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Pakistan to return Saudi favour with arms, combat aircrafts
STATING THE OBVIOUS: OIC official says extremists hijacked Islam STORY ON PAGE 03
Pakistan's soil will not be used against Afghanistan, Nawaz assures UK
Thursday, 3 April, 2014 Jamadi-us-Sani 2, 1435 Rs 17.00 Vol IV No 276 16 Pages Karachi Edition
STORY ON PAGE 05
STORY ON PAGE 04
World largest steel mill coming your way! STORY ON PAGE 04
nawaz Govt shows General Musharraf the way out Interior Ministry suggests former president’s legal team move the relevant court on removing his name from Exit Control List
Interior Ministry official says govt has decided that any decision on the matter should be taken in light of a judicial order
Musharraf’s lawyer Dr Farogh Naseem has already said he would move SC if government does not respond favourably to request
In an ambiguously-worded response to former president General (r) Pervez Musharraf’s request for removal of his name from the Exit Control List (ECL), the Interior Ministry has told the retired general that the government was “unable to accede to his requests” as his name had been put on ECL “on the basis of record pronouncements of the superior courts”. By doing this, the government has thrown the ball in the court of the judges in order to prevent political fallout in case Musharraf does get the nod to travel abroad to visit his ailing mother and for his own medical treatment. PAGE 03
‘KP ready to hold LG polls on 30th’ Chief Minister Khattak says his government is waiting for ECP’s nod to hold polls STORY ON PAGE 02
GERMAN TOURIST FREED BY COURT AFTER TWO-WEEK DETENTION IN MULTAN STORY ON PAGE 03
Taliban patience withers as govt sits on demands STORY ON PAGE 03
02 NEWS
Thursday, 3 April 2014
security bill comes in na amiD walkouts anD protests MQM MEMBERS WALK OUT OF SESSION TO PROTEST AGAINST ‘EXTRA-JUDICIAL’ KILLINGS OF PARTY WORKERS IN KARACHI LAWMAKER FROM RULING COALITION JUI-F SAYS SOME CLAUSES OF THE BILL ARE ANTI-PEOPLE PPP LAWMAKER PUTS GOVT ON THE MAT FOR RE-LAUNCHING CONTROVERSIAL RENTAL POWER PROJECTS AFTER RENAMING THEM ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT
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ESPITE resistance from the major opposition parties and some members of treasury benches, the Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N)-led government finally presented the controversial Protection of Pakistan (Amendment) Ordinance 2014 in the Lower House of the parliament. Debate on the bill did not commence, however, because of at least two walk-outs and a vociferous protest by a government allied-party. Wednesday saw the Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s (MQM) boycott during Wednesday’s session of the National Assembly against what they term as extra-judicial killings of their workers in Karachi by security forces. MQM MNA Asif Husnain alleged that some departments of the security forces have formed death squads to eliminate workers of his party. Citing various incidents of mutilated bodies recovered from different areas of the metropolitan city, he warned: “Don’t create a Balochistanand Bangladesh-like situation in Karachi.” His party then proceeded to boycotted proceedings. Shah Gul Afridi, an MNA from the Federally-Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) also spoke against the negligence of
the government and said that nothing has been done for the tribal areas over the last eight months. All Fata MNAs then also proceeded to boycott proceedings, criticising Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for not giving them and their areas’ issues any time or attention. JUI-F proteSt: Rana Shamim Ahmad, chairperson of the NA standing committee on interior, presented the bill that was passed by the committee on Tuesday without developing consensus even with its main ally Jamiat Ulema-eIslam-Fazal (JUI-F). As soon as the government presented the bill for approval, JUI-F’s Maulana Mirzaman was the first lawmaker who stood up and said: “We are one of the ruling parties but we oppose this bill”, adding that “Some clauses of the bill are against the people of the country and we will oppose it until the government does not address his party’s concerns.” The bill has been criticised by many observers and parliamentarians, who hold that the standing committee merely played with some words and has not incorporated any sort of critical input and no research work has been done to make it more appropriate and acceptable. Increase in the prices of medicine PPP’s Shazia Mari moved a resolution against hike in prices of essential medicines
by pharmaceutical companies. PML-N’s Sara Afzal Tarar confirmed that prices of some medicines were increased by the companies after they got a stay order from the court. But there is no increase in prices of essential and life saving medicines, she added. This issue is in the notice of the prime minister and a committee has been formed to conduct survey of markets, she said. Speaking on a point of order, PPP’s Nafisa Shah sought an explanation from the government on why controversial Rental Power Projects (RPPs) have been relaunched after renaming them. She said the projects, first launched by the PPP government, has been opposed tooth and nail by the PML-N which was in the opposition. She also pointed out that the PPP government had been taken to court on this project and serious charges had been leveled against it including corruption by ministers and even a prime minister. How, she asked, has this same project now been declared transparent. She said her party and their allies, and all parliamentarians, want to know how the current federal minister for water and power—who spent most of his time in the courts during last five years against this project—prepared a summary and gave his approval for the project after renaming it as STIPP (Short-Term IPPs).
KARACHI: Supporters of former president General (r) Pervez Musharraf hold a demonstration on Wednesday seeking removal of his name from the Exit Control List. INP
KP ready to hold LG polls on 30th CHIEF MINISTER KHATTAK SAYS HIS GOVERNMENT IS WAITING FOR ECP’S NOD TO HOLD POLLS ISLAMABAD: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak told the core committee of the Pakistan Tehree-e-Insaf (PTI) on Wednesday that the provincial government was ready to hold local government elections on April 30, and was just awaiting a go ahead from the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP). He said the delimitation process had been completed with no objections to any individual or party, and the only delay was the ECP nod. The PTI’s core committee members were informed that the KPK government had also asked the ECP and NADRA to allow it to hold LB elections in the KPK through biometric system and electronic voting machines, but these organisations had shown absolutely no interest in it. The core committee expressed dismay at this lack of response on the part of NADRA and the ECP, and demanded the ECP to expedite the LB polls preparations in the KPK. In its meeting, the core commit-
tee urged the KPK government to move urgently to pass the Conflict of Interest Law, to which the CM agreed. In addition, the core committee also decided that no PTI core committee member will do any business with the government in that province. The committee also demanded the federal government to immediately complete all procedures for allowing overseas Pakistanis to vote. The core committee directed its MNAs to introduce a bill in the Parliament to make the necessary constitutional amendments to this end. It was also reiterated that no legislator, provincial or central, will accept any official US invitation until the US apologises for its humiliation of Pakistani leaders during their travel. The PTI Core Committee commended its workers for holding their ground on the anti drone issue, which resulted not only in US stoppage of drones but also pushed the Pakistan government to move a resolution in the UN against drones. STAFF REPORT
Pakistanis studying in British universities halved in past four years LONDON AGENCIES
The number of overseas students at universities in England has fallen for the first time in nearly 30 years, with students from Pakistan and India have halved since 2010, with more students choosing the United States and Australia instead due to tougher visa rules and higher fees, research showed on Wednesday. A analysis by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) found that the number of students from
India and Pakistan had halved since 2010 to about 13,000 as foreign students were deterred by stricter visa regulations. According to the report, the data also suggested a continued decline in student visas issued to applicants from South Asian countries, specifically Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka and Iran. The analysis also found certain specific features of entrants to postgraduate courses from India and Pakistan. The change had also affected the gender balance at the postgraduate level with numbers of male entrants to mas-
ters programmes decline since 2010-11 mainly because of decline in entrants from India and Pakistan. The decline in student numbers from these two countries also affected Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) courses, in which entrants from India were down 64 per cent, and from Pakistan, 65 per cent. Total numbers fell to 307,205 in 2012 from 311,800 in 2011, the first drop in 29 years, the HEFCE analysis showed, despite foreign student numbers rising in other countries. The data is a concern for the $121-billion
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higher education sector, with international and EU students making up 30 percent of full-time university entrants, worth 10.7 billion pounds a year in fees and other spending. HEFCE data showed higher education accounted for 2.8 per cent of UK GDP in 2011 and almost 760,000 jobs. Stricter visa regulations, imposed as Britain tries to curb immigration, and higher tuition fees in England explained the drop, HEFCE said. No figures were available for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland which set their own university fees.
Dogs unleasheD on woman seeking justice HAFIZABAD: Dogs were unleashed on a woman Wednesday over her approaching the police on a property dispute. Sources said that a woman, resident of Sukheki area of Hafizabad, had a dispute with a local influential over a piece of land. She had been repeatedly visiting the police station in pursuit of justice. The station house officer (SHO) of the concerned police station asked her to visit Wednesday at 9am in to discuss the matter. The woman’s rivals also reached the police station and unleashed dogs at her within the police station’s premises. The woman fainted after being badly injured. After the media aired the report, concerned deputy superintendent of police (DSP) reached the station and recorded the affected woman’s statement. Meanwhile, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has also taken the notice of the incident. He has directed the authorities concerned for taking stern action against the accused and providing best treatment facilities to the victim. STAFF REPORT
Nawaz allows ad-hoc hiriNg ISLAMABAD: In a bid to improve day-today functioning of government departments and to ensure service delivery to the citizens, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Wednesday allowed government departments to hire staff on daily wages with temporary status as per genuine requirements. In this regard, the premier has further directed heads of government departments to strictly follow applicable rules and regulations and conduct the process in a transparent manner based on merit. Moreover, the premier has given approval to hiring independent members of Planning Commission of Pakistan. These include Yahya Mehmood Khwaja as member ICT & IT, Malik Ahmad Khan as member Infrastructure, Naeemuz Zaffar as member Social Sector, Faheemul Islam as member Private Sector Development and Syed Tahir Hijazi as member Governance. The prime minister has also approved appointment of Shahid Ghaffar as National Investment Trust managing director and Tahira Raza as First Women Bank president. STAFF REPORT
Thursday, 3 April 2014
NEWS
govt shows musharraf the way out INTERIOR MINISTRY SAYS MUSHARRAF’S NAME PLACED ON ECL ‘ON BASIS OF RECORD PRONOUNCEMENTS OF SUPERIOR COURT’ SUGGESTS FORMER PRESIDENT MOVE RELEVANT COURT ON ECL ISSUE ISLAMABAD MIAN ABRAR
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N a bid to dispel reports that the government was under the army’s pressure to remove former president General (r) Pervez Musharraf’s name from the Exit Control List (ECL) and let him leave Pakistan to attend to his ailing mother in Sharjah, the Interior Ministry on Wednesday informed the former military strongman that the government was “unable to accede to his requests” to remove
isi boss Doesn’t show at ihc hearing ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT
Justice Riaz Ahmed Khan of the Islamabad High Court on Wednesday took an exception to ISI chief General Zaheerul Islam’s non-appearance before the court in a case relating to a missing person believed to be in the custody of the country’s premier intelligence agency. Although the judge accepted an application by the ISI director general (DG) seeking exemption from appearance after an affidavit was submitted that the ‘missing person’ was not in the custody of the spy service, he warned that the judicial system should not be ridiculed. “We don’t take pleasure in summoning the ISI DG, but nobody appeared despite getting six weeks, we have no choice. Don’t ridicule the judicial system,” the judge said. The IHC disposed off the case ruling that the issue needs to be further investigated and evidenced. The ruling said the court has no authority to order investigations and seek evidence, as a commission was already working on the missing persons’ issue. The case was disposed off after Colonel Fayaz submitted a sealed report, stating that the missing person Muhammad Arif was not in the ISI’s custody.
FBr Freezes PePco BaNk accouNts ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) on Wednesday froze bank accounts of Pakistan Electric Power Company (PEPCO) for defaulting over Rs 530 million in taxes. According to FBR sources, the revenue board sent several notices to PEPCO asking it to pay the due taxes but it did not receive a positive response. Therefore, FBR froze their bank accounts under its ongoing recovery campaign. They said that the bank accounts will be restored after the recovery of taxes. INP
‘avoid womeN, live a healthy liFe’ LAHORE INP
Punjab Minister for Education Rana Mashood Ahmed Khan has held the womenfolk responsible for stress-related syndromes in men. Speaking during a seminar titled Psychological Syndromes on Wednesday, he said most mental disorders were generated in men due to ill behaviour of women, while when men imbued such ailment, women again helped them recover. He claimed that men were modest and meek while women knew men’s weaknesses.
his name from the Exist Control List (ECL) “on the basis of record pronouncements of the superior courts”. The ambiguously-worded communication from an Interior Ministry official stated: “I am directed by the competent authority to communicate with you with reference to your request on the subject cited above dated March 31, 2014. The requests have been considered on the basis of record pronouncements of the superior courts on the cited subject and pending criminal cases in various courts. The federal government is unable to accede to your requests in public interest.” Sources privy to the developments said the communication had rather suggested to Musharraf’s legal team to approach relevant courts in order to have the defendant’s name removed from the ECL (which is why it was placed on the ECL to begin with). Last year, the Sindh High Court had put Musharraf’s name on the Exit Control List (ECL), asking him not to leave the country without seeking prior permission from the concerned courts. Musharraf’s lawyer Dr Farogh Naseem had already said that he would move the Supreme Court if the government did not
respond favourably. After the special court read out charges to Musharraf on March 31, and said that it did not have jurisdiction over the ECL matter and it was for the government to decide, Naseem had filed an application with the Interior Ministry to allow Musharraf to travel abroad to seek medical treatment and see his ailing mother. An Interior Ministry official said
that after a high-level meeting and deliberations it was decided that it would be a better option that any decision on the matter should be taken in light of a judicial order. The government is perhaps weighing its options and possible repercussions of the decision, he added. A day after the special court indicted General (r) Musharraf on treason charges, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif consulted senior members of his party on whether or not to allow the former military ruler to travel abroad to seek medical treatment and see his ailing mother. The party members however were divided on the issue and Sharif had to postpone the decision amid reports that army chief General Raheel Sharif had made a surprise visit to the Prime Minister’s Office and conveyed to him the army’s and former military officials’ concerns at how things were headed in the case of their former leader. Prime Minister Sharif is also reported to have discussed the situation with Pakistan People’s Party Chairman Asif Zardari and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan. Details of the telephonic conversations between the three leaders could not be obtained.
Taliban patience withers as govt sits on demands TTP MOHMAND CHIEF WARNS OF FRESH ERA OF BLOOD AND TERROR WHILE CENTRAL SPOKESMAN SAYS SHURA DIVIDED OVER CONTINUING WITH CEASEFIRE GOVERNMENT TO RESPOND TO TALIBAN’S DEMANDS IN TWO DAYS PESHAWAR STAFF REPORT
prof ibrahim urges govt not to Delay peace process
The banned terror outfit, Tehreek-e-Taliban Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) seems to divided over the future of talks with the government as TTP Mohmand Agency leader Omar Khalid Khorasani warned on Wednesday that the Taliban were ready to resort to violence again as their announced ceasefire had expired on April 1, while the TTP central spokesman in a separate statement said that the Taliban Shura is still pondering over the issue. In an article written by Khorasani which circulated in media circles via Twitter Wednesday, he wrote that Pakistan will now face blood and terror again. The Mohmand Taliban leader discussed the political situation of Pakistan in his article, stating that the nation was lost on small issues and country’s security crisis was bigger than those of Syria and Iraq. He said the government was considering ways to set former president General (r) Pervez Musharraf free even though he had been indicted on high treason charges by the special court. “ Meanwhile, TTP spokesman Shahidullah Shahid has said that the Taliban have not yet decided about an extension in ceasefire agreement with the govern-
peSHAWAr: As the peace dialogue hinges on the release of ‘non-combatants’, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) intermediary Professor Ibrahim on Wednesday said the government should not delay the peace process. The TTP is said to have shared with government negotiators a list of Taliban ‘noncombatants’ – mostly women, children and elderly – who they claim are in the custody of the security forces. The government had also called for the release of some high-profile figures held hostage by the Taliban. Sources said that the government had sought more time from the Taliban intermediaries for tracing the ‘non-combatants’. Professor Ibrahim said that the government has not gotten back to the TTP intermediaries as of yet. He added that the ceasefire will continue throughout the dialogue process. STAFF REPORT ment since there were differences amidst them on the issue. He said that the TTP Shura will soon take the decision in this regard. “There are differences among various factions of TTP on extending the period of month-long ceasefire which was announced on March 1. Some of the factions are in favour of extending it as long as peace talks are underway with the government. Others want to resume the attacks and seek revenge for the crackdown on Taliban militants and torture on their prisoners in Sindh province,” a senior leader and Shura member of the TTP told media from an undisclosed location. The TTP senior leader, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that the TTP Shura members had been holding
meetings for the past few days to build a consensus on the issue but they have not been successful. However, on March 26, the government negotiating team and the TTP Shura held their first round of direct peace talks in a remote area of North Waziristan, during which both sides reached consensus on extending the ceasefire and on the exchange of noncombatant prisoners. The Taliban had announced a one-month ceasefire on March 1 aimed at reviving peace talks after receiving what it said were government assurances that it would not be attacked. However, the government has sought two days’ time to respond to the their demand of freeing non-combatant and some high profile prisoners.
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rescheDuling of mush’s court case incurs high financial costs: prosecutor ISLAMABAD: The leader of the team prosecuting former Pakistani military ruler Pervez Musharraf said Wednesday the frequent rescheduling of the court case has come at a high financial cost to the country. Musharraf, who has been indicted for treason on charges relating to his 2007 imposition of emergency, has failed to appear in court 13 times citing medical and security reasons. Leader of the prosecution team, Akram Sheikh, said a ‘phenomenal’ amount of money has been spent since the case was filed in December last year. “The expenditure spent on Musharraf’s security for 13 dates which were fixed for his appearance, were phenomenal, not affordable by a poor country like Pakistan,” he said. Retired lieutenant general and political commentator, Talat Masood said he was “unsure why Musharraf was delaying his court appearances”, saying that on one hand he (Musharraf) decided voluntarily to return to Pakistan to clear him name, because he believed he had done nothing wrong, and his point of view would be vindicated,” he said in an interview with a foreign news agency. “Maybe he misunderstood and there was some sort of assurance from certain quarters. Whatever the case, it seems he was in a dilemma as to whether he should go to the court or not,” said the former army general. With the case has now adjourned till April 15, Musharraf has been granted an exemption from appearing in the court hearings, but could be ordered to appear when required. Previously, his lawyer filed a formal request with the interior ministry to let him travel to Dubai to visit his elderly ailing mother, for which his name would have to be removed from the Exit Control List, for which matter, the court and the federal government are playing football with the task pushing burden of the matter on each other. No final decision has been reach yet whether to let the former army general fly abroad or not. ONLINE
pakistan to return sauDi favor with arms, combat aircrafts Pakistan is trying to sell small arms and combat aircrafts to Saudi Arabia, Prime Minister’s Advisor on Foreign Affairs and National Security Sartaj Aziz said on Wednesday. According to media reports, Sartaj Aziz said that every country sells arms and as Pakistan has a booming arms industry, there are no grounds for criticism. Replying a question in an interview, Aziz said there was no Syriaspecific agreement at present. He said Pakistan is impartial over Syrian issue. “It is very sad that some people are spreading rumours about a couple of countries who want to help Pakistan. Whatever the previous military regimes did with the money they received is history and has nothing to do with us.” He said Pakistan wants to strike a balance in its relations with Saudi Arabia and Iran as ties with both countries have been at low ebb for the last five years. He said Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif may visit Iran in May or June. About the generous $1.5 billion aid, he said, “The previous government left a big difference in the government’s budget and the balance of payments. Pakistan really needed it.” MONITORING DESK
German tourist freed by court after two-week detention in Multan LOCAL POLICE ARRESTED KIM LAURA FOR VISITING SUFI FESTIVAL WITHOUT ‘SPECIFIC PERMISSION’ MULtAN: Police have apologised to a German tourist after she was detained for two weeks for allegedly violating the terms of her visa, her lawyer said Wednesday. Kim Laura Schweer was arrested on March 16 in Sakhi Sarwar, where she had gone to visit an annual festival in honour
of a Sufi saint the town is named after, police official Rana Mohammad Asif said. He added that Schweer, who is in her twenties, did not have specific permission to visit the town, which falls in the district of Dera Ghazi Khan. According to the non-profit Nuclear Threat Initiative, the district is home to uranium processing facilities. It also borders the restive Balochistan province. Schweer’s lawyer Rana Asif Saeed said he had been contacted about the case by the German embassy in Islamabad, and had taken the matter to court, which ordered the tourist’s release on Tuesday.\ “I moved the Lahore
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High Court (LHC) Multan Bench praying that under the UN charter any visitor with a valid countrywide visa can move freely anywhere in Pakistan,” he said. “If there are some restrictions by local agencies or
security forces, they must be in black and white and should be told to the visitor on the issuance of visa. No such restriction was mentioned on her visa.” “The court asked the police to tender an apology to her and warned the police to be careful in future,” he added. A spokesman at the German embassy confirmed the facts of the case but declined to confirm the tourist’s name or provide further details. “Her visa is expiring on April 4 and she has moved to Islamabad on Wednesday and may leave for her country today or tomorrow,” said Saeed, Schweer’s lawyer. AGENCIES
04 NEWS
Thursday, 3 April 2014
stating the oBvious: oic chief says extremists have hijacked islam g
madni says islam advocates justice, equality, concord, coexistence and mutuality JEDDAH INP
Extremist voices and groups have hijacked Islam and misappropriated the right to speak on its behalf, according to Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Secretary General Iyad Ameen Madani. In his address at the inaugural session of the 25th session of the Arab Summit held in Kuwait, he stressed that in actual fact, Islam with its established values and aspirations and with its advocacy of justice, equality, concord, coexistence and mutuality, is totally
unrelated to them and to their ideologies and what they call for. Madani said that the relations between the OIC and the League of Arab States are of a fundamental and pivotal character, with the cause of Palestine, al-Aqsa Mosque and al-Quds at the forefront, particularly under the recurrent and systematic Israeli violations aimed at judaising alQuds and the stifling and brutal constraints meted upon the Jerusalamities. He paid tribute to the close cooperative and consultative relations between the two organizations in their stand in the face of their common issues and challenges, and under-
world largest steel mill coming your way! CHINIOT STAFF REPORT
Chiniot is an iron-rich region as large reserves of iron is buried in the area and with help of China these reserves would be extracted, said Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif while vowing to establish world largest steel mill in Chiniot on Wednesday. Shahbaz said this after signing of an agreement between the Punjab government and Chinese company, Metallurgical Corporation of China for exploring iron reserves in Rajua (Chiniot). According to the agreement, the Chinese company will give final opinion about the quality and quantity of the iron deposits under the land within 10 months. This agreement will pave the way for setting up first Pakistani steel mill in Punjab to be run with local iron. While addressing a public meeting after signing the agreement at Municipal Hockey Stadium Chiniot, Shahbaz said that it is unfortunate that despite the fact that our country is rich in mineral resources, we are roaming around the world with a begging bowl. The chief minister said that China is a time-tested friend of Pakistan and it would never let the people of Pakistan down. He said that Beijing wants to see Pakistan as a strong economy of the Asia and would invest more than $ 32 billion in communication, energy and other sectors in Pakistan. Shahbaz said Saudi Arabia is also true friend of Pakistan which has gifted $ 1.5 billion to Pakistan to boost its economy. He reiterated that the KSA has gifted this amount without any condition, adding that some elements were spreading negative propaganda against great friendship between two brother countries. The chief minister said he has sacked all top officials from the Punjab Mineral Board for their inefficiency.
turkey’s twitter Ban violates free sPeech: court ANKARA
lined the OIC’s keen interest in furthering its coordination with the Arab League. He said that: “The advancing danger and the serious challenges facing us all take the shape of discord and mutual killings which have gained ground in our ranks. This is a war where there is no victor but it will invite perils for all”. He recalled that the Extraordinary Islamic Summit, which was held in Makkah in 2012, had adopted the initiative of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud for the establishment of a center for dialogue among the islamic doctrines
for the benefit of mutual understanding. He added that the OIC is striving hard to ensure that the Center becomes a reality in the near future. The SG invoked a number of other challenges facing the OIC and the Arab League, including the identity challenge, the challenge of achieving an innovative approach to coexistence that is mindful of the legitimate national interests of states and that lays the foundations at the same time for regional and inter-regional concord and coexistence and maximizes mutual interests and benefits rather than engaging in conflicts and mutual killings.
Kerry denounces use of energy as weapon BRUSSELS AGENCIES
US Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday denounced the use of energy as a weapon, a day after Russia sharply hiked the price for natural gas to Ukraine. Kerry told a meeting of the USEU Energy Council at European Union headquarters in Brussels that supplies of oil and gas have to be secured throughout the world to prevent their being used as political
leverage or tools of aggression. He also urged the council to move forward with efforts to promote the diversification of energy supplies so that no country is overly dependent on one particular supplier. “It really boils down to this: No nation should use energy to stymie a people’s aspirations,” Kerry said. “It should not be used as a weapon. It’s in the interest of all of us to be able to have adequate energy supplies critical to our economies, critical to our security, critical to the prosperity of
Blast kills 6 at afghan interior ministry comPound KABUL AGENCIES
A suicide bomber wearing a military uniform killed six police officers Wednesday inside the heavily fortified Interior Ministry compound in the heart of Kabul, authorities said, the latest in a wave of violence as the Taliban threatens to disrupt this weekend’s presidential election. Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said the death toll rose from four to six as investigators reached the site of the explosion. The bomber walked through several checkpoints to reach the ministry gate before detonating his explosives. An Interior Ministry statement said the bomber was among other men in uniform entering the compound. Within minutes of the blast, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the attack. It came soon after he issued a statement to journalists warning of more violence ahead of Saturday’s presidential elections. Witness Mohammad Karim, who was walking toward the gate to leave the compound, said he was blown back by the force of the blast. Police then rushed him and others into a safe room.
Baryalai, a police officer who only gave one name as is common among Afghans, said the blast occurred near a bank that is close to the entrance gate. Police officers collect their paychecks at the bank. In Mujahid’s earlier warning, he told Afghans to stay away from Saturday’s vote, saying election workers and polling centers would be targeted. The Interior Ministry primarily has responsibility for securing the elections. Several recent high-profile attacks also have threatened to undermine the results by scaring voters away. Earlier Wednesday, an Afghan official said Taliban gunmen killed nine people, including a candidate running for a seat in the provincial council, who had been abducted in northern Afghanistan. The governor of Sar-i-Pul province, Abdul Jabar Haqbeen, said authorities received word that the candidate, Hussain Nazari, and the others were killed overnight by their abductors. They were seized by the Taliban three days ago while traveling to the provincial capital. No group has claimed responsiblity. Haqbeen says they recovered four bodies and one man who was wounded, while the five other bodies, including the candidate’s, are in a remote area and have yet to be found.
our people. And we can’t allow it to be used as a political weapon or as an instrument for aggression.” On Tuesday, Russia’s state-controlled Gazprom natural gas giant said it had withdrawn the discount applied to Ukraine’s natural gas purchases and threatened to reclaim billions in previous discounts for Ukraine, raising the heat on its cash-strapped government. The move is expected to eventually hit Ukrainian consumers hard. Household gas prices in Ukraine are set to rise 50 percent beginning May 1.
Pakistanis excluded from kuwait’s new visa Plan Six nations, including Pakistan, have been excluded from Kuwait’s new visa regime, Gulf News reported. Kuwait interior ministry’s decision allow all Kuwaiti embassies and consulates to issue all types of visit visas will not apply on six nations that have been barred from entering the country. Earlier on Tuesday, the Kuwait’s interior ministry had said that the embassies and consulates were given full authority to issue the visas based on procedures stipulated by the law and its regulations. The interior minister, Shaikh Muhammad Al Khalid, had issued instructions to the Citizenship, Travel Documents and Immigration departments “to work in coordination with the Ministry of Interior and the hotels sector which can also engage in the process of issuing all kinds of visas to Kuwait — commercial, tourist or family.” However, a local daily Al Rai was told by the security sources that the new rules do not apply to nationals from Pakistan, Iran, Syria, Yemen, Iraq, and Afghanistan who have been barred from entering Kuwait. MONITORING DESK
several tv advertisements deemed oBscene By Pemra ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT
The government on Wednesday told the National Assembly that some advertisements on private TV channels are obscene. “It is a fact that some of the advertisements aired on private satellite TV channels are obscene,” Minister for Information and Broadcasting Pervaiz Rashid told the Lower House while replying to a question by MQM’s Sheikh Salahuddin. During the question hour, the legislator asked the minister about obscene advertisements telecast by various channels and what steps the Ministry of Information was taking to control the trend. The minister also gave a list of advertisements considered indecent and vulgar. These included Q Mobile, Veet (hair removing cream), Josh (condoms), Sathi (condoms), Molty Foam, Lux Soap, Diamond Supreme Foam, illegal health-related products such as Power Prash, Sandhi Sudha etc. and Xtend. The minister said PEMRA has taken notice of “such violations/unethical advertisements”, adding that the official media watchdog “has issued advices, warnings and notices to its licensees for refraining from airing such advertisements.” In some instances, he said fines were also imposed on satellite TV channels for airing content “in contravention to PEMRA Code of Conduct”.
nigeria suicide BomBers kill 15 in failed oil facility attack ABUJA AGENCIES
Suspected Islamist suicide bombers killed 15 civilians in a failed attack on a state oil company facility in northeast Nigeria, when soldiers at a checkpoint opened fire on their explosive-packed vehicles, the military said on Wednesday. Seventeen civilians and five soldiers were wounded by the blasts on Tuesday which also destroyed eight vehicles, Defense Ministry spokesman Chris Olukolade said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Olukolade said the bombers, believed to be from militant group Boko Haram, were driving towards the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation facility at Mule. Four bombers died. Mule is on the outskirts of Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state and the cradle of the Islamist insurgency. “Three of the four explosiveladen vehicles were demobilized by shots fired at them by soldiers at the checkpoint, shortly before the explosions that rocked the area,” Olukolade said. “A total of 15 civilians including a member of a youth vigilante group died,” he said. Violence in Borno state is worse than at any time during its 4-1/2year-old insurgency, residents say. Enraged Boko Haram militants, fighting for an Islamic state in Nigeria, have in the past year broadened their range of targets beyond security forces, government officials and Christians to include school children and other civilians, sometimes massacring whole villages and abducting girls. A military crackdown since last May has failed to rout the insurgency, which remains the leading security threat to Africa’s top oil producer and a serious headache for President Goodluck Jonathan ahead of February 2015 elections.
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Turkey’s block on access to Twitter violated freedom of expression and individual rights, the constitutional court said on Wednesday, the most significant legal challenge yet to a ban which caused public uproar and international condemnation. Turkey’s telecoms authority TIB blocked access to Twitter on March 21 after Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said he would “root out” the network, following a stream of anonymously posted audio tapes purporting to expose corruption in his inner circle days ahead of nationwide elections. The constitutional court said it had sent its verdict to the TIB and the Transport Ministry, which also has responsibility for communications. It was not immediately clear whether the ruling would lead to a lifting of the block. The court received several individual applications challenging the ban, including from a main opposition CHP party deputy and a prominent legal academic. “If there is anyone who believes there is rule of law and human rights in this country, TIB must execute the court verdict and lift the ban on Twitter,” the academic, Kerem Altiparmak, said on his Twitter account.
sonia gandhi richer than Queen elizaBeth: rePort huffington Post report claims congress chief has $2b wealth g
NEW DELHI INP
Huffington Post World has published a report claiming that Indian Congress President Sonia Gandhi is the 12th richest political leader in the world; being richer than Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Russian President Vladimir Putin tops the list with riches worth $40 billion, followed by Thailand King Bhumibol Adulyadej, and Brunei Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah. The Indian Congress leader is followed by the Prince of Monaco Albert II, who is worth $1 billion. The Sultan of Oman Qaboos bin Said and Equatorial Guinea President Teodoro Obiang
Nguema Mbasogo are next on the list. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is 16th on the list with riches worth $550 million, while the Queen of England Elizabeth II is ranked 18th on the list with riches worth between $400 million and $500 million. Notably, Gandhi, while filing her nomination for the Lok Sabha elections in 2009, had declared that she owned neither a car nor a house in India. However, she had mentioned owning an ancestral home in Italy valued at Rs 1.8 million. Sonia Gandhi’s assets, according to the affidavit, totalled Rs 1.38 crore, nearly Rs 1 crore less than what her son Rahul Gandhi reportedly had. Sonia Gandhi’s affidavit says that she had Rs 75,000 in cash and Rs 2.86 million in bank deposits. In addition, she had mutual funds worth about Rs 2 million and Rs 1.2 million in Reserve Bank of India bonds. A sum of Rs 199,000 was de-
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posited in post offices and Rs 2.48 million with the Public Provident Fund. Sonia Gandhi’s jewellery, weighing about 2.5 kg, was valued at Rs 1.1 million while 88 kgs of silver possessed by her was stated to be worth about Rs 1.8 million.
She owns two plots of agricultural land totalling up to about 15 bighas and valued at Rs 219,000. Their location is not mentioned in the affidavit. Sonia Gandhi paid Rs 558,000 in income tax for the assessment year 2008-09 and Rs 32,512 in wealth tax. However, the report in Huffington Post World claims Sonia Gandhi has $2 billion wealth. The report does not mention how it arrived at this conclusion. Based on available data, the report has come up with a list of the 20 richest world leaders currently in power. The list includes kings, presidents, sultans and queens. The Middle East is the richest region as seven in the list of 20 come from there, according to the report. For comparison, each country’s GDP per capita is juxtaposed with a leader’s personal net worth, just to show how different life is for the haves and have-nots, says the website.
NEWS 05
Thursday, 3 April, 2014
72% PAKISTANIS BELIEVE IMAMS SHOULD HAVE SECULAR EDUCATION A majority of Pakistanis believe an Imam should be aware of other subjects including science, technology, English etc besides religious knowledge. According to a Gilani Research Foundation Survey carried out by Gallup Pakistan, 72 per cent Pakistanis found it compulsory for Imams of mosques to gain knowledge of other subjects other than religious education. A nationally representative sample of adult men and women, from across the four provinces was asked “Should the Imam be aware of subjects like science and technology, English language etc. besides his religious knowledge or not?” Responding to this, 72 percent said yes while only 28 per cent rejected this idea. NEWS DESK
SELF IMMOLATION CASE: CJ JILLANI ASSURES RAPE VICTIM’S MOTHER OF JUSTICE ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT
chAmAn: Passengers stand on the track after tribesmen forcibly stopped a train during a protest against the kidnapping of a political party’s leader on Wednesday. INP
PAKISTAN’S SOIL WILL NOT BE USED AGAINST AFGHANISTAN, NAWAZ ASSURES UK PM SAYS PAKISTAN SUPPORTS DEMOCRATIC PROCESS IN AFGHANISTAN ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT
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AkISTAN assured Uk National Security Advisor kim Darroch that its soil will not be used against Afghanistan and that it supports the democratic process in Afghanistan. “Our soil will not be used against Afghanistan and we support the democratic process in Afghanistan,” said Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said in a meeting with Sir Darroch in Islamabad on Wednesday. The British national security advisor is in Pakistan and held a string of meetings with the top officials in Islamabad and Rawalpindi. He is accompanied by Uk Chief of Defense Staff General Nicholas Houghton, Representative on Afghanistan and
Pakistan Simon Gass and British High Commissioner Philip Barton. Adviser to the Prime Minister on National Security and Foreign Affairs Satraj Aziz and Special Assistant to PM Tariq Fatimi were also present at the meeting. Nawaz said that Pakistan believed in policy of non-interference, especially with regards to Afghanistan. The premier highlighted the challenges Pakistan faces including those of economy, energy and terrorism. “In order to tackle the issue of terrorism we have evolved consensus, amongst all the stakeholders, for dialogue,” Nawaz said. He added that Pakistan do not wish to fall into arms race and want peace and stability in the region. Nawaz emphasised that there is a need to enhance investment in social sectors of health and education and Pakistan has taken steps towards these ends. Sir Darroch said Uk supports the objectives of Pakistan’s internal security. He also expressed his confidence in Pakistan’s economic policies and added that the economy is poised to take off. MEETS NISAR: In his meeting with interior minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali
ONLINE
In an alarming wave of religious intolerance, as many as 18 persons lost their lives in the first three months of this year, statistics compiled by the Center for Research and Security Studies (CRSS) said in a report. The CRSS figures revealed that some 10 places of Muslim worship such as mosques, seminaries, imambargahs, sufi shrines, and three Hindu temples were desecrated during the period. “This alarming trend of
attacks on religious places of works poses serious risks to social cohesion and the religious freedoms envisaged in Constitution of Pakistan,” a CRSS statement said. It said the acts were in clear violation of the PPC 295 (Injuring or defiling place of worship, with intent to insult the religion of any class). The article says that anybody involved in destroying, damaging, or defiling any place of worship, or any object held sacred by any class of persons with the intention of thereby insulting the religion of any class of persons “shall be punished with imprisonment of
EXPLOSION AT PAK-AFGHAN BORDER KILLS TWO QUETTA STAFF REPORT
An explosion near the Pak-Afghan border killed at least two people and injured 13 others on Wednesday. According to reports, unknown militants had planted an improvised explosive device (IED) in a motorcycle near a bank in the Afghan area of Vash Mandi. According to sources, the prime target of the blast was the Afghan police officials coming to the bank. The explosion damaged the bank building, nearby shops and vehicles. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack as yet. Pakistani authorities called in the FC personnel at the border to prevent any untoward incident following the blast.
THREE KILLED IN QUETTA khan, Sir Dar och said British government is committed to provide more support to Pakistan, in all fields particularly countering terrorism. Talking about post 2014-Afghanitsan, Nisar said the two neighbouring countries have to work together, with the support of the international community, to ensure peace and
Religious intoleRance takes 18 lives in 3 months: RepoRt ISLAMABAD
The Supreme Court ordered the Punjab Police inspector general on Wednesday to submit a report on the self-immolation case of a girl in Bet Mir Hazar area in protest of bail granted to her alleged rapist. A three-member bench of the SC, headed by Chief Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani, was hearing the suo motu case. The victim’s mother, during the court proceeding, lamented that no suspect had been arrested. Chief Justice Jillani assured her that justice would be served. The district police officer informed the bench that the clothes of the victim and her alleged rapist have been sent for forensic test. On March 15, the girl had set herself on fire outside a police station in Bet Mir Hazar area in protest of the release of her alleged rapist from jail. She succumbed to her burn injuries in the hospital.
either description for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both”. Perpetrators of most of these crimes remain unidentified. However, a Hindu has been identified for allegedly desecrating Holy Quran in Larkana. “Alarmingly, almost all religious parties and organisations – even those sitting in Parliament - continue to stay mum on these faith-related murders and acts of desecration that are clearly covered by the Blasphemy Law( PPC 295),” the CRSS statement pointed out.
stability in the post-2014 Afghanistan. Nisar said Pakistan has adopted a holistic regional approach by following a non-partisan policy in Afghanistan as well as improving relations with India. The British official also met Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif and discussed regional security issues with him.
QUETTA STAFF REPORT
At least three people were killed while two others were injured when identified men opened fire at a car in Satellite Town of Quetta. According to reports, armed men riding a motorcycle opened fire at a car, fatally wounding three and leaving two women injured.
‘$2.5t needed for South ASiA’S infrAStructurAl development’ ISLAMABAD ONLINE
South Asia needs to spend as much as $2.5 trillion on infrastructure by 2020 to bring its power grids, roads and water supplies up to the standard needed to serve its growing population in countries including Pakistan, a World Bank report says. The report “Reducing Poverty by Closing South Asia’s Infrastructure Gap” is the first analysis of the region’s infrastructural needs by the World Bank. It says the region, which includes Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka,
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could address its enormous infrastructural needs by tapping private and public sector funds as well as by introducing reforms. “Many people in South Asia remain unconnected to a reliable electricity grid, a safe water supply, sanitary sewerage disposal, and sound roads and transport networks,” said World Bank South Asia Region Vice President Philippe Le Houérou. If the region hopes to meet its development goals and not risk slowing down —or even halting— growth, poverty alleviation, and shared prosperity, it is essential to make a priority of closing its huge infrastructure gap, which the report defines as the gap between where South Asia’s
infrastructure is today and where it should be. The task would be difficult but not impossible with a concerted effort by governments in the region, where access to infrastructure compares with SubSaharan Africa. “For the past twenty years, the South Asia and East Asia regions have enjoyed similar growth rates. Yet South Asia’s access to infrastructure services lags significantly behind both East Asia and Latin America with some access rates comparable only to Sub-Saharan Africa,” said Dan Biller, report’s co-author and sector manager of the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency Economics & Sustainability Group.
06 KARACHI Violation of Section 144 around exam centreS irkS khuhro KARACHI APP
Sindh Education Minister Nisar Ahmad Khuhro has taken strong exception to violation of Section 144 imposed around designated examination centres for the students appearing in 1X and X exams in the province. The Education Department officials on Wednesday said the minister holding
WEATHER UPDATES
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concerned boards responsible for examination papers being leaked, instances of cheating during exams, late arrival of question papers to the centres, has ordered the authorities concerned to submit a detailed report about these discrepancies. The minister in his surprise visit to few of the examination centres also expressed his annoyance about photocopy shops found functioning around these centres, even during examination hours. Nisar said cheating and copying culture is a major nuisance for the students themselves and the boards' administration need to take fool proof measures to address the situation. He said due action would also be taken against all those found responsible to disturb the environment required at any examination centre.
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cm VowS action againSt dcS if cheating claimS proVen true LARKANA
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ONLINE
INDH Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah on Wednesday said that strict action will be taken against deputy commissioners (DCs) concerned if the cheating claims in the ongoing matric examinations across Sindh are proven true.
Speaking to media outside Garhi Khuda Bakhsh, Shah said that the Deputy Commissioners were given the responsibility of organising the matriculation examinations across the province. On the other hand, provincial minister for education Nisar Ahmed Khuhro visited the examination centres across the district with Chairman Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education, Larkana Professor
Mohammad Daud Memon and reviewed the arrangements made for the matric examinations. Nisar Khuhro said that the usage of unfair means to pass the exams will not be tolerated. He added that the Sindh Government wants to improve the quality of education. He further said that the police contingents around the examination centers will be increased.
POLICE KILL TTP TERRORIST IN ENCOUNTER KARACHI ONLINE
Tortured bodies of two unidentified men have been found in Manghopir area of the city while a key member of the banned TTP has been killed in a police encounter. According to police, the bodies were stuffed in gunny bags. The men were shot in the head. Rescue sources said that the bodies have been shifted to a hospital for medico-legal formalities and identification. On the other hand an important member of banned TTP Swati Group Ameen Mateen has been killed in a police encounter in Sohrab Goth. Ameen Mateen was wanted by the police for several crimes. Ameen had shifted to Karachi after an army operation in Swat and had made Sohrab Goth his hideout from where he use to carry out his nefarious acts.
HYDERABAD: Teachers frisk a student before allowing him to enter the examination centre for SSCI examination. ONLINE
FAZL REGRETS, DISLIKES SA’S RESOLUTION AGAINST CII KARACHI ONLINE
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Fazlur Rehman, chief of his own faction of Jamiat Ulemae-Islam, on Wednesday expressed his deepest regrets and dislike over the Sindh Assembly’s resolution against the CII (Council of Islamic Ideology). During his telephonic conversation with party’s information secretary and spokesman Aslam Ghouri, Fazl said that CII was an ideological institution, having an important stature according to 1973 constitution. “Yet it is quite disheartening that none of the recommendations of CII have never ever been inducted into the Constitution by ‘secular-oriented’ parliamentarians’, he complained. “CII does not represent any sect, but has always been represented by clerics from all schools of thought, including technocrats,” he pointed out. He berated elements like that of Sindh Assembly for hurting the sentiments of the very (Islamic) soul of Pakistan, accusing Sindh representatives of pushing the entire Nation towards extremism, through their provocations. He also held it as quite shameful that Sindh government had exposed itself as a party to the adverse elements, by issuing non-issue statements, in order to salvage, whatever was left of its reputation as a credible legislative assembly.
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KARACHI 07
Thursday, 3 April, 2014
Steering committee reviews preparations for IDEAS-2014 KARACHI APP
The 8th International Defence Exhibition and Seminar (IDEAS) will be held from December 1 to 4, 2014 at the Expo Centre, Karachi. This was stated by Brig. Mazhar Mushtaq Qureshi during a press briefing at the Expo Centre, here on Wednesday after the first Steering Committee meeting for IDEAS-2014. The meeting was chaired by Maj Gen Tahir Ashraf Khan, the Director General of the Defence Export Promotion Organisation (DEPO), Ministry of Defence Production. He said that IDEAS is a manifestation of Pakistan's indigenous defence production capabilities aimed at utilising its export potential. It is an established rendezvous for convergence of international defence exhibitors, official defence delegations, security analysts and top level policy planners, he added. Brig Mazhar Mushtaq said that IDEAS has significantly contributed towards promoting strategic partnership with the country's friends and has served to achieve the shared objectives of peace and stability in the region. The meeting was attended by representatives of relevant ministries, armed forces, law enforcement agencies, relevant government departments, DEPO officials and Badar Expo Solutions (event manager). During the meeting, departments responsible for the conduct of various activities for IDEAS-2014, were briefed about the requirements related to layout and organisation at Expo Centre, traffic management, communication infrastructure and allied facilities around the Expo Centre.
car dealers make commuting difficult on new ma Jinnah road KARACHI
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APP
ITIzENS commuting through New MA Jinnah Road have taken strong exception to its virtual occupation by car dealers with their vehicles parked on more than half of the thoroughfare severely affecting the flow of the regular traffic. They said this was being done with absolute impunity at the expense of none other but the citizens paying road tax while contribution of these businessmen selling cars and their accessories to the national exchequer is yet to be ascertained. The commuters were equally critical of the city administration failing to realize their responsibilities towards the public in general. "There must be definitely some truth that palms of the authorities are regularly and heftily greased so as to remain indifferent towards public plight," said Mukhtar Ali passing by the site on a public bus on daily basis. New MA Jinnah Road, one of the most important sections connecting University Road and Jail Road to Saddar via Preedy Street could have been a great source of convenience for the people going to down town from Gulshan-e- Iqbal, Gulistan e Jauhar,
Malir, Liaqutabad. Unfortunately, the project undertaken and accomplished with all good intentions has turned into a nightmare for those having no other option but to use it. Expensive and not so expensive vehilces of every hue, colour and mark can be found parked row upon row without any fear at a long stretch, a little farther from Islamia College and Dawood Engineering College. This perhaps was not enough, recent conversion of many of the residential bungalows, on this one of the once most posh localities, into commercial buildings has popped up with series of car accessories outlets. A major portion of New MA Jinnah Road is again there to get the accessories showcased and attract the potential buyers. Meanwhile, fully conscious of money power and influence the staff of car show rooms can also be frequently found using wrong side to shift vehicle on sale from one shop to other hence jamming the traffic at the single lane used by genuine road user going to their work places or returning home. It may again be of no surprise to see traffic flow moving at a snail’s pace on this 50 feet wide road from 12 noon to 2200hours.
127 ShopkeeperS fined for overcharging KARACHI: As many as 127 shopkeepers were fined and a fine of Rs 217,100 was imposed for overcharging in violation to the price list of essential commodities while seven profiteers were arrested. Karachi Commissioner Shoaib Ahmed Siddiqui said that an operation against profiteering is underway in the city by the Karachi divisional and districts administrations, said a statement on Wednesday. The actions against profiteers were taken in different areas, including Landhi, Korangi, New Karachi, North Nazimabad, Liaquatabad, Gulberg, Jamshed Quarters and Saddar. Total 49 milk sellers, three fruits vendors, five vegetable merchants, 16 food items grocers, 45 chicken sellers and nine flour sellers were challaned for violating price list. APP
lafarge introduces public road transport Safety compliant vehicles KARACHI PrEss rELEAsE
For the first time in the history of the Cement Industry of Pakistan, Lafarge Pakistan has introduced Public Road Transport Safety (PRTS) compliant vehicles for the safety of its employees. Lafarge Pakistan has once again pioneered in introducing innovation to contribute to Building Better Cities. 13 PTRS compliant vehicles were handed over to the sales staff at Lafarge Pakistan at a ceremony held on March 28, 2014 at Lafarge Pakistan’s Head
Office in Islamabad. ‘The PRTS compliant cars will
facilitate our sales force to go the extra mile in Building
Better Cities’ said Mr Amr Reda on the occasion, while handing over the vehicles to the sales teams. ‘Our Sales teams work closely together with our customers and channel partners. Their nationwide road exposure is maximized due to their extensive market involvement. The safety of our employees is of utmost importance to us in everything we do and introducing PRTS compliant vehicles for our sales team, for the first time in the industry, reinforces our leadership in Health & Safety’ he further added.
MAN GUNS DOWN STEPMOTHER IN JACOBABAD JACOBABAD INP
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A man gunned down his step-mother over a dispute on Wednesday and fled from the scene. Police said that in Bismillah Town of Jacobabad in Civil Line police precincts, Nizamuddin Lashari s/o Muhammad Nawaz opened fire on his stepmother Sania after exchange of hot words. As a result of firing Sania died on the spot while the accused fled the scene. The police have registered a case against the murderer and started raids for his arrest.
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08 COMMENT
Holier than thou syndrome
Thursday, 3 April, 2014
Modern style siege All tools can be used positively or negatively
PTI needs to grow out of it
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ITHIN ten months of its life the PTI-led government in KP has faced several challenges. It was quite a task for Imran Khan to force key provincial party leaders to surrender dual portfolios. Halfway between the tenure a bitter dispute erupted with coalition partner QWP. In November Imran Khan directed the KP party to look into complaints of corruption against some of the provincial ministers. Within days Chief Minister Pervez Khatak dismissed two QWP ministers on corruption charges. One of those sacked accused Imran Khan of directing the CM to remove him without first providing him an opportunity to clear his position and filed a Rs1b defamation suit against the PTI chief. Imran Khan’s plea to the court to dismiss the suit was rejected on Tuesday. The latest in-party challenge to the KP PTI emerged on Tuesday after Pervez Khatak inducted five new ministers in the cabinet. Media reports tell of 14 PTI MPAs having formed a separate bloc in protest against the appointments. Qurban Ali Khan who is the self styled ‘focal person’ of the group expressed reservations over the party high-ups’ interference in provincial matters. The PTI central party leadership has been frequently criticised by its detractors of interfering in the affairs of the province. The issue was also raised when the CM had dismissed two QWP ministers in November. According to the disgruntled PTI MPA more lawmakers are likely to join the group. It would appear from the claims made by focal person that while forming the pressure group the members were motivated by sheer idealism. The provincial party leadership has been accused of indulging in irregularities and undefined wrongdoings of which the party chief has been kept in the dark. It was maintained that some people are hijacking the vision of Chairman Imran Khan, thus deviating from the PTI’s manifesto and that this would not be allowed. Interestingly the newly created bloc has expressed loyalty to Imran Khan without accepting him as an arbitrator. It is maintained that the dissenting MPAs would resign if their demands were not accepted. There are a number of questions that remain unanswered. Does Qurban Ali Khan really have a following of 14 MPAs? Is it really a principled fight against irregularities on the part of the provincial leadership and interference by the high command or a fight for ministries and development funds that is common among political parties? Be it as it may there are lessons for Imran Khan in all this. He would hopefully realise that allegations of corruption against opponents should not be levelled without solid proofs. Further, the posture of holier than thou cannot be retained in politics for long. Corruption and undemocratic attitudes are widespread in Pakistan and are not confined to ‘other parties’ alone.
Dedicated to the legacy of the late Hameed Nizami
Arif Nizami Editor
Aziz-ud-Din Ahmad Joint Editor Lahore – Ph: 042-36375963-5 Fax: 042-32535230 Karachi – Ph: 021-35381208-9 Fax: 021-35381208 Islamabad – Ph: 051-2204545 Web: www.pakistantoday.com.pk Email: editorial@pakistantoday.com.pk
abdul Quayyum KHan Kundi
I
N classical times kingdoms built castles and forts at strategic locations as a defensive measure against a strong invading army laying siege. The strategy of the siege was quite simple: block all routes of supplies to the castle or fort and wait until the people inside starts dying from hunger. In most situations invader would have strategic advantage because of access to food supplies. In contemporary times superpowers introduced modern methods of siege in the form of economic sanctions. First successful siege was exercised on Iraq when its governments’ ability to access food and medicine was limited by sanctions. The rulers did not suffer much from those sanctions and could sustain it for as long as they could find partners that were willing to provide them supplies in the disguise of oil for food programme. That economic siege created a humanitarian crisis for innocent people of Iraq that had no control on the acts of dictator Saddam Hussain. During those sanctions an estimated 500,000 Iraqi children died because of lack of medicine and nutrition. US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright famously attributed the death of those children as a collateral damage. Next siege was laid at Iran because of her alleged nuclear programme to develop weapons of mass destruction. Again those that were running the state apparatus were not much affected but the people suffered hardship. The idea of these economic sieges is that the masses frustrated by these sanctions would rise up against the regime
and overthrow it. So far these tactics have not produced the desired results, except enriching some people and corporations, but has inflicted misery on humanity at large. An interesting aspect of these modern sieges is that until few days ago this has been a one way traffic, originating from the West and affecting people of the under developed and developing world. It seems that the era of economic sanctions is about to end as West for the first time is faced with the consequence of facing sanctions imposed by Russia to protect her strategic interests in Crimea. Another form of siege is cultural and social in the name of human rights and freedom of expression. Social media has become new tools of exploitation by state as well as non-state actors to seek anarchy or regime change. Newspaper reports in last one year are filled with information that US intelligence agencies sought data and information from social media companies including Facebook, Google, Yahoo, Apple, and Twitter. It is anybody’s guess how this information was used but we do know that social media has been aggressively used to promote small street protests in Tehran, Rio, Istanbul, Beijing, Cairo and Moscow as major events representative of majority’s voice. On the other hand protests in London against tuition rise; in USA when Occupy Wall Street movement was initiated or EU street protests against austerity did not get as much attention on social or mainstream media in the West. In undeveloped countries with fragile democracies like Tunisia, Egypt, and South America social media was able to help in regime change without changing the status quo or allowing emergence of a deep rooted ideology which could reform these societies for betterment of their people.
West expects all countries to allow unrestricted and uncontrolled access to social media companies even when it has come to light that data from these companies was used for covert planning. It is not only the legitimate state apparatus that use social media for propaganda, non-state actors have also used it for propaganda and recruitment purposes. It is just a matter of click and play for anyone to create social media pages and start posting anything without regard to its effect on small children and vulnerable segments of the society which are most affected from these actions. West has developed mechanisms and rules that protect their citizens from inappropriate content. For instance, beheading videos. But it is unfortunate that hate speech and inappropriate videos are not removed by social media when it is posted in countries that have weak policing and regulatory environment. Social media has the power and the potential to be a force of anarchy and chaos as much as education and bringing people together. I am a proponent of freedom of speech and expression. I advocate for all voices to be heard in the public square. My fear that the abuse of social media by covert state apparatus and nonstate actors could force individual countries to feel they are culturally and socially besieged by these platforms that some consider are part of great game of the West. Recent banning of twitter in Turkey and YouTube in Pakistan are two examples to consider. China has also forced Google and other companies to comply with its censorship rules. In the absence of a multilateral framework these developments could impede the free flow of information. One way to tackle this developing crisis is to
People that engage in repeated violation of these ratings rules should be banned from opening social media account as a first step and severe criminal punishment as subsequent penalties.
create an international charter of social interaction that applies to these new media platforms. Just like we have earlier developed charter of human rights. This social communication charter should offer a broader outline that must be adhered to by all participants whether governments or corporations. All members of UN should become signatory to the charter and abide by it. One immediate issue that needs to be tackled is anonymous Facebook pages and social media accounts that engage in political activism. The lack of transparency of who is promoting a certain political ideology and agenda raises doubts about the fairness of the medium. At the same time it is also true that authoritarian regimes punish voices of dissent and need some protection. Whistle blower protections laws available in developed countries could be one model that can be adopted to ensure that legitimate voices of protest are not gagged or chocked while ensuring transparency of those behind political movements. Another issue is protection of small children from exposure to damaging content. Content rating system, used for movies for instance, has to be introduced in the social media and person posting the content should be asked to provide rating info. People that engage in repeated violation of these ratings rules should be banned from opening social media account as a first step and severe criminal punishment as subsequent penalties. These are all economically viable options and do not create exorbitant incremental costs for social media companies. But being a responsible corporate citizen is important for social media companies to remain a driving force of bringing the world community closer to each other with greater confidence and trust. All tools can be used positively or negatively. It is not the tool that is bad but rather weakness of human society to contain the negative side. We should not blame social media platforms for any ills emanated from it but our collective failure to regulate it properly. Abdul Quayyum Khan Kundi is former president of Pakistan Chamber of Commerce, USA, and member PTI Advisory Committee.
Pakistan’s role in Syrian conflict What is the need for Pakistan to give in to the demands of a ‘friendly’ Arab country?
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Zeeba T HasHmi
day ago, the foreign office of Pakistan gave a very astounding statement that they have no idea of the Pakistani militants going to Syria to join the rebellion there. That is strange because the agencies working in Pakistan know exactly who is infiltrating the border and who is not. The suspicious statement makes no sense as everybody knows that a “friendly Arab country”, Saudi Arabia has given 1.5 billion dollars to Pakistan to help bring the exchange rate of dollar down to ease our economy. That friendly Arab country is very keen on overthrowing Bashar al Assad of Ba’ath party , the Shia president of the state of Syria and has thus bought Pakistan to help send its militants to the region while it itself is trying to bring back the Saudi militants back to Saudi Arabia. The notion that the friendly Arab country gave funds to Pakistan as a noble gesture is not an innocent one. There are many strings attached, and with the Nawaz Sharif government it was not a difficult decision to succumb to alleged Saudi demands who have been making rounds in Pakistan for some time. Once again, Pakistan is bracing itself for an operation like it did to provide training to Bahrain recently and acted against Palestinians in Jordan during 1970s. The Syrian government has the support of Russia and Iran, one neighbour
and the other almost neighbour of Pakistan, whereas the US, Saudi Arabia and Qatar are in favour of the rebellion forces and have been supplying arms to them. The Palestinian terror network Hezbullah also joined the rebellion forces to oust the shia president, along with the help of North Nigeria and Middle East countries. If it is true that Pakistan is exporting rebels to Syria, then it will be in serious trouble once the war is over and the repatriated militants might get engaged in serious shia-sunni fighting here, much alike the militants, the Taliban, that were sent to fight against Russia to make Afghanistan a buffer zone against the dominant India and the super power Soviet Union. It must not be forgotten what happened in 1980s when militants were recruited to fight in Afghanistan, an idea that was born by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and materialised by General Ziaul Haq; the backlash of which was internal suffering once the insurgents were repatriated back into Pakistan and formed their group which we know as Pakistani Taliban, which has now splintered into many groups and are much bloodier and cruel that the present day Afghan Taliban. On the other hand, Iran has threatened with hot pursuit into Pakistan if it does not close down its sanctuaries and stops the militants from infiltrating into their border. Pakistan is making a grave mistake if sending troops to Syria also becomes part of its strategic depth, as it will mean doom for Pakistan in the global world, which it has already isolated Pakistan due to its in-bred terror networks.
CMYK
Not only will it bring shame to the nation, but will make it less credible globally. Suppose if the Ba’ath party wins the civil war, due action can be taken against Pakistan from Soviet Union and its allies which will make it very troublesome for the country which is already in the grip of plethora of problems that it cannot solve on its own. Nor is Pakistan a self sustainable country that can look after its own affairs. It is also true that Saudi Arabia may strain relation with Pakistan in case it does not send troops to Syria, but the point to be noted is why is Saudi Arabia calling back its militias from the Syria? Seeing the radicalisation of the Syrian rebels, the US too is shying away from further helping the rebels, then why in the world should Pakistan become a part of this drama at the cost of its own security? What is the guarantee that nothing will happen to Pakistan in case the rebels lose their war? Will the US, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, along with many other sunni Middle Eastern countries protect Pakistan? Their extension of help is not a sin-
cere one, as history has noted, then what is the need for Pakistan to give in to their demands in return of economic packages which have little or negligible gain for Pakistan? Moreover, the funds that the Saudi Arabia provided has not helped Pakistan in any way as the inflation rate still remains up and the suffering of the poor is growing by the day. How much is the present government sincere to its subjects will only be revealed with time, which at the present moment does not seem to be bright given that the shia-sunni tussle will increase with Pakistan helping out Syrian rebels. The situation in Middle East is taking the form of shiasunni tussle; being a part of this tussle will bring home more damage than good and Pakistan will have to pay a heavy price to restore peace which it has not been able to do for a long time. The curse of militancy will not be over unless the government is sincere and serious about eliminating them instead of cowering down to nations like that ‘friendly’ Arab country for the sake of money.
It is also true that Saudi Arabia may strain relation with Pakistan in case it does not send troops to Syria, but the point to be noted is why is Saudi Arabia calling back its militias from the Syria?
WORLD VIEW 09
Thursday, 3 April, 2014
Coup rumours fly as 3-way power struggle consumes Pakistan LangLey InteLLIgence network
W
ITH the trial of former President Pervez Musharraf providing background noise, a three-way struggle is unfolding in Pakistan, the final outcome of which will be of great significance for both South Asia and the Middle East. The government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, the Pakistani army, and the Pakistani Taliban are locked in a violent, complex dance that is spilling over into India, Afghanistan, and Iran. Recent events have included actions by the armed forces that were neither ordered nor authorized by the government, army units usurping police duties, unauthorized
meetings of top army commanders, and direct coordination between the defense establishments of Pakistan and the United States, bypassing the Pakistani government. Background In a region known for constant turmoil, Pakistan will continue to be affected by what happens in Afghanistan after NATO forces leave, with the government of President Hamid Karzai controlling less of the countryside and both the Afghan Taliban and the former Northern Alliance re-emerging in the face of weakness in Kabul. Meanwhile, violence has flared up again along the disputed Kashmir cease-fire line, and conflict with Iran is emerging after Iranian border guards were kidnapped by Baluchi separatists, who have already exe-
cuted one and threatened to execute the others one-by-one if Tehran does not accede to their demands to free Iranian Baluchi prisoners. In Islamabad, the Sharif administration has begun on-again, off-again peace negotiations with Pakistan’s Tehrik-e-Taliban (TTP), which agreed to a temporary cease-fire if three conditions were met: an end to army operations in North Waziristan, an immediate end to all U.S. drone attacks, and the release of Taliban prisoners held by the army. The TTP has broken off these talks, accusing the government of violating the temporary cease-fire agreement. But Pakistan’s government did not violate the agreement; Pakistan’s army did. The army sent a representative to the first of the talks, decided
it would not participate anymore, and instead held a series of highlevel meetings, to which the government was not invited, and decided to move ahead with a major offensive in North Waziristan to try to root out the terrorists once and for all. The offensive was launched and the results were judged to be favorable. The TTP responded by breaking off talks and carrying out a series of terrorist attacks in major cities. The army has bypassed police and has arrested TTP militants throughout Pakistan. As all this is going on, an estimated $7 billion of military equipment that the United States evacuated from Afghanistan is being turned over to Pakistan’s armed forces. analysis These developments could well
lead to another military coup, ending once again Pakistan’s haphazard experiment with democracy. Prime Minister Sharif is faced with a Hobson’s choice: He can either cave in to the army and forget about coming to an accommodation with the TTP, at least in the foreseeable future, or he can appeal to his political base and confront the army to try to assert his theoretical authority over it. In either case there would be a strong possibility of a military-dominated government, if not a formal overthrow of the civilian government. Pakistan’s armed forces are not likely to move until the U.S. equipment in Afghanistan is turned over to them, for fear that the current administration in Washington would stop the transfers as a cheap way to signal disapproval of a coup. At
present, cooperation between the armed forces of the two countries is excellent and the Pakistanis would clearly like it to remain so. Paradoxically, a military government in Islamabad would probably be good for relations with India, since New Delhi would trust that whatever agreement might be reached concerning Kashmir would be honored by Pakistan. Conversely, relations with a Taliban-dominated Afghanistan, a distinct possibility, would be highly conflicted and could lead to continual border clashes. Iran would be unhappy that the Islamist Taliban would have lost the chance to share power in Pakistan, but would undoubtedly get more cooperation against the Baluchi separatists that threaten the territorial integrity of both countries.
Pak needs a strong, disciplined military. But the job of a soldier is to locate, fight, liquidate the enemy… Not his job to define the enemy IN THIS WALK THE TALK ON NDTV 24×7 WITH THE INDIAN EXPRESS EDITOR IN-CHIEF SHEKHAR GUPTA, HUSAIN HAQQANI, FORMER PAKISTANI AMBASSADOR TO US, TALKS OF HOW PAKISTAN NEEDS TO GET OVER ITS FEELING OF ‘ETERNAL ANIMOSITY’ TOWARDS INDIA, PUT TERRORISTS ON TRIAL, AND BUILD ITS ECONOMY. You served as ambassador to America at a very vital time. Yes, at a time of not only complex relationships between Pakistan and United States, but also because many interesting events happened then. Mumbai (26/11) happened while I was ambassador in Washington, which had implications for US, Pakistan and India relations. And Osama bin Laden was found when I was ambassador. So yes, I dealt with the trickiest and toughest questions on US-Pakistan relations. And nearly, and effectively, got exiled on charges of treason, which were never quite specifically levelled. They have never been formally levelled, but it is a peculiarly Pakistani thing — you create an air about someone without really charging them. So, now I am in academics, and published a new book called Magnificent Delusions. A Pakistani patriot, who believes in better relations with India. Absolutely. I really think the crux of most problems in Pakistan is the feeling of eternal animosity towards India. We wouldn’t maintain such a large army if we didn’t think that we were constantly under threat. We wouldn’t be such a paranoid and xenophobic nation if it wasn’t about our socalled rivalry with India. And we wouldn’t be so dependent on America if we weren’t always looking for arms from America to compete and fight with India. I just noticed that your prime minister again said that he needs American help in solving the Kashmir issue, problem, whatever you call it, masla. Ironically, in my book, I point out that that request was first made by Pakistan’s first prime minister Liaquat Ali Khan in 1949 and it was repeated regularly by several Pakistani leaders. That brought us nowhere. Americans could not solve the Kashmir problem, they could never bring India around to accepting what Pakistan wanted, and at the same time, all it did was make Pakistan more dependent on and resentful of the United States. Now, more Pakistanis think that the US is Pakistan’s principal enemy than those who think India is. There is also a jilted or an abandoned lover’s resentment. But that is not felt on the American side, because Americans never thought of Pakistan the same way. They are a super-power. I don’t think they have an emotional attachment to anything. Exactly. It would have been better for Pakistan if it had taken the route South Korea did. It used American assistance. By the way, South Korea got less money from America than Pakistan did. Pakistan has received $40 billion in 60 years, while South Korea got only $15 billion, but they used that to build an economic framework. Edu-
cation comprises 10 per cent of their GDP. Now, you are probably using a Samsung phone, and somebody in Delhi is driving a Hyundai car. They have become a major manufacturing nation. We are still dependent on a $1.5 billion handout from the Saudis, or $500 million from the IMF to keep our accounts going. We, India and Pakistan, are the most uncivilised people in the world. We have created distances among our people that are greater than North and South Korea, East and West Germany. Even the Israelis and the Jordanians have found a way around to get people to visit Jerusalem. We sometimes settle for too little also. We allow the process to become more important than the substance. I was at the Jaipur Literature Festival in January, and one of your former foreign secretaries was saying that India-Pakistan relations are getting better because 10,000 Pakistanis got visas this year to come to India. And I turned to him and asked, ‘Do you realise there are six million people in Pakistan with family relationships in India?’ If out of those six million, only 10,000 can visit, then this is not necessarily a very good state of affairs. Most countries that have done well economically are the ones whose biggest trade is with their next-door neighbours. United States’s biggest trade partners are Canada and Mexico. Similarly, most of the trade among ASEAN countries is amongst themselves. What is the situation between India and Pakistan? We don’t trade as much and don’t have the kind of rail links that would allow people to go through. Pakistan needs to stop thinking of itself as a nation sitting at the crossroads of conflict, and start thinking of itself as one at the crossroads of opportunities. Look, pipelines from Iran, Qatar, Central Asia running through Pakistan into India — roads, highways, trains, Central Asian trade, Middle-Eastern trade. And even with a visa and Pakistani passport, you’ll be put through an endoscope. Absolutely. And that is happening only because Pakistan’s image now is being identified globally with things like terrorism. Everybody knows that Malala Yousafzai is a Pakistani, but she lives in England. Whereas Hafiz Saeed, who is also a Pakistani, lives in Lahore. So, people say, ‘Gosh! Anybody coming from Pakistan is more likely to be under the influence of Hafiz Saeed than Malala’. You can go back to your diplomatic reserve and deny it, but Dawood Ibrahim is an Indian, where does he live? Well, I personally feel whether it is Dawood Ibrahim or Osama bin Laden, when the entire world is asking a question, we Pakistanis cannot pretend that we will not answer the question. We must answer the question. And when we answer the question,
we will be able to face our own demons. Modern nations do not have skeletons in their closet, specially skeletons that rattle so much. It will be in Pakistan’s interest not to be identified with terrorists. If the international community calls them terrorists, then the least we owe the world is to arrest them and put them on trial. And we need to do something about our judiciary, which takes, for example, an alleged case of corruption much more seriously than a case of nuclear proliferation, as was the case with A Q Khan, or of terrorism as is the case with people like Hafiz Saeed and Jaish-eMohammed chief Masood Azhar. And frankly, the IMF has said Pakistan will now gain some economic growth. It will go up to 3.1 per cent. Pakistan used to have a very high rate of growth, much higher than India. Yes, but look, the IMF says it is because of militancy. Hey come on, that is not something you need a PhD in economics to explain. Nobody will bring capital to a country which has bombs going off. Raza Rumi, the journalist, was shot just last week in Pakistan, Salman Taseer was killed by his own security guard, Benazir Bhutto, an icon of democracy… And the best educated Pakistanis can’t
come back to Pakistan. The best educated Pakistanis are abroad, and within Pakistan, we have a serious problem. The vice-chancellor of Pakistan’s Punjab University is a physics PhD by the name of Dr Mujahid Kamran, who has published a book about 9/11 and events after that, blaming America for everything, saying that it was a conspiracy to try and attack a Muslim land, but more importantly, he has in it a suggestion that the Zionist Cabal, or the cabal of bankers that controls the world, puts microchips in the heads of people to control them. Of course, since he probably believes that I am one of those who probably has a microchip in his head, I would want him to put me through some machine to find that microchip. Militancy and military in Pakistan — which one is the symptom and which one is the root cause? I would say militancy is the manifestation of a militaristic attitude. The entire psyche of the nation has been built around being a martial people. The people you need to be proud of are the martial races. Even when the new army chief was appointed, his bio said he is from martial stock. Pakistan needs a strong, disciplined military. However, the job of a soldier is to
locate, fight and liquidate the enemy. It is not his job to define the enemy, to figure out the big strategic questions. That has to be done by society, by politicians, by scholars. There has to be a national debate. And in Pakistan, we need a national debate on what is Pakistan’s national interest. That takes you right back to the old debate, which Benazir Bhutto once opened, asking how could armies protect ideological frontiers of the nations. And, she said, if they could, Soviet Union would not have broken up. She was absolutely right. She was punished. She lost her job for saying this. She said it when she was the prime minister from 1993-96. She expressed the whole idea, and then in her last book, Reconciliation, she talked about it. The idea of ideological frontiers is essentially linked to the ideology of Pakistan. But ideological nations cannot be democratic nations. Secondly, when the ideology is connected to a religion, then the whole question arises, what is the definition of that ideology. And that creates the sectarianism that we are facing in Pakistan. Are Shias Muslims? Are Ahmadis Muslim? Who is the right Muslim, who is the wrong Muslim? A functional nation does not embrace an ideology too tightly. A functional nation focuses on problems and issues. Pakistan needs policy debates, not ideological debates. And by the way, since I am here in election season, let me say India too does not need communal and ideological debates, it needs policy debates. What is your advice for Mr Modi? Well, if Mr Modi were to come to power, I think he needs to overcome the very impression relating to the Gujarat riots. Yes, it is a matter of the past, but sometimes the past lingers. And, how does he bring it to closure? I think recognising that something went wrong, acknowledging it publicly and then being more reassuring about the future would be a good idea. Sometimes, the wretched history is the problem. History is a problem if you obsess over it. History is an advantage if it brings you together. We need to do away with the scars, but at the same time be joyous about the shared things. For example, whenever Indians and Pakistanis meet in third countries, they always go to the same restaurant. If the restaurant is owned by a Pakistani, it says Indian/Pakistani food. And, if the menu say motor paneer, it means it is run by a Bangladeshi. Most likely. By the way, every Bangladeshi until 1971 was a Pakistani and every Pakistani until 1947 was an Indian. Transcribed by Reeja Jacob.
10 BUSINESS
Thursday, 3 April, 2014
POOR STORAGE COSTS PAKISTAN 10-35 PERCENT OF AGRI PRODUCE PER YEAR KARACHI
P
ISMAIL DILAWAR
AKISTAN is losing billions of rupees every year due to lack of warehouses to store millions of tonnes of perishable agricultural items, including grains, fruits and vegetables. According to State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), the cash-strapped country’s 10 to 35 percent of agriculture produce perishes annually under the head of post-harvest losses. A high-level meeting at State Bank observed that the country could save billions of rupees through the development of storage capacities to curtail post-harvest losses. The meeting estimated that the losses were more than 10 percent for grains and 30-35 percent for fruits and vegetables. The Ministry of National Food Security and Research data shows that the country’s output of wheat, rice and maize in fiscal years 2012 and 2013 stood 34.1 million tonnes. Breaking it up means that the country produced 24.2 million tonnes of wheat and 5.536 million tonnes of rice in FY13 and 4.27 million tonnes of maize in FY12. Applying this figure to the SBP’s 10-35 percent post-harvest losses would show that the country’s annual losses on account of the above three crops stands at 7.6 million tonnes, 2.42 million tonnes wheat, 0.55 million tonnes of rice and 0.42 million tonnes of maize. Official quarters have long been concerned about the country’s below-average wheat productivity, around 2.7 tonnes per hectare. “More worryingly, yields have been stagnant during the past several years,” observed the central bank in its recent report on the country’s economy.
Further, the country’s losses under the head of fruits and vegetables also stand huge. The country’s yearly production of fruits and vegetables, reportedly, is in excess of 12 million tonnes, of which, the SBP estimated that 35 percent gets wasted annually. In a joint advisory on fruit and vegetables, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and SBP observed that Pakistan had not been able to cash the horticulture segment of its economy as much as its potential. “At national level the country suffers high harvest losses due to careless harvesting, rough handling, inadequate transportation and poor storage,” the world body viewed. The SBPquoted 35 percent losses form over 4.2 million tonnes of the perishable food items that include citrus, mango, dates, apples, banana , apricot , grapes, guava, peach, pears, pomegranate, tomato, potato, onion, garlic and chillies. “The resulting inefficiencies impact all market participants and keep the sector away from becoming competitive,” concluded the meeting chaired by SBP Deputy Governor Saeed Ahmad. The meeting, according to the SBP, decided to formulate a working group on the development of warehouse receipt financing that would comprise representatives from the country’s leading conventional and Islamic banks, IFC and ACE Control and Expertise Global (Pvt) Limited. The SBP deputy governor told the meeting that the development of commodities’ physical trade and marketing system was inevitable for improving performance of the agricultural sector. He said the working group would serve as a platform for all stakeholders to identify bottlenecks and devise strategies to establish a mechanism for warehouse receipt financing in the country.
France provides RS 8.5b for two hydropower projects ISLAMABAD ONLINE
France has provided Rs 8.5 billion for two hydropower projects the Mohmand Hydropower Project (740 Mw) located and KP Harpo Hydropower Project (35 MW) in the Gilgit Baltistan, Skardu region. To this effect on Wednesday Nargis Sethi, Secretary of Economic Affairs Division (EAD), Mr. Philippe Thiébaud, Ambassador of France, and Denis CASSAT, Country Director of the French Development Agency (AFD), signed the Credit Facility
Govt injected Rs 16b to keep PIA afloat, NA told ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly was informed Wednesday that the government has taken a number of steps to improve the performance of Pakistan International Airlines. Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Shaikh Aftab told the House during question hour that these include cash injection of 16 billion rupees for debt servicing and to acquire aircraft on lease including acquiring four narrow body aircraft on wet lease from Turkey and Czech Republic for three months, financing for acquisition of 11 narrow body aircraft on dry lease, sovereign guarantees to GE Company for overhauling of 777 engines, cost cutting measures and fuel and route rationalisation. He said govt also plans to divest 26 percent share of PIA to a strategic partner with complete management within a period of one year through the Privatization Commission. INP
Agreements (CFAs) for the establishment of Pakistan 02 Hydropower projects. This financing aims at completing the 02 hydropower projects with a total capacity to produce 785MW. The Mohmand/Munda Hydropower project (740 MW) is located in the MOHMAND AGENCY, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK). The Phase- I of the project being financed by AFD will enable the Government of Pakistan to complete the detailed engineering design, preparatory works and financial closure for construction of the project. The Harpo hydropower project (35 MW) located in the Gilgit-
Baltistan, Skardu region will enable the Government of Pakistan to meet the future demand of the region and also to establish the local distribution and transmission network which will benefit the local community to get the uninterrupted power supply. This project is being financed with German Government and KFW. These projects upon completion will ensure: Adaptation of climate change (droughts and floods) in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa especially in the Peshawar and Nowshera region; Improve the resilience, safety and profitability of hydropower projects.
REPORT SAYS PAKISTAN OFFERS EFFICIENT BORDER ADMIN FOR ENABLING TRADE GENEVA INP
Pakistan has been ranked at 114 among the 138 countries being evaluated on the Global Trade Enabling Index of the World Economic Forum. There are number of challenges in Pakistan’s economy which effects country’s performance on Global Enabling Trade Index. However despite challenging environment Pakistan offers relatively efficient border administration systems for enabling trade with Pakistan, a report of the World Economic Forum said here Wednesday. “Pakistan’s performance on the four sub-indices is also reflective of its integration into the global trade, where Pakistan has been ranked as 128 on Market Access, 71 on Border Administration, 95 on the Transport and Communications Infrastructure and 123 on the Busi-
ness Environment”, this was revealed by Amir Jahangir, Chief Executive Officer of Mishal Pakistan, a country partner institute of the World Economic Forum. Among the SAARC countries, Pakistan outperformed Bangladesh and Nepal at 115 and 116 respectively on the Global Trade Enabling Index but lacked behind Sri Lanka (84), India (96) and Bhutan (107). The report’s Enabling Trade Index indicates that the world’s large emerging economies face enormous challenges as they seek to enable trade and progress to the next stage of their development. Barriers to trade are holding back the global economic recovery. Many governments are still failing to enact sometimes-straightforward reforms that could have a farreaching effect on growth and social progress, according to The Global Enabling Trade Report (GETR).
CORPORATE CORNER PTCL signs TCS as logistics partner
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) has inked an agreement with TCS Express & Logistics for sale of PTCL products utilizing the large network of TCS retail outlets in Pakistan. This agreement paves the way to expand PTCL market reach and provide customers with convenient access to company’s products through online ordering via TCS connect website, home delivery through an interactive SMS order service as well as product availability at TCS retail outlets. This partnership is akin to the two companies, since both TCS and PTCL specialize in transporting information from one location to another. Both companies will exploit their strengths of market reach and technology adeptness to render excellence in customer service. PRESS RELEASE
Zameen.com launches new property magazine LAHORE: Zameen.com, Pakistan’s premier real estate portal, has launched its official monthly magazine, which is a property-focused publication aimed at property buyers and dealers across Pakistan. The eponymous glossy magazine comprises premier property listings from the portal, offering its clients additional exposure while simultaneously catering to the needs of all kinds of buyers in the country. Some of the key highlights of the magazine are featured projects from around the country, which also grace the cover of the magazine, thereby significantly improving their visibility and broadening the horizons for builders and developers on the advertisement front. Committed to providing innovative ways for developers to showcase and market their projects, Zameen.com has now developed another unique branding platform for the stakeholders to make a name for themselves in the booming real estate sector of Pakistan. Zeeshan Ali Khan, Co-Founder of Zameen.com, said, “We are absolutely delighted to announce the launch of Zameen.com magazine,
which is another value-added product from the platform of Zameen.com.” PRESS RELEASE
‘Grow Healthy Pakistan’ seminar highlights critical nutrition issues LAHORE: Tetra Pak Pakistan organised the first ‘Grow Healthy Pakistan’ Seminar in collaboration with the Pakistan Nutrition and Dietetic Society (PNDS), to establish a platform for creating awareness of critical issues related to nutrition in the country and to highlight the value of milk in overcoming malnutrition among children. A large number of nutritionists, representatives of UNICEF, media representatives and other stakeholders participated in the seminar. Following the welcome address, an analysis of the National Nutrition Survey was presented by Dr Shehla from UNICEF to set the situational context of Pakistan. This was followed by a presentation by President of PNDS, Faiza Khan on the ‘March Nutrition Month’ activities. Tetra Pak Pakistan presented their ‘Grow Healthy Pakistan’ concept, which seeks to create widespread awareness of drinking milk, especially through a nationwide School Milk Program. It was emphasized through examples, that school milk programs across the world have helped the national health and education index. Audience was also apprised of Aseptic packaging and how it is the answer to our needs in terms of keeping milk safe from external environment. Dr Ibrar Hussain, a leading food technology expert, explained the UHT processing technology and how it preserves the essential nutrients of milk. PRESS RELEASE
PC chairman briefs new members on policies
KARACHI: The third meeting of the board of Privatisation Commission was held under the chairmanship of Mohammad Zubair, chairman Privatisation Commission. Zubair and Secretary PC Amjad Ali Khan welcomed newly appointed members, including Aziz Nishtar, Ali Habib, Zaffar Ahmed Khan, Nauman K Dar, Khurram Shehzad and Salman Burney on the board of Privatisation
Commission. The incumbents were comprehensively briefed on the process of privatization in accordance with the Privatisation Commission Ordinance 2000. The Board Members were updated on the decisions of the Board taken in previous meeting. The issues pertaining to delay in Privatisation program were also discussed. The Chairman apprised about the current Privatisation program to all the Board Members. He said that the federal government is keen to take rapid steps to improve the present better economic condition of the country. He further added that the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister are interested for quick progress in the existing conditions of 11 State Owned Entities. Meeting was ended with the vote of thanks. PRESS RELEASE
which you can expand later by adding an extra microSD card. PRESS RELEASE
Samsung debuts new LED Smart Bulbs at Light + Building 2014
Huawei launches new smart phone Ascend G730, Ascend Y530 in Pakistan LAHORE: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. today announced it will launch a range of LED lamp solutions at Light + Building 2014, the world’s leading trade fair for architecture and technology, taking place in Frankfurt, Germany from 30 March to 4 April 2014. The new models are a lighter and more efficient PAR-series, lamps with a swivel-head PAR, a decorative classic design LED lamp, and an L-tube series with ECG and CCG compatibility. PRESS RELEASE LAHORE: Huawei technologies is to launch two new handsets in first week of April in Pakistan. The Ascend G730 and Ascend Y530 will be available at Huawei’s retails outlets across the country. The new, simple and stylish phones will be available from the first week of April this year. The phones are packed with latest technologies with creative yet attractive styles competing to the best available in market. The Ascend G730 has a 5.5 inch display with Quad-core 1.3 GHz processor along with jelly bean 4.2 and 5MP front and 0.3MP camera. While five points multi touch control and loaded with 30 plus themes, it has 2300 mAh battery and dual SIM supported. Ascend G730 phone is ideal for communicating freely and catering the sophisticated class. Huawei Ascend Y530 is a lightweight and compact Dual-SIM smartphone running on latest Android 4.3 OS 5MP front and 0.3MP rear. Performance of this handset speaks for itself, it has simple friendly UI clearly catering to a sophisticated class, and this phone comes in four classic colorsgrey, black yellow and black. Furthermore, quite an impressive amount of 4 GB Storage is provided,
Buksh Foundation to ‘Light a Million Lives’ in Myanmar LAHORE: Buksh Foundation will represent its Lighting a Million Lives project in Myanmar in response to an invitation from Myanmar Government and the Asian Development Bank(ADB). The Government of Myanmar and Asian Development Bank have invited Buksh Foundation to Myanmar for introducing the “Lighting a Million Lives project” and shed light on the initiatives the Foundation has taken to affect daily life activities of people living in urban and rural areas of Pakistan. Fiza Farhan, CEO of Buksh Foundation will participate at the Myanmar International Investors Forum to highlight opportunities and identify barriers to government representatives, investors and donors. This group works with the development sector to provide sustainable energy solutions and to overcome electricity shortages in Myanmar. PRESS RELEASE
LEISURE 11
Thursday, 3 April, 2014
HaGaR tHE HoRRIblE
aries
taurus
gemini
You're moving slowly today -which is a good thing! A fast pace is sure to end up costing you valuable time when you are forced to backtrack, so just take the day one step at a time.
Your interpersonal relations are smoother than ever today. If you need to settle an old feud, now is the time to hold out the olive branch. Others are sure that you've got what it takes.
Try not to just flit from person to person today -- even if you're at a party! Your energy demands more time and attention focused on individuals, so you should be able to make some solid connections.
cancer
leo
virgo
Your easygoing charm is making those around you open up -- so much so that you may be able to persuade them your way is the right way, even if their minds seem to be made up already.
Your stubborn nature only pops out every now and then, but today you are certainly showing the world where you draw the line. There's nothing wrong with that, exactly, so stand your ground.
Travel is on your mind again -- even if you just returned from somewhere lovely. It's a great time to plan trips or to head out on something spontaneous. Get out of town -- you need to run!
libra
scorpio
sagittarius
Your artistic and cultural hunger should be sated today -- as long as you can find at least one like-minded person to go exploring with you. It shouldn't be hard, as your social energy is right on.
You're the underdog today -- but that just means your victory will be that much sweeter when it finally arrives. Of course, you have to work twice as hard to get there, but that shouldn't be a problem.
Your analytical focus is quite potent today, so make sure that you're giving it your all. Things are sure to get more interesting as you pick apart your latest conundrum with ease.
dIlbERt
GaRFIEld
baldo
capricorn
aQuarius
pisces
Kids play a bigger role in your life today. That may feel perfectly obvious, but if you're childless and most of your friends are, too, it may involve helping a lost little one or just some childlike thinking.
You're somewhat bored today -- but that's okay! Sometimes the lack of mental stimulation can lead to new ideas or exciting new adventures, but you have to go through this phase to get there.
It's a good time for pairings -romantically and otherwise! You should be able to get along nicely with almost anyone you meet, and it's a good bet that you can work wonders together.
cRosswoRd
sUdoKU
ACROSS
bRIdGE
How to play Fill in all the squares in the grid so that each row, column and each of the squares contains all the digits. the object is to insert the numbers in the boxes to satisfy only one condition: each row, column and 3x3 box must contain the digits 1 through 9 exactly once.
orbs outside pare personality phase proper pumpkin retch roach sate scheme school service shower stall thank truth weaves week whine
Today’s soluTions
HaRlow tHE Halo
cHEss black TO PlaY aND MaTE IN ThrEE MOVEs 8
DOWN
7 6 5 4 3 2
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
chess solution
A
1...Rc1+ 2.Kxc1 Re1+ 3.Nxe1 Qxe1# *
1
sudoku solution
1 electronic providers of price and inventory information (3,5) 2 upward curve of a road surface (6) 3 international monetary unit (4) 4 you wish! (2,4,6) 5 unfortunate incident (12) 6 soft cheese, like thick yogurt (7,5) 7 in need of no further explanation (7,5) 12 knight of the round table and close friend of king arthur's wife, guinevere (8) 15 attached to this (6) 18 tug (4)
barbecue blessing clock coil daily despair dill diner elder great guess hump invitation light line local lure meets monument neon
crossword solution
1 micro-organism that can cause disease (9) 8 less frequent (5) 9 they suffer for their principles (7) 10 unsuitable designation (8) 11 one fifth of a fiver (4) 13 kind of beard (6) 14 waste time (6) 16 mug (4) 17 box for earl grey, perhaps? (3,5) 19 mean figure? (7) 20 more feeble (5) 21 erase (6,3)
woRd sEaRcH
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Thursday, 3 April, 2014
ARTS
HUmanity: above Race and Religion Teacher saves life of student by donating kidney
Pakistani honoured with US hospitality education award WASHINGTON
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A k I S TA N ’ S Ahmad Shafiq, who is Chief Executive Officer of College of Tourism and Hotel Management, has been honored with a prestigious American award for being an outstanding educator and leader in hospitality training and education. Shafiq is the first Pakistani recipient of the American Hotel & Lodging Educational Institute’s ‘Lamp of knowledge’ Award. “I dedicate this award to Pakistan and its people,” a beam-
ing Shafiq said after achieving the coveted international distinction at the Stars of the Industry Awards summit in Washington D.C.”. “Shafiq, whose college, known as COTHM, has campuses in Lahore and several other cities, called the distinction a moment of national pride, as he said determinedly Let’s work together to serve Pakistan.” The leading American Institute said it gives the Lamp of knowledge Award to individuals who “demonstrate extraordinary commitment to advancing the quality of professionalism and education in the hospitality industry.”
Smartphone app may save millions from blindness A teacher has saved the life of a seriously ill pupil by giving her one of his kidneys. Ray Coe, 53, stepped in to rescue Alya Ahmed Ali, 13, after learning she was desperate for a donor. Ayla, from Stratford, east London, suffered from renal failure. She also has hydrocephalus - water on the brain - which has resulted in her having severe learning difficulties. Her worried mother told Mr Coe during the summer term last year that Ayla would be absent from school as she had to have kidney dialysis. Concerned, Mr Coe, a special educational needs co-ordinator, asked what he could do to help her. ‘I said “Can I put my name down as a donor?” I knew what being a donor meant and I knew there was a possibility it could go ahead and I knew the implications. I knew exactly what I was doing. ‘When we told Alya, she just gave me a big squeeze and her face lit up. It brings tears to my eyes whenever I think of that.’ The pair went on to have blood tests and against all the odds, they showed that Ray was a match - despite not being related. The successful transplant went ahead at London’s Great Ormond Street Hospital in February. Both Alya and Mr Coe are now recovering well from the operation and are expected to return to school after the Easter break. Mr Coe said: ‘For her parents, it’s not words that can express their gratitude. For them, I have saved their daughter’s life. ‘It’s like I am another family member now.’ Alya’s father, Ahmed Ali, 47, has hailed Mr Coe a ‘hero and a lifesaver’. He said: ‘Ray has given Alya much more than just the gift of life. He’s an amazing man, we owe him so much.’ ONLINE
linkedin email addresses exposed by plug-in software
The email addresses of LinkedIn users can easily be exposed via a web browser add-on tool, it has been revealed. Sell Hack is available as a free extension to the Chrome browser that, once installed, will pop up a “hack in” button on LinkedIn profiles. Users can then find the email address associated with the account even if they are not connected. LinkedIn said it was taking legal action over the plug-in and advised users to uninstall it. Since receiving a cease and desist letter from LinkedIn, SellHack has disabled the plugin. “We are building a better product that does not conflict with LinkedIn’s terms of service,” it said on its blog. Previously it had insisted that the tool was created for marketing professionals and that all data is publicly available. On its website it said: “We just do the heavy lifting and complicated computing to save you time, We aren’t doing anything malicious to LinkedIn.” But the social network for professionals did not agree. “We are doing everything we can to shut Sell Hack down. On 31 March LinkedIn’s legal team delivered Sell Hack a cease-and-desist letter as a result of several violations,” a spokesman told the BBC. “LinkedIn members who downloaded Sell Hack should uninstall it immediately and contact Sell Hack requesting that their data be deleted.” He said that members should “use caution” before downloading any third-party extension or app. “Often times, as with the Sell Hack case, extensions can upload your private LinkedIn information without your explicit consent,” he said. COURTESY BBC
THE TRIAL USING PEEK IN ADULTS IS STILL TAKING PLACE, BUT EARLY RESULTS SUGGEST IT IS EFFECTIVE AT PICKING UP VISION PROBLEMS Millions of poor people across the world could be saved from blindness thanks to a new phone app. Scientists have created a ‘pocket optician’ which allows eye tests to be carried out anywhere on the planet. The Portable Eye Examination kit (PEEk) can be downloaded to a smartphone and used to perform basic eye tests. The results can then be saved on the phone and emailed to doctors who can properly analyse them. The ground-breaking app is currently being tested on 5,000 people in kenya, and developers hope it could help treat the millions of people at risk of becoming blind or visually impaired. The
system is even being used by teams in Antarctica to help provide data for space exploration. The World Health Organisation says 285 million people are blind or visually impaired and that 90 per cent of patients live in low-income countries. However, the WHO also believes that four out of every five cases could be prevented or cured. Scientists at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, who developed to app, have rolled out a trial across 10 kenyan schools and a number of villages. A spokesman for Peek, said: ‘We think we’ve redefined simplicity with our range of phone and tablet based visual acuity
A bad night’s sleep could age brain by five years Sleeping badly could age you as much as five years, a study has revealed. Just three or four years of broken sleep patterns are linked to a loss of memory and concentration, American researchers found. They say that poor quality sleep is increases the risk of of having impaired mental faculties by up to 50 per cent - equivalent to a five year increase in age. Study leader Dr Terri Blackwell, of the California Pacific Medical Centre Research Institute, in San Francisco, said: ‘It was the quality of sleep that predicted future cognitive decline in this study, not the quantity. ‘With the rate of cognitive impairment increasing and the high prevalence of sleep problems in the elderly, it is important to determine prospective associations with sleep and cognitive decline.’ The study, published in the journal Sleep, involved 2,820 men with an average age of 76 years. Each
study participant had their sleep patterns monitored over five nights and then each was tested on functions which involved planning, decision making, error correction, trouble shooting and abstract thinking. The underlying mechanisms linking disturbed sleep to mental decline remain unknown, the authors noted. They added that additional research is needed to determine if these associations hold after a longer follow-up period. Dr Safwan Badr, president of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, said: ‘This study provides an important reminder that healthy sleep involves both the quantity and quality of sleep. ‘As one of the pillars of a healthy lifestyle, sleep is essential for optimal cognitive functioning.’ The news comes just months after a study revealed that going without sleep for just one night causes changes in the brain similar to those that occur after a blow to the head. Researchers, at Uppsala University, Sweden, found levels of chemicals that act as biomarkers for brain damage rise after sleep deprivation. They believe this is because the brain usually clears itself of toxic substances during sleep and the biomarkers increase in response to a sudden buildup of these substances after a sleepless night. The Swedish researchers said their study supports other previous research which linked a lack of sleep to increased risk of Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and multiple sclerosis. VIA DAILY MAIL
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tests. ‘We’re producing some innovative new tests to shake up the way colour and contrast testing is done - and for a fraction of the cost. ‘Many children underperform at school due to undiagnosed vision problems, which if corrected gives them a greater opportunity to realise their potential. ‘Currently, clinicians, of which there are very few, go to schools to screen children. ‘This takes them away from the hospital where they are needed most and puts the hospital under increased pressure.’ The trial using Peek in adults is still taking place, but early results suggest it is effective at picking up vision problems. The smartphone app uses a shrinking letter which appears on screen as a basic vision test and it uses the camera’s flashlight to illuminate the back of the eye, the retina, to check for disease. ONLINE
Samsung Galaxy S5 has the best performing smartphone display ever: display experts’ report While Apple is known to steal the show when it comes to mobile displays, Samsung has managed to grab eye-balls with its Galaxy S5. Now, according to research scientist Raymond Soneira from the world leader of display diagnostics, DisplayMate, Samsung’s Galaxy s5 has set records with its high-quality display. “Based on our extensive Lab tests and measurements, the Galaxy S5 is the best performing smartphone display that we have ever tested”, says DisplayMate. Their report states that Samsung has placed emphasis on other crucial attributes of the display, rather than simply focusing on increasing the resolution. Smartphones these days already offer such high pixel densities, that it wouldn’t make a great difference compared to other devices if a manufacturer simply focuses on the pixels. The report further states, “There are many more important and challeng-
ing issues for displays than just pixel resolution. For the Galaxy S5, Samsung has instead concentrated on improving the maximum brightness, screen reflectance, performance in high ambient light, absolute color accuracy, viewing angles, display power efficiency, and running time on battery.” Some of the highlights of Galaxy S5’s 5.1-inch Full HD Super AMOLED display detailed by DisplayMate include “highest brightness, lowest reflectance, highest colour accuracy, infinite contrast ratio, highest contrast rating in ambient light, and smallest brightness variation with viewing angle.” DisplayMate also said that S5’s AMOLED display offers the best performance in outdoor lighting and is 22 percent brighter than the S4. Moreover, it offers 27 percent improvement in display power efficiency over the Galaxy S4, while using 18 percent less display power than the Galaxy S4. BY TECH 2
Thursday, 3 April, 2014
‘PRETTY WOMAN’ HEADED FOR A BROADWAY MUSICAL
Shah Rukh khan pRoud of Son aRyan NEWS DESK
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Pretty Woman Julia Roberts-Richard Gere starrer ‘Pretty Woman’ is may get a stage adaptation on Broadway. Julia RobertsRichard Gere starrer 1990 romantic comedy ‘Pretty Woman’ is may get a stage adaptation on Broadway. The Garry Marshall directed-film saw Gere in the role of a cold businessman who falls in love with a prostitute played by Roberts. Marshall is in New York this week to meet with composers, lyricists and directors for an adaptation with producer Paula Wagner, who has been involved with various Broadway productions including ‘The Heiress’ starring Jessica Chastain, said the Hollywood Reporter. JF Lawton, who wrote the screenplay for ‘Pretty Woman’, is cowriting the stage adaptation with Marshall. Marshall has previously forayed into theatre with the musical version of his sitcom ‘Happy Days’ and ‘The Roast’. AGENCIES
OTING dad Shah Rukh Khan was recently busy holidaying with his son Aryan in London. SRK, who injured himself on the sets of his new movie’s sets, took to Twitter to share how proud he was of his eldest son. “Dropped son for school. I feel so proud of him that I feel proud of me. Song on radio u gonna miss me when I am gone,” tweeted the star with a picture of himself sporting a funky pair of blue shades. Shah Rukh, who is also a father to 13-year-old Suhana and baby AbRam, is known to be extremely protective of his children. He had earlier revealed that he preferred to send Aryan
USHNA SHAH TELLS EVERYBODY TO SHUT UP Actress Ushna Shah, who plays Rudaba in Bashar Momin (you’ve probably seen it, thanks to Faisal Quraishi) has lashed back at the rumors about her. She came out with all guns blazing in the direction of media people. Her Facebook status targeted unethical journalists. “Are they so miserable with their own lives and so bad at their jobs that when they can’t find real news to sell papers they print fake stuff?” We can totally imagine her pulling her hair out after reading the article which falsely accuses her of having an affair with Humanyun Saeed. Another article criticized her for vulgar clothes. The crux of her FB status was, “My choices in my clothing, my lifestyle my occupation affect ME. Their (journalists) actions and words hurt OTHERS.” AGENCIES
CULTURAL ASSOCIATION RELAUNCHED, VOWS TO PRESERVE AND PROMOTE NATIONAL CULTURE AND ARTS LAHORE STAFF REPORT
The Cultural Association of Pakistan Graduates (CAPG), previously known as Graduate Awards, held a reorganising ceremony at the Royal Palm Golf and Country Club on Tuesday. Speaking on the occasion CAPG Chairman Syed Ali Zafar said that the association’s reorganization aims to revive the national culture and heritage that has been overshadowed by the foreign cultures dominating the Pak-
istani society today. He said the rich national culture deserves the world’s attention and CAPG aims to work for the very cause. CAPG plans of establishing an acting academy and music recording studio for the new emerging artists of the country. The setups would assist the new talent in honing its skills through apprenticeship programmes and courses in acting, fashion, writing and music. Present at the occasion were Yousaf Salahuddin,Mian Asad Ehsan,Saleem Ghauri,Rashid Mehr,Shahid
Hameed,Omar Saeed,Aneela Shah, Ayesha Sana and other art and cultural enthusiasts. Renowned TC actress Samina Ahmed, in representation of the United Producers Association, pledged full support to the CAPG. Ahmed, Usman Peerzada, Samina Ahmed, Qasim Zia are among the board members of CAPG. CAPG plans to hold Annual Graduate Awards in honour and promotion of Pakistan’s commercial films, TV dramas, short films, , music, fashion, theatre, and sports.
HAMNA AMIR PRESENTS GEMS THAT LAST FOREVER LAHORE STAFF REPORT
Coveted jewelry designer and entrepreneur Hamna Amir, is a widely known jewelry designer in the Pakistani fashion industry. She is recognized internationally especially in Singapore, UK, UAE and USA and has participated in major fashion weeks. Hamna has been the creative head, marketing director and owner for Sonar Jewelry, a brand known for its authentic gems/stones and quality of craftsmanship. “I am proud to announce my new jewelry
line, Hamna Amir, which will be catering and serving the clientele with innovative and creative jewelry pieces, ranging from heavy bridal sets to modern everyday wear jewelry” said Hamna, “After the success of Sonar, I am looking forward to making aesthetic quality pieces which can be adorned by women of any age” Hamna Amir is a primarily a Fashion Designer from Islamabad. It was her marketing vision and creative input that led Sonar to become the top leading fashion jewelry brand working in Pakistan. Some of the bestsellers signature pieces of
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abroad to study, as he wanted to keep him out of the media glare. Aryan Khan is enrolled at the Seven Oaks School, situated close to Central London, which is believed to be a popular choice for celebrities. The actor also said it was fun being a teenager with no worries at all. Though the actor’s children, Suhana and Aryan prefer to stay away from the limelight, their father can’t stop himself from proudly posting about them and referring to them in tweets and posts. SRK is currently busy shooting for ‘Happy New Year opposite’ along with Abhishek Bachchan, Deepika Padukone, Sonu Sood, Boman Irani and Vivaan Shah.
MILEY CYRUS ‘TONGUE SLIDE’CAUSED ACCIDENT
Miley Cyrus’ giant tongue ‘’badly injured’’ a crew worker, a lawsuit claims. Charles Nicholas Sarris has filed a claim against ShowFx Inc., the Los Angeles-based equipment supply company which was hired to make the novelty mouth slide for the ‘Wrecking Ball’ star’s ‘Bangerz’ tour, in which he claims he suffered an accident while working on the construction of the prop. According to gossip website, Mr Sarris says the equipment and tools provided to him by the company failed, causing him to fall and badly hurt himself last month. In the lawsuit, he claims ShowFX failed to warn him about the potential dangers and is suing for unspecified damages. Miley kicked off her raunchy world tour in Vancouver, Canada, last month and came under fire for antics such as simulating a sex act on a man wearing a Bill Clinton mask, but she insists she gave fans a pre-warning her shows would be X-rated. She previously wrote on Twitter: ‘’You can’t say I didn’t warn you. Now sit back relax & enjoy the show. #bangerztour (sic)’’ AGENCIES
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Sonar have been the bracelets and the rings which speak of the craftmanship and design. The malas and headpieces of Sonar are known for its classic signature style with stones in 18-20K gold. Hamna Amir Jewelry would be available soon at her Flagship store at MM Alam Road, Lahore alongwith rack spaces at several multi brand stores in Pakistan and abroad. Hamna Amir Jewelry would also be showcasing at several International Exhibitions in USA and UAE primarily along with participation in Bridal/Fashion Shows.
MADHURI NAMED MOST ‘INSPIRATIONAL FEMALE BOLLYWOOD ICON’
India’s veteran Bollywood actress Madhuri Dixit has been voted as Bollywood’s most inspiring female celebrity. She was given the title of most ‘Inspirational Female Bollywood Icon’ in 2013′s annual Bradford Inspirational Women Awards, which are held yearly in Bradford, UK. The category, however, was announced for the first time to honour Bollywood’s 100 years of successful journey. Expressing her gratitude, in a video played at the event, the Press Trust of India quoted Dixit as saying, “greetings everyone. I wanted to reach out and thank the Inspirational Women’s Foundation for choosing me as the most inspirational Female Bollywood Icon of all times. It’s indeed a great honour.” “I’ve been a staunch advocate of women’s empowerment and I’ve worked hard throughout my career to advance the cause. It is heartening to see that gender equality is really becoming more of a reality.” “There is still much more to be done and I’m confident that, by working together, we can empower women worldwide. I would personally like to thank Fatima Patel, Jane Vincent and the Inspirational Women’s Foundation for making this possible. Thank you.” AGENCIES
LADY GAGA WORRIES SHE’S GOT FAT Pop star Lady Gaga claims she has put on weight by eating meat during her stay in Austin, Texas, for the South by Southwest festival. The 27-year-old singer, who has admitted her weight fluctuates because of her love of Italian food, has been gorging on barbecue food and meat during her stay in Austin. “That’s actually why I wore it because I am really fat right now because I have been eating BBQ. I had some at Stubb’s because I am playing there and some Salt Lick too. Or any meat that I find on the street, I just eat,” the singer said. Gaga has been soaking up the atmosphere at the festival, where she will deliver the SXSW keynote speech with Fuse’s John Norris. AGENCIES
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14 SPORTS
Thursday, 3 April, 2014
HigH-risk and Handsome West Indies' inability to rotate the strike has landed them in a few sticky situations, but their six-hitting prowess has usually come to their rescue. Can this approach take them to a second straight ďŹ nal? MiRPuR AGENCIES
Stop us from hitting sixes," was Darren Sammy's challenge before West Indies began their World T20 campaign. It came in reply to Suresh Raina's statement that West Indies relied too much on sixes and did not rotate the strike much. While West Indies' self-confessed preference for the big shots did not help them against the Indians, it bailed them out in two must-win matches against Australia and Pakistan. Both times, the sixes came out when nothing else would have worked. West Indies needed 31 off the last two overs against Australia. The sixes arrived. They were 84 for 5 in 15 overs against Pakistan. The sixes arrived in such a flood that West Indies nearly doubled that score in the last five overs for the loss of just one more wicket. Everyone knows, including West Indies themselves, that it is not an ideal way to operate. It can take them down, and often necessitates one or two batsmen playing a
blinder. As the tournament has gone along, Sammy has spoken about the need to take more singles and twos, especially against the spinners. It is difficult to change what comes naturally to you, though. And when it comes to the crunch, you will subconsciously rely on what comes naturally to you. Somehow, by a mix of habit and good bowling by the opposition, West Indies have found themselves in situations where that instinct to deliver sixes has had to kick in. Hitting sixes is a high-risk business, more so when you rely so much on them. There are plenty of ways in which you can make yourself look foolish. But when they come off, they make you look grand. And West Indies' late sixes against Australia and Pakistan were anything but mishits. They were mighty, chunky blows that soared far beyond the boundary. They were the sort of blows that demoralise the opposition, particularly in a format where margins can be so thin and that one over that goes for 20 can be the difference. West Indies had two such overs against Pakistan, which earned
24 and 21, against two of the most experienced T20 bowlers in Saeed Ajmal and Umar Gul. How much those strikes deflated Pakistan was clear in their chase, which blew whatever steam it had too soon and then stalled. It is not only the six runs that a six earns. It is also the psychological impact on the bowling side. There is something awe-inspiring about the way players such as Sammy and Dwayne Bravo hit sixes: unrestrained, intimidating backswings, big heaves, clean connections and unfettered follow-throughs. Such hits reduce cricket to its most basic element. "See the ball, hit the ball," Sammy says. It is often a clichĂŠ these days in cricket, but Sammy means it in the original sense of the term. Pure, instinctive reaction to an object hurled at you. It is coming to get me, I'll whack it out of sight. That six-hitting prowess came to West Indies' rescue in the 2012 World T20 final, after they had made 38 in 11 overs. Out of nowhere, Marlon Samuels smashed three sixes in one Lasith Malinga over, and the first 11 overs became immaterial after that.
Each time you watch them, you feel this is the one time they will have to pay for this one-track approach. But so frequently, they find a Samuels or a Bravo or a Sammy who ensures it works one more time. They are such different personalities, but that ability to produce the big stroke when
needed unites them. The first semi-final of the 2014 edition brings together the teams that lined up for the World T20 final two years ago. Will it again come down to a shower of sixes from a West Indian batsman, as it did on that Colombo night?
'sri Lanka wiLL be tHinking about 2012 finaL': sammy SPORTS DESK
iPL teams face Hit in sPonsor revenue SPORTS DESK With just two weeks for the start of the IPL, many franchises are yet to finalise deals with sponsors. Kings XI Punjab, Delhi Daredevils, Sunrisers Hyderabad, Rajasthan Royals and Royal Challengers Bangalore are understood to be the five franchises that have been unable to close deals including finding a front-chest sponsor, a valuable space where the brand is most prominently displayed on the shirt front. Brand experts predicted a "tough year" claiming the franchises would suffer a deep cut of 20% in their sponsorship revenues which would be exacerbated by the loss in ticket revenues as a result of the first phase of the tournament being played in the UAE.Uncertainty over the venue for the second half of the IPL, the economic slowdown, clash with the federal elections and the controversies that have emanated from the corruption scandal during last year's IPL are factors that have affected sponsorships. According to Mohit Burman, one of the owners at Kings XI, as soon as the IPL announced the first 20 matches would be played in the UAE, sponsors sent a warning signal. "One of our sponsors, Lux Cozy, decided to not renew a three-year deal," Burman said. "They pulled out immediately. This year is sort of a mess. The uncertainty over the venues did hamper us. First they said it could be one of - or a combination of - South Africa, UAE and Bangladesh as the overseas venue due to the elections. Now we still do not know where the second part will be held. As it is, the market is soft and due to the recent controversies it has had an impact on the franchise costs." Burman agreed that the overall revenues this season would be significantly lesser than previous seasons. "The gate money would be reduced, the sponsorship would be reduced, there are fewer teams so the central revenue would be also be reduced." According to a franchise chief executive, the enthusiasm among sponsors for the IPL is not the same as it was in the first five years. "It is very difficult to get sponsorships. The IPL has taken a big beating. Everybody is negotiating - there is a massive decrease in sponsorship costs," the franchise CEO said. This CEO said he had been trying to close deals over the past month but the sponsors, mainly local, were not keen. Yet, the CEO remained optimistic. "We are in advance talks with a bunch of people. (But) The market has been bad," he said. According to him, during the last meeting the IPL had with franchises in Chennai last month, they were told that a definite schedule would be announced in a few weeks. "The second half schedule has not come in yet. People are still waiting. If somebody wants to spend big bucks would they just bet blindly? So you need a schedule to plan the stuff, budget depending on where the matches are." The front-chest sponsorship is worth anywhere between INR 10 crore ($1.67m) to 20 crore per season. Muthoot Finance did not renew their three-year contract with Daredevils.
"When we left the Caribbean, we had that as the motivation factor for us," he said. "In the last
Darren Sammy does not think West Indies have an edge going into their World T20 semi-final against Sri Lanka because of what happened in the final of the previous edition. Sri Lanka had tied down the West Indies batsmen completely for more than half of their innings in Colombo before Marlon Samuels' counter-attack lifted his side to a titlewinning score. Sammy felt, however, that the incidents of that night would be in the minds of the Sri Lankans. "Cricket is not about what happens before," Sammy said. "It's (about) what happens on a cricket field on that present day. We defeated them in the World Cup (2012 final) and in the practice game here but they have played some good cricket and we have a lot of respect for them. "Last final will be at the back of their mind, the practice game will be at the back of their mind. Once West Indies turn up, West Indies are dangerous." No team has successfully defended the World T20 title before, but Sammy said West Indies were confident they could become the first side to do so.
World Cup, the mantra was one team, one goal and the mission was to win the World Cup. This year the mantra is the same: One team, one goal, but the mission is to retain the title. It's something that no team has done before and we are very confident that we can do it. "Once we play the brand of cricket that we played in the last three games, there is every possibility that we can do it. We have been peaking at the right times (and) doing some good things with our team spirit and our never-say-die attitude. Hopefully, that will be contagious. Hopefully, we have another good semi-final like we did in the last World Cup (against Australia)." When asked about Rangana Herath's astonishing return of 5 for 3 against New Zealand, Sammy said it was offspinners who had troubled West Indies. "The off-spinners are the ones who have got wickets against us so we don't mind their left-armspinner," he said. "Hopefully, we don't play him as the New Zealanders did. We know what we are going to come across or against, but this bunch of guys in the dressing room are very confident even when everything seems gloomy."
CAPTAINCY CONTRASTS COULDN'T BE STARKER MiRPuR AGENCIES
One camp is unsure who will lead them out less than 24 hours before they play a crunch game while the other side is buzzing under theirs. In terms of leadership ahead of their semi-final of the World T20, there could not be a bigger contrast between Sri Lanka and West Indies. On Thursday evening, the Sri Lankan team could be led out either by the appointed captain Dinesh Chandimal, his deputy Lasith Malinga or, if rumours are to be believed, Angelo Math-
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ews, the Tests and ODI captain. Chandimal was suspended for their last league game against New Zealand, which Sri Lanka won quite convincingly despite making a low score. Malinga, the designated deputy, led the team in that match but it was quite evident that Mahela Jayawardene called the shots. With Chandimal available for the semi-final, Sri Lanka are in a quandary. Chandimal's batting form has gone through a low period since he averaged 44.80 in the 2012-13 season, scoring two hundreds and as many fifties in all formats. This year he has made 367 runs at an average of 28.23, among which he has scores of 18, 3 and 15 in the three T20 innings, including the only one of the World T20. Darren Sammy has been the exact opposite of Chandimal in terms of form and impact on his team. Although wicketless, he has provided a final flourish with the bat in all three of West Indies' win so far. Against Australia, he was the hero by first replying to James Faulkner's "I don't particularly like the West Indies" comment ahead of the game. Then, as if it was meant to happen, Sammy hammered the same bowler for two consecutive sixes in the final over to complete a steep chase. In the virtual quarter-final against Pakistan, Sammy enforced himself in the last five overs of the West Indies innings. He has hammered five sixes in the two important games, playing a big part in both wins. As it had been since taking over three years ago, Sammy's strength has been his attitude and his ability to play with a free mind even under the most pressure. His place in the team is regularly questioned, and this time, he has answered his critics in a grand manner. Sammy has taken every-
thing, even the sacking from the ODI captaincy, in his stride. He feels that it is far more important to play for West Indies. "Probably after we win the tournament, I won't be the Test captain," Sammy said with a big smile, when reminded that he lost his ODI captaincy soon after the 2012 World T20 triumph. "For me, it is never been about whether I am captain or not. I just enjoy playing for West Indies. Not many people get to wake up in the morning and get to do what they love. "I have many friends who wake up on a Monday morning and don't want to go to work. Captain or not, it is about giving my best to the team. I have definitely gained more experience. It is all about West Indies for me." After Sammy's press conference, everyone waited for Chandimal, but Sri Lanka's coach Paul Farbrace showed up. Though no one asked him about the captaincy conundrum, he was quick to point out how good a player their captain is. "Chandimal is a very exciting young cricketer," he said. "He has got an excellent cricket brain and he was chosen because of those factors. He had a tough time and people have been very quick to point it out. "Equally in the short space of time I have been here, he was brilliant in the ODIs against Bangladesh. All cricketers go through dips in form and it is important that he learns quickly from the tough period that he has had." Given his struggles in the format, Chandimal's elevation as T20 captain looks premature. Sammy, on the other hand, has been basking in the Mirpur floodlights, and has become, after Nepal's Paras Khadka, the most loved captain of the World T20 in Bangladesh. Can he keep up the good feeling, or will Sri Lanka's hotchpotch actually work?
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Thursday, 3 April, 2014
dHaka PitcH a fresH cHaLLenge for sL, sa Mirpur will provide more grip and turn for the spinners than the surface in Chittagong, which held together through most of the Super 10 stage. South Africa and Sri Lanka, therefore, will need to adapt quickly
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S South Africa and Sri Lanka tread back to Dhaka for the final stages of the World T20, a lot of the focus will be on how quickly these two teams adjust to the surface at the Shere Bangla National Stadium. They have been presented with a perceptibly different set of conditions in Chittagong, which were challenging in their own right but didn't resemble those in Dhaka all that closely. Both sides will play evening matches, which means they may have to contend with a bit of dew, but they can only guess the extent. What they can be sure of is that the surface will be dry and will become drier as the three hours progress. The pitches in Mirpur have been kind to spinners, affording them the luxury of considerable turn and some bounce. By contrast, the surface at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium was faster than expected, with little turn for the spinners. The brown clay differs from the soil used in Mirpur, where the clay constituent is black, and it keeps its character better throughout the day; during the evening, the behaviour of black clay can be quite changeable, as seen in how much the scores and results varied between the 3.30 pm and 7.30 pm starts. In Chittagong, leaving on a layer of grass helped retain a little extra moisture and further protection from drying came from a hessian cover used during the main part of the day. There were up to seven pitches on the square, with two main ones rotated for the fixtures at ZACS. Dew was a problem in some of the evening games, and it was unclear whether use of an antidew spray had any effect. Rain also whips in off the sea without
much notice, in Chittagong. As summer arrives and temperatures rise - the extra heat and humidity are indicators of rain brief storms, such as the one that curtailed the game between England and New Zealand, are fairly common. This also played some part in keeping the pitch fresh. The grass ensured the ball skidded on, generally aiding run-scoring. From a local point of view, it was confusing to see how the Chittagong pitch behaved. It has traditionally been a bastion of batting, and is a favourite of many Bangladeshi batsmen looking for a quick fix in their form. The Bangladesh team have often stated privately, and publicly at
times, that the Chittagong pitches make them feel more at home, particularly in Test cricket. Recently, they drew Tests against New Zealand and Sri Lanka there, and their comfort level was quite evident. Sri Lanka and South Africa can still expect runs in Dhaka, though. There haven't been too many low-scoring games here, apart from Afghanistan getting blown away for 72 or Australia's 86 all out against India. There were ten 150-plus scores with Pakistan making 191 and 190 against Australia and Bangladesh. Five teams have won chasing in ten games, twice in the last over. But teams that have won batting first have mostly won by big
margins - 16, 73, 50, 73 and 84 runs. Three of the top five wicket-takers in Mirpur have been spinners - Amit Mishra, R Ashwin and Samuel Badree - and that was along expected lines. Umar Gul and Al-Amin Hossain were the seamers with most wickets, but that was more due to their variations and diligence than the pitch. Teams batting second have made faster starts and hit more sixes (16 as opposed to 8) in powerplays than while batting first. At the start of the Super 10 group stage, New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum perfectly summed up the difference between the two venues. "In this set-up [Chittagong], I don't anticipate spin will play a great role from the point of seeing the ball turn and bounce past the bat," he said. "Good spinners still manage to play a vital role in T20 cricket but it just won't be quite the same role that we'll see up the road in Dhaka." Only on the last day of competition at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury did the pitch begin slow and offer turn, as New Zealand finally lost out to the conditions. The absence of dew, possibly due to a spray used on the outfield, gave Sri Lanka the advantage, according to stand-in captain Lasith Malinga, and may have helped prepare them for the Dhaka leg of the competition. "We were worried about the dew factor but fortunately for us there was no dew on that day and it worked to our advantage because the spinners managed to get a grip on the ball and take wickets," Malinga said. When asked about the difference between the two venues, early in the tournament, Sri Lanka's regular captain Dinesh Chandimal had a succinct response. "We are looking forward to Dhaka." COURTESY CRICINFO
DUMINY BRACES FOR INDIA SPIN TEST SPORTS DESK The thought may not be comforting to their supporters but South Africa are getting themselves into a spin ahead of their WorldT20 semi-final against India. They had Shane Warne in the nets offering advice to Imran Tahir, as he has done at Hampshire in the past, and the batsmen are getting their dancing shoes in preparation for India's spinners. "We know it's going to be a big challenge for us. We want to put up a big performance against their spinners," JP Duminy said. "We know that their spinners will be a key component to their team." India will have at least a trio of frontline tweakers taking on South Africa, with Amit Mishra an obvious threat. "He has been on top form for India in this tournament and we definitely not going to take him lightly," Duminy said. "The guys have played against him and we kind of know what to expect." As a team, South Africa have only come up against Mishra twice and that was more than 10 years ago in two ODIs in 2003. But individually, many of them have faced him in the IPL and they will draw on that knowledge when they meet him again. They will also have to dig into the archives to remind themselves of how to approach batting in conditions which suit spin, which is what the Dhaka surface promises to do. South Africa have come from Chittagong where Hashim Amla admitted, "the wickets had a bit more pace and bounce in it," and minimal turn. He has spotted a "bit of a difference," in tracks in Dhaka but even if he didn't, the evidence is clear. Mishra has made merry there, being named Man of the Match in two of India's four games. He is third on the list of wicket-takers of all teams who did not have to qualify for the Super Ten and his nine scalps have come at an average of
8.77. Samuel Badree has taken 10 wickets in Dhaka at an average of 9. The returns of those two legspinners will have Imran Tahir drooling. Despite playing the first four matches in Chittagong, he is still the leading
wicket-taker of the teams that did not play in the qualifying stage - his 11 wickets have come at an average of 9.18. Before South Africa bank on him, they have to blunt the opposition's aces and that seems to be on their minds more than their
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own advantage for now. There's good reason for that because they have, often incorrectly, been labelled a line-up that can be outspun so the focus is on preventing that. Although South Africa have some of the best players of spin around in their squad - Amla wristiness works wonders, AB de Villiers' and Duminy's quick feet do the same - there are some concerns. Quinton de Kock and David Miller have sometimes struggled against players who turn the ball and India will see weak links in both but Amla does not think they will find one, at least not in de Kock. "He is a fearless cricketer and is working very hard to put in a big performance," Amla said. Not only will Amla have to lead the resistance against spin but he will also have to lead by example in approach. His calmness is something every member of the South African squad will want to emulate in a crunch situation. They are at their own crossroads because this is the stage at which they have knocked out of every ICC event they have played in the last 16 years - the knockouts. This time South Africa have advanced towards them in uncharacteristic fashion. The banged down the back door in three matches and scrapped their way to victory. Other teams would be nervous given that history. South Africa are optimistic. "We will be taking a lot of confidence from those games that we came on top of because in two of those games, we were not meant to win," Duminy said. Against both New Zealand and Netherlands, South Africa's bowlers engineered unlikely triumphs after the opposition batsmen were on course to overhaul them. South Africa found a way and they hope to find another one against India. "The ways to win a game out of nothing is definitely something we will take a confidence from," Duminy said. "But this is a new game It's a big game - the semifinal of a World Cup. It doesn't get bigger than this." It actually does. There is a final after that.
mark waugH may join austraLia seLectors SPORTS DESK Mark Waugh has confirmed an approach from Cricket Australia to join the national selection panel, as other selectors weigh up their futures. Always considered a sharp and plainspeaking observer of the game, Waugh had not seriously considered an official selection role before now. But as members of the current panel, including the national selector John Inverarity, consider whether or not to extend contracts due to expire in June, Waugh is open to the idea. Employed by the Ten Network as a Twenty20 Big Bash League commentator, Waugh said the travel demands of the selection role, which would require his presence for regular overseas tours and domestic games, were the main factors currently giving him pause. "I am still speaking to them [CA],'' Waugh told the CourierMail. "I am weighing up the commitment to time away from home and how it will affect my media commitments. I am keen to get involved as a selector but I am not sure about the timing at the moment. It is quite a big commitment. "Every time the Australian team is overseas there has to be a selector there. Then you have commitments back in Australia, plus the Australia A side. You have to decide whether you want to juggle that and spend time away from home. I am definitely interested but I have not made up my mind yet.'' Inverarity said earlier this week that he had not yet decided on his future, but CA's approach to Waugh is the strongest suggestion yet that the panel will change significantly. "My contract when I joined in November 2011 was for up to the end of June this year," Inverarity said. "In the coming weeks and months I will discuss with CA whether I will continue to play a role in the national selection panel, and that's where it is. It's yet to be finally decided." One of the Argus review's recommendations was for the appointment of a fulltime national selector, later unveiled as Inverarity, with better pay and conditions for other members of the panel. Rod Marsh and Andy Bichel are the other selectors, alongside the national team coach Darren Lehmann. Before the review, Simon Katich had levelled heavy criticism of the previous selection panel, which included a part-time chairman in Andrew Hilditch and the current national talent manager Greg Chappell. "When you talk about money, you get the best in the business for paying. If you pay peanuts you get monkeys," Katich said in June 2011. "There has been talk about that [full-time selectors] for a while now but nothing has been done about it. It's a business, there's no doubt about that, that's just the way sport has gone. Being realistic it's got to go that way, because you're dealing with guys' careers."
SPORTS Thursday, 3 April, 2014
Sri Lanka captaincy a guessing game ahead of semi DhaKa
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WO things are certain in Thursday night’s semi-final. The West Indies players will have the Mirpur crowd eating out of their hands; a jig, happy or otherwise, is likely. And a formula surpassed only by the theory of relativity in complexity will be required to work out who Sri Lanka’s captain is, and what percentage of the captain’s customary tasks he has carried out that day. Twenty-four hours before the toss, the team’s official line was that they still did not know who would lead. As long as Mahela Jayawardene is allowed to marshal the team on the field, Sri Lanka fans may not mind if a rag doll was sent to conduct the toss. At least an inanimate object would not do any worse at remembering the playing XI than Lasith Malinga, bless him. When these teams clashed in the last World T20, the final had been a celebration of flair, but 18 months on, both teams have developed formulae with which to knead the talent at their disposal. West Indies have embraced conservatism with the bat, allowing Dwayne Smith to play as he wishes in the Powerplay, but generally seeking keep wickets in hand to unleash at the back end. As the 82 runs in the final five overs of their
innings against Pakistan proved, they have become increasingly adept at this through the tournament. With the ball, Samuel Badree and Krishmar Santokie have been as penetrative as they have been economical, thanks in part to a helpful Mirpur surface. Sri Lanka have had among the most entertaining trips to the semi-final. They opened their campaign against South Africa who ch… errr, made poor use of a winning position under considerable pressure from the opposition. They brushed Netherlands aside before their bus driver had found a parking space. Then, having hit 189, they lost in dispiriting fashion to England, before orchestrating a rabid defence of 119 against New Zealand. In short, Sri Lanka have been like Pakistan. Sri Lanka might have preferred a semi-final against Pakistan, because at least they understand how to counter Pakistan’s style of cricket, to some extent. A peaking West Indies unit will cause more worry in their camp, particularly because the wounds of Marlon Samuels’ game-breaking Premadasa assault will have barely healed over. West Indies will be confident they can take Lasith Malinga apart, as they did during that match, so the onus is on Sri Lanka to arrive at an effective strategy. Form GuIdE Sri Lanka: WLWWW (completed matches, most recent first) West Indies: WWWLL In the spotlight
If there is one man who can put Sri Lanka in the final through strategy alone, it has to be the team’s best ever tactician, Mahela Jayawardene. He called the shots in the game against New Zealand, spreading fear in the hearts of opposition batsmen by placing a slip and short leg around them, and rotated bowlers masterfully. The whole thing made Sri Lanka fans nostalgic for the days of his leadership, when Sri Lanka played their most attractive cricket since the late ‘90s, and inspiring turnarounds against powerful opposition almost became the norm. He is also Sri Lanka’s best big-match player in any discipline. He will be desperate for this match not to be his last in the format. Darren Sammy has unequivocally been the best finisher of the tournament, to the extent that West Indies’ game plan takes his success at the death for granted. He has come off in almost every game, and sits on a tournament strike rate of 224 and an average of 101. Sri Lanka will also remember the unbeaten 26 off 15 that pushed West Indies’ total from competitive to commanding in the 2012 final, and more recently, the 30 not out from 14 that helped set up West Indies victory in a warm-up match. Sammy v Malinga has the potential to become the defining contest of the match. TEAm NEWS As Dinesh Chandimal has done little to warrant selection in the T20 side over the
past year, his availability does not necessarily mean he will play. There are rumours Angelo Mathews will take the reins. There are rumours Lasith Malinga will retain it. There are rumours that no one in the team really knows for sure. They even put up the coach for the pre-match press conference an event customarily attended by the captain. Normally, such chaos would put elite sports teams off their game, but Sri Lanka are often not sensitive to upheaval. Will it make them play worse? Will it make them play better? No one really knows.
Sri Lanka (probable) 1 Tillakaratne dilshan, 2 Kusal Perera, 3 mahela Jayawardene, 4 Kumar Sangakkara (wk), 5 dinesh Chandimal/Lahiru Thirimanne, 6 Angelo mathews, 7 Thisara Perera, 8 Nuwan Kulasekara, 9 Sachithra Senanayake, 10 Lasith malinga, 11 rangana Herath West Indies have all their parts in place, well-oiled, humming like a Lamborghini on a Sunday afternoon drive. Their XI is more settled. West Indies (probable) 1 dwayne Smith, 2 Chris Gayle, 3 Llendl Simmons, 4 marlon Samuels, 5 dwayne Bravo, 6 denesh ramdin (wk), 7 darren Sammy (capt), 8 Andre russell, 9 Sunil Narine, 10 Samuel Badree, 11 Krishmar Santokie
PITCH ANd CoNdITIoNS Pitches have become notoriously difficult to score on at this end of the tournament, particularly for teams batting second. dew is less of a concern in mirpur than it was in Chittagong. The weather is expected to be fine.
STAT ANd TrIvIA mahela Jayawardene is the top scorer in World T20s with 992 runs. Chris Gayle is second with 804, but has a slightly better average and strike rate Including this one, West Indies have made three semi-finals in this tournament and Sri Lanka, four. The last time they met at this stage, in 2009, Sri Lanka won Samuel Badree is the third-highest wicket taker in the tournament so far, with 10 scalps at an average of 9 and an economy rate of 5.62
Chief selector says picking seniors backfired Karachi AGENCIES
Pakistan’s new cricket chief selector Rashid Latif on Wednesday said relying on senior players had backfired after a familiar batting collapse saw the team crash out from the World Twenty20. The 2009 champions were crushed by the West Indies on Tuesday night, sliding to an 84-run loss after appearing to panic at the start of their chase. Latif, who took over as chief selector on Tuesday, said Pakistan’s decision to select too many senior players at the expense of youth had led to their downfall. “Just like Australia failed in their plans of selecting senior players, Pakistan also fumbled because of selecting senior players,” said the former captain and wicketkeeper. He declined to name any players but speculation is likely to focus on keeper Kamran Akmal and all-rounder Shoaib Malik, both aged 32 and recalled to the tournament after long periods out of the side. Akmal scored just 48 runs in four outings, performing only moderately behind the stumps, while Malik hit 52 runs in the tournament and was not given a chance to bowl. Both were selected for their experience but could not prevent Pakistan from being shot out for a paltry 82 - their secondlowest total ever - in pursuit of 167 runs. Latif also joined a chorus of ex-players decrying Pakistan’s batting in particular for once again letting them down on the big stage. “West Indies were outstanding in their batting and Pakistan were shocking,” he said. “They
won the match because of outstanding batting and we lost it because of our batsmen.” After being pinned down for the first 15 overs, Dwayne Bravo (46 off 26 balls) and skipper Darren Sammy (42 off 20) lifted the West Indies by smashing a whopping 82 runs in the last five overs to take their team’s total to 166 for 5. Opening batsman Ahmed Shehzad was bowled for a duck on the first ball, and Pakistan thereafter never looked in the game. Former batting great Javed Miandad termed the defeat insipid. “Fans and former players can accept defeat but if you lose without putting up a good fight, like Pakistan did last night, it’s unacceptable,” said Miandad. “This is a fact that Pakistan do not have quality players in batting but the team was not as bad as it looked against the West Indies,” said Miandad. “The way they were stumped off spinners was shameful.” Ex-batsman Mohammad Yousuf, renowned for his elegant technique during his playing days, blamed an inability to rotate the strike under pressure for the batting failure. “Not a single batsman in the team has proper technique to deal with the spinners and hitting fours and sixes is not the only way to bat,” he said. Team coach Moin Khan, meanwhile, said Pakistan must address its flaws in batting before their series against Australia in the United Arab Emirates in October. “We have a big five month gap in our next series so we need to improve on our batting in training camps,” said Khan, who was appointed coach for the preceding Asia Cup and World Twenty20 only.
Najam Sethi should stop his predictions about Pakistan team: Mudassar Nazar MaNchESTEr AGENCIES
Former Pakistani test cricketer Mudassar Nazar said today that people with “Chirya” (spy sparrow) should stop predictions about Pakistan’s cricket team. The spy sparrow comment was directed at Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Najam Sethi, who as a journalist and analyst usually quotes ‘Chirya’ to give secret or confidential information. Speaking about the team’s defeat in ICC World Twenty20 2014 against West Indies, he said that Shoaib Malik does not de-
serve a place in the team. Mr. Nazar claimed that the fall of opening wickets put a lot of pressure on the team which they could not handle. Pakistan team will be coming back to Pakistan after a humiliating defeat against West Indies in a group 2 match of World Twenty20. Mudassar Nazar is Pakistan’s former test cricketer, he also became national coach for Pakistan after retirement and has coached a number of other teams, including Kenya’s national team in the season of 2005. In 1982 he earned the title of ‘Golden Arm’ at Lord’s for his match winning bowling spell against England. Published by Arif Nizami at Plot No 79, Sector 24, Korangi Industrial Area Karachi.
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watch it Live PTV SPORTS SRI LANKA V WEST INDIES 06:00 PM
Yuvraj skips training after football injury Dhaka: Yuvraj Singh missed India’s training session in Fatullah this afternoon after being hit on his ankle while playing football barefoot with his team-mates the previous day in Mirpur. “Yuvraj Singh had a blow on his left ankle, for precautionary reasons he is taking rest today,” RN Baba, the team’s media manager, said in a release. All the other 14 members of the squad were present for the session. Yuvraj had gone down amid a tussle for the ball near the goal on the side ground in Mirpur. He did a theatrical, professional football impression, writhing in mock agony, and lying down for a few seconds, before he smiled, got up, took a few tentative steps, and immediately resumed playing. AGENCIES