the latter assumed control of the Fortress on 7th Avenue.

THE WILDCARDS, THREE ALTERNATIvE CHOICES: Alternatively, Kayani could make a move out of left field. As Pasha retires and opens up a three-star slot, Kayani may opt to not rock the boat with Lt. Generals. Instead, he could go for someone younger, more dynamic, or even a better fit, and promote him before appointing him to head the agency.

The three two-star names which have been speculated in the press are Maj. Gen. raza Muhammad, Maj. Gen. Sahibzada Isfandiyar Ali Khan Pataudi, and Maj. Gen. Naushad Kayani. The appointment of either Pataudi or Kayani (both having stellar US Army War College backgrounds) could complicate life as they are not up for promotion in March, and several major generals would have to be superseded after such an action (not a popular move as several two-stars were already superseded last fall and thus made redundant by the COAS).

The most-possible-scenario wildcard is the senior two-star in the running, Maj. Gen. raza: an old-school infantryman with a sonof-the-soil reputation in the army and a crucial intelligence post that is coupled with a divisional command. enabled by his low profile and warhorse attitude, the seniority-gap with the COAS could well be the sort of matchup raza offers to Kayani for being Pakistan’s new spymaster. The matrix has many choices. There are few patterns and trends. The decision rests with one chain-smoker. Thus, the Aabpara Auditions begin.

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Sunday, 4 march, 2012

News 05

‘Chaudhry league’ working against PMl’s ideals: likeminded ISLAMABAD

I AttOcK: American nationals drive away in a car after their release from the city Police Station on Saturday. the three foreigners were detained by police for not obtaining proper permission before entering the city on friday. online

2 italians briefly detained for taking snaps of sensitive sites RAWALPINDI ONLiNE

Law enforcement agencies on Saturday arrested two Italian citizens for taking photographs of sensitive places in rawalpindi, but released them later after initial interrogation by police and intelligence agencies. rawal Division Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Malik Matloob and New Town Police Station Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Sabir Nadeem said that both Italian citizens were working as engineers at the Benazir International Airport.

They arrived in Islamabad on February 28 on an invitation by the Aga Khan Foundation to repair its helicopter. The foreigners told the interrogators that they were on a holiday and had come to rawalpindi for sight seeing.

The officials said the names of the foreigners were: Apollo Nacolia (passport number

0450606) and Sermon Fabreco (passport number C830022). After interrogations and confirmation by the Italian embassy, Nacolia and Fabreco were released. fOuR TALIBAN COMMANDERS ARRESTED IN CHARSADDA: Security forces on Saturday claimed to have arrested four suspected Taliban commanders from Dherizardad road area in Charsadda. According to security sources, on a tip off, police and other security forces conducted a joint operation and raided a house in the area. The accused Taliban commanders fired at the security forces. Sources said that security forces arrested four suspected commanders after exchange of fire and one suspected militant was injured in the clash. According to security sources, the commanders were involved in an attack on the ANP’s rally in Nowshera.

Sources said that the militants were planning to leave for Waziristan. The names of the arrested commanders could not be ascertained yet.

AGENciES

N a fresh spate of criticism against Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q), the PML-Likeminded on Saturday said the “Chaudhry League” was working against the vision and ideals of the PML which was why its leaders and workers were annoyed with the PML-Q leadership.

Senior leaders of PML-Likeminded, including Hamid Nasir Chattha, Arbab Ghulam rahim, Salim Saifullah Khan, Humayun Akhtar Khan, Gohar Ayub, Kashmala Tariq, Humayun Saifullah Khan, Abdul Ghaffar Qureshi, Ghulam Abbas, Haroon Akhtar Khan, Kabir Ali Wasti, Iqbal Dar, Gulshan Saeed, Ajab Gul Surani and Asif Memon, congratulated their candidate Mohsin Khan Laghari for winning Senate election. “Our candidate won the

senate seat in tough times which shows that we have our own political status, and in the next general elections we would also show our own political status, as our party represents the true vision of the PML,” Hamid Nasir Chattha said.

Arbab Ghulam rahim said the party had participated in Senate elections from Sindh as well in order to stop horse trading. Salim Saifullah urged that an alliance of various PML factions could pull Pakistan out of the existing crises.

MARvI MEMON TO JOIN pML-N: Former PML-Q MNA Marvi Memon is expected to join the PML-N today (Sunday) According to sources, she will call on PML-N President Nawaz Sharif at the Sharif family farmhouse at raiwind and announce joining the party. Marvi was expected to join the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI), as she had participated in the PTI’s sit-in against US drone attacks in the Tribal Areas but she rejected all such reports.

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06 News

Sunday, 4 march, 2012

india rejects report of US troops on its soil NEW DELHI

I SANGLA HiLL: Pakistan today Editor Arif Nizami addresses the participants at a seminar organised by the Hameed Nizami memorial Society to pay tribute to the late journalist’s services to the nation.

US-born Qaeda associate jailed for 27 years NEW YoRk AfP

A New York man was on Friday sentenced to 27 years in jail for conspiring to kill American soldiers stationed overseas and on related terror charges, the US Justice Department said.

Betim Kaziu travelled from Brooklyn to Cairo, egypt, in February 2009 to participate in attacks against US troops based in the Middle east and in the Balkans on behalf of al Qaeda, prosecutors said during the trial. Testimony at trial established that Kaziu had been radicalised, in part, by Internet speeches of Anwar al-Awlaki, the American-born cleric and leading figure in al Qaeda, who was killed in a US drone strike in Yemen last year. Prosecutors also presented evi-

dence from Kaziu’s social networking website that included quotes from Osama bin Laden. While Kaziu was in Cairo, he allegedly tried to acquire automatic weapons and attempted to travel to Somalia to join al-Shebab, a Somali terrorist organisation allied with al Qaeda, the court heard. He later travelled to Kosovo to target US troops stationed there, prosecutors said, but was arrested by the Kosovo Police Service on August 27, 2009. Before his arrest, Kaziu recorded a martyrdom video on the Albanian coast in which he expressed his last thoughts before departing for “paradise”. He also bought a plane ticket to Pakistan, where he had links to al Qaeda. The Kosovo police transferred him to the New York Joint Terrorism Task Force to face terrorism charges in the United States.

Indian high commissioner calls on nawaz RAIWIND: Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan Sharat Sabharwal called on PML-N President Nawaz Sharif at the Sharif family farmhouse at raiwind on Saturday. Indo-Pak ties and the present regional situation were discussed in the meeting. Nawaz said that all issues between the two neighbouring countries should be resolved through dialogue and the Kashmir dispute should be resolved according to the wishes of the Kashmiris. NNi

Sherry returns to Washington

AfP

N D I A has denied as “factually incorrect” a report that US special forces were stationed in the country as part of counter-terrorism cooperation.

Media reports quoted top Pentagon commander Admiral robert Willard as telling a Congressional hearing on Thursday that US special forces teams were stationed in five South Asian countries, including India and Sri Lanka.

“The report is factually incorrect in so far as the reference to India is concerned,” Indian defence ministry spokesman Sitanshu Kar said in a statement late on Friday. “US special forces teams have never been stationed in India in the past, nor are such teams stationed in the country presently,” Kar added. The two democracies, however, have a regular military exchange programme with cross visits for training and joint drills by soldiers of one country to another.

In Colombo, the US embassy on Sat-

urday denied stationing special forces in Sri Lanka. “references in the press to US special forces being stationed in Sri Lanka are misleading,” the embassy said in a statement. However, it said members of the US military were assigned to work in the embassy in Colombo “as part of the bilateral engagement between the US and Sri Lanka.” The US admiral had been quoted as saying that the move to station US forces in the South Asian countries was part of the counter-terrorism cooperation with these nations. uS IMpOSES SANCTIONS ON KEy TALIBAN BOMB-MAKER: The US targeted a key Taliban bomb-maker for sanctions, the first of its kind that aims to stifle the flow of the deadly improvised explosive devices (IeD). The Department of Treasury described Abdul Samad Achekzai, a 42-year-old Afghan national, as a key official in the Taliban’s IeD supply network, who was as recently as mid-2010 tasked with IeD component procurement and storage, detonator construction and IeD training in support of Taliban fighters in western and southern Afghanistan.

ISLAMABAD iNP

Pakistani Ambassador to the US Sherry rehman left for Washington on Saturday after important consultations with the top political and military leadership.

According to sources, Sherry who was summoned to Islamabad five days ago, attended a meeting at the Presidency, which was attended by top civilian and military officials. The meeting discussed US-Pak ties, Pak-Iran Gas Pipeline and US threats in this regard, suspension of NATO supplies and agreement signed with the US during the Musharraf era, which had expired now. According to sources, the political and military leadership expressed full satisfaction on Sherry’s performance. The ambassador also briefed the meeting about her meetings with US President Barack Obama and others.

Falcons released in Kallar Kahar KALLAR KAHAR: Punjab Wildlife and Parks Department and Falcon Foundation International Pakistan jointly released 13 Saker and Peregrine falcons back to nature in the Kallar Kahar region. These falcons had been confiscated at Lahore International Airport in November 2011 during an attempt to smuggle the birds abroad on an international flight. Both falcons are listed on Appendix I and II of CITeS, being threatened with extinction. These powerful hunting birds were confined to Lahore Zoo where Falcon Foundation International Pakistan provided expert care until disposal of legal proceedings. After three months, the court allowed Punjab Wildlife and Parks Department to release the birds. Falcon Foundation tagged the birds with rings and implanted micro-chips in the breast region of each falcon giving them positive identification. The micro-chips can be identified by a scanner, which the Foundation recommends that every airport and country exit should possess, to guard against replacement of birds. PR

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Sunday, 4 march, 2012

‘SteDA to help improve teachers’ capabilities’ Really?

07

‘Work on KCR project to kick off this month’ kARACHI

S

qAzi ASif

eNATe Standing Committee on Pakistan railways was told that the Karachi Circular railway (KCr) project will start this month and will be completed in 2017. The cost of the project will be rs 128.6 billion.

This was told in a meeting of standing committee held under chairmanship of Senator Moulna Gul Naseeb. While other members Abdul rashid, Professor Muhammad Ibrahim, Abdul Ghaffar Qurishi. railways DS Nazar Hussain rizivi, Secretary railway attended the meeting. railways DS told committee that Pr is going to revive KCr with the support of Japan government. It was said that old rails will be revived and net of new rails will be installed across the city.

He told that the rail project will start this month and will be completed in 2017. He said that 941 acres of railways land was illegally occupied in the city of Karachi. It has been decided that this occupied land of the railways will be vacated. This process has been started in the city. Those who will get affected in this operation will be compensated with plots in the Bin Qasim area where 270 acres land has been obtained for the

purpose. every family will be given a house and rs 50,000 cash as they can shift from railways land to there.

DS railway in his presentation said that route length 43.12 km dual tracks (elevated 22.86 km, tunnel 3.93km, ground 16.33km) with 24 stations at average distance of 1.5 km.

Trains will operate at six-minute headway interval with 1,391 passengers per day. electronic traction infrastructure with modernised signalling, telecommunication system, regenerative braking system, provision of segmental fare level compactable with bus fares (minimum rs 15 to maximum rs 22.50 will be the features of KCr. At the stations, the facilities will be ensured of computerised ticketing, automated gates, elevators, vending machines, utility kiosks, bookshops, food cafes, parking area and connectivity to roads while additional boarding faculties for elderly and special persons.

hazara province campaigner all praise for Muttahida ■ tehreek-e-Suba hazara leader Baba haider Zaman and his delegation visit nine-Zero kARACHI StAff REPORt

The rulers must accept the demand for new provinces for a stronger Pakistan, Tehreek-e-Suba Hazara leader Baba Haider Zaman said on Saturday.

He was speaking at the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM)’s headquarters Nine-Zero, where he was visiting along with a delegation of his party.

He held a meeting with MQM rabita Committee deputy conveners Dr Farooq Sattar, Anis Ahmed Qaimkhani and Nasreen Jalil and other members of the body.

Zaman also spoke with MQM chief Altaf Hussain on the phone. The Tehreek-e-Suba Hazara leader invited the MQM to participate in its rally in Karachi.

Talking to the media after the meeting, Dr Farooq Sattar said the MQM had

submitted a resolution and a constitutional amendment bill in the National Assembly and the Senate for the creation of Hazara and southern Punjab provinces and the party will make every effort to have them passed.

“The MQM will not give up its struggle for the rights of the Hazara people.

The security and integrity of the country are tied to the creation of Hazara and Seraiki provinces,” he added.

Speaking on the occasion, Zaman said the allegations against the MQM are and baseless and the party is not involved in violence or bloodshed. “The propaganda against the MQM is aimed at creating division among people,” he added.

Zaman said the MQM has done its job in the parliament, whereas the other political parties have failed to perform their duties.

Later, Zaman and his delegation visited the monument constructed in memory of MQM’s murdered activists and offered fateha.

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PakistaN today

08 karachi SZABIST’s colloquium on TV in Pakistan kARACHI

T

APP

He Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology (SZABIST)’s Department of Media Sciences organised a colloquium titled `Television in Pakistan’ on Saturday.

The experts at the event discussed the history, the present state and the future of the television in the country.

Dr Framji Minwalla, the head of the department, started the discussion on how the media shapes and is shaped by practitioners and viewers. renowned media personality, rahat Kazmi, presented the keynote address. He was of the opinion that the media rarely creates a social change.

The Khoosat family, including Irfan, Sarmad and Kanwal, shared their experiences, speaking about the different challenges they have faced while writing, directing, and producing television dramas.

Sarmad and Kanwal discussed as to how social issues depicted in their work reflected the present day society.

Shireen Pasha presented a history of Pakistani film leading up to the inception of television, and described both technological and political limitations confronted by television writers and directors.

Senior journalist Ghazi Salahuddin also expressed his views on the occasion.

Other participants included Aslam Azhar (via video link from Islamabad), Ayesha Tammy Haq, Dr Seemi Naghmana Tahir, Mahtab rashdi, and Haider Waheed.

Four consecutive sessions were also part of the conference and each one was followed by a question-and-answer period where audience members had an opportunity to interact with the panelists.

About 200 participants attended the event, including corporate delegates, civil society representatives, students from various universities, and the SZABIST staff and faculty.

‘SteDA to help improve teachers’ capabilities’ kARACHI StAff REPORt

The Sindh Teachers education Development Authority (STeDA) Act 2011 will soon manage and regulate teachers’ education and professional development as well as address the issues related to education sector, senior provincial education Minister Pir Mazharul Haq said on Saturday.

He was presiding over the 7th meeting of STeDA board of governors at the NJV School.

“Strong and continuous leadership is the need of the hour to improve the education sector in Sindh. The education Department should work and prepare plans in accordance with the changing demands of the modern world,” he said.

The minister also directed education Department to hire professionals on market-based packages to enhance the quality of education.

“Transfers and postings of officers usually hamper rapid progress of projects and this practice should be discouraged,” he said.

“STeDA will start functioning at full pace and its main objective will be to enhance the professional competence of teachers on modern lines to address the professional needs of educational personnel in the province,” he added.

“The summary for recruiting 19,000 more teachers has been approved to meet the shortage they will be soon recruited on the basis of merit.”

The minister stressed the need for quality teacher training programmes to enhance their capability.

Sunday, 4 march, 2012

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Sunday, 4 march, 2012

karachi 09

Dyspeptic? Pets won’t aggravate your condition ■ Study analyses gastric pathology associated with coinfection of h felis and h heilmannii in patients presenting with dyspepsia

H

eLICOBACTer species infect the gastrointestinal tracts of many animals from birds through humans. Some of these have been linked to a range of human diseases including chronic gastritis, peptic ulcer disease, mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue lymphoma, and gastric adenocarcinoma. The principal Helicobacter infection in humans is Helicobacter pylori, with infection rates in developing countries reaching 50 percent to 90 percent. Human gastric biopsy samples, however, have shown to harbour bacteria which were morphologically different from H pylori. These include Helicobacter heilmannii and Helicobacter felis which are primarily pathogens of domestic animals and were later found to infect humans as well. Gastric nonHelicobacter pylori helicobacters constitute a diverse group of bacterial species that are known to colonise the gastric mucosa of several animals.

These include morphologically distinct, typically long spiral shaped bacteria originally referred to as Gastrospirillum hominis and later as H heilmannii. The latter was further subdivided in two taxa: types 1 and 2. H heilmannii type 1 are identical to H suis which colonises the stomachs of pigs. The former H heilmannii type 2 represent a group of species, known to colonise the gastric mucosa of dogs and cats and include H felis, H bizzozeronii, H salomonis, H cynogastricus, H baculiformis and a bacterium provisionally named in 2004 as ‘Candidatus H heilmannii’ because at that time, it could not be cultured in vitro.

However, recently, in vitro cultures have been obtained resulting in description of H heilmannii, as a novel Helicobacter species. Sequencing of the 16S or 23S rrNA-encoding genes allows differentiation of H suis from the other gastric non-H pylori helicobacters species, but it cannot distinguish between H felis, H bizzozeronii, H salomonis, H cynogastricus, H baculiformis and Candidatus H heilmannii.

For differentiation between these species, sequencing of the heat shock protein 60 or gyrase B gene is used, while sequencing of the urease A and B genes is considered to be the most suitable method since sequences of these genes are available. Dyspepsia describes a variety of symptoms, including abdominal pain, bloating, nausea, and vomiting. In these patients, endoscopy is considered to rule out gastroesophageal reflux disease, peptic or duodenal ulcer and gastric cancer. The role of H pylori infection in dyspepsia remains controversial. This study aims to identify the prevalence of H pylori and non-H pylori helicobacters, H felis and H heilmannii and to analyse the gastric pathology associated with coinfection of these organisms in patients presenting with dyspepsia.

STuDy pOpuLATION: Between September 2009 and February 2011, a total of 250 patients with abdominal pain or discom-

fort who attended the gastroenterology outpatient clinic at a tertiary care hospital in Karachi were enrolled. The mean age of these patients was 39 ± 12 years, (range 18-75) with males 162 (65 percent) and females 88 (35 percent).

Of these, 136 (54 percent) were in the age group of 18-39 years, 88 (35 percent) in the group of 40-55 years and 26 (10 percent) in the group of 56-75 years. ethical approval for the study was obtained from the Aga Khan University ethics review Committee. Informed consent was taken for participation in the study. A complete socio-demographic questionnaire including determination of socio-economic status, educational level, ownership of the place of residence, number of rooms in the house, number of people living in the household beside siblings, source of water supply, for example, municipal water pipeline or bore water (ground water) and type of latrine in use, was obtained from the patients. A history of exposure of enrolled patients to cats and dogs was determined and a physical examination was carried out. Inclusion criteria were ambulatory adult males and non-pregnant females; age 18 years or older; and patients with upper GI symptoms including abdominal/epigastric pain or discomfort, postprandial abdominal distension, postprandial nausea and vomiting. exclusion criteria included receiving treatment for H pylori, concurrent or recent antibiotic use such as metronidazole, clarithromycin, amoxicillin, tetracycline, doxycycline and other cephalosporin; histamine-2 receptor blocker or proton pump inhibitor therapy and bismuth compounds in the last four weeks; patients with regular use of NSAID; patients with severe concomitant disease; and patients with upper GI surgery. A crowding index with three categories was constructed by dividing the number of individuals per household by the number of the rooms used as bedrooms. A participant’s household crowding was defined as ‘low’ if they scored an index of 0-1, ‘moderatelycrowded’ were 2-4 and > 4 were ‘highly crowded’. On eGD, 242 (97 percent) were found to have endoscopic gastritis alone, while 8 (3 percent) had duodenal ulcer.

Biopsy specimens from the gastric corpus and antrum were taken for rapid urease test (rUT) or

histopathology for the diagnosis of H pylori and DNA extraction for polymerase chain reaction (PCr) to amplify H pylori, H felis and H heilmannii genes. Ninety patients (36 percent) out of 250 had a rUT done, while 160 (64 percent) out of 250 had histology and provided gastric biopsy specimen for the detection of Helicobacter species.

RESuLTS AND DISCuSSION: Majority of the patients with H pylori infection were in the age range of 18-39 years, while H felis and H heilmannii positive patients did not show this distribution. There was no difference in the gender, ethnicity of patients, crowding index (CI) and source of water distribution among the patients with H pylori and non-H pylori infections. All patients had abdominal pain with endoscopic gastritis as the predominant finding. The false positive and false negative results obtained with rUT were 15 (36 percent) and 6 (12 percent), respectively, while with histology the false positive and false negative results obtained were 20 (30 percent) and 10 (11 percent), respectively. Univariate analysis was performed by using the independent sample t-test, Pearson’s chi-squared test or Fisher’s exact test where appropriate. A p-value of < 0.05 was considered as statistically significant.

All the H heilmannii and H felis PCr positive patients were also positive for H pylori PCr amplification. PCr for Helicobacter genus specific 16S rDNA was positive in 167/250 (67 percent), glmM (H pylori) in 142/250 (57 percent), H heilmannii in 17/250 (6 percent) and H felis in 10/250 (4 percent), respectively. PCr was positive for both H pylori and H

heilmannii in 17 (6 percent) and for H pylori and H felis in 10 (4 percent), respectively. All the H heilmannii and H felis positive patients were also positive for H pylori glmM PCr amplification.

Twenty-six percent (66 out of 250) were exposed to pets, either cats or dogs. Most H heilmannii positive patients did not have pet contact.

Only one out of 66 exposed to pets was positive for H heilmannii and two for H felis. A higher degree of bacterial density was associated with H pylori infection alone (p < 0.001). Chronic active inflammation was observed in 53 (56 percent) cases with H pylori alone infection (p = 0.001) compared to 3 (37 percent) in H heilmannii (p = 0.73) and 3 (60 percent) in H felis positive patients coinfected with H pylori (p = 0.66). Intestinal metaplasia (IM) was present in 3 (3 percent) out of 94 cases with H pylori infection alone compared to 2 (25 percent) out of 8 cases of H Heilmannii and H pylori coinfection, and 1 (20 percent) out of 5 cases of H felis and H pylori coinfection in which histology has been performed. PCr product sequences were compared to the sequences of urease B of different H heilmannii and H felis strains. The H heilmannii sequences had 100

percent similarity to ‘Candidatus Helicobacter heilmannii’ strains GenBank: AF508012 and L25079, while it was 99 percent to GenBank: AY139170, AF507996, AY139172, AY139173, and 98 percent to GenBank: AY139171, respectively. The H felis sequences had 100 percent similarity to H felis strains GenBank: FQ670179 and X69080, while it was 99 percent to H felis GenBank: AY368267, AY368261, and 98 percent to GenBank: DQ865138, respectively. Among our patients, the cohort exposed to pet animals was limited to 26 percent. There were more patients with H pylori infection who were in the 18-39 years age range. Such age distribution was not seen in cases with H felis and H heilmannii infection.

There was no difference in the gender, ethnicity of patients, CI and source of water distribution among the patients with H pylori and non-H pylori helicobacter species infections. There were no statistically significant differences in the endoscopic findings in patients with H pylori infection alone or with coinfection of H pylori and non-H pylori Helicobacter species.

Chronic active inflammation was associated with H pylori infection compared to H heilmannii or H

PakistaN today

felis coinfections with H pylori.

However, the histology was not obtained in all the cases that showed H heilmannii and H felis infection. Intestinal metaplasia was present in 2 (25 percent) out of 8 cases of H heilmannii coinfection with H pylori and in 1 (20 percent) out of 5 cases of H felis coinfection with H pylori as compared to 3 (3 percent) of 94 cases with H pylori infection alone who had undergone the histological study. Although it was not possible to draw a conclusion that IM was significantly associated with the coinfection of either of the species and H pylori, a tendency in that way would be likely, as it has also been reported by other authors.

PCr positives at the species level were also positive for the Helicobacter genus specific 16S rDNA and all the H heilmannii and H felis positive patients were also positive for H pylori glmM PCr. PCr product sequences of urease B gene of H heilmannii had shown 100 percent similarity to Candidatus H heilmannii strains GenBank: AF508012 and L25079, while H felis sequences had shown 100 percent similarity to strains GenBank: FQ670179 and X69080. In this study, we used urease gene-based PCr method that detected only Candidatus H heilmannii DNA from pure in vitro cultures of other non-H pylori helicobacter species. This method was also used by other investigators to demonstrate the presence of Candidatus H heilmannii DNA in gastric biopsies from patients with dyspepsia. The limitations of our study include the small number of patients who had non-H pylori helicobacter infection and the presence of H pylori co-infection which precluded assessment of the histological effect of these species under consideration. Also, the significance of coinfection in terms of disease development could not be determined. We could have identified few more cases of non-H pylori helicobacter species by other reported methods used to study non-H pylori helicobacter species including fluorescent in situ hybridisation, transmission electron microscopy and partial 16S ribosomal sequencing for analyses of the amplified products. The implications of this study are that nonH pylori helicobacter species infection occurs in patients with abdominal pain or discomfort similar to H pylori infection. Most of our H heilmannii infections

were not associated with contact with animals. This is in contrast to a previous analysis of 125 patients with confirmed H heilmannii infection that showed some 70.3 percent of the 111 patients had a history of contact with one or more animals. All of our patients with non-H pylori infection had endoscopic gastritis, though their association with peptic ulcer is well known. The prevalence of coinfection of H felis with H pylori in our population is less than what has been reported from South Africa among African population but is certainly higher than that for H heilmannii and H pylori from the northern europe which showed that only 1.6 percent had concomitant infection with H pylori. The coinfection in our patients demonstrated severe gastric pathology, as intestinal metaplasia was present in 25 percent of H heilmannii coinfection with H pylori, while in 20 percent of H felis coinfection with H pylori. This was also reported in previous studies.

In this study, the difference was not statistically significant due to the number of subjects in each group. The routine transmission of H pylori appears to be humanhuman whereas non-H pylori helicobacter species are transmitted by cats, dogs, etc. Consequently, the prevalence of H heilmannii is expected to be significantly higher in environment with less hygiene and higher physical exposure to animals. However, in our study there was a negative association with pet contact as the patients reported limited exposure to these animals. There is a need to look into other modes of transmission of these infections.

CONCLuSION: As non-H pylori Helicobacter species are capable of producing complications similar to H pylori so the identification of these species may be of importance in patients with dyspepsia. However, our study fails to show any increased risk of infection with these organisms on exposure to pet animals and any additional complications associated with coinfection in patients infected with H pylori. extracted from ‘Prevalence of non-Helicobacter pylori species in patients presenting with dyspepsia’ authored by Javed Yakoob, Zaigham Abbas, rustam Khan, Shagufta Naz, Zubair Ahmad, Muhammad Islam, Safia Awan, Fatima Jafri and Wasim Jafri

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PakistaN today

10 karachi WeAtheR UPDAteS

31°C

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monDAy tUeSDAy WeDneSDAy 30°C I 19°C

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PRAyeR tImInGS Fajr 5:36

Sunrise 6:51

Zuhr 12:44

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maghrib 6:36

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Starting time in Karachi

CIty DIReCtoRy emeRGenCy helP PolICe 15 BomB DISPoSAl 15, 99212667 FIRe BRIGADe 16, 99215007, 99215008 eDhI 115, 32310066-2310077 KhIDmAt-e-KhAlq FoUnDAtIon 36333811 ReD CReSCent 35833973 GoVeRnoR’S hoUSe 136 ChIeF mInISteR’S hoUSe 99202051 motoRWAy PolICe 130

hoSPItAlS ABBASI ShAheeD CIVIl JInnAh nICVD AGA KhAn tABBA

99260400-09 99215749, 99215960 99201300-39 99201271-6 34930051 36811841-50

Sunday, 4 march, 2012

What she wore: oscars spotlight Pakistan’s designers THE WALL STREET JoURNAL SONYA REHmAN

W

hen ‘Saving Face’ was nominated for the 2012 Academy Awards, Karachiborn filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy swore she would choose clothes by Pakistan’s designers for the ceremony.

“Our fashion industry features an array of talented and creative designers,” she said. “I am really excited to showcase some of that at the Oscars.”

Holding her Oscar high on February 26, Chinoy became Pakistan’s first Academy Award winner. She also made good on her promise, wearing creations by a range of Karachi-based women designers to events both on and off the red carpet.

On stage, the filmmaker wore an elegant Bunto Kazmi-designed shalwar kameez – a traditional outfit of loosefitting trousers and a long tunic worn in South and Central Asia.

According to Kazmi, who is known for her elaborate bridal wear, the filmmaker wanted the outfit’s silhouette to be kept “contemporary”.

In contrast, the glittering embroidery on the long ivory tunic coat, with cut-in sleeves and a structured collar, was inspired by traditional Persian motifs, while the border incorporated beaten silver and gold.

Gold also featured in Chinoy’s accessories, created by jewellery designer Kiran Aman.

The filmmaker’s dangling diamond-and-pearl earrings were set in vintage gold, the same material used for a bespoke cuff, which she wore on her right wrist.

The piece was attached by a delicate gold rope to a round Pakistani flag encrusted with white diamonds and green sapphires.

Aman said she was “honoured” to have the filmmaker wear her creations at the Oscars, adding that she had advised her to “hold the Oscar with the right hand” so that the flag would dangle. At the Vanity Fair Oscar Party, held after the event, Chinoy wore more bespoke jewellery: a cuff and ring by designer-cum-architect Sherezad rahimtoola.

“I am very grateful to Sherezad and Kiran for making me such beautiful jewellery just for the occasion,” she said, adding that her Sara Taseer earrings were from her personal collection. The accessories set off her long, flowing silver- and gold-work kurta by the label Sana Safinaz, spearheaded by designer duo Sana Hashwani and Safinaz Muneer, who have been active in the Pakistan fashion scene for over two decades.

At a pre-Oscar luncheon at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles, Chinoy showed up in an outfit by a less established name: up-and-coming designer Sania Maskatiya, whose label is a year old. Her hand-embroidered silk shalwar kameez featured a tree of life – signifying growth and success – adorned with multicoloured birds and butterflies.

A relative newcomer to Pakistan’s fashion scene, Maskatiya transforms “the conventional to [the] contemporary” with her designs, which are stocked in Karachi, Dubai and Singapore.

She said she was glad that fashion at the Oscars helped to project the country “in a softer light.”

Sharmeen obaid-Chinoy in a design by Sania maskatiya at a pre-oscar event for nominees. CAMpAS

Sharmeen obaid-Chinoy wore this vintage gold cuff by Karachi-based designer Kiran Aman when accepting the oscar for ‘Saving Face’. KiRAn AMAn

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Sharmeen obaid-Chinoy in a dress by Sana Safinaz at the Vanity Fair oscar Party on February 26. Ap

quiLtEd ARt

bARAKA SiLSiLA-E-NiSbAt

cONNEctiNG WOmEN

TALk/EXHIBITIoN oN MARCH 4 AT 06:00 PM VENUE: T2F 2.0

ART EXHIBITIoN STARTS MARCH 5 AT 05:00 PM VENUE: VM ART GALLERY

ART EXHIBITIoN oN MARCH 7 AND 8 VENUE: ALLIANCE FRANÇAISE

‘Quilted Art: A Talk by Tahereh Sheerazie and an exhibition by HomeBased Artisans’ at The 2nd Floor. Call 35389033 for more information.

Farah Mahbub’s ‘Baraka Silsila-eNisbat’ from March 5 to 24 at the VM Art Gallery. Call 34940411 for more information.

Grandeur presents ‘Connecting Women: Inspiring Futures’ on March 7 and 8 at the Alliance Française. Call 35373315 for more information.

KHI 4-03-2012_Layout 1 3/4/2012 2:16 AM Page 11

Sunday, 4 march, 2012

Editor’s mail 11

"ISI in the doghouse" Azizuddin Ahmad in his article "ISI in the doghouse" on 3 March in your paper has rightly criticised the transgressions by the agencies but his analysis is one sided.

While criticising the ISI we should keep in mind that it was the creation of a civilian ruler for obvious reasons. There is a well-known idiom "Make hay while the sun shines" and that's why the ISI grabbed the opportunity. Unfortunately, with the change of governments no effort was made to close the cell but its interference in political matters reached its heights.

It is unfair to accuse the ISI alone as it was collective wisdom of both ISI and politicians that allowed them freehand to meddle in country's politics even to the extent of bribing politicians to destabilise and bring change in the governments.

When personal interests reign supreme,

Chinoy, pride of nation who would like to amend the constitution in the interest of the country?

There is a lot of hue and cry on account of missing persons and very rightly so the Supreme Court has taken suo motu and the case is in progress. But it is not only the ISI who pick up people, in fact all other agencies are doing the same with greater degree but no one talks about it. When we talk about the rule of law, it has to be applied mutatis and mutandits.

We all condone the acts of agencies but have never bothered to go in to the deeds of the people picked up. Their acts are never made public or debated so openly by the media. The writer has rightly acknowledged that jihadists are fighting against the Pakistan army as they consider army and ISI personnel and installations their legitimate targets.

If that is true the army and ISI cannot sit

as silent spectators and have not only to react but act well in time to save the collateral damage.

The writer has cited examples of various attacks on army and its installations but does not appreciate the efforts to nab the culprits involved, who are released in spite of evidence. In a country where witnesses and accused are shot in the court premises, who would dare come forward and appear as a witness against hard criminals. A line has to be drawn.

Unfortunately, our concept of security is misunderstood. At national level security assumes special importance and everything cannot be made public. In all over the world all intelligence agencies operate in the same manner but are never debated in the press as we do in Pakistan.

No one talks about deaths of soldiers, FC personnel, police and innocent civil-

ians who leave behind large number of mourners. There has never been a talk show on derailing trains, damaging bridges, destroying gas installations, power pylons, kidnapping for ransom and their subsequent killings, where the government has to spend millions of rupees in restoring these damaged facilities.

Let us not overburden the Supreme Court on political issues as it shows signs of incompetence and weakness by the government. But under the circumstances, if we have to move forward let us forgive and forget all politicians, military dictators, bureaucrats, ISI and other agencies, what they have been doing in the past and write new chapter in the history of Pakistan to take the country collectively to peace and prosperity.

LT COL (retd) MUKHTAR AHMED BUTT Karachi

Iran-Pak gas pipeline Pakistan and Iran enjoy good bilateral relations since Pakistan came into being. The current government is also committed to further enhance these bilateral relations with this neighbouring country. To boost these relations, President Asif Ali Zardari paid his first visit to Iran in March 2009 and then two consecutive visits in July last year. Strong bilateral relations between the two countries provide a platform for enhancing economic and energy cooperation.

Pakistan had signed a gas sale-purchase agreement with Iran in June 2009 in Istanbul. The project is needed for meeting Pakistan’s energy demands and it should be carried out without any delays and hurdles. Pakistan is facing severe energy crisis and the best option is to avail this opportunity to get energy.

US Secretary of the State Hillary Clinton has threatened the Pakistani government that “if it goes ahead with the proposed Iran-Pakistan pipeline, it could face consequences as underlined in the Iran Sanctions Act”. It is welcoming to note that the government has rebuffed US warnings to call off Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project and is committed to proceed with the construction of this project.

“Iran has offered to provide about 80,000 of barrels of crude per day to Pakistan on a three-month deferred payment. earlier, Iran was exporting 45,000 barrels of crude oil per day to Pakistan on three-month credit”. While russia is also supporting Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project as it has sought project’s contract and “asked to award a $1.2 billion pipeline-laying contract to its energy giant Gazprom without going into bidding process”. Government should consult Public Procurement regulatory Authority (PPrA) in this regard and by taking PPrA into confidence the deal can be sealed. The government should take steps to permanently resolve the issues of electricity and gas shortage.

This is highly significant that for the best interest of the country and the people of Pakistan, government does not appear to be influenced by the US to halt the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project.

This is a bold decision of the government and long awaited paradigm shift in foreign policy of Pakistan.

HAFIZ MUHAMMAD IRFAN Islamabad

Senate elections At last the Senate elections have been held. These elections have exposed the nefarious plans of all the parties, including the one in power. Bribery and horse trading have been noticed. even Mehreen raja of PPP came on TV that evening and admitted this and condemned it. She made a usual innocent face while she accepted and denied it.

Condemned or not condemned, bribery and such practices have been established as a rule of the game. We all ought to be prepared for what will happen in general elections. Bribery has been at last legitimised by our rulers. We thank them for bringing the country to the edge of a cliff. General elections will serve as the last push from the cliff, down to the rotten valley. When we will hold our general election remains to be seen but that’s how many days we have to survive.

AMJAD H MIRZA Lahore

miserable existence

In June 2009, World Bank approved a budget of $300 million for education project in Sindh and subsequently released a press report which statistically specified the progress in education sector of Sindh. However, reality departs these claims which are made on paper if the poor job of examination department and vigilant teams are analysed.

Cheating in the examination of Matriculation and FSc has increased drastically over time and policymakers of education sector have turned a blind eye towards this issue. In urban parts of Sindh, such as areas of Karachi and Hyderabad, examination centres during final exams are vigil with such an ignorance that in majority of examination centres students managed to get external

An appreciable act

aid to solve their exam. An incident of this sort was unleashed by media in 2010. In an examination centre, situated in Shah Faisal Colony Karachi, teachers were taking exams for the students for the most obvious benefit of money.

The situation is even more alarming in the rural areas of Sindh. In 2011, vigilant team raided an examination centre in Mirpurkhas district along with electronic media team. Upon investigation it was revealed that students were allowed to take their examination paper to home to get them solved and return them back to the centre in a given amount of time.

These are the issues that should be looked into in order to augment the literacy rate of Sindh; otherwise, this negligence will perpetuate for good.

MUHAMMAD FARRUKH KAZI LUMS, Lahore

Petroleum prices The prices of petrol and petroleum products are being increased and reduced, whcih happens rarely, reduced in Pakistan in the same proportion as in the international market, for quite some time now.

The present government ought to know that the problem of variation in prices of petroleum in international market was always there but our past rulers preferred to manage it themselves as they had a genuine consideration for the welfare of the people.

The auto-set plus or minus in prices is an accountant’s approach where not the mind but a mini-machine called calculator, is used.

Z A KAZMI Karachi

At last, Murghi Khana Flyover was reconstructed after a long time in cooperation with the city government, Karachi. The flyover that connects Murghi Khana, Quaidabad to Malir was previously reconstructed when Naimatullah Khan was the City Nazim whereas none reconstructed the flyover after the then. In this regard, various letters to editors were written that were published in daily english newspapers of Pakistan in order to attract the authorities concerned so that the flyover could be reconstructed. Previously, two-way traffic, either heavy or light, moved on the flyover without any defensive, short wall that could separate the flyover into two different roads and now the city government has constructed a short wall in order to separate the flyover into two roads so that possible accidents could be stemmed which is an appreciable act.

But the real issue that was previously raised through letters to editors in various newspapers is the status quo. It is true that recently constructed short wall would cope with possible accidents but there are various joints on the flyover that have hugely bulged with time that cause jolts and bumps to the traffic, especially motorbikes. The authorities concerned must consider the real issue and take further steps to improve or repair the joints and level the road on the flyover so that public’s safety can further be improved.

HAFIZ MUHAMMAD NOMAN Karachi

ers, the basic structure of our constitution demands that our assemblies should become legislators alone, separate and distinct from our executive. This is how the system of check and balance can fully work.

Presently, the executive and the legislature remain interdependent and both cannot do justice to their assigned roles.

If we tweak our system a little, we can have far more stable system, namely: • Once the elected representatives have elected a prime minister, their right to change him or her should go in abeyance unless it is invoked by two

thirds of their majority on some limited grounds.

• And, if such numbers are not forthcoming a majority or some other percentage should be able to call a general election.

• The right to call for the general elections should also be given to the masses, who should be able to petition for the general elections if they can come up with a certain number say one million signatures or supporters.

• Furthermore, the voters in each constituency should have a right to recall their representatives and call for the

elections in that constituency if they can gather certain number of signatures say five thousand.

Given that in foreseeable future, coalition governments are likely to be the norm rather than the exception, the urgency for these reforms could not be overstated.

These are small measures but will go a long way in stabilising our polity and making it more democratic. This will also reduce the risk in making a wrong decision at the elections.

ADIL SALEEM KHAN Gujranwala

Pakistan’s current government has completed its four years but if we analyse its performance it is nill. Pakistan Peoples Party’s famous slogan “roti kapra or makaan” has been put behind and no importance is given to this slogan. PPP was an awami party. Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Shaheed Muhtarma Benazir Bhutto were determined to give people their basic rights at their doorsteps. But our present government is less bothered about the public and is focused on blame games and power tussle.

People are forced into issues after issues so that they could forget about their demands and needs. Nowadays, we are facing acute shortage of electricity, shortage of gas, poor law and order situation in Karachi and Quetta whereas our economy is declining and a vast majority of our population is living below the line

A sorry state of education

A Pakistani woman has made Pakistan and the Pakistani nation proud.

Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy, a Pakistani documentary filmmaker, made history by winning the first Oscar Award for her documentary ‘Saving Face’. The referenced documentary film illustrates a commitment of a British Pakistani plastic surgeon to help the victims of acid attack in Pakistan. As known to all and sundry, this is the first time in 84 years Oscar history that a Pakistani has ever won and brought home the highly prestigious Oscar Award. It is indeed her greatness that she dedicated this award to all those women in Pakistan who did not give up despite passing through the agony of acid attacks.

Born in the cosmopolitan city of Karachi, Ms Chinoy, as mentioned in the Smith College website, is the first woman in her family to go college in the US. After graduating from Smith with a degree in economics and government, she went on to do graduate work at Stanford in California. The news of Sharmeen’s winning Oscar Award for her documentary ‘Saving Face’ was flashed across the length and breadth of the country by the electronic and print media. It sent a wave of exuberance among people belonging to every stratum of the Pakistani society.

The entire nation termed Sharmeen’s resounding success as a big achievement that has no parallel in the history of the country.

Undoubtedly, Sharmeen Obaid’s story of remarkable success to reach the peak of brilliance in her field is a source of inspiration for every woman in Pakistan. Many awards are being planned to be instituted upon Chinoy for the commendable job she has done and the laurels she has earned for this country and this nation. The PM, as reported in a section of the Pakistani media, has announced to confer the country’s highest civil award upon Sharmeen, on her great achievement. Why not? She deserves it.

M FAZAL ELAHI Islamabad

of poverty while people are dying due to fake medicines in Punjab. All these issues reflect mismanagement and poor governance of the ruling party. role of our state institutions is also not admirable. We fought for the restoration of judiciary so that it would provide speedy justice to the people but it is a no still. People are committing suicides because they can’t seem to get justice. Poverty, unemployment, poor law and order situation and target killing are among such problems that need to be resolved at once. Our system is not providing justice to the public in letter and spirit.

I request the authorities to solve these issues and not waste public’s time and money on non issues.

SANIA REHAN Karachi

Change in the system Our political system in prone to instability mainly because the executive needs to maintain a simple majority in the elected assemblies.

Our elected assemblies wear at least three hats: (1) legislatures; (2) electors for the offices of the president and the prime minister etc; and (3) representatives of their constituencies and their interests in the development etc.

My point of departure is that role of the representatives as 'electors' for the office of the prime minister should end once they elect a prime minister. Thereafter, the doctrine of trichotomy of pow-

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.

KHI 4-03-2012_Layout 1 3/4/2012 2:16 AM Page 12

12 comment Senate polls Some surprises, no table turner though

D

espite challenges that at one point made many doubt if the PPP would be allowed to hold the Senate polls, the party has succeeded in undertaking the exercise in accordance with the schedule. This constitutes yet another step towards the strengthening the system.

There were surprises from Punjab. eight candidates were left in the run for seven general seats. The failure on the part of the PPP veteran Aslam Gill to make to the Senate was unexpected as the PPP had the required number of 48 votes needed to secure his victory. The candidate and his supporters naturally attributed the failure to betrayal by some of the PPP MPAs. The other surprise was the election of Mohsin Leghari contesting independently after the Forward Bloc denied him the ticket. The surprises were welcome to the PML(N) as these humiliated both the PPP and PML(Q). It was for the second time that a PPP leader lost the elections despite the party possessing the necessary number of votes. earlier, when Farhatullah Babar had lost the Senate election the failure was attributed to the influence of the money factor. The claim by two PML(N) leaders that this time too votes were bought requires evidence which is yet to surface.

Gill’s failure to reach the Senate could have been the result of a loose party discipline. This was indicated by the way party workers waiting outside the Assembly Hall reacted to the news. Slogans were raised against the Punjab party boss and the banners carrying the picture of a successful PPP candidate were trampled upon.

The PPP and its allies have won the much sought after two thirds majority in the Senate. The PML(N) too has doubled its presence in the Upper House from 7 to 14 seats.

This is partly due to a mutual understanding with the PPP in Punjab. Losing parties include those who supported Musharraf, with the exception of MQM, or those who boycotted the last election and were left with no representation in the provincial assemblies. The PML(Q) has now only 5 Senators as compared to 21 before, JUI(F) will have to be content with a smaller representation, while Jamaat-e-Islami, PPP(S), PKMAP and JWP have been wiped out.

the memo commission everyone needs to come clean

M

atters of state are never as simple and straightforward as one would like them to be.

One statement may seem contradictory to another only to corroborate later to the same.

This happens due to multidimensional nature of events and how one interprets them. But on rare occasions these contradictions form into clashes that seem irresolvable.

Nevertheless, getting to the bottom of things is more important than anything else. And that seems to be what the Memogate commission is doing right now.

The commission inquiring into the so-called Memogate has asked Husain Haqqani to appear before it, along with his mobile phones and their bills, threatening him that his family may be interrogated if he fails to do so. What the commission has done is praiseworthy – it has plugged in all the holes that could be used by the former ambassador to skirt away from appearing before the commission – but it comes with some caveats. In the quest for finding out the truth, the commission has taken a step that may raise some eyebrows.

Putting the accused’s family in the docks to witness might not sit well with human rights activists. Although new evidence requires further investigation to find out the real culprit that has put the institutions in the country on a path of confrontation, the veracity of these allegations should also be duly ensured.

What really matters is the fact that Mansoor Ijaz’s evidence has not yet been challenged or countered by the counsel of Husain Haqqani. There certainly is more than meets the eye. Whether the loss of Haqqani’s mobile phones is an accident or a deliberate act, it proved to be a roadblock in the inquiry. even if his PIN is retrieved, through one way or another, the integrity of data on his phones cannot be assured, making this whole exercise a lot tougher to result into a meaningful report. On a relevant note, it is not just the accused who needs to come clean, the accuser shares this responsibility too, no deviance from which the court must ensure.

A tangible result is a must if the state wants to put a check on such ‘gates’ in the future, and it is for this very reason the inquiry has to be thorough and impartial.

Dedicated to the legacy of the late Hameed Nizami

Arif Nizami Editor

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

Sunday, 4 march, 2012

happy times, sad times We talked but not politics

By Humayun Gauhar

M

y three-day visit to London last week after nearly two years was both happy and sad. Happy because I got to meet my daughter, sisters and niece and three very close friends. Sad because I didn’t have time to meet many of the others, though there are not so many left, most having handed in their dinner pails.

Geoffrey Tucker the raconteur is dead. His wife Naomi has established a round table in his memory in the Stafford Club in St James’s. Great lunches and dinners he used to host, old Geoffrey.

Going to London is no longer the same.

One learned a lot from him. I miss Geoffrey. I miss his wisdom.

Colin Kilkelly has been driven out to Morocco because of the high cost of living and the low return for one’s labour. He used to be the bureau chief of ‘South’ magazine in Karachi during the ’80s.

My visit was sad too because after nearly two years the decline was palpable, the air of doom and gloom overhanging.

If you live there you don’t feel it so acutely. London is no longer so joyous and vibrant; more like a hideout for the filthy rich. From being the playground and investment hub for Arabs it has become a playground and investment hub for russians. It was like everyone was waiting for worse. At the rate the world is going, it will come.

The first friend I met was General Pervez Musharraf; you’ve heard of him I’m sure. He was hale and hearty and in good fettle, going to Dubai the next day. I won’t blame you if you don’t believe me, but we hardly talked politics. We hardly ever do, even when he was in power.

Amongst many things, we half-seriously talked of writing another book. Now that’s grist for the mills of some baldies, though this time we will talk of people bewigged and hair-transplanted, not of slapping coots on the shiny pate. Why not? His first book, ‘In the Line of Fire’, was an international bestseller, on top of the charts for at least a year and translated into 30 languages. It has huge earnings, yet people wonder, “Where is all his money from?” Not to mention the some dozen lectures he delivers every year for which he gets between $100,000 to $350,000 each. So perhaps a second book will be written, telling all I hope, if not for now then for posterity. Only then will you know the other side of the picture. Anyway, the general’s table was great considering his wife Sehba wasn’t in town. I’m sure my friend Hussain Haroon

would have approved of the repast.

The second friend was Doctor, now also Lord Khalid Hameed. Great guy he, one of the last of the gentlemen of Lucknow of yore. He’s setting up a heart, brain and cancer hospital in London. We went to the Bombay Brasserie, now sadly a shadow of its former self. It was virtually empty. Hussain Haroon-like, he sent back the chicken tikka as too dry. The maître de and chef were mortified and couldn’t stop apologising. My daughter Fazila found it funny. “The customer is king, kid, even when he – or more likely, she – is wrong.” She immediately labelled me sexist, an opening I deliberately gave her to wind her up. It’s great fun. Khalid and I didn’t talk of old times; we rarely do. Our crowd lives in the present and talks of the future. Odd bods we perhaps, never remaining mired the past, good, bad, ugly or even beautiful, for it can fast become a mental quagmire. The only past we talk of is about our friends gone to live with the stars, God bless them all.

The third was Shaukat Aziz; I’m sure you’ve heard of him too. We didn’t talk of the past either. He had just finished with an all-day board meeting of one of the many companies on whose boards he is, I don’t know why. Nattily dressed as always, he took me to the new branch of the famous Chinese restaurant Hakkasan off Berkeley Square that is the flavour of the palate these days. The food was glorious.

If Hussain Haroon is reading this, which he most likely is, he must make it a point of going there the next time he’s in London. No political talk at this one either.

Instead, we spoke of the global economy.

The picture painted was gloomy too, but not as gloomy as some say. We all have to pay for our greed for that is an imperative of the process of seminal change. Then guess who turned up from the past?

Hasan: the man who was always behind Shaukat in more ways than one. Now he is with foreign minister Hina rabbani Khar who was on a visit to London too for some meeting that was forgotten before it started.

Then there are things that are happy for some and sad for others. I was happy

because we had whitewashed england in the cricket Test series. To the english it was an unmitigated disaster. Mention cricket and the hangdog look became more hung. “What is the world coming to,” they asked, “the number one team in the world being pasted like this?” By that time they had won two of the One Day Internationals, but they were not to be consoled. “That’s not real cricket. Test matches matter, not these slam bam games.” They are quite right too. They know their cricket. They are purists. No wonder, considering they invented the game.

“Let me put it in a nutshell,” I said.

Bowlers win Tests; batsmen win slam bam. Pakistan has great bowlers, so we won the Tests. Pakistan has unbalanced batting, so we lost the slam bam. It’s as simple as that.”

Our captain is actually Sleeping Beauty in Misbah’s body. At the crease he goes to sleep and puts his team under pressure. He just cannot score when needed. After the Test series win, the team should have been on a high. Instead, its morale fell precipitously. Could the late addition of Sania Mirza’s husband have something to do with it? Old warhorse, he’s been in great battles but should now be put to stud. Another old warhorse, Shahid Afridi, also entered the fray. We had won everything before these two warhorses appeared; we lost everything except one after they came. Great showman though he is, Afridi rarely comes good with the bat these days, but nearly always with the ball. Could his swagger have something to do with the decline in the mood?

Afridi’s personality and demeanour are larger not only than life but also his batting statistics, though he is one of the top three slam bam bowlers. Worse, Sania Mirza’s husband smells of bookies; Afridi has been caught cheating twice, but to make Pakistan win, not lose. But cheating is cheating, no matter what the objective. It is this sort of mindset that pollutes the dressing room. Which is why we should never include our three jailed cricketers back into the side, however sad you might feel, unless you wish to teach young minds that cheating pays. If you get caught cheating it should be the end of the road for you.

Then came devastating sadness for me on the last day of my trip. “Have you heard the news?” asked Ali G as I call my son on the phone from Islamabad. “No, what?” I asked, fearing the worst. “Your friend Marie Colvin is dead, killed in Syria.” Fait Maison, the restaurant I was having breakfast in with my daughter Fazila swam before my eyes. I had so wanted to meet Marie during my visit, not least to talk of the Middle east and get a firsthand account from her, but I knew that she was in Syria. “Next time,” I thought to myself. Next time will never come now – a curse on the house of Assad many times over. Is power so magnetic that it is worth committing genocide for it, crimes against God? I feel sorry for people in power. Satan enters their souls.

The writer is a political analyst.

He can be contacted at humayun.gauhar786@gmail.com

Regional Press

on petroleum prices Daily khabroona

T

he incumbent government has once again resorted to increase petroleum prices in the country, making it even harder for common masses to drag on life for sustainability. It was only a few days ago when the government had increased petroleum prices but the latest price-hike has made people bitter with a serious concern for another round of pricehike in daily commodities in the country, instead of providing any relief to the people.

The spiral of price-hike initiates with an increase in petroleum prices. At once the transport sector usually bumps up its fares at its sweet will without an iota of fear of authorities concerned that are bound to check them with due regularity in this regard. The result is obvious in the shape of scuffles one wit-

nesses on daily basis between drivers and commuters and passengers.

People are unable to bear the brunt of another price-hike.

They are asking the government to take back the decision but the spiral of squeezing common people at the hands of soaring prices of daily used items continues unabated. Such situations have previously made the masses come out on roads and protest, become unruly and incur losses to life and property.

The worsening law and order situation is already causing troubles for the masses high and now the price-hike and unemployment have chipped in to make this push into a shove, causing people to commit gory incidents including committing suicides.

– Translated from the original Pashto by Abdur Rauf Khattak

KHI 4-03-2012_Layout 1 3/4/2012 2:16 AM Page 13

Sunday, 4 march, 2012

Bar’s unjustified ban Still, brutus is an honourable man!

By Saad Rasool

r

eligious sentiments, across history and the globe, have had the singular ability to inspire a wide array of human actions: from the sublime to the ridiculous. In Pakistan, sadly, ridiculous outweighs the sublime manifold.

In its latest manifestation, more than 100 members of the Lahore Bar Association unanimously passed a resolution moved by the Khatme Nabuwat Lawyers Forum (KNLF) to “ban” the popular Shezan products from the Civil and Sessions Court of Lahore, on the assertion that the products are made

by Ahmadis. Additionally, the learned lawyers threatened “strict action” against the canteen owners caught selling these products and anyone caught consuming them within the court premises. But despite this absurd resolution, and numerous follow-up articles in the media, neither the Bar nor the Bench, has taken any serious notice of this incident. But Brutus is an honourable man!

While banning (otherwise legal) products of Shezan on the ground that its manufacturers belong to a religious minority is abhorrent on the human and social plain, this episode is particularly disturbing because it was a thoroughly unconstitutional exercise by the very people who are charged with defending the fundamental rights of all citizens (especially the minorities).

To begin with, a prohibition on availability (and therefore supply) of Shezan products in the lower courts premises constitutes a blatant violation of Article 25 of the Constitution of Pakistan, which guarantees that “all citizens” (and juice-manufacturers) are “equal” before the law and cannot be discriminated against on the basis of, inter

alia, their religious beliefs. Furthermore, it infringes upon Article 18 of the Constitution, which guarantees “every citizen” of Pakistan the right to conduct “lawful trade or business” – and supporters of this resolution were not alleging that the Shezan business enterprise is unlawful. In fact, Article 2A of the Constitution – the very article that imports Islamic values into our constitutional paradigm and proclaims the sanctity of the Holy Quran and Sunnah in our lives – also explicitly mandates tolerance as well as freedom of thought, belief, faith and worship.

But the unconstitutionality of their actions is lost on the

showered rose-petals on Mumtaz Qadri, charged the police constables who were trying to keep order, thrashed a sessions judge who did not bend their way, and even broke down the windows of Chief Justice’s courtroom in LHC when he resisted them. But Brutus is an honourable man! each time an event of the sort takes place, no one dares to take the culprits before any court of law because it is believed that the restored judiciary owes a debt of gratitude to these lawyers. This very idea – rightly or wrongly held – puts these organised legal fraternities and bar associations outside the empire of law. And Brutus remains

With all the talk that surrounds rule of law and independence of judiciary in our land, perhaps attention is required on the issue of lawyers and bar associations acting beyond the contours of professional responsibility and ethics. supporters of this resolution, who believe in demonstrating fidelity to their religious beliefs through hatred to others. And that too in the premises of the courts of law – the very cathedrals we have built to celebrate the justice within our society.

While a certain religious bent has always existed in some portions of the bar (as with other professional organisations in Pakistan) but disturbingly, those who voted in favour of this resolution were not all members of the right-wing KNLF. Instead, these lawyers come from a new breed of officers of the court who believe that wearing the sacred black coat puts their actions and thoughts above the law. Hung-over from the intoxicating euphoria of the lawyers’ movement, it is they (rather than the judges) who wear the law on their sleeves now. How can anyone ignore the way they

an honourable man!

Despite its countless gains, this legacy of the lawyers’ movement is disturbing, to say the least. The genie is out of the bottle now and no one knows how to put it back again. With all the talk that surrounds rule of law and independence of judiciary in our land, perhaps attention is required on the issue of lawyers and bar associations acting beyond the contours of professional responsibility and ethics.

Because till such time we instill a sense of constitutionalism in these officers of the courts, there can be little hope of embracing constitutionalism as our national ethos.

The writer is a lawyer based in Lahore. He has a Masters in Constitutional Law from Harvard Law School. He can be reached at: saad@post.harvard.edu

comment 13

Why i hate imran for that, ladies and gentlemen, you have to do some soul searching

I

hate Imran Khan. I love the ISI. I love dictators. I hate democracy. I hate mullahs and self-righteous preachers who preach that Islam talks about justice but when it’s time to deliver through Islam, one of their own to the gallows, it’s like they’ve swallowed their own guts and make him a hero. You know what else I hate? I hate the liberals, with their double standards and their empty rhetoric that has failed to make a difference to anyone’s lives in a long long time. You want to hear more? I love Zardari, and I love the PPP. And I know I am not contradicting myself. Because I am entitled to my own opinion, after all it is a free country that will allow me to hate if I want to and will allow me to love if I want to and still bear with me? Or is it? Because I am sure a lot of hate speech is about to roll my way, and I really welcome that.

Despite my hate for the mullahs I still think that Pakistan should be an Islamic welfare state. Oh, and I don’t believe Aman Ki Asha would make a difference if institutional policies work regressively towards depriving the ordinary people of basic rights, the right to water being one of them.

Let’s talk about you? Yes, you the reader.

You know what I think about you? I think you’re a coward, a hypocrite, a liar, part of a herd led by shepherd that is driven by their own vested interests. And you know what’s worse? You all think you’re all so right. That everything that has happened to you since you were born, that bully who beat you up in eighth grade to

By Ali Rizvi that job that you never managed to get, to the politician that sucks your blood after being elected by you, to the police that denies you of your rights when it is entrusted to protect you, to the ranger that shoots you, is all because you are stuck all around you with morally depraved people. reality check, it’s not the people around you, but yourself.

Have you ever stopped for one moment and thought about it.

How you’re bad mouthing your president but will cheat your way through a system and get favours for yourself just because it benefits you. And then it’s somebody else’s fault? That if anyone has an opinion contrary to yours he is an enemy, because he questions the belief system that you hold so holy to yourself. That you will not tolerate anything that questions your own integrity?

Have you ever stopped and thought about it, how each and every one of you is patronising the system that you truly detest?

Maybe you’re not the edhi you

deemed yourself to be. And you know why I write all this, why I write about my supposed ‘hatred’ for Imran Khan or my ‘love’ for the ISI or about all the other things that you have read so far, which are inconsequential to me and not a reflection of my true opinion. Because, they pinch you. Because it strikes right where it hurts you most and I want to do just that. Because I want to see the patience you have for someone who questions your set of beliefs.

And you know what I think about that sea of crowd I saw at the jalsa of Imran Khan in Karachi? I thought, it was the most spectacular and moving sight that I have witnessed in the longest time. That after almost 64 years, it was one of the most befitting tribute to the hero of our nation on his birthday.

To Jinnah, and it was a wave standing against the status quo. But you know what else I saw? I saw that sea, not as a herd but as individuals who can think for themselves, who can decide for themselves and who will question Khan when he goes wrong. Who were there not because they were paid, but because they wanted to be there, because they had hope, because they believed things could still change. And I sincerely hope that they would question Khan when he goes wrong, because no one is infallible.

And I saw that herd not as those who will blindly hate those that question their beliefs because they are above all of that. Because they realise that if there is anyone who has failed Pakistan, it is us. All of us collectively as a nation have failed Pakistan. Not India, not America, not the kafirs, but us. We are to blame. So next time, you see a man whipped, trampled, tortured and clubbed to death on the street, or a blast that tears through human flesh, or police disrespecting the very law they are meant to uphold, or a ranger killing someone innocent, or a murder, or an abandoned child left to rot in the street, you should go stand in front of the mirror and look at your own bloodied hands.

Let us bring the tsunami of change, by changing ourselves first. By blaming everything and everyone for all the pain and suffering and all the bad things that happen to us, blaming the US, blaming Zardari, blaming the ISI, we’re not getting anywhere. What we must ask ourselves is this, is all the hate, is all the anger, is all the finger pointing going to save Pakistan? Or can we save our country, by individually shouldering the responsibility of making this nation one of the greatest in the world?

So let’s be constructive for a change by admitting to our follies, accepting difference of opinion and standing against the system that we detest, a system we have patronised for a long long time.

The writer is City Editor, Pakistan Today.

He can be reached at ali.rizvi7957@gmail.com

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14

Sunday, 4 march, 2012

Actone

IN LIMELIGHT

accuses Lush Productions of bribery kARACHI

A

NEWS dESK

CTONe, Karachi’s oldest and most prestigious center for arts and wellness since its inception in 2006, will sue Lush Productions, a theatre production company managed by Usama Qazi and Waqas Bukhari, on accusations of bribery, dishonesty and mis-commitments.

ActOne, which has been involved with musicals like ‘Chicago’, ‘Conversations’ and ‘Karachi, The Musical’, was approached by Lush Productions last November for a musical ‘la Cage Aux Folles’. A mutual agreement was reached that ActOne will be providing choreography, a rehearsal studio, and the dancers. In return the revenues generated from the third night would be given to ActOne. Five days before the show, Lush informed ActOne that the third night had been sold to a sponsor.

Upon hearing this ActOne responded by asking them to pay the revenues of the third night. They refused and misbehaved with the female management of ActOne. The company has been a home of dancers, who dance with passion and ambition and for many, dance is their only source of in-

come. They are hard-working and underpaid artists who earn a living through gigs.

In protest, ActOne stopped the rehearsals.

Lush tried bribing the dancers to join them. The ActOne dancers refused. Lush Production owes ActOne rs 450,000 in revenues for the third night of the play.

Two days before the rehearsals ActOne contacted Lush again and this time asked them to pay rs 350,000 to cover the cost of the dancers and choreographers. Lush refused and instead offered the ActOne dancers thrice the signing amount they were originally receiving. They later contacted another choreographer for the show. Lush later announced that 70-80 dancers backed out of the show, while according to ActOne, only 9 dancers refused the gig. ActOne has made numerous contributions to the world of dance and theatre since its inception and has been responsible for the first ever documented flash mob, a world record for conducting the highest number of flash mobs, the first ever underground reality dance show and the first BBoy battle. ActOne has flown in internationally renowned dance instructors to teach at the institute. To date ActOne has instructed more than 6,000 students which includes giving workshops at Indus Valley and other institutes.

Shamaeel-Sitara exhibit new lawn collection for Spring/Summer 2012 kARACHI PR

Shamaeel-Sitara Premium Lawn exclusively presented their brand new collection for 2012 with an exhibition at The Palm from 2nd to 4th March. Available in an extensive range of 17 designs in two colour variations, the Shamaeel-Sitara Premium Lawn prints are based in vegetable dyed colour palettes, fresh bright colours such as melon and leaf green with the revival of yellow and orange. The first day of the exhibition was well-attended by celebrities, including Sitara Textile Industries CeO Mian Anees Ahmad, actress and ambassador of Sitara-Premium Lawn 2012 Humaima Malick, fashion designers Maheen Khan and Deepak Perwani, fashion model Nadia Hussain,

stylist rukaiya Adamjee, fashion retailers Asad Tareen and Zahir rahimtoola and photographer Akef Ilyas. One of the pioneers of designer lawn in Pakistan, the Shamaeel-Sitara Premium Lawn collection for 2012 comes with a special prêt a porter design kit which includes silk panels, embroideries, embellishments and accents.

Shamaeel’s design philosophy allows women to express themselves and their personality by creating their own combinations with Shamaeel’s exclusive style tips. An affordable lawn for the spring summer season, Shamaeel-Sitara Premium Lawn comes with a variety of chiffon and cotton dupattas with an option of using the co-ordinates as two separate shirts or combined to build a luxurious ensemble.

The brand has launched simultaneously in Pakistan, India, UAe and Bangladesh.

Shah Rukh interrogated by

London police

mUmBAI: Actor Shah Rukh Khan, who is currently busy shooting for a film under the Yash chopra banner, has had to face a round of stringent questionings in the united Kingdom. Shah Rukh, who is cast opposite to Anushka Sharma and Katrina Kaif in the hitherto unnamed Yash chopra production, was interrogated by the London police recently. the YRf camp’s restrictive measures and eagerness to keep every iota of the shooting under wraps had resulted in seeking help from the London police regarding the same. the production house is super-secretive about the upcoming film, and doesn’t want any footage or video to leak out before they display the green signal. the lead actor, however, had to bear the brunt of the strictness of the rules of the London police. King Khan was questioned by the police so that the shooting could progress uninterrupted. Shah Rukh’s experiences with police departments abroad have been quite harrowing in the past. He had earlier been questioned by the New York Police. Seems like the don is no longer able to evade the police. AGENciES

mUmBAI: Karishma Kapoor, neil nitin mukesh and Sonakshi Sinha attend the first day of lakme Fashion Week. Afp

loS AnGeleS: American Idol judges Randy Jackson, Steven tyler, Jennifer lopez and host Ryan Seacrest arrive at Fox’s American Idol finalist party. Afp

Mohsin Sayeed and Shamaeel

Deepak Perwani

mUmBAI: Amrita Arora and malaika Arora Khan pose with designer Vikram Phadnis on the first day of lakme Fashion Week. Afp

Mian Anees of Sitara Limited with Shamaeel

Maheen Khan

Humaima Malik wearing ShamaeelSitara Premium Lawn 2012

Nadia Hussain

KARAChI: Shamaeel-Sitara Premium lawn presented their Spring/Summer 2012 collection with a launch event at the Palm-Sea View. PhoToGrAPhy by: KAShif-UD-Din

‘Delhi Belly’

team back with next mumbAi: Imran Khan and Ranbir Kapoor took the 2009 Filmfare awards to a new level with their sparkling chemistry. Reports claimed that they were planning a project together

but nothing materialised. however, director Abhinay Deo of ‘Delhi Belly’ fame wants to cash in on their on screen magic in his next project, which is a laugh riot, again. Currently in london, Deo confirmed the story, saying, “I loved their chemistry in Filmfare awards but it's too early to talk about the casting. however, they would be a dream cast.” A source close to Deo revealed that he took his time penning his next film because he wanted it to be bigger than his debut film. he had many offers from well-known production houses but he politely refused to concentrate on finishing his script.

“While writing the script, he had already kept in mind Imran and Ranbir's chemistry. he has given Imran a superhit with ‘Delhi Belly’ and will be meeting him soon to discuss this project. In the interim, he will meet Ranbir soon for a script-reading session.” Deo is first committed to Anil Kapoor for directing the Indian version of the American television series ‘24’. Post that, he will start filming his next film. AGENciES

mumbAi: After the success of ‘Agneepath’ and Kancha Cheena, actor John Abraham is all set to walk along the lines of Sanjay Dutt. Following the immense acclaim that Sanjay’s portrayal of Kancha Cheena received, John now wants to immortalise his manya Surve in the upcoming offering from him, ‘Shootout at Wadala’. the movie, currently under production, is being directed by Sanjay Gupta and John’s role in the film is that of manohar Arjun Surve, aka manya Surve. manya Surve was a dreaded member of the mumbai underworld who succumbed to an encounter with the police in 1982. And now, about three decades down the line, actor John Abhraham is striving to resurrect the gangster and immortalize him in ‘Shootout at Wadala’. Abraham has apparently left no stone unturned in gathering information regarding the gangster whose role he performs in the movie, and has rigorously been perfecting himself for the same. the fact that manya Surve was a marathi, too, has been keeping John busy. John has been receiving lessons to chisel his marathi to colloquial perfection, and we sincerely hope that he manages to flatten his fans. Kancha Cheena now has a successor. What remains to be seen, is whether or not the character manya Surve is written in gold in the history of films. AGENciES

KHI 4-03-2012_Layout 1 3/4/2012 2:18 AM Page 15

15 Scarlett Johansson, Helen Mirren, cast in ‘Making of psycho’ LoS ANGELES

to star in opera movie

AGENciES

Scarlett Johansson will lick the stamps. The blonde bombshell has signed on to play Hollywood icon Janet Leigh in Sacha Gervasi's ‘Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho’. Not surprisingly, the film focuses on the making of ‘Psycho,’ Hitchcock's 1960 horror classic. Based on the non-fiction book by Stephen rebello, ‘Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho’ has quite the roster of talent involved.

In addition to Johansson, the film stars Anthony Hopkins as Hitch himself, Helen Mirren as his wife, Alma reville, and James D'Arcy as Anthony Perkins. ‘Making of Psycho’ has taken a long road to the screen. Hopkins and Gervasi have been attached for over a year, but the project itself was originally set up back in 2007. The role of Janet Leigh will give Johansson a meaty

Katy Perry LoS ANGELES AGENciES

H career boost; the trade paper's sources compare it to Michelle Williams's lead role in ‘My Week With Marilyn,’ which scored the actress an Oscar nomination. Whether Johansson will be as lucky remains to be seen.

ArVeY Weinstein really wants to get into the Katy Perry business. During a pre-Oscar party at Soho House in Los Angeles, Weinstein was talking to Perry about co-starring in new drama about British opera singer and reality television star, Paul Potts. “I was talking to Katy about a new project, a possible dramatic role in the Paul Potts movie, which will be shooting in england soon,” Weinstein said.

“We'd really like someone like Katy or Adele to play the role of Potts' wife, and Katy seemed genuinely interested.”

This isn't the first time Weinstein has courted Perry for

a fresh, Mr & Mrs Asad Tareen

Akef Ilyas

breathtaking movie

NEWS DESk An alluring depiction of three of the most famous cities of the world. A span of eight years. Two youngsters. A kaleidoscope of emotions. London, Paris and New York, the cities which form the backdrop of the eponymous film, are a delight to watch in this delectable offering from director Anu Menon. ‘London, Paris, New York’ traces the journey of the love of two diametrically separate people, Lalitha (played by Aditi

rao Hydari), a middle-class South Indian girl who hails from a low-brow suburb in Mumbai is pitted against Nikhil (played by Ali Zafar), a rich, upper-class Punjabi guy from one of the most posh locations of Mumbai. The story is more of a psychological journey than a physical one. Spanning across eight years, the film delves into the psyche of its lead protagonists, and succeeds in tracing a trajectory that emerges as the story of every relationship.

Ali Zafar, the rib-tickling groom-to-be

Vidya shies away from marriage NEW dELHi: even though she is currently being hailed for her bold avatar in ‘the Dirty Picture’, Vidya Balan still shies away from talking about her relationship with UtV honcho Siddharth Roy Kapoor. While promoting her upcoming film, ‘Kahaani’, she asked amongst other things, about her beau. Vidya gave her quintessential smile and diplomatically answered “I just want to say I am very happy right now. I am in a good place.” What about marriage? there are rumours of the two planning to tie the knot some time in July this year. Is that true? “Shaadi ka kya hai, kar lenge. When the time is right I’ll get married,” said Balan. Although she did not confirm her relationship, she didn’t even deny it. We say, take your time Vidya and till then keep us entertained. AGENciES

something. Last year, Weinstein said he wanted Perry to play Marilyn Monroe in a stage version of ‘My Week With Marilyn.’ He also used her song, ‘The One That Got Away,’ during marketing for ‘Marilyn.’ Guy really loves ‘Teenage Dream,’ apparently.

of ‘Mere Brother Ki Dulhan’, is seen in an absolutely different role altogether. His stellar performance would manage to win over even the toughest of his critics. Ali Zafar’s responsibilities in the film transcend the realm of just playing the role of Nikhil. The actor is the brain behind the lyrics of the songs, and the voice behind most of them.

The singer, whose acting is well-lauded now, proves that he is a consummate artist when it comes to the territory of music.

Zafar’s rendition of the songs make people connect with them instantly and his superb baritone deserves a standing ovation.

Cut to Aditi. The petite damsel, who was seen as the journalist in ‘rockstar’, has delivered a spectacular performance in ‘London, Paris, New York’. She shines remarkably in the film, and pulls off a feat that perhaps only a few would have been able to.

The film, though, has its tepid moments. The beginning appears lacklustre, and the script languishes for a bit before breaking out of its repressive cocoon. The verbosity of the script at times threatens to turn the movie into a dull one, but never actually succeeds in doing so.

To sum up, this coming of age love story is one that shines steadily despite the few glitches, and is successful in claiming a cosy niche for itself in the good contemporary films of the day. And added to it, is the glowing performance of the actors.

Also, the breathtaking views of the cities of London, Paris, and New York, catapult the film to an amazing zenith. Tour three of the best cities of the world with Lalitha and Nikhil this weekend.

music depressing” LOS ANgELES: Singer rihanna says she felt depressed after listening to Grammy winner Adele’s ‘21’, because she could personally identify with the heartbreaking lyrics of the album. “I feel like everyone in the world identified with ‘21’, to the point that I had to stop listening because it was depressing me so much.

If you identify with it, sometimes you don’t want to hear about it,” usmagazine.com quoted rihanna as saying. However, the singer admits she is a big fan of Adele. “I love her. I’m a big fan. Her album spoke to me so much,” she said. AGENciES

Fizza Asif exhibits shades and colours collection

ISLAMABAD: Fizza Asif, an emerging Islamabad-based dress designer, launched her first exhibition on March 3, at ‘L’atelier’. Having an indisputable flair for designing and fashion, her designs can be defined as simple, trendy and elegant. Her collection ranges from daywear cottons to fancy nets, laces, flowy chiffons, crochets and cotton silks. The line focuses on contemporary cuts, extensive detailing and fine appliquéwork. It includes angrakhas and straight shirts with bold prints and embroidered motifs. The colors are reinvigorating and vibrant ranging from oranges, yellows and reds to subtle pastels like pinks and whites.

The collection is perfect for daily casual wear, lunch parties or evening dinners. With her exquisite work, Fizza Asif seems to be out to steal the fashion industry’s spotlight. PR

Amir Khan:

Won’t be a groupie mumbAi: In a time when actors fell over each other to walk the red carpet at award ceremonies, Aamir Khan chose to stay away from the spotlight. the actor, who has refused to be a part of the 'crowd' more often than not, has now refused to be a part of Riteish Deshmukh's legends Walk.

Aamir has refused to give hand imprints for the project.

Interestingly, there is not one, but two projects on the lines of hollywood Walk of Fame being made simultaneously.

While Riteish Deshmukh is building one, the other has been planned by UtV. And both teams were disappointed when they approached Aamir. When contacted, Aamir's spokesperson said the actor is currently not available for anything other than his debut television show. “All requests that have been made to Aamir, regarding an event or a project have not even reached him. he is not available for anything but his show,” said the spokesperson. the actor's good friend Salman Khan too has refused to be a part of the UtV project. Riteish, who had been collecting the hand imprints of the stars in concrete slabs have also signed contracts with the actors. Some of the personalities whose handprints Riteish has already got include Amitabh Bachchan, Dharmendra, Rajesh Khanna, Salim Khan, Javed Akhtar, Shatrughan Sinha, Sadhana, Waheeda Rehman, Vinod Khanna, Zeenat Aman, Asha Bhonsle, Pran, Rishi Kapoor, Shashi Kapoor, mithun Chakroborty and Dilip Kumar. AGENciES

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16 Foreign News

Sunday, 4 march, 2012

700 dead, thousands wounded in homs blitz: hRW BEIRUT

S

AfP

YrIAN forces killed some 700 people and wounded thousands in a 27-day bombardment of Homs, with shells sometimes falling at the rate of 100 an hour, Human rights Watch said.

HrW urged the UN Security Council to adopt a resolution demanding an end to “end indiscriminate shelling of cities and allow the delivery of humanitarian aid and the safe passage of civilians and the

Another journalist counted 55 explosions in 15 minutes on February 16,” HrW said. HrW quoted a wounded rebel fighter as saying: “The shelling generated so much damage that everyone we found inside the buildings that had been hit came out in pieces. I found a mother in Inshaat (north of Baba Amr) cut in half with her head missing.” After a massive ground assault on Thursday, rebel troops withdrew from Baba Amr in the face of overwhelmingly superior fire power. But the red Cross had still not been granted access by midday Saturday.

injured.” According to accounts from journalists and residents who fled, the New York-based watchdog said late on Friday that heavy shelling of the city’s Baba Amr district would start every day at around 6:30 am and continue until sunset, with some during the night. It said 122 mm howitzers and 120 mm mortars were used, as well as the russianmade 240 mm mortar, which it quoted an arms catalogue as saying is designed to “demolish fortifications and fieldworks.”

One journalist said she “counted 200 explosions in two hours on February 6.

For the injured and others, conditions were dire in Baba Amr, which HrW said has had no electricity or running water for the past two weeks. A doctor was quoted as saying that many wounded in the shelling died for lack of proper care, while a volunteer said it became practically impossible to evacuate the wounded. “every time men tried to evacuate the wounded at least two or three would get shot or killed.”

In addition to the casualties, HrW said satellite images showed 640 buildings were visibly damaged, but that the

real picture could be worse. It also counted 950 craters visible in open areas.

HrW noted that Baba Amr has been an opposition stronghold since anti-regime protests erupted last March and that it had documented attacks by armed opposition fighters on security forces in the area, as well as clashes between the two sides. But the presence of armed opposition forces in Baba Amr “in no way justifies the scale and nature of the attack” on it, and does not excuse the government’s refusal to coordinate safe passage for civilians seeking to leave.

no individual to blame for fukushima, says Japan pM TokYo AfP

bEiJiNG: Hostesses jump outside the Great Hall of the People before the opening session at the 11th National committee of the chinese People’s Political consultative conference (cPPcc) on Saturday. Afp

Berlin fears imminent execution of iranian pastor BERLIN AfP

Germany’s foreign ministry Saturday said it had summoned Iran’s ambassador to demand the release of an Iranian-born Christian pastor, sentenced to death, whose execution Berlin fears is imminent.

“At the request of Minister (Guido) Westerwelle, the Iranian ambassador was summoned yesterday (Friday) to the foreign ministry for the German government

13 wounded in Arizona nightclub shooting LOS ANgELES: Thirteen people were wounded when gunfire erupted during a rap music concert at a nightclub in Tempe in the US state of Arizona, police said early Saturday. “At this point, Tempe police officers and detectives have identified 13 shooting victims from the incident,” Tempe Police Department spokesman Sergeant Steve Carbajal said in a statement. “Two victims are in serious condition at local hospitals, and none of the victims were fatally injured.”

The shots were fired shortly before midnight local time Friday (0700 GMT Saturday) at the popular Clubhouse Music Venue, which entertained the crowd with a rap music concert, Carbajal said. He said witnesses had reported two black males in dark-colored clothing fleeing the scene on foot after the shooting. “Those individuals have not been located at this time,” Carbajal said.

“Tempe police detectives are currently on scene investigating what led up to the shooting and working on identifying the suspects.”Afp

to convey its deep concern over the fate of Christian pastor Yusuf Nadarkhani and to demand his immediate release,” a spokeswoman said.

“According to several independent reports, (Nadarkhani) is to be executed soon.

Instructions to that effect have been sent by the Iranian judiciary authorities to the central prison in rasht,” where he is being held, she said. Nadarkhani, 34, converted from Islam to Christianity at the age of 19 and became pastor of a small evangelical

community called the Church of Iran. He was arrested in October 2009 and condemned to death for apostasy for abandoning his Muslim faith. Islamic sharia law allows for such verdicts to be overturned if the convicted person “repents” and renounces his conversion, which Nadarkhani has refused to do. Nadarkhani’s conviction was upheld by an appeals court in September 2010, but overturned by Tehran’s supreme court, which sent the case back to the lower court in his hometown of rasht.

Its vice governor, who is responsible for security and political affairs in the province, has since said that Nadarkhani’s religious belief were not at issue, but has charged that he is “a Zionist, a traitor and has committed security crimes.” Human rights leaders fear that he can be executed at any time. Several other Western countries including the United States, Britain, France and Poland have condemned the sentenced and called for his release.

Chinese village gets rare taste of democracy WUkAN AfP

A Chinese village that rebelled against corrupt Communist leaders went to the polls Saturday in a contested election seen as a landmark for those seeking more democracy in the one-party state.

The vote for the committee governing Wukan went ahead with official approval after a long campaign by local people to end what they say was years of abuse of power by their leaders.

Although village elections are common in China’s rural areas, candidates are typically put forward by authorities and often run unopposed, unlike the poll in Wukan, in which 21 contenders stood for seven committee slots.

The vote came months after residents of Wukan, in the southern province of Guangdong, rose up against authorities in a bold revolt, driving out the local officials they said had been

stealing their land for years.

After a tense stand-off with police in December that lasted over a week, authorities in Guangdong, which borders China’s semi-autonomous region of Hong Kong, granted villagers rare concessions, including pledges to hold free polls. A carnival atmosphere prevailed in Wukan on Saturday with mothers carrying their babies and elderly women tottering to the ballot box to cast their votes.

Villagers formed long lines outside makeshift voting booths in the playground of a local school to write up to seven names on a paper slip before placing it in a metal box. “They’ve given us a democratic election, I’m so happy,” villager Zhang Bingchang said as he waited to vote.

At the end of the election, organisers announced more than 6,800 people — over 81 percent of registered voters — went to the polls and volun-

teers began the arduous task of counting ballots, with results expected later Saturday. They put large orange boards up against the walls of the school, and marked each vote with a small line under the name of the chosen candidate, occasionally calling for more volunteers to help out as villagers looked on. Protests over land grabs in other parts of China, including one in the eastern province of Zhejiang last month, have been meet with detentions of villagers and crackdowns on contacting the media. Villagers in China are by law allowed to vote for a committee to represent them, but many complain of fraud and lack of competition in polls that are often manipulated. Wukan’s leaders had held power for decades without being challenged, and residents say they never allowed village polls to go ahead openly, instead selecting members behind closed doors.

No individual can be held responsible for the nuclear meltdowns at Fukushima, Japan’s prime minister said Saturday, insisting everyone had to “share the pain”.

Yoshihiko Noda told foreign journalists in Tokyo that the Japanese establishment had been taken in by the “myth of safety” around nuclear power and was unprepared for a disaster on the scale of last March’s accident. A week ahead of the anniversary of the disaster, the premier swatted away a question over criminal responsibility for meltdowns that forced tens of thousands of people from their homes and polluted the land and sea. “Of course, the primary responsibility under Japanese law rests with the operator” of the stricken plant, Tokyo electric Power (TePCO), Noda said.

“But the government as well as operators and academia were steeped too deeply in the safety myth and I think that is what we can conclude. “rather than blaming any individual person I believe everyone has to share the pain of responsibility and learn this lesson.” Noda’s comments come just days after an independent investigation panel revealed the president of TePCO had wanted to abandon the plant in the days after the tsunami swamped its reactor cooling systems. A report compiled by private thinktank rebuild Japan Initiative Foundation said it was only threats by then prime minister Naoto Kan that had prevented TePCO from leaving the plant to its fate as the accident spiralled out of control. Noda told reporters lessons had been and were still being learned from Fukushima, including “don’t install power sources outside which are likely to be hit by a tsunami”. All but two of Japan’s 54 nuclear reactors are presently offline, with local communities unwilling to allow them to restart amid a public backlash over the safety of a once-trusted technology. Noda said electricity-hungry Japan would diversify its power sources, but stopped short of pledging to abandon atomic energy.

24 injured in suicide car bombing in Algeria ALGIERS AfP

A suicide car bomber drove into a gendarme headquarters Saturday in southern Algeria, injuring 24 people and killing himself, the Internet site of the Arab-language daily en Nahar said. Ten gendarmes and 14 civilians were taken to hospital after the attack in Tamanrasset, 1,970 kilometres (1,220 miles) south of Algiers, the first of its kind in that part of the country. Some of the injured were said to be in critical condition, while the suicide bomber was blown apart in the blast, which also caused major damage to the building. The APS news agency confirmed the attack without giving the number of casualties and said a major security presence was now being deployed in the zone. In recent months the regions of eastern Algeria have been most affected by attacks generally carried out by Islamists targeting the security forces.

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Sunday, 4 march, 2012

Foreign News 17 Suu Kyi falls ill addressing huge crowds MANDALAY AfP

Myanmar’s opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi fell ill on Saturday as she addressed the largest crowd of her election campaign so far in the second biggest city of Mandalay. More than 100,000 people gathered to cheer on the tired-looking Nobel Peace Prize laureate as she delivered a speech on the outskirts of the city, but she was forced to take a break saying she did not feel well. NLD sources said the 66year-old, who is travelling with two personal doctors, had then vomited several times, but she returned to the stage about ten minutes later to continue her address.

“She is feeling better now,” her doctor Tin Myo Win later told AFP, saying Suu Kyi had recently been suffering from a cold.

The international icon has had a punishing schedule ahead of by-elections on April 1, campaigning in various parts of the country and meeting a stream of foreign dignitaries in her hometown of Yangon.

Her decision to run for a seat, in a constituency near Yangon, is the clearest sign yet of the surprising change taking place in Myanmar since an army-backed government replaced decades of outright military rule last year.

mANdALAY: Supporters of myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi wave flags as she campaigns in the country’s second largest city of mandalay on Saturday. Afp

More than 64% voted in iran poll: minister TEHRAN

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Ore than 64 percent of registered voters turned out for Iran’s parliamentary poll, according to a preliminary estimate by the interior minister on Saturday. “Based on the preliminary estimate, participation nationwide stands at 64.2 percent, but this figure is not final,” Mostafa Mohammad Najar told state television.

He said 135 candidates had so far won seats in the 290-member parliament, with results in larger constituencies expected by Monday. The Islamic republic’s ruling conservatives predicted a massive turnout in Friday’s election despite a boycott by a large part of the reformist opposition and the crackdown the fol-

Bahrainis launch week of sit-in protests

lowed the disputed 2009 reelection of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The minister said turnout stood at 48 percent in the capital, up from 30 percent in the 2008 legislative poll.

Overall participation normally runs between 50 percent and 70 percent, and it stood at 55.4 percent in 2008. Conservative newspapers hailed on Saturday the “historical” turnout for the previous day’s elections. The “massive” voting of “30 million Iranians is a great slap in the dirty and hateful face of the West,” headlined governmental newspaper Iran, in a reference to political, economic, and military pressure by Western nations and Tehran’s nemesis Israel over the country’s controversial nuclear programme.

Hardline daily Kayhan praised the “historical presence of the people at the most sensitive turning point” of the coun-

try. The minister “thanked the Iranian people” for the high turnout, saying it “was epic-making presence and dissuaded the enemies who tried hard not have this participation.” Full results will not be known until Monday, and the those so far do not give a clear-cut picture on how the various conservative factions — including supporters and opponents of Ahmadinejad — have fared.

However, conservatives will still dominate the new Majlis, or parliament. Many of the 135 elected MPs announced by Saturday afternoon come from smaller constituencies and are “independent” new faces whose allegiances are still unknown.

Outgoing parliament speaker Ali Larijani, one of the main opponents of Ahmadinejad, was reelected without surprise in the holy city of Qom, south of the capital.

But several well-known incumbents,

famed for their unwavering support of the government, were defeated in the provinces. Parvin Ahmadinejad, the president’s sister, was running for the first time and was beaten in her hometown of Garmsar, southeast of Tehran.

But conservatives opposed to Ahmadinejad, who have been backing Larijani, faced some setbacks. Among them was the defeat of veteran deputy Ahmad Nateq Nouri, brother of former Majlis speaker Ali Akbar Nateq Nouri.

Not surprisingly, several reformist deputies were not reelected, even if the bloc’s leader, Mohammad reza Tabesh, got through. The main reformist movements, which held 60 of the 290 seats in the outgoing parliament, had in fact decided to boycott the elections in protest against the repression they have suffered since 2009.

french minister under fire again for ‘racist’ remarks

DUBAI AfP

Thousands of Bahrainis have launched what they said would be a week of daily sit-in protests in a Shiite village to commemorate an uprising crushed a year ago, witnesses said on Saturday. They said the protesters gathered on Friday at a rallying point renamed “Freedom Square” in Al-Muqsha village, about seven kilometres (four miles) west of Manama. They waved Bahraini flags and banners calling for the overthrow of the ruling Sunni Al-Khalifa family. “Down with Hamad,” some banners read, referring to King Hamad. Organisers said the rally would last for a week and take place every afternoon until midnight.

“Bahrainis will not go back on their demands,” a leading opposition figure from Bahrain’s main Shiite opposition formation Al-Wefaq, Abduljalil Khalil, told the gathering. The Shiite-led opposition demands constitutional changes that would reduce the power of the ruling dynasty. Tensions have remained high in Bahrain since a deadly crackdown last year after a month of Manama street protests.

PARIS AfP

French Interior Minister Claude Gueant, a hardliner close to President Nicolas Sarkozy, came under fire again Saturday for the second time in a month for comments deemed racist by liberals.

At a meeting late Friday in support of Sarkozy’s bid for a new term as president, Gueant condemned proposals by the president’s socialist opponent Francois Hollande to give the vote in local elections to immigrants.

“We don’t want foreign town councillors making halal food obligatory in canteen meals .... or regulating mixed bathing in swimming pools,” Gueant told an audience near Nancy in eastern France. Hollande’s spokesman Manuel Valls Saturday called the comments “nauseating”, while centrist candidate Francois Bayrou accused Gueant of scaremongering. The immigrant aid group France Terre d’Asile condemned “the pathetic quest of a minister who forgets his official duties in the hope of adding the votes of a few extremists to his side.” Gueant, who is responsible

for immigration, sparked a storm a month before when he told a gathering of right-wing students that “for us all civilisations are not of equal value.”

“Those which defend humanity seem to us to be more advanced than those that do not,” he said, stressing

the need to “protect our civilisation”.

The left denounced his speech as an attempt by President Nicolas Sarkozy to woo supporters of the far-right National Front (FN) ahead of the tworound presidential election in April and May. Gueant has repeatedly linked immigration with crime in France and in January claimed the delinquency rate among immigrants was “two to three times higher” than the national average. Last April, he declared that an increase in the number of Muslim faithful in France posed a “problem”.

He has also said that he wants to reduce the number of legal immigrants entering France, including those coming to work legally or to join their families. His latest comments came as the FN’s presidential candidate Marine Le Pen is credited with between 16 and 20 percent support in opinion polls. An aide to Gueant said Saturday that he had said virtually the same thing in the French Senate last year in a debate on an unsuccessful socialist bill for widening the local vote to foreigners apart from eU expatriates, who already have the right.

Soldier killed as new suicide bombing hits Yemen SANAA AfP

Two suicide bombers killed a Yemeni soldier as they blew up a vehicle at an elite republican Guard camp Saturday, a week after a similar attack claimed by AlQaeda that left 26 dead, military sources said. “The two suicide bombers who carried out the attack were killed as well as a republican Guard,” a military official told AFP. “Five other soldiers were also wounded” in the blast at the base in Bayda, 170 kilometres (105 miles) southwest of Sanaa and bordering Abyan province, an Al-Qaeda stronghold, the source added. Witnesses said the bomb attack devastated the three-storey building. The blast was followed by a gunbattle between gunmen and troops, military officials said. The defence ministry news website 26sep.net reported that a local official blamed Al-Qaeda for the attack and said “four soldiers and a civilian were wounded” and the “two terrorists” killed. The targeted republican Guard troops are led by Ahmed Saleh, son of veteran strongman Ali Abdullah Saleh, who formally stepped down as president on Monday.

egypt Mps to probe letting nGo foreigners go CAIRo AfP

egypt’s parliament is to probe and “hold accountable” anyone who intervened to allow foreign activists on trial to leave the country, the house speaker said Saturday, as a new trial date was set for the defendants.. Saad al-Katatni said parliament would summon Prime Minister Kamal al-Ganzouri on March 11 to explain the decision and “hold accountable those responsible for this crime, which represented a blatant intervention in the affairs of egypt’s judiciary.” After months of pressure from Washington, 13 of the foreign defendants including six Americans, according to the US State Department, were allowed to fly out of Cairo airport on Thursday after posting bail, sparking outrage in egypt. The travel ban was lifted after the trial judges recused themselves on Tuesday. A new court will hear the case on March 8, the official MeNA news agency reported.

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Sunday, 4 march, 2012

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Bangladesh assess Pakistan tour security

ISlAmABAD: Pakistani Interior minister Rehman malik and Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president mustafa Kamal (R) listen to the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Zaka Ashraf speaking at a press conference. Afp ISLAMABAD

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ANGLADeSH promised Saturday to work towards bringing international cricket back to Pakistan after a three-year hiatus, kicking off a visit to assess security for a proposed series in April. "We will work hand in hand to convince our other colleagues there in the ICC (International Cricket Council)

to bring back cricket to Pakistan at the earliest," said Mustafa Kamal, chairman of the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB).

He spoke to reporters in Islamabad, beginning a visit to assess security for Bangladesh's proposed tour to Pakistan three years to the day after attacks on Sri Lankan players saw international cricket suspended in the troubled country.

The nine-member Bangladesh delegation held talks with Interior Minister rehman Malik and is to tour facilities in

Lahore and Karachi, before returning home on March 5 to submit a report for approval to the government in Dhaka. "I am here with the positive mood of mind," Kamal told a joint news conference with Malik and Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Zaka Ashraf, one day after violence in Pakistan's northwest killed at least 55 people. On March 3, 2009 gunmen ambushed the Sri Lankan team bus in Lahore, killing eight Pakistanis and wounding seven visiting players and their

assistant coach. The attack suspended international cricket in the country, stripped Pakistan of its 2011 World Cup hosting rights and forced it to play home series at neutral venues in england, New Zealand and the United Arab emirates.

The PCB, determined to revive international cricket, has invited Bangladesh to tour in April for three one-day internationals. Pakistan's interior minister promised to guarantee security and cooperate fully with Bangladesh's requirements.

"From landing to departure and while staying in a hotel, or any movement within the country and of course the stadiums, they will all stand fully protected," Malik told the news conference. The PCB chairman hailed the visit as a "great moment for the Pakistan Cricket Board and Pakistan cricket lovers". "I am sure that they will be fully satisfied with the security plan being given by the ministry, by the provinces of Sindh and Punjab," he added.

Bangladesh last toured Pakistan in 2008 to play five one-day games, a series which they lost 5-0. The delegation later visited Gaddafi stadium, near which the Sri Lankan team bus was attacked three years ago. Punjab Police briefed the delegation on the possible security arrangements in case Bangladesh tours. The International Cricket Council (ICC) said it will only assess the situation after the tour is approved to send its umpires and officials. even before the March 2009 attacks, many foreign teams steered clear of Pakistan over security fears accompanying a wave of Taliban and Al-Qaedalinked attacks that escalated significantly in 2007. Other sports such as field hockey, tennis and squash have also suffered as Pakistan continues to be a "no go" area for international sportsmen.

Indiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s disastrous Australia tour over SYDNEY AfP

India leave for home Saturday after a disastrous tour of Australia to face likely recriminations after Sri Lanka ended their hopes of reaching the finals of the tri-nations one-day series. Sri Lanka held their nerve to end India's late bid for a spot in the best-of-three finals with a gripping nine-run win over Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Friday. That result means the deserving Sri Lankans will do battle with Australia in the finals, starting in Brisbane on Sunday. India, who arrived Down Under in December as the second-ranked Test nation and reigning World Cup champions, return home to face questions over their poor tour, which included a 4-0 drubbing in the Test series against Australia. As Cricinfo's Sidharth Monga observed: "In their own cocoon of denial, living in the past, out-batted, outbowled, out-fielded, out-captained both on and off the field, out-coached, out-jibed by the hosts, India didn't really turn up." Symptomatic of India's miserable time was the failure of batting star Sachin Tendulkar to claim his 100th international century. Test and one-day cricket's revered leading runscorer missed out on scoring a century for the first time in five tours to Australia, where he was given standing ovations to and from the wicket each time by respectful crowds. In eight Test and seven ODI innnings Tendulkar could not deliver the ton that has been eluding him since his 111 against South Africa at last year's World Cup. It was difficult to gauge Tendulkar's feelings on the subject as he was cocooned away from the media and did not appear at press conferences while all his teammates daily trotted out their reasons for each successive failure. India's tour record does not make for pretty reading. Their 4-0 Test humiliation included defeat by 122 runs in Melbourne, innings losses in Sydney and Perth and a 298-run thrashing in Adelaide.

M.S. Dhoni's men set out to prove their doubters wrong in the triangular one-day series against Australia and SL. After all, they were the reigning World Cup champions.

Misbah to lead Pakistan in Asia Cup PCB leave out malik, Farhat, Adnan, recall Jamshed, Sarfaraz LAHoRE StAff REPORt

The Pakistan Cricket Board has on Saturday retained Misbah-ul-Haq as captain for this month's Asia Cup while Shoaib Malik, Imran Farhat and Adnan Akmal were dropped fro the 15-man squad for the tournament.

The PCB new selection committee has, however, recalled opener Nasir Jamshed and wicketkeeper Sarfaraz Ahmed for the tournament that starts on March 11.

Pakistan's defeats in the One-Day International and Twenty20 series to england prompted calls for a change in team management and captaincy, but the PCB opted to retain Misbah for the Asia Cup, which also features Sri Lanka, India and hosts Bangladesh.

Misbah is battling an inconsistent form and has also been criticised for his defensive captaincy in the shorter format of the sport.

Chief selector Iqbal Qasim said opener Nasir Jamshed and wicketkeeper Sarfaraz Ahmed had been recalled for the tournament because of their recent performances in domestic cricket.

"We feel that since Nasir has done well in domestic cricket and in the recent Bangladesh Premier League he deserves a chance to play for the national team," Qasim said.

"Since we have little time for the Asia Cup we have picked the best possible side and hopefully this will deliver in the event," Qasim said.

The PCB is also expected to announce the appointment of Australian Dav Whatmore as head coach later on

Saturday. Mohsin Khan has been acting as interim coach for the england series.

The exclusions of Malik, Farhat and wicketkeeper Adnan were on the cards as their selections had raised questions during the series in the UAe. Left-arm pacer Junaid Khan, meanwhile, has been ruled out of the tournament due to a knee injury.

PAKiStAN SquAd misbah-ul-haq (cpt), mohammad hafeez, nasir Jamshed, younis Khan, Umar Akmal, Azhar Ali, Asad Shafiq, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Shahid Afridi, hammad Azam, Saeed Ajmal, Abdul Rehman, Umar Gul, Wahab Riaz, Aizaz Cheema.

Reserves: Ahmed Shahzad, Rahat Ali, Bilawal Bhatti, Afaq Rahim and muhammad Khalil.

Sri lanka drop herath COLOMBO: Sri Lanka's cricket selectors on Saturday left out left-arm spinner rangana Herath for the upcoming four-nation Asia Cup tournament in Bangladesh. Herath, part of the Sri Lankan squad for the ongoing triangular one-day series in Australia, was replaced by leg-spinner Seekkuge Prasanna, who played his last one-day international in November. The 14-man squad will be led by Mahela Jayawardene, with all-rounder Angelo Mathews as his deputy. Sri Lanka will join defending champions India, Pakistan and Bangladesh in the 50-overs-a-side tournament, to be played at the Sher-e-Bangla stadium in Dhaka from March 11 to 22. Sri Lanka, who meet India in their opening match on March 13, also recalled fit-again

fast bowler Suranga Lakmal who played his last one-dayer against Pakistan in November. Pacemen Dhammika Prasad and Chanaka Welegedara, currently in Australia, also failed to find a place in the Asia Cup squad. Sri Lanka will clash with Australia in the first of best-of-three finals in Brisbane on Sunday. World Cup winners India, the third team, were knocked out of the competition following Sri Lanka's victory over Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Friday.

SRi LANKA SquAd mahela Jayawardene (capt), Angelo mathews (vicecapt), tillakaratne Dilshan, Upul tharanga, Kumar Sangakkara, Dinesh Chandimal, lahiru thirimanne, thisara Perera, Farveez maharoof, Sachithra Senanayake, nuwan Kulasekara, lasith malinga, Seekkuge Prasanna, Suranga lakmal. AfP

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Sunday, 4 march, 2012

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Proteas complete Kiwis ODI whitewash AUCkLAND AfP

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ArCHANT de Lange took four wickets as South Africa completed a 3-0 whitewash of New Zealand in a withering display of pace bowling with a fivewicket win in the third and final one-day international on Saturday. The tourists cruised to victory with 40 balls to spare to go with the lop-sided wins in Wellington and Napier and underscore their domination of New Zealand ahead of the Test series starting in Dunedin on Wednesday.

After being sent into bat in wet and windy conditions at eden Park, New Zealand crumbled in the face of a hostile South African bowling attack to be all out for 206 in 47 overs. Hashim Amla then gave a masterclass in how to handle the conditions as he laid the platform for the South African reply with a contemptuous display of batting. It began with an 80-run partnership in 15 overs with Wayne Parnell who was surprisingly promoted to open the innings, and he then put on a further 58 in 12 overs with Albie Morkel for the second wicket. Kyle Mills ended Amla's stand when he was caught behind by Brendon McCullum for 76 after facing 89 balls but by then the outcome was beyond doubt with South Africa 138 for two and with 22 overs left to get the remaining 69 runs.

Morkel scored 41, including two fours and three sixes before he was caught by Colin de Grandhomme trying to hit Michael Bates out of the park. At 155 for three after 31 overs South Africa eased up on the run rate, and while rob Nicol

ScOREbOARd NEW zEALANd R. Nicol c de Villiers b botha 12 m. Guptill c du Plessis b tsotsobe 7 b. mccullum c du Plessis b de Lange 47 22 K. Williamson run out (du Plessis/de Villiers) 36 J. franklin c Amla b de Lange 36 c. de Grandhomme run out A. morkel 10 N. mccullum c Amla b de Lange 2 A. Ellis c Amla b de Lange 5 K. mills lbw Peterson 13 m. bates lbw Peterson 2 A. mcKay not out EXtRAS (lb 3, w 10, nb 1) 14 tOtAL (all out; 47 overs ) 206 fall of wickets 1-13 (Guptill), 2-45 (Nicol), 3-74 (b. mccullum), 4-105 (Williamson), 5-160 (de Grandhomme), 6-169 (franklin), 7-171 (Ellis), 8-189 (N. mccullum), 9-195 (mills), 10-206 (bates) bOWLiNG: tsotsobe 9-2-36-1 (1w), Steyn 7-2-28-0, de Lange 9-1-46-4 (1w), Peterson 10-1-36-2 (1w), botha 7-0-28-1 (2w), Parnell 4-0-18-0 (1nb), duminy 1-0-11-0 SOutH AfRicA H. Amla c b. mccullum b mills 76 27 W. Parnell b Ellis 41 A. morkel c de Grandhomme b bates 19 f. de Plessis lbw Nicol 25 JP duminy b Nicol Ab de Villiers not out 9 J. botha not out 5 EXtRAS (lb 2, w 3, nb 1) 6 208 tOtAL (5 wickets; 43.2 overs) fall of wickets: 1-80 (Parnell), 2-138 (Amla), 3-155 (morkel), 4188 (du Plessis), 5-195 (duminy) did not bat: m. de Lange, R. Peterson, d. Steyn, L. tsotsobe bOWLiNG: mills 8-1-41-1 (1nb, 1w), bates 6-0-28-1, N. mccullum 10-0-35-0, mcKay 8-0-40-0 (1w), Ellis 6-0-35-1, Nicol 3.2-0-142, de Grandhomme 1-0-9-0 (1w), Williamson 1-0-4-0 toss: South Africa Series: South Africa 3-0 umpires: chris Gaffaney (NzL), Richard illingworth (ENG) tV umpire: Aleem dar (PAK) match referee: Roshan mahanama (SRi)

claimed two late wickets -- Faf du Plessis (19) and JP Duminy (25) -- New Zealand never looked to be serious contenders. The Black Caps woes began when they were sent into bat where they found themselves immediately pinned down by an impres-

AUCKlAnD: South Africa celebrate after they beat new Zealand in the third and final one-day International. Afp sive display of pace and swing from Dale Steyn and Lonwabo Tsotsobe who were aided by heavy cloud cover. Faced with a barrage of deliveries around 145 kilometres per hour (90 miles per hour) the New Zealand batsmen were not allowed to set-

tle. Martin Guptill was dismissed cheaply while fellow opener rob Nicol played cautiously for 12 off 40 deliveries before he was gone and New Zealand were 45 for two. McCullum and Kane Williamson set about rebuilding the innings but when

their partnership began to blossom the 21year-old de Lange was unleashed. He immediately removed McCullum for 47 to have New Zealand at 74 for three and then ripped out the middle order to finish with an impressive four for 46 from nine overs.

Chelsea woe as City stretch lead

Super-sub Dunn earns a point for Blackburn

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BLACkBURN

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West Bromwich Albion piled the pressure on Chelsea with a 1-0 victory on Saturday as Premier League leaders Manchester City downed Bolton to open up a five-point lead at the top of the table. An 82nd minute strike from Gareth McAuley secured all three points for West Brom at the Hawthorns to deal a fresh blow to under-fire Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas, reportedly battling to hang on to his job.

The defeat left Chelsea three points adrift of the top four after Arsenal's push for Champions League qualification was given fresh momentum following a dramatic 2-1 win over Liverpool in Saturday's early kick-off.

"It wasn't good enough and it's not been good enough for quite some time," Villas-Boas said afterwards. "We are fifth and something is wrong.

Blackburn substitute David Dunn boosted his side's survival hopes with a crucial late equaliser in the 1-1 draw with Aston Villa at ewood Park on Saturday. Dunn converted a Bradley Orr cross five minutes from fulltime to keep Steve Kean's strugglers within touching distance of climbing out of the Premier League relegation zone. rovers, who fell behind to Charles N'Zogbia's first half strike, remain third bottom, but they are behind Wolves and QPr only on goal difference. Alex McLeish's Villa stay eight points clear of the bottom three, but this was another frustrating result for the under-fire boss. Villa almost grabbed a fourth minute lead through Marc Albrighton. N'Zogbia picked up the ball deep the rovers box and laid the ball back to Albrighton, who lashed his shot over the bar from eight yards.

lAhoRe: Khawaja Junaid, manager national hockey team, supervises the training of the players preparing for the london olympics at the national hockey Stadium. MURtAzA Ali

Hectic activity continues in Punjab Festival LAHoRE StAff REPORt

lAhoRe: lahore and Sargodha players in action during the university girls hockey match of the Sports Festival. StAff photo

On the fourth day of Inter-divisional Sports Festival 2012, hockey, football, kabaddi, taekwondo and cricket matches were held.

In cricket departments match at the GC University ground, Punjab Police beat Punjab Board of Technical education by 6 runs. Punjab Sports Board defeated DG Protocol by 2 runs. In boys university football, Bahawalpur beat rawalpindi 5-3. Lahore beat Bahawalpur 5-1.

In college boys football, Faisalabad beat Sargodha 4-0, Sargodha beat Gujranwala 4-0. In Kabaddi, Sargodha University beat rawalpindi 60-48. University of Central Punjab Lahore beat Gift University Gujranwala 62-50.

In girls hockey, Lahore College was given walkover against Gujranwala College. Multan beat Faisalabad 1-0. In girls university, Bahawalpur beat Faisalabad 2-0.

Punjab University defeated Sargodha University 1-0 while in general public hockey, Lahore beat Faisalabad 3-0.

DG sports ensures security arrangements LAHoRE StAff REPORt

DG Sports Usman Anwar has on Saturday ensured foolproof security for the Punjab Sports Festival event scheduled for Sunday.

Addressing a press con here at National hockey Stadium regarding the preparations of Marathon, foolproof security, and traffic plan, Usman said that all the preparation have been finalized during a meeting with the security officials. Usman Anwar said that the 17 km Marathon will start on 8:30 am from Gaddafi Stadium on March 4, followed by the 3 km Family Fun race in which more than 15000 people have been registered while 9,000 and above got their registrations for marathon,â&#x20AC;? he informed. All the TMAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s, Traffic Police, Tepa, rescue 1122, assistant commissioners were present in the meeting. They also decided to have a separate track for ladies in the marathon.

lAhoRe: DG Sports Punjab Usman Anwar briefs about the security arrangements of marathon and Family Fun Race. StAff photo

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LAHORE: Nestle rider leans to reach for the ball during his team’s match of the National Polo Championship against Hataff/Diamond Paints. nADeeM ijAz

Defending the cases for Misbah, Andy Murray & LeBron James

kUNWAR kHULDUNE SHAHID

S sports fans we have this inbuilt trait of being impatient. We always want our teams and the players we support to win; and when they don’t, we tend to scream bloody murder, and more often than not logic is exhaustively thrown out of the window.

However, sometimes we take our frustration way beyond the line of sanity, and act like what in all honesty resemble psychologically malfunctioned baboons. Here are three cases where the fans’ baboon imitation has gone too far…

iN miSbAH’S dEfENcE As Pakistan cricket fans we tend to redefine, time and time again, the aforementioned psychological malfunction; and occasionally we manage to make even our Indian counterparts – who are notorious for their over-thetop reactions – seem like sculptures of tranquility. The pride we take in hauling coals over our cricket team is pitiable, but the sheer joy we get from mocking one Misbah-ul-Haq is lamentable. Granted he did not deliver in the final T20 match against england – and neither did any other batsman for that matter – but that’s hardly the only reason why we have loaded our guns against our captain. It’s almost as if we’re looking for excuses just to somehow lay the blame for every single thing that is wrong in the country on Misbah; the man who transformed our cricket from being the butt of global ridicule to being a veritable power – and no the ODI and T20 series defeats against england do not change that.

We say Misbah does not deserve to be in the T20s, while conveniently forgetting his matchwinning innings in the previous meaningful T20 against Sri Lanka in November or the fact that had it not been for the shortest format of the game, Misbah probably wouldn’t have been playing international cricket at all. Is the hatred because of ‘that’ semifinal in Mohali? When Misbah was made the scapegoat for – well, for bothering to stick around while the rest of the batsmen threw their wickets away and for being the difference between an embarrassing loss and a closely fought one. What is it that stands between us and embracing the best cricketing brain that this country has had for ages? Is it the rugged style; the emotionless persona or is it because he replaced our sweetheart ‘Boom Boom’ as the captain of the national team?

In the immediate aftermath of the final T20 against england, some of our new channels – most notably the ones under the hegemony of the powers that be from Karachi – were imbued with the clamour that Shahid Afridi should be the one leading the limited-over teams. Talk about knee-jerks! Do we need to change captains every time we lose a series? And what has Afridi done to deserve to lead the side? He has thrown retirement tantrums, broken most of the rules in the code of conduct, brewed politics in the dressing room, showcased irresponsibility of all kith and kin both on and off the field and been the emblem of inconsistency – we want to replace the man who has finally managed to curb the turmoil associated with Pakistan cricket with someone who is one of the primary causes for the aforementioned turmoil? It is blasphemous to utter anything against Afridi, but Misbah has done more for Pakistan cricket in January 2012 than our sweetheart has done in 17 years representing the national side.

As cricket fans if we choose to act all ‘highmaintenance’, there’s nothing wrong with it; but then why the double standards? Why do we scrutinise every little folly of Misbah and choose to forgive the mammoth sins of Afridi? Why is the man who has cost more ODIs to Pakistan with his nut-head batting, than Misbah has played, being touted as a hero? Why is the man who didn’t play Saeed Ajmal, – the top-three bowler in all formats recently – who didn’t drop Kamran Akmal, who made a mockery out of

Points table S NO. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Shoaib Akhtar’s curtain call and openly criticised Waqar Younis – a living legend of Pakistan cricket – peddled as a great captain? Why do we bring the ‘he has hit the most sixes’ argument while dutifully defending him in a debate, while forgetting that almost none of them was hit when there was a genuine need? Why do we extol his ODI wickets tally and ignore that before 2008 he was a part-timer at best and hence, his match winning spells have been a rarity?

We love to hate Misbah, but we’d give all we have to defend the man who has created more problems for Pakistan than solutions. And then we whine about Pakistan cricket not performing consistently… Well it’s possibly because when someone with a logical head takes over the helm, we don’t bloody give him a chance.

shows that he has finally managed to get a hold of his nerves and that a major triumph might just be around the corner. We need to keep a share of the approbation pie – one that the top three have customarily hogged – for Murray as well, who is vying to make a name for himself in the most competitive era in men’s tennis.

iN LEbRON’S dEfENcE

iN muRRAY’S dEfENcE Andy Murray is again someone who tennis fans don’t really warm up to. And again, it’s hardly because of his Grand Slam duck, or the fact that he comes unstuck in the biggest moments – players with much lesser accolades have garnered more following than the Scott. Murray’s straight set wins over Novak Djokovic in Dubai might have come as a massive jolt for the tennis aficionados, but when one digs into perspective the triumph doesn’t look quite as shocking. During Djokovic’s reign at the apex of world tennis it has actually been Murray who has looked the most likely of dismantling his hegemony, and as showcased by his one-sided triumph in the semifinal of the Dubai Tennis Championship, Britain’s number one has what it takes to right his wrongs in Grand Slams and work his way to the apogee of tennis.

It is becoming an annual custom that Murray has a powerful run in Australia, falls criminally short in the decisive moments and goes on a slide till roland Garros. However, the fact that he has reached the final in Dubai – this piece is being scribed before the Federer Murray final –

While Misbah and Murray are quiet and down-to-earth athletes, the same can not be said of LeBron James; which is why it is difficult to defend a case against his ‘more hype less achievement’ persona. Maybe LeBron should be asked to lead the Pakistan cricket side; for, he’s exactly the ‘self-pointing, limelight seeking’ sort that we dutifully admire. However, the American sports fans prefer to see achievements before bragging; which is why they tend to take their scrutiny wee bit too far – just like in the aftermath of the Heat-Jazz game yesterday.

With Utah leading 99-98 James chose to pass the ball Udonis Haslem for the winning shot instead of taking it himself – and this after he had an absolute beast of a fourth quarter.

The dish didn’t work out as it was intended, and the doubting Thomases, who habitually scrutinise LeBron’s clutch-time play, were given another cause for nourishment. These Thomases conveniently ignore the fact that had it not been for LeBron’s 18 (out of 35) points in the fourth quarter, Miami wouldn’t have had been in the game. And also, considering the relative positions of LeBron and Haslem, the pass was indeed the “right basketball play” as coach erik Spoelstra rightfully pointed out. All the same one feels that it’s probably the same with all sporting domains; once the masses or indeed the pundits formulate an opinion, no amount of perspective or logic would make them bulge from their rigid stance.

TEAMS Colony Sugar Nestle Master Paints Pakistan Army BBJ Pipes AL Khan/Ciros Guard Group Hataff

P 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3

W 3 3 2 2 1 1 -

L 1 1 2 2 3 3

GF 30 25 26 29 21 21 20 19

GA 13 20 23 29 23 32 26 25

PTS AvE 6 +17 6 +5 4 +3 4 0 2 -2 2 -11 0 -6 0 -6

Isner, Anderson advance at Delray DELRAY BEACH AfP

Top seed John Isner booked a berth in the semi-finals of the Delray Beach International while former US Open winner Andy roddick was sent crashing out on Friday. America's Isner advanced with a brisk 6-3, 6-2 victory over eighth-seeded Australian Bernard Tomic, capitalising on four of his five break chances against the 19-year-old Australian to claim victory in only 56 minutes. The giant Isner, at 206 centimetres (six feet nine inches), will next face seventh-seeded Anderson, who rallied to beat roddick in a two hour, 33 minute marathon. South Africa's Anderson saved three match points in a second set tie-break on the way to a 2-6, 76 (11/9), 6-4 win over the American fourth seed. Anderson put on an impressive serving display, beating roddick at his own game. He hammered 11 aces to roddick's eight and won 77 percent of his first serve points. It was the 25-year-old's second win over roddick in four career meetings. Anderson, just three centimetres shorter than Isner, is chasing his second career title. Israel's Dudi Sela booked his first semifinal berth of the year with a three-set victory over fifth-seeded German Philipp Kohlschreiber. After dropping a second set tie-break, Sela responded to post a 6-4, 6-7 (4/7), 6-0 victory. Sela reached his first semi-final since Chennai in 2010. He next faces Australian qualifier Marinko Matosevic, who extended his career best ATP performance with a 3-6, 6-1, 6-1 win over 2010 Delray Beach champion ernests Gulbis.

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Sunday, 4 march, 2012

sports 21 wAtCH it Live ESPN Sports Center 07:30PM

Iman stuns Saba yet again to reach final

Colony Sugar win run continues in national Polo LAHORE: Colony Sugar’s win run is continuing in National Polo Championship being held here at the Lahore Polo Club on Saturday. It was a day of some nail-biting contests between the country’s top polo teams and from among the four matches played on the

Bolt, Powell line up oslo clash

day Colony Sugar and Pakistan ArmyNadra achieved big margin wins while the matches between BBJ Pipes and Master Paints and Hataff-Diamond Paints and Nestle were closely-contested. Master Paints grabbed a narrow margin of one goal win over BBJ

Pipes 8-7) while Nestle edged ahead of Hataff/Diamond Paints 7-6. Colony Sugar maintained its win run by over rolling Guard Group/Newage by 8 goals to 3. Argentinean pair of raul Laplacette and Santiago Mendivil were the leading players in Colony Sugar

win with the former scoring all the eight goals with the latter playing a supporting role. The day, however, ended in favour of Pakistan ArmyNadra which hammered 14 goals to nine to leave Al Khan-Ciro’s. Al Khan/Ciro’s reeling. StAff REPORt

federer beats Murray for fifth Dubai title DUBAI AfP

PARIS AfP

Usain Bolt and Asafa Powell will clash in the 100m at the Bislett Games in Oslo on June 7, the pair's second confirmed pre-Olympic sprint showdown. Olympic champion and world record holder Bolt had already been announced for the Oslo Diamond League meeting in January with his Jamaican teammate confirming his place in the race on Friday.

Bolt and Powell will also meet in the 100m in rome on May 31. "These two Jamaicans are the best known personalities in athletics at the moment and we are very proud and excited that they are both coming to Oslo in an Olympic year," said Oslo meet director Steinar Hoen.

roger Federer claimed his fifth Dubai Open title on Saturday with a 7-5, 6-4 win over Andy Murray. It was Federer's second title of the year and 72nd of his career. earlier, Andy Murray defeated world number one Novak Djokovic 6-2, 7-5 to reach the final on Friday and will meet roger Federer in title match.

It was Djokovic's first defeat of the season after picking up his fifth Grand Slam title at the Australian Open where he had beaten Murray in a thrilling five-set semi-final. Federer beat Juan Martin del Potro 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (8/6) in his semi-final on Friday with the Swiss great saving four set points in the second set tie-break. Saturday's match will be Federer's 102nd career final where he will also get the chance of extending his record of Dubai Open titles to five at his second home. Federer scored his third win this year over the dangerous Del Potro, who returned to the world's top 10 last month for the first time since wrist surgery in 2010 consigned him to a ranking close to 500.

But it required Federer to make a fine comeback in the second set tie-break, in which he was 2-6 down with four set points against him before producing a wonderful six-point streak to close the match out. "I hung in there and I thought I played

a good match," said Federer. "He almost pulled the first set ‘breaker back from 2-6, and there was little between us tonight. I just fought well and got a little lucky. "It's good to see Juan back and it's good to be in another final. It's also nice to play again against Andy as I don't think we played at all last year." The first set Friday was a tussle between Federer's fluid movement and easy evolution between defence and attack, and the fierce flat-hitting and serving of Del Potro. It hinged on the tie-break in which Del Potro made two forehand driving errors on his service points, while Federer lost only one service point, with an over-hit backhand drive. It would have been easier had Federer converted two set points in the eleventh game.

Jankovic gets free ride into semis kUALA LUMPUR AfP

Second seed Jelena Jankovic reached the semi-finals of the BMW Malaysian Open Saturday without having to pick up her racquet after Ayumi Morita pulled out injured, the second withdrawal in two days. Top seed and world number five Agnieszka radwanska pulled out Friday due to injury after a string of rain delays caused a schedule pile-up that forced her to face two opponents the day before.

Morita, who survived a tough second round match against compatriot Misaki Doi on Thursday, said: "My shoulder had been giving me a problem since two days ago when I played Misaki." "I don't know much about the injury, ex-

cept that it's painful. I will take a few days off before deciding if I will enter the next tournament," she

added. "I enjoy playing in Malaysia as there are many Japanese fans and I hope to be back for the fourth

time next year." Jankovic will now take on fifth seed Petra Martic of Croatia, who recovered from losing the opening set on Friday to upset third seed Peng Shuai of China 4-6, 7-6 (7/3), 6-4. The other semi-final will be between Taiwanese qualifier Hsieh Su-wei, who benefited from radwanska's withdrawal, and eleni Daniilidou, who beat Olivia rogowska 6-2, 3-6, 6-2.

Daniilidou was in action earlier Saturday as her match with rogowska was suspended on Friday with Daniilidou leading 6-2, 3-2.

The long break helped rogowska as she took the first four games of the day to level the match 6-3 but Daniilidou fought back to take the third set 6-2. The $220,000 BMW Malaysian Open ends on Sunday.

LAHORE: Aqeel Khan, Yasir Khan, Iman Qureshi and Sara mansoor reached the finals of the men’s and ladies singles final of the 24th Chenab Club Open ranking Tennis Tournament at Faisalabad on Saturday. Iman continued her win run in the game and beat Pakistan number one Saba Aziz second time in a week to reach the final. In the semi-final that lasted for around two hours, Iman showed exciting form in toppling Saba.

Both the players displayed great tennis.

Iman won 2-6, 7-6, 6-4. In the other semi-final sara Mansoor beat rida Khalid in straight sets 6-0, 6-1. In the men’s singles Aqeel beat Mohammad Abid 6-3, 7-5 while Yasir defeated Jalil Khan 6-4, 6-3.

The finals of both men and ladies singles will be played today. StAff REPORt

Pakistan U-16 soccer camp from monday LAHoRE StAff REPORt

The 22 incumbents of Pakistan U-16 football players are starting their training camp in Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) Coaching Centre, Karachi from Monday The camp is being organized under PFF Fast Track Programme under which outfits of different age-groups will receive training at regular intervals throughout the year. The young team will take part in forthcoming KPT National Football Challenge Cup, 2012 starting from March 10 to 23 at KPT Football Stadium, Karachi. The top teams of the country will take part in this mega event. The officials of training camp are Sajjad Mahmood (Coach), Muhammad Hassan (Assistant Coach) and Noman Ibrahim (Goalkeeper Coach). the probables of the training camp are: muhammad Usman Khan (Bannu Zone), Syed hassan mujtaba (Faisalabad/Sargodha Zone), malik Dilshad Ahmed (Faisalabad/Sargodha), muneer Aftab (Karachi Zone B), Shahbaz masih (Faisalabad/Sargodha Zone), Rashid noor(Faisalabad/Sargodha), Babar Ali (Karachi Zone B), tanzeel Ashfaq (Faisalabad/Sargodha), Bilal Asghar (Islamabad Region), muhammad Sohail (Bannu Zone), Raza Ali (Punjab), muhammad Zeeshan (Faisalabad/Sargodha), Ashfaq-ud-Din (Gilgit/Baltistan Zone), muhammad Bilal (Punjab), muhammad Basit Amin (Ashraf Sugar mill ), Sanaullah (Karachi Zone B),Zia-ul-Abdeen (Karachi Zone B), Sher Ali (Afghan Chaman FC), yawar (Karachi Zone B), and mansoor Khan (PAF).

lahore Whites win in Veterans Cricket LAHoRE StAff REPORt

Lahore White beat Lahore Tigers by three wickets in the 14th National Veteran Senior Cricket Cup here at the at race Course park ground.

Lahore Tigers batting first 239/6 after 30 overs.

Mujahid Jamshaid 88, Tahir Irshad 53 runs not out, Saif-ur-rehman 30, Shan Shahid 27 & Saleem Butt 23 runs. Ghaffar Kazmi 1/48, Aftab Tabi 1/37, Mohtasham rasheed 1/23 & Asim Sheikh 1/43 wickets. In reply Lahore White 240/7 after 28.2 overs. Former Captain Pakistan Saleem Malik playing very well 81 runs with 10 fours. Naveed Anjum 53, Ghaffar Kazmi 44, Shahid Aslam 20 & Saifullah 13 runs. Film Star Shan Shahid 1/34, Mujahid Jamshaid 1/49 & Amanvel 2/32 wickets.

Qaisar Waheed, Javeed Ashraf umpire, Azhar Hussain was the scorer. Saleem Malik declared man of the match.

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no caretaker, ‘chair-taker’ govt to come: PM

US-Afghanistan deal in danger as Karzai sticks g pM inaugurates Multan campus of Air University g Says pakistan will not budge to foreign pressure on gas pipeline to demands MULTAN

P

ONLiNE

rIMe Minister Yousaf raza Gilani said on Saturday that no “caretaker” or “chair-taker” government would be put in place in the country, and “Pakistan’s PM is the strongest man at present”.

“He will neither go upward nor downward, and will not go inside or outside,” Gilani said while talking to reporters after attending the inaugural of Air University, Multan Campus

as chief guest. “I had already said that the Senate polls would take pace first and then the budget would be presented,” he said. “We are elected representatives and represent the nation,” the prime minister added.

He said that Pakistan’s decision on Pakistan-Iran gas pipeline would be based on its own interests, and the country’s leadership would not succumb to any pressure in this regard. Gilani said Pakistan would build ties with other countries including Iran keeping in view its own interests. He said the country would

not budge to foreign pressure as it had an elected government.

Answering a query on the current status of relations with the Unites States, the premier said ties with the US faced ups and downs. In response to a question, he said the demand for Seraiki province was not his, but of the people. “Several conspiracies are being hatched against the Seraiki province,” he said. “Someone says Thal province should be created, another says Bahawalpur province be formed. In fact, the issue of Seraiki province is very vital, as Bahawalpur

is part of the Seraiki province,” he added. Gilani said his party would amend the constitution to allow the creation of Seraiki province. earlier, while addressing the participants of Air University inaugural ceremony, the prime minister said that universities were “treasures of knowledge”, and modern knowledge could put Pakistan on the road to progress. He said the provincial government had launched a computer awareness campaign, and billions of rupees had been provided to the provinces

so that students could benefit from computer technology.

Gilani said the government would not slap restrictions on media, but would rather give more freedom to it. He said the country was passing through an evolutionary phase, and that all institutions would have to work within their ambit. Speaking on the occasion, Air Chief Marshal rao Qamar Suleman said that Air University, Multan would provide an opportunity to the students of backward areas to seek modern knowledge.

tornadoes kill at least 33 in US Midwest, South INDIANAPoLIS REutERS

The latest in a series of powerful tornadoes raked across a broad swath of the US Midwest and Southeast, killing at least 33 people in four states, authorities said on Saturday. The fast-moving twisters on Friday splintered homes, damaged a prison and tossed around vehicles across the region, leaving 16 people dead in Kentucky, 14 in neighbouring Indiana, two more in Ohio, and one in Alabama, officials said.

“We’re not unfamiliar with Mother Nature’s wrath out here in Indiana,” Governor Mitch Daniels told CNN during a visit to the stricken southeast corner of the state on Saturday. “But this is about as serious as we’ve seen in the years since I’ve been in this job,” he said, standing against the backdrop of the hard hit town of Henryville. Friday’s storms came on top of deadly-late winter storms earlier in the week in the Midwest, and brought the death toll to 46. Tony Williams, 46, owner of the Chelsea General Store in southern Indiana said four people died in the Chelsea area, including four-year-old Davlin Terry Jackson and his great grandparents, Terry and Carol Jackson in their late 60s. The boy and his mother, Amanda Jackson, were in a basement when the storm hit about 3pm local time on Friday. He was torn from her arms by the tornado. The mother survived, but her grandparents who were upstairs, both died.

“She was in the cellar with the boy when the tornado hit. It blew him right out of her hands,” Williams said. “They found the bodies in the field outside,” he added, referring to Davlin and his great grandparents. Williams said 60 local school children took refuge in his store overnight.

“The bus drivers did a great job. We had them in a back room with no windows. I lost some shingles but we’re okay. The red Cross and Fire department are here now and they are cleaning up.” In Salem, Indiana, about 60 miles west of Chelsea, a two-year-old girl was found alive in a field after a twister cut through the area, authorities said. “When she was brought down here they didn’t know who she was,” said Brian rublein, a spokesman for Kosair Children’s Hospital in Louisville, Kentucky, where the girl was taken by helicopter. “At last report she was in critical condition,” rublein said. Aerial TV footage showed rescue workers in Indiana picking through a splintered house, residents sifting through the ruins of a home, and a school bus thrown into a building. Several warehouse-like structures had their roofs ripped off. Major Chuck Adams of the sheriff’s office in Indiana’s Clark County said there was extensive damage to a school in Henryville but said: “All the children are out. No injuries were caused to any of them, just minor scrapes and abrasions.” An Indiana official confirmed 14 deaths from the tornadoes on Friday, in four southeastern counties. A spokeswoman for Kentucky’s governor reported a statewide death toll of 16, while Ohio officials said there were two deaths in a single county. “There’s a possibility we could have additional fatalities,” in southwestern Ohio said Kathy Lehr, the director of public information in Clermont County.

LAHORE: Religious activists protest on Saturday against the participation of women in a marathon scheduled for today (Sunday) as part of the 2012 Punjab Sports festival. Afp

‘23 hindus kidnapped from balochistan’ QUETTA iNP

The incidents of kidnapping for ransom in Balochistan are on the rise, as a government official revealed on Saturday that 23 Hindus had been abducted in the province over

a period of several months.

The rise in kidnappings has forced the small Hindu community to migrate from Balochistan to other parts of the country. Talking to a private TV channel, Provincial Home Secretary Naseebullah Bazai said that 70 people had

been kidnapped from the Quetta Division alone during the last three months.

According to Bazai, 53 of the kidnapped had been recovered so far, while others were yet to be traced. He said an antikidnapping force had been formed to curb the incidents in

the province. On the political front, the home secretary revealed that cases against 83 politicians had been taken back after the introduction of Balochistan Package. “We are taking back these cases on the direction of the federal government,” he said.

no threat to democracy in presence of independent judiciary, says CJp kARACHII GNi

Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry on Saturday said there was no threat to democracy in the country in the presence of an independent judiciary and adherence to the constitution would ensure that no other system could prevail.

The chief justice was addressing the roll signing ceremony of newlyenrolled advocates of the Supreme Court hailing from Sindh at the Branch registry Building, Karachi.

The CJ emphasised that the constitution was a live document and by the grace of Allah, the judiciary, parliament and the executive were functioning within their assigned constitutional parameters. referring to the Senate elections, the chief justice said it too was a demonstration of enforcement of the constitution

and such exercise gave satisfaction that “we are going on the right track and in the right direction”. “The elections were a proof of enforcement of the constitution and the country is heading in the right direction,” he added.

He said the object of the bench and the bar was to enforce adherence to the constitution and ensure the supremacy of law in the country without any discrimination. The CJ expressed confidence that after enrolment of the new batch of the Supreme Court lawyers, the newly inducted advocates would provide all possible lawful help to the judiciary for strict adherence to the constitution. He stressed, “If we hold on to a system of rule of law and proceed according to the dictates of the constitution, there should be no danger to the country and the nation will surely progress to achieving economic development and political stability.”

Published by Arif Nizami for Nawa Media Corporation (Pvt) Ltd at Qandeel Printing Press, 4 Queens Road, Lahore.

Editor: Arif Nizami, Executive Editor: Sarmad Bashir

WASHINGToN iNP

Hopes that the US can fix conditions for a long-term military presence in Afghanistan before an unofficial May deadline are fading because Afghan President Hamid Karzai is not prepared to compromise on two demands that have stalled negotiations for months. Washington and its allies want to have the USAfghan strategic partnership agreed to before May, when a NATO conference in Chicago is expected to pledge longterm help to Kabul with finances and military training. But negotiations have dragged on for over a year and Karzai is adamant he will not give ground on his two main demands - for Afghan control of jails and an end to night-time raids on Afghan homes. Western officials say the first is not practical and the second would compromise the military effort. “If they don’t change their position there will be no strategic partnership before Chicago,” said a senior Afghan official familiar with the negotiations. “We are not willing to compromise when it comes to sovereignty.” The strategic partnership deal would allow US forces to stay in some current large bases in Afghanistan, to help train Afghan soldiers and police.

The bases could also be used for drone strikes on militants in Pakistan. The deal would give western leaders a security rationale for spending money in Afghanistan after combat troops are withdrawn in 2014, and also aims to reassure Afghans the west will not cut and run. A string of top diplomats and politicians have urged Karzai to sign. “The Afghan government, especially the Afghan president, is under a lot of pressure from all sides there are some indirect threats being made as well,” said the Afghan official, who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the negotiations.