E paper pdf (11 10 2014) isb by Pakistan Today

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TAKE A BOW,

MALALA!

AT 17, PAKISTANI TEEN EDUCATION ACTIVIST IS THE YOUNGEST RECIPIENT OF THE PRESTIGIOUS PRIZE IN ITS HISTORY AND THE SECOND PAKISTANI AFTER RENOWNED SCIENTIST DR ABDUS SALAM TO HAVE WON THIS AWARD

Saturday, 11 October, 2014 Zil Hajj 15, 1435 Rs 17.00 Vol V No 99 16 Pages Islamabad Edition

RELATED STORIES ON PAGES 02 & 04

Stampede at ptI rally kIllS Seven, more deathS feared n

Multan DCO holds PTI responsible for mismanagement, says organisers were responsible for people’s security inside venue PTI leaders say Multan DCO responsible for incident as he should have opened all gates of stadium for exit

STORY ON PAGE 03

WAR WITH INDIA ‘NOT AN OPTION’, SAYS SHARIF AS LOC CLASHES EASE PAKISTAN URGES INDIA TO LET UN OBSERVERS VISIT LOC ANGRY MODI SPEWS VITRIOL AGAINST PAKISTAN STORIES ON PAGE 02

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02 NEWS

Saturday, 11 October 2014

War With india ‘not an option’, says sharif as LoC CLashes ease PM SAYS PAKISTAN HAS REPLIED ‘BEFITTINGLY’ TO INDIA’S VIOLATION OF LOC CEASEFIRE

SAYS IT IS SHARED RESPONSIBILITY OF LEADERSHIPS OF BOTH COUNTRIES TO DEFUSE SITUATION

INTERIOR MINISTER NISAR SAYS PAKISTAN WILL NOT ACCEPT INDIAN HEGEMONY ON BORDER

ISLAMABAD

STAFF REPORT

S fighting between Pakistan and India eased on Friday after days of cross-border strikes by Indian and Pakistani forces that left at least 20 civilians dead and forced thousands more from their homes, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said that war with India was not an option, but that Pakistan would respond with “full force” to any attempt to challenge its sovereignty. Addressing a meeting of the National Security Committee summoned to discuss the escalation of border clashes between the two countries, Prime Minister Sharif said Pakistan’s desire for peace should not be misunderstood and called upon India to immediately honour the sanctity of the Line of Control (LoC) and working boundary and halt firing for durable peace. “Pakistan has replied befittingly to India’s violation of the ceasefire,” he said, deploring the loss of lives on Pakistan’s side as a result of Indian firing. “The National Security Committee stressed the fact that both countries are aware of each other’s capabilities. War is not an option,” the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement after the meeting. “It is shared responsibility of the

leadership of both countries to immediately defuse the situation,” the statement added. “The committee expressed the resolve that any attempt to challenge Pakistan’s territorial integrity and sovereignty will be responded with full force. The armed forces assured the National Security Committee that they are fully prepared to deal with any adversity at our borders,” the statement said. Further, the top military leadership briefed the meeting’s participants about the latest situation along the LoC and working boundary and clarified that Pakistani forces are only firing in defence and not targeting civilian areas.

ANGRY MODI SPEWS VITRIOL AGAINST PAKISTAN n

Indian PM says his army has taught Pakistan a ‘beﬁtting lesson’

NEW DELHI: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Friday Pakistan has been taught a “befitting lesson” with the Indian Army “shutting their mouth,” Times of India reported. Modi’s statement comes after a lull in fighting between India and Pakistan after days of heavy shelling and gun battles across the border. “Pakistan has got a befitting lesson. They will not dare to repeat it again. Our jawans have shut their mouth,” he said addressing an election rally in Maharashtra. Modi also slammed Congress for targeting him over his government’s response to Pakistan’s aggression. “Congress is busy issuing statements over what is happening on the Pakistan border. This not the time for empty boli‘ (talk) by them, but for goli (bullet) by our jawans,” he said. Modi upped the rhetoric saying India’s soldiers had “responded to the aggression with courage,” and described Pakistan as “the enemy”. Earlier on Friday, Indian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Syed Akbaruddin said that India will respond to Pakistan appropriately and it is in Pakistan’s hands to de-escalate the border conflict. Akbaruddin’s statement comes a day after Indian Defence Minister Arun Jaitley warned Pakistan that it would be made to pay an ‘unaffordable’ price if the clashes continued. AGENCIES

PUNJAB RANGERS DG SEES POLITICAL INFLUENCE BEHIND INDIAN BORDER AGGRESSION LAHORE: Punjab Rangers Director General Major General Tahir Javaid Khan on Friday said Indian aggression along the border could be due to political influence, saying that such clashes could not have a military agenda. The Rangers DG was briefing journalists about Indian firing and shelling along the Sialkot working boundary. He said that Indian firing along the working boundary has been ongoing for two years, adding that unarmed Pakistani civilians were being targeted. Khan also provided a breakdown of the firearms used in the ceasefire violations, stating that 31,868 mortar rounds have been used in the stipulated time period. He added that 438,361 small and big weapons have been used against Pakistan. The Rangers DG claimed that such a large quantity of weapons and mortar shells had not even been used in a full-scale war. Khan rejected allegations levelled by India regarding infiltration of militants in its territory due to assistance from Pakistan and said that it should investigate those locations from where this purported infiltration originated. STAFF REPORT

OPERATION ZARb-E-AZb: Terming his visit to Miranshah a moving experience, Prime Minister Sharif said he was thrilled to see what the armed forces have achieved so far in the ongoing Operation Zarb-e-Azb against foreign and local militants in North Waziristan. Mentioning his meeting with the officers and soldiers fighting in the operation, Sharif said, “They have fought very bravely in the area and cleared all of North Waziristan area.” “We saw a mosque which was used for brainwashing young minds, rooms where people were trained for terrorism and weapon depots,” he said, as he nar-

rated his experience. Paying rich tribute to those fighting terrorists in the agency, the premier said the terrorists have paid a heavy price for the operation. INDIAN HEGEMONY UNACCEPTAbLE: Addressing a press conference after the NSC meeting, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said that Pakistan will not accept India’s hegemony on the border and will reply “befittingly” to India’s violation of ceasefire. Echoing Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Defence Minister Khawaja Asif’s earlier statements, Nisar upheld that peace is the only way to maintain

cordial relationships between the two neighbouring countries. “Dialogue is the only way for peace,” he said. Referring to the NSC meeting, Nisar said senior military officials had informed the participants that India’s Border Security Force had been using heavy ammunition unlike previous instances of ceasefire violations. Refuting Indian Defence Minister Arun Jaitley’s claims that Pakistan initiated firing, Nisar said that Pakistani forces have no reason to engage in this ‘adventurism’ when troops are fighting a war against militants in North Waziristan. He added that the nation was celebrating Eidul Azha when Indian forces killed at least 12 civilians living along the Line of Control and the working boundary. “We don’t need this adventure,” the interior minister asserted, adding that India and Pakistan are both nuclear states and should act responsibly. The interior ministry further said that Pakistan Army is capable of fighting local and foreign enemies and will ensure the safety of the country. “Kashmir is the reason for the dispute and recent escalation of border clashes,” Nisar said, adding that Pakistan has been actively working towards peace with its neighbour. “Pakistan has taken positive steps to improve relations with India,” the interior minister said referring to Prime Minister Sharif’s visit to New Delhi in May to attend his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi’s swearing-in ceremony. “The entire nation was hopeful that this gesture will bring peace in the two counties,” he added. However, Nisar regretted that despite Pakistan’s positive steps towards peace with India were not reciprocated. “India cancelled foreign secretary-level bilateral talks on a baseless reason. Meeting with Hurriyat leaders is routine and not uncommon,” Nisar said, referring to India’s reason for the cancellation of talks which were scheduled for August 25.

PAKISTAN URGES INDIA TO LET UN OBSERVERS VISIT LOC FO SPOKESPERSON SAYS PAKISTAN IS ONLY RESPONDING TO CROSS-BORDER FIRING BY INDIANS NEW YORK/ISLAMABAD AGENCIES

Pakistan urged India on Friday to allow the United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) to visit the Line of Control (LoC) in the disputed Kashmir region to investigate the recent ceasefire violations. Foreign Office (FO) Spokesperson Tasnim Aslam said that Pakistan took the UN observers to its side of the LoC and working boundary a few days back to show them the damage and pattern of firing by Indian Border Security Force (BSF). “The observers will compile a report and send it to UN as per the practice,” the spokesperson said at her weekly media briefing. “UNMOGIP is a neutral observer and its investigations and

PAKISTANI ENVOY TO UN SAYS PAKISTAN WANTS UNIFORM IMPLEMENTATION OF UN RESOLUTIONS ON INTERNATIONAL DISPUTES

recommendations should be acceptable to India. The best option for India is to allow the observers to visit India’s side of the LoC to assess the situation,” the FO spokesperson asserted. She dispelled the impression that Pakistan had initiated the episodes of cross-border shelling along the LoC, adding that any motive cannot be ascribed to Pakistan. “We are only responding to the situation created at the LoC. We have not escalated the situation or violated the ceasefire,” said Aslam. “On the other side of the LoC, there are our Kashmiri brothers. We are taking great care of civilian casualties. Fire is returned from where the fire comes.” The FO spokesperson added that India had escalated the situation, asserting that the escalation at the LoC would

be counterproductive in bringing Pakistan to the negotiating table. “We do not speculate about the reasons of the escalation of tensions at the LoC. Advocacy of right of self-determination of Kashmiris is Pakistan’s responsibility and commitment. We have done it in past and would continue to do so,” the spokesperson said, while blaming India for the cancellation of foreign secretary level talks scheduled between India and Pakistan for August. IMPLEMENT UN RESOLUTIONS: Meanwhile, Pakistan’s permanent representative to the UN Masood Khan said Friday that failure to implement UN resolutions undermines credibility of international rule of law. Addressing UN General Assembly’s Sixth Legal Committee in

MALALA INVITES NAWAZ, MODI TO ATTEND NOBEL CEREMONY Dedicates Nobel Peace Prize to ‘voiceless’ children around the world BIRMINGHAM INP

Education rights campaigner Malala Yousafzai has dedicated her Nobel Peace Prize–which she shares with Indian child rights’ activist Kailash Satyarthi –to “voiceless” children around the world, and called on the Indian and Pakistani premiers to attend the award ceremony for the sake of peace. The 17-year-old, who heard the news while she was in a Chemistry lesson at school in Birmingham, central England, said she was honoured to be the youngest person and the first Pakistani to receive the accolade. “The award is for all the children who are voiceless, whose voices need to be heard,”

Malala told a press conference, held at the end of the school day so she would not miss class. “This is not the end of my campaign, but the beginning,” she said. “This award is for all those children who are voiceless, whose voices need to be heard. They have the right to receive quality education. They have the right not to suffer from child labor, not to suffer from child trafficking. They have the right to live a happy life,” said Malala. She said she had already spoken to Satyarthi to discuss how they could work together and also try to reduce tensions between India and Pakistan. To that end, she urged Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to attend the Nobel award ceremony on December 10 in Stockholm.

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New York, Khan said that longstanding disputes and situations must be resolved in accordance with the relevant UN resolutions. Pakistan has underscored the need for the implementation of UN Security Council (UNSC) resolutions on international disputes with uniformity. He called for respect and adherence to the fundamental principles of the UN Charter that envisage sovereign equality of states, peaceful settlement of disputes, refraining in international relations from the threat or use of force, noninterference in internal affairs and the right to self-determination. “Rule of law and access to speedy and inexpensive justice, culture of accountability and elimination of corruption are Pakistan’s priorities,” said Khan.

PTI’S TARIN RECOVERING WELL POST SURGERY; HOPES TO BE BACK SOON! MONITORING DESK Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) General Secretary Jahangir Tareen tweeted Friday that he is recovering speedily and expects to be back in Pakistan soon following a visit to the United Kingdom for a surgery. “My surgery went very well, Mashallah. Thank you for all your prayers. Recovering even quicker than expected. Hope to be back soon inshallah,” tweeted Tarin. The PTI secretary general also wished that he were present at the party’s rally in Multan which took place later in the day. Meanwhile, regarding Tarin’s successful surgery, PTI Information Secretary Shireen Mazari stated in a social media message, “Glad to hear of your successful surgery and recovery. May Allah grant you complete recovery and a long life.”

Saturday, 11 October 2014

NEWS

stampede at pti raLLy kiLLs 7, more deaths feared MULTAN DCO HOLDS PTI RESPONSIBLE FOR MISMANAGEMENT, SAYS ORGANISERS WERE RESPONSIBLE FOR PEOPLE’S SECURITY INSIDE VENUE MULTAN

STAFF REPORT

HE festive public gathering of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Friday turned into mourning after at least seven people were killed while 78 others were injured as a result of a stampede at the end of the mammoth political rally at Qasim Stadium, with several observers holding the party responsible for the tragedy. Doctors at Nishtar Hospital told Pakistan Today that some 38 injured people brought to the hospital were in critical condition and expressed fears that the death toll could rise. Multan District Coordination Officer Zahid Saleem Gondal said the stampede and the subsequent deaths had resulted due to mismanagement of the PTI organising committee as the arrangements inside the stadium were

ABDUCTED PAKISTANI ENGINEERS FREED IN AFGHANISTAN KAbUL: Two Pakistani engineers abducted by unidentified gunmen in Afghanistan’s northern Jawzjan province last month, have been released by their captors, Afghan officials have said. Local security officials said that the two Pakistani engineers were abducted by gunmen nearly two months ago from Afghanistan’s Shebarghan city. Provincial Police Chief Faqir Mohammad said Thursday that the local tribal elders also played an important role in securing the freedom of the abducted Pakistani nationals. The police chief added that preliminary reports suggest the captors received a ransom to free the hostages. However, the officials of the construction firm where the two engineers were working have said that no ransom was paid against the freedom of the abducted engineers. The kidnappers also killed the driver of the two engineers almost a week after they were abducted and left his body in Dasht-e-Laili area. NNI

PTI LEADERS SAY MULTAN DCO RESPONSIBLE FOR INCIDENT AS HE SHOULD HAVE OPENED ALL GATES OF STADIUM FOR EXIT

the party’s responsibility. Gondal said the organisers switched off the lights soon after PTI Chairman Imran Khan’s address and turned on the music, leading to confusion among the people. “We were able to save several lives by timely hosing water on the participants else several people would have died of suffocation and getting trampled under the feet of the running PTI supporters,” he added. Rejecting the DCO’s claims, PTI Information Secretary Shireen Mazari said the tragic incident had resulted due to negligence of the district administration and local police. “The district administration and police did not extend any cooperation to PTI for holding the rally and we demand an impartial and transparent probe into the incident,” she told Pakistan Today. However, PTI leader Imran Ismail admitted

PTI CHIEF SAYS INDIAN PM SHOULD ACT LIKE A STATESMAN INSTEAD OF FLEXING MUSCLES IN KASHMIR MULTAN Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan on Friday derided Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for being a coward and not responding to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s threats against Pakistan. “You [Modi] could solve the Kashmir issue instead of being a

CRITICISES PM SHARIF FOR KEEPING SILENT ON DRONE ATTACKS AND INDIAN AGGRESSION ON LOC

muscle man in this instance,” said the PTI chief, while addressing a mammoth gathering at the Multan stadium. “This is the time for you to withdraw your troops from Kashmir. Bringing peace should be your aim,” said Khan, adding that the Indian PM should choose to be a statesman instead of flexing muscles under the current circumstances.

JEDDAH Three Pakistani Haj pilgrims have been killed and eleven injured in a traffic accident near Afif on the Riyadh-Makkah highway in Saudi Arabia. “We came to know of the accident late on Tuesday and found that the deceased were Pakistani expatriates whose bodies were charred beyond recognition,” Shaji, a social worker in Afif reportedly said. He added that more than 10 people, mostly Pakistani nationals were among the injured and had been admitted to a hospital for treatment with a few of them fighting for their life. The accident reportedly occurred when the car in which the pilgrims were travelling had a head-on collision with another vehicle. EIGHT HAJIS INJURED: In another accident, eight Asian nationals were injured on the Madinah-Qasim highway on Tuesday night, according to the Saudi Red Crescent Society. “A minibus carrying Haj pilgrims rammed into a car on Tuesday night resulting in nine people suffering injuries of varying degrees from moderate to critical. The injured also included the African driver of the other car,” said Khalid Al-Harbi, spokesperson of the Saudi Red Crescent Society in Madinah in a statement.

MULTAN: The PTI rally at Qasim Stadium attracted a mammoth crowd on Friday. ONLINE

“The administration had even cut power supply to the stadium and we had to use power generators for lighting and sound for our rally. The administration should have opened the other four gates of the stadium as well but they did not,” Qureshi claimed, alleging that the actions were being taken at the behest of the Punjab government to fail the PTI rally. Dismissing Qureshi’s allegations, DCO Gondal said the administration had opened five gates for the rally participants and deployed 2,500 policemen for the rally’s security. “The PTI had taken responsibility for installing generators for power supply even though the district administration had not cut off electricity supply to the venue. Their mismanagement is evident since they had not even put a ladder with the container and all leaders, including Imran Khan, had to climb a power pylon to get on top of the stage,” he said.

was responsible for the stampede. “The administration had opened two gates of the stadium for entry of the participants. They should have opened the other four gates when the rally concluded keeping in view the large number of participants yet they kept the gates closed,” he said, adding that the Multan DCO was entirely responsible for the deaths of the PTI supporters. “I don’t want to do politics on such a tragedy but Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif should immediately suspend the DCO and hold a probe into the incident,” he said. In Multan, PTI Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi also held the Multan DCO responsible for the incident. Talking to reporters outside Nishtar Hospital, Qureshi said that the venue for the PTI rally had been suggested by the DCO therefore it was his responsibility to ensure proper arrangements at the site.

Khan lashes out at PM’s ‘silence’, replies to Modi’s broadsides

THREE PAKISTANI HAJIS KILLED, 11 INJURED IN ROAD ACCIDENT INP

MULTAN: A man injured in the stampede at the PTI rally at Qasim Stadium is being transported to the hospital. ONLINE

IMRAN KHAN CALLS FOR SUSPENSION OF MULTAN DCO, PROBE INTO INCIDENT

that the party was responsible for the mismanagement that led to the tragic incident. “We had made sufficient arrangements but we had not anticipated such a massive turnout at the gathering. I admit that more doors should have been opened to facilitate easy exit to the participants,” he said. Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed, chief of the Awami Muslim League and an ally of Imran Khan, also admitted that the arrangements for the rally were inadequate. “The PTI organising committee should have made better arrangements,” he said, adding that the people’s turnout was unexpected. KHAN, QURESHI HOLD DCO RESPONSIbLE: Imran Khan, who left the venue for Islamabad soon after concluding his address, told his supporters at the sit-in venue at D-Chowk in Islamabad that the Multan district administration

STAFF REPORT

Commenting on relations between Pakistan and India, the PTI chief said: “If relations improve between Pakistan and India, we could spend more money on eradicating poverty instead of defence.” “On one side there are drone strikes, on the other there are attacks on the Sialkot border but Nawaz Sharif has not made a statement on either issue,” said Khan. He went on to claim that Nawaz Sharif had not issued a statement against Modi’s statements to safeguard his family’s business interests in India. “Why hasn’t Nawaz addressed the issue of drone attacks?” Imran asked rhetorically, adding that Nawaz did not have the courage to tell the US that drone attacks are against our sovereignty. Imran also hit out at former president Asif Ali Zardari, saying he would break the partnership between Zardari and Nawaz. The PTI chief said he would hold a rally in Larkana on November 21 to “awaken the people of Sindh”.

IHC REJECTS PETITION TO DISQUALIFY PM ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT

Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui of Islamabad High Court (IHC) dismissed on Friday a petition seeking disqualification of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Petitioner Waheed Kamal had challenged Sharif’s eligibility through the petition filed under Article 199 of the Constitution. The petitioner argued before the court that Sharif has been accused in graft cases, including the Mehran Bank scandal, and had allegedly received Rs 3.3million from the InterServices Intelligence (ISI) to destabilise the government of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) during the early 1990s. The scandal, popularly known as Mehrangate, was a major political scandal in the history of Pakistan in 1990-1994 where senior politicians and political parties were accused of receiving millions of rupees from the ISI. The petitioner; Kamal requested the court to disqualify Sharif as he was not an honest or a sagacious person. He also requested the court to disqualify Member National Assembly Jamshed Dasti as he levelled false allegations on the parliamentarians which he could not prove. Justice Siddiqui dismissed the petition after the preliminary hearing claiming it as nonmaintainable.

ZARDARI DOESN’T SEE FRESH POLLS ANYTIME SOON PPP LEADER VOWS TO MAKE PUNJAB PPP HUB, SAYS IT IS TIME FOR PARTICIPANTS OF SIT-INS TO END PROTESTS LAHORE STAFF REPORT

Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) CoChairman Asif Ali Zardari said Friday that Benazir Bhutto was the role model for Pakistani women, particularly those participating in politics. Addressing PPP office-bearers and workers from Sargodha Division, Zardari said, “Benazir faced the ferocious dictatorship of General Ziaul Haq but did not compromise on democracy and rights of the masses.” He said that PPP Chairman Bilawal

Bhutto had also entered politics with the “resolve to complete the mission of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and Benazir”. “He took the decision despite the fact that his grandfather, mother and uncles were murdered and his father spent almost 12 years in jail,” said Zardari. Appreciating PPP Punjab President Manzoor Wattoo’s efforts to organize PPP in Punjab, Zardari vowed to make Punjab a PPP hub once again. “Punjab is the heart of PPP because Zulfikar Bhutto defeated many political stalwarts in Punjab, not in Sindh.”

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“I want to know PPP office-bearers of every tier by name,” said Zardari, adding that he would interact with the party’s office bearers at the district and union council levels after October18. Reiterating that PPP would continue to support democratic system, Zardari said he did not foresee immediate elections in the country. “PPP, in consultation with other political forces, would give the date for the elections,” he said, adding that the elections would be held to strengthen democracy and Parliament. PACK UP THE SIT-INS: Observing that the quarters which managed the “political game” had been obliged, Zardari said it was time for the agitating parties to “pack up and go home”. The long sit-ins have raised many questions, as it is “very expensive” to

even hold a one-day public gathering, he said. Zardari opined that the agitating parties could not sustain the tempo and “it was only a matter of time that they went home”. “Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leadership should follow the Narendra Modi model of Gujarat and uplift Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) which is mired in a host of problems,” said Zardari. In an apparent jab at former skipper and PTI Chairman Imran Khan, Zardari said, “Politics is not a game and the players should not treat it as such.” Many families have built hospitals in the country but building a hospital does not give the builder the right to delve into politics, said Zardari. “Following this criterion Abdul Sattar Edhi should be leading politics in the country,” he said.

04 NEWS

Saturday, 11 October 2014

take a bow, Malala! AT 17, PAKISTANI TEEN EDUCATION ACTIVIST IS THE YOUNGEST RECIPIENT OF THE PRESTIGIOUS PRIZE IN ITS HISTORY AND THE SECOND PAKISTANI AFTER RENOWNED SCIENTIST DR ABDUS SALAM TO HAVE WON THIS AWARD OSLO

AGENCIES

POTLIGHTING the struggle for children’s rights, the Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to Pakistani girls’ education activist Malala Yousafzai and Indian children’s rights activist Kailash Satyarthi, the Nobel committee announced Friday. Still a high school student, Malala Yousafzai, 17, is the youngest winner in history of a prize that is infrequently awarded to women, and the second Pakistani after renowned scientist Dr Abdus Salam, who won it for his contribution in the field of Physics in 1979. The choice is likely to be among the most inspiring and popular in years. Both Malala and Satyarthi have made exceptional sacrifices, facing the very real possibility of death for their work advocating children’s rights and education. The decision was also packed with symbolism: a shared award for a Pakistani and an Indian, both struggling for children’s rights in two neighbouring rival powers, whose disputed borders in Kashmir have been wracked by intense

MALALA TO SHARE PRIZE WITH INDIAN CHILDREN’S RIGHTS ACTIVIST KAILASH SATYARTHI ‘FOR THEIR STRUGGLE AGAINST THE SUPPRESSION OF CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE AND FOR THE RIGHT OF ALL CHILDREN TO EDUCATION’

shelling in recent days. The difference in the recipients’ ages — 17 and 60 — underscored that the struggle for fundamental human rights is everyone’s business, no matter how young or old. The committee said the pair will receive the award “for their struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education.” The committee “regards it as an important point for a Hindu and a Muslim, an Indian and a Pakistani, to join in a common struggle for education and against extremism”. Malala Yousafzai captured the world’s imagination by refusing to bow to terrorism after a Taliban gunman shot her in the face in 2012. Miraculously, she survived and recovered to undertake an international media and online campaign for the rights of women to be educated in her native Swat Valley. In October last year, on Jon Stewart’s “The Daily Show,” she softly expounded on her philosophy of peace: If a member of the Taliban attacked her again, she said, she wouldn’t stoop to her first reaction — to hit him with a shoe. “I said to myself, if you hit a Talib with your shoe, there will be no difference be-

SATYARTHI TO ‘JOIN HANDS’ WITH MALALA FOR PEACE

tween you and the Talib. You must not treat others with that much cruelty and harshness. You must fight others, but through peace and through dialogue and through education.” She said, “I will tell him how important education is and that I even want education for [his] children as well.” The Nobel committee noted that despite her youth, Malala Yousafzai had become a global advocate for girls’ education, showing that young people could foster change. “This she has done under the most dangerous circumstances. Through her heroic struggle she has become a leading spokesperson for girls’ rights to education,” the committee said. Malala Yousafzai’s hashtag, #StrongerThanFear, sums up her philosophy after the terrifying gun attack, which occurred when she was 15. The gunman asked for her by name before firing a bullet that went through her head, neck and shoulder. Four months later, declaring that she was not afraid of being attacked again, she set up a foundation promoting girls’ education. Addressing the United Nations in July last year, she said she didn’t hate the man who shot her.

MALALA MISSED OUT ON PEACE PRIZE IN 2013 FOR BEING TOO YOUNG, NOBEL INSTITUTE ADMITS LONDON AGENCIES

NEW DELHI: India’s Kailash Satyarthi dedicated the Nobel Peace Prize that he shared on Friday to children in slavery, pledging to “join hands” with fellow laureate Malala Yousafzai of Pakistan as their two countries fought over the territory of Kashmir. The 60-year-old children’s rights campaigner was recognised for his battle against child trafficking with Bachpan Bachao Andolan – or Save the Childhood Movement – a group he founded in 1980 after quitting his job as an electrical engineer. “It’s a great statement from the Nobel committee, looking at the present scenario in India and Pakistan,” Satyarthi told reporters who besieged his office in New Delhi after the prize was announced in Oslo. “Beside our fight against child slavery and against the menace of illiteracy on the subcontinent and globally, we hope both of us will be able to fight for peace,” he said referring to Malala, a campaigner for girls’ education rights who, at the age of 17, became the youngest Nobel Prize winner ever. “I will talk to Malala soon. I know her, and I will invite her to join hands to establish peace for our subcontinent – which is a must for children, which is a must for every Indian, for every Pakistani, for every citizen of the world.” Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has taken a tough line on Pakistan since his general election victory in May, congratulated Satyarthi. In a tweet, Modi said: “Kailash Satyarthi has devoted his life to a cause that is extremely relevant to entire humankind. I salute his determined efforts.” He also described Malala’s life as “a journey of immense grit & courage”. AGENCIES

“They thought that the bullets would silence us. But they failed. And then, out of that silence came thousands of voices. The terrorists thought that they would change our aims and stop our ambitions but nothing changed in my life except this: Weakness, fear and hopelessness died. Strength, power and courage was born. I am the same Malala. My ambitions are the same. My hopes are the same. My dreams are the same,” she said. She told the BBC in an interview last year she didn’t want to live “just sitting in a room and be imprisoned in my four walls and just cooking and giving birth to children.” Satyarthi, one of the world’s leading campaigners against child slavery, has staged countless raids in India over 30 years to free child slaves in the rug-making industry. The former electrical engineer has led mass marches across India to draw attention to the plight of children and their parents bonded into labor. Satyarthi founded

The Norwegian Nobel Institute has admitted for the first time ever that the global figurehead for a girl’s right to an education — Malala Yousafzai missed out on the Nobel peace prize in 2013 for being too young. She however won the world’s most coveted prize on Friday. This still makes her the youngest Nobel laureate ever at the age of 17. So far, 47 Nobel prizes have gone to women between 1901 and 2014. Malala became the 16th woman being awarded the Nobel peace prize which also includes Mother Teresa from India. Director of the Nobel Institute in Oslo Geir Lundestad told TOI in an exclusive interview “It is a tremendous responsibility to win the Nobel prize.

And when you give it to someone too young or too unknown, it changes their life forever. We throw them out to the world stage overnight. We felt the same about Malala last year and thought it was too early for her to receive the prize.” The Nobel committee was also wary whether Malala would be able to handle the pressure that comes from global fame and expectation after winning the Nobel prize. “However, Malala has performed very well over the past year as a global ambassador for education and we felt it was time to give her the prize,” Lundestad told TOI. The Norwegian Nobel Committee had awarded the prize in 2013 to the International Chemical Weapons watchdog that is destroying poison gas stockpiles in Syria, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.

the Indian anti-child slavery movement, Bachpan Bachao Andolan, in 1980, and set up the Global March Against Child Labor in the 1990s, a network of organizations committed to wiping out child labour and slavery. Malala Yousafzai and Satyarthi were selected by the Nobel committee from a record field of 278 nominations, covering the year to February 2014. The Nobel committee has drawn criticism in the past for an underrepresentation of women among the Peace Prize laureates and for some controversial awards, including one to President Obama shortly after he became president, and to Yasser Arafat and Henry Kissinger. Among the other nominees this year were Pope Francis, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden and Russian independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta, which has seen at least six of its journalists murdered in an atmosphere of increasing repression in Russia.

Malala is Pakistan’s Pride! ISLAMABAD INP

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has congratulated teenaged education campaigner Malala Yousafzai on winning the Nobel Peace Prize Friday, calling her the pride of Pakistan. “She is the pride of Pakistan. She has made her countrymen proud. Her achievement is unparalleled and unequalled. Girls and boys of the world should take the lead from her struggle and commitment,” said a statement by Sharif. Other political leaders, including Pakistan People’s Party Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari, National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, Muttahida Qaumi Movement Chairman Altaf Hussain, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Marvi Memon, women’s rights activist Farzana Bari, Assefa Bhutto and ISPR DG Major General Asim Bajwa have also congratulated Malala for winning the Nobel Peace Prize.

Malala — idol to the world, outcast at hoMe ISLAMABAD AGENCIES

Malala Yousafzai, who won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday, is hailed around the world as a champion of women’s rights who stood up bravely against the Taliban to defend her beliefs. But in Pakistan, many view her with suspicion as an outcast or even as a Western creation aimed at damaging the country’s image abroad. Malala, now aged 17, became globally known in 2012 when Taliban gunmen almost killed her for her passionate advocacy of women’s right to education. She has since become a symbol of defiance in the fight against militants operating in Pashtun tribal areas in northwest Pakistan — a region where women are expected to keep their opinions to themselves and stay at home. “The terrorists thought that they would change our aims and stop our ambitions but nothing changed in my life except this: Weakness, fear and hopelessness died. Strength, power and

courage was born,” she told the United Nations last year. “I do not even hate the Talib who shot me. Even if there is a gun in my hand and he stands in front of me. I would not shoot him,” she said in a speech which captivated the world. Malala has also won the European Union’s human rights award and was one of the favourites to win the Nobel Prize last year. Now based in Britain, she is unable to return to her homeland because of Taliban threats to kill her and her family members. The current Taliban chief, Mullah Fazlullah, was the one who ordered the 2012 attack against her. Yousafzai has enrolled in a school in Birmingham and become a global campaigner for women’s right to education and other human rights issues, taking up issues such as the situation in Syria and Nigeria. In her native Swat valley, however, many people view Malala — backed by a supportive family and a doting father who inspired her to keep up with her campaign — with a mixture of suspicion, fear and jealousy. At the time of her Nobel nomination last year, social media sites were brimming with insult-

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ing messages. “We hate Malala Yousafzai, a CIA agent,” said one Facebook page. She was a young student in the Swati town of Mingora in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province when she became interested in the rights of female students. At the time, the Taliban were in power in the strategic valley after they took control over the region and imposed strict rules, including their opposition to women’s education. She wrote an anonymous blog describing her life under the Taliban controlled the region. In October 2012, after the Taliban were pushed out of Swat by the Pakistani army, she was shot in the head on her way to school by a Taliban gunman. She survived after being airlifted to Britain for treatment and recovered from her life-threatening wounds. “The wise saying, ‘The pen is mightier than sword’ was true. The extremists are afraid of books and pens,” she told the United Nations. “The power of education frightens them. They are afraid of women. The power of the voice of women frightens them.”

Saturday, 11 October, 2014

NEWS

thousands of hong kong protesters regroup after govt rejects talks HONG KONG AGENCIES

A pro-democracy demonstrator reacts during a speech after the government cancelled talks scheduled for Friday as protesters block areas around the government headquarters office.

7 witchcraft suspects burned to death in tanzania DARA SALAAM AGENCIES

Seven people accused of witchcraft have been burned alive in Tanzania, police said Friday, adding they have arrested 23 people in connection with the crimes. “They were attacked and burnt to death by a mob of villagers who accused them of engaging in witchcraft,” the police chief for the western Kigoma region which borders Burundi, Jafari Mohamed, told reporters. “Five of those killed were aged over 60, while the other two were aged over 40,” he added. Among those arrested on suspicion of carrying out the killings was the local traditional healer, or witch doctor. The attack in the village of Murufiti took place on Monday but reports only emerged after police announced the arrest of the suspects. “We are holding 23 people including local leaders in connection with the attack,” Mohamed said. “They will appear in court to face murder charges. “Belief in witches and black magic remains strong in many parts of Tanzania. A local rights group, the Legal and Human Rights Centre (LHRC), has estimated as many as 500 “witches” are lynched every year, based on reports that counted some 3,000 people killed between 2005 and 2011. Many of those killed were elderly women, the centre said.

pakistani peacekeeper killed in central africa ambush UNITED NATIONS AGENCIES

A UN peacekeeper from Pakistan was killed on Thursday in the Central African Republic during a flareup of violence engulfing the capital of Bangui after months of relative calm. Another soldier was severely wounded during the ambush on a joint PakistaniBangladeshi convoy and seven others suffered slight injuries, UN officials said. It was the first peacekeeper death of the mission that deployed last month in the Central African Republic, taking over from African-led troops that were sent after a March 2013 coup plunged the country into bloodshed and chaos. The head of the UN mission, Babacar Gaye, strongly condemned the ambush. “This crime against the UN peacekeepers, who are here to help the people of the Central African Republic, is unacceptable, and the perpetrators will be held accountable and brought to justice,” he said. Bangui has been rocked by two days of violence pitting the city's Muslim and Christian populations, leaving at least seven people dead and many dozens wounded, according to UN sources in Bangui.

HOUSANDS of protesters regrouped in central Hong Kong on Friday to push their call for democracy, a day after the government called off talks with students amid a two-week standoff that has shaken communist China's capitalist hub. Scores arrived with tents, suggesting they were in for the long haul despite a call by police to remove obstacles that have blocked major roads in and out of the financial center, causing traffic and commuter chaos with tail-backs stretching for miles. Police said they would take action at an appropriate time, without specifying

what. "I've just set up camp here under the bridge and I will come down to occupy whenever I can," said Wong Laiwa, 23. "I may have to go back to school during the day, but I will make every effort to come back." The protesters are well equipped to sit it out, with supply stations stocked with essentials such as water, biscuits, noodles and cereals. They also have makeshift showers and dozens of tents already pitched where they can sleep. "Everyone is trying to create his own space, or to defend his own position," said Travis Chu, sitting with four friends in the Admiralty district. "Even though it seems things are in a bottleneck now, all we can do is to stay on and continue the occupation."

KIM JONG-UN ABSENT FROM KEY POLITICAL EVENT, FEEDING HEALTH RUMOURS

Admiralty is home to government offices next to the Central business district, giving the name to the "Occupy Central" movement, which has combined with the student protests to try to push the government to introduce universal suffrage. The crowd had built to over 1,000 in the gritty, crowded suburb of Mong Kok, on the Kowloon side of the harbour, scene of some of the most violent clashes between protesters and police and pro-Beijing groups last week. The government's decision on Thursday to call off the talks with students came as democratic lawmakers demanded anti-graft officers investigate a $6.4 million business payout to the city's pro-Beijing leader, Leung Chunying, while in office. Australia's Fairfax Media this week revealed the business payout to Leung by an Australian engineering company. China rules the former British colony through a "one country, two systems" formula which allows wide-ranging autonomy and freedoms not enjoyed on the mainland and specifies universal suffrage as an eventual goal.

us launches more airstrikes against is in syria, iraq WASHINGTON AGENCIES

PYONGYANG AGENCIES

The leader of North Korea, who has been out of the media spotlight about a month ago, has not attended a major celebration, fuelling speculations over his health and control over the country. The national KCNA news agency has not mentioned Kim Jong-un among the officials who on Friday paid annual homage to the mausoleum of the deceased national leaders, Kim’s father and grandfather. It’s the first time in three years that the North Korean leader did not participate in the event, marking the anniversary of the ruling Workers’ Party foundation. A floral tribute with Kim's name was laid next to the statues of Kim

Jong-Il and Kim Il-Sung at the entrance to the Kumsusan mausoleum, though. The last time Kim, who is believed to be either 30 or 31 years old, was seen in public was on September 3 when he and his wife attended a music concert in Pyongyang. Broken ankles, gout and diabetes have been mentioned among possible reasons preventing the leader from appearing in public. A source with close ties to Pyongyang and Beijing has said Kim actually hurt his leg taking part in a military drill, but despite that was still in “total control” of the country. "He injured his ankle and knee around late August or early September while drilling because he is overweight. He limped around in the beginning but the injury worsened,"

said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "He ordered all the generals to take part in drills and he took part too. They were crawling and running and rolling around, and he pulled a tendon." The source said Kim needed about 100 days to recover. South Korean officials have also dismissed speculations of Kim possibly losing grip on the country because of his health. Unification Ministry spokesman Lim Byeong-Chul pointed to the North Korean state media reports about Kim's leadership. "Judging from these, it seems that Kim Jong-Un is ruling normally," Lim said, adding that the government had no specific intelligence on Kim's health.

The US armed forces have carried out six more airstrikes on the Islamic State (IS) strongholds in Syria, concentrated around the northern Kurdish city of Kobani, and two attacks in Iraq. According to the US Central Command (CENTCOM), between Wednesday and Thursday, five strikes were carried out to the south of the city, destroying a support building and two vehicles, and also damaging two combat units; while the sixth occurred in a northern district of the city. In Iraq, an airstrike south of Sinjar city destroyed a bunker, an ammunition cache and a small combat unit, while a second strike to the south of Mount Sinjar destroyed an armoured vehicle and another small IS unit. CENTCOM said Thursday that it was continuing to observe the situation in Kobani, adding that there were indications that Kurdish forces continue to control a major part of the city. The IS terrorists have been attacking Kobani for a little over three weeks, a few days after the international coalition began bombing IS positions in Syria. In the last few weeks, Kurdish irregulars have been battling IS militants in and around Kobani. However, they have not been able to prevent the extremists from taking over a third of the city. "I am fearful that Kobani will fall," said Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, who is in contact with Turkish authorities who have deployed forces along their border to prevent IS advancement into their territory.

Angry protesters yell at riot police in St Louis ST LOUIS AGENCIES Protesters angered by the fatal shooting of a black 18-year-old by a white police officer faced off with officers in south St Louis for a second night as accusations of racial profiling prompted calls for a federal investigation ahead of a weekend of planned peaceful rallies. State and city leaders have urged the Justice Department to investigate the death of Vonderrit D. Myers on Wednesday night, fearing he was targeted because he was black.

Police say the officer who killed Myers was returning fire, but Myers' parents say he was unarmed. “This here was racial profiling turned deadly,” state Sen. Jamilah Nasheed said at a news conference Thursday. Myers' death comes two months after the Aug 9 fatal shooting of Michael Brown, a black unarmed 18year-old, by a white police officer in nearby Ferguson. Brown's killing sparked dozens of often violent protests in the St Louis suburb. A state grand jury is deciding whether Officer Darren Wilson will

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face charges in his death. Late on Thursday night following a quiet candlelight prayer vigil for Myers, hundreds of people joined a more rowdy gathering in Shaw to protest his death. Police in riot gear lined up on a high street, flanked by brand name stores and restaurants. Protesters yelled abuse and profanities to taunt the officers, who silently stood their ground. Police helicopters buzzed above the neighborhood. Officers used pepper spray to force the crowd back. Some protesters burned the American flag, while others banged

on drums and shouted “This is what democracy looks like!” Some slammed the sides of police vans. Broken glass littered the street. Eventually the protesters backed off, moving a couple of blocks away. Riot police remained in the area. Activists and other protesters from around the country have been preparing for four days of rallies, marches and protests over the Ferguson shooting. Organisers say the events, which start Friday and include a march Saturday in downtown St Louis, have taken on added urgency in the wake of Myers' death.

06 ISLAMABAD

Saturday, 11 October, 2014

WEATHER UPDATES SATURDAY

280C 170C

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280C 160C

MONDAY

280C 150C

TUESDAY

280C 160C

PrayEr TImINgs FAJR

SUNRISE ZUHR

ASR

MAGHRIB ISHA

4:46

6:07

3:12

5:42

11:55

7:05

ISLAMABAD: Members of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan hold a rally to mark World Day against the Death Penalty outside National Press Club. INP

shahBaz launChes miCRo plan to net dengue in pindi ALL GOVT DEPARTMENTS AND ORGANISATIONS CONCERNED HAVE BEEN GIVEN RESPONSIBILITY TO MONITOR AND IMPLEMENT DENGUE CONTROL AS PART OF THE PLAN RAWALPINDI NNI

NdeR the directive of Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, Rawalpindi district government has chalked out a Micro Plan to implement and monitor dengue control activities of all government departments and organisations concerned. The responsibilities of these departments have been categorically defined in the plan and their performance will be evaluated on a daily basis to overcome the fatal disease, in close coordination with the efforts of the civic authorities.

CONTROL ROOM SET UP AT EDO HEALTH RAWALPINDI OFFICE FROM WHERE ANYONE CAN SEEK INFORMATION ABOUT DENGUE CONTROL ACTIVITIES OR VISIT IN CASE OF ANY DENGUE-RELATED EMERGENCY

This was revealed by the Advisor to Punjab CM for Health Khawaja Salman Rafique while presiding over a meeting held at Rawalpindi Commissioner Office on Friday. Rawalpindi division Commissioner Zahid Saeed and district Coordination Office (dCO) Sajjad Zafar daal were also present on the occasion. The meeting was also attended by other senior officers of Rawalpindi division. Rawalpindi dCO daal shared the details of the dengue control micro plan and also briefed the participants of the meeting about the activities taken up by the government departments for eradication of dengue larvae. Health Adviser to Punjab CM

HEALTH ADVISER TO CM SAYS ALL FUNDS WILL BE PROVIDED FOR PROCUREMENT OF MEDICINES FOR DENGUE PATIENTS

Rafique underlined the core responsibility of every government department and said that one of the government’s top priority is to overcome dengue outbreak. “Keeping in view the prevalence of dengue in high-risk areas, special teams have been constituted to remain present in most highly affected Union Councils,” said Rafique. He further informed the meeting that high-risk areas have been kept under strict surveillance so that immediate remedial measures may be adopted for the elimination of dengue larvae. The meeting was informed that carpet fogging also continued in affected localities of Gawalmandi, dhoke Ratta. Javed

Colony, Chamanzar Colony, Mohanpura, Arjunnazgar, Hazar Colony and adjoining areas. The health adviser said that he would be present in Rawalpindi to personally review the anti-dengue measures and will inspect all hospitals and affected areas. He also assured all stakeholders in the dengue control plan of the provision of required funds for the procurement of medicines for the dengue patients. It was also informed that a control room has been set up at the edO Health office in Khayaban-e-Sir Syed, Rawalpindi where health officials have been deputed and any one can visit and contact the officials at the number 051-4931965 in case of

MOST PAKISTANISWANT GOVT OFFICERSTO LEAD SIMPLE LIFE: SURVEY GALLUP SURVEY HAS FOUND OUT THAT 67PC PAKISTANIS THINK IT IS IMPORTANT FOR GOVERNMENT OFFICERS’ CHILDREN TO STUDY IN SAME SCHOOLS AS CIVILIANS’ CHILDREN ISLAMABAD PPI A research study released by Gilani Research Foundation Survey and carried out by Gallup Pakistan has found out that 67 percent Pakistanis consider it important that children of government officers study in the same schools as civilians’ children and 69 percent think that ministers and

officials should travel by bus at least once a month. A nationally representative sample of adult men and women from across the four provinces of the country was asked, “If people responsible for political and administrative leadership want to adopt simplicity, then what steps should they undertake?” Regarding schools for children of government officers, 67 percent Pakistanis said

that is important for them to study in the same schools as civilians, 25 percent considered it unimportant, while 8 percent thought it was unreasonable. Comparative data over the last few years indicates that Pakistanis consider this an important step towards simpler lifestyle for their leadership. Majority of respondents voted for its importance in 2009 (69percent) and 2013 (79 percent). TRAVELLING BY BUS: Regarding travel by bus, 69 percent respondents deemed it important that officers do it once a month, 22 percent considered it unimportant, while 9 percent thought it was unreasonable. Comparative data over the last few

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years indicates that this is also considered by Pakistanis to be an important step towards simpler lifestyle for their leadership. Majority of respondents voted for its importance in 2009 (67 percent) and 2013 (77 percent). The study was released by Gilani Research Foundation and carried out by Gallup Pakistan, the Pakistani affiliate of Gallup International. The recent survey was carried out among a sample of 2,548 men and women in rural and urban areas of all four provinces of the country, during April 21 to April 28, 2014. The error margin is estimated to be approximately ± 2-3 percent at the 95 percent confidence level.

any emergency or to seek information about dengue control activities. Similarly, it was also elaborated in the meeting that separate dengue beds along with required medicines have been allocated in teaching hospitals of Rawalpindi including Holy Family, district Headquarters and Benzair Bhutto hospitals.

RCB deCides to modeRnise eight puBliC paRks RAWALPINDI ONLINE

Rawalpindi Cantonment Board (RCB) has decided to uplift eight public parks located in Rawalpindi. Uplifting design of parks including Roomi Park, Gawalmandi Park, Westridge (Purana Jahaz) Park, Nisar Park and Mughalabad Park has been evolved and sent to station commander for his approval. As per RCB, all these eight parks will be modernised so that recreational facilities could be provided to the citizens particularly those living around these parks.

ISLAMABAD 07

Saturday, 11 October, 2014

final waRning foR illegal gas, petRol agenCies!

naB appRoves Rs 7 Billion RefeRenCe in modaRBa sCam Reference filed against 10 accused in Modarba scam of Elixer Group ISLAMABAD: The Rawalpindi wing of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Friday approved a reference in a Rs 7 billion new Modarba case of Elixer Group. The reference has been approved against Asif Javed alias Maulana Ibrahim, the main accused in the case, Mufti Osama and nine other accused people on charges of corruption, corrupt practices and cheating the public at large in the ploy of the Islamic mode of investment. The reference has been approved by NAB Rawalpindi director general (DG) exercising powers delegated to him by NAB Chairman Qamar Zaman Chaudhry under National Accountability Ordinance (NAO) 1999. The Regional Bureau has so far received more than 20,000 claims in this case. 14,000 claims have been registered. It is pertinent to mention here that the Regional Bureau Rawalpindi is currently investigating 93 cases of multi-billion Modarba scam and has so far received 40,139 claims from scam affectees. The Bureau has recovered Rs1.691 billion and filed five references in this mega scam. So far 16 accused people have been arrested in Modarba scam including Mufti Ehsanul Haq, Mufti Ibrarul Haq, Hafiz Muhammad Nawaz, Moeen Aslam, Obaidullah, Mufti Shabbir Ahmad Usmani, Sajjad Ahmed, Asif Javeed, Ghulam Rasool Ayubi, Muhammad Hussain Ahmed, Hamid Nawaz, Muhammad Irfan, Bilal Khan Bangash, Matiur Rehman, Muhammad Nauman Qureshi and Syed Aksheed Hussain. NAB is committed to eliminate corruption from the society and striving hard for recovery of the looted money so as to provide relief to the poor and affected people of the country. ONLINE

ISLAMABAD SHORT OF COPS FOR MUHARRAM SECURITY ISLAMABAD: Islamabad Police is facing shortage of staff for Muharram security duty. According to sources, most of the police force is deployed at the anti-government sit-in in the federal capital therefore the Capital police is facing shortage of staff for security duty during Muharram. In view of this situation it has been decided by the district administration and police authorities to seek the help of the Frontier Constabulary. It has been learnt that the Islamabad Police requested the Punjab Government for additional police force but the Punjab government refused to comply, saying that it had already sent its contingents for providing security at the sit-ins and could not afford to spare any more policemen during Muharram. ONLINE

RAWALPINDI ONLINE

ISLAMABAD: A view of broken taps of a filtration plant in the Federal Capital. INP

PAKISTAN TO HOST COMMONWEALTH PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY IN 2015 NATIONAL ASSEMBLY SPEAKER AYAZ SADIQ ELECTED AS CPA PRESIDENT FOR YEAR 2014-2015 ISLAMABAD NNI

ORe than 200 parliamentarians from 53 countries of the Commonwealth have unanimously chosen Pakistan as the venue of its 61st conference at the concluding plenary of the 60th Commonwealth Parliamentary As-

sembly (CPA) in Yaounde, Cameroon. According to a message received from Cameroon, the occasion witnessed some very emotional moments when National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq was elected as the CPA president for the year 2014-2015. The speaker was escorted to the president’s chair amidst dancing and singing by the African and Caribbean delegates, especially the parliamentarians of South Africa, Malta, Tanzania, Swaziland and others. He thanked the delegates for their “overwhelming support to the Pakistani proposal” and assured the conference of Pakistan’s Parliament’s best efforts to make the 2015 Conference a success.

naval Chief Calls on mamnoon, nawaz ISLAMABAD INP

Newly-appointed Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Muhammad Zakaullah HI (M) Friday called on President Mamnoon Hussain, who is also the supreme commander of armed forces of the country, at Aiwan-e-Sadr. The president felicitated the Naval Chief on assumption of his responsibilities and expressed the hope that Pakistan Navy would greatly benefit from his leadership. Professional matters pertaining to Pakistan Navy were discussed during the meeting. earlier the naval chief called on Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and exchanged views on professional matters. The PM congratulated Admiral Zakaullah on assumption of charge of Naval Chief. Twice Asian Games gold medalist and an ace yachtsman, Vice Admiral Muhammad Zakaullah took charge as the new chief of Pakistan Navy on Tuesday as the outgoing Naval Chief Muhammad Asif Sandila retired.

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earlier, the National Assembly speaker made a presentation on the proposal to host the Conference in Pakistan, which was followed by a short documentary especially prepared for the occasion. In his speech, the speaker said that the holding of the 61st Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference in Pakistan would be “yet another great boost for the democratic forces of Pakistan as it will be a manifestation of your combined confidence in our democracy and your unwavering support to our system”. “The developing democracy in Pakistan stands at a defining moment in history. The year 2013 saw the first peaceful democratic transition of power from one elected government to the other under a complete civilian rule in Pakistan. It was certainly a historic landmark.” Sadiq informed the participants of the conference that the overwhelming success of Pakistan’s military offensive in the country’s tribal areas to root out the menace of terrorism has been widely appreciated by the international community. “The marked improvement in the security situation is evident from the reemergence of vibrant political activities in Pakistan as numerous political parties are holding rallies and public meetings without any acts of violence or mishap or fear,” said the NA speaker.

The city administration has decided to take stern action against illegal gas and petrol agencies. According to details, Rawalpindi Police and administration have decided to take stern action against trade of firework items and illegal agencies of petrol and gas located across the city. Owners of warehouses having stock of firework-related items were issued notices and 59 shops of illegal gas and petrol agencies were sealed throughout the city while others were given last warnings.

fedeRal CRoss of meRit awaRded to geRman honoRaRy Consul

ISLAMABAD: On the evening of Sept 27, Anees ur Rehman, German Honorary Consul in Lahore, was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit on ribbon by Ambassador Dr Cyrill Nunn. The award was presented at a dinner held at the residence of the ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany in Islamabad. During the ceremony, Anees ur Rehman was acknowledged with great applause for the many years of performance as German Honorary Consul and his singular efforts to foster German-Pakistani relations. PrEss rELEasE

08 COMMENT

Saturday, 11 October, 2014

The Abbas Plan

No end to cross-border firing And inertia that our government has fallen in

Palestinian-US relations head for stormy times

hE security establishment has stated its official position on the ongoing cross-border firing: india, not Pakistan, has initiated the attacks; Pakistani forces are fighting in self-defence and they have not targeted civilian population. an identical position has been taken by the indian side. Earlier, Prime Minister narendra Modi had indicated he was not going to do anything to stop the ongoing killings. “When there is a challenge at the border, it is soldiers who answer with fingers on the trigger, it is not for politicians to respond.” one wonders if the best way to save one’s innocent civilians is to kill equally innocent citizens on the other side of the border. the press conference addressed by Ch nisar indicates that there was no suggestion at the national security Committee meeting regarding how to put an end to the cross-border fighting that has killed over two dozen civilians on both sides besides injuring many more and displacing thousands others. one can understand that armies are not meant for fire-fighting activities. But what are the civilian governments meant for if they cannot intervene to save innocent lives? Writing to the Un secretary general will serve little purpose as he has no mandate to stop hostilities on his own unless invited by both parties. With the Defence-cum-Water and Power Minister in the Us resolving energy related issues, there was no comment from his ministry for several days about border clashes. Perhaps the officials too were waiting for the nsC meeting. the minister has at last spoken, reiterating almost verbatim the stand taken by the security establishment at the nsC moot. the national security adviser is yet another figure encumbered with two sensitive portfolios despite his age. he has to look after foreign affairs besides matters related to external security. one hopes that when the expected cabinet reshuffle takes place, no minister is given more than one important portfolio. this would make it easier to hold the ministers accountable.

Malala’s Nobel Prize Another feather in her cap

t is strange, to say the least, that Malala Yousafzai’s nobel Prize has drawn cheers from across the world but certain sections at home have reacted with scepticism. it is part of a big conspiracy, they say, and she is being prepped by influential international lobbies to achieve their own aims in and regarding Pakistan. the accusations are, of course, without a shred of evidence; nobody has so far cared to clear which lobbies might command influence on forces ranging from the taliban, UK government, Un, to the nobel committee. they are also unable to explain what aim could they possibly achieve in Pakistan by parading and honouring a little girl shot in the head for promoting children and particularly female education in a country where the extreme right has made significant political inroads and hundreds of schools have been bombed. a far more plausible explanation is that her denial of regressive forces, particularly when threatened with her life, caught the attention of progressive circles, at home and abroad, who were still bewildered by the gains and actions of the taliban. swat was a particularly instructive phase of the ttP expansion. not part of the tribal area, it represented the fall of a socially and culturally vibrant area not very far from the capital. Malala and girls like her stood out for their perseverance when the taliban were dragging the society a thousand and a half years into the past; and they paid for it. the progressive world has since embraced Malala as a symbol of all those struggling like she did, and is bent upon driving in this message as strongly as possible. the nobel committee, too, has seemingly come round to this point of view. Even before the nobel Prize, Malala had grown beyond the education debate, and began representing a war of mindsets of which Pakistan is perhaps the prime battleground. she is now the youngest nobel Prize winner in history, something to celebrate in a country fast running out of heroes and victories. Pakistan has had its share of war and terrorism and is in genuine need of peace and peace ambassadors. and Pakistan needs more Malalas.

Dedicated to the legacy of the late Hameed Nizami

Arif Nizami Editor

Aziz-ud-Din Ahmad Joint Editor Lahore – Ph: 042-36375963, 042-36375965

Nicola Nasser

ashington’s response to the speech that Palestinian President Mahmoud abbas delivered at the Un general assembly last september 26 confirms that the bilateral Palestinian-Us relations are heading for stormy times. the Us, which opposed abbas’ plan to seek a Un security Council resolution to end the israeli occupation within a defined timeframe, not only cautioned him against proceeding with any such plan but also issued an official statement condemning the language he used to express the Palestinian people’s opposition to the continued occupation and the ongoing war crimes that israel is perpetrating in the territories it occupied in 1967. “abbas’ speech today included offensive characterisations that were deeply disappointing and which we reject,” Us state Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in a statement on last september 27, which criticised abbas’ speech as “provocative,” “counterproductive” and undermines “efforts to create a positive atmosphere and restore trust between the parties.” Clearly, abbas bent before the onslaught of the winds of american rejection. he “submitted” his plan to the general assembly but he did not ask to bring it to a vote in order to secure an international resolution that would strengthen his hand when he submitted it to the security Council. it is also noteworthy that while he called for a deadline to end the occupation he omitted the three-year timeframe that he had previously stipulated. there is no serious Palestinian opposition to abbas’ plan to internationalise the search for a political solution to the Palestinian struggle to end the occupation of Jerusalem, the West Bank and gaza. it would be extremely difficult to come up with a Palestinian who would argue against replacing Us sponsorship with Un sponsorship of the process of reaching a negotiated settlement with the israeli occupying power. indeed, this direction is supported by a near unanimity of Palestinian opinion, including among resistance factions that have given abbas a chance to put his strategy to a last test without obstructing his manoeuvrability. But abbas’ plan signifies that he has thrown in the towel on his reliance on Us sponsorship, which in turn means confrontation with Washington. Clearly, he will not succeed in neutralising the Us by merely bowing before its opposition to his plan or by asking for Us approval. Certainly, he should not hold out any hope that Washington will not use its veto to defeat his proposed resolution in the Un security Council. nor will he placate the Us by deferring Palestinian applications to join international treaties and organisations, such as the international Criminal Court and

Nicola Nasser is a veteran Arab journalist based in Bir Zeit, West Bank of the Israelioccupied Palestinian territories (nassernicola@ymail.com). This article was first published and translated from Arabic by Al-Ahram Weekly on October 3, 2014.

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WAPDA blues i run a school in sector DD of Phase iV of Dha, Lahore. as an extracurricular activity for the students i have to arrange a function at the school premises after school hours. For this i have to make sure that the function is held during the one hour when we are sure to have supply of power as obviously functions are better if held in light particularly if the function is meant for teenagers. Based on the experience of the last month we announced to hold the function between 4pm and 5pm and

Karachi – Ph: 021-35381208-9 Fax: 021-35381208

his faith in Us good will, has finally reached the conclusion that it is futile to continue to depend on the Us and that now is the time to stand up to Washington and turn to the international community to sponsor his negotiating strategy. his decision will receive the unanimous support of the Palestinian people. however, if he backs down, he will undergo the most important test of his political career, as he will come face-to-face with the people’s judgment of the credibility of his strategic choices, which have never obtained a national or popular consensus. the choice of confrontation also entails the need to press forward in creating and setting into motion the mechanisms for implementing the reconciliation agreement between Fatah and hamas, as well as the need to respond quickly to the overwhelming Palestinian demand to apply for the membership of international treaties and organisations. But above all, it requires safeguarding the resistance in all its forms and developing it in quantity and quality until its scope is expanded to embrace all the Palestinian people, wherever they may be. Confrontation means refusing to allow Ezz al-Din al-Qassam to be assassinated twice! Even if the inconceivable occurred and the Us acknowledged the will of the international community in support of Palestinian rights, refrained from using its influence to stop abbas’ plan and even refrained from wielding its veto in the Un security Council, there remains the perpetual risk that the Un resolution would amount to no more than a paper victory to add to the pile of Palestinian paper victories, since any such political victory requires a national force to translate it into a reality on the ground in the occupied territories. if the Palestinian presidency does not respond to these needs and demands, which receive the full support of the Palestinian people, he will find himself once again singing outside the his national flock. Regardless of whether or not there is a confrontation with the Us, these needs and demands are national requirements that must be promoted, enhanced and developed, because they are indispensable if Palestinian popular will is to succeed in liberating its land and translating “paper” victories into real victories on the ground. the Palestinians have learned an important lesson from their enemy. the Palestinian national movement has dozens of international resolutions in its favour. this is something the Zionist movement never possessed throughout its history, apart from that one non-binding partition resolution, 181, adopted by the Un general assembly in 1947. But this one resolution the Zionists had translated into reality on the ground and then expanded on it through the exercise of overwhelming military force. this is the power that Palestinians are being prevented from possessing today, just as has been the case in the past. May god bless late Egyptian leader gamal abdel-nasser who always said that what has been taken away by force can only be regained by force. history has proven him right and events have shown that the course the arabs and Palestinians took after he died — which headed in the opposite direction to his — was gravely wrong, indeed sinful.

the international Court of Justice. all the indications are that the Us will campaign against the abbas plan and continue to insist on brokering a solution that it has been unable to produce during the more than two decades in which it monopolised the sponsoring the negotiating process with the israeli occupying power. on september 23, 88 Us senators signed a letter urging Us secretary of state John Kerry to take prevent “negative developments at the Un general assembly, Un human Rights Council, and the international Criminal Court that could derail any prospects for the resumption of peace talks between israel and the Palestinians.” senator Rand Paul refused to sign this letter. he wants Washington to cut off “all aid to the Palestinian authority until the conditions in senator Paul’s stand with israel act are met,” according to his e-mail statement to the Washington Post that day. Warning abbas “that america’s willingness to cooperate with him will continue to depend on his willingness to return to the negotiating table with the government of israel and avoid unilateral measures,” the senators were keen to sustain the usual Us “carrot-andstick” policy, in this case by “enabling the Palestinian authority to move toward becoming the Palestinian governing authority in gaza.” this was their bribe to him. But any policy of confrontation with the Us means that abbas must reject all Us bribes, which would inevitably come at the cost of sacrificing the Palestinian resistance. in addition, in a confrontation of that sort, abbas would risk losing arab support in view of the arab consensus to ally with — or at least not oppose — the Us in the war it has declared against isis (the islamic state in iraq and syria). therefore, the resistance and Palestinian national unity will be the only foundation on which President abbas can rely in the confrontation. in this context, the arab League’s declared support for the abbas’ plan lacks credibility and cannot be relied on when it comes to confronting the Us. in fact, in the event of a confrontation, the likelihood is that this support would dwindle and fade and turn into an american tool to pressure the Pa presidency into bowing to Us conditions. this confrontation is foreshadowed by preliminary chapters of the same, especially since 2011 when the Us defeated the Palestinian drive to obtain Un recognition of Palestine as a member state. the following year, the Us was not able to prevent the Un from recognising Palestine as a non-member observer state. But Palestinian memory has not forgotten how the Us undermined Palestinian accomplishments, such as the international Court of Justice recommendation regarding the separating wall designed to annex another chunk of the West Bank, and the goldstein Report. the Palestinians remember very well how the Us obstructed dozens of international resolutions in support of Palestinian rights and how it continuously prevented the international community from sponsoring any just negotiating process that might end Washington’s own monopoly over what it fraudulently calls the “peace process,” in which the Us has never been an honest broker. the Us-Palestinian confrontation was inevitable, even if much delayed. Palestinian leaders from both the resistance and the negotiating factions always tried to avert it. the Palestinians never chose confrontation; successive Us administrations however were constantly bent on forcing it on the Palestinian people. if President abbas, who for decades placed

we kept watching the behaviour of load shedding. But till date the behaviour of load shedding is strange: one day the shedding takes place at 4pm whereas the next day there is light between 4pm and 5pm. in short things are happening there without any schedule. this is making life difficult and at times depressing. in order to solve the situation i went to meet the people at the relevant grid station only to multiply my worries. there i was told that they cannot help me at all as the orders to supply power and or to stop the supply are received suddenly from islamabad. What i mean to say is that you cannot

Islamabad – Ph: 051-2204545

CMYK

say what is going to happen the next hour, the next minute. it is a secret for the subscribers who are the frustrated captives of this zalim system. Would any body from the white elephant called WaDa bother to tell me what is to be done in such a situation? i have little time as i have already announced the date of the function as october 17 between 4pm and 5pm. if any change has to be brought in, it must be announced soon after Eid. ABS JAFRI Lahore

Web: www.pakistantoday.com.pk

Email: editorial@pakistantoday.com.pk

WORLD VIEW 09

Saturday, 11 October, 2014

A fittinG nobel for mAlAlA And KAilAsh New Yorker

AmY dAVidsON

ALALA YOUSAFZAI, who is seventeen years old, and Kailash Satyarthi, who is sixty, were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday morning—for, in the committee’s words, “their struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education.” Satyarthi, who is Indian, is a man who has fought for children for decades; Malala, who is Pakistani, is a child, and a fighter herself. There was some thought, ahead of the announcement, that Malala, as she is known, would be awarded the prize alone. She is more famous than Satyarthi. Two years ago, gunmen from the Taliban got on her school bus and shot her in the head, shattering her skull—an attack she answered by becoming one of the world’s clearest voices for girls’ education. Satyarthi has survived physical attacks, too, and has led raids on factories that hold small children as bonded laborers. His group, Bachpan Bachao Andolan, has set up schools where those children can be set on a different path. According to press reports, he has worked directly with more than eighty thousand children, and has fought to change the conditions and chances of hundreds of thousands more. Satyarthi has also addressed the role of Western consumers who buy rugs woven with small fingers, helping to set up a labelling system, called Goodweave. Both of these people deserved the award individually. The combination of the two laureates gives it a nuanced character— and a different kind of power than if it had gone to either of them alone. It is past time to stop seeing Malala as simply the girl who survived, as a sym-

bol. (The Times called her a “global emblem.”) She is a girl who leads: who addressed the United Nations on her sixteenth birthday; who amazes Jon Stewart and asks Barack Obama about drones. She was so young when the Taliban set out to assassinate her. The gunmen targeted her—they shouted her name—because she had written on a blog for the BBC about how girls should go to school. They shot and injured the girl she was sitting with, too. In the days that followed, hundreds of people lined up out-

THE COMMITTEE SAID, IN ITS ANNOUNCEMENT, THAT IT “REGARDS IT AS AN IMPORTANT POINT FOR A HINDU AND A MUSLIM, AN INDIAN AND A PAKISTANI, TO JOIN IN A COMMON STRUGGLE FOR EDUCATION AND AGAINST EXTREMISM” side the hospital where doctors were trying to save her, offering to donate blood. She would eventually be brought to a Pakistani military hospital and then airlifted to Birmingham, England, for specialized surgery. Looking at what Malala has accomplished since the day she got on that bus, one can imagine, someday, people lining up outside a polling station, to vote for her. The threats against Malala have not ended; they simply haven’t silenced her.

She is not only a witness whose story warms our hearts. She is an activist, and soon will be an adult, who will, one hopes, also make some of her casual admirers uncomfortable by asking for more than wonder at her bravery. She is a compelling speaker and an adept organizer. The worst insult to Malala would be to regard her as nothing more than a child performer for peace, kept in a moment we want to keep hearing about. Satyarthi is not Malala’s babysitter: he is her counterpart. The committee said, in its announcement, that it “regards it as an important point for a Hindu and a Muslim, an Indian and a Pakistani, to join in a common struggle for education and against extremism.” If the committee had bypassed Malala, as it did last year, one suspicion would have been that it was afraid of positioning the Nobel as a rebuke to the Islamic world alone. Perhaps some element of that was at work, but if so, the solution is a valuable one. Here, again, complexity adds strength to the committee’s message. The struggle for the rights of children is not just a matter of feeling sorry for the people of this country or that; it is a common interrogation. There is plenty of complicity—and we are not exempt. Satyarthi also has an economic mission that challenges the West. What does it mean to set up a factory in a country where children don’t go to school, or to buy clothes without looking at the labels? For that matter, in the United States, what does it mean when children are pulled into the criminal-justice system and not treated as children at all? Whose children are all children? The Peace Prize has often been broadly understood; children’s rights fits well into its mandate of increasing understanding between nations. It’s not only an abstract matter, though. War takes children out of school, whether they are

refugees, as in Syria, or targets of attack, like the Nigerian girls kidnapped by Boko Haram. Children who have no other options are also likelier recruits for war. The economic exploitation of children is also raw abuse, backed up by coercion and often violence. (Satyarthi, in a speech, described a factory where “if they tried to run away, they were hanged upside down on trees and beaten with stones…. Many of them had been burned with cigarettes.”) School is a rebuke to war; so is caring about the futures of other people’s children. One point that the Nobel committee, in its citation, somewhat underplays is the question of gender. The announcement mentions Malala’s particular commitment to girls’ education, but the framework is children as children. Whatever its words, though, this should be a prize that is also about gender, because the exploitation of

PAKISTAN: THE ALLURE OF ISIS

New York reView oF Books Ahmed RAshid

It is now official. The Pakistani Taliban, a jihadist group that has concentrated its efforts in the tribal areas of Pakistan, has announced its support for ISIS in Iraq and Syria, thousands of miles away. “Oh our brothers [of ISIS], we are proud of you in your victories,” Pakistani Taliban spokesman Shahidullah Shahid told the international media over the weekend. “All Muslims in the world have great expectations of you…we are with you, we will provide you with Mujahideen [fighters] and with every possible support,” he added. For now, the statement—issued as Muslims worldwide celebrated the Eid holidays and just hours after ISIS announced the beheading of another Western aid worker—seems mostly symbolic. The Pakistani Taliban have not merged with ISIS, nor have they accepted ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as their Caliph. On Monday, the group’s spokesman clarified that it was not a declaration of allegiance to ISIS. But the move by the Pakistani group is a startling indication of how much ISIS’s brutality and ability to control a large swath of territory are changing the jihadist landscape—not only in the Middle East but also in South Asia. For a younger generation of Islamic militants in Pakistan and Afghanistan, especially, it suggests a readiness to bring ISIS-style tactics to their own campaigns at home. Numerous Pakistani fighters have gone to fight in Afghanistan, Central Asia, Bosnia, and the Middle East in the past. And in recent years, some factions of the Pakistani Taliban that are based in the mountainous tribal badlands between Afghanistan and Pakistan, have offered protection to al-Qaeda and its leaders, and helped train foreign militants to carry out bombings in the West. But until now, fighters seeking to take part in international jihad have tended to join al-Qaeda,

while the Taliban’s own members—who are dominated by Pashtun tribesmen—have been primarily committed to setting up a shariah state in Pakistan and helping their Afghan brothers do the same in Afghanistan. Over the past few months, however, the stunning military successes of ISIS in Iraq and Syria has inspired the Pakistani Taliban to show an interest in a wider jihad. A new generation of militants in Pakistan and Afghanistan—younger, more radicalized, better educated, and deeply committed to war and sacrifice—feel let down by their own militant leaders, who they see as having gone too far to compromise with the existing states and governments. For example, efforts by the Afghan Taliban leaders to enter a dialogue with the US over the last few years and to set up a Taliban office for mediation in Qatar has angered some younger Afghan militants. Likewise younger radicals in Pakistani groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba, which carried out the Mumbai bombings and attacks in 2008, and the anti-Shia group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, think their leaders have compromised too much with the Pakistani military and in political deals designed to offer them protection. In contrast, this younger generation sees ISIS as a force that refuses to compromise with anyone—including even fellow Islamist groups. Young Pakistani fighters have also been impressed by ISIS because of its military success, its unilateral declaration of a caliphate, and its commitment to killing Shias and other minorities. This growing support for ISIS has raised new concerns for the Pakistan-based leadership of alQaeda, which worries that ISIS is increasingly supplanting it among international jihadist groups. Last month, al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, speaking from his hideout in the tribal areas, announced the establishment of a new South Asian branch of al-Qaeda, headed by Indian national Asim Umar, presumably, in part, as a counterweight to ISIS. For now, the ability of the Pakistan Taliban to contribute to ISIS is limited. The Pakistan army is pursuing a major offensive against the group in their heartland of North Waziristan. Hundreds of Pakistani Taliban have fled into Afghanistan to avoid the military’s bombing of their bases, and one million Pashtuns from North Waziristan have fled and are now refugees further south. Furthermore, the Pakistani Taliban leadership is badly divided and many fighters do not trust their current leader, Mullah Fazlullah, who resides in Afghanistan and has been unable to win the loyalty of all the tribal factions that make up the hard core of the Pakistani Taliban.

The Afghan Taliban, by contrast, are much more united under the leadership of Mullah Mohammed Omar and they have not yet issued any statement of support for ISIS. In their decade-long fight with US forces, the Afghan Taliban have become a nationalist-religious group and have shown less interest in promoting global jihad. They remain consistent in their aim of ousting the present Afghan government in order to impose their own version of Islamic rule on Afghanistan. Their distance from international jihad may in part be a result of their disastrous association with foreigners such as Osama bin Laden in the 1990s, which—following the 9/11 attacks launched from Afghanistan—led to the overthrow of the Taliban government in Kabul by US forces. With US and NATO troops scheduled to withdrawal and new Afghan President Ashraf Ghani having just been sworn in, the Taliban are convinced that they can quickly undermine the Afghan government. The Afghan army has so far proved to be weak and Ghani’s own job—which requires sharing power with his main electoral rival Abdullah Abdullah, who has become chief executive officer—is politically precarious. Both men have signed on to a long-term agreement with the US which will allow some 10,000 US troops and another several thousand NATO forces to stay to train the Afghan army for a limited time—next year US troops will be reduced by half. However, after a summer of intense fighting, the Afghan Taliban are on the verge of capturing the southern province of Helmand—the center of the country’s valuable heroin production. If that happens, several provinces in the south of the country could quickly fall to the Taliban. Meanwhile, large parts of the countryside in provinces around Kabul and in the north around the city of Kunduz are also under Taliban influence. A major test for the new government will be to see if it can hold onto these areas for the remaining weeks before winter sets in. If the war in Afghanistan drags on without a decisive victory or a political solution, the danger grows that younger Taliban will become more attracted to ISIS. And the possibility of ISIS wielding growing influence among the Pakistani or Afghan Taliban is heightened by the generational shift taking place among the Taliban themselves. Unless Pakistan and Afghanistan are able to quickly end the extremism by Taliban groups that has plagued them for years they are likely to find themselves facing a far more militarized, radicalized, and extremist youth movement. The danger then is that these countries could find themselves ceding major territory to extremist groups, in a repeat of what ISIS has done in Iraq and Syria.

children is tied up in gender issues, too. Satyarthi’s work has also included campaigns against child marriage. The Nobel committee has given an award to a seventeen-year-old, the youngest Peace Prize laureate ever. In one way, that is an act of faith about what and who Malala Yousafzai will become—not only about who she has been. (In her case, it might be less of a gamble than giving the prize to a President who has just been elected.) Any award for children—to children—is a bet on a future that one can’t quite predict, but which might be better. That’s just as it should be. Amy Davidson is the executive editor of newyorker.com. She is a regular Comment contributor for the magazine and writes a column for its Web site, covering war, sports, and everything in between.

Grim executions in AfGhAnistAn New York Times By any standard, the trial of five men convicted of a gang rape in Afghanistan was a travesty. That a group of assailants robbed and sexually assaulted four women on the outskirts of Kabul last August was not in doubt. But the suspects testified that they confessed under torture; the defense lawyers representing them received death threats; the victims were paraded before journalists, exposing them to shame. Even before the men had been convicted, Hamid Karzai, the president who recently left office, promised their execution. He signed the death orders on Sept. 27, his last weekend in office. The case was the first vexing test for Afghanistan’s new president, Ashraf Ghani, and he failed. By refusing to stay the execution and demand a fair trial, he signaled that the country’s arbitrary and corrupt judicial system is good enough. The five men were hanged at a prison outside Kabul on Wednesday. Mr. Ghani has made promising moves since taking office. He quickly signed a bilateral security agreement with the United States, paving the way for continued Western support for his donordependent nation. He ordered a new review of a banking fraud scandal that nearly ruined the economy in 2010, rightly noting that those responsible have yet to be held accountable. And he welcomed back into the country Matthew Rosenberg, a Times journalist, who was expelled from Afghanistan for coverage that angered Mr. Karzai’s administration. Reversing Mr. Karzai on the rape execution orders would have taken courage and potentially carried a political cost, given the grisly facts of the case. But by demanding a new trial, Mr. Ghani could have sent a powerful message that the new administration is committed to improving the country’s dismal human rights record. In a disturbing move, Afghan officials summoned journalists to the prison to watch the executions, and lined up folding chairs in front of the nooses. The scene was reminiscent of the public executions carried out during the dark days of Taliban rule in the 1990s. After a mysterious last-minute change of heart, jailers killed the men out of public view. Mr. Ghani’s office declined to discuss the matter on Wednesday. The country’s Ministry of Women’s Affairs applauded the outcome, calling it “a historic lesson to those who might resort to such crimes.” The United Nations and European officials condemned the executions. The United States chose not to.

10 BUSINESS

Saturday, 11 October, 2014

Govt Gets sC’s nod for biddinG of oGdCL shares Court bars government from selling or transferring shares till ﬁnal verdict ISLAMABAD

STAFF REPORT

HE Supreme Court on Friday allowed the federal government to proceed with the bidding process for Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) shares, but restrained the government from selling or transferring shares till conclusion of the case. The two-judge bench of the apex court, headed by Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan and Justice Gulzar Ahmad, on Friday took up the federal government’s appeal against the Peshawar High Court’s October 3 interim order staying privatisation of OGDCL. The bench also issued notice to all respondents, including the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government and adjourned the matter until October 13. During Friday’s hearing, Attorney General of Pakistan Salman Aslam Butt contended that privatisation of OGDCL is in national interest. The Cabinet Committee on Privatisation (CCOP) as well as the Privatisation Commission (PC) had decided to put 10 per cent, or 322 million ordinary shares of the government in OGDCL on sale for international and domestic investors on Oct 3, 2013, and Jan 8-9, 2014, respectively. The PC’s board had even approved the appointment of a consortium consisting of Merrill Lynch International, Citigroup and KASB Bank to act as financial advisers for the sale on April 22, 2014.

However, the government’s decision to privatise OGDCL was challenged by the KP government before the Peshawar High Court (PHC), and a division bench of the high court stayed the federal government’s decision on Oct 3. However, secretary petroleum, OGDCL and the PC jointly filed a petition in the Supreme Court, requesting the apex court to suspend the PHC’s interim order. The appeal deplored that the KP government, while challenging the privatisation process, had concealed important facts with mala fide intent and thus invoked the discretionary jurisdiction of the high court “with unclean hands”, especially when it was not an aggrieved party. Therefore, the KP government was not entitled to any discretionary relief, the appeal urged while highlighting that the provincial government was legally obliged to implead the federal government as a party, which it did not, in the first litigation before the high court. This was necessary since the original decision was made by the federal cabinet. The appeal reminded the apex court that the constitutional change brought about by the 18th Amendment in Article 172 of the Constitution was prospective having no bearing upon the existing commitments and obligations. The constitutional provision suggests that any property without any rightful ownership of a property will vest in the government of the province where it is located as well as the federal government. The federal government’s interest in

CORPORATE CORNER Mobilink wins ethical Corporate award 2014 for mLiteracy Program KARACHI: Mobilink, in a joint entry with VimpelCom has won the Ethical Corporation Award 2014 in the category of “Most Effective International Community Investment” for its m-Literacy Program. The awards were organized by internationally renowned Ethical Corporation that serves CSR, compliance, risk and governance communities with topical and insightful business intelligence and moderates forums to exchange best practices. The award was received by Chris Burgess, Director Corporate Responsibility VimpelCom in a ceremony recently held in London. An independent panel of judges declared m-literacy program as the winner after carefully reviewing projects for demonstrated commitment, executional excellence, and project impact over a period of 2 years into community investment. Omar Manzur, Head of Corporate Communication Mobilink commenting on the award said, “It is an honor for Pakistan that Mobilink has won this prestigious award among a pool of internationally renowned organizations. Mobilink has always been at the forefront of launching initiatives and programs that target marginalized strata of the communities we operate in. Our mLiteracy program has become a flagship CSR initiative and this award is a testament of our commitment and dedication to Pakistan. I am confident that this initiative will encourage Mobilink CR team to continue serving communities with greater enthusiasm for a long-term positive socio-economic impact.” PRESS RELEASE

Warid telecom partners with PfdC for bridal fashion Week 2014 LAHORE: Warid Telecom Pakistan’s leading telecom innovators sponsored the fourth PFDC L’Oreal Bridal Week 2014 in Lahore. Warid Telecom sponsored the Black Carpet segment and Media Wall of the fashion week. Indeed the platform showcased over forty bridal fashion and jewellery designers to date with shows styled by a diversity of make-up artists and stylists highlighting bridal fashion wear, make-up and jewellery trends for the respective season. PFDC L’Oreal Bridal Week 2014 featured sixteen bridal showcases, including a Debut Show facilitated by Warid Telecom, the official Telecom Partner of the event. Commenting on the occasion Mr. Muneer Farooqui, CEO Warid Telecom said, “Like all the previous occasions Warid felt delighted to be part of Bridal Show once again, we have always supported Pakistani fashion talent and lifestyle Industry and plan to continue our commitment in future too.” PRESS RELEASE

exploration and production through OGDCL was created much earlier to the 18th Amendment and it is protected under the existing commitments and obligations as provided in Article 172(3) of the Constitution, the appeal explained. It contended that Article 172 uses the expression “jointly vested” and explained that vesting of natural resources in the respective provinces and the federal government was in fact a public trust. Those resources belong to the people of entire Pakistan. The appeal argued that the KP government’s challenge before the high court was totally misconceived and based on an incorrect interpretation of Article 172 of the Constitution, and the high court should not have ventured to enter into this political thicket by passing the stay order. Likewise, the KP government levelled false allegations of corruption and malpractices against a large number of institutions, including the federal government, the appeal argued.

OGDCL hAS StAkeS In BLOCkS LOCAteD In kP: Earlier, the KP government had stated before the PHC that recent discoveries of oil and gas in the province have made it one of the richest petroleum regions in the country producing almost 50 per cent of the entire indigenous oil production and 10 per cent of the total natural gas supplies. The provincial government further stated that Exploration and Production (E&P) in upstream oil and gas sector is carried out in different geographical regions that are called ”blocks”. Territories comprising KP are divided into 22 blocks, whereagainst petroleum rights and concessions are awarded to different E&P Companies. He argued that OGDCL has a significant footprint in and hold on oil and gas resources in the Province with 100 per cent ownership in Latambar, Wali, Pezu, Hetu, Dhakni, Baratai and Orakzai Blocks, whereas a sizable interest is owned in other blocks as well as Tal (30%), Gurga-

Company registrations witnessed 22pc growth in September ISLAMABAD INP

The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) has registered 405 new companies in September and a 22 per cent growth has been witnessed compared with corresponding month last year. Around 91 per cent companies were registered as private limited companies while around 6 per cent were registered as single member companies. Three percent of the companies were registered as public limited companies, associations under Section 42 of the 1984 Companies Ordinance and foreign companies. The services sector took the lead in new registrations with the incorporation of 65 companies followed by trading with 51, information and technology with 45, tourism with 33, construction with 26, power generation with 12, corporate agricultural farming with 11, pharmaceutical, education and food and beverages with 10 compa-

nies each. Foreign investment has been witnessed in 12 new companies. These companies have foreign investors from Australia, Canada, China, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Singapore, Sweden, Turkey, the UK and the US. These companies are from trading, information technology, power generation, auto and allied, chemical, fuel and energy, and mining and quarrying sectors. During the month, 132 companies were registered at the Company Registration Office (CRO) in Lahore, followed by 113 and 109 companies registered at Karachi and Lahore CROs respectively. The CROs in Peshawar, Multan, Faisalabad and Sukkur registered 23, 13, 10 and 3 companies respectively, while the CRO in Quetta registered 2 companies. Returns for an increase in the authorised capital of 71 companies were accepted with the total authorised capital increment of Rs 143.36 billion. In addition, 92 companies filed returns for increase in the paid-up capital with the total increment amounting to Rs 6.82 billion.

lot (75%), Nashpa (65%), Kohat (30%) and Bannu West (40%). The OGDCL owns up to 27.76 per cent stakes in major producing fields such as Makori, Makori East, Manzalai, Mamikhel, and Maramzai, besides having non-operating interests in numerous other interests. “All these irrefutable facts and figures make OGDCL one of the biggest players in the oil and gas sector for the Province of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa as well,” The provincial government had urged the court to restrain all the respondents from transferring, alienating or diminishing existing shareholding or giving effect to impugned sale, adding that the entire process of impugned sale may also be declared void ab-initio and ultra vires. Accepting the plea of the provincial government, the PHC on October 3 had directed the OGDCL, SECP and Privatisation Commission to file comments in response to the petition and adjourned hearing of the case till October 20.

Property sector may bring massive foreign investment: PEW ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Economy Watch (PEW) on Friday asked the government to streamline the property sector so that it could attract massive local and foreign investment. Pakistan urgently needed to draw advantage from the Asian property boom led by China through urgent reforms and transparency, it said. Real estate deals in China and other Asian nations reached a record $34 billion in the last quarter but Pakistan could not attract any such deal due to lack of proper rules and regulations, security and other issues, said PEW President Dr Murtaza Mughal. Not a single Pakistan city is listed among the top destinations for commercial property investments in Asia that attracted over 82 billion dollars in one year which was disappointing, he said. Talking to Managing Director of Lamudi.pk Saad Arshed and others, he said that many investors who pulled themselves out of the real estate market to invest in the US dollar were returning to the property market. NNI

DAR STRESSES STRONG ECONOMIC TIES BETWEEN PAKISTAN, US CONVEYS TO WASHINGTON PAKISTAN’S ‘DEEP CONCERN’ OVER UNPROVOKED VIOLATION OF THE WORKING BOUNDARY BY INDIAN SECURITY FORCES WASHINGTON NNI

Federal Minister for Finance and Privatization Ishaq Dar on Friday stressed the need for strong, durable and mutually beneficial economic ties between Pakistan and the US. Ishaq Dar stated in a meeting with William J Burns, US Deputy Secretary of State in Washington at the State Department. Ambassador of Pakistan to the US, Jalil Abbas Jilani, accompanied the finance minister while the deputy secretary burns was assisted by Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Dan Feldman and other state officials. The minister is on official visit to Washington as the head of Pakistani delegation for holding meetings of Pakistan-US working group on economy and finance and

the fall meetings of the World Bank and IMF. During the meeting, the deputy secretary burns commended the efforts of the government of Pakistan to bring stability and growth in the economy. He underscored the mutual interest in addressing common challenges and praised Pakistan’s anti-terrorism efforts manifested through its latest operation in North Waziristan. He also appreciated the positive role and contributions made by Pakistan in facilitating a peaceful and smooth transition in Afghanistan. He reaffirmed continued US support to Pakistan, especially in the economy and energy sectors. Recognizing the constructive role of Pakistan-US strategic dialogue in strengthening bilateral partnership, both the sides reaffirmed their commitment to strengthen bilateral partnership in a broad range of areas

including energy, finance and economy and defence. Reaffirming the shared interests in further promoting educational and research opportunities for Pakistani students, scholars, and researchers in the US institutions, the two sides recognised the need to establish a working group on science, technology and education under the framework of strategic dialogue process. The finance minister conveyed Pakistan’s deep concern over the continued unprovoked violations of the working boundary by the Indian security forces resulting in deaths of civilians. He apprised the US side of the restraint shown by Pakistan and expressed the hope that the international community would encourage India to also exercise restraint. The finance minister also apprised the US side of the efforts underway in Pakistan to rehabilitate the people and reconstruct the areas affected by recent floods and the security operations. He informed the deputy secretary of state that the plan of action for rehabilitation and reconstruction under prepa-

ration will be shared with the international community soon. Meanwhile, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar also met EVP IFC Jin Yong Cai and his team and discussed IFC’s programme portfolio in Pakistan. Cai appreciated the policies of the government and informed that IFC’s presence in Pakistan was second biggest in the region. Cai elaborated that IFC was most actively involved in financial sector and was looking for investment in power sector. Talking about trade, the CEO IFC assured Minister Dar of his continued support towards initiation of US $ 9 million programme aimed at improving the labor standards in Pakistan to bring them in line with the international requirements/standards. This would in turn give a positive boost to the textile industry of Pakistan with respect to its exports. He spoke of a buyers forum being organised in Islamabad in collaboration with the government of Pakistan towards the end of the current year.

LEISURE 11

Saturday, 11 October, 2014

HaGaR tHE HoRRIblE

aries

taurus

gemini

People might not notice all your hard work -- you move too quickly for the human eye to see sometimes! Today, you're taking some time off to celebrate a recent (maybe very recent) success.

Art plays a major role in your decision making today -even if you're facing a purely financial or otherwise factbased issue. Take time to soak up culture while you deliberate.

You've bumped up against a wall of some kind, but that just means that you're learning more about yourself. Things are sure to come to a head soon, and that is good news for you and your people.

cancer

leo

Virgo

Now is the best time for you to follow through on something you've been meaning to do for a while -- maybe asking someone out, polishing up your resume or starting a yoga class.

You're tempted by something that would ordinarily not even register on your radar -- but that just means that you've got to deal with new feelings. It may seem greedy, but it's actually not so bad.

You need to extend yourself a bit and try something totally different -- your energy is great, but you may find that you're dealing with something new and intense. Dating is recommended!

libra

scorpio

sagittarius

Try not to be too possessive today - things are not as shaky as they seem, and your fears are likely just projections. Someone may have to sit you down and explain the deal to you.

Try not to be too rigid today -- a situation later in the afternoon demands extra flexibility. You should find that you're better off with a relaxed attitude toward friends, family and coworkers.

Your responsibilities are catching up with you today, and you may find that you've got some serious work ahead of you. The good news is that you've got the right kind of energy for this.

dIlbERt

GaRFIEld

baldo

capricorn

aQuarius

pisces

You're having lots of fun and trying to get ahead at the same time -- and who ever said the two can't be done simultaneously? You need to make sure that you're using this energy right!

A big change is coming your way today -maybe quite early! Your energy is just right for response, but not so much for anticipation. That means you should just watch and wait.

Express yourself artistically -and romantically. Your great energy is building toward something really wonderful, and that means that you've got to speak from the heart in order to make the most of it.

cRosswoRd

sUdokU

woRd sEaRcH

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.

notice

alert

orbit

coffin

point

delay

power

empty

progress

entail

replete

escape

satellite

finger

saying

flood

shame

force

smile

generosity

storm

grace

track

ground

transgress

hurricane

wafer

model

weft

mother

yearn

Today’s soluTions

woodEn yoU know It?

cHEss white tO PLAY AND MAte iN twO MOVes 8

crossword solution

7 6 5 4 3 2

chess solution

1.Qxh5+ Rxh5 2.bg6* 1-0

sudoku solution

5 midday drinking session? (6,5) 7 roofed walkway with colonnades — oats (anag) (4) 8 faithfulness to one partner (8) 9 umbrage (7) 11 tree — greenish-brown (5) 13 savoury jelly (5) 14 something abnormally large and powerful (7) 16 give a new surface to (8) 17 small and attractive — cunning (4) 18 pleasing to the ear (11) DOwn 1 prefix denoting "water" (4) 2 action whose long-term benefit is doubtful (7) 3 fail to get a passing grade (5) 4 "sword" from "words" and "seraph" from "phrase", for example (8) 5 give vent to one's emotions (3,3,5) 6 early man, walking upright — cue theorems (anag) (4,7) 10 Qualified to be chosen (8) 12 position of initial advantage from which further substantial progress might be made (7) 15 organised passive protest (3-2) 17 aquatic bird of the rail family (4)

after

Saturday, 11 October 2014

ARTS

IndIan clerIcs snap at Haj selfIes, say It Is 'Haraam'

LERICS across India’s Uttar Pradesh have expressed anger over the ‘selfie fever’ that has apparently gripped Haj pilgrims this year. They have termed clicking pictures and selfies with holy Kaaba in the background as ‘haraam’— acts forbidden by Allah. Going a step further, clerics from Bareilly and Aligarh said they would circulate a ‘caution’ message among people during the Friday prayers advising them to avoid clicking selfies while performing Haj. “Clicking selfies while performing the series of rites in and around the city of Makkah is totally objectionable,” said Maulana Khalid Rasheed Firangi Mahali, imam of Lucknow’s Eidgah. “Anything for the sake of publicity is ‘haraam’ — be it clicking and posting pictures or selfies on social networking sites,” added Rasheed. He, however, said if the selfie was taken for the sake of informing parents and relatives that they have reached safely, there was nothing

wrong in it. Rasheed’s reaction was an outcome of the widespread debates on the social networking sites where conservative clerics have criticised the clicking of selfies, saying it distracted the mind of the pilgrim. “It’s time to connect with Allah and purify the soul. Haj selfies should not be taken as they breach concentration,” stated a tweet. A similar war of words was also witnessed on Facebook where a Haji

had posted a selfie with his thumbs up while performing rituals. Another picture showed a group of Hajis waving their hands for a selfie. Sayed Kafeel Ahmed Hashmi, head mufti at the Dargah-e-Ala Hazrat, too strongly condemned the act of snapping a selfie and termed it totally unacceptable. “While going for Haj, one leaves the family and loved ones behind to meet Allah. But, if a pilgrim moves with the thought of showing off and

clicks selfies, it is of no use to embark on Haj,” said Ahmed Hashmi. Dr Zahid Ali Khan, Sunni theologist and a mufti from Aligarh, termed clicking photographs an act against Sharia law. “Clicking photographs and showing it off in public is unpardonable. You are there to offer prayers and to meet Allah. But clicking selfies and posting it on the social networking sites is a sin and should be avoided at such pious moment of time,” Khan said. Convener of Sunni Ulema Council, Haji Mohammed Salees of Kanpur, advocated holding workshops to make the aspiring Hajis aware of the dos and don’ts during next year’s Haj camps. “There are many who are not even aware of the facts. By holding a workshop we can guide their moves in order to avert such situation,” he said. But despite all the reprimands, Hajis continued to post their selfies on Twitter. “So nice to keep for looking back on (sic), I have a picture I snapped of the Kaba at Umrah. I love seeing it,” a Haji tweeted. COURTESY HINDUSTAN TIMES

Microsoft CEO apologises for suggesting women should not ask for pay raise NEW YORK AGENCIES

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella apologized Thursday night and said he was wrong for saying that women don't need to ask for a raise and should just trust the system to pay them well. Nadella was blasted on Twitter and in blog posts for his comments, which were made earlier

Thursday at an event for women in computing. Tech companies hire many more men than women. And beyond the tech industry, women are typically paid less than men. He had been asked to give his advice to women who are uncomfortable requesting a raise. His response: "It's not really about asking for the raise, but knowing and having faith that the system will actually give you the right raises as you go along." Not asking for raise, he added, is "good karma" that would help a boss realize that the employee could be trusted and should have more responsibility. But his comments caused an uproar online, and Microsoft posted a memo from him on its website. In it, Nadella said he answered the question "completely wrong" and that he thinks "men and women should get equal pay for equal work. And when it comes to career advice on getting a raise when you think it's deserved, Maria's advice was the right advice. If you think you deserve a raise, you should just ask." His interviewer at the event,

Maria Klawe, president of Harvey Mudd College and a Microsoft director, had told him she disagreed, which drew cheers from the audience. She suggested women do their homework on salary information and first practice asking with people they trust. Still, his comments at the event, the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing, underscored why many see technology companies as workplaces that are difficult to navigate or even unfriendly for women and minorities. Tech companies, particularly the engineering ranks, are overwhelmingly male, white and Asian. Criticized for their lack of diversity, major companies say they are trying to address the problem with programs such as employee training sessions and by participating in initiatives meant to introduce girls to coding. Twenty-nine percent of Microsoft's employees are women, according to figures the Redmond, Washington-based company released earlier this month. Its technical and engineering staff and its management are just 17 percent female. That's roughly comparable to diversity data released by other big tech companies this year. "Without a doubt I wholeheartedly support programs at Microsoft and in the industry that bring more women into technology and close the pay gap," Nadella wrote in his memo to employees.

'SEXTING' STILL PREVALENT AMONG US TEENS DESPITE KNOWN RISKS: STUDY

"Sexting," or sending sexually explicit images by phone, remains prevalent among US teenagers despite the wellknown risks and consequences, according to a new study. University of Utah researchers found 19.1 percent of those surveyed acknowledged having sent a nude photo of themselves to another and 38 percent had received such a picture. Of the number who had received such a photo, nearly one in five had forwarded the picture to someone else, said the research report released Wednesday and published in the journal Computers in Human Behavior. The results showed little change from a 2013 survey, according to lead researcher Don Strassberg, a professor of psychology at the university. "Sexting” is far from a rare occurrence and the ability of a recipient to forward on a sext to others can be problematic, especially for young women who share an explicit photo," Strassberg said. "Because once a sext has been sent, the sender has no control over who, or how many, will eventually see that picture. Other than the adolescent mentality that overestimates benefits over risks, we don't yet know why teens are choosing to put themselves at risk," he added. The researchers defined "sext" as the sending or receiving of cellphone photos that reveal genitals of either sex or female breasts. The research comes in the wake of news about phone hacks that led to the leak of nude photos of celebrities including actress Jennifer Lawrence, pop icon Rihanna and top model Kate Upton. In 2011, Anthony Weiner quit the House of Representatives after confessing that he used social media to send sexually explicit pictures of himself to a number of women. For teens, the risks can be even greater. One case which got considerable attention was the suicide of Ohio teen Jessica Logan, who hanged herself in 2008 after her sexually explicit pictures were distributed to her classmates. The researchers cited, "several, apparently very uncommon (but well-publicized) instances of teens successfully taking their own lives following explicit photos they sent to someone (which were) ultimately being shared with many of their peers." In the latest survey, females indicated that they sent sexts 83 percent of the time to "boyfriends," while for males a "girlfriend" was the recipient 55 percent of the time. In 12 percent of the cases for males, sexts were sent to "someone I wanted to date or hook up with," and 2.4 percent of the time to "an acquaintance I just met." The research was based on a survey of 1,130 undergraduate college students, who were asked about their experiences sexting during high school. Strassberg said that teens apparently are ignoring the significant risks from sexting, and noted that the widespread use of smartphones creates opportunities for misuse. "You lose control of the image the moment you push 'send,'" he said. AGENCIES

INDONESIAN CAVE PAINTINGS CHALLENGE EUROPE AS CRADLE OF ART PARIS AGENCIES

The silhouette of a hand on a cave wall in Indonesia is 40,000 years old, showing that Europe was not the birthplace of art as long believed, researchers have said. Created by spraying reddish paint around an open hand pressed against rock, the stencil was made about the same time – and possibly before – early humans were leaving artwork on cave walls around Europe that was long thought to be the first in the world. In the same cave on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, a painting of a pig was dated to about 35,000 years ago, the Indonesian and Australian team reported in the journal Nature. The discovery, they said, throws up two theories, both of which challenge the conventional wisdom around the history of human artistic expression. Art either arose independently but simultaneously in different parts of the world – or was brought by Homo sapiens when he left Africa for a worldwide odyssey. “Europeans can’t exclusively claim to be the first to develop an abstract

mind anymore,” Anthony Dosseto of Australia’s University of Wollongong said in a statement. “They need to share this, at least, with the early inhabitants of Indonesia.” Anthropologists consider rock art to be an indicator of the onset of abstract thinking – the ability to reflect on ideas and events. Dosseto and a team dated 12 hand stencils and two animal likenesses found at seven cave sites on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi. The ancient images were discovered more than 50 years ago, but had never been accurately dated. It had been widely assumed that anything older than 10,000 years would have eroded away in the tropical climate. The team measured the radioactive decay of trace amounts of uranium found in small stalactite-like calcite growths called “cave popcorn” that had formed a layer less than 10 millimetres (0.38 inches) thick over the art. The method produced minimum estimates for the works’ ages, and the pieces could in fact be much older, said the team. The stencil is now officially the oldest known specimen of the hand silhouette art form, they reported.

And the depiction of a fat-bellied babirusa “pig deer”, its four legs, head, tail and lines of hair still clearly visible, is one of the earliest known depictions of

an animal, “if not the earliest”. “It can now be demonstrated that humans were producing rock art about 40,000 years ago at opposite ends of the

This handout picture released by the journal Nature shows hand stencils marking a cave wall in Maros karsts on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi. The silhouette of hands on a cave wall is 40,000 years old, showing that Europe was not the birthplace of art as long believed, researchers said.

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Pleistocene Eurasian world,” the team wrote. The previous oldest cave art was from El Castillo cave in northern Spain, including a hand stencil dated 37,300 years ago, according to Wil Roebroeks of Leiden University, who wrote a comment on the study. The oldest known animal painting was of a charcoal rhino in the Chauvet Cave in France, dated to 35,300-38,827 years ago. Traces of red paint about 36,000-41,000 years old were found in Fumane, Italy. Chris Stringer, a palaeontologist at Britain’s Natural History Museum, said the new data suggested that early humans were already artists when they spread out of Africa tens of thousands of years ago. “I think some of the art in Australia will also eventually be dated to this very early time,” he said in a video distributed by Nature. The findings “stress the great relevance of Asia, and especially southeast Asia, for the study of human evolution,” added Roebroeks. “Compared with Europe, Asia has seen little fieldwork, and new finds will keep on challenging what we think we know about human evolution.”

Saturday, 11 October, 2014

ARTS

SLAM tour dAzzLeS London LONDON

AYESHA BABAR

he stellar cast of the soon-tobe-released happy New Year, including Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone and Abhishek Bachchan, along with India's most beloved actress, Madhuri Dixit-Nene and Malaika Arora Khan, were in London this weekend to create an evening to remember at the city’s biggest entertainment venue –the O2 arena! The London show that features these stars dancing to some of their most famous tunes, was the last of a tour, aptly titled, SLAM, that saw sell-out shows in the US and Canada over the last few weeks. “We knew we were going to do this show from the first day we were all together on set. everyone was so hardworking, giving their all and even now that we are travelling and tired, we are still constantly pushing each other and are cheerful. You need that to put together a show like this,” superstar Shah Rukh Khan said during a media briefing. “I did a world tour, Temptations, sometime back. When you do a world tour, I am very conscious that it should be bigger and better, more technologically advanced. It should be something that brings happiness to all the audiences who watch it. It has taken me ten years to put it together, I guess I was waiting for Abhishek and Deepika to grow up and for Vivaan to be born! You really need a team. The first day we got together, we were working hard, with fun, even when travelling, we were all tired but still cheerful and pushing each other!” Sharing the journey that is now culminating with the series

of SLAM shows and the release of the mega movie, happy New Year on October 23, Shah Rukh said that while all the actors involved had worked in many films before, happy New Year, will remain very special because of the camaraderie of the cast and crew. “We will miss the madness of Farah. We would fight with her, argue with her, discuss with her, in fact, if you sometimes see Farah, BomanIrani and Abhishek Bachchan speak to each other in the lift, you would think that they were going to beat each other up!" Farah Khan, the director, got quite emotional when speaking about the release of the film as that would mean that the team will not be able to spend as much time together. The star cast of happy New Year was clearly excited about bringing the show to London audiences. For Shah Rukh, "the show has been perfected for London" while Boman

frAnce’S ModiAno winS nobeL for LiterAture STOCKHOLM: France’s Patrick Modiano won the Nobel Literature Prize on Thursday for his enigmatic novels rooted in the trauma of the Nazi occupation and his own childhood. One of France’s most celebrated writers, the 69-year-old father of two greeted news of his award as ‘weird’. The Swedish Academy said it wanted to celebrate Modiano’s “art of memory” in capturing the lives of ordinary French people living under the Nazis. “He’s a kind of Proust for our time,” said Peter Englund, permanent secretary of the academy, praising a body of works that “speak to each other, that echo off each other, that are about memory, identity and seeking. French President Francois Hollande paid tribute to his “body of work which explores the subtleties of memory and the complexity of identity”. AGENCIES

‘hAppy ending’ A Spoof on roMAntic coMedieS: SAif Actor Saif Ali Khan, who unveiled the trailer of ‘Happy Ending’ with the movie’s star cast here, has promised to offer fun and entertainment via the film. The trailer of the film, directed by Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK, was launched here Thursday evening. “It’s a very funny film. Post ‘Go Goa Gone’, we (Raj, Krishna and I) wanted to work together, and this script came up. It’s a spoof on romantic comedies. I have done romantic comedies earlier, and this is an interesting spoof on the genre,” Saif told reporters at the event. AGENCIES

said, "we have saved the best for the last!" Boman Irani excitedly exclaimed: "This might be the first show for Shah Rukh after a gap of a few years for the others, for me, it is the first show in 55 years!" Deepika Padukone and Farah Khan were delighted that the show could be brought to London. "I have shot two-three movies back to back in London and now this feels like a second home. Actually, I love the city so much that if in the future I decide to settle down, I would like to live in London!", Deepika said. For Farah, London will always hold a special place in her heart because it was here in 1986, that she herself participated in the World Dance Championship. The cast were delighted that the lovely Madhuri Dixit-Nene could join them for the London leg of the tour. "It was Shah Rukh's idea", Farah pointed out. Shah Rukh, himself, was grateful that

Madhuri has graciously accepted to be a part of the show. “Madhuri is the most well-loved actress here and she is a star for all of us. I think we ourselves, are most excited about Madhuri joining. As soon as it was confirmed, we were all saying that we wanted to watch Madhuri's entrance and performance! I think O2 is going to be electrifying because of her!” Abhishek Bachchan, who was the only one to have previously performed at the O2 had some words of advice for his fellow performers. "I have told them that the place is freezing cold! But I promise you that we will heat things up with our onstage antics!" And that promise, they lived up to! Things got hot and how. If Madhuri ,Deepika and Malaika dazzled with their beautiful dance performances, it was the duo of Farah and Boman who had the thousands watching in peals of laughter. The men were not ones to take things

BEN AFFLECK SUPPORTS MY ACTING CAREER: JENNIFER GARNER AGENCIES

Actor-director Ben Affleck is a very supportive husband to wife Jennifer Garner and the actress says the Batman star is always encouraging her to work. Garner and Affleck, who got married in 2005, have three children — daughters Violet, 8, and Seraphina, 5, and son Samuel, 2. The actress, 42, says the birth of her children changed her priorities but her husband keeps telling her that she should work as it is a part of who she is. “My ambition shifted when I had kids in a way that I didn’t anticipate. I became more ambitious for my life as a whole, and for that kind of health and happiness of the overall family unit. And that very much includes my husband and very much includes me,” Garner said. “My husband is always the one saying to me, ‘You have to work, you have to work. This is part of who you are.

We’ll figure it out’. That’s powerful, when your partner has that serious mantra,” the actress said. Affleck is currently garnering praise for his role of an out of

work journalist whose wife disappears on their fifth anniversary, leaving him as the prime suspect. While Garner stars in ‘Men, Women & Children’.

Ali Zafar beefs up for ‘Kill Dil’ After losing weight for “Chashme Baddoor”, Pakistani actor Ali Zafar had to work out hard to get a beefed-up frame for “Kill Dil”. Normally, there are actors who lose weight for parts. But Ali went into reverse gear as he had to put on seven to eight kg for the Shaad Ali-directorial. Explaining his decision to bulk up, Ali said, “I had actually lost a lot of weight for ‘Chashme Baddoor’ to look like a college student. For ‘Kill Dil‘, I needed a more mature and more beefy look.” Ali constantly pumped iron in the gym. “I am now 73 kg. But I want to lose two to three kg and hold my weight steady at 70 kg. Too much of the muscled

CMYK

look is also not good,” he said. The 34-year-old, who was last seen in the failed comedy “Total Siyappa”, says he thoroughly enjoyed working with Shaad Ali on “Kill Dil” and doing the buddy-buddy thing with Ranveer Singh in the film. “It was great fun. But it is Govinda that I most enjoyed working with. I’ve been his fan since I was in college. It was a dream come true to work with him. It is wrongly believed that Govinda excels at comedy only, watch him in ‘Kill Dil’ and… well, get your fill,” Ali said. Ali said that he has not seen the entire film. But he did see bits and pieces of it, and he’s impressed. AGENCIES

easy. Vivaan started the evening on a high note with the special SLAM song while Sonu Sood and Boman Irani had the crowds cheering for them. Shah Rukh Khan made the coolest entry suspended by cables, transcending over the O2 crowd that had been eagerly waiting for him to enthral them. The audiences screamed with joy as Shah Rukh performed to his alltime favourites from the 90s and 2000s. The surprise package for the evening actually turned out to be Junior Bachchan who got the crowd going and on their feet – whether it was his entry through the crowds or the nowfamous SLAM selfie. All in all, it was a night that will not be forgotten by the 15,000 strong crowd that had come to see their favourite stars descend upon London with all their razzmatazz. here’s hoping the next show comes much sooner, for now we cannot wait to be SLAMMeD again!

AiShwAryA pLAnS grAnd bASh for ‘pA’ AMitAbh bAchchAn on hiS 72nd birthdAy Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is playing a perfect bahu is no news, because this has been the order since her marriage to Abhishek Bachchan. The former Miss World is now taking this a step further by planning a special birthday bash for her father-in-law Amitabh Bachchan. Bollywood’s megastar Amitabh Bachchan turns 72 on October 11 and the Bachchan bahu wants to celebrate this occasion with much pomp and show. She has invited all of Big B’s close friends at the bash and is personally taking care of the minutiae. Aishwarya Rai Bachchan has listed some pre-requisites for the party. AGENCIES

KAtrinA, rAnbir ruMored to hAve Moved in together The great Indian mystery of Katrina Kaif, Ranbir Kapoor’s relationship seems to be gradually detangling. Rumour has it that the ‘rumoured’ couple has moved in together, that is, Ranbir Kapoor has left his father’s place and has started living in with girlfriend Katrina Kaif. The development is said to have taken place a few days back around the Kapoor boy’s birthday. It was reported that Ranbir had a minor adenoid surgery on his 32nd birthday and was supposed to join the ‘Jagga Jasoos’ team soon after. AGENCIES

14 SPORTS

Saturday, 11 October, 2014

Bravo waiting on SimmonS’ fitneSS L SPORTS DESK

ENDL Simmons’ absence was the only cause of concern for the West Indies’ camp in a clinical performance against India in the first ODI, in Kochi, two days ago. Ahead of the second ODI, in Delhi, captain Dwayne Bravo was hoping to have Simmons back in action soon, but said the team will not rush his return. “Lendl Simmons is still struggling with his back and we are giving him as much time as possible to recover. He is a key member of our squad and he has a lot of bearing to the balance of the team,” Bravo said. “Hopefully he is fit to play. If not, we have to see what else we can try and do to our top order.” Simmons hurt his back during the West Indies’ first warm-up game, against India A in Mumbai on October 3. Despite the presence of Leon Johnson in the squad as a reserve opener, the West Indies team management preferred to let their captain partner Dwayne Smith at the top of the order in Kochi. Bravo was noncommittal on whether the same strategy will be adopted in Delhi, should Simmons not play. “Opening is a difficult position but at the same time it is a big opportunity for a lot of players to grab that spot. I took the responsibility to open in the first game but I am not sure where I am going to bat in tomorrow’s game. I would love to see Simmons get fit as quickly as possible, which will do good for us.” The opening ODI was played under the shadow

MCGEADY HAS XFACTOR: O’NEILL

Aiden McGeady continues to play the dual role of magician and frustrator-in-chief as he prepares to win his 71st Republic of Ireland cap. The 28-yearold Everton winger produced a moment of sublime brilliance to hand the Republic a priceless Euro 2016 qualifier victory in Georgia last month just when his country needed him the most to leave team-mates and spectators stunned. Like many flair players, consistency has been an issue over the years, but having seen his contribution in Tbilisi at close hand, defender Marc Wilson is looking for more of the same from a man with Jekyll and Hyde tendencies. Wilson said: “You see Aiden in training every day and any time I have trained with him, he can be a magician or he can drive you mad sometimes. “But he is a great lad and he’s got great ability. It just so happens on the night, he showed a bit of magic and scored that great goal for us.” Ireland manager Martin O’Neill, of course, knows McGeady well from their time together at Celtic and is only too aware of his twin capacities to thrill and disappoint. But there are signs that the Glasgow-born midfielder is starting to produce on a regular basis for both club and country with his move to the Barclays Premier League and a reunion with the Ulsterman perhaps key factors. Asked if he, like Wilson, was at times driven mad by McGeady, O’Neill said with a smile: “Absolutely. “Yesterday, he had the ball in the middle of the field, he tried to do a trick, he lost it and the other team went down and scored a goal. Aiden just shrugged and said, ‘Well, I’ll wait until Saturday’. SPORTS DESK

of a possible West Indies players strike over a dispute relating to player payments. Though the team agreed to take the field only on the morning of the match, their game showed no signs of being affected - even

without two of their key players being present; Chris Gayle is recovering from a lower back injury, and Sunil Narine was withdrawn from the series after his action came under the scanner during the Champions

League T20. Bravo, who didn’t entertain questions related to the payment dispute, was delighted to see his team putting up such a solid performance despite having their backs to the wall. “It is a great feeling to go onenil up against the world champs, especially without guys like Chris and Sunil,” he said. “But there have been times when we have started [series] well but not finished to our potential. We have set ourselves a standard, now that we have got a good start, and we have to make sure we maintain it. This is going to be our biggest test.” With a view to help West Indies rebuild into the force they were in the 1970s and ‘80s, the WICB has roped in former captains Richie Richardson and Clive Lloyd - as team manager and chief selector, respectively - and fast bowling legend Curtly Ambrose, as the bowing coach. Bravo admitted that their presence has had a positive impact on the team. “It is good to have legends like Clive Lloyd, Curtly Ambrose or Richie Richardson involved with the team. Curtly Ambrose brings a different energy and an attitude in the team. The players really respect him and look up to him. I have grown up watching these legends and it is good to have them around where players can go to them and get some advice. “The good thing is that the team is sticking together and supporting each other well. We have a must-win attitude, and we have a support staff that brings in a great positive energy to the dressing room.

Pietersen claims ‘sad’: Anderson SPORTS DESK James Anderson has become the latest England player to attempt to defuse criticisms made in Kevin Pietersen’s autobiography. Anderson rejected the idea that a bullying culture was allowed to flourish in the side and said it was “sad” to hear Pietersen’s version of his time with England. The release of KP: The Autobiography this week has been accompanied by controversy at almost every turn of the page, with Andrew Strauss describing the “madness” as potentially damaging to English cricket. Pietersen’s harshest judgements were reserved for Andy Flower, the former team director, and wicketkeeper Matt Prior, who he describes as being part of a bowler-led clique. Despite being part of that group, Anderson is, however, spared opprobrium, described by Pietersen as “the nicest man in the world”, and he in turn only had good things to say about the Flower era. “We’ve got more important things to worry about than someone’s book,” Anderson said, speaking at a sponsor’s event at Lord’s. “The issues that have been brought up are sad really. The dressing room for the seven or eight years we were winning and successful was fantastic. You don’t achieve what we did during that period without all the guys pulling in the same direction. “I can’t get my head round it. He seems like he has not enjoyed it for any of the time he was there, but we all enjoyed it.” Asked if Pietersen’s accusations of bullying were true, Anderson said: “Not at all.” He defended Flower’s record, describing England’s recent successes as the highlight of his career, and suggested that the fallout from Pietersen’s book was beginning to cast a shadow over those years. “It’s overshadowed what we achieved,” he said. “We had a successful time under coach Andy Flower. We won three Ashes series, got to world No. 1 and won in India for the first time in 20-odd years - Andy was the driving force behind that. “That period of time as an England cricketer was the highlight of my career so far, and I’m sure I

speak for the other lads when I say it was probably the highlight of their career so far too. “Sitting on the outfield at Sydney, having won 3-1 in 2010-11, sharing a drink, chatting through our favourite moments of that particular tour will stick with me for many years to come. I’m sure that many of the other lads will feel the same. Hopefully what has come out won’t overshadow what we did achieve and what was not just a successful period but a really enjoyable one too.” Anderson added that he would have preferred

the issues to “stay in house”. Intriguingly, he also seemed to suggest that Pietersen had not made his problems with team-mates clear and that his sacking by the ECB had denied him the chance to defend himself. “This is not an ideal situation but it’s different with Kev,” Anderson said. “He never got a chance to stand up for himself in the dressing room because the opportunity to be in the dressing room was taken away from him by the powers that be. He is now venting his frustration through a book.”

ENGLAND FAILURES PART OF LEARNING CURVE: DHAWAN SPORTS DESK India opener Shikhar Dhawan has said his “failures” in England were part of a “learning experience” and would help him become a better batsman. Dhawan, who scored 187 on Test debut last year, has not been as prolific in 2014 - his top score during the five-Test series in England was 37. Dhawan played the first three Tests in England, making 122 runs from six innings at an average of 20.33, before he was dropped for Gautam Gambhir. “Those six innings that I failed probably will help me to play 50 good innings,” Dhawan told PTI ahead of the second ODI against West Indies in Delhi. “Last one year has been a learning experience for me as I have seen both success and failure. But if you don’t know what failure is, you won’t be able to enjoy success. I am learning everyday.”

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He had a better outing in the ODIs in England, scoring 155 runs from four innings at an average of 51.66. His unbeaten 97 at Edgbaston in the fourth ODI helped India take a 3-0 series lead. “It’s very important for a player to have his captain’s backing during a lean patch and I have received a lot of support from the skipper,” Dhawan said. “He has been India captain for so long and he knows what a player requires. Even the support staff backed me to play my natural game.” When asked if he had changed anything in his game after the low scores in England, Dhawan said his basics had remained the same. “As you go along the way, you learn new things but my basic game has remained the same,” he said. “You learn about the mental aspect of the game as in how to disturb the flow of the bowlers. You mature with experience.” Dhawan has been opening with Rohit

Sharma in ODIs since the Champions Trophy last year and the pair has scored 1500 runs from 32 innings at an average of 48.38, with six century and four fifty stands. Ajinkya Rahane has partnered Dhawan after Rohit picked up a finger injury in England and was then ruled out of the West Indies ODIs with multiple injuries. Dhawan said Rahane’s positive approach had helped him. “I love opening with both Rohit and Ajinkya,” Dhawan said. “Ajinkya is the aggressor and hits the ball really well. I then take my time to play shots while at times it’s the opposite. It’s just been two [four] games with Ajinkya but I am enjoying it. It’s good when runs start coming from both ends.” Dhawan scored a scratchy 68 in the first ODI in Kochi that India lost by 124 runs. The second ODI in Delhi will be played on Saturday.

Saturday, 11 October, 2014

DegaLe to fight PeriBan on CLeverLy-BeLLew BiLL J

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AMES DeGale will face Mexican Marco Antonio Periban on the sold-out Echo Arena card in Liverpool on November 22, topped by Cleverly v Bellew II. “This is like a second final eliminator as if I don’t beat him, I don’t box for a World title,” said DeGale. “It’s a good test, he took Sakio Bika close and he had J’Leon Love all over the place and should have finished him off. He’s not a typical Mexican, he can box on the back foot and he’s going to come to fight and that will bring out the best in me. I am looking forward to it, it’s on a great show so roll on November 22. “I didn’t want an eight round keep busy fight, I wanted a name that will impress people when I win in style and it will set up a fight with Carl. It’s not about me fighting Carl though, it’s about me getting my shot at the World title and making history becoming the first British gold medallist to win a World title.” “I appreciate this opportunity and will be putting in a huge effort into training, to win and to put on a great show in the UK,” said Periban. “I lost a close decision to Bika for the WBC title and I want another shot. When I beat DeGale I hope for a shot at Carl Froch but first I am focused on November 22 and taking him out.” Also on the Merseyside bill, Anthony Joshua takes on Michael Sprott in a final eliminator for the British Heavyweight title, Scott Quigg defends his

WBA World Super Bantamweight title and Jamie McDonnell defends his WBA Bantamweight strap against Walberto Ramos. Callum Smith facing

Nikola Sjekloca in an official eliminator for the WBC Super Middleweight title, and his brother, Stephen Smith, is set to feature in a crunch clash.

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Rafa Nadal is recovering satisfactorily from appendicitis and will continue a course of antibiotics in a bid to be fit for the remainder of the 2014 season, the world number two’s spokesman said on Thursday. Nadal returned to the court for the first time since Wimbledon last week in Beijing before he was diagnosed with appendicitis ahead of the Shanghai Masters. He was able to play his second-round opening match against Spanish compatriot Feliciano Lopez on Wednesday but lost 6-3 7-6 before returning to Spain for tests in Barcelona. “In medical terms his development is satisfactory and he is not currently showing any symptoms,” Nadal’s spokesman said in a statement. “The (antibiotics) treatment will continue for 4-5 days and depending on his recovery the necessary decisions will be taken on further treatment,” he added. SPORTS DESK

South Korea’s Bae Sang-moon plundered the par-fives to join American Andres Gonzales in the lead after the first round at the $6 million Frys.com Open in Napa, California. Bae birdied all four of the par-fives at Silverado Country Club in the wine country north of San Francisco in an ideal start to the 2014-15 PGA Tour season. They headed Martin Laird by one stroke, while fellow Briton Lee Westwood began slowly with a 73, barely a week after being part of the victorious European Ryder Cup team. Defending champion Jimmy Walker, who played on the losing American team at Gleneagles, started even more poorly with a 75. His team mate Hunter Mahan was considerably better with a respectable 70, while Matt Kuchar carded 71. The 28-year-old Bae, a 12-times international winner before joining the US Tour, captured the Byron Nelson Championship in 2013, but is coming off a mediocre season in which he finished 122nd in the ranking. He put all that behind him, though, with five birdies on his outward nine. Gonzales, who played on a crisp morning that quickly warmed

Nico Rosberg made history as the first Formula One driver to set a timed lap at the inaugural Russian Grand Prix on Friday but championship leading Mercedes team mate Lewis Hamilton still ended up on top. Rosberg set a best time of one minute 42.311 seconds around the Sochi circuit, which snakes past some of the landmark venues used at this year’s Winter Olympics, in a sunny morning session with Hamilton second. The Briton, who leads Rosberg by 10 points after winning the last three races, went top of the timesheets in an interrupted afternoon session with a best of 1:39.630. The red flag came out eight minutes from the end when Australian Daniel Ricciardo’s Red Bull halted with a power unit failure.

Mercedes are expected to wrap up the constructors’ championship on Sunday with three races to spare, having won 12 of the 15 so far with eight one-two finishes. Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso was the first driver out of the pit lane when the green light came on,

Unseeded Frenchman Gilles Simon moved into the semi-finals of the Shanghai Masters after ousting sixth seed Tomas Berdych in three sets, leaving the Czech sweating about his place at the ATP World Tour finals. Simon, ranked 29th in the world, earned a 7-6(4) 4-6 6-0 win after a two-and-a-half hour slugfest to set up a last four meeting with either Russian Mikhail Youzhny or Spain’s Feliciano Lopez, who were next on court. The Frenchman has made the final of a Masters series event just once, in 2008, but will be confident he can repeat that feat after taking down the tall Czech, who reached the final in Beijing last week. The win was Simon’s second big upset of the tournament following his second round victory over Australian Open champion Stan Wawrinka. Berdych is currently seventh in the ATP Race To London standings, with five singles spots left up for grabs at next month’s season-ending event. He will compete in next week’s Stockholm Open to try to book a spot in the eight-man field for London. SPORTS DESK

HODGSON NOT TAKING ESTONIA LIGHTLY SPORTS DESK

to an ideal autumn day, matched Bae’s seven birdies and one bogey. “It’s definitely a confidence builder getting out here and starting that way,” Gonzales, a third-year tour player from Washington State, said. “I really feel good about it because I don’t think I was as sharp as I could have been, but as far as ball-striking,

I scrambled well and got up-anddown. “When I did miss fairways, I missed them in the right spot. There’s definitely a lot of room to improve, but I’m pleased with the way I’ve started.” Australian Jarrod Lyle, in his first tour event since overcoming leukemia for the second time, double-bogeyed the 17th hole for a 72.

HAMILTON QUICKEST IN SECOND PRACTICE SPORTS DESK

SIMON SHOCKS AGAIN BY DOWNING BERDYCH IN SHANGHAI SPORTS DESK

RYDER CUP PLAYERS TOIL IN US PGA TOUR SEASON OPENER NADAL RECOVERING SATISFACTORILY FROM APPENDICITIS

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leading Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg. McLaren’s Jenson Button was the early pacesetter as drivers got to grips with a layout compared to the former Valencia street circuit and Singapore, with the 2009 champion ending the morning as the third fastest.

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He also collected two fines totalling 1,100 euros or pitlane speeding and was sixth fastest in the second session. Alonso was fourth and third in the two sessions, with Danish rookie Kevin Magnussen, Button’s team mate, fifth and then second in the afternoon. The only Russian regular, Toro Rosso’s 20-year-old rookie Daniil Kvyat, followed up seventh in the morning with eighth after lunch. That was still ahead of both Red Bulls, his 2015 employers, with four times champion Sebastian Vettel ninth after reporting a loss of power on the straight and Ricciardo 13th. He was joined for the first session by 19-year-old compatriot Sergey Sirotkin, making his debut at a race weekend in the Sauber usually driven by Mexican Esteban Gutierrez.

Roy Hodgson has warned England not to expect another walkover when they face Estonia in Tallinn on Sunday. England maintained their perfect start to Euro 2016 qualification with a 5-0 victory over San Marino on Thursday night. Although it was not quite the goal-fest some had predicted, the comprehensive win was never in doubt because of a complete lack of adventure from part-timers San Marino - the lowest-ranked team in the world. Hodgson is convinced Estonia will put up a far tougher test this weekend. The Baltic nation are ranked 92nd in the world and, unlike San Marino, their players ply their trade professionally across Europe. Estonia would have qualified for the last European Championship had they not lost their play-off against the Republic of Ireland, so Hodgson is wary of the test they will pose at the A. Le Coq Arena. “I would be a bit wary of putting Estonia in the same category as San Marino,” the England manager said. “They might surprise people who haven’t seen a lot of them. “They’re very Scandinavian in their approach, and you know how good the Swedes, Norwegians and Danes have been in terms of work ethic and organisation. “It will be a bit of a test, but I’m very confident we’ll see it through.” The England players only had to look at the results around the rest of Europe on Thursday to be reminded of the old cliche that there are no easy games in international football - unless they come against San Marino. Spain suffered a shock 2-1 defeat to Slovakia while, in England’s group, there was another surprise when rivals Switzerland lost to Slovenia. Captain Wayne Rooney was keen therefore to remind his teammates they must not be complacent when they travel to Estonia. “We have seen what’s happened with the other results again tonight,” Rooney said after the San Marino win.

SPORTS Saturday, 11 October, 2014

bowlers, Maxwell set up series win Scoreboard PaKISTaN 61 ahmed Shehzad c SmITh b doherTy 65 Sarfraz ahmed c maxwell b JohNSoN 29 aSad ShafIq c JohNSoN b lyoN 15 mISbah-ul-haq ruN ouT (maxwell/†haddIN) 5 umar aKmal c SmITh b JohNSoN 20 fawad alam NoT ouT 2 ShahId afrIdI c SmITh b JohNSoN 2 wahab rIaz b rIchardSoN raza haSaN ruN ouT (SmITh/†haddIN) 0 zulfIqar babar c maxwell b faulKNer 6 mohammad IrfaN ruN ouT (†haddIN/rIchardSoN)0 exTraS (lb 2, w 8) 10 215 ToTal (all ouT; 49.3 overS) fall of wIcKeTS 1-126 (ahmed Shehzad, 25.1 ov), 2-130 (Sarfraz ahmed, 26.1 ov), 3-159 (mISbah-ul-haq, 33.4 ov), 4-168 (umar aKmal, 36.1 ov), 5-185 (aSad ShafIq, 38.6 ov), 6-199 (ShahId afrIdI, 43.4 ov), 7-203 (wahab rIaz, 45.3 ov), 8-204 (raza haSaN, 45.5 ov), 9-213 (zulfIqar babar, 48.4 ov), 10-215 (mohammad IrfaN, 49.3 ov) bowlINg: mg JohNSoN 10-0-40-3, Kw rIchardSoN 9.30-43-1, xJ doherTy 10-0-44-1, JP faulKNer 7-0-27-1, Nm lyoN 10-0-40-1, gJ maxwell 3-0-19-0 auSTralIa da warNer c mohammad IrfaN b raza haSaN 29 aJ fINch c †Sarfraz ahmed b mohammad IrfaN 14 SPd SmITh c †Sarfraz ahmed b zulfIqar babar 12 gJ baIley ruN ouT (ahmed Shehzad) 28 gJ maxwell c aSad ShafIq b zulfIqar babar 76 26 JP faulKNer NoT ouT 17 bJ haddIN NoT ouT 15 exTraS (lb 3, w 12) ToTal (5 wIcKeTS; 43.2 overS) 217 dId NoT baTmg JohNSoN, Kw rIchardSoN, xJ doherTy, Nm lyoN fall of wIcKeTS 1-22 (fINch, 3.6 ov), 2-39 (SmITh, 6.5 ov), 3-72 (warNer, 13.1 ov), 4-157 (baIley, 30.5 ov), 5-178 (maxwell, 36.3 ov) bowlINg raza haSaN 10-0-68-1, mohammad IrfaN 9.2-0-42-1, zulfIqar babar 10-1-52-2, ShahId afrIdI 10-0-36-0, wahab rIaz 2.2-0-7-0, ahmed Shehzad 1.4-0-9-0 maTch deTaIlS: ToSS - PaKISTaN, who choSe To baT SerIeS - auSTralIa led The 3-maTch SerIeS 2-0 odI debuT - raza haSaN (PaKISTaN) Player of The maTch - gJ maxwell (auSTralIa) umPIreS - NJ lloNg (eNglaNd) aNd Shozab raza (PaKISTaN) Tv umPIre - rK IllINgworTh (eNglaNd) maTch referee - J SrINaTh (INdIa)

Dubai

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uSTRALIA wrapped up another away ODI series against Pakistan, rebounding strongly after Ahmed Shehzad and Sarfraz Ahmed’s century opening partnership. Pakistan were 126 for 0 at the halfway mark after choosing to bat on a dry, slow pitch, but lost 10 for 89 after that as Australia’s bowlers, led by Mitchell Johnson, choked the runs for the rest of the innings. Pakistan have not won the most ODIs after posting 220 or less for nothing, and their attack wasn’t going to make it easy for Australia, but there were too few runs to defend in the end. Glenn Maxwell fired for long enough to ensure the chase remained straightforward for Australia even though Pakistan kept taking wickets. Maxwell made 76 off 81, and Australia hauled in the target inside 44 overs. Pakistan fell apart after the openers departed in successive overs in their sixties. Misbah-ul-Haq was run out just before the batting Powerplay, off which Pakistan managed 21 for 2. Fawad Alam pottered through to the end with a bizarre, unbeaten 20 off 39, as only 29 came off the last ten overs. Throughout, it was the batsmen getting themselves out rather than the deliveries doing so. Shehzad began the slide as he smote a flat Xavier Doherty delivery to short midwicket. Sarfraz half-heartedly chipped a full and wide Johnson delivery to point, the first of two times the fast bowler struck with the first ball of a new spell.

Misbah, as he often does, took his time at the start of his innings. With Asad Shafiq also seeking to bat himself in, the partnership consumed 7.3 overs, mostly of spin, for 29 runs. And then, with eight balls to go for the batting Powerplay, they attempted a tight single off a Glenn Maxwell misfield, and Misbah was found short despite diving in. His 15 came off 29 deliveries. umar Akmal then swung Johnson to mid-off in the batting Powerplay. Asad Shafid did the same off Nathan Lyon two overs later after having found his touch during his 29. The meltdown allowed George Bailey to attack with slips even at the death, resulting in an edged slog bringing Shahid Afridi’s early fall, Johnson the bowler again. Alam kept finding the infield thereafter, unable to muster either power or placement. It was an incredible fizzling out of an innings that had began so strongly. The last time a Pakistan opening pair had put on 100-plus was in January 2013 when Mohammad Hafeez and Nasir Jamshed added 141 against India in Kolkata. Since then, Pakistan’s opening partnership had averaged under 27 in 43 innings. Shehzad and Sarfraz were the ninth pair at the top during that period, and the wicketkeeper justified his promotion with his maiden ODI fifty, to go with a breezy 34 in the first ODI. Although Shehzad began the innings with a glanced four off Johnson, he and Sarfraz seemed determined to be patient.

UPBEAT WEST INDIES HUNT FOR CONSISTENCY Miller ready for rangers return Kenny Miller will make his Rangers comeback against Raith Rovers a week on Saturday. The striker has not played since the end of August, when he bagged a goal in the Lights Blues’ 4-2 win over Queen of the South. A calf injury has meant Miller has only featured four times since returning to Ibrox in the summer for his third stint with the club. Boss Ally McCoist has purposely not rushed the 34-yearold back into action, but is now confident the former Scotland hitman is ready to resume playing duties. He told the club’s official website: “Kenny is in good nick. He’s been back in full training with the squad and he’s been training very hard. “He probably at a push could have been involved for the Livingston game (last weekend) but we decided against it. “For the sake of one game when he could have another two-week break we thought it would be more beneficial to Kenny and indeed the team in the longer term to wait a little bit longer. “His training has been very good and he should be available for the next game against Raith. SPorTS deSK

ChaMbers rise was no surprise: lallana Calum Chambers’ fairytale start to the season continued with what Adam Lallana called a “magnificent” full England debut against San Marino. The past few months have been a whirlwind for the versatile defender, who in the summer made a £16million move from Southampton to Arsenal. The 19-year-old has since featured heavily in the Champions League, started on numerous occasions in the Barclays Premier League and made his England debut from the bench against Norway last month. Chambers followed that up on Thursday night with a first start for England as Roy Hodgson’s men easily swept away San Marino 5-0 at Wembley. “He was magnificent,” England midfielder Lallana said. “It was not an easy game for him. “He was always going to have lots of the ball and take risks with his passes because that’s what happens against teams that camp behind the ball. “He showed great composure and is going to go on to have many, many more caps.” Lallana knows Chambers better than most, having played alongside him at Southampton. The full-back only made his top-flight debut for Saints at the start of last term, but his rapid progress since then has not surprised his former captain. “I knew it was a matter of time before he possibly moved on or went to a big, big club,” Lallana said. SPorTS deSK

SPORTS DESK West Indies are an erratic one-day team. They can be prone to self-destruction. West Indies are an endearing one-day team. Their batting line-up boasts the kind of power that excites most followers of cricket, and they have a number of interesting characters in there. Addressing this split-personality issue would be high on the visitor’s agenda with the World Cup on the horizon, and they took a step towards that in Kochi despite being without a few first-choice players. They bucked a perception of their batsmen being allergic to singles there were 92 of them in a total of 321 - and their bowlers harnessed the advantage of a huge total well. Sustaining a performance like that has been a problem though as a record of 18 wins against 20 losses over the past two years suggests. India would want to orchestrate a recurrence of those problems. Their go-to method for that at home is to strangle the opposition by spin. But R Ashwin, who has bowled 85 overs with an economy rate of 5.34 in the last 12 months at home, has been rested for this series. They do, however, have Ravindra Jadeja, who has gone for 5.23 an over in that period. That is why MS Dhoni said he was more concerned with zeroing in on

his seam bowlers for the World Cup. Yet, as Marlon Samuels and Denesh Ramdin showed, if India’s spinners are attacked they can be coaxed into bowling flatter and quicker, and in essence limiting their chances of turning the ball. Another strength-turned-concern for India is the form of their top order. Virat Kohli’s weakness outside off stump has followed him home from England. Ambati Rayudu contributed to his own dismissal when he ran down and swiped to mid-on. Shikhar Dhawan was not as fluent as he normally is but mustered the only notable contribution with 68. India would hope Kochi was just a blip on the radar. Form guide

INDIA LLWWW (COMPLETED MATCHES, MOST RECENT FIRST) WEST INDIES WWWWL WATCH OuT FOR Mohammed Shami is one of India’s bowlers who has been tasked with handling the death overs. He can dig those yorkers in at the batsmen’s boots, but when they go awry, they really go awry. A pin-point yorker uprooted Kieron Pollard’s leg stump, but another attempt at it offered Denesh Ramdin a very high full toss that was dispatched over point for six. India would hope he cultivates better consistency before the World Cup. Sulieman Benn is the only specialist spinner West Indies have on this tour. His height has made him awkward to deal and he marries that with

good accuracy. Subcontinent conditions will give him turn as well. He was needed for only five overs in Kochi and conceded only 16. He might expect to bowl a few more in Delhi. Team news: With Mohit Sharma’s injury, India’s bowling will need a makeover. Ishant Sharma has been roped in as replacement and might get to play straightaway. Dhoni was happy with his bowlers in Kochi, but there might be a temptation to swap out Amit Mishra, who conceded 72 in 10 overs, for chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav. PiTch and weaTher: The pitch at Feroz Shah Kotla has received some bad press in recent times. Delhi captain Gautam Gambhir wanted three of his home games in the last Ranji season shifted elsewhere in search of an outright result. The curator hopes to change that image and has said he was preparing a surface on which batsmen can trust the bounce and bowlers can enjoy good carry. On the eve of this match, the pitch was reported to be quite green, but that was expectedly only to hold it together and would be shaved off. The weather is expected to be sunny, but later on dew is expected to be a factor again. sTaTs & Trivia: Despite West Indies being regular visitors to India, the two teams have met only once in Delhi since the turn of the century - a Test in 2011.

DJOKOVIC STROLLS INTO SHANGHAI SEMIS, SETS UP FEDERER CLASH SPORTS DESK Two-time champion Novak Djokovic thumped Spain’s David Ferrer 6-4 6-2 to march into the last four of the Shanghai Masters and stretch his winning streak in China to 29 matches. The Serbian world number one, who won the China Open title for a fifth time last week, hit 26 winners against the Spaniard’s 11 and set up a semi-final meeting with Roger Federer.

Djokovic took control early in the match by breaking Ferrer’s serve in the second game and then saved two break points at 5-4 to serve out the first set. World number five Ferrer did not have another opportunity to break the top seed’s serve and was broken twice in the second set as he lost his seventh consecutive meeting against Djokovic. Federer moved into the last four with a 7-6(4) 6-0 win over Julien Benneteau.

Published by Arif Nizami at Plot # 7, Al-Baber Centre, F/8 Markaz, Islamabad.

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